All in the family

Having a new baby to gaze at all day makes me think about who Brayton most resembles. The concensus is that he looks like Abigail (so, Dahlia) with a twinkle of Maddie in his eyes (so, Jeremy). Unfortunately, we only have a handful of photos of Jeremy and none of them are of him as an infant (long, sad story about that). So I found pictures of myself to compare the girls to. It's so neat to see resemblances and differences between us. Jeremy and I both think the kids are all much, much cuter than I was at their ages. I'm so happy about that.



Abbie and Dahlia at 17 months (Don't you LOVE that wallpaper?! It was supposedly my dad's choice - my mom is NOT claiming it.)


Madeline and Dahlia at 3 1/2 years




Madeline, Abigail and Brayton all within their 1st month of life.

Tub time

Brayton was finally able to have a real tub bath last night! He didn't really like it at first, but as soon as I filled the tub with more water up to his neck, he LOVED it! He just floated around (fully supported of course) and became his peaceful little self again. The girls were excited to watch him take a bath and had to be herded out of the bathroom because they crowded around too closely (falling shampoo bottles are not a good thing!). He did great!

He loves the deep, warm water. He's calm enough to strike a pose.


Now that he's out of the water and in his cozy little towel, the sisters can maul him again!

The first week home

It's been one week since my mom arrived to help out with the baby. It's been such a blessing to have her here. Yesterday was the first time I changed Abigail's diaper since going to the hospital to have Brayton! It made me think about what other things I haven't done in the past week: getting up with the girls (usually at 7am), making them breakfast, cleaning up of any sort - dishes, laundry, bathrooms, floors, picking up toys, etc., cooking, more dishes, yard work (yes, she planted hostas and lilies that a friend gave me), giving the girls their baths, brushing teeth, and getting them ready for bed, etc.
I've gotten to take a nap at least once a day after getting to sleep in, sometimes until 9:30am! I haven't slept that long in, well, forever! She loves taking the girls out to the playground for HOURS. They made a fort in the basement. They put on a magic show for Jeremy and me. She plays toys with them. They did amazing chalk drawings out back. They've raked leaves and jumped in the huge piles. She burps and changes the baby for me. She serves me ice cream at 11pm while I snuggle with Brayton. She made salt dough ornaments, an apple pie, finger paintings, and had the girls ready for the day all before I even ate my breakfast!
She'll be here for 4 more weeks. I just don't know how I'll survive without her. It will be a big adjustment when she leaves I'm sure, but for now, I feel so so blessed to have my mom with us.
And all the while, I just have to worry about feeding our little boy.

Snuggles

Brayton loves to be swaddled and snuggled. I found that at night he'll sleep longer when he's all snug and next to me instead of in his bassinet. I was very reluctant to sleep with Madeline and eased up a bit with Abigail and now Brayton is in our bed most all night...only because I didn't want to get into a bad sleeping habit with them. However, my outlook has changed. They're only little once and I just miss holding such a tiny baby. I'm going to take full advantage of this beautiful opportunity to hold and cuddle our sweet little boy.

Madeline wanted to be sure he had enough toys to keep him company in the swing. She's been such a big helper - getting things as I ask for them and making sure we're all quiet when Brayton's sleeping. She just sat there and watched him swing. What a sweetie.

