Saturday, December 21, 2013
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Annual Clemson Basketball Birthday Celebration
Thomas made his first trip this year. Some pictures below including Thomas enjoying his first trip to Skins.
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Late October Life
Thomas helping with a bath for James
Obligatory Daddy and baby sleeping pic...lots of resting when you can happening...or trying to happen:)
Hayrides at the Purser's house with ALL our connect group kids!
Jonathan getting to drive his man tractor...this was the final hayride before things got dark and it turned into a haunted and hilarious hayride in the pitch black!
Amy and Crystal and James enjoying the porch
Zane staying just still enough for a quick photo!
Stoking the fire
The kids tackling Golden
Thomas and James
Pirates on their ship
All the boys took a bath together the other night. Yes, that's the real deal ink on Jacob's chest.
Jacob helping to tape off the baseboards for a new little project.
Thursday, October 31, 2013
Monday, October 21, 2013
The 4-1-1 on Baby JAMES
So before I forget all the things about James' birth that one day in the future I might like to remember, I figured I would jot it down here! I also unloaded some pictures I've taken on my phone, so there will be some pictorial excitement too!
*DISCLAIMER* this is a post about birth, so if you don't want to know too many details, you should probably just look at the pretty pictures and skip the commentary!
First off, here are the shots I randomly took throughout the pregnancy...funny thing is the last one was taken the morning before I had James! So that one is essentially the peak of pregnancy...so to speak.
So here's where things went from that picture:
We finished getting ready that Wednesday morning and I took the boys to Bible study. I had been having Braxton Hicks for several weeks, but that morning, the contractions were different, although very very mild. We ditched out on a Mom's lunch after CBS that morning because I just felt like I needed to go home and rest up, not that I felt bad, because I didn't, I just kept kind of sensing I should relax. So we went home and had lunch, put Thomas down for his nap, and then I started a loaf of bread for one of Jeff's coworkers, got our dinner planned out, and then hopped on the elliptical for a bit. The contractions continued throughout the day but were not strong and obviously had no effect on my activity level!
I left to go drop the bread off at Jeff's work and run by CVS after Thomas got up from his nap, and that's when I actually started thinking, "I should time these contractions just to be sure of what's going on"...again, even though they weren't really strong labor like contractions. So, I told Jeff what was going on when he got home, just so he'd be prepared in case things moved forward! We ate dinner, and at that point the contractions were definitely more consistent, and were getting a little more painful, where I would have to stop talking to deal with it. Jeff and I started cleaning up the house (an obvious necessity) and getting our stuff together for the hospital...just to be safe. Once the boys were in bed, I was mostly resting and timing things. My doctor's office prefers that before you assume you're in labor you drink a ton of water and/or take a bath, just to be sure the contractions won't stop or ease up, so I did both of those things. It didn't make anything stop, but things were still 5-7 minutes apart, and I was told not to go to the hospital (nor did I WANT to) until they were 3-5 minutes apart. Around 10:30, they were at that point, so I called my midwife and she said to come on into the hospital and they'd get me checked out to see what was happening.
Jeff called our friend Crystal and she hopped in the car to come stay with the boys. Meanwhile, things got pretty intense really quickly. In the half hour between 10:30 and 11pm, I went from being able to carry on a fairly normal conversation to almost constant groaning from one contraction to the next...yikes! By the time we got going on the short 10 minutes ride to the hospital, I actually started freaking out because I thought we were going to have the baby in the car. I couldn't catch my breath and didn't know how I'd get from the parking lot to labor and delivery! (That would be the down side to giving birth in a small town hospital versus a nice big one where they have valet!) I could barely walk from the car, and thankfully someone in the parking lot spotted us and ran to get us a wheelchair...which was still pretty terrible at this point...but better than walking I guess!
When we got to registration (my online registration was never received...fantastic), they sent me on "because I looked like I was in some pain". When we got into the delivery room, I was between 8 and 9 cm...oops. (I should mention that at 36 weeks I was already 3 cm dialated and 75% effaced, so maybe I should have acted earlier!) The nurses kept saying, "Sweetheart, I don't think there's going to be time to get you an epidural"...which just made me so sad evidently. My midwife was there the entire time, which was actually pretty cool, but she told me at one point when I was sitting up to get some medicine (not the epidural...there really wasn't time for that, but something else to help me catch my breath so I could actually push when the time came!), that just to warn me, I might deliver the baby when I sat up on the edge of the bed...WHAT?!!! It was just crazy...at least crazy for me. Miss Super Prepared had no time to wrap her little head around what was happening before the baby was there!
