Crunch Time!

So the big moving day is coming up next month. Now that Christian is here, I can no longer avoid the fact that we are headed out of town. We still have no definite orders, nor do we know if Eric will be assigned to a boomer or fast attack submarine. Our hope is that we can be stationed in Kings Bay Georgia, which is only a 3 hour drive from the great city of Charleston and all of my and Charlotte's great friends we have made here.
The reality is that we cannot even start looking for houses or packing until we get orders... Not knowing whether we will be making the short drive to Kings Bay or long journey to Guam has put us at a standstill. Eric's definite deployment is looming over the family a bit during this Christmas season, but we are doing our best to make the most of the time we have left as a family. Orders can be here as early as the New Year, but as late as a week before we have to report to our next duty station... This is going to make January "crunch time." We have to cram months of planning and packing in to less than a month (or possibly a week) and prepare dear Charlotte for daddy's first deployment.
On a good note, the transition from 3 to 4 has been a smooth one. Christian is a wonderful baby and Charlotte has proved to be an amazing big sister. I couldn't ask for two better kids! Charlotte has mastered all of her letters except for W which she thinks is an M, and L which she thinks is an F. She is counting to three and beginning to understand the concept of "how many." Her vocabulary is growing so fast and her words get more clear everyday! I am so proud of my big girl!
I give a lot of credit to the Signing Time Series for her language development, as well as Meet the Letters by the Preschool Prep Company for her letter recognition. These have proven to be invaluable tools in her learning development - not to mention she absolutely LOVES them!

Welcome to the family! Christian's birth story

Introducing the newest member of the family,

Christian Alexander Richardson!
December 6, 2009 8:13 AM
8 lbs 14 oz and 20 inches





"Little" Christian surprised everyone with his lightning fast entry early Sunday morning. I woke up about 4:30 AM with the same back labor contractions I had been having for the past few nights. I expected them to subside like the other nights, but instead they got more intense and by 5:30 I knew it was Christian's birthday! It had been a really tough week since Charlotte is cutting her first molars; all three of us were running on just a few hours sleep every night, so I tried not to wake Charli and Daddy who were snuggled up together peacefully after a long night of intermittent sleep and back to bed cuddles.

I used all of the labor positions outlined on www.spinningbabies.com to turn him around since he was "sunny side up" aka posterior - head down but facing out instead of in - which can make labor and delivery long and difficult. Around 6 AM he successfully turned around and labor really picked up! Right about the same time Charli woke up very upset that mommy was laboring in the tub and had not invited her to play in the bath! So Charli and I played foam letters in the bath while daddy gathered our things for the hospital.

I called my wonderful friend Dawn to let her know that it was Christian's birthday so she should get ready to take Charlotte for us at some point that day... little did I know that less than two hours later he would already be here! I was feeling like labor was progressing and decided to time my contractions... they were already 2-3 minutes apart at 7 AM. I called the doctor and told them to expect me. Shortly after that point I decided to let Dawn know that she needed to come NOW, that I couldn't wait since she had to travel about 30 minutes to get to us. Less than 20 minutes later she arrived safely (no speeding tickets!) and we were off to the hospital about 10 minutes to 8.

By this point all I could think was that I couldn't do it! I was in so much pain and I was ready to kill for some pain meds - I thought I still had a lot of laboring left to do!
Eric ran a few red lights, but we arrived safely at the hospital and headed up to labor and delivery. We stepped off of the elevator and eric was holding me up because I was in too much pain to stand. The nurse says, "what's wrong?" from behind the desk so I told her "baby is coming!!" Everyone just stood there and looked at me except one nurse delivering a food tray who rushed over and helped us in to a room. They asked me to put on a gown and give a urine sample, but my water broke as soon as I sat on the toilet! Eric was panicked that he was going to be born in the bathroom, so he and the nurse helped me to the bed. She checked my cervix and we were all shocked to find that I was already 8-9 centimeters dilated.

For the next 5 minutes I had to sign paperwork while everyone ran in different directions to try to get an IV, find a doctor and get ready for delivery. The whole time I was saying I couldn't do it, but Eric said "too late, you are doing it!!"They had me on my side telling me not to push and to wait for the doctor to show up, but he was coming fast and within 10 minutes of being at the hospital he was on his way out! 5 pushes and out came our baby boy in less than 2 minutes. He was delivered by the nurse who was close enough to catch him.

And so we had a SON!

In our rush to get upstairs, we had no camera to take pictures and resorted to our phones to catch his first moments. Everyone in the room was in awe of this almost 9 lb baby who couldn't wait to make his grand entrance. He was breastfeeding within 15 minutes and hasn't stopped since!

The doctor made it about 45 minutes later, but our nurses were all wonderful and I could not have been happier with our birth experience. Our time in the hospital was short and Christian, mommy, daddy and big sister are settling in to life at home with one more.

Groovy Guitar Diaper Bag

I have been searching everywhere for a nice diaper bag that wouldn't cost me $100. I couldn't find one I liked, so of course i resort to making it myself... i decided to make it a hobo style bag in this awesome Groovy guitar fabric by Michael Miller. It took me longer than it should have to wrap my head around making the outside pockets the way I wanted them, but I am pretty happy with the way it turned out. It is the perfect size for carrying around enough stuff for two kids. This bag was made completely from scratch and cost me about $10 in material. I added a snap closure to the top and stroller straps on the sides to snap it to a stroller or cart instead of stuffing it in the bottom and they work great!










Now I am working on a blanket to match!