All Smiles!

Amelia is 7 weeks old and is full of big and beautiful smiles and lots of giggles! She is just as precious as can be! You can look at her and give her a big smile and some happy talk and she reacts with this beautiful grin and baby coo's.

Sleeping Beauty

Amelia has been the best sleeper ever for a newborn! At 1 week old since she was back up to her birth weight, we were able to let her sleep as long as she could go at night and not wake her up to eat every 3 hours as we had been doing that first week.  So starting at one week old she would go down to sleep around 10 or 11 pm and only wake up usually once during the night around 3 or 4 am.  Then at about 5 weeks old she stretched out to sleeping until about 5 or 6 am.  These last few nights this week at now 7 weeks old she has gone 9-10 hours straight not waking up until 7 or 8 am!  That is crazy!  It was funny...the other morning I heard her start to stir around 6 am or so, not crying, just moving around some.  I figured I would get her up and feed her.  Well she wanted nothing to do with that!  I got ready to feed her and she started crying and not wanting to eat at all!  I put the pacifier in her mouth and she was back in a very sound and peaceful sleep within seconds and continued to sleep another 2 hours until 8 am.  Of course now that I have written this I'm sure she will be waking every 2 hours to eat from now on, but at least I'll know she can have a good nights rest! :-)

Amelia's Birth Story

Each time I think about how the labor and delivery went with the birth of Amelia, I am still amazed at how it all happened.  Never would I have guessed that she would have been born 5 days past her due date and never would I have guessed she would have arrived as fast as she did.  I love this story!

On Sunday night, November 25th I was up until about 11:30pm updating my blog with new Thanksgiving pictures from the weekend. I went to sleep feeling just fine!

Monday, November 26, 2012 - 5 days past due

1:13am - I woke up with my first contraction of this whole pregnancy.  I stayed in bed just to see if another one would come. About 10 minutes later I had another.  I figured I would get up, move around and see what happened. About 8 minutes later, another.  The contractions continued to get stronger and closer together and before too long they got down to about 2 minutes apart.  

2:13am - It had been an hour and the contractions were by now about 2 minutes apart and quite strong.  I figured I better wake up Barrett and let him know what was going on.  Before waking him up I didn't feel like there was much of a rush to wake him up. I was just thinking how how my labor had gone with Jack (contractions every 3-5 minutes apart for 34 hours!) so really, what was the rush to wake him up? Right away when I woke him up, immediately he said, "lets call the doctor!" So we got on the phone right away and spoke with the doctors answering service who informed us to go ahead to the hospital since I was having consistent contractions and since I was already past due.  I told them to expect us there about 3am.  Right away Barrett called my mom to come over and stay with Jack and he began packing those last minute things to take to the hospital.  By this point the contractions were getting very strong and I'd say they were closer to 1-2 minutes apart.  I was not much help packing up the car.  Barrett grabbed every bag he saw (including Jacks diaper bag that was suppose to be staying at home with Jack) and threw them into the car.

2:40am (approximately) - Mom had arrived to our house within minutes of us calling her.  We got in the car and headed off to Baylor Frisco Hospital.  You know those movie scenes where the Mom is in labor in the car and the Dad is driving like crazy, speeding (going 70 in a 45), running red lights, doing everything he can do to make sure he was not going to need to deliver this baby in the car on the side of the road?  That was basically us! Thank goodness it was the middle of the night and no one else was out on the road! I was extremely uncomfortable by now and most certainly had that urge to want to push during this car ride which I knew couldn't be good with my experience of giving birth the last time. That only happens when the baby is about to pop out! I kept that part to myself though...I didn't want Barrett to be anymore nervous than he already was.

