Since we've been home...

Since we've been home I've been hanging out with my sweet boys. I am super thankful that my Mom came and helped me the first few days because it is definitely an adjustment dealing with a two year old and a newborn! Corbin had to go back to work (as I will not be contributing to the family income while on maternity leave - ha!), but he came home for lunch several days!

Levi mostly sleeps...as well as other various bodily functions! He really doesn't fuss a whole lot. He is sleeping sooo much better at night than Carter did! I took an afternoon nap with the boys only a couple of times and I really haven't seemed to need one since.
I was wondering how Carter would handle having Levi around and honestly, I couldn't be happier. He LOVES his baby brother. When he wakes up in the morning "Where's Wee-vi at? I want to kiss him." is the one of the first things out of his mouth.
There is definitely a bit of an adjustment for him dealing with a slight lack of attention from me and Corbin, but he is handling it pretty well and doesn't seem to show the slightest bit of jealousy at all. I am so thankful! I hope that the boys grow up to be good buddies!
I can't explain how blessed I feel to have these three boys in my life! I honestly don't know what I would do without each one of them!

Fun in the Kitchen

(The following post was done pre-Levi, but I figured I should go ahead and publish it anyway! - an updated Levi-related post is coming soon!)

Can you guess who found himself a new place to play?? Yep, Carter-man!

When you go from a house with very few cabinets to a house with a LOT of cabinets AND a pantry, you find yourself with cabinets that aren't quite being used. Carter figured this out a few weeks ago and thought it was the funniest thing to "hide" in there. I had to take a video of his silly self!

Hiding in Cabinets from Megan Crittenden on Vimeo.

Another thing that he is obsessed with is "helping" with the dishes. I use the helping in quotes because, quite honestly, it makes the process quite a bit longer...and WET.

But he enjoys it so much, so we let him! I know there will come a day when he will pitch a fit when we ask him to do the dishes, so I'm just going to encourage the helping while I can!

Such a big helper!

Levi Phillip Crittenden

I was hoping to get this post up before now, but I have quickly learned that being a Mom of two doesn't exactly allow a whole lot of extra time!

Levi Phillip (middle name after Corbin's brother) was born on Monday, April 4th. We went in for a scheduled induction at 6:00 that morning. It all seemed real when I saw the warmer next to the hospital bed! We really were going to have another baby!

They got my IV in and my medicine started at 7:00 and broke my water at 8:00. Things started getting intense then. I was able to hold on for a couple hours and got my epidural at 10:00. After I was feeling a whole lot better, the big brother came up to the hospital for a visit!
I don't think he was too sure about what was going on, but he hung out with us for a little while before going back to Mimi's house for a nap.
At about 1:00, my doctor came in and checked me and said that I was seven centimeters. We were shocked, because we really didn't expect things to move so quickly. That was nothing, though. The nurse checked me not 15 minutes later and said I was 10 centimeters and ready to push! My doctor was delivering a baby at that point, so we just let me labor down for a while until she got there. I pushed for about 30 minutes and then Levi came into the world at 1:59 pm!

I really couldn't believe it! He was so sweet and looked a lot like his big brother! He weighed in at 6 lb. 15 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. A big boy compared to Carter!




Everyone was thrilled to meet Levi (if you can't tell by the expression on their faces!)
I couldn't wait for Carter to meet his baby brother. I have a sweet video of their first meeting that I will upload later. Before Levi came in, Carter helped me eat my banana.
And played with the buttons on my bed.
Unfortunately, my camera battery died right after this so I don't have any pictures of Carter and Levi at this point. Trust me, though, Carter loved finally getting to see this baby brother we've been talking about!

We spent two nights in the hospital healing and bonding with our baby boy. I loved playing dress up in all the tiny clothes that I couldn't imagine fitting him!

Things really couldn't have gone any better, and we are so thankful! Levi fits in perfectly into our family and we all love him so much!

Dance Party!

Still pregnant over here! I guess my doctor's intuition is way off! While we are VERY eager to have this little boy, I am trying my best to be patient and enjoy being a mommy to ONE for a few more days. If Levi hasn't made his appearance by Monday, I will be going in for an induction that morning. So baby pictures will be up eventually!! In the meantime, enjoy this video! Every now and then Carter decides to entertain me and his Daddy with his dance moves! This kid cracks me up!

Dance Party from Megan Crittenden on Vimeo.

Carter's Special Day!

Although I am super excited that Carter gets to be a big brother, I can't help but feel a little bad that his only child status is about to be over! So, I decided that before Levi got here I wanted to have a special day just for Carter.

I told him he could go to either the zoo or EdVenture (a local children's museum). After some debate he chose the zoo! He was SUPER excited when we got there. The weather was perfect!

Carter loves looking at all of the animals.

There is a little train ride at the zoo that Carter and Daddy rode on. He seemed to enjoy himself.

Here is Carter saying "choo choo"!

Little man could have spent forever at the aquarium. He loves looking at the fish and the "submarine".

Me and my sweet boy!

Carter was getting a little sleepy toward the end of our trip, so he took a little rest on Daddy. I love this picture. Apparently the gorilla's weren't too exciting.

Carter's favorite - the giraffe! I love how close they get to you! My camera wasn't zoomed in at all!

After the zoo, we let Carter pick where he wanted to eat for lunch. Initially he said he wanted spaghetti, but then settled on McDonalds. This is proof that my son dips ANYTHING in ketchup. That is not a fry in his hand, my friends...it is an APPLE. So gross. But hey, he eats it, so I let him do it!

After lunch we let Carter play in the playplace for a little while. We didn't realize while Carter likes to go UP, he isn't quite a fan of coming DOWN. I had to snap a picture of Corbin heading up to rescue him. Ha!

You can't really tell, but Carter is inside here yelling "Help me!"

After a nice long nap, Carter got to do another one of his favorite things with his Daddy - use tools! If Corbin EVER is doing anything tool related, Carter will run to his toys and grab a tool and go "help" him.

We tend to remain pantless after our nap on such nice days!

I don't have any pictures, but that night we went over to a friends house and Carter got to play with some of his favorite people (especially Uncle Micah). I hope that he enjoyed his day! Since Levi still hasn't made his appearance, we've had the opportunity to do some more special things for Carter. Hopefully he realizes that all will end soon!

**Baby update - Went to the doctor today and she suspects that I will be having Carter's little brother TONIGHT. So, we shall see how right she is, but either way, baby boy is coming soon!

Randomness

We are so blessed to have friends with kids around the same age as ours. Carter and Graham and Claire always have a great time when they are around. Though they tend to bring out the worst in each other (I blame it on the terrible 2's), they still have a blast!

Here's the sweet cake at the baby shower that our church threw for me! We got lots of great stuff. And I seriously think I got enough wipes so that I will NEVER have to buy any. We'll see how long they last. But really - I got upwards of 3,000 wipes!

Whenever we drive past a McDonald's or Burger King, Carter feels like we just NEED to stop there - even if it is 9:00 in the morning. I took him on a little McDonald's date one Sunday night and we brought home some yummy chicken nuggets. He was happy.

Corbin wanted to introduce Carter to some old school Disney, so we started with the Jungle Book and 101 Dalmations. The Jungle Book was a hit. He is always asking me the character's names on the front of the movie.

My child loves the spotlight. We went to church one Saturday morning to practice a song we were singing, and Carter went STRAIGHT up to the microphones and started singing. He would have gone on for hours if we would have let him. Cannot wait until he is old enough for the Children's Choir at church!