Charlie is 8 days new now and doing great. We are definitely still in the honeymoon phase. He is sleeping the days away, and it's a rare treat to see him with his eyes open. He's been great at night too. He wakes anywhere from 2-4 times to eat and have his diaper changed, and he goes right back to sleep. I'm getting spoiled, and I'm going to be tired when this boy starts becoming more alert! But for now, I'm enjoying my sleepy baby and having fun taking pictures of his peaceful sleep. :)
And I couldn't do a blog post without including our gal pal. Reese is still doing great with Charlie. We spent the day at my mom's today. My Grandma Betty came over to meet Charlie, and he enjoyed the day snuggling in her arms. Reese and I sneaked away for a quick walk to see the flowers in the area around the library behind my parents house. Reese had a fun day playing with all of the toys at Grandma and Grandpa's, and she really enjoyed her broccoli for lunch. :)
Charles Matthew was born June 6, 2012 at 4:35 p.m. weighing 7 pounds, 11 ounces. He is 19 inches long, and a perfect picture of health. His birth was perfectly uneventful after 7.5 hours of labor.
Charlie came out crying right away, and I got to hold him before the cord was even cut. Amazing.
The White Sox were in 1st place on his birthday. :)
After a couple hours, we were moved from Labor & Delivery to the Mother Baby unit. My parents brought Reese up to meet her brother. She was excited when she saw him. She smiled & said, "The baby came out!" She has been full of hugs and kisses for him. She's doing really well, and watching them together melts my heart.
After they went home, we took Charlie to the nursery for his first bath. He did not enjoy it.
The next morning, my parents and Reese came up to visit again. Reese was super excited to see Charlie and she couldn't keep her hands off of him. She looked so adorable in her Big Sister shirt and the double french braids that my mom somehow managed to get her to sit still for.
After many months of waiting, Reese finally got to give her brother a fist bump.
Matt's parents and his brother Brian came up to meet the baby that evening.
We were able to go home Friday morning. Reese was super excited that the baby was in the house.
So far, Charlie has been a very laid back baby. He is eating and sleeping great (for a newborn). We are loving our new family of four. We can't wait for everyone to meet him!
Monday, June 4, 2012
I thought I would do a quick update while I still have some free time on my hands. We have been keeping pretty busy the last couple weeks, trying to sneak in lots of last minute fun with Reese before we turn her world upside down. :)
A few weeks ago, we met up with some friends at the zoo. It was a pretty hot day, and the kids had a blast playing in the splash area more than anything.
That weekend, Reese helped me plant our vegetable garden. She had a blast watering the plants and digging around in the mud. I'm so excited for her to watch the garden grow. She's loves going out to check on it, and I can't wait to be able to pick our first vegetable.
We have been spending a lot of time at the park, and Reese is becoming less interested in the toddler play areas and more interested in going down the big slides and climbing all the stairs. She also likes the regular swings more than the baby swings. How did she get so big?
Matt took a couple pictures of Reese showing the belly some love. She asks to see the baby all the time, and she loves talking to my belly. She has been asking where all of the body parts are lately, and the other day, she wanted to know where his hands are so she could give him a fist bump.
Reese is still a singing maniac, and she loves to play the piano and sing her songs. It's hilarious and adorable.
Yesterday, we went to the children's museum and then walked along the river walk downtown Naperville. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and we had a great day as a family.