3:05am - We FINALLY arrived at the hospital!!!! I had never been so happy to be in that parking lot before!!! Barrett pulled up to the front door to let me out.  After waiting for a crazy strong contraction to pass, I was finally out of the car and on my way inside the door.   I quickly found a folded up wheelchair to sit in but struggled with figuring out how to open it.  Thankfully within seconds Barrett was inside from parking the car and there to help me out and wheel me to L&D. I remember struggling to get the foot rests down on the wheel chair but not wanting to take one second to figure out how to get the foot rests down.  So I was wheeled down the hall holding my feet up trying to keep them from dragging on the floor.  Funny the things that stick out in your mind!  The security guard at L&D called took my name and called back to tell the nurses we were there.  He then informed us we would have to wait out in the waiting room until they were ready for us! I figured we would just be having this baby out there in the middle of the waiting room then. Thankfully within seconds the nurse was on her way out and we met her down the hall. Once in the delivery room and changed into the hospital gown, the nurse checked me to see how far dilated I was. Her report...I was 9.5 cm! Along with the added bonus news that since I was so far dilated there was no time for an epidural!  I was worried this may be the case and sure enough it was!  I remember thinking how am I going to be able to do this with no epidural or pain meds?  It could be hours of feeling this way!  Are you sure I can't have one? The answer was for sure no, there was no time.  The nurse was fantastic though! She kept reminding me to breath, that I was the only one who was able to breath for my baby.  That really was a good reminder at the moment.  Immediately they called the doctor and let him know it was time to come deliver this baby.  Barrett was right by my side this whole time, helping me along.  Each time there was a contraction (pretty much non-stop) he was massaging my lower back helping to ease the pain. During this time I had an unbelievable urge to push this baby out but the nurse was sure to tell me not to push and wait for the doctor to arrive! Really this time is kind of a blur in my mind.  I most certainly remember it, but I don't remember all that was going on around me.   For example, at one point after delivery I noticed that I wasn't wearing my rings and watch anymore.  Barrett said he had taken them off of me while I was in labor.  I have no recollection at all of that happening which is surprising to me considering that my fingers were swollen and the task of getting them off was normally a big ordeal.

3:30am - The doctor arrives at the hospital!!! In reality he got there really fast from the time he was told it was time for me to deliver (which was the second I got to the hospital) but it seemed like forever, so I was so relieved to have him there!

3:35am- Amelia Joy is born!  I pushed one time and she was out! Only 2 hours and 22 minutes of labor.  Amazement!  Our baby girl was here!!!  They placed her on my chest the minute she was born.  She was beautiful - a perfect round head with brown hair, cute chubby cheeks, big blue eyes.  We were in love! She weighed 8 lbs 9 oz and was 21 inches long. With as fast as my labor went, going without an epidural wasn't at all as bad as I pictured it would be.  The second she was born the pain stopped and I had my baby in my arms.  

New life really is a miracle!  I continue to be 

so thankful for a quick and safe delivery and for the blessing of our sweet little Amelia!

Watchin You

Jack is growing and learning new things each day.  I am amazed by what he does each day and wonder how he knows what he knows.  Well these last couple days have been extra funny because I am beginning to see how much he is watching us and imitating what we are doing.

For example:

* Jack loves to see what is going on in the kitchen.  Now whenever it is time to cook, he goes over to where the step stool is stashed away and wants to get it out so he can be up close and help do the cooking.  In this picture he had helped make a pitcher of fresh lemonade using the lemons off GramPam and Pa-Pa's lemon tree.

* If we are drinking out of a straw cup, Jack wants to also.

* Just the other day Barrett was in the kitchen, I was in the bathroom putting on my makeup, and Jack and Java were in the living room playing together. Java started making a coughing, gagging, barfing "blah" type noise.  Barrett was quick to get Java outside just in case she got sick (which she never did).  Within seconds Jack ran into the bathroom where I was getting ready saying to me, "Mama, Mama, Blah, Blah, Blah" while bending his body over in the barfing position. He was trying so hard to tell me what he had just witnessed in the other room.  These two sure are best buds.

 * Even the way you are standing or sitting, Jack wants to imitate.  I was leaning against the wall the other day with one hand up against the wall while talking to Jack.  What does he do? He puts his hand up against the wall the same way I was doing and continues his conversation with me.  To test it out I changed positions and crossed my feet while standing up.  Of course he does the same thing.  Stand on one foot? Yup, he did that (or at least attempted to do that) too!  Or the evening we were all in the living room playing together and Barrett was on his hands and knees playing with Jack.  Jack got right next to daddy and in the same position but with a book ready to be read to him...while they were both on their hands and knees.

