Two Birds, One Stone

Since I am not one for jewelry, I decided to get something that I thought Randi might like more than a little bling for the "push present" (which in this case is more like a slice and dice present). I got her a weekend away from all children in Chicago to see Dave Matthews Band at Wrigley Field.

Not to sound too selfish, but I love this town and I love Wrigley. There is also another bonus for the concert being on September 18th. We will be celebrating our 7th wedding anniversary (9/20) in the Windy City. It should be fun.

Our First Week with Ridley

We made it!! It was a jam packed week. I am glad I was able to take the whole week off of work.

As you know, Ridley came into the world on Friday, July 9th. Randi was in the hospital until Sunday evening. She was doing well with recovery and decided to go home a day early. She is having some residual swelling that has kept the Carpel Tunnel biting. On Monday and Tuesday, we made trips to the lactation consultants at the hospital. Nursing is one thing Randi really wanted to make an effort to do that we were not able to be as successful as we had wanted with Parks and Wyatt. It has taking some time and patience, but I think that Ridley is getting the hang of it quite well. It is amazing that, as a species, we have breastfed successfully without pumps, and ointments, gel packs, and consultants for eons.

On Wednesday, we had a little scare. With the breastfeeding, there comes some irritation, and with the irritation there came a little blood. Apparently, Ridley ingested some and it did not settle well on his stomach. He spit up once with out fanfare, much like Parks used to, but the second time his spit up, it was a blood and milk mixture with several blood clots. We were a little panicked but got on the phone with the pediatrician and the lactation consultant to find out that it is not uncommon. That same evening, Randi was still pretty swollen and now had a severe headache. She checked her blood pressure on my mom's portable unit, and it was extremely elevated. After a very long evening and a trip to the emergency room, everything turned out to be normal.

We made a trip to the OB on Thursday to follow up on the elevated blood pressure. Again, everything came back normal. We were very relieved that there were not a serious complications. To add insult to injury, myself, Randi's mom and my mom all ended up on antibiotics this week for some kind of strep-like infection. Needless to say, it has been anything but a boring first week at home.

On Friday, we took Ridley to the pediatrician for his one week well check and to weigh him. At the hospital he went from 8 lbs, 14 ounces to 8 lbs, 4 ounces. One week after his birth, he weighed in at 9 lbs, 2 ounces.

He has been feeding like a champ.

Parks can not give enough of him. He has given him his toys, and wants to touch and kiss on him constantly. It is so sweet.

All in all, this delivery and stay at the hospital went much smoother than last time. It certainly didn't hurt that we had a very healthy baby to take home, as well.

I guess we are now, "Two by Two, Plus One"

Pictures of Ridley

Ridley and daddy after he got weighed and measured.

Everything went great with his evaluation, scoring a 9 on his Apgar.

Ridley's first photo with mommy and daddy.

Big Tom with Parks and Ridley. Parks wanted to touch him constantly. He was soooo sweet.

Daddy and Ridley with Parks and Wyatt wearing their new presents from Ridley...Woody and Buzz hooded-towels.

Ridley is Here!!

Ridley was born this morning at 7:5o, kicking and screaming. He came out at a whopping 8 lbs, 14.8 ounces and 21 inches long. That makes him a full 1 1/2 lbs more than Parks and Wyatt's birth weight combined. Pictures are coming!!

The Date Is Set

We are heading in tomorrow morning the C-section. The surgery is scheduled for 730AM. Our parents have been informed, their bags are being packed, and hitting the road. Dinners are being planned and set up for delivery. We have received a lot of support as we moved through this pregnancy.

Randi finished her pre-op blood work a little while ago. Everything went well at her last exam. We are excited about tomorrow. I knew that we are both ready to meet Ridley. Parks and Wyatt appear to be excited too, although we are reminding them that babies do cry a lot and need a lot of help.

Pray for us tomorrow. We are hoping that everything go smoothly with the surgery and that the recovery is speedy.

Brotherly Love

He's Almost Here

The time is drawing near for Ridley to join our family. Although Randi is not due until Tuesday, July 13th, we were actually scheduled a C-section tomorrow, Tuesday, July 6th. We have been holding out hope that Randi will go into labor and that Randi would be spared a C-section, but the last couple visits to the doctor have not been promising.

