Sydney

Our little girl is now here. Sydney Stewart was born on August 14, 2009 at 3:41 pm. Weighing in at 7 lbs. 15 oz. and was 19 inches long. Gene and I went in at 7:00 am and I was induced at about 7:30 am. So, that is about 8 hours of labor. Half the amount of time that my labor was with Ethan. Everything was going well until Syd decided to put her hand up over her head while in the birth canal. Thankfully I had my epidural before then, because the doctor had to manually move her arm back into the right place. Ouch is right! From then on, everything was good again. When the time came to start pushing, the doctor came in and got everything ready for delivery. A big light came down out of the ceiling and so did a mirror. That means I got to watch the delivery too. I thought it might be kinda gross to watch, but I was wrong. Watching my sweet child be born was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Not gross at all. After 9 minutes of pushing, our angel was born. She is healthy and happy. Our hospital stay was very pleasant. I had wonderful nurses named Kim and Julia, and the food was pretty good too. We got to bring Syd home on Sunday afternoon. It was kind of strange to have a baby back in the house. We were soon reminded about how much sleep we weren't going to be getting. Other than the lack of sleep, it has been so much fun to have an infant. She really is a beautiful child. We can already see bits of her personality coming out. She is so sweet. We truly are blessed.

9 Months

Here we are at 9 months pregnant. Wow, that sure came fast! We are all prepared and ready to go...well, as much as we can be anyway. We are registered at the hospital, have the car seat in the car and have the nursery all set up. So, here's the plan...I have a non-stress test later today and another one on Tuesday. Sydney slowed down a lot in her movement, so while the doctor is out of town for a few days he wants things to be monitored. We're not really worried about anything, but the doc just wants to make sure. Why do the doctors always leave town when you might need them the most? Goodness. Anyway, I am scheduled to have my labor induced on Friday the 14th of August. It is 4 days earlier than my due date, and exactly one month before Ethan's birthday. Dr. Brown is a little worried she may be a big baby. Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but as long as she's healthy, I'm happy.

We aren't quite sure how Ethan is going to take to his new baby sister. He really is a tender child, but sometimes I'm afraid he might not understand that she is not a doll. He is sweet with the babies and the baby dolls at work, but this is different. I suppose we'll just roll with the punches...like we do with everything else.

Well, that's the update for now. I'm guessing the next post will be about our sweet little girl. Yay!

Lagoon

A few weeks ago we got to go to Lagoon. Gene's sister Camille got us discount tickets through her work...Holiday Oil. Good thing Gene doesn't feel awkward seeing all the people that he used to work for! Anyway, this was Ethan's first time going to an amusement park. We were wondering what his reaction would be to riding on the rides. Thankfully, he did pretty well. He was kind of scared at first. We first put him on a little whale ride that just went in a circle. I think it went up and down too. Poor kid didn't know what to think. His eyes got all red and he chewed on his finger the whole time. No tears though. He did pretty well for the most part. I think he enjoyed the rides that he got to sit by his cousins. Unfortunately, most of the kiddie rides have to be ridden alone. Not very good planning on their part. All in all, I think he had a good time.

I'd say the only down side to our fun day was the weather. It was raining for a good portion of the day. Ever put an adult size poncho on a toddler? Well, we did. For the most part we stayed pretty dry.

We got to see some friends too. Chad and Stephanie Rowley were there with their family too. They are some good friends of ours. They have a son 9 months older than Ethan. They also have a brand new baby girl. It was fun to see them in passing going from ride to ride.

Too bad for Gene, he didn't get to ride a lot of adult rides. I think he felt badly that I couldn't ride anything. We mostly focused on Ethan having fun. Gene got to ride a few things, but I wish he was able to go on more.

At the end of the day, Holiday Oil fed us all dinner. It's kind of funny that a gas station company would feed all the employees and their families gas station food. Sandwiches and chips. It was still really good though. At least I worked up an appetite. Then again, I am pregnant, so I guess that doesn't say much.

Job Update

Wow, I haven't blogged in a while. I'd say it's about time! I thought I'd focus this little entry on updating everyone on Gene's job situation.

Last time I wrote about our employment situation, Gene was going to be a Manager in Training for Sinclair Oil. Well, that time came and went fairly quickly. After only about 3 or 4 months of that position, he was promoted. Instead of a 30 minute commute twice a day, he now has a ten minute commute to his very own store. Yes that's right, Gene is now a manager! He is working at a very nice station on 10600 South and about 20th West. Not too far from our house. So far he has been having a little trouble with a few employees. Some of the people there aren't quite adjusting to the "young kid" that is now their boss. We both understand that completely, but Gene is very qualified for the job. I suppose if they don't like it, they can leave. There are plenty of people out there right now who need employment. Everything else seems to be going pretty well.

We are extremely excited for this opportunity. Money of course will still be tight, but it won't always be that way. When Gene left Holiday he thought he wouldn't get an opportunity like that again. For the short time he was doing other jobs, he was wishing he could find something in management again. It didn't take long for that to happen. Only about a year and a half. I knew he could do it. I am so proud of him.

He has had his store for about a week now. Getting everything in order keeps him there for some pretty long days, but that won't last forever. He works very hard and we know someday it is definitely going to pay off! As long as we follow our plan of being debt free and not living excessively, we'll be just fine. As our friend Dave Ramsey says, "Live like no one else, so later, you can live like no one else."

When the Cat's Away

So you know that saying "When the cat's away, the mice will play"? Well this video is certainly a good example. Tuesday night I went out with Gene's sisters and parents to a concert. So, it was boys night in at our house. I guess this is what happens when Mom isn't home. This video shows why I love my awesome little family so much! Enjoy!

Ethan's New Do

With it being warmer weather outside lately, we decided that Ethan should lose the long hair. He plays really hard and is a really sweaty kid. We figured it was about time to give him a big boy, summertime haircut. I was really worried about cutting off all cute, blond hair. I was afraid he wasn't going to look like my little boy anymore. So, the other day we took him to a salon that specializes in children haircuts. It was called Cookie Cutters. This place was amazing. There was a play set with a slide and everything. When it came time to get his haircut, he got to sit in the airplane chair. In front of the airplane chair there was a TV that was playing Monsters Inc., one of Ethan's favorite movies. Within 15 minutes of walking in the door, we were all done. The woman who cut his hair was amazing. She was very interactive and made sure Ethan knew everything that was happening. She even saved a little baggy of hair for me. I know it's not his first haircut, but this was a big boy cut. It's different. He still looks like my little boy, just an older, big, little boy. I think we made a good decision. Here are some before and after pictures.

Stewart Castle

So, our child is spoiled. I won't deny it. Because Ethan has been so sick lately we decided that we wanted to get him something special. We didn't know what this something would be until we spotted "Stewart Castle". That's what I call it anyway. It is a giant blow up jumping castle. It was on sale for 50% off, so we bought it. Yes, a major impulse buy.

You should have seen his face when he walked into the room. He was so excited... which made us really excited. This castle included 24 balls and 2 blow up spires. The castle has holes in the walls so you can push the balls through them. He got that part instantly. Smart little guy.

We are moving the house around right now, so the room the castle is in is only temporary. It will soon be in the room that Gene and I are currently using. We are moving our bedrooms downstairs. So our current room will soon be the play room. This room will better accommodate such a large play toy.

Anyway, enjoy the pictures. We've had a lot of fun with this thing!