My precious sweets sleeping like a baby :) He loves to sleep with his arms under his chin. When he is free from his swaddle anyways :)

Chris had him cuddled up next to him on the couch this week in this photo. He was so sleepy his little eyes could hardly take it.

Isabelle brought flowers into me Saturday morning to put on the table before friends came over. She was so excited to participate in flower picking :)

Awww

She cracks me up! She brought over this bouncer, and placed her baby inside next to Wesley. She is a very good mommy.

Chris and Boo' playing with bubbles. It was so much fun. You don't even have to blow! The bubble fan does that for you and produces mass quantity of bubbles! She got this bubble blower from a gal at Chris' work as a shower present to her.

See, she is a good mother. Using her own "boppy" version to feed her baby. (its actually a neck pillow) she cracks me up!

Hot, Sunday afternoon. I'm working on editing some photos here are my parents. Dad is holding my sweets. I hear mom yell in at me,.. We think he is smiling! Yes, Yes he is! He is smiling and trying to talk to grandpa- Where is your camera!? lol of course today I did not bring my camera with me. I almost ALWAYS have one of my 2 ole' trusty's with me. Not today of course. But that is an image that will stick in my parents mind for a few good days anyways, even if you can't be apart of it.. Then I hear him fussing. He fussed a good 3 or 5 minutes. Now, he currently is quiet so Dad must have burped him, or put him on his shoulder or rocked a little harder in his chair (I do hear it squeeking a bit more- GO dad!) One minute its all smiles and coo's and the next its screaming terriers! It's all up and down with a new born. Oh wait, that up and down emotions NEVER go away.. do they!? I have a 28 month old crying on my lap even as i type.. yeah im pretty sure the mood swings never go away
Isn't it precious anyways :)

Lots of catching up

So, its been days and days since I wrote. This blog isn't just for you all- I can't keep days and times and everything else straight yet. I am so confused about when this or that took place, so if I at least update this it will help keep my mind refreshed! Its awful... anyways

LAST WEEK: Wesley smiled at Chris. No, don't blame it on gas or a reflex, it was a real genuine precious little smile. Chris also got Isabelle's 1st smile too! I do all this work of a rough pregnancy and deliver these babies all for them to smile at chris.. Humf. Just kidding its wonderful!
Chris kept asking later that week "Has he smiled at you yet!?" with great sarcasm. He indeed smiled at me, but it was the week sooner and I just can't take that one serious.

also, last week (the 3rd week of his beautiful life) I had Wesley in his car seat.. He had been snoozing in there a few minutes while I took care of some other business and came back to him. I reached down into his seat to buckle him and startled the poor little guy! He threw both arms way up high- like making good on a field Goal. I felt bad I scared the jeabers out of him but it was sooo cute. His face made no expression as he continued 'sleeping' but his poor arms really went'a fly'n. Seconds later the phone rang, I left him and came back. As much as I enjoyed watching his arms flail and w/o any facial expression I didn't want to scare him again so I gentle touched his face and chest- make sure he knew of my presence, I couldn't help but sneeze.. 3 times. There went the arms again, Straight up and out away from his little body. Poor little guy it was SO cute.

This week:
He rolled over. From his belly to his back. Granted, he wont be able to do it again willfully until about 3 more months it was like my little boy was growing up right before me. he is so strong.
Baby Wesley was 4 weeks old this week,.. a month old Yesterday. I can't believe how quickly this month has went. Boy, a month when I was pregnant went by forever but this has just really flown. Partly why I am having a hard time keeping up with dates and what- not. It has to slow down just a bit, if for nothing else so I can hold my baby a little more before he is to big. I believe he has MOSTLY lost his newborn look and is getting so big already (altho a few of my friends keep saying He looks so small still) I can tell he is growing and getting longer. We are sleeping alright so I'm not in a hurry for him to grow up to quickly just for sleep. I sure can't imagine life back with out him. Isabelle says he is precious. She also prayed last night for supper, and mentioned in her prayer "Be with baby Wesley, and kicking in his bouncer" - Yeah, he happened to be in his bouncer all kicking and working out his biceps while we were about to eat- so of course Isabelle had to mention that to Jesus- she is to much sometimes! :)

More Fun

More of the fun day at the Park, enjoy all the pictures

Birthday Party with my cousins

A big day yesterday at the Park, for Trent, Dustin, and Logan. All celebrating their birthdays for the month of MAY:)

Grandma Donna and Grandpa Paul took Dustin to the Park, he wanted to stay and play with them after church.
We had a really good time. Just look at us;)

happy mothers day!

