George's 1st smiles!

I love that first social smile- it usually comes right when I need it most. When you look into my eyes and give me that gummy, drool-filled, double-chinned, joyful grin, I don't feel tired anymore. Instead, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. Love you, little Georgie!

George portraits

We had some Baby George portraits taken by my good friend (and now backyard neighbor!) Jeanette Soffe. George was really fussy and she still got some wonderful, sweet shots. He was only two weeks old. Thanks, Jeanette! 

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George- 1 month

Time is just zooming by with this little one! This picture is from when he was 1 month old (and he'll be six weeks old tomorrow!) 

At one month, George was a little over 11 lbs. He looks pretty solid to me! We've been getting lots of weight checks because we've been to the pediatrician almost every week, boo! Poor George had a diaper rash that turned into a staph infection so he needed an antibiotic cream. That started healing then he came down with a cold, poor baby! On the 10th (5 weeks old), he was up to 12 lbs. 6 oz. I wouldn't be surprised if he makes it up to 13 lbs this week. 

He's wearing mostly 3-6 month clothing (some 0-3 still fits). Despite having a TON of hand-me-down clothes from his big brother, Charlie and George are almost exactly 2 years and 6 months apart so hardly any of the clothes are the right season! :( Luckily, Chelsea loaned us some of James' clothes to help fill in the gaps. Isn't it great to have family? 

He's still a great sleeper and eater. He'll often sleep for 3 hours (sometimes more!) in the afternoon. And he usually has a 4 hour stretch of sleep in the night. Mama likes that. He's starting to smile, but it's still quite elusive. Both grandmas have been able to coax it out of him once or twice and I've gotten a few, too. 

I bought George a little giraffe like Charlie's so we could take these monthly comparison photos. I ordered it from Amazon and when it arrived in the mail I opened it up right away and put it on the table. The poor little toy hadn't been in our house for an hour before Charlie found it and gave it a good dunking in the bathroom sink. I have a feeling this is how it is going to go for George- he'll have hand me down clothes, toys and books that are well-loved and anything new will have to withstand big brother!

For reference: here's Charlie at 4 weeks and 5 weeks (just a note, George's giraffe is a little smaller than Charlie's but I still think George is bigger than Charlie was at this age). 

Watch out, Mama!

The other day I was driving with Charlie and George in the car when a cat ran across the road. I had to break very abruptly to avoiding hitting it. I looked back at a startled Charlie and explained to him why I stopped so sharply. I think I said something like, "A cat ran into the road and I had to stop the car quickly so I wouldn't hit him. But he ran away and he's okay now." We talked about it for a minute or two more then I changed the subject.

The several hours later, we were back in the car to go pick John up from work (we only have one car). Charlie kept saying something over and over and I was struggling to understand him. Suddenly, it clicked for me that he was saying, "Watch out, mama! Big cat in the street!" I told him that there wasn't a cat any more and that I would watch out and be careful. The rest of the evening and at least once a day since then he tells me to watch out, mama! Sometimes he tells me there are two cats in the street, sometimes it's dogs, but it's definitely a concept he has latched on to!

I love these conversations we have in the car together!

Family, faith and orange rolls

Our church holds a General Conference every 6 months and I love it- the gathering with family, the break from wrestling my kid in the pew at church, the wonderful words of inspiration from our prophet and leaders, and of course, the traditional orange rolls. 

The best part of this conference weekend is that Mark, Chelsea, James and Emma came down for a visit from Boise! They are so dear to us and we've missed them so much. Chelsea and the kids stayed for the week and Chelsea and I squeezed in some fun activities- a play date at Grandma T's house, a girls' dinner out with our high school friends, and a play date at Discovery Gateway with our kiddos. 

Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Mark meeting George for the first time

Hanging out and watching Conference

Aunt Anne just loving baby George

Quality toddler time with Anne

Grandpa T with babies George and Emma

Anne and Emma (I love how pink and perfect and chubby Emma looks!)

George's first family outing

When George was only 10 days old, we took a family outing to Silver Lake. The canyon was beginning to feel autumnal and we loved the chance to wear sweatshirts, smell crisp air and enjoy the beautiful mountains before the snow comes. Charlie loved running on the boardwalk and George slept the whole time snuggled in the BabyHawk on my chest. I felt so lucky to be in that beautiful place with my little family. We had to take a circuitous route to avoid a moose hanging out on the trail and in our backtracking ran into a pair of silver-haired couples who fawned over my babies, making me puff up with pride. We lunched at Silver Fork Lodge- it was our first time there but we'll definitely be repeat customers. It was a perfect day.

