When it rains, it pours!

Well Tuesday we made the drive back to Sulphur without any problems. Luckily we left early enough that we didn't get into any traffic coming back. The hurricane hit farther east of here, so our area was basically unaffected besides losing power for a few hours during the storm. I'm so thankful that we had a house & electricity to come back to!!

So Wednesday was our first full day for me to be home with two kiddos by myself. I wasn't feeling great, so I asked Mom if she minded spending part of the day with us. Anna Kate developed a weird rash on her leg and Will had a little jaundice, so we started our day going to Dr. Richert's office to get both kids checked out. Let me tell you, 2 kids is a HUGE change from 1!!! It took me about 3 hours to get both kids woken up, bathed, fed, dressed, change diapers, change clothes from the spit up, etc! We barely made it to our 10:45 am doctor appointment and I started getting ready about 8 am!

Mom met us at the doctor, which I'm thankful for. Anna Kate was in an exceptionally active mood and did not want to sit still in the waiting room. Will decided that he was ready for his midmorning snack, so Mom had to case Anna Kate while I fed Will. We made it back to see the doctor and he said Anna Kate's rash was nothing to worry about. However, he did want us to do labwork on Will to see if his jaundice was getting worse. So the doctor left the room, I called my father in law to let him know we were coming to the hospital and Mom was holding baby Will. In those split seconds, Anna Kate jumped onto the exam table and decided she was going to get in the baby's car seat before Mom could put him in there. She flipped it off the table & fell off onto the floor (a 3 foot fall!!) She is screaming so we called the doctor back in the room to check her out. Everything seemed fine but he said keep an eye on her.

We walked across the street to the hospital to get Will's labwork done. Mr. Bill met up with us & came with me to the lab while Mom took Anna Kate to the cafeteria where we were going to meet up for lunch. As soon as they got in the food line, Anna Kate puked all over herself & Mom!!! So Mom ran back across the street to the doctor's office to make sure nothing serious had happened from the fall. Luckily, Dr. Richert said the puking was probably from too much excitement and not from a serious head injury. However, he advised us to go home & go back to bed!!!

I'm very thankful I had Mom & Mr. Bill to help me get through those hectic few hours b/c I definitely couldn't have done it on my own!! I've decided I need my Mom to help out a few more days before I'm ready to brave taking two kiddos on my own anywhere!

(On a positive note, the doctor called later & Will's jaundice is getting better, so we don't have to worry about that anymore!)

Evacucation

Here are a few pictures from our evacua-cation. Anna Katharine LOVED all of the attention she received from Uncle Bobby and Aunt Corinne. They live on Lake Conroe, so she got to walk to the water and feed the fish, look at the boats, etc. Anna Katharine's new favorite activity is playing dress-up and they had a huge closet full of dress-up items. I ran to the store one day and when I got back she was in the drive way to greet me wearing a Jasmine (from Aladdin) costume!

JD & Will had a first milestone on the trip as well-they watched their first Dallas Cowboys football game together. I'm sure this will only be the first of many games they watch together!!

1st Day of Mothers Day Out

3 weeks ago, Anna Katharine started Mothers Day Out. She is only going once a week and I have thoroughly enjoyed a few hours to run errands without a 2 year old in tow. She has gone twice now and both times her teacher said she did great, but decided not to take a nap. Oh well, she has slept really well once she has gotten home from school! Here are a few pictures from her first day.

More Pictures of Baby Will

Here is the link to the pictures that my mother in law took at the hospital. There are some cute pictures of Anna Katharine meeting her little brother for the first time.

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=1a893t47.6i4ge1f7&x=0&y=-n1srpx&localeid=en_US

Meet our Newest Addition!!

Well sorry it has taken so long to get these pictures up, but it has been a whirlwind 4 days!!!

