Our sweet boy, John Garrison, decided he was ready to meet everyone on May 22 at 12:45 PM. I had been having contractions for almost a week at that point and had been sent home from the hospital once already, so I was quite thankful when we arrived at the hospital that morning around 8 that they told me it was go-time. I very quickly asked for an epidural this go-round, which made this labor experience a tad bit different from ours with Susannah. I do believe I am now a fan of the epidural! I wasn't able to get it until I was almost 9cm just because of paperwork, but gracious, life got a whole lot better once I did. And then when John popped out with that batch of thick, red hair and we were suddenly a family of four, the joy we felt (and are still feeling) is unfathomable. I've posted the video of the birth below for your viewing pleasure. Just kidding. That's disgusting. But here's an overload of pictures, along with a really cute video at the bottom:
Meeting her little brother
Leaving the hospital!
Our first picture as a family of 4!
Prettiest girl in the world, y'all
Working from home with his sidekick
First time holding Brother!
Sweet kisses at bedtime
It's hard work being the best big sis ever. Sleeping in the swing.
She loves him so much, but only when he's not taking too much of Mommy's time.
That's the face of a boy being subjected to a sleeper with flowers, never mind the blue hue. Whoops!
So I went to check our duck nesting spot yesterday for eggs, and this is what I found:
Yikes! I immediately called Pete and asked if I needed to go get a gun to shoot the not-so-little egg-stealer. He said, "You need to kill it with a shovel, but get some good pics first!" which is why you are able to see a very nice picture of a very ugly snake (you're welcome). On my way inside to get my camera, I pumped myself up for the killing that was about to take place. Talk about pioneer woman! Here I am 9 months pregnant about to hack away at an anaconda. As it turned out, the anaconda didn't like the flash of my camera very much, so it slithered away quite quickly, and I only nicked its tail with the shovel while shouting, "Shoot! Get back here so I can brag about killing youuuu!" It didn't listen. So there I was with the biggest adrenaline rush ever, and I had nothing to show for it. And on top of that, Pete informed me that evening after inspecting the pictures, the dern thing isn't even poisonous. So now we're just waiting for it to try to eat our eggs again so we can kill it and save our eggs--not ourselves. Still kinda cool, just not dangerous cool. Oh, well.
Selfies and smooches on the steps
Wearing John's boots again
Once the shades go on, this girl doesn't know any other expression than this. Mean-muggin'.
Our new after-dinner ritual: bare bottom play outside!
Running running running!
She dragged this all the way from the laundry room to tell me she wanted to bounce. Didn't utter a word, just dragged.
"Daddy won't buy me a riding lawn mower 'cause he says lugging this thing around is good for me..."
Well our little year-and-a-half old (as of yesterday) is beginning one of my most favorite new things to date: singing! It is absolutely the cutest thing that she does now. She attempts to sing "Happy Birthday," a few songs from the Elmo clips we watch daily, and "Danger Zone" (which is a hilarious choice). She's very modest about it, but smiles SO big when she's giving it a go. There's a video below that I took a few weeks ago to send my dad of her mimicking my singing of "Danger Zone." Susannah's new tricks also involve walking backward and creeping like a sleuth around the house. Both are adorable and, as I'm sure you can imagine, hilarious. And yes, I'm 37 weeks with Baby John today! I got to sneak another peek at him this morning in an ultrasound because the doc said last week that I am (again) measuring too small for his comfort. Well, the ultrasound tech said that John is measuring close to 38 WEEKS actually, to which my doctor looked at me quite dumbfounded-ly and said, "I really just don't know WHERE you are hiding this baby!" Me either, Doc, but praise the Lord John's measuring well! So the waiting game is getting shorter, and we are getting excited. Please pray with us that John's labor goes just as smoothly as Susannah's!
Excited about having another snuggly babe around THIS MONTH!
We love rocking.
Climbing up and down the slide all day! And get a load of those rosy-red cheeks--definitely got those from her mama.
Swinging with our pal Barrett
Putting a sock on her hand because that's normal. She does it multiple times a day.
You may need to turn the volume up some for this, as her modest voice gets so cute and quiet when she sings:
