Sip N' See

Leigh Ann and Dena put together a Sip N' See essentials shower for us after Brooks was born. My friends from church had hosted a prayer shower where I was loaded with essentials so we thought it would be cool to wait until after he was born to have a family shower when I knew more of what I still needed and also so the family could meet the little guy. It was such a cool idea and I think everyone should do this from now on! I think the guests enjoyed getting to love on the baby that they had brought gifts for!

As always, Leigh Ann did a great job decorating and preparing food for the shower. She chose a transportation theme, which matched perfectly with Brooks' room decor.

 We all had to guess what each baby food was. Simple, but cute shower game.

 Adorable transportation puzzles that Brooks got to bring home for his room.

 The man of the hour was on display, of course!

Love the use of onezies as decor!

See that cheesecake under the glass? It was amazing..chocolate chip cookie crust, cheesecake, drizzled with melted chocolate. 

 Nana and Brooks (my grandmother)

 Meeting Aunt Nikki and Macy (can you believe she's his GREAT aunt)

Memaw and Brooks (Matt's Grandmother)

I'm sad I didn't get pictures with Brooks and everyone else at the shower. We'll have to get around to that soon!

baby brooks: the first 3 weeks

*Don't be let down by the lack of photos in this post. Somehow iphoto was uninstalled from my computer and I can't get into all my photos. The ones I have here were still on my camera. And someone please tell me how to get iphoto back!! 

The first 3 weeks with Brooks have really flown by. I feel like our family is adjusting really well, besides Matt and I being a little more tired than usual. 

Of course the big brothers still love him to pieces, but I think the new is kind of wearing off. They are interested in him when he's in the room making noise or he's upset, but they've stopped asking where he is when he's in his crib and they can't find him. Honestly, this is a little bit of a relief for me. For the first couple of weeks they were constantly trying to find where he was sleeping, going in the room, trying to "help" but really waking him up and making things more complicated haha. We've been patient with them because it really is sweet how much they love him...but like I said, I am relieved that they aren't quite as obsessed as they were. Surprisingly, they are both very good helpers. I was expecting this from Brody, but I am pleasantly surprised at how willing Carson is to help with getting diapers, running for a burp cloth or blanket, etc. If only they would stay this way for the next 18 years...

What we've done the last 3 weeks:

Weekly visits from Andrea aka Dre Drea. We love our time with her!

Sip N' See - At 10 days old, we traveled to Aunt Leigh Ann's house in Houston for a Sip N' See shower. Family from both sides came to see him, most for the first time. We thought this was a fun way to have an essentials shower for him, but also create a way for out of town (and local) family to get to spend time loving on him. The next post will be details and photos from this shower. 

2 Week Checkup - At 2 weeks, he weighed 7lbs 14oz. When we left the hospital he was 6lbs 12oz. So he gained a pound in 2 weeks. I'd say he's eating well! Dr. Ransom said he looked great and was a healthy, growing boy. 

Although he is only almost 3 weeks old, he's already shown us there are certain things he likes, as well as a couple of dislikes. Who knew he'd be so opinionated this early!

Likes: Being swaddled, eating (praise the Lord!), his sleep sheep (thank you Beth for this sweet gift!), paci, his play gym

 Our little burrito. 

The sleep sheep plays various soothing sounds such as ocean waves and a trickling brook. It also has a little strap that lets you attach it to a car seat, etc to take on the go. We don't use this at every nap/bed time because I don't want him to be dependent on it to go to sleep, but I definitely turn it on when he's having a hard time drifting off. It usually works almost immediately. 

A little cross-eyed trying to focus on the toys. 

Dislikes: his gassy tummy. he gets so angry when he needs to burp or poop. baths. but i think he'll come around to those soon.

Hopefully I'll be good about posting once a week with updated photos of all 3 boys. But don't hold me to that...I do have a newborn and 2 other crazy boys to chase around.

introducing brooks matthew: newborn shoot

I knew that if I wanted to do newborn photos of Brooks, it had to be right away. Partially because newborn photos need to be done by 6 days old (easier to position the baby without waking, etc) and because if I put it off, it would never get done. So I did them early on our first full day home from the hospital.

Before I started photographing Brooks, Matt took some quick shots of the boys playing around in their Big Bro shirts.

We got some of all the brothers of course. Carson wouldn't cooperate for an individual photo with Brooks..we promise we tried!

 Definitely going on my wall

I have 84 newborn photos. These are just a few of my faves.

 I stole this idea from a friend's birth announcement. 

introducing brooks matthew: day 1 and 2

 Concerned big brothers checking him out.

I think Carson has that look on his face a lot when it concerns Brooks.

Brody anxiously awaiting to hold him for the first time.

 Melts my heart :)

Typical Carson, the granola bar is WAY more interesting than all this.

(look at Brody's sweet smile)

 I hope they always feel this way about each other

 ahh...another heart flutter. 

