Date Night!

Carson's 13 week birthday celebration didn't include him. Although we love our little man to pieces we needed some time for the two of us. I was excited for an occasion to wear more than sweats and a T-shirt with spit up on it.  AND I finally am fitting back into my clothes! We went to a very nice restaurant called The Vintage Tavern.  It was beautiful and lodge like inside.  So cozy!  Jeff commented almost halfway through the dinner that we were able to talk about other things other than Carson for about 45 minutes.  Oh, how our lives have changed with this little man! It was so nice to just sit and be and not have to feed him while we're trying to eat dinner.  We would love to try to go out just the two of us at least once a month.  A great thing was that I didn't feel guilty at all for leaving him.  One, I knew he was in good hands with Pops!  And secondly, I crave alone time with my husband.  It has been an adjustment for everyone with me staying at home with C-man and Jeff starting a new position and working some longer hours.  I believe we are better parents when we take time to spend on our marriage.  I am so grateful for my husband.  He is an amazing man and a wonderful father.  I can't get enough of both our family time and "mommy and daddy time."

Vintage Tavern in Suffolk

Carson at 3 months!

You're growing so much!  I can't believe how much you are learning and doing!  You can hold your head up pretty well.  You have lots of conversations with me and your daddy.  You are grabbing your toys and can hold on and shake them.  Boy, you have a strong grip!  You have started to roll over! I went to the kitchen for two seconds a few days ago, and I heard you grunting.  You had rolled over onto your stomach.  You keep rolling onto your side now and can't figure out how to get that arm out from under you.  I think you'll get it soon!  I don't think that I am ready for what rolling over leads to, but we are so proud of you!  You smile at me and your dad as soon as you see us.  You make my heart fill with joy just being with you.  You love to be held after you eat- and you still eat a lot!  You still wake up every two to three hours to eat.  Come on, baby!  Momma needs her sleep!  You are such an easy going and happy baby and love everyone around you.  You've only had one tantrum so far (at a church dinner, which was not ideal timing, Sweetheart), and the only thing that would quiet you was when your daddy held you.  You love looking at lights and out windows.  You will start fussing when you get in the car, but once we get moving you usually fall asleep- except if there are stoplights.  You do not like stop lights.  I just had to put your 3-6 month clothes away because you don't fit in them anymore.  Only 6 months to 12 months will fit!  You are 19 1/2 lbs.  You have more rolls than I can count! I am afraid that you are going to grow out of your baby things before you grow out of being a baby! Lastly, you have learned to passify yourself with your thumb.  We are so proud of all you are doing and love watching you grow!  We have loved every day of the last three months with you!!

Mom Blooper #2- FORMULA!

I believe this is directly related to blooper #1.  After having Carson late on Saturday night, we were discharged from the hospital Monday morning- our supervised parenting was short lived.  I couldn't believe we were taking home a baby!  The car ride was surreal not only because we had added a new member to our family, but we also missed the whole hurricane that had come through the area and was witnessing the effects of the storm on our route home.  Our neighbors were so nice and cleaned up our yard for us, so we could concentrate on the mission at hand: Operation Baby.  When we got home, we had to change his diaper because it took forever for the discharge nurse to come get us (Also, did anyone else have to walk and carry our their belongings?  I thought I was supposed to get a wheelchair and royal treatment??  Waddling in those diapers is not comfortable or attractive).  Well, the first diaper we changed got us all soaking wet as Carson used his fire hose to sweep the area! It was our christening.  Well, the rest of the afternoon went well and the visitors started coming.  We, as parents, survived the first day on our own!  Now, nighttime is a different story.  I had to set my alarm to feed him every two hours.  It is so painful as a new mother who hasn't sleep in days (well, let's face it, a good month! You have to count the sans REM cycle weeks leading up to birth because a bowling ball was lying on your bladder) to set an alarm for every two hours, especially to wake up a baby that is already sleeping.  Well, the first feeding of the night went ok, but the next one fell apart.  It was like he couldn't get enough food!  I felt horrible, like I was starving my child!  He kept crying and wouldn't stop even when I was trying to feed him.  My MIL came in as I am standing helpless in my underwear with my newborn who is screaming bloody murder.  I couldn't take it anymore and committed the ultimate sin of nursing moms: I gave him formula. GASP! Yes, I did it.  For three whole feedings my newborn chugged 2oz of formula and he was so content.  Later that day we went for his first pediatrician visit and she let me know that I was actually being my own worst enemy and hindering my milk from coming in by giving him formula.  Bummer.  She suggested that I just leave him attached for as long as he needed it.  That sounded like punishment.  But that is what I did.  I was committed to nursing.  It was painful being so sleep deprived, but we got through it. :) Oh formula, how you sit in my pantry and torment me so...

