A Whale of a Time

I knew if we had another kid after Noelle Bryan wouldn't have the luxury of being home for weeks between the end of the bar exam and the start of a new job. In fact, Kellen's arrival coincided with a busy time at work for B so he was actually back to work last Tuesday, the day after we got home from the hospital. And this Wednesday morning, Kellen's 10th full day of life, Bryan hopped a plane to Phoenix for a work event. Knowing this was coming, we booked a ticket for my mom to fly up and help me drive the 3 little ones (including our beloved Maddie) to the OBX to see Pop Pop, Uncle Mike, and Dakota.

We got an early start to stay ahead of DC rush hour and despite three stops, the trip took about 6 hours. The first half of the trip Ellie and Kellen both slept. The second half not so lucky! Noelle chatted happily but her brother let us know every few minutes how done he was with the whole car seat thing. We did finally make it here around noon and everyone survived the trip including Maddie who now must sit behind the passenger seat on the floor. Thank goodness we have a 28 pound mutt and not a huge golden retriever or something!

Since arriving it has been a bit crazy. Maddie loves my parents new husky puppy except for when he wants to play every minute and she just wants a break! We also can't put Kellen down anywhere but his pack and play for fear that he'll get Dakota kisses that have a few paw prints accidentally mixed in. Noelle hates to nap here and also gets up earlier than normal since there is a lot of noise and excitement early each day. So basically we are all tired (except the little man who still gets in his 20+ hours of beauty sleep in)! But we are having fun and I'm thankful not to be on my own with the little ones and Maddie this soon.

The weather has been beautiful so far so we've done a few walks.


Walking Dakota with Pop Pop


On the Beach

Ellie is afraid of the ocean again and wants to be carried on the beach by grandma or Uncle Mike adding some arm workouts to the walk! We also took the crew down to the newly built Nags Head pier and watched the ocean, fishermen, and zillions of pelicans feeding in the water nearby. Noelle then did an arts and crafts class there, learning about whales and dolphins and then painting her own whale. She mostly painted herself it seemed but she had a lot of fun!


Watching the Pelicans


Noelle's Whale!


Kellen's Contributions

The weather has turned windy and a bit colder for the rest of our trip so we are not exactly sure what is on the agenda - hopefully sleep! We are just excited to miss the possible October snow in Maryland!

One Week Old

It seems crazy Kellen has already been here for a week! He is doing great so I thought I'd do a quick update. Kellen was down to 7.5 pounds when we hit the doctor Tuesday, close to the 10% weight loss cusp, so he had a return trip Friday and had gained 3 oz back. He certainly loves to eat so Dr. Burke expects him to be back to his birth weight early next week. We go back Tuesday for his PKU and another weight check and then hopefully won't need to go back until he is one month.

So far at least Kellen is a pretty easy baby. He really only cries during diaper changes or if he feels we are starving him. He is awake a bit more each day, but sleeps most of the day. This is certainly a welcome change since his sister never slept during the day unless we were on a walk or in the car from pretty much her first day of life. Kellen is also doing a pretty good job sleeping at night, doing 2.5 - 3.5 hour stretches between feedings. I do dread the middle of the night diaper change as it is pretty much a guarantee he'll pee during it, requiring an outfit change. Thus far I have not been peed on, but I'd estimate he pees during changes at least 50% of the time, one of the joys of little boys!

Kellen has been out and about a lot already. We've gone to the playground, walks with Maddie, Target twice, Storyville, and out to dinner. Both grandma's have seen him, and several friends. This week he'll meet Pop Pop, Uncle Mike, and Dakota which should be interesting. Through all of this Noelle has taken most everything in stride. She loves to help and be around her baby brother. She has done pretty well with the jealousy thing, although wants mommy a bit more than usual. Her behavior and listening skills decline in the evening but it is hard to tell how much of that is Kellen and how much is that she is 2! She does sing her brother Twinkle Twinkle each night before bed which is absolutely adorable. Besides still learning to be gentle, I'd say it is going pretty well, and we have made a big effort to do stuff she likes as a family or even just me or Bryan and her the last few days. With more time I think she'll be even more used to the big sister role!

So that's the one week update. We'll post again soon!

