Foster Scott

The last two months have been the busiest in Olson family history.  We sold our condo, moved into our dream neighborhood, unpacked, unpacked some more and had a baby.  I was sure all my hard work would send me into early labor and sure enough after a long trip to Costco, I started having labor pains. Scott was convinced I was being dramatic and wasn't in labor and he went to sleep for the night...so he thought.  After an hour of progressing pain, my sister was at our house to spend the night with James and Scott and I were headed to the hospital.  After 12 hours of labor, Foster Scott arrived.  

From the moment I met him, I knew he was going to be incredibly sweet.  In the hospital we held him constantly, even while sleeping, which we had to hide from the nurses.  We just couldn't put this little guy down.  That didn't change once we were home.  We still love holding him and occasionally I sneak him in bed with me.  

James has taken some time warming up to Foster, imagine that!  When James visited us in the hospital he wouldn't look at Foster or sit next to me.  It was an extremely hard adjustment for him but after two months with a baby brother, he is starting to come around.  The other day he walked over to the baby and said "Foster, my name is James."  I'm hoping that now they have been formally introduced, they will be the best of friends.

At 9 weeks of age, Foster is cooing and smiling.  In fact this kid is all smiles.  Scott is the best at getting Foster to smile.  I swear it's because they look identical that they like smiling at each other. When Scott gets home from work, the first thing he does is make the baby smile.  He says it's the best part of his day.

It's hard to believe that in one day you can turn a family of three into a family of four.  It has been  a long, tiring, rewarding two months.  Couldn't imagine our family without this little guy.

Winter at the Beach

We've been so lucky to have had really great beach days in both January and February and we are taking full advantage.  James plays in the sand and braves the waves and ends up naked and tired by the time we leave.  And me....well I'm a beached whale.

Only Seven Months?!?!

It is crazy that I still have over two months to go and I am already this big!  I'm praying I don't have a 10 pound baby on my hands.  The babe is kicking like crazy and is very active which makes me happy and just a little nervous.  I think this one might be my wild man.  I'm having all sorts of aches and pains compounded by a two year old that is just beginning to throw tantrums.  But the fact of the matter is, we are so excited to welcome our new baby boy to the world and to see our family grow.  I'm blessed to be surrounded by such sweet boys!

Tonight while putting James to bed....

Tonight as we were putting James down for bed, he put up a bit of a fight.  He was crying and trying to climb out of his crib.  I think he might be in the stage when nightmares begin and so sometimes he associates going to bed with being alone and being scared.  So to make him feel better, I tucked him in, turned off the light and stood by his crib singing lullabies.  I haven't sung to him like that since he was a baby.  He nestled into his blankies but I could see his eyes wide open watching me sing.  I sang all three verses of "I'm a Child of God" paused for a moment and then went on to the next song.  During the pause, James pulled both hands out from under his blankets and started clapping.  I never got this reaction when he was an infant and I have to say, it's nice to have a little positive reinforcement.

Halloween

We spent last Saturday night in the church parking lot Trunk or Treating.  James liked putting the candy in the kids bags but mostly liked putting the candy in his mouth.  We had a great time decorating our trunk and watching our little bear/monkey have a great time.  A special note, dad came dressed as a cowboy with a homemade mustache.  I was very proud.

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The after party consisted of watching The Lorax, of course!

The fruit snack wrapper in this picture is killing me.

Pumpkin Patch

After spending most of October in the hospital, we were so excited to spend a Saturday outside with the pumpkins.   

 

Scott does the heavy lifting.

This picture looks extremely awkward, which is why I posted it.

The petting zoo is really for me.  I just use James as an excuse to get in.

Big Bear: Worst trip of our lives but I still took pictures.

So our annual trip to Big Bear was a total bust this year.  Not only was I not feeling well due to my first trimester of pregnancy but James was sick as well.  We ended up forfeiting the trip early and driving straight from the mountain to urgent care.  This marked the beginning of our two week hospital adventure with James, which is another post altogether.

I told Scott that I can never go to Big Bear again.  It's like when you eat something and then throw up, you can never eat that thing again.  That's how I feel about Big Bear.  This might have to do with the fact that I'm 12 weeks pregnant and in general I want to throw up all the time.  But enough talk about throw up.  Here are the pics we did take of our totally horrible worst vacation ever.

P.S. being dramatic is another side effect of pregnancy.

Big Bear Zoo

Now that I look at these photos, I realize it wasn't such a bad trip after all.  Okay, I'll go back to Big Bear.