Fall Fun

At the beginning of this month, we headed to the nearest pumpkin patch with my side of the family for some fall fun. We brought along Dave's sister and brother-in law, who make up the very talented Olson Photography, to snap some shots of our day. It was a fantastic day filled with wagon rides, corn mazes, animals, rubber ducky races,a pumpkin canon, a picnic, and of course pumpkin picking! We are so thankful to God for blessing us with such a wonderful family! Thanks Trevor and Rachel for capturing our day! Here are just a few of the pictures they took.

Our favorite family shot

My brother and his family
mom and dad

Ryan in the pumpkin patch with the quite the find

Duck Races
Dawson looking so grown up Feeding the sheep with grandpa

Ella

Cooper

Mary

Adam

2 months

Nixon is now 2 months old! Here are some of the things he has accomplished in the last month.

Weight: 12lbs (approx)
Favorite Toy: His Noah's ark toy arch. This was also a favorite of his brothers and cousins Trinity, Olivia, and Sawyer. He especially enjoys staring up at the striped arches.
New Tricks: Smiling and cooing.
Sleeping: He is starting to have more awake times during the day, so it has been fun to be able to have more time to play and interact with him. At night he usually has one 5 hour stretch, which I am so thankful for!
Good Baby: He is such a good baby that I catch myself thinking "hey I could do this again". But then I go downstairs to find my 2 year old has covered the floor and freshly cleaned laundry with instant oatmeal, and reality comes rushing back!! So for now I am enjoying every last cuddle with what will most likely be our last little one.

Showing off his new trick

Playing under his toy arch with big brother

Brothers

"A brother shares childhood memories and grown up dreams"

One Month Old!!

Nixon has now been a member of our family for over a month! As I did with the other boys, each month I will take his picture with Eeyore, so that we can see just how big he is growing. Here is a summary of the past month.

Weight: 10lbs (approx)
Favorite activities: Sleeping, eating, sleeping, eating, sleeping....
Dislikes: Dairy (so mommy is now on a dairy free diet. She definitely misses milk chocolate)
Good Boy: Nixon is an excellent baby, he is generally happy and rarely fussy. He is up to feed every 3 1/2-4 hours, so mommy is getting decent sleep.
Brothers: His brothers love him so much. They have welcomed him with open arms into our family, showering him with affection constantly, which is so sweet to watch. Dawson is so proud of his little brother and has been thrilled to show him off at playgroup and preschool. Cooper loves sharing his toys and even his special taggie blanket with baby brother (we'll see if he still feels so generous when Nixon actually wants to play with those toys).

Here are some pictures of Nixon's firsts.....

First bedtime stories

First Bath


First Cuddles

First Naps

The Story and Conversations With A Three Year Old...

A few of you have been curious about Nixon's arrival and the how the whole delivery went. I've been meaning to post his story for the past 3 weeks, but with all the adjustment and lack of sleep, it hasn't happened. But today I have oodles of time, thanks to my mother-in-law who has kidnapped the big boys for the day and an infant who is still in the sleep most of the day stage!

So for those of you who are interested in Nixon's arrival story do read on. Those who find discussion about childbirth disgusting, simply skip this post!

Early on in my pregnancy, I was warned by my friend Lisa (who has been a maternity nurse for over 10 years) that the third pregnancy and delivery can often be different then the first two. I didn't really believe her at the time. But once I had made my third trip up to unit 25 with what turned out to be false labour, I began to see the truth in her statement.

On the morning of August 5th, I woke up feeling really crampy, but this was not a new feeling. Dave came and said goodbye to me and headed out the door to work. I decided to get up and use the washroom only to discover that I was bleeding (this was definitely something I'd never experienced before) and not just a little bit, a lot! I quickly ran to the front door and yelled for Dave, who thankfully hadn't left yet. We quickly made some phone calls, Grandma A. soon arrived and we were off to the hospital. We arrived at 7:30am and they admitted me right away. They had an obstetrician come exam me and he determined the bleeding was caused by my cervix dilating and that I was simply going into labour (for real this time). At around 9:30am, I started to have light contractions about every 10 minutes. At noon the doctor came to examine me and found that I was about 6cm. He said that if I wanted he could break my water and things would probably happen pretty quickly. But, he also said that baby's head was not fully down, so it could also take a while, it was a gamble. I opted to wait and let things happen naturally, my contractions were still mild and only every 10 minutes anyway. At 2:30pm my contractions started to get more intense (still very manageable) but still only every 10 minutes. I stayed this way until 5:00pm when the doctor returned. He examined me and found I was at 8cm, baby's head had dropped completely and it was time to break my water. water. He broke my water at 5:10pm and after some pretty intense contractions and only 2 pushes, Nixon arrived at 5:28pm!!

We are so thankful to God for allowing everything to go so smoothly, especially after 3 false alarms. Nixon was born at 37 weeks and 4 days, which is considered term! We are so blessed!

On a funny note:

Conversations With a Three Year Old....

Dawson: "Mom let's play hospital and pretend you're having a baby again. I'll be the doctor and I'll give you your water in a plastic cup, so you don't have to worry about it breaking this time!!!!"

Happy Birthday Cooper!!!

Happy 2nd Birthday Cooper, you are becoming such a big boy! Since you reached 18 months old, you have been determined to let us know that you were no longer a baby, by refusing to wear a bib, insisting on eating with a real fork, and having a meltdown when your food was cut into small pieces. We love your curious nature, busyness (yes even that), obsession with mighty machines, sense of humour, the way you pretend to be cookie monster when you eat and make a mess of the kitchen, your desire to do everything your big brother can do, and the fact that you love to cuddle. Really we could go on and on. We can't wait to see what this next year holds for you! We love you little man.

Introducing.....

Nixon Peter Yates Andrus

Born: August 5, 2010 at 5:30pm (2 1/2 weeks early)
Weight: 6lbs, 5oz
Length: 18 3/4"
Hair: Blond (I know everyone is wondering if we have another red head!)
Name Significance:
Nixon:"son of Nickolas" picked simply because we liked it.
Peter: named after his great grandpa Peters (yes Pete Peters!) he passed away when I was one years old, but I know he loved kids and would have loved to meet my boys!
Yates: named after his great great grandpa Foxall who had a wonderful impact on my life growing up, he lived to 102 years old! Nixon we hope you inherit his zest for life and love of chocolate!

More details to come, but for now it's nap time!