And then there were two...

Becoming a mother of two has been a thrilling and exhausting experience.  I thought I was busy with one kid...what was I thinking!?  The only reason my family has been fed and clean for the last month is because my mom is here...I'm not sure how I will survive once she leaves:(  Luckily Autrey is a very good baby and so far Jackson really loves him, lots of hugs and kisses.  Having a newborn and a 2 year old presents a lot of challenges...especially in the discipline department.   Jackson is like most 2 year olds and into everything.  Telling him to stop or leave something alone is not usually enough.  I have to make him obey.  This is a challenge while breastfeeding.  It's also hard to have one on one time with Jackson when Autrey takes up so much of my time right now.  I've made it a priority to try and spend quality time with Jackson everyday.  This is another thing that will be more difficult once my mother leaves.  Phillip's classes start next week, so the kids and I will be on our own a lot.  Despite the challenges, becoming a family of 4 has been amazing. 

Today I used my Moby Wrap for the first time to take Jackson to the playground.  I have a feeling the Moby will be an everyday essential! Here are some photos from our little adventure today:)

  

Jackson is running around destroying things so that's it for now:)

Autrey's Birth Story...Read at your own risk!

CAUTION!  If you had a super long, difficult, painful labor and delivery you may not want to read this post.  If you choose to read this post, keep in mind that I spent the first 17 weeks of my pregnancy REALLY sick!

Sunday 7/24/11   I'm officially 38 weeks pregnant and not very happy about it.  Autrey is really low and my back, hips, basically everything aches.  I spend most of Sunday morning having contractions and feeling miserable.  The contractions never get closer together and eventually go away so no baby:(

Monday 7/25/11  Jackson wakes up before 6am...I think it was around 5:00am or 5:30am.  Bad start to the day:(  Phillip leaves for work around 7:30 and I get ready for my 9:30 Dr's appointment.  This is my first appointment where my Dr. is going to do a pelvic exam.  I'm hoping to hear that I am at least a little dilated and on my way...and ready to beg my Dr. to put me out of my misery.  My dad stays home with a cranky and tired Jackson and my mom and I head to my Dr's appointment. 

My appointment starts out the same as any other prenatal appointment.  I close my eyes while the nurse weighs me (cause I really just don't want to know), I pee in a cup, and then go to the exam room.  My Dr. comes in and takes my fundal measurement, and listens to the babies heartbeat.  Then it's time for the dreaded pelvic.  As my Dr. is examining me he starts making faces and says, "You said you've been having contractions?"  Which makes me think, crap...I'm not dilated at all!  I tell him about having them on and off for the last couple weeks.  When he finishes the exam, he asks me if I came to the appointment alone. I tell him my mom is in the waiting room. "Good, cause you are going to the hospital.  You are 6 cm dilated." He wasn't sure what he was going to do with me because I didn't appear to be in active labor, but he couldn't send me home 6cm dilated when I live a good way from the hospital.  So he tells me to head to the hospital and he'll call ahead and let them know I'm coming. 

So mom and I head to the hospital and I call Phillip so he can meet us there.  He has to go home first and get my bag and the camera. We get to the hospital around 11am. Once I get in my room at the hospital the nurse has me put on a gown and then hooks me up to the fetal monitor and the monitor that tracks your contractions.  She needed to track my contractions for 20 min to see if I'm really in labor.  My contractions were 2-5 min apart but they weren't really painful, just uncomfortable.  This was SO different from my labor with Jackson. (You can read about that here Jackson's Birth Story) 

Phillip arrived about 11:30am.

The nurse calls my Dr. and lets him know how far apart my contractions are (2-5min) and then he asks her to check me and then call him back.  So she checks me and thinks I'm 9 cm dilated!  So she asks another nurse for her opinion, and she agrees 9cm, so they get a third opinion.  She thinks I'm 6-7 cm dilated.  (For those of you who have had babies you know this is not a fun experience!)  They are all trying to be careful because they are nervous about breaking my water.  They all think as soon as my water breaks the baby is going to come very quickly.  They tell me my Dr. is headed over.  My Dr. arrives around noon and after he checks me he decides I'm about 8cm dilated. 

Around 12:30 he breaks my water. Within 15 min I start having REALLY painful contractions.  The rest is a little bit of a blur but before too long I start having the urge to push.  My Dr. comes back in and checks me again and tells me the baby is "sunnyside up" (face up instead of face down) so they have me roll to my side to see if the baby will turn at all.  They aren't sure he will because his head is pretty much already lodged in the birth canal.  Then the urge to push is so strong there is no more breathing through it.  They have me roll back over and at 1:48pm after about 10 min of pushing (sorry everyone who had to push for a long time) Autrey Joseph Boykin was born! Everyone in the room was saying what a big boy he was.  You didn't have to tell me that!  I knew he was a big baby!  My Dr. put him on my chest and the nurse worked on drying him off while I finally got to see my new baby boy.  He had a lot of hair which was pretty exciting to me since Jackson was pretty much bald for the first 18 months of his life:)  Phillip didn't want to cut the cord so my mom did it (I cut Jackson's).

