4 months Old

Braxton is almost 5 months old, so I figure I better get his 4 month post on the blog quick. We love this little guy so much! I was so worried when I was pregnant that I wouldn't love this baby as much as Conner, but we really do! And he makes it pretty easy for us! He is the happiest baby I have ever been around! Every single time he sees me he smiles and it just melts my heart! 

At 4 Months Braxton:
-wears size 3-6 months clothes and size 2 diapers
-Smiles most of the time
-Either wakes up happy as can be (which is most of the time) or screaming his head off
-Sucks at sleeping! He is up 3-4 times a night, can't put himself back to sleep, hates to be transferred once he falls asleep (like from my arms to the bed) and is a horrible napper as well. Once he goes down for a nap during the day he will sleep for about 20 mns. Sometimes, usually around 3pm, I can get him to sleep for 1-2 hours.
-Is a mover! He loves to be in his exersaucer or the walker and moving around. He hates to sit on the floor and play.
-Loves to walk around. Chris will hold him and pretend he is walking around and Brax just smiles.

Fall Craft

I made a bucket list of fun fall-ish type things for us to do this fall so we when we were bored we could pick one. Today was such a nice day outside that we crossed a few of those items off our list. We went on a nature walk around our neighborhood and gathered leaves. Conner loved picking up the leaves and we made sure to name the colors of the leaves as we picked them up. When we got home we put Braxton to sleep then Conner and I made 2 crafts. Our first craft was leaf rubbing. We placed leaves in between two pieces of paper and colored over them to reveal the different shaped leaves. Then we used the leaves to make a turkey. As we were making the turkey I tried to teach Conner about why we celebrate Thanksgiving-he didn't get it but that's ok. His art work was too cute to not display so I grabbed a frame and we put the extra leaves in a little orange bucket and put them on our bookshelf as fall decoration! A great day and activity in my book! 

Conner at 3

    These are things that I want to remember about Conner at age 3! I've been trying to write this post for awhile, but I just can't get the right words to express how much I love him. He is my best friend and sidekick in everything that I do. I am just so in love with him! 

                                                  

-I love when he runs into my bedroom every morning, usually smiling, carrying his pile of blankets and his frog. And how he always sits next to me, nuzzles up to me and asks me for a peanut butter cup and apple juice.
-Loves to help me and Chris do everything that we are doing. The dishes, mowing, laundry, holding Braxton. He wants to be right there in the action.
-Is getting over being shy. Whenever we are around other people, Conner used to take at least 20 minutes to warn up to the people and surroundings. Now he just starts talking and playing. I truly believe that the couple weeks of preschool we have been to have helped that.
-Loves school! I love picking him up and hearing about what he did and ate for snack. He has only been in preschool for a couple of weeks but I can tell it's already bettering him! I was excited and worried about putting him in school but I know it was a great decision.
-Loves to tell stories. And I love hearing how he tells them. The way he repeats things, lists things in the right order. Rarely uses names and says peoples and add an s onto the end of words.
-Loves his brother so much! It's so cute to see them interact with each other, make faces at each other. Conner loves to hug Braxton and kiss him. Every morning when he comes into my room he has to make sure Braxton is happy and ok. He always says, "Braxton's eyes are open, he's looking at me, he loves me."
-He also loves his Dad. He anxiously waits for him to come home from work and hates leaving his side. He loves to go anywhere with Chris and help him out with anything around the house or outside.
-He is really smart-or so other people always say. He can spell his name, mom, dad, cat, Pam and Kim. He can count to 20. He knows the alphabet. He remembers songs and can sing along with them. He has a great memory as well, which I hope he keeps because he will need it in real school.
-He loves to dance around to music, sing, run and just have fun! He especially loves to play outside.
-He is currently obsessed with making piles, usually in the living room. He gathers anything and everything he can find in that room and piles it up. One day he started piling things up around Braxton. I had to stop that pile quick!

