Happy 4th of July!

Sick baby

On July 4th weekend, Nicholas was very sick with a high fever and vomiting. Between Thursday evening and Saturday morning, we had made three trips to the ER at MGH. By our third visit on Saturday morning, they decided to admit him because his fever was not going down. He was poked and prodded (blood test, inserted IV, catheder for urine test, spinal tap)and all the tests came back negative for any signs of a bacterial infection. It was just a nasty virus, apparently. Nicholas and I got to stay in our own private room overlooking the city for Saturday night, and by Sunday afternoon, his fever has disappeared and he was no vomiting, so we were allowed to go home. Since then, he has been improving greatly. Thank goodness the worst has passed, it's so scary when they are that sick at such a young age!

"Get me out of here!"



He managed to smile even though he was feeling bad...

Nicholas- One Month Old

Granny's visit

At the end of June, Granny came for a quick visit on her way back to New Zealand from London. It was great for her to be able to meet Nicholas when he was just a newborn. Preston was happy to see her and to show her all the new words he learned and new things he could do since she saw him last December.

Nicholas at Two Weeks Old

My little bean...

The Story of Nicholas

Tuesday, May 17, 2011
(Four days before due date)

2am- I wake up to slight cramping and convince myself that this couldn't possibly be "it". The baby isn't due for another four days!

5am- After being awake for a few hours with mild contractions, I think I feel my water break. Not sure if it really did, since this didn't happen with Preston. Call the doctor and they advise me to come into the hospital to be checked out. We call Mimi and Grampy in for reinforcements!

6am- Mimi and Grampy arrive. I am feeling fine, no contractions. Was it a false alarm

7:30am- Contractions are back! Alex and I head to the hospital with our bags packed. Mimi and Grampy take Preston back to Framingham

8:00am- Am examined by a midwife in the triage area of the maternity ward at MGH. I am four cm dialated, but they seem to think I am not ready to be admitted. They tell us to walk around, go get something to eat and come back in two hours. I am feeling OK, contractions are painful but bearable.

10:00am- I am re-examined and no change. The midwife sends us home as she thinks I'm not quite ready yet. I am discouraged, but exhuasted and just want to get home and go to bed.

11am-1pm- Home in bed and contractions are getting stronger. Then, POP! my water definitely breaks this time. Contractions are so painful I cannot speak. Back to MGH.

1:30pm- I am admitted and quickly given an epidural. The pain is intense. Nothing like I felt with preston, as I have been on the epidural overnight before I started pushing. As I am getting the epidural, I feel like I have to start pushing.



2:30pm- The epidural has been in for about 15 minutes and it is numbing the contractions, but they are still painful. I feel an intense urge to start pushing. The nurse tells me to try and wait until the Doctors can get scrubbed in. Easier said than done.

2:36pm- The doctors are ready and I start pushing.

2:42pm- Nicholas Patrick arrives into the world! Alex lets me know that we've had another boy, even though I knew it all along! Welcome, gorgeous baby! They put him on my chest and he starts nursing almost immediately. I am still kind of in shock at how quickly it all happened. An amazingly smooth, but painful, labor and delivery.

That afternoon, Bobby and Jen, Mom and Dad and Preston come to visit.




Uncle Ronnie and Auntie Kathy were coincidentally at MGH that day for a dr's appointment, so they were also able to come and meet the little guy. I am tired but feeling good. We stayed in the hospital until Thursday morning and then took baby Nicholas home to begin our life as a family of four!

Carys and Preston

We babysat for Carys last Saturday night and we all had a blast. Preston and Carys are still best friends and love hanging out together.

On the carousel...



Next stop, visiting the sea lions at the Aquarium...


Dinner at Legal Seafoods, where they charmed all of the waitresses...


Home for tubby time...



Ending the night with a dance party, of course.

Catching up...

Wanted to remember some events in Preston's life that I haven't yet recorded here.

Feb 2010- First plane ride! Went to London to meet his cousin, Honor, Auntie Suzannah and Uncle Olly.


July 16, 2010- First birthday!! We celebrated with a family party at Mimi and Grampy's...





...and a joint birthday fiesta with Carys at Columbus Park for all of his friends.






