Blair Kathryn Days 1 & 2

Our sweet little (well, not so little really) Blair Kathryn made her arrival into this world this past Wednesday, November 16th, which was a week and a day earlier than her due date. She weighed 8lbs, 12 ozs and is 21.5 inches long. Can you imagine how much she would have weighed if she had stayed in another week!?!

A very short version of her birth story is that I woke up at 2 am with a strong contraction, but didn't get my hopes up because I had been having inconsistent, strong Braxton Hicks contractions for a couple of days. The contractions that started at 2 though stayed between 8-10 minutes apart for an hour, so (at 3 am) I knew this was the real thing. By 7:30 they were 1-3 minutes apart and it was time to drop the kids off with Katie and head to the hospital.  When we got to the hospital I was 5 cm dilated, which was a little disappointing since I was 4 cm a week ago at my 38 week appointment, but it didn't take long for things to start moving. At 10 am I was 6 cm and they gave me an epidural, broke my water and started some pitocin all back-to-back. 5-10 minutes later I was 10 cm and was in a tremendous amount of pain with the contractions, which were two minutes apart. I had told the anaesthesiologist that when pushing I wanted to feel the contractions so she only gave me half the normal dose, which basically just left me with an annoying tingling in my legs. After 30 minutes of that though I didn't care about anything besides getting out of pain and getting this baby out. Fast forward another 30 more minutes, the normal dose of the epidural medicine, and relief! Blair arrived shortly after at 11:59 with about 15 minutes of pushing. 

Updated 1/11/12: I realized there were some things I wanted to remember: 

• There was something about my first real contraction with both Blake and Blair that wakes me from sleep knowing that it's the real thing.
• Between 3 am and 7:30 am, my contractions were only consistent when I was moving. As soon I layed down, sat down, or took a hot bath they slowed WAY down. It was very frustrating. At 7 am, I was so frustrated that I went on a 1 mile walk. That's what really got things moving and to be honest I had a hard time walking back as the contractions were between 1-3 minutes apart, plus there were many I couldn't walk through. I bet I was a sight for our neighbors, but at that point I didn't care. 
• When we arrived at the hospital, my contractions had slowed down again to the point that I told Luke that I can't walk into the hospital feeling this good. So, we started walking up and down the sidewalk.
• Once I got to my labor and delivery room, I quickly realized that I didn't like my head nurse. She was rough when moving me, didn't really listen to me, and would repeatedly ask questions in the middle of a contraction and keep asking even though I clearly couldn't answer at the moment.
• I will never forget the funny voice message I got from Katie & the kids (Boone, Emmy, Bailey, & Blake) saying push it out, push it out, push it out (this was Bailey's potty training poop song : ). Let's just say that I nearly peed in my pants.
• I will never ask for a half dose of the epidural again. By giving me the full dose when she did, which was about 15 minutes before I delivered, I had what felt like elephant legs for quite awhile afterwards.
• I keep wondering why I was given pitocin at 6cm? And was given it for an hour after I was fully dilated, fully effaced, and she was down in position? Seriously, there was a point at which my L&D nurse said, "Oh, I guess we can stop the pitocin".
• During the hour I was at 10 cm & fully effaced, the thing that helped me was to curl to the side, squeeze Luke's hand as hard as I could, make him count through it, and would say "oh dear Lord, oh dear Lord, oh dear Lord". This was absolutely the most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life, even more than my appendix pains before the appendectomy.
• I was so thankful that my doctor delivered me instead of a stranger. That's part of the reason I like his practice.

When she first came out I thought she looked just like Blake did at birth because of the way she scrunches up her face when crying, but now I also see alot of Bailey too. 

First peek while the nurses were cleaning her

Nice big cheeks and eyes open.

Gigi getting to hold her 3rd grandbaby

and Nana holding her 6th!

