Holden's Blessing

Holden was blessed on January 6, 2012. It was a great blessing by Daddy. All of our family and a couple of great friends came to be there with us.

It was so sweet, Maddux and Reese kept calling it "baby's special day".

Holden- 2 months

This little man is SO sweet. He is already growing too fast!!

At his 2 month appointment he is:

10 lbs & 9 oz- 20%

23.5 inches long- 70%

Holden is such a sweet boy. He only cries when something is hurting, hungry or tired. And sadly, his tummy had a rough time for the last month. He has been on Zantac and it really hasn't done much good. So the doctor finally put him on Prevacid. Seems to be working much better! 

Some things about Holden this month:

**Was given a wonderful blessing by Daddy on the day he turned 2 months old. He looked SO adorable! 

**He smiles like crazy. Big wide, open mouthed smiles!

**He loves to talk. He will take after his big brother and his mom, I'm afraid.

**Holden is not a huge fan of tummy time. But Maddux and Reese LOVE watching him do it anyway!

**He likes being held outward so that he can see what's going on in the world, yet he is still snuggly. He loves to lay on Daddy's chest.

**Loves his brother and sister SO much! 

 

 

Christmas 2012

Christmas was crazy fun this year. Nana and Grandpa Craig, Deb, Brandon, and Josh, and Amber, Tyler and the kids all came! It was cousin heaven!!!

Here are my two big cuties the Sunday before Christmas. They looked SOOOO adorable!!! I asked them to look cute for me and this is what they did. Love. 

 Craig family tradition...growing up we used to drive around in the car on Christmas Eve looking at Christmas lights and singing Christmas Carols. This year, with the big group, my parents rented a big limo bus and we toured some of the coolest streets in Phoenix.

Everyone definitely had a blast...until Maddux stuck his finger on this train track just in time for it to get run over and cut open.

 On Christmas Eve, our other Craig family tradition is to put together bags for the homeless...

 

 Christmas Eve NIGHT was spent with the Ingrams. The kids sat through listening to the story of the nativity. But when it came time to listen to The Polar Express...they were all over the place! 

 

 

Utah

10 days after Holden was born we packed up the car (and half of our house, I think) and headed to Utah for a week and a half. Jessica and Eric got married the day after Thanksgiving, so we spent the week of Thanksgiving and a few days after up with the whole Ingram and Tattersall clan! 

Holden got to meet Grandma Tatt...

 And Grandma Ingram...

 We had told the kids all about how Utah would have tons of snow. No such luck while we were there, so we drove up the canyon until we found some. Arizona parents...the kids had light jackets, canvas shoes, and knit mittens. Fail.

 

Jessica and Eric's Wedding. Maddux got to walk Jessica down the isle and it was about the dang cutest thing I've ever seen in my life. Reese was a flower girl and was trying to pick up the flowers that the other sweet flower girl was dropping. 

Jessica, of course, looked beautiful!! 

 

  

 

     We stopped in Vegas for the night on the way home. We took the kids to the M&M factory and the Coca Cola Factory...

 

1 Month

With my other kids, I was really good about blogging each month about their happenings. I have to do a better job keeping up so I have a good record of Holden's first year too! So here we go!

We drove to Utah when he was 10 days old. The doctor had me come in for his 2 week appointment early since we would be gone. There was a little spot on his tummy by his belly button that I thought was a little bit of baby acne. Doctor decided to test it for MRSA but said it was probably nothing. NOT nothing. It was a staph infection     . I was freaking out since we were a 14 hour drive from home and the nurse basically terrified me about the situation. He was immediately put on antibiotics and we had to take his temp and check his body for more "blisters" during each diaper change for 10 days. He is well now and has been cleared by the docs.

I called again to ask about his spitting up and when I mentioned that he cries while nursing, the nurse said I needed to come in immediately. They checked him out again and decided it's just reflux. Poor kid is on Zantac now. At 4 weeks old, he has been on medications for 2 of those 4! Yuck!

*At 1 month, Holden is 8 pounds, 7 ounces. He is a little peanut, but he is growing!

*He is a total snuggler, he especially loves to lay on his daddy's chest.

*He loves to be held...all...the...time.

*He smiles occasionally, and I'm sure it's just the gassy baby smiles, but it's a cute smile, nonetheless.

*He is loved a LOT by everyone in this house. The kids fight over holding his hand, holding his feet, who gets to hold him first, etc. Reese is always  on top of him hugging him whether he is awake or asleep. Holden is not always a fan.

*He loves being swaddled. But if he isn't swaddled, his hands are up by his face.
 

 

 

Holden Allen Ingram

I think (hope) the third time is a charm for us and our kiddos. It took us NO time to get pregnant and NO time to deliver this baby (relative to the other two conceptions, labors and deliveries).  MAYBE he will be super chill too!!! ;)

I was due on November 4th and I was bound and determined I would NOT make it to my due date. I tried so many different ways to get my labor started. I was walking and running on a daily basis, bouncing lightly on the trampoline, rocking and bouncing on an exercise ball, membranes stripped, dancing, ate spicy food, used the breast pump. I didn't do anything TOO extreme...but I was just about to that point!

The 4th came and went and I was a G.R.U.M.P. (Drew will certainly back me up on this). Every single night I would have consistent contractions for about 2 hours, get excited, fall asleep while timing them, then wake up...still pregnant! GRUMPY.