We spent some good quality time at my parents house today. Fabulous lunch and delectable desert! Plus lots of kids!
Happy Mother's day to all our wonderful Mothers :)

First Bottle

Wesley had his first bottle today and it was less then glamorous. He hated it... at first.
We had an ultrasound done on his wee tummy to make sure there wasn't a problem there causing his spewing. So, the radiology gave him a bottle of sugar water. He choked and gagged and let it run out of this mouth. Then, a trigger when off on his taste buds. He liked it. He still prefers his normal meals ofcourse but atleast after a long long time we got it down. (Ultrasounds came back negative)
Needless to say we didn't get any photos of 'his first ba-ba"- oh well :)

my babies

taken this morning

ooh Streeeetttcchhing

After 5 good hours of sleep I finally had to wake up the little fella. He was all warm and swaddled and here is his 5 minutes of beautiful stretching.



Ahh.... his grand finally! Look at him go!

Free at last!

Oh thank goodness we are free at last! Free from a growdy belly button cord that is. I thought it was never going to happen. The boy is getting so big, we went for a weight check (sounds like my grandma and sister-in-law who weigh in at TOPS- lol) and very pleased he gained 11 oz! All we were needing was about 5 in order to keep the doctor happy. The little guy went above and beyond! We are so happy :) Ive been saying.. no one in our family has a problem gaining weight he shouldn't start now :P So its all good.
All is good except the whole being up 2 hours last night! He decided at 2:30 after his feeding he wanted to just stare at us and for us to pay him some attention. He wasn't happy laying in his bed with the lights off,.. oh no.. he wanted to be propt up in front of us and making a big fuss over him :) (sounds like his mama :P )

'comments'

I have been talking with some people about the blogs,.. however, no one is signing our blog! You are welcome,.. encouraged! even to sign under comments. Everyone can enjoy reading who had stopped in and I get an email right away on your entry. Please by all means :) Sign :-)

(Isabelle entertaining us one evening with her angelic like singing :))

Friday Shower/Sunday Church

We made our first big trip out to church this morning. It all went pretty smoothly. Last night before bed we got everything ready and the house picked up so we would have as little trouble. Of course, Wesley thought he would throw a little fun into it and keep us up for an hour and half last night! From 2 to 3:30 am we were up. He nursed, he spit up, he poo'd, he hiccuped, he was just awake! at least we got some good sleep before and after that but goodness sakes. He did really well in church. Isabelle and him both did. Me and Chris did pretty good too :)

Chris' work gave us a shower on Friday. It was wonderful. We had some good food and enjoyed visiting with his co-workers. There were tons of presents. I could hardly believe it. They were very generous. We had a good time.

I wanted to jot down a note from the middle of the week and just haven't had time. I wanted to share just that the other evening both my babies were asleep (nap time). Isabelle in my bed, Wesley in the bassinet next to my bed and it was just so precious. It makes it all worth while the sickness during my pregnancy. It was so sweet and I love having a new baby in the house- especially when they are both sleeping :)

(1st photo Aunt Kristy holding him and noticed how he was sleeping like a frog:))

whew what a day..

Our day officially began at 6 am. I changed 2 diapers back to back (belle and baby) and thats how our day startedf. After helping to get Chris off to work (which he mostly does by himself) it was time for us to leave too. It was my first attempt to get all 3 of us dressed, and out the door and into the van to head out for the morning. It was a bit more to do but I had everything prepared last night. Went off with out a hitch. We had Wesley's 1st Well Baby check up today and it all went very well (even initiating the table from both ends and my shirt) and all is looking good. He just needs to gain a bit more weight. He is eating good and looks over all well so I think that is always a good indication at any rate.
(Isabelle also had her first poo mess with me at the doctor's office at one week old so I guess we started a tradition) I was at the hospital offices for a total of 3 hours today and was completely exhausted when it was done. So we are about to head home but I wanted to jot down a few things here before we go. Yesterday mom came down and we went thru baby clothes and put them away, and washed his new ones :) There were several great little outfits that were brought to us right after he was born. We also took out all my maternity clothes. It was sorta bittersweet to see them leave but mostly sweet. I am happy I have lost the weight I gained during my pregnancy but my theory is, the scales don't know that things aren't portioned right anymore :)
Last night I enjoyed staying up with Wesley in the wee hours watching him. He was making so many cute faces. It made it worth while to not be sleeping when everyone else was. He smiles when I tickle his back. Maybe its just a 'reaction' but its sure precious. He also started a pity cry. He works real hard to get this fake cry going and to say his feelings are hurt. Its adorable!

