My Little Guy

We were tagged forever ago by Lilly and Mamie to list 8 things about Grant and Claire. I'm not so sure about Claire yet, but here are some things about my little guy:

1. He loves his mommy's hair. It's almost weird he likes it sooo much. He loves to rub his face with it, and if I have my hair up (even driving in the car), he'll say, "Mom, take your hair down for me." Cracks me up!

2. He's my cuddlebug. He loves being close and cuddling. I know this won't last forever, so I eat it up now.

3. He remembers EVERYTHING! I kid you not. If we go somewhere one time, he remembers everything about it...random things and will bring them up later on. Except yesterday, he forgot where he hid his shoes or at least he wasn't up to telling me.

4. He loves music and dancing. He got a CD player for Christmas and plays it every night. He knows all the words to the songs on his CDs and sings them over and over. He also knows the songs to several Diana Ross and the Supremes songs because daddy didn't have any kid cds in his car, so that's what they listened to one day, and they stuck.

5. Sleep is not his friend. He fights it at all costs and has since the day he was born.

6. He loves the Doodlebops. I posted about this several months ago, and his interest had kind of tapered off for awhile. For some reason, all of the sudden it's back. That's the only show he wants to watch, and it's soooo annoying. They are coming to town in March, and we may have to take him.

7. As loud as he can be, he does not like loud places or people. He went to the playground at Chick-Fil-A and there were lots of kids being really loud, and he had no interest in playing. At Pump It Up last week, the music and the echo freaked him out. He's going through a scared stage and anything out of the ordinary gets to him. We went to the park a few weeks ago, and there was a little boy playing on the playground that had freckles, and Grant ran from him because he didn't know what they were. It doesn't matter what it is, anything he's not used to is freaking him out right now.

8. He loves to go. If we're in the house all day, he's ready to get out and go. He's my little shopper and loves to go to Target or "Wal-Mark" with me. He also does really well at the mall...thank the Lord!!

On another note, my little guy is really struggling with his new sister. He's a bit wild, and just different. Last night, he bit her finger hard. I thought he was kissing her hand until she started screaming and I saw teeth marks. Later on, he spit on her and hit her in the head. I don't know what to do with him. I hate to keep getting onto him, but we can't let him get away with that stuff. He's struggling with going to Nanny's every day because he knows I'm staying home. This morning, he threw a huge fit to stay here. I'm just not sure what to do to help him adjust. I've said he can stay home tomorrow. I know I'll regret that by 9 am. Andy has been taking him places by himself and we've been giving him so much more attention..playing with him more, etc. but he's still acting out. It's driving me crazy, but it also hurts me. I feel like he's hurting inside and I want to help him and don't know how. I'm anxious for this to pass!

Random

Right now my sweet little girl is sleeping.. without being held. This has been a very rare occurence since she was born. The catch is that she's on her belly. All of the advice out there says never do this, but she's sleeping now and wakes up immediately when we put her on her back or side. Why does this have to be so stinkin' difficult?! Grant was the same way, but I never put him on his stomach until he was probably 8 or 9 weeks old and then he slept all night. I haven't put her on her belly at night either, but she's sleeping on me, so essentially she's on her stomach anyway. I, obviously, don't want to endanger my baby in anyway, but I do want her to sleep (and I wouldn't mind having a little too). I'm just not sure what to do.

I escaped the house yesterday for an hour and went to Sunday School with Grant. It was really nice to get out and also to see everyone. I kind of feel like I've been hiding out in a cave these last few weeks. I'm ready for warmer weather so we can be out and about. It's supposed to be 60 today, so we're going to run a few errands if I can find my way to the shower sometime soon! It will probably stay cold until right about the time I go back to work. We'll definitely make the best of the nice days we have until then.

2 weeks old

Yesterday, our baby girl turned 2 weeks old. I already can't believe how fast it's going. We went to the dr. for her 2 week check up on Weds, and she's up to 8 lbs, and 12 oz. They said she'd grown to 22 inches, but I don't know how she could've possibly grown 2 inches in 2 weeks. It's not the most accurate measurement process, so I'm guessing that someone was just off. Her head is in the 50%, unlike Grant's, whose has always been and is still in the 95-100%. Thank goodness she's the one that I had without drugs!

Yesterday, we had a photographer come to our house and take newborn shots of Claire. It was quite an experience. Since she was naked in all of the shots, she was not happy to start off with. We were trying to get her to go to sleep, which usually during the day isn't hard at all. Yesterday, she decided she'd like to stay awake all morning, so she was really bright eyed alot of the time. The other great part about her being naked... she let loose all over me, all over the photographer's bean bag, all over the floor, on her quilt, and anywhere else that you can imagine...she messed on it. I don't know how her little body had so much in it. It was a mess and hilarious! I'll post the link to the pics when they're available. For now, the photographer has posted one of she and I on her blog. You can see it at http://courtneymarler.com/blog/.

