Halloween Night Shots

For Halloween, our friends Jake, Leah, and Pressley came over for Jack-O-Lantern pizza before going out with RC and Puppy Dog Bateman for some Trick-or-Treating. Louis and I stayed home to hand out candy, but there were not very many knocks at our door. Regardless, Pressley and Bateman had a blast riding in their wagon and getting candy. Neither of them knew what they were collecting in their bags, but they had fun doing it. Enjoy the pics!

Happy 1 Month Little Guy!

Louis is just doing so well (minus that little ear infection!), and yesterday we celebrated his one month birthday!  Yesterday afternoon, Louis and I were in the waiting room in the doctor's office for my four week check-up, and my phone alarm went off signifying little man's one month mark.  It was such a neat moment.   I felt like I was lost in time trying to figure out where the last month went so I stared at him, wished him happy birthday and we snuggled.  He's so snuggly and always smells so nice.  Bateman likes him a lot and refers to him as "BAY-bee." Louis weighs right around 10 pounds and is almost 21 inches.  He's a strong little guy.  I think he's been working out really hard to get ready for Bateman-tussling.  Loving these boys!

Happy 3 Weeks Louis Oliver!

Louis Oliver is here and is settling into our little world just perfectly. The last few weeks before Louis was born, Richard Carey and I were getting pretty antsy and were predicting labor to begin any second... Even though I was anxiously awaiting the baby's arrival, I was praying that God take care of the timing, as He surely knows more about that than I do. His timing could not have been any better.

And so the labor story goes: The weekend before Louis was born, my dad and step-mom came to Houston for a visit. On Sunday the 16th, we had a nice, relaxing family day. We went to Mass in the morning and played in the backyard in the afternoon. Bateman even carved his first pumpkin! Sunday afternoon and evening, I felt really tired which was probably a signal for things to come... Labor began around 1:30 am when my water broke. I was able to labor at home until 6 am. Our goal was a natural, unmedicated childbirth, so we wanted to labor at home as long as we could. During our time at home and in between contractions, Richard Carey was getting things together, and I was tidying up around the house. RC fixed us some yummy bagel and egg sandwiches. At 6, the contractions were still manageable, but we decided to go into the hospital especially since my water had broken. God's perfect timing comes in here as we were able to leave Bateman sleeping while my dad took care of him all day! When we got to the hospital, I had dilated 2 cm. Since my water had been broken for a few hours, it was protocol to give me Pitocin to speed up my labor. I also had to have continuous fetal monitoring (instead of intermittent checking as I had hoped so I could move around and walk the halls during labor). Both the Pitocin and fetal monitoring were things I was hoping to avoid, but I accepted it and focused on the contractions. Pitocin was the reason I opted for an epidural during Bateman's birth, but this time, I felt prepared to accept the strength of the contractions as a positive step towards having that baby in our arms. At that point, RC called our assistant birth coach, Monique, who offered free "doula" services since she is training to be a doula. Monique was certainly sent by God because we were not seeking her out, but she just kind of fell into our laps. RC and Monique were so wonderful at helping me to focus on the purpose of each contraction rather than the pain involved. Monique had great ideas for me to change positions to be the most comfortable and to keep the progression of labor moving forward. RC reminded me to offer the pain as a prayer for a certain intention. The next few hours just went by so fast. They were hard work, but so manageable when I focused on my breathing and relaxation instead of tensing up and holding my breath. I also got some support from little visits from my mom, sister, and my mother and father in law. I was so glad they were all there. When it was time to push, the nurse tried to stop me because the doctor had still not arrived. It was very difficult not to push, so I started before the doctor arrived. RC and Monique were telling me to listen to my body! I don't know if the doctor was in the room for 5 minutes before Louis was born. As I was pushing for the last time, the doctor asked me to stop because the cord was around Louis' neck. Dr. Edwards pulled the cord from around his neck and told me to continue pushing. The nurse announced, "15:54!" It took me a few seconds to convert it to 3:54 pm. Wow! Louis Oliver Green. The emotion of seeing that baby come out and to have him placed on my tummy to snuggle... it's just indescribable. Unbelievable. Life! How amazing. So that's my little rundown of how Louis entered our arms.
My mother and father in law were already planning to drive to Houston that day to pick up Bateman for the Washington Parish fair.  So in God's perfect timing, they drove in and snatched him for a few days while Richard Carey and I had some bonding time with Louis Oliver.  God is so good!

The day before Louis was born...

Click on the following picture for a Picasa slideshow:

And he arrives!

Big ol' boy

Why does he look so big? Maybe because he's ready for his big brother days! Any day now... We're ready!

