Brooks!

FINALLY, to the newest addition to our family!  Sweet Brooks Haylor.  Sorry for so many pics.  I really don't have time right now to sit down and chunk them into several posts.  So they are all together!  The first are of the sweet diaper shower our precious friends Debbie and Whitney threw us at church.  It was SUCH a sweet time and the details were PRECIOUS!  We really had a BALL!  The rest are obviously from his birthday!  What a DAY!
We were told to check into the hospital anywhere between midnight and 6 am.  We debated as when to go but decided to try to get a good nights sleep and get there around 5:30.  Neither of us slept well at all so we got there about 5.  They started my IV (which took 3 tries OUCH!) and ordered my epidural.  I was already dilated to a 4 and 80% effaced so we thought it would go super fast.  I got my epidural about 6:30 and I knew something wasn't right from the beginning.  I started feeling super nauseous and light headed and my nurse took my blood pressure which was 90 over 23.  She immediately had me roll to my side and it got better quickly.  However the second I rolled to my back, it started again.  My legs never got numb like they had with my other epidurals but I couldn't feel my contractions so I was told not to worry.  My doc checked me at 7:30 and was going to break my water but his head still wasn't engaged so they started me on pitocin and he said he would be back at lunch.  Everything was fine until about 11 and I started feeling really weird.  My pain was intense and they attempted to up my epidural and get it further south.  However, sadly, it never worked.  My water broke and the pain really began.  Though my contractions weren't felt in my stomach, I did feel everything once I got to an 8.  I transitioned quickly and once the pushing began, I knew my worst nightmare had come true!  I was feeling IT ALL!  I felt SO unprepared and super emotional (I get that way when I'm scared) and Bobby joked later that I was just whiny.  I felt like a maniac.  I always have prided myself on having a high pain tolerance but it was the worst pain I have ever felt in my life.  And it felt like it would never end.  I only pushed for about 15 minutes but he just felt stuck the whole time.  Once he was out, we knew why.  He was born face up and was 9 lbs 15 oz!  The nurses were guessing 12 lbs so I am so glad they were wrong.  He was 22.5 inches long and a GREAT eater from the get go :)  Abby Kate and Bo are CRAZY about him and we have had a BALL becoming a family of 5!  We are so deeply thankful for you precious Brooks and praise God for adding you to us!

More Summer....

First off, yes, there are 2 tree frogs on my daughter's shoulders.  Yes, it totally grosses me out.  She is truly the next Doctor Dolittle.  Never in my life have I met a child that loves every animal the ways she does.  She has NO FEAR and will play with any bug, animal or creature she finds for hours.
And the last pics are of Bo's favorite birthday present.  His Little Tykes truck.  GREAT investment and one he rides almost constantly throughout the day!  It was joint present from Nannie and Bobby and I.  Thanks again so much Nannie!  We have really limited presents for him the past year (we moved in the weekend before his last birthday) due to no space for more toys.  So I have saved his birthday money from last year AND this year for when we get moved in the new house so he should have some fun new play things after we get settled!

Bo is 2!!!!

The boys came back loaded with JD gear!

So due to the impending arrival of his new baby brother, we decided to celebrate Bo's birthday a week early and had a BALL!  We decided to do another low key family party (all we have done for our kids at this point.  AK has a different idea this year though!) and truly had such a great time.  We went to a bounce around place that Bo absolutely adores and let the kiddos (and adults :)) bounce for a few hours and then headed to Chick-fil-a (another Bo fav) and ate and played.  We had SUCH a sweet time celebrating our big 2 year old!  And on the same day, Poppy bought a John Deere tractor for the farm which has provided non-stop entertainment for the kiddos, especially Bo.  I literally think the child would live out there if he could.  His cake was just a foreshadowing of his favorite present ever!
Where to even start about our precious boy?  I so wish I could capture him completely in words.  He is SUCH a fun kid.  Super sweet heart.  But totally 1000% boy.  He is rough and tumble ALL the time, but is so sensitive if someone is hurt or sad.  He is totally gentle with animals and babies yet can wrestle his 5 year old sister until she cries.  He adores men.  His Daddy of course is his favorite.  He adores his grandfathers and uncles.  And will go to just about any man that smiles at him.  But he really is a Momma's boy too.  So much more than Abby Kate was at this age.  He wants to snuggle LOTS and loves to climb in my lap with a cup of milk and is happy as a clam.  He is talking up a storm right now.  He has a truly obedient spirit and most of the time, when I ask him to do something, he happily says, "OK Momma!"  He has always been a dream sleeper.  He takes amazing naps and up until a few months ago, all it took was laying him down and he was asleep in seconds.  He started crying now and we usually have to go back up to soothe him but it only takes a few minutes (hoping this is a phase).  We sit next to his bed and sing a song and then he is good to go.  He started waking in the night in June and it has been perplexing and frustrating but he has days, sometimes weeks that he won't wake at all.  Due to all his eye problems, I am never certain it is not headaches so we just rock a bit and he goes back to sleep.  Praying hard this season will pass soon.  It usually isn't until after 4 am so it is hard especially now with a newborn!  He is still a TERRIBLE eater and we often wonder how in the world he stays alive.  Yet he is in the 95% for height and weight so we aren't too worried about starvation.  I just so wish I could find more he would eat.  He has been this way since switching to solids and literally will gag until he throws up if I make him eat something he doesn't want.  Quite the drama king :)  But truly, we could not ASK for a sweeter boy.  My heart literally bursts in my chest at his sweetness.  We are so deeply thankful for him and he serves as a constant reminder of God's faithfulness and blessing.
Thank you sweet Father for our precious Bo.  Please grow him into the man YOU have called him to be.  May he be a man after YOUR heart and be a reflection of You in every way.  May he have an obedient spirit and find his worth and identity in You alone.  Please give him a passionate love of Your Word and may he hide Your words in His heart so He won't sin against You.  Truly, may You be the Love of his soul and may his life be about knowing You and making You known.

Summer Fun!

So I am just going to pretend that it hasn't been 3 months since my last post and jump right in updating!  I was a slight slacker this summer in capturing memories in pictures as I was trying to stay cool in reording breaking heat in my last trimester.  My poor kids I know were bored out of their minds this past month!  But we HAVE done the typical fun summer stuff.  Swimming most every day, visiting Neannie and Pop and swimming more, playing in the slip and slide and watching fun movies and eating gallons upon gallons of ice cream.  The last few pis were from 4th of July and both kids LOVED every second.  They still are asking almost daily to bust out the sparklers.  LOVE summer, just not extreme heat!