Here are a few other pictures from the last little bit:

She was really happy about this

Home Alone

Well, today is the first day that I've been home alone all day long. I've actually slept most of the morning, so it's not been so bad. Pookie went back to work 1/2 days last Tuesday because he was bored sitting at home, but mom was off all last week. Between her and everyone that has brought us dinner, I have gotten totally spoiled. I've decided that I need a full time cook. Not having the stress of thinking about what we're going to eat each night is really nice! Thank you so much to all of you for everything you've done for us! We really appreciate it!

Claire still has her days and nights somewhat mixed up. Last night wasn't horrible because she actually slept. The only bad part is that I held her all night long. She will sleep when she's put down during the day, but not at night. As soon as I put her down, she starts acting like she's choking. She doesn't really seem to be, so I don't know what her deal is. I elevated the head part of the mattress yesterday and she slept great all evening, but then refused to be laid down when night fell. Who knows!

Grant has also been having issues sleeping... he used to sleep until about 8 or 8:30, but lately, he's waking up around 5:30 or 5:45 and yelling, "mom, what are you doing?" Usually I'm awake and feeding the baby, and he comes and lays beside us and tries to rub all over her. He was really upset when daddy took him to nanny's this morning. He knew that I was staying here, and he wanted to stay too. I felt horrible, but think that at least, for now, it's best that he go over there part of every day to keep his routine up for when I go back to work and also to give me time to bond with the baby and also to get some much needed sleep during her naps. Otherwise, I'll be running on fumes.

Lyla tagged me to tell 8 things about Grant and Claire, but I need to wait until I'm thinking a little clearer to do that. Maybe that'll be the next post.

How She Came into the World

Well, here's the story....sorry for the delay. I've been a little sleep deprived! Wednesday I had contractions all day at work. They weren't terribly strong and they were 15-20 minutes apart. I had a feeling we'd be going to the hospital that night or early the next morning, so Wednesday night, I did everything at the house (laundry, dishes, etc.). I laid down with Grant Weds night and went to sleep for about 30 minutes before coming to get in my own bed. That's when they started getting stronger. They were still bearable, but getting worse. The bad thing was that the contractions were still pretty spaced out (15 minutes or so). Around 3 am, they got to 7 minutes apart, so I got up and took a shower and got everything ready to go. I called my mom around 5:30 and asked her to come over and get Grant ready to go to school because we were going to have to go to the hospital. We were just waiting for that magic 5 minute apart mark. They got to that point between 6:30 am and 7:30, but every time I'd sit down, they'd space back out to 10-15 minutes. I called the dr. and they told me to come into the office and they'd check me out.

We got to the dr. around 9 and they checked me and said she thought it was very early labor, but not enough yet to be admitted. She actually told me to go home and relax or go to the movie... obviously she was underestimating how bad these contractions hurt! She thought they were Braxton Hicks, but I knew otherwise. When they're the real thing, they're totally different than all those "practice" ones! Anyway, so we left, stopped at Target and bought Grant a present from baby sister. I had 4 contractions while we were there, but we still headed on home. I got home and when I sat down, they'd space out, but when I was standing up or walking around, I was having major pain every 4-6 minutes. We waited until around 2 and then decided to go back. I was hurting too badly to stay home and wait anymore even though every time I sat down, they got further apart.

We arrived at the hospital around 2:30 and went straight to Labor & Delivery as we'd been instructed. Upon entering, they told me to sit down and they'd have someone come and get me to take me to OB Assessment to decide if I was really in labor. I walked downstairs and had several contractions on the way down. They got me in a bed , hooked me up to the monitors, and checked me. She said I was at a 4, which I was that morning also. Heck, I was almost at a 4 at my appt on Tues, so very little progression. They said they'd leave me on the monitors for an hour or so and see what happened and then check me again.

So I just laid there during what they called a code yellow, tornado alert waiting on contractions. I had some that were super super painful, but again they were like 10 -15 minutes apart and apparently didn't look all that strong on the monitor. They checked me again an hour later (around 3:30) and said that maybe I was a bit more effaced. They were contemplating sending me home again. I was really having lots of pain.... think just on the verge of screaming but instead, squeezing the life out of whoever's hand was closer. My mom kindly went out in the hallway and told the lady that we were not leaving.. that my dr. had offered to induce already and she just needed to call her and get the go ahead to move me upstairs. Guess what.. the nurse did just that. She told my dr. she thought that if they'd break my water that we might just have the baby by midnight.. little did she know!