3 Months

I ALWAYS say this when I do these posts about our kids, but they really are growing up so dang fast. I swear that Braxton is growing up and doing things quicker than Conner did. It makes me sad and I need to do a better job at living in the moment and enjoying those moments, especially since I'm pretty sure that we are done having kids. 

At 3 Months Braxton:
-Is wearing size 2 diapers, 3 month clothes, no shoes-just socks and ways 13 pounds according to my scale at home.
-Loves to "talk." And especially loves to get talking with Conner!
-Is chunking up! He is such a solid boy. I call him my linebacker.
-Nicknames: Cuters, Brax, Bubbas, Tank-occasionally
-Loves to hold things in his hand, but can't pick up things on his own yet.
-Loves to put everything in his mouth
-Loves to watch TV
-Can sit up in the bumbo but after a while his head gets wobbly so I usually put something behind him like a blanket, or push him against the couch cushion in case he needs it.
-Loves rice cereal

2 Months

So far behind in blogging!! Braxton is 3 months old and here I am posting his 2 month post oh well! 3 month post coming really soon! 

At 2 Months (really 2 1/2) Braxton-

-Wears size 1 diapers, 3 month clothes and socks-no shoes yet

-Has a super strong grip and loves to use that grip on my hair

-Is what I call a good sleeper. He only wakes up once at night (usually in between 3-5am) and takes 2-3 naps during the day. He falls asleep easily, but has a hard time actually staying asleep.

-Is a Pee Pee Machine just like Conner was! We are going through diapers like crazy over here. Which also means that he is a great eater! He drink about 3-4 oz. at every feeding.

-Is still sleeping in our room-usually in the swing or on our bed

-Loves to be upright when he can. He doesn't like to lay down for long periods of time. He like to be held upright. We have put him in the exersaucer a couple of times (surrounded by pillows and blankets) and he loves it!

-Loves to coo and make sounds

-Has me mesmerized by his big glossy eyes and half crooked smile!!!

Braxton's Nursery

It's funny that we had Conner's nursery finished months in advance and here Braxton is, 1 month old, and we are still trying to finish his nursery. Oh well, such is life. He probably won't be in here for another month anyways, so it's ok. 

After looking on blogs and Pinterest for nursery ideas I decided on an airplane theme after seeing one of my friends nurseries. I don't like to do "babyish" nurseries and figured the airplane theme could last awhile. I love how the nursery is turning out. We still need curtains, 2 large picture frames above the crib, a pillow for the rocking chair and we need to print pictures. But at least you can get the idea of the nursery from these pictures! 

 The view when you walk in

 Wall to your right when you walk in

Still need to print pictures

 Clipboards used to hang pictures or art

This art was drawn by neighbors and family that watched Conner while I was in labor. They brought them to the hospital after I delivered Braxton and they came to visit! 

 Metal planes that my best friend April gave to me. They were used in her son's nursery 8 years ago

 Metal bucket that I spray painted red, it was originally white

 Crib

I love the bedding! 

 Shelf above the dresser

 Letter "B" that was plain wood. I used modge podge to put the map paper on and distressed the edges

 Frame that will hold a picture, not his age. This was also plain wood and I used mode podge and chevron paper. 

Shadow box using the same map paper and a plane that I printed. 

1 Month Old

Our little baby is already 1 month old! I have a feeling this is going to be a quick year! Braxton has been such a blessing to our family and we love him so much! 

At 1 Month Old Braxton

-Weighs 6 pound 8 oz.

-Drinks 2-4 ounces, usually 4

-Is awake every 2-4 hours

-Braxton is not the greatest sleeper right now. He wakes up, we feed him and change him and sometimes he goes right back to sleep, sometimes he is awake for hours. He has no schedule yet. He does love to be awake at 4am though, which none of us like! 

-Hated his swing at first (just like Conner) but is learning to like it. 

-Is wearing newborn clothes

-Is strong! He has a strong head which makes it hard to burp him. He is already trying to roll over! 

-Looks a lot like Chris's grandpa! 

Photos of My Boys!

Most of you saw these photos on Facebook, but some people that read our blog are not on Facebook so I thought I would post these pictures here too! I took these pictures at our house and I am in love with them! I am so lucky to have these boys in my life! 