Growing Pains

So the last week and a half have been quite the adventure.  I have said since Carson was born that he was going through growth spurts because of how much he ate.  These past few days I'm convinced was an actual growth spurt.  Carson had been having at least one four to five hour stretch of sleep at night between feedings and then would wake up every two hours after that to eat.  These past few days he was waking up less than every two hours to eat.  Shoot me.  Then he would be wide awake at 6am.  He also wasn't taking naps during the day except for two 30 minute naps.  He was so overly tired at night that he was impossible to get to sleep.  Both of us were so exhausted.  Needless to say that I have been a mommy zombie surprising myself at how well I have continued to function under these circumstances.  

Over the weekend, we had gone to Richmond because part of my dad's birthday present was to go to the UVA-Duke football game with the boys; my brother, husband and father-in-law.  When we were in Richmond, I got to catch up with two friends I hadn't seen in a long time and they got to meet little man!  Kate, Charlie (husband), and Charlie (K9) moved back to the east coast! YAY!  Kate came and spent some of the day hanging out.  I was stumbling over words and hoping that Carson would keep it together for the little while Kate was there.  (So sad I forgot to take a picture with Kate!) Thankfully he did well, then it was off to Panera to meet one of the matrons of honor in my wedding, Jen!  Her family had moved to NY, so I haven't seen her in a while.  She has got to be one of my favorite mommy friends and was so helpful just for listening to me blab.  Thanks for the empathy! She is expecting her second child, Landon! So excited for her growing family!  She is an amazing mother! Carson went off the deep end and I ended up having to hold him the entire time we were there.  He fell asleep in my arms after a while and I dared not move! My back and arms hurt (He's 17lbs!), but my child was sleeping! Hooray!  Jen had to feed me part of the brownie I ordered (Hey, desperate times calls for comfort food!) because I couldn't move.  It was such a great time with her.  She is truly a heart friend.  That evening, it was me and MIL hangout time.  We got subs and SWEET FROGS!!  I loaded that frozen yogurt up! Soo yummy!  Just what this pooped out momma needed.  The rest of our time in Richmond was wonderful with Jeff's family.  They love Carson so much!  

Guess what?! I think the growth spurting is over!  Halleluia! Carson has slept for just over three hours at a time now and has been taking one good 2-3 hour nap during the day! This development happened Wednesday night after having five attempts at putting him to bed!  I am glad my baby is healthy...although I am not looking forward to the next growing pains!  I am still wondering why other babies his age are sleeping through the night and he isn't...

Jen and baby Landon!  Carson is sleepy from just eating:)