So, they gave me some medicine, and I guess I didn't understand what was happening (still) because I was saying, "I can still feel my legs". And no one seemed concerned...then they told me they could break my water and we'd go ahead and have the baby, or I could wait a few minutes and THEN they'd come back and break my water and I'd have the baby. I opted to catch my breath and wait...then they said not to wait too long. I asked how long, to which the nurse replied, "the medicine will only last for 5 or 10 minutes"!! GEEZ!! So, I had about 2 more contractions and then I paged the nurse to come back and said I thought the baby was coming. And he was. I pushed through one contraction, and then the first push of the second contraction and out he came! They hadn't dropped the bed down, and it was a good thing, because he landed on the bed...which is what happens when you come flying out all in one push! Again, CRAZY! Apparently Baby James was ready to be here.
So that was it! Recovery was fantastic, it was so nice being able to get right up out of bed! I don't know why that was such a big deal to me, but it was. I didn't feel trapped in a bed, I guess. The rest of our stay at the hospital was fine, the nurses really left us alone and we got a good but of sleep actually! The only downside would be the jackhammering taking place below our delivery room (which started the next morning thankfully! I don't know what I would have done if I was laboring with that noise!)...literally jackhammering.
That morning, after my mom got in town, she brought the boys up to the hospital so the three of them could meet the babe! I should mention that they were sitting in their car seats in the car when she got there, all ready to go and meet their little brother! Jacob even made a little gift to bring for James which was really really sweet. He gave him a toy that he had picked out for Thomas before he was born and a note:
We had a lot of help after the baby came. My mom came first to stay with the big boys while we were at the hospital. She did all of the caretaking for them for most of our first week, as well as all the cooking and cleaning! Then Bryant and Judy came, and they did the same! We had a couple days in between and then Caitlin came to stay for a few days too...we had a few more adventures at that point, getting out and about, checking out how bike rides were going to go with the baby too... when Thomas got tired he had to be roped up to the jogging stroller leash and pulled back to the car (I have since used this method when it was just me and the boys the other day...it's actually surprisingly easy to push the stroller and pull him on his tricycle with the other! )
This is our second full week of being "on our own" during the days. Last week went pretty well, all in all. We had a successful trip to the grocery store, we went to Bible study, went to the park a couple times, and ran some errands on Friday. Thursday was a tough day...the little one didn't sleep well the night before and Thomas was having issues...and I was exhausted and frustrated! I suspect there will be more tough days in my future, as there were when it was just me and Jacob, as well as with Jacob and Thomas. I was really encouraged though after that rough day that we have LOTS to give thanks for and little to be grumbling and complaining about. Just the verse that says that we are to give thanks in all things (1 Thessalonians 5:18) helped me to see that while I can't change the fact that the days may be long and they may be hard and they will most likely be tiring, I am to not only walk through those days without grumbling and complaining (Ephesians 6), but I am to do the opposite- give thanks to God. Right now that looks like instead of begrudging the little sleep thanks to a nursing baby and constant needs of Thomas and constant questions of Jacob, I say, "4 years ago we thought we might not be able to have any more children and today I have 3. Thank you Lord for giving us the family that you designed for us to have!" Just that simple act of bringing my thoughts into alignment with God's Word drastically changed my attitude over the past 3 days. Amazing how Jesus can do that! So, today I'm still tired, but I'm more content sitting here trying to finish up this blog post that has literally taken me almost 2 weeks to complete, watching the baby sleep (after a morning full of holding him and nursing him and burping him and not putting him down because he would get upset again), and watching Jacob and Thomas play cars in the middle of the living room floor (which is a disaster zone), with all of us in our pajamas (at noon). It's already been an adventure in just 3 and a half weeks, and this exact adventure is precisely what God has called us to...so I'll keep on seeking to give thanks and wait on the Lord to help as we need it!
*DISCLAIMER* this is a post about birth, so if you don't want to know too many details, you should probably just look at the pretty pictures and skip the commentary!
