mini pushups and rolling over

Porter hit 15 weeks yesterday (thats about 3 1/2 months in the adult world). He hates being on his tummy so we haven't been that great at putting him on it. But today it just seemed to click - he was doing 'mini pushups' and startled himself by rolling over - thats one way to end tummy time!

Changes

Okay, first off some pictures since blogger wouldn't let me put them at the end of the blog. Porter and I walked to 7-11 to get Gatorade for BCH while he was digging a stump out of our backyard. Too bad its only been nice and sunny here for about 10% of Porters life so far.
The lighting is bad on this one but I love it when Porter just sits on the couch content. Its funny to see him with his brothers because there is such a difference in age and size. Both Tyler and Nathan have been so cute with him and he seems to love interacting with them both.
Took this picture of Porter and I on one of my last days of maternity leave. He was sucking like mad on his hand, and has since started sucking on his thumb exclusively.

So, life continually changes for us, but they are positive changes. Porter is growing up amazingly fast! I went back to work after a 12 week maternity leave (which at times seemed very long and other times went by so fast). Now BCH is home with Porter on paternity leave. I am so glad that he works for a company that is so flexible and willing to let him have a full 12 weeks of leave. It has worked out pretty well, and Porter will have been home with either myself or his dad until he is almost six months old.

Being back at work has been hard to be away from Porter for so long, but its comforting to know he is with his dad (whom he ADORES so much). Its also a little easier to be at work knowing that it won't be forever, because my first day back I turned in my resignation! I am working 5 weeks, but then will be quitting my job (and State employment) June 9th. I wish I could be quitting to stay home with Porter, but I am going to a more flexible job where I can do some of my work at home and plan my schedule around BCH's a bit. This will prevent us from putting Porter in full time day care, which was the one thing we really didn't want to do.

This change is scary (I have worked for the State for 13 years!) but it is also exciting. I have been feeling for a while that its time to move on and learn something else, so I am really looking forward to that part of it. Also I feel really lucky that I had options and had several past coworkers that were interested in hiring me on. That is a really nice feeling in this economy.

Hospital pictures

Blogger is not the best format for loading pictures. Maybe this is why I use Facebook more often for picture sharing. Anyway, here are some hospital pictures, not in the order I want them but I can't figure out how to move them around.

Tyler holding Porter (duh).

Nathan holding Porter. He looks way more uncomfortable than he really is. He is pretty cute with him actually.
Porter sleeping away. This is the second day in the hospital I believe, cause the dent in his forehead is mostly gone.

Porters first bath. We didn't take him to the nursery to bathe until that evening because we had so many visitors the first day. He loved it, and he still loves baths. He just moved his head around under the water while half asleep. So cute!

Porter and I. He got real busy scratching his face right away.

This should be the first picture. Its about 4 minutes after his birth. I am exhausted and I think BCH is super relieved its over. Porter is not so happy and is waiting for his cord to be cut so we could snuggle.

Being weighed. Again, not so happy but who would be after being forced to leave a comfy warm womb. They rounded his weight up to 8 pounds 6 ounces.

All bundled up just chilling in a rocking chair waiting to go to postpartum. I walked around right after delivery, one of the advantages of a natural birth.

I'll post some more pictures another time, its tiring and time consuming to put pictures on here!

Progress!

Things feel more do-able around here now. We have a definite routine (although parts of it are not totally ideal, it does include Porter sleeping for 4 - 6 hours at night regularly) and life seems to have settled down. Things I am happy for right now include:

Porter has transitioned well to his crib. The cradle got old sooner than I thought it would, and he actually seems a little more comfortable in his crib anyway. He also naps well during the day in his crib (most of the time...). We are working on making his room more of a 'fun place' and not just a place he is banished to when it is time to sleep. This is kind of hard since it is sooo small - there isn't even room for a chair. But I've started practicing infant massage in there (he is not so sure about this) and read him some books as well.

"Breastfeeding" is going well. I put it in parentheses because I am actually not breastfeeding him, rather I am pumping and he is bottle feeding. This has been a really good change to make. Porter was a slow lazy eater and we would spend so much time nursing everyday (sometimes as much as 8 or 10 hours!) and still not get everything he needed. It was frustrating and I would regularly sit there and cry while I was nursing. It also makes it easy for BCH to feed him, and for me to be able to be away from him longer than if I was exclusively breastfeeding.

