Phone Photo Dump

Life with 2 kids is really sweet.  There are a lot, I mean A LOT, of moments worthy of a picture.  Sometimes I don't have my camera handy and I know if I walk away to get it, I'll distract said sweetness and miss the moment.  I usually have my phone near or in my pocket so some moments get captured that way.  

There is just so much joy and cute-ness I get to experience throughout our days... I am so blessed.  

(Plus, Daddy and the grandparents sure appreciate the pictures too! :)

 This kid sleeps so much.  He is so great.

 We are slowly but surely figuring out our new normal for the 3 of us during the days.  This picture is nothing short of a miracle in itself!

 Everyone needs a little tummy time!

 My little bargain shopper and I on a Mommy-Daughter date to Target the other night.  I loved our one on one time!

 Monkey see, monkey do... (She is wearing my nursing cover and (was) holding her baby... like Mom does :)

 He is SO adorable and is starting to have more awake times!

Diaper changin' time for all of the babies! :)

Love these simple and sweet every day moments!

3 weeks old!

The most handsome 3 week old baby boy EVER!  Not only is he handsome, but he is also sweet and content.  In 3 weeks, we have only had ONE rough night of fussiness and restlessness.  So thankful!   It's crazy how much your life can change in a few short weeks.  We can't imagine our family without him.   We love, love, love our little Wy-Guy!

Tis the season...

Loved decorating the tree with my sweet big girl this year.  She was a great "helper" :)  We were rather selective with the ornaments we placed on the bottom half of the tree...  She's grabby and curious, that one.

Wyatt slept in the swing while we worked.  He's been sleeping nearly all day after partying nearly all night last night for the first time.  He surrendered his title of "easiest newborn baby ever" last night.  We'll see if he redeems himself tonight!  I think he will... he loves his Momma and he knows she's on her own again tomorrow after a fabulous week plus some with Grandma and Grandpa.  Wish me luck...

I think a majority of the pictures I take and post online are of my kids in pajamas.  I don't know what it is, but I just love babies in PJs.  Especially fleece footie ones.  MOST especially Christmas fleece footie pajamas.  Seriously adorable.

Thankful

Thankful for these 2 (and many, many other blessings) today.  Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

2 weeks old!

 This little man is 2 weeks old!  The doctor confirmed yesterday what we already knew .. that he is healthy and oh so handsome!  He now weighs 9 lbs 9 oz, so he has surpassed his birth weight and is 21.5 inches long.  He enjoys sleeping, eating and making lots of dirty diapers and extra laundry for his Momma.  He doesn't enjoy getting those diapers changed or changing his clothes.  Go figure - those aren't my favorite things either Buddy!  He loves being awake when his big sis is sleeping - during her afternoon nap and after she goes to bed.  His longest stretch of sleep has been almost 5 hours and he is being pretty kind to his parents by going right back to sleep after night time feedings (usually).

Loving our new normal as a family of 4.  We've been extra blessed with lots of Grandma and Grandpa Wilson time too this whole week.  Lainey is especially loving all of the extra attention :)  Looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow!

Comparisons

Lots of people have asked us if we think Wyatt looks like Lainey did as a newborn ... see for yourself!  Lainey is on the left, Wyatt on the right...

First baths!

Open eyes!

Sleepy smiles!

Snoozin in the swing!

What do you think?!?

First bath at home!

Lainey and Wyatt enjoyed a wild bath time the other night.  Of course, like all newborns, Wyatt was less than thrilled.  Big sis looked on and watched some but mostly played and did her own thing in the big tub.  

Why doesn't he love bathtime like I do?!?

Always must sample the bubbles.  

Poor guy.  Such torture!

It worked out well for all 4 of us to be in the bathroom with Jed tending to Lainey in the tub and me hurriedly washing Wyatt in the little tub on the floor.  Beautiful chaos!

Wyatt's BIRTH day!

We are so thankful for the blessing of our new baby Wyatt!  His birth day was a wonderful and special day for our family.  I've been meaning to get this post written ASAP so that I don't forget anything noteworthy and so that some day, Wyatt will know all about the day he was born!  This is kind of long ... it's more for my memory and Wyatt's sake than anything else...

