Our life with Gray

In an effort to get all these pictures on the blog, I've decided to combine many of the pictures we've taken of Grayson, so sit back and enjoy snapshots of this little chunky man :)

 {if he looks cold, it's because he was!}

 {he has quite a bit of hair at the crown and back of his head}

 {thanks to Uncle D & Aunt Rhonda for this adorable and very yummy cookie bouquet!}

{the big sisters with their cookies}

 {soooo cute on his first Sunday going to church}

 {Berk loves her little brother so much}

 {Chloe is like a mini Mom to little Gray}

 {the little brother with beautiful blue eyes}

 {super Grayson! up, up, and away!}

 {love, love, love his cheeks}

 {so not happy about me putting him in the girls' (formerly me and Mike's) baby cradle with his stellar blanket compliments of his Aunt Tric}

 {so, so sweet!}

 {Chloe is growing up!  She registered for Kindergarten and even got to ride the bus on her Kindergarten screening day!  And you're seeing it right, she even lost a tooth!  It's been loose forever, and on the way home from registration she says, "Ugh, my tooth fell out." I asked her if she swallowed it, which she hadn't, but she was still disgusted that it fell out.  I asked, "Your tooth fell out... you know what that means...?" To which she responded with much excitement, "My tooth fell out!  My tooth fell out! The tooth fairy's gonna come!"}

{my three babies}

Life has been a bit crazy, but we sure love having Grayson around.  Chloe tells me at least every other day that she's so glad he came to live with us :)

grayson reid

Grayson arrived on April 2nd at 7:53 p.m.  "For this child we had prayed..."  We hoped and wished for months to get pregnant, so when we learned that our baby would be a boy we were totally ecstatic! After a long pregnancy filled with physical discomfort, stress, anxiety, and a feeling of being overwhelmed that I just couldn't shake, we experienced several very real, but unfortunately false alarms...

...but Dr. Fowers decided it was time for this baby to come.  Labor was quick, but riddled with anxiousness: meconium was in the sac, which meant a respiratory therapist would be checking Grayson out immediately after delivery, and his heart rate kept dipping so I was given oxygen.  It wasn't long after this that it was time to push.  A handful of pushes later I realized something felt very different.  Dr. Fowers encouraged me to push harder as Grayson's shoulders were stuck, and he asked the nurse to get a step stool to give her leverage to push with all her weight on my stomach to get this baby out.  

Several minutes later Grayson Reid was born.  He was quickly ushered off to have his lungs checked when Dr. Fowers asked me to remind him how big our girls were at birth.  He replied, "Wow. He definitely has them beat.  That's a big boy.  I'm sticking around to see how big he is!"   

He was 20 1/2 inches long and weighed in at 9 lbs 10 oz!  He's stolen our hearts, and we love him SO much!

 {we love those chubby cheeks}

 {this picture shows his facial bruises, but he also suffered bruises on his back, right arm, a nipple and even on his little testicle!  He also broke his right collarbone, but took it all like a champ}

 {aww.  love him.  he was so quiet in the hospital and cried really only when he pooped a lot and had a super sore bum!  he slept more than either of the girls, but was and has been by far our noisiest sleeper}

 {What a sweetheart!  When the girls came to see him for the first time I unwrapped him so they could see all of him.  At the sight of his umbilical cord clamp, Berkley said, "Cover him back up now, Mommy." It was funny}

 {proof of his chunky butt}

 {darling}

 {don't you just want to kiss those cheeks??!! we do every chance we get}

{I adore this photo.  This was the first time the girls met Grayson.  How incredibly sweet!  Love all three of these babes}

{Big sister Chloe holding Gray for the first time}

oh, way back on Easter...

... Peter Cottontail came to visit us!  Yes, we were wondering that very weekend if he'd have to wait to come, since we were pretty certain our sweet baby boy was going to make his entrance.  However, he was definitely not coming, not yet anyways ;)

Our Easter festivities included coloring eggs, the girls finding an Easter basket full of goodies at the door (which was the exact location where they left the pictures they decorated for the Easter Bunny), and hunting for their eggs!

 {the said basket found on the doorstep included flip flops, shirts, candy, books, top markers (tops that you spin that on the spinny part are markers- they're really awesome), and some cars/trucks (yes, for my girls- they love that stuff)}

 {Berk was most excited about the giant Peep bunnies}

 {Chad & Berkley}

 {so.... these are grossly out of order!  here is Chloe opening her eggs}

 {Berkley was finding Starburst and Frooties in her eggs- two of her favorites}

 {Chloe coloring an egg}

 {HAHAHA!!! I love this one!  Berkley is attempting to carefully place the egg in the color, but she doesn't.  Isn't Chad's face classic??!!}

 {beautiful Chloe}

{cutiepie Berkley}

{first egg located!}

{found it!}

{the girls saw this one in the tree and wondered how a bunny got up there.  we told them that he must be magic ;) }

{higher!!}

{SO happy!}

{looky what I found, Daddy!}

It was a fun day eating, playing, and being together!  Through all the emotions I had that weekend, it was comforting to enjoy a typical Easter weekend with the girls one last time before adding to our sweet and little forever family :)