Just another 4th of July

We celebrated the 4th of July a few weeks ago and, surprise surprise, I am finding that I absolutely love this holiday!  I wasn't entirely sure how it would be because I was 273 days pregnant, but it ended up being an absolutely exhaustingly fun day.

My last night of work before maternity leave was the night before (which already had me in a festive mood.)  S had to work this 4th again so it was just me and the Bean.  We woke up early and went to the parade (730 in the morning!  To us, that normally feels like the middle of the night.)  Bean was alright with rising early--she was pretty excited to go to the parade.

I was worried about it getting too hot (and me feeling too miserable!) but we had the perfect spot that was in the shade the entire time.  Bean waved her flag patriotically every time a marching band passed.  She was also introduced to the concept of getting candy thrown in her direction.  Needless to say, she loves parades now.

After the parade we headed to G&G H's for hot dogs.  I snagged this darling picture of Bean with some of her cousins.  I love dressing her up in red, white and blue.

Maybe because it was our last day with just the Bean and I before Boy arrived (and maybe because I'm just partially crazy) I decided that we should make the most of the day and stay up for fireworks.  So rather than go home, we headed over to G&G J's for pizza that evening.

It actually cooled off that evening so we headed to the backyard to pick some fresh raspberries from "Papa's Garden."  Bean loved running around and insisted we take pictures of just about every flower out there (I'll spare you those pictures.)  We also watched the fighter jets fly overhead.  I'm kind of a geek when it comes to fly-overs...

Grandpa picked Bean this gorgeous daylily...from his back neighbor's plant.  (Hey, it was growing onto his side of the fence.  Fair game.)

I'm pretty sure this girl loves the summertime.  Even if she keeps asking me when it's going to snow again. 

We had some cherry pie and I tried to fill up the last hour or so with a very long bath for the Bean.  I didn't think we would, but we made it to 10 o'clock that night.  When all of the fireworks started going off in the neighborhood, Bean told me that it was a little scary and that she was going to go lay down on the couch.  Seriously?!  I convinced her to come back out and watch the fireworks at the park, which she did, but only after she would put a stuffed animal on her head (I guess to protect her?)

My parents live by a business which has the perfect lawn and parking lot to set off fireworks.  As a kid we spent our entire 4th evenings up there.  A few families still go up there and the best part of the evening for me this year was when the sprinklers came on in the middle of their fireworks display, sending them all screaming and laughing.  I love this holiday...

We barely made it home that evening by midnight.  I have never seen so much traffic so late at night.  Bean and I were exhausted but she kept telling me the next day how much fun she'd had.  And she kept asking me when we were going to the parade again to get candy.

July Sixth Twenty Twelve

Hello World.

I would like to introduce you to the most recent member of the H family.

This is Boy.  

He was born at exactly 0805 on July 6th and screamed for the first half-hour of his life.  As far as I can tell, he just doesn't like to be naked.  My predictions (half from knowing he was second child+a boy; the other half from how huge I felt) led me to believe that he would be at least an 8 lb-er.  This little man only weighed 7 lbs 2 oz (3 oz less than Bean) but he was longer (22 inches as opposed to 20.)  His legs are all skin and bones for now but if he's anything like older sister, he'll chub up here in a few months and become rolls upon rolls of cute baby-ness.

Though my c/s wasn't as "pleasant" this time around, I was still overcome with emotion when I heard his little cry.  And I was so anxious to see this little man for the first time.  I have told everyone so far that I expected him to be all boy but what I didn't expect was for him to be so beautiful.  He has light strawberry-blonde hair and the sweetest face and smile I have ever seen.  And the sweetest disposition to go with it.

Everyone's second question has been how the Bean is taking it.  I would say, "Better than I expected."  As far as her and Boy's relationship goes, she is so sweet and gentle (and motherly) with him.  I expect that she will be a big help.  I worry that she will be too big of a help. 

The problem has been more between Bean and I.  I suspect she's not used to having me home all of the time.  Add on the fact that I have had very little motivation to discipline her over the last month of my pregnancy. 

We're working on it.

Boy is a lot different than Bean. Then again I am a lot different the second time around.  I've heard the second kid is easier, largely due to the fact that your life is already family-oriented and less disrupted than it is when you have your first.  But he makes it easy, too.

I've found that I actually look forward to waking up early to spend some peaceful alone time with him.  (I've found this is easier when I go to bed earlier, too!)

I forgot just how much laundry you do with a newborn.  He hardly spits up as much as Bean did, but when he does, it looks like something out of a horror movie.

Changing a little boy's diaper is much different than changing a little girl's.  Obviously.  I'm embarrassed to admit I didn't even think about it before he was born; there has been a bit of a learning curve.  (Though it's not just me.  He appropriately earned a reputation of showering the nurses in the nursery.)

I don't watch him sleep like I did the Bean.  Consequently (and unbelievably) I am getting A LOT of stuff done.  I am taking advantage of this "sleeping-around-the-clock" thing while I still can.

Most importantly, I know where the term "momma's boy" comes from now.  I am wrapped around his little pinky finger.  Tightly.

