back to the new normal.

Ok. Admittedly "normal" is used very loosely around here. We have been snuggling babies and doing fun hair! I am still so thankful that we made it through pregnancy and my energy is back!Taylor is hard at work back to school. He goes to class one day a week and is taking an online class too. My parents have been awesome and taken the kids a few Saturday mornings so he can study and I can rest or clean. I think my nesting comes after the baby gets here. I was so excited to completely redo our filing system this week:)

Little bald baby. You can't see the awesome mullet he is rocking in the back. I feel like he could end up with much lighter hair than the other two kids...we'll see. I caught the faintest beginning of a smile.

Made some home-made laundry detergent.

No one mentioned when you add the washing soda is boils over like a volcano leaving a huge mess the consistancy of mucous all over everything. Thankfully is is soap so is cleaned up fairly quickly. I still need to go back with a q-tip and get some of the tiny areas. Caught the kids reading together on the couch. Katie was muli-tasking. Nursing her baby and teaching Levi.

Making "A for Alligator" crafts.

Foam teeth.

Grayson - 1 month

The first month of having 3 kiddos has been such a great time. Taylor just went back to work full-time last week. So we had lots of time as a family of 5 to hang out. Taylor and I also got to take turns napping and wrangling children. Grayson is super mellow and laid back. He eats, is awake for a little and then back to sleep. He is up 1-2 times per night sometimes 3. He is the least efficient nurser of any of my kids. He likes to take his own time at things. Weird Grayson fact: When I burp him he always burps twice. He sleeps in his carseat like nobody's business. Both the other 2 would never do that, so it is really strange to me. He is giving us small smiles and I even got a giggle yesterday. He likes to hear his own voice too. He definitely is doing those things sooner than Katie and Levi were. All the hair on the top of his hair fell out so now he has an awesome mullet. He is such a wiggler just like he was inside of me. His little arms and legs are in constant motion. By one month old Grayson has already been to Ikea, gone on his first sled ride, gone to the zoo, celebrated Christmas and the holidays and met the entire immediate family and some extended family. At his 6 week check-up he was 10.1 lbs.

We sure love this little guy!

Caught him mid-sneeze.

The preferred diaper pose. I got like 6 shots like this. Snuggling with Katie. The novelty of having a baby in the house has not rubbed off at all!

This is what Grayson thought of the Broncos/Patriots game.

Grayson's Newborn Pics

We had Grayson's Newborn pics come in and we love them! We used Jonathon Betz and really loved his work! He and his wife were in our birthing class when we were pregnant with Katie! The middle pic is the ONLY one we got with the 5 of us. Levi was not having anything to do with pictures that day. I love that he totally captured Gray and our family. I would totally recommend him if you are looking for pics! We signed up to have our 3-6-9 and 12 months shots of Grayson with them too. Enjoy!

Levi Turns 2!

This sweet little baby just turned 2! Levi has kept his calm and sweet disposition. He is definitely prone to whining now, but I don't know a 2 year old that isn't. He loves trucks, cars, helicopters, animals and "moomees" (movies). he is very focused and I have to make sure I have his attention fully before I ask him to do something. He loves figuring out how things work and trying something over and over until he gets it right. He will take his golf set and practice hitting the ball without getting frustrated. No wild-swinging for this boy. He has a subtle sense of humor and likes to watch for us to laugh from the corner of his eye. He has a wild-shriek that doesn't fit his personality whenever Katie tries to take his toys. He still hates the wind in his face, is not wild about swimming and is a somewhat picky eater. He will whine and then correct himself and say, "Hey Mommy, can I have another one please in the sweetest voice." He has a sensitive little heart and his lower lip will stick out so far if we correct him. We sure love you sweet boy! The truck birthday cake.

He loved us singing Happy Birthday.

He immediately climbed on the table to blow the candles out. Boy on a mission.

Loves him some cake.

Does not love messy hands!

Opening presents. It took a lot of work to get Katie to stop opening everything.We went to the zoo for his actual birthday and he finally liked the carousel

4 days old

Proud Daddy of 3!

Get ready for lots of pictures of a zonked out baby.

Wide awake. We think he looks a little like Smeegal:)

Levi playing with his brother.

Levi and Oakley.

Sucking on his fingers. He rarely gets the chance to since we keep them covered up most of the time. He keeps scratching his face.

Another little old man shot.
Levi hamming it up with the sunglasses.

He has a very concerned face.

zonked.

How old does Katie look? Wasn't she just the baby?

Taylor is the master burper.

Loving our kiddos.

Leaving the hospital.

Ready to go home...whoops, we forgot socks!

He loves to sleep with his hands covering his face.

Hours old.

With our amazing nurse Tarah! We loved her.

Grayson Taylor Andrews

Grayson Taylor Andrews

December 6th 2011

7 lbs 13 oz

Here's the story, complete with all the details:) Sunday night I had contraction every 10 minutes for 4 hours. I was so tired the next morning and bummed to wake up and still not have Grayson here. The whole next day I didn't feel very great, was crampy and had a really sore back. I took a nap in the morning while the kids watched Charlotte's Web and trashed the house. I also took an afternoon nap too. I went to bed that night still hopeful that a baby could come, but not expecting too much. At 3:30 I woke up and started having contractions every 10 minutes again. I was determined to not let this opportunity pass and got up and starting walking figure 8's downstairs from the kitchen to the playroom. I was talking myself and praying through bible verses I had picked out that dealt with fear. We had really been praying against a spirit of fear for this delivery. Within an hour my contractions were every 3-4 minutes, though still pretty short. Only 30 seconds to a minute. I woke up Taylor and called my parents. My parents thought it was the snow-tree for school and missed the first call:) We ended up getting to the hospital at 6 and I was just praying they wouldn't send me home. I had told Taylor the night before that I didn't feel like I could take another day like the one before. Thankfully, they didn't send me home and I was checked into a room. I decided to wait a bit to get an epidural because walking seems to progress my labor really quickly and makes me feel better. I walked for about an hour and then my Dr. arrived. I was having severe back labor at this point and was super bummed because I knew Grayson was probably in the wrong position just like Levi had been. That resulted in an exhausting labor and 2 1/2 hours of pushing. We decided to get some Fentanol and try a bunch of different position to try and get him to flip around. The good news was he hadn't dropped yet, so there was room for him to turn. At around 9 I was exhausted and more than ready for my epidural. Taylor was so sweet and talked me through sitting so still while they gave it to me. After the epidural, I continued trying different positions until the epidural started pooling on one side and the contractions were becoming painful again. Taylor had just left the room for a minute when my water broke and they checked me and I had quickly progressed to a 9. I sat up because I felt really nauseous and the nurse came running back in because Grayson's heart had dramatically dropped and she jokingly said, "he probably dropped didn't like you sitting on his head." They checked me again and were surprised to find that Grayson had dropped completely in a matter of minutes and we were ready to push. I remember feeling like, OK, now the work begins. We took one practice push and Grayson was crowning. 2 contraction later he was born. It was by far the messiest birth of the 3. The cord was wrapped around Grayson's neck so they had to quickly cut it. When they did it was so highly pressurized that it sprayed blood all over me. Then when he was born he decided it would be a great time to go to the bathroom, again all over himself and me. That was quickly cleaned up, and I got to snuggle this little guy we have been waiting so long to meet.

Time to Push!

Last picture with a big ol' belly!
Welcome Grayson!

Taylor and I were both in shock that the birth could go so easily.

He is such a cute little old man:)

Katie finally getting to meet her brother. When she woke up and Grandma was at her house she ran to her closet and got her big sis shirt on.

She loves her brother so much.

Our 3 kiddos!