We are now looking at rescheduling for the end of this week for Ridley's birth. Pray for us. We are in a mad dash to get the house ready to have another newborn in the house again.

Potty Animals

We are now in the thick of it. It is round number two for potty training for Parks and Wyatt. We have been gearing up for this for some time now and really wanted both of them to be diaper-free when Ridley gets here. Parks always seemed to be a little more ready for this than Wyatt, but we hoped that Parks would drag Wyatt along with him as his motivator. Even now, we have little battle of competition between the two (for toys, where to sit at the table, who closes the front door, which color sippy cup to use, etc., etc., etc.).

Our first attempt was met with little success. We couldn't get through the constant accidents they both were having, although Parks always wanted to finish up in the potty. Wyatt was not so eager. We were on ever-vigilant puddle patrols. We tried all the videos for a happy, fun, fantastic potty time. There were some interesting things on those videos. We tried some interactive books about the topic. Nothing really seemed to click with them.

Another month passed, and Parks was really starting to get uncomfortable with diapers. He began very aware of their presence, especially when full. On the other hand, Wyatt was not so much. He could sit for hours in a poopy diaper and not care. We tried M&M's and small Tootsie Roll pops as motivators (M&Ms for number 1 an Tootsie Roll pops for number 2). Parks really started to get it. Wyatt was still showing little interest, but we made every effort to include him in the process. Parks was doing well with the pee-pees in the potty but was still having problems (or apprehensions) with number 2. He is already prone to getting backed-up and holding out to go on the potty complicated the matter. We finally tried incorporating a chart that had been helpful for a friend of ours where for every fifth successful "big job" was rewarded with a special toy just for him. Not to be left out, we also made a chart for Wyatt where he could get a special toy on every fifth pee-pee in the potty.

This last weekend we took Parks to the "Blue Store" (Wal-mart) to pick out his third special toy. Wyatt still has an empty chart, and when we ask him if he would like to try to pee-pee on the potty, his answer is a matter-of-fact "no." We still keep asking.

What is in a Name?

We are now 3 weeks away from the scheduled C-section and have finally agreed upon a name for the next addition to our family. So, after much hair-pulling and gnashing of teeth, we can finally present it to you all. The next member of our growing basketball team is:

Ridley Thomas

It will not be long now before he gets to meet his two big brothers!!

Birthday Presents

Guess what the boys favorite present was from their birthday: Woody and Buzz Lightyear!!


They have asked to wear these pajamas every night this week and multiple times to wear them to school.

P.S. - These are our silly faces.

Happy 3rd Birthday - Parks and Wyatt

Addition and Subtraction

As you can imagine, a lot has gone on over the last 6 months since we last blogged. There are too many to name here, but there are a couple changes that have occurred in which I would be remissed not to bring to light here today.

Subtraction:

A few weeks ago, Randi and I decided to put Dante to sleep. He had been diagnosed with cancer several months ago. Over the couple weeks we had him, he really began to go downhill fast. He was having trouble getting around but always seemed in good spirits. That made the decision even worse. We finally made the decision because we did not want to get into a situation where it would be an emergency. It would have been traumatic for the boys and Randi would have had to performed a feat of Herculean proportion to get him in the car to rush him to the vet. Randi has been taking it hard. Randi got him when she was single, just before we started dating. He has been with her/us through our marriage and the birth of Parks and Wyatt. From here on out, any other dog we have will more than likely be considered our kids dog rather than our own. He will be missed....Ole' Darth Dante (bba).

Addition:

We also found out late last year that Randi is pregnant again. It was a complete surprise to the both of us. We were in the beginning stages of exploring the option of adoption when we got the news. Everything is looking very well so far and the baby will be born the middle of July. And, yes, there is only ONE baby in there. Randi has had a lot of nausea with this pregnancy and was determined that this was an indication that we were having a girl. So much for woman's intuition. We got our anatomy scan ultrasound yesterday and learned that Parks and Wyatt are going to have a baby brother.

As my coworker said yesterday, Randi doesn't have a chance with the toilet seats now.