The birth of our son

We decided to schedule an induction with our child this time. There were a few reasons for it, but Meghan wasn't going to argue...she wanted to meet our son and be done with pregnancy! We originally planned for a July 1 induction date but when it came time to schedule a room, we found out the entire week was booked solid...except Tuesday, June 29. It was a combination of busy time of year and the impending nurses strike which starts next week. Tough news cause we were really hoping for the July 1 date (for insurance reasons) but not much you can do when there are no rooms at the inn!

The morning came, we stayed at Doug and Jeannie's cause they were watching Addison for us. We got to the hospital at about 7:15 am and they started their checks and getting Meghan checked in. About an hour later, the pitocin started and so did the contractions. By about 10 the contractions were really getting strong. Meg was a total trooper through it all. About 12:30 she finally gave in and succumbed to an epidural! Relief! At this point she was still only a 5/6 so we figured we had a long way to go. About 2:15 the nurse came back to help Meghan switch to the other side and she was still a 5/6...it was starting to seem like this was going to be a long labor like it was with Addison.

About 20 minutes later, Meghan was starting to feel the contractions again...odd. She said they felt like the kind when she had to start pushing with Addison so I flipped the nurse switch. She came running in (I guess the one I hit is more of an emergency button haha). After we told her how Meghan was doing she did a check and in 20 minutes she went from a 5/6 to fully dialated with the baby at a +2 which means it was GO time. She immediately paged Meghan's doctor and we prepared the room. By the time her Dr was here, the baby was at a +3 without any pushing. Everything was going according to plan.

Once her doctor got ready to go, it was about 3 good pushes before

our son was finally here! Amazing delivery...nothing like our first. Praise God for that!! Our little son was here...he was perfect. Beautiful skin. Totally healthy. We were elated! He measured in at 20 inches and 7 lbs 9 ounces. Very healthy size...but not too big. He is a great latcher and eater and is still very healthy and beautiful this morning. Thanks to everyone for the nice comments on the pictures and in the guest book. I am sure we'll be talking to all of you plenty in the future!

Its Baby Time

Well our time has finally come. We are sitting in the hospital getting ready to have our second child. No pictures or anything but an update will be coming soon. We can't wait to introduce the world to our new son later today. We appreciate prayers for a quick and painless delivery and a healthy little boy (and mommy). Thanks everyone!!

Benihana for $12??

Last night, we decided to have our "last" nice dinner out for a while. The baby could be here any day and we KNOW that is going to change things drastically for us. Money is pretty tight so our options were limited, but Meghan knew EXACTLY what she wanted. Earlier this year, I cashed in some of my points from my company credit card for some gift cards to a few of our favorite restaurants (Chilis, etc) but I surprised Meghan by getting a $50 gift card to Benihana. We both LOVE teppanyaki and the Japanese style cuisine but its a little pricey so its a rare occasion that we can go.

We decided to bring Addison along...for one, babysitters are expensive and for two, we thought she'd really like it. We were right! She loved the chef and he totally tried to make her smile while doing his thing. I wish I had pictures! They had a Filet Mignon and Hibachi Chicken for two deal for $39 so we went for that and got Addison an order of the fried rice (she LOVES rice). Not only do you get the entertainment but great food already cut up into bite size pieces! What service!!

Addison had a blast and was continually asking for "more". More rice, more chicken, more birthday singing, more smoke, you name it she wanted more of it! haha In the end, after dinner for two, a cherry coke, and two orders of fried rice, the bill came to $51.89...so our total cost was $1.89 plus tip!! Not bad for a top notch dinner. I guess my job and traveling has its perks.

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:
Those of you with a Benihana nearby may want to sign up for their Birthday Club. They apparently send you a "$30 birthday certificate" which the couple next to us was using. You can use it during the month of your birthday! I can't think of a restaurant with a better deal than that!!
http://assets.fbmta.com/clt/bnhn/lp/join/join.asp?q=thechefstable

Another first for our little girl

Last Saturday, Meghan decided she couldn't take our daughter having a "mullet" any longer so it was time for Addison to get her first haircut. A half a year ago she barely had hair, now it was about down to her shoulders!

Obviously, she didn't know what to expect and I think she is too young to really try to explain it so instead we found a place that is geared toward kids. We found a few places, but ended up choosing Kids Kuts Family Hair Care which is conveniently about 3 minutes from our house. They have some coupons on the website too so at least it felt like we were saving some money too! :-)

The appointment was scheduled for 1 pm and when we got there we found a cute little hair salon with playground toys for the kids to sit on while they are getting their hair cut. This was a nice distraction for Addison. She picked out the horsey and held on tight the entire time. Our stylist was great with her, though Addison had her usual stone face on when a new person is talking to her or touching her. Even with some coaching from mom, she wouldn't even crack a smile though she didn't cry or protest at all.

Mommy is really happy with the result as Addison's hair is now nice and even and can start growing in consistently into some long pretty blonde hair! I think we found our stylist at least for a while...anyone up in the north suburbs should consider looking up Kids Kuts...plus they do adults too!

Funny story of the week: Meghan, Addison, and I were at Target getting a few odds and ends. We were at the checkout and Addison was in the shopping cart. There was a young girl taking care of us and Addison looked up at her, looked down about midway and then pointed and said "booboos" which you might be able to guess what that means. I looked at Meghan and started laughing...I couldn't contain it as this was a word her mom taught her recently. Thankfully, I don't think the girl caught on but I laughed almost the entire way home.

Preparing to grow our family!

Well summer is here. We've been keeping busy getting ready for the newest addition to our family. Our little boy should be here sometime in June or at the latest, July 1 (our set induction date). Meg has been having lots of contractions and was put on bedrest (kind of). The baby is doing well, the doctors just want to keep the baby in there as long as possible so that its full term. Meghan is very much ready for our little boy to come out, yet we need to hang on to July 1 if possible (for insurance reasons). In the end, I think he'll be out sooner and we'll just make due with the expensive delivery.

We are very much excited to meet our little boy though!! We still don't have his name picked out...we are close but just can't get past the final two, maybe we'll just wait until he comes out and see which one he looks like! :-) Addison is transitioning to being a "big girl" very well. She has her new big girl bed which she loves. We had it in her room for a week or two to let her get used to it but now she's been sleeping in it for about a week and is doing SO well. There have been a few occasions where we've moved her to her crib but each day is better and better!

I've been busy working on our basement. I have a goal of finishing it before our little boy gets here. Last weekend I had a few friends over to put up drywall on our walls. It was a long day but its done and I even have the bedroom taped and mudded (with the first coat). I think I'll finish the rest tonight and then start sanding Thursday or Friday night to get ready for coat #2. I think I am still on track with the project unless the little guy comes early! I can't wait to have the basement finished though. I feel like I can never find anything down there cause its all crammed in two little storage rooms. I am also really excited to have a 4th bedroom in the house. I'll get some pictures to post soon!

With all of this going on, its keeping us pretty busy. We've found time to see a couple Twins games at the new stadium though...it was a real treat! What a great place...baseball should ALWAYS be outdoors!! Two of our friends, the Roelofs and Normans, have had their second kids...both boys. That means all four couples (Roelofs, Normans, Hidlebaughs and Rasmussens) will have their first child in the same year, their second child in the same year and each will have 1 boy and 1 girl...you couldn't plan it any better! haha Our kids should be really close I think.

I wish I was better about blogging consistently but I'll try to do better. I love the comments though, it helps to know that people are actually reading the blogs!