Please people, don't rain on my parade!!

We have missed the Raleigh Christmas Parade every year. Usually due to Adam's work schedule. This year we vowed to go to every single Christmas influenced event we could handle.

First came the Raleigh Christmas Parade. It was actually quite impressive. Not that Raleigh's a small town or anything, but I wasn't expecting some of the big floats and giant balloons they had. I also wasn't expecting it to last 2 hours! We headed out there as our new little family of 4. It was approximately 12 degrees that morning but did warm up over the, agian, 2 hours that we were there. Our friend Jay met us there with his little gir,l and Harper's idol, Grace. We got there about an hour before it started and still missed out on the front row. We were lucky enough to camp out right behind a super nice family who squeezed over and let our little ones (and husbands) sit on the curb. The kids had a great time, and as I said before, Raleigh really put on a fantastic show! We even got to see our own "Idol" Scotty.








Now, on to the next event. We all went to the tree lighting up at North Hills. We met a bunch of friends up there and their kids. The tree lighting ceremony was really cute. They had us all singing Christmas carols and then Santa himself made an appearance to help light the tree. Despite being totally starstruck, the highlight of the night was when Santa pointed directly to Harper and waved. With a look of sheer terror, she gave him a half staff, slow motion wave back.






The following week we spent an afternoon in Wake Forest for their own town parade. Again, I was not expecting too much and was very wrong, but we stayed from beginning to end. Harper was just as impressed but much more active during this one. She made sure she didn't miss out on anyone walking by handing out goodies.







And last but not least we rounded out our Holiday event calender with a breakfast with Santa! This was the coolest thing! My parent's country club hosted a breakfast for all the members and their families, that ended with a visit from Santa. It was a fun filled morning where we learned a new trick, decorated gingerbread houses that were displayed in the clubhouse throughout the holidays, and anyone who wanted to got to sit on Santa's lap and profess their every desire. Harper's was for a Princess (not a doll, but the real thing).
We ended the afternoon at a friend's house for a cookie exchange where Stratton got to formally meet his first best friend, James :)

Wrapping up fall with a few forgotten moments

In my true fashion, I have slacked off and jumped the gun at the same time. Granted I have had a lot going on since early fall but that's no excuse for missing such monumental moments in my familes lives (as you will see). I was so excited to post our pictures of Stratton that I skipped all of these little gems from September and October.

Here is Adam's little tribute to the seemingly endless raking he did. Every time we would drive through the neighborhood he would say "we have way more leaves than them" or "our pile is definitely the biggest one!" Seriously...they're leaves!

There were a lot of trips to the playground with dad. Sort of...lets get out of the house before momma explodes retreats.

Sometimes daddy would pick out the clothes. Only in extreme emergencies!

We fed all the babies in the house...the natural way :)

And, we went to the fair. Somebody was loving on their ice cream cone!

The story, the experience...the 411

It was 4:30am, October 18th, one week to the day before my due date. It was still dark out, cold, raining, and my water broke on a routine trip to the bathroom. I must say, I'm a big fan of the water breaking. It happened with Harper too, and it definitely takes the question out of going into labor. Knowing that a week prior, at my last appointment, I was already 4 cm dilated, I grabbed my phone as fast as I could and called the doctor on call. To my extreme jubilation...it was Dr. Zimmerman! He is my absolute favorite doctor in the practice, and the one who delivered Harper!! Another reason I love him is he doesn't jerk you around. He answers the phone "Hey Sarah, it's Zim, great day to have a baby isn't it?" He then tells me "Well, come on in, we'll be expecting you." None of that...wait at home in severe pain, and possibly miss the opportunity to get an epidural crap.

My next phone call was to my parents, and then to Emilee. I figured I would alert them ASAP so while we were getting ready to leave my mom could be on her way and Emilee could be getting her stuff ready. 30 mins from Wake Forest is a long time when you're in labor. By the time I showered (I absolutely HAD to shower) grabbed a banana and some cereal (knowing I wouldn't be eating for a while) and kissed Harper good-bye, my mom was there and ready for duty.

We got to the hospital, they assessed I was actually in labor, and put me in a labor room. Emilee arrived about the time we got to the room and she was also ready for duty. After seeing our birth video of Harper, I couldn't imagine not having one for our little Stratton too. It's one of the most amazing memories I will ever have.

Labor was almost a carbon copy of that with Harper. Contractions started within minutes of my water breaking and were fast and intense. I finally got my epidural around 7:30. Along with it came relief and drops in blood pressure whenever I changed position. I managed to keep my banana down, but definitely had some lightheadedness. They did have to give me a few extra doses along the way as my right side was a little less numb than the left. When the time came to start pushing, everything was numb that was should have been, and it was completely painless. As Stratton emerged (pretty much on his own) Adam had the exciting and wildly anticipated job of announcing the sex. Those words went something like this "IT'S A BOY, OH YES, IT'S A BOY!!!" It was quite a moment. One definitely worth waiting for.

Recovery has been a breeze, and for the most part everything has come back to us. I'm not going to lie, the first few weeks are not fun, and it is definitely a different story with a 2 1/2 year old running around. However, they are just that, a few weeks, and we are almost out of the dark and into the light as that goes.

I can't wait to share with you the slideshow Emilee puts together. I know it will take our breath away like the day itself.

Jumping right to the pictures

I promise to fill everyone in on a detailed (well, not too detailed) birth story for our beautiful little Stratton, but for now, I'm just going to post some of his newborn photos. Actually, since I never posted them, I'm going to post some from our maternity, newborn, and family sessions. Wow, how lucky are we to have a photographer as a best friend :)

Boo!! This blog post really does exist

Halloween this was definitely an event in the making. Actually, October was in general. First of all...Adam took the DAT (Dental Admissions Test). This was a huge event in the Brown house and basically consumed our/Adam's life for the 3 months leading up to it. Well, luckily HE DID GREAT!! So we won't have to go through all of that again (that is of course until dental school). Next on the line up was...The North Carolina State Fair!! This may not sound like a big deal to you, but I am a fair lover and never ever miss it. This, of course, leading up to the main event of THE BABY!! We spent most of the month praying he would wait and wouldn't come until after all of the happenings...which he did.

Now, on to Halloween. Though we were hoping the baby would hold off for a while, I was very optimistic he would be here for a little trick or treating with the family. I had planned the kids costumes and was very excited.

As luck would have it, he missed all the dates we wanted, and made it in time to hit exactly 4 houses on a rainy miserable Halloween night :(

Earlier in the month we found the time to make a repeat visit and grab some pumpkins at Hillridge Farms. We were so excited that we randomly ran into our friend Whitley and her little boy Tully (one of Harpers favorite little buddies). It made the day that much better, especially for the kids. The train and hay ride were just as fun as always, and feeding the animals never gets old. The 2 new attractions for Harper were the hay jump and the big slide. She had the best time!!

This was a very big slide for such a little girl to take on all by herself!

Out of the hundreds of pumpkins to choose from, Harper chose this little guy and wouldn't let go. No matter how much mom and dad tried to convince her to get a bigger one, or a smoother one, she would have none of it. It wasn't even carvable. This was, in fact, the Charlie Brown Christmas tree of the pumpkin patch :)

And now for the costume reveal!! Harper was a beautiful Eskimo (princess) as she would say, and Stratton was her sweet little papoose. My precious little babies.