How Anderson has been...

A few weeks ago, Anderson's teacher told me that they were talking about the calendar and she asked what month comes after April. Anderson answered, "May comes next and that is when I get my baby!"

Everyone keeps asking about how Anderson is doing during this transition and I have to admit that he is acting pretty great as a big brother. It's the rest of him that is not pretty great...Seriously, the newborn is pretty easy; it is the 3 year old who is kicking my butt. In his defense, he is really just acting like a super high energy/non sleeping/curious/super high energy toddler terrorist 3 year old. He is SO sweet to Max, which is what matters the most!

 This really awesome looking picture is one that I sent Brandon during the first time that it was just the 3 of us. I think it was the day I came home from the hospital because Brandon was going to get a haircut and run some errands and the plan was that he would take A, but he wanted to stay with me, so of course I wanted him there, too!

First morning home. I looked into the living room and Anderson was holding his hand. Precious.

Then, later that day, he was pretending like the snake was eating him. Ah, brothers. 

He really is so sweet with him.

Ha ha! Anderson was putting all of the toys around Max & then proceeded to tell me that Max's bed is not as bouncy as his is. I found this hilarious. 

A lot of time is spent like this, with just the 3 of us hanging out. Anderson was building a fort to protect him & then he found this little police hat & told me it was Max's. 

Anderson goes to school 2 days a week, which is one of the main reasons that I am surviving this baby addition. I am SO lucky that I have an older kid who is entertained 2 full days so I can just hang out with this baby & actually get some things done occasionally. (And, the grandmas being so close is a very sweet gig, as well.) Anderson is a great kid, duh, but he is, like all 3 year old who don't require sleep, pretty exhausting at times. Let's just say that I texted Nicole the other day and said, "I don't know how you do this every day." It was 8am.

I love Anderson's school for a lot of reasons, but they put this little sign up to congratulate Anderson on being a big brother, which just made me happy! It was hard to get a pic with the 2 of them and the sign in it, so ignore the awesome quality of this one. He also brought cupcakes to celebrate being a big brother and Sam's put Xs on them because the letter of the week was X and the new brother has an X in his name! perfect! It was pajama day that day, hence the Ninja Turtle pjs, by the way.

Lots of cars/helicopters using Max as a road/landing pad. He is a pretty useful little thing.

Mostly, though, Anderson is still...Anderson. He is crazy, energetic, curious and hilarious (and exhausting...just a tad bit exhausting)

One of the many excursions with Noni resulted in a butterfly (lunar moth) landing on him! Proof that he can be still!

"Can I go play in my sandbox?" is asked HUNDREDS of times a day. The fact that it was raining for a month straight did not help, but I did promise him if slept all night in his bed he could play in the sand in the rain. I will take pneumonia over 2 kids getting up all night. 

Look at my boy! A cute pic from Bobble Cole. I keep waiting for his biological mother to show up and claim him because clearly I was just the surrogate.

We have had a few more patch battles lately due to the fact that he sweats all of the time, is 3 years old and, apparently, super heroes don't wear eyepatches.

I.love.boys. During a trip to Sam's, I picked up a box to carry stuff in & Anderson took it and said, "Thanks, Bobble" and proceeded to make it a rocket ship. Also, we never leave the house without the fireman boots, which also makes me happy. (Until Gabbi ate them yesterday. I typed this last week and now I am sad to see them in their glory)

Found this preciousness one afternoon. They were both exhausted. (possibly because they have been feeding a newborn all night? Oh, wait...that's me:) Anderson was promptly woken up because I was not staying up until midnight with him that night, but it was a sweet pic. 

Love these guys!

The first few weeks

Oh, this boy.

He really is too much. 

And, by too much, I mean perfect. Max is perfect. 

I know I am breaking the cardinal blogging rule by saying this and have now just jinxed him to develop colic, but right now, it  is the truth. 

He sleeps 2-3 hours at a time at night, nurses like a champ, lets me love on him and snuggle him all of the time and is proving to be very good at adapting to life with an intense 3 year old brother and a mom who took him to CVS (more than once), Publix, Target, Kroger & Sams before his 2 week birthday.

Part of why he is awesome is because I am not an idiot like I clearly was with Bug. For example, we had the swing in the middle of the living room with Anderson. Under the lights, next to the TV and the couch where people were sitting and talking. And, I wondered why he didn't sleep in it. With Max, it is in his room where I turn the lights off, turn the sound machine on and swaddle him before I put him in there. This is where I am lucky that Nicole had Reese first, because she passed these nuggets of genius on to me just in time for me to take advantage of them.

Aunt Clare came to visit when he was just a few days old & she brought us 3 meals, some cute clothes for Max and, best of all, a Venus fly trap for Anderson! How great is that? He loves it and I loved not having to cook, so it was a win-win for all of us!

Uncle Austin also got a little snuggle time with Mr. Max & his perfectness. 