Once again God blessed me with an amazing birth...not too long...no drugs of any kind...and a healthy baby and mommy.  Both times I have been amazed with the feeling that God created my body to do this and so thrilled that I was able to do it with no drugs and pretty much no intervention. (I know this is only because my labors are so short.  I wouldn't be able to endure that for hours and hours and I don't fault anyone who has an epidural, etc.).  My Dr. is very much a supporter of doing it naturally and didn't even have the nurse put in an IV.  He also didn't have them give me the shot of pitocin they normally give to help with the afterbirth.  I really appreciate that about him.  Being able to do this all naturally really helps my recovery. 

Within an hour of Autrey being born they move us upstairs to the maternity floor and the room that would be our home for the next two nights.  Jackson and my dad were at home with no vehicle so Phillip went home to get them.

We are now a family of 4 and I couldn't be happier. 

Autrey is a really good baby and I can't imagine life without him!

The last few weeks...

So a lot has happened in the last few weeks and I haven't been very good about blogging so time to catch up.  My parents arrived on July 9th which was just in time.  I was starting to feel pretty miserable at that point and REALLY happy to have the help! 

Jackson is having SO much fun with his grandparents!  My mom and I spent a lot of time going to baby consignment stores, Goodwill, Ross, etc... to get everything ready for the baby.  I love finding treasures at REALLY great prices!  This also helped keep my mind off of how uncomfortable I was.  Autrey was running out of room and I was VERY achy!





37 weeks pregnant...Jackson was born at 36 weeks 4 days so at this point I'm feeling HUGE and overdue and REALLY ready for Autrey to get here. 

  

At 37 1/2 weeks my mom did a little photoshoot for me...I was hoping I wouldn't be pregnant much longer so we were thinking we wouldn't have much more time to document my belly.  I had been having painful contractions on and off for almost 2 weeks at that point.

 My 38 week check-up was scheduled for Monday 7/25 at 9:30 am and I was really hoping that the Dr. would tell me that all my discomfort and painful contractions had been working and that I was at least a little dilated. 

 I was going to be really discouraged if he told me I wasn't progressing at all...

to be continued...



Burp Clothes Can be Cute and Functional:)

A few months ago, I saw these really cute burp clothes on etsy.  They looked pretty simple so I thought I would give it a try.  I got a package of 10 cloth diapers at Ross for $2.99!  Great find. The same bag at Walmart is at least $10.  Then I bought some fabric quarters I thought were cute from Joanne Fabrics.  They were $1 ea.  So for less than $1 ea I was able to make some cute burp clothes for Autrey.  Basically you just cut the fabric to the same size as the middle panel of the burp cloth.  I was able to get 3 panels out of each fabric quarter.  Then iron a hem on all four sides.  Then just sew her up and you are good to go. My sewing skilled are VERY limited but I think these burp clothes turned out great:)  Yeah for DIY!

Happy 4th of July!

Our holiday weekend started out great when Phillip got out of work early on Friday, which NEVER happens!  We went out for dinner at one of my favorite places Logan's, and enjoyed some family time before bed.  Saturday we ran errands and worked on some projects we had around the house.  Sunday after church we tried out a new hotdog restaurant in Longwood.  BITE Hot Dog Company http://www.bitehotdogs.com/ .  They make some great hotdogs!  Then Sunday evening we went to a "4th on the 3rd party" at a friends house.  We had a great time of stuffing our faces with great food and hanging out with friends.  Monday did not start out so great.  Jackson decided to get up before 6am and was SUPER cranky.  He had several temper trantrums before 9am:(  Not a great start to the day, but luckily the day got much better.  Our neighbors were having a little "block" party for the holiday so we spent most of the day hanging out with them.  Lots of water toys for the kids and LOTS of food.  It was SUPER hot but it was nice to just relax and get to know our neighbors a little better.  We ended the night with some fireworks (the legal kind) and then it was time for Jackson to go to bed.  Phillip and I were able to spend some time together relaxing and watching News Radio on netflix before bed.  It was a great weekend of family time.  We don't get too many of those these days because of Phillip's busy schedule.  Here are some pics from our 4th of July.

After a nice long weekend we have lots to do.  My parents get here on Saturday for an extended stay and I CAN'T WAIT!!  It will be so nice to have their help these last weeks before Autrey makes his appearance.  Phillip's semester is almost over and he'll have lots of studying to do. And at some point in the next few weeks, Autrey Joseph will be making his grand entrance.  We have a lot to look forward to!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

My Handy Hubby!

