more pictures

I couldn't resist adding more pictures.

Aunt Emily holding her precious nephew.
Aunt Amanda holding her new nephew!
The Grandma corner....I had wonderful support while in labor! My mom and Cole's mom were there...my mom only lasted till midnight....Cole's mom was there to witness the birth as well as the knots!

My dad and sister. Amanda was a trooper and stayed to meet her nephew.
Good thing Cole had company! He was a trooper from the moment I woke him at 4am on the 30th to tell him "this is it!" till the moment I delivered at 1:01am on the 31st! Emily also stayed to witness Joshua's birth...she thought it was "really cool!"!

Happy Birthday, Joshua!

Sorry it's taken me so long to post this! As you can imagine I've been busy with a baby! I am now 13 1/2 days postpartum and feel like I have regained some control in this crazy world of ours.Joshua was born August 31st, 2010 at 1:01am. I was in labor for 22 hours from start to finish! I labored at home with Cole and Cameron for 16 hours. By early evening I had had enough and was ready for an epidural! So we dropped Cameron off at the farm with Grandma and Papa and made our way to the hospital. When we checked in I was dilated to a 5 and contracting regularly every 3-4 minutes. I had my epidural by 8pm and enjoyed about two hours of "zero-pain". I was complete and ready to push at 12:30am. My wonderful doctor arrived at 12:55am and broke my water (yes, broke my water!!!) at 12:57am. I pushed a total of 6 times over 2 contractions and delivered Mr. Joshua 3 minutes after my water broke!

He was born healthy as could be! Nursed for the first two days of his life! and is still

nursing like a champ!

Obviously after giving birth I was a little distracted to I missed the big "Oh, MY, GOODNESS.... from my doctor after delivering the placenta. I later found out that Joshua is quite the miracle. He had two knots in his cord. My OB, his Pediatrician and all of our labor and

delivery/postpartum nurses had never seen such a thing. Dr. Carbonell has seen plenty of knots in the cord but never two knots. He went on to tell me that the cases he's heard of have delivered still-born babies!

Cameron has adjusted well, all things considered! He has a "hard day" every once in a while but voices his concerns or problems and we do our best to work through them! It's still crazy to me that I now have two children I'm responsible for. It's still weird to use "the kids" or "the boys" in a sentence!

Bitter-Sweet!

Today would be one of those bitter-sweet days....

I miss Grandma so much! I have been brought to tears (probably due to these dang pregnancy hormones) more than once today...as I have been reminded of her. Although I know she is happy and some where far more beautiful than here....I still miss her and I still wish I could talk to her and hug her and share my joy with her. As the end of my pregnancy approaches I wish I could share it with her.

On a happier note....We are scheduled to be induced next Tuesday the 31st of August. If for some reason Joshua decided to make his appearance before than...he will be welcomed with open arms...however, it's unlikely and I am thrilled to finally see the end!

Cole's Sister Mandi and her family will be on Friday Sept. 3rd to baptize their son on Saturday the 4th. I am a little disappointed that I will miss the festivities but thrilled that Cole won't be tied down to the hospital. I may venture out to the farm for dinner one night.

I am finishing up my to-do list and hoping I haven't missed anything. We are officially on baby count down....7 days and counting!!!!

Baby?

No, we haven't had the baby yet!

Amber

36 weeks and 3 days----

ONLY 3 Weeks and 3 days left!!!!

And boy am I ready! I not only feel huge in the belly....but I feel huge every where. This monster is measuring in at 40 weeks. My body is taking a beating daily....he may turn out to be a very sweet baby boy....but I am constantly asking him to STOP!!! It seems as if he wants to come out and beat on his big brother.

I have blood pressure issues when I'm pregnant! Like through the roof numbers....I've been able to have normal blood pressure for most of this pregnancy thanks to my meds. However, Monday....the numbers weren't so pretty. The good news is it doesn't seem to be affecting him, He is growing as he should and moving as he should. Me on the other hand....I am so swollen, I have very little feeling in my right hand...thanks to swelling and pregnancy carpel tunnel....I also lose feeling in my left hand at night. My ankles are well not there anymore...and I can't bend my toes!

The Good NEWS. I am dilated to 1 1/2...which means absolutely nothing other than that my body is showing signs of wanted to do this....I sat, dilated to 2 with Cameron for 4 weeks! However, My Doc is concerned about my BP and if I have not delivered by 39 weeks will induce...or of my BP is too high again will consider inducing. I don't want to hear the horror stories...I was induced with Cameron...Everything went as it should and I had a beautiful baby boy in may arms after 7 hours of labor. Although I hope for a nice easy delivery, I know that things can go wrong NO MATTER WHAT. Yes, there's a higher risk of C-Section with induction....but there's also a high risk of C-Section if my blood pressure is too high! All I care about at the end of the day is that my beautiful son is in my arms...healthy!

So in, hopefully, 2 1/2 weeks we should have our bundle of joy.....

Cowboy Cameron

We took care of the farm while Cole's family was on vacation for a couple of weeks. I will never again farm sit....I've done it several times and it seems as if everything that could go wrong does go wrong! I've had sick goats....goats that have had babies...a cow with mastic...this time around we have had a dog go missing and there is still no sign of him and a truck blow up!

On the brighter side of things, I looked out the window the other day to find my son riding the dog! Yes, the dog was the horse and Cameron was trying to lasso the bull. Here are some pictures of the fun....don't mind that fact that he's wearing a cowboy hat that's way too small for him...oh and he's only in his undies!

A Calf?

When I pictured my life, I never, in a million years would have thought I'd be such a farm girl. I don't necessarily enjoy the farm life but I manage. As you may recall last winter Cole and I milked the Cow. Actually milking started with milking the goats. But when push came to shove last winter, Cole and I milked the cows...picture me...finding out I am expecting....with morning sickness milking a stinky animal! Keep in mind last winter we have terribly cold weather...morning of 8 degrees. We would go to the milk parlor and have to sprinkle salt to melt the ice before the cows could come in. We would have frozen hoses...morning after morning and have to haul water into the parlor to clean with. You get the picture...remember I am pregnant!

Fast forward several months...I am still pregnant and am milking a cow again! Thank goodness for this little business my mother-in-law started. It has literally saved Cole and I more than once! As much as I would rather not be milking a cow at 36+ weeks gestation, I am very grateful for the opportunity to be able to make some money while Cole continues the job search. He does most of the work anyway. My job as of late has been to feed this little guy....

We had extra milk for a couple of weeks and Lorie thought it would be a good ide

a to buy a calf to feed the extra milk to. After talking it over, Cole and I decided we wouldn't mind paying for the calf as we would make a small profit later.

Cole took on the job of bottle training him....

Jack is so sweet. He takes his bottle like a champ now, eats his hay and even drinks a full bucket of water a day! Cameron loves him and loves that he doesn't run from him anymore. I never thought in a million years that I'd own a calf....But I do!