October Events

October had several significant events for the Erickson household. Carter spent a night in the hospital for dehydration. He came home from school on a Tuesday complaining that he didn't feel well and stayed home from school on Wednesday. He acted fine, but wasn't eating very much and wasn't going to the bathroom. Wednesday afternoon Steph took him to the doctor and I began to mentally prepare for him being admitted to the hospital. He was admitted, but only on an observatory 24 hour period. Thankfully he was discharged after his 24 hours of being in their. Of course by the weekend he was fine and attended the Iowa Hawkeye game with Todd and I. It was kind of a different game as instead of going early and tailgating, we left later and parked and took the Hawkeye Express to Kinnick Stadium. It was kind of fun, not something that I would want to do every weekend, but I know that Carter enjoyed it, so it was well worth it. Carter has started basketball, something that he has been talking about non-stop. His games are on Saturday's and he has practices on Sunday and Friday nights. He enjoys it so far, so hopefully he sticks with it and has fun. This month has seen Hadley grow like a weed. She is really starting to smile now and is staying awake more than she had been in the previous weeks. Carter is still a great big brother, he even has a big brother voice. He still helps out as much as possible, aside from changing diapers. Steph is still on maternity leave, and we are still married with her being home with me all day every day. Tomorrow is Hadley's 2 month appointment, so I will update again after that.

Family Pictures

Last Sunday we had our family pictures taken. You can go to the below link to view them.

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20 Days

Hadley is now 20 days old. So far she hasn't lost any of her hair, that was one of Steph's biggest fears. She is still breast feeding and staying on a schedule for the most part. Last Friday, she slept for five straight hours for daddy! Last week was her two week appointment and she weighed in at 7 lbs 14 oz, 2 oz heavier than when she was born. Her neck is getting a lot stronger as she is trying to hold her head up when she is getting burped. She went on her first salon visit today with Mommy and did great, like usual. Steph had her first alone day with the kids last Saturday as I went over to Iowa City for the football game. Not only did she survive the day, but cleaned the house top to bottom and gave both kids baths. Carter has continued to be a great big brother, he loves to hold his sister and always has to have her in the room when it is reading time. He loves school so far, of course he has made several new friends. His favorite school day is Friday, because it is show and tell day. Steph is doing great, but she is not looking forward to 9 weeks from now when she has to go back to work.

1 Week

So Hadley is now one week and somehow we lucked out again. She has been a great baby so far, eating every three hours or so and not being fussy hardly at all in between. She sleeps really well and has gotten back up to 7 lbs. 5oz. Steph is doing awesome and is really taking to the whole breast feeding thing, the accountant in me is happy about not buying formula. Overall the first week couldn't have gone any better than it has.

Hadley Vivienne Erickson

We would like to introduce Hadley Vivienne Erickson. She was born on September 3rd at 7:43 AM. She tipped the scales at 7 lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long. She had a full head of hair, chich was surprising, since Carter had no hair until he was almost 1! Both Hadley and Steph are doing great. Hadley took to breastfeeding like she was a pro and mom isn't too shabby either. We came home on Sunday and other than Jax being a little weirded out by her crying, it has been a seamless transition. If you want to view her pictures from the hospital there are here: http://www.our365.com/NewbornPortraits/BabyDetail.aspx?birthid=ae437bec-06db-40c5-ada8-33ae2cbb54c5

8 Days

So we are now down to 8 days until the C-section date, which is September 3. We go in early on the 3rd and will probably have a new daughter by 8 AM. Last Sunday Steph had contractions for about 7 hours straight, but as soon as we went to the hospital, they stopped.
We had Carter's 6th birthday party early this year as it would have been right after the new one's arrival and he didn't want to wait. This is the first year that we didn't do a big event for it, we just had ice cream cake and presents, which are the only things Carter really cares about anyways. Of course he got more presents than he needed and the gift cards that he got were burning holes in his pockets, so we had to go spend them that night.
Carter's first day of school was today, he started kindergarden and is very excited about it. Most of the neighbor kids go to the same school, so he will have lots of kids that he already knows. He doesn't know any of the kids in his class, so he will have to make new friends.

Vacation Bible School

So while we were at Summerfest last weekend, one of the brochures we got was to send Carter to VBS. He was reluctant at first, stating that if he didn't like it when we walked in, he could just go home. We told him that was fine and signed him up. Well after two days he loves it, except for the fact that they only get one snack during the three hours and they don't feed him lunch, according to him "my stomach gets crabby." Here is a picture of him there.