Braxton's Birth Story in Photos

My wonderful and amazingly talented friend Tracy of Tracy Layne Portraits photographed Braxton's birth for us! I cried when she showed me these photos! They are beautiful and amazing and she captured everything that I wanted her to and more! I highly recommend everyone photograph at least one of their births. It is amazing to look at these photos and relive every emotion and the experience of the whole day. 

Thank you Tracy!!!

http://www.tracylaynephotography.com/2012/braxton-birth/

The Birth Story in Words

I went to my doctors appointment on June 28th. My doctor knew that I wanted to be induced and due to the fact that I had low amniotic fluid and the baby was measuring a little small she was happy to induce me. So she checked me and I was dilated to a 3. She asked me if the following Monday was ok? I said "To have the baby?" She laughed. I wasn't expecting to be induced that quick and was planning on the following week, after the 4th. But I said yes and she had her nurse call to set things up.  She also decided to strip my membranes to see if anything would speed up my dilation. The hospital was booked for that Monday so she put me first on the list for the 3rd. And I left her office excited and scared!

I had contractions that day, Friday and Saturday but nothing happened over the weekend. I had 2 really hard contractions on Friday that about put me into tears! But no baby came over the weekend! I called on Monday to get my time to be at the hospital and they said 7:15am but to call in the morning just to make sure that was still good. I freaked out the rest of Monday! I was excited, anxious to meet this baby and start our new life and scared for the actual labor part. We had Conner spend the night at our neighbors/friends house The Lockes. We knew we didn't want to wake him up that early and we knew he would love having a sleepover there.

Tuesday morning came and I called at 6am and they bumped me back to 8:15am. So we took our time getting ready and then headed to the hospital. We arrived right on time, were taken to our room and I got into my lovely gown! My nurse, Katrina, was supposed to come in and start my medicine but she was busy helping another patient up to their room. So 2 other nurses came in and started everything. About 9am I was hooked up and ready to go!

I progressed really slowly all morning and finally around noon or 1pm they decided to give me the epidural and break my water to speed things up. This is also the time that my dear friend Tracy of Tracy Layne Portraits came to photograph the birth. The anesthesiologist came in and talked to me and reviewed everything with me, I started crying and then he gave me my first epidural. A minute or so after he gave it to me, I heard him say, "Hmmm." I knew something wasn't right. He had pulled the needle out and blood was on it, which means it went into a vein. So he had to give me a second epidural. He realized that my head was kind of hanging off the side of the bed and said that he felt bad I never said anything and wanted to just pick me up and put me in the middle of the bed. He was really nice and helped me get comfortable again.  He said that I should feel the next 3 contractions or so and then it would kick in. My doctor wasn't at the hospital so another doctor came in and broke my water.

Somewhere around this time, Chris, Tracy and I placed our time estimates. Tracy said 4:56, Chris said 5:56 and I said 6:15. My contractions came stronger and quicker and about 20 or 30 minutes after my epidural I could still feel everything. I knew the second epidural didn't work. So we called my nurse and she came in with the anesthesiologist. I knew I was getting a third epidural and freaked out. He injected me with some Fentanyl. It's the same medicine as the epidural but goes right to my spine. As soon as he gave me the medicine I felt better and relaxed. Our anesthesiologist was amazing. He was joking with everyone in the room and made me feel a lot better. I jokingly asked him if we would be charged 3 times!


Soon after my third epidural I felt some pressure change occur but did not feel the contractions happening. I called our nurse in again and told her something was happening but I wasn't sure what. She said she would check me. Chris jokingly said to tell me I was dilated to a 8. And sure enough I was at an 8. My contractions came on really strong and I dilated really fast. She came in and checked me again and said I was at a 9 so we called our family and told them to come to the hospital. Soon after she checked me again and I was fully dilated and ready to go!