Bringing you up to date

It's a quiet afternoon up here at Mom and Dads house. We came up to visit them, Eat El Taps and visit with Steven, Jessica and Alex. We had a nice but short visit with them. The cousins met :)Sorta.. they were both sleeping and actually cant see past their noses anyways but they met :)
Alex is getting so big and looking so much more grown up. He has soft white complexion like his parents do. Him and Wesley look about the same size now, except Alex looks a bit stouter (if that is a word) they are 2 weeks difference in age. It was weird but cool seeing 2 babies side by side.
They really are doing a great job. Steven is hilarious and has really taken in and being super dad. Jessica looks fabulous and no where near like she JUST had a baby 2 weeks ago. Or that she has ever had a baby for that matter. She can say what she wants, and if its the jeans and clothes that cover a multitude of sin then she should keep on sinning cos its fooling us. She showed me her swaddling technique and its real interesting.
Well, I didn't update anything last night because I was sick. I ran a low fever the past 2 evenings/nights and have struggled for days already with nursing. I had a serious meltdown the night before last. I even snapped and Isabelle and bless her heart, she is doing so well really. She does not act jealous but gets hyper. She is looking for attention but isn't making a huge deal about it. She has a cough so I'm sure that doesn't help and I have one too and when you feel bad it just seams everything falls apart. She is doing good. She wants to always be on the look out for what we are doing with Wesley and what he is doing. It seems she can hardly get her mind on playing because of the interest she has taken in baby. She did try to 'nurse' her bear this morning. I'm surprised she hasn't tried sooner. :) it was sweet. So last night, even tho I had a fever and I'm feeling in much despair, we were all in bed by 10:30. It was nice. I laid there and told Chris, .. 'see, at times like this it feels as tho we are gonna make it thru after all doesn't it'.
We slept until around 1, then awake for sometime over an hour and back to sleep till 8. We are getting between 3 and 5 hours of solid sleep at a time at night. SO basically from 10 till 8 he only woke up once. We are awake for a long stretch simple because it takes forever for him to eat, and I'm working with him so much making sure he is on right, and then he has to burp. He always has to burp and spit up. That takes forever it seems. Then there is the dirty diaper. Altho that takes more midnight time, its always nice to see good poo in the early weeks :)
so swaddled and back to bed he went. I woke him up at 8 to eat and we had a quiet morning. Chris started to mow the yard. I have him so busy inside with us the outside was looking pretty shabby. Isabelle and I cleaned my bedroom. It took it out for me to do that. She is a big help being my legs running items back to their place or dirty clothes to the laundry.
SO, now here we are at my parents, Chris and Boo (isabelle) are sleeping, baby is .. hmm. . forgot for a sec where baby was :P He is behind me in a swing. Of course all bundled up and out like a light. This is a good time to make a post with some photos. Oh yeah, last night was the first time we read our bible together before going to bed and EVERYONE was awake. When we have read the past few nights I think Isabelle was asleep in her bed and baby was sleeping too. It was really neat to have us all awake and participating (to some degree) it was more like our normal routine. Isabelle enjoyed it I think. We have been out of such a routine all week. She did read with mom and dad those 2 nights she was here but she was to busy making them laugh, or them having to remind her to sit still.
Yesterday was the first day we stayed home ALL day. Since we had come home from the hospital we have had to get to take care of blood work and prescriptions so it was really nice. We had some company too and we enjoyed that a lot. A friend from church came down and brought tons of presents/diapers so on. She has a baby 3 weeks old and he is SO tiny. I really enjoyed sharing my pregnancy with our friend Mindy and now having our babies together is really neat for me. Between all these new babies isabelle gets confused on OUR baby's name :P I have to admit I have called Baby Wesley Baby Alex a time or two.
Later on in the day Another friend came by with her daughters and brought presents for both my babies and FOOD. FAB! Chicken! Green Beans! Potatoes! HOME MADE ROLLS!! CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!! oh man, it was great. We had missed lunch yesterday due to a HUGE breakfast chris fixed and I ended up eating some chocolate later on in the afternoon and we were all pretty hungry by the time supper came and it was perfect timing they brought this over. I get sorta light headed when I'm standing to long or shaky. I think not only needing to rest from the L/D but I had had this fever, plus I'm really anemic so food that walks itself in the door is wonderful. Alright already its time for some photos :)

