Happy Birthday Netta

It took me long enough to finally post this, but on Sunday May 9th, Netta celebrated her 2nd birthday. Not sure how I feel about the fact that Netta's birthday kind of trumped Mother's Day, but that's what I get for having all these May babies. It was an extra special day, because we got our first visitors from John's side of the family! His sister Lexi and her husband Casey and their little boy Cash came to visit. They were in Dallas for work and were able to come down for a couples of days along with some of their friends from BYU. We were so excited to have them here and John was especially excited to be able to stay up late playing games, something I am not all that in too and especially not into right now. He was in heaven. Unfortunately I didn't get any pics of the so you will have to just take my word for it that they were here. Anyway, here are some pics from the birthday celebration. First, Netta with her Dora cake of course.

Netta with her psychedelic fangs, that my sister Sarah pointed out. She of course loved her cupcakes. In fact she loves all food. She can out eat any kid twice her size. She has been feeling really heavy lately, but I wasn't sure if she had really gained weight or if it was just from comparing her to how little King is. Well she had her 2 year check up and she weighs 29 lbs, which is as much as EZ weighed at 2 years, but she is 2 inches shorter. And she has gained 5 lbs since her 18 month check up. So yeah she is solid.

She also fell madly in love with her present from Grandpa Steve and Grandma Sharon. Here she is chillin in her car watching tv. Our house has turned into a drive in theater. She loves the car so much that she refused to wear the princess dress I bought her because it is too bulky and she can't sit comfortably in the car while wearing it.

Of course EZ had to get in on the action, although I don't know how much longer he will fit in it.

King's Arrival

As with most pregnant women, I was more than ready to welcome this baby into the world and get it out of me. This pregnancy had its ups and downs, starting with morning sickness, something I hadn't really experienced before, some ups with less heart burn and acne then before, and then ending with a huge stomach that got me the always loved "you are huge" and "are you having twins" comments from strangers. So yeah I was ready to be done and when I went in for my appointment at 37 1/2 weeks I was already 3 cm and my doctor told me she thought I wouldn't make it to my next appointment. Well that gave me the determination not to make it to my next appointment and so I began attempting every possible way to naturally induce my labor, with the exception of castor oil. I did that with EZ and while it did break my water and start labor the side affects were just too gross. On Sunday May 2nd I was having tons of braxton hicks contractions and I thought it might be the day, but whenever I stopped moving the contractions stopped so it was not meant to be. Finally Monday night at about 10:30 I started having very very strong contractions so at midnight we headed to the hospital and I was already 6 cm. I was excited to be so far along, but even more excited to get an epidural. Within about an hour of checking in I had my epidural and was feeling much better. I remained pretty calm through the contractions, but I will honestly say that I had reached my breaking point right before I got the drugs. At 1:50amish I was 8 cm and then by 2:15amish I was a 10! Apparently epidurals don't slow down my labor. It only took a couple of pushes and then Kingston made his debut at 2:34am, exactly 4 hours after my labor started. As soon as the doctor caught him she pronounced him to be 9 lbs and she was dead on. I am actually glad he was big, because it makes me feel better about how large my stomach got.

When the kids came to the hospital Netta was not really sure what she thought of King and didn't show much interest in him. EZ reacted exactly the same way when Netta was born.

EZ on the other hand was in love with King the minute he saw him. He wants to be near him all the time and hold him.

EZ also fell in love with my bed at the hospital and the donuts John got for me.

I honestly loved being in the hospital. Don't get me wrong, I missed my family, but I just loved having people take care of me. Because of when King was born, my doctor said I could leave after just one night if I wanted, but I said no thank you I am taking my 2 nights and I am so glad I did.

Sadly we didn't get any pics of King and I while at the hospital. I think it's mainly because I had some taken of me after Netta was born and I looked horrible so I was afraid to take any until I was showered and made up and by the time I was we forgot. Oops

Netta still took awhile to warm up to King once he was home. She actually warmed up to his bouncer before him.

Finally though, she decided she likes him and especially likes to give him his binky. Only problem is she typically waits till he starts sucking on it and then rips it back out of his mouth only to shove it back in 2 seconds later. We are working on that.

Finally, here are just some really cute pics of King.

Kingston Timothy Brown

Kingston was born Tuesday at 2:34am measuring 9 lbs and 21.5 inches. More details and pics coming soon.