The First Week

Well, we have made it through week one with two children under the age of two. Things for the most part have gone very well. However, there have been a few stressful moments. Aleigha is a very good big sister. She loves her brother...the first word out of her mouth every morning is "Brenton." She loves him to pieces...however, sometimes, I'm afraid she's going to put him into pieces b/c she loves him so much. For the most part she is very gentle with him, but she likes to give hugs that consist of her lying right on top of him. She also likes to hold (or should I say "squeeze") his hands. She does not show any bit of jealousy towards him though. She does throw some temper tantrums...usually over food. She is not eating as much as she used to because she has wanted to nurse. I did not have Aleigha completely weened from nursing when Brenton was born. She would nurse once a day...but would go anywhere from 24-72 hours without nursing. It was something she did for comfort. Now that Brenton nurses, she insists (and I am not kidding when I say insists) on nursing as well. I want her to know that she is still special and has a special bond with mommy. Fortunately when you nurse, your body produces milk on a demand basis. Therefor, I am making more then plenty of milk for the both of them. In fact, I think I have enough milk for 2 more babies. I don't mind nursing Aleigha, what is hard on me though, is the fact that she wants to nurse at the SAME time that Brenton nurses....let me tell you...it's not the easiest thing in the world, but it is possible. I have been getting a little more strict with her though and have been telling her that she can't nurse unless she eats her big girl food first. This has helped a little with the eating. As for potty training, she has regressed a little. She has been completely accident free for almost a month. However, now she has been having about one pee accident every other day. Which is completely understandable with such a big change. She is very good about letting us know. She will tell us she as had an "accent," and then she usually will go and get a new pair of pants and put them on. The only other thing she has regressed on a little, is waking up in the middle of the night and coming into bed with us. She's also teething, so that could be adding to the problem. Nothing is very extreme...I think most everything will correct itself within a few weeks...once we are in a pretty regular routine. Which, speaking of routines, I've never been one in favor of them. I feel that they are more for the parents then for the children because if a routine has to be broken...then it is really hard on the child. So, unless you have a very regular life, then I think it's not worth having a routine. Now, with that being said, now having two children at such young ages...I think I need some routine in our lives...(for my own sanity). Hopefully I can manage this and if does have to be broken, it won't be too hard on either child.
As for progression with Aleigha: Her speaking skills are incredible. She continues to add new words every day. She has extremely good manners. She says "please," "thank you," "welcome," "excuse me," "bless you," and "sorry" all at appropriate times. She speaks in sentences several times a day. It's really cute to hear her say things like, "I want a sandwich." or "I don't like it." Also, Aleigha has an incredible memory. She's also really good at making connections....such as, a few weeks ago we went to one of Johnny's (Chris' brother) track meet, and it started to rain. Now every time it rains, she says "rain...Johnny....run." Like I said earlier, Aleigha is such a good big sister. Every time he cries, she will start to sing him a lullaby. She will also say things like..."shhh....it's kay, i got you." She has become our little "diaper sniffer." She'll smell anything you tell her too, so we have used it to our advantage to have her smell Brenton's butt. If it's dirty, she'll tell us "diaper."...most of the time, she's right. And when she's not, it's still really cute and funny to see. It's amazing how big she looks all of a sudden. One day she was my little baby, the next day, she's soo big. I try to get some one on one time with Aleigha everyday. One time I asked her if she wanted to play with me. She said "yes." And when I asked her what she wanted to play, she responded with "Brenton." Yesterday, Aleigha and I got out for a couple of hours while Chris watched Brenton. We went to the park and the library. She definatly needed and enjoyed her time with just me. We had a very good time together.
As for progression with Brenton: His birth weight dropped from 7 lbs 9 oz to 7 lbs 1 oz and on Sunday it was up to 7 lbs 3 oz. He will be weighed again on Friday to make sure his weight continues to go up. On the first night Brenton was born, he started to lift his head. He continues to do this everyday, and it is obvious that his neck is getting stronger and stronger. He can lift it and move it from one side to the other before it drops again. We give him about 5 mins of tummy time once or twice a day to help make his neck strong. On June 4th we saw his first smile (wether gas or not...it's still a smile)...and now he smiles often. On June 7th, he turned from his back to his side. He doesn't do this often, but any time (which is about every night), when i check on him in his bassinet, he has moved from his back to his side all on his own. I suppose he likes to sleep on his side. He is a very happy baby except when he needs something...fed, changed, hungry, or being changed. I'd have to say that being changed it what he hates the most. For the first week, he slept most of the time. Starting today, he has been awake for much longer periods of time. It's a lot of fun to see him look all around to explore his environment. I often wonder what he thinks about Aleigha...lol.
As for Chris: He returned to work a few days after Brenton was born. He has been a great help with everything. On Sunday before church, he got both kids dressed...although he put both of their outfits on backwards...I truely appreciated what he did. He often gets Aleigha breakfast so I can feed Brenton without the persistent insisting from Aleigha that she needs to nurse as well. He makes sure he gives his one-on-one attention to Aleigha as well everday. He is very excited to have a little boy as well now. I know they will do a lot of father-son activities. He's already talking about how he wants to coach his sport teams. He is a great dad and a wonderful husband. I am so lucky to be married to him.
As for me: I am doing pretty good. I have not had to take any pain medicine after the first three or four days (I had to take it for almost 3 weeks w/ Aleigha). I am very happy to not be pregnant anymore. But I'm even happier to be able to hold my little boy and my little girl in my arms. I love being a mom...it is the greatest gift that God has given me. Right now, I'm feeling pretty good about myself because I feel that I have my house under control (which I was really worried about with having two young children). I've learned it's a lot easier to keep on top of things if you do it right away. Now we wash our dishes with every meal rather than just once a day or every other day. I try to keep everything put away as we use them. I do the laundry every couple of days rather than every couple of weeks. I've been teaching Aleigha (and Chris for that matter) to put their things away as well. They've been catching on pretty quickly...lol.
Anyways, life is good right now. And I am very very thankful for having such a great life with such a great family.
I want to apologize for such a long post. I use this blogspot to not only keep family and friends updated with our family, but also as a journal. Therefore, I add a lot of details that I might not necessarily post but that I want to keep recorded of.
I have posted several pictures and a couple of videos of the first week of Brenton's life. I hope you all enjoy.

