Fall-ow Us Back to Summer

So, summertime has come and gone, and it has been a crazy long time since a blog post.  But, then again, at the end of summer, things got crazy.  Sam and I started back to work, we moved into our new house, and Henry started preschool.

A recap of summer, consisting of mostly pictures: 

Annual 4 of July celebration at Sam's parents.

Play dates and chocolate chip and lemonade picnics at the Botanical Gardens.

Henry loved playing with the water hose this summer and became quiet good at it.  He has good aim.  Watch out!

Pregnant and getting to take advantage of this sweet parking spot!  I never got to when I was pregnant with Henry.  They were always taken...which always left me skeptical.  

Beach trip to Fripp Island with all 16 of my family.  Henry had a blast playing with his cousins.  He also showed no fear of the water which was a complete 180 from his reaction to the ocean in March.  He even began being able to swim around by himself a little bit with his floaties on.   Here I am almost 30 weeks pregnant. 

 I had two weeks with him before I had to go back to work.  Sam's school started earlier than mine did.  We had fun getting into stuff.  We made peach muffins, had car washes on the back porch, went to the mall and did Build-A-Bear for the first time with Nana, and went to Splashville. 


 







Fall:


Fall has been pretty festive.  Again, a photo recap.

Henry helped make Nana a birthday cake.  He got to do the fun part :)


We took a trip to Hickory Nut Gap Farm.  Henry enjoyed climbing on hay bales, climbing on the spider web, and playing in the corn pit.

We have had  couple of family movie nights which Henry has really enjoyed.  We make popcorn and eat chocolate chips and camp out on the couch for a while.  It was a nice way to have some much needed downtime at the end of pregnancy :) 


Henry wanted to be a ghost for Halloween.  We went to two trunk or treats.  One before Charlie was born and one after Charlie was born. 




Our last hoorah before Charlie was born was an evening at the park and dinner at the Chinese restaurant.  Henry was able to climb to the top of this play equipment by himself.  He is such a big boy!  Here I am at 40 weeks and 3 days.





 Henry:

"I'm all stickered up!"

Henry is a spunky, happy, independent, sassy, inquisitive, intuitive, hilarious, and loving little guy.  Some of the things that he says are way beyond his years and so insightful.   You can tell he is really thinking deeply most of the time.  His command of language is impressive.  He has begun narrating stories.  He has also become quiet argumentative.  He can tell you just what he thinks and why.  It is almost like having a teenager in the house.   He is obsessed with playing with cars and "machines" (anything that can haul or move dirt).  He has also grown an attachment to his "baby hoot owl" animal which he likes to sleep with.  This is the first object he has attached himself to for any prolonged period of time.  His attachment has always been to Mommy.  He is also trying to figure out how to use the suffix "un,"  the words "before" and "after,"  and the phrase "little bit."  When I go to get him up in the mornings, he will say "it is a little bit time to get up."  It is all sooooo adorable!

Henry started two half-days of preschool each week back at the end of August. He goes from 8-12 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Back in the spring, it started becoming evident that Henry was interested in other kids and was asking for play dates, so we figured, it was time to socialize him.  We thought that it might also be a nice distraction for him when Charlie got here.  Overall, I think it has bee a good experience for him.  He is now able to go without tears, and he seems more confident.  It is sometimes still a battle to get him out the door.  He is say "I don' t want to go to preschool,"  but he is fine once he is coaxed into the car.  

In the days leading up to Charlie's arrival, Henry became  pretty attached (even more so) to Mommy.  I think he sensed the change that was getting ready to take place.  He started waking more at night and waking early, which made for a grumpy Henry at times.  While Henry was excited to talk about the arrival of Charlie, we were pretty worried about what his reaction would be when he finally saw what sharing attention would be like.  However,  he has been great with Charlie, very sweet and loving. He checks on Charlie repeatedly throughout the day and tells him that he loves him.  He brings Charlie books, and says "It's ok Charlie" when he cries.  The first night we had Charlie and Henry at home, Henry started falling asleep on his bed by himself, alone in the room.  He has NEVER been able to do this!  To top it off, he started sleeping through the night.  I think that there was a lot of anxiety for him leading up to Charlie's arrival, but once Charlie got here and the situation became more concrete, he was able to adapt rather well. 

