Two Months

Jameson was two months old yesterday. I didn't get this post up then because we were picking Jordan up from the airport. He was gone for two weeks, a very long two weeks, for Army stuff, but he's home now, and Abigail and I couldn't be happier!

Top Row ~ all smile!
Bottom Left ~ stretch! Middle ~ pick. me. up. now! Right ~ all these pictures are making me tired!!

Month two has brought...

*More sleep at night. Not last night, but the two nights prior Jameson slept for 6 hours, woke around 2:30am, and then slept for 5 more hours. I remember things like this happening with Abigail sporadically at first and then becoming more regular. He will take about a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon, too. He sleeps best when swaddled. He has to be swaddled to sleep and I'm trying to slowly break this during his nap, because next week when he goes to daycare, he can't be swaddled to sleep (state's rule - nothing but the clothes he is wearing during naps). During the first weeks of Jameson's life Jordan thought swaddling was cruel, he called it his baby straight jacket (we have some wraps that Velcro him in), but he has come around since realizing that he sleeps so well when swaddled!

My baby burrito!

*Less crabbiness. I'm not sure if he is becoming a more efficient eater and is therefore less gassy, but whatever has changed we are welcoming it! He definitely does not cry near as much.

*More smiles!

*Two weeks without daddy. As I previously mentioned Jordan was out of town for a couple weeks this month. It was definitely a change for this momma, as he is a very hands on (and amazing!) daddy. We spent part of the time in Nebraska, which was awesome ~ my family was a huge help!

*Giggles! We have heard a few giggles in the last week or so. He just loves patti cake and smiles and will even laugh, when he plays patti cake.

*Talking to his big sister. He talks to all of us, really, when he is in his happy moods. This is normally right after he's eaten. He'll smile and babble on and on.

*Eating about 4-6oz at a time. I'm am, almost exclusively, nursing. But, about once a week he ends up with a bottle. Today one of those occurrences happened. I dropped him off at the sitter's, so we can all slowly adjust to him being there (mainly Abigail adjust to the rules there, and me adjust to being without him), and he had to have a bottle while I was gone. He drank 6oz ~ what?! I could hardly believe that he downed the entire bottle. Luckily, when we got home, I pumped 7oz, but wow. I don't believe Abigail was eating 6oz at a time until she was 3-4 months. I hope that I can keep up with him when I go back to work, but something tells me we'll be supplementing with formula shortly...

*Two big road trips. July 28th we traveled to Mercer to celebrate cousin Mason's birthday. That trip went fairly smoothly. Jameson got a little fussy towards the end, but we were able to console him for the most part. August 12th we dropped Jordan off at the airport and Abigail, Jameson and I went to Nebraska. That trip wasn't as smooth, but it was at least an hour longer. Overall both kids did great. I stopped in Rockport to feed Jameson and we all had a bathroom break, but when we were about 15min from my mom and dad's he decided he was done with his car seat, done with the car, and ready to eat again. The trip home was a little better, however I'm not sure we'll be taking any trips in the next month, unless they are absolutely necessary!

Top Left ~ that smile always gets me! Top Right ~ such a sleepy boy
Bottom Left ~ relaxing and chewing on his hand. Bottom Right ~ holding his head up

*So much love. It's amazing that my baby boy is two months old already, and I'm going back to work next week. Some of you know that when I was pregnant I questioned my ability to "share" my love with another child. Abigail and I have such a special bond (being one-on-one with her for a year while Jordan was deployed will do that to a mom!), and I couldn't imagine being able to love another child like I do her. I knew that somehow it would happen, because it's obvious when I look at my friends with multiple children (and my sister and I) that parents love their children both equally, but part of me was still hesitant about it. Well, I can say that 100% I love this little guy as much as I love Abigail. It is a different love ~ Abigail is a girl, Jameson a boy; Abigail is almost 4, Jameson is just 2 months; and I know it will continue to be different, if nothing else for the reasons previously stated (not to mention two different personalities), but they are both amazing kids. They both have such a large part of my heart and I cannot imagine my life without either of them. It is really crazy for me to think that just two months and two days ago we didn't have this little guy in our lives yet. How quickly things change!

6 weeks new

Nap time!

Here are a few pictures from the last week. Yesterday Jameson and I made a trip to SAMS club. We got tons of compliments ("he's so cute", etc) but there was one mom who asked me how old he was. When I told her, she said that at 6 weeks she always thought "Phew! We made it!". That kind of made me laugh, but I agree. The last few nights have been better, and the random crying for no reason has faded. And, though it's becoming a distant memory, it's still pretty dominant in my mind and won't soon be forgotten.

I'm not sure how my parents made it through the first year of my life, or ever decided to have another baby. My dad says that I cried for the first year and was very colicky. My mom even said it was pretty bad and they would drive me around in the car to put me to sleep. My grandma will agree with them. You know if your grandma agrees and my mom comments that it was bad. So I will take the six weeks of crying occasionally over that!  Okay, back to my kiddos :) here are some pictures from our last week! 

