Joshua Bradford

Yeah...this blog has pretty much been ignored. Now that I use Instagram to document our day-to-day life, this blog has gone to pot.  BUT, I want to write down as much as I can about the day Josh was born [before I forget anymore of the details].  So, if you feel like reading a long post and seeing lots of pictures, please continue to read :)

After I had Will and could actually consider being pregnant and having another kid, I really hoped that it would work out to have a VBAC versus another csection.  As soon as we found out I was pregnant again and were at our first appointment with my OB, my first question was would that be possible.  Dr. Lammi was very optimistic and willing so throughout the following 31 weeks, that was my goal.  When I started going to my weekly appointments at 36 weeks, our optimism gradually changed as baby #2 was just too comfortable and nothing -- NOTHING -- with my body was changing and preparing for that kind of delivery.  On top of that, Dr. Lammi told me [at my 37 week appointment] that he and his wife would be in Hawaii the week of my due date.  That threw me off the whole VBAC groove too.  There were a few other situations to consider but ultimately, the fact that my body wasn't doing what it needed to [and that I would probably go up to 41 weeks with no signs of labor-despite me doing every possible thing to induce labor-and have to have a csection anyway] and the weirdness of my uterus shape [still don't like that word], we decided to go ahead and schedule another csection.

So, the morning of Sunday, June 12th arrived.  Our neighbor's daughters, Kenady and Ryan, came over to our house at 5:15 to sleep in the room next to Will's while Brad and I left for the hospital [when Will woke up, our friend Marie came and grabbed him and took care of him for the rest of the day].  After being checked in and given the awesome hospital bracelets, we were taken to the prep/recovery room and I was pumped full of IV fluids in preparation for the epidural.  Our nurse [who was THEE coolest nurse ever, I loved her but have already forgotten her name :(] asked us what our "birth" goals were and of course the first was "healthy baby/healthy mom."  The second was "a good epidural" because that was, by far, the worst part of my csection experience with Will.  About 2 hours after checking in, we all walked over to the OR room and began the process to get this baby out.  Dr. Madlong was my anesthesiologist and talked me thru the process.  In the middle of the epidural I looked at Brad, who was holding my hand, and realized he was about to faint!  I asked him if he was alright and he replied, "No...hey guys, I gotta lay down."  Poor guy!  He struggles in hospitals.  Dr. Madlong continued the epidural as the nurse and Dr. Lammi helped Brad outside the OR room.  A few people kept walking in and out so I was able to peek out the door and see Brad's head laying on the ground, hahaha.  Fortunately, after some crackers and juice, he was able to come back in before everything started and was strong thru the rest of the surgery.  And I was totally relaxed, the nurses did a great job distracting me and even putting music on to relax everyone [rock music, though :)]. Back to the epidural...the process wasn't as bad as with Will and pretty quickly he started wiping my stomach with cold swabs to see how numb I was.  After the third swipe and third "yes, I can still feel that" and waiting just a few more moments, they began the surgery.  Guys, it was the weirdest thing!  I was numb enough for it not to be super painful but I could TOTALLY feel them cutting and then THEEE WORST PRESSURE ever as they started moving everything around to get to the baby.  I don't know if I spooked the anesthesiologist or I just hadn't received enough meds but oh.mi.gosh.  It was terrible.  Once he realized how much I was hurting [because I kept saying, "Wow, that hurts!  I'm feeling a lot of pressure" over and over again...and then I started crying, nerd], Dr. Lammi sped thru the process and got the baby out fast [while Dr. Madlong pumped more meds into me]!!

Joshua arrived at 7:58 am, weighed 7 pounds and .03 ounces [so basically 7 even] and was 20 inches long.  Right before they pulled him out, all the nurses kept saying, "Wow!  He has so much hair!  And it's dark!"  I couldn't wait to see!!  And of course, hearing his first cry *heart melter*  All the pain and pressure the previous minutes were worth it to finally meet this little man!

