Two under two

Life as we know it is over. Not to say that a better life doesn't await....I know that it does, just in the very, very distant future. Right now, with two under the age of two, it is about mere survival. Even with the multitude of multi-tasking gadgets we employ--the baby bjorn, hands-free pumping bra, double jogging stroller, and so on and so forth--it's a challenge to get anything accomplished these days. I don't know how folks did it before they had the latest and greatest must-have child-rearing gadgets that we swear by today. Actually, I do....it's called the nuclear family. They all lived together in one place and everyone helped raise the children. Hence the phrase "It takes a village". You never felt alone or isolated in your insanity because you weren't. And we're not either...not really, anyway. We're lucky to have Adam's parents and brother/sister-in-law, as well as my sister/brother-in-law who have all been amazingly generous with their time and support over the last three weeks. I worry that at some point soon, we will wear out the offer of endless support, but until then, we will gladly and promptly accept it!

Hayes was three weeks old on Thursday and is already over 7 1/2 pounds and 20.5 inches long. She was 6 lbs and 5 oz and only 20 inches long when she arrived, so clearly she is thriving and for that we are thankful. Unfortunately, she is a typical c-section baby and the sibling of another reflux baby, which means she is plagued by the same. Hers is so much worse than Gray's ever was though and it's frightening at times. What started out as spitting up a little after or during every feeding has turned into projectile vomiting almost every time. She's on Prevacid, rice starch to thicken her milk, and prescription gas drops but nothing seems to curb the vomiting. Today was the worst day yet....she was so hopelessly fussy at every feeding and after speaking to the doctor, we were told to take her to have an ultrasound done. Fortunately, no obstructions were shown. Unfortunately, we're back to square one in terms of figuring out how to stop the frequent and massive vomiting she experiences. It is so difficult to watch something so small and helpless struggle so much, so I pray that we figure out a combination of medication, food, etc. that works for her....and soon.

Gray has had a rough week too, coming down with a cold and deciding he is too big for his crib. Much to his dismay, he does not get to make the decision about when he has outgrown his crib, so Adam and I got to work researching ways to keep him contained. We came upon a nifty little contraption called a crib tent which is placed over the crib, made of mesh, and zips up just like a tent. When it arrived, we assembled it in the living room and played with him in it as if it were a new toy. We talked to him about camping and adventures and all sorts of fun things that he could do while in the tent. We then put it on his crib, put him in it, and held our breath to see what he would do. Thankfully, he loved it! He jumped up and down in it and then passed out from exhaustion (he had skipped his nap all together earlier that day). So, as it turns out, it was worth every penny....even the $38 we paid to have it overnighted. Crisis averted and toddler bed delayed for at least another 6-12 months hopefully!

I have also had an unpleasant week, dealing with mastitis and sleep deprivation. But, the antibiotics are FINALLY kicking in and we have come up with a wonderful way to get sleep: buy it. Who knew? We have hired a night nurse to come every other night to relieve us. 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep is the biggest luxury I can think of right now. Some things are just worth it, you know?

Until next time...

The Pattersons (finally complete!)

Welcome to the world baby girl!

Today was supposed to be Hayes' due date, but she made her debut 11 days early on Thursday, July 2nd at 3:52 AM. After a long couple of days with contractions, Adam and I finally went to the hospital late Wednesday night and were in the operating room within two hours, meeting our baby girl. She was 6 lbs, 5 oz and 20" long. She looks a lot like Gray but with a smaller head, longer body, and a little different nose. Plus, she has tons of hair and it's a bit lighter than his was. I'm still hoping she'll look like Adam but only time will tell.


