Happy 4th Birthday Sawyer!

Happy Birthday to our happy boy!

Sawyer 4-year-old Stats:

3'7" tall - 97%

43 lbs. - 92%

Sawyer's 4th Birthday Interview:

What is your full name? 'Sawyer Lewis Bates'
Where do you live? 'In Florida'
How old are you? '4'
When is your birthday? 'October 25th'
What do you want to be when you grow up? 'Helicopter Pilot'
Who is in your family? 'Cole baby, Mama, Papa, Jack, and Sawyer'
What do you like to eat? 'Bananas and waffles'
What do you like to do outside? 'Play' Play what? 'Mom you're talking really a lot." Hahaha I was trying to do the interview as he was falling asleep in the car.

So we continued the next day while he was launching foam rockets in the front yard:
What do you like to do outside? 'To shoot rockets' (stomp rocket toy)
What do you like to do inside? 'To play motorcycles. We have two. They're not big or little, just VERY small.'
Favorite
Color: 'Green'
Song: 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star'
Toy: 'Motorcycle'
Food: 'Bananas, oatmeal, and crepes'
Cereal: 'Oatmeal'
Show: 'Curious George'
Animal: 'Deer'
Book: 'Scriptures and Dinosaurs'
Food: 'Mac & Cheese' (whoops asked it three times, haha - you can tell it's very important to me!)
Dessert: 'Strawberries and chocolate ice cream'
Favorite thing to do with papa: 'Play hop scotch'
Favorite thing to do with mom: 'Drive the car'
Favorite thing to do with Jack: 'Ride in a car that is just a toy, like the pedal coupe.'
Favorite thing to do with Cole: 'Look at him and smooch him.'
What do you want for Christmas? 'Chocolate chips and a knife and a fork and a spoon.'
Where does papa work? 'At his airport.'
What does papa do for work? 'He makes some money by doing stuff people want him to do.' And what do people want him to do? 'Fly helicopters' Haha, he got that pretty much right ;)
What does mama do for work? 'She helps her boys listen and eat and helps their babies eat.'
Who do you love? 'Papa and mama'
Anything else you'd like to say? 'I would like to say I like Grandma and Gramps and I want them to come for Halloween.'


In Florida on his actual birthday he wanted crepes for breakfast, and since we weren't doing another cake, he got candles in his crepes :)

We also went out for hamburgers and ice cream cones. As it worked out one of his friends was having a birthday party on his birthday, so he got in all the friend partying as well.

Sawyer is a joy to have in our family. He's a bright boy that amazes us and adds so much joy to our lives. Happy Birthday Saw, we love you!

Florida Celebration:

Balloons and presents first thing in the morning.

Curious George tin tea cup set.

Will Twister encourage more wrestling? We shall see.

Birthday crepes

Mom & Sawyer out for ice cream on his birthday!

Family outing for hamburgers and ice cream cones.

Sawyer had been talking about this extravagant birthday party he wanted all year. I was excited to find out we'd be in Colorado in October, because we could still have a fun party he'd love with family out there, and avoid being in charge of a group of wild kids, haha.

We had a cookout with tin foil dinners. He loves fire. (I'm in trouble.) I also made my first 'fancy' birthday cake. It was actually easy and fun, and Sawyer LOVED it. Hard to go wrong with a construction cake where it's part of the plan to crumble up the cake.

Colorado Celebration:

Fire!

Happy Sawyer getting ready for his cookout.

Cute Cousins (and Aunt)

Baba & Cole snuggles

Dido, Baba, & Cole enjoying the fall weather.

Excuse me Sawyer? I guess we need to go into more detail when it is (or isn't) ok to relieve yourself outside.  

Flying high with papa. Jack loves his cowboy boots and it's his choice of footwear.

Dido on hot dog roasting duty.

Grandma got all the supplies I needed for the cake so my job was easy. Thanks Grandma!

Sawyer had three requirements for his cake: equipment, brown, and green. Check, check, check. Thanks for taking it easy on mom ;)

He was extremely pleased with his cake!

Tea Party with the cousins.

So much fun when it's legal to play with your food!

Cleaning up the equipment in shaving cream.

So many people love you Sawyer! 

Happy Birthday Big Guy!

Cole's Birth

Fresh from Heaven

Cole was born in Cocoa Beach, FL. Since the hospital is about a 45 min to 1 hour drive (depending on traffic) I was slightly paranoid about not making it in time, since Jack came just 20 minutes after arriving at the hospital in Cedar City (only a 10 min drive). Lucky for us, we made it. It was another fast and furious birth and Cole arrived 30 minutes after we got to the hospital. George and I were both very thankful not to have a car birth!

At my 39 week (Aug 21) OB check-up I told Dr. Caplan that I wasn't sure I even wanted to be checked because I didn't want to 'stir anything up' since my mom wasn't going to be in town until the 26th. We decided to check and see if I was dilated (I was at 3 cm) and then while she was checking me she stripped my membranes...WHAT?! I was irritated with her because I had just told her I didn't want to start anything by getting checked in hopes my mom would be around. But whatever. She normally listened (I thought) so I'm not sure what happened there. Anyway.

