Taryn May's Arrival

Our beautiful girl decided to make her appearance on Saturday, May 19 at 9:57pm. She weighed in at 6 lbs, 12 oz, and was 20 inches long. She has already stolen all our hearts!













My contractions started coming fairly regularly on Thursday afternoon, not super close together or intense yet but more consistent than the contractions I had been having before. I had a doctor's appointment that day and my doctor was very pleased with the progress I had made in a week and said that we could have this baby any day if I stayed active. I did as much as I could muster around the house that evening and the next morning, but my contractions were still inconsistent, ranging from every 2 minutes to 20 minutes, depending on what I was doing and varying throughout the day. I thought that 2nd babies are supposed to come faster than 1st babies and my labor could pick up very quickly. However, Taryn was obviously not in as much of a hurry as I was. We went ahead and sent Zane to stay with his Mimi & Papa Bear on Friday night, just in case. At 3am Saturday morning, I decided it was time to go to the hospital. Surely with all the contractions, my body must be progressing along and I just knew she would come fast once things got going. Zane came only a few hours after we got to the hospital with him. We went in to discover that I was still dilated to the same number I had been on Thursday afternoon. After watching me for a while, they determined that I was progressing but slowly. My doctor gave me the option of staying and getting some pitosin to help speed things along or getting some pain meds and going home to sleep for a few hours, knowing that I would be back and probably have her sometime before midnight. We opted for pain meds and sleep. It was a good choice. I was knocked out for about 4 hours at home, got a shower in and a decent lunch and got back to the hospital when the meds had worn off at about 2 pm. They decided to admit me at about 3 or so. Unfortunately, there was only one anesthesiologist on call and he was tied up so I had to wait another 1 1/2 to 2 hours before I finally got my epidural. Then, they had to sit me up in a weird position and give me some pitosin because she was at a weird angle and my contractions had gotten irregular. Unfortunately, right at the end, something went wrong with my epidural and it started wearing off. Let me just tell you that it was pretty miserable and leave it at that. Tommy was wonderful and stayed right by my side, holding my hand and wiping my tears through it all. Once she was ready, I didnt have to push for very long. My doctor barely made it to catch her in the last 10 minutes or so. It was a very different labor experience than my super-fast, smooth, epidural-working experience with Zane, but still so worth it in the end when I laid eyes on my beautiful baby girl. She is completely healthy and my recovery has been a breeze for the most part.
Zane loves his baby sister and has really done about as well with everything as you can expect from a 2 1/2 year old. He wants to hold her and kiss her face and he talks to her like we do, "Hey sweet girl." etc. The 2 year old boy part comes in that he wants to hang on the pack and play and bump it to try to touch her while she is sleeping or force her paci into her mouth, with the best of intentions of course. Thankfully, we paid for daycare for the whole month of May so he has been able to go to school during the day, keeping some normalcy for him and giving Daddy and me time to get to know Taryn and rest some. I have until this Friday to take advantage of that. Then it will be me and both kids, all summer long. As nervous as I am about that, I am really looking forward to it too. We will stay busy with activities for Zane and I will adjust to juggling them both, I am sure.
I can't believe it has only been a week since she came into our lives! Life will never be the same.
Overflowing with blessings,
Crystal
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The Big Boy Chronicles: The Big Boy Bed

As promised, I wanted to share how incredibly proud I am of Zane with his flawless transition to the big boy bed last week!

Tommy's been wanting to get him out of the crib for several months because he would occasionally act like he wanted to try to climb out. I was more hesitant. I just knew that putting him in a bed meant that I could no longer ensure that he would stay in bed when I wanted him there, regardless of how he felt about it.

With Taryn on her way, we knew it was time. I wanted to do it far enough ahead of time that he didn't think the baby took "his" bed. Our crib converts to a toddler bed but this didn't make any sense since we need the crib for the baby. We decided to skip the toddler bed and just spend our money on a twin bed that he can stay in long term. We figured we could start with the mattresses on the floor or buy one that is low to the ground.

I put a wanted ad on my online bulletin board at work and found someone looking to sell a used twin "captains" bed (box with drawers under the mattress instead of traditional off the floor frame) for a good deal. I liked the idea of the extra storage space and eliminating the abyss that "under the bed" can become for small objects (and dogs & kids). Plus, we wouldn't need a box spring and it would be low to the ground. We took the captains bed and ordered a memory foam mattress online. The mattress was pretty cool. It came in a fairly small box and you just roll it out and it plumps up to its advertised thickness.
So last Friday, we decided to set it up. We thought a weekend would be a good time to start, in case we didn't get much sleep. I took some pointers from friends on Facebook and we let him "help" set it up. We had to take the crib apart to get it out of his room so there was no going back.

