Brothers

These past few months have been absolutely beautiful! We’ve had two huge changes that have been wonderful for our little family. First, Bryce started Preschool! Can you believe he is old enough to go to school? The first time it was mentioned to me Bryce was maybe eight months old and the thought of it nearly made me cry. Now that he’s going I feel so blessed he has this opportunity.

First Day of Preschool!

At first I stayed with Bryce and taught his teacher and aide all about him. It didn’t take me long to trust them though, they are FABULOUS! It’s always a good sign when he actually lets someone (especially someone he doesn’t know) move him without fighting against them. Needless to say, Bryce loves them and so do I.

He loves listening to the ducks.

As exciting as it was for Bryce to start Preschool, making him a big brother was one of the best things we’ve done! After we received his diagnosis I told Justin I was done having kids. However, the Lord had a different plan for me and he slowly helped me realize how much better His plan was than mine. As I watched Bryce grow and saw how much he loved being around his cousins I knew he would be the best big brother. Not long after this realization we decided to have another baby. It took a little convincing to get our next baby on the way but we sure enjoyed trying.

As far as pregnancies go, this one was easy. I never got sick, just a little nauseous. However, I was worried there would be a problem. To help ease our worries we decided to do the noninvasive tests to check for things like Down Syndrome, Trisomy 18 and a handful of others. Every test came back normal, meaning baby had the same chance as everyone else of developing a condition. That helped me relax a little, but it didn’t completely rid me of my worries. After all, Bryce was perfectly healthy my entire pregnancy with him.

Newborn Bryce

Newborn Logan

Bryce, 3 weeks 

Logan, 3 weeks

Despite my worries, I still enjoyed growing a baby. I loved it when Bryce would sit on my lap and baby would immediately move to be right against him. If Bryce’s head was on my lap and baby kicked him, he’d turn his head to stare at my belly trying to figure out what was going on. As my belly grew, it made the perfect little seat for Bryce when I carried him. My favorite part was seeing the wonder in Bryce’s eyes when I held his hand on my belly to feel his brother moving.

Bryce's Blessing Day

Logan's Blessing Day

The weekend before my due date we took Bryce to do some of his favorite things. We started by going to a little pond to feed the ducks. Normally there are only five ducks, but on that particular day there was an army of them! We were surrounded. Bryce was in heaven as he listened to all the quacking! After he fed the ducks, we took him hiking. I am so glad Bryce enjoys getting out as much as we do. It was a beautiful weekend!

The final week of my pregnancy I did everything I could to go into labor. I walked a lot, ate a bunch of spicy Mexican food, bounced on a yoga ball, did squats and lunges, diffused some essential oils, went hiking, etc. My favorite thing to try to induce labor was dancing with Bryce. He’d sit on my belly while we danced and danced to his favorite song. That’s when I realized baby is just as stubborn as his daddy (or am I the stubborn one?). It didn’t matter how many times we’d do de rubber duck, baby wasn’t ready to come.

Finally the day arrived for me to be induced. My doctors were worried about baby’s growth and wouldn’t let me go past my due date. So we decided to be induced the day before, hoping I would go into labor on my own. The day before I was to be induced, I finally started having contractions. For the next 26 hours they were five minutes apart and lasting no more than a minute. Then the call came, the hospital was ready for us.

We left Bryce with Grandad and Maw, which was hard for me to do. I wasn’t worried about Bryce, I knew he’d be just fine and enjoy being with his grandparents. I wasn’t sure I could handle being away from him. You see, I had NEVER been away from Bryce for more than four hours. Knowing he’d be away from me for at least a day was not easy. Even though I was excited to meet our baby, I cried on our way to the hospital becaue everything was about to change. 

After we got settled into our room my doctor broke my water. Thankfully this progressed labor enough that Pitocin wasn’t needed. Not even six hours after getting the call to come in, baby arrived. In fact, the last time they checked me I was at a six and 20 minutes later I was holding my beautiful Logan.

Logan sucking on Bryce's cheek . . .

. . . his hand . . .

. . . his finger . . .

. . . can you tell Logan likes his Bryce?

It took Bryce about a month to be okay with having a little brother. He was very angry at me for bringing Logan home and taking a lot of my attention away. It broke my heart when he refused to look at me and would only be happy when Jus was home. Thankfully he finally decided Logan isn’t so bad after all. Now my boys quite like each other . . . most of the time. Logan likes to snuggle with Bryce and suck on his wrist or fingers. Bryce loves to feel Logan’s hair. When one starts babbling, the other has to join in too. Sometimes they even see who can be the loudest.

Before Logan, life was very happy. Since his arrival we have all been even happier, especially Bryce! I am so excited to watch my boys grow up together. I have a feeling they will be best buddies!

“Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero.” – Marc Brown