Baby time!

Both of the kids are sleeping right now (it's a miracle!) so I'm going to hammer out a lovely little blog post about Rupert's birth and the ensuing couple of weeks. Allons-y!

These pictures are going to be way out of order, so I'm just going to pretend that it was on purpose and that I'm doing a cool modern-artsy thing.

This is Rupert. You'll learn more about his entrance into the world later on.

My mom came down for a week and we decided to go to the Butterfly Atrium up in Scottsdale one afternoon. This lovely lady on the left tried to show James a buckeye that was sipping some nectar off the sponge in her hand, and James repaid that kindness by completely melting down and sobbing about the fact that a stranger had approached him with a butterfly on a stick. The poor guy is in the throes of stranger danger right now, and he's still a little wary of butterflies. We're working on it.

This is my wonderful friend Whitney who put together a little postpartum baby shower that was absolutely delightful. Fun games, delicious food, good company, what more could you ask for?

Rupert is a fantastic snuggler! Picture taken by my highly-skilled photographer mother.

Can you get over how incredibly cute this kid is? I can't either. It's ok.

While Nana Sue was here, James rekindled his love of the community splash pad. Unfortunately it gets turned off the first of October, so we'll have to wait until next April to enjoy it again. Hopefully he remembers how fun it is.

These two could play together for ages. 

Best day ever.

Ah! We've come to the part of the pictures where Rupert joins our family! Here are the boys on our way home from the hospital.

Here I am three weeks before giving birth. Holy cannoli, look at that midsection. I actually had a woman ask me if I was having twins. I didn't gain much weight after this picture was taken, but I did get bigger, as evidenced by the reactivation and growth of my stretch marks left over from James. Wahoo.

Here I am, in labor.

Here's how it went down: I had been having extremely sporadic contractions for days, so I didn't really pay attention to them any more. The only time they were coming one right after the other was a few Sundays before Rupert was born. I called a girl at my church and told her I was was having some pretty exciting contractions, and that she would have to find some subs for Nursery, as Josh and I wouldn't be there. Somehow that turned into Rupert's impending brith being announced over the pulpit. This explained why when several members of our congregation saw me later in the week, still pregnant, they looked extremely confused.

My water broke at home on Thursday the 29th around 12pm (3 days overdue), right after I had put James down for a nap (tender mercy!). I called Josh and informed him of this, and he left work and picked up our babysitter (the fantastic Whitney mentioned above) and headed home. Since I was induced with James, I had not experienced going into labor spontaneously before, so I had a tiny little panic attack. After hyperventilating for a few seconds, I called my friend Allison, and she told me to calm down and start packing the last-minute things for the hospital. I am ever so grateful for her advice. I put the last few things we needed into our hospital bag and waited for Josh to get there. Strangely enough, I had no contractions. Not even one. If this was labor, it was awesome!

Since I had tested positive for Group B streptococcus, we had to head to the hospital right away so they could start me on penicillin. We arrived at the hospital, still having very few contractions, and they started the penicillin. A couple of hours later I still wasn't having contractions, so they started some Pitocin to kickstart the whole birthing process. All I needed was a little activation energy, and I started to progress quite nicely. To pass the time, Josh and I watched Dr. Who while I squeezed the bujeebies out of his hand during the contractions. Around 7pm I had a lovely epidural that didn't work all the way on my right side, so I still had to breathe through the contractions a little. I actually preferred having it not completely numb, as I could feel when to push. I got to the point where I felt the urge to push, but the doctor was finishing up an emergency c-section at the time, so I had to hold him in for about 10 minutes. Not pushing is even harder than pushing, surprisingly. The doctor arrived, and I started pushing around 9:25, and Rupert was born at 9:39pm. He was delivered by Dr. Vaziri with no complications, and thanks to him, I only tore a small amount on my previous episiotomy scar. 

He was 9 lbs, 9 ounces, 21" and very healthy. That's a huge baby. Huge. I didn't think I would have a bigger baby than James at 8 lbs, 13 ounces, but I was proved extremely wrong. The measuring of his length was a bit off, as he was 22.5" at his 2 week checkup, but that's ok.

We named him Rupert Hugo, because we just liked the name Rupert. It's classic, but still unique. He was given the middle name Hugo after his great-great uncle on Josh's mom's side. He was a kind and loving person to Josh's family, and we wanted to honor him for that. Plus, we really liked the name Hugo too.

The literal fruits of my labors. Well, he's not an actual fruit, but you know what I mean.

Still not sure about this whole out-of-utero thing.

One proud papa. Josh was wonderful through the whole birthing process. He was supportive, and tried to make me laugh when the contractions were especially rough. He wasn't always successful, but I appreciated his effort. Also, look at the size of Rupert's massive noggin. Whoa.

Just look at those cheeks. They go on for miles.

James wasn't sure about Rupert for a whole week. Then one night he asked to hold him, and they've been inseparable ever since. He gets frustrated when I can't pay attention to him all the time, but that frustration is never aimed at Rupert. 

Nana Sue is also an exceptional snuggler.

Guess who got into mom's makeup bag while she wasn't looking! This kid.

This is how most of James and Rupert's interactions go. James loves on Rupert, and Rupert gets sad because he's usually being picked up or poked against his will. 

First smile.

Our two children are basically identical. Rupert is just a little chunkier, but they have the exact same mouth and nose. The eyes are a little different, but not much. However, their personalities are very different. James was a difficult baby, but Rupert is a dream. He eats extremely well (also because nursing the second time around is a bajillion times easier), sleeps well, and doesn't cry unnecessarily! He's a wonder child!

Look at that face! So cute!

Being a mom of two is harder in some respects and easier in others. I've mastered the art of grocery shopping with tow children, and honestly, that was what I was most worried about. Since the weather is cooler now, we go to the park or the desert, and it's been wonderful so far.