Ethan turns one month old!

Our little Ethan is already one month old! I can't believe how long each week seemed leading up to his birth and now how fast each week seems to fly by. He is growing every day - in fact, at his two week appointment he had already grown 2 inches and gained 2 1/2 pounds! Which makes sense considering how often he likes to eat - I seriously feel like I am feeding him around the clock. As our peditrician said, "nursing moms are like Denny's, open 24 hours a day for feeding"! So far he has been a very happy, easy baby. As long as he's fed, changed and napped, he's pretty content. Kellin loves to hold him and always wants to carry him around the house, which gives me mini panic attacks every time since 90% of our house is tile. I follow him around holding on to whatever part of Ethan I can as Kellin squeezes him around his stomach and carries him from room to room! Although a second child brings a whole new dimension of exhaustion, both Kade and I couldn't be happier with our two beautiful sons!

Kellin starts Pre-School

Our little Kellin is growing up so fast! As he always reminds me, "I'm not a baby, I'm a big boy!" Nothing has made me realize this as much as I do now that he started pre-school. Kellin started at Kinder Kids pre-school this month and although we both had a hard time the first day (I cried the whole way home), we have both really enjoyed this new change. Kellin loves his teacher, Ms. Cami, and he comes home with fun drawings and crafts that he made at school. He goes two days a week for 2 hours and has one of his neighbor friends in the class with him. I am really enjoying the quiet time at home with baby Ethan. Since Kellin has started going to pre-school I have noticed some really positive "big boy" changes taking place. All of a sudden he can do things on his own that I used to always do for him. He can climb onto any counter now and get himself food, put on his own shoes, brush his teeth and dress himself. He has also become quite the social butterfly and often opens the front door and tells me he is going over to his friends house (our next door neighbor). On the mornings he has school, he likes to wait at the park across the street with the "big kids" that are there waiting for the school bus. He puts on his backpack and says "bye mom" and heads over to the park. Although it makes me sad sometimes to realize that the little adorable baby he was is long grown up, I am so proud of how well he seems to adjust to new changes.

More visitors for Baby Ethan

One week after baby Ethan was born his two Aunts Lonny and Kena and his Cousin Makenzie came to visit. It was lots of fun to have them come down. They arrived Saturday evening and after meeting the new baby we all went out to dinner. After dinner they went back to their hotel. We met up with them on Sunday again and they visited with the baby, held him and also played with Kellin for a while. Kellin loves his aunts and his cousin and was so happy to have them visit. I was so grateful for all the adorable gifts they got for the baby and for Kellin! I know it meant a lot to Kade, as well as myself, to have his sisters and niece come to visit the baby. Thanks you guys, you are the best! We love you!

Family meets baby Ethan

Kade and I were pleasantly surprised to have my family drive up from Las Vegas on Saturday to come meet baby Ethan. Shelley and Val and family were in town visiting Grams and Papa in Las Vegas so we were lucky enough to have lots of visitors. Shelley came with Val, Tanner, Whitney, Aubrey and Zack. All the kids had fun taking turns holding the baby as did Shelley and Val. It was fun to have them come visit and really meant a lot to us. After their visit, Shelley and Val took the kids, including Kellin, to our clubhouse swimming pool and let the kids swim for a while. This was great because it gave Kellin a break from the hospital and gave me and Kade some time together with the baby. After Shelley's family left, we were visited by Chrissy (which I didn't get a picture of) and she had the honor of changing the baby's first diaper! It was fun to sit and visit with Chrissy while Kade took a little nap. Papa, Jeff and Jacob came next to visit and also enjoyed meeting baby Ethan and holding him. Jeff had just returned from Alabama where he was going through a work training so it was fortunate that he was in town to come up for a visit. And very nice of him to come, since he had been traveling the previous day and was going to be leaving for California the next day. After the kids were done swimming, the Throckmorton family, Jeff and Zack had to head back to Las Vegas while Papa and Jacob met Grams at our house. Kellin had a birthday party to go to so Kade took him home while Ethan and I rested at the hospital. After going out to dinner, Kade, Papa, Grams and Jacob along with Kade and Kellin came back to visit at the hospital. Grams enjoyed meeting the new baby and holding him. Grams stayed with us for almost a week and was so helpful not only with the new baby but also with meals and Kellin. Grams had lots of special toys and games for Kellin to play and worked really hard to help Kellin adjust to the new baby. She also had our couches cleaned for us, which we so appreciated because after a couple years with a toddler they had gotten quite dirty. We just want to say that we are so grateful for the visits from our family, it means so much to us to have that love and support!

