Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas as a family of four, even though we were exhausted with a newborn.  We spent the 23rd in Sugar Land at nanny's house.  We had a great time and were spoiled as usual.  Lawson and LL got tons of adorable clothes, and I have been having a blast dressing them in each of them.  My favorite thing that I got was a certificate to have a canvas pictures made, I still need to pick out what picture I want to have done. 

The picture below is at my parents house on Christmas Eve.  We always go there Christmas Eve, pig out and open presents.  This year we had Mexican food, and I am hungry just thinking about how good it was! 

Christmas morning was so much fun now that Lawson is a little older.  He loved walking out to new toys to play with.  His reaction was priceless and so funny!  And sweet Lauralyn happily sat in her seat and watched all the action.  It was a little surreal to actually be a family of 4 on Christmas morning.  It is amazing how quickly things change.  I definitely need to do a better job of living in the moment!

After "Santa Claus", we headed over to my parents house for breakfast. This is probably my favorite tradition.  I LOVE my mom's breakfast and it did not disappoint.  I even took leftovers to have breakfast again for lunch!  I did feel pretty sick to my stomach for some reason, and laid in bed with Lauralyn in my arms and talking to my dad.  It was actually a neat little memory.  Lawson showed his independence (and his love of food) by sneaking off to the breakfast room while everyone was scattered through the house, sitting at the table and eating what everyone had left on their plates.  It was a sight to see him sitting in there all alone just going to town on the food and drinking Orange Julius.

We spent the rest of Christmas day relaxing and playing.  It was WONDERFUL!  I look forward to the years ahead and teaching Lawson and Lauralyn about Jesus, His birth, His time on earth, and why we celebrate his life at Christmas (and all year for that matter).  

Santa Claus

Lawson and Lauralyn went to see Santa Claus recently. Lawson did good as long as he had his blanket. I love the Santa at our mall. He took his time and was very pleasant.

The picture cracks me up, but isn't that what Santa pictures are all about?

Jarrett's Graduation from Seminary

Jarrett graduated from Southwestern Theological Seminary in Fort Worth with his masters in Christian Education.  He didn't actually have his graduation ceremony until December.  

He had to be there a day early for rehearsal, so we took Lawson and Lauralyn and stayed in a hotel.  I'm not going to lie, it was a little stressful with LL only being 6 weeks old and Lawson being a VERY active 21 month old. 

We did get to see the campus, rest some and eat good food.  Jarrett's mom thankfully came too and we stayed in suite, so it actually worked out pretty well.  Both kids went to the ceremony and Lawson lasted through almost the entire thing in my lap,  I was pleasantly surprised.  Lauralyn slept through it all.  Afterwards we celebrated at the Cheesecake Factory, did a little shopping and headed home. 

Lauralyn 1 Month Old

Weight: Around 8 lbs
Diaper: newborn
Clothes: newborn

It's hard to believe a month has already passed.  Lauralyn has been such a sweet little blessing to our life.  She has gotten on a pretty regular sleep/eat schedule.  In the evenings she will eat at 7:00 and 10:00.  Then she has been sleeping until at least 2:00 and then again until anywhere from 4:30 to 5:30.  She is a great eater, but has a tendency to overeat and then spit up a little.  She nurses during the day about every 3 hours.  Right now she has a head of dark brown hair, blue eyes and dark skin.

I'm not one to stay home all the time, so she has been out and about since 6 days old.  That was the first day we took her to the mall.  She has been out to eat several times and even went to Canton Trades Day this past week.  She is so easy when we go somewhere.

Lawson hasn't really had to adjust much to his sister being here.  It's almost like she has always been around.  He loves her already and tries to give her a paci, blanket, toy anything he thinks she might need.  He is actually a big helper even though he's only 20 months.   He is able to throw her diapers away in the garage and can get pretty much anything we tell him that we need.  The biggest thing for him was learning that you have to be gentle with little sister.

Here are side by side pictures of Lawson and Lauralyn at 1 month.

