FORTY-TWO

On the hottest Columbus day ever (over 90 by 10am)  we went to the pumpkin patch with the cousins.

2015 week forty-two

Welcome to our family Theodore Smithers Cole!

And while at the pumpkin patch V got separated from me and was lost for about an hour! (read 3 minutes probably) I was trying really hard not to lose it. She, on the other hand was calmly wandering around the bounce houses wishing she could take her own shoes off and get in one. 

It was too hot. 

That evening we painted pumpkins for FHE at the cousins house. That night, V and I were up all night throwing up. She slept maybe from about 4am to 6am and then wanted to know repeatedly why she couldn't have her giraffe who was in the washing machine covered in vomit. So, fun day. 

Look! A tiny cantaloupe from my garden. It tasted like a cantaloupe, so I guess it was a success. Now I can rip out the rest of the dying plants and just plant my over wintering crops. 

Thursday morning before my doctor's appointment I took V to a park to just watch her run and play. I kept feeling, this is the last time it's just going to be you and me, so I'm just going to soak it all up. 

She was making it easy to enjoy watching her play. She was so happy and the air was so soft. It was lovely. And, I was right. 20 minutes later at the doctors office I was pronounced officially in labor and could go to the hospital whenever. 

Matt and I were at the hospital for only 5 hours when baby Theodore was born. 

I almost couldn't believe it was already over since Vera took 3 times as long to make her debut. Little Theo just came out as promptly as he could. 

Amazing husband takes the most flattering post delivery photo of his wife and wins an award and a trophy and is offered Sainthood.
I will admit though, I had a feeling baby was coming that day, and though I usually never wear makeup, I did do my eyebrows and use some blush before I left home. I feel like maybe I should be embarrassed, but then again, makeup is no guarantee of what anyone will look like after labor. So I'm going to give all the credit to Matthew on this one. I'll take credit for the tiny creature on my chest. 

Wait, let me take a selfie. 

Theo and Vera: same age, same crab outfit. 

I dont think they look very similar. I realize it's hard to tell from the poor quality of the photos, though.

So far, V has not been a beast about Theodore and mostly wants to hold him or go up to him while he's crying and croon "Ooh dear! What's wrong? What's wrong?" It also helped that he brought her an amazing shopping cart filled with play food that she wont let out of her sight. She slept with a chicken leg last night. But of course, It's not a chicken leg, it's an "Extra Sauce." Today, however, it was sunscreen. I guess it's a very ambiguous chicken leg.

Quotes:

I didn't take down a lot of notes this week, I was distracted by the overwhelming feeling of "Get this baby out of me, now!"

Me, "V! Who gave you that nose?"
V, "Grandpa Dean?"

V, "Can Theo walk?"
Me, "Not yet. But when he gets bigger he will."
V, "When he gets bigger he will walk like me. And I will hold his hand and he will help me into my car seat!"

V, "Ooh Theo what's wrong? What's wrong? You want to hold my giraffe?" This girl shared her most prized possession with her baby brother and I could have melted.

V, "Look at this little nose! Theo, want some watermelon? Or a sausage?" tries to put her play food into his mouth.


Story:

I'm not going to share a detailed birth story. I think they are often overwhelmingly detailed, and so I'll give you a brief synopsis. At my regular check up, my doctor said I was dilated to a 5, and could go to the hospital whenever. So I gathered up all of V's accoutrements and shipped her off to Grandmas house. Matt came home early and we went to the hospital. The labor and delivery room was probably the size of my house and was approximately 40 degrees. I had 2 hours of mild contractions, from which slow breathing and 30 Rock were able to distract me. My doctor came and broke my water. I had 2 hours of slowly increasing contractions from which Matt tried to distract me with horrible videos of people climbing tall structures and hanging from. The videos were almost worse than the contractions. I begged for some pain medicine, had 2 more contractions, and then pushed for 30 minutes. Then he was born, healthy and strong. He was able to nurse well almost immediately, and has since been trying to show off or something by wanting to nurse every. hour.

His name comes from two sources. Theodore: my first Norwegian ancestor in America Olaf Theolai -but I didn't love "Theolai" so I anglicized it; and Smithers: the last name of a family friend whom Matt has known his whole life. Vera's middle name is after a family friend and we liked the idea of keeping up the trend and naming our kids after people we really love and admire but who may not actually be kin. I toyed with the idea of Matthew for a middle name to include Matt, the family friend, and my Dad, however, Theodore and Matthew mean the same thing (gift of God) and Matt was really opposed to naming Theo after himself. :)