While I sit here and wait for these photos to upload i find myself eating another chocolate cookie. They are vegan so that is okay right? I am 1lb from my pre-preg weight (which by the way in my case doesnt mean a thing other than a number that sounds good- I still feel I look a good 4-5 months but chris wont tell me- he is wise) and if I'm not careful all this chocolate I'm eating isn't going to help me do any good! No one, I repeat no one should ever be deprived of chocolate. It will come back to haunt you. I have made a big fuss about this but its all very true! I have missed me some chocolate! I am pretty sure when the doctor came in to release me in the hospital that he told me to take my prenatal vits. to help get my hemoglobin back up and each chocolate for eh.. is it magnesium? Yeah I'm pretty sure he mentioned that :P

Okay in the photo with Isabelle: She was being really quiet on the floor by the side of my bed. I was on the other side feeding so I couldn't see her. She wouldnt asnwer me when I asked her what she was doing so I grabbed the camera next to me and held my arm out over the bed and this is what I found :)
Look at these sweet babies heads. I could just kiss them up. The other photos I took didn't turn out to well so Steven can post those :P

Recovery

We are home and settled in-sorta. I am not sure what chris has talked about so ill give my version even if its the same story :P
So today we made a second trip to the hospital lab to get blood drawn from Wesley. He is jaundice and we were making sure it was within a reasonable range. It was a 12.9 yesterday and the same today. At this point we will not need to be doing anything for it. Other than of course continued good feedings and we can still do the sunlight I guess. I never delt with jaundice with Isabelle. Really each baby is so different and has its own things. He eats completely different than isabelle did. Altho, at this point not much different for me. I am engorged and have plugged ducks. I am wont be surprised if a fever starts. I am taking Tylenol3 so I may not notice a fever? Hopefully these feeding months will be easier. Wesley's weight was the same today as it was when we left the OB on wed. 7#14oz. The doctors office measured him almost an 1" bigger than the hospital did. How long is this baby really!?
So since we left the hospital wed. we have been back out thurs. & friday. I am ready to stay in and rest! Mom has been our driver and pack mule. She carries baby and baby stuff and I hold Isabelles hands. That is about all I'm good for. Isabelle complies pretty well. I feel much better being out doing this than what I would have with our 1st. Altho today its catching up with me. Along with the nursing pains im also getting a cold/sinus deal. A little cough to go with it and that is eh, painful. Isabelle also has a really thick cough and chris is stuffy. So we hope to stay in this weekend and rest from our little colds and really just rest up from a long 5 days of having a baby! Having a baby can really take it out of ya.. ya know :P
My mom has been helping out so much. Its so handy and nice. She does things our own way and sometimes I find myself wanting to go back and 'correct' it but really I am just SOO happy to have her. Isabelle has loved being with her so much this week. Kristy has also been a big blessing. She has provided us with 2 meals and desert! That has been very handy. Mom is trying to keep up with her house, dad, her own errands and then run my house too and make my driving trips and change all these diapers and up and down to get me items I need that it has been so great that she doesn't have to stop everything else to start a meal for us. We keep her busy enough. Chris went to work late thurs. and fri. I keep him on his toes too ;) Right now he is taking a much needed break and playing his wii. Isabelle watches and 'plays' along. Baby is sleeping.
Its kinda a pain that we can only update the blog at night. Once chris is home and has internet. So thanks for being patient with our seemingly slow updates. Really now that baby wesley is here and the biggest is done we would have less need to update. I would like to update on how the L/D and so on went while I sorta remember. I love to remember about it. Chris and I talk daily about how it went and what went on. He has told me about several things that happened or was said that I didn't know or had already forgotten. I.E I had forgot till last night that right as Wesley was making his grand entrance the nurse flipped on HAPPY BIRTHDAY music. It was weird! Like out of a twilight or something! It did kinda throw off my concentration but it was funny really. So that should be all for this. Right now I should make note. Isabelle is talking about one of her teddy bears. See, a few minutes ago chris told me she was watching something on tv like.. wild and crasiest moments or caught on tape sorta thing. They showed a bear at a zoo grabbing the shirt of a man thru the fence. The man i suppose was not hurt but it did upset her and chris said she started crying. So when I came in the room she told me about it. What are we letting our daughter watch you want to know!? The rest of it was pretty good. She enjoyed watching the people fall down or the dogs go round and round. So now, she has found a little teddy bear and its already bringing back painful memories. Its sorta precious.

