Happy Birthday Aaron!

Sunday was Aaron's 2nd birthday!

He got lots of fun new toys. I think his favorite present, though, was having everyone's undivided attention while Sean slept in the other room.

Now if you ask him how old he is, he'll sometimes say "Ooo" and try holding up two fingers (he ends up just crossing his pinky and ring fingers; it's really cute).

Birthday! With swollen-face Mommy!

The first of many years of two birthday cakes

Tricycle!

Broom!

Baby Sean!

Alex already posted the stats on little Sean, so here are some more pictures and a little more about the birth.

First of all, this labor was WAY easier and shorter than Aaron's 27 hour labor. Here's a timeline:

8:00 pm: Had first contraction. They came about every 10 minutes or so if I was walking around, less frequently if I was sitting down.

10:30 pm: Watched some TV with Alex. Only had one contraction the whole time.

11:00 pm: Tried to get some sleep. Darn contractions kept me up though; roughly every 10 minutes or so.

12:00 am: Suddenly they're about 5 minutes apart, soon even less.

1:00 am: Called the nurse midwife. I didn't feel like anything was imminent, but I was ready for some pain relief (on a side note, I had no pain at all in between contractions, which was totally different than the first time, when I was in constant pain). She said I sounded admitable, and that they'd watch me for about an hour to make sure I was in active labor. Meanwhile, I was getting shaky and crying, and somewhere in the back of my mind thinking, Isn't this what happens during transition? But there's no way I'm in transition... So we left for the hospital.

2:00 am: Checked in to the hospital. Contractions were coming fast now. They took me to the triage room and checked me, and the nurse just said, "Quick, let's get her back in the wheel chair!" So I asked her how dilated I was. 9 cm. What?? How did that happen?? I mean, it was painful, sure, but I thought there was no way I was at 9 cm already! I wasn't even in as much pain as I had been with Aaron at like 5 cm.

So they raced me to the Labor and Delivery room, got an IV in me (it was rushed, so the nurse kind of made a mess of my arm...), and barely had time for a spinal block (it was too late for an epidural). A few minutes of pushing later and...

2:35 am: Sean is born!

Yes, 30 minutes from hospital check-in to baby. I still can't believe it. I'm just glad we got there in time for the spinal; pushing a 10 pounder out without it wouldn't have been very fun!

So far Sean is a great baby. He loves to nurse and he loves to cuddle.

Mommy, Sean, and Aaron (Daddy is behind the camera)

Just chillin' in the swing at home

Aaron is adjusting slowly but surely. When we first brought Sean home he was a little panicked, but I think he's realizing that Sean is part of the family now and that Mommy and Daddy still have plenty of love and time to play and cuddle with Aaron too. He's still pretty freaked out by the nursing though; I hope he'll get used to it soon.

Aaron brought a teddy bear for Sean in the hospital; here he is giving him kisses with the bear.

Sean

We have a new baby!! His name is Sean Sorensen Hart. He was born at 2:35 am on 7-9-10. He weighes 10 pounds and 5 ounces and is 21 inches long. He's a big boy.

More to come later.

Aaron's Top Ten Favorite Things

(in no particular order)

1. Snow (but not his snow suit)

This is the one and only time we actually got him in his snow suit. He liked playing in the snow, but it certainly wasn't worth the tears, screaming, and fighting to get him into it. Not again, anyway.

The snowsuit notwithstanding, Aaron still loved to pat the snow and stomp around in it with his boots on while I held his hands.

2. Bottles and Jugs

Pretty much his favorite toys ever.

3. The Play Corner

We set up this play area a couple months ago so that he'd have a nice place to practice standing up (we put his toys on the shelves), and so we'd have a place to put all his toys. As you can see, he was very excited about the mat. He now likes to take off the purple borders, pull out the letters and numbers, and chomp on the little inside pieces. Apparently the mat has a delicious texture no baby can resist--every baby and toddler that has been here has chomped on that mat. Ha ha.

4. Kitties

He loves to meow at them. And grab at them. And he especially likes these kitty videos.

5. Mommy and Daddy

6. Cookies

7. His red and blue hat

It's now been put away since it isn't that cold anymore, but he loved wearing his hat, inside, outside, wherever. Sometimes that's all he wore!

8. Pushing his toy shopping cart

We call it "doing his laps" because he goes in a big circle around the house.

9. Whining

10. Bath time!