Two week checkup

(No pictures to go along this post -- I need to be better about capturing my little man's moments.  Sorry!)

We had our 2-week checkup this morning and all is well.  Unlike his big sister, Little Byron only lost four ounces after birth before he began gaining weight again.  Here are his numbers:

At birth:

Weight:  7 lbs 1 oz

Length:  19.75 in

Two days later:

Weight:  6 lbs 13 oz

Two weeks later:

Weight:  8 lbs 13 oz -- two full pounds more!

Length:  20.5 in

How are we doing?  Good, not so good, but mostly really good, if that makes any sense.

LB is a sweet, sweet, patient boy.  I don't remember Emma being so chill.  I can put him down on the floor, and aside from some panting and grunting, he will just lay there, happy to watch his mommy and sister mess around.  He hardly every cries (yet!) and is an excellent eater.

BUT...

He is a night owl!  As in, stay-awake-for-several-hours-in-the-middle-of-the-night night owl.  This is really hard, because he can wake up at 2:30 am, for example, to nurse, but then won't fall back to sleep again until 6 am.  In the meantime, Byron and I take turns getting up to hold him.  As you can imagine, this is taking a toll on us.  But I am thankful for a helping hubby, and since LB is our second, we know this will not last forever (for the first one we had no idea what we were doing or what to expect).  So a little dose of perspective goes a long way.

In spite of the hard nights, we have been blessed with tremendous help!  My mom stayed with us for two weeks, which was a wonderful relief for me.  We have also started receiving meals from friends, and Memma has taken Emma with her for two mornings for me to have some rest time to recover from the previous night.

Byron and I are thankful for our growing family.  We lay in bed at night, smiling at each other, thanking the Lord for our two little ones, honored that He would entrust us with these little ones.

Oma and her little ones

Our little ones (and this mama!) have enjoyed having Oma visiting us for a few days.  Emma loves to read with Oma.  Almost every morning she'll take a few books and walk into her room:  "read Oma, read." 

Daddy's girl

Daddy-daughter on their way to church.

Play-time before bed-time.

Hair-styling and tea-drinking.

Sibling love

Emma has done really well sharing both her mommy and daddy with baby brother.  She pats him, kisses him, and gives him his pom when needed.

Daddy snuggles and daddy reads.

Multitasking at its finest -- nursing and reading stories at the same time.

Emma requested baby brother to be put in her crib and go night night with her.  She made sure both of them had its respective poms and lovies, and then asked to put sasa - blanket over them both.

My loves.

Happy Birthday Emma!

Happy Birthday to our little fish-loving girl - Emma!  We love you very much.  Cannot believe it's been 2 years since you made us mommy and daddy.

Fish-shaped pancakes for breakfast.

Dos peces for our dos-year old.

38 week belly picture

This picture was taken about 36 hours before LB was born (at Emma's fish party).

Little Byron's first few days of life

 We were able to introduce Little Byron first thing in the early morning to Uncle Joseph and Memma who, just like us, did not get any sleep that night.

Our pediatrician was out of town when LB was born, so we requested our friend Matt to be our step-in doctor for a few days.

Poppa came to meet LB early in the morning on his way to work.

Oma brought Emma over to visit LB that morning.  Emma also got her first doll.

 

Emma was much more excited over her baby brother the next day when she requested to hold him.  On a side note, Emma has done exceptionally well with her baby brother, and loves him very, very much.  We had been worried about her being jealous, but so far she has not shown signs of that.  

On our way home from the hospital, we stopped by to visit Nana who has been very ill.
Millard, LB's middle name, was Nana's father and grandfather's name.  Byron says the name has been in the family for about 150 years.

Memma had our doorstep decked-out for our arrival with a beautiful and creative diaper wreath and a sign welcoming BMM III.  So nice to have such a lovely family picture!

We put Byron straight to work when we got home, and got him assembling LB's cradle.

Emma's pool party

We celebrated Emma's second birthday last Saturday, August 10.  We invited a number of her little friends to a fish-themed pool party.  We had a great time celebrating our little girl's second year of life.

One of the few posed pictures we have of our afternoon.

Fun with Daddy.

Oma came in the night before, just in time for Emma's party.

Emma and good friend Thomas.

 

Fun in the pool.

 

I had a lot of fun baking and decorating Emma's fish cake (thank you Pinterest for the idea!)

 

 

 Emma was more thrilled eating the m&m's on the cake, than eating the cake itself.

 

Opening her gifts.  This picture makes my heart melt.

Only family was left when we began opening gifts.

Little Byron's birth story

     It is Sunday, August 11, 2013, a normal Sunday by all means -- church with the family, out for lunch with the Morrises, nap time for Byron and Emma while Oma and I chat for a little.  Then off to evening church (Emma and Oma stay home and have some time together), then back home for dinner.  Byron and I had not agreed on a name for our yet-unborn son, so we took advantage of Oma being in town and went out for coffee at around 9 pm.

     As soon as we arrive at Starbucks, I begin feeling cramp-like contractions and pain in my back.  They come and go, come and go.  Byron and I enjoy our cup of coffee, some good conversation, and finally agree on a name for our boy.

