Some Pictures

Sometimes at night I can't sleep very well. You would probably guess that's because I have to get up to feed and console a new baby. But really half the time he is asleep, I'm wide awake.  My body can't quite grasp the concept of sleeping while I have the chance. So after trying and trying to fall back asleep, I figure I'll just get some things done. Like why not post a blog post at 5 a.m.? Seems logical...anyway...

Happy 4 weeks to this (quickly getting bigger) little man! I've realized that having a birthday on the 31st makes it confusing for counting "monthly birthdays" in this first year. So we'll just be going by the last day of the month, which this month is the 30th. Kinda confusing. I thought I'd just share some pictures I've taken since the last post earlier this week. He changes so quickly I feel like I have to take 20 pictures everyday! Today we transitioned to 0-3 month Onesies. Woot!

See? He really is getting bigger. 

Trying out his little bouncer seat for the first time. 

Crashed in his Simba blanket from Aunt Kim. Nala appreciates this one :)

Wide awake! We spent about 30 minutes dancing together on the couch (aka Mom moved my arms and legs around to make it look like I was dancing to the music. I'm so good at it and love it! Basically, we know how to party)

Finally captured one of those sweet sweet smiles of his, even though its a little blurry :) can't wait til he is able to smile on purpose!

Loving his swing from Grandma and Grandpa Foulk! He looks bored but he really did enjoy it! And Mom was able to catch up on some cleaning :)

And Nala has become very protective of him already. Not in an aggressive way, but will run over to him when he wakes up from a nap and cries or stirs. She likes to follow us around and always be next to him. 

Also, I have been uploading videos on our Youtube account.  I probably won't normally post them in th blog post because it won't let me on my phone and that's normally how I post. So if you'd like to see some videos go to:

www.youtube.com/jyoung9989

Things are going well here. We're enjoying each day and are looking forward to next week when his Grammy (Jims Mom) comes to visit! 

1 Month Already?!

Little boy... You cannot be a month old on Friday already! It doesn't hardly seem possible. It was just yesterday you were coming home from the hospital...

By one month old...

You love to hold your pacifier in your mouth with your hands..or take it out. Basically, you're very independent already! 

You lost your umbilical cord stump and love your bath time. 

You finally have gotten your fingernails cut so you don't claw your face (or parents) 

You love to look at bright lights and anything with contrast like the black and white pictures behind the couch or the posts behind the changing table. 

You seem to be like your Mom in the sense that you sneeze when you look at bright light too suddenly from dim light. (I'm guessing that means you will also sneeze when you eat chocolate and strong minty flavors.)

You get the hiccups at least 3-4 times a day. And you don't really like it. 

You don't normally like to be swaddled unless you are already mostly asleep. That makes the hiccups and sneezes for you very scary. (Insert arm flail) 

You love making this face for like 2-3 minutes at a time. It's adorable! 

You still have yucky gucky eyes thanks to clogged tear ducts. Ick! :(

You still haven't passed your hearing screening, but the doctor thinks it's because you have tiny tiny ear canals. We'll see if you pass next week!

You are starting to have better neck control and enjoy things like tummy time and swinging in your swing!

You have outgrown premie sizes and some of your newborn clothes are getting tighter. It won't be long before you're in 0-3 months! 

You are sleeping really well at night. You're not in your crib yet, but your Rock n' Play suits you nicely. Some nights you sleep 6 hours, sometimes less. You're still not the most consistent. 

You are such a good eater and you are eating a ton. Which means you're growing so well :) and you're becoming a faster and more efficient eater, which Mom greatly appreciates. 

You are also such a good burper, but still get lots of gas trapped in your tummy. It's not very comfortable!

You are so very colicky. And it makes for some hard times. Generally, your least favorite time is anytime between noon and 6 pm. But sometimes the evening is your least favorite.  After hours of inconsolable screaming several days a week, we have kind of been at a loss because nothing soothes you.  Or so we thought. At least for now, it seems that Mommy bouncing you on an exercise ball keeps you happy. (So here's to bouncing on an exercise ball for months!)  Though it does make us enjoy the peaceful times with you even more :) Mom is excited for the days without 3 hour cry periods. 

You have eyes that are still looking very dark blue like your Daddy and hair that's looking brown. But sometimes, it looks a little red and makes your Mom smile :)

All in all, you are the sweetest, most beautiful, lovable, snuggle-bug ever! We are so happy to have you and have loved these precious first few weeks with you! 

(even if you do sleep for most of the day)

Growing Up

Well, I was going to entitle this post 2 weeks old but realized that by tomorrow, already, Jimmie will be 3 weeks old! I can't believe how quickly time is going by. I'll tell you one thing...3 weeks was a lot longer when I was pregnant than it is now! Wasn't it like 2 days ago that we were bringing him home from the hospital? 

