The Much Anticipated Arrival

In the early morning hours of May 11, our lives changed for the better. Isaac Walter Paxton made his entrance into the world after a long night of labor. He weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces and measured 20 ¼” long, now holding the record for the biggest Paxton baby! The labor and delivery went better than we could have hoped for and both Mom and baby are doing well.

It took only a few minutes for the Kelsie to get over the initial shock of another brother (she really wanted a sister) while the other two boys were overjoyed with excitement! They couldn’t wait to come to the hospital to meet their new brother, but Dad sent them off to school so he could get some sleep before the impending chaos erupted.

Unfortunately, the kids got a cold virus just before little Isaac’s arrival so we’ve had to do some personal hygiene reminders. The purell bottle has been used over and over again and we knew we were getting somewhere when Brandon asked to hold Isaac and then said, “Oh yeah, I better wash my hands because I just picked my nose.” Nice, huh? We’ve been even more careful with germs since then.

Caleb refused to call him “Isaac” until just recently when he preferred to just call him “Baby” and would protest anyone who tried to correct him. He is always saying “It’s OK baby!” whenever he hears him cry and loves to look at him and soak it all in. He was amazed to find out that the baby has elbows just like him!

Kelsie loves to hold Isaac as much as she can, and is taking her role as big sister (and only sister) very seriously. She loves to watch him sleep and is already such a great helper around the house, particularly with Caleb. She’s the first one by my side as soon as she gets home from school wanting to know how Isaac is doing.

Wally and I are trying to figure out life with a newborn + 3 kids. Wally’s been a great help getting kids to school, (only forgetting to pack a lunch once), soccer practices and games, making dinner, and letting me sleep. I am so happy to not be pregnant any more and that my recovery is already so much better than it was with the last couple of babies. We survived the first night (just barely) and are starting to believe that we can do this again (but ask us again in a few days…). We love our little Isaac and are so happy he’s here.

You Know It's Time

to have a baby when the guy at school you walk past asks if I'm having twins.

Umm, no.



Am I really that big?!

Tummy Trouble

Caleb has been noticing my stomach growing bigger and bigger and has started asking me a lot of questions about it.  We had an interesting conversation about it on Saturday.  Luckily his older brother was there to help answer:

Caleb:  “Mom, where did you get that big tummy?”

Me:  “What?  Where did I get it?”

Caleb:  “Yeah, did you get it at the tummy store?”

Me:  “No, umm, Dad gave it to me.”  (I didn’t think there was a need for further explanation here.  He is only 3 after all.)

Brandon: “Caleb, do you know that Dad planted a special seed in Mom and it grows into a baby?”

Caleb:  “Oh, cool!”

A couple minutes later, after I thought we had moved on from the subject:

Brandon:  “Mom, where does Dad get the seeds to plant?”

Me (caught off guard, just a little):  “Um…(trying to figure out the right thing to say)…he got the seeds when he became a man.”

Brandon:  “I’m a man!”

Me:  “No, you’re not.”

I guess I need to give the explanation a little more thought for such inquiring minds!

Spring Has Sprung

I went around our yard to take some pictures of the new blossoms and flowers that were just emerging.  I love this time of year, especially when the weather is nice and the kids can play outside.  I love watching everything come back to life again after a long, cold winter. 

And, yes, for those of you who are wondering, I am ready to have this baby.  Caleb told me today that he wouldn’t push on my stomach so the baby wouldn’t pop out.  Maybe I should go ahead and let him.  It might get things started!  This is about as good as it is going to get of me while pregnant.  Enjoy.

Huma-what?

For those of you who don’t know, I am 29 weeks pregnant. For me, that means for the next 11 (hopefully less) weeks, I am a diabetic. I have what they call Gestational Diabetes. I have had this condition with all of my pregnancies and to make things more interesting, none of my babies have been born in the same state, let alone by the same doctor. It makes getting consistent treatment hard to come by and so each of my pregnancies have been different.

I was able to control my blood sugar by diet alone with my first. Giving myself insulin shots became the routine during #2. I started out using insulin with #3, but then was changed to a pill to help kick-start my pancreas’ insulin production by the end of the pregnancy. Each of the pregnancies have been long and hard and to have this extra thing to deal with doesn’t make it very fun or any easier.

With this pregnancy, I failed, passed, then failed again the glucose test and am now officially diabetic once again. I went to my new endocrinologist last week and was instructed to test my blood sugar yet again. Less than a week later, I was back in his office getting trained on how to use the insulin pen that is going to be my new best friend for the remaining weeks.

Pregnancy is hard. I don’t talk about it very much because I feel like I don’t have a lot of good things to say about it. People deal with diabetes all the time, but each time I am diagnosed, it starts to feel all new again and can be overwhelming. I am really hoping this treatment will work and that I won’t have any more surprises coming my way.

Rest assured that we are very excited to add another member to our family and that I am a much happier person when this is all over. And, in case you were wondering, we don’t know what we’re having. It’s a fun surprise at the end for us! I also don’t know my exact due date because, frankly, it plays with my mind. I have an idea of when it is, but I don’t even like to think about it! I realize that I’m weird that way and most women can’t wait to know those things, but I guess I have a lot of other things on my mind!

The kids are all very excited to have another baby in the house. If you ask Caleb, our baby is going to have green eyes and green hair. Brandon wants another brother, just so Kelsie will have one more. Kelsie keeps telling me that she really wants to have a sister, but it’s probably a boy. She must be preparing herself for any disappointment if we really are having another boy! We love each of our kids and are excited to add another one to the mix. It keeps life interesting around here!