More Pictures

Welcome Summer

 Since Colette was born Calder has wanted to stay home. He doesn't want to be apart from Colette and it takes a lot of convincing to get him to take her out of the house. Thankfully we've had a few outings. We went to Target (by myself with 2 kids!!!!), the park and Trader Joes. I think it's been a successful few weeks.

 The building next door had their sprinklers on and I suggested Calder run through them. It is rare that he wants to get wet spontaneously but he was all over these sprinklers. He ran for a good 10 minutes and got completely wet. We continued our walk after this and went to the park. He was one happy, wet kid.

 After taking Jason's mom to visit his office we walked over a block to the White House.

 One of my dear friends brought over cupcakes and frosting for Calder to decorate. He LOVED it. It was such a sweet gesture. The tulips in the picture are from another dear friend. I have been so incredibly spoiled. I have the best friends. They are a fabulous support system for me.

 This is one of the rare pictures of Colette with her eyes open. She sleeps a lot. And I'm not complaining.

 Calder introduced Colette to the play gym.

 And the swing.

 Grandma Kate gets to have a sleep over with Calder every night! Calder loves it. When my parents come they will get to have a sleepover with him too. He is so happy about this.

 After a bath.

Colette's Birth

 Okay, here's the birth story. If you're not interested, don't worry I have lots of other pictures of my adorable kids to share, so just skip this one. 

On Friday May 18 I went and got my haircut in the afternoon. It was wonderful and much needed. On the way back home I thought maybe I was feeling contractions but I wasn't really sure. I had never really had Braxton Hicks contractions so I didn't really know what they were like. After we got home I started timing them and realized they were 5 minutes apart and lasting 30 seconds but I couldn't feel anything, my muscles were just getting tighter. This continued for a few hours and I just wrote them off. They continued through the evening and stopped around 9:30. Then I didn't feel anything until...

At 11:00 PM the real contractions started. They were every 4 minutes and lasting at least a minute and definitely felt like real contractions. After an hour of these we called the doctor and left for the hospital. Our sweet friends Matt & Laura (who live in the building next door) came over to stay with Calder so he didn't have to go to someone's house and he could just sleep.

We got to Shady Grove Hospital around 12:30. It took them a while to get all the paperwork done and ask about a million questions in the triage area. They finally checked me and I was 7cm. I have to admit I was a little bummed I wasn't fully dilated like I was with Calder, but all well. Things were moving fast. The doctor came in around 2:45. I had two contractions after he got there and felt like he should check me. And, luckily it was go time! He broke my water around 3:08 and Colette was born at 3:14. She was born on the second push.

So, if you count just the real contractions her labor was 4 hours long. It was just the right amount of time to get to the hospital I wanted to deliver at without spending too much time there. 

Colette's name is just a name we liked. Similar to Calder's. We didn't seek out names that start with C and we aren't starting a theme here. We just really love the name. Colette's middle name (Abigail) is after Abigail Adams. I love the strong influence she had over John's political opinions and I love that she was not afraid to speak her mind. She is a fabulous role model.

Calder loved playing with the moveable bed at the hospital. He had a special night with Jason the night Colette and I stayed in the hospital. They ordered pizza, got a Redbox movie and just had a great time hanging out. Calder loved it. I missed them terribly! It was rather boring in the hospital by myself and I hated being interrupted all night. Thankfully I only spent one night.