Proud Big Sister

We wanted Noelle to meet her baby brother as soon as possible, so after he spent about an hour under the warmer to help bring up his body temperature a small bit, Bryan went home to bring grandmom and Ellie down to JHU. They arrived a bit before lunch and stayed a little more than an hour. Noelle was super excited to meet her baby brother, gave him his first toy, and received a little gift from him. She was also super excited to run around mom's hospital room. Here are some pictures from the first very successful meeting!







Bryan and I had known all along that we wanted to leave the hospital as quickly as possible after the birth this time. I simply can't rest there, and as long as everything was going ok, I saw no reason to stay any longer than necessary. So Monday morning (after a very long night in which Kellen was very angry mommy's real milk wasn't in yet) we got everyone to agree to discharge us. We just had to agree to take our little man to the pediatrician Tuesday when he was 2 days old for a weight check and quick exam. So at lunchtime Monday we were off, a little less than 36 hours after his birth.







At home, Noelle had a chance to further her big sister role and has wanted to hold Kellen ever since we arrived! While I am pleased with her enthusiasm for big sisterhood, her desire to constantly be in his face makes me a bit nervous. But I guess it is much better than her hating his guts! Here are some pictures of the proud big sister from shortly after our arrival.





So all and all Kellen's first two days of life went pretty darn well. We'll post some more pictures and updates soon!

Kellen's Arrival

The Saxton's are adjusting pretty well so I thought I'd take this opportunity to post a bit on Kellen's arrival and to get some pictures of him on the blog. As I haven't even gotten his baby book yet (not that I'm great with filling out Noelle's) posting details on the blog will hopefully help me to record everything for now!

We started Saturday with a big breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes - one of mine and Ellie's favorites! Then like a typical dork, I went to Giant to get ingredients for one last freezer meal before I headed to JHU and we combined the trip with an outing to the local playground for mom, Ellie, and grandma. Bryan got the lawn mowed and we then relaxed for a bit before eating a yummy early dinner together as a family. We saved time for a few quick departure pictures and headed down to the hospital.


40 weeks 4 days


Our last picture as a family of 3

We got to our room a little after 5:30, talked to some people, got my IV in and ready, and waited for things to get started. When they checked me I was about 2.5-3 cm dilated and 60% effaced so some slight progress from the day before. Around 7 they started my IV's and I was given medicine to get a bit further along. This started my contractions which were in the 5-7 minute apart range and got me ready for pitocin which we started at about 11. The pitocin worked right away and I was quickly having strong contractions very close together. In fact, it worked so well they actually turned the pitocin off pretty quickly since the contractions were so intense they were stessing the baby a bit. Nothing that a little but of oxygen for me and a side position didn't quickly solve. I had decided during these contractions that I was going to want an epidural and that was quickly administered. It was kind of funny because I could feel one little section of my left side and was numb everywhere else in the middle during the contractions. They checked me again at 1 and I was 4 cm and 80% effaced with the baby in a -2 position. After an hour more, Jean came in to tell me she was going to break my water. She soon realized that wasn't necessary as I was fully dilated with my leaking water bag and the baby's head about to birth themselves. After a quick set-up I started pushing and was holding Kellen within 8 minutes or so. "Officially," stage 2 of his birth took 13 minutes. Since he wasn't immediately crying and had been slightly stressed during some of the contractions, they took him to check under the warmer for a second but as he immediately began wailing there, after a quick suction they gave him to me to feed for a few minutes and then did his stats.

Kellen scored a 9/9 on apgar (much better than his sister's 6/8 - I guess that is the difference between a few minutes as opposed to a few hours in the birth canal). He weighed 8 pounds 3 oz, was 21.5 inches long, and his head circumference was 34 cm. Besides a tiny bit of bruising on the top of his face from his fast departure in to the world he was in great shape. For his first hour he did some feeding, got a bath, and waited for his mom to be able to walk around so we could be transferred to our room upstairs. We moved rooms around 5:30 or so and settled in to our new digs for the next day.

Here are some of our first pictures of Kellen Matthew:


Still a little gooey!


Our new addition!


Baby Kellen Burrito

Over the next 24 hours, Kellen had a busy schedule. First up, a visit from Big Sister Noelle and Grandmom! We'll post about our day in the hospital soon.

He's Here!

