Pictures of Isaac

Here are some pictures of our new addition, Isaac David Brock. I don't think I gave the stats when I posted last. He was born at 4:28 pm on 4/28/08. He weighed 7 lbs. 15 oz. and was 19.5 inches long.

Nathan playing with the gifts that Isaac brought him: a coloring table just his size, crayons, and a stuffed "gee go mah mah." (translation: Cookie Monster)
Nathan trying out Isaac's carseat (which used to be his!).


Not sure if Isaac picked up this sign from Daddy's students in East LA or mommy's in South LA...

The happy family. :)

April 28, 2008

9:00 - Check-up with my OB, Dr. C. She tells me it's time to go to the hospital, she doesn't want me waiting until Tuesday because she's afraid of my water breaking at home (long story but for me it would have been bad to have that happen at home and not at a hospital).

9:15 - Call Jimmy and tell him to get his butt home, we're going to the hospital! Call our parents and the people caring for Nathan while we'll be away and get all of that set up.

12:00 - Admitted to the hospital.

1:30 - Dr. C. breaks my water.

3:15 - About to get an epidural (though I had intended not to) because the contractions were extremely strong and extremely close together and I had only gone about 2 cm in 2 hours and didn't think I could keep it up for another who knows how many hours.

3:30 - Nurse tells me nope, epidural is no longer an option because I'm going too quickly and the baby is going to be born very soon, that we'd be lucky if Dr. C. made it from her office in time to deliver him. (Her saying the epidural was not an option was actually a relief--I was afraid an epidural would slow things down and also that I wouldn't be able to sit still while they put it in!)

4:30 - Isaac David Brock is born in about three pushes. :)

7:00 pm April 29 - We come home!

Pictures to come very soon...but for now, some more nursing. :)

Things NOT to say to a pregnant woman

1. Wow, you look like you're going to pop!

2. You're still hanging around?

3. I think the baby has dropped. No, I can tell the baby has dropped. (This is something you shouldn't say when the mother tells you that no, in fact the baby hasn't and you continue to say that yes, the baby has.)

4. Are you having twins?

5. Oh, maybe you'll get a girl next time. (Has anyone ever considered the fact that there are some parents who are truly equally happy to have a girl or a boy?)

No news...yet

Well I was almost prepared to announce the birth of our second little boy in a day or two, but it looks like it will be closer to a week or more. I'm happy to say that he's safely tucked away for the time being. The doctor says not to be surprised if my water breaks over the weekend, and to walk walk walk to get his head to come on down (which will make things safer--if the head is too high and the water breaks apparently the cord can come out which is very bad and puts the baby's life in danger). If you're in the Long Beach/Lakewood area this weekend and you see a very pregnant woman with a crazed look in her eye being escorted by a very handsome man and an incredibly cute toddler, it's probably me trying to get this baby down where he's supposed to be! I go back to the doctor Monday morning and either Jimmy or I will update the blog when anything exciting happens.

Flowers and Falling

Here are some pictures of what will likely be the last flowers I plant in Long Beach. :( The last flowers didn't do so well, but part of the problem was that they were cool weather flowers and it got quite warm for a while. This time I was smart and bought flowers that say they do OK in drought conditions (which is what happens when I forget to water them!). I also put in all new potting soil which I hadn't done since I bought the planters. Some of the old plants had some amazing root systems. Hopefully new potting soil, better flowers, and more frequent watering will make these last the two months we'll be here. The color combinations aren't perfect, but the price was right!

Nathan really loves helping water the flowers. He got this little watering pot as a party favor this past week and really wants to help me water the flowers. I let him and he does a really good job.

This is a new activity that Nathan decided he loves. He puts a stuffed animal on his firetruck, tries to climb in behind, the stuffed animal falls off, he gets on, and then he places the stuffed animal in front of him. He says "Na-na drive, gri-gri drive (gorilla)," or whomever is driving (in these pictures it's Pooh). Then he drives the truck for a little while and either gets to a blockade or just feels like falling off and he and the animal fall. He gets up and then says "Oh no! Na-na fall! Pooh fall!" He usually does it off the side of the firetruck but yesterday he started doing it over the front handles into a pile of pillows he'd brought from our bedroom. It was pretty funny. :)

Early Spring Pictures (Part I: Pictures 1-10)

Here are some pictures from the month of April. In the first set of beach pictures you'll notice that Nathan is wearing a hoodie and there really aren't other people on the beach. That's because it was about 55 and very windy that day. In the second set of beach pictures, taken two weeks later, the beach is quite full because it was 95 this past Sunday. We had to escape the heat of our apartment and it was actually quite nice on the beach (and not very windy).

The other trends you might notice in the pictures are Nathan's tendency to wear our shoes and to carry stuffed animals (frequently Big Bird). He is becoming quite the little mimic, which is very cute and keeps us from doing or saying anything we don't want him to copy!

Enjoy! :)






Nathan really likes yogurt, and when the spoon can't get anymore out, the hands start scraping out what's left!

Early Spring Pictures (Part II: Pictures 11-20)

Best sound in the world

The best sound in the whole world (at the moment) is "I lu loo, mommy." Translation: I love you, mommy. Nathan has said it twice unprompted, once to me, once to daddy. Usually we say "I love you, Nathan," and he responds with "I lu loo, Na-na." Sometimes he responds with our names, though, and when he does it's heart-melting!

Snakes and Bees

Nathan is into announcing things these days. Most often this is colors (and he's right a large majority of the time!). When asked what color something is he often says "blue," but if he just announces it on his own with no prompting, he often gets it correct. The other day at the park he came screaming over to me (very abnormal behavior) and told me that there was a snake. He'd been playing in a grassy area and I thought he could be right. I went to where he was and he wouldn't even follow me because he kept saying "snake." I didn't see an actual snake, but I did see some things that he could have very easily mistaken for a snake. He didn't go back to that grassy area the rest of the time we were at the park.

Just now he was out on the balcony "watering" my plants (there wasn't any water in the can) and he came running in to tell me there was a bee outside. He did the same thing this morning but he'd mistaken an ant for a bee. So we told him it was fine and that ants aren't dangerous, and he went back outside very happily. I thought it was going to be another ant, but he kept saying "bee, bee" so I told him to show me where the bee was. He did, and he was right; there, lying on its back, was a bee. Thankfully he didn't step on it since he didn't have on any shoes. Daddy took care of it and Nathan was a little scared of going outside until he was reassured a number of times that the bee was no longer out there.

I know the day will come when I probably will get tired of his chatter sometimes, but for now, I find it endlessly amusing. :)