A Proper Introduction

Cheek, meet Headboard. Headboard, Cheek.

It's kind of hard to see because of the lighting in this pic, but Selah acquired a pretty nasty, big bruise on her left cheek Thursday night after a rough encounter with her headboard. Thankfully, it was her cheek and not her nose, chin, eye, forehead, any of which would have probably meant a donation to the Cook Children's ER in exchange for stitches. It seems to have been a memorable experience for her, so I'm hoping in the future she'll choose to head my warnings about jumping on the bed!

Hello.

My name is Erin. I'm a blog slacker.

(Everyone) Hello, Erin.

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Pardon me for my lack of consistency these days. Who am I kidding? Non-existence is more like it, as you can clearly see from the date of my last post! Hello, motherly guilt.

Wrangling two little ones is quite a task to say the least. Documenting it, as I've clearly demonstrated, has become even trickier!

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The main issue that's kept me from blogging all this time is my tendency to be a little, um, let's say... particular about things. Okay, okay. I'm completely anal. A perfectionist. If I don't have time to do it right I'm not about to do it half way. This probably stems from my background in mathematics. I like order. Sequences. Patterns. Anywho... I've had to come to grips with the fact that there does not, in any part of my imagination, exist a world in which I have time to go back and document all of the wonderful, awful, big and little events that have taken place since January of 2009. There just isn't. And it's taken me awhile to accept that and be OK with picking up with the present and resolving to make blogging a part of my routine.

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I will for sure recap a few important highlights (ie: holidays, birthdays, etc.), and don't think I'm not gonna back-date every one of them. It drives me crazy to read a post dated in August that actually happened in February! Have I mentioned I'm nuts?! But I digress...

Be looking for an on-slot of posts, both catch-up and new, in a few days!

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For now, I'll leave you with this little morsel... and by "morsel", I mean photo. (wink, wink)

Matthan Paul Coursey

Matthan arrived on Wednesday, January 14th at 3:45 pm, weighing 8 pounds, 6 ounces and 21 inches long. Here's how it all happened...

Matthan Paul's Birthstory

I thought I was going to join the small club of women who actually happened to go into labor naturally and give birth on their baby's due date. On Monday afternoon I started having what I knew for sure to be minor contractions. They would come every 6-10 minutes or so, and last anywhere from 60-90 seconds. They gradually became more intense as the day went on, so I thought, "This is it!" With Selah I never felt any contractions whatsoever, and was already 5 cm dilated when my midwife called me in nine days post due date. So I just knew that if I was having contractions this was the real deal. I took a shower, made sure every bag was packed, gave my parents a "heads up" call, and went to bed around 10pm. Well, I was WRONG! I wasn't in bed thirty minutes and the contractions completely subsided. Come Tuesday morning I was STILL PREGNANT, and disappointed.

We had an appointment with my midwife scheduled for Wednesday morning and were fairly certain that if things were progressing we would try some natural ways to help my labor along, so my mom went ahead and drove down Tuesday evening to stay at the house with Selah.

On Wednesday morning we said a tearful goodbye to Selah ( it's a strange, bittersweet feeling to leave one child to have another) and headed to Dallas. I remember reading and hearing from friends throughout my pregnancy that every labor is different, and to not expect this labor to be a repeat of my first. Well, strangely enough, things this time around played out very much like they did with Selah. Once we got to the birth center Carol, another midwife, checked me and I was dilated nearly 5 cm. We decided to strip my membranes and take a walk around the park next door to try and get things going while waiting for my midwife, Cherie, who was on her way. After about an hour and a half of walking contractions, we went back inside to talk with Cherie and see how much I had progressed. I began having very regular contractions while walking, but they were still pretty mild. Cherie checked me and I was now at 6 cm.

At about 1pm we made the decision to go ahead and break my water, and afterwards I immediately felt much more pressure. Terry moved all of our things into the birthing room while I called my best friend and doula, Kippy, who headed to the birth center. I really wanted to try laboring in the whirlpool tub because I've read a lot about the advantages of using warm water to help ease the pain, but I had also heard it could really speed up labor so I decided to wait for Kippy to get there.

When Kippy arrived around 2pm we decided to take one more quick walk around the park and then headed back inside to get in the tub. The warm water felt amazing! I lounged back and chatted with Terry and Kippy, pausing when I needed to concentrate on breathing through a contraction. After I had been in the tub for about an hour my birth assistant, Debbie, was concerned that I wasn't progressing because of the talking and laughing going on and decided that maybe I needed to be checked to see what was going on. Cherie climbed in the tub with me, and said to everyone's surprise that I was already completely dilated to 10 cm! I was shocked at how well laboring in the water masked the pain, so much so that I wasn't even feeling any urge to push!

I had really wanted to deliver in the tub, but when my water was broken there was a small amount of meconium in the fluid, which made waterbirth not an option because Cherie would need to aspirate the baby's lungs right when the head was delivered. Everyone helped me out of the tub, and the moment I stood up I felt the most intense pressure ever. I squatted to push a few times and then got in bed.

Terry was right on the bed with me helping me hold my legs back as I pushed and telling me what a great job I was doing. Kippy was right at my feet, encouraging me with each push and helping me hang in there by telling me when she could see his head. Cherie did an amazing job of letting me push when I wanted to, while at the same time giving me direction when she could tell wearing out and needed it. At one point everyone was laughing and smiling around me, and Kippy said his head was out and he opened his eyes and was looking around. A short 15-20 minutes of pushing and Matthan entered the world, completely perfect from head to toe! What an amazing blessing it is that God allows us as mothers to help usher a new life into the world!!

