Baby brother has arrived!!!

We had a pleasant surprise this weekend, introducing..........Cooper Joseph Honeycutt!

August 23, 2014

4:48 a.m.

6 lbs 15 oz

19" long

We had no plans, and I couldn't wait to relax all weekend and do as little as possible. I really had my heart set on a September delivery and we have been so busy lately, I knew I wouldn't make it if I didn't take a break and rest. 

At 8:30ish Friday evening, plans changed when I had my first inclination that my water may have broke. That's the exact same time it happened with Griffin and both times caused moments of wondering, "did I just pee my pants a little?" At least this time we were at home and not in Wamart. It soon became clear that was the case but we took our time packing bags, showering, and preparing Griffin for what was to come. 

Griffin kissed us goodbye and was very happy to be staying the night with Uncle Brent, Aunt Cole, and cousin Briley. I was glad we didn't wait much longer since my contractions got closer together all the way to Springfield and ended up being about every 5 mins by the time we got to the hospital. We were admitted around 12:30am and finally settled into labor & delivery around 2:30 am. At this point all paperwork was done, IV was in, monitors hooked up, and we turned the lights off to get our last little bit of sleep before the C section that was scheduled for 4:30am. The surgery time was based off my last meal, and therefore there wasn't any convincing them to change it. I was doing fine until about 3:30am when my contractions started getting pretty painful and down to about 3 minutes apart. Thankfully, before we knew it we were getting prepped for surgery. 

I will forever be indebted to the super nice, young nurse in triage who offered (if they weren't busy) to come back to the operating room and take photos for us. Knowing Drew probably wouldn't deliver the kind of photos I was looking for, this was my dream come true!

WARNING: SOME BLOOD, NO GUTS! Some of you may find these disturbing. 

the money shot with Dr. Stancyzk!

this guy and Drew played ball against each other in high school
he took care of the anesthesia and explained everything to us as it happened

 

she did great to avoid any inappropriate shots!

After they had cleaned him up, we left the operating room and headed back to L&D for a minimum 2 hour stay. Cooper never left our sight. We sat there in disbelief of what had just happened, all without any family or friends knowing a thing! So of course Drew started making calls and sending texts while we let it sink in.

Once back in the room, Griffin got a bath and before long our first visitors started trickling in. 

not a fan of the first bath as expected

I will also forever be indebted to one of my best friends in the world who made sure she could come to meet Cooper and take photos for us. Nicole, you are the best! Griffin meeting his new brother was something we were anxious about but couldn't have gone better. 

 

  

We had many visitors and enjoyed seeing everyone. The c section recovery has been quite different. I'm struggling with it a little because I'm not one to constantly sit around and not be able to do anything. Even worse, I naturally go to get up and move about like normal and painfully realize that I can't do that right now. It's a pain like nothing I've ever felt, but should be getting better each day. 

We owe Brent and Nichole big time. They took care of Griffin the entire time we were in the hospital and even brought him both Saturday and Sunday to see us. He was not missing us a bit. How could you be sad when you get to see fire trucks, swim, get new toys, and hang out with your cool big cousin that you love?

Also, a huge thank you to my parents who came to get Duke so he could stay at their house and not be lonely. If you know us, you know that Duke is one of our top concerns. They even delivered him home tonight.

A c section usually warrants a 3 day stay, but since I was doing so well (and because we were anixous) we were able to get discharged a day early. Our trip home was uneventful. Not a peep out of Cooper so hopefully he will like the carseat as much as Griffin did. Drew has been a trooper taking care of things around the house and I've enjoyed the 4 of us getting quality time together. 

Griffin is so sweet that it makes my emotionally unstable self want to tear up all the time. Here's an example:

Maternity Photos

I finally got my hands on the disc of maternity photos that Jamie Moore took for us. It's something I had to be talked into doing with Griffin, but looking back I was so glad I did. I might have been a little more excited this time around because I would get to include big brother. She also got some really adorable shots of Griffin alone.  

We really went all out this time. Cousin Caitlin was in town and came to our house for a short maternity session too.

I barely got these posted before baby brother arrives. Less than 2 weeks to scheduled date....or as my doctor said this afternoon right before she walked out the door, "good luck making it to September!"

