Visit with Cioci Mary Beth and Uncle Brian

They loved to go in the grass because then they got to go in reverse!

Evan driving...

Alex, looking so BIG!

We rarely get to see Tim's sister Mary Beth and her husband Brian because they have very demanding jobs and live in New Jersey. However, they had planned a trip to Ohio for Becca's shower, so they drove the extra couple hours down to Cincy to see us! We were so excited they were able to make it! Of course they spoiled the boys! They brought them this new Toy Story car and Toy Story lunch boxes with candy! It was so hot - but we managed to get out and drive around for a little while! They love it! Thanks Mary Beth and Brian!

The boys love their new brother...

All Alex and Evan want to do is hold baby Drew and touch him! We are trying to teach them to kiss the back of his head or his little feet, but easier said than done. They mostly do whatever they want anyway, so why should this be any different! Drew is really tolerable and I am sure will be crawling around chasing them in a few short months.

We are coming home!

We were definitely ready to get the heck out of that hospital and get home to the boys! We were happy to hear we could go home fairly early on Wednesday! It felt like we had been there for 2 weeks! I could do without a blood draw wake up every day Little Drew sure didn't look too happy to be in his car seat for the first time! He has since fell in love and that is where he sleeps at night!

Alex & Evan meet their new partner in crime

The boys have been very curious about my growing belly over the past few months and Alex has been notorious about reminding me how big my belly was getting. It seemed like every night when he saw me, he would say - "Mommy, it is getting bigger and bigger!" or "Mommy, when will you be skinny again?" Thanks Alex...

So when the boys found out that the baby was coming last Monday - they were definitely excited. We dropped them off at Mary's around 6:30am and told them that when it was time to leave Mary's they would (hopefully) have a new baby brother. Alex said, "Go on to the hospital mom, let the doctors take care of you". He must have known I was nervous... He then said, "Come here mom, I just need to hug you". Just what I needed to make it through the day!

Tim ran home to get them and brought them up to the hospital to meet their new brother. Just as we expected, they were excited for five seconds about the baby, but they really were excited about the IV machine, the transformer-esque bed and the contraction monitoring machine. We told them if they kept touching things, the doctor would be in to give them a shot. That worked.

They are being good brothers and have now starting telling visitors to not touch the baby - wonder where they got that?



Just chilling... Waiting for my brothers!


Evan, trying to eat the new baby.


Alex with a sweet kiss...


Family of five and Lightening McQueen


The boys brought a gift for the new baby from Mary's.

Baby Andrew has arrived!

We welcomed Andrew Howard Bajorek into the world on Monday, July 18th at 12:05pm. He was the smallest Bajorek boy at just 7lbs 2ozs (Alex had him beat by 1oz). He was 20.25 inches long. I guess we have one mold for babies. He looks just like Alex and Evan did when they were born and has the same head full of hair.

As most of you know - I was a very anxious Momma over the past few weeks. I am sure I was getting on everyones nerves - sorry! I was relieved when my doctor offered to do an induction on Monday, July 18th when I went to my last visit on Friday, July 15th. After a month of bed rest, some of which was spent praying the baby wouldn't come early, it was nice to know an end was in sight. I had also been nervous about not getting my OB, so having an induction date - I was pretty much guaranteed to have one of them there to "catch the baby" as Tim says. We arrived at 7am and unlike the Evan experience, it was not busy at ALL. Our same perky induction nurse Mary arrived to greet us at 7:05am. She immediately took us to our BIG room and I even had pillows on the bed this time (the Evan experience was not good at all as far as accommodations). Mary was all business and got my IV started right away. I needed my fluids and my antibiotics before we could get started with anything else. Dr. Lea was at the hospital, so before too long he came in to do an assessment. Around 8:30am he checked me and I had made progress since Friday's appointment - I was 3 - 4cm! He broke my water and put the internal monitors in to keep track of my contractions and the babies heart rate. Then came the pitocin... That drug is crazy! Within a few minutes I was having contractions and they got intense very fast. They were about 3 minutes apart instantly and the strong ones were registering around 95 on the scale (75 is a moderate contraction). When I really couldn't talk through them anymore I went ahead and ordered the epidural. They took awhile to come in and then it felt like an eternity of them poking and prodding on my back before they got the epidural in. Then it was heaven. I could just feel enough to know what was going on. The doctor came in again around 10:30am and checked me and I was almost 7cm. Not much went on for the next hour or so - but then my nurse came back in around 11:45am and checked me again - I was 8cm, but my bladder was in the way. They emptied that and the doctor decided it was time to do a few practice pushes. I guess I was ready because the doctor didn't need for me to wait to get to 10cm - something about it being my third baby. This little guys head was down but turned to the side vs. facing towards the back like it should be. Again, apparently because it was my third baby - the doctor could just turn him as he was coming out. So after a couple practice pushes, it was time. Two contractions and six real deal pushes later, the little guy arrived. At one point the doctor said, let's do this on the next push, because Drew did not like the contractions once he was in the birth canal (a good reason for an emergency C-section). Thank God he arrived safely!