First off, here are the shots I randomly took throughout the pregnancy...funny thing is the last one was taken the morning before I had James! So that one is essentially the peak of pregnancy...so to speak.
24 weeks
32 weeks
37 weeks
So here's where things went from that picture:
We finished getting ready that Wednesday morning and I took the boys to Bible study. I had been having Braxton Hicks for several weeks, but that morning, the contractions were different, although very very mild. We ditched out on a Mom's lunch after CBS that morning because I just felt like I needed to go home and rest up, not that I felt bad, because I didn't, I just kept kind of sensing I should relax. So we went home and had lunch, put Thomas down for his nap, and then I started a loaf of bread for one of Jeff's coworkers, got our dinner planned out, and then hopped on the elliptical for a bit. The contractions continued throughout the day but were not strong and obviously had no effect on my activity level!
I left to go drop the bread off at Jeff's work and run by CVS after Thomas got up from his nap, and that's when I actually started thinking, "I should time these contractions just to be sure of what's going on"...again, even though they weren't really strong labor like contractions. So, I told Jeff what was going on when he got home, just so he'd be prepared in case things moved forward! We ate dinner, and at that point the contractions were definitely more consistent, and were getting a little more painful, where I would have to stop talking to deal with it. Jeff and I started cleaning up the house (an obvious necessity) and getting our stuff together for the hospital...just to be safe. Once the boys were in bed, I was mostly resting and timing things. My doctor's office prefers that before you assume you're in labor you drink a ton of water and/or take a bath, just to be sure the contractions won't stop or ease up, so I did both of those things. It didn't make anything stop, but things were still 5-7 minutes apart, and I was told not to go to the hospital (nor did I WANT to) until they were 3-5 minutes apart. Around 10:30, they were at that point, so I called my midwife and she said to come on into the hospital and they'd get me checked out to see what was happening.
Jeff called our friend Crystal and she hopped in the car to come stay with the boys. Meanwhile, things got pretty intense really quickly. In the half hour between 10:30 and 11pm, I went from being able to carry on a fairly normal conversation to almost constant groaning from one contraction to the next...yikes! By the time we got going on the short 10 minutes ride to the hospital, I actually started freaking out because I thought we were going to have the baby in the car. I couldn't catch my breath and didn't know how I'd get from the parking lot to labor and delivery! (That would be the down side to giving birth in a small town hospital versus a nice big one where they have valet!) I could barely walk from the car, and thankfully someone in the parking lot spotted us and ran to get us a wheelchair...which was still pretty terrible at this point...but better than walking I guess!
When we got to registration (my online registration was never received...fantastic), they sent me on "because I looked like I was in some pain". When we got into the delivery room, I was between 8 and 9 cm...oops. (I should mention that at 36 weeks I was already 3 cm dialated and 75% effaced, so maybe I should have acted earlier!) The nurses kept saying, "Sweetheart, I don't think there's going to be time to get you an epidural"...which just made me so sad evidently. My midwife was there the entire time, which was actually pretty cool, but she told me at one point when I was sitting up to get some medicine (not the epidural...there really wasn't time for that, but something else to help me catch my breath so I could actually push when the time came!), that just to warn me, I might deliver the baby when I sat up on the edge of the bed...WHAT?!!! It was just crazy...at least crazy for me. Miss Super Prepared had no time to wrap her little head around what was happening before the baby was there!
So, they gave me some medicine, and I guess I didn't understand what was happening (still) because I was saying, "I can still feel my legs". And no one seemed concerned...then they told me they could break my water and we'd go ahead and have the baby, or I could wait a few minutes and THEN they'd come back and break my water and I'd have the baby. I opted to catch my breath and wait...then they said not to wait too long. I asked how long, to which the nurse replied, "the medicine will only last for 5 or 10 minutes"!! GEEZ!! So, I had about 2 more contractions and then I paged the nurse to come back and said I thought the baby was coming. And he was. I pushed through one contraction, and then the first push of the second contraction and out he came! They hadn't dropped the bed down, and it was a good thing, because he landed on the bed...which is what happens when you come flying out all in one push! Again, CRAZY! Apparently Baby James was ready to be here.
So that was it! Recovery was fantastic, it was so nice being able to get right up out of bed! I don't know why that was such a big deal to me, but it was. I didn't feel trapped in a bed, I guess. The rest of our stay at the hospital was fine, the nurses really left us alone and we got a good but of sleep actually! The only downside would be the jackhammering taking place below our delivery room (which started the next morning thankfully! I don't know what I would have done if I was laboring with that noise!)...literally jackhammering.