Porter seems happier. I never thought I would be so consumed with the mental status of a 7 week old, but he just seemed so frustrated and upset for most of his first weeks of life. We tease him, but it really is a tough life being a baby and adjusting to the world. He seems to have finally found his stride and we are so happy to see him enjoying things more.

We both get so much time to just hang out with Porter. I feel so lucky that this is the case for us. I still have 5 weeks left of maternity leave, and then BCH will be taking paternity leave and being his primary caretaker at that point. We spend most weekends and evenings just hanging out at home with him, loving him and interacting with him as much as possible. We have had some amazing moments that make the not so fun ones a bit fuzzy. Nathan seems to enjoy interacting with him more (even though he doesn't do 'tricks' yet, as he has requested) and I hope to see even more of that as Porter gets to know him better.

We got birth announcements done this weekend. This has been one of the little things that has been nagging me for a while. I have been anxious to share our cute boy with friends and family, and finally got some of his newborn pictures back so we could make announcements. Now I just need to address them and get them out!

Brandon. He is just awesome! He is the best parent (not that I had any doubts about this) and just loves spending time with Porter - even doing the not so fun things like diapers and meltdowns. He cleans the house more than I do, and has been so great during my not-so-happy moments. Somehow he functions on about the same amount of sleep as me (occasionally more but quite often less) and then goes to work everyday. It can be hard to stay home all day with Porter, but I honestly don't know if I could function everyday like Brandon does. He is amazing.

Six weeks and smiling!

I've thought about blogging many times in the last few weeks but it just hasn't happened. Partly I think because I feel like I wouldn't be able to be very positive. It has been really hard being a new mom again, and I can speak for BCH that it has been quite an adjustment for him as well. Now this doesn't mean that we aren't happy about Porter being in our lives, because already I could not imagine life without him.

I've told a couple people lately that I didn't feel 'too old' to be pregnant, but there are times I feel too old to have an infant. It is really hard getting used to be being on someone elses schedule! I barely remember it from my other boys. BCH and I have spent many years being able to do what we want when we want to. We 'knew' there would be this adjustment, we talked about it frequently, yet actually going through it has been a challenge.

I feel like this week has been a turning point though. Its almost like a switch was flipped on. Porter has been so much more aware of things around him and of us. He recognizes us, responds to us, and has been smiling and making faces back at us. Its been such a reinforcement and makes play time with him so much more fun. I look forward to watching him learn and grow even more.

A blog about Tyler

Not many people can say that they are a mom of a 9 day old AND a 20 1/2 year old, but I can. Although its not a 'traditional' situation, I wouldn't change it for the world.

Tyler is my 20 year old. Last summer I got a chance to get reacquainted with him, and BCH got a chance to get to know him better when he unexpectedly moved in with us. I know that living with your mom and step dad when you are an adult is not anyones favorite thing to do and eventually he will move out, but we have enjoyed having him around the house.

I'm proud of the guy that Tyler has become. He is still young and figuring it all out, but he "has a good head on his shoulders", as they say. Somehow (and perhaps despite mine and his dads parenting) he has turned into quite the guy.

Happy half birthday Tyler!

Porter is here!

Its been eight days since his arrival, so I feel a little lame that I am just now writing a blog about it all, but honestly I haven't even thought about blogging until today. This little guy has been keeping us pretty busy.

Porter was born on his due date, after I woke up with mild contractions about 2 am. I won't go into all the details of my labor, but if you want to read a lengthy post about it let me know and I can direct you to one I've already written. As you may already know, I did have an unmedicated child birth. I've been called a lot of things (like a crazy woman) for doing so, but I have to say its one of the best experiences I have had in my life. Not that by any means it was easy or fun, but I am so glad we prepared and did things the way we did.

Porter was born February 12 at 10:32 am. He was 8 pounds 6 oz and 19 1/2 inches - my midwife had estimated him a little over 8 pounds but I was still surprised he weighed that much - he just doesn't look like it. He has way more hair than we thought he would (at my last ultrasound we were able to see a little hair coming off the nape of his neck) and is just beautiful. Of course I have to say that, but seriously, he is.

Porter left the hospital a bit jaundiced and it got worse the next day, so we had to get a bili-blanket, which is a fiber optic light you put on his back that helps pull the bilirubin out of his liver. We had a stressful few days, going to get blood draws everyday (his poor heels!) and trying to power feed to help flush out his system. He is looking a lot better now and we are done with the daily trips to the hospital.

I'll upload some more pictures later (most likely more than you care to see) but for now here is one.