Hello everyone, It's time for an update! My blog itself needs an update but the wonderful gal that normally does my blog makeovers just had a baby so I am just waiting on her to have some spare time to work on my blog :) First off. Maddox turned 3, yes THREE years old on March 23rd. It's hard for even me to believe it's been 3 years already. Time just really flies! He is such a loving little guy. But he also is very very very frustrating. We are having a lot of difficulty with the "terrible threes." I thought the terrible twos were horrific enough but sure enough three is worse just as everyone warned us. He is into EVERYTHING. He is very defiant and does not like to listen. Punishments seem to have little effect on him and I am really just at my wits end. Parenting is truly the hardest job. You have this little person YOU are in charge of. You are in charge of their well being. It is YOU who influences how they will be when they grow up and become adults. I just want my son to be a polite, caring, giving man who works hard and contributes to society. I feel like I am some how failing him. I am at a loss of where to go from here. But together, (my husband and I) we will figure it out. Our son has a good heart and he IS a loving little boy. His attitude just needs a LOT of work. Then, we have Sawyer. Our 6 months (almost 7 months in 4 days! How is that even possible???) who is the sweetest, lovingest, smiliest little baby i've ever met. He is just such a beautiful soul. When I was pregnant with him and found out I was having yet ANOTHER boy, I was more than devastated. My whole life I have dreamt of having a daughter and here I was having my second son. But, now that he is here, I can't imagine having another baby. He is such a blessing and I love him more than words can possibly ever describe. God sure knew what he was doing, as always. <3 Sawyer is so different from his big brother. Maddox was always early to do everything. He sat early, he crawled early and he he walked super duper early. Sawyer just does things on his own his time schedule. He is almost 7 months and is just now FINALLY what I would call a full on sitter. :) We are so proud of him. I blogged a lot more often when Maddox was little and had all his stats from all his well checks written down. So, even though I don't blog as much as I did then, I am going to post all of Sawyer's stats so that I can remember them.

Birth: 7lbs 11oz, 18.5"

16 days (he was in the NICU until 15 days): 8lbs (25th%) 19.75" (40th%)

1 month: 10lbs 11oz (80th%) 20.5" (25th%)

2 months: 12lbs 3oz (75th%) 21.75" (15th%)

4 months: 13lbs 13oz (8%) 24.25" (15%)

6 months: 16lbs 4oz (20th%) 25" (4th%)

So, we pretty much have a little peanut on our hands ;-) Which is so different from Maddox because he was ALWAYS at the upper ends of the charts for both height and weight. Once he hit 9 months, his height never went below 90th% lol! Eric's side of the family is short, so I think Sawyer is destined for shortness :) It's okay though, he's got the brains to make up for it. He is 6 months months old and already loves books! He is going to be so book smart! I am so proud of my children. They are so different but both perfect in their own ways! <3 Now time for a few photos!

This is Maddox at Red Robin on his Birthday. Is he not one handsome little dude? <3

blowing out his candle at Chuck 'E Cheese!

Here is Sawyer on his half birthday! <3

Today at the park.. Sawyer was looking super enthused with mommy! lol ;-)

Here's my sweet Maddox at the park today :)

Sawyer enjoying the scenery now that he can OFFICIALLY sit up! <3 So proud of my munchkin!

Maddox was having a great time :)

playin' in the gravel =)

This is where we were hanging out today. Such a beautiful day with a beautiful view. <3

Time for a MUCH needed update. Around 30 weeks pregnant, things got just a little big CRAZY around the Lloyd house hold. First of all, I had SEVERE SPD (Symphysis pubis dysfunction) which makes walking, sleeping, bending down and just moving basically excruciating. It was at this time we made the hard decision that I would stay in GA at my parent's house where I could get help with Maddox (my 2 year old) since Eric's work schedule was less than ideal for him to be much help. It wasn't his fault, he just had a job to do and that was that.

Around 33 weeks pregnant, I went into premature labor. The contractions were intense. I went into labor and delivery and they were able to stop the contractions with breathine, Terbutaline, and then I was put on procardia every 6 hours. I was already dilated to 1.5cm at 33 weeks. I was supposed to be on modified bedrest, but I still had Maddox to take care of. Even though my mom and grandma were there to help and pick up some of the slack, my mom had a full time job and it was BUSY BUSY season for her. She was so stressed out and felt like she needed to be at 10 places at once. There were many L&D trips to come. Each time I was given shots of terb and breathine and it would seem to calm them down just enough for me to be discharged and so far my cervix wasn't changing much which was good news.

On a Sunday at 36 weeks 4 days pregnant I felt really off and had some terrible pain in my lower abdomen along with my contractions. I went straight to L&D. They did the usual. Put in an IV, drew blood, etc. When my blood work came back my iron had dropped a couple of points and it was then they realized my old c-section scar from Maddox's c-section was pulling apart and abrupting. Within 35 minutes I was back in the OR with a spinal in my back having my c-section. When Sawyer first came out, I heard I cry and I had a sigh of relief but then it all went silent and I could hear the NICU team rustling around whispering things. Finally I heard them shout, "START THE CHEST COMPRESSIONS, PUSH THE EPI" I kept asking if he was okay and noone really answered me. One nurse told me these things just sometimes happened and he probably just had extra fluid in his lungs. However, that was not the case. He had very immature lungs.

After I was all sewn up and everything I was wheeled to the recovery and a bit later the NICU doctor came to see me. He told me Sawyer was on 100% Oxygen on the ventilator as of right now but had just been given surfactant to open up the lungs and they should be able to turn down the settings shortly. He was very to the point. He told me Sawyer's lungs were not mature and over the next couple weeks they would need to have time to mature and develop as they would have in the womb. His birth will definitely stick with me forever as one of the most terrifying moments of my life. I kept thinking "surely my 36 weeker is going to make, surely we are going to get through this!" Sawyer was in the NICU for a total of 15 days and came home nice and healthy. He is such a sweet baby and such a blessing to our family. It's so hard to believe he is already 4.5 months old! His birth stats are as follows:

September 25, 2011
10:25pm
7lbs 11oz, 18.5" long

last preggo picture

hours after birth

his sign the nurses made him

step 1 - off the vent and on cpap

first time holding him - i was soooo swollen

step 2 - off cpap and on nasal cannula

step 3 - just feeding tube!

tube free!!!

my sweet pea the day before he came home!

and here he is yesterday with some Valentine's goodies <3 Time goes by so fast!