North Georgia State Fair

On September 27 (the day after my due date), we made our yearly trip to the fair. We went on this specific day with intentions of putting Allison and Kayden in the Beautiful Baby Contest, but didn't get there in time. Oh well, we know they are beautiful anyway! :) Luckily, on the same night, there was a special for the kids to ride unlimited rides for $18. A GREAT deal considering you normally have to pay at least $2-3 per ride (that last MAYBE a minute at most). Of course the kids had a blast!
Here's Allison enjoying some of the rides...

And some of the ones Tyler enjoyed most...

And before we could leave that night, we HAD to win this blow-up squeaking dolphin. Tyler had his eye on it the whole night, and I kept putting it off. I hoped he would eventually forget about it and we wouldn't have to put our life savings into winning one of them. Not so much. So Billy and I took him over in an effort to prove just how UNfair these fair games are. It turned out to be one of those mallet games where you have to make the piece of metal fly up and hit the bell at the top. The guy in charge let Tyler have a trial and it BARELY left the base of the contraption. I showed him how far it really had to go in order to win, but he just KNEW he could do it. Who am I to smash all his dreams, right? So when he had his real chance (after mom and dad forked over $5 for the blasted thing), it didn't go much farther than the first time. However, the kind fair worker immediately reached down with his hand and shot it to the top making the bell ring and then yelled, "WE HAVE A WINNER!" Tyler was exstatic. Thanks for proving me wrong Mr. Kind Fair Worker Guy.

Tellus Science Museum

Back in September, the Smithsonian Magazine hosted a free museum day. Many museums chose to participate, and the Tellus Science Museum happened to be one of them. We had actually already been discussing making a trip to this museum because it has a dinosaur section with a T-Rex skeleton! Tyler would often remind us that we hadn't made a trip to the dinosaur 'moh-zee-um' yet. So, despite the massive crowds we would face and the rainy weather we would most likely encounter, we decided to go for it and take advantage of a free visit! It definitely WAS a mad house, and it DID end up pouring down rain, but we had a great time anyway. Tyler has already been asking to go back!

After taking a few pictures with the Apatasaurus at the entrance of the museum, we decided to get straight down to business and tour the fossil gallery...

Here's Tyler spotting T-Rex for the very first time!

A 4-year-old little boy's dream come true!

Allison was in need of a nap and didn't want to cooperate for a picture with Mommy and the Pteranodons.

The biggest turtle any of us had ever seen (even if it is only a skeleton)!

Here is Allison sporting her happy face, despite the huge fish swimming towards her head!

And I just liked this picture of her too much to leave it out. :)

More museum FUN...

We got to explore the green house, garage, tool shed, and garden in "The Collins Family - My Big Back Yard" area of the museum. This section was created with kids in mind, and is very hands-on. They had fun playing with magnifying glasses, mirrors, magnets, lights, and much much more!

We also toured the "Science in Motion" area of the museum that features forms of transportation throughout the years.

And last (but certainly not least), we got to dig for fossils just like real Paleontologists! This was just as important to Tyler as getting to see T-Rex. He could hardly contain his excitement as we waited our turn in line. Each child was allowed to choose one of the fossils they found to keep and take home with them. Tyler was a bit disappointed to discover that the larger fossils were permanent fixtures at the dig site, and therefore, NOT the fossils he would be allowed to take home with him. He certainly gave it his best shot to convince whoever might listen to his plea to get to keep one of the large, UNREMOVABLE fossils (not to mention that they probably wouldn't even have fit in our car), but nothing is impossible to a 4-year-old. He eventually gave in and chose a super cool shark tooth instead. Allison chose to keep a brachiopod.

It was a super fun day and we will definitely head back there sometime...on a MUCH less crowded day!

Ryan is a Month Old!

Well he's actually 5 weeks now, but like I said before, I'm a little behind. It's amazing how quickly a month goes by! I feel like I was just writing the birth story a couple days ago. Ryan is such a pleasant little baby. He's pretty patient and really only gets upset when he's very hungry, sleepy, or needing his mommy (all just typical reasons for a baby to cry).

So far, Ryan....

