Baby Brother!

I am sorry that it has taken so long to update the blog! I have been sleep walking for the past 2 weeks and I am pretty sure I am going to fill this blog post with misspellings and grammatical errors. Additionally, I am having a lot of random formatting issues. Hopefully you can look past it as it is being written by a sleep-deprived mother of two.

I was about 36 weeks when my doctor said I was measuring ahead(meaning my belly size suggested I was further along) and I was already 1 1/2 centimeters dilated. This was not the first time I was "measuring ahead" and the doctor wanted to be sure the baby was head down because she thought he might come sooner than later. The same week, we had an ultrasound to be sure and of course, the little stinker was breech. The next week I had a follow up appointment and he had not moved yet but I was 3 centimeters and contracting. So my doctor scheduled a C-Section for that for that Friday, May 13 as she was concerned that I might go into labor and end up having an emergency C-section. She also said she could schedule an ECV, a procedure to try to turn the baby. She said it usually works about 50%

of the time and it is somewhat painful for the mother. Daniel and I gave it a lot of thought and decided to try it because we were hoping to avoid the surgery if possible.

We arrived Friday morning early for the ECV. They gave me an epidural (which I really liked in comparison to my epidural-less labor with Sienna) and pushed and smushed my belly to get the baby to turn around. After a few minutes, he was partially turned and the doctors stopped the pressure on my stomach. I not sure why - to give me, the baby, or their hands a break but regardless - the baby flipped back to his original position. At this point, my doctors said that if he didn't want to turn, it usually meant there was a reason. So they began to prep me for the surgery.

The surgery was so fast! I couldn't believe it. We thought they were still getting things ready and I heard one of the doctors say "there is his bottom and shoulders...!" and then we heard him cry. They moved him over to the area where they weighed him and I looked across theroom. I asked if he was healthy and the doctor said yes. My next question was "Is he big? He looks big!?" Well, he might not be the biggest baby ever, but he was definitely big for me. Sheesh. He arrived weighing in at a whopping 8 lb 12 oz. In comparison to my lil Sienna who weighed 6 lb 4 oz, almost a 9 lb baby was a surprise. My doctor said that his size could be why he wasn't able to turn around and I am glad it worked out the way it did :) Here he is...

First picture with Mom & Dad


Proud Grandma (Pop Pop was at home on Sienna duty)



Sienna meets her brother

This pic is blurry but I love it because she voluntarily gave him a kiss.

Daddy doing one of many diaper changes in the hospital.

Daniel had run out for lunch and a few of my girlfriends were visiting. All of a sudden, John Henry did a big diaper and I hadn't had practice changing a baby boy's diaper yet. Fortunately all three of my friends had boys so they spring to action. I was a little concerned that it seemed that it took all three of them to change his diaper but I have since changed about 700 and I realized that I am able to do it by myself.


We are settling in well. Sienna is seriously the best big sister in the world. She is so patient and whenever he cries, she runs over and puts a blanket on him, pats his head or holds his hand. She likes to make sure she kisses him every day. John Henry is pretty easy going but he wants to eat ALL of the time. I guess that makes sense since he is practically the size of a toddler. I was reminded that John Henry arrived 10 years to the day that we graduated at Virginia Tech. A lot has happened since then! We are excited to be a family of four now and we are grateful for two beautiful, healthy kids :)

Out of the Mouths of Babes - Part Deux.

I realize that a lot of the things my child are not as funny as I think they are, but I am posting it anyway....Feel free to not laugh.

(Eating Valentine's Day conversation hearts...)

Sienna: "The question is, I like the red ones."

(I like this one since it was not a question AND there were no red hearts in the box. Hmmm.)

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Me: "Sienna, please try some peas."
Sienna: "Mommy, the peas are not awesome."

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Me: "Lay down, I'll put the blankets on you."
S: "I don't need the blankets."
Me: "But you will be cold!"
S: "It's ok - I'll just get into a little ball"

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S: "Mommy, can I take two books with me to read while I do my privacy?"

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S: "Mommy, I want a drink that doesn't go on my mustache" (while drinking Kefir yogurt)

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(Sienna blocking the doorway)
Me: "Umm - Open sesame?"
S: (Shaking her head) "No Mommy, you say "Excusez-moi".

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S: "Mommy, how old are you?"
Me: "I'm 32."
S: "THIRTY TWO! I better tell Daddy!"

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S: "Sometimes Ranny calls me "Dear". But she doesn't mean "Reindeer"...