Welcome to the world, Kellen Matthew Saxton! We can't put any pictures in right now since our laptop is at home, but Kellen joined our family at 2:37 am Sunday, October 16. Noelle is exactly 26 months older than her brother as she was born Sunday, August 16th. Kellen and Noelle also share the same birth weight, 8 pounds, 3 oz, and 5 out of 6 letters of their names. What they don't share? First, Kellen has much lighter hair and skin then Ellie did when she was born. He also is a giant, at 21.5 inches. And best of all, instead of a 2.5 day labor ending with 2 hours of pushing, he came out after about 2 minutes of pushing and 7 hours of labor. We are so excited to finally meet our little guy and will post more soon!

Induction Day in T - 1

So Dragon wanted his grandma in MD for his birth so has stayed firmly inside me the past 4 days. I think maybe he is just a considerate little guy and knew my biggest fear with this whole labor thing was actually that my 17 back-up plans for Noelle would all fall through. Now that my mom is here, I don't have to worry anymore about Ellie since my little princess loves every second she spends with grandma. And as it turns out, grandma's arrival today was perfect. When I went to the midwife we learned I've made a bit of progress (about 1.5 cm dilated) but not enough to think we shouldn't schedule an induction date for next Tuesday. And as it turned out, the JHU powers that be didn't like that date, or any day around it, based on the inductions they already have scheduled, so our only choices were tomorrow or next Friday. Since I would be close to 42 weeks next Friday, Jean felt that was just too late, so tomorrow it is. We'll go in tomorrow at 5 and assuming I'm not already in labor I'll be given pitocin to make my dilation progress. Hopefully Dragon will then join us the first half of Sunday. I am hopeful that the fact that I have already had one baby ( and needed pitocin before) means my labor will not be crazy long. We'll see! So keep us in your prayers and we'll let everyone know when the little guy arrives! In the meantime, we are going to spend a lovely Saturday with Noelle, Maddie, and my mom!

Searching for the Great Pumpkin

On Sunday, we took advantage of the continuing beautiful weather, and the fact that Dragon seemed unwilling to join us in the outside world, picked up Aunt Catherine, and drove out to Gaver Tree Farm for our 2nd annual hunt for the perfect pumpkin. If you know Bryan well, you know that Halloween (and pumpkins) have never been his favorite thing. Neither is driving 45 minutes or so each way to do anything. Having said that, I am pretty sure even he enjoyed the day, and he has certainly stepped up in to his role of finding the perfect Great Saxton Pumpkin!

I hoped that the hay ride out to the pumpkin patch would put me in to labor. No such luck, but Noelle loved the ride almost as much as she loved running after her dad through the patch searching for the pumpkin of the perfect color, size, and shape for our front porch. There were several contenders, but in the end only one pumpkin could be chosen. Satisfied with their selection, we all got back on the tractor and switched gears over to the fall festival.















The festival was something that we thought looked really fun last year but Ellie clearly wasn't old enough at that time to enjoy it so we skipped it and headed home at this point. This year, she immediately saw the fun stuff in store and wanted to head over to everything. Mazes, slides, petting farms, bounces, and games were lined up for kids and adults alike. Noelle really enjoyed the slides (with dad), the straw cave, the small hay maze, the goats, and the hula hoop toss game. The bouncy cushion seemed like a good idea to her (she has a great love of moon bounces) but the size of the bounce and the other kids and adults jumping overwhelmed her just a bit. That and the fact that she was getting hungry! So we played for about an hour or so and then enjoyed our picnic lunch before heading home.













I'm really glad we got to do this with Noelle this past weekend as I'm not sure any other weekends in October will be conducive to an outing of this sort. Although with my stubborn unborn child, I am sure Dragon will stay firmly inside for one more weekend! Here's hoping the low pressure system coming up the coast and tonight's full moon work their magic!

Our Updated Bathroom

Bryan completed another house improvement project almost two months ago, and being a picture slacker these days, I am just now getting around to posting on it. Since moving in our house, the room I have probably hated the most has been our first floor half bath. I am not sure if it was the yucky floor, the vanity that was actually a gross looking kitchen cabinet, or most likely, the fact that the walls and even the ceiling were painted an unattractive mauve color, but everyday the room made me sad. And it was one of those spaces you just didn't want guests to go in, but since it was on the first floor, you didn't really have a choice. So when Bryan announced this bathroom would be his next project after the guest room, I was all about it.

