2 weeks old

My sweet baby boy is already two weeks old today!  Time just continues to fly on by... makes me sad to know he won't be a tiny little baby in no time.  He is already starting to change so much.  He is such a sweet baby and has been so good.  He very much likes to be held, by me in particular.. he is for sure a momma's boy already.  I may have a wee bit to do with that... ;)  He celebrated a few "firsts" this past week.... he went to his first family Thanksgiving at his Aunt Vickie's, we had Thanksgiving at our house, our traditional Christmas jammies night while watching Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and putting the tree up, and Sunday was his first time to church!  I am LOVING this whole family of four thing... It really has made our family so much stronger and even though I didn't realize it could get any better, it has.  I can not imagine what life was like without him.  I will probably say that a thousand times because I constantly think it.  

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I'm not sure how much he weighs right now but I know he is definitely putting on some weight.  He has his check up at the doctor next week so I will know then.  He has already out grown one of his newborn onesies.. it was one of the really tiny ones but his little feet were pushing through the bottom of it.  It was the one that fit him perfect so I was a little sad about that and of course I kept it to put in his box.. hehe!  He's also already in size 1 diapers.  He was peeing out of all the newborn ones and I tried a couple different brands and it was still happening so I switched him to size 1 and hasn't happened since.  They look crazy big on his little body but at least they keep him dry!  He's wearing pampers sensitive swaddlers - I love them!  He's still sleeping a lot.. all through out the day and pretty stinkin good at night for 2 weeks old.  He is very routine... go figure, just like his brother!  He wakes up around 10 or 11 at night to eat, again around 3 or 4, and then 8 or 9 in the morning.  He's usually really awake and alert around noon each day and stays awake for a couple of hours.  Other than that it's off and on sleeping and peeking around.  He eats a lot during the day but he is only eating about 2 ounces at a time.  Breast feeding is going great and that makes me so happy!! 

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His looks are starting to change, too... I can proudly say that child looks a whole lot like me!!  He looks a lot like all my baby pictures.  His hair that is starting to grow in is super blonde and his eyelashes and eyebrows are such a light blonde that you can't see them unless he's in the sun.  I'm not sure if that means he will be a little cotton head like me but I would like that. =)  I'm also hoping he keeps his beautiful blue eyes he has right now but I'm not counting on that to happen. 

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Christian is still in love with him and has perfectly adapted to him being a part of our family.  The first thing he says when he wakes up each morning is bubby and then he goes and finds him and gives him a kiss.  He is just so gentle and sweet with him.  I could not have been more blessed with a perfect toddler... His heart is huge and I love that little boy more than life itself.  He's been a great little helper and big brother!

 So blessed.

  

pretty smiles

 sleepy head

before church

1 week old

Hard to believe that my sweet baby boy is already a week old today when he's not even suppose to be here yet.  I must admit that I am ecstatic he made his arrival in time for Thanksgiving because there is nothing better than babies and kids at holidays!!  Our first few nights home have been pretty great.  Spending three nights in the hospital was terrible though - I feel so incredibly sorry for people that have to stay much longer than that.  We were so ready to get out of there and start our new life of a family of four.  We finally got to come home last Thursday.  So far things have been so wonderful... I hate to jinx us by writing this!!  He is such a good baby!!!   Christian is IN LOVE with him and helps me out so much!  He constantly wants to cuddle up beside him and loves on him.  It is the greatest feeling watching my two boys together.  Breastfeeding is going great with the help of great advice from friends, a supportive husband, and a very laid back toddler!  I've also started to pump so Corey or whoever else can feed him if I really need them to but I'm trying to exclusively breastfeed for the most part right now.  I have already started putting milk back for when I go back to work also.  He's eating a ton during the day but is sleeping really good at night already.  He only wakes up to eat and then goes right back to sleep.  He eats around 11:00 at night, wakes up around 2:30 to eat again, and then sleeps the rest of the night.  Pretty amazing if you ask me - I'll take it! =)  He has been awake quite a bit the last couple of days during the day and he's really starting to look around a lot.  It's so cute because he makes himself cross eyed trying to take it all in!  

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A lot of people have said he looks a lot like me.  I kind of see it, especially in his eyes.  I think it's too hard to tell when they are so little.  Christian looked identical to Corey for the longest time and now you can tell he's a pretty good mix of the both of us - even though they look a LOT alike because C has Corey's face and head shape.  I can see the Bridges side of the family (my moms side) in Harrison a lot across his eye brow bone and eyes though... I also think he got some of our Indian blood... he has beautiful skin!!  He also has the softest hair ever and a full head of it... it's just beautiful but I'm sure it's all going to fall out and come back lighter.  You can already see blonde coming in around the front edges.  His eyes are the same color as mine right now but they might change too... Christian's changed to brown after he was a few months old.  All I know is that he's so stinkin cute I could just eat his little face up... I spend a large part of my day kissing all over it!! 