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S: "Mommy, you don't do too much"
Me: "What do you mean?"
S: "Daddy goes to work, but you don't do too much."

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Reading her book "Clap Your Hands" before bed.
Me: "Count your fingers...count your toes..."
S: "Well, I'm not going to count my toes because my toes are hiding in my jammies."

My lil Stinker

Photo Shoot

We recently painted both the baby and Sienna's rooms. We let Sienna help pick the colors and although she requested red for her own room for months, she switched to light blue at the last minute. Whew. So baby bro got dark blue and Sienna's room was to be light blue. Here are Sienna and Daddy starting on baby brother's room...

I was posting a couple of picture to show the progress...

...but "someone" couldn't help but jump into the photos. (Maybe it is in her genes...what do you think, Aunt Sue?) :0)

Then we moved over to take pictures in Sienna's room, but the photo shoot became a dance recital.

This picture occured moments before she twirled into the ottoman where she (somehow) hit her knee on the metal bar inside it. She told me that wouldn't have happened if she was wearing her ballerina dress instead of her PJ's. Last minute bedroom dance parties can be dangerous

Ballerina, you must have seen her dancing in the sand...

3.

As you may know, I like my birthday to last for at least 2 weeks. Sienna had her 3rd birthday "Lauren-Style" starting the weekend before her actual birthday. Well, that was the plan. We invited a few of her little friends to a Waffle Brunch party on Saturday, January 29th. Unfortunately, on January 26th, we had a snow storm that caused the electricity to go out for four days. No heat, no electricity, no water, therefore limited bathroom options....so we rescheduled. It is hard to explain to an almost-three-year-old why you couldn't have her birthday party. On the other hand, she didn't understand why it was cold in the house, why there was no TV, no lights for 4 days, etc. Fortunately, the power came back on the day of the (already re-scheduled) party.

On Sunday, Uncle Dave, and Aunt Kerry came over and we had Sienna's favorite foods for dinner. We had homemade Mac n Cheese, chicken nuggets, pigs in a blanket, french fries, applesauce and carrots cooked in honey. I wanted to take a picture of the menu and set table but the adults ate the "kid food" so fast I didn't get a chance to take a picture. Oh well. It WAS delish.

We then brought Sienna out to see the Birthday Blanket. I wish I had the video clip (I'll post it if I can) but her face was priceless when she saw the blanket.

For ME!?

After the presents, we had cake #1:

Then the winding-down process...

The next day was her actual birthday, so we had to celebrate again, of course. So we took her to her favorite fine dining establishment: Chick-fila. Because she was really into showing us that she had eaten all of her chicken by opening her mouth, we had very few pleasant pictures to capture this birthday meal.

Finally, on Saturday her friends arrived for her long-awaited birthday party. #3. There was waffles, fruit, juice and birthday cake #2. There was also chasing, piano playing, toy sharing, toy snatching, shrieking, laughing, crying and everything in between.

Later that day, I asked Sienna if she liked her birthday party. "Well...it was a little busy."

Ahh - well. Maybe next year.

Hereditary fail.

Sienna found this old Pearl Jam CD cover at my parent's house and asked me, "Why is this guy so grumpy?"

You know your family is too hairy when she thinks this animal is a person.

This and That

Not that I'm surprised, but Sienna beat me at her very first game of Candyland.

It was extremely embarrassing for me because all of her friends were there watching.

The victory dance...

Sienna used to love it when I painted her nails, but now she wants to be in charge.

Are you jealous of my manicure? Gift certificates are available.

In other news, Jessica & Lee had their baby boy two weeks ago. I have been waiting for this little munchkin to arrive for months but (of course) Jess went into labor early while we were in Charlotte for 4 days. So we missed it. However, we made it back to VA in record time to see him the very next day. Isn't he a cutie?

Aunt Lauren & Uncle Dan!

Sienna's got to meet Baby Stratton about 10 days later. I LOOOVE this picture!!!

My big little girl had her first dance class last week. She was so excited! I thought she might be upset to learn that parents are not allowed in the classroom. But then I remembered that she doesn't even like to hug me so she was fine. She just yelled "See ya, Mommy!" and ran right in the room.

I did get a cute little smile and wave once she sat down with the group. (The wave is not pictured. But she did wave to me. She DID!) She is seated next the girl with the pigtails.

She did tell me she "forgot her ballerina dress", so maybe she'll find one under the "Birthday Blanket" this weekend :)