We have been home with her now for a little over a week and are starting to get the hang of this two kid thing. We definitely are keeping busy, always changing, feeding, or putting one of them down for a nap, but are realizing that it will only get easier over time. We're sending Gray to school during the day so that his routine stays as consistent and familiar as possible, which gives us a little more time to focus on Hayes during these early days. My mom and Dad came in town for Hayes' arrival and my mom stayed for the next week to help out with errands, bathtime, meals, and Gray. Adam is staying home from work this week to help out and hopefully we'll have a routine down by the next week because he's going on his first overnight trip since Hayes was born and I'm a little nervous. Linda and Billy have offered to keep Gray and I just might have to take them up on that offer since I still can't drive or pick him up.

I still can't believe Hayes is here and finally feel like our little family is complete. Gray is so cute with her....when he comes home from school, he immediately runs to her and "pets" her head or asks to hold her. But, for the most part, he pretty much ignores her and is into his own world.

I don't know if it was being away from him for those days while we were in the hospital or if it was holding a new baby, but he seems absolutely ginormous to me now. He's not even a toddler anymore....he's a little boy! And he's ALL BOY in every way. I just can't take how quickly he's growing up and am trying to remember that with Hayes...especially when I get frustrated at how much she's feeding or how little she's sleeping. These days pass us by in the blink of an eye and I want to remember and relish them all. Until next time, we are sleeplessly and hopelessly in love with our little family...the Pattersons.

A busy two weeks

We were so looking forward to our annual tradition of hanging out on the 17th fairway with our good friends, the Coles, for the St. Jude golf tournament a couple of weeks ago, but Hurrican Elvis #2 had other plansin store. Before Adam could finish his margarita and I could visit with the girls, the officials blew the horn and we all scrambled to get back home to safety. Fortunately, we didn't lose electricity like so many others, but it did throw a wrench in our weekend plans. We left the next afternoon for Oxford to stay at a little B&B called the 512. It's right off the square and the perfect getaway for someone (like me) that can't be traveling too far from home these days. We had dinner at City Grocery, walked around the square, and just enjoyed our 7 year anniversary....alone!

It has been so ridiculously hot here in Memphis, and I don't think it's just me being pregnant. As a result, we've made frequen trips to the pool, which Gray of course loves. He will even run into his bedroom and help me change him into his swim clothes so that he can go to the "poo", as he calls it. He loves hanging around his Dad's neck in the big pool but can play for hours with all the toys and other children in the baby pool, which will be great once Hayes is here.

Speaking of Hayes, she will be here in just two weeks! I'm 37 weeks along now and can't believe how quickly the time has passed. I'm hoping to spend these next days tying up loose ends at work, getting prepared for what I know will be a life-changing event, and relishing every single moment with Gray as an only child. He has no clue what's coming into his world! I know he'll be a great big brother though and he will teach her all sorts of fun and interesting things. I can't wait to see them together! I'm even more curious about what she will look like, but have a hunch it will be her Daddy she resembles.

Speaking of "Dads", we had a great Father's Day weekend, just enjoying the time together, cooking, and staying out of the heat. We gave my Dad a webcam for Father's Day and tried it out for the first time and were so excited to see how well it works! It's like they are in our study when we call them and even though Gray can't quite figure out how it works, he gets really excited when he sees them. I'm looking forward to keeping my parents much more "in the know" with our newly-adopted technology.

This week has been a long one already, mostly because I kicked it off with jury duty on Monday. When I finally got called around noontime, it was for a sequestered case, which would involve at least a week away from home. Fortunately, the attorneys took one look at me and my huge belly and told me to go home. Shew! That was a close one! Our friend Bonnie welcomed her beautiful baby girl, Georgia, last night at only 29 weeks. She is small but strong and healthy and we are so happy for the Shelbys! That's all for now from the Pattersons. Stay tuned for hopefully one more update before Hayes arrives.....it could be any day now!

June already?