George's fan club

Grandma and Grandpa T

Uncle Steve, Sam, and Lily

Sam, Aunt Kerry and Lily (they brought George balloons and a birthday cake with a "0" on it)

Aunt Anne

McKenzie

Emily

Uncle Richard and Aunt Cat (this was really special for us that they were still in town to meet George!
 We made it by two days!)

Grandma Barbara

Aunt Kate

Uncle Sam

Little buddies

When Elizabeth was here for the summer, she borrowed our car seat (she's a petite little gal!). When she and Charlie were in the backseat together, they loved to reach and hold hands. Darling. Charlie wants to hold George's hand now and he'll have to wait a little while for George to grow into this fun activity!

Charlie- 2.5 years

Charlie is so much fun these days. He's talking so much! He repeats pretty much anything we say, which is both hilarious and a reminder to watch what we are saying! The other day he ran up to me and threw his arms around me and said, "I love you, Mama." Then he gave me a half a dozen kisses all over. I'm one lucky lady.

He's adapted to our new home and loves to play in the backyard. We don't have a lot of toys out there yet but he's happy with rocks, sticks, pears and apples from the fruit trees, the hose (which he loves to spray in his face), and of course, the golf ball run that John set up for him in our dirt pit (formerly an in-ground trampoline).

He's been a very sweet big brother to George. He tells me when George is crying and sometimes says, "Mama, help George." So cute. The other day, George was crying and Charlie brought over "geen bee" aka his beloved green blankie and gave it to George. It was so darling that he would share his lovey with his brother to make him feel better!

He's still pretty rough and tumble, though, so I'm very cautious about leaving George and Charlie in the same room together unattended, even if just for a moment. :)

Cuddling with dad after a hard day

Charlie loves lounging inside my nursing pillow

Just after he squirted himself in the face with the hose- he loves it!

Charlie and his beloved green blankie

Making mud puddles at Grandma and Grandpa S's house

George hanging out and Charlie playing with his new puzzles

playing with stickers

Hanging out in Grandma and Grandpa T's backyard (photo by my brother-in-law Sam)

photo by Sam

Showing off Daddy's shoes and his "rainbow sock" (which is really a baby leg warmer)

playing in the dirt pit with Daddy

my handsome, happy boy playing hide-and-seek in the trees

Can you spot the toddler?

Charlie loves to vacuum with the ShopVac

just chillin' with Mom's shades

George update

I always knew that I'd be very busy with two children and that one of the things that would fall by the wayside is taking pictures. It's a classic second child problem. But I underestimated how little I truly would photograph and write about George. For example, I wanted to take pictures of George with a stuffed animal every month- I wasn't going to attempt every week like I did with Charlie. But I haven't even purchased an stuffed animal for him yet, let alone taken any pictures! If you are reading this in the future, George honey, I really do love you as much as your brother.

 George is a very sweet and calm baby. He's been a pretty great sleeper and eater from the beginning. There are days where he'll sleep in 3-4 hour stretches and occasionally those stretches are even at night! Yay! He loves to be held or to snuggle up next to me while he's sleeping. He's acclimated to loud noises and the sounds of his boisterous big brother don't usually bother him.

 He's had a pretty bad rash in his diaper area that we are trying to get rid of. At his two week appointment, the doctor said it looked like heat rash, so I'm trying to dress him lightly and keep him dry and cool. I've also changed brands of diapers, tried cloth diapers, spent time with the diaper off outside and a few different diaper creams. So far, it's still there but the things that help it the most are plenty of naked time, frequent baths and keeping him cool. Poor little Georgie. He's still pretty content, even with a sad, ouchie bum. (Update: it ended up being a staph infection that needed antibiotic cream).

 At his two week appointment he weighed almost 10 lbs (9.94 lbs) which is the 82% percentile and was 21.75 inches long which is 84% percentile. We definitely think that he looks more like John's side of the family, which is fun because Charlie looks so much like me. He loves to find his hands and suck on them and does pretty well with the binkie and the bottle. We'll see if these things end up sticking!