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He had his first doctors appointment yesterday.  Everything was perfect.  He weighed 7 lbs 13 oz when he was born, 7 lb 4 oz when we left the hospital, and he gained an oz in five days so he was up to 7 lb 5 oz.  The doctor said that was great for a breastfed baby and since my milk had just been in a couple days.  He has another appointment in a couple of weeks and I'm hoping he gains more weight.  He is such a great little eater so I'm sure he will.  He was so good at the doctor.  He cried for about 15 seconds total just because he didn't like getting his clothes taken off.  

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I never understood how in the world I would love another baby as much as Christian but it's true that it's love at first sight just like the first.  I can't imagine our life without him now... He has brought so much joy to our family already. 

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 Leaving the doctor!

 Look at that hair! He was cuddling his Nana.

 Christian loves him so much - he calls him "bubby"

So what I let him sleep by me all night? ;) Such a sweet cuddle bear!

Harrison's Arrival into the World...

I'm going to go ahead and write this while we are in the hospital and he's napping so that I remember all the details. God gives us that amazing ability to forget all the birth pains in a short amount of time.

It all started on Monday when I realized I hadn't felt H move all day.. He was always very active and had the hiccups all the time towards the very end so when I realized at 3:00 pm I hadn't felt him all day I got really worried. I did a few of the tricks that always worked to get him active and nothing was working so I called Dr. Haraway. He sent me to L&D to be monitored. His nurse said it was probably no big deal at all. I would probably only have to stay an hour and they would let me go. So, off I went around 4:00 and Corey met me there. Oh, I should also mention it was hurting really bad to walk that day bc of all the pressure and back pain. We get checked in, put in a small room for monitoring, get hooked up, and immediately the nurse asked me if I was feeling those contractions. I didn't even know I was having them.. I had just got use to the back pain - it is very hard to distinguish the difference when you have back labor. She said they were pretty consistent so she checked me. I was between a 3-4 (at my last appointment I was between a 2-3). She said she would check me in an hour and as long as I didn't continue to dilate we could go home for the early laboring process. I had all but begged for that seeing how we didn't have anything at all with us!! You would think we would have learned our lesson from last time but nope! About 30 minutes into the monitoring process my contractions really started to hurt and I was starting to feel them radiate towards the front. She came back to check me after the hour went by and sure enough I has dilated another cm and thinned out. Next thing I knew we were signing the heaps of paperwork and waiting on a new room! I remember Corey and I looked at each other just like we had before... haha! Here we go!!

We finally got moved into the "go time" room... This is what we refer to it as, laugh if you'd like.. And it was time for my most dreaded part - the IV. I HATE needles!!! I ended up having a nurse I knew which made it a little better but she put it in the side of my wrist which felt a little awkward and hurt! I was just glad it was over.. Then it was shift change and the panic set in of missing out on an epidural. I started telling anyone that walked through that door to order me one! When I finally got assigned a nurse she checked me to make sure I was at a 5 and got me hooked me right up with the epidural and I was beyond happy when I saw it was the same lady that did my last one. I have heard bad stories about one of the men that does them and honestly contemplated whether or not to get one if he was the one there. She had to do it twice bc the first one didn't quite work out. I was sitting uneven on the bed and it caused pain to shoot through my left hip. So out that one came and I had to start the whole stinkin process over. It was all good though bc she is amazing at giving them and she talked to me about the housewives of Beverly hills the whole time to take my mind off the giant needle.. Ha! That amazing thing only took about 5 minutes to kick in and all was well in the world. This was about the time people started to show up and it was nothing less than a party going on in the room. I was feeling great and we were all telling stories and laughing our butts off. It was really a fun time! Then.... The nurse checked me a couple times after the epidural and realized I stopped making any progress. Wahh!! The doctor on call said its better to go through labor as natural as possible so he wouldn't break my water or start pitocin. Instead, they decided to let me get a "good night sleep" and talk about things in the morning.

