It's all happening at the ZOO!

Today was ZOO day! Thanks to Boppa for snapping a picture of the whole family.

We loaded the munchkins up in the car and met Boppa at the Zoo.

Carter had a blast! On the way to the Zoo he kept saying that he wanted to "skip the elephants" although his S's aren't very pronounced so it sounded more like "kip the elephants". Once he was safely in his stroller, behind a metal grate, behind a moat, and 90 feet away from the elephants he actually enjoyed himself!



We were just in time to catch the Winged Wonders Bird show which was fantastic. Birds were appearing out of nowhere and swooping right over our heads.

After the show Carter got up close and personal with a Golden Eagle.

Carter donated $1 to the bird cleaning efforts in the gulf by handing a dollar bill to an African white necked raven.



Carter and Susan even got a chance to be an amateur paleontologist at the dino dig uncovering fossilized bones.


Carter came home, ate a whiney lunch because he was so tired, and he's currently dreaming about elephants, tigers, and capybaras.

Carter's First Swimming Lessons

Carter had his first swimming lessons with Ann Buchanan a few weeks ago. There were definitely tears the first day, and the second, third, fourth, and the fifth. The good news was that the tears decreased dramatically each day and he got so much more comfortable in the water.

By the third day he was comfortable with going underwater to pick up the "sharks". Now when we swim anything at the bottom of the pool (i.e. kitchen spoon) is called a shark and he loves to go down and grab them.

By the end of the week he would half heartedly jump off of the edge of the pool to Ann's waiting arms. She was great with him! Always giving him reassurance and lots of hugs.

Isla even came along to cheer her brother on. Well she cheered him on by sleeping and eating but... to each their own!

Carter is all wet!

After swim lessons the family met Boppa at Oso de Oro park and had a blast!

Grandma and Grandpa come to visit

Grandma and Grandpa Butterworth came out to spend a few weeks with Isla and Carter. They were SO MUCH HELP! It was really hard to see them go. Isla got lots of cuddling time in and Carter scored with full time live in playmates for 2 weeks. Thanks for all of the help Aleene and Ed... we miss you!

Carter says, "Thanks for my train table! I love it!"

The many faces of Isla

These are but a few that we've been able to capture. She is doing great and growing like a weed!

Isla Clare Gladding Arrives

Isla's Birthday....

"I think she is coming today" Susan says to me as I wake up at 6:15. She has been up since 5:30 with contractions about 7 minutes apart. About 10 minutes later I call my father to come over and take Carter to school. As we put Carter in the car Susan tells him that we are going to pick up baby sister today. Grandpa takes Carter to school and we head off to the hospital.

At the hospital we felt very fortunate to have the same nurse (also named Susan) that we had for Carter. She checked Susan and determined that she was at a 4.5 around 10:30. Doctor Swanson arrived around 12:30, confirmed the nurse's 4.5, and broke Susan's "bag of water".

Then things got interesting.

The anesthesiologist was in a C-section and wouldn't be able to come in to give the epidural right away. At about 1:00 the nurse said that the epidural was coming in about 20 minutes. This was not good news as the contractions had begun to get painful for Susan. 20 minutes later the epidural was coimng in 5-10 minutes. This, once again, was not good news as the contractions were getting more painful. At about 1:30 a new nurse comes in and lets' us know that our nurse is off to lunch and that the epidural is, once again, 5-10 minutes away. 10 minutes later, as Susan is in severe discomfort, I push the call button again and the room floods with 3 nurses and the anesthesiologist. The anesthesiologist takes one look at Susan and makes an about face out of the room knowing that she is far too late. The nurses call the doctor and, thankfully, one of the nurses takes over and begins coaching Susan on her breathing. Susan asked if she should push and the nurse said not to and her body was doing "exactly what it was supposed to do." The contractions became increasingly intense and frequent. They were coming about every minute and a half and lasting 90 seconds leaving Susan no time to recover.

As all of this is happening I'm looking under the curtain by the door for the doctor's shoes hoping that he would come and save the day. When I saw Isla's head crown I knew that he wasn't going to make it and Isla Clare, after one or two more contractions, was delivered by a nurse we had met about 20 minutes ago. Isla was born at 1:53 p.m., 6 lbs 15 ozs, 20.5 inches. She is healthy, eating well, and perfect.

Carter's Revenge!

Today, while at a seemingly innocuous kids birthday party, Carter was unexpectedly assaulted by Trenton. As a parent I had to resist the urge to resolve the situation and I bit my lip and sat back and watched Carter fight his own battles. In true form Carter regrouped and took Trenton down with one swift flick of the wrist and a green ball. Bravo Carter.... Bravo.



After the "event" came to an end a great time was had by all!