Blooper love

In anticipation of my friend's, Krystal, baby's arrival, I started reflecting on the first few hours when I became a mom.  I was never one of those girls who couldn't wait to be a mommy.  In fact, infants mostly scared me.  I thought they were so fragile and really, what the heck do you do with them?  I was clueless, to say the least, especially since I never took interest in baby things.  I also didn't have much exposure to babies either.  Carson was born late at night during a hurricane, so we weren't expecting visitors until the next day.  Around 1am, the nurses were basically through with their checks and everyone was ready to go to bed- except me.  I couldn't believe that the hospital lets you have a child and then doesn't tell you what to do with them.  How irresponsible!  I knew that I was supposed to feed him every two hours. So, I just stared at him for the next two hours.  Not an awe-struck, new mommy love gaze.  It was more of a I-have-no-idea-what-I'm-doing babysitting gig gaze. (Of course I felt like I was babysitting!  It takes a while for you to believe that a person just emerged from your body!)  I felt much better when I could take care of him when he was inside of me.  OK, I could do this.  My task was to feed him every two hours and listen to make sure he was breathing.  Every two hours I tried feeding him but he just slept, so I figured I had potent colostrum because he ate right after birth.  I also figured he would cry if he was hungry.  Around 7am, my nurse came in and asked how he ate.  I told her that he preferred sleeping.  I was then berated for not waking up my child to eat.  How was I supposed to know that I had to do tricks to wake up my newborn to eat? I felt horrible.  Seriously, why doesn't an instruction manual pop out with the baby?  So, I failed at my first mommy task. My first of many mommy bloopers.  I have heard this before, and so far it seems to be true, that by God's grace, my child will survive my parenting. 

Proof:)

Newborn pictures!!

 For Carson's newborn pictures, we decided to ask our friend, Dani, who was my colleague while I was on InterVarsity staff.  She is a wonderful photographer and was great to work with.  I didn't want his bellybutton thing to be in the pictures, so we decided to wait until it fell off.  These pictures were taken when he was two and a half weeks old.  He looks big in the pictures because he gained 2 lbs in the first 2 weeks and he started out at 9lbs 4oz! 

To see all of the pictures, click here!

A Baby Story

I was amazed at how many people wanted to know the details of the hardest but most precious day of my life.  So here it is for my current and future mommy friends:)

I started having strong Braxton Hicks contractions on Thursday, my due date, after my weekly visit to my OB (who did something pretty painful to me at the visit).  By Friday night at 11pm, I started having regular contractions about 4 minutes apart.  I woke Jeff up around 2am and he started running around the house like a crazy man packing.  Since my doctor told us to go to the hospital when the contractions were 3 minutes apart, we braved the hurricane weather and left.  One of our biggest concerns was that to get to our hospital, we had to cross a bridge which gets closed when severe weather hits.  We made it to the hospital around 3am.  When they checked me, I was still only 1 cm dilated and they wanted to send me home.  I greatly protested because not only was I in immense pain but because of the weather.  They consented to let me walk the Mother-Baby Unit for 2 hours and they would check me again.  Jeff was a trooper and walked every step with me holding me up every time a contraction came.  After the 2 hours of walking I was 3 cm dilated and they decided to admit me.  Thank goodness!  They didn't know this but I definitely wasn't going to go home if they didn't admit me. I would've stayed in the lobby until my baby came out!

Once admitted I had a baby's heart monitor, my contraction monitor, a finger pulse checker, and an IV all hooked up to me.  Even though they said I was free to do anything I wanted, I felt like I was on lock down because every time I moved, the monitors moved and the nurse had to come adjust them.  Also, during this time the power in the hospital went out and we were on back-up generators until Sunday morning.  From some sort of litmus test, they determined my water had broken (around 7:30am).  My contractions had slowed once I got in the bed.  I was so thankful to be in a resting position that I didn't care at the time.  Later, I got on the birthing ball.  This was really helpful because it took so much pressure off of my lower back.  It was a little hard for me to stay balanced on the ball simply because I was so relaxed in between contractions I would almost be asleep.  I keep my eyes closed almost the entire time I was in labor because that was how I focused on staying calm and relaxed to help my body progress with labor and for pain control.  Around 6:30pm, the nurse checked me again and said I was about 6-7 cm.  I had done so much work that I couldn't believe I wasn't ready to push this baby out! Because of my disappointment, she had another nurse check me and she said I was only 3-4cm.  Here is where I almost lost it.  My OB was supposed to be coming by at 7, so I told the nurse, pending on what the doctor said, I would need an epidural because I could think of nothing else to help my body progress further (and the fact that I was just dog tired and done with being in pain).