I can't believe it's June already and only 4 weeks until Baby Hayes arrives! I know they say that second pregnancies fly by, but these 9 (or is 10?) months have been surreal. Three of my pregnant friends have recently given birth and I'm being reminded how difficult those first few weeks are....the endless nights, the blurry days, the constant feeding, piling laundry, and overall discomfort from the birth itself. I know it's all worth it and it is only temporary, but I am becoming a little anxious at the idea of doing it all over again...with a toddler in tow no less! The first time down that road, you don't have any clue what to expect, so you take things as they come and deal with them along the way. This time, I know all too well...hence the anxiety. For my friends out there who have crossed that bridge already and made it through, please remind me when I'm still in the midst of all of it that I will get through it, it's only temporary, and to try and enjoy it if I can! I may look at you with a blank stare as if I don't believe you, but I need to hear it....it just might save my sanity.

Other than being terrified at the idea of how much my life is about to change, I'm just rolling along with life as a mother, wife, and full-time employee. Gray is getting bigger and crazier by the day, repeating tons of words, learning his colors, counting (even if it's only to 5!), and completely fascinated by the movies "Cars" and "Finding Nemo". We bought a sand/water table for him this weekend and he LOVES playing with that. I so wish we could take him to the beach this summer but I think his trip to Mexico over Christmas will have been his last until next summer. Sigh.

We had a great weekend with beautiful weather here in Memphis. Friday afternoon I took Gray out to the pool while Adam played golf, then we stayed and visited with some friends and their little ones until it was time to go home and get dinner together. I was so looking forward to curling up with Adam and the dogs to watch "Twilight", the next movie in my Netflix queue, but I think I was the only one that enjoyed it even the slightest. Should I be bothered by the fact that I enjoyed a movie that is targeted at 13 year olds? Maybe it's the hormones. Saturday morning we headed out to the Thomases house for Lewis' 2nd birthday party. It was so much fun to see the whole crew and I just cannot stop laughing at the image of Gray and Airey wrestling in the jumpathon. I'm talking head-locking, ear-pulling, all-out wrestling! But boys will be boys! I got some of it on video so I'll have to upload it. Adam and I had Gray's favorite babysitter over on Saturday night so that we could head over to Angie's house for her surprise 30th birthday party. I've been to many a surprise party in my life, but never have I seen someone so genuinely surprised! The look on her face was absolutely priceless. Happy 30th Angie! And Sunday we played it pretty low-key, heading to the pool in the late afternoon and making a yummy goat cheese and spinach lasagna for dinner.

Adam is out of town until late tonight on his last work trip before Hayes' arrival. I've been crossing my fingers (and my legs) hoping that I don't go into preterm labor since everyone I know is out of town right now, leaving me with no one to take me to the hospital or take care of Gray and the dogs. So far, so good. Baby Hover was born last night, so congrats to Lee and Ben on a beautiful, healthy baby boy! I'm sure Katie will be next and then it's our turn!

Until next time, much love from the Pattersons.

May in Memphis

As always, it's been too long since I last posted so I'll try to catch up on what's been going on throughout this crazy month of May! I had a little bit of a scare in the early part of the month and ended up in the hospital to make sure all was right with Hayes. It turns out I had a little virus and Hayes was feeling it too, but we both felt better by the end of the week and learned our lesson about pushing ourselves too hard...or at least I did. The weekend before was Artafactor, our biggest event of the year, so that explains a lot. Aside from the good news that Hayes was growing strong (already over 4 lbs), we got to see her on a 4D ultrasound, which was like nothing I could have imagined! We clearly saw her beautiful red lips, cute little nose (just like Billy P and Uncle Andrew's), and head full of hair. This one definitely doesn't look like me or my side of the family, so I think it will be so much fun to see her when she finally arrives in about 7 weeks!

