Introducing Austyn Thomas Stade

Austyn Thomas Stade was born Tuesday, November 10th, 2009 at 11:33 am. He weighed 8 lbs and was 20 1/2 inches long. The birth went great! And I feel really good. He is a good breastfeeder and loves to suckle all the time. From what I can tell by the last two nights he has his days and nights mixed up, but hopefully we will be able to switch that around soon. I'll have to update later about the birth. Here are some photos.

After the birth I got to put him right on my chest. It was really nice!

Happy daddy with his son : )



Morning after bringing him home we brought all the kids into bed with us and did a little photo shoot.

It's official

It's official, I am post due. Typing that I chuckle to myself. Seriously! Oh well.....

With my pregnancy last time and ALL the extra contractions I've felt since 35 weeks I thought there was really no way that I could go PAST my due date. But never the less here I am. Currently I can't sleep, not because I'm in labor (I wish). But more I can't get comfortable. Maybe it's the naps I have been getting into a habit of taking. The night before I had Penelope I had a random sleepless night, but there were all sorts of different situations surrounding it. So I personally don't think I'm going into labor just because I can't sleep.

The only "good news" that I can hold onto right now is that I'm already 3 cm dilated. So all those extra contractions I have been feeling are adding up to nothing. My Doctor told me at the last appointment that I would probably go into labor within the week. But to make an appointment for next week because otherwise it is bad luck. I made the appointment and if I actually make it to the 41 weeks appointment I'm going to be upset to say the least. I'm really trying not to go down the path of "I'm going to be pregnant forever". Don't get me wrong those thoughts do come up but I try not to linger.

In the mean time I can't decide whether I want to try natural induction, such as walking, raspberry tea, or castor oil, or take this opportunity to go on one more date night or the pampering that I have really wanted to have....hmmmm....in the meantime time still ticks by.

not just a sitting duck

I've still been keeping busy around here. Here are some pictures from a trip Russell and I took to Disneyland for his birthday. Which was really fun. We went down with some friends of ours who share his birthday with their anniversary. Below is a picture of Russ and I right outside of California Adventure. We actually went to Disneyland and walked around when I was very similar in time of pregnancy with Penelope.


Here with Austyn


Here with Penelope

It doesn't look like a whole lot has changed, does it? LOL. Here is another pictures from our trip.


Sadly our Disneyland annual passes just expired. So we managed to go one more time to bring Penelope before our passes expired. Here is Nelly with Tinker Bell.


I knew that I would be sad by our passes expiring, but I didn't expect to be as sad as I was. In explaining it to Penelope or talking it over with Russ I cried. Which is pretty pitiful because in our family I am really not considered to be the Disney fanatic. I'm blaming it on hormones, for the record. Russell and I are planning on making a mini vacation in Summer and visiting Disneyland again. With Austyn coming I don't think we will be using it too much anyways.

For Halloween we went to Trunk or Treat at Calvary Assembly of God. This was our second time going but this time we didn't host a trunk. I had considered dressing up for Halloween and someone had mentioned about drawing a pumpkin on a orange shirt. But I had pushed that aside, until a girlfriend of mine who was just as much pregnant sent out an email with her pumpkin orange shirt. After much debate I decided to do it, only if Russell joined me. I couldn't get a hold of the friend to do it with her (she ended up being in labor!). Here are some pictures of our sight for sour eyes belly's.


Penelope was so cute as Snow White this year. Isn't she cute!


Here she is with all her cousins at the Trunk or Treat!


And of course here is her Aunt Nicky at the family trunk they had decorated. She was Luigi to match her oldest son, Matthew, who was Mario. And their trunk was decorated in Super Mario Kart.


Besides all that I'm hoping to have Austyn any day now. He's officially due tomorrow. I had a doctors appointment today and she thinks he'll come this week. So now it is just a waiting game (a sitting duck). Right now I'm 3 cm dilated and I think 100% effaced. I'm hoping and praying Russell will be home when I go into labor. It would just make everything so much easier. I'll of course keep you posted.

"Turkey in the Straw"

Here is a video that I attempted to take of Nelly with a stuft turkey that sings and dances to "Turkey in the Straw". When I first brought it down this year from the rest of the Harvest decorations her face totally lit up. It was so nice to see. So I tried to take a video of it a couple of days later but she didn't really show the interest in the turkey as much as she showed in the camera. Well as you can tell.

