Greatly Blessed!

It is in this holiday season that I reflect on how truly blessed we are! We had a very nice Thanksgiving weekend and it was fun to share Ethan's first Thanksgiving with our families. We got our Christmas tree and Ethan loves to look at the lights. :)

Ethan had another well child visit to the doctor today and he is doing "fantastic" according to his doctor. It is always wonderful to go to the doctor and have him give such positive feedback! Ethan is up to 13 pounds and is 26 inches long. He seems to be growing really fast now and changes often. He slept through the night for the first time a few nights ago and that was awesome!! He has consistently been sleeping well at night and is up only once, if at all. He is also taking better naps during the day and has even slept in his crib for a couple naps. He eats every 4 hours during the day which makes me feel more independent and free to go places and do things. These are big deals around here! :) He is starting to learn to roll over and will get onto his side and is very close to going all the way on to his belly. He seems to enjoy just hanging out on his side. He is showing a very fun personality and is doing lots of "talking" and smiling. He is more and more entertaining! He is getting really good at holding up his head and spends time in his Bumbo, which he enjoys. He has spent some time in his exersaucer and also seems to enjoy that.

He had to get more immunizations today, which was not fun! He seemed to remember what was going to happen because before the nurse even had the shots ready, he stuck his bottom lip out in a pout and started screaming! He only cried for a few minutes and then settled right down.

We are really looking forward to the Christmas season and to experiencing everything with Ethan for the first time. Having a child of my own brings a new level of meaning to the gift of God sending his Son for us.

to sleep...or NOT to sleep!

About a month ago Ethan moved into his crib to sleep. He had been doing very well there and had been consistently going 5-6 hours before waking up. He even did 7 hours one night! I was thrilled and thought that we were on our way to finally sleeping through the night. Unfortunately, he seems to have gone backwards in the past few days! Previously, he would sleep soundly and I wouldn't hear a peep from him until he was ready to get up to eat. However, he has now started waking up between feedings. He will cry and I will go in and he seems to be partly awake. I will hold him a bit and put him back down but he will be up again in a very short time. He also is only going about 3 hours before wanting to eat, which is reverting back to when he was much smaller!

During the day he loves his pacifier and usually needs it to settle down and fall asleep. However, he has never needed it at night. He has always fallen asleep easily after nursing and stayed asleep until he was ready to eat. I am now wondering if he is needing it even in the night since he keeps waking up. However, I am very hesitant to start using it at night because I don't want to have to get up and put it back in when it falls out and he wakes up.

He is 11 1/2 weeks old and I was hoping that we were consistently moving in the other direction so this is making for some exhausting and frustrating nights! I must also say that I am very thankful for such a wonderful husband! While he hears nothing in the night and sleeps through everything, he has been wonderful at getting up with Ethan in the morning so that I can sleep a bit longer. I am once again thankful for his flexible work schedule and the close proximity of his work.

I am confused because he was previously doing so good. Does anyone have any advice/thoughts on this? Any similar experiences with your children? Are there things I can do to help him sleep more soundly and longer? Is this just a stage that we will hopefully soon pass through?

Recent Happenings

Ethan is now 2 months old! He is thriving and doing great! It is such fun to watch him grow and start to see more of his personality. He is such a mover! His arms and legs are almost always moving and he kicks like crazy when laying down. He is currently kicking me as he lays on the couch beside me. He has also learned to smile and that is such fun! He is soo cute and it makes us very happy to see his smiles and his responses to us. :) He is starting to be more alert and will look at people and things more. He is very vocal and makes all kinds of noises and sounds. I think he will be a talker and a mover! :) He recently transitioned to sleeping in his crib in the nursery. It was a scary first night for me! I had to resist the strong urge to go in and make sure he was breathing. He seems to like his crib and overall sleeps well in it. He is also doing better at falling asleep after eating in the middle of the night and staying asleep when I lay him down. He will generally do a 5-6 hour initial stretch at night followed by about 3 hour stretches. That usually means we are only up about twice in the night, which is great progress! The only thing we struggle with is a general fussy period at night. Ethan often gets fussy in the evenings and will cry if not in a specific position or doing specific movements. It can make for some long evenings but otherwise he is a great baby. We had our first overnight away from home this past weekend at our RA retreat. Overall, Ethan did great and the RAs had fun snuggling and playing with him. He had a rough time sleeping in a new place but we survived the night. We had a fun first Halloween and enjoyed showing Ethan off to our family in his giraffe costume. :)

He is such a fun little guy and I am incredibly thankful for the blessings that God has poured upon our family. It is a great blessing to have Curt work soo close to home and have such a flexible schedule. He is able to watch Ethan while I exercise and it is nice to have some time to myself. He is also able to come home periodically during the day to see us, which is always a nice break. We can't believe that it is already November and that the semester will be over before we know it!

Getting SOO Big

Ethan had another doctor appointment on Friday and he is doing great. He is up to 10 pounds! He also had his first immunizations which was not fun! He screamed when the nurse poked him and had a pretty rough day. His leg seemed to hurt him a lot so we snuggled him lots. :) He didn't get a fever so that was good. We also finally made the switch to cloth diapers now that he is a bit bigger. I got spoiled on the disposables so it is an adjustment. I am sure we will get used to it soon! We have been loving this gorgeous fall weather and so have been outside lots.

Curt and I are also doing good. Curt has had a super busy year so far but is doing great. I am loving staying home with Ethan and really enjoy spending my days with him. I had my 6 week follow-up appointment and am healing well so it is back to jogging. I know it will be a long slow process to get back at it but my goal is to do the 10k again in the spring. I have been looking forward to returning to working out so look forward to getting back in shape.