This project took only a few weekend days and I will fully say I did absolutely nothing to help other than try to entertain our daughter to keep her out of daddy's way. Bryan painted the ceiling, trim, and door white, the walls the same green we used in the basement guest room, replaced the tile and subfloor, switched out the lighting, and replaced the old kitchen cabinet with a much more modern vanity. The only things left from the original bathroom space are the toilet and the exhaust fan. I am proud of how handy my husband is and how great the space looks!

Unfortunately, we have absolutely zero pictures of this room from before we began the remodel. Here are some with everything ripped out when only the ceiling had been painted:





Post remodel:






It was really hard to get pictures of this space! But I swear it looks great and I am no longer embarrassed to have people use our first floor bathroom. Thanks B!

Still Pregnant...

Yes, I am still pregnant. Dragon is officially due tomorrow, so he has one more day to make his arrival without being late. I know, baby due dates are just guesses and anywhere in the 37-42 week range is considered normal, but I was really confident with all the early contractions and cramps that he'd be an early arrival. Oh well. We did spend the weekend enjoying being a family of 3. Noelle and I played with friends at the park on Friday, had a picnic lunch and playground date together on Saturday, and then the three of us picked up Aunt Catherine and headed to the pumpkin patch and fall festival at Gaver Tree Farm on Sunday. I'll do a post on that soon after we download pictures. I have been trying to give Maddie extra attention too, with some long walks every morning now that the weather is beautiful. And I cleaned the house (for the last time before baby) again yesterday. So we are still ready for Dragon's arrival. Maybe he'll come on his due date as a sign that he is going to be a super cooperative little guy throughout life! Oh, and there is a full moon around 4 am Wednesday morning. So we'll see!

The Homestretch

One week left until little Dragon's due date! Worst case scenario, we should be meeting our little guy in about two weeks time. But hopefully, he'll come before then. Friday-Sunday would really be ideal for me. But at this point it is just that awkward waiting game. And with the waiting comes the fairly pointless and even totally stupid questions/comments. Some of my favorites thus far:

1. You're still here?
This is a common one I get at work. Yes, clearly as I am standing in front of you, I am still here. No wait, actually, I had the baby last night. I just missed you all so much that I stuffed a pillow in my shirt, left my newborn in the hospital nursery, and drove on down. Don't I look good for having just given birth?!

2. Do we have a definitive date and time for the baby?
October.

Um, do you understand how this whole childbirth thing works? I think I've made it pretty clear I don't have a scheduled c-section. So no, we don't know when the baby will come. It's this crazy thing called yup, that's right, when he is good and ready. But, I think we can all guarantee it will be sometime before Halloween!

3. Have you tried long walks, spicy food, warm baths, etc.?
Oh wait, you mean I shouldn't just be lying on my couch all day and night if I want this baby to come? I wondered what I was doing wrong. I'll just stop chasing after my 2 year old, going to work, cleaning my house, making food for my family, walking my dog, etc. and explore (on foot) all of the Baltimore area spicy ethnic food establishments. That will totally make me go in to labor.

4. You are huge. You must be ready for that baby to come. I bet he is like 10 pounds in there.
Thanks. That is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. No, seriously. I think I look great too. And no, he can totally chill in there for forever if he wants. Who needs to be able to bend over and put on shoes or shave their legs standing? And yes, it is awesome that my daughter can run faster than me at this point and that she forgets that her mom used to be a reasonable size! Oh, and 10 pounds. Bring it on! I mean, I'd rather push out a 12 pounder but if he wants to be a teeny tiny 10 pounds that is cool.

5. Two is a whole new ball game.
Actually, I kind of thought it would be the same as one and a dog. I mean dogs are like the same as children, aren't they? I was actually thinking it would be easier this time because Noelle is totally old enough and responsible enough to babysit Dragon. And she isn't possessive of her mommy at all so she'll totally love every second I spend feeding and holding him.


So there you have it. Hopefully the little Dragon comes soon. Whenever he comes, we'll update the blog and Bryan has Dragon's email already set up so we will try to send that out too. Keep us in your prayers for a safe delivery and healthy baby!