LOVES to be swaddled. This is really the only way I can get him calmed down to go to sleep. In fact, he begins to settle down the moment I lay him down and wrap one side of the blanket over him. By the time I'm finished swaddling him, he's almost perfectly content.

has started smiling (awake). I haven't caught a picture of him doing it yet since it's random and quite brief, but when I do I'll be sure to post it!

still has blue eyes. I'll truly be surprised if I end up with a blue-eyed baby, but it looks like it might be a possibility. Tyler and Allison's eyes had changed (or were changing) to brown by the time they were a month old. I've read that they can still change all the way up to 8 or 9 months old, so I guess we'll really just have to wait and see.

wants to be held upright. He gets pretty upset if he's not being able to look around and observe his surroundings when he's awake. We have gotten quite a few comments about how strong he is to be holding his little head up so well. He also tries to keep his eyes open as wide as he can so that he can see as much as possible. This makes the cutest little wrinkles on his forehead!

is a great sleeper. He goes to bed at a very reasonable time, and usually only gets up for 1-2 feedings each night. In fact, for the first couple weeks, I would have to wake him up to eat at least once to relieve MY pain!

HATES his car seat. He's taking after his big brother on this one. Allison was my dream car seat baby, but I guess the boys feel the car seat is so impersonal. He has pitched some good fits while riding in the car!

has started cooing. I just love all the sweet little baby sounds he's beginning to make. I got to drive all the way home from my sister's house listening to him make these precious baby noises! (This was one of the rare moments where he was happy and content in his car seat!)

does NOT want to be held in the cradle position. Even to fall asleep, he'd prefer to be held upright while resting his head on my chest. And as noted above, he better be upright when he's awake, or he'll let you know you're doing it wrong!

is so tolerant of his very loving big brother and sister. It's tough sometimes getting smothered with so much love and attention, but he's a very good sport. He's even quite tolerant of all 2,000 kisses Allison gives him on a daily basis!

We just love this little guy!

Wow, I'm Behind!

I have so many posts to catch up on. Even some from September! And honestly, I don't really know when I'll get to all of them. But I will, eventually, because I want it all documented.
In the meantime, here is a very sweet conversation I had with Tyler this afternoon. We were driving home from my parent's house and had just passed a cemetary.

Tyler: That's where people that are dying go to.
Me: Yes, after they die, their bodies are buried there.
Tyler: I want to live forever.
Me: We will get to live forever after we die and get resurrected.
Tyler: And then we'll come back to Earth?
Me: Actually, we will get to live somewhere even more beautiful than Earth if we do the things Heavenly Father asks us to.
Tyler: Like where?
Me: It's called the Celestial Kingdom.
Tyler: pauses for a moment while he ponders this answer then very sweetly replies, that DOES sound more beautiful than Earth.

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Big Brother and Sister

Thanks to the good ol' flu season and the notorious H1N1, the hospital decided to make a new rule in regards to visitors. All adults were being screened for flu symptoms at the door before being allowed to enter, and absolutely no visitors under the age of 15 were being allowed into the hospital - not even older siblings of the new baby. This made for a very sad and disappointed big brother and sister, who had been so patiently awaiting the arrival of their little brother! (Too bad we didn't know about this rule until we showed up at the hospital on the night of my induction, or we could have better prepared them for it!)
Tyler has literally been counting down the days until Ryan would come, and was just beside himself to find out he would have to wait two additional days to meet him (that's like 2 weeks for a 4-year-old!). The night I had Ryan, Tyler called and talked to me on the phone and asked why they had this new rule and why we couldn't come home yet. He tried to be tough and hold it together, but it was too much for him to take (on top of being away from his home and Mommy and Daddy). Needless to say, his tears were too much for this emotional mommy to take and I had to pass the phone over to Daddy. Poor little guy.
But, as upsetting as this was for him, it made for an even more exciting homecoming with little Ryan. Billy, Ryan, and I got home first and anxiously awaited the arrival of the big brother and sister.

Seeing their baby brother for the very first time...

They just couldn't take their eyes off of him!

So, so happy!

Tyler is greatly enjoying his role as big brother. He has been a great helper and very understanding of the amount of Mommy's time Ryan is taking up. He was even explaining to Allison the other day that Ryan needs to eat a lot so that he can grow strong and healthy. Tyler loves to hold him and does so like a pro. Now he just can't wait for Ryan to get bigger so they can play together!

These pictures capture some of Tyler's first moments with Ryan. He just couldn't get enough and wanted to check out every little body part.

Allison is already a natural little mommy. She's gotten lots of practice with her dolls afterall. She was very possessive over Ryan and didn't want anyone else holding him. And just like any mommy, she just can't give him enough kisses! She's always telling me, "I need to kiss Ryan just a wittle bit." "A wittle bit" means at LEAST once on each cheek, but preferably 2 or 3 per cheek!

Here are Allison's first moments with Ryan. I think she would have held and cuddled with him all night if I had allowed it!

Then on the way home from Ryan's 1st doctor appointment (he was 5 days old), I turn around to see this:

They just love this little guy to pieces!

Introducing...

Ryan Matthew Hadley

Our little man arrived October 2, 2009 at 5:00 p.m.

