Shortly after showering we started getting visitors to the hospital the day after Carson was born. First to stop by was friends from Jimmy's work. This included his boss, Scott, and two work friends, LeAnn and Holly. Then Jason Bennett stopped by. He thought it would be fun if we started Carson on piano lessons early!

After this, Jimmy's mom and Ayden came by. She and Ayden had been patiently waiting at home. Ayden did great with Carson. He kept petting his hair and giving him lots of sweet kisses.

Joshua Carson has arrived!

Christen and I went to a state park yesterday to spend some time outside as a family. She was a trooper and hiked about 4 miles. Ayden played on the playground for about an hour and we had made a picnic for dinner. After dinner she said she felt like something might be going on because she noticed some similar symptoms from when Ayden was born.

We left the park about 7:00 and got home about 8:00. We watched part of a DVD and Chris mentioned that she felt like she had bad gas. About every 10-15 minutes she would have a pain that only she can describe! At 9:30 we both decided to go to bed. Christen was feeling restless and said she couldn't sleep because the "gas" pain was getting more intense.

Still, we had no idea that she had started labor. I called my mom in Augusta a little before 10p.m. to let her know that she might need to come up in the morning. I hung up and Chris and I started recording her the frequency and duration of her pain. About 10:15 the pain was about 5 minutes apart and started becoming more regular.

At 10:45 we called our friends Aaron and Lisa Brown to see if they might be able to come over and stay with Ayden. They were both asleep but Aaron gladly came over about 11:00. We left for the Hospital shortly after.

I remember looking down at the clock at 11:12 and noted that Christen's "pain" or contractions were about 2 minutes apart. We were just getting to the loop. At that point I began to get a bit worried. I'm proud to say that I ran 3 lights on the way. The whole time in the car, Christen was in the "zone".

We got to the hospital and I was going to drop Christen off and then park the car. However, while I was getting a wheelchair for her, she got down on all fours and had a huge contraction. We made it in the ER and the admissions nurse asked us about 5 questions and realized the severity of the situation. Christen had gotten in the floor twice to cope with the intense paoin.

She wheeled us up to the Labor and Delivery room. On the way, Christen stopped 3 times to get on all fours. Needless to say, she was in transition and about to have the baby! We made it to the room at 11:40 and Christen took a seat in the rocking chair. The kind nurse (who remembered us from Ayden's birth) asked to listen to the baby's heartbeat. Christen was got in the floor for about 2 minutes.

After that contraction she said she needed to go to the bathroom. That's when the midwife arrived. The three of us helped her to the toilet and that's when the fun really started! The midwife indicated that the baby had crowned. I thought to myself "Oh my gosh, this baby's going to be born in the toilet"! Christen was hysterical at this point but the midwife calmly reassured her that she could have the baby wherever she wanted.

I asked the nurse to drop the foot of the bed and to position it in such a way that would allow Christen to squat. This seemed liked the preferred position from Ayden's birth. After this was done, I asked Chris if she wanted to move to the bed. Thankfully, she agreed. She got on the bed and pushed a total of 3 times. It was an intense 8 minutes but Joshua Carson was born at 11:48. He weighed 7 lbs 6 oz.

This picture is taken about an hour after the delivery. Mom looks great (as always) and baby is doing well. We hung out as a family until about 2 a.m. and then fell fast asleep!

TV Time with Uncle John

Last Monday Jimmy's mom came and cleaned our ENTIRE house while I was at school. Our house has never looked so good-- she did it all: base boards, fans, window sills and blinds. Man was it dirty!

It was John's job to keep Ayden busy. They played outside, drove the remote control cars, played with blocks, read about a million books and did every puzzle we had. Here, they are both enjoying Seseme Street and an apple! Ayden seems to be really enjoying himeself! Thanks, Patrisia & John!

Fall is in the air

It is still extremely hot during the day, but fall is slowly creeping its way in each evening. Here, Ayden is helping Jimmy set up the fire pit. Jimmy used it Monday night with his Bible study guys.

GQ Model

Nick bought Ayden this cool vest. Because he only had on a wife-beater-onsie he looks a bit like a turtle, but we were trying to get him to do the model walk and pose!

Future Soccer Player

Nana has bought Ayden most of his balls and he loves them! In fact, he likes to play with all of them at the same time! He's got a pretty good arm and Jimmy is teaching him to kick and head-butt it too. Who knows what sport--if any--will be his strength.

Puzzle time with Daddy

By the time Jimmy gets home from work, I'm pooped! To give me a break, Jimmy and Ayden have Daddy Play Time before Ayden goes to bed. I totally understand why God designed children to have TWO parents!

Back at the Park

Finally it's getting cool enough to be outside again! Sunday afternoon we headed to the park and had a great time watching Ayden enjoy himself and the other children!

Hammin' it Up

Ayden is officially a total goofball! He does anything to get Jimmy and I laughing. And if he can't get us to laugh, he just laughs at himself!

Ayden's Big Boy Car Bed

Jimmy's boss gave us this cool car bed for Ayden's new room. He won't sleep in it for a while, but he loves playing in his new room and on his new bed!

Catalogue Shopping with Dad

I don't know how Jimmy got Ayden to lay here with him--whenever I try to lay with him he just crawls all over me! They looked through this Baby-R-Us flyer checking out all the new baby gear for about 10 minutes. It's finally hitting all of us that very soon, there will be a new baby in the house!

Snacktime with Audry

Audry is Ayden's friend who lives in the neighborhood down the street. She spent the afternoon with us while her mom went to the dentist. She's three, so Ayden was enamored with her as a "big girl." These pictures may not mean anything to someone who's not the parent of a toddler, but this is Ayden's first snack time NOT in the high chair. Since she was on the bench (where Daddy usually sits) he wanted to be on the bench too! Also, he's getting very good at drinking out of a sippy cup with no lid. Huge accomplishments if you ask me!

More Pictures from the River

It let me post the two pictures below, let's see if it will post some more!


Ayden is all BOY!
He loves to get dirty,
to get wet,
run,
climb,
jump
and wrestle!

If we'd have let him he would have gotten all the way in. But with the current, we thought he'd bust his head open on the rocks! Dadddy stayed close by the whole time.

Adventure with Dad

Jimmy recently attended a life-changing John Eldridge Boot Camp in Colorado. In the spirit of outdoor adventure we went on a little day hike at Covered Bridge State Park. Ayden "hiked" in the pack, but cooled off afterwards in the water of the river shoals there. I've tried posting these several times, but for some reason the blog isn't unloading them. Hopefully they'll make it this time!

Filling Daddy's shoes

One of Ayden's favorite things to do while he's waiting for me to get ready in the morning is to pull all of Jimmy's shoes off the shelf in the closet. Recently he's figured out how to put them on and actually walk around in them! He puts my shoes on sometimes too, but he definately likes Jimmy's better. He thinks he's so big!

Weekend at Nana's

This weekend Ayden got to play at his Granny, Nana & Uncle John's house. He also got to see his Nana Jack and Papa Dan, Aunt Kaitlin, and Aunt Jessica & Uncle Charles. He said everyone's names and could identify who everyone was. In fact, we quizzed him this morning (Monday) using a family picture on our mantle and he remembered everyone!