Zoo Times Two

Well it looks like it's time for an update on our lives! We are excitedly anticipating the arrival of Baby Green number two! We will be 37 weeks along tomorrow which is considered full term so any day now we could have a newborn. It's really unbelievable. We talk about it all with Bateman, but I'm not sure how much he'll understand until we turn his little world around pretty soon. He does notice my growing belly, and he'll touch his and say "Day-Dee" for "baby."
I've found a great mother's group at our new church parish, Christ the Redeemer, and I've been able to participate in a few of their events so far. A few weeks ago, we met at the Houston Zoo for a playdate. It was so great to get to know the moms a little better and to let Bateman roam around and see the animals on display. Later that week, my friend from grade school, Aimee Duplantis, got married in New Iberia, so we took a little weekend trip to attend. While we were there, we went to the Zoo of Acadiana with Granna and Tauntie Hannah. Of course, we had a great time seeing those animals and riding on the train! So that's how we got to see two zoos in one week.

The Houston Zoo...

We got to see the elephant baths! Look at the baby elephant drinking water!

Look! The meercats!

Bateman crawled through a tunnel in the aquarium!

And now... the Zoo of Acadiana

The train ride through an African Safari section

The mini turtle was eating his salad! And on that note, I'll go get dinner going at our house. Love to all!

What does a cow say?

Well I guess the answer to that question depends on whether the cow is on a farm or at... Chick-Fil-A! Oh, it was the good ol' Cow Appreciation Day at our dear restaurant. My fabulous husband is one heck of a sport and humored me by fully participating in the dress-up, eat-free event. This year, I went further by purchasing cow fabric and making foam visors for us. Next year I may actually sew the ends of the fabric! It may take a few years for the chicken meals to pay for the supplies, but that's all useless information, right? We had so much fun, and our new friends down the road joined us! The participation level in Texas far exceeded that of the California mall restaurant we visited last year for Cow Appreciation Day, so it was super exciting to see the creative C-F-A enthusiasts. Mmm mmm, what a tasty day it was!

Of course, the cow was visiting our location. Don't you know there's only one of these in the whole world? Ha!


Here's my fabulous husband humoring me with his full costume. My heart! And precious little Bateman is donning his cow shirt and cowboy pants, which Grammie gave him in anticipation of our big day! Are we nuts or what?


Since Mr. B loves to sing E-I-E-I-O, his sign must have said...

Our little neighbor borrowed Bateman's hat for a little while! How cute!



A bovine family photo!


And next year, we'll have another calf. Oh, the excitement!

A la playa (At the beach)

Bateman and I celebrated the Fourth of July in Destin, Florida with my family. Richard Carey went on his annual baseball stadium trip with his friend, Sprinkles, so he did not come to the beach. It was Bateman's first trip to the sand, and we weren't sure how he would take it. Believe me, he loved it. After I put him in the sand for the first time, he decided to lie down in it. The texture didn't seem to bother him for a second. He actually got a few handfuls in his mouth over the course of a few days. It was so great to get some sun and sand into our systems! Here are the pics!

What is all this white stuff??

Here's my cousin, Chelsey, who was so very helpful with Bateman!

Granna gets to love up on B! Thanks Granna for a fun trip!

He loves feeling that wet sand between his toes!

He loved those waves!!


Chelsey dug a hole for him.


Not always sure what he's putting in his mouth, but he sure looks cute doing it!


My sister, Hannah, joined us, too! Here are us girls with Mr. B.

We were getting ready to leave for our flight, but Bateman doesn't look too excited about it! That's because it was a beautiful, wonderful first trip to the beach!

Our New Place

I regret to begin this post with an apology, but I am sorry to report there are no actual house pictures. Maybe it's to lure you in for a visit! :) When we get it all prettied up, I'll take some shots. For now, trust me that we remain in move-in mode, although we've made lots of progress. We've had so many helpers to unpack, clean, refinish furniture, or play with Bateman so we could successfully do any of the above. Here's a picture of my grandfather, Paw, with Bateman after lunch one day. Paw worked hard on refinishing our dresser. We purchased a bedroom set on Craigslist and changed it from a worn oak finish to a dazzling antique white. Pics to come.

Hmmm.... what's coming out of that box?

Just appendages from my favorites.

God has answered our prayers so quickly by providing our dear friends down the street! Jake and Leah are from Houma, Louisiana and have a 14 month old son, Pressley who is Bateman's new playmate for sure! At this particular encounter, Bateman showed Pressley his affection with a nice bite on the bottom of his foot. The famous friendliness of Texas may not have soaked in yet.

A jewel of our neighborhood: The Splashpad.

Really, what else would we do between dinner and bedtime?

And a video of Bateman's take on Move-In day!!