This is my favorite time of year and I am loving spending it with my favorite boys! :)

One Month Old!

It is hard to believe that Ethan is a month old today! It sure went fast but also feels like he has been here forever. :) He continues to be a great baby and is growing strong and healthy. I think he is up to about 9 pounds now and he is finally starting to outgrow some of his clothes. He eats great and is a man who likes a schedule! He eats about every 3 hours at night and will go about 4 hours during the day. You can almost set your watch to him waking up at night! He took a bottle great and loves his pacifier. The pacifier is a blessing and a curse as we spend lots of time putting it back in his mouth when it falls out. He is starting to spend more time "alone" and is growing more content to lay in his pack n play without being held all the time. We have been on some big outings lately and he does great. He makes the greatest faces and is very entertaining! We are amazed at how much we love our little man!

We went on our first big outing yesterday. We went to the Meijer Gardens to see the Chihuly exhibit of blown glass. It was seriously awesome! If you live in or around the Grand Rapids area I would strongly recommend going to check it out. It will be there until October 31. It is amazing what he is able to do with glass and colors and it is all displayed soo cool! It was great to get out and enjoy the wonderful fall weather and Ethan did wonderful. He slept pretty much the whole time. :)

Growing like a weed!

I figured it was time for a short update. Ethan is 3 weeks old today! It went fast but also feels like he has always been here! He is doing very well. He had a well child doctor visit this week and he is up to 8 pounds 7 ounces. He likes to eat! :) The doctor told me I could probably feed him less but I am going for a chubby baby. We are starting to figure out his needs and what he likes and doesn't like. We have good nights and bad nights and mom is sure glad for her coffee in the morning! :) He keeps us very entertained and we love to stare at all his funny faces! I am starting to get out more and we went to Target this week and are going to the Meijer Gardens today. It is amazing how simple things like showers and trips outside become luxuries! Overall, he is a true joy and blessing! Here are a few pictures for those without Facebook. They are a bit old so he is slightly more chubby now. :)

I know this is a bit late in coming and I apologize for that! Who knew that having a baby would be soo time consuming!?! :) I honestly spend lots of time just looking at him! It is hard to believe that he is already a week old!! It has been the most wonderful and interesting week ever! I know many of you have asked about the story of his birth so here is how it all happened:

It all started on Thursday, August 26, at about 2:00 am when I woke up with the start of contractions. I wasn't sure they were real contractions at first but after realizing that they were consistent and were not going away I figured it must be the real thing! I labored at home through the night and tried my best to sleep between contractions and just rest. We had an already scheduled doctors appointment at 11:45 so we called and were told to go into the office to be checked out. I was nervous that they would tell me that it wasn't true labor and would send me home! We were prepared for me to have not made much progress with dilation but were thrilled when they checked me and I was already 5 cm! We were then instructed to head straight to the hospital. Thankfully I have a very prepared husband and so we already had the car packed and made our way directly there. At this point the contractions were bearable and far enough apart to give me a rest between so I was still convinced of my ability to have a natural labor. It was a surreal experience arriving at the hospital and having the guy at the emergency room ask what we were there for and responding, "I am in labor!". It was fun! :) After being admitted they broke my water. It was at that point that the contractions changed to being much closer together and much more intense! I had envisioned myself being able to move around freely and trying out lots of different relaxation positions. However, every move I made brought on another contraction and put me into intense pain! It was unlike anything I had ever experienced! Curt was truly the best partner/coach ever and was soo incredibly patient and supportive. I labored naturally through the contractions for a few hours but started to get nauseous and light headed. It became much more than I could handle! At about 4:00 pm I finally gave up my visions of a natural birth and asked for an epidural. My sister, Gretchen, had arrived a while earlier and was helping Curt coach me through the labor. They both were very supportive of the decision and told me later that watching me try to endure the contractions was one of the hardest things they have ever had to do! They thankfully arrived very quickly with the epidural as I kept saying, "Please hurry!". It was like juice from heaven! :) I felt almost instant relief and was able to relax through the next hours of labor. We had all thought that labor would progress fairly quickly considering I was admitted at 5 cm but things just slowed way down. My doctor had originally planned to deliver Ethan but things were not moving along as quickly as we hoped and so she had to leave before he was born. Finally at about 10:30 pm I was fully dilated and ready to push. We had previously realized that Ethan was positioned face up, instead of face down as is preferred. My wonderful nurse had tried to move him with various positions but he stubbornly stayed in the same position. They started me pushing with him in that position, knowing that it is the hardest way to vaginally deliver a baby. By that point I was soo thankful that I had chosen to have the epidural! I pushed for a total of 2 1/2 hours before realizing that things were not going as we hoped. I ended up with a great doctor who calmly monitored Ethan and kept Curt and I well informed of what was going on. They realized that Ethan was making NO progress towards entering the world! He was simply rocking back and forth without moving forward and only the top of his head was poking out. They also realized that every time I pushed his heart rate was dropping significantly and it was taking it longer and longer for his heart rate to come back up after contractions. They figured that not only was he tired (it was a LONG day so far of labor) but it was likely that the umbilical cord was being squished. As a result of these things, the doctor strongly advised us to consider a c-section. We were totally open to that as our end goal was a healthy baby. I was also beyond exhausted and sick of pushing at that point and so agreed to the c-section. They prepped me and we moved toward finally seeing Ethan. He finally made his arrival at 2:31 am on Friday, August 27. We were soo relieved to have him arrive healthy and safe! