Wordless Wednesday: Jubal and Frodo

I figured it out!!!!

Efraim looks like me!!!!



I was going to see if he looked like Leo--this is the earliest baby picture I have that's decent.  And NO!  Efraim does look like me, eh??!?

Who does Efraim look like???

And can I just say---look at the fat rolls on Lando!  Seriously, that kid may have weighed less than Jubal but he was definitely the chunkiest.

Efraim

 I can't decide who Efraim looks like--Mom says like Isabel and Sebastian with a mouth like Lando's.  I definitely think he'll be small like Sebas,  look at those scrawny legs.  So cute.

Saddest picture ever.

Isn't this the saddest picture ever?  I was trying to take a picture of him one night and I used the flash, and it scared him.



This was the first picture I took, before Efraim knew what to expect.  















While Mom was visiting, we had high winds which blew our neighbor's shed into our backyard and onto the power line.  It was entertaining to watch the firefighters cut it up.  The house is empty, although it's been closed on this last week by our piano teacher.  Yay for a teacher that my kids can walk to her house!

And the other night we had ice cream cookie sandwiches for FHE treat--Sebastian's choice.  They were delicious.  The Cowboy cookies turned out perfectly.  We very much enjoyed them.  But Lando didn't want to finish his--he said his stomach hurt and that he wanted to save it for later.  I told him just finish it because I wasn't saving anything (he had multiple things saved last week, it got annoying.)  And then in the middle of the night he threw up.  He's still throwing up today, although he's kept down a couple of crackers now.  Jubal and Lando caught a cough last week, and now Efraim has it.  It's so so sad to hear a little baby's hacking cough. :(  And let's see, what else?  Elena started going to a 4H dog class with Frodo, that's pretty cool.  I've been crazy hormonal and not using my inside voice a lot.  I've also been fighting with my embroidery program, so I could make Efraim's baby book and so Elena could have her name on a pillowcase she's sewing, but then she was tired of sewing pretty quick and just put it away for who knows how long.  Sigh.  But at least Elena and Isabel finished sewing their binder covers for their sewing books this weekend.  It's been really windy this spring.  Okay, that's all I could think of for stuff going on.

Life since Efraim was born

Leo stayed home for a week.  That was heavenly.  People brought us meals. Also heavenly.  Then Mom came on Sunday and stayed till Thursday.  I LOVE when my mom comes to visit.  She cut all the boys' hair.  Cleaned out under my kitchen sink. Made us yummy brownies.  Did ALL my mending (which I hadn't touched for almost 2 years).  Corrected my children while they did their piano practicing--this was much needed, as I don't play the piano.  And basically did everything while I just got to sit and hold Efraim.  Yay!!! She also had a long conversation with Dad about our dog and said, "I don't know who to get after, the dog or Jubal.  Frodo nips at Jubal and Jubal nips right back at Frodo!"  Ha. Ha.  True story.  Also as I've mentioned before, they wrestle like litter mates.

And random, but here in our little town, they put birth announcements in the paper if you want (they ask you at the hospital).  So why not, we did.  But then it was weird because I went to the library for something and the librarian congratulated me and knew Efraim's name.  And then our neighbors brought us a gift.  Small towns, I tell you, I'm not used to them yet.

Anyway, I also took a ton of photos of Efraim one day.  So enjoy. And FYI, I was playing with all the different settings, so that's why some are weird. And yeah, I'll never be a professional baby photographer, but oh well.  And my AWESOME cousin's wife Kristi made the absolutely adorable baby bear hat and blanket.  I LOVE them.  So perfect.
  

And Jubal.

Efraim Lloyd

This is me the afternoon before I delivered.  Yes, I am a whale.

This is really how I felt.  I was SOOOO done with being pregnant.  And I was contracting all the time.  I've never done that before.  Literally, every time I walked up the stairs that last week, I'd have a contraction.

Lando and Jubal wanted in on a picture. 

That night I started having more regular contractions around 8:30 PM, they got harder as the night went on but they also got further apart. So around 11:30 PM Leo and I were debating going to bed or not.  We finally went to bed around 1AM, because I was only contracting every half an hour or so.  But as soon as I laid down they got infinitely stronger and closer together.  So at 2 AM we got up and dressed and went to the hospital.  I was on the floor by 2:40 AM.  The nurse wanted a strip with the baby's heart rate and the contractions to show the Dr, so he could see if I was really going to be admitted--ummm, yeah, that was a joke, I was not going anywhere. I was already dilated to a 3 (I've never gone in to the hospital dilated above a 1.5 before.) And another weird thing with this delivery--usually it doesn't matter what I'm doing, the contractions feel the same.  This time anytime I laid down, I thought I was dying; standing up, the contractions were at least bearable.  Anyway, I was admitted and then I got the IV in and they bolused me so I could have an epidural sooner (yes, I was rating my pain a 10 when laying down--I am a wuss).  The CRNA stuck me three times trying to get the epidural in.  It was miserable hunched over for that long.  Awful.  And then he gave me a little bit of a spinal and said that he could see me relax after that and immediately was successful getting the epidural in.  Yay!!  I was by this point dilated to a 7.  And within a very short time delivered on the third contraction I pushed on at  5:55 AM.  Poor Leo, he was exhausted from staying up all night.  I had adrenalin going, so the night wasn't bad (as far as being tired) but the next day I felt wasted.  

We were tired so there's only two pictures.  Ruff.

Leo was going to bring the kids in the afternoon, the day I delivered, but I called him and had him not bring them, because I was so tired.  They only do 24 hour stays for vaginal deliveries, so he just brought Jubal and Lando with him the next day to pick me up from the hospital. The rest of the kids were in school.

And now for a ton of pictures!!!  (I was also testing out our new camera, bought just to record Efraim's babyhood.)

Leo's department sent flowers, and then his company sent flowers too!  Yay!  I love flowers.  And they were both beautiful.


Welcome to the world Efraim!