Anderson has been lucky to be able to spend a lot of time with his NoniBop since Max has been born. And, by that, I mean I have been lucky, too!

He even takes a bottle from Brandon without any hesitation. Nicole does not have a lot of luck in this category with her kids, so I sort of felt bad telling her about it, but I am pretty excited about this! I think he has taken 3 so far, which is pretty good for a 2 week old. 

Max met Lucy!! They were much more thrilled than they let on in this picture, of course. It is so perfect because their age difference is the same as the difference between Anderson & Jack, so we know they are going to be such great buddies.

Then, this happened in our garage. It was laying on the floor and I thought it was Anderson's fake one & I went to pick it up!! Holy everything, thank goodness it moved as I reached for it. Anderson was PUMPED about it when I picked him up at school. I showed him the pic and all of the little boys gathered around to see it. Hilarious. He told me not to worry, that he is brave and will take care of it.

We had a short visit from the cousins-love this pic!

And, in what might become a familiar story, Reese has the best grin of the whole bunch. (Also, is Max as big as Reese is? The girl is tiny!)

Noni in a flashback to the life with 2 babies...

Mom has been awesome with bringing dinner, running errands and, mostly, entertaining Anderson so I can occasionally sit down. She is the best. 

 Aunt LoLo & Pappaw also came for a visit to meet this guy! LoLo is the best because she just loves my boys and always spoils them rotten with hugs and snuggle time!

 We even got a pic with Bug in it and looking at the camera, which is rare these days!

 Aunt LoLo brought Anderson all kinds of goodies and the cutest card with a "Best Big Brother" sticker in it that he wore all night!

GG & Jpa have made quite a few visits to love on this baby boy (and bring us yummy dinners and goodies!).

 Somehow the pic with Bop & Max at the hospital didn't make it on the last blog post, so here it is.

And, I love this pic that Nicole took of him when he was not even 24 hours old.  (notice how there is not a glare in the left eye? Yep, I did, too. And, I took him that day to the eye doc just to make sure he is ok. We have had about 5 pediatricians check already and I will trust nobody until Dr. Cogen gives me the all clear, but hearing the Knox. Ped Op say, "Perfectly Clear!" was definitely reassuring. )

Mostly the last few weeks have been filled with lots and lots of snuggle time with this baby and no make up wearing/getting dressed on my part. I love when I get to hang out with him and actually chose to get him out of his crib one night while we were watching a movie just because I missed him.

I am definitely sure we are going to keep him

Just Max

When I was pregnant, everyone always asked the same 3 questions, in this order: 

1)Are you having a boy or a girl?  

2) What are you naming him?

 3) Just Max?

 Just Max. 

First, he is my kid and I do not owe public an explanation as to my baby's name, especially when I have heard some of the names out there...

I have just always loved, loved the name Max. It's not that I have anything wrong with Maxwell or Maximus or any other longer version of the short form; I just like Max. 

Just like this boy, it makes me happy. 

Now that he is here and is actually our MAX, I realize he was destined to be our baby Max all along. 

And he is such a perfect Max, don't you think?

The meaning of Max? 

The Greatest. 

So, to me, he is Just the Greatest. 

Nothing else is needed. 

And, it doesn't hurt that his little name only takes 3 crackers...

Introducing...

max dominic glover

    

8.7 lbs  21 1/4 inches

perfect.

This boy is here and he is totally perfect and has totally changed our lives and is proving that perhaps that Grinch was onto something when his heart was able to grow 3x  instantly.

He made his appearance a week early and was courteous enough to provide me with a very quick and easy labor. I am a tiny bit disappointed that he chose to wait until the day after I chose as his arrival date, but I guess he knew what he was doing because it was a pretty easy gig this time around!

I had a meeting all day on May 8 and must have looked rough because the facilitator told me to go home when it was over, but I had another meeting that evening so I ended up not making it home until about 8pm. I had "fake" contractions all during the last month and they definitely were worse that day. I remember Brandon telling me something as I walked in the door and sort of nodding, but really focusing on the pain in theMax area. But, these contractions were NOTHING like the intense awfluness of labor with Anderson so I kept ignoring them. They proceeded to get worse as the night went on, but, again, NOTHING like Anderson labor. At one point, they were 5 minutes apart so I called the doc who said to go on in. I avoided this until they were 5 minutes because I was determined not to have a middle of the night labor again and thought I could just ignore them away. I seriously was folding clothes between contractions (#OCD) as a way to ignore them/be prepared if it was labor.

So, I called my amazing parents who drove over at midnight while we headed to the hospital. (They drove 6 hours at midnight to get here when I was dying with Anderson, so this time seemed pretty quick, I think). I never felt really miserable like I did with Anderson & I am pretty sure I did not cuss at all at Brandon for  going over speed bumps/driving too fast/driving too slow/etc., which should have been my sign that Max was not on the way. But, I have heard entirely too many horror stories about people not making it to the hospital on time with the 2nd one and they couldn't get an epidural and I don't play around with that risk, so off we went. By the time she checked me, I was 4 cm and the contractions were very 2 minutes. Ok...so we sat there for a few hours just waiting/monitoring and then they stopped. Just stopped. So, we were sent home.