The weeks leading up to the big day were a little crazy for me pregnancy-wise.  You can read about of that here.  Between a maternity triage visit, extra OB appointments and regular OB appointments I got bounced around quite a bit through the multiple doctors at the OB practice that I go to.  All along throughout my pregnancy, the doctors would read my chart and give me their own little scenario for how the end of the pregnancy could potentially go based on the labor and delivery with Lainey.  Lainey was not only a large baby (9 lb 4 oz and 9 days late!) but she had large shoulders (shoulder dystocia) which complicated things and actually could have been a lot worse.  Since subsequent babies tend to be larger than the one before, they wanted to keep an eye on my measurements and do an ultrasound toward the end to see just how big little mister was going to be.  On November 1st, I finally saw the doctor who delivered Lainey and the one that I would say I'm most familiar with and the one I trust and like the most.  Based on how big he estimated the baby to be (he said about 8 lbs and some that day) and the fact that I was already 3 cm dilated and 50% effaced, he suggested induction during my 39th week.  I definitely would have preferred to go into labor on my own but the doctor was reassuring and since my body had already begun some of the work AND since it was my second baby, he all but guaranteed things would go a little smoother this time around.  Dr. H. wasn't even actually on call that day - he was working the clinic which is across the street, but he still offered to deliver our baby and just pop over to the hospital a few times during the day, which was so nice of him.  So, we were scheduled for Tuesday, November 6th...

I think with your first baby, it's scary in some ways because you have no idea what you're in for.  With your second baby, it's scary in some ways because you know exactly what you're in for.  I was definitely battling some nervousness and fear that morning, but I was also so so so excited that by the end of the day, we'd get to meet our baby boy!

So excited to have a baby!

We got checked in around 8 AM and were assigned 2 nurses.  They were both awesome!  Shortly after, the on call doctor, Dr. F. did his rounds and came in to check in with me.  The nurse told him that Dr. H. was actually going to deliver our baby (which was kind of awkward) and he wished us good luck and went on his way.  Dr. H. made it over to the hospital and broke my water at 8:53 AM.  (I only know this because it was written on the white board in the delivery room which I stared at all day)  At this point I was dilated 4 cm.  They had me get up and walk the halls for about an hour or so and then started pitocin.  Around noon, they checked me again and I was still only 4 cm.  I was getting more uncomfortable but it was bearable.  I definitely wanted to avoid the fentanyl that I got while in labor with Lainey - it made me feel totally crazy and loopy - so I just had to grin and bear it while they continued to up the pitocin.  At 2, I was still only at 4 or 5 cm and so I decided to get an epidural.  The same thing happened with Lainey - I never progressed past 5 cm until I got an epidural.  So around 2:30, I was enjoying the benefits of near numbness from the waist down - ahhh!  I was able to relax and even nap for about an hour while Jed watched Jeopardy.

Around 3:45, the nurse came in to re-position my fetal heart rate monitor (which they had to do constantly because the baby was so so SO active!) and said she'd be back around 4:00 to check my cervix.  Right at 4:00, the on call doctor popped in to check on me.  He said he was going to check my cervix and see where I was at to let Dr. H. know.  When he checked me, he asked me to push a few times.  The baby reacted to this and the doctor said the nurses would be in any moment (since they watch the monitors from their station in the hallway).  Sure enough, they came rushing in and were surprised to see the doctor and we were all surprised when he said that I was at 10 cm, the baby was "right there" and was ready to be born!  I couldn't believe it was time already!  He said that he didn't have time to call Dr. H. over from the clinic and that he knew he would make 10 patients wait over there if he did, so he asked if it was okay if he deliver our baby, which was totally fine with us!

They finished getting everything set up and at 4:15 I started pushing.  I'm not exactly sure, but 5, 6 or 7 pushes and 8 minutes later, Wyatt was born at 4:23 PM!  The nurses and Jed were SO encouraging and it all just happened so, so fast.  I kept saying that over and over again, I just couldn't believe he came so quickly!  They put him right on my chest and we got to meet our son!  We enjoyed a few sweet and wonderful moments!