After my "good night sleep" of 30 minutes, the nurse came in at 5:00 to let me know Dr. Haraway would be in around 7:00 and would probably break my water. She started me on pitocin and my contractions got really hard and close together. They went from being 2-3 minutes apart to about 45 seconds apart but I couldn't feel a thing... Not even my legs at this point. Dr. Haraway came in around 7 and checked me and I had started to dilate more at that point.. He said he would wait a bit to break my water in case it might break on its own. He came back in a little later, checked me and I was a 7, broke my water and less than an hour later I could feel EVERYTHING. Suddenly, my epidural failed me... I was freaking out a little bc the contractions were excruciating at that point!! I called to let my nurse know and before we could evaluate the situation, it was time to push! Dr.Haraway had went back to his office in the meantime so she said she would let me start pushing while he made his way back down. They got me all set up and she suddenly goes, oh wait you can not push at all! What??! I'm not sure why they think this is even possible.... When you have to push there is no waiting!!! Thankfully Dr. H made his way down fast and was right there. The nurse timed it bc she said she didn't think it would take long at all and sure enough 2 contractions and 5 minutes later, little Harrison entered the world!! Corey and I were both in shock that it went soooo fast!!

They put him on me and then had to take him away pretty fast... He had to go to the NICU for 3 hours and I was so worried and didn't understand.  He explained to me after all of this that the cord was wrapped tightly around his neck and when they got it unwrapped he took a big deep breath and swallowed some fluid before they could suction it all out.  I am so thankful that he was able to fix this quick enough to where it wasn't more serious and I am BEYOND thankful to God that I pushed him out so fast because I don't know what would have happened if I didn't.  When they brought him in finally after the longest 3 hours of our lives, they said he was doing wonderful and a perfectly healthy baby boy.  I am so grateful to the Lord and knowing that everything is in His hands is such a relief.  I will never understand how people have children and do not believe in God can explain this precious miracle of life.  A baby is God's greatest gift to us... that is for sure!  I feel beyond blessed to have my two little boys!!!

 My first time see him... Born 11/13/12 at 9:05 am

 7 lb 13 oz - 20 1/2"

 My first time to get to hold him when they brought him back in.

 So in love.

37 Weeks & Growing...

37 weeks.... It's about this time that every little ache or pain alarms me! haha!  Every time my back aches or something feels different, I'm wondering if it's labor starting.... I might be a tad bit on the hypochondriac side... so what! ;)  My biggest fear is not making it to the hospital in a decent amount of time.  Not only am I scared of not making it there, I want to get there in time to settle in and take it all in!  I've heard of so many rushed labor stories lately and they freak me out.  Corey and I are both very organized people and we are both planners.... the whole "unknown" thing is not the best for us!  You should see us in the middle of the night... it's quite hilarious!  When I get up to go to the bathroom, he immediately asks if I'm having contractions.... or when I do have BH's we both start timing them on our contraction app! haha  I'm convinced it's because of our last labor experience.... I was rushed to the hospital in a dad-gum snow storm by a crazy driver (who I love dearly and won't mention any names...), was put in one of those small rooms to be monitored, Corey got there and about one minute later we were told that I was dilated to almost a 5 and would be having a baby today!  Umm.... What??? We still have 2 weeks left, doc!  Not one time did we think going early was a possibility.  I just knew I'd make it to 40 weeks as planned.  So, needless to say this time we are being VERY cautious... lol 

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Doctors Appointment Update:  Our appointment was yesterday.  I haven't gained any weight and my blood pressure was great.  He is estimating him to weigh a little over 6 lbs right now.  He checked me and there was no change from last week which was only 5 days ago.  So, I'm still dilated to a 2 and 60% effaced.  This is great news... I do not want him to come just yet.  I am just now considered full term and I want him to be completely ready when he arrives! :)  We made a decision to induce at the doctor yesterday but we scheduled it on the 26th, which is only 3 days before my due date.  I am comfortable with this since I will be almost 40 weeks and I have already progressed so much.  He said as long as I can keep my blood pressure down, I can keep him in there that long - however he does not seem too convinced I will make it until then!  My last day of work is next Wednesday so I will be able to really take it easy to make that more possible!  I would LOVE to know the day we are going in and be able to relax and have everything ready to go... I also think it would be so exciting the night before knowing we are going in to have our sweet baby the next day!  I never got that experience and I think it sounds wonderful! :)  He did say when he checked me that he had his fingers on his head... This kind of freaked me out and Corey's face was priceless... LOL!  That just seems so weird and it's crazy that he is SO low!!  My babies just drop early I guess because C was the same way.  I guess his little baby cone head is forming away just like Christian's... hehe!  I'm sure it will take 4-5 months to go back to normal just like his did, too!  My next appointment is next Thursday! :)