*When its time to pray at meals, Jack holds both our hands and bows his head.  If there is only one person to hold hands with he isn't quite sure what to do with his free hand. At the end of each prayer he is sure to let out a big loud "AMEN"

* And this is just a sweet protective big brother story...This morning was a cold and snowy morning.  We were leaving the dentist office and since the car is parked about 3 feet from the office door I decided to take Jack and Amelia out to the car one at a time so neither of them would be sitting out in the cold for long while I was buckling the other one in.  So we left Amelia right inside the office door with the receptionist while I ran Jack out to the car to buckle him in. Right away he looked over to Amelia's seat in the car and saw that the baby wasn't there.  He got a very concerned and sad look on his face, and began pointing over to Amelia's seat saying, "baby, baby, baby." Apparently he thought we were leaving the dentist and that I had forgotten to bring his baby sister with us!

This picture was taken when we were going to pick out our Christmas tree

This all reminds me of one of my favorite country music songs by Rodney Atkins called "Watchin You".  Here are part of the lyrics

I've been watching you dad, ain't that cool

I'm your buckaroo, I wanna be like you

And eat all my food and grow as tall as you are

We like fixing things and holding mama's hand

Yeah we're just alike, hey ain't we dad

I wanna do everything you do

So I've been watching you

He really is watching everything we do and what a time in life this is for us to be teaching him. I pray that all we do is pleasing to the Lord and worthy to be imitated by these little ones that are watching us.

Amelia - One Month and Growing!

Our sweet baby girl, Amelia Joy is one month old.

She is the most precious little girl ever! She is happy and peaceful most of the time. She loves her brother and will just watch him as he plays.  She is easy to take out and about with us.  I am having too much fun playing dress up with her!

Weight: about 10 lbs.

Diapers: size 1

Clothes: some are still newborn, most 0-3 months, but some even 3 month

She nurses about every 3 hours during the day.  Often times I need to wake her up to feed her. She still likes to sleep a lot.  If I give her a bottle she will drink about 3 ounces.

During the night she will go for a 5-6 hour stretch of sleep! WooHoo!

 Here are her weekly pictures and some pictures from the last month or so

 (some pics out of order)

 

 1st time to try out her crib.  She has only slept in it for a nap or two but seems to like it.

 Love this!

 Waiting for Eliana to be born

 All dressed for Church at 3 weeks old

Dressed for church the Sunday before Christmas at about 4 weeks old

 Love the boots!

 Amelia rolled over from tummy to back at 5 weeks old.  Such a big girl!

 She is cooing and smiling for us now. Just precious!  

We are in love!!!!

Jack's 2nd Birthday!!!

 It is so hard to believe that our baby boy is now a 2 year old!  He is the post precious and happy little boy I have ever seen and we love him sooooo much!!!!

 Good morning 2 year old!

 Happy Birthday!

 My attempts at getting his picture taken with his "2 years old" sign

 On the morning of Jack's birthday, we had a small family party to celebrate. It was a "Pancakes and Pajama" Party.  It ended up being a snowy and icy morning, so it was the perfect morning for pancakes and to stay cozy in our pj's.

 The pile of pancakes

 The birthday boy and his pancakes.

 Stef & Zach

Madi & Cami

 Enjoying those pancakes!

 Uncle Alex, Mom-mom, & Uncle Aaron

Preston & Mackenzie

He looks happy to see that birthday cake!

 Now whenever we sing "Happy Birthday" and get to the very end of the song, whether there is a candle to blow out or not, Jack will start blowing as if there is a candle to blow out!  So sweet.

 Cookie Cake

 Brother and Sister in their pj's.

 We may be the only 2 grown-ups that were dressed in our pj's but we sure were comfy on this cold snowy morning!

 Opening gifts

Happy 2nd Birthday, Jack!!!