The First Few Weeks

No I didn't forget about my blog. We are alive and well and despite extreme sleep deprivation, we are enjoying our life with sweet little Carter.  He is such a calm and mellow baby. He only cries when he is hungry or being changed. He loves to snuggle and wants to be held all of the time, so that is the reason for our lack of sleep. He doesn't like being put in his bed (co-sleeper).  Sometimes he will sleep a few hours in a row, and other nights he wakes up fussing after a few minutes.  He is doing awesome at nursing and is gaining weight very well. At 16 days old he was up to 7lbs 15oz. Leah had a hard time nursing and gaining weight, so this has been a much better experience so far.

Leah loves her baby brother. She calls him "her baby". She always needs to know where he is and what he is doing. She is always asking to hold him. She gives him lots of love and kisses. It is very sweet.  She has been more sassy lately and throwing more fits, but I think that is mostly because we have been off our routine and she is not the center of mommy's attention.  The last 2 days she has been much better. Dustin is back at work full time now so we are getting used to our new routine.  I have yet to venture out of the house by myself with both kids, but we have a few playdates at friend's houses this week.

Daddy and Carter

Our first outing as a family of 4! We went to get donuts and to the park.

LOVE

My cutie boy

First stroller ride together

"I want to hold him!!" I hear that at least 10 times a day!

Two kids in the back of my car!

I am glad we kept Leah's bouncy chair! :)

So things have been going well overall. I will like when Carter lets us sleep a little more. I like that it is still nice weather outside. It is a lot easier to deal with being at home and tired when it is sunny and warm outside. I would be miserable right now if it were dark and rainy. But anyway even though it was awesome with Dustin being home (and also my mom who has the summers off), it is going to be good getting back to our new "normal". 

Next week Leah starts dance class! It is ballet and tap. She is in the same class as her friends Ashlyn, Emma and Emmy. I am just so excited for her since dance was a huge part of my life. She is really excited too and I hope she enjoys it!  That will be once a week through December.  I also signed her up for another Discovery Class at the kids museum which is once a week for 6 weeks starting at the end of this month. I am nervous taking her her and having Carter with us as well.  It will probably be a challenge but it will be nice getting out of the house and Leah getting to spend time with other kids.

He is here!

Carter Layne was born August 15 at 5:26am weighing 7lbs 5oz and 21 inches long. 

Getting checked out by the midwife. He is perfect!

About 2 hours old! Getting ready to leave the birth center and go home!

Leah meeting her little brother for the first time!

Birth story to follow but I was able to give birth to him 100% naturally at a birth center with the help of a midwife (and my hubby of course :) So thankful that everything ended up going exactly like we had planned and hoped.  Since he was 15 days past his due date, we were facing a possible hospital induction. Phew, he came right in the nick of time!

Random pics from the last week

 Finger painting fun!  What a MESS!  She was having so much fun.

Swimming last weekend at Grammy's pool!  Leah swam for the first time by herself with her water wings on! I have never seen her have this much fun swimming, we had to drag her out!

Leah loved that Uncle Neil was there too!

 Happy Weekend Everyone!

Realllllyyyyyy Overdue

I am 11 days overdue now. I NEVER thought that I would still be pregnant right now! Soooooo frustrating and I have had a few mini meltdowns thus far.... :-(  It has been so hard to make plans or go anywhere since I feel like things could start happening at any time!  We have tried to keep busy though in the nice weather we have been having.

Yesterday I had a non stress test and ultrasound to check that baby is doing ok. Everything looked perfect, he is just super cozy in there I guess!  We have tried probably every single labor inducing trick in the book (except castor oil, I refuse to do that!) with no luck yet. My midwife has stripped my membranes (sorry if that is TMI) twice this week and also started me on 3 different herbs yesterday that are supposed to help naturally induce labor.  I honestly feel like this is never going to happen!! At an appt on Wed with the midwife she didn't seem overly concerned that I was this far overdue, especially since I was a week overdue with Leah.  And since I am planning a natural birth in a birthing center with a midwife, there has been zero talk of a typical hospital induction. I really hope it doesn't get to that point.  Tonight I went on a rigorous walk and felt like I was starting to have contractions after that, but nothing has been consistent.

We got to see his little face in the ultrasound and he is just too cute. Made me even more excited to meet him. Please please please baby boy, come out and meet us soon!!!

Still Preggers......

Yep we still haven't met our boy yet. I guess both Leah and this baby got super cozy in there and don't want to come out until they are good and ready!  We are going on 4 days overdue now and I am going nuts.  Luckily I am not too overly uncomfortable, but the anticipation and the anxiety are killing me!!  I went into labor with Leah in the middle of the night, so every morning now when I wake up and nothing has started, I am bummed.  Of course this time could be different but we'll see.  Leah was born 7 days after her due date.  This time it is summer and we can get outside and do things but that doesn't really help my mind from being consumed by the fact that at any moment I could go into labor. 

The weather has been really nice the last few days and this weekend is supposed to be the hottest weather Seattle has had in 2 years,  the low 90's.  Thankfully we have AC and I am not super bothered by the heat. 

These are from a few nights ago. I took Leah's ball pit and filled it with water :-)

The water felt good on my feet :) I was one day overdue that day.

Today we went over to my mom's to go swimming at the pool in her new neighborhood.

Poor Leah definitely can sense that things are "off" right now. I hope once the baby is finally born we will all mellow out a little bit and settle into a routine fairly quickly. 

On another note - my hubby re-set a bunch of things on our computer and ever since then I haven't been able to figure out how to sign into my Google account and be able to comment on blog posts! It is really weird, I sign in and type up a comment but it doesn't show up! So, I have been reading all of your posts, I just can't comment right now. Hope I can get that figured out soon!!