David's First Outing

This afternoon, David, David Jr, and I loaded up into the car and headed for the pediatricians office for our one week visit (a few days early).  The hospital pediatricians really wanted David Jr checked out today due to his 7% weight loss in the first 36 hours and his jaundice, so off we went... and nervous.  All weekend, David and I would look at him and question if he was getting more yellow or less yellow and were getting concerned because he was having to be woken up for EVERY single feeding.  Well, our worries were squashed today while at the doctor (can I say how much I love this office).  David Jr. weighed in at 7 lbs, 12 oz (up 5 ounces from Saturday morning at 4am) and the doctor's comment about the jaundice - "yeah, he has some jaundice but nothing I would have worried about."  David Jr. also measured 20.5 inches long, showing a 1.5 inch increase since Thursday - NOT POSSIBLE.  We are now assuming, that David was born 7 lbs, 14 oz and 20.5 inches long - Carly's exact measurements too.

We were also cleared during this visit to not return next week, but to wait until our 1 month appointment!!

David Jr's First Weekend

The first weekend of David Jr's life was quite exciting.  He arrived into the world on Thursday, April 26, 2012 at 5:14pm.  As he prepared to make his debut my mom was in route to North Carolina to meet him, and Julia was already settled in at our house and helping out with Carly.  During his first hours of life (and our weekend), he met his parents, Big Sister, Grammie, and Aunt Julia.  Only a few hours later, he met his "Yay-Yay" and "Dye" (otherwise known as Jason and Kelly - two really good friends of ours).

Friday was just as exciting with visits and snuggles from Mrs. Amy and Mrs. Emily (both local moms with children Carly and David Jr's ages).  Then before he could officially turn 1 day old, his Grandma and Papa arrived in North Carolina to hold and love on him for the entire weekend.

On Saturday, David Jr. and I were discharged from the hospital and he was able to go home for the first time.  The three of us arrived home to Carly and David Jr's Papa, Grandma, and Aunt Boo-Boo.  This was quite different than when we brought Carly home - that afternoon we came home to an empty house determined to figure it all out on our own.  While that worked well back then, we knew it would not work with our second child.

Our in house excitement continued on Sunday.  Carly, her grandparents, and aunt went off to church while David and I had a lazy morning at home with David Jr.  Then my parents and brother arrived for a large family lunch - all four grandparents and 2 of the 4 aunts & uncles.

While this type of excitement isn't going to be the norm for our new family of four - it was a great first weekend as a family of 4!

Heading Home

All buckled up and ready to GO!!

In Love!!

David and I are both absolutely in LOVE with David Charles Orr Jr!  However, Carly's love for him was truly able to be captured today in this photograph.

Carly was over the moon excited when she arrived at the hospital last night to meet her brother.  She enjoyed holding him, walking up and down the hall pushing his basinet, giving him his Sophie giraffe  present that she got for him, and telling EVERYONE that she was there to see her baby brother.  When she returned to the hospital this morning, she was just as eager to hold and see him.  Today while holding him she even went in for the kiss!

David Charles Orr Jr.

David Charles arrive this afternoon at 5:14pm.  He is 7 pounds, 14 ounces and 19 inches long.

We had been scheduled for a 7:00am induction, but received a call at 6:20am to say we needed to hold off due to there being a full house (it turns out 3 moms came in shortly after 1:00am with broken waters). At 9:00am we were told to come on in, so away we went.

Things were smooth going until I hit 4cm and they broke my water. It then took me over an hour to get to 5cm, which. I was upset and then was told he was so low that they couldn't externally monitor his heart rate any longer. They placed an internal monitor, told me I was 5 cm dilated then 45 minutes later I was 9 cm and calling the nurse to push. After about 20 minutes of pushing, David arrived sunny side up smiling right at his daddy.

A Little Runner?

