Anything Cuter???

I don't think there's anything cuter than this!

We finally started putting the FuzziBunz on Aiden! He looks adorable and seems to like them as well! The laundry hasn't been too bad. In fact, I think doing diaper laundry has kept me caught up on all our other laundry since I can just throw in a load after the diapers are done washing. There is just one problem...I want two more colors! The website I ordered from was out of the red and bright green that I ordered. They substituted a couple more blue diapers, but it's left me wanting the brighter colors sometimes!

So, now we have two babies in cloth diapers pretty much full time. Colten goes into a disposable diaper at night because he's a pretty heavy wetter (and we found that the urine smell doesn't wash out as well in those nighttime diapers). I have to say that I bought some Bio-Kleen Bac Out and LOVE it! Not only does it smell so good, but all I do is spray some on the diapers that I think need a little extra help and they come out of the wash so clean and fresh! I've heard great things about the entire line of Bio-Kleen and might just start checking out the other items they have.

So, for now, I am loving the cloth diapers! I highly recommend them and hope my kids continue to love them as much as I do! Colten already runs to pick out what color he wants to use and would MUCH rather be in a cloth diaper than a disposable any day!

Plus, I just love how cute they look...don't you agree???

First Bottle

Aiden got his first bottle the other day. We had a couple of helpers to give him that bottle and then Daddy got to take over when they lost interest.

The bottle was a 4 ounce bottle and he drank it all.

It was the perfect amount though, as he seemed to slow down towards the end and started to lose interest just as the milk was running out.

I just have to say that I hate to pump. It's just so much easier to nurse him! I need to do it more often though, because I definitely want him to take a bottle easier than Colten did! I know I'll want to leave him with a sitter at times and that's only possible if he'll take a bottle. I definitely admire those moms who soley pump for all of their baby's bottles!

Oh, and yes, you actually get to see our son's chicken legs! He is so picky about being warm and cozy. Much more so than our other two were! He has all kinds of cute outfits and no one gets to see them because he's always swaddled in a blanket! So, take a good look now, because until he gets older, you probably won't see a lot of pictures of him in just clothes!

Mr. Amazing

He is pretty amazing!

New Big Brother

With a new baby in our family, we also have a new big brother!!!

Colten is just smitten with his little brother! There hasn't been a hint of jealousy at all that I can see and only sweet, brotherly love! If we have any problem at all, it is that Colten can sometimes be a little too lovey on his brother or want to be involved a little too much. I think that's a problem I can live with...and even appreciate!

Colten is very proud of his baby. He is always coming over to see what Aiden is up to.

He gets surprised at some of the noises that his new brother makes.

And tries to help calm him by shoving putting the pacifier back into his mouth.

Sometimes, all he wants to do is be next to his little brother. He pulled this rocker up next to Aiden's swing all by himself and just wanted to sit next to him.

Colten is constantly coming up to Aiden and kissing or hugging him. He wants to hold him all the time as well.

Everytime he holds him, he gives him multiple kisses. I think this was just one of 3 times he held him in a span of 30 minutes. You know he wants to hold him when he runs and gets the Boppy and throws it up on the couch, climbs up there and puts the Boppy around him. It's too cute. Sometimes, he tries to take Aiden out of your arms when you're sitting on the couch...guess he thinks it's HIS baby!

Before Aiden was born, I was a little nervous as to how Colten would react to not being the "baby" anymore. Ok, so, I was a LOT nervous! However, he has just been wonderful and things couldn't have gone better! He seems like he's going to be a wonderful, protective big brother!

I'm sure there will be a time when he doesn't want Aiden to be in my arms or will act a little jealous because Aiden needs my attention when Colten wants my attention. This week is probably like a "honeymoon" period and we'll have a few bumps down the road. However, I can see these two growing up really close and being the best playmates over the years.

First Visitors

Our first day home, we had to say goodbye to Yaya and Bobo. They had been here all week visiting and then taking care of Austin and Colten while we were in the hospital. I know they wanted to stay longer, but there were things they had to get back to in Little Rock.

Before they left, Matt and Paula brought the kids over for everyone to say goodbye to Bobo and Yaya. Oh, and there was that Razorback game that had to be watched as well! :-)

Anna was SO excited to hold baby Aiden.

Big cousin Nathan looked like a natural!!!

Aunt Paula with her newest nephew.

Uncle Matt has a soft spot for babies.

Do you know how hard it is to take pictures of multiple children, at multiple ages??? This is the best I could get of Bobo and Yaya with all of their grandchildren.