I think that I pushed for about 15-20 minutes total. My doctor did use a vacuum to get him out just a little bit easier. And at 6:21pm Braxton was born! She pulled him out and put him on my stomach and let the cord pulsate for a few minutes. Then they cleaned him up and measured him. We had Conner come in first to meet him. He did really well! Chris picked Conner up and let him see Braxton who was wrapped in a blanket in his bassinet under a heat light. Conner then came over to see me and then we gave Conner a gift that Braxton had brought for him, a Cars Airplane Toy. Then Conner climbed onto my bed with me and we took a couple of pictures.  Braxton's temperature had dropped so after everyone got to see him they took him to the nursery to go under a heater. They then cleaned me up, I ate a grilled cheese sandwich and fries and was moved up to our room!

We are so excited to have Braxton join our family and we are truly blessed to have 2 healthy boys!

Welcome Braxton!

Braxton Lee Gillespie

July 3rd 2012 6:21pm

6.25 lbs 18 inches long

38 Weeks-The Day Before The Birth

How Far Along: 38 Weeks and 2 Days

Size of Baby: About 6 1/2 pounds is what they tell me from the ultrasound

Maternity Clothes: Living in Maxi skirts and loving it! 

Gender: BOY!

Movement: Movements have slowed down a lot. I'm pretty sure the poor guy is just out of room. We did have a scare in the 37th week. I felt him move around 9 or 10pm-normal. Tried to fall asleep around 1am but couldn't. Realized at about 2am that I hadn't felt movement at all, no contracting either. I began to panic. I tried rolling on my sides, pushing my stomach and finally decided to walk around. While walking around I remembered at my non stress test they made me drink juice to get him moving. So I drank some juice. Nothing. I finally woke Chris up at about 3:30am and we sat there trying to decided if we should go to the hospital or not. We decided (well mostly I did) to wait until the morning and see what happens. And then he moved! It scared me have to death to think that something could've been wrong, but I just had a feeling to wait and that things would be ok. And they were. 

Sleep: Not a lot of that going on these days. 

What I Miss: Bending over easily, not being so tired, having energy and being able to do simple things like the dishes or sweep the floor without getting winded. 

Cravings: Still loving hamburgers and things like ice cream, snow cones. 

Symptoms: Fat, Fat Face, Tired, out of breath easily. I get a lot of pains frequently. I'm assuming because I'm dilating and he is just working his way down. And I have somehow failed to mention this during this pregnancy-but I am very hormonal! I am happy one second, snap the next! 

Best Moment of the Week: Going to my appointment and the doctor telling me that I was going to have a baby the next week! I'm pretty sure that I freaked out and almost went into shock when she told me July 3rd. 

Appointments this Week: Had a doctor appointment and set up the date to be induced-July 3rd! 

What I'm Looking Forward to: Finally meeting Braxton, becoming a family of 4 and seeing Conner's reaction to meeting Braxton.

This Week's Thoughts: Let's just get this party started! 

Pictures from this Week: Here you go.....

37 Weeks

How Far Along: 2 Days shy of being 37 Weeks-so let's just say 37 Weeks! 

Size of Baby: Measures about 6 pounds and 19 inches long-I have an ultrasound tomorrow morning to get final measurements and will post them tomorrow. 

Maternity Clothes: Found some maxi skirts and am loving them! Tops are getting small and sometimes my tummy sticks out the bottom-it makes me laugh! 

Gender: BOY!

Movement: For some reason this little boy thinks that he is going to get out through the left side of my stomach so he kicks there constantly. He has also had hiccups frequently and I love feeling those! 

Sleep: Some nights are good, some are bad. It just depends. It feels better to sleep on my right side so I do that often. 

What I Miss: Bending over easily, not being so tired, having energy and being able to do simple things like the dishes or sweep the floor without getting winded. 

Cravings: Still loving hamburgers and things like ice cream, snow cones. 

Symptoms: Fat, Fat Face, Tired, out of breath easily. I get a lot of pains frequently. I'm assuming because I'm dilating and he is just working his way down. 

