happy 2nd birthday little fellow!

i know i said in my post yesterday that regular blogging would probably not be happening for a while, but i didn't want to overlook sweet graham's birthday in all the craziness. we will celebrate tonight with family and froggy cupcakes and from now on, graham and miles will probably have joint celebrations.



love this sweet song nicole found...makes me all teary about my little boy getting so big. seriously, when did i become one of those moms that cries about everything?

though he is hardly "little" anymore...he is actually the heaviest of our children. we are so thankful for his life. he is so much exhausting fun with a developing sense of volume and enthusiasm control. he talks non-stop and follows marit everywhere. his huge brown eyes melt me fairly often and he gives the best hugs and kisses. sweet boy, we love you and thank the Lord for you! happy birthday!


these are in reverse chronological order
such a concerned big brother

and a patient little brother

always eating...

again

following marit

big shoes to fill

LOVES his daddy



1st birthday











early attempt at a sibling shot

more on miles

sorry kelly about how long it has taken me to upload more pictures! i keep sitting down to do it and then someone needs to nurse or a toddler needs some attention or something. i have a feeling that most non-essential things (such as frequent blogging, showering etc) will just be taking a back-burner for a while as the war against selfishness in us is just ratcheted up a bit.


about the name:
miles means "soldier" which adam likes because it sounds manly, but we also pray that little miles will further God's kingdom with his life and will fight for those things that are near to God's heart...that he will be a man of character who stands up for those who cannot do so themselves. there are also people like miles standish, miles davis, miles from LOST, and our friend's dog miles, but our miles is not named after any of those. we mostly just liked the name.

richardson similarly means "brave power" and this part is after my dad and dear deceased grandfather. my brilliant and kind father is the 3rd william richardson and i am so thankful to be able name a son for him. my grandfather, though never able to meet his great grands was a wonderful combination of strength and tenderness. i have so many sweet memories of him...from rescuing my aunt's car from the bank of a mountain road with a complex system of levers and such in the middle of the night to weeping at a beautiful piece of music.

though i have had an emotional breakdown pretty much every day so far...just feeling overwhelmed (and hormonal and tired still) about the responsibility of shepherding and caring for these precious little people who need so much guidance and attention, we recognize we have so much to be thankful for as well. my mom is here this week and adam is off for 3 weeks(!!!!!!!!!!!). even the timing of his birth is a sweet grace as adam's vacation began monday so we didn't lose a day of his "paternity leave."

love from marit

miles has his first technological experience as he skypes with my 89 yr old grandmother. you can see he was really engaged...

i think my sister looks so beautiful in this one

marit came with adam to get us from the hospital. we are totally maxing out the subaru with 3 carseats across the back, some sort of enormous stroller in the back and a bike rack. it's kind of ridiculous.

graham is totally infatuated with "baby miles" and is probably the greatest danger to him. it is so sweet how much he loves him, but so scary too.

snuggling in the hospital. we started the pacifier early this time since he has been nursing so well. all our kids have really been helped in the sleep department with the pacifier and the older two easily dropped it close to 2. miles has done well at night so far, though his only 5 day old status leaves lots of room for that to change yet.

with my sweet mom

i think he looks like both marit and graham...fair (tiny bit of blond fuzz and no eyebrows) like marit, but shaped a bit like graham. right now his eyes are dark bluish-grey so who knows what they will ultimately be.

classic hoover cheeks:-)

miles richardson

adam has taken the older two on a bike-ride on this gorgeous fall day, so i'm going to try to get the birth story in real quick before i forget while sweet miles sleeps next to me in the bouncy seat. this may be more detailed than you care to read, but i'm mostly posting so i can remember the details later:)

thurs, oct 14 around 6 pm i started having more regular contractions...say every 5-10 minutes. i've been contracting a lot in the last month, but this was the first pattern i had noticed. because i knew i was dilated already some, it was my 3rd pregnancy, and i was gbs positive this time and needed to get 2 doses of antibiotics in before delivery (taking at least 4 hours), i did not want to wait around at home for too long. we put the kids to bed, adam's parents came and we went to the hospital around 9. i was monitored for 2.5 hours and my contractions did not increase in strength or frequency during that time and i did not dilate any further so they sent me home around 1130. i felt so dumb..."this is my 3rd pregnancy and i don't even know if i'm really in labor!" we checked in with char who took over for adam's parents and decided to spend the night at our house since it was so late. we went to bed.

at 1am i woke up in agony with serious total body contractions every 2 minutes. adam said, "just lay down honey." ha! i probably said something mean and told him we had to go back to the hospital NOW. we are SOOOO thankful char decided to spend the night! we quickly left and the same nurse (who helped deliver marit 3 years ago) quickly admitted us. by the time we got there i was shaking uncontrollably and throwing up. i always do this when i hit transition. things moved much faster this time, i was given the first dose of antibiotics i needed, checked and was 7cm dilated, 90% effaced, contractions continued to increase in intensity and poor adam was getting squeezed (i was probably digging my nails in too) so tightly each time. it is amazing how quickly i forget the pain...graham was only two years ago. i was thankful that i had already consented for an epidural the first time we came to the hospital, so the doc was able to come a place it quickly (though i told him it could not be soon enough). i realize there are lots of schools of thought on pain-control and the epidural is the only one i have used...had 3 great ones and i'm always amazed at how the pain is relieved, but i don't get loopy (nothing in the blood stream), the baby is unaffected, and i can still feel enough pressure to push. the contrast is incredible. but then, i am a nurse and adam a doctor so we don't worry too much about embracing many aspect of traditional medicine. once it was placed, i stopped throwing up and adam and i were able to relax for a few minutes. the baby's heart rate started to decelerate with contractions, so the doc (who happened to be a 4th year resident and did a great job as my doc was on her way back from mexico) was going to check me again expecting me to be complete, but she lifted the sheet and said "oh, there's the head! don't move!" we prepared for delivery and he was out in one contraction with three tiny pushes. adam said "i think it's a boy...it's a boy isn't it?" it was 5:02 am and we rejoiced! miles was a little purple (apgar of 7) so they bulb suctioned him a minute and wrapped him up while i was stitched up (same type of 2nd degree tear i have had with all three). he weighed 8 lbs 11 oz...my biggest baby yet! marit was 7, 6 and graham 8, 8. then he nursed like a champ for nearly an hour while they prepared for us to be transferred to the post-partum unit. i was immediately starving so adam went and got a celebration breakfast including coffee...somehow we always miss an entire night of sleep with the births of our babies.