Jimmie has reached some milestones since the last post. 

Last Friday at exactly 2 weeks, his umbilical cord fell off. That means we can do real baths now. Yay! 

Jimmie had his first bath using his Blooming Bath in the sink on Monday. I had fully intended to post a video of the exciting event... But I think I won't. Why? Well. It was an eventful bath to say the least! I had gotten every little thing ready and in place, had him right next to the sink ready to take off his diaper and put him right in the water so that he'd only be exposed for maybe 5 seconds.  

Well, in those 5 seconds, Jimmie managed to spit up, pee, AND poop. Did I mention I was holding him against myself? Welcome to motherhood! We got it all on video..hence not posting it. He did quite enjoy the bath once he got in it though! He was very relaxed and comfortable. For now, bath time is a very soothing thing for him that helps get him nice and sleepy and ready for bed. 

If you'd like to see the video, let me know and I'll share it with you privately :) (Well after I figure out how to get it to uploaded to the computer I will) 

In other news, Jimmie had his second doctor's appointment (2 week appt) on Wednesday. 

Our little man is growing nicely. 10 days prior at our first check up Jimmie was 6 lbs 5 oz and 19 inches long. 

At this last appointment, he weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long. He is still only in the 8th percentile for weight and 17th percentile for length...but that's better than it was last time! I'm confident that at the rate he's eating, he'll keep catching up and be a chubby little man in no time. (Well maybe not chubby, but not a tiny little bean) 

Because of his growth, he now no longer fits into his premie outfits, but fits nicely into his newborn sizes. The 0-3 month are still, um, huge... But we don't have a ton of snuggly newborn sleepers. So sometimes I put him in some 0-3 month sleepers anyway. Check out this kid in his big outfit!

At his doctors appointment we had to do his heel prick (which they had to wake him up for). He did NOT like that plus by the time we were done, it was time for him to eat again already. Needless to say he was not a happy camper and eventually cried himself to sleep. 

Being a baby is just so hard sometimes. And apparently sometimes, it's just really boring ;)

Here are some random pictures from the last few weeks for you :)

He always poses in his sleep!

Zonked. 

Lookin mighty cross eyed! 

Sleeping with Daddy

Playing with Mommy

Gotta love the bed hair <3 he's such a good little sleeper.  I need to get better at putting him down to sleep so that I can sleep myself, but it's just to hard to lay this sweet little snuggler down. 

I can't believe how quickly he's growing up. We're all doing so well over here and starting to fall more into the swing of things and we are so blessed to be this little mans parents! 

Baby Jimmie is Here!

A little over a week later, I'm finally getting around to getting a very important blog post up! The birth story of our son!  Fair warning, this post may be more detailed than you care about, but I also write these for myself and so that I can remember, so bear with me :)

The week leading up to his birth was relatively normal.  We were finishing up my student teaching with no red flags.  I posted on Memorial day and went back to school Tuesday.  On Tuesday we had a dance festival, and our 5th graders totally rocked it!  On Wednesday we had our Field day.  On Thursday we had a half day where the kids signed year books and said goodbyes.  Being so close to my due date, I took it easy during the activities, but had no problem moving around and participating.  I felt pretty normal actually.

The theme for the 5th grade class that I was in was "Mightiest Heroes" and focused on the theme of the Avengers.  Our sweet teacher aid brought in these Avenger bracelets for the last day for our students since they have completed their superhero training and passed 5th grade. 

Also on Thursday I was considered 39 weeks.  I was so excited that we were getting close, but didn't really feel any different.  I thought for sure that I would probably end up going passed my due date and end up having to be induced. I had an appointment scheduled for the next morning with my doctor where she would check how far along I was and I'd kinda have a better feel for things.

We never made it to that doctors appointment though.  

I came home from my last day of school happy and ready to relax/prep for baby for the next week.  I spent the afternoon getting some things in order, doing some cleaning, and resting. My parents called that night, checking in and seeing how I was feeling.  I told them I was feeling great, normal, and don't think baby will be coming any time soon.

That wasn't true either

I woke up at 1:38 AM and my water had broken.  Even though Jim is now working night shifts, Thursday nights is thankfully one of his nights off.  He was even already awake because he tries to keep his sleep schedule consistent.  We gathered a few things to add to our hospital bag, I did some straightening around the house, and we headed out. 

I wasn't having any contractions yet and realized, I didn't have very much for dinner the night before.  I foolishly just snacked a bit here and there.  Well, you can't eat during labor! So, I insisted we stop at McDonalds on the way and get a Sausage McMuffin.  Go ahead and judge me :) it was delicious!