Lauralyn's Birthday

Just like with Lawson, I was induced at 38 weeks with Lauralyn.  We went to the doctor on Wednesday November 2nd and Dr. Klouda wanted to induce on Friday the 4th.  I was already dialated to almost a 3 and 80% effaced.  My blood pressure was a little high, so she said it would be best to go ahead and induce before I got too sick.

Jarrett's mom came to town late Thursday night, so she was able to take care of Lawson while we headed to the hospital.  Here is the last picture of me pregnant.  I look sooo tired!  It was about 5:45 am. 

We got to the hospital, got admitted and headed to our hospital suite.  I say suite because we got the big corner room which was nice AND it was where my nephew Abram was born.

We got a slow start because the nurses could not get my IV started.  It took 4 tries, but finally my amazing nurse Marcie got it in and started the pitocin.  I was in relatively no pain until Dr. Klouda came and broke my water which I think was at around 9:30.  After that I got my epidural, which did NOT go great.  The anesthesiologist kept hitting a nerve and I kept shaking and kicked Jarrett.  I'm sure he will never forget the look of fear and pain in my eyes as he held my hands.  Finally everything got settled and and the anesthesiologist finished up.  After that I was pretty nauseous and not feeling well at all, plus I still felt pain on my right side.  Once Marcie gave me more pain medicine and I got over the nausea, I started feeling the urge to push.  There was NO down time.  They told me not to push and called Dr. Klouda to get there.  It was hard not to push, but once she got there it took four pushes and our daughter entered the world.  That moment with both of my children is the most amazing feeling in this world.  She was beautiful and cried very loudly!

Once she was cleaned up and in our arms, we noticed what we thought were "baby" grunts.  However, the nurse was concerned and contacted the pediatrician.  She said it was a sign she was having a hard time breathing.  They check her oxygen which was great and ran a few tests and took an x-ray.  The x-ray showed some fluid on her lungs.  The pediatrician said it could be either amniotic fluid that didn't get pushed out or neonatal pneumonia.  It was heartbreaking and I broke down for a second, but new in my heart that she was alright.  They started her on antibiotics, so they had to put a little IV in her arm with a little splint.  We ended up having to stay an extra night, and the culture they took showed that it was not pneumonia.  She also had to have amniotic fluid pumped from her stomach because she was spitting it up and would not eat at first.  Once they did that, she started eating like a pro!

While at the hospital, Barbar brought Lawson to meet his sister.  He really didn't seem phased by her and just watched her. 

Asher and Abram both wanted to hold her.  You can see her little splint in this picture.  

Two doors down, another couple from Lindale was having their little girl.  There is a good chance that these two will be good friends one day.  The is Claire Ann.

Finally, it was time to go home.  We dressed her up in a dress that was mine when I was a little girl.  



What a blessing she had already been to our family.  We are so thankful that she wasn't sick and that she is home a perfectly healthy now. 

Lauralyn's Arrival

Lauralyn Ricki English
Born November 4 12:26 pm
7 lb 6 oz 20 in

Halloween 2011

I have to admit, I wasn't really looking forward to trick-or-treating this year.  We have just been so busy, and I am just SOOO pregnant that I kind of had a bad attitude about it.  BUT, we ended up having a great time.

We headed back to our old neighborhood and met up with about 20 people to make the circle and trick-or-treat.

Here is Lawson before we left.  His outfit is from his Uncle Jeremy and Aunt Stacy.  They bought it for him while they stationed in Japan, and it fit perfectly this year so I thought it would be a perfect costume for halloween.

Here he is with our neighbors, Reed and Davis.  He LOVES to be around the older boys.



He did great trick-or-treating.  I wasn't sure if he would get it, but he sure did.  It's amazing how kids just follow what the other kids are doing.  Daddy held his hand the whole time as we went door to door. 

We did skip quite a few houses because we really don't need that much candy!!  The most funny thing Lawson did was after the first house he had a seat in the driveway and went for the candy.  He was ready to eat some right then!  And we let him eat on a Blow Pop pretty much all the way around the neighborhood, he loved it!  "Candy" is now a word that is part of his vocabulary.

And here is a picture of our family.  I can't help but wonder if this will be the last picture taken as a family of three.