Announcing Ethan Madden Mathews

Ethan Madden Mathews was born on August 18, 2007 at 8:56 am. He weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. I started having labor pains Thursday night and went to my doctor's appointment Friday morning to see if I was close to having the baby. My doctor, Dr. Fagnant, said that I was in early labor and that the contractions would either get stronger throughout the day or they might go away and it could still be a week before the baby was born. When I got home from the doctor's office the contractions slowly subsided and I was so bummed out because I was really anxious to have the baby. So I decided to go to the mall and walk around for a couple hours to see if I could get things going again. The walking helped and by that night I was having more and more contractions that were closer and closer together. By 4 am they were pretty bad so we decided to go to the hospital. When I got there they checked me in and said I was dialated to a 5 and I was 80% effaced. Then they moved me to the delivery room and while they were getting me hooked up and putting in the IV (which took the nurse THREE tries!) my water broke. Can I just say that is the weirdest thing I have ever experienced! So then the nurse called the anestesiologist to come do the epidural. By this time the contractions were very painful and I was shaking all over. When the anestesiologist came in he was half asleep and according to Kade he kept dropping things as he was preparing to give me the epidural! But once I got that, the pain was gone and the next hour and a half were actually quite peaceful. The epidural made me pretty groggy so I don't remember much until the delivery. Once the nurse came in and checked me for the last time I was fully dialated and ready to go. Dr. Fagnant arrived and after pushing for maybe 15 minutes Ethan was born. I think I only had to push through 3 or 4 contractions. Ethan was born posterior with his face pointing up and according to Kade is was really weird to see him come out face up. The delivery went very smoothly and I know I am very lucky to have such smooth deliveries.
Our neighbors who were watching Kellin for us were the first to visit. Kellin was excited to meet his new baby brother but was also pretty distracted because our neighbors have three boys and they were all more interested in exploring the hospital room and hallway than in the sleeping baby. But after they left, Kellin climbed up on the bed next to me to meet his baby brother and give him a kiss on the forehead. I was amazed when I had Ethan at how much he looked like Kellin when he was born. I thought I had forgotten a lot of the details of Kellin's birth but when I saw Ethan I was flooded with memories of when Kellin was born. Although they are not identical, they do have some very similar features, especially their lips and nose. I think it was difficult for Kellin to wake up on Saturday morning and not have his mom and dad at home. Although this threw him for a loop and as a result he was very clingy with me and Kade, I think he is doing very well adjusting to the new baby. He loves Ethan very much and is always giving him kisses and trying to tickle his little feet.
Kade was absolutely wonderful through the whole delivery, always very supportive and helpful. It was a different experience this time around because we didn't have any family at the hospital during the delivery, so it was just me and Kade throughout the whole delivery. It felt weird at first to not have anyone else there but I really enjoyed sharing the experience with just my husband. It was very calm and peaceful. Later after the delivery, Kade took Kellin to the store to pick out a present for the baby and a present for me which turned out to be a present for the baby and a present for Kellin (a hot wheels toy) which was great because it kept Kellin occupied in the boring hospital room. I am grateful that I have such a supportive and loving husband and that my boys have such a caring and devoted daddy.

Check out my Slide Show!

Condo Trip July 2007

We recently took a trip to the Richardson Family Condo in San Clemente, CA and had a great time enjoying the beach and relaxing atmosphere. The first half of the week Kellin and I enjoyed having my sister Vivian and her two sons Ryan and Devran visit. Kellin loved building sand castles, searching for sand crabs and making sand balls with his cousins. I enjoyed having my sister around to talk with and reconnect with as well as having the much appreciated help with Kellin since I was seven months pregnant.

The second half of the week Kade came down with his mom and dad, sister Lonny and niece MacKenzie. We all enjoyed a day at the beach boogie boarding and making sand castles. We also enjoyed a day at Sea World and a trip to the Laguna Beach tide pools. Kellin loves his grandma and pops and was so excited to have them come visit. It was a great week at the condo and everyone who visited, especially myself, really enjoyed their time at the condo.