8 pounds, 2 ounces ~ 19 3/4 inches long

Here's the story of how he entered the world:

My induction was scheduled for Thursday night (Oct. 1). I was told to call at 6:30 p.m. to see if a bed was available (planned inductions don't take precedence for obvious reasons). At that time, there were no available beds but I was told that I was first on the list to be called. They said to call back at 8:00 to see if a bed was ready. When I called at 8:30 it was still a no, and somehow I was now the second person on the list. We got the same answer at 10:00 (it's a good thing I'm a pretty patient person!), and at this point, we just decided to wait for a call from them. Finally at 1:15 a.m. they called and asked how quickly we could be there. Since the kids had already been dropped off at Auntie's house and everything was in the car ready to go, our response was "RIGHT AWAY!"

I had originally been told at my last doctor's appointment that I wouldn't have to have Cervadil to thin my cervix since I was already 50% effaced. I was expecting for them to break my water right away and start me on Pitocin. When I got there and checked in, however, this story changed. They said I needed to be at least 80% effaced before they could break my water. So, I got the Cervadil around 4 a.m. and settled down to get some rest. Four hours later, the doctor came in to break my water (some rest is better than none, right?). After working for what seemed like forever to break my water without even so much as a trickle, he stopped and said "Man, that's a tough membrain. I don't know that you would have ever kicked into labor on your own." Wow, tell me something else I didn't already know! :) Anyway, he said that hopefully he had been successful and I would notice a trickle of fluid in a bit. Sure enough, minutes later there was no denying it had worked.

So at this point, I was started on Pitocin and began the wait for contractions. It actually didn't take very long for them to start, but they weren't too painful for the first few hours. Around 3:00 p.m., however, I decided they were painful enough to have my epidural. With my last 2 deliveries, I was fully dilated and ready to have a baby within 30 minutes to an hour after receiving my epidural. So at this point Billy predicted that we would be having a baby at 3:30. (Side note: My dad had predicted 2:00, and my doctor said he thought he'd come closer to 5:00.) 3o minutes passed, but I was still only dilated to maybe a 6 or 7.

Here's where the story gets interesting. After a couple pain-free hours, I begin to feel each contraction again. Not painfully, I could just tell they were there. But I had this nifty little button to push for a re-dose in case this happened. I double checked whether I was supposed to push the button just once or hold it down, and was told I "could push it until my heart's content." I know why I was told that now. Because the stupid thing didn't do ANY good. I pushed it a total of 4 times (2 of which didn't work because I pushed it too close together, but I was starting to get desperate!). I even gave it the benefit of the doubt and waited longer than the 10 minutes it was supposed to take to take effect. In the meantime, my nurse had issues with another patient and I got neglected as a result. I never got my catheter like I was supposed to, and had like 2-liters worth of fluids in me that weren't being drained! So when I told my NEW nurse I was feeling the contractions very strongly again, she blamed it on the fact that my bladder needed emptied and made me wait to see if I had relief after that. Too bad I think I could tell the difference between a full bladder and contractions, but whatever. AND, she also decided that it was time to reposition me and see if that would get little Ryan to move down and get things going. GREAT idea considering I was still in A LOT of pain and would have liked to have gotten re-dosed on my epidural first! Her little plan worked and within a few painful minutes, I was fully dilated and the head was crowning. So now I'm panicing! This is my WORST nightmare and I do not want to have this baby without being numb. Feel free to call me a wuss. I didn't get blessed with the pain threshold my mother has! At this point the nurse says I have two options. Option #1 - Push, have the baby, and get it over with, or Option #2 - Get my re-dose and wait an hour. I pick option 2, but I think the nurse knew better. The re-dose wasn't helping, so I had to start pushing anyway. So I got to experience child birth al natural. I do have to admit that the pushing/actual birth part wasn't as bad as I dreamed it would be, especially compared to the contractions. The re-dose decided to take effect after Ryan came out, so I at least got to be stitched up from a small tear without pain!

Even with all the pain, it was totally worth it. I adore this little guy, and find it amazing how much your heart can love. He is such a great baby, and everything has gone so smoothly since bringing him home. Don't get me wrong, my time to myself is obviously running a bit thinner these days, and I am having trouble finding a moment to even check my email once during the day! But I honestly wouldn't have it any other way. My email will still be there tomorrow, next week, or even next month, but my little munchkins are growing bigger each time I blink my eyes. I want to enjoy every moment with them!

Here's a few pictures taken after all the drama! Thanks so much to Vanessa and her amazing photography skills for documenting this special time for us!

10 tiny toes

A very proud Mommy and Daddy!