Giggles

Doctor appointment last week- 6 weeks.

12 pounds 8 ounces!

22 3/4 inches long

15 1/4 inch head circumference

My baby is growing!

Life in our house is grand. Grayson recently started LOVING his play mat. He'll just stare and stare at the hanging giraffe and monkey and will get this big, wide smile and start cooing and talking. I love that sound. He also does it a lot in the mornings. It's great to hear. I'll be laying in bed and will hear him in his room just talking away. Lots of coos mixed with little cries. He knows if he cries a little that I'll come but he's so happy that they're not real cries. I can't wait for his talking to really come out. Right now it's just a little but it's so fun to hear.

Today Grayson had his first play date! I got together with my friend Becky from high school and her two little kids. Her son Parker is 4 months old- made Grayson look tiny! They didn't so much play together, but we got cute pictures of them together! It was fun chatting with Becky too. Strange getting together with kids! We're so grown up.

Back to work for me in one week. Pray for me. I don't want to leave my little guy.

Sleep

Sleep is this treasured commodity that I truly did not think I would get much of while being pregnant and having a baby. Before pregnancy, I would fall asleep at the drop of a hat. I would remember kissing Jared goodnight and then would wake up in the morning. While pregnant...things didn't change much- surprisingly. I did wake up to go to the bathroom 3-4 times per night, but I never really "woke up" but would almost sleep walk to the bathroom.

Now with a newborn...I still sleep great. :) Grayson sleeps anywhere between 3-6 hour stretches every night. Last night he did 6 1/2 hours! Best thing about it- he falls back asleep after eating so well. I don't mind waking up with him and feeding him. I think the hardest part would be trying to get a screaming baby back to sleep, but we don't really struggle with that.

This week Grayson made the big move from the bassinet to his crib- all the way down the hall! He's doing great and sleeping just as well there as he did in the bassinet. He is a wiggle worm though!! Yesterday morning, Grayson woke up screaming- poor kid had wiggled his way to the side of the crib and got his leg stuck in the slats! I felt terrible for him! So, yesterday afternoon I went to Babies R Us and bought some breathable bumpers for the crib. Now we won't have to worry about his legs getting stuck with him being such a wiggle worm. Silly boy. Then this morning, he had turned 90 degrees. He was sideways in the crib! That's some talent for a 5 week old little boy!

Little guy is falling asleep right now. Daddy is cuddling with him. Sweet. I love these moments.

Doctor Appointments

I need to write down the info given to us at Grayson's last few appointments so I will remember. If I don't write it down now, I'll never remember.

Born on August 2.

7 lbs. 6.8 oz.

20 inches long

14 inch head circumference.

13 1/4 inch chest.

Discharged from the hospital on August 4.

7 lbs. even

First appointment on August 6.

7 lbs. 8 oz.

2 Week appointment on August 16.

8 lbs. 13 oz. 75th percentile.

20 1/2 inches long. 75th percentile.

14 1/2 inch head circumference. 75th percentile.

Fussy Baby

I've now understand what it's like to have a fussy baby. Not sure what's up, but Grayson has been craaabbbby the last 2 days. After lots of trials and errors, we've found out he loves his Moby wrap and the combination of swing, music, and paci does wonders- at least for a little while. Praying he starts feeling better or whatever is bugging him stops soon. He's still sleeping well, so I'm thankful for that.

Here we are in the Moby wrap. We took a walk around the block in it tonight, and he fell asleep after about 10 minutes. (Yes, I have a shirt on under the wrap...)

This picture makes me laugh. It's like he's saying, "No biggie." This is after he had been swinging awhile. His paci had fallen out of his mouth and landed like that on his stomach. :) So cute.

Feel better, bubs!

This is a cow. This is a pig.

Special moments with cousin Tanner.

Fun Times

The last few weeks have been wonderful as a family of 3. Grayson is such a great little kid; we'll keep him around awhile. :) He's sleeping wonderfully, eating wonderfully, and is generally really happy!

Fun moments:
-Naked butt time today- Grayson's had a red butt the last few days, so while Dad was at church tonight, I took Grayson's diaper off and had him "air out" while. He was so happy! He loved it. He was moving all around and seemed so happy! I took a few rattles and played with him too. I think he was laughing. Okay, not really, but he looked like he wanted to laugh! Then he peed on me. I should have known it would happen.
-Bath time- Grayson LOVES his bath. He has such a content look on his face while he has a bath. This picture is from the first night home. Loves having his hair washed. Good thing, because with all his hair and how much he sweats, it gets greasy!

-Feeding Grayson his bottle- That is from Jared. :) The last 3 nights, Jared has fed Grayson a bottle. I know Jared loves helping out and feeling that bond that I get to have with Grayson all the time. He's taking the bottle pretty well too!