David and I really feel that the idea of "leading by example" with exercising is important for Carly to see.  This is why we started running and eventually ran our furthest distances on March 20, 2011.  This desire has also led David to training for triathlons this spring.  (His goal is to compete in 2 or 3 this summer.)  Carly mimicked me after my Turkey Trot 5K with Julia last Thanksgiving by running up and down the hallway area in Seabrook.  She also regularly wants to put on her "running" shoes so she can run at the playground.  Today she found David's iPod shuffle from his run yesterday and began playing with it.  She was able to get it started up, held the ear buds near her ears (she wasn't quite sure how to make them stay), then proceeded to run around the kitchen singing "me running, me running."  She may not be a speedster, but she is excited about running - so thankfully our goal of modeling healthy exercise habits is paying off. Carly thinks running (with music now) is a lot of fun!  Hopefully we can keep her thinking this until she is old enough to try various recreational sports in our area or join a local Girls on the Run Program.

39.5 Weeks (and Counting)

Carly and I made our way Friday morning to my 39 week check-up.  Surprisingly enough I spent more time waiting to check in then I did waiting at any other point.  The nurse was waiting for me when I stepped out of the restroom and the doctor was knocking on my door before I had a chance to even get settled on the table.  All of these things made me absolutely thrilled.

My weight and growth checked out fine, my blood pressure was 120/80 (which is the highest I've been this pregnancy - I'm normally 100/60), and my only question was about what an "eviction notice" would look like since Carly came early and we did not have to worry about it.  She began to tell me about this during my exam, but then stopped.  Her tone changed and she stated that she was not too sure an eviction notice would be needed.  She had a feeling he may start his exit strategy within the next 48 hours.  (This was around 9:30 on Friday morning.)  She then later said that she was around 50% Dave and I would be making our way to the hospital sometime this weekend.  Well, it is now 10:30 on Sunday night and Dave and I are still sitting at home waiting.  

Our family has tried to "help" this process along.  Friday night we went out to dinner at Brixx, the same restaurant we ate at the night before Carly came.  We have also been on many, many family walks.  Thursday we walked our neighborhood loop (0.8 mile) twice, put Carly to bed, and then I went back out alone for two more loops.  We repeated this on Friday night after dinner as well.  Saturday I walked 2 loops during Carly's nap, then 2 loops with Dave and Carly after dinner, and then 3 more loops after Carly was in bed.  For a total of 15 loops since Thursday evening (weather prohibited me from being able to walk today).   The joke around the neighborhood is that the neighbors will know when we've checked into the hospital because I won't be walking around the neighborhood, and they are right... back to walking I'll go tomorrow since the rain seems to have moved out.  

Spaghetti Luncheon

Today we had a spaghetti luncheon at church.  The luncheon served as a fundraiser for the middle school and high school students at our church who plan to travel on mission trips this summer.  Carly really enjoyed eating lunch at church!!

LIttle Helper

David and I have posted in the past about how Carly likes to help us with various tasks and chores around the house.  Tonight after dinner she wanted to help feed Jake (something she has helped with many, many times).  She was given the scoop with Jakes food and made her way to the laundry room to serve Jake his food.  She came back into the kitchen stating that Jake needed more water.  I was unsure what she meant since I could hear him lapping up his water.  After being quite persistent with this matter I walked into the laundry room and found Jake drinking/eating his dinner.  Carly had added his food to his water bowl, leaving a bowl empty and in need of water.  Thankfully Jake did not seem to be bothered by the way his dinner was presented tonight.

Gymnastics

Carly had gymnastics this morning and had a fantastic time. The focus of today's class was on balance and the children were able to use various balance beams around the gym. They started on the full (competitive) sized beams - a new experience for all of them. Each mom hoisted her child up on the beam, and then either held the child's hand or full torso as the child made his/her way down the beam before jumping into the big blue pit of foam pieces. Thankfully, Carly was surprisingly confident on this tall beam and was willing to put both of her hands out like the letter T and use only one of her hands to hold onto my hand. (I'm not sure I could have gotten much closer to her with my current baby bump size.) She then walked down cautiously to the end of the beam and requested my second hand before jumping off of this beam. While in mid-air she actually let go of both of my hands before landing in the pit. She repeated this balancing act two more times before it was time to move on to the next station.

