A Few of Our Favorite Things

Man, no one tells you how much life changes for everyone when you go from 2:1 coverage to 1:1.  I suppose when you move to more than two kids you're stuck with a zone defense plan.  We've spent the last 3.5 weeks working to figure out our new normal.  Lucky for me, as usual, I have had lots of help.  Between MP's paternity leave (which we have spread out as an extra day off each week), Nana and Papa spending time hanging out with us, and lots of visits and meals from our wonderful army of dear friends, we've had a great opportunity to bond as a family.  (If by bond, I mean three year old tantrums and meltdowns from sharing attention and a baby who's crying a good 90% of her wakeful, not nursing time...but really, all things considered, we understand this to be pretty normal all around.)

Lest we leave anyone too worried about us...here's evidence to our thriving.  Good thing I don't get the camera out [too often] when tears are involved.

Trains, cars, and legos, OH MY!

Selfies

 

The water park

Real live trains

Strange baby faces, or "don't throw that matchbox car at me!"

Less sleep than normal

Baby holding besties

Silly toddler smiles

Shelby Nature Play

 

Our awesome backyard

Lap naps at the pool

Getting to know us.

Crying photos (though we definitely prefer this silent version!)

And to round it out, our very own country music rain man tells us about his favorite book and song.

Welcome, Nora Catherine Pulle!!

Almost three four weeks ago, our wait to meet NCP ended.  As my due date approached, all I could think about was that I had gone into labor two days before MP2's due date, and he was born the day before he was due.  Then it was the big day...and still no baby.  As anyone who's ever been nine months pregnant (that's 40 weeks, folks!) can attest, my patience was wearing thin.

Then, on Thursday, August 1st around 4am I woke up having contractions that felt like they might be the real deal.  Around 7am I checked in with my dear friend, Amy, who planned to come for the birth (and mother of four children herself) and she concurred.  I was in labor.  Hooray.  If you considered that labor may be half as long this time, I thought we may have ourselves a baby by the afternoon.  So, I also checked in with our midwife, who agreed, and asked me to keep her updated and call right away if my contractions reached a certain intensity and/or my water broke.  MP stayed home from work to wrangle MP2, and I spent the day doing last minute things - getting house cleaned, laundry done, etc.  Amy decided to come over mid-afternoon, and we sent MP2 to Nana and Papa's after his nap in the afternoon.  But those pesky contractions, while getting more uncomfortable, were not reaching the intensity and regularity that I was looking for to mean baby was imminent.

Around 9:30, Amy decided to go home, and decidedly discouraged and dejected, I called the midwife back.  Through my tears, I told her what had gone on (or, more appropriately had NOT gone on) all day.  She suggested that I may just need to rest or relax.  She said to take a hot bath and try to sleep.  Her opinion was that I would wake up either a) in more intense labor, and need to call her, or b) not in labor at all, and we'd be having a baby another day.  So, I followed orders and got into bed.  Around 1:30, I started waking up with each contraction, and they were feeling pretty intense, though I could sleep between them.  After an hour, I decided to time them, and reached to grab my phone and as I did, my water broke.  At this point, I woke Matt and he called our midwife.  She and her apprentice arrived within a few minutes of each other around 3am.  I got into the tub, and after another hour and a half (of which I'll spare you all the gory details - except there may have been some crazy-lady-screaming going on), MP caught his second child under the water as she was born!  We pulled Nora Cate up and checked the clock...4:42 am.  Born on a Friday, just like her big brother (in fact, just 10 minutes later than he was born).

She weighed in at 8 lbs 6 oz (exactly the same as MP2) and measured 19.5 inches long (only 1/2 inch shorter than MP2).  They even looked just alike!  We were just over the moon to see her and hold her and count all her fingers and toes and see just how perfect and beautiful she is.

All told, the hard part of labor was about half as long...it just took us some time to get there.  Again, not unlike MP2, who had me in labor that started and stopped all day Thursday, July 8th and after some rest, things got going in the early hours of Friday, July 9th before his 4:32am birth.

We spent Friday resting and getting to know one another, until just after dinner time, when big brother came home and met her for the first time.  He took one look at her and then asked Nana and Papa to come play with him in his room.  Then, while I was reading to him before bedtime, he asked if she could go back into my belly.  I let him know that getting her out had been tough, so I thought we'd just keep her out here.  Never thinking the question this would prompt - "How did Nora Cate get out of your belly, Mom?"  I decided to change the subject and save that discussion for another day!

 

A million pictures like the one on the bottom yields one barely passable family photo such as the one on the top!

Proud Nana & Papa!

Siblings - MP2 on the top and NC on the bottom...I think they look practically identical here, though NC looks more like herself these days.

Third Year's a Charm

It is amazing how much has changed over the past year.  MP2 has gone from baby/toddler to toddler/little boy.  Last year, on his birthday, MP2 didn't get the whole "gift" thing.  We saw this begin to change at Christmas, and by this birthday....well let's just say that a full six weeks post festivities, he's still asking to check the mail to see if it includes any packages for him!

