"My Baby"

The most heard phrase in our house right now is "MY BABY". Colton says that Mason is his baby. He wants to hold him all the time and always needs to know where "his baby" is and what "his baby" is doing. Frankie and I have to fight Colton to get in some cuddle time with Mason. We are having a blast as a family of four.... couldn't have imagined these first couple days home to go any better than they have been! Pretty much every diaper change involves all 4 of us and bathtime is no different. Actually the only time I get Mason all to myself is when I am feeding him! Mason is continueing to prove that he is a good baby, eating and sleeping as well as can be expected for a 5 day old and cries very little. We are very blessed to have another son and for Colton to have a little brother!

Introducing Mason Bradley

Mason Bradley arrived on January 26th at 4:01am at United Hospital in St Paul (although he almost arrived at home but I will save the birth story for another post)! He weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and was 21 inches long. He is perfect. We had a very short stay in the hospital (checked in and back out within 36 hours) and are already back home enjoying our first couple days as a family of four. Mason is a very good baby, hardly ever cries and is already adjusting to sleeping in his crib in his own room! We of course will be working on a routine over the next week but the first night went pretty good so no complaining from Mommy and Daddy. Colton loves having a baby brother and wants to help with everything although diaper changes he just wants to watch, he says he doesn't want to help with those. Tonight I decided to pump instead of breastfeed so that Colton could feed Mason his bedtime feeding - Colton has been asking to feed him since the first day and it was so hard to tell him that only Mommy can do that. So I gave it and we have already introduced a bottle... hoping I don't totally regret that decision later (but for now Mason seems to be just fine with bouncing back and forth). We are looking forward to more visitors this weekend... with the hospital stay so short we have had very few visitors and we are anxious to show off our newest addition! Here are few pictures from the hospital and our first day at home.... there will be many many more pictures over the next couple weeks!

39 Weeks Pregnant

Well it seems like just last month we found out we were expecting and here we are 39 weeks along already! It really did go by quick and at the same time these last couple of weeks have seemed like forever... apparently waiting patiently is not one of my strong points! We are more than ready to meet our new son or daughter and hopefully sometime this week he or she will decide to join us out here in the real world! I have a doctor appointment tonight and depending on my blood pressure we may talk some options to get my labor going... I really wanted to go into labor on my own but at the same time I am all about giving this baby some encouragement. I will try to update tonight if anything exciting will be happening and hopefully my next post will be pictures of our little munchkin!

* Tuesday night update: Well I am still pregnant! My appointment went good last night. My blood pressure was up but as soon as I layed down for 5 minutes it came right back down to where it should be. I am still dialated 5cm, starting to thin out, 70% effaced... so we are making progress but slowly. After talking with the Dr we decided to give the baby a few more days to arrive on its own... let nature do what it is supposed to do. I have been having contractions on and off all day today but nothing with any sort of pattern (unfortunately)! I have another Doctor appointment this Friday unless I deliver sooner! I will keep you all posted!

Baby Belly

My sister in law, Melissa, took some pregnancy pictures for me yesterday and I am so excited with how they turned out. She is amazing! The pictures made my cry when I first saw them, these are the first pictures of my two kids together! Thank you so much Melissa, I can't wait for you to take the baby's first pictures once he/she arrives!!

Zirbes Christmas Celebration

Last Saturday we headed up to Little Falls to celebrate Christmas with the Zirbes Family (my mom's side)! It was so much fun to see all my cousins and their kids. Colton had a blast playing with all the kids and I was able to get some cuddle time in with Carly, the newest member of the Zirbes family. We enjoyed an awesome lunch and then we got all dressed up and headed outside for sledding and sleigh rides! My uncle Cliff told me I was not allowed to go on the sleigh ride as it was kinda bumpy and he didn't want to be responsible to starting my labor but he never said anything about sledding - so yes I did enjoy a ride down the hill at 37 weeks pregnant (and only one ride as it was way too hard to get out of the sled at the bottom)! It was a great way to end this Holiday Season.