Coming Home

Colten came home on Saturday the 11th after 2 days in the hospital. I know some people enjoy the time in the hospital and think of it as relaxing. I am not a person that shares this opinion and neither does Brian! We both do much better at home and get so much more sleep once baby and I are discharged! C-section patients are allowed 3 days to stay (sometimes more) but we have always pushed for an earlier discharge and I am lucky enough to have "easy" recoveries that allow that. Even with Austin and Colten at home, we knew being home was where it was going to be easier for us! Plus, I missed my other two boys and knew they missed me!

Since it was a Saturday and the Razorbacks were playing, I thought a football outfit with Razorback hat was appropriate for Aiden to go home in!

Doesn't Brian play the part of Proud Daddy really well???

Infant carseats always look so small until you put a newborn in it...then you realize just how small your baby is when he/she is swallowed by the carseat!

Austin was patiently waiting for us when we got home. He was sitting outside when we pulled up and just ran up to the car when we parked. He was so excited that we were home with his new brother!!!

Aiden is 1 Week Old!

I'll be doing the monthly comparison pictures like I did with Colten. However, I found out that as babies get older, they don't really enjoy laying still anymore! So, I figured I might have better luck sitting him on the bed and as he gets older, maybe I can find a way to keep him sitting still long enough for me to get his monthly picture. This will be his 0 month picture. :-)

Aiden is still a sleepy newborn. He really likes to sleep in your arms, but we have found that he also likes the swing. Daddy put him on the floor the other day for some tummy time and he tolerated it for a bit and did a few push ups. He's a strong boy!

There have been a few nights where he's slept really well. Nights where I had to actually wake him up for his feedings after 4 or 5 hours of no nursing. Other nights, he is a typical newborn waking every 2 hours or so for his food. I have found that he would much rather be right next to us when he sleeps and those have been the nights where he sleeps most. At this point, a bad habit might be totally worth it for that extra sleep!

I didn't notice with the other two boys, but he changed so much from the pictures we took right after he was born. He looked so much chunkier in those pictures and after losing the water weight they typically lose, he has turned into a skinny boy, much like Austin did.

We are so excited that he's here now. The last week has just flown by! Here are his stats:

Weight when born: 8lbs 4oz (exact weight as Austin)

Weight when leaving hospital: 7lbs 9oz

Length: 22 inches (only half an inch shorter than Austin)

Head circumference: 13 1/2 inches

Clothing size: 0-3 months (newborn is too short on him!)

Diaper size: Newborn Pampers Swaddlers (we haven't done cloth yet since his circumcision requires vasoline and that can't be used with cloth)

Milestones: Nothing yet other than breastfeeding like a champ, pooping, peeing, crying, and sleeping!

A Few Answers

Today was Austin's initial consult with the pediatric neurologist. We were ready for some answers or at least a plan.

We already knew that this wasn't just going to be a fluke thing for him. After the first seizure, we had hoped that he'd be one of the many children that only experience the first and never have a second. Just a few short weeks later, that hope was gone. We were thankful, however, for a normal CT scan as it meant we were probably dealing with "just" seizures.

Today, we talked with the doctor and his associate about what we were dealing with. His EEG did, in fact, show several areas where he was highly sensitive to seizure activity. We weren't really given a specific name other than partial seizure disorder. Benign Rolandic Epilepsy (which we were already researching) was brought up, but to them, it didn't seem to fit all the way. Either way, the treatment plan is the same for both: anti-seizure medication.

The plan, for now, is to start him on medication twice a day. An MRI will be done to rule out anything small that the CT scan missed, but it's "standard of care" and is just cover all our bases. He isn't limited on anything anymore, as long as he's supervised while doing things that could seriously harm him if he were to have a seizure while doing them (ie. swimming, bathing, etc). He was one happy kid knowing that he could ride his bike when he got home.

His chances of growing out of this before adulthood are good. Children's brains are constantly changing and this seizure "thing" could just be something developmentally and could go away as his brain matures. The medication will be used for at least a year, more depending on his situation. We hate that there are side effects, but the benefits outweigh the risks and it's what seems right to us.

Thanks to everyone who has been praying and thinking of us. It meant the world to us! For now, we're just going to go back to our regularly scheduled life, just with a new medication to take everyday!

Aiden Parker Steele

After waiting for 39 1/2 weeks, we were ready to meet our third son!!!

The newest addition...meeting Mommy and Daddy for the first time.

The proud Daddy....

Warming up in the nursery. His hair is a little darker than what this picture shows, but it does have some red in it like Colten's did when he was born.