My second mother's day was so wonderful knowing that I'll soon be a mom to two beautiful little children and was able to share it with my wonderful husband, beautiful son, Adam's parents and his brother and sister-in-law who are also expecting a little girl (Greer). We had a great brunch at "Just for Lunch" and I got the royal treatment all day, thanks to my boys!
I also want to send a big thank you to my friends Sarah Ella and Angie and my sister-in-law, Lauren who gave Hayes a beautiful shower last weekend. It was so fun to catch up with all the girls and Hayes got tons of lovely little girly things.....too much! It was also fun to have my Mom come into town to help us celebrate Hayes' upcoming arrival. Thanks to her and my Dad, we have a brand new double Bob ready to go once she comes! Thanks to everyone for all of their generosity and kindness!There was one person we really missed at the shower for Hayes, but she had a great reason for not being there....she was about to give birth to her own little baby, James Carter Lynch! Congratulations Matt and Amy on your 9 lb baby boy! We can't wait to meet him and are so excited for you guys!

Gray had his 18 month check-up at the doctor's office this month and he is still in the 75% for height and 50% for weight, so I guess the string bean physique he has acquired since his first birthday is here to stay! He also had another parent teacher conference at school to wrap up the year and we were pleased to learn that he has continued to develop and learn at a faster pace than what is average for his age, though he still has a ways to go on the sharing, patience, and problem solving. He also had his first bout of "mommy envy" when my friend Angie brought her two boys over to our house the other day and I fed and held one of them for a little while. I guess we are getting a glimpse of what he will have to endure when his little sister arrives, but I still think it will be easier for him to transition into having another sibling now rather than at an older age. We'll see! He is as wild as ever, hurling himself onto pieces of furniture and jumping right off of them. He looks like an abused child with bruises from head to toe, red marks all over his face, and the lingering remnant of a black eye. He's repeating much of what he hears which has really been an eye opener for us. No more adult talk around the parrot! He loves to call people by their names, especially Adam, and is getting much better about calling the animals by their rightful names instead of the sounds that they make. When we went to the zoo last Sunday, he actually identified a few of his favorites....monkey, bear, duck, etc. Sadly, his favorite "animal" at the zoo is still the only one that isn't breathing....the Carousel horse. But, he enjoys it so much and I adore watching him have that much fun.

Due to what I can only refer to as "Baby Brain" I somehow mixed up my parents anniversary with Jackson (our Boston Terrier)'s birthday and wound up missing the big day. So, I want to send a big congrats to my parents who have been married 31 years! What an amazing accomplishment in this day and age and something I know Adam and I are aspiring for ourselves.

Last night my oldest friend Beverly had her baby girl, Hannah Grace, at 36 weeks. Little Hannah is only 3 lbs 7 oz but going strong. We are all praying that Bev and Hannah get better and come home soon! Love you Bev!

Last night we headed over to Chickasaw for our second family night, which Gray loved so we'll have to make it more of a regular event. He had so much fun watching all of the other kids in the bouncer, eating his favorite foods (fries, chicken fingers and chocolate chip cookies), and riding around the golf course in a cart on his Daddy's lap. I can't think of a better way to spend a Thursday night!

Yea! Today is Friday and the start of a long weekend. So far, the weather is not looking too promising so there may be no pool for Gray and no golf for Adam, but we're looking forward to some fun family time either way. Today I'm catching up with some of my girlfriends over lunch and tomorrow night we're headed over to our friends house, the Higdons, so Gray can play with his girlfriend, Annie. For Memorial Day, we're going to the Wrights' for a cookout where there will be lots of playmates there for Gray too.....Carter, Mary Kate, Ethan and more!

That's all for now but I'll try to do better next time and not let it go so long in between posts. Until then.....

Love,
the Pattersons

It is Monday morning and I am taking a much-needed day off from work after a long couple of weeks of planning for ArtsMemphis' annual Artafactor Affair. God answered our prayers and kept the rain at bay for all but about 15 minutes on Friday night so it turned out to be a lovely evening and a successful event. Since Friday night was such a late one for me, we stayed pretty close to home all day Saturday and then had Lauren and Andrew over for dinner that night...can't beat homemade BBQ and my famous blue cheese potato salad! It was fun to catch up with them and Gray, as always, had a great time showing off all of his newly aquired moves which include hitting the golf ball off the tee with both hands, climbing on top of the furniture and counters (see black eye picture below), spinning in circles until he passes out, and throwing his food across the room when he's had enough....good times. We are working hard to deter the food throwing by introducing the "naughty chair" but it will take lots of patience on all of our parts to get through this phase.


