Jack

On April 2 we welcomed our 3rd child Jack Gordon Young into the world. He is named after both of Brian's grandfather's, he weighed in at 7 lbs and 10 oz and was 19 inches long. Yesterday we had his 2 month check and he had already grown 5 inches. Is that not ridiculous? Anway, his birth story was the most dramatic so far. I had been having contractions all week, but I did that with Caroline and Caleb for weeks before they were born and they were both late. Jack wasn't due until April 9 so I wasn't thinking much of it. The 4 of us were eating lunch at Baja Fresh when my water broke, Caroline announced she needed to poop and Caleb choked on a ring of Caroline's he put in his mouth and threw up all over the table all at about the same time. Poor Brian almost had a heart attack. Um, I don't want to gross anyone out but there was amniotic fluid everywhere. And I mean I was sitting in a chair soaking wet with a huge puddle on the floor and it continued to get bigger and bigger for the next 5 minutes while Brian sorted out the kids and pulled the car up. I refused to get up until the car was right outside because I didn't want people to see that the back of my dressed was soaked. The funny thing was that NO ONE noticed. And we didn't tell anyone we just booked it out of there, I mean what do you even say? "Sorry, we spilled some amniotic fluid over here" Hopefully they thought it was a juice box or somthing. We called my poor mom who had just gotten back to Charlottesville after spending 2 weeks with us (I had a bad case of the flu that turned into pnuemonia and my mom cut short a trip to africa to come home and take care of us, but that's a whole other blog post) and she turned back around to come stay with the kids, headed home and threw everyone down for naps. I took a shower which almost gave Brian another heart attack because I was having strong contractions by then but did I mention yet that I was COVERED in amniotic fluid?!? And we made it to the hospital in time for me to get an epidural and deliver our 3rd and FINAL child. Yes that's right, we are done having babies over here. Probably. The hardest thing about his delivery was that since I had pnuemonia it was really difficult to take a deep breath for pushing, but once we figured that out they hooked me up to an oxygen machine and he was born a few minutes later. He came out crying but the moment they handed him to me he looked right at me and stopped crying and basically hasn't cried since. And let me tell you I am completely in love with this little guy, he is the sweetest most appealing child. I was so overwhelmed with Caroline because everything with your first is so new and unknown, and then when Caleb was born the transition from 1 to 2 was really hard, but 2 to 3 hasn't been that bad and I feel like I am able to enjoy him in a way that I wasn't able to enjoy the other 2. It doesn't hurt that he is such an easy baby, no reflux, sleeps on his own, goes down awake, doesn't need to be held, smiles and coos anytime you look at him and just goes with the flow. His brother and sister adore him, he gets rough hugs and slobbery kisses all day long from them. He eats a lot, but is starting to go anywhere from 5-8 hours at night so I can forgive him for his healthy appetite during the day. Luckily he is a very quick nurser so that's nice. We all love him to pieces and we feel like he completes our family and are so blessed to have him here. I had low expectations for what life would look like with 3 babies 3 and under but I am happy and a little proud to admit that most days we are all fed and dressed and clean even, and manage to still go run errands, meet friends and do all the things I thought we wouldn't be able to do for the next 3 years or so. All in all adding another didn't really slow us down a whole lot and we love our new family!

New Year's Eve 2010

Look at me posting twice in one week. To be a better blogger may or may not have been a new year's resolution :)

I was lucky enough to inherit a great group of friends from Brian when we got married. All of these guys went to college together and 2 of the wives, The other 2 wives and I "married into" the group, although I don't ever feel like an outsider. All of these couples have become our closest friends. They are so easy and fun to be around and our kids are all about the same ages and play very well together. For a group of kids under 9 :) We do an annual beach trip together that includes another couple or 2 depending on everyone's availability, last year we had 12 adults and 13 kids. It could either be a nightmare or a blast and so far it's always been a blast! We spend New Year's Eve together every year, alternating between Nova and Richmond and it is one of my favorite traditions. These families are so easy to be around, we don't see each other and or talk all the time but when we do it is like no time has passed, there is no awkwardness, it is just easy and fun. And I love that Brian has been best friends with these guys since his freshman year of college. This year we watched old college videos for a little bit and it was hilarious. Brian looked all of 12 years old and was a beanpole. Still hot though :) Below are some pictures of us all hanging out during the day, the guys played Wii, the kids ran around and had a great time, the girls caught up in the kitchen and ate (I parked myself in front of Ali's bean dip and pretty much didn't move for 2hours. What, I am eating for 2!)






Then we put the kids down and changed for dinner. My mom was nice enough to come and babsit for us so we left our kids at home. We were torn because we love to have them play with the other kids who they don't always get to see, but it's so much easier for us to not have to put them down to sleep alongside 10 other kids (who went to bed pretty well all things considered) so we left them with my very capable mom and they never knew they missed anything. Leah and I are both pregnant with boys and due within 6 weeks of each other. So fun! And yes, I did notice that I am about 3 times her size. Probably because I do things like park myself in front of
bean dip for 2 hours.







Ps. Thanks Ali, Leah and Courtney for the pictures! Not only am I horrible about blogging our memories, I always forget my camera to take pictures of them.

And it's a....................(six weeks late, are you sensing a theme here?)

nother boy! Oops if you are just finding out from our blog that in April we are having another boy. I meant to tell everyone but apparently didn't pass it along very well :) We had decided to not find out the sex (we were suprised with Caroline and then found out with Caleb) but then were going back and forth about it at the last minute, when we went it for my 20 week sonagram it was immediately obvious from the first picture that it was indeed a boy, so there you go. If you come over I'll show you the picture, because I think it's hilarious that it is so obvious. I can't ever tell what anything is during my sonagrams, I usually mistake my kidneys for the head etc. We are super excited and can't wait to meet the little guy at the beginning of April. I have several good friends that are pregnant within a few weeks of me having boys also, and a few more that haven't found out yet so he should have plenty of friends to play with. Brian is just excited to have another boy in the house for Caleb to play ball with or some "manly" sport like that. Right now his day consists largely of tea parties and dress up. Caroline sort of glazes over when we ask her if she is excited for another brother, but she is VERY excited to have a BABY in the house, she wants to hold him and feed him and change his diaper and I think it's so funny because Caleb was a baby a few months ago and she was not interested in him at all. I am trying to wrap my head around the fact that I am going to be outnumbered by the men in the house, for some reason this thought is a strange one to me. Can't promise there will be an attempt to even out the numbers, although never say never I guess!

Caroline and Caleb as newborns:
(Caleb first and then Caroline below him)