The boys and Maya

Our boys are growing up. They are getting to be more and more fun. They love to wrestle and climb on their dad. They are always asking Cameron to "get" them or to be a dinosaur. They are excited to have a new sister and have proven to be excellent big brothers so far, and with the exception of one toy that hit Maya in the head, they've been really good to her!

Brady loves Maya, and he tells me that often. He told a friend of mine that 'Maya and my mom have the same middle name, Careen'. Then he told her that his new baby sister's name is Maya and that he loves her name. He loves to hold her and he softly and tenderly speaks loving things to her. He's still as smart as ever, and he's so sweet. Everyday he either tells me that he loves me, that I'm his favorite mom, or that I'm his best mom.

Brock also loves Maya. He always asks if he can 'carry her'. He would hold her forever if I would let him. Today he sat on the couch next to where she was sleeping and before I knew it he had picked her up and was holding her by himself. I told him he can hold her whenever he wants, but he has to ask me first. He's really gotten into coloring. He will color in a coloring book all day long. He colors picture after picture, and he usually uses the same pencil the entire time, which means I have to sharpen it a gazillion times. He's also into doing everything by himself, which is nice for things like getting dressed, putting on shoes, and brushing his teeth. It's not so nice for things that he can't do by himself because when I help him he gets mad. I have to help him in a way that still makes him feel he's doing it himself.

Ian is extremely animated in his facial expressions, personality, mannerisms and movements. He's getting better at playing with his big brothers and entertaining himself, but he's still pretty demanding. He throws everything he gets his hands on. If it's any kind of stick he swings it and smacks things with it. He likes to sit with me whenever I'm holding Maya. He doesn't have any animosity towards her, but he just doesn't want to miss out on any of the action. When Cameron is home Ian is attached to him. He doesn't want anything to do with me if Cameron is around.

Maya Careen

Maya Careen

Not everyone likes the labor details, but some do, and it will be nice to be able to refer to this if ever I forget. If you're not interested you can skip the next paragraph...

So my Dr. was going to schedule me to be induced on the 12th or the 15th, but I had a thought the first week in August (although it seems like it was a lot longer ago than that) that I would go into labor on my own before that scheduled date. Well, on Thursday, August 21st I began having some contractions. Every evening after that I had contractions, and each day they would get a little bit more intense, and I would have more of them. Finally on Wednesday, August 27th I had contractions on and off all day long. Cameron had flown to Salt Lake that morning and left in the evening to drive back a new car. He arrived in Boise around 10:30 and helped me pack up the kids. We drove separate cars back to Fruitland, and just before we got there I called to tell him we needed to head back to Boise. After arriving home we grabbed a few things, switched the kids and the carseats to the new car and headed back to my parents' house. We dropped the kids off to them and drove to the hospital. Cameron slept through them checking me, calling my dr, walking the halls for an hour and one more check-up. We woke him up in time to move to labor and delivery. That was 4am. At 8:30 they broke my water, and my contractions intensified immediately. My labor began progressing so rapidly there was no time for an epidural. They did a spinal instead. The relief was immediate! It was amazing. Maya was born at 10:30am after pushing through only one contraction. A very smooth delivery!

Maya weighed 7lbs, 2oz and she is such a beautiful baby. She sleeps all the time. A lot of babies have their nights and days mixed up. Not her. She sleeps day and night. She has dark blue eyes, which makes me think her eyes will be blue, but it's still hard to tell at this age. She has light brown hair which is incredibly soft and evenly covers her perfectly shaped head. She has long fingers and toes, but she wasn't very long at birth. Only 19". When she was born she didn't look skinny at all, in fact she looked very full, and I'm sure it's because she is shorter.