Three is also a totally new challenge, er...adventure for us.  Talk about becoming one's own person.  MP2 is more opinionated, talkative, demanding, funny, adorable, and terrorizing than ever before.  It's a wonder to watch him grow.

Some highlights from his birthday...

Papa and MP spent many hours over a couple of (hot hot hot) days putting one million pieces together until they had this swingset - Nana & Papa's birthday gift - set up.  It was ready for MP2 the weekend before his birthday, and he got a kick out of it.  It's so great to have a playground right in our backyard!

Here is our big three year old on the morning of his birthday.

After school, MP had a big surprise planned.  I picked MP2 up and we walked across the pedestrian bridge into downtown...

Where we met up with MP and took a little ride on the Music City Star commuter train.  MP had driven out to a suburb of Nashville that morning, and caught the train back into town with the morning commute.  So we rode the train out to his car and drove home.  MP2 LOVED it!

Then we had dinner and dessert on the deck with Nana and Papa.

Next up, was Max's backyard birthday party.  We had a threat of rain all day, which put me on edge...but the weather held and we had a lovely time.  It was even more special due to some very special guests - Ama and Grandpa came for the weekend from CT, and Uncle Gary came up from Chattanooga for the afternoon.

 (special note - battery powered bubble blowers are a HIT among the three year old set)

Another wonderful birthday gift - this one from Ama and Grandpa - a sand table, to complete our backyard park!

Finally, a reading of Dr Seuss' birthday book.  (Thanks, Jess and Aaron!  Max LOVES this book and it's in frequent bedtime reading rotation these days)

If he were writing, I think MP2 would declare three his best birthday yet!

The Only Constant is Change

Here we find ourselves months after my last update, and my goodness how much change we've had.  All good, though it's been a long road to get here!

In early April, we decided to list our home without a solid plan on where we would want to move.  We spent a couple of weeks on some little organizational and minor staging projects (landscaping, painting the master bathroom, hanging some curtains, etc) to "get it ready" to put on the market.  While we loved our home, it was not the best layout for our family, and we were eager for a bit more outdoor space.  The initial plan was to rent while we decided where we would want to land - maybe for a year or so.

In mid-April, we took another trip to the Seaside area (Seagrove this time) with Nana and Papa.  It was LOVELY.  It would have been perfect had the weather not been unseasonably chilly, but it beat the oppressive heat of August that we've experienced in the past.  And all was outshined by Max's enthusiasm of the beach and ocean.  He had such a wonderful time, as did we all.  We're so lucky to get to do this trip nearly annually with N and P.

Our return brought the listing of our home, and 48 hours, 14 showings, and 2 offers later we had a deal.  It was a wild ride.  Then our search for a new spot to land began in earnest, and very quickly we learned that the real estate market for a family sized home in any area we'd wish to live was going to be more costly than we'd ever expected.  With a closing date on the sale of our home looming in under 30 days, the hunt for a new place was on.  Luckily our awesome realtor found something for us, and with quick negotiation, we had a contract to purchase it ready to go!

Memorial Day weekend found us packing up and moving out of our home - my first in East Nashville, and our first as a family here in Nashville.  We spent two weeks in a friend's guest home (so thankful for dear and generous friends) while we were in between homes, and having work done on the new house.  June 11 was our move in day, and was followed by 4.5 weeks of painting, organizing, unpacking, cleaning, etc (and I have yet to touch the basement which is currently full of about 1/3 of our belongings!)  This culminated in a visit from Ama and Grandpa and celebration of Max's 3rd birthday...which I somehow managed to get zero photos during his party!

Finally, we spent the next three weeks relaxing, spending time as a family of three, and preparing for the birth of NCP, who deserves her very own post regarding her debut to the world.  Stay tuned!

Beware of photo dump below!  Easiest way to play catch up on 4 months of fun!

Goodbye Chicamauga.  We'll miss you!

 Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Easter Bunny...not at all creepy.  Max TOTALLY got into it all this year!

Haircut!

Peach Park en route to Seaside (above) Beach 2013 (below)

Storytime at the downtown library.

"Cheering" dad on in the 2013 CMM 1/2...in the pouring rain!

MP2 wishing he could keep up with the big kids!

At the zoo with BFF

Spring Flowers at Shelby Bottoms

Happy Mother's Day!

Berry picking with W.

Poolside popsicles

Our new home!

Playing with Papa.

Mohawk

Whoa, belly

Bicentennial Splash Park

Cheering MP on at the Firecracker 5K at the Maryland Farms YMCA - another rainy race!

MP2's first sparkler - looks much more dangerous in the photo than it did in real life, promise!

Pool rest period selfie.

Taking a break from biking to watch a dump truck.

A couple of monkeys

Friends!

Finally big enough to ride the carousel horses

Tickles with MP just hours before NCP was born and MP2's world was totally changed forever.  

More to come - MP2's 3rd birthday celebration and the arrival of NCP.  Maybe I can get back in the blogging groove to keep the Pulles' fans more current on life