Baby-time

I can't believe that, by the time this scheduled post is published, our second little kiddo will be here!  It has been a busy month, but I finally hit my stride on my last full week off and was able to get everything done.  Thanks in part to my work-besties (who threw me a baby shower a few weeks ago,) we are set for this boy.

Seriously, we went from having 2 outfits to a few dozen in a matter of an hour.

Also this is the only prego-picture I have posted, and probably will post, on this blog.  Not because I am ashamed of my very round basketball belly, but because I just have taken no pictures this time around.  I resolve to remember to take my camera to the hospital so Boy ends up with a decent amount of newborn pictures.

(Look at all of our cute blood bank babies!  I wish the Bean could have come, too!)

We went from having no nursery to an adorable nursery in a matter of a few weeks.  I wasn't sure it would happen, but everything came together.

Top to bottom (if you click on the picture, it enlarges:)

• Bean really is the one who chose the theme: transportation.  And animals.  I love it.
• I got these really cool sketch prints of the transcontinental trains from the Golden Spike commeration several years ago for free.  My mom (who keeps everything) found them at her house a few years ago and asked if I wanted them back.  I had no idea what I would do with them, but I took them anyway.  When we decided to do a train room for the Boy, I knew they would be perfect.  They were probably the most expensive thing we did, but getting them framed by someone who knows what they are doing is worth it in my mind.  They look fantastic in there.  Plus it's not like we had to buy new furniture this time around.
• Speaking of. the crib finally made it's way out of our dusty basement. 
• My favorite thing about the room is Boy's name art.  No one sells large, premade train shapes so I had to make my own.  I thought they turned out okay (there is a matching caboose at the end of his name.)
• I feel like I lived in this chair after the Bean was born.  We are about to become reacquainted.
• On a last minute shopping spree, I found these awesome metal die-cast tractor and airplane figures to go on his very bare shelves.  I also found this lamp at Target which has construction vehicles all over it.  It felt sort of serendipitous to me.

I never thought I would write a post about being evacuated due to immediate fire danger.  Let alone twice.
I got the call from S about 4 on Friday saying that we were evacuated.  Again.  I was in the middle of trying to get as much information as possible when I heard tones go off in the background with S saying hurriedly, I've gotta go, we're being dispatched to go fight it.

It wasn't beyond me that I was having a baby a week from that day.

Awesome.

I've been really concerned (rather horrified) these last few weeks watching the fires in Colorado Springs.  I remember thinking just last Wednesday Well Thank Goodness we've already had our fire.  It can't happen twice.  Still think I'm crazy for being superstitious?

S said in our minute long conversation that this fire was "cooking" which I can only assume means that it was worse, faster.  Ours and the adjoining neighborhood were the only ones evacuated this time around, but I think the fact that it kind of started in the subdivision made things worse than before.  At least before there were a few hours to evacuate.  This time people were told to just get out of there.

So with all of that it is odd to think that we were really fortunate on so many more levels this time.

• There is the obvious thing; that our home is okay and really, the smoke isn't bad at all.  And our home was on the opposite end of the subdivision this time, so it really wasn't in any immediate danger.
• Given the weather conditions lately, and where it started, this could have been bad (again Colorado Springs was playing in the back of my mind all evening) but only (and I say that as sensitively as possible) 4 homes were lost.  
•  S was fighting the fire again, but this time he was among the first dispatched so I felt like there was almost an extra level of protection on our home.  At least to the level that if something really tragic happened I would know about it really quickly.
• It occurred on a day that Bean was with her Gma H.  S and I were both working and the Bean and I already had plans to spend the night, so we were prepared with clothes and, most importantly, Bean's entourage of stuffed animals.

Someone in testimony meeting yesterday said that these things happen to remind us of all of our blessings.  It's true.  Not only with all the things mentioned above, but I was dumbfounded at all of the texts/phone calls I received in a short amount of time making sure we were okay.  Thank you.  It is definately humbling.

While I was watching some live scenes of the fire on the news, I had no idea that I was actually, in one case, watching S fight a fire.  It's probably better not to know.  Sometimes I forget that he kind of has a dangerous job.  He told me later that night that he had never worked so hard in his life.  (He crawled into bed the next morning barely saying a word before he crashed.)  S hates it when he/firefighters are elevated to hero status, but I don't know how you could describe saving that many structures in only a few hours anything but heroic.

Finally (and I apologize to those of you reading this who are also my friends on facebook, but I have to share this again) I was trying to decide how to break the news to Bean that we were not going to be able to go home right away that morning--such was the plan and I think I've mentioned how she is when plans change.  I told her in as optimistic a voice as I dared that there had been a really, really big fire by Bean's house but that it was okay because daddy was able to help put it out.  Her eyes literally lit up and she said, "Yeah, go get marshmallows at the store for the big fire by {Bean's} house!! But not the big ones, just the little ones. {Bean} doesn't like the big ones."  What a sweetheart.  Thankfully she forgot about our plans for an enormous marshmallow roast by the time she returned home with her daddy that night.  I'm pretty sure the city would have frowned on the idea.