Charlie:

My last day of work was October 21st, and my due date was the 23rd.  I felt really well the last trimester.  There were concerns about Charlie being a larger baby, so he was given an eviction date of October 27th.  Sam and I had mixed feeling about this, but didn't want to run the risk of any complications, so we went with the doctor's recommendation.  And of course, Charlie didn't make an appearance before is induction date. 

Reading to Henry before leaving for the hospital

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30.  After all the preliminary admittance paperwork and what-not, I was induced between 9-9:30.  Remembering the intensity of contractions and pain from being induced with Henry, I was set on having an epideral.  The doctor called and said she was going to break my water around 11, so I should go ahead and get prepped for an epideral because things can move fast once the water is broken.  So, I was prepped for an epideral around 10:30 or 11.  The doctor didn't get there until after 12, probably closer to 12:30.  I asked for the epideral around 12:30 as contractions began to pick up.  The epideral only took on one side.   I started feeling very intense contractions around 1.  From there, it took the anesthesiologist another hour to hour and half to get back.  The pain was so intense, I might as well have been feeling it everywhere.  By the time the anesthesiologist made it back, I was complete and ready to push, so it was too late for any other pain management medication.  I began pushing around 3, and Charlie was born at 3:33.  By the time I began pushing, the epideral had completely worn off.  Luckily, it was a very short and easy labor, as I pushed for 2 and a half hours with Henry.  I have to say though, that being able to actually feel the contractions, as painful as it was, made it a lot easier to push and know what my body needed me to do.

Welcome, Charlie!  Weighing 8lbs 11 oz, and 21 inches long!

My parents were there to meet Charlie.  They had brought Sam lunch, and then returned home, only to get the call a few hours later that Charlie was here because everything progressed so quickly. 

Henry was a proud big brother.  He got to meet Charlie the next morning.  Gammy brought him up to the hospital.  He had stayed the night with Gammy and Pappaw, and then was going to spend that night with Nana and Pa Ted.  With how early in the day Charlie was born and how well he and I were doing, they let us leave that evening.  We only had to stay one night in the hospital. 

We are blowing this popsicle stand

The first night we had both boys home, Henry really stepped up his game as big brother.  He began, (for the first time in his life!), to be able to lay down on his own with no one in the room and go to sleep and sleep...get this...ALL NIGHT!  I don't know what switch went off, or if he has been able to do this all along, but there hasn't been any turning back for naps or at night.  It has been amazing!  Henry has also been a very loving and kind big brother to Charlie, checking on him and telling him he loves him whenever he gets the chance.  Although, a few times recently he has said to just lay Charlie down while we play with him. With the introduction of our new family member, we have tried to keep fun stuff going for Henry.  We took him and Charlie out for a trunk or treat on Halloween.  We also decorated Halloween cookies.  I have also been trying to do an outing a week, even if it is just to the grocery store or library, with just me and him. 

Henry loves getting dirty..yes he is using the bank as a slide

At Charlie's first check up, he had lost a little too much weight (down to 7 lbs 11 oz).  We had to really push the feeding with him.  By the time we took him back the next morning, he had already gained 3 oz.  At his 2 week appointment, he weighted 9 lbs. 4 oz., so there is no concern at this point about this kid eating enough!  At a little over 3 weeks old, we just had to store away his newborn clothes.  He has some trouble with gas and bowel movements and grunts like an old man all night long, but other than that, he is a precious, happy baby.  He likes to cuddle with me, and seems to hate being swaddled.  He has already began to develop a social smile and makes some cooing noises. 

While Sam was off for two weeks, with a lot of  help from my dad and his tractor, we took on a rather large landscaping project.  We had two loads of dirt delivered, used it to level out the yard, reseeded with grass seed, covered with straw, and put in a walk way.

Happy Birthday, Gammy!

 


A note from Dad:

Life's pretty much a whirlwind lately.  The kind where you don't get a lot of sleep, but you get a lot of love.  I've been enjoying every minute of it.  Ok, that's not exactly true.  Some nights when I'm walking around and around with Charlie aren't exactly as fun as playing.  But that's how it goes.  With Henry I've enjoyed going on adventures to the Little Gulley and playing machines in the dirt.  With Charlie I've enjoyed the snuggles and his funny looks.  Usually he cries when I get him.