Cute Little Boys

I had been wanting to get some newborn pictures of Grayson, with us and Cohen, but had been procrastinating it.  Finally, I decided to just snap a few pictures one morning.  These are a few of my favorites. I just love these cute faces...and feet!

More Visitors!

Just a little bit after my sister left, Sterling's sister came.  She had actually had a trip planned to Europe with a friend, MaryAnn, before we had even known we would be moving to Switzerland.  So, they added us to their itinerary. So fun!  Christa really wanted to see Florence, so Sterling took them to check it out.  I wasn't quite ready for such a big adventure with the brand new baby, so we stayed home and rested. :)  And they had a great time!  (And Cohen LOVED having more friends around.  They played with him, read to him...he was in heaven!)

Sisters are the Best!

So, we returned home from the hospital and tried to get settled in as a new family of four.  Clearly Grayson settled right in.  :) 

I love this picture!  It's real life, and it's fun real life.

Leading up to having baby number 2...abroad, in Switzerland I had tried to convince my mom or sister to come help out bond with the baby, but Melica has 3 kids and logistics were difficult.  Anyway, it just hadn't worked out.  Until....they surprised me!  My mom helped with my sister's kids while she flew to help me!  It was SO great.  (and that's the understatement of a life time).  She brought us wonderful things from America (like Ghirardelli brownie mix, PB, and new treats for the kids), she cooked for me, she cleaned for me, she held Grayson so that I could nap, she played with Cohen, and she was fabulous company!  It was amazing!  I have no shame in admitting tears were shed when she left...and maybe even after she was gone...for a while.  Yea for sisters (and Moms)!

Getting some snuggles.

Opening new goodies

While she was here, we thought we needed to at least see something cool.  She had traveled all this way, it seemed lame to not venture out (even though she made it clear that was not her purpose or expectation in coming).  So we thought we'd visit the castle only 20 minutes away.

Well, once we explored the castle, we thought we should go a little further.  There is a dam in one of the 007 movies and also an old Roman bridge close to it that we had been wanting to see.  It wasn't much further, so we checked the bus schedule and headed on.  We had to transfer train to bus, and got on our last one headed up the mountain.  After we were on it for a bit, we thought Sterling should ask the driver what time the last one goes back down (just to make sure we didn't miss it).  Well, it had just passed us.  Turns out they were on the "winter" bus schedule, of which Google was apparently unaware.  So we thought the one we were on would turn around and go back down, so we'd just ride it and not get off.  So after we went significantly further, Sterling asked the driver if he went back down.  Nope, only up.  Seriously?!  We were so far up the mountain now, the driver told us it'd be like 200 francs to get a taxi to come get us and take us back.  He also said the hotels were all closed for the winter.  But he and an old lady in the front took pity on us and stopped along the way until we found one open hotel.  

Since this hadn't been part of the plan, we were without, well, anything.  But, we were the only people in the hotel and it was beautiful.  It had an entire wall of floor to ceiling glass windows and the view was spectacular. The bus back down didn't come by until close to noon, so we were forced to just relax and enjoy ourselves.  

In the morning we went for a walk and found a quaint little village to explore.  We walked along the river and listened to the water and breathed in the fresh air.  So beautiful.

These were taken from the bus ride back down. 

The color of the water was so amazing.  It was all just breathtaking. 

Meeting Grayson

This is my 40 week photo. 

Getting some one on one time with Cohen before baby brother steals some attention!

In the last days before Grayson came, I was sooo exhausted.  So I let Cohen lay down with me and we got some special cuddles and snuggles.  It was the best!

 Once we got past the 27th (my due date that was a week later than my first due date), Sterling was really hoping for a leap year baby.  It happened to be the 29th, and we decided to stay up late watching a movie, since we wouldn't have that luxury for much longer.  We finished around midnight and I got up to go to bed and had to stop and brace on the couch because of a contraction.  I didn't think too much of it and went to bed.  (I should preface this with the fact that I was induced with Cohen, so this was a totally different experience, and I felt like I couldn't really rely on my experience with Cohen to know what to expect this time around).  So we went to bed and they were getting pretty painful, and right as I would start to fall asleep I'd get another one.  So, I busted out my handy app and started timing them.  They were 15-20 minutes for a few hours, then 10-15 for a few hours, then 8-10.  I know in the states they want them like 3-5 so I was just dealing with it instead of calling the hospital.  By this time everyone was awake and it was like 10 in the morning.  I had avoided calling the hospital because I didn't think my contractions were close enough, but also because I didn't want to have to deal with trying to find someone that spoke english.  Every time I had called before (to try to tour the hospital), it was this painfully long process to try to find someone that spoke english and then to try to actually communicate well.  Finally Sterling said, "you should probably call the hospital and see what they say."  So I procrastinated a few more minutes and called.  Huge tender mercy - I got someone right away that spoke english.  Not only did she speak english, she spoke it well.  She had lived in Cali for 20 years.  She told me to go ahead and come in.  Okay!