The quick synopsis of Will's arrival is that we went into the hospital at midnight on Wednesday night to be induced. They started my pitocin about 1 am. At 5:30 am, the doctor came in and broke my water. I received my epidural about 9:30. The nurse checked me about 10 am and said don't push b/c he'll ready to come right now!! They called the doctor in, I pushed for about 5 minutes & William Rhodes Hankins arrived into the world at 10:27 am. on August 28, 2008. He weighed a whopping 8 lbs 10 ounces and was 21 1/4 inches long with a head full of hair!





After a full day of visitors, we enjoyed a good night's rest at the hospital. The hospital was very accomodating and comfortable..We thoroughly enjoyed the new renovations. JD was especially thankful for the comfy new couches!! Our plan was to stay in the hospital until Saturday and then come back to the hospital if Hurricane Gustav decided to threaten our area.

However, Friday morning we woke up to the news that Hurricane Gustav had strenghtened and was headed straight our direction. Therefore, we got an all clear from my doctor and Will's doctor to head home and start thinking about where we would go next.

We went home on Friday afternoon and got another good night's sleep (Will only woke up once during the night to eat!!) After considering all of our options on whether to stay or leave, we decided it would be best to leave on Saturday, ahead of the traffic. Our plan was to make it to San Antonio where JD has a lot of family. The traffic ended up being heavier than normal & it took 3 1/2 hours to get to Houston instead of the normal hour & 45 minutes. That far in the car is not comfortable for someone who just gave birth, so we decided to find a stopping place closer than San Antonio.

My grandma is with us and we decided to call her brother in Lake Conroe to see if we could evacuate to his house instead. Thankfully they agreed to take in the whole car load- me, JD, Anna Katharine, Will, my mom, brother, grandma & our 2 dogs!! So we are hanging out here for a few days until we figure out what the storm is going to do. Right now it looks like our house is going to be safe & we'll be able to go home in a couple days.

So all that to say, Will's first few days of life has been quite chaotic. Thankfully he has been quite a trooper through all of this! Again, sorry it has taken so long to post pictures of our new little guy, but I think I have a valid excuse.

Thursday is the Day!!

I've been meaning to post all week & haven't gotten around to it. Last week Anna Katharine started Mothers Day Out, which went very well. I have the most adorable pictures from her first day of school that I will try to post later (pictures are still on my camera).

Well the big excitement is that I'm going to be induced on Thursday!! We go into the hospital tomorrow night & they'll start a low dose of pitocin. The doctor should be there between 4-6 am & he'll check how everything is going. If all goes according to plan, baby William should arrive sometime Thursday afternoon. I'll be delivering at Cal-Cam hospital, so feel free to stop by & meet our baby boy if you are in the neighborhood. We will have wireless access at the hospital, so hopefully we'll have some pictures posted soon after his arrival for everyone not able to make it to meet him in person!

So please say a prayer for our family that everything will go smoothly and in less than 48 hours we'll have a healthy precious baby boy!

Less than 2 weeks!!!

Well the countdown for baby Will has officially begun!! I went to the doctor yesterday for my 38 week appointment. He said I have dialated slightly, but baby Will is still very high. JD asked Dr. Darby what his prediction for Will's arrival & Dr. Darby responded that he expects that we'll end up inducing before he arrives on his own. The doctor is encouraging us to induce the week of my due date to prevent the baby from getting too big, thus increasing the risk of having to have a c-section. Therefore, based on Dr. Darby's on call days it looks like we'll be inducing on either Monday, August 25th or Thursday, August 28th. However, this is all very tentative as baby Will could have a completely different agenda & decide to arrive in his own time :) All that to say, we'll have a baby boy in less than 2 weeks!

Today was a very productive day as we picked up my chair & ottoman for the nursery. Mom also finished painting the baby bed. JD started putting it together today, but was slightly distracted by the Olympic basketball game. I have high hopes that it will be completely put together tomorrow. Very exciting to finally see the nursery put together. Once things are set up a little more, I'll take some pictures to post.

Well we're about to watch Michael Phelps hopefully win his 8th gold medal than I'm off to bed. I'm helping host my cousin Lynette's wedding shower tomorrow, so I need to rest up!