Well, Lo and Behold!

Little Mister DOES open his eyes!  

It's been a little over 2 and a half weeks since we've had Sterling in our home and he fits right in.  We love the wee nugget and cannot imagine our days without him (what did we even LOOK at before he was born?)

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

(that was me 'knocking on wood' to preface this next part)

Sterling is a complete and utter jewel.  He spent the first 2 weeks of life in the blissful sleepy stage and would mew like a cat or smack his lips like a dog when he gets hungry.  Honestly, we have yet to hear Sterling cry for 10 seconds straight... we think he just gets too tired to continue after about 4 seconds and resigns to sleeping instead. 

Now, I'm no fool here and know that Wee Mister will wake up and get more, ahem, VOCAL about his wants/needs, but for now... we're soaking up the sweetness that is our son. 

He's starting to wake up more now, keeping his eyes open for more than a minute at a time.  Thank heavens he has a very entertaining sister to watch, since Ava loves to sing and dance and "read" to him.  He just stares at his big sister with intrigue and patience as she kindly shoves pacifiers into his mouth and kisses him all over his sweet pie face. 

Can't believe our lucky stars... this family is my dream come true.

Turning Four

Becoming an "Official Four Year Old" is a very big deal... ESPECIALLY for our resident Three Year Old.  This year, Ava was extremely gung-ho about telling everyone that her "bird-day is May Nineteen" and she'll be four.  For about 5 months PRIOR her actual birthday she was telling everyone... boys bagging our groceries, innocent women walking past our home with their strollers, the McDonald's playpen maintenance man... nobody was safe from this important fact that she's excited about her birthday!

She helped me "make her cake".  And by "making her cake" I really mean buying a pre-made and pre-frosted cake at the store and a Princess Kit of toys to squish on top of it.  Yes... I went all out.  Go me.

 

We threw her a little party and invited some of her favorite little people over.  

 

We had balloons.  And they played all of the following:  Kick the Balloon.  Throw the Balloon.  Sit on the Balloon.  Throw the Balloon into the Ceiling Fan. And eventually, at the end of the party they finished with Chuck the Balloon Down the Street and Watch It Float Away! 

I had a couple of Super Awesome Games planned out that were just Perfect for a bunch of young girls.  Apparently I'm not en-vogue with this particular demographic.  One of the games I had planned was the classic "Eat a donut off the string with no hands".  While, "I" thought it was a real winner, no one else seemed to agree.  They all wanted a donut, but just stared at us (Taylor, Riley, and I) as we tried to explain that you can eat it, just don't use your hands.  

Literally... they all. JUST. STARED. And we felt a little lame.  Sooo..

...we gave in (after Ava started to cry because she wanted to eat the donut... WITH HER HANDS!! *gasp!*) and let the kids go crazy and eat them the way Normal People do. 

Sigh... will I ever win?

 

Anyway, we ate cake.  Yes... I stuck them on the floor.  One of my least favorite things to do is scrub Princess frosting out of carpet. 

 

Opened gifts...

 

Is it just me, or does the crowd seem to be inching closer and closer... dum, dum duuuummm (que the foreboding music)

 

And we put the Men-Folk on baby duty.  (oh, and not pictured here are the Men-Folk doing "Herding Duty", "Clean Up the Frosting Duty", "Playing Tag Duty", and "Blocking Kids from Running into the Street Duty".  I couldn't have done it without the Men-Folk.  Thank you)

 Ava's Sweet New Ride 

Happy Birthday my dear sweet Ava.  We love you very much.  You bring your friends and family so much joy and happiness.  Never stop being completely awesome.

I Give "Slacking" a Whole New Meaning.

*DEEP BREATH*

Ok, here it goes.  I'm not going to do the whole apology thing.  You know, the post that follows a long, awkward pause in the blogging world that's filled with:

"I'm so sorry it's been so long since I've written"

and

"Here's a HUGE recap of what's happening in my life"

and

"We've just been so BUSY lately!"

and

"I'm a terrible woman/mother/wife/blogger/humanbeing for not writing all of this down"

I'm NOT going to say it.

NO.

You can't make me.

Because you're not the boss of me.

........

But.

I am Sorry.

and

Here's a recap of our lives.

It's just that we've been so busy.

And, yes, I'm a monster for not writing all of this down.

