Amelia Amber is here!

Amelia Amber Fairbank
Born 12/28/2008 12:07pm
5lbs 15oz, 19.5"

Amelia Amber Fairbank was born on Sunday, December 28th at 12:07pm. Brandy started having contractions about 20 hours before and started having strong contractions about 11am (Sunday). We debated about coming in, decided to, decided not to, and finally got in the car. On the way to the hospital (to get checked) Brandy wondered if we should go to the mall to walk around first. I said we better go to the hospital first.

That turned out to be the right decision...

Brandy said she wanted to walk into the hospital but about 1/2 way to the building she had another big contraction and I started to get a little concerned. When we got inside the building she said, "I'm going to need to push soon." I grabbed a wheelchair, she somehow sat down and I RAN. Unfortunately the wheelchair we got was a bit rickety and at any speed above a slow walk the right side would vibrate violently. We got in the elevator but couldn't remember what floor the Birthing Center was on. First we went to 4, then 5 with Brandy breathing and trying to not push.

At 5 there were a couple men drinking coffee in the lounge right outside the elevator and Brandy asked "Do you know where I'm supposed to go?" One of them took one look and said, "No, but I'll find out!" He dropped his coffee and ran to find a nurse. In the mean time I looked at the directory and found out we needed to go to the 3rd floor. We got back in the elevator and went to 3. There are probably still nurses looking for a woman having a baby on 5. ;)

You should have seen us navigating narrow, winding hallways at high speed with a violently vibrating wheelchair with a straining pregnant lady and her husband with two bags dangling all over. Somehow we got to the right place and the nurse at the desk said, "How can we help you?" (They didn't have any warning we were coming since I didn't stop to chat at the welcome desk) Brandy said, "I'm going to need to push soon." She calmly said, "What's your last name?" When she pulled out the card she said, "Oh... this is your fourth baby and you need to push..."

Immediately two other nurses RAN to find a room (they were really busy right then) and eventually we got the room of a woman scheduled to come in a little later. They wanted to weigh Brandy but there was no way she could stand up to get on the scale so we hurried to the room. The midwife was called and somehow Brandy managed to get on the bed. Brandy's water STILL hadn't broken but it did almost immediately. Two pushes later (one for the head, one for the rest) Amelia was born. We probably weren't in the room more than 5 minutes before she came out but somehow there were about 15 nurses and 2 doctors in the room. And no, despite the fact that she was in the building at the time, the Midwife didn't make it to the room on time.

All told, we arrived at the hospital at 11:48 and Amelia was born at 12:07. Good thing we didn't go walking at the mall... :)

Amelia and Brandy are doing great. We'll probably bring her home Wednesday morning.

Thanks to everyone for their love and support!!

Lydia has started standing up and taking a few steps. She doesn't really want to walk yet though. She's content to crawl around the house on her hands and knees. Coleman will sometimes hold her hands and walk around the house with her. It's cute.

The other day the kids were watching the neighbors play ball in the street. It was funny to see little Lydia sitting out there with the boys.

Taters In a Suit

I took a few pictures of Taters in his Sunday suit. He looks like a little James Bond! ;)

Glow sticks on the 4th

We spent the 4th of July in Provo, UT with friends. Brandy got some glow sticks and the boys had a blast.
Taters discovered he could fit most of his head through a 2 stick loop and liked to run around like that.

When we got home from our trip we gave the kids a croissant roll and jam. Taters bobbled his and in catching it again he leaned into it with his tummy. Then he decided that tummy-jelly-painting was a great idea. Fun fun fun. ;)

Cabbage Patch Kid!

Many of you have commented that Lydia looks like a Cabbage Patch doll. Well, we stayed with some friends over the weekend who had one (they have girls the same age as Taters and Coleman).

So what do you think? Is Lydia a doll come to life?

Lydia's new trick is to give kisses. It is waaaay cute when she does it. Right up there with her princess wave.

More face painting

Brandy did some more face painting while on our 4th of July trip. She's really getting good at it.
People kept asking us where we went to get the boys faces painted. ;)

Face Paint Fun!

Brandy is really good at face painting. Today she did the boys, Lydia, and herself just for fun. I believe this is only her second time so I'm really impressed.

The Boys with face paint

Family Reunion '08

We recently got back from our annual family reunion in Virginia/Maryland.
We had a great time. Both our planes were delayed a bit after we got on so that was no fun but the kids were pretty good.

More around the house

Around the house in the Summer

Lydia in the sling. Peek-a-boo!


















This is the rose garden in the back with the fountain. The boys love to play in the fountain and the birds love the fountain when the boys are inside.










Taters and Coleman spend a lot of time on the trampoline.