2 years ago today...

...I was out scooping about 4 ft of snow off the sidewalk because it was a sunny afternoon and I didn't want the weather to get wasted. Make no matter that I was 9 months pregnant, I felt great, and there was work to bed done! Following that, I even made an apple pie for the neighbors. HELLO NESTING!

 However, allll that led to this a few short hours later!

And my heart was once again swept away in an instant.

And somehow

here

he

is

now

 TWO.

I thought it was official at 1 Year. That he was no longer a baby. But it really feels official now. Perhaps because this time around at 2 years there isn't another baby below him. My womb is empty. And the plans, as far as WE know, are to be done. Which I am totally FINE with but... I dunno... These years are passing. My little babies are growing. All of them, including my last.  And I can't help but savor every bit I can as it slowly slips away into a new moment.

1 Year Ago today...

...we welcomed our third child into our family.  It was a cold and foggy drive to the hospital in the middle of what had been a treacherous winter.  (You can read his birth story here.)  But God took care of us as He delivered to us one of the very very best gifts ever!  Carter James...

I can't even say your name without my heart swelling with love and joy. You are simply everything to me.... and I am so thankful to be your momma!  Happy 1st Birthday!!

My g baby

These are g diapers.  The middle ground between cloth diapers and traditional disposable diapers.  You can use cloth inserts or you can use the 100% biodegradable disposable/flushable inserts, both with the super-cute A-dorable g pants on the outside with a snap-in nylon liner that prevents any leaks.  The disposable insert biodegrades in 50-150 days vs 500 YEARS it takes for a regular diaper to break down.  You can flush them (if you don't have a septic tank) or you can put them in your compost pile (pee diapers only) or you can put them in the trash.

 

A friend of mine uses g diapers and her son (their first) is 2 weeks younger than Carter, so that's where I first heard about them.  I was fascinated but decided at that time not to do them.  We can't flush them (septic tank for us) and I didn't think they were cheaper than a regular diaper.  But then last week I was shopping in the big city, by myself (!), and I happened to see them right there at Babies R Us, so I got one package of each (the g pants, the cloth inserts, and the disposable inserts) to give 'em a try.  My main motivation??  It's going to seem sooo silly and immature, but really, it's because they have a "g" on the back of them and our last name starts with G, and they're totally adorable, and so there.  =)  I happened to have just bought a big package of regular diapers for Carter so I haven't made a big switch yet, and partly because I'd need to buy a few more supplies (more nylon liners!) to make it work well.  For now I just sometimes put the g diaper on him.  

I've experimented with both the cloth insert and the disposable.  I did have one poop straight on the cloth one and had to hand wash it out before the wash and totally hated that.  I'm VERY against me personally scraping poop off a diaper, nope, no thanks.  So I'm still working on figuring out what I can put in there maybe (?) to catch that a little better. There are liners you can buy but none have very good reviews.  Someone said they're basically just like a dried-out diaper wipe. So I might try that? Or if I want to just do the disposable ones, though I'm not exactly sure what the cost comparison is with regular diapers.   But for now, I am definitely enjoying this cute bum!  How could you not?!

By the way you can see more cute pictures HERE!

Okay moms...

...Give me your answers HERE. =)

Think outside the bun box

Baby splash pad = a snow disk filled with water!

Put rolled-up towels around it so it's not so tippy, and you're good to go! It's just enough water to cool off in but no big deal of baby tips over. He can sit on his own and play and splash.

Or just play with the broken handle if he so chooses. =)

A very sweet boy.

Happy 5 months little guy! We love you so very much!
Read his update and see more photos HERE.

My precious baby.

See more HERE.

Mommy and Me pics

Here Carter is 6 weeks old now {pause, can you even believe that?!} and I still only had 2 or so pictures of me with him at all since I'm always the one behind the camera. Well, at the encouragement of a friend, I got out my camera, remote, and tripod, sent the older two kids off to play in the playroom, and set up a little photo shoot for myself. I had to get up and down, up and down, up and down a thousand times to check each picture on the camera so I could make adjustments, thus the reason Carter is awake in most of these pictures. But he was a trooper, and I LOVE these pictures with my sweet baby boy! Here are my favorites, that I'm certain to cherish for always...

I love putting my face next to his.

Man, I love this sweet baby!!

Better night.

Last night was a much better night than the previous two. This time I stayed awake during the feedings, playing games and reading blogs on Kevin's ipod, so I was awake enough to feed Carter a full feeding, changing his diaper mid-way instead of allowing myself doze and never really giving Carter a full feeding and thus never really getting real sleep. And the result: Each feeding/change took about 45 minutes and then Carter laid down in his bed just fine after both feedings with no additional wakings. After the second feeding (3:15am) I laid him in the middle of our bed, hoping it would help lengthen his next sleep period, to make sure he wouldn't wake up for a THIRD feeding. Don't know if that made any difference or not, but he slept fine. I just wasn't about to take any chances, because I wanted the very best sleep possible for a night! I know with Hannah I would play on my Nintendo DS (only game I have is Brain Age) during night feedings, and I think it helped. So that route just might be our new night routine until those feedings start getting more spaced out. I'm still pretty crazy tired today, still blurry vision, but at least I'm a lot more functional today and motivated enough to work on some school activities for the kids! That's gotta be a good sign, right?

Raw beauty.

a completely raw, unedited photograph of the truest of beauties.

I look at a baby, my baby, and I think...
Pure beauty.
Perfection.
God's creation.
Intricately made.
Uniquely designed.
Child of God.
Utterly sweet.
And so very very loved.