Monthly Update

I didn't buy any more stickers for Griffin to wear for monthly pictures. However, I couldn't resist taking some photos of him today in his chair with Bobby. I thought it would be a nice touch to a post about how he's been changing. 

He is still very much a "daddy's boy". He and Drew have been out of the house, at the office and doing their "man things" most of the day.

With a lot of incentive and bribery, I'd like to say Griffin is completely potty trained now. This is huge since he's been semi-trained for quite some time. We haven't bought diapers in forever, but it hasn't been fun cleaning nasty little boy underwear. I guess he just needed to decide for himself that it was time. We do have an occasional accident here and there. I think he gets so busy and focused on playing or doing other things that he is too late by the time he realizes he needs to get to the bathroom. 

We also have had our first trouble with naughty words. I thought I had been hearing a version of one around the house but didn't want to make a big deal in case I was wrong...............flash forward to a text from the daycare director:

Knock on wood, I think we've nipped this one in the bud. 

I now believe in the power that television has over children. One evening, Griffin was getting a very stern talking to (I don't remember what about, just that I was very mad) and I was even crouched down at his level holding onto him by the arms. After 5 minutes of me trying to get my point across, Griffin sat there staring at me.....paused for a few seconds.....then said, "what's the big idea?" Thank you Donald Duck. It was really hard not to burst into laughter. He also says "Oh, coconuts!" (that's another Disney show, Jake and the Neverland Pirates) and many more. 

I guess when you turn 3 you decide that you should take showers instead of baths. He thinks he is a real big boy these days. We are jumping on that bandwagon, hoping that it will keep him from wanting to be a baby again when little brother arrives. 

We took Griffin to the movies for the first time and invited cousin Briley. They were very well behaved and stayed focused on the movie the entire time. It was Planes: Fire & Rescue, so how could 2 little boys not love it. 

On the baby front, I am exactly 38 weeks along today. At my appointment this past week, I was only dialated to about 1 1/2cm. Griffin was already born by now. It's fun to see how different the progression has been. I did gain a full cm in 1 week, so who knows what will happen. I'm still scheduled for a c section on September 3rd but my doctor is continuing to bet on baby boy coming long before then. I'm trying to stay off my feet and do as little as possible to keep contractions at a minimum so that, *fingers crossed*, we can make it to at least September 1st. August just has too many other birthdays and things going on. Come on Labor Day!

What have we been up to?

Countdown to baby brother has begun.......my appointments are weekly now, that's when you know you are getting close. At this point with Griffin, I was actually about to deliver and didn't know it. Things aren't moving near as fast this time around. Thankfully, my blood pressure is still perfect and I'm not swelling like I did that summer (it was 100 degrees every day and this summer has been quite pleasant really).

Work has been crazy with a software conversion going on. That monsterous task has required working through lots of lunch hours and putting in some overtime last Friday night and all day Saturday. Between work, getting the house ready for baby, the birthday party, and life in general......I'm starting to really slow down. Contractions come and go, and of course things seem to be better when I take it easy and rest. So I'm doing more of that lately and trying to get to bed at a decent hour, which rarely happens. I really want to make it to the scheduled c section date of September 3rd but my doctor doesn't seem to have much hope. We'll see.

In the last few weeks we've had several fun things going on. I had an unexpected baby shower that was very lovely. We also attended one for Ashley and baby Bayley Ray who is also due anytime now. Drew's mom had a birthday party since she was unable to be home for her 60th last year. And several other events that I can document with photos:

Chase turned 2 and we had fun at his birthday party......

birthday boy!

 We've also enjoyed several dinner dates with Charlotte......

I've supervised some farm work--food plot preparation.....

And I enjoyed getting a pedicure with my favorite little man on the planet......

As a bonus, you get this video:

Picture Time

Right before Griffin turned a year old, I took him over to Houston to have pictures made with Briley. Maybe a fundraiser for something that Nichole knew about? You might remember, the boys wore tuxedos (see blog post here).

The same set of photographers came to Cabool a couple weeks ago as a fundraiser for the Fire Department and Aunt Nichole hosted the event at Drury. This year's outfit was overalls. Pretty darn cute if you ask me.