 By this point it was 2:14 AM.  Jim did a really good job of documenting events of the day in correspondence with the time (which is great, because I wouldn't be able to remember)

Eventually we got to the hospital and by 3:00 they confirmed that my water had broken and that I was in labor and not going anywhere until I had a baby.  Woohoo! But I was only 2.5 cm dilated and 80% effaced, so it would probably be a while still.  I had pretty much exclusively back labor, which I suspected that I probably would based on how I felt throughout pregnancy.  I was having contractions, but nothing that wasn't tolerable.  (For a while at least)

Checked in and lookin very pregnant 

By 5:10 I was only measuring 3 cm.  By that point my contractions were pretty severe and I couldn't believe that after all of that I'd only progressed 0.5 cm! 

Clearly I wasn't getting anywhere on my own so they gave me Pitocin.

A few minutes later, I got an epidural which worked like a charm!  It was enough that it got rid of the pain (though I could still feel a dull ache when a contraction was happening) but not so much that I could not move at all.  I was still able to move my feet and legs for the most part, which was awesome.  

Feelin' wonderful after the epidural

So good, in fact, that I sent Megan this Snapchat.

I had been keeping Megan updated and she had apparently been reading the texts in her sleep and thought she'd been dreaming that I was in labor.  When she actually woke up she asked, "Wait, are you having the baby?"  This was the beautiful response she got :)

For the next several hours, they continued to increase the level of pitocin and we just relaxed.  Since I had only gotten a few hours of sleep the night before, I stuck my headphones in and just napped on and off for a few hours.   We just kind of hung out, ate my awesome flavored ice chips, talked, and even played some games.  It was all actually quite relaxing!

By 7:40 AM I was 5 cm and 90% effaced.  At the rate I was going, I thought we'd be there all day.  The nurses said we'd probably have him here by late afternoon or early evening.  They said they would now start checking hourly, but by 8:40 they came back to check on my progress.

Nurse: "Well, you're complete!"

Me: "Completely effaced?"

Nurse: "Nope, complete complete! We'll go call your doctor, this baby is coming! If all goes well, he should be here a little before noon!"

That was rather shocking! Jumping from a 5 to a 10 in an hour caught us by surprise.  The more surprising thing though is that for some reason, they checked me again about 10-15 minutes later and said that I was "complete +3"...whatever that means.

Jim had just spoken to my brother who was kind enough to take care of Nala and bring Jim some food.  Now it was looking like he wouldn't even have time to run down to the main floor to get it at the rate this baby was coming!

What was originally telling my doctor, "Hey, start to make your way over here" turned into, "Hey, get over here right now!"  The nurse said we should do a practice push before the doctor arrived but stopped me short because after just one, she could already see hair and we didn't want to have the baby before the doctors got there!

The doctor arrived and after pushing for just 3 contractions, the most precious little guy I've ever seen was born at 9:30 AM exactly.  He weighed in at 6 lbs 10 oz and 18.5 inches long.  

I couldn't believe how small he was!  Everything about him was just so tiny and perfect.  The doctors and nurses could not even believe how smoothly and easy things went.  They kept telling me how rare my experience was and just how lucky I was.  And considering the fact that this hospital delivers the most babies in the country, I'll take their word for it! 

He got to take a trip with Dad to the nursery to get some shots and his very first bath.  Meanwhile I was able to talk to my parents on the phone and let people know.  My recovery, like my labor and delivery, was phenomenal.  The epidural wore off on my legs within 30 minutes and I was able to walk and move around like normal within about an hour and a half.  

We spent 2 days in the hospital.  It was nice to be able to relax and have help for the first little while.  Jim was able to take off of work until Monday.  

My mom was able to change her flight (since he came a week early) and got here on Monday and is staying til this Wednesday.  It has been amazingly helpful having her here to help with everything.  Megan came down for the weekend as well.  Nala has been adjusting well and seems to be very accepting of little Jimmie.  She's curious of course, but has been so good.  We've been able to see so many friends and family in the last week and a half--it's been wonderful.  

Jimmie is eating well and being such a good little baby.  He's been sleeping really well for the most part and is perfectly healthy.  He passed is one week check up with flying colors!  It's hard to believe that he's this old already.  We are so totally in love with him, and sometimes it's hard to believe that my little man is here now.  I spend the majority of my day just snuggling and loving him. It is probably one of the greatest times of my life right now, and we're enjoying every second of it. 

We obviously took a lot of pictures and way more than we could ever post.  But for those of you who are interested and have been begging for pictures, here is a link to a web album of some photos from the hospital and the last week and a half: 

Baby Jimmie's Web Album

Thank you for all of the thoughts, prayers, and well wishing on our little family's behalf!  We feel so blessed to have this little guy and love and support from family, more than words could ever express.