Right after they pulled him out, Dr. Madlong said, "And now this will make you drowsy" as he pumped something else into my epidural line.  And he wasn't kidding! By the time they finished stitching me up [I don't even remember what everyone was talking about] and wheeled me back to recovery, I was so loopy.  I needed to nurse Josh but my arms were so flimsy that the nurse and Brad needed to help me initially.  But it was so wonderful to finally get to hold him.  He was [and still is!] such a handsome baby and [fabulous eater]!  I don't remember much about the recovery room [I blame the drugs] except a deep calm.  When I was done feeding him and was weak to hold him, Brad would.  Just one of those moments where we sat in complete silence and soaked everything in.  I loved it.

What I loved about this whole experience is they kept the baby with me as much as possible.  Josh was always in my arms or right next to me.  An hour and a half later, they wheeled us to the postpartum rooms and I got to hold Josh the whole way.  After initial introductions to the nursing staff, a CNA came in and bathed him right next to me which I loved!  Again, the nurses were awesome during my hospital stay and very encouraging.  I think, because he was my 2nd, they also left me alone a little bit more.

That day, my friend, Kelli, came and met Josh while Brad went to grab Will and get him down for a nap.  Following naptime, Brad brought Will to meet his new brother.

It was pretty funny, Will was distracted by a game he'd been playing on the iPad when he initially came in.  He finally looked up and noticed I was holding a baby and said, "Oh, baby's out."  And that was it.  He had no interest in looking, touching, holding the baby at all.  Although, he did sing to him...and over the next few days, he took his job of pushing the bassinet around the hospital very seriously.

During the hospital stay, the Call's, the Mahoney's, and Brei, Sonja, and Natasha stopped by to meet Josh and visit [although I didn't take pictures, grrr].  On Tuesday the 14th [Josh's due date], they trusted me enough to leave so we broke out of the hospital!

  Unfortunately, Brad had to work that day so he came and grabbed us during his lunchbreak, we went and grabbed Will from the Mahoney's where he was staying, and met Paula and Charly at home where she helped me until Brad got home from work.  Gus got to meet the new family member and I got to cuddle with BOTH of my boys.  The best.

Before going to the hospital, Brad and I hadn't settled on a name.  We couldn't decide until we saw the baby!!  Back when we were trying to figure out Will's name, we had picked Joshua for about 20 minutes before feeling like that wasn't right.  But we held onto the name in hopes that it would fit for another babe.  We tried out a few other names this time around, but ultimately felt good and decided on Joshua Bradford for this little guy [and let Brad sit on it and didn't make it official until the morning we left, haha].  And we love it, his name fits him.

We love this little baby so much.  I love the first tender days with a newborn where everything is simple and you go back to the basics -- your family -- and just enjoy those moments together.  We are so grateful that Heavenly Father has blessed us with two sweet boys and can't wait to see what potential they fulfill.

Will Update

Ever since Will passed the 24 month/2 year milestone, I haven't blogged much about him (ok, I haven't blogged much in general really...) and all that he is doing.  He is a vivacious, clever, ball of energy that keeps us going non-stop.  Just a few thoughts of what his life is like lately...

He's been attending a little preschool class one day a week at this place called My Gym.  Before attending the preschool we were doing a Mom/Tot gym type class together where they worked on balancing, gymnastic type exercises.  The preschool is set up where they still have one of the "gym" classes (without parents, just the "coaches" or teachers) for an hour and then age-appropriate learning activities/hands-on experiments for the last hour.  It's been amazing to see how much his language has grown (from saying a couple 1-word phrases to full on sentences...I'd like to think some of my SLP background has something to do with it, but I really think it's from school and the educational games he plays on the iPad...sad, hahaha) and how much he has learned!  Today in the car he was singing the alphabet to me.  He's learned how to count up to 20 pretty accurately.  Whenever we're driving around he's constantly asking me to help him find a certain number or letter.  He loves looking at our digital clocks and telling us the numbers he sees.  Or reading the letters off the covers of books. He has his shapes and colors down and is, also, constantly pointing them out wherever we are.  The initial separation at drop-off is still a bit sketchy, sometimes it's an easy split but sometimes it's torture but *knock on wood*, I think we've reached a milestone where he's pretty content and happy being left there now (with 2 weeks left in the school year, haraah!)