Best Moment of the Week: Chris came home sick from work one day and we were just laying on the couch. Braxton started to stick a foot or knee out on my left side, so Chris pushed it back in then Braxton stuck it back out. This happened 3-4 times! Chris rarely gets to feel the baby move, so it was a cool experience for him.

Appointments this Week: Going to weekly appointments and had one today. Got to hear the heartbeat again-always cool! And I am dilated to a 1 1/2! She also said that he has dropped, which is good. 

What I'm Looking Forward to: The ultrasound tomorrow. I want to know how big he is because I feel so much bigger than I was with Conner. 

This Week's Thoughts: I"m done being pregnant and am anxious (I guess that's the right word) to just get started with having a toddler and a newborn. 

Pictures from this Week: Here you go.....

33 Weeks

How Far Along: As of today I am 33 weeks and 1 day along

Size of Baby: Measures about 4 lbs and just past the 17 inch mark-the size of a pineapple

Maternity Clothes: Wearing lots of sweats and lounge pants, 2 pairs of maternity jeans and regular shirts. I am dying to go shopping and find some maxi dresses or skirts to get through the next 6 weeks. 

Gender: BOY!

Movement:He loves to move for me and is still a stinker when other people try and feel him. He is rapidly running out of room so I can feel him move a lot more. 

Sleep: It's ok. I have a hard time finding a comfortable position and usually wake up once a night to go to the bathroom. And I am awake bright and early at 6am when Chris gets up for work. 

What I Miss: Bending over easily, not going to the bathroom 500 times a day, not being so tired

Cravings: Lots of random things that I see and want like snow cones, churros, candy, scones

Symptoms: Fat, Fat Face, Tired, out of breath easily

Best Moment of the Week: Nothing outstanding has happened this week

Appointments this Week: I have an appointment on Wednesday and am hoping they don't have to blood work or make me take the glucose test again. 

What I'm Looking Forward to: I'm not sure if I'm looking forward to this or scared of this but I'm anxious to see what Conner will do when he meets Braxton. My sister had a baby almost 2 weeks ago and he wasn't very fond of him at first. But after seeing him a couple of times he was fine with him and would try and pet him. It might be different once Conner realizes Braxton is here to stay though! 

This Week's Thoughts:Way too many, I'm such a worrier! My most recent one is that we only have 6 weeks (since I'm being induced at 39 weeks) to be a family of 3! I want to make the most of them and make them fun. I am also really, really scared of the actual laboring part of this pregnancy. I think it's because I know what my body needs to do and what can happen. And I'm freaking out that the nursery isn't done yet. 

Pictures from this Week: Here you go.....

Motherhood

I know that Mother's Day is not here yet, but being a mom has been on my mind a lot lately. This video and these amazing women sum up my thoughts on motherhood exactly! I am so grateful and I thank God every day for the chance to be a mom. I may not be the best, most kind and loving patient mom in the world, but I think I'm doing OK at it and I'm grateful for the chance to improve each day at it. I'm excited and scared to be a mom to the little boy growing in my belly. I'm grateful to have had the mom that I had in my life and for all that she has taught me. I am grateful for all the other mother figures in my life that have influenced me for the better. I complain about it sometimes, but I'm grateful to be a woman! So to all the mothers out there and to all of the amazing women out there---Happy Mother's Day!!!

Parking Lot Game

I might have a slight addiction to Pinterest, but I find so many great things on there. I came across THIS idea and knew that Conner would love it because he loves cars. Conner is too young for words right now though, so I thought I would tweak it and do letters and numbers instead. I made the game this morning and Conner loves playing it-he played for maybe 15 minutes before he wanted to do something else! He is really good at his letters but we need to work on his numbers! 

So the first thing I did was fold plain old white printing paper into the size of squares that I wanted. Then I folded the paper down the middle to get the lines of the road. Then I traced the lines I needed with a black sharpie. I used this as the template. I placed the template under another sheet of white paper and just traced over my lines again and repeated on all of the papers. Then I used some stickers that I already had and put the letters and numbers on the paper. I had 1 blank page and just put stickers on that page to say beep beep! And then I laminated all of the pages.

