Summer Swimming

Been swimming so much already, and it's just now June!!!  I'm attaching 2 videos of these cuties, and then the rest are just cute pictures taken at either our neighbor Chris and Jenica's or Grams and Papa's!

1, 2, 3, BLAST OFF!

Just swimming-

Lately...

Quite a bit has happened in my 2+ week absence from the blog!  Let me sum it up for you super fast-

Aunt Kendra and Uncle Lu got married!!!!  Uncle Lu was already a part of our family, but now it's nice that Sweetish Baby has one last name to use for gift giving purposes for the Blays!  :)

Here are some pictures of the beautiful day.  I didn't get many- I was 5 days postpartum and the kids needed to be kept out of the pool, but they did have a photographer there so I can't wait to see those pictures.  Kendra was absolutely STUNNING!

You saw two little girls hunting lizards a few pictures up- Ada took one home and named it "Lizzie"- it's in the water bottle in her hands in this picture.

We stopped at Pet Smart on the way home from the wedding and got a cage, water bowl, and food (crickets and worms) for Lizzie.  Here's Ada with her new pet.  So creepy.

And Ada went on her 1st slumber party! At her BFF Olivia's (and my BFF Caitlin's) house.  The girls had a blast, and stayed up until almost midnight giggling in bed after a fun crazy evening of playing baking and dancing!  :)

Introducing Tate Anders Dowell!

It's a boy!  And he's here!  Tate Anders Dowell was born at 2:23 on March 4, 2013.  Weighing in at 9lbs 1oz and 21 in long- he's absolutely perfect!  We are madly in love.

Here's the long overdue post about his arrival. :)

I went into labor Sunday night- the contractions I'd been having on and off for WEEKS (yes weeks, I'd been swearing I was going into labor and then Tate would move, causing my labor to stall)- finally turned into the real deal.  The contractions were officially painful (no longer just "strong pressure")- but not consistent enough to go into the hospital just yet.  I managed to get some sleep and woke up about 4:30 the next morning.  They were getting more consistent- and went from 15 min apart to 10 min apart to 7 min apart within about 45 min (do the math- that is a FAST progression!)  Steve got here just in time for them to be 3 minutes apart and us to make the 30 minute drive to Katy.  

I stayed surprisingly calm throughout it all- no crying, screaming, or puking (unlike Dax's labor!).  I got my epidural about 8 cm (because I was so scared to push out what could be a 10 lb baby with no drugs!)- Tate was in fact in a weird position at 8 cm, they had me get into a weirder position to correct it, and he popped out literally 6 minutes later!  

Not to brag or anything (ok, I'm bragging), but the nurses said they wish they'd had a video camera to film everything and post to YouTube as the most graceful labor and delivery ever.  

Thank you, thank you very much!  ;)

This is me about to have a contraction right as Casey snapped the picture-

Let's try again-

IT'S A BOY!

Most beautiful head and face ever.

9lb 1.3oz 

So alert

He grabbed Casey's finger and inspected it at 3 minutes old...

Back in mommy's arms- where he's stayed for the last 13 days!

Grams and Papa!

Some daddy snuggle time

He didn't sleep much that first night- he was so into learning all about this new place!

MiMi brought Ada and Dax the next day- Dax is topless in these pictures because he immediately barged in, picked up my cup of (cooled) coffee, and dumped it all over himself.  Woops!

"Now YOU kiss Tate, Dax!"

Mommy's tired and Ada's unsure-

MiMi!

MorMor!

In his "Just Born" monthly onesie sticker!

Favorite activity at 43 hours old: yawning.

Getting ready to go home!!!

Loading up in the car-

What is this thing!?

Love him!

MiMi kept the kids for an extra 2 days after we left the hospital- and it was so wonderful to extend the new baby bubble for a little while longer.  

I missed my older crazies so much though, and was so happy to see them!  

This is right when they got home-

And a few videos of my sweet boy and family the first couple days of his life:

Hanging at the hospital in the middle of the night-

Leaving the hospital!

Dax at the hospital-

2 Big Milestones...

1. Ada got her ears pierced!!!!

Sitting in the chair at Claire's waiting for the big moment- I'd told her it would hurt/sting/pinch, but she wasn't quite prepared.  We were VERY close to walking out of the store with only one piercing that night!

This is after the fact, we were piddling around the store trying on goodies (hence the silly glasses)- she was trying so hard to be brave and smile pretty for the picture!  I ADORE this photo.  I adore her!

 2. Dax is sleeping in his big boy bed!!!

I need to post a picture, but Grams and PaPa got Dax bunk beds- they are so awesome!!  So last Sunday Dax made the big transition from crib to bed. 

It was a rocky start (lots of getting up, playing, acting silly)- I even found him in Ada's room at 3am one night playing.  When I went to pick him up, he just looked at me and said "hhhiiiii!!!!!" like it was mid-day!

But after just a few days of relentlessly putting him back in bed every time he got out (with zero attention- except to repeat "STAY IN BED, DAX"), he is doing AWESOME!  He just hops in bed, expects a little snuggle, and lays his head down. I love this picture- 

And remember the roller coaster in Dax's room from MiMi & Steve?  (Video is linked below)  Imagine it is pitch black, and totally silent.  I go to check on him (the monitor was on the fritz- but I've since fixed it so I can see his every move), and realize he's not in bed.  At that moment, I hear him dismount his car on the roller coaster and begin his descent down the tracks.  All I could hear is the rumble of the roller coaster and his giggles of pure joy!  I could NOT help but crack up- I managed to keep it together until I sternly put him back in bed, though!