Getting ready to pick up Abby from Pam's

Cute chubby cheeks

Sibling love!

Sleeping peacefully

Jameson's Newborn Pictures

When Jameson was 11 days old we had his newborn pictures taken by the lovely Linsay of Linsay Hammett Photography. She did a phenomenal job and we are so excited to have her photograph Jameson, and our family, for the first year of his life!

She also put together a slide show, which you can view here.
Here are a few of our favorites from his newborn shoot...

Such a proud big sister!

A close up of his pouty lips

I think this has to be one of my favorites!

He looks like such a little man in this one!

One Month

Here are the pictures, as promised :)

Our little man is one month old...

Sweet Boy ~ One month old

And, I'm done!

I couldn't resist adding this last picture. It's actually from the 4th of July, but I thought it needed to be on the blog... his first smile! 

First Smile

Month 1...

Is already done, and it was kind of a blur. I'm pretty sure that lack of sleep is the cause of it flying by, but the last month has seriously flown. This morning Jameson had his one month check up and here are his stats:

~ 10lb 7oz (75 percentile) ~ 21in (35 percentile) ~

I knew he'd gained weight, but it really seems like he's longer than the 35 percentile, but that's what they tell me, so thus far we are chunky and short :)

A few things we've learned, or I just want to remember for the future...
* Abigail adores her little brother. She would kiss and hug him 24/7 if we'd let her, I think. She loves showing him off to everyone everywhere we go.

My beautiful babies

* We call Jameson either "Jay" or "Jameson", and Abigail calls him "baby brother". She also asked to be called "sissy".

* Jameson is a spitter. Abigail was not, so this is uncharted territory for me. If he doesn't burp (which is difficult) he'll spit up, and it always seems like he's spitting up everything he ate. I realize that a little liquid looks like a lot, so he truly isn't spitting everything up, but many times my shirt, the burp cloth, Jameson and whatever is around us (chair/bed/boppy) has gotten soaked.

*  He is also a crier. Again, Abigail was not, or at least not as much as he is. He is not a "cry 7 hours a day" crier, but we typically have at least an hour every day where nothing soothes him.

* Gripe water is amazing. One of my friends suggested we try it for his crying and wow ~ the first night we tried it we thought we'd found a miracle drug. It is all natural and really seems to help sooth him. It definitely doesn't work 100% of the time, but if you dip his pacifier in it in the middle of the night when he won't calm down and go back to sleep, he'll suck away and next thing you know he's out.

* Jameson has a love/hate relationship with his pacifier... there are moments when it's the best thing ever, but it is often rejected!
* SwaddleMe wraps and Halo SleepSack Swaddles are awesome. Jameson needs to be swaddled to sleep well and both of these really take the guess work out of the process. I love the Aiden and Anias swaddle blankets, but they require skills and in the middle of the night (in my half asleep state) it's easier to just velcro him up than to worry about wether I've pulled one side tight enough to get him wrapped well.
* Jameson can hold his head up incrediby well. He prefers that you hold him so he can look around and takes every chance he gets to hold his head up.
* Little man eats a lot. During the day he is eating about every 2.5 hours. At night he will usually go 3, with one stretch of 3.5 hours. Oh, and that's from the start of one feeding to the next. I would hate for anyone to think we are sleeping for more than 3 hours :)
* He has been sleeping (at night) in his room since he was about 2 weeks old. I was getting little-to-no sleep, so Jordan convinced me this was best (it didn't take too much convincing). He does great and our video monitor allows me to check in on him randomly.
* I absolutely love cuddling this little guy and during his first month many days were spend snuggling in the recliner together!

Tomorrow I will have pictures of him in his monthly onesie... I just didn't get the pictures taken, uploaded and edited (what little editing I do!) tonight.

Jameson's Birth day

Jameson's birth story starts on June 18th... I know, a whole week before he was born...

Jordan and I decided that we needed to mop the floors and really finish up our deep cleaning. I mopped the dining room floor and part of the living room floor and was really tired. So about 8:45ish, I went to bed. I had one contraction before I went up to bed, and then another about an hour later... the contractions continued at about 1 every 40min, then 30min, then 20... about 3AM my contractions were 15min apart and fairly regular. Sometimes they were painful, but mostly they were just there. About 5AM something changed and things got painful... my pelvic bone felt like it was going to split in half. Since I had been up all night, and thought I was in labor, I called into work and said I wouldn't be in. I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for 3:45 that afternoon, and I called my doctor's office to see if I could get in earlier, just so I'd know ~ yes labor, or no labor. They got me in at 9:45 and the answer was - likely not labor. Dang! Why was I in pain?? My doctor said to go home , relax, take a bath, if the pain went away, then no baby, if it continued or got worse, then maybe a baby.