Bailey finally getting to meet her sister

These were our visitors the first night. Joel who was meeting up with Katie and the kids after work said that at 50 feet away he no longer had to look at room numbers, but just listened to the noise to find my room :). Thankfully I didn't have anyone on either side of my room as we had a mini birthday party for Ms. Blair.

Franny with ALL her grandkids

Blake was SO sweet just looking at "baby"

Emmy getting a turn

Rebecca's turn. I think this set of pictures is so funny. None of us noticed what she was doing at the time, but she was giving Blair a little taste of her new world.

Aunt Ali

One of me and the girls

I know this is blurry, but Bailey was kissing Blair bye. She was so sad that Blair wasn't coming home with her. She thought just mommy was staying in the hospital and cried big tears for her little sister.

A very early morning photo. We had so many interruptions (13 in 9 hours) that this was taken at a point when I had kinda given up on sleeping.

Day 2

After getting some much needed sleep it was time for more visitors.

Gigi had been watching been Bailey and Blake, but Franny relieved her and she got to come get up and visit some more.

 

Later that night the Murray clan came up and Nathan took a turn with Blair.

And lastly Emily. She loves little newborn snuggles and we let her soak it up.

Blair's hair is definitely dark, just like the other two at this age.

And this is my view as I am typing this. Just taking in my little girl. : )

Monkeys

These jammies say it all- that my kids are monkeys.

You might have known Bailey was a monkey, who climbed out of her crib at 16 months old, but did you know Blake is one too? After 4 days of climbing out of his pack'n'play multiples times during naptime, mommy decided it was time for him to move to his big boy bed in his room and do some sleep training. To my utmost surprise it couldn't have gone any easier. I am crossing my fingers that we continue to have good luck with this as we are 3 naptimes and 4 nights in!!!


A little bit more to the story is that back in July we moved the kids into a room together and gave Luke back his office. It only took a few days and the kids have been fine sleeping together at night, but we have never tried having them nap together and and still don't think it would work. So, Blake was napping in a pack'n'play in the nook in our room, which is about to be Blair's space and Bailey has been in her & Blake's room. Oh, the joys of a 3 bedroom house when your husband needs a home office. Anyways, this has worked great except that Blake is a light sleeper and has realized that mommy is napping in the same room as him, which is why I think he has started climbing out.


So, since Bailey plays for an hour and then naps for an hour, she is now spending that time in the playroom on the couch, Blake gets his bed in his room, and that way Blair has her own space in our room. Whew, are you keeping up with all this, because I am not sure I am.  And what a time for all this to happen? I am just thankful that we were able to get this established before baby time.

Gettin' Ready

This is a friend of mines sweet little 4 month old. I got to babysit her during my kid's naptime/quiet time recently. I had told Bailey that there might be a surprise for her after quiet time was over and it was that baby Luna was over. Bailey (after quiet time is over) comes into the living room, sees Luna on the floor, and with huge round eyes says "Mommy, is that baby Blair?". If only that's how it happened and that it was that easy. We talked about how when Blair comes that mommy with be in the hopsital and that my belly won't be so big anymore. Anyways, the kids had fun playing baby (if you can't tell by the 3 babydolls surrounding Luna) and I got a chance to see what life with 3 is going to be like.

Bailey also showed me that she can play the surprise after naptime game too and this was her baby Blair in her tummy.

The getting ready continued this past Saturday when Bailey and I went on a date to a sibling prep class at the hospital. Each kid brought a baby doll and we practiced all kinds of things like diaper changes, swaddling, bathtime, and bottle feeding. It was really cute! Then, we got to go see the Labor & Delivery Rooms, the newborn nursey, and the Post Partum Rooms. Bailey really enjoyed it, but really just wants to know when HER sister will be here.

 

When we got home we had to show off our swaddling skills and Tori was perfect for the job. : )

Not so sure she will play along at first

but eventually gives in.

That evening was my baby shower and we are now loaded up on diapers, wipes, clothes, and lots of other fun stuff! I have some very creative, crafty, & resourceful friends- just check out some of the decorations. As usual I didn't do a good job of taking pictures, but I added the few I did get.