I'm feeling a little better. I'm still having contractions every day but if I'm active it helps to ignore them. The problem is they are always during the time that I like to relax, but whether I relax or not they come on. I had the doctor check me the first week I had them about 2 weeks ago but I wasn't dilated at all. So I don't know whether or not these are actually causing me to dilate at all. I'm a little disappointed that they very well could not be making me dilate. I thought late last week if I got a lot of the stuff on my to-do list done maybe then I would just go into labor. I heard about people who psychologically have an issue that holds themselves back from the labor progressing. The only "issue" I had was just the list of things I wanted to get done. So I wrote down a list, that you saw partially on the previous post, and it was 16 items long. And yes I have completed everything. So now I'm again just sitting here with contractions that don't seem to be progressing. Well, I guess that wasn't it. Oh well....

It is nice to enjoy being a stay-at-home mom with just one child. I'm really trying to make the best of the time of only Penelope and I. Until baby brother comes....

warning: a little grumbling

Well I've been having more and more contractions (crampy feeling) and bad back pain. I feel them everyday and sometimes so bad that I can't do anything but deal with the pain. After some research on it however I'm probably only in pre-labor or false labor. Which absolutely sucks because it can last for weeks on end. It's really tiring to be in this much pain all the time but not really get anywhere with it. I don't necessarily want the baby to come this early. Some people have heard me say that I want a "fat baby". Meaning I want a chubby little boy! Right now if he was born he'd only be about 7 lbs and that isn't exactly plump. So if you can pray that either the pains lighten up or that I go into labor. I told Russell I don't know how much more I can stand of it.

In the mean time I have been thinking about all the stuff I want to get done before the baby comes. Here is list

1. pack hospital bag
2. buy candies/ cookies for the nurses at the hospital
3. buy MOPS stuff for craft in December
4. make sure all laundry is done
5. grocery shop and get quick meals in the freezer
6. Clean and reorganize bedroom closet, bathroom closet, and computer desk (bc I'm never going to have time to do it when the baby comes)
7. finish baby shower thank you cards
8. paint the white cord holder blue in the babies room

The problem with this to-do list is that I'm completely exhausted and can't get very far on one task to complete it. Plus Russ has been working 12 plus hour days, which means I have to take care of an interesting rambunctious 2 year old. Oh well....

Fall is here!

Fall is here! It's so nice. I really enjoy the weather. I use to curl up in sweats, a good book, and make yummy baked goods, or a pot of tea. Moments like that are far and few between now to say the least. But they are still enjoyable. Today Nelly and I sat around wrapped in a blanket, cuddling in front of cartoons, as I filed through a couple of pages of a book. Warm soup is still on the burner and ideas of baking aren't far away, though it wont be fulfilled today. The house is all decorated in present fashion. I have come to enjoy decorating for fall in my house much more then decorating for Christmas. It is so much more easier to through a couple of candles out and a few figurines then upload the Christmas tree and fluff it out and decorate it from head to toe and then hang garland around the doors and find spots for all the nick-knacks that come along. I don't know how much "the simple life" is going to integrate my Christmas decorating this year. But it will be interesting with two little bundles instead of just the one.

We have been also involved with festive activities. We were able to squeeze in a trip to the Big Horse Feed and Mercantile for our annual trip to the largest corn maze in California and other activities. Then additionally to the Apple Festival in Oak Glen. We were too late for apple picking this year but we did enjoy the petting zoos, little handmade boutiques, and some homemade apple dumplings, dutch apple preserve, apple butter, and all the other goodness.

Here are some cute pictures of our adventures....

Here is a picture of the family posing.



Nelly and Russ outside of the bouncer


Nelly bouncing around with Alton


Inside the large corn maze, such little people in a big world.

On Daddies shoulders (Travis and Alton, Russ and Nelly)

In front of the pumpkins


inside the shop, saddling up

At the petting zoo in Oak Glen. Here she is with the miniture horse.

Here with the lama



Nelly and Russ enjoying an apple

Baby Shower

Here are some pictures from the baby shower that I had a little bit ago. Nicky had payed for a friend of hers, Stacee Lianna, to professionally photograph the event.