Colin: March-July, 19-23 months

Colin is growing up into such a big boy!  He has so many more words, and speaks in 3 word "sentences most of the time"- "Bubba's shoes off", "Daddy's Royals hat", "Mommy's grey shoes".  As you can tell from the first sentence, he calls himself Bubba! :)  So adorable.  He knows a lot if color names and is usually correct! Red, green, blue, purple, yellow, pink. He has too many words to write, and he also will repeat what we say.  Some is only decipherable by mom and dad, but that's ok.

He loves his baby brother Alex.  He calls him "Baby Gagex".  He is learning to be gentle...AKA, he doesn't hit him THAT often, and usually rocks his Rock 'n play Sleeper gently.

He seems so big now that we have a newborn!  Not sure of exact weight and height, but he is MUCH taller (can reach more stuff on the counter when he goes up for the "sweep" with his hands) and according to our bathroom scale is about 26 lbs.  He is still wearing 12 month shorts, but can wear 18-24 month/2T shirts.  He wears size 4 disposable diapers (we've taken a break from cloth) and is getting ready to move to size 5 night time diapers.

We are lucky that he continues to be a super sleeper.  He sleeps 11-12 hours at night, and will take an afternoon nap that last about 1 1/2-3 hours.  On those few days he does have to go without a nap (traveling or whatever), he usually copes pretty well.

He also continues to be a wonderful eater, although he has his favorites!  He loves apple sauce, cereal, beets, plums, peaches, cottage cheese, grapes, milk (still drinking whole milk), sweet potatoes, turkey, cheese, peas, and he's starting to like meat more- chicken and steak.  He will sometimes eat what we are having for dinner.

He has been such a trooper through these last few months- very good and flexible with schedules (nap, meal times, etc) when my mom had her stroke on April 20th (more info on that here- http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/marciahayden/journal ).  Such a good little boy with mama in her last few months and weeks of pregnancy.  And like I said, he loves his big brother!  He has been showing his independence a little more than usual, but I thing that comes with growing up.

Colin will be 2 years old on August 6th, such a big boy!  We love him so much and can't wait to watch him grow from a toddler to a little boy.

June 2014- 22 months old

1st Royals game with daddy and grandpa!

Peek a boo!  March 2014- 19 months old

April 2014- 20 months old

Easter egg dying!

Easter morning

He loved his Baseball Easter basket filled with TRUCKS! 

Helping daddy water the lawn 

Happy Mother's Day to the grandmas!

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Colin's Child's Day Out teacher

His other teacher

Playing in the fountains with daddy

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Props at the photographers 

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Alex Marten Greenlee

Alex Marten Greenlee was born on Sunday, June 22nd at 7:31 pm at Mercy Regional Health Center in Manhattan, KS.  He weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces and was 21 3/4 inches long. His name- Zach first thought of the name Alex because one of our favorite Royals players is named Alex.  We like that it's short!  And it means protector. :)  His middle name is similar to my maiden name, Martens.

I went into the hospital at 7am for a scheduled induction.  My doctor didn't want me to go too far past my due date, which was fine with us!  And it meant that he would be the one to deliver me, since he was on vacation until the 19th.  An IV was started, and the contractions started a few hours later, not too bad.

Around noon the doctor came and broke my water.  He told me that the contractions might get stronger after this, and the nurse politely corrected him after he left the room- not "might", they "would" get stronger!  About 1 I asked for the epidural, and Duane, the anesthesia nurse (he was awesome!) came.  My epidural this time around was amazing- my legs were heavy but I could still move them, and I could not feel a single ounce of pain.

Throughout the afternoon, my nurse checked me, and at around 5:30, before shift change, I was dilated to about a 5 (1/2 way there).  I was able to nap, watch the Royals game and the US World Cup game, and just relax.  Around 7 the doctor came back, and to our surprise when he checked me, said "Well, I think it's time to start pushing."  WHAAAAAA?  Yay!

They prepared the room, and I pushed- then was told to stop.  He was right there!  The doctor commented that my epidural must be really good- yes!  The doc and nurses got the bed ready, got the baby nurse in the room, and after a few more pushes, and no pain, he was there!

Such a big, healthy, LONG boy!  We had some skin to skin time, nursed for a little bit, and just hung out- mama, baby, and daddy.  When I could move again, we went to our postpartum room.  Alex got a bath in the nursery, and that night they brought him to us when he was ready to eat.  I had a little too much adrenaline to sleep the first part of the night, but it was nice to not be worrying about every single sound Alex made and to get some sleep!  I highly recommend the nursery!

Again, this time around, breastfeeding has been challenging.  After many visits to the lactation specialist, and a lot of help from the nurses in the hospital, he still wouldn't latch.  Shields, multiple hands, many tries, still no.  But I've been pumping and he as had breastmilk since we've come home (after a little formula for that 1 day when my milk was coming in).  I pump when he eats, about 6-8 times a day.  Not sure how long this will last, but we'll go as long as we can!

He sleeps well!  A lot during the day, and we get about a 6 hour stretch at night, then another long stretch after that, so we are fairly well rested.

We are so overjoyed to have another sweet boy in our family!

Alex's newborn photo session- 1 week old!