It's a Golden Life

Paxton turned 4 on Saturday! (November 21) He had a specific list of what he wanted to do.  1.) Pancakes and bacon for breakfast. 2.) paw patrol birthday cake. 3.) Chuck E. Cheese  4.) His friend Brennan to go with him to Chuck E. Cheese. It was a pretty easy list that we were able to do.  Some things about Pax to remember at 4: *weighs 39 lbs *can count to 11 and knows the letter "p". He can also spell his name! Knows his shapes. *loves the color green.  *loves chocolate milk, bubblegum as a treat, and will eat chocolate donuts at any time of the day.  *vey adventurous and daring. Scares us with his acrobat skills. He runs super fast is not afraid of trying new things.  *will pick up spiders. We had to have a serious talk with him about not picking up any spider except a daddy long leg. We had an incident a few months ago where he picked up a black widow, and just recently, a brown recluse. Very scary.  *loves his new baby brother and is very caring a...

I guess I should write about Huxley's birth before I forget! Here's the last picture of me pregnant at 38.5 weeks. This is my face when I realized it was really happening. I went in on Monday, November 9 at 8:00 a.m. for my last weekly visit. I did the usual urine deposit and it revealed I had protein present. My blood pressure was also in the 140's. When the doctor did a cervical exam, I was dilated to 3 and almost completely effaced. I had a stomach virus all weekend and was not sure if I was in labor or if the pain was from the virus. As it turns out, I was sent over to labor and delivery to get the show on the road. Since I was scheduled just a few days later on November 12th for my Csection, the doctor decided we needed to go ahead now rather than me go into hard labor and need to come back in for an emergency.  I got hooked up and ready to go with an iv of fluids and penicillin (since I tested positive for group b strep), they also put in some pepto to help with nause...

Officially one week until we meet our sweet boy. I can't wait! I'm not to the emotional "I'm so done" point, so that's good! I still have energy most days, although I have been more tired because of waking up so much at night or being restless! Sometimes I am exhausted, but cannot sleep once I am comfortable in bed. I'll take the lack of sleep for this little man any day!  Even though I have a scheduled c-section, I am drinking this delicious tea this week to get my body as ready as it can be to have a baby! Maybe he will decide he doesn't want an eviction date and come on his own!  At the doctor, I weighed in at 155. So 30 pounds of gain. This means I have lost 3 pounds the past 2 weeks, but I think it's all water weight! My feet haven't swelled so badly, and I don't feel so bloated. What a relief. My blood pressure was 120/74, which is nice and normal. Platelets are still declining, but shouldn't go down enough for concern by next wee...

This is our 4th kiddo and the first time we decided to decorate a room! We bought Malachi bedding, a crib and changing table, we got Halynd bedding, Paxton got white sheets and a mini crib! Ha! We have an extra bedroom right now (while we haven't sold our house yet...) so we decided to decorate a room for our newest little guy.  Some of my good friends threw a shower for Huxley and I last month. They gave us a perfect gift-the stuff to make a gallery wall! I am no decorator, but Donovan is very good at putting things together! He also had the idea to paint our white rocking chair gray and gold. I love how it turned out! We may make a cushion for it eventually.  Donovan's parents gave us the light teal utility cart. It's perfect for holding diapers, wipes, extra outfits, blankets, burp rags!  When thinking on a "theme" for his room, we were both set on more of a rustic touch, and decided to incorporate arrows. The verse Psalm 127:4-5 " Like arrows  in the hand...

On Thursday I started having severe pain and consistent contractions. They were 5 minutes apart and I felt like I had a super tight belt around my lower back and hips. We were sure Huxley decided it was time to be born. After spending some time in the hospital being monitored, hooked up to an i.v., and a few cervical checks-it was determined that the little stinker was sitting tight. Just to remember-i am dilated to a 1, 80% effaced, -3 station (his head is still quite a ways up), and my cervix is still posterior-(towards the back. It comes forward when it starts to prepare for labor)  My veins are super juicy-when the nurse saw the veins she had to work with, she almost jumped for joy. When she placed my i.v. my blood shot out of my arm. I'm not sure if that is from the extra blood volume from being pregnant or my low platelets.  We were able to listen to his beautiful heart beat for quite a few hours, and it's like sweet music to my ears. My contractions were measuring upwar...

At 37 weeks! I can't believe we only have 14 days left until Hux is born! It doesn't seem like it's real. I have had some signs of labor, so I'm not quite sure he wants his birthday planned for him. At my doctors appointment Monday I was not dilated, but almost completely thinned out. The doctor explained to me that I could imagine my cervix typically looking like a pear, but mine looks like an apple and my water is blushing. Interesting! My water hasn't broken since I had Malachi 8 years ago! She also said she could feel a foot up by his head! Which makes sense because I have a lot of pressure and could only feel one leg/foot on the left side of my stomach. I thought he was just tightly wound. I lost a pound this week, and may because I was retaining water! Making my weight at 157lbs.  I am making use of my shelf while it is available for just a short time more!  Huxley is about 6.5 pounds, 19.5-21 inches long. A winter melon! It sure looks like I swallowed a melon...

We were able to go as a big family this afternoon to a new (to us) pumpkin patch. It was about 90 minutes away, but fun to experience somewhere new with the family. The kiddos really enjoyed petting a few animals, riding on the tractor wagon, taking a hay ride, the corn maze, a pumpkin bounce house, painting mini pumpkins, eating apples, and picking pumpkins in the patch. I love fall!  There was a sweet Australian shepherd and the kids love dogs, so they just had to say hi!  I am certain when I say they would live on a farm.  We are so fortunate to have Donovan's mom, dad, and brother live in the same town we do. It sure makes going on family adventures a lot more fun!  They love the corn maze. We usually just walk around aimlessly until we find an entrance or an exit.  Pax sat as close as he could get to the tractor. He is a big fan!  They enjoyed going through the pumpkin path and picking their very own pumpkins!  Getting the pumpkins to the car was ...