Welcome Andrew William Brown

Friday, June 3rd started off as a normal day with a play date down the street.

At 4:30 in the afternoon my water broke and we were at the hospital a little before 6:00 ready to have our baby boy. Here I am much happier and more comfortable after getting the epidural. I was about 7 cm dilated when I got the epidural and I can't think of a time in my life where I was in as much pain as then so I'm glad that's in the past.

After pushing for an hour we welcomed our little boy into the world at 11:44pm on June 3, 2011. Even though it was a painful experience, it was all worth it! Meet Andrew William Brown who weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 20 inches long. Often times people ask how you came up with their name. Well Andrew is a name that we liked every since we found out we were pregnant with Julia and William is Thomas' middle name and his fathers name. Here's our little guy getting checked out from the Special Care Nurses since I ended up having a fever during delivery (which happened when Julia was born too). I guess it's just the way my body reacts to the epidural and the whole experience of having a baby.

My first chance to hold my little guy. I was so thrilled to finally hold him and meet our new bundle of joy. I must say he's so cute.

Here's our little guy with us in the recovery room. It was quite a different experience of having him with us in the room as compared to when Julia was born since she was in the NICU.

Thomas went and got Julia on Saturday and brought her to the hospital so she could meet her little brother. I must say she LOVES her brother.

Andrew had to stay in the hospital an extra night due to me having a fever during delivery so I was discharged on Sunday and we went back on Monday morning to pick him up. Definitely not easy going home without him and we had to experience that all over again since Julia had to stay an extra night when she was born too. Julia was quite sad when we had to leave him at the hospital on Sunday night. It was much better going home as a family of 4 on Monday.

First car ride, Andrew slept the whole way home.

Daddy and Julia welcomed Andrew into our house.

Andrew looking so cute all stretched out in the pack and play which we're keeping downstairs. Don't you just love his onesie? I bought it since Thomas likes to play the guitar even though he doesn't often get the chance. Such a cute going home outfit that will go in his memory box.

Our handsome little guy with his eyes open.

Julia LOVES to hold Andrew and she's been doing a great job of being gentle with her baby brother. It's definitely very cute to watch.

She gets such a kick out of touching him or if he touches her when he moves his arms or legs.

One of Andrew's first diaper changes at home.

On Tuesday he had his first sponge bath at home. He's such a little cutie with his blond hair..I just love it! His eyes are dark blue right now but I'm sure they will get lighter just like Julia. We feel so fortunate to have Julia and now Andrew in our lives...we really are very lucky parents.

37 weeks 1 day

Thus far our little boy has made it one week longer in utero than Julia. All seems to be going well except I feel huge. We're glad we made it to June since that's the month my dad was born and 37 weeks since that's considered full-term. It could be any day now and we're excited to meet the little guy. I just noticed that if you click on the photo to make it larger you can see the timbers that Thomas put around the playground and how he filled it up with mulch. The playground looks great in our backyard.

Julia has been great with the baby ever since we told her. We know she's going to be the best big sister around.

Daddy's Helper

After a busy Saturday we came home and washed Thomas' car. Well Thomas and Julia washed Thomas' car while I sat down and relaxed and took some pictures.


Julia did a great job of helping and she was even ready to wash Mommy's car too. She definitely liked the bubbles.

We gave Julia her own washcloth but she preferred to just use her hands.

Good thing it was almost bath time because the front of Julia's shirt and shorts were soaked by the time the car was clean.

Sprayground

On Saturday we took Julia to Sprayground for the first time this year. Since my belly is so big Daddy got in the water with Julia this time. She had fun but didn't stay in the water for long.

Daddy showed Julia how to stand on top of the water to stop it.

Daddy and Julia just playing in the water.

Bubbles

Here's a few pictures I took of Julia yesterday playing with a sink full of bubbles. I meant to do this when we did the letter b but never got around to it that week. Her shirt got a bit wet but she had fun! I love the expression on her face in some of the pictures. She's such a cutie and we're having so much fun with her!

D is for Dinosaur

This week we did D is for Dinosaur and we had fun. We decided to paint the letters again since we haven't painted since letter A. For letter B we used butterfly and bee stickers and for C we used cotton balls. Once we're finished Julia will have two alphabet books that she made on her own, one for capital letters and one for lowercase letters.

Julia decided she wanted to paint both big D and little d and mommy just watched.

This week we did big D with stickers and little d with the Do-A-Dot markers. She loves doing this activity each week.

We also sorted big D and little d letters. Julia did great with this activity as well. At the end of week she said D says 'dddd', C says 'cccc', B says 'bbbb', and A says 'aaaa.' She went through and did the sounds that the letters make which was really neat. Sometimes she'll say the c sound for the letter d but I'm so proud of how she's doing with her letters and sounds.

Water Playdate

On Monday we had a playdate at a friend's house and Julia had a blast playing in the two pools. Her water shoes worked out perfect and I'm so glad we had them. It was a perfect day for a water playdate since the temperature was about 90 degrees. At first Julia and Bradon were testing out the water but it didn't take long for them to get wet.

Julia and Bradon in the pool before they filled it up with the balls.

They had so much fun throwing all the balls into the pool. They picked up every ball and put them in the pool. I just love her big smile here and of course she's styling with her pink shades.

I LOVE the look on her face. She had so much fun and was a bit sad when it was time to leave.

Julia enjoyed riding on the little fish too.

The little water fountain on this pool reminds me a bit of Sprayground. We'll definitely have to go there again this summer. Thanks to my friend Leigh for having us over, Julia really had so much fun!