Coleman is Here!!!

Well, he was a week early and labor was pretty easy, so I guess I can forgive him for the cracked rib :)
Last Tuesday at 10:00 pm I started having strong contractions about 10 min apart. I really didn't think "this is it", so I timed them for about an hour and a half and then called the nurse. They wanted me to come in to be checked, so I called Kim (thank goodness for friends close by)to come over and stay with the kids while we went to the hospital. We were definitely not prepared. We grabbed our bags, but left the baby's bag and the carseat in the jeep and we took the truck. When we got to the hospital(about 12:30) they put me on a monitor and checked me every hour until about 4:00. I really thought they were going to send me home because I hadn't made much progress and the contractions seemed to be irregular, but they suggested that I stay until the doctor does her rounds which wasn't until 6:30. We finally got seen by the doctor and she said that I was ready. I was moved to a room, my water was broken an hour or so later, and the contractions were strong and regular from then on. I had my epidural done when my contractions, mostly back pain, were so bad that I couldn't stand it. By the way, I have no idea why anyone would want to go natural, the epidural was so nice. I couldn't feel any contractions, in fact they had to tell me when I was having one so I would know when to push. Labor was easy (I thought). I push through 2 contractions before the doctor came and then through 3 while the doctor was there and then Cole was here. It all seem to happen so quick that I really couldn't believe that it was over. All of our family made it in time, some just barely. And it was great to have everyone there!

Right before Cole was born. I was still in a little pain.


Grandmothers in waiting...


Daddy got to watch Cole get check out by the nurse after he was born.


Beautiful baby boy!!!


Ian and Maddie came and got to hold their new baby brother!


Mommy finally got him all to myself!

Christmas questions...

Ok, I have been a mom for a little while now and with a 4 (almost 5 year old), 3 year old and one on the way, I am definitely no expert. And I find that this year it is particularly hard to know what to do or say when certain questions are thrown my way by the kids.

#1 - Is it ok to tell your kids that the reason why the Grinch has termites in his teeth is because he eats junk food and doesn't brush them?

#2 - When you go into a store and there is a nativity scene and your son jumps on the cow and pretends he is riding it like a bull, is it ok to laugh? (By the way, Hobby Lobby really should have their nativity scene off the floor.)

#3- What do you say when your child ask if God gives Santa gifts or does Santa give God gifts? After all, he reminds you, "God is so good" as the song says.

#4- Or what about when you are trying to explain the song "All I Want for Christmas is You" and of course you are listening at night and Delilah comes on so your kids think that Delilah sings the song and they want to go see her because all she wants for Christmas is to see us. I don't even know where Delilah lives!

#5 - How about when your child is insistent on buying Santa a gift because everyone gives him cookies (by the way, thanks Dora the explorer) and your suggestion of drawing him a picture just isn't good enough. oh, and the present he wants to get Santa is a fiddle.

With one week to go, I'm sure that these are not the last of the questions that I will be faced with, however these might just be easier than the questions that will be coming when the baby arrives :) Wish me luck!

The Baby Has a Name!

Well, we finally have a name for our baby boy! I'm not sure if it was the threat of the baby coming soon or my nagging, but Ryan finally agreed to a name. We decided on Coleman Ryan McCuiston. We will call him Cole. It was my grandfather's name on my dad's side. His actual name was Roland Coleman Ryan. We really wanted to use a family name and I felt strongly that we use Ryan somewhere in it because, of course, it is Ryan's name, but also it is my maiden name. So, now that we have settled on a name all I have to say is monogram machine here I come...

34 weeks!

I'm 34 weeks pregnant today! Hopefully I'll make it to 40 weeks, however it's not looking good. This pregnancy has definitely been eventful, unlike Ian and Maddie's. Besides being sick the first two months or so, last week I cracked a rib. Because they can't do an xray the doctors are not sure how bad the rib is or if it is even cracked, it could be a torn muscle. However, the theory is that the baby kicked me and there is a small crack on my 11th rib. Also, I was told that I will more than likely re-injure myself during labor, so that is something to look forward to :) I have also been having painful contractions, so when I went for my regularly scheduled appointment yesterday they decided to go ahead and check me. I looked good and the baby's heartbeat was 144. However, they told me that I am 1 cm dilated and 25% effaced. So the doctor gave me strict orders to do nothing for the next two weeks. They want me to at least get to 36 weeks before I have the baby. She said that even though I am 1 cm I could still go until my due date, however, the look of worry on her face and all the instructions she gave me did not reassure me. Who knows...maybe we will have Christmas baby :) As long as the baby is healthy I don't care when he comes. My next appointment is next week, so please keep me and the baby in your prayers!

Family picnic

After church this morning we met my family at the covered bridge park in Cullman. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and had a great time! It was nice to be there with all of the family. I love to watch the kids playing in the leaves. I wish that we could have had a church service together, but since we were going somewhere close, we decided to just go to our home congregations and then meet. We used to do this every year when Papa was alive, but last year we didn't get to (although I can't remember why). I'm glad we got to this year because it's one of my favorite activities to do in the fall.

Here's some pictures of all the kids. I think the only ones that didn't get to come were Caleb and Katrina.

Catching Up!

We had our internet service cancelled because we couldn't get it to work right, so I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog. The last week and a half have been pretty busy for us. Ryan took that Friday off and we went to his parents house for the weekend. The kids loved playing at Nana and Bopa's and Ryan and I got to go out and spend some alone time together. After church on Sunday, we met Erin, Nolan and Thomas at the pumpkin patch. We had a good time. We went on a "hayride" (there was no hay so the kids couldn't figure out why it was called a hayride), and went through a cotton maze and a corn maze. Then the kids played on haybales and went down a big slide. It is so nice that we are close enough that the kids are able to do things together during the holidays.





Ryan had also taken Monday off, so we took the kids to the Birmingham Zoo. I think it was the first time Ryan had been to that zoo. It was a beautiful day to be outside and the kids loved the animals and the train ride. The tiger was a little scary because he was eyeing Maddie like she was snack. I think it might have been feeding time.



On Tuesday I went for my 3 hour glucose test. Everything turned out fine. I met a girl who was also there for the test and we talked pretty much the whole time and it turns out that she works for a radio station and had tickets for Disney on Ice. So when we got ready to leave she asked me if my kids like disney and then handed me four tickets. Also, baby Jaiden was born so since I was already at the hospital I got to go by and hold her. She is adorable. She looks just like hannah and has a head full of dark hair.
On saturday night our class from church met at Ben and Rachel's house for supper. We had a really good time and the food was great! The kids got to carve pumpkins which I loved because I had no idea when we were going to carve them at home.

1st Soccer game

We finally had Ian's first soccer game. The last two games were cancelled because of the rain. Granny and Grandaddy came to see him play and he was very excited. We won the game 7 to 0. I think we scored more goals in this game than we scored all season last year. Ian didn't score a goal but he was very close. I am very proud of him! He played so good! He kicked the ball all the way down the field. He has defintely grown in his soccer skills.