On August 23rd I started timing contractions in the afternoon. They weren't hurting or anything, but seemed to be fairly regular and we wanted to err on the early side of getting to the hospital so I was being more diligent paying attention. My contractions stayed about 6-10 mins apart lasting around a minute, but not painful. After we put the boys to bed, we decided to head to the hospital just to be on the safe side. We stopped and got a milkshake on the way. When we got checked in to our 'suite' I was at 3.5 cm. They kept us for a few hours to monitor me, but I wasn't progressing so we headed home in the wee hours of the 24th. We were both tired and a little disappointed, but decided it was a good practice run. Even though we had a long night we went to church that morning. I was still having contractions every 10 minutes but nothing painful. Around 5 that night I started thinking maybe I was progressing. But the contractions still weren't that painful, and we were all tired from being at the hospital earlier that morning and didn't want to wear ourselves out with another 'practice run' so I decided to wait and see what happened. By 7:00 p.m. there started to be some painful contractions so we decided to put the boys to bed, and line up our friends to come watch the boys so we could head to the hospital again. We got out the door by 9 and my contraction were consistently 4 minutes apart. They continued to be painful for the drive to the hospital, but I was calm and not moving so was able to keep collected. I got scared/nervous driving to the hospital thinking that George and I would now be outnumbered, yikes. What were we thinking...three kids?! No turning back at that point though ;)

When we arrived at the hospital and walked in (through the ER because it was after hours) I could barely walk anymore and things were getting extremely painful. We had done all the paperwork junk the night before so it was supposed to be a breeze for us to go right up to labor and delivery, but of course it wasn't. So they made George stay there to fill out the same paperwork we'd already done the night before and someone took me up to L&D in a wheelchair. They recognized me from the night before and were pretty casual when they saw it was me again. When I tried to walk into the room to put on a gown and dropped down to the floor in pain the nurse realized it was going to be fast. I tried to get on my gown (never totally did) while she rushed around calling the doctor and getting things ready. I was dilated to 7 cm. George showed up shortly after I had gotten on the bed. I just remember dreading each contraction and feeling so, SO hot. He blew on my face which felt really good. The nurse insisted on jamming a needle in my arm for an IV even though I didn't want her to. That was annoying and it felt like she was hitting the bone on my wrist. She poked me a few times until she finally got it (and I was being very still).  I couldn't even tell when my water broke (it was just a few minutes before Cole was born) and it turned out there was meconium in the amniotic fluid. I dreaded the contractions each time and when it came time to push I didn't want to. The doctor and nurses made me anyway, haha.

But alas at 10:28 p.m., just 30 minutes after arriving to the hospital, our big guy made his entrance. He did one short little cry to clear his lungs and then was very quiet and content after that. His cheeks were enormous and he had an adorable double chin! I couldn't get over the chubs, he was SO cute! He was definitely a 'bruiser' already ready to play with his big brothers. I still can't believe his stats... 10 lbs. 5 oz and 20.5" long! He latched on right away and has been a great eater ever since :) I tore in one spot, but overall felt great just not being pregnant anymore. They had to check Cole's blood sugar levels every 3 hours since he was so big. The first two were fine (in the 60's) and continued to rise. Turns out he's just a big guy, not anything to do with diabetes. They were going to make us stay 48 hours at the hospital, but we talked them into letting us walk free after 36 hours. We were ready to be home as a family of FIVE! Welcome to the family Cole, we love you!

Admiring and breathing in his perfection.

It's amazing how instantaneously I feel better the moment I'm not pregnant :) I love those first moments snuggling with your precious baby.

I think he got the double chin from me!

My two sleeping babies :)

He opened his eyes!

Cute little tootsies

So handsome! 

Gushi Bear

That is a big boy!

Papa and his third born :)

Cole Baby 1-month-old

It is not fair! Once the babies are on the outside time FLIES by.

One month stats for our little (BIG) guy:

12 lbs. 15 oz. - 99%

23" long - 92%

Head circ 39.5 cm - 79%

My wonderful mother flew out a couple days after Cole was born and stayed for a whole month! It was amazing. I felt blessed (and spoiled) to get so much help for such a long time. It made the transition to three boys, 3-years and younger smooth. I got to take a nap nearly everyday, which was heavenly. I forgot how you actually never get to sleep with a newborn. Cole is a great baby, but he likes a full tummy...which means feeding him every 2 hours. He was pretty consistent with that time frame of eating for his first month. Sometimes at night he'd go 3 hours, and a rare 4; but that's ok. It usually works like a charm to fatten them up for the first couple months so they'll be able to sleep through the night sooner. He's almost 2 months now, and just this week I get a 7-hour night out of him...yesssss!

Cole has been a smiley, content little boy from day 1. He slept pretty much any chance he got for the first two weeks of his life. He reminded us of those dolls that automatically close their eyes when you lay them down, and then automatically open them when they are upright. By the time he was a month old he was bright-eyed and ready to see the world! His world mostly consists of his older brothers that are always ready to give him a smooch and tell him how cute he is. I think he likes it ;) He loves his swing and takes a pacifier. He falls asleep in a minute or less when I put him in the ergobaby carrier. We love having this sweet, handsome boy in our family!

Bright eyed boy!

The day my mom left - on my own, eek! We ventured out of the house on a walk. Those cute little boys in yellow are picking me flowers :)

Nice mohawk little man.

Although he was and is a big baby, he still looks tiny in his big crib :)

Bonding time with papa.

Never a lack of love from his older brothers!

Blog Train

Where did September go? I know I didn't sleep the time away!

I got behind on blogging this past year (I'm blaming my calling as Relief Society President and being pregnant) and now I'm so far behind I don't know that I'll ever catch up. I get overwhelmed thinking about it and so I post less and less. The problem with that is I love having this 'record' of my family, and our extended family lives so far away I think it's nice for them to see our handsome little dudes and hear about their latest shenanigans, so I'm going to hop back on the blog train and will just start with our most recent going-ons and hopefully 'catch up' as I continue to blog what's happening now in the Bates Barnyard.

And with that let's show you what happens to a 10 lb. baby in 1.5 months:

The rolls and cuteness continue to accumulate!

Baby Cole

Welcome to the family sweet baby!

Cole William Bates

24 August 2014

10:28 p.m.

10 lbs. 5 oz.

20.5" long

Perfect in every way. The biggest, most edible cheeks you've ever seen.