1 month

Whoa its been a month! Ashur is really an awesome baby! The second time around has been so much calmer. Nursing is easier, holding him, changing him, sleep is better. There has been no crying in the middle of the night- by me or baby :) Life is going pretty smooth right now. We have stumbled onto an awesome schedule! I know it may not last forever, but I am loving it while it lasts! This is the schedule since 3 weeks old, I know I'm lucky and counting my blessings!

8am nurse

12 nurse

12-4 nap

4 nurse

8 nurse

9-4 SLEEPING THE WHOLE TIME!!!!!

8am start all over again.

My boys start going every 4 hours between feedings pretty young, so I gently encourage the schedule, but excepting that the middle of the night has no rules. Eli didn't get onto this schedule till he was like 4 months old, and Ashur has been doing it like clockwork every night. Anyways, I love it and am starting to feel semi normal again!

We had our 4week check-up with the midwife and we both and checking out fine. Ashur is up to 10.3 lbs- can't wait to see what he is at 6 weeks, cause I think he is chunking up!

What were we thinking???

I don't know what we are thinking, but we are going to move. We have been living downtown Portland for a year now and love it, but with the new baby and a list of problems we are embarking on the adventure of moving in less than a week. Here is the list of reasons and you tell me whether we are making the right choice?
-We live on the 5th floor, thats 64 steps to be exact, 8 flights, with no elevator.
-We have to park our car in a garage that is the equivalent to about 3-4 blocks away
-Our building is about 100 years old and is feeling it.
-I am allergic to something in the building, mold, dust, just plan oldness?
-I wake up with a splitting headache everyday and have had repeat sinus infections.
-There is constant construction in the area, the most recent is a tunnel system nearby that causes little tremor quakes through the building every 5 minutes from 8am-5pm. Old building shaking??? freaks me out!
-Not to mention no dishwasher, no laundry, and no shower! Yep, we have to sit in a bathtub on a step stool and pour a bucket of water over our head to bathe.
I know people deal with worse, but we don't have to. So we are going to do what will make us alot happier and move. Don't get me wrong, we have LOVED our time downtown, but with the new little one, it has made things alittle harder.

oh no she didn't...the birth photos

For those who requested it, here are pics from the birth. If you don't want to see this or if your offended I would post this, then don't scroll down. These are very raw and not the most flattering to me, but they are what they are. By the way, I tried to avoid as much nudity as I could.

I was probably around 7 cen. here when I had to really start relaxing and getting more serious. At this point my dad put on some nice music from his ipod and they started the bath.

Eric was an amazing coach and support person. He never left my side and helped me through ever contraction. He is the greatest.

I am actually pushing at this point. My back and hips were on fire.

ok, baby is not coming in the water, as planned. After an hour in the water, we moved to the bed.Sorry, this is one of the most vivid of my pictures on here (trust me, there were worse ones I chose not to post :) I WANTED THE BABY OUT!!!

Finally! Our baby boy is born after 1 1/2 hard hours of pushing. I was alittle overwhelmed. I actually remember looking down and seeing him come out and realizing, oh yeah, I am having a baby! I got so caught up in the "work" that I forgot I was actually getting something at the end of it all!Happy daddy got to deliver his baby and cut the cord, 2 things he missed out doing with Elijah.
Eli got to come meet his baby within a couple hours of the birth, he loved him!