How the original "babies" have reacted

Whit was three weeks old Monday and so far so good. I am amazed at how well the animals have taken to

Nursery Rhymes

Had to google a few nursery rhymes today and found quite a few versions of "this little piggy" that says one of them gets a pizza. What?! That little piggy had roast beef, not a meat lover's!

Two weeks old and trying to crawl, or get away...

Lifting his head! Though he was much more interested in trying to poke his eye out.

Now that most of Whit's umbilical cord has fallen off I finally felt comfortable letting him have some real tummy time. Up until now I've tried to give him lots of time laying on my chest or stomach to get him used to the idea of tummy time without disturbing his cord too much. We knew he was a strong little guy, but I had no idea what he would do on our first attempt at real tummy time. Since about two days old he's been lifting his head and trying to look around, even the pediatrician was shocked! These days when I burp him on my shoulder he still lifts his head and will turn to look when his papa or I am talking to him.

So! Tummy time went well, I was really worried he would hate it and start screaming immediately like I've read what happens the first couple of times. But we lasted a solid five minutes or so. I laid him down and laid down beside him and talked with him and he seemed pretty content...and squirmy! He didn't try to raise his head too much, but he did start kicking his legs and trying to throw one leg over the other like he was trying to roll over! I'll have to see when babies are really supposed to do that, but I'm quite sure two weeks is a teeny bit premature. Anyhoo, it's been going pretty well. Even the dogs like to participate...

Whit and Zoey both having their tummy time. You can see he's kicking like crazy!

Mommy's Little Monster / Nerd Nursery

 

So happy I finally got all these pictures taken and posted and can now share them. In all honesty, I did take the pictures before Whit arrived. And the day I went into labor I kept meaning to post these, but felt so poorly I never got around to it. But now, without further ado, I present to you the nursery that started out monster-themed, but ended up a bit of a mix of me and Ben's combined nerdiness...

Our birth story

Finally! I have a chance to tell you what all happened about two weeks ago now. Sunday, August 5th, I had been feeling kind of blah all day, really tired, nauseated, and had zip energy...

sunday morning snuggle

Introducing...

Whitman Graham Lacey

Born August 6, 2012 (right on his due date!) at 4:11am

7lbs. 3oz. and 20.5 in. long

He's got a head full of brown hair and bright blue eyes!

Ben and I couldn't be more proud and more in love with our little man. I can't wait to tell you the whole birth story, but I just had to post quickly that we finally have him in our arms. Now off to bed, my feeding shift is over!

PS...

There's lullaby CDs of Journey and Dave Matthews Band for kids?! Oh that is so happening!

Oy vey!

Yesterday and last night was a little rough! Went to the doctor's appointment and had a tiny stroke when I didn't see our doctor's name on the window. I was so afraid she'd gone into labor before me, but turns out they had been too busy to switch out the signs for the day, phew! Well, we didn't make much progress last week, I'm *almost* 4 cm and still about 80% effaced. But Dr. Redden seems very happy with it all and says that we're just waiting to the contractions to get into a regular rhythm. She also said at next week's appointment (if I make it) we'll do an ultrasound and make sure everything's okay and we can talk about inducing if I want. I was hesitant at first, but I feel my spirit weakening with every passing day. I can handle a lot of things, but it's the days when I'm juggling 5 or 6 symptoms at once I feel defeated. Last night after the nausea, the back pain, the painful contractions, lack of sleep, allergies, swelling and now I'm seeing stretchmarks in unappealing places, once my foot arch started hurting I just hung my head and cried. At least Ben was there for the breakdown, he's been wonderful through the painful/uncomfortable times!

Okay, okay, enough of that! I need to stay positive and think good thoughts, right? I was ecstatic to get a call from my grandma yesterday out of the blue. She was just checking up on me and I was thrilled to hear she is doing well for the most part. She has restless leg issues and said her feet have been hurting lately as well, so I told her she really didn't need to have sympathy pains for me. I'm thrilled my sister just found out she's pregnant too! Which means four out of the five of us first cousins will have babies all within a year of each other, so hopefully they'll be great friends. I'm relieved Ben's work has worked out their issues so there will be no problems when I go into labor. (I may have threatened to waddle into his store and demand my husband loudly if they didn't let him leave when I need him and I might bring the 6:00 news with me.) And even better, Ben found out he's got 5 and a half WEEKS of paid time off left this year. So there will be plenty of paternity time plus a week here and there to visit our family members who can't make the drive to us.

Finally took pictures of the finished nursery, just need to dig through them and post them! Soon...