The night of the 5th was no different. Until I woke up at 12:30am in some serious pain. I timed just 3 contractions (Drew asleep next to me) before I knew that this was the real deal. 6 minutes apart and mega painful. I started sending out SOS texts to find someone to come stay with our kids. Many thanks to Bo who came over at 1:00 in the morning to sleep on our couch.

We packed up, and headed to the hospital. On the way, my contractions slowed WAY down. I was almost certain they were going to just send me home. I had only been dilated to a 2 at my last appointment and I knew I'd need big changes for them to keep me. I texted all my fam and told them to stay in their beds and rest because we all know I have LONG LONG labors.

The triage checked me in, with my contractions still slow and less painful and I was dilated just to a 3. Bummer. Luckily they agreed to keep me, but I still told my family we had a LONG night/day ahead...stay home and sleep!! We got all checked in, and they started on my antibiotics. I could have my epidural as soon as I got through 2 out of the 3 bags. It went quickly and I still wasn't in terrible pain, but gladly took the epidural so we could get some rest through what was sure to be a long 12+ hours. They checked me again 2 hours later and I was still at a 3. More rest and sleep for Drew and I.

Around 7:00 the nurse came in to ask me to roll onto my side because baby's heart rate kept dipping. She noticed that I was also shaking like a leaf (I had attributed it to normal epidural side affects). She said sometimes you shake when your body is dilating and sometimes the heart rate dips when dilating. So she decided to check me. I was a 7! That's a LOT of change for my very slow body in a very short time. So, I start texting Mom, Dad, Kasey, Wendy, Jessica, all who I told to take their sweet time and would likely be delivering closer to afternoon or later! Everyone starts heading out the door. While on the phone with my mom, my water breaks (it has never broken on it's own before). My mom is panicking because they are still far and stuck in morning traffic...as are Kasey, Jessica, and Wendy.

The nurse told me just to let her know when I feel "the pressure" and call her back in for delivery. I was still not worried because Maddux required 2.5 hours of pushing (yes...that is NOT an exageration), Reese was 30-ish minutes. I knew they would all make it. About 5 minutes later "the pressure" hit. We decided NOT to call or text family as their safety in driving would go out the window if they knew they would miss it.

The doctors and nurses filled the room and I started pushing. Kasey RAN (literally) in the door just as I started pushing. Lucky for us too, because we hadn't brought a camera and she did!

3 pushes later, my mom RUNS (literally) in the door, out of breath (she had lost my dad in the hallway as she was running and he got lost trying to find the room...missed the whole thing).  At this point, Dr. Greyson says something to me about forceps and how they are on hand and could be a danger to baby and me, but "we will try to avoid it unless we absolutely have to". I really was in such shock at this point that everything was happening SO stinking fast, that I still have NO idea what the problem was. On the last push, there was a lot of whispering and chatter between doctors and nurses. I could tell there was some sort of a problem, he had me push, then stop...mid push. Then I heard "cord...blah blah blah" then "ok, keep pushing". And out he came! No crying, he was silent. My anxiety ridden self panicked for a quick moment even though  Dr. Greyson assured me over and over that he was ok. The cord had been around his neck, but he fixed it with no problem. They didn't WANT him to cry until they could clean out his mouth because there was meconium and they didn't want him to breathe it into his lungs. Just moments later I got to hear that first sweet cry! Love.

They got him cleaned up and brought him over to me for some skin to skin time. Then the little stinker pooped on me. A ton. A TON!!

No tears, no stitches, only 4 pushes, 6.5 total hours of actual labor, with only 2.5 hours of pain (props to modern day medicine! I love me an epidural!!!!), and unexplainable happiness as we welcomed this sweet boy into our family.

* Holden Allen Ingram was 6 lbs & 9 oz and measured 20.5" long *

The name Holden is from Catcher In The Rye, which is Drew's all-time favorite book. (I sheepishly admit to never reading it. Probably used Cliff Notes in HS). Allen is Drew's middle name.

So far he has features of both Maddux and Reese, but his own distinct look. We don't really make cookie-cutter babies over here!

I can't wait for the world to meet him! He's going to be someone important! 

 

I'm always so envious of people who share their hospital pictures and they look like a million bucks. I'm not so lucky, here's what you get from me.....    

;)

 

Lake Powell 2012

This year was our best year at Lake Powell to date. We had so much fun with our kids! 

Here is a glimpse into everything we did:

 

Lounged around and relaxed...

Drew wakeboarded...

The kids played in the sand....

 

The boys cliff jumped...

 We did a lot of floating/swimming...

Investigated (Maddux's word for exploring)....

(try not to puke, this picture is nasty)

 Played with Cousins...

 Bathed off the houseboat...

 The kids all braved water skiing...

(coolest thing EVER)

 

Crashed hard every night...

 

I wouldn't change a single thing about this trip. The highlight was for sure watching Maddux, Reese, and even Vander on the kid ski! They were so brave! Maddux was a pro at doing it one handed and even did it hands free once while flexing. The kid is hysterical. 

Since being home, Maddux has asked if we can go to Lake Powell every day and when we told him it was too far, he started explaining how we can just build a Lake Powell in our backyard. 

I am so grateful to my parents for this trip. It has been the highlight of 2012 for our family so far! Counting down to the 2013 trip...