Sport at 3 weeks!

Sport at 3 weeks.

Nov. 17 - Sport smiling.

Snow

Dash has been asking when there would be snow since the end of August so he was pretty happy when we got a major storm on November 9th.  I wasn't so thrilled.  The boys begged to go out and play all morning and I finally broke down and took the 30 minutes it takes to get them into snow gear and send them outside.  They loved every minute of it so I guess it was worth it.

It took a lot of work, but I finally got the boys ready to go outside.

Playing on the porch.

The boys used their dump trucks to make tracks through the front yard.

After Daddy got home from work, he took the boys back outside and built a snowman.

Life Continued

After all our company left, we were sad to see them go, but the weather was unusually beautiful so we spent lots of time outdoors and kept busy.  The boys love their brother and my biggest worry is that they might try to help a little too much.

Dash and Colt raking the leaves (again, but we finally bagged them up).  Sport is in his car seat on the porch in the background.

Sport (Nov. 1)

Colt snuggling Sport in the sunshine.

Nov 5 - The Madsen boys

The First Week

Grandma Clayson stayed for the rest of the week after Sport was born.  We were super grateful for all her help.  She cleaned our bathroom!  I might have to have another baby soon, our sink never looked so good.  On Friday, Grandpa, Gracie and Charity arrived.  Dash was thrilled to see more cousins.  They ate dinner and stretched for awhile and then they all loaded up and headed over to see Mount Rushmore (or Mountain City, as Dash calls it) under the night spotlights.  Colt, Sport, and I stayed home and called it an early night.  Saturday morning, all the Clayson family headed back to Idaho and by Saturday afternoon Grandma and Grandpa Madsen pulled up to the delight of the boys.  They came with us to the ward trunk-or-treat and then the next day, Brandan took them all to Spearfish, SD to visit the Wildlife Sanctuary and his friends there.  The Madsens left on Monday morning and Dash has been asking who is coming next since their departure.

Dash absolutely loves to hold Sport and will do so for long periods of time.

 Oct. 29th - Grandma and Grandpa Clayson at Mount Rushmore.

Oct. 29th - Charity, Gracie and Dash at Mount Rushmore.

Grandma and Grandpa with Sport.

Charity and Gracie with Sport.

Oct. 30th - We carved pumpkins while waiting for the Madsens to get to our house.

The boys were complete babies about gutting the pumpkins and in the end Brandan and I ended up doing the gutting and carving by ourselves.  We had fun anyway.

Oct. 30 -Naked Sport.

Grandma playing with the boys.

Superman and Spiderman trunk-or-treating in Newcastle with Daddy.

Oct 30- It had been a long day.

Oct. 31 - Grandma and Grandpa with Dash and Colt at the Wildlife Sanctuary.

Colt looking at the mountain lion.

Dash and Colt with the mountain lions.

Grandpa, Daddy, Dash and Colt with the camels.

Grandma and Grandpa with Sport.

The Big B-Day (Finally)

So my induction day finally came.  Monday morning Brandan, Colt and I all woke up early.  Colt wasn't necessarily supposed to wake up, but he had been sick all weekend and not sleeping well so he was up anyway.  Brandan and I headed out into the rain and made the drive to the Rapid City, South Dakota hospital.  While we drove, we tried to think up a name for the baby.  I don't think people believe us when we say we really don't have a name picked out before the baby is born, but it is very, very true.  We had decided just the night before on the middle name of Brent because it had significance in both families.  The true story of the baby's first name is this:

We were in the hospital with me hooked up to IVs and on pitocin and, of course, we were watching television.  In the meantime, we kept suggesting random names, mostly inspired by objects in the room, such as "switch" and "frame"; yes, we were that desperate.  It won't come as a surprise to most women who've spent time in a labor and delivery room with the average husband that the television kept finding its way to the sports stations.  I happened to notice the station title, FoxSports, and jokinly suggested "Fox".  We laughed and then Brand said, "What about Sport?"

So five hours and five failed epidural pokes later, Sport Brent Madsen was born at 7lbs 5oz and 19 1/2 inches.  Sport had tons of dark brown hair and a great set of lungs.

Mom, Cam, Jill, Kamber, Dash and Colt were killing time in Rapid City that day waiting for the birth announcement so they were able to come meet Sport soon after birth.  We were glad to show off our new addition and if they didn't think he was as beautiful as we did, they hid it well.

DISCLAIMER:  I'm not exactly overly proud of all these pictures, this isn't exactly my most photogenic time, but since I'm using this blog as a family journal...I'm willing to share pictures I might not otherwise.  (Just keep that in mind when you look at my horribly swollen face.  I was on an IV for over 10 hours!)

5 am, October 25th- We had to distract Colt with a movie so we could make our get away to the hospital.

This is our labor and delivery room.

Sport Brent Madsen about 3 minutes after birth...gooey, but cute.

The boys meet Sport.  Colt was a little nervous at first, but they both loved him.

New family photo. Yikes. This one probably won't ever make it on the wall.

Sport after his bath.

Daddy and Sport.

Colt finally warmed up to Sport and has been more than helpful ever since.

Sport loves to suck his fingers.  He had his fingers in his mouth immediately after birth and most of the time over the next few days.

Daddy and Sport watching ESPN in the hospital.

October 26th - Sport getting dressed to come home.

Mom and Sport just after arriving home from the hospital.

Grandma Clayson was just putting the boys to bed when we got home from the hospital, but they stayed up long enough to snuggle their new brother.

Help Arrives

On October 23, the troops arrived.  Cam, Jill, Kamber and Mom made the trip to Upton to help out with the boys when the baby came.  We were super excited to see family and they truly were awesome help. 

The boys were really excited to see family.  Almost immediately after they arrived, Dash and Colt took Kamber outside to play in the leaves we were supposed to have bagged and thrown out days ago.

On Sunday we we all went for a walk to the park.  I was still hoping to put myself into labor, but no matter what the distraction was nice (for me and the kids).

Colt's 2nd Birthday!

Colt is officially into the terrible twos.  I wouldn't say he waited for his birthday to start being destructive, but it has seemed to intensify since then.  Even as I write this he is emptying cupboards and I believe he may be writing on the walls.  Oh well, it will buy me some time...

October 20th was a beautiful day and so the boys spent most of the morning outdoors "raking" leaves, digging in the dirt, and hauling rocks; all Colt's favorite activites.  In the meantime, I was in the kitchen making a puppy birthday cake.  That night we had our friends, Randy and Tia Bensen and their two children over for dinner and cake.  The Bensen kids are a little older than the boys, but they all played together hard enough to work up a sweat so I would say, overall, Colt had a good day.

October 20th - The boys spent the morning raking and then scattering the leaves.

Colt opening his birthday presents with a little help from Dash.

Colt's puppy birthday cake.

Daddy ended Colt's special day by reading the boys stories.