We got it in his room and put the guard rail on it. Zane helped put the sheets on it and we put his "new blanket" on it that I had showed him the night before. It's sports themed and has different types of balls all over it. He likes talking about each type of ball as he points to them.

By the time we got it all set up, it was past his bedtime (all part of my plan), so we did our bedtime routine and he climbed right in. I got him a "big boy" pillow to lay his head on. He wanted us to pull the covers up over him like we have in our bed. After a quick talk from mommy & daddy about the need for him to stay in his bed while his bedside clock shines blue, we said good-night and my big boy went RIGHT to sleep.

I'm telling you. It was incredible! Every night since, he gets right in bed and stays there until we come get him in the morning. Even if he wakes up, he stays right there. I could not have asked for a better transition. He wakes up some mornings and says, "I sleeped good, Mommy. Mommy sleep good? Daddy sleep good?" Yes! When Zane sleeps good, mommy & daddy sleep good too!

Now for some pictures and video of Zane and his bed:




Figuring out the rail










Daddy tickling Zane on the bed

Zane playing and talking on the bed


















And finally, good night everybody!



I'm incredibly proud of my big boy! I'm feeling better and better about him being ready to be a big brother. I have every reason to believe he is going to handle it fantastically. Lately, he is talking more and more about his baby sister.

Please keep praying for all of us as we get closer to Taryn's grand entrance in a few months!

We love you all!

Crystal

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The Big Boy Chronicles: Adventures in Potty Training

Zane is truly becoming such a big boy right in front of our eyes!

Zane has actually been sort of potty training for months now. The daycare can take way more credit for this than I could! We bought him a little potty a while back just to let him get used to the idea. He actually picked up pretty quickly. We didn't push anything but just took him in there if he asked and he went potty almost every time he sat on it. He thought it was really fun. Our biggest struggle was convincing him that it was time to be done and that we weren't going to play with everything in the bathroom.

At school, using the potty is part of the routine and it is what your friends are all doing so it's fun and cool. I love positive peer pressure! He has been going or at least trying fairly regularly at school for a long time now.

Since he had already been doing so well in his "pre-training," I thought it might be feasible to get him mostly potty trained before Taryn arrives. As much as I have dreaded this transition, I figured it would be easier now than when I am trying to nurse a newborn, so it was now or at least 6 months from now. So, a couple of weeks ago, we took the plunge and bought some cloth training pants, underwear, and pull-ups. There are different methodologies for doing this but I decided to kind of ease into it and just start trying to get him to go more regularly and see if we could keep his diapers pretty dry first. I have friends that have done the "boot camp" method where you just jump in immediately to underwear, don't leave the house, and take them every 15 mins for a couple of days until they've got it pretty well down. I didn't know that this method would go well for Zane's personality or mine. He tends to resist when I push him too hard. So, we started out in diapers just trying to get us all in the habit of thinking about going to the potty more regularly. I asked the school to push it a bit harder with him and take him at least once an hour. After a couple of days, his teacher encouraged me to bring up some underwear for him and let him try it. He might really like it and get the hang of it faster. This made me nervous, but I agreed.

I couldn't let the daycare have the first "underwear" experience with him without us there so we put on the underwear when we got home that evening to try them out. He kept them dry for quite a while and thought he was quite a big boy with his "unnerwears" on.

He has really done pretty well with it at school since then. Most days, he has about 1 or 2 accidents. We are still needing some work on #2 as well but he is making progress. We are trying to find the right balance between not pushing too hard but still being committed. In the evenings and weekends, we let him wear pull ups or diapers a little more if he wants to or we are going out and about. I've also learned that things work best if Zane thinks its his idea. :-) Example: "Do you need to go potty?" "No." "Okay. We will start the movie after Zane goes potty." "I go potty." "Good idea."

I think we are doing well so far. Hopefully, we will have it down pretty well by May. I expect that he will regress some after she is born, but at least the initial work will be done and we will all be used to the routine of it. Our diaper costs have already been significantly reduced but the underwear hasn't been cheap. I do find myself doing a lot more laundry too!

We are so proud of our big boy! Check back soon for the next chronicle- The Big Boy Bed!