Big Brother Austin was SO excited to meet his newest younger brother.

Colten didn't seem jealous at all...just wanted to see him and actually gave him a kiss. We'll see how he acts over the next week.

Bobo with his 5th grandchild...looks pretty proud himself!

Yaya helping Colten hold Aiden.

Mommy finally getting her baby back. Worst part of having a c-section...the wait to see the baby again. This hospital has some weird policies that didn't make Mommy happy, but as soon as she saw Aiden, she was happy again.

Handsome little boy! Don't let this picture fool you, he's a loud boy already. :-) Can't wait to see his personality come out day by day!

Before

Just a few pictures before we meet Aiden! I have been really bad about getting any pictures of me taken while I've been pregnant. Most of it is because I just don't think of it all the time, the next is because I'm always behind the camera and have to ask Brian to take pictures when I want to be in them.

I think an added hard part of having a c-section again will probably be not being able to pick up this sweet boy for a while.

This is one PROUD big brother. He is so excited for Aiden to be here!

Daddy waiting for our turn to meet the boy!

Mommy, making a fashion statement in her own surgical hat!

Big, Yellow, and Fun

Apparently, when you're 5, riding the school bus is one of those things you've always wanted to do! Well, at least it has been for Austin! He was not too happy that we took him to school on the first day of school. He got to ride the bus back home, but that didn't matter. He wanted to ride the bus TO and from school. On the second day of school, he got his wish.

I missed him getting off the bus on the first day of school. The bus had a sub-driver and I guess she drives a little faster than the normal driver and was REALLY early to drop them off. I had just walked out of the house when the kids were walking off the bus. So, while I was disappointed that I didn't get the "real" first bus pictures, I was glad to see that Austin knew what to do and how to act when he got off the bus and I wasn't down the street to get him.

It sure was exciting for him to be waiting for the bus with all the other kids in the neighborhood! They all huddled around each other, talking and doing what kids do. It's pretty cute. Colten had fun as well. He played with the big kids and thought he was just like them!

When we saw the bus coming, Colten kept pointing at it and the big kids all got ready. They walked nicely to the bus and got on. Austin has grown up SO much!!!

Colten waved and waved. I think he really wanted to go on as well, but he'll just have to wait his turn. :-)

That afternoon, we got down to the bus stop with plenty of time. The moms visited and the little kids played. Finally, the bus came and Austin came off the bus.

I didn't get a picture of it since there were some kids in the way, but Colten RAN up to Austin to give him a big hug. It was ADORABLE! He was SO happy to have his big brother back!

I'm so thankful that we live in a kid-friendly neighborhood. It's nice to be able to walk him to the bus stop and him look forward to it. The ride to and from school without Dad and Mom gives him a sense of independence. He's growing up and doing exactly what we want him to do...be his own person. What a great thing for a parent to see!!!

Guarded, Waiting and Accepting

You'd never know looking at pictures like this just exactly what is going on in this kid's head. His thoughts and actions that haven't taken place aren't apparent until he allows them to be shared with the rest of us. He's usually not really guarded though and it doesn't take much to get him to talk about what he likes or dislikes. It doesn't take much for him to take action either. He is an active boy and one of his favorite things to do is ride his bike or jump on the trampoline.

We've been guarded though. There's something going on in Austin's brain that even he isn't aware of. The very activities that he enjoys the most are off limits or closely watched. After his first seizure, we have watched and waited; not knowing if another one was just around the corner or if he was one of the lucky ones that would never have to go through it again. We had no clue earlier this week that we would soon find out.

After Austin's first seizure on August 11th, we were referred to a pediatric neurologist in the area. He was scheduled for an EEG and then an initial appointment to meet with the doctor a week and a half after the EEG was to be done. While the appointments weren't as soon as we would have liked, they were sooner than we thought they would be.

Friday was the day. The hard part was that it was a sleep-deprived EEG. We were instructed to keep him up until midnight the night before and wake him up again at 5am and keep him awake until his 9am appointment. Brian stayed up with him with me planning on waking him up early. Austin was excited to spend some boy time with Daddy, playing Legos video games late into the night and sleeping on the sofa couch with Daddy. Everything was going well...and at midnight, Daddy turned the TV off and they went to bed.