Fast forward a week to my induction date. As much as I did not want to be induced, I'm thankful that I was, and that the 26th was the day. Jordan and I dropped Abigail off at Pam's house at 6:30 and she was so excited to meet her baby brother! We had spent all day Monday with her (movie, lunch date, etc), and she had her "big sister camera" with her at Pam's.

We checked into the hospital at 7AM, and were one of 5 couples being induced that day ~ wow! My name was finally called (at the same time as another mommy-to-be) and as we walked up to our nurse, we found out that the other mommy-to-be went with our nurse. Once the switch was made and we had the right nurse we went back and got everything going.

First thing ~ take a picture of Jordan and I :)

Us! (I'm 40 weeks + 4 days pregnant)

Then I got into my awesome gown and settled into the hospital bed. For whatever reason the computer was still showing that I wasn't checked in, so my nurse, Lisanne, went to check on things. She came back, solved the problem, got my IV started (just fluids) and at this point it was almost 8am. A little after 8 the pitocin was started and about 8:20 Dr. Eckert came in. She checked me (at about a 3 and 70% effaced) and broke my water. She told my nurse that I could have an epidural whenever I was ready for it (yea!).

Lisanne, Jordan and I started talking and we had an instant connection ~ she was awesome #1, but her brother is the DA here, so I knew him and he's great, so that was a relief. Anyway, she said she was going to get my epidural meds, as she could see that my contractions were getting more intense, even though I said I was okay. She was wonderful, telling me that it was the breaking of my water, not the pitocin that was progressing me so quickly (the contractions were immediately pretty intense and causing me to dilate). Well, she and Jordan started talking about medications... meanwhile my contractions were getting more painful and I knew I would want the epidural fairly soon ~ the contractions were every 2-3min. I got Jordan's attention and Lisanne was off to get my medication. The anesthesiologist came in and got my epidural in and I was all comfortable again.

About 1PM Lisanne checked me and I was dilated to a 5. A half hour later she checked me again, because she could tell that my contractions were intensifying and I was starting to feel things again. I was at a 7! I had dilated 2cm in a half hour. She got ahold of anastesia and had them give me a "boost" in my epidural, because she could tell things were going quick and we didn't want the epidural to wear off.

Anyway, about 3:00 Lisanne checked me again ~ I could feel pressure with my contractions and she immediately called Dr. Eckert and told Jordan not to make me laugh, because when I was contracting she was literally holding his head in. Once Dr. Eckert arrived, she quickly got gowned up and 1.5 pushes later (seriously) Jameson was here!

Holding him for the first time

Father and Son

Our first family photo

~ Our family of four ~

Big sister holding Jameson for the first time

His birth experience was so different from Abigail's. I was more relaxed, since I had already given birth once, but also because my nurse was amazing! She reassured us, comforted us, kept us in the know, and overall was just wonderful. I actually got to watch my son be born. Not something I ever thought I'd want to see (and trust me, I couldn't see everything), but I saw his little head come out and one push later he was here. Jordan cut the cord and he was immediately placed on my chest. It was such an amazing experience!! Abigail was instantly in love with him and has been such a great big sister. She told us the other day that she loves him the most - more than mommy and daddy. Lovely, and I'm sure that'll change as he takes her toys and pulls her hair, tries to date her friends and they fight. But, one thing is for sure, our family couldn't be happier and little Jameson is a wonderful addition to our family!!

A few more pictures from the first couple days...

So tiny!

Sleeping peacefully swaddled in his "box"

Us with Lisanne

Mommy with her babies

Jameson Robert

One week ago - Tuesday, June 26 at 3:23PM, Jameson Robert Clark entered this world and filled my heart with more love than I thought possible. He weighed 7lbs 9.6 oz (so just a little less than his sister) and was 19.5in long.

His big sister can't get enough of him ~ always wanting to give him hugs and kisses and his daddy and I already can't imagine our lives without him. He eats more than any newborn I've known, but luckily I'm keeping up, though sleep deprived. He's a great sleeper, at least during the day! Haha ~ we're getting the hang of things, but last night was a bit rough.

Yesterday we had his follow-up doctor's appointment and he is back up to (and even a little past) his birth weight. He got a great review and the doctor doesn't want to see us again until he is a month old. His cord stump fell off on Sunday, but that looks good (I was a little concerned because it seemed way too soon), and is healing normally.

I had forgotten how much I love to cuddle newborns! Or my babies, at least. There is nothing better than napping with a sweet baby on your chest!! I'm definitely soaking up this time with him and I foresee lots of afternoon naps during the next 8 1/2 weeks (is that really all that's left?!)!

I will write his "birth story" soon, but for now, I'll leave you with pictures of our adorable little guy!

First picture ~ 7lb 9.6oz

Father and Son

Brand NEW!

PROUD big sister!!

 

Ready to go home in his scrubs