Sister Weekend

My sister Jessica came to visit from Phoenix, AZ. She stayed with us for 4 days. It was a long-awaited visit, and not long enough! Riah quickly became attached to his favorite aunt, and was sad to see her go. He will never forget who gave him his first soccer ball now that he is going pro! Thanks Aunt Jess!

I loved nothing more than getting some time to spend with my sis! I wish we could live closer to one another. Though it was a short visit, it meant the world to me.

We also had the chance to take some family shots in the park. The weather was fantastic, could not have been better! When we weren't strolling through the park or downtown, we spent our days at the pool lying out while the boys napped.

Overall, it was a great week, minus the lack of sleep Jesse and I were getting. :) We look forward to more family and friends visiting in October! Can't wait!!

Sweet Dreams

Riah got a new firetruck after visiting the fire station with his daddy. Whenever he gets a new toy, he always brings it into bed with him for naptime. Too cute! I couldn't resist :)

Love these moments of joy!

Caleb is just about a month old now. I adore him! These are the moments he sees Jesus in his sleep :)

New Do

We gave Riah his second haircut FINALLY. It was getting a little wild!

The end result...

Father Son Duo

Jesse had his first day off since Caleb was born. Riah loves his time with his daddy!

Caleb is now 1 week old. He is doing great! Nights are getting easier, as he is getting more of a routine down. He sleeps 23 hours of the day right now. I forgot about that! I am recovering well, but it is a slow process for sure! He is gaining weight at a rapid pace which is awesome. He is so tiny! I am so madly in love with him, I just want to hold him all day!

just a little miracle

THIS IS CALEB.
He came into our lives a bit sooner than we expected at 37 weeks. I had just found out at my regular checkup that he had turned to breech. If you remember I had a lot of extra fluid which showed in my ultrasound. The u/s tech had warned me that it was plenty to allow baby Caleb to turn any which way he pleased. Well, turns out he did.
Soooooo, I went in for an external cephalic version (where they turn the baby manually back to the head down position). It worked. If you can imagine a coupe of sumo wrestlers sitting on your stomach and chest giving your stomach a sort of "indian burn", that is what it felt like.
Afterwards I was monitored. Everything looked and seemed fine to me, but Caleb's heartbeat just wasn;t moving up and down like it should while I was having simple braxton contractions. Jani, my doctor, was concerned and didn't feel quite right about it, so she told me that I need to have this baby today!! BIG SURPRISE!! Either I was going to have to get induced with pitocin or opt to go straight for a c-section. We choose the pitocin, so we could attempt a natural birth.
Once they started that, my contractions began to come every minute although they just felt like strong braxtons. After reviewing the monitor and baby's heartrate, Jani just did not feel good about what she was seeing so she said I needed to have a c-section NOW.
Even though I really didn't have time to face the reality of Caleb being born that day, we had no choice, something was wrong. It was extremly tough. Turns out, Caleb's cord was tied in a knot! An actual knot! Very rare. If he would not have turned breech and I had not gone to the hospital for the version and to be montiored, it would have been a much worse outcome. Caleb is really a miracle! He knew just what to do to let us know he needed help. Smart little guy!
And here he is.. born July 3rd at 4:15. 6 lbs. 9 oz. 19 iches long.... Caleb Timothy Banks.