I had gone to bed at 11 (a little later than I planned, but what can you do?). All of a sudden, the lights came on and Brian was snapping at me. It took me a moment to realize that it wasn't 5am and that something was wrong. I ran to the loft and saw that Austin was having his second seizure. We were actually seeing what our friends witnessed 3 weeks earlier. Only this one turned worse as it just kept lasting longer and longer. When the shaking stopped we breathed a sigh of relief, then realized it wasn't really over. He had gone into a focal seizure and the time still ticked on. We called 911 since it had gone on so long and we were worried about his breathing. Ten minutes had come and gone when panic was beginning to set in and monitoring time became less of a priority, so we don't know exactly how long it went on. Right before the paramedics came in, he was finally released from it. It was like someone turned the switch off and he just went limp and rolled over onto his back.

He was going through a restless period when the paramedics walked up and while he was trying to respond to questions, he wasn't too coherent. He finally curled up in my lap and fell asleep (which is completely normal right after a seizure). We decided to take him to a different hospital than last time and are very glad we did. This hospital had a pediatric ER and was like night and day compared to the military ER we had gone to the first time. He had a CT scan which came back normal and blood work came back normal as well. The doctor on call contacted the neurologist that he had yet to see and we were instructed to continue with plans to do the EEG that day and follow up with him on the 14th like planned. With nothing else to be done, we went home; praying we would have answers soon.

Internet research has been done. We have found something (well, Brian's mom found it) that seems to describe everything that Austin experiences during his seizures. Obviously, we had already connected the fact that both times he had stayed up a lot later than normal. With the EEG done, we are just waiting for the day of his appointment to see what the doctor has to say. For now, we are just planning on keep him from staying up too late until we know more, along with all the other things we've already been doing.

With our hopes of Austin never experiencing another seizure dashed, we have to move on to accepting that this might be part of his life, at least during childhood.

Family Pictures

While at Pinehurst Resort, we took advantage of the beautiful settings and tried to get some family pictures. It's not the best since there's some lighting issues, etc, but I'm just glad to get us all in the same picture and all looking at the camera. :-)

We put the camera on a timer and just hoped for the best. I thought it turned out great considering there wasn't anyone back there to get Colten's attention!!!

We also took some other pictures since we were out there. It was so funny because there isn't a single picture of the three boys where all of them are looking and smiling. I kept telling Austin to just sit there and smile no matter what Colten was doing...it didn't work most of the time though! I love these pictures though...they have personality!

Brian obviously had the same problem when he was taking pictures, but I love this one too! Sometimes, the best pictures are the ones where there are genuine facial expressions going on!

This picture was taken by Austin. I think we have a future photographer on our hands. He always wants to take pictures, but with the money we put into my camera, he rarely gets to use it. We need to get more batteries for my old camera and let him take pictures when he wants.

Please keep Austin in your prayers today...he is having his EEG done in a little bit. We had to keep him up until midnight and then wake him up at 5am so that he would be sleep deprived like they want him. He's supposed to fall asleep during the test, so pray that this happens and that everything turns out ok. We don't see the doctor until the 14th, so we probably won't know the results until then. Thanks!

*This was written last night and I scheduled it to post this morning. I felt like I needed to note that since Austin had another seizure right after going to sleep. I'll post an update later tonight.

Getaway - Weekend Two

Yep, another getaway weekend! This time, it was an Army sponsored retreat for our entire family! We took off for Pinehurst Resort for 2 nights for a Strong Bonds retreat. All but one meal, the hotel rooms, and childcare during the sessions were all covered by the Army.

The first night we were there, we planned a picnic dinner at the beach club with the Fleshman Family (John and Brian are in the same Battalion). The beach club is on one side of a huge man-made lake. It was a really nice area and Austin was excited to swim some more!

I keep getting in trouble for not having any pregnancy pictures of myself, so I took this one. Can you see the baby belly???

This is a typical scene...but don't be fooled. While both of them look irritated, they aren't always this way! Two seconds after this was taken, I'm sure they were back to being friends again. This age is just so much FUN! LOL

John enjoying the evening.

Kaylynn...the 6 year old. Having lots of fun after a little bit of swimming in the lake.

Sydney...the 4 year old. Just so excited to be here!!!

Yep, sorry Jen! Had to get a picture of you on here! Can't have pictures of the Fleshman Family without the Momma!

Messy boy! He's still handsome with all that cheese on his face though! Again, this fishy wanted to swim all the way out to the dock in the middle of the swimming area! He got quite upset when I wouldn't take him out there at first. I had to have John help me get him out there though, it's a little hard to swim with the belly and keeping a hold on a toddler. He was happy to get out there though, just like all the big kids! He wants to be like them so much...

There are other photos from this weekend. I'll post them tomorrow! We had a blast though. The material during the sessions was hilarious but true and I think everyone learned a thing or two about the opposite sex!