Speaking of phases, he's also going through another teething phase as the poor thing gets all 4 canine teeth at once. No wonder he's not eating well! We went for his 18 month check-up last week and he had lost a pound from the previous week but is still in the 50-75% for height and weight so we're not worried.....for now at least. With a slimmer figure and a new shorter haircut, he's really starting to look like a big boy, unfortunately, and I already miss the chunky little flip-haired baby that seemingly was there just yesterday.

But as he grow come so many other fun things like kisses, hugs, laughter, calling everyone by their names, and interacting with us in more meaningful ways. Still, it will be fun to have another baby around and it looks like it will only be about another 8 weeks until little Hayes makes her debut! I'm 30 weeks today and will have a scheduled section a week early. She's still inside of me but already has her Daddy wrapped around her little finger. Case in point, he hung a chandelier in her nursery all by himself yesterday, almost giving him a heart attack during the installation and surely posing a constant risk of head injury every time he walks into her room in the middle of the night. He says it was for me, but I'm not convinced. Here's a pic of the princesses' new addition.

That's about all that has been going on with the Pattersons over the last week or so. Adam will get back on the road this week, but only for one night, and we're looking forward to spending Mother's Day with his side of the family this weekend. Until next time, take care!

The Pattersons

Another month has flown by

I can't believe how fast time is flying by......Gray is 18 months old and in his new big boy room, I'm in my third trimester (28 weeks) and Baby Hayes is growing fast, and her nursery is almost complete!





We have had a fun month filled with lots of firsts for Gray and fun memories to boot. Linda and I took Gray down to Cedar Hills Farm in Hernando for his first picture with the Easter Bunny, who he took to surprisingly well considering its a life-sized rodent. He also got to visit a petting zoo, take a hayride out to his first Easter Egg Hunt, and ride a pony for the first time. We've got a real cowboy on our hands!


The next day, we headed out to the Cole's for another fun Easter Egg Hunt and while he was a little more enamored with the ducks in the nearby pond, he had a great time....especially once he got to drive Airey's golf cart. More importantly, I satisfied my craving for Rice Krispy treats and was really excited about how well the egg and bunny shaped creations that I made for the crowd turned out. Yum!

The following weekend was Easter and we made the long and dreaded trip down to Gulfport, suprised at how well Gray did (mostly thanks to his Aunt Mal's entertaining antics). We had a good time visiting with friends and family at the crawfish boil on Friday night and Gray got to try his hand again at the ole Easter Egg Hunt, thanks to Mal's friend Amy who introduced him to the joy of money-filled eggs. Oh yes, he's already a fan of the green!

Saturday morning he attended yet ANOTHER Easter Egg Hunt at my parents church, St. Marks, and it was fun to see the friends I'd grown up with and their little ones. By this time, Gray was an all out pro at the hunt and me and my mom had a great time watching him! Easter Sunday mass was also very special as it was the first one in their new church that was built after Hurricane Katrina. It is so beautiful and I'm so proud of them for how far they've come as a congregation!

On Easter morning, Gray was delighted to see all the goodies that the Easter Bunny had left him and it was so much fun for us to see him really respond. This time last year I'm not even sure he noticed his Easter basket! My how times change....

We are glad to be back home in Memphis and had a busy weekend painting Hayes' nursery (see above) and celebrating Sophie and Ford's wedding with friends and family. We also heard some wonderful news about Hayes' and Grays' baby cousin....it's a girl! Congrats to Lauren and Andrew on a healthy little girl on the way! I am already so excited about all the fun times ahead. I have a work event tonight and a busy week as usual so until next time, take care!

The Pattersons