The Bishop's wife, Tammy, had been a huge help and had volunteered to take us to the hospital (we don't have a car here) and take care of Cohen while we were there.  So we called her and got our stuff ready.  She picked us up and took us over.  We got to the hospital around noon and they hooked me up to a monitor.  

(Up to this point I had never been checked for dilation, etc.).  They still didn't check me.  Just monitored the baby.  The nurse left for a minute and Sterling was watching the monitor (of course).  He saw something that concerned him, so he asked the nurse about it when she came back in.  With this, she decided to check me.  7 cm. and rush into a delivery room!  

In the delivery room

She asked me if I wanted an epidural, but told me it might be too late.  The contractions were super intense, but when they stopped the pain totally went away.  (With Cohen, I felt like the pain was constant, without any relief).  So during my pain-free moments, I thought I could do it.  So I debated...I wanted to try and see if I could do it, but hadn't set my mind to it.  Finally,  during back-to-back contractions, I said okay.  Give me the epidural.  While she was prepping everything my water broke (I remember shouting "water!" haha) and she came rushing over.  Well, the epidural was out the window and she was telling me not to push so that she could be ready for the baby.  Then I pushed maybe 5 to 10 minutes (I really don't want to make it sound easy, this 5 to 10 minutes was probably definitely the most excruciating 5 to 10 minutes I've ever experienced).  But, then he was out!  All 6 lbs. 14 oz.  and perfect!  He arrived at 1:22 p.m.

Meanwhile Cohen was having a blast. Tammy had helped Cohen make a graham cracker train (he probably didn't want us to ever come back, haha!)

She brought him to the hospital to meet Grayson.  Sterling wasn't allowed to stay with me, so he and Cohen went back to the house to get a good night's sleep.  Probably nicer for Cohen to be at home with Daddy anyway.

This was the view from my room.  Funny, I never saw this view until I found this picture.  Sterling enjoyed it though!  

Just some things I want to remember:

I delivered at Clinica Sant'anna.  Fun fact: apparently Putin's girlfriend delivered her baby there. Crazy! 

The nurses were very helpful.  One time we asked for some diapers and the nurse took the baby and changed him instead.  She told us if he needed a diaper change to just call!  So the entire stay we didn't change a single diaper!  

Also, the food.  It. was. amazing. Breakfast was a little on the skimpy side (crescent with jelly), but the rest of it was great!

They only checked my blood pressure twice during my entire time there!  Maybe medically it's questionable, but from a patient standpoint, it was fabulous!  And they never weighed me.  So nice!  

Also, I think I offended them when I asked when I got to leave.  The response each time was, "this is not a prison.  You may leave whenever you want.  We are here to help you."  I think the average stay was 4-5 days.  I left after 2 and my roommate (who was in there before me) was shocked.  I was just ready to be home.  

Then, they didn't do the bloodwork and stuff before we left the hospital, so I called one of the midwives and she came to our house and did it!  I didn't have to go back to the hospital or to the pediatrician for his first check up.  It was all done in the comfort of our home.  Win!

Nice and Monaco

So, when we were in Boston my due date was February 22nd.  Then when I got my ultrasound, they changed in to the 20th (woohoo).  Well, after we arrived in Switzerland, I made an appt. with the OB and he scheduled me for 2 more weeks (at this point I was thinking it should only be a week, but I went with it).  So at the next appointment I decided to ask him when my due date was.  He had all of my medical records, but I thought I'd ask anyway.  After explaining to me that it didn't matter because babies don't actually come on their due date (shocker), he told me the 27th.  What?!  An entire extra week!  Now, I do have to say with the move and all of the craziness the 9 months seemed to go rather quickly, but I was still ready to not be pregnant anymore.  So the weekend of the 20th rolls around (my original due date) and Sterling says, "well, since the baby hasn't come let's go to Nice and Monaco!"  Hmmm....  So I bring up some minor issues like what if I go into labor.  Well, Mr. "trust me I'm a Dr." proceeds to explain that labor is a long process and it's only a 4 hr. drive there, so we could turn around and come back before the baby would even come.  Great.  Well, as you can see from the pictures, he won.  Luckily, I didn't go into labor...or he would not have won in the end. 

We left in the evening (probably due to a lengthy discussion about actually going) so we pulled off at a hotel a couple hours into the drive.  It was really cheap and really nice!  Too bad we didn't bring the swimsuits.

Overlooking Monaco.  It was really beautiful.

The color of the water was so vibrant.  

The beach wasn't sand, it was tons of smooth rocks...so of course there is an obligation to throw the rocks in the water.  Good thing we have Cohen to take care of that!

And don't forget about chasing the pigeons!

After Sterling drove around like a race car and drooled over all of the fancy cars we headed on toward Nice.  We were hungry so Sterling turned off into a village, drove up the mountain, and found us this great restaurant with a beautiful view!  And we found out that the best olive oil in the country was not far away.  Score!  It took a while to find, but it was awesome!  Not exactly what we buy at Publix (no offense to Publix of course).