Sweet Kingsers, Brotherhood, and the love of Little One

Last week was an exhausting one.

Kingston on Wednesday night around 10:30 pm had a febrile seizure. It lasted for at least 4 minutes with full body convulsions, eyes rolling back in his head, and so on. It horrifically frightening. We called 911, rode to the ER in an ambulance, had tests run, and by the next afternoon it was concluded that he had had the seizure due to a sudden fever because of viral pneumonia. I had not even known nor felt as though Kingston was sick that day, but he obviously was and now is on the mend. Of course, Alder has it too and I feel like I have the "crud" now as well. The most pitiful one is Conrad Hudson and his stuffy nose, slight cough, and sneezing. I keep praying that he will not get a fever or get worse as the last thing we need right now is him to get RSV and end up in the hospital. 

As far as the seizure is concerned, Kingston will most likely have another one when he gets sick again if his fever rises quickly but most children outgrow febrile seizures by the time they are 4 or 5. Supposedly febrile seizures are a common childhood "issue" and are not related at all to any kind of seizure disorder. Whew! That is good news. I just pray that it never happens again as it is a terrible thing to watch your child go through (but I am prepared mentally now for it if he has another one).

I praise the Lord over and over for preserving little Kingston and all the neighbors who came to see if they could help, my calm husband who held Kingston through the whole seizure, our pastor who sat with us til the wee hours of the morning at the hospital, and my Mom (the professional coddler) who spent the night and the next day with Kingston. I truly feel blessed for our healthy child.   

Now onto brotherhood.....

it is (as I have watched over the last 23 months with Kingston and Alder and now I am watching with Little One here) a wonderful thing. There is something very unique and special about their bond and they build on it every day.

And being a mother to 3 boys is just plain dreamy. I love my boys deeply and I am trying to soak up all these special moments in my heart and in my mind as this time is fleeting and will pass (as I am told) very quickly.

Sweetness

Boys at Home AND The Name Game

Brothers together after Alder and Kingston arrived home from Chattanooga.

THey could not get enough of their baby brother. They absolutely adore him, love to kiss him, and are always asking to hold him (Kingston asks by patting his tummy and sitting on the floor since he is not talking yet).

We continue to just call him "Conrad Hudson" and have yet to decide or rather fully commit to either one name or the other or even a nickname. I love Hudson and Jared loves Conrad and Alder loves calling him both. Who knows what he will end up being.

And here I have captured just how much danger Conrad Hudson is in if on the floor between his brothers....look at his older brothers' faces---up to NO good.

Alder rocking his baby brother on the porch Saturday night. Alder thinks this smile is great and asks me to take the picture again so he can smile like this. 

Our Blue Man

Our little Conrad Hudson has some jaundice issues...

so he has to be plugged up to this light a lot to help his bilirubin go down. 

We could not help but laugh and laugh at how funny he looks. He seemed to be totally unaware of what was going on. I love this sweet and EXTREMELY laid back and SLEEPY baby boy. 

Conrad Hudson Wingfield

So I will write little as my mind is fully into the baby moon phase and my words will probably be jumbled and confusing. I do feel rather great for just having had a little one and it seems to just get easier as you go along. Sweet little Conrad Hudson is precious and I am enjoying him very much. His Daddy and I headed back down south and his older brothers have remained in Chattanooga until tomorrow night basking (I am sure) in the love and affection (and spoiling) of both sets of their grandparents. So Jared and I are enjoying this sweet time with the little one all by himself.

We traveled up to Chattanooga on Thursday evening, saw my doctor on Friday morning, celebrated my birthday Friday night with family, and then went in on Saturday morning to have my water broken. I was already dilated 4cm and effaced so due to distance and time restraints with Jared's job, we opted to be "induced" for the first time. I had my concerns (especially since I have unmedicated, natural deliveries) that all would not go as I would want since we were "intervening" but it went perfectly. We thank the Lord for that blessing and answer to prayers. 

At 11:30 Dr. Jones broke my water, I started rhythmic contractions at 1:30, and at 3:47 little Conrad Hudson made his way into the world. It was (as Alder says) "SUPER FAST!!!" and such a wonderful delivery. It was so fast that both our Dad's missed the delivery and much of our close family and they didn't even have time to break down the bed or turn the lights on in the room. Jared says that he remembers Dr. Jones pulling out of his Patagonia vest (he had not even gotten all geared up with gloves and so on) a little flashlight and using it to check out the little baby once his head came out. Funniest thing. I was able to pull him onto my chest and announce, "It's a BOY!!!" Which was then followed by several people, like Dr. Jones, my mother-n-law, and my dear friend Catherine (who all secretly knew what the gender was all through the pregnancy) completely aghast since they had been told at the 21 week ultrasound that it was a little GIRL!!! Catherine and June had brought all this pink stuff to the hospital and had had several things monogrammed for the supposed little girl. Well, he is definitely NOT a little girl!!! So that is a funny part of Conrad Hudson's birth story. I am glad that we just didn't know otherwise for I am sure my head and emotions would have been spinning if I had prepared myself for a little girl.