Baby Watch 2012: I'm officially on maternity leave now. I was originally planning to work up until June 6th, but the 10 hour days have been getting really hard. I have been swelling like crazy and having constant contractions. My boss was getting nervous about not having coverage if I had the baby early, and felt more comfortable getting other hygienists lined up so we wouldn't have to cancel any patients if something happened at the last minute, so I started my leave a little early. I was initially annoyed, but I'm happy to have a little extra time at home with Reese. And it's nice to be able to be barefoot. :)
This little man is a total tease. I have basically been having contractions for 9 days straight now. They come and go, and usually stick around for a consistent 2-5 hour period of time each day. It's just long enough to make us think something is really happening, and then they disappear or become inconsistent again. We ended up going to Labor & Delivery last Saturday morning at 3:00 a.m. after 6 hours straight of contractions 7-8 minutes apart. Sure enough, it was false labor and they sent us home. It's been making me crazy, because there's so much more to think about this time around, with needing to be sure someone can be here to watch Reese if we need to leave right away. Between that and our hour long drive to the hospital, the uncertainty of never knowing whether or not it's the real deal is driving me nuts. And the constant contractions are leaving me feel like my whole body has just been beat up. I'm trying to be patient, since we're still a week away from the due date, but all I can say is that this baby better be cute. :) We are definitely getting very anxious to meet him, and I still can't believe that we will be a family of four very soon!!!!
Monday, May 14, 2012
Well, Reese still likes to eat (and in reality, it's the only time she holds still long enough for me to take her picture, so I tend to take a lot of pictures of her eating. I hope it doesn't give her a complex when she gets older).
This was her face after she took a can of black beans out of the pantry & begged to have them for a snack on Friday.
She has also been enjoying cooking & baking. We built her a helper tower about a month ago. She can climb up in it and be at counter height to help with things. We are hoping that it helps her frustration level when the baby arrives & we can't always pick her up. She is really enjoying being able to stand up high and help with things. We baked cookies a couple weekends ago, and she had a blast.
After the cookies were baked, I was even a nice mama & let her eat half of one. I'm really loosening up, haha. I showed her how to dip it in the milk first. She was so excited to dip her cookie, and to drink out of a cup with no lid unassisted.
Reese wore her Blackhawks jersey through the playoffs, but she couldn't bring them the luck that they needed.
Enjoying the nice weather & some bubbles:
A couple weeks ago, Reese and I took a trip to Build-A-Bear to make a bear for Reese to give Baby Brother when he arrives. Baby Brother is taking a trip to Build-A-Bear to make a bear for Reese this weekend. :)
She enjoyed watching the bear get stuffed, and she added a heart and a lullaby. She gave him a good bath before we boxed him up to take him home.
We had a great time celebrating Mother's Day this weekend. On Thursday, Reese and I spent the day with my mom. We went to the children's museum for a couple of hours, and then took her out to lunch. We went out to Matt's grandma's on Saturday to see Mary and Grandma Rosie. Reese made pictures for my mom and Mary, and she was so proud of them. She kept saying, "I painted the hand and the fingers!!!" It was so cute.
Matt and Reese let me sleep in on Sunday morning, which was so appreciated because I have been so tired lately, and it's getting tough to get good sleep between being uncomfortable & making lots of midnight trips to the bathroom. While I slept in, they colored me a picture and made french toast. They gave me a sweet card and a gift certificate for a pedicure (which is awesome since I can no longer reach my toes!). They also ordered me a new sling for the new baby, and I can't wait for it to arrive this week! I am a very spoiled and lucky mama. :)
We headed up to the Sox game in the afternoon. The weather was perfect, and Reese was really good. She got to meet Southpaw. She was intimidated at first, but she touched his pink hair & his hands while holding on tight to my arm. And then she had a total meltdown. She started bawling & asking to go back to sit in her "big girl chair." So, we headed back to our seats. Reese proceeded to talk about Southpaw for the rest of the day. "I meet the Southpaw! I give him the hi-five! See him again? Where did he go?" She spent the rest of the game looking for him, and then she got really excited when she saw his picture in the hall. So funny.
We finished the baby's room last weekend, and I love the way it turned out. It was mostly DIY, I made the curtains, changing pad covers, mobile, and the elephant pictures, and Matt climbed up in the attic and wired a ceiling fixture & a dimmer switch, since the room didn't have any lighting. It was very time consuming, but it came together really nicely. I can't wait to snuggle the little guy in there. :)
And last but not least, Reese has become quite the entertainer. She loves to sing, and was using this flashlight as a microphone while we were working in the baby's room. I know I'm a little biased, but I think this is the most amazing performance of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Ever.