He's still very obsessed with trains -- loves playing with them, loves "finding" them when we're driving, loves turning his food or chalk or binkies (yeah, we need to break that habit...) into them.  Loves. Trains.  He's started creating his own little games around the house that he plays by himself (because this momma, at 35 weeks pregnant, is having a hard time doing anything except sitting and watching to make sure he stays alive) and loves loves LOVES playing with his dad.  They have some cute games ("boom against the wall" on the trampoline, the "baaaa" monster game, bowling with soda jugs, frisbee games, and a new one tonight the "big bouncy ball" game) that he is constantly asking to play.  He has a great dad!

As far as the baby goes, up until about 2 weeks ago Will would tell you that he wasn't excited for "baby."  Now, he says he's excited to teach him how to jump on the trampoline and watch George with him.  And that his name will be Train.  Or Ipad.  Both winners, right?  My sister, Ayrel, bought him a little baby doll when she was up here recently and he's taken a liking to it and loves having it sit in the high chair next to him while he eats, or feeding it it's bottles.  Sometimes he'll request a diaper.  He makes the crying noises for it as he drags it by a leg or arm (or drops it) around the house.  Besides helping to teach him about safety, I think he's going to be an amazing big brother :)

His best friends are still Boston and Abby, he asks for them constantly.  He's getting better about sharing but still, initially, has a hard time when someone comes into his space when he's not quite ready.  But it's amazing how much the quality of life has improved for everyone with his ability to reason and talk thru situations (like, why he's in time-out or why his friend might be crying after he yelled or hit them).  He still has his moments (don't all toddlers?) but they're becoming less stressful.  Minus the whole "No!" phase and the torture known as mealtime (oh.my.gaaaaaaash.  Meals are lasting fooooor-ever!!  He is so slow.  And fights every bite.  Please, share all the wisdom and knowledge you have about mealtime with a toddler!!) that we're going thru right now, I enjoy every minute with him.  His laugh is so contagious.  He still loves to have his binky and blanket, especially when he's sad or tired and it's one of those things that I know we need to address soon (like 6 months ago) but I just can't quite do it yet.

Going along with the mealtime comment above, he does do a great job with certain foods.  The highest on his "love" list are actually vegetables, with cucumbers and cauliflower being at the very top, followed by carrots, corn, edamame, broccoli, and peas.  He can never have enough of vegetables.  He's also a good eater when it comes to fruits (apples, blueberries, cantaloupe, and strawberries...he won't touch bananas though).  Enjoys the crackers and goldfish a little too much, cheese, fruit snacks, typical toddler-type food.  The hard part comes when it's the "main" course of the meal -- chicken (even nuggets...what toddler doesn't love chicken nuggets??), soup, sandwiches, etc.  But you know...we'll make it :)

It's hard to think that in a month he won't be my "baby" anymore.  He won't be a baby at all, he's almost three!  And I can't fathom how that went so quickly...I'm so grateful that I get to be his mom and look forward to what great things he's going to do.

This was our gender reveal for baby #2.  I think Will's facial expression states exactly how he felt about the whole situation.

Riding the Frontrunner, he was a very very happy boy that day.

Pruny hands, first time he'd ever noticed what happens when you're in the bath for a long time.

Just doing his thing with Abby.

At the Aquarium.

Making cookies with Mom.  Flour everywhere.  Success.

A boy and his cat.

Will and Abby being mischievous, using all my piano stickers to adorn their hands :)

Will and Boston

At the zoo.  This elephant was pretty interested in Will.

Riding the Heber Creeper with Boston.  He would not stop staring out the window.

So proud!!  Working on spelling his name.

Their daddies are very proud of this picture #frisbeegolf

First experience at Build-A-Bear with cousins Riley and Avery.

Learning the ways of Lincoln Logs with Dad.

Taking care of "baby."

Selfie time!

Getting a cool, hipster haircut from Kelli.  He did great!

We're having a....

WE DON'T KNOW!!

I didn't realize I would leave my 17 week appointment with so many emotions.  Brad and I went in thinking we would find out what we were having [we both think it's a boy]. So when, in the first 30 seconds, our doctor said,

"Looks like a girl, guys!"

 we were shocked.  Actually, shocked is an understatement.  We were astonished.  Stunned.  Aghast.  Completely speechless.  [Background: Brad's side of the family hasn't had a girl in almost 3 generations.  I had finally come to terms that we were probably only going to have boys.]  I kept giggling because I was so confused.  And then the doc said, 

"You know, this is really strange.  A minute ago I would've said girl for sure but the baby isn't really opening it's legs and it's a bit hazy.  It could be a boy, I really can't tell." 