Boo.

I did not want to be the person who thought I was in labor and had to go home,because, really? How do you not know you are in labor? Especially if you have actually been in labor once? I was so irritated, but grateful for a supportive husband, great parents and a healthy, yet indecisive baby.

About 2 hours after we got home, I got ready for work, dropped Anderson off and headed to my already scheduled 39 week doctor appt. I was trying to finish writing some thank you notes for the people at Powell who had given me a really sweet surprise shower so I could hand them out when I got there. That is what I am doing in the above picture, which I have to count as my 39 week picture since I had a baby 7 hours later.

The doctor checked me and said I had progressed more and since I was still having contractions, I could just be admitted right then. Oh. Suddenly it seemed to sudden and real and I sort of hesitated. Then, I realized I would just be back in the middle of the night again if I didn't stay, so we stayed...and had a baby!

TOTALLY different labor experience than Round I. I just walked across the hallways to the hospital side, put on my adorable gown from Jessica and climbed into the bed. I was not super comfortable from the contractions, but, all in all, was pretty much ok. With Anderson, I was in so much pain when I was checked in to the hospital I just didn't think the Labor floor was my destination, it had to be the ICU at least. I was already 7 with I was checked in with A, so by the time I was in the bed with IV, drugs, etc. I was in much, much more pain. This time I never even really felt much worse than I had been experiencing the month before the real deal. It was a nice set up. 

Lots of entertaining of Bug by the grandparents. He was SO excited when I told him that Max was coming soon. He said, "This weekend??" (that is what he says when he means today) and when I said yes, he pumped his little fists and said, "I am so excited!" He was a little concerned that I couldn't get out of the bed, but he had some new binoculars, so he was really ok. 

Speaking of, have you ever seen something and just known immediately that your kid would love it? That is what happened with these at Kohl's. I was right-they are totally his kind of toy and since we had a room with a view of the street and all of the hospital parking lots (ie:ambulances), he was in heaven. 

So, back to the point of the post... After less than 6 hours of hanging out with an IV and epidural, this baby boy made his appearance at 5:06. He was instantly and immediately my Max and I just could not get enough of him, which is why I kicked everyone out so I could enjoy some snuggle time with this perfect little guy. I whispered all of my promises to him and loved on him and floated on my epidural/baby cloud and loved every second of it. Then, I demanded a cheeseburger because all of that loving wore me out. 

Brandon was, true to form, amazing the entire time. He kept encouraging me, telling me I was doing awesome (I was laying in bed paralyzed from the waist down...I wasn't technically doing anything) and cut the umbilical cord like an old pro! I realized almost instantly that I, yet again, basically birthed by husband and am now totally outnumbered by 3 boys who look exactly alike. It's a pretty good problem to have. 

                                             
                                 As Brandon will tell you, I am sort of obsessed with his weight. I know this not really that big, but it is almost a pound bigger than Anderson was and I am a relatively smallish person, so this was just sort of unexpected. I don't know why it was unexpected because I seriously was way bigger this time, but the numbers still sort of shocked me.

Anderson was sort of impressed initially. I think he expected...more. He went into his shy/silly mode, but did love on him a bit later. 

My boys. I will never,never get tired of saying that and you will see that phrase in every single blog post. 

Bobble Cole brought the girls to visit (she gave up Disney on Ice tix for this boy) and, of course, held him first. We sort of push people out of the way to hold the babies first.

All Anderson really wanted was Lily. "When is Lily going to be here??" was the constant question. Listening to their conversations are hilarious.

Uncle Curtis dropped by for a snuggle with his new nephew!

Bop and Reese! 

Love my  mom for coming over in the middle of the night, taking care of Anderson and my dogs while I was in the hospital and loving my boys like she loves me. 

Love GG & Jpa for always being so supportive and excited about our boys and having super strong genes (GG) that make everyone in my family look alike!

We went to the nursery and couldn't figure out which one he was, which was sort of funny. Then we found him!

Brandon and Reese                                                     

Bobble Cole & Max having the Best day

First meeting!! Reese was pumped! Max is almost her size...

Just melt my heart. 

And, melt it again...

Those strong Glover genes!

To be honest, I really love the hospital time and was in no rush to leave. There is something scary about not having a nursery to call, meals brought bedside and time to watch Golden Girls & eat snacks while snuggling a baby.

Headed home...

where bonding with 2 baby boys became the daily routine. 

I have taken way too many pics of this boy in a week.

Noni & Anderson decorated for our arrival home. 

And, the best pic of the whole experience so far. 

We are so, so happy as a family of 4 and are so lucky to have these boys as a part of us.