Our precious son right after birth

Brenton with Grandpa John

Peaceful in the swing....Aleigha thought he needed some toys to play with

Brenton's first sponge bath at home

Getting all clean

Quite content after his bath

My sleepy baby...his lips are just like Aleigha's when they sleep
....they get all big and pouty

He's a pretty peaceful sleepier during the day...
during the night is a different story

Aleigha playing in her food

She painted her WHOLE body with spaghetti

Letting me know she's all done

Stripping her clothes so she can take a shower

My pretty baby...after she took a shower

She's beautiful

His favorite place to be...next to mommy's arms of course

Mommy and Brenton...one week old

Aleigha's way of playing with the tummy time mat

Silly Aleigha

Pure love in Aleigha's eyes

Aleigha consoling her brother??...or Aleigha the reason for his troubles??
She is such an amazing big sister, however, she likes to show too
much love sometimes.

Brenton doing the "Act Surprise" face
Brenton is a quick learner and Aleigha a good teacher

I think they will be very close

My favorite feet to give kisses too

Brenton's little feet and toes

Big Sister/Little Brother Bonding

Brenton and I were released from the hospital shortly after 24 hours after he was born. I am doing pretty well. I'm not really sore or anything...I'm just getting the after birth contractions..especially when Brenton nurses. I have to admit though, that they are pretty painful, but at least not constant. After Chris and I got my prescriptions filled, we went to my parents to pick up Aleigha. She was happy to see us and Brenton. However, she did not want anyone else to hold or even touch Brenton except for her. When we told her she had to sit down to hold him, she started her high pitch scream that we haven't heard in months. I was very nervous how things would go at home. Especially the first few days because Chris had to return to work. Luckily though, I have a very loving little sister who was willing to jump in and help. My parents took my Uncle Bob back to NJ and Molly decided to stay at our house and help me out. So far she has been a big help. She watched both kids while I took a nap this morning and got a shower. Aleigha has been loving the extra attention. And fortunately, last night was not a peek at how things were going to be. Aleigha slept peacefully through the night in her own room and then woke up this morning. I went to get her out of bed and she picked up the doll that Brenton gave her and said "Baby....Thank you Brenton." It was the cutest thing...my heart just melted. Then she kept asking for him. We were able to make it through breakfast and getting dressed before Brenton woke up. She immediately gave him a big hug and kiss. She has been very gentle with him. The hardest thing of all is the nursing. I was not able to completely break Aleigha of nursing before Brenton was born. However, she would nurse no more than once a day, and often she would go a day or two without nursing. She is completely okay with the fact that she has to "share" with Brenton; however, she insists that she nurses at the very same time he does. Today we had company and I started to nurse Brenton. She got very upset and when I told her it was just his turn, she started crying, "Boobie...NOW!" I knew she needed a nap, so I put Brenton in his bed and then tried to nurse her. She started crying again and kept saying "Brenton too." So needless to say, I nursed my two babies at the same time. Hopefully this doesn't last too long...we'll see. Anyways, I have posted some pretty cute pictures of the two of them together.