The classic Carson cheese face. We're working on getting rid of this. 

introducing brooks matthew:meeting the big brothers

We wanted Brody and Carson to meet Brooks before we brought the rest of the family in. Matt went to get them once it was time. Nurse Lori (the super-nurse) was ready and waiting with the camera when they came in. 

 Brody rushed in, VERY anxious. 

 Carson slowly strolled in, not sure what the rush was.

 He was still not real sure what the big deal was.

 Oh, so THAT'S what's going on...a baby.

 Brody was so excited to get to see him. 

 He climbed right up in the bed with me so he could get a better look.

 First family photo as a family of 5. 

introducing brooks matthew: the birth story

I decided to break up the events surrounding Brooks' birth into multiple posts. One long post would just get boring..and way too long. 

Brooks Matthew. Born September 15, 2011. 3:46pm. 7 lbs 1 oz, 19 inches long.

 It's insane how much they change over just a few day! This doesn't even look like the baby laying next to me right now!

I can't believe tomorrow it will have been a week since Brooks was born. This week has flown by. It has been a very precious, special week. Getting to meet baby Brooks, introducing him to his brothers, bringing him home and getting all settled in. Besides being tired, I couldn't have asked for a better week. The boys have welcomed him with open arms (and mouths as Brooks is constantly covered in slobber from all of their kisses). He is a typical newborn, sleeping most of the time and basically just waking up to eat. The last couple of days he's had some longer awake times, which helps him sleep better at night. Overall, we are already enjoying every minute of life with him. If only it could stay like this for a while....

The Birth Story:

We woke up at 4 am on Thursday, September 15. My parents stayed at our house through the weekend to take care of the boys so we snuck out that morning super early to get breakfast before we had to be at the hospital at 5:30am. While at IHOP, we called the hospital to make sure they were ready for us. They asked us to come at 6am instead because they were pretty crowded. So we went to Super Walmart and killed some time. When we showed up at 6, we still had to wait for a room until 6:30am. Once we got all settled in, our nurse informed us that because of the full moon that night, they delivered more babies than they could count. There were 28 babies in the nursery. Every labor and delivery room was full, as well as all the post-partum recovery rooms. They were swamped. What a day to be induced...

I can't believe I'm posting this pic of myself.

by 7:30am I was hooked up to all my IVs and the pitocin to get the contractions started. My doctor came in a little before 8 to "check" me and possibly break my water. Unfortunately, I hadn't progressed any since the last week and was still at 1.5 cm. She didn't want to break my water until 2-3cm and said she would be back around lunch time. I was very disappointed. I knew that until my water was broken, things would not speed up. But I understood, and knew she had patients to see. Fortunately for us, she happened to have 3 other patients in labor at that time. (insane!) So she never actually got to leave the hospital and was able to come back at 10:15 to check again. Up until this point I had only had mild contractions from the pitocin, definitely none worth getting an epidural for. So I had only progressed to a 2. I was so glad that she went ahead and broke my water at this point instead of having me wait to get to a 3. What I didn't know what how fast...and hard..the contractions would come. By 10:45, only 30 minutes later, I was miserable. As in I thought I was going to die. I asked for my epidural at 11, and because of some c-sections that were happening, couldn't get it until 12:15. In that one hour and fifteen minutes, I gained a whole new respect for the women who do it all natural with no drugs. I honestly have NO IDEA how you do that. I respect you..I think you're insane..but I respect you. 

When I got my epidural at 12:15, I was at 5cm. Once I had my epidural, my parents brought the big boys up so we could give them their big brother gifts and spend time with them before Brooks was born. They only stayed for a short time, but it was very sweet to see how excited they were to be there and were very ready for Brooks to come. 

When my doctor checked a while later, I was between 7-8cm. Around 3pm my nurse checked again and I was still at 7-8, which annoyed me. She told me to turn to my side. Around 3:15 I could tell something was different. Even through the epidural, I could feel pressure. She checked again and said "DO NOT PUSH. I do NOT want to have to catch this baby! " I had gone to 10cm in 15 minutes. My doctor had gone back to her office and I had to wait for her to come back before I could have this baby. She came in a little after 3:30. I remember looking at the clock at 3:40 and she was getting ready to "catch." Two contractions and 6 minutes later, Brooks was born. I told someone shortly after that if I didn't have to go through the grueling 9 months before, I might have 10 kids if they were all this easy! Someone told me once that the third just falls out and they weren't kidding! Another cool part of the day...a couple from church went into labor the night before and was having their baby in the room next door! Their son was born 2.5 hours before Brooks. It was so cool for Matt to have a new friend to spend time with at the hospital and be able to walk along side since he is a new father. We all decided that our 2 boys are destined to be best buds! 

So there you have it, a simple birth story. I love that we had no drama, I had an AMAZING nurse, and nothing but good memories of this day. Next post:Meeting the big brothers and more photos of the day!