Word From My Mother.

Jack chillin' listening to Clapton. His favorite is the Unplugged album, obvs.

I'm having so much fun being the mom of this cute and sweet little man. I have quickly discovered that he can get bored easily, so to anyone who says newborns just eat, sleep, and need their shorts changed, well...mine is not that way. My own mother was here for spring break and bought him a new toy--one of those playmats that plays music and has dangly things for him to bat around. He loves it! He's still not a fan of tummy time AT ALL. Each time I lay him on his belly, he does a few push ups, then rolls over. And he's usually VERY mad while he does it.

We just got back from his very first road trip. Unfortunately B's grandmother passed away, so we had to make an impromptu trip to his hometown. Jack got to meet quite a few new people, and being that I had no experience away from home with him, I packed everything but the kitchen sink. Think Beverly Hillbillies, and that's about what our car looked like. I was impressed with how well he did sleeping in his pack and play though.

I'll update a little more later after I finish up all this laundry and get the house back in order. We've been up to a whole lot--including learning when is day and when is night. Not sleeping all the way through, but he has learned that 11pm-2am is sleep time, not play time.

V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!

Newborn Video by Hailey Erickson Photography

My sweet, sweet friend Hailey shot Jack's newborn pics when he was 5 days old. Below is a video she produced from that day. It is a treasure to me!

Baby Jack from Hailey Erickson on Vimeo.

Up Close in Jack's Room

I've had a couple of folks ask me about Jack's bookshelves. I found the idea over on Apartment Therapy's OhDeeDoh blog to re-purpose Ikea spice racks for them. In their natural state they're unfinished, so I spray painted them red to tie in with the rest of the room. I love to read and hope he will too!
Another one of my favorite details of his room is the framed series above the bed. My dad got his private pilot's license back in the mid-70s, and I raided all of his old flight training stuff for decor. The left is a framed FAA reminder that says "Attention Pilots: Avoid Accidents." It's a warning about knowing air density, but we thought the avoiding accidents part was totally appropos. In the middle is an old flight plan that my dad filed for a trip from Corsicana to Dallas. I'm still working on a shadow box using some of the other stuff I grabbed from Dad. On the right is a series of old sight word flashcards that I thought were sa-weet(!!!) when she offered them up. My mom "inherited" them from a retiring teacher.
I had all three of them framed during a Michael's 60% off custom framing sale. I love the 60% off sale! I normally pick out standard size frames from the floor, and they will give you the discount off of custom matting, as well as assemble everything for you. It's a cheap and easy way to save a little bit of cash while achieving a custom look.

More About the Boy.

We've finally gotten settled in at home, I think. From what I've been told, just about anytime you establish a schedule with a baby, the schedule changes, so I figure our schedule will change any day now.

My mom was with us from Monday when we came home from the hospital until Saturday, and she has taken care of all of us. I've had time to rest and regain my body "party of 1" legs, and she had time to love on my boy, all the while keeping my house in tip top shape for company. I won't be able to thank her enough. She even took the night shift with Jack!

Our church family has overwhelmed us with love. I think we are set with meals every night for two weeks. And, can I just say that the ladies in our church can cook! I never understood what a ministry taking a meal to someone who is just home from the hospital is until we were on the receiving end of it. What a great way to bless someone.

So on to my boy. He has been a wonderful baby so far. He's sweet and laid back, and sometimes he looks like me, while other times he looks like Brad. He may eat us out of house and home someday as he definitely inherited his dad's appetite! His most active time in the womb was from 10:30 PM to 2 AM, so it was no surprise that it was his most active time out of the womb for the first week. He's sleeping normal stretches of time during that period now (too bad I couldn't have taught him that while he was keeping me up prior to his birthday!)

He army crawled across our bed during his newborn pics on Thursday trying to get away from me. Clearly, he has inherited his dad's love of being photographed. On Friday and Saturday, we laid him down for tummy time, and he rolled over both times. He is a very determined boy. And I am having the time of my life getting to know his little personality! It's so humbling to think that God let me have any part in the miracle of Jack.

{insert post-partum joyfully teary eyes here.}

Everyday I feel a little more like myself. This morning Brad headed to church while I kept him by myself for the first time. I think we did pretty well. I was able to power on the video monitor, then get myself together (hair washed and all that), do a couple of loads of laundry, and make up two beds. Once Brad got home I took a nice long nap. So wonderful! I have a new pair of running shoes picked out, and I'm actually itching to get outside with the new stroller (probably cabin fever), so here's hoping this weather warms up soon!

And then there were three.

I don't even know where to begin this post. I guess I'll start from my week 39 update.