This is the girl that absolutely hates swings...but once she saw Brenton in it, she insisted getting in, and believe it or not, she liked it. Good thing she is still under the weight requirement...lol.

Holding Brenton on her lap

Comforting her crying brother

She looks soooo big compared to him!!!

In their matching Big sister/Little brother shirts...
he was just as glued to Blues Clues as she was

She really does love him

Putting her head to his

She holds him very well

Gently rubbing his cheek

Just after giving him a kiss

Brenton Gabriel Has Arrived!!!!

Wow!! What a day. Brenton has finally made it here. Emily did absolutely amazing. What a champion. She delivered him in no more than 20 minutes and active labor for 4 hours...whoah. She gave birth to our beautiful son Brenton who weighed in at 7 pounds 9 ounces. I am not one to cry, but even today I had some tears in my eyes. He is absolutely amazing. What an awesome sight to behold. I can not wait to watch him grow and have that special fatherly bond with him. I hope you enjoy and appreciate these pictures and moments as Emily and I have.

Killing Time

Well my pregnancy is finally coming to an end. I have waited a long 9 months for this day. Tomorrow I will be induced at 5 AM. I tried all last week to put myself into labor...with unfortunately, no luck. I walked 4 miles one day, 7 miles the next. I ran up and down bleachers (over and over and over again), I did too many squats to count. I ate everything under the sun that has ever been used to help induce labor....I ate Macaroni and Cheese with A1 sauce, egg plant, walnuts, fresh pineapple, raspberry leaf tea, and a few other things. We tried things in the bed room. I guess our little guy just wasn't quiet ready to make his debut. Well, now my doctor has said he's been in long enough. I will be 39 weeks and 1 day tomorrow. He is expected to be a little under 8 lbs (a little big for me). That is why they are inducing me. They are afraid that I might not be able to deliver him naturally if they don't get him out soon. They would have induced me a week ago, however, it is now against WV law to induce prior to 39 weeks unless it is life threatening. Now with all that being said, I have worked since early this morning getting my house in order. I'm just about done, and well...I am having regular contractions (they aren't real painful though). So maybe he's decided he wants to come on his own after all...I guess well see. He's gotta wait a few more hours though until my doctor is on call. No matter what though...I will be holding him in my arms by sometime tomorrow...whether he comes on his own or needs a little help. Now to go back to last week. Once the weekend hit, my doctor was out of town...so I stopped trying to do things that would push things along. I haven't come this far to have another doctor deliver him (if at all possible). So I needed to do a few things to help keep me busy. Some of things that I did included: making the block letters to spell out his name. They turned out pretty well, not as cute as I hoped, but not too bad; I also made Aleigha a "Big Sister" shirt, and then decided to make Brenton a "Little Brother" onesie. I'm pretty proud of them, I think they turned out really cute. I had made Aleigha's shirt first and then found the design for Brenton's. I later found the same design that I made for Brenton, but says "Big Sister." So tonight I am making Aleigha another shirt that will match Brenton's. Also this weekend, I got my hair cut. I am very satisfied with it. It is very quick to do. Aleigha and I went to Blennerhasset Island with my mom and dad and my Uncle Bob. Aleigha got to pet a horse; she thought it was the coolest thing ever. We have been spending a lot of time with Uncle Bob. He really enjoys Aleigha's company, and Aleigha really enjoys him. Yesterday we went to Chris' mom's house and went swimming in the lake...well, Aleigha went swimming. She absolutely loved it!! I think she will really enjoy the summer. Anways, the weekend really has flown by. Now I'm just dreading tonight...because I know I won't sleep well. And then I have to wake up around 3 or 3:30 and out the door by 4. So yeah...I will have a busy day tomorrow...lol. Well, next time I post a blog...it should have pictures of our little Brenton.

My new hair cut

Aleigha and Brenton's shirts

Brenton's "Little Brother" shirt

Aleigha's "Big Sister" shirt

Close Up of the block letters

The completed project