 Honestly it is a dream come true to have these three little boys and I will just let the pictures below speak for themselves. It is such an emotional and precious time-giving birth to a child gifted to us by God.

Our growing family right before we left for the hospital in front of Jared's parents house

Conrad Hudson before

Conrad Hudson after

Daddy and his third son....a dream come true for him too. 3 boys!!!

Catherine and me with my little boy and all her girl clothes

Me and my wonderful sister-n-laws

With Jared's parents

With my parents

KeeKee with her third grandson

The boys with their brother for the first time

Kingston is totally in love and takes his new role as big brother very seriously

My chubby 9lb. 2oz. baby boy sleeping

The boys watching Conrad Hudson getting checked out by the pediatrician

Very special picture: Me with Conrad Hudson and my other two telling the nurse how old they are....3 and 1. Yes, 3 in 38 months captured in a picture

Just such a funny picture of the four of us...Mama and her boys

IT'S A....................................

BOY!!!

Conrad Hudson was born yesterday on March 12th

at 3:47pm

We have not completely committed to what we will be calling him. There seem to be a few options.

He weighed 9lbs. 2oz. and is 21 inches long.

 He is beautiful, healthy, has a ton of dark black hair, and we feel overwhelmingly blessed. 

His brothers are smitten by him and his Daddy and I can't seem to kiss him enough.

I will hopefully post pictures in the next day or two and his (funny and super fast) birth story.

Nesting, Stain Removal Tip, Spring Flowers, and HELP!!!

I have been busy. I have been nesting with fury. This obsession with being prepared and organized and so on is not unlike me normally, but it only intensifies when I become 9 months pregnant. I believe it has only become increasingly more, well, obsessive since I will be having my 3rd baby in 38 months and thats, well, a little intense. So, I made lists, checked them twice, employed the help of my WONDERFUL mother-n-law for several days a few weeks ago, and worked like mad. We cooked and cooked and cooked. We cleaned and washed and organized. I have filled up my cabinets, pantry, and closets. I feel like if there was a national emergency we would make it swimmingly with all my stockpiles (although I am not quite sure how I would feel about having the baby in my bathtub with only my hubby to assist). I think I will find comfort in these pictures weeks from now when I am snowed in under huge amounts of chaos and deep into a baby moon. They will remind me that.... yes, I was organized at one point and may get there again. 

I do have to share this wonderful tip on stain removal though. I am very diligent about cleaning my clothes and especially my children's since so many of them are hammy-downs and I want to return them in the condition that they were given to me. So I am a Nazi about getting stains out, but I do not have neither the time nor energy to stand over the sink and work on each piece of stained clothing. SO......my dear friend Amanda passed this little "potion" along to me and it works GREAT! It is gentle on ALL clothes, you can soak clothes for days in the stuff and nothing gets discolored, and you can add a scoop to each load (whites and darks and everything in between) to boost stain removing chances. I love it. Also, my children have decently sensitive skin and I have not had an issue with any rashes or what not. The recipe is simple.....

1 PART REGULAR CASCADE

1 PART BIZ

1 PART CLOROX 2

Mix all together and your set. I put mine in this lovely container I grabbed at Wal-Mart, shake a shake a, and away I go. 

Enjoy!

And here are some lovely spring flowers that the boys and I cut the other day. We drove around and had such a fun time cutting the branches and talking about springtime. 

And our bulb experiment seems to be doing wonderfully....

our hyacinths have bloomed and the tulips are on the verge. Alder is loving his job of spraying them down with water every few days and watching them flourish. Kingston really just loves the rocks in which they grow.

And lastly......I am asking for HELP!!! I recently inherited this sofa from my Grandmother's storage unit a few weeks back and Jared and I CANNOT seem to find a fabric (or agree on one) to suit this piece. We need to update it with the fabric we pick, but nothing to "printy" since it needs to remain sort of neutral and be able to "move" nicely if we were to do so in the next couple of years. Has anyone run across a good fabric lately? Something that is just perfect for this sofa??? I know its a long shot, but I thought I would ask. I am hoping maybe some of my regular (and ubber talented) readers like this one or this one will read this post and give their two sense. HAHA. I would love any recommendations. 

**Please ignore the side table that is in this pic....it was just there until we moved it to the attic (sadly we did not have a place for it in our house currently), the ugly flash on the picture, and the messy playroom all the way at the end of the hall.**

You know you live in Alabama when......

You ride around town like this.....or home from church. 

And here's the latest baby update since I look like I might just have the baby any day now....

I saw my doctor on Friday and I am doing well, baby's weight looks to be about 7lbs 7oz at this point, and I am 3 cm dilated. The baby could come tomorrow or it could come in two weeks. Who knows??? I am feeling more on the miserable side now then on the "feeling ok even though I am in my 3rd trimester" side. I will keep you posted if anything happens. 

Happy March 1st!