(meh heh heh heh)

First off: Ava.  She's big and awesome and sweet and smart and loving and kind and fun.  She's also sensitive and when offended, she'll run to her room to sob and pout, waiting for someone to come and get her.  She also reminds Mom and Dad when they need to apologize to her for being mean.  She's quick to get upset, but on the flip side, Ava has an incredible ability to be quick to forgive.  This is an attribute that I love about her... it's necessary in this house for our kids to be understanding of their crazy parents.

 

Valentine's Day

 

"Mom, my make up looks just like YOU!"

 

Easter Sunday at our new place.

We moved across town and we love it!

 

It's been a LONG winter.  Here's our reinactment of 

"Caterpillar Emerges from Her Cocoon a Beautiful Butterfly"

or Ava just calls it:

"I'm a Stick!"

Now... for a quick recap:

My pregnancy was crap.  It was long and full of crappy days and crappy nights and crap-filled self-loathing.  But I'm all better now, because   

I'M NOT PREGNANT ANYMORE!!!

HALLELUJAH!  Sing Praises! Raise the Roof!

 

(adorable bunting from my baby shower thrown by my fabulous friends, Shalee, Natalie, and Destry.) 

Introducing: 

Matthew Sterling Wilson

(he'll go by "Sterling" from here on out... Taylor's first name is Matthew so we thought it was fitting to keep that.  I have a feeling that I'll be saying "His name is Matthew, but he goes by his middle name, Sterling" all the time.)

Born:

May 7, 2011

4:04pm

7lbs. 8oz.

19.5 inches long

Everyone always posts about their birth stories and I get really (I mean REALLY) excited to read all about the details, but unfortunately my story just isn't very exciting (well for anyone except for myself, I suppose).  So I'll do a pros and cons list to cut down on some tedium. 

 

 

PROS: 

• Blessed Doctor induced me three weeks early.  I was dilated/effaced, plugless and ripe n' ready for the pickin'. 
• I was the only one in Labor and Delivery pretty much all day Saturday when we went to the hospital, which means the nurses were chill and relaxed.
• Loved our nurse, Jeanie.  She has five babies of her own.  She knows what she's doing.
• Slept from about 8:30am till 3:30pm
• God Bless the epidural.
• 3:45ish = 10 centimeters!  Time to push
• Pushed for a few minutes to practice, nurse called Dr. Awesome (not his real name, but it should be)
• Dr. came within 4 minutes. 
• I pushed for less than 20 minutes and watched with amazement as Sterling was calmly born
• No tearing or trauma to my nether-lady-bits (huge PRO for me!)
• Perfect, healthy baby boy.

CONS:

• I had NO FOOD in my body for over 24 hours.  The double bacon cheeseburger an hour after delivery was heaven.
• Clogged milk ducts and a small case of mastitis.  OUCH, my boobs!

• The fact that having issues with my milk made me say "boobs" on my blog for the first time.

So really, this experience has truly been wonderful for us.  VERY different from Ava's labor/delivery/post hospital scenario.  I feel so blessed with my family.  Ava has been incredibly sweet and protective of baby Sterling and wants to hold him and help us out all of the time.  She's his little guardian, always making sure we know he's crying (yes, we can hear him) and bringing us band-aids for his umbilical "owie".  So Far, So Good!

 

Just keeping watch as Sterling sleeps.

 

Sterling is hopping on the Finger 'Stache bus. So emo. 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, we officially have a snuggler!

 

 

A very typical snapshot of our day

 

And now... I shall regale you with a series I'll call:

"A Day in the Life of Sterling"

 

He sleeps

 

Sleeps while bathing

(hahah! and pinching his cute little boob)

dang... I said "boob" again.

 

Happy Sleeping

 

And Pirate Sleeping even! 

THE END.

 

Can't you just SMELL him?  That's what heaven smells like.

And to cap this off.... I just want to say: Happy (Belated) Mother's Day.  I'm so lucky to have the Mothers I do in my life. I love you. 

And I'm totally stealing this quote from The Pioneer Woman, Ree (who I'm convinced is an alien from another world because no one... NO ONE can be as amazingly amazing as this woman is in real life!)

"Happy Mother's Day to every woman who has given birth to, adopted, cared for, raised, cradled, comforted, fed, clothed, and loved with the greatest love possible the children in your life."