Dillon and Kenzie's Birthday Party: 2010

Yesterday we celebrated Dillon and Kenzie's birthdays. We ended up renting out the clubhouse at our complex which turned out really well. Initially we were planning on having about 25 kids and about the same amount of adults, but only half showed up. That happened to be the perfect amount. Activities included pin the tail on the donkey, a pinata, opening presents and some good ol' cake and ice cream. The kids just loved running around and playing in the gym so we didn't need to do too much.

Anderson Gordon Bradshaw

Name: Anderson "Andy" Gordon Bradshaw
Date: August 6, 2010
Time: 1:30 PM ish
Weight: 9 lbs 3 oz
Height: 20.5 inches

The story:
Natalie was a week past her due date and getting very anxious to have this baby. Her next appointment wasn't scheduled until the 6th, but could just not wait anymore so she called the doctor's office and got in on the 4th. At that appointment the doctor gave here the okay to be induced, but she needed to contact the hospital to see if they had a bed available. She was informed to call them Thursday (the 5th) starting at 6 AM. Well 6 AM arrived and they told her to call back at 9 AM. At 9 AM they told her to call back at 1 PM. At 1 PM they told her to call back at 5 PM and at 5 PM she was informed to call back tomorrow. Apparently everyone in the Seattle area decided to have their baby at the same time as there were no beds available! We were pretty disappointed that we were not able to have our baby on Thursday.

Well Friday morning arrived and I was awaken by Natalie informing me that she was in labor and we needed to go the hospital ASAP. I complied, but a little slower than she wanted. We got to the hospital at 6 AM and went to triage. In triage she was in a lot of pain and having contractions roughly every 3 minutes, but she was only dilated to a 3. They made her walk around for about in hour in terrible pain and then they finally admitted us to delivery.

We were lucky and were admitted to room # 2307, which the nurses refer to as "the suite" as it was larger and a little bit nicer than the other rooms. It was also a corner room with a great view of the valley. Anyways, around 8:30 she received her epidural and then the waiting game started. Her doctor, Keri Brown, came by around 10:00 and she was dilated to a 5 at that time. Her doctor then returned exactly at noon and broke Natalie's water to get things going. 1:00 rolled around and it was time to start pushing and by 1:30 little (maybe not so little) Anderson was born. The actual pushing part of labor was more difficult than Kenzie, but she was induced, and much much easier than Dillon. Natalie did a great job and didn't swear at me the entire time!



Anderson and mommy were just fine. Nothing out of the ordinary and he had great color. He was very mellow too. In fact he cried much more when they took his foot prints than he did when they gave him shots. However, he was not a fan at all of his first bath!



We were very luck to have Natalie's mom staying with us, so we didn't have to worry about the kids at all. Around 4:00 Grandma Gordon brought Dillon and Kenzie to the hospital to meet their brother for the first time. They loved him and were very soft and gentle.

The next morning we were surprised when Grandma and Grandpa Bradshaw and Heidi showed up. Apparently they drove up that night, stayed in a hotel and surprised us in the morning. Heidi had to work later that day, so they were only able to stay until 11:30 or so.

I should say that this whole time we had not chosen a name for Anderson. We started with a few names we liked and by Friday afternoon we had narrowed it down to Elijah, Jamison or Anderson. In the end, and in the nick of time, we chose Anderson. Why, we really don't know, but we liked it.

A little before 3:00 PM on Saturday (the 7th) we were discharged from the hospital. It is now about 6:00 PM as I write this and things are going well. We are excited to have this cute little baby in our life and look forward to the adventures he will bring us!

Slip N' Slide

So on Thursday we were waiting around to hear from the hospital if we could go in and get Natalie induced. The call never came and it was a warmer day (mid 70's) so I created a home-made slip n' slide for the kiddos...and apparently all the kids in the neighborhood. I had some left over visqueen from a crawlspace job that had just been sitting in storage, so I cut it just the right size and hooked up a hose. It was a big hit! We probably had at least 15 kids on it. Here are some pics:

Grandma and Grandpa Gordon's Visit

This summer grandma and grandpa Gordon came to visit us from Texas. The main reason was to see our new baby; however, grandpa was not too lucky. Anderson ended up being 8 days late and grandpa had to leave prior to his birth. Grandma stayed behind until August 11th and was able to help us out a ton! Here are some pics of their trip while here:

Grandma took the kids to the complex pool on one of the warmer days while here.

We went and grabbed some gluten-free pizza from Garlic Jim's and headed to Gene Couillon park in Renton. Unfortunately it was so packed and we later found out that pets were not allowed so we only stayed for a little while.