All week long I had irregular contractions. Starting Sunday morning, I woke up in a bit of pain from them so I stayed home from church. I made it in to work most of the week, but Tuesday I didn't get there until lunchtime because I had woken up with contractions. Thursday I went to the doctor completely expecting her to induce me or something because I was having quite a bit of pain in my hips, swelling, and of course the irregular contractions. No dice. She did an exam (which hurt) and told me I was on the schedule for induction March 7 (4 days after my original due date). But she told me that she thought I would labor, rather than see March 7th. When she said that, I was determined to do anything to encourage this boy to come on out before that date.

Thursday also happened to be my last day of work. I had some days to take before I started my maternity leave, so Friday I slept in a little longer than normal, got up and got dressed to start running some errands. I figured I probably had over a week to get everything done since my brother and I had both come a week past our due dates and supposedly your labor is similar to your mom's. As I got ready I noticed I was having contractions again, and they were quite a bit closer together than they had been in the past week. I started timing them, but they were 10 minutes, 7 minutes, 12 minutes...you know, nothing that made me feel the need to change my plans.

I decided to walk as much that day and weekend as I possibly could. I went to Wal-mart and filled my buggy with nothing but junk food. I walked from one side of the store to the other, having contractions off and on that seemed to be getting stronger. I ran through a drive thru for a beef burrito for lunch but decided I didn't like it, so I only ate half. I would end up regretting that later.

That afternoon I decided that I would have more fun timing my contractions at the movie theater than sitting watching soap operas. I headed to the mall to watch The King's Speech with a Coke Slurpee and some Junior Mints. During the movie (excellent, by the way), the contractions slowed down so afterward I decided to walk the mall. In the last two weeks of my pregnancy, my right hip had begun to hurt so badly that I was walking slowly and with a little limp, so I'm sure I was quite a sight. After 30 minutes, of that I headed home.

Last weekend was D-Now at our church, and since we knew we'd be close to Baby Jack Day we didn't make any official commitments to be there. Friday night Brad headed over to where his Sunday school class was staying, and I decided that it would be more fun to hang out with my class than sit at home in pain. I was still having contractions, but they weren't regular...some at 5 minutes, 7 minutes, 9 minutes, etc. It was good to see the girls (and boys!) They are such a joy, and it lifted my spirits to be with them!

Around 10 PM, I decided to head home. I had been enjoying talking to some of the other adult leader ladies for a while, but it seemed like the contractions had kicked it up a notch. I started timing them once I got in the car, and the first two were 3 1/2 minutes apart. Whoops--might've stayed a little too long. B texted to ask how I was, and I sent back, "You need to meet me at the house."

We timed them for about 40 minutes before paging my doctor. I don't know if I've mentioned this on the blog, but my doctor is in Dallas--which means I'd be delivering over there too. She told us to head on over.

Calling the Doctor.

We got there a little before midnight. I had progressed from my doctor visit the day before, so my doc decided to keep me and gave the orders that I could have my epidural whenever I was ready. My contractions were staying anywhere from 3-5 minutes apart, and I was ready for some pain management. They had me hooked up and comfortable so fast, and I was amazed at the relief. Modern technology is truly amazing. The anesthesiologist who hooked me up was a longhorn. My nurse had told him we were Aggies. I laughed and said, "Maybe you should've waited until he was done to tell him that!" He talked me all the way through the procedure and had a great bedside manner. After it was over and life was so much better, I told him he was the best longhorn I had ever met! By then it was around 2 am, and our parents were on their way to the hospital.

I labored for about 17 hours before I started pushing. It was an incredibly long day, and I hadn't had really anything of substance to eat since lunch and not much then. Of course I wasn't able to get much sleep because I was excited. Around 2 PM I began pushing. A little over 2 hours later, our boy made his miraculous appearance into this world. It was by far the most amazing moment of my life so far. When he made his first cry (and boy, was he mad!) Brad and I locked eyes, and there were just NO WORDS. None. Nothing could describe it.

I delivered at big Baylor in downtown Dallas, and praise God, my doctor was the one on call this past weekend. Once I started pushing, she was at the foot of my bed for all but maybe 20 minutes. She was wonderful. The nurses who took care of me were so awesome. The L&D nurse assigned to me all day was so kind and was on top of every request I made. If I was in pain, the nurse anesthetist was responding in less than 5 minutes. My night nurse in post-partum was a super star. She had just come on shift when I was transferred up there, so she got to walk me through the worst of the post-partum stuff. I have a new appreciation for nurses, most definitely.

So that's the story of how Baby Jack came into this world. Next up, an infinite number of posts on how incredibly special and wonderful this little boy is.