Some Pictures

Isabelle holding Wesley, something she really likes to do these days!
Aunt Norma brought presents for Isabelle and Wesley!
Shelley took some great pictures with her camera, these are just a few of them

Isabelle holding Wesley's foot

When we were getting ready to leave the hospital

Last picture before putting Wesley in his seat to head home!

My girls and the little boy resting from the hospital stay

This picture was taken sometime today at home. Isabelle does love having her picture taken.

We're home!

I haven't been able to update this blog much over the past few days - we haven't had cell signal in the hospital which makes things difficult. We had a pretty busy morning, then loaded everything in the van and left the hospital about 2:30pm. The pediatrician said that Wesley does have a very slight irregular heartbeat after listening to him for a long time, but she said he should grow out of it before long. Wesley is also a little jaundice, so we'll keep a watch for that and keep him in the sunlight when we can, he will go back for a check on it either tomorrow or Friday. His weight dropped to 7lbs, 14oz this morning, but the pediatrician said that was right at normal - the first few days the average weight loss is 3oz/day. He kept us up last night for quite some time - we had to clean his mouth and nose out several times, and he didn't want to wake up to eat. Waking him up was not as easy as you might think. I found that he does not seem to like his feet and legs played with, so doing that along with rubbing his back woke him up enough to eat after a few minutes.

Shelley is doing great for running on such little sleep. I'm very proud of her - she handled labor gracefully and has been a great mother the past few days. She does have experience of course, but she has been great at keeping on top of his eating and his other needs. We had a nap when we got home, and I'm hoping that she'll be able to get a good amount of sleep tonight. I sure do love her!

Isabelle has taken to him pretty well - she likes to hold him and rub his head. We're trying to keep her from feeling left out of anything, it is hard to give her all of the attention we want to while keeping up with the baby and everything else that needs done as well. We have definitely missed her the past few days!

He's a beautiful baby, and has some funny and unique faces that he makes sometimes. We'll try to get some photos uploaded in the next few days, but I can't really upload them very well from home (using my cell phone connection, and it doesn't upload very well, sure do wish AT&T would bring 3G down here!). Donna will be staying with us tonight to help keep up with things - she has been great to us also, keeping Isabelle overnight since we have been in the hospital and making sure I have something to eat and drink (hospital of course kept Shelley fed!).

Pictures and updates

Everyone is doing great. The biggest pain that Shelley had yesterday has subsided by a good degree. The nurse took her IV out last night, which gave her a lot more freedom. Shelley took care of most things last night while I was asleep, apparently I was pretty difficult to wake up after being up for so long. There were rumors from the nurses about Wesley having a heart murmur or an irregular heartbeat, but we asked the pediatrician and she said there is no such thing - he's doing great. The Lord has certainly taken care of us through a trying time, with being induced, and then uncertainty about whether Shelley would have an epidural or not, and many other issues that came along with the delivery. God's blessing are truly amazing. And now for what most everyone is here for, some pictures!

Mommy and Isabelle early Monday morning while contractions were light:

After Wesley's first bath, all cleaned up:

Wesley has apparently been sucking on his fingers even in the womb, he knew exactly where they were moments after being born. He's not too picky on which fingers go in.

The first family photo:

Isabelle holding her new baby brother

We had a baby!

Corrections: I made these posts from my phone, and I mistyped the weight - it should be 8lbs, 7oz. Small difference, but still needed correcting. Also, Dr. Moore came in late yesterday and informed us that the first measurements on his head were wrong - it was actually 36cm.

It's a boy! He's actually almost 2 hours old now. 8lbs, 8oz, 20 3/4in long, and a head circumference of 33 1/2cm (4 smaller than Isabelle). Mom and baby are doing great, Mom has a couple of pains, but baby is sleeping in JuJu's arms now. Will give more updates later.

Baby picture