That morning, after my mom got in town, she brought the boys up to the hospital so the three of them could meet the babe! I should mention that they were sitting in their car seats in the car when she got there, all ready to go and meet their little brother! Jacob even made a little gift to bring for James which was really really sweet. He gave him a toy that he had picked out for Thomas before he was born and a note:
Our days in the hospital were actually pretty restful compared to the other hospitals we had the boys at...the nurses generally left us alone and weren't very concerned about us at all it seemed! (But not so unconcerned that they would let us go home early!) James slept almost straight the whole first day of his life. He was so quiet and didn't cry...that has since changed:)
Since getting home that first day, both boys have been pretty well enamored with the babe. We knew Jacob would be, but it surprised me that Thomas has been. I thought he would be totally indifferent to him, but he really likes him and helps give him his paci, he talks to him a lot, holds him ocassionally, etc.
The first few days of being home, we would wonder where Thomas was and he would be sitting like this, sucking his thumb, holding his blanket, perched on the side of our bed, watching James sleep in his bassinet.
This sticker is right on! He is so into babies and will be the world's best dad one day!
I think a lot of what's helped Thomas to adjust so well is that he likes to imitate whatever he sees Jacob doing, so I've even heard Thomas talking very sweetly to the baby, just like Jacob, and saying things like, "you are so adorable!".
First bath. He didn't like it, of course, which is perfect because I prefer taking him in the shower with me while I shower to kill two birds with one stone. He does like showers.
I don't know that we have any pictures of Thomas doing this, but this is what he has done since he was around a year old I think! Sucking his thumb and messing with his belly button!
Mom and grandsons (yea, photos are getting trickier and trickier)
Grandma reading with Spiderman and Jake (costumes that they took the boys to pick out while they were staying with us)
Grandma and Papa and grandsons
We had a lot of help after the baby came. My mom came first to stay with the big boys while we were at the hospital. She did all of the caretaking for them for most of our first week, as well as all the cooking and cleaning! Then Bryant and Judy came, and they did the same! We had a couple days in between and then Caitlin came to stay for a few days too...we had a few more adventures at that point, getting out and about, checking out how bike rides were going to go with the baby too... when Thomas got tired he had to be roped up to the jogging stroller leash and pulled back to the car (I have since used this method when it was just me and the boys the other day...it's actually surprisingly easy to push the stroller and pull him on his tricycle with the other! )
This is our second full week of being "on our own" during the days. Last week went pretty well, all in all. We had a successful trip to the grocery store, we went to Bible study, went to the park a couple times, and ran some errands on Friday. Thursday was a tough day...the little one didn't sleep well the night before and Thomas was having issues...and I was exhausted and frustrated! I suspect there will be more tough days in my future, as there were when it was just me and Jacob, as well as with Jacob and Thomas. I was really encouraged though after that rough day that we have LOTS to give thanks for and little to be grumbling and complaining about. Just the verse that says that we are to give thanks in all things (1 Thessalonians 5:18) helped me to see that while I can't change the fact that the days may be long and they may be hard and they will most likely be tiring, I am to not only walk through those days without grumbling and complaining (Ephesians 6), but I am to do the opposite- give thanks to God. Right now that looks like instead of begrudging the little sleep thanks to a nursing baby and constant needs of Thomas and constant questions of Jacob, I say, "4 years ago we thought we might not be able to have any more children and today I have 3. Thank you Lord for giving us the family that you designed for us to have!" Just that simple act of bringing my thoughts into alignment with God's Word drastically changed my attitude over the past 3 days. Amazing how Jesus can do that! So, today I'm still tired, but I'm more content sitting here trying to finish up this blog post that has literally taken me almost 2 weeks to complete, watching the baby sleep (after a morning full of holding him and nursing him and burping him and not putting him down because he would get upset again), and watching Jacob and Thomas play cars in the middle of the living room floor (which is a disaster zone), with all of us in our pajamas (at noon). It's already been an adventure in just 3 and a half weeks, and this exact adventure is precisely what God has called us to...so I'll keep on seeking to give thanks and wait on the Lord to help as we need it!
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