Cupcakes

Buffet

Handsewn pumpkin party favors

Sister picture with honorary sister Martha

Ali & I

Gigi & Nana

One of the gifts. Let's just say I will be cashing in on this one.

Thank you to my hostess with the mostesses and for everyone who came. It was a very special night!

Lastly, Luke finished to-dos #2 and #3 of 4 recently. I now have beautiful flowers beds to come home to daily! After a year of having dead and dying shrubs and then a year of nothing, this is such a warm addition to the front of the house. I also have an amazing re-finished dresser (passed on by Franny). So, the baby nook of our room is ready! I have told him it's okay if the last to-do doesn't get done, which is painting the bathrooms and an accent wall in the kitchen although I won't complain if he does finish it. : ) Needless to say I am very, very, very thankful for my husband's handiness and willingness to complete projects. 

So Blair I give you permission to come now : ). I would love to spend my sleepless nights snuggling with you instead of watching tv or reading or blogging. We are ready to meet you.

Hopefully my next blog entry will be that a baby is here.

A Cute and Some Not So Cute Vocabulary Words

I will start with the cute word from Mr. Blake: it's "oh"

For example:

Blake: "Where's sissa?"
Me: "at school"
Blake: "oh"

OR

Blake: "What's that?"
Me: "a _______"
Blake: "oh"

Now, the not so cute: NO, MINE, and STOP

How he knows these words, I don't know. They just appeared out of nowhere last week. I atleast wish he could say them without increasing the volume and tone of his voice. Thankfully, big sister Bailey is handling it well and they are still pretty sweet to each other, although I feel like I am hearing more and more "Blakers we don't say that!"


In other random news, the Magic Carpet has made a reappearance recently thanks to Franny's hardwood floors and open floor plan and it was a big hit!

Baby Johnson Shower Weekend

I wish we lived closer to Sean & Harmony Johnson. There are alot of reasons why it would be fun to live near them, but since we don't, we always pack in our time with them when we do get to see them and that is exactly what we did last weekend. Our adventure started off in College Station with the A&M vs Mizzou game. Luke headed to the game while I visited with Tori and let the kids take naps.

Sweet sister pushing brother to the main campus.

I made Tori pause in front of the H2O fountain.

Okay, so this is completely random, but something I want to remember: the Aggies Mom's Clubs were having a boutique show and as Tori and I were taking a quick peek, a sweet lady handed Bailey a grab bag. In it was this cross. Bailey held it for about 5 minutes before telling Tori and I- "This is a cross. Jesus died on a cross. I believe in him so." WOW! Tori and I just looked at each other with big eyes, ask some more questions, and then tried to capture her saying this on video. So there is no quetion as to if she is listening to us and based on further questioning getting it as much as a 4 year old can.

Now back to our weekend- these next pictures are what I call: I will take whatever I can get.

Luke in the zone watching the disappointing 4th quarter loss. I don't know if I have mentioned this, but Luke & I are bad luck for the Aggies. Of the 9 games we have gone back for, they have only won 2 of them. One was against Baylor and then other against Florida International. The Aggies didn't play well during either game. So sad.

 Once the kids rested/napped they wallered with Aunt Tori before we said goodbye and went to meet up with daddy.

The baby bump on the right is the whole reason for the Johnsons visit to Texas, but more on that to come.

First, we had to carve some pumpkins (and believe it or not this was not my idea).

Bailey picked the design and wanted it to be spooky.

She named the jack-o-lantern Joey after a book we have been reading.

Blake loved the light inside!

Jose, another good friend of Luke's from college, with Blake.

The finished products.

Bailey liked her alot, but really liked how big Sean's jack-o-lantern was. If I had known that his was only $3 more expensive than ours then we would have gotten one just as big.

And the next day it was baby shower time. Here's the daddy and mommy-to-be opening presents for a baby girl due late January.

Brandon, Luke, and Jose.

The boys.