To play the game, I just say find letter B and then hopefully he finds it! Or find number 3! I showed him once how to drive the car down the road to the letter and he knew what to do from then on. 

Notes: I used the front and back of each paper to cut down on the amount of paper that I was using. And I already had the stickers so I just used those, but you could always just write the letters and numbers on if you like your handwriting-I hate mine! 

 These are the stickers that I used. I got them years ago at Michaels. 

This is showing how to play. 

29 Weeks

How Far Along: As of today I am 29 weeks and 2 days along-in the 3rd trimester!!!

Size of Baby: Measures about 15 inches long, size of a butternut squash.

Maternity Clothes: I can no longer wear my regular jeans, so I'm finally in maternity jeans with the stretchy belly and I hate them. I can wear most of the same shirts. If I wear a tight t-shirt it will sometimes creep up and my belly sticks out-it makes me laugh. 

Gender: BOY!

Movement:He loves to move for me, but when other people put their hands on my tummy to feel him, he usually stops moving. Conner did the same thing!

Sleep: Ah sleep. It's getting harder and harder for me to get comfortable at night and I have started to toss and turn a lot. I might need to start sleeping on the couch so Chris can sleep at night! 

What I Miss: Breathing normal. I am getting winded really easily by doing simple things. 

Cravings: Still loving burgers! 

Symptoms: Still having back pains and it's getting harder to move around, bend down and pick things up or do things for long periods of time. 

Best Moment of the Week: This was weeks ago but I never documented it-I don't have Gestational Diabetes!!! But the best moment of the week happened last night-Conner got to feel Braxton. Braxton was really moving and Conner was finally patient enough to put his hand on my tummy and Braxton kicked him. Conner finally got excited and started saying that he is going to share his cars with Braxton when he comes out. Such a cute moment!!! 

Appointments this Week: I don't have an appointment this week, but my sister and I BOTH had appointments last week at the same time. It was kind of fun to be there together. 

What I'm Looking Forward to: I'm getting anxious to see what this baby will look like. Conner is such a good mix of the two of us so I'm just not sure what Braxton will look like. I'm not too worried though, we make really cute babies! 

This Week's Thoughts:I am having a really hard time feeling emotionally connected to this baby. I was very connected with Conner but just haven't felt that with Braxton. Chris said that maybe he will be a daddy's boy. My sister in law said that it happens because this baby isn't my only focus in life right now. I have a toddler to take care and that comes first. I totally agree with her. 

Pictures from this Week: Here you go.....

Projects

Just a warning but this post is totally random!

It might be the fact that I'm nearing my 3rd trimester in this pregnancy and the "nesting" phase has began or the fact that I'm home all day and need something to do, but here are some organizing and other fun projects that we have done lately.

Photo Wall-I have wanted to do a photo wall for awhile and finally got around to doing it a couple of months ago. I decided to do all black and white photos to keep it classier. All of the frames are from Ikea and the 2 canvas prints are from Canvas People. We started laying the frames out on the floor in front of our couch, but then just started hanging them up and I love the way it turned out!

Bean Bag-Another project that I have wanted to do since before Christmas was to make Conner a bean bag. My friend April helped me out in making this and we used THIS tutorial. Conner loves this bean bag and uses it everyday! Huge thanks to April for helping me sew it!

I have a small kitchen and lots of baking stuff. I used to keep my baking sheets in my kitchen island and there was a battle every single time I needed to get one out. So I decided to rearrange my whole kitchen last week. I moved the baking sheets under my sink and the battle is no more! Too bad that it's taken 5 years of living in this house to figure out they fit better under the sink!

I also have the worlds smallest linen closet and lots of towels. So the same day I did the kitchen, I decided to try rolling up the towels to see if they fit better. Sure enough, they did!

And they look pretty!

Our next project-Braxton's Nursery!!!

Easter 2012

We had such a great Easter this year! We decorated Easter Eggs for the first time, met the Easter Bunny, Conner got some new toys and way too much candy, had a wonderful dinner with my family and spent lots of time outside playing!