18 Months Old

On April 8th, 3 days after becoming a big sister, Alexis turned a year and a half old! As if the age itself doesn't make her seem more grown up, looking at her in comparison to a newborn proves that she is not my baby anymore... not sure how I feel about that :( We had some professional photos taken of her to capture her in her "18 month-ness".

 Alexis at 18 Months: We have noticed in the last 6 months or so that Alexis is a very strong willed child.

She knows what she wants, and more importantly to what she doesn't want. She is a very happy girl for the most part and loves to give hugs and kisses. She enjoys watching Sesame Street, particularly Elmo's World. Alexis likes to drink from Mommy's Starbucks water cup. No matter how many cups of her own that she has available, she wants Mommy's. Whenever she hears a sound outside of our door she yells, "Daddy!" and runs to the door. Sometimes she will take Mommy or Daddy's keys and walk to the door and try to put the keys into the door handle while saying, "bye bye!" She knows how to turn on the TV as well as Daddy's PlayStation console (she knows this is how to get Netflix started). Alexis also loves to video chat on the phone with anyone, but gets especially excited when we get a call from her cousin Macie. Alexis likes to unload the silverware from the dish washer and hand it to me to put away. She helps Mommy do laundry by sitting on top of the dryer and throwing items into the washer, then later Mommy hands her items from the washer to put into the dryer. She is a great helper!

Words Alexis can say: yeah, no, uh oh, Elmo, Macie, Mommy, Daddy, Nanny(Nana), please, thank you, no thank you, all done, more, up, down, sorry, hot, hush, dog, yummy, ball, baby, hi , bye, eyes, nose, head, toes.

Favorite foods/snacks: strawberries, apple slices, grapes, animal crackers (or any type of cracker), fruit snacks, hot dogs, cheese quesadillas, macaroni and cheese, Puffs, yogurt melts, yogurt, and Cheerios.

Favorite books: anything with Elmo, Goodnight Moon, and Eric Carle books.

Favorite songs: Jesus Loves Me, The Wheels on the Bus, Sesame Street theme song, any song with Elmo. 

Mommy wants to remember...

• When I go into Alexis' room in the morning or after a nap, she is almost always standing up in her crib with a big grin on her face and she greets me with a "Hi!" 
• Sometimes she will come over to me, lean in, and give me a hug and a kiss "just because". 
• When we read books at bedtime she has started chanting "hush" until I give in and read her Goodnight Moon... "the quiet old lady who was whispering hush". 
• She still has a difficult time with separation from us when we drop her at the nursery for church or when I am at Mom's group during the week. However, I'm told it only takes her minutes to calm down and she always enjoys herself. 

We sure love our sweet girl. Is 2 years old really less than 6 months away?!

Ryder Allen Teune

After waiting 41 weeks for our little man to arrive, he finally came into the world. Here is his birth story...

I had been uncomfortable for a few weeks before the birth and was very anxious to go into labor. I even thought I was in labor a couple of times, but nothing happened. Around 4am on Saturday, April 5th I woke up to what felt like contractions, however with having experienced what I thought were contractions during the previous weeks I was paranoid that I would "cry wolf" about going into labor. By 4:30am I knew it was the real deal so I woke Greg up to let him know (and can I just add that he had stayed up until 3:30am playing video games online with his brothers!) At 5am we called our parents to let them know I was in labor and I got in the shower to wash my hair and shave my legs, because all you moms know it was probably going to be a while before I could shave again. I was only in the shower for a couple of minutes when I realized things were progressing very quickly.

Our friend Sara came over to stay with Alexis until my parents came through to pick her up, and Greg, my sister Brittney, and I began the 45 minute drive to Springfield. While laboring in the car was not ideal, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. We arrived at the birth center just before 7am and delivered our baby boy at 9:45am.

Labor was intense, to say the least. We wanted a natural birth like we had with Alexis, so pain medication/epidurals were not and option. I had terrible lower back pain the whole time and I wanted to throw in the towel several times (as if I had the choice). But seriously, I had moments throughout labor where I thought, "maybe they will need to rush me to the hospital to cut him out so I won't have to keep pushing..." Amazing what the pain of labor can do to a person. I was hooked up to oxygen for a while because I could not inhale through the contractions. The pain was so bad I could not get a breath in. Our midwife told us that baby boy was not turning, which caused me to have such painful back labor. With each push I gave, our midwife tried to help turn him. Unfortunately he did not cooperate and would later be born "sunny side up".

After laboring for an hour in the tub and another hour or so on the bed, our midwife suggested I move to the birthing stool and let gravity help things along. After my first push on the stool she asked if I wanted to reach down and feel his head, which I did, but all I could think was "we could see Alexis' head for three hours before she was finally born. I can NOT do this for another three hours!" Thank goodness that was not the case with our little man, after about five minutes on the birthing stool and a few good, solid pushes, he was born! I cannot even begin to describe the relief I felt when I pulled him up to my chest and into my arms.

Ryder Allen Teune was born on Saturday, April 5th 2014. He weighed in at 9lbs 6oz, 21 and 3/4 inches long, with a head circumference of 15 inches.