[Something kept coming into view but he could never confirm if it was the cord or not.]  The doctor continued to move the wand around for another 7-8 minutes trying to find out.  He was completely baffled. Brad finally asked, "So, are you thinking 50/50?"  And he said yes.

GAHHHH!!

We are so confused!!  And everyone knows that I HATE surprises.  The next 3 weeks until my big ultrasound can't come fast enough.

The El Paso Blizzard and Christmas of 2015

This year for Christmas, we headed down to my hometown of El Paso to celebrate.  

To start, the drive down was pretty eventful.  After sitting in bumper-to-bumper standstill traffic in Spanish Fork Canyon for an hour and a half, things started to look up once everything started moving.  Roads were great thru Price and Moab but started getting dicey around Monticello.  Brad took over in Monticello while I fell asleep [we were driving thru the night] and said once he crossed over into Colorado the roads were complete ice [it had been sleeting the whole day and, we found out later, Colorado doesn't sand/salt their roads very well] and he was sliding all over the place.  After dealing with that for about 20 minutes, he made the executive decision to turn around and head back to Monticello and find a hotel room for a couple of hours in hopes that the roads would be better in the morning.  We slept for a good 4 hours and then attempted, once again, to head to Cortez.  On our way out of Monticello [thankfully] was a Utah State Trooper who warned us that the roads were still really icy but they were open and to advance at our own risk.  We decided we wanted nothing to do with that and turned back to head down thru Blanding [adding about 2 hours to our already long drive ahead...on Christmas Eve].  This decision was probably the best one we could make, we had no more weather problems the whole way down and made it to my house just in time to see the luminaries and eat a fabulous tamale dinner.

We had made it!  And it was warm!  And Christmas morning came [with an initial grumpy Will who slept thru all the family gift unwrapping and woke up at 9:30] full of lots of smiling, happy kids.  Brad played outside with the kids while I lounged around and did nothing [perfect].  We also got to Skype with Brad's family and brother who is serving a mission in Hungary.  Then December 26th came.  And we woke up to roughly 7 inches of snow.  El Paso NEVER gets snow.  And the few times I remember it actually snowing, it was only an inch and melted by noon.  And even then the whole city still shuts down.  This was a blizzard! [Don't worry, we managed to survive.]  Church was even cancelled the next day because we received even more snow that night.  We felt like we were back in Utah and the snow stuck around for the rest of our trip.

  

We finally decided to brave the cold and headed to Old Mesilla one afternoon for a delicious lunch at La Posta and a little bit of shopping.  That evening, my mom and I jumped on a plane to head back to Utah for my cousin, Melanee's, wedding which was absolutely beautiful [and cold]!!

After less than 48 hours, we were back in El Paso enjoying Taco Cabana and *somewhat* warmer weather.  Dinner at Leo's one night [we improvised on naps this trip...] followed by New Year's Eve festivities another night [Pie Face...GET IT!] and the countdown at 8 pm.

We rang in the New Year with a little horseback riding, Will was initially not happy about it but by the end he didn't want to get off.  And pretty sure he liked Brad's horse [Buddy] better than mine [Tulsa].

The next day we braved the cold again and headed up the tram to the top of the Franklin Mountains for endless views in Mexico and New Mexico.

After so much fun and so much good Mexican food [I think I could've done one more meal...but I'm not complaining], it was our turn to head out [Soren and Rachele's family left first off to Hawaii to celebrate Rachele's birthday, then it was Ayrel and Ben's family's turn to go to Hawaii to celebrate 10 years of marriage, and then Sonja and McFatty left the evening before us to go back to Utah] and the weather was absolutely perfect the whole way back!  It was a fantastic trip and the needed unwind for both Brad and I.  He was such a trooper taking care of Will the whole time I was in Utah but I could tell they had a blast [playing with cousins and going to movies].  I love every chance we get to be with family and am grateful we get to see them as much as we do with so many far away.  We hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a fun New Years too!