August 2010-Rented a house on Martha's Vineyard with Liz, Martin, Carys and Gareth, Sara and Ellie. Mimi and Grampy happened to be staying on the island that week as well. It was a wonderful vacation!








Halloween 2010- Went to a neighborhood party with Carys and Ellie. My friend Nicole bought him the sheep costume. So adorable!





December 2010- We spent Christmas and New Year's in New Zealand with Alex's entire family. It was an amazing trip, Preston did so well on the flights and just loved getting to know his Horan side of the family. We had some professional photos taken while we were there...

21 months

Time is flying by, and with baby #2 due in less than two weeks, I wanted to try and capture the essence of Preston at 21 months. He is an amazing little boy, whose personality is coming out leaps and bounds. He has started to put two or more words together and is becoming less of a baby and more of a little person, with his own thoughts and stories to tell. It's amazing to watch him learning so much each day and figuring out how to express himself.

Here are some things he is saying these days:

"Bye, bye mommy (daddy, Mimi, Grampy, etc)"

"Mimi, Grampy, house, kitty, doggies (across the street from M&G's house)"- he says this in the car as we are driving to Framingham. He knows the route by now and can tell when we are headed there.

"Monkey...big...man...hat..go,go,go,...run,run,run". This is his story of when we took him to watch the Boston Mararthon for the first time. A man running the marathon in a gorilla suit passed by Preston and the little guy was stunned to say the least. What was a giant monkey doing running a race? He also saw a man wearing a bit cat in the hat type of hat which also clearly made an impression on him! It's about a month later and he is still talking about that day.

"Beeg, beeg horseys. Beeg, beeg hats. Shong.." Preston watched the Royal Wedding with Mimi, Mommy, Auntie Lesley and Junko a few weeks ago. He loved the horses, all the big hats (especially the soldiers) and the songs that were sung in the church.

"Hat on head"- Mimi and Grampy bought him a Red Sox cap, which he loves to put on. Backwards, of course.

More words he can say-
nilp= milk
flower, color (he loves coloring), bus, people (loves the toy bus and people that go inside that Auntie Suzannah gave him), worm, ants, shark, turtle (loves taking a bath and playing with his toy turtle), swing (loves the swings at the park), walk (strollers are not a hit right now, wants to walk everywhere), waffle (his favorite breakfast food), foot, toes, leg, bed, ball, bat...

He still loves Elmo and also now loves Cookie Monster, Ernie, and Big Bird. He loves helmets and talks about them alot, especially when he sees them on TV while watching baseball or hockey. He loves playing sports and loves going to Mimi and Grampy's bc he has a t-ball set there and also a mini basketball hoop. He loves going to the park and looking for worms and ants and loves watching the doggies run around.

18-month checkup

At his 18-month checkup, Preston weighed in at 25 pounds and measured 30 inches long (both around 50% percentile). He is starting to show signs of the "terrible twos" with little tantrums once in a while and saying "no" much more. But, for the most part, he is still a very happy and curious little guy.

It's been a while...

Preston is now 18 months old and is turning into a little boy so quickly. He is talking up a storm and here are some of the things he loves:
-Elmo, Ernie, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Oscar
-Football and basketball (playing, watching, talking about, reading about)
-Swimming at the pool with Grampy at the gym
-Guitars and "songs"
-Beebees (this could mean babies, basketball, binky, etc)
-Cars and trucks
-Snow
-Reading books
-Brushing his teeth
-His rubber duckie
-Fish

He can say lots of words now. Here's a list of some examples:
- He can recognize and name lots of animals and their sounds including cow, sheep, horsey, doggie, kitty, duckie, fish, turtle, penguin, shark, chicken, peacock
-mommy, daddy, mimi, grampy, granny, grandad, honor, olly, bobby, jenny, lesley, junko, dug, mazzy, nonnie, dee dee
-brush, cookie, cracker, orange, peas, apple, books, barn, bath, football, watch, clock, snow, "outside", please, thank you, guitar, shoes, socks

I'm going to try and keep this blog more updated in the coming year, but things are going to get much more busy come the end of may- we are expecting baby #2!