During the remainder of the class, Carly walked on her tip toes on a lower beam (with no help from me), walked backwards on a lower beam (she did want to be spotted/supported here), and completed many forward and backward rolls. She may never been the little gymnast, but she is having a lot of fun at the moment!

Our Little Mimic

Carly has become quite the mimicker recently. A lot of her friends are becoming big sisters and big brothers, so she is starting to visit with many babies under the age of 6 months. This has been fabulous at helping her "grasp" the idea of her baby brother coming soon or at least the idea of how small he will be and some of his basic needs. She told me early in the pregnancy that she would help hold her baby brother, change his diaper, and feed him. All of which I thanked her for, yet reiterated that she would need to do all of these things with help from an adult. Recently she has been paying more and more attention to various mothers as they breastfeed their new babies. She understands that when this is occurring, then the baby is getting milk. However, she doesn't seem to understand that it isn't just a shy baby under a nursing cover drinking "red" (aka whole) milk from the grocery store. (Last night she actually gave David a play by play about how her baby was drinking "red" milk, and then at 2 would switch to "blue" (2%) milk, and then move through all the different colors, to eventually end up with "light blue" (skim) milk like mommy and daddy drink.)

Yesterday morning, Carly saw my nursing cover pulled out and sitting on top of my hospital bag and began to tell me that she needed a yellow one too. Later that morning while at the park, she told a friend of ours the same thing. Then, after her nap time she tried to get my cover back out of the bag and explained again how she was going to ask "Ho-Ho" (Santa) for a yellow one. Then randomly as I was putting her laundry away (which included a burp cloth) I got the idea of just attaching some ribbon to one of her burp clothes (she uses them to wipe her noise, help me dust, or to clean up her baby doll poopies) to make a simple nursing cover. Well, 3 minutes later Carly had a nursing cover (burp cloth + ribbon + 2 safety pins = Carly's nursing cover) and it couldn't have been more perfect for her. She has not mentioned at all how it isn't yellow, but has fed her babies many, many times and even explained to her daddy exactly what it was!!

38 Weeks Visit

David, Carly, and I went for my 38 weeks visit. Nothing exciting to report - my weight, blood pressure, and measurements looked great. I'm still only a centimeter dilated and about 60% thinned out; however, his head is at a -2. Meaning he has dropped roughly a centimeter - only 6 more to go!

Baby Brother's Nursery

I can officially say that at 37 weeks & 3 days our little boy's nursery is DONE! Artwork is hung, clothes are put away, blankets are folded, the crib is made, his hospital bag is packed and this room is ready (minus vacuuming - but thanks to a golden retriever this job never seems to be complete). I'm sure a few items will be found as I clean throughout the house that need to be added to his room, but otherwise his room (and only his room) is decorated and functionally ready for him to make his grand entrance.

This completion was not done in haste (so please do not think that I'm in labor or showing any signs of that at the moment), but rather completed because it was all stuff that could be finished and checked off our endless to-do list well in advance. No one will be wearing his little coming home outfit between now and his arrival, so I went ahead and packed it in the bag. No one will be sleeping in his crib between now and then, so I finished making it. Artwork can't get knocked over by a big sister or golden retriever interested in checking out the nursery if it is hanging on the wall, so David hung it up. And since David spent an hour hanging the artwork in both the nursery and Carly's room today, I thought I owed it to him to spend an hour tidying up the nursery as well. (Let's face it, that is a lot more fun than cleaning up the kitchen or say a bathroom.) After spending less than an hour in the nursery the bouncy/vibrating chair was assembled and the room was fully in order.

View from his bedroom door.

View from the glider and window.

View from his closet.

Please note - while this room may be complete and neat, the rest of our home is not. It looks like it has been well used and played in during this Easter weekend. So I'm really not nesting.

Happy Easter!

Our family hopes that you have all had a wonderful Easter!

Our Easter was rather quiet and uneventful - which was a change of pace for us. Typically, Easter (like most holidays) is one where we hustle and bustle - celebrating with family and spending a lot of quality time on I-77 and I-26. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to travel this Easter weekend due to being 37 weeks pregnant.