One week old

George's birth story- our unplanned home birth

This is George's birth story, recorded for our family journal and told in a spirit of uplifting others by sharing our experience. It is a very tender and special story, not only because of our experience with how sacred it was, but because of dear friends whose recent experiences with childbirth were so very different. I feel incredibly blessed that both George and I are healthy and whole. Please read it and comment on it with care.

 The week before my due date, I'd had a few episodes of regular pressure waves (what we call contractions in Hypnobabies, our chosen method of natural childbirth). They were intense enough for me to have to lie down and concentrate to get through them and regular enough to time. Each time they were about 90 seconds long and about 10 minutes apart and would last for several hours before fading away. I was starting to feel pretty uncomfortable. On Thursday of that week (Sept. 1st), I had a root canal scheduled that I had to cancel because I was too uncomfortable and having lots of pressure waves. John went late to work that day so I could rest. I went and saw The Help for the second time that night (I went once with my book group and once with my mom, sister, sister-in-law and aunt, and yes, it is great enough to go twice!) I was so uncomfortable that I had to get up and walk around for the second half of the movie. I even called my doula (birth coach), Heather, to let her know that tonight could be the night. (Heather was the same doula we had with Charlie and since then she has become a Licensed Direct Entry Midwife and owns her own birth center).

Nothing happened that night and the next day, Friday, was the best I had felt in weeks. Charlie and I went to the park with Catherine and Elizabeth and I even ran to catch Charlie without too much effort (although I'm sure it was far from graceful looking!) Saturday we went to see Mary Poppins (fabulous!) and again I was pretty uncomfortable with pressure waves. We made a plan with Heather to try some natural induction methods on Sunday night to see if we could get my labor to really started. A natural induction would kickstart labor if my body was ready and only if it was ready. All day Sunday I was having pressure waves and I rested most of the day and listened to my Hypnobabies scripts.

Heather came to our house at about 5:30 pm and we started the "induction" using homeopathics. She checked my progress and before we had even started I was 6 cm with a bulging bag of waters! My body really had been preparing for the past week!! Things started ramping up and I began to have regular pressure waves around 6:30 pm that were about 2-3 minutes apart and about 90 seconds long. John took Charlie outside to play and luckily our neighbors stopped by to visit so they entertained Charlie out in the backyard so John could start getting things ready. (Thanks, Hadley and Zeke!) We weren't really prepared for things to get going so quickly! I just concentrated on my hypnosis while relaxing on the bed and I was completely comfortable during each pressure wave. I was feeling really happy with my progress because by 6 cm dilated with Charlie I was so uncomfortable that I was asking for the epidural! John worked on filling up the inflatable kiddie pool in our living room so I could labor in the water, packed the car, and called his parents to come pick up Charlie. The plan was to stay at home as long as possible before going to the hospital.

When Sue and Rick came to pick up Charlie, I was in the water and Sue peeked in to say hello. I was calm and able to talk with her in between waves and just closed my eyes and used my off switch when I had a pressure wave. I was using my center switch a lot during this phase of labor and I was able to easily talk with Heather and John in between waves. At some point, I got out of the water to walk around to get my labor to progress more. John and I walked halfway up the street and then back to our house to walk laps in the backyard.

After walking, we came in and had Heather check me again. I was 8 cm dilated with an anterior cervical lip. Right after that, my water broke. I was still very comfortable and got back in the birth pool to labor for a little more, trying to get the cervical lip to go away. Fairly soon after my water broke I started to feel hungry and asked for something to eat. Just as John had left the room to get a snack, I was hit by an incredibly powerful and LONG pressure wave. I had several of these right on top of each other. I knew I was going through transition because the pressure waves were very intense and uncomfortable. John was supporting me and helping me "aaahhh" through each wave (in fact, he was "aaahing"right along with me) and Heather was doing hip presses.

Just then, we heard a knock on the door. It was my mom, coming by to check on me. We had been trying to get a hold of my mom to let her know that I was in labor and couldn't get a hold of her all evening. Such timing! I was in too much discomfort to talk to her much and I told her she could stay or leave but that I couldn't talk to her. She decided to leave. I felt bad that she had missed the calm, easy part of labor. :) (I think this was at approximately 9:00 p.m.)