I could just stare at this all day long. What a sweet babe.

One week.

Carter is 1 week old today! In short, this is how I would describe how it's been...

It's been wonderful
and hard
at the same time.
I'm in love
with my little boy.
I'm tired.
And crabby.
Carter is a little jaundiced.
And has to be hooked up to a machine.
All.
Day.
Long.
I'm tired of the machine.
But thankful for the machine.
So glad it's not a "tanning bed" kind.
Hoping his levels come back better today.
I've been beyond engorged this week
but am finally almost back to normal.
Almost.
I feel really great.
Haven't taken any medicine since delivery.
Sqeeeeeezed my way into pre-pregnancy jeans yesterday.
We finally took down our Christmas tree.
Kevin found a snake skin in the basement.
I'm terrified.
Kevin's going back to work today.
Tonight.
Which means
I'll have the kids all day (while he sleeps)
AND all night (while he works).
The kids are excellent big siblings.
Hannah thinks Carter is "her baby".
It's super cute.
Carter sleeps all day long.
On the couch hooked up to his machine.
But yesterday
he was finally alert for two long periods
of the day.
He's such a sweet boy.
I totally adore him.
But I remembered all too quickly
how much I hate
night feedings.
I can't stay awake
to keep Carter awake.
I fall asleep sitting up
and wake an hour later
and have no idea if the baby even ate.
I lay him down anyway
and snuggle in my bed
and a minute later
he wakes up again.
And we start all over.
How do you stay awake for night feedings?
Have I mentioned that I'm tired?
And that all the kids' noises
all day long
make my head ring.
I nap when I can though.
And I remember that
in just one week
we'll probably have a whole different story.

The birth story of lil' Carter.

So based on our fast labor experience with Hannah, we knew we weren't going to dilly dally around with this next one. At the first labor pain we were going to head right into the hospital, and it's a good thing we did! Because this labor experience was very similar and nearly as short as Hannah's!

Perhaps shoveling all that snow Wednesday afternoon really was too much for me, because around bed time later that night I started feeling the early labor aches (9:30pm). I showered and laid down for a little bit but that same back ache kept coming every 8 minutes or so, just like I'd had with Eli and Hannah's labors. After about an hour and a half of it, even though it was still very mild and I could almost still lay very peacefully through them, I knew I should probably wake Kevin and start getting things together. It was about 11:15pm at this point. I called the night sitter and we had to figure out how to get her since their van was broken. I felt unsure calling her in already since labor was still so mild, but I wasn't fooling around this time! Kevin went to town and picked her up and by the time he got back nearly 40 minutes later, the pain was definitely starting to get a lot more uncomfortable. She came, we gave her a short bit of instructions, and off we went. It was about 12:30am by this point. Right after we left the house we hit a thick wall of fog. Ugh. All I wanted was to hurry up and get to the hospital now that we were in the middle of nowhere and you know, we're in the truck! I prayed that God would lift the fog, like he parted the Red Sea, and I was pretty frustrated that He didn't, but I did pray the whole way "just get us there, just get us there..." I was starting to moan through contractions now and they were coming about 3 minutes apart, so with a 30-minute drive through thick fog I was feeling uneasy about whether we'd make it in time. BUT we did! Whew!!! We checked into the hospital at 1:10am, and by the time we were settled and I was changed into my gown and all that and the nurse finally checked me I was at 8cm already, water bag still bulging. So I decided to stick it out the rest of the way with no meds. The nurse contacted my doctor to come in to the hospital right away. Contractions continued, hard and miserable, but thankfully short (maybe 30 seconds long?) and with each one I could feel that we were getting closer. The doctor broke my water and while she was doing that the next contraction started coming, and it was time to push! Midway through the doctor gave me an episiotomy, I continued pushing and out he came just a few minutes later! 1:50am, just 45 minutes after getting to the hospital. They laid Carter on me right away and did everything with him right there on my belly. I've never had that before so all the gooeyness kind of weirded me out, but wow, what an amazing experience. Sort of. I mean, I still hate the whole labor process. It hurts. So bad. But I'm so thankful it was short again. And based on Carter's weight, 7 lbs 9 oz, I'm glad he came 2 weeks early or he would've ended up being quite big! I'm just so thankful for the timing of it all! One day before Kevin's 6-day off of work, so he either won't have to take much time off at all and save his days, or he'll get a super long break at home, whichever we decide. Except the fog, the weather was clear. No blizzards! And we keep being told there's a big a snow coming the end of the month. I never did get to try all my Nettle Tea for labor (anyone want it?? I'll mail it to you!), and I never would've expected the lil' guy to come 2 weeks before the due date (Eli was 7 days after the DD, and Hannah was 3 days before DD) even though I was kind of hoping he would, but it all worked out just fine and with the beautiful blessing of Carter James!

Aside from being quite tired, I've been feeling really great! Very little pain, I haven't taken any pain pills or anything since the one immediately after delivery. I've been up and walking around and already enjoying the freedom to sleep on my belly again! =)

Carter was a super sleepy baby for his first 12 hours. I nursed him a little 1 hour after delivery but then he was not interested at all for the rest of the day! I was a little uneasy about that, because I still wasn't confident that he was really latching on well yet. But around 6pm he finally started showing interest in eating and I've been able to get him to eat well every 3 hrs-ish. Which is what I need to go do right now, so I better scoot!

But there's the brief update with much more to come soon!

You can see a lot more pictures over at the family blog!

Introducing...

Carter James
7 lbs 9 oz, 20 inches
January 14, 2010 born 1:50am

We're all home already and doing great! Details and pictures to come soon!