Holiday Cheer as a Foursome

The end of the year quickly approached while we were hunkered down in the house with our newborn, Rowan. However, this didn't mean we didn't get out and have a little family fun. Jennifer's mom came to visit from Michigan and stayed with us for a week. It was so nice to spend some time with her and to have the two boys play with their grandmother. Grandma Teri was also a really good roommate for Oliver. He got to playfully abuse her and she never even woke up. 

Rowan and I got to spend some quality time together learning how to do this newborn maternity leave thing. He is such a good baby and a joy to care for. We gave him is first mini tub bath which he only partially enjoyed but that's to be expected but he's mostly smiles and giggles. 

The increasingly cold weather did not stop us from going out to get our Christmas tree this year. It was the fastest selection we have ever made and Oliver was so proud of his "perfect" tree. 

This year, instead of going to see the Boston Ballet's version of the Nutcracker, we went to see the Urban Nutcracker which included a more mixed bag of dance styles. Oliver was very excited to style his own hair for the event.

 Over the past few weeks we've had many visitors to the house. Here's a picture of Auntie Q getting some Rowan love.

 Rowan has been a very different child than Oliver but equally as easy and delightful to care for. Unlike Ollie, who loved to use a binkie and adored to be swaddled, this new little guy has no affection for either. He's found his thumb a few times but is not consistent about it yet. I was able to get snap shot of one of the rare thumb sucking moments.

 Oliver has enjoyed this holiday season as much as the next kid but I think his time with Stacey at frog pond will go down in his memory history books. This was his first time ice skating ever!






This year we enjoyed another annual Novoa holiday party in CT. Rowan thought it was the perfect occasion to get all dressed up. His newborn cloths barely fit him but in the words of Tim Gunn, he made it work.

Rowan got to spend some time while in CT with one of Oliver's best cousins...Jordan! I'm sure Rowan will love Jordan as much as Oliver does.

While at home, Rowan and I have a lot of time to bond and I guess he's getting so comfortable with me that he feels he can just stick is tongue out at me whenever he wants. He also likes sticking his belly out whenever he can too.

 Oliver is really loving being a big brother and truly enjoys having a little brother. He is so gentle with him and talks to him constantly. Oliver loves giving Rowan hugs and kisses!

 We made our way down to CT again to celebrate Christmas this year. Grandma Audrey got some snuggle time and even worked her baby magic to settle down a mildly fussy little guy.

Oliver made is annual gingerbread house with the two of us. It started out as a very purposeful little house but quickly turned into a hot mess when the roof started to fall off multiple times. I quickly came up with a construction solution of using some cardboard as some shoring to stabilize the roof. Well, this was only good until Oliver decided to remove them. We ended up with a very lovely flat roof house with a slopped back yard. It was yummy either way.

Finally it was time to celebrate Christmas! I love my family so very much! 

Just wanted to let everyone know that Stella is also really enjoying our newest little one. This photo was taken on the drive down to CT. Stella is resting her head on Rowan's car seat. Total family love.

 Rowan has also grown to learn to love the University of Michigan Wolverines. His Michigan roots run long a deep...full of pride.

Just had to post this picture of Rowan's super smile. He's one of the happiest babies I've ever seen.

Before the year ended, we took the boys to Disney on Ice. Of course, we had to go with Oliver's bestie...Zoe...it's just not the same without her.

After Disney on Ice was over Rowan got to experience his first snow storm. Fortunately, we had the rain cover for the stroller so he stayed nice and toasty and dry.

The day after the snow storm we bundled Rowan up so he could brave the cold and enjoy the snow along with Oliver.

Another happy and smiley Rowan picture!!!!!

We close out this post with some photos from our New Year's Eve "party." We celebrated in a low key style with some close friends and extremely yummy food. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family in our lives and we feel all the immense love for our two boys.  If 2013 is half as good as 2012 then we will be one lucky family!

A True Labor of Love

On Friday, November 16th at 2:30 am I finally went into labor. The contractions were similar to what I had been experiencing for several weeks but this time they lasted a lot longer than usual so I knew this was going to be different. I continued having mild contractions throughout the day for various spans of time. Jennifer and I even took a little walk and picked up lunch in order to get the contractions flowing more regularly. By the evening the contractions started to pick up again and by mid-night or so we decided to call our Doula, Stacy, to come over. She arrived and I was working hard to breath through my contractions that were now timed at about 5 minutes apart and lasting about 1.5-2 minutes. Somewhere around 2 or 3 am we decided to make our way to the hospital. Upon examination they determined that I was only dilated to 2 cm and about 80% effaced. So we chose to head back home and labor some more. Jennifer and Stacy alternated turns at taking naps in order to save up strength for the impending task ahead. I continued to labor with increasingly intense contractions. I was in and out of the bathtub several times throughout the course of the next 12 hours which helped subside the impact of the contractions. I also used Jennifer as my own personal labor bar during this process. Jennifer was the strong partner I always new she was...supporting me through all my contractions. Stacy was a tremendous help offering us different strategies and a reassuring voice to the process.

During a contraction on the couch with my wife.

Happiness after the contraction is over.

Trying to walk to the bathroom while having a contraction. Now we know why Jennifer's back is so sore. 

By 4 pm on Saturday, I had taken all I could take of laboring at home and decided to head in to the hospital. The checked me in at triage and determined that I was now 4-5 cm dilated. They admitted me and we continued to labor in the room. This is where it got hard...and I mean REALLY hard. The contractions came one on top of another and were very strong. I used the yoga ball and various positions to help me get through the contractions including leaning on my beautifully strong wife. After a some time of working through each of those horrific contractions I asked the doctor to check to see how far along I was. I was just at 6 cm and at that point I really had to think about conserving my energy for pushing this kid out at the end. I decided that the best way for me to do so and for Jennifer and me to achieve our goal of having a beautiful birthing experience, it was best for me to take an epidural. It was a good choice in my opinion because it afforded me some time rest up my energy and let my body dilate. My contractions did slow down a bit but after using some techniques that Stacy recommended the contractions picked back up again and were steady throughout the the night and overnight at about 2 minutes apart. Slowly I progressed to 7 cm then 8 cm then 9 cm and then 9.5 cm....that's right 9.5! Apparently, Rowan's head was hitting a part of my cervix and making swell a little which was preventing it from opening a full 10 cm. Sometime around 6:45 am the Doctor came in a checked me out and said that with the next contraction she could move the baby's head just enough so the head could get out of the way of the cervix and allow it to open to 10 cm.

So the pushing phase began at about 6:50 am on Sunday. At first it was hard to feel when and how to push because of the epidural but eventually the pressure increased so much that I was VERY aware of the contractions. I won't bore you with my hyperventilating issues during pushing and the fact that with each series of pushes I could breath less and less due to this lingering head cold I have had for over 2 months. Fortunately, I had great coaches in Jennifer and Stacy and they helped me keep my stuff together just enough to birth this little guy. We also used a mirror so I could see his head during my pushes which really motivated me to keep going. As the doctor said at the end of all this "boy, you are a really visual person." Hey, whatever works, right?!

Love

Bliss

Joy

Happiness

So to sum things up, after approximately 54 hours of labor we welcomed our newest gift...Rowan Porter Novoa. Weighing in at 8lbs. 10.3oz. 21 inches long with a head circumference of 34.75 cm. There was such love and joy in the delivery room and it's an experience I will never forget.