Things I'm Loving

• Beignets from The Heavenly Donut Company. I think these are the best things I have eaten in Birmingham. I now have a goal to go to New Orleans to eat the real deal.

• This picture going around FB because it reminds me of my attempts to take pictures of David with my new camera. My friend is a photographer and she told me that she would be happy to edit in photoshop any photos that I take.

 See what I mean? I think I am going to start my own business.

• Spencer, who does his very best to keep up with my blog stalking stories and to not judge me for talking too much about people that I have never met before in real life. (What else am I suppose to talk about when I am home alone all day with two kids?!) I quizzed him last night and I was so proud that he knew Hungry Runner Girl's real name and Sean from the Bachelor's sister's name.  
• Fight the New Drug's FREE new online pornography addiction recovery program for youth. My friend from Utah State founded Fight the New Drug and here is what he has to say about it: 

Nearly 2 years ago when we started going out and doing assemblies in High Schools we realized quickly that education was critical but... it wasn't enough. So many young people expressed a need for help but didn't know where to turn. This experience inspired us to develop a program for young people... initially one that we thought would only take 3-4 months to build;) Ha!

So here we are today... 2 years later with the collective effort of the most talented and gifted people on the planet, now launching Fortify: A Step Toward Recovery. If you or someone you know is struggling with an addiction to pornography, you need to know there have been people out there who care about you and have been working tirelessly to bring you the best resources available to help you and/or loved ones get on the road to recovery. We've already had 6,000+ young people sign up for this program from all across the world. Share this, push this, change lives!

• My bestest friend, Katie, who sent me an amazingly cheesy awesome chick-flick to watch while I'm nursing and an adorable book for Jack and David. 

 

• The blog, The Moments We Stand. Remember how I told you that I am drawn to traumatically inspiring stories? This one takes the cake. It is a blog about a woman's journey after discovering her husband's infidelity when the police showed up at her door telling her that her husband was murdered by the mistress' husband.  If you haven't read this blog yet, quit reading my dumb blog and start reading Ashlee's immediately! (And start from the beginning). It is amazing. 
• The fact that I finally got around to uploading pictures. Here is the dump:

 
David's second trip to the zoo. Brainwash them early.
 
 
Jack truly thinks he knows how to play Rumikub:

 
More snow from a couple weeks ago. I think the snow is finally done for the season.

David's Birth

On Tuesday, January 28th, I was super excited to go to my doctor's appointment because we were going to schedule an induction for that Friday the 31st. My doctor had been promising me that date for months so my mom booked a plane ticket to come the 30th. (She had a small window of time to visit between my brother, James, coming home from his mission and his homecoming talk.) I figured that the baby would most likely come before that because Jack came early, but if not, the induction would be worth it because I could take advantage of my mom helping me out for a week. At my appointment my doctor told me that my body had not started to progress, that it would be unwise to be induced on Friday, and that my baby most likely wouldn't come for a while. I was shocked! When I was pregnant with Jack, I had slowly progressed for three weeks before I went into labor, so I was confused and frustrated because I needed my body to have my baby while my mom was in Birmingham, dang it!

I walked out of the doctor's office just as the snow started to fall and I safely made it home just before the crazy southern snowpocalypse began. We couldn't leave our apartment for two and a half days, which gave me no distractions from the stressful fact that my body was not going to go into labor when I wanted it to. (Granted, I was incredibly grateful I didn't go into labor on Tuesday or Wednesday because I would have most likely given birth on the side of the highway). We did a lot of sitting around those two days, and I'm pretty sure I tried every natural induction method possible. I walked a total of 6 miles in the snow around our apartment's parking lot and I even tried Natalli's "lunge, step, step, squat dance" around the house. (Thanks for the tip, Natalli! I'm sure that helped ;) Luckily, traffic started clearing up Thursday afternoon and we had no problems picking up my mom from the airport.

That night, I had this texting conversation with my friend, Kana.

Kana: Tonight Siri informed me that Chinese New Year is tomorrow. Is it bad that I really want your child to come tomorrow?

Me: I hope!!! I could throw a Chinese themed birthday party for the rest of my life!! It will be Bruce Lee if it's born tomorrow!

It turns out Chinese New Year was just the motivation my body needed! By 2 am, I was having contractions 4-6 minutes apart so we decided to go to the hospital.

At 12:48 pm, our baby BOY was born! I'm so glad that we waited to find out what we were having. We didn't end up naming him Bruce Lee for Chinese New Year, or Hugo Sayid after LOST, or the actual name that we had been planning on naming our baby since we found out I was pregnant. When I saw our baby boy for the first time, I knew that his name was David Maughan, a name that we hadn't even considered. David is blessed with an incredible heritage and is named after some amazing people. Both of our fathers are named David and my grandma's maiden name is Maughan. David is also named after some other Maughans that hold a special place in my heart. I have blogged about them here and here.

My mom came with Jack to the hospital about an hour after David was born. I am sooooo grateful that David came when he did because I had a full week of my mom helping with Jack and completely spoiling us. Plus... CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!! Maybe I'm Asian after all.

And more pictures...

The best gift my mom ever gave us:

David will most likely look like this in 80 years as well:
 

Jack loving David to death:
 
 

My Valentines

I had every intention of blogging more about David's birth this week but it turns out, adjusting to a family of four is a little trickier than I anticipated :) Jack has woken up at 5 am for the past week, has restricted his diet to pizza and fruit snacks only, has learned how to paint with his poop, and is literally loving on David so much it hurts. However, both of my babies are happy most of the time and I am so grateful for that. If Jack isn't laying on top of David while I'm nursing or painting with poop while I'm nursing, he is usually dancing. I will thank the multiple fruit snacks a day for his sweet contagious energy.

I am happy to report that I have officially survived a week without my mom here helping me! I don't know how I would have done it without friends bringing meals and without the four "snow days" that forced Spencer to stay home from work and school. It is too bad that Iowa's governor probably won't issue a State of Emergency every time it threatens to snow like Birmingham's governor does ;)

Hope y'all have a Happy Valentines Day! I am celebrating with THREE boys, sugar cookies, and hopefully a nap!

It's a BOY!!!

David Maughan Hall

1.31.14

7 lbs. 7 oz. 

22 1/2 in.