We are doing great now that we are home. This week has been challenging because my anxiety and nerves are still with me, but I am sure it will continue to get easier as the weeks go by! The boys are definitely all over Drew and want to "help" me all the time! I can't wait until he is a little bigger so they can play with him for real :) It is definitely going to be interesting around here! We can't wait!


Hi, I am Drew. Where are my brothers, so we can start causing trouble?


Proud Momma and Poppa!

Mom holding Drew for the first time!

Dad holding Drew for the first time!

He is so happy to be here!

The world as we know it - is changing...

The weeks before little Drew entered our world - I was a little stir crazy, so we tried to get out a lot with the boys. The pictures by the fountain are at the Hyde Park Square Farmer's Market - we liked to go up there on Sunday's, walk around and play in the fountain. The boys favorite thing to do was throw sticks in the water - big surprise. Just three short days before I had Drew, we took the boys up to the St. Cecilia festival for a little fun. We had a good time at our old church. This was the first time that I let the boys ride the rickety festival rides. Made me nervous - but they had a blast :) Thank God no pictures were taken of me, I was living large!

Star Wars Lunch Boxes

The boys are crazy about anything Star Wars, so they were quite thankful to receive these lunch boxes from their Cioci Joyce from North Carolina! They came with sandwich cutters of the Death Star and Millennium Falcon. I packed their lunch to send with them to Mimi's!

Thanks Joyce!

New Do's!!!

We had been putting off getting their hair cut, way too long! Here are some pictures of their new do's. We left Evan's longer, just trimmed up, but Alex wanted to look like Daddy! He looks so grown up!!! He loves it spiky and wanted to keep checking to see how he looked in the mirror!

Fourth of July Weekend

Happy Fourth of July! We had a great time this weekend celebrating with Tim's family. His mom, dad, Matt, Lauren, Lilly and Diana came to visit. We had bought Tim's dad tickets to the Reds vs. the Indians game for Sunday, the 3rd. Thankfully we bought the club seats, so we had access to a nice air conditioned area and all we could eat ball park food. It was a crowded day and we couldn't find a table inside, so we decided to have a little picnic by the windows. Evan chose nachos (i.e. dip) for his lunch and Alex took down some LaRosa's pizza. After eating - the boys were anxious to watch the game. Alex and I only lasted 1 1/2 innings in the 90 plus degree heat before we had enough and went inside to drink lemonade and sit on the couch! Evan and Babci came in a little while later. I noticed this obnoxious little kid drinking out of a drink and then gurgling before spitting it out nearby - who would let their kid do that - oh wait, it was Evan! He has excellent manners. The boys were dressed in their Indians t-shirts for the day, as was their dad, DzaiDziu and Uncle Matt. We were mistaken for first timers since we had on the Indians gear and the boys got their cute little certificates indicating this was their first game. The little old man was so cute, we didn't tell him this was our third game this season... I bought the boys miniature bats, which they ended up using as weapons to hit each other and the VAN window (I swear I thought Evan for sure had cracked it - he his it so hard. Tim thought someone had literally hit our car). Needless to say - the bats are now locked up in their bookcase safely away from the world...

Alex eating his pizza! We got Bronson Arroyo dolls when we got there, so that was a nice surprise... Alex is sporting his Bronson Arroyo hair-do. NOTE: We are getting the hair cut this week, another person commented how cute our little girl was.



Cute little Indians!


Evan and his dip!

Saturday evening we borrowed the neighbors pool and had a good time, once again. Why Tim doesn't break down and spend the $10 to get one is beyond me. Maybe I will put that on my to-do list this week... The girls loved the slip n' slide (I hi-jacked this cute photo of them from Lauren's facebook page). The boys are also still enjoying it. This isn't the best picture, but they were wrestling - it was pretty funny! I am hoping Paul got some good pictures too, if so, I will add them later!


All four of them in one picture - nice work!



Tim, Matt, Lilly & Diana - racing!


Evan looks to be winning in this one!

Mt. Adams Pool

Aunt Krista wanted to take Alex to the Mt. Adams pool to teach him how to swim - I was really proud of him, he isn't scared of the water at all, however, I think he needs a few more "lessons" before he gets it :) That is okay, I am sure there are plenty of warm days coming up that Aunt Krista will be willing to blow off her afternoon to take him!

What's Going on with the Baby?

Whoa! I can't believe it is almost July! Where has this year gone? I have definitely had a busy year with work, which is the main reason I haven't been posting that much lately! All of that came to an abrupt halt June 14th, when my OB took me out of work until the baby arrives!
Here is now it all went down...

Rewind to the Friday the 10th - it was my almost 34 week appointment. After talking with my doctor about all of the contractions I have been having, the doctor was concerned with my progress (almost 2cm which isn't supposed to happen until 36 weeks or so) and wanted me to be put on bed rest right then and there. Well, one of my biggest tax deadlines of the year was June 15th. I knew if I could just make it through the weekend, I would be able to get everything done and be fine for the deadline... After I told my bosses at work, of course they wouldn't let me work over the weekend (probably a smart move on their part).