-First trip to Grandpa and Grandmas- We took our first trek to Pella last week, and Grayson did great! Slept the whole way there and back. We'll take more trips soon.

-Car rides- Grayson loves car rides. He'll be crying up until we start moving and then he quiets down. He also likes music in the car..or anywhere. :)

-First time alone with Mom- Jared had 2 whole weeks off to spend with us after Grayson was born. That time was awesome. He did have to be gone one day the 2nd week to take his drumline to the Iowa State Fair parade. So, I was home allll day with Grayson- alone. We had a good time, but it was a long day. I'm very thankful for all the help Jared does around the house. He's back to work now every day, but Grayson loves it when Daddy comes home. So do I.

-First time alone with Dad- ACA had their open house night a couple nights ago and I felt it was pretty important to be there, so Grayson spent his first evening away from Mommy. Jared said it wasn't nearly the adventure he thought it would be and that he and Grayson got along just fine. I'm sure they had fun. Mommy missed her baby a lot. And, since I was gone around 3 1/2 hours, Jared fed Grayson his first bottle. The first one went pretty slow, but he's catching on now.

He's Here!

I am just so thankful for my little man. He has been such a blessing to our family- I can't believe he's already been in our lives for over a week! God has blessed us so much.

My pregnancy and delivery were so wonderful. I sometimes really hate saying that because so many people go through so many troubles and rough times, but I've thoroughly enjoyed the past 9+ months, and I would do it all in a heartbeat..without flinching. I think I'll wait awhile, but...just saying...

Anyway, Grayson's birth story....it's going to be long.

Sunday, August 1 was my due date. I know everyone says your baby WILL come, but I swore on Sunday that he wasn't ever going to come. I was crabby, bummed, and I just felt lousy (ding ding ding!!). I was just feeling achy and kinda sick but didn't have any contractions or anything. I took a nap in the afternoon (which I hadn't done in over a month-another ding ding ding!!!) and took a short walk with hubby. For dinner we ate spicy chicken enchiladas because I was going to try anything to get the baby to come. We headed to bed around 11:30. Right before we fell asleep, Jared asked if he should stay home the next day but I said "No, nothing's going to happen."

Then around 12:15 I woke up and felt awful! I can't say I was having contractions, but there was something going on down there and it didn't feel good. I felt like I had to poop really bad, so I went to the bathroom and it just HURT. My whole butt area and upper legs and lower back were just aching! Finally I woke Jared up around 12:45 saying that I felt terrible and that I think something was happening. I started walking through the hallway upstairs and the contractions weren't too intense but were coming about every 10 minutes. We both took quick showers and Jared started finalizing stuff around the house. We went on a quick walk outside, I sat on my ball for awhile, and then they started coming every 5 minutes or so. So, we started heading for the hospital.

We got to the hospital around 5 am, and they checked me right away. The first nurse checked, looked at me, and said that she couldn't find my cervix. What!?! I asked her if it ran away. I think she was embarrassed. Another nurse came in and she said, "You go girl! You're at 5 cm and that bag of waters is right there." Yeahhh!! I was excited. They got me hooked up, etc. and then the nurse came in and told me that I might not be able to have an epidural. My white blood cell count was high and a lot of anesthesiologists won't give an epi if that's the case. WHAT TO DO!?! Well, he ended up giving me one, but I was frightened at the thought of doing it without. So, the contractions were intense before the epi, but I could do it. But, then they kinda pushed the epi on me right away once the doc said it was okay to have one. So, I felt like they were giving it to me too quick, but oh well. I got the epi around 8:00.

After the epi, I felt fabulous. The doctor came and broke my water shortly after that and I guess the contractions started getting a lot worse and quicker. Jared was looking at the readouts and saying "Did you feel that one?" Nope. I didn't feel anything. No biggie. I got checked again around 10:00 and the nurse said that I'd be pushing soon, I just needed to efface a tiny bit. They started getting things set up, the doctor came in and checked me, and said, "Lets try a practice push." Well...I did a "practice" push, and she said, "Wow! Look at all that hair on him!" I was having this baby! I remember looking at Jared and shrugging my shoulders after pushing and saying, "Am I doing okay? I don't feel it!" Well, I ended up pushing for 11 minutes, and Grayson Taply was born at 10:51 am. 7 lbs 7 oz and 20 inches long.

Everything at this point went really fast because the cord was wrapped tight around his neck twice so Jared wasn't able to cut the cord and there was a lot of fluid in his lungs so they had to work on him for about a half hour before I got to hold him. But after all that, I got to hold my son, and I praised God! Seriously...such a gift. I'm in awe.