Blackmail

This is how Selah appeared to me after her nap today...

...and trying on her baby brother's clothes.PRICELESS!!

Ms. Photogenic

Since Selah missed out on her very first school pic (read about that here, still makes me sad), we took her to have some portraits taken at Portrait Innovations. It's been over a year since we had professional pics taken so it was more than overdue, and the timing was perfect because it made for easy, yet forever cherished Christmas gifts for the grandparents.

"Just like you, Mommy!"

Selah has been telling me for months now that she wants a pair of slippers and a robe, just like me. Well, here she is in her most prized Christmas presents, courtesy of her Great-Grandma Condray!

Super cute polar bear slippers!

Admiring her new robe

Nice and cozy!

36 Weeks?...Bad Mommy!

I can't believe I'm only 4 weeks away from my due date and I haven't posted a single thing about this pregnancy since the announcement post in May! I've been such a slacker mommy-to-be with this pregnancy than I was with Selah. She had her own website, and I updated it after every single appointment. It's funny how much the time flies when you're already busy running around after a two year old; no basking in the glow of your pregnant self, or lying on the couch for hours just feeling the baby move!

36 WEEKS

Selah loves giving her "baby brudder" lots of kisses.

That does look like a belly, right?!

KA-RIP!

Bison-in-Training

Culinary Cutie

BURRRR..ito!

"I'm ready for winter, Mommy!"

"Where's Jophes?"

Today we took our camera to church in an attempt to get some good Christmas pics of Selah. There was a really big nativity setup in the atrium, and we got some pretty cute candid shots, and some posed of Selah giving her "cheese!" smile.

Selah had recently lead me through a battery of questions about our nativity set at home, learning everyone's names and roles. When she rounded the corner and climbed up to see Baby Jesus her first question was "Mommy, where's Jophes?"

First School Pics...classic.

I was so excited for Selah to get her picture taken at school for the very first time! We picked the perfect outfit, got her hairs did just right, took a few pics of our own at home to commemorate the day, and off to school we went. She loves to say "cheese!", so I had high expectations for the ridiculously cute pics we would end up with.

After leaving her just 30 min earlier, I received a call from her teacher that she was running a pretty high fever and crying non-stop, and that I would need to come pick her up. I got to school and it was clear that my poor little baby felt just aweful! STINK! No pictures that day, but her teachers assured me she could have them taken when she came back a few days later.

Well, after a trip to the pediatrician the next day (and a virus confirmed) it was clear she wouldn't be going back that week. DOUBLE STINK!!

So...we didn't get to have the whole first school picks experience, but I did get a few shots of Selah all dolled up that morning before we went to school.

She got upset when I told her I wanted to take her picture, but I didn't really think anything of it. In hindsight, clearly she was NOT feeling well! So, these are Selah's first school pics...

Silly Sayings of Selah

OK, I realize it's been forever since I've posted, and I promise I'll try to catch up soon, but I just HAD to share some pretty hilarious things that have come out of my child's mouth over the past few days.

And they are...

~ "I'll be right back, people!" - said to her Papa, Daddy, and Mommy in the middle of a hard-core playing session when she realized she had to go potty.

~ "I really want to eat this dirty corndog, but I can't." - said to Mommy at lunch when she noticed a darker brown (crispy) spot on one of her favorite foods.

~ "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" - whispered in awe when she saw her very own little Christmas tree in her room for the first time.

~ "Y, B, B, O, L, Y, B, B, O, H. That spells Selah Blaire Coursey!" - said after a trip to Hobby Lobby with Mommy and she read the store sign, from right to left.

~ "Mommy needs to buy more toilet paper so I can wipe." - said to Daddy during a playtime potty break.

~ Daddy: "Selah, what color is your room?"
Selah: "Green."
Daddy: "And what color is your baby brother's room?"
Selah: "Blue."
Daddy: "And what color is my room?"
Selah: "You don't have a room, Daddy."
Daddy: "Well, then where do I sleep?"
Selah: "AMERICA!!"

Such a silly goose!

Heading South!

Selah and I made the 12 hour trip to my grandmother's in Mobile, AL this week, along with my Dad and my niece, Bella. We normally visit that side of the family at Thanksgiving, but since I will only be about six weeks away from my due date we're going to have to stay much closer to home this year. So we left Terry a bachelor for the week and headed south.

We had such a great time and were able to see a lot more of my aunts and cousins that live in Mobile now that Mama has moved from Pascagoula. We all got to cook out and watch the fireworks together on the 4th, and had a very special 7th birthday party for Bella with all of her cousins. Here are some pics!

Sweet girls!

She loves to swing!

LOVES it!!

Pretty baby!

"calling" Daddy

Papa working?

Miss Independent!

Princesses Hayden, Bella, and Meg at the party

Watching fireworks with Papa

June 2008...in pics

talking to Nena, Papa, RyRy, Bella... and anyone else she can think of!

pretending to be bashful!

showing her "cheese!" face, and baking with Mommy

reading with Nena

she loves riding her bike

playing with her new sand/water table

sweet hands!

this is serious business!

such a goof!

reading with Daddy

Mozart in training

"driving" Mommy's old car...the green machine.

That's right, I'm a girl and I drove a '69 mustang!