Pictures

I have taken a lot more pictures that I thought I would post. Abigail is growing very quickly and doing great. Joshua is adjusting to having a sibling. He loves her and gives her kisses all the time...almost too often. He is always wanting to hold her. Although today he complained that Abigail is always sleeping.

This was my dress when I was a baby, I was so excited to put it on her.

Almost a smile from both of them :)

Abigail's Story

Abigail was due on October 18th. My mom and dad came out to help with Joshua and the baby on the 16th. Joshua was two days early and we thought she would be similar. We were really excited to see them and to have some time to do fun things before the baby came.
We tried on Joshua's tiger suit... he loved it.

Grandma and him had lots of fun with it.

We took a tractor ride and went and got pumpkins at the farm.

Joshua picked out lots of pumpkins. We went out to all these really good restaurants. My parents kept saying this will be my last meal so we will go out before we get stuck at home.

Then the 18th came and went...some contractions but no baby. We were all very hopeful and excited though. On Monday I had a doctors appointment. I was at 4 cm, they stripped my membranes and sent me home saying it wouldn't be too much longer. I started having quite a few sporadic and strong contractions. We all got excited and kept coming up with more fun things to do for my "last" meal and outing. We went to Stowe, and down town and lots of other fun things to distract us.

By this time I had walked for miles and miles and had tried all sorts of home remedies to induce labor. Finally on Thursday night I started having strong consistent contractions, we all got excited and headed into the hospital. Then my contractions stalled, I was still at a 4. They sent me back home and said they would normally break my water but they were so busy that night and understaffed that they couldn't do it. I was sorely disappointed and getting nervous about loosing my much needed help. The contractions kept coming and were strong but sporadic from every five minutes to every hour. I was getting very tired and had another appointment...still a four and membranes stripped again. Finally on Monday at 1 a.m. I woke up with really strong contractions that were consistent at about 8 minutes. It went on all night and then stalled a little at seven. I had my stress test and my appointment to set up an induction. Between the lack of sleep, contractions stalling, and the fact that my parents were leaving in two and a half days... I was almost in tears going to the appointment. I was now only a four and half, they stripped my membranes again and set me up for an induction for the next day. Although she gave me instructions to fib and tell the hospital that my contractions are 5 minutes apart as soon as they get consistent at 7 minutes again. I went home and my contractions picked up again. They got really strong and consistent it kept going all day. At 7 pm we headed into the hospital. I was a 6 and very excited. I decided that I was so exhausted that I was ready for an epidural at about 8 pm. Then my labor really picked up. My water finally broke. I started pushing at 11:30 pm and had her at 12:11 am on the 27th. We were so excited and happy to finally meet her. She was beautiful and perfect, and very angry. She really let us know she was not happy about the ordeal she just went through.
We named her Abigail Elizabeth Bailey. I have always loved the name Abigail and for her middle name I wanted a family name. My Grandma and sister are both Elizabeth, they are both great strong women that I love and admire.

She calmed down has been a great mellow baby ever since.

Grandma got to come spend the day with us at the hospital. She was so happy to have at least the one day with Abigail.

The next day we rushed out of the hospital to see grandma and grandpa before their 11:00 flight.

Joshua was so happy to have me and his baby sister home.

Unfortunately with the swine flu my dad could not come to the hospital so he got to hold her for only a minute the next day before their flight.

Joshua was so excited to have a baby sister that he brought all his new race cars with her.

He wants to hold her all the time and wants to give her hugs and kisses. It has been wonderful to have Caleb home, he has been amazing help. I would not make it without him. I am so grateful to him and lucky to have such a wonderful husband.

We are so happy to have her home. We love her so much. She is a great sleeper and very happy and content. I have recovered really fast this time. It is way easier adjusting and recovering the second time.

It is amazing to have two kids now. It makes our family feel more complete. We love having Joshua and Abigail they are both amazing kids, we have been very blessed.

A few pictures

It's just a few pictures, but enjoy. More will be coming soon.

Our Baby Girl

Our new baby girl, Abigail Elizabeth Bailey, was born yesterday, October 27, at 12:11 in the morning. Although over a week late, we're very happy to have her here. She made a very vocal entrance, but eventually quieted down enough to give Kathryn a few hours of good sleep to make up for 24 hours of strong labor. She weighed 8lb 11oz and uncurled to 21.5". Mother and daughter are both healthy, happy, and eager to get home. Joshua isn't too sure yet, but he seems excited and will figure it out when he actually gets to meet her tomorrow morning.

Stay tuned...

A visit to "Daddy's work"

....but not for what you're all thinking.


After nearly 2 1/2 years of ER-visit free minor injuries for a very active little boy, we finally had to take Joshua in yesterday. He was playing on a park bench yesterday and fell, hitting his chin on the arm and biting into his tongue pretty badly. It bled pretty bad and looked like a deep and complicated laceration, so we decided we needed a "real doctor" to decide if it needed stitches or not. The attending agreed that it was a pretty good injury, but felt it probably wasn't quite enough to justify the trauma of an IV, sedation, repair and those annoying little suture tails in his mouth for a week-ish. So, in the end we got out without anything major, besides an hour and a half of playing with blue glove balloons after Joshua got calmed down enough.


Not quite as fun of a visit to "daddy's work" as it usually is for him.

...and no baby quite yet

A little bit of Fall

We have been trying to get out and enjoy our last fall in Vermont before the baby comes. Fall is my favorite season in Vermont. It is usually pretty nice weather, very few bugs, lots to do, and beautiful leaves. We have traveled around a lot since we have been here but I found a lot of neat mini hikes and waterfalls that I thought would be fun to visit with the fall leaves. I made a list of thes places I want to go in Vermont before we leave, so every Saturday until the baby is born we have been picking one of these spots to go and have a picnic or a little walk. A couple of Saturdays ago we went to some waterfalls called the Potholes. It was a very short walk and raining, but really pretty.

Joshua stood and threw rocks in the water for a long time.

Here he is trying to get a big rock. Notice the tongue out. One of my talents is being able to touch my tongue to my nose. Joshua inherited my extraordinarily long tongue, and Caleb and I both have a habit of sticking our tongue out when ever we are concentrating. So between being too long for his mouth and concentrating a lot Joshua's tongue is showing a lot.

He is very excited about his rock throwing.

My big tummy...and still growing. Yes I am sick of people asking me when I am going to pop, if I feel like I am going to fall over all the time, if I was due last week, if I am having twins...and anything else of the sort. I think I become extra sensitive to all the comments since I pop out so far and so fast that people start making those comments at about 22 weeks. I have cut down my public exposure...

Last Saturday we had a picnic on top of Mt. Philo. No, I did not hike. It's a mountain in name only (at least by western standards), so you can drive all the way to the top, and then hike around from there. It was a beautiful fall day and a great view.

Joshua has loves to ride Daddy like a horse. He has gotten very bonded to Caleb lately. Every morning he wakes up and asks "Where did daddy go? When is daddy home?" Then he consoles himself and says "mommy stay home with Joshua today?" He never wants Caleb to leave. Today I had a Doctor appointment. We picked Caleb up to come. When I was driving back to drop him off and Joshua realized that we were pulling back up to the hospital, he said " No mommy turn around, daddy no work today." It was really cute.

King of the mountain! He loves to get on things and say "I'm big big"

Joshua dragged Caleb all over the hill top climbing on rocks. He is such a little monkey.


The beuatiful fall view of lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains.

We have been playing outside as much as possible before the winter sets in.

My handsome little guy.

Joshua loves to swing from the pole above the slide. Notice the tongue again.

He likes to pretend to fall down and then he says " I fall down"