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All of his little things are all put together now.... His rock n play sleeper, swing, ect... We now have bottles in our cabinets again and this cute little "grass" drying center for the bottles and accessories in our kitchen.  It's so much fun doing this all over again - I can not wait!  I know this sounds crazy, but I'm even looking forward to the middle of the night feedings... Ask me about this in a month and it might have changed. ;)  My mom and I went shopping last weekend and I got some cute pj's with a matching robe and a really cute gown with a matching robe to wear in the hospital.  My sweet friend, Carrie, also gave me a hospital gown to wear while I'm in labor because she never got to use it.  It is adorable and I'm quite excited about having a stylish gown instead of the ugly ones they have for you! ;)  We are finishing Harrison's room (hopefully) this weekend so I will do a post later about that with pics! 

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This is the drying rack... Is it not super cute?! Love it!

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and this is the adorable hospital gown I will be sporting thanks to Mrs. Jernigan! ;)

21 months

Christian Michael, you are 21 months old now.... We had your 18 month check up last Friday because your mom is really weird about shots and spreads them out a lot!  You finally had the last of your shots that you need though, including your flu shot.  You barely even cried and were over it by the time she got the band-aids on.  You weigh 28 lbs and you are 34" tall. Everything looked great and you are a growing little boy!  You no longer go to day care... You stay with your Nana full time. :)  You and her both absolutely LOVE that!  

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You are going to be a big brother in just a few weeks or less.... This is bitter sweet for me.  I'm sad that you will no longer be an only child ONLY because every bit of my attention right now can be devoted to you, but I know you will be soooo happy to have a brother!  You will ALWAYS be my baby boy even though you won't technically be the "baby."  You were our little miracle from God that only He knew we needed and will forever be so special to me.  Harrison is beyond blessed to have you as a big brother... He has no idea yet just how special you truly are.  You have the biggest heart and you are so caring and loving.  Not to mention, you have truly been the best baby ever!!!  I know he will learn a lot from you.  I can not wait until the moment you walk into the hospital room and meet him for the first time... That first moment of us being a family of 4 will be a moment I'll hold close to my heart forever!  

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Your stats: ;)

*You wear 24 month and 2T clothes.

*You just started wearing size 5 diapers last week, finally... You wore size 4 forever!

*You talk non stop... I have lost count of how many words you say because you say a ton... You can pretty much repeat anything and that you do!!

*We are working on your colors and you are really good at them... You normally always get yellow, red, blue, and green when I ask you about the color of your blocks.  Sometimes you are just stubborn though and continue to say the same color over and over to be silly! ;) 

*Your favorite show is Daniel Tiger.... You call it "Danny."  You also love Sesame Street (street), Sid the Science Kid (sid), Cat in the Hat (hat), and Word World (I can't type the way you say it but it is sooo cute!!)

*You go to sleep around 7:15 and wake up during the week around 7:30 and on the weekends you sleep in about an hour longer.  You are the BEST sleeper... the time change didn't mess you up at all.  You still love your crib so I have no intentions on changing you over into a toddler bed anytime soon.  You also pretty much refuse to stay the night anywhere but home, which is probably my fault because I have separation anxiety!  I'm totally okay with this... You are only a baby once and I like for you to be home at night and when you wake up in the morning.

*You are still on a sickness-free streak and I'm loving it!  I hate to see you sick and it makes a mommy very happy when you are so healthy!

*Your very favorite things are going outside, bath time, and night night time.  You pretty much beg to go outside ALL THE TIME!!  You have to have your bath every single night right after dinner and shortly after you are asking to go "night night."  You are still very routine but so am I so you come by it naturally.

*A lot of people say you look like both of us... I can definitely see it but I think you look a whole lot like your daddy still.. You have your momma's facial expressions and personality.  You are just a perfect little mixture of us both!

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I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.... You are my precious little angel and have changed our lives forever!!! <3

Halloween 2012

I love Halloween!  I like to dress cute and dress up Christian!  One of the greatest things about having kiddos is holidays and Halloween is a fun one!  Last year was his first Halloween and he was a pumpkin and a tiger (the tiger was the official costume though).  They were just both too cute to only pick one.  Well, I kind of did the same thing this year.  I bought him the cutest skeleton jammies ever to match the shirt that I made for myself that has a little skeleton baby on it... we couldn't leave little Harrison out!  Even though they are pj's, it is such a cute little outfit.  His official costume this year is Cookie Monster and he has the noise down perfect!  He says "yumm yumm yumm yumm" just like Cookie Monster and it is the CUTEST thing ever!!   However, he refuses to keep the hat on, which is what really shows what the costume is... hahaha!  So rather than looking like Cookie Monster, he kind of just looks like a blue fluffy person! LOL!  I'm trying to decide whether to take him around in his blue fluffy suit - no hat - or let him wear the skeleton outfit!  We will see how it goes!  