we did not get the 2nd dose of antibiotics in so we had to stay in the hospital an extra night, but it was sweet time for miles and i to just snuggle and get acquainted. my parents came to help out with the older two and they visited miles a couple times. both marit and graham are big fans, but marit was in denial that it was a boy for a few days. she finally calls him miles instead of lucy (our girl name). graham is soooo loving and wants to help hold him constantly, which is rather frightening and requires LOTS of supervision. i can see that this transition is going to be crazy-hard, but we are trusting the Lord for just the grace we need moment to moment.

he finally started noticing

i'm not much for belly shots this third time around, but i want to remember sweet graham finally noticing my enormous mid-section. in the last week or so he has started talking to it and kissing it: "hewo baby!" "a morning baby!" it is soooo sweet. so here we are this morning and the baby will be 39 weeks tomorrow.

while waiting

i'm still pregnant and thankful to be almost 39 weeks! i don't feel impatient or anxious (though i definitely have a wave of healthy fear and trembling when i think about meeting the needs of and preventing the injury of THREE people 3 and under). i love this stage during which delivery is so close, but there is so much unknown...i think it might be the only kind of surprise i really enjoy. God has designed this process so beautifully. i suppose if i make it to our due date, we will have to think about induction...that would be new territory for us, so i'm trying not to think about it yet. physically i feel pretty good as the baby has dropped so i can breath again and my back/hip has been a little better behaved. we have been enjoying the other two so much lately too and we are thankful to be on the other side of a bout of strep throat coupled with croup (that required a 4am ER trip-marit's 4th or 5th trip!) for marit. she was just getting us warmed up for waking up repeatedly with a newborn... now we are pretty much in hibernation mode from the church nursery (so thankful we live 3 blocks from church and there are 2 services so we can both still go), library story-time etc hoping not to repeat the meningitis experience we had with 2 week old graham. i love fall, but not all the sickness that comes with it! we still hang out with our well friends though! recent pictures of the munchkins are following while we wait. it has been a really sweet couple weeks with adam on elective for the next 3 months and the project to a reasonable stopping place, we have really enjoyed each other lately...before the sleepless nights begin! we are thankful for so much grace.
freshly awake (g has been an earrrrly riser lately)

adam pulled him around in this...thrilling!

got to love chocolate chip cookies!

likes to sleep with a collection of creatures lately and you can see all my maternity clothes getting organized...and put away soon!

adam practicing with the new camera (thanks family!) and me being slightly annoyed



mmmm spagetti!

getting so close!

our new little person will be here any day. i was 3cm dilated and 75% effaced on Friday and i have contractions all the time...just not settling into a pattern yet. i will often mention them to adam though and he assures me there is nothing like me telling him of another contraction to spur him on in finishing up our renovation project. we basically finished the bathroom to nursery project and we are so thankful! at least the major components are done! there are lots of odds and ends to do, but my nestingness will help us get some of that done. since yesterday afternoon i vacuumed, swept floors, cleaned bathrooms, moved furniture into nursery and arranged it, did 3 loads of laundry, reorganized marit and graham's closet, hung pictures...and other tasks i can't remember. so here you see the bathroom from before:

we tore the tub, toilet, and sink out (big thanks to my dad who did a lot of the demo on a recent visit!), repaired the wall and bead board, removed the extra wall, replaced the nasty linoleum with pergo, installed a fan, repainted.


the fabric birds were made by my sweet friend nicole (used to decorate for our parish shower) and the paper ones by my sister-in-law kelly. both are much more creative than i. the horse paintings my mom did when she was in art school and i have always loved them. all the furniture is from ikea and we already had all of it...marit's crib, chair i nursed the older two in etc.

at first we thought the green a little not babyish enough, but i must confess, i love colorful walls and i'm rather fond of the color now. the wardrobe is where the sink used to be (we decided to hold off on building a closet in here for now and reorganizing the kids closet freed up the wardrobe) and we hope to put a wall lamp in that hole where the sink light used to be.

this is our landing actually clearing out since it is no longer a holding place for furniture and lumber. we still have gazillions of tools to return to our neighbors, lots of cleaning and organizing to do up here. all those clothes in the baskets are boy and girl baby clothes waiting for our delivery so half can be put back in the attic


we are so excited to meet this little one soon! i love this anticipation stage...knowing it could be any day. pray for us as we help prepare marit and graham. marit particularly has been really emotional...maybe just sensing the impending change. graham is two and crazy and has no clue what is about to happen!