On Saturday, Carly attended our Church's Easter Egg Hunt. There was a craft/snack portion to help kick off the celebration and gather the children. Carly colored an Easter Egg picture, decorated her own sugar cookie, and ran around chasing many of the other kids who were very excited and ready to hunt for some eggs. After a short skit that narrated the Easter story starting with Thursday's Passover Meal, the directions were given for the egg hunt. Carly was in a group with kids ranging from 2 - 4 and they were all quite humorous to watch. Their hunt was on the lower playground at our church, and many of the kids were easily distracted by the idea of playing on the playground. At one point Carly climbed up on a structure, kicked a handful of eggs out of her way so she could use the steering wheel. Carly did manage to pick up a golden egg - which entitled her to select a prize. With a little "encouragement" she picked up a hand shovel and rake to play with in the sand.

Carly getting ready for the Easter Egg Hunt!

About to start finding some eggs!

EGGS!!!

Easter Sunday was similarly as calm. Carly found her Easter basket during breakfast, we took family photos, and then attended church. Our afternoon involved dying Easter Eggs, David smoking some delicious ribs, and Carly playing with a variety of items from her Easter basket.

Looking through her Easter Egg Basket.

Posing for Daddy (and shouting Happy Easter!)

More photos from Saturday!

More photos from Sunday!

BOB has Arrived!!

A week ago tonight, David, Carly and I were arriving home from a full day of fun in Clemson. Upon our arrival, David and I noticed a LARGE box on our front porch. I knew immediately that it was "BOB" and was very, very thankful that it was still sitting on our front porch. I was giddy about "BOB;" however, I was also absolutely exhausted from a full day of fun in the sun. David opened the box and quickly assembled "BOB," took it for a quick spin around our downstairs, and placed it back in our living room.

Fast forward 10 or 11 hours later to when Carly woke up, was dressed for church, and walked down stairs. The bright orangeness of "BOB" immediately stood out to her. She began screaming, "BOB stroller is here" "Orange BOB stroller!" She continued traveling down the stairs at a quicker pace and was very interested in looking at the stroller.

Carly's fascination with "BOB" began with a trip to a local outdoor store. I was interested in test driving one and getting David's opinion about this mega jogging stroller prior to beginning my hunt for a used one during the spring consignment sale. Carly was very willing to participate in our test drive when we explained to her that she would sit on one side of the stroller and her baby brother would sit on the other side of the stroller. Our test drive ended with me very determined to fine one used. I did find one and took Carly and her Aunt Julia to check it out, but unfortunately it had a major rip in the seat that hadn't been minded well. Eventually, Amazon had a few for sale (but on back order) at a rather reduced price. After Dave placed the order I mentioned it in random daily conversation with Carly.

Carly has spent the past week announcing that the "orange BOB stroller is here!," playing with it, and buckling her baby dolls into it. She even sits in it and tells me that this is where she is going to sit and where baby brother is going to sit. After 7 days of this - David offered to take her and 1 baby doll for a stroller ride. Carly was THRILLED - I don't know if she will be this excited again until she meets her baby brother for real!!

37 Weeks (almost)

David and I went for my 37 week check up today (it was a day early due to the approaching Easter weekend and the office going to a reduced staff tomorrow and Friday). Unfortunately, we had to wait longer than usual for the growth ultrasound due to one of the machines being broken. (This delay made me very thankful that Carly wasn't with us, but rather at home with a friend's teenage daughter.) During our ultrasound we were able to see a lot of our little boy. The technician was being observed by a student - the student was asking questions and the technician was being more thorough in her explanations and techniques. She also was explaining how she always measures twice since a slight movement in the baby can make a difference in the growth measurements.

The growth scan confirmed that our little boy was growing well, even though my protruding belly doesn't seem to vertically be showing this growth. It also confirmed that we are in fact having a little boy. Since this was our first ultrasound since our 18 weeks anatomy scan, we were interested in confirming this detail.

With a great report from our growth scan, we spent minimal time with an OB doctor and were sent on our merry little way - at least for 8 days.