 Jed followed him over to the table as he got cleaned up, weighed and checked out.  He was totally perfect in every way.  He even got a perfect 10 on his second Apgar test and one nurse said it was the first 10 she had ever given!  Coupled with his crazy movements while still in the womb and the fact that he cried and cried and cried even louder for a long time after he was born, the nurses told me I probably would have my hands full with this wild boy!

This might be my favorite picture from the whole day.  Look at those cute feet!

The whole experience after he was born was drastically different than it was with Lainey.  He never left  our room, he was able to nurse within the first hour of his life (and did so like a champ) and traveled with us down to the mother/baby floor after about an hour and a half.  He met his big sis briefly and got his first bath within the first 5 hours of his life - how exciting!

Our hospital stay was great - we had the same nurses both nights and days, which was really nice.  Jed was busy with Lainey during some of the stay, so I got to have lots of one on one time with my new little man.  He is just the sweetest!

Those cheeks!  All of his weight is in his cheeks!

That is the story of Wyatt's birthday!  We are so thankful for our handsome new addition.  We are surely blessed!

Lainey, the big sister

[I will post about Wyatt's birth day and share lots more pictures soon but I wanted to get some thoughts down about and for our sweet Lainey right now while it was fresh in my sleep deprived, mother of a newborn mind...  Warning: this might get sappy.  I blame the hormones.]

Lainey,

YOU are a big sister now!  Without knowing it or understanding it at all, your entire world has just been beautifully rocked.  Your brother was just born a week shy of your 15 month birthday.  My heart was honestly heavy in many ways in the days leading up to November 6th, feeling all kinds of emotions about how our family was about to change.

The day before your brother was born I made sure to fill our day with lots of your favorite things.  We had waffles for breakfast.  We went to Book Babies at the library.  You actually had your "best" story time experience so far.  The class was smaller than normal and you were loving the extra space to roam but you actually sat down in my lap a few different times to watch the teacher.  After that, we met your Dad at the mall for lunch and you took a rock star nap in the afternoon.  I was actually kind of sad you slept so long and so well because I was already starting to mourn the "just you and me" moments we had left.  We had an extra sweet bedtime too with lots of snuggles.  It was a really great day.

We dropped you off the next morning at a friend's house on our way to the hospital and I didn't get to see you for about 12 hours.  That was the longest I think I had ever been away from you!  You were in good hands and had a great time with your best friend all day.  Your brother was born early evening and your dad really, really wanted you to meet him as soon as possible.  You visited us in the hospital that night but you were pushing bedtime and had had a jam packed big day so you weren't super interested in what was going on and you weren't really sure what to think about your mom sitting in a hospital bed.  

The next day when you returned, you really owned your new role as "Best Big Sis."  I wish I would have counted how many times we heard you say "bay" (baby) as you pointed at your new brother.  We got you a big sister present to open in the hospital and the first think you did was share it with Wyatt.  Precious.  You spent a few hours with us over the course of two visits during the day and your attitude towards your brother only got sweeter.

Our first night at home and our first full day together as a family of 4 could not have gone any better.  You love to point out his toes and his nose.  You love to pet his head.  You love to share your toys with him and you've already learned to place them near his hands (rather than his face :).  You love to throw away his diapers and bring him his pacifier.  And at the same time, you are still as busy and independent as ever.  Even more so maybe than you were before he came.

I'm not naive.  I know we have a lot of challenges and sibling type struggles that will come our way but I so badly wish I could just bottle up the pure sweetness and joy of the past few hours and days with you being a new big sister.  I can tell you are really going to love your little brother.

I'm really thankful that God has given us you and now Wyatt and that the two of you get to grow up together.  We are so, so, so blessed.

Love, 
Mom

He's HERE!

We are SO thrilled and excited to introduce...

Wyatt William Johnson

Born Tuesday, November 6th, 2012 at 4:23 PM weighing 9 lbs 1 oz and measuring 20.5 inches long!

We are praising God for a beautiful, healthy baby boy.  More to come...