I had a pretty easy pregnancy with Zane. I did end up on bed rest for a couple months after falling down the stairs at work (thank you workmans comp!) but otherwise, it was uneventful. Even my labor was pretty simple. Zane was 6 days late, and at my regular weekly check-up my Midwife told me I was already dilated 4 centimeters. She said if my water did not break by 4 that afternoon to come into the hospital and they would break it manually to get my labor started! I imagined some kind of water balloon/tack situation. At 4 pm on the dot, Ian and I checked into the Birthing Center and waited patiently while they hooked me up to some machines to track my contractions (which I was not feeling at all). As I was sitting there waiting for the nurse to come back in, I felt this explosion in my belly, followed by immediate gushing of fluid. Horrified, I told Ian and my Mom that something was definitely wrong! Turns out, my water had finally broke, and at the perfect time. Zane always has been very considerate!

What happens next is 4 hours of double contractions, grunting, some screaming, disgusting bodily functions, and me at one point explaining calmly to the midwife that I was not, in fact, going to be able to give birth to this baby so I did not know how in the HELL SHE WAS GOING TO GET IT OUT OF ME!!!! My Midwife was fantastic. She was so calm, so reassuring, and guided me through a completely natural childbirth, even though I had ZERO confidence that I was going to be able to succeed. I pushed three times and there he was.

In my completely unbiased, professional opinion, Zane was the most beautiful baby ever born in the history of the planet. He was so perfect with his smooth skin, dark hair, and big brown eyes. My heart completely melted from the very first second they placed him in my arms. Every worry, every freak out was thrown completely out the window. Of course we could handle this. This little sweet, precious being was made just for us.

Zane was a very easy baby. He slept a lot, so much in fact that I would casually kick his bassinet to get him to wake up just so I could snuggle him! Zane has always been a very good sleeper, he plays hard during the day, but when it is bed time he usually has no problem going right to sleep. However, he is also quite the morning person. Getting him to sleep in until 7 can be a challenge. He has always been very happy, very silly and very social. When I would take him to the Mall play area he would go up to strangers and hug them. He has since stopped doing that.

Zane loves to learn. About Everything. He wants to know how things work, what words mean, why jokes are funny, everything. He will not be satisfied until he knows absolutely everything there is to know about everything. He has also always been the kind of kid that things come really easily to. When he wants to learn how to do something, he just does it. He practices things over and over again until he gets them right. He is the absolute sweetest kid ever. He will cry if he thinks he hurt your feelings, and is devastated when he gets in trouble. Zane likes to be a good kid. He has never been mischievous or a trouble maker. He is very physical and strong. That strength and willingness to practice things over and over again are what make him such a great gymnast.

Zane is the absolute light of my life. I could talk to him for hours about Mario Bros. or telling knock knock jokes. He loves to tell me I am beautiful, and that I am the best Mommy in the whole world. He thanks me sincerely for doing even the simplest thing, like buying his favorite brand of cereal. He gives the greatest hugs and has the greatest laugh. He is very loving, and is going to be an amazing big brother. He is so excited, he has already told us that Rocky’s crib needs to go under his loft bed. I cannot believe it has been 6 years since I first held his little fingers in my hand. I am so excited to see what the future is going to hold for such an amazing little boy.

I am already getting choked up just looking at these…

Kid- Is their turn over yet?
Me-Not yet, I will let you know.
KId-Are you suuuuurrrreeee their turn is not over yet?
Me-No, I promise I will tell you when it is your turn.
**One MInute Later**
Same Kid-Is their turn over NOW? They have been on for hours!
Me- They have been on for 3 minutes, and if you ask me again, you will lose your turn!
**30 seconds later**
New Kid- Is their turn over yet?!?!
Me- **Burning Trampoline to the Ground**

Friday night was a whole bunch of pizza eating, trampoline jumping, slumber party fun! Unfortunately the kids were having a little too much fun and we did not get them settled down to watch a movie until after 10, and of course only 1 kid actually fell asleep during the movie (Miss Brooklyn) so we ended up with 11 wide awake kids at midnight after the movie ended. At that point it was lights out and we ended up just sitting there until all the kids fell asleep. I think that was the hardest part, as I was already exhausted from a day of errand running and daycare-ing and party prepping. I am always so surprised when I am exhausted at the end of the day and I have to remind myself that I am making a little person in my belly!

Friday Night Pics:

Pizza Time!

Trampoline!

Happy Harper!

Nolan was not at ALL excited.

Arri getting a little tired of me taking his picture…

Adorable Annie!

Getting Snug for Bed!

Now, I was most worried about kids waking up through out the night, but luckily all the kids slept uninterrupted until the late hour of 5:30 in the morning. There is no convincing 12 children that it is too early to be up, or too early to jump on the trampoline. There was also a lot of confusion on when we were going to Save The Princess. Zane’s party on Saturday was a Mario Bros. theme and the kids were having a hard time with the concept that we had to wait for the other kids to get here before we could start the party. I can totally see their point, they are a party enough all on their own! The morning actually went way smoother than I thought it was going to. Ian and I are a great team. We could totally take on Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar anytime. It helped that we had a game plan and each took a different role in whatever task we had. If one of us was cooking a meal, the other would be cleaning and organizing the kids in an activity. The only problem was, it NEVER stopped! There was NEVER a time when all the kids were entertaining themselves and a meal wasn’t needing to be cooked or the house wasn’t needing to be straightened. The weekend was a full-time job for the both of us. My poor body was so upset at me! I think I actually brought on some Braxton Hicks Contractions simply from being purely exhausted! Ian kept having to remind me to eat, which for some reason is the first thing I forget when I am in the Zone.

At one point I am pretty sure Ian lost his mind.

The party was so much fun! We went with the Mario theme, and what is more Mario than Mustaches?

Poor Miss Brooklyn just could not stay awake this weekend!

We played some really fun games including a pin the mustache on Mario game, a gold coin collecting game, a water balloon attack game and a pinata! The whole party ended up going really smoothly and was just the right combination of low stress for me and high fun for the kids!

After the Party was over it was more Jumping, Eating and Silliness! The kids kept it together surprisingly well, I thought for sure we were going to have some meltdowns that afternoon, but everyone did great! We had a great dinner of Spaghetti and Meatballs, requested by Zane. We did manage to get the kids to bed slightly earlier on Saturday Night, which was good because I kept falling asleep on the couch! The kids also managed sleep all the way until 6:30 on Sunday! Score! It was pretty evident in the morning that the kids were tired. I was glad that we had arranged for kids to be picked up in the morning because I don’t think many kids could of made it until the afternoon.


My, how the body language has changed!

After the last of the kids had left, Ian, Zane and I shut all the curtains, cranked up the A/C and chilled. Within a half hour I was dead asleep. Four hours later I awoke to the happiest little boy I have ever seen. Zane has been on a cloud since the party ended, he could not of asked for a better weekend. I cannot get him to stop smiling. Thank you so much to all the parents that let their children come and give Zane such an amazing birthday. I could not of asked for anything better. I may still be exhausted, my feet still hurt and my house is just finally starting to get clean again, but I would not of traded any of it after seeing the sheer joy in Zane’s eyes.