So about 4 years ago we went from a full size bed to a king bed.  We already had a bedroom set which included a dresser, chest of drawers, and full size headboard.  We moved the full size bed into our guest room (which a few years later because Jackson's room/guest room).  We never got ourselves a new headboard.  When we moved into our townhouse last year, I started looking for some guestroom furniture.  We went from 2 bedrooms to 3 so now we have a separate guestroom.  I found a great deal on a complete bedroom set on craigslist.  So now we had an extra full size headboard.  Well my super creative husband came up with the brilliant idea to transform the full size headboard into a king size headboard because it matches the rest of our furniture.  His plan was to cut it in half, add an upholstered center piece and presto, king size headboard.  Well he finally had some time this weekend to work on it and I think it turned out awesome!!!  And we basically got a king size headboard for $50:)  Can't beat that!

Why being a mom is the best job EVER!

As I get close to the end of my pregnancy, doing simple things is just getting harder and harder.  My growing belly makes my back hurt. I have aches and pains all over from my body stretching and growing to accommodate Autrey.  It's hard to sleep because it's almost impossible to get comfortable.  My feet and ankles hurt and are swelling.  Climbing the stairs feels like climbing Mt. Everest.  Shaving my legs...let's just say it's a monumental task.  All these things make taking care of a busy 2 year old a challenge.  We have our good days and bad.  I'm not sure how much he understands about why mommy isn't so much fun these days.  It makes me feel bad, like I'm not being a good mommy. 

But then there will be days like today.  I went to Goodwill this morning to drop off some of Phillip's old clothes.  Jackson fell asleep on the way home.  This was HOURS before he normally takes a nap.  When we got home I put him in his bed (this is no easy task. I have to carry him up to his room and fit get him into his bed in the small space between the guardrail and the top bunk with a bulging belly in my way).  I came down and started cleaning up the kitchen.  A 1/2 hr later, Jackson was crying...and that was that...his only nap of the day, earlier than normal and much shorter than normal.  I am disappointed because I CHERISH nap time as my rest time... So how are we going to make it through the rest of the day?  Well we've spent time playing with Spiderman, cars, reading books, and now Jackson is watching Curious George.  I haven't taken very many pics lately, so I thought I would try and get a few cute ones of Jackson.  And here's what I got!

What does this have to do with qualifying being a mommy as best job ever?  Well other moms out there know that it's the little things that count!  When my sweet boy saw the camera and decided to flash me his best smiles, it really brightened my day.  Just like when he says momma and climbs up on the couch with me, or when he dances to any and all music, or anything that sorta resembles music, or when he holds my hand, or spreads his arms as wide as he can and then runs to me for a great big hug, or when he climbs into what is left of my lap and gives me a big wet kiss...the list goes on and on.  I am so blessed to be able to stay at home with Jackson and soon Autrey.  Of course there are times when he drives me crazy, but most of the time I am blown away by how lucky we are to have such a good boy. 

Jackson is truly a gift from God and I feel so privileged to be his mommy! 

To all the mommies out there...Cherish every moment with your children.  When they are driving you crazy and you feel like pulling out your hair, stop, take a breath, and remember that they are precious gifts from God!

Almost 34 weeks...but who's counting;)

I am 33 weeks and 6 days into my pregnancy.  I am READY to have this baby.  He is VERY active and at this point in the game it is often painful when he moves around.  I welcome all his activity though because I know it means he's nice and healthy.  I had a Dr's appointment on Wednesday and all is well.  Autrey's heart rate was a nice strong 152:)  I am very curious about when Autrey will decide to make his appearance.  Jackson was born at 36 weeks and 4 days so I figure I have anywhere from 2 1/2 weeks to 5 weeks before he will arrive.  My parents arrive on July 9th and I can't wait!!!  It will be SO nice to have them around to help with Jackson these last few weeks.  I am feeling big, bulky, and always exhausted.  I have very few shirts that are long enough now to cover my belly...I sure hope that Autrey isn't too big!  The beginning of my pregnancy seemed to drag on forever, but I can't believe that the end is almost here!  Here are some pics of me and my belly...don't laugh...I know I'm HUGE!

Autrey's room is pretty much ready and waiting for his arrival.  I've gotten a lot of great finds at my favorite consignment store Klassy Kidz in Casselberry (http://klassykidz.com/), and also at the Goodwill in Fern Park and the one on 434 ( I think it's Winter Springs). 

I love a bargain! 

The only thing left to do is stain the letters we got to spell his name out on the wall

(just like Jackson has in his room).

Can't wait for our new little bundle to arrive!