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Today was a lot of fun at school.  The kids read science magazines that were Halloween themed and I played fun Halloween music in class.  I wore my skeleton shirt to school and the kids absolutely loved it... they thought it was awesome!  My mom brought Christian by to see me and that made my day!!  He ran into my class and froze!!  He was terrified at first by all the kids.  We went and visited Mrs. Megan and Mrs. Amanda and then headed back to my room.  Once we got back he had warmed up a bit to it and held my hand so he could meet some of my students - they thought he was just precious!  I wish he could be up here all the time with me... that would make for some wonderful days spent at work! ;) 

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He wasn't happy that he had to leave mommy at work!
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When I got off work I ran to Wal-Mart to buy our Halloween snack table goodies... last year I was much more festive and made Halloween themed food... this year the fam had to settle for little sandwiches, deviled eggs, and chips and salsa! lol  My mom and I got Christian into his Cookie Monster outfit with a lot of bribing and even got him to wear the head piece long enough to get a few pictures!  She was singing some ridiculous song and bribing him with a sucker... what Nana's will do for the grandchildren (and let's be honest, for me, because she knew I was going to be super upset if I didn't get a single picture in his real Halloween costume!) haha!  I finally let him out of it and put his skeleton back on and he was a happy camper... we practiced going to the door and saying trick or treat and he was a pro!  He LOVED carrying around his Halloween bucket!  We went over to Mrs. Trish's house and helped pass out candy while Christian and Townsend played.  It was such a fun night!!!  Here are a ton of pictures....

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36 Weeks & Growing...

We did maternity pictures over the weekend but this is the only one I've got to see... Devin did them, of course, and he always does an amazing job... even when his subject is 36 weeks big & pregnant! haha!
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I can proudly say that Harrison's room is almost finished.... finally!!  All of his laundry is done and neatly folded or hung up in his closet. :)  I have looked in his closet approximately 99 times in the past couple of days like a completely psycho! ;)  That number does not include the amount of times that I've just opened his door to look in his room or look in his little bed trying to imagine him in there!  It seems soooo crazy that in just a few weeks his sweet little face will be here!  Three exciting finds this week.... I didn't realize how many clothes he has already!!! Wow!  I also didn't realize the ridiculously abundant amount of diapers we have saved back....... which makes me ecstatic!!  AND my mother in law called to tell us she is ordering our double stroller - beyond excited about this!!!  I'm starting to feel like we are much more ready to bring our little angel home.  There are still a few things that we need to buy but hopefully I can get that done this weekend.  

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Blood pressure update:  It's still going up when I'm on my feet a lot.  I can pretty much count on it going up if I'm up moving around for a while.  Some days are much better than others though and I haven't had any problems lately.  I have done a really good job of taking it easy and have Corey to thank for picking up the slack.  He has been playing mommy and daddy pretty darn good in the evenings! ;)  I stay up so that I can spend a lot of time with Christian but Corey does the baths, getting ready for bed, and all that... I can tell Christian is loving it, too!  Corey was watching football last night on the couch and Christian plopped down right beside him on the couch and said "football"... I think it made Corey's night for sure!!!

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Harrison weighs almost 6 lbs now and is almost 19 inches long!  He has pretty much wrapped up the developing process and is just hanging out in there packing on the pounds now! 

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Doctor Appointment Update:  I have gained 29 lbs and my blood pressure was perfect - YAY!!!   He checked to see if Harrison was still breech since he has been the entire pregnancy and it made me really nervous when he said he couldn't find his head when he was feeling around on my lower stomach.  He brought in the ultrasound machine and I was really upset... I just knew that he was about to tell me that he was breech and we might have to look at doing a scheduled c-section... However, MUCH to my surprise... he couldn't find his head because he has already dropped into the birth canal ready to go.  He hadn't planned on checking me but after realizing that he did and I am dilated between 2-3 and 60% effaced... HOLY cow!  I was kind of in shock.  I wasn't expecting that at all... I figured if he did happen to check me I just might be a 1 but that's it.  Anyhow, I realize you can be dilated and effaced for weeks so I'm not counting on having a baby right now or anything but we are packing our bags and getting everything ready to go just in case!  Next appointment is next Tuesday! :)