With love,

Crystal

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Taryn May is on Her Way!

I am absolutely appalled that I have not blogged since July. Here's hoping for more time and motivation to post in the new year! Not like we are going to be busy or anything with Baby #2 on her way! I am sure anyone who follows my blog probably already knows that we are excitedly preparing for our baby girl to arrive around May 24. Zane is starting to get just a little excited about having a baby sister. I think he will be a fantastic big brother to her.

Our baby girl will be named Taryn May. We hope that Taryn will be a name that will grow with her and fit her personality, whatever that may be. Her middle name, May, although coincidentally will likely be the month she is born, is actually to honor 2 special women in Tommy's family. His maternal grandmother, May Bell Wallace, passed away in an accident before Tommy was born. Her mother, Tommy's great-grandmother, Josie May Cox, lived to be 96 years old and held the family together for 5 generations, passing away in 2008 on the same day as Tommy's great-grandfather after their 75 year marriage. Granny always teased that she hoped someone in the family would name a baby Josie after her. Hopefully she will be just as pleased with her middle name being passed on. While neither Tommy or I ever had an opportunity to know May Bell, we know that she raised her family in the Lord and her children hold her in high esteem.


A young May Bell



Pa & Granny- J.C. & Josie May Cox




Taryn May's first close up

Sorry for the sideways picture. I couldn't rotate it on my phone. We are trying to get ready for Taryn's arrival. Funny, most of the things on my to do list right now have to do with Zane's transition to big boy/big brother. We have to get his room together to free up our baby furniture. Hopefully, I will make the time for more posts to come about potty training and the upcoming transition to the big boy bed! He is becoming such a big boy so quickly.

With love,

Crystal

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"Aww, MAN!"

Zane's favorite phrase of the week has been, "Aww, MAN!" He says it with perfect inflection and drama! I thought I would share this cute video of him in the pool on Monday night, getting brave and trying out his new phrase.

We have so much fun with our big boy!

Crystal

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Dancing in the Minefields

Dancing in the Minefields
Song by Andrew Peterson

I was nineteen, you were twenty-one
The year we got engaged
Everyone said we were much too young
But we did it anyway

We bought our rings for forty each
From a pawn shop down the road
We made our vows and took the leap
Now fifteen years ago

We went dancing in the minefields
We went sailing in the storm
And it was harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

"I do" are the two most famous last words
The beginning of the end
But to lose your life for another I've heard
Is a good place to begin

'Cause the only way to find your life
Is to lay your own life down
And I believe it's an easy price
For the life that we have found

And we're dancing in the minefields
We're sailing in the storm
This is harder than we dreamed
But I believe that's what the promise is for

So when I lose my way, find me
When I loose love's chains, bind me
At the end of all my faith, till the end of all my days
When I forget my name, remind me

'Cause we bear the light of the Son of Man
So there's nothing left to fear
So I'll walk with you in the shadowlands
Till the shadows disappear

'Cause he promised not to leave us
And his promises are true
So in the face of all this chaos, baby,
I can dance with you

[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/a/andrew_peterson/dancing_in_the_minefields.html ]

Today is our 7th wedding anniversary. I really love this song by Andrew Peterson because I think it captures the struggles and joys of young married life (or just married life) so well. Tommy actually proposed on my 20th birthday and he was 21. We did spend a little more on our rings. :-) My favorite line in the song is in the bridge... "When I forget my name, remind me."
We have known others that got married young and then later, if things fell apart, they would say things like, "we were too young" and "we grew up in different directions, we are not the same people we were when we got married." I think that is kind of the point. You are never going to be exactly the same people you were when you got married, no matter how old you were, because we are all constantly growing and changing. The challenge of marriage is to keep your connection to each other and, I think, remind each other who you are and who you can be. I feel like Tommy and I are better people than we were 7 years ago. Every day has its' challenges, but, like the song says, "That's what the promise is for."

Tommy is still my best friend and my partner in life. I am so grateful to have a wonderful man to share my life with and raise a child with. God has blessed us tremendously! I can't wait to see what the next 7 years and beyond hold for us!

With Love,

Crystal

Cousin Time

Uncle Craig, Aunt Fallon, and Lylah (17 mos) came for a little visit to Arlington this weekend. Zane has been having so much fun with Lylah. She is truly one of his favorite people!
Here are some pictures and a video of them playing at Cracker Barrell tonight.

It is so good to see them! I am so glad that he is already close to his cousins.

With love,

Crystal

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