Monday, after as much rest and relaxation as a weekend with two toddlers can be, I headed back to work. By 8pm on Monday, I still hadn't left and just couldn't get rid of my contractions. I stood up to leave and could barely walk to my car! I called the OB on call and he sent me to the hospital to be monitored... After a breathine shot, a big bag of IV fluids for hydration and some oral medication, Procardia - the contractions finally got to be around 4/hour. This is considered normal for 34 weeks... At 3am, Tim and I left the hopsital and headed to the pharmacy to fill the prescription for the Procardia. The doctor said to take it every 6 hours until I reached 37 weeks! The next morning - I felt like someone had beat me up - I guess all that rolling around and contracting Jr. was doing made me sore! I had an appointment that next morning and the doctor convinced me to just be done with work. Clearly something was causing my stress - I am sure the doctor was right - it was likely the 60 hour work weeks, I know...

So fast forward to today - I am 36 weeks today and the medicine AND bed rest from work have really helped. At my appointment last week, I had made no more progress - which was great news! I have had a few rough days this past weekend and definitely feel like the baby is moving down lower. I am not complaining though - it is all part of it and the baby will be here soon enough! I have one more week on my medicine and then we will see what will happen. I didn't have contractions at all with Evan, in fact, I was induced - so I am not sure what will happen or how it will all go down! The doctor seems to think I won't last too long after I am off my medicine, but who knows because that has all been said before (i.e. Alex & Evan). So for now, I will continue to rest, nest and enjoy this time before we get to meet our third little monster. My appointments are every Tuesday at this point - so I will definitely keep everyone posted!

For fun - upcoming dates to shoot for:

July 4th - Firecracker Baby (we could have a cookout and fireworks every year for his birthday)
July 11th - Krista's birthday - she loves to share ;)
July 25th - Actual due date

Slip N' Slide

Daddy's Father's Day gift!




The boys liked it too!

And some pictures... Note their swim shirts that match the Lightening McQueen
Slip N' Slide :)

Granny & Poppy's 50th Wedding Anniversary

Recently we went to Somerset to celebrate my grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary. We got to catch up with a lot of family and friends we hadn't seen in awhile. It was good to see everyone and I think granny and poppy had a lot of fun visiting with everyone!


Here is a picture that I took with Granny & Poppy and the boys.

If anyone is interested in seeing the professional pictures taken by family friend Tim Dalton - they can all be seen here!

Super-Soakers

In early May, I had the chance to stay home with the boys while Mary was off. It was so hot that week, so we had to play outside in the water to cool off! I got the boys two new water guns and a new sprinkler - they were both a big hit!

Derby Day

Who can scream louder?


Hey Evan - let's throw these Mexican River rocks through Michael and Krista's window!

Or how about we throw them at mommy for trying to take our picture?

It just so happened that Derby Day fell on our Anniversary this year, just like it did back in 2005 when we were married - six years ago (thanks to a leap year being in there). We had a fun- filled, busy day! We headed to Columbus as soon as we got up for our friend Heather's shower! She is marrying Tim's childhood friend Marcus on July 9th! We were back in the car by five to attend Krista and Michael's Derby party! We made it in time to watch the race and eat some good food! The boys were rotten by this point and these are the best pictures I could get of them...

Egg Hunt -2011

Neighborhood kids at the Easter egg hunt!


Alex counting his eggs...


I think he is over me taking his picture.

Evan is proud of his eggs!

Easter Sunday

Brotherly love!


Opening their Easter baskets.



Candy!

Cheese! (Will they hate me one day for making them wear these suits?)

I told them they had to smile before I would get down their baskets - it kinda worked!

Since we had a full day of fun activities - we decided to start the fun early, so to 8am mass we went. The boys were angels in church for the 2nd week in a row. I am sure most of you a probably surprised by 1.) the good behavior 2.) the fact that we went to church two weeks in a row. We actually went to St. Mary's this year, which is the church we just joined. If they boys do go to Catholic school, we will be sending them there, so it only made sense to switch from St. Cecilia to St. Mary's. Next we came home to open the Easter basket gifts that the Easter Bunny left for us. The boys were thrilled with their new toys - Alex said that the Easter Bunny was his favorite because he brought him a new Lightening McQueen. Evan just ate a bunch of candy and didn't care too much about his new toys. They did make me write their names on the bubble wands I got them, so they wouldn't get them mixed up. At 11am, we went over to the Pusateri's for a quick Easter egg hunt with some of our other friends/neighbors. Thankfully the rain stopped enough for us to be able to do the egg hunt in their backyard. This was vwey brave of the Pusateri's to host, since they just welcomed their fourth baby on April 8th. Lucca Belle is adorable and somehow managed to sleep in her Daddy's arms - the entire time. When we got home, Babci and Dzia Dziu were waiting for us at our house! We had brunch with them and next up is dinner with Michael and Krista!