When my OB showed up, she checked me and then there was a huge gush!  There goes my water! I wish the nurse had done that 12 hours ago, but now I had a renewed energy to keep going since I knew that breaking my water could speed things up and the OB said I was about 6 cm.  I truly believe I made Lake Erie on the floor.  I have no idea where all of the fluid came from that came out of me even after my water broke- labor is crazy messy!  A little after 8:30pm I hit the transition phase (where contractions come about every minute and you are going from 8-10 cm).  These next two hours were so so hard.  The entire time I was in labor, Jeff was watching the computer monitor to tell me when a contraction was starting, when I was almost at the top, and when I had reached the peak and it was coming down.  Without his help, I wouldn't have been able to get through this phase.  I had contractions piling on top of each other with no recovery in between.  Once you reach transition, it is supposed to only last like 30 minutes; however, there was a little part of my cervix that wasn't fully dilated unlike the rest of it.  After lots of the nurse's stretching and moving from position to position, at 10:30pm I announced that they had to get this baby out of me because I couldn't take it anymore.  My OB was there and the baby had moved down so much that the nurse told me that I would probably only have to push twice! Best news all day! I really had no idea pushing was going to be so incredibly hard.  I thought that after all the work of getting to 10 cm dilated, the baby would kind of slip out.  I have never been so wrong.  Because of the nurse's earlier stretching and my OB's current stretching, I was in so much pain I had a hard time feeling my contractions so I didn't know when to push half the time.  However, after only 20 minutes of pushing (which, by the way, I think you are supposed to be an Olympic athlete to be able to push for 30 seconds!), his head appeared.  Once his head was out I figured I was done and they could pull him out, but apparently you still have to push the rest of your baby out.  That last push was a piece of cake!  He came out with his arm above his head, crazy boy! After some stitches and cleaning I got to hold my little boy!

It was definitely the longest 24 hours of my life.  I am glad I didn't have any medication and hope to be able to have another unmedicated birth.  He was totally worth it!

Smithfield Station

Yesterday, in lieu of having professional maternity pictures done, we decided to take some pictures ourselves down at Smithfield Station using the self-timer on our camera.  It is so beautiful with the marsh and marina.  The wildfires from the Great Dismal Swamp has made everything here very smokey, but I think they still turned out well!  I was looking at the pictures when we got home and did not realize how huge I look!  I know I feel that huge, but I didn't think I looked it! I wish we had taken these pictures two weeks earlier because I am starting to retain fluids and get all puffy everywhere! Come on, baby!!

Here are a few of my favorites:

Party for Baby Daniels!

This weekend we were blessed by our church who threw a party for our little one!  It's crazy that three of the best parties I have ever been to have been for someone who isn't even here yet! Our church family is so fun and has a great sense of humor.  One of the games that was played involved cleaning and diapering a baby blindfolded.  Jeff, our pastor and another father are the participants and all had quite different approaches.  Jeff's competitive nature won out over his detail-oriented engineering training and went super fast...even dropping the rash cream on the baby:)  We have gone to a baby class, where Jeff excelled in bathing and diapering, so I am not too worried!  We had so much fun with with our church family and love sharing life with them.  We can't wait to introduce them to our son!

Diapering baby quickly means you might stay dry!

Anticipation!

We are so excited and are counting down til our little one arrives! It's a crazy feeling to know that he could make his grand entrance any day now, but most likely will take his time like other first-borns.  There are three weeks until his due date, and we have just about every material thing we think we might need thanks to our very generous family and friends!  As a momma-in-waiting, these are just a few of the things I have been anticipating over the past week:

*Where will I be when I go into labor? Home? Ice cream store? Wedding?

*Will I wait too long before I go to the hospital and have to deliver on the James River Bridge?

*Why would they let me and hubs take such a tiny, helpless thing home from the hospital with us?

*One of the parenting books said that he might get hungry on the way home.  Will I have to stop mid-way home to nurse in the car with all of the family following us?