Heather told John that it was time to go to the hospital. I couldn't even imagine getting in the car and having to drive to the hospital (about 15 minutes away). I vocalized my concerns (I'm sure it was not eloquent, or even in full sentences). I'm pretty sure all I said was, "I can't." Heather confirmed with me that I wanted to stay home and I told her that I did. I felt completely confidant about staying at home with Heather to help us.

As soon as Heather knew we were staying at home, she called her assistant midwife, Angie, and also our Hypnobabies instructor, Marinda. She was prepared with almost everything she needed for the birth except a doppler (to check the baby's heart tones) so she called these great ladies in as back up and to bring the doppler. They both made great time over to our house! Angie arrived at 10:20 p.m. (she said she drove from Saratoga Springs in the carpool lane and speeding the whole way and made it in about 20 minutes!)

Sometime before Marinda and Angie arrived, I got out of the pool and onto the birth stool. Heather checked me again and I was 9 cm and I still had the anterior cervical lip. I was pushing through each contraction because it felt much better to be pushing than not, although I wouldn't necessarily call it an "urge" to push.

Marinda's arrival was especially nice because she was able to help me with my hypnosis. Having her familiar voice coaching me was so helpful. I still felt a lot of discomfort but I was able to relax a little bit more into each pressure wave.

I felt so supported by this incredible birth team! John was sitting behind me supporting me by my arms and talking in my ear. Marinda was on my right, holding my right hand. She was coaching me with Hypnobabies mini-scripts and also massaging my clenched hands in between contractions to help me relax and wiping my forehead. Angie was on the floor in front of me to the left, holding my left hand and also taking notes in my chart and otherwise assisting Heather. And Heather was directly in front of me on the floor. I would sometimes brace my feet on her legs to get a better position. I also looked her right in the eyes when it got really tough and making that eye contact with her helped a lot. She was also guiding my pushes with her hand, so I could feel where to focus the push.

After what seemed like forever, I could finally feel that George's head was descending into the birth canal. What an incredible feeling. It didn't really hurt that much (the pressure waves were still much more intense) but I could feel an incredible fullness in my pelvis. I felt like if I tried to push him out, my legs were going to pop off of my body! I told Heather I was scared to push and she and Angie gave me some homeopathics that are supposed to help release fear.

His head started to crown at 11:04 (and ten seconds) and at 11:04 and 59 seconds he was out! Let me tell you, pushing that baby out took an amazing amount of effort but I did it! I got to hold him on my chest right away and it felt so surreal to have him here. I was exhausted and I felt kind of out of it- I definitely didn't feel that euphoric rush that I've heard people talk about with their natural births. I was just so relieved to be done! Heather was a little concerned with my bleeding after the placenta was delivered so they moved me to the floor and I just laid on the hardwood floor with George on my chest while they gave me medicine, herbs and massaged my uterus to get it to contract. I was never worried and my bleeding was under control quickly. After a few minutes, John held George while I walked (!) to my bedroom and got under my deliciously warm covers. I got to hold George and John got in bed next to me and we just cuddled together as a family for a while. Marinda, Heather, and Angie were all working on tidying up, filling out paperwork and taking my blood pressure and giving me water but none of that really interfered with our family bonding time. It was heavenly.

After about an hour, Heather stitched me up and George was weighed and came in at 9 lbs 4 oz and 21 inches!!

For a few days I felt like there's no way I could do it again, but after having some distance from it, it seems totally doable. I learned some valuable things from both my births, who knows what the next one will hold!

All smiles now that it's over!

Meeting George

Charlie spent the night at Grandma and Grandpa T's house the night that George was born. When he came home, we were very interested to see how he'd react to having a new baby brother! We took him into our room where George was asleep and let Charlie meet him in neutral territory (aka not in Mama's arms!) Charlie was definitely interested in Baby George and wanted to give him the bulb syringe, which he thinks is George's special toy. 

Then we let Charlie open his gifts "from" Baby George- a Mac trailer from the movie Cars and a bunch of new board books. He was very excited!

Giving George a kiss. :)

I think these guys are going to be great pals! Charlie has been a great big brother so far- he's very soft to George and wants to hold his hand in the car (although it will be awhile before they can reach each other!) Mostly, Charlie just kind of ignores George, but that's just fine with me for now.