Brayton Thomas O'Neil

Our sweet little boy was born on Thursday, November 6, 2008 at 7:54 PM. He weighed 8.0 lbs and was 21 inches long. We are so happy to have him in our family!
It took a bit of discussion between Jeremy and I before we agreed on his name, as we had some ideas, but nothing concrete. Brayton is after the street on which the Anchorage LDS Temple is, where Jeremy and I were married for time & eternity. I always thought it would be a good boy's name. Thomas is a family name, however, we gave it to Brayton after our beloved prophet, Thomas S. Monson, who was ordained just after we found out we were pregnant.
Here's the labor & delivery time line for Thursday:
3:45 PM - I'm in the kitchen looking for something to eat and I feel a kick/pop at the top of my tummy and then 2 seconds later comes a gush. "Uh, Jeremy...my water broke!" We quickly pack a bag for me (yes, I totally procrastinated on that one) and the girls and find a place for them to go. Thank you so much Brent & Michelle!!!
4:15 PM - We head out and drop the girls off with the Johnstons then head to the hospital. By now, contractions have started but aren't too bad or too close.
4:30 PM - I'm checked in and go to triage to see if I'm in labor and to monitor contractions and the baby until I can get cleared to head to the labor room.
6:00 PM - I'm in my room and get to walk around a bit before getting strapped into monitors.
6:20 PM - The nurse says I'm dilated to 3cm...not too great of news since I am now in much more pain with each contraction and from the last 2 experiences, I know I've got a ways to go. I let Jeremy go to grab some dinner for himself since I figure I've got time.
7:00 PM - I ask for an epidural (again - I asked for it when I got to triage) and the nurse goes to see where the anesthesiologist is.
7:20 PM - A new nurse arrives and still no epidural...still in pain...bed-gripping, praying for relief, take-your-breath-away pain. I want that epidural!
7:30 PM - The anesthesiologist arrives and gives me an epidural. Jeremy gets back from dinner and gets to watch the procedure.
7:40 PM - I'm in total agony still. My legs are numb, but nothing else and a 2nd anesthesiologist arrives to put in his 2 cents - he says, "If your legs are numb, it's working." No, it's not. I feel EVERYTHING! He assures me it'll kick in. I'm not assured.
7:45 PM - I'm ticked off at the anesthesiologists because I just have numb legs and the contractions are getting way intense. They leave, still assuring me that it will kick in. The nurse decides to check me again and says I'm completely dilated and effaced (which is why the epidural is NOT taking any affect), but she wants another nurse to double-check and calls someone.
7:50 PM - The second nurse checks and concurs with the first nurse; yes, I'm at a 10! Where is the doctor?! They scramble to find Dr. Babin (who was on call that evening) and I'm feeling like I need to push NOW!
7:52 PM - The doctor arrives just in time to deliver Brayton.
7:54 PM - Brayton is here! He was gave a good cry & pinked up right away. It was the quickest labor & delivery thus far. I was a bit disappointed that I had to wait for the failed epidural to wear off so I could feel my legs again, but I was up and at 'em and in a lot less pain afterwards than I was with the girls. Third time's a charm I suppose!
Brayton is such a good eater and sleeper and is just a calm little baby. He loves to be swaddled and held close as he cries when he's unwrapped for a diaper change. He didn't even cry during the circumcision today! He just sucked on his pacifier (yup, he loves that too, just like Maddie) and did great.

The girls love him and want to smother him with hugs and kisses ALL the time. They have had a few tiffs over who gets to hold him. Maddie would cover him up with a blanket and give him his pacifier, then Abbie would come and take them away so she could kiss and love him. Maddie would follow behind and cover him up again. So far it hasn't been too bad with 3 kiddos. It is only the first day home though :)

Our New Baby

So this week I'm getting all the last minute things ready for our baby's arrival and decided I should probably try putting all 3 car seats in the back of the Corolla. I just figured that since we have room for 3 in the back it will accommodate 3 car seats. Wrong. They all fit, however, when I shut the door it slammed into the baby's seat, which jammed it underneath Maddie's seat, which in turn crammed it underneath Abbie's seat. Jammed, slammed, and crammed are not words I had hoped to use to describe how the 3 seats would fit. NOT GOOD.

Our Corolla was wonderful. We had it for 5 years and put about 95K miles on it. We drove our babies home from the hospital in it, it got us here to Kansas, we expected Maddie to learn how to drive with it. However, it was time to part ways. We've been thinking about this for some time now - buy new or get a 2nd used mini van. We decided to buy new and trade in the Corolla. We got a SWEET deal - the dealership met OUR terms (gave us our asking price for the trade in, waived all sales tax, and the sticker price was slashed to our liking) and we're sooooo happy with our new baby. See our copper red beauty HERE (you'll need to click on the Mazda 5). We like that it's a mini-mini van because it fits us great and the gas mileage is way better than a mini van. It's perfect. The kiddos fit nicely and we have room for one more before needing to upgrade again...

Goodbye Corolla, we miss you.