    After about an hour, I tell Byron that these contractions are just not normal -- they are happening far too frequently for them to just be braxton hicks.  We head home, decide to finish packing, complete a load of laundry and go to bed at midnight.  By then my contractions were between 10 - 15 minutes apart.  We knew our baby was on its way, but thought we may get a night of sleep before heading to the hospital early in the morning.

     It is Monday, August 12, 2013 at 12:20 am.  I lay in bed and realize that within a 20 minute period, I have had three contractions already.  I get out of bed and tell Byron it may be time to head to the hospital.  I time them again just to make sure, and they are ranging between 4 - 6 minutes apart.  We are out the door at 1:15 am and get to the hospital at around 1:30 am.  Oma is at home with Emma sleeping, and Memma and Poppa have been notified that we are on our way.

     We park the car at the entrance and head upstairs with only my bag.  As soon as I arrive at the triage, they strap me in and begin monitoring me.  My contractions are becoming very intense at this point, and I tell them that I will be needing an epidural.  They check my cervix, but are unable to determine how dilated I am, and cannot give me the epidural until they make sure I am in active labor.  My contractions are crazy painful at this point (never felt this pain when I had Emma -- I had already received my epidural by then).  I don't know what to do at this point, so I just hold on tight to Byron's arm each time they come.  I apparently have a very high tolerance for pain, because when I finally decided to begin making verbal noises to see if the nurses would actually believe me, they finally believe me.

    The nurse brings in another nurse to check me.  They still can't determine how dilated I am, but they do agree that I am in active labor.  One of the nurses gives me some medicine to help me handle the pain until the epidural arrives (she only gives me half, she said, in case I go into labor sooner and needs me to be fully awake to push).  It is 2:55 am and they take me out from the triage and into a delivery room.

     Contractions are just killing me at this point.  Byron encourages me and prays for me through each contractions.  About five nurses are in the room at this point, with no epidural and no doctor.  At around 3:10 am one of the nurses says the baby's head is "right there."  I realize at this point I will not be getting an epidural.  The nurses tell me to wait -- the doctor needs to arrive first.  "What if he does not make it in time?" I ask.  "We can deliver the baby just in case" they say.  So I do what I can to bare through the pain of each contractions, doing what I can not to push.  Finally, I cannot hold the urge any longer, and two contractions later, probably within a 30 second period, our son is born to the world, with no epidural and no doctor to "catch" him.

     It is 3:27 am, and a 7 lb 1 oz 19.75 inch long baby boy is born -- Byron Millard Morris III is born into this world and into our family.  

    "Children are a heritage from the LORD, offspring a reward from him" -- Psalm 127:3.

The crib adventures

Many ask if Emma will be transitioning into a toddler bed in time for Little Paco (btw, this is NOT his name, just what he is going by right now) to inherit hers.  The answer is "no."  And this is why -- Emma looooooves her crib!  

*If Emma is disciplined, or if she even becomes upset over something, she asks to go to her crib:  "cuna, cuna."

*Emma will spend about 3 - 4 hours in her crib every afternoon.  Sometimes she'll sleep the entire time, but many times she'll sleep some, but then also "read" her books or play with her babies a good portion of it.

*She is very content in her crib -- we put her down at 7:30 pm every night (unless we are out late with her) but won't actually fall asleep until 8:30 pm or so.  The best part is, she is as happy as can be to be left alone in her crib at night to play.  When we put her down, she always asks for the usual suspects (babies, Bunny, pom, and sasa -- blanket), but has most recently begun to ask for books.  So we place books in her crib for her to read before bed time.

Emma reading in bed.

Emma reading in bed.

On a side note, I am now 37 weeks and 2 days pregnant.  Emma was born at 38 weeks 4 days.  I began having some symptoms today that reminded us of Emma's arrival 2 years ago, so Byron made me go to the hospital to get checked.  They strapped me up and hooked me to all sorts of machines and checked my fluids and both my and Little Paco's heart rate to see if I had gone into labor.  About one hour later, I was told I was not in labor -- phewww!

I do think a part of this story is worth recording, though -- 

When I told Byron this morning that I had begun having some symptoms, he got so nervous he strapped his heart rate monitor (the one he uses when he runs) to check his heart rate.  Poor guy, he was so nervous!

Puzzles

Watching her daddy

Emma loves her daddy!  Saturdays are probably her favorite day of her week because it means she gets to be around him all day long.  

Last Saturday, Byron mowed the lawn for us.  I woke up pretty exhausted (8 months pregnant in the middle of the summer, anyone?) and pretty much sat in front of the TV all morning.  I kept hearing rattling noise coming from the living room, and figured it was Emma messing around with toys or boxes or something.  When I finally got up to see what she was doing, I couldn't help by smile when I found this--

Emma was just standing at the window, trying hard to get the blinds out of her way, to see her daddy mow the lawn.  Sweet, sweet girl of mine!  Who knows how long she stood there admiring her daddy.