Just a little bit

Yesterday it started to thunder and lightening when Mason and Gary were at a friends house. Mason is scared of thunderstorms so Gary said our friends couldn't stop laughing at how much Mason started talking about the thunder and lightening. Mason hardly ever talks around our friends, he's the quiet observer type. So when he got home I asked if he heard the thunder and lightening and he said yes. And I asked if he was scared. With the cutest, serious expression on his face, he cocked his head to the side and said "just a little bit mama". Gary and I were cracking up laughing. We really think he has started talking so much more since he became a big brother. He has become quite the little helper. He is in charge of taking out Reese's poopy diapers to the trash can. On a disturbing note, he wants to see the poop before we roll up the diaper. We are hoping it will somehow lead to him not wanting to wear diapers anymore and start potty training, but who knows.

Sweet Pea

Now you can put a face to the name. She is 4 days old in this picture.

Back at home

We finally came home today, Friday afternoon, and what a difference a day makes. I should have remembered from the last c-section that it is not a good idea to call people within a few hours after the surgery. I once again spoke to people and didn't remember the conversation later on. Oh well! So far we seem to have a totally different baby than when Mason was a newborn. It doesn't surprise me since the pregnancy was totally different too. I am actually able to put Reese down in the bassinet and walk away to do something. That was not an option with Mason. I am not getting my hopes up though that we won't have another colicky baby on our hands...but so far so good.

Reese Delaney Kearns

Lyn and Reese are resting well in the hospital. Carol (Lyn's mom) is staying with her tonight while I stay at home with Mason trying to keep his routine as close to normal as possible. She arrived this morning at 7:24 a.m. weighing in at 6 lbs. 9.5 oz. She was 18 inches long. She had trouble what they call "transitioning" from in the womb to breathing on her own. Apparently this is quite common with c-sections. So Reese had to stay in the special care nursery for 4 hours before Lyn actually got to hold her for the first time. They were monitoring her breathing to make sure everything was ok and that she wasn't straining too hard to breath on her own. After 4 hours the pediatrician gave her the thumbs up and she finally got to come into the room with us. So far she's beautiful and very content to do nothing but eat and sleep which is convenient since the post-op pain medication Lyn has makes her VERY drowsy. The camera is a the hospital or else I'd try to figure out how to post them to the blog. Lyn is hoping to be able to come home by Friday. Thanks for all the prayers. We'll keep you up to date and post some pictures soon!

Just another ordinary night

So we check into the hospital at 5am tomorrow morning. It's so weird that this has been just like any other ordinary day and night. Right now, at almost 9pm I am sitting in my recliner playing on the computer watching TV and Gary is at the gym. I finally packed my bag tonight at least. We should have baby Reese tomorrow by 7:30am. Everyone say a prayer and we'll keep you posted.

kid thoughts

Mason absolutely loves the trash truck and all things involved with it. He knows that the trash truck comes every Tuesday without fail and "picks up the gray one and blue one and Mamie's (that's what he calls himself) poopie diapers". So I realized that baby Reese will be coming on Tuesday too, about 10 minutes after the trash truck runs. So I told Mason that and he heard that the trash truck is bringing baby Reese on Tuesday. So for all you parents out there needing an answer when asked where do babies come from, apparently they come from trash trucks.

March Madness

What married couple doesn't have a friendly wager with the March Madness brackets? Gary and I are seriously sitting here with our completed brackets highlighting our correct choices. We have a slightly different method of making our selections, but we'll see who does the best in the end. We were just thinking today too that when Mason was born, I kept my sanity at home by watching the US Open. This time around, I will have basketball to watch for a couple of weeks. Thank goodness for televised sports.

7 days

So with 7 days to go we are getting a bit more excited. We bought some newborn diapers this weekend and we just cannot get over how small they are. Then we think there is no way that Mason fit in those 2 and1/2 years ago. Crazy! The last 2 days have been quite uncomfortable with unprecedented back pain and contractions. Of course I made my weekly phone call to the OB office to make sure I didn't need to come in early to get monitored. They know me very well by now with all my concerns.

Ann, Sam and cousin Austin came to visit this weekend. We picked them up at the train station in downtown Dallas and Mason loved to see the trains come and go. As soon as they were all in the car the monkey see monkey do game was on. Mason repeated just about everything Austin did or said. I think Austin got a little tired of Mason towards the end of their stay, but Mason loved every minute of it.

11 days...

I'm not crazy...finally I had confirmation from the doctor today that yes I am having contractions. I have been feeling them for about 2 weeks now and they never seem to happen when I am hooked up to a monitor. But today I had one when he was in the room talking to me and said it was a contraction. I'll tell you that a little medical knowledge during a pregnancy can make someone a little anxious (and irrational, crazy, paranoid, you name it), espcially in my line of work. So we now have 11 days to go and are still on track for our March 25th delivery. Just say a prayer that maybe I can not freak out some much the last 11 days.

Neighbors

One of Mason's new games is to kick a beach ball out in the drive way with me (the next David Beckham). Lyn gets to watch from the sidelines in a chair. Tonight we're out kicking and our next door neighbor comes out and we chat for a while. Nice guy (doesn't hurt he's a Texas Tech fan!) but he has these two little white yappy dogs that he walks every night around 9:00 WITHOUT a leash. One of our dogs, Miles, starts to bark at him through the fence which promts our neighbor to say something to the effect of "don't worry about him barking, I'm guilty of walking my dogs without a leash and they pretty much go where they want." We all kinda chuckle. Soooo, tonight around 9:00 Miles gets up off the couch and starts to growl and then all of a sudden makes a straight shot to the front door with the hair on his back standing up growling, huffing.....everything short of barking. Guess who's two little white yappy dogs are on the front porch looking in the window. Like I said....nice guy, but.....

2 minutes

So recently Gary and I have perfected our parenting skills and have started giving Mason a 5 minute or 2 minute warning when it is time to stop an activity. It has actually worked extremely well. Except now he asks for 2 minutes for everything. Mamie (it's what he calls himself) jump on bed 2 minutes, Mamie eat scoobie snacks 2 minutes, Daddy throw Mamie up in air 2 minutes. The funniest thing though was when he asked to go outside for 2 minutes, I said he could go for 10 minutes, and he said "no, 2 minutes". He's a funny guy.

Meet the Kearns

Well, after keeping up with so many friends' blogs, we decided to joing the technological age and do the same. So maybe the 2 or 3 people that will follow it will appreciate the commentary. Both Gary and I will hopefully be posting to make it fresh (sorry, been watching Madagascar too much lately).

For starters, we are in countdown mode...17 days until Baby Reese joins us. We are very excited about having a girl, and Mason being a big brother. He doesn't fully understand what's happening other than mama's belly is getting VERY BIG! We'll keep everyone posted.