So, a few minutes later, they put me in a wheelchair and took me back to L&D. I had major contractions in the hall on the way there and getting into the bed was almost impossible because every time I moved I was in tremendous pain. The nurses came in the room and started asking questions, etc. but all of their computers were down. I just kept yelling that I needed medicine (an epidural). They got my IV in after sticking the needle in and then searching for the vein, during which I thought I might die. She explained that usually before the epidural they had to draw blood and wait for results, etc. but she could tell I wanted it badly so asked if I had any negative health history and then agreed to go ahead and do it. The CRNA came into the room with his little cart and I yelled that I was feeling lots of pressure. No one upstairs had checked me yet because 1. they'd just checked me downstairs and 2. we'd literally been in the room like 10 minutes.

When I said the magic word pressure, she immediately checked me and told me I was done! Then, they informed me there was no time for an epidural because it wouldn't take effect before the baby came. If you've read any of my previous posts, you know this is not what I had planned. I had a very painful labor with Grant (but did get an epidural before delivery) and I had absolutely no intention of doing it again. I totally freaked out when this girl told me that I was getting ready to have natural childbirth. Crying, etc. This is not what I wanted. I literally thought I was dying, at which point, the nurse said, "no, you just want to." I guess it was pretty bad, because then the anesthetist offered to do a spinal block (they informed me later they NEVER do this anymore for normal deliveries). They were trying to tell me that I wouldn't be able to feel anything, get up for a long time, etc. but I did not care at all. He told me to roll over to put it in and when I did, my water broke and the baby just started coming. There is no dr. in the room at this point. I think it was total chaos, although truthfully, it's all kind of foggy. The next thing I know, a dr. I've never seen before walks in and says, " hi, I'm Dr. _______, I was in the hallway, and I'm going to deliver your baby." And, out she came.

The whole experience was crazy! Not only did my dr. not deliver the baby. It wasn't even someone from her practice. Just another OB that happened to be in the hall at the time. I don't think Pook had any clue what was going on. Mom said she turned around and just told him to sit down because he was as white as a ghost. My mom never even took her jacket off before the baby was born.. that's how quick it all was. Pook was so out of it they asked him to cut the cord, and he just said no. So, mom cut it. Crazy. They called the nurse down in assessment and told her the story. She, in turn, called my dr. to relay the story to her. The nurse later called me to apologize for almost sending my home. All I can say is thank goodness they didn't or baby Claire would've been born on I-40 or in the parking lot... not something I want to think about.

But, I guess my body is no worse for the wear. I didn't feel any different afterward than I did the first time, so I guess you should never under estimate what your body can do. I just know I never want to do that again. I apologized to my delivery nurse, who was my nurse again on Saturday. She, herself, had two children naturally so she just kept telling me it was ok and I could do it. When I apologized, she said it was no big deal because natural childbirth is something you really have to have set in your mind to do and being told you have no choice as it's happening is totally different.

So, here's a picture right after she was born. She's already growing like a weed. We went to the dr. today and she's gained 8 oz. since we left the hospital, already up past her birth weight to 8 lbs. 8 oz. The dr. told me not to leave the house until the end of March... seriously. We're coming up on 1 week old, and I'm already going stir crazy. So we'll see how that goes. She's still not sleeping at night, but I'm hoping this will improve very soon!

Sarah Claire Summar

Well, as Alicia posted, baby Claire arrived on Thursday afternoon. After I updated on Thursday morning saying we were heading to the hospital my contractions actually slowed waaaay down, but were really really painful when I had one. We went into the dr. and then they sent us back home. I'll post the whole "birth story" a little later, but we didn't end up getting back to the hospital until after 2 pm on Thursday and not into a room until around 3:45 and she was born at 3:55 p.m. It's definitely not the delivery I'd been planning, but I'm thankful it's over and that she's here and healthy.

We got home last night and Grant is doing pretty well with her. He loves her and wants to know where she is all of the time. He's demanding a bit more attention than normal, so we're all trying to cope. She has her days and nights a little confused. Hopefully, we can work that out in the next few days. I'll definitely post more of the story later and more pictures, but here are just a few from the last couple of days.

Meeting Baby Sister for the 1st time!

We're Home

Right after her first bath at home.

More to come soon!

Baby Claire has arrived!

Well, She's Here.......

Hi to you all. I am Alicia Mitchell, one of Chesley's friends, updating this for her since she's a little busy. :o)

Sarah Claire Summar was born in a spectacular fashion (without the help of any modern medicine-much to Chesley's dismay) Thursday, January 10th at 3:55 pm. She weighed in at 8 lbs and 4 oz and was 20 inches long. She has a head full of beautiful black hair. She is an absolute doll! Grant was able to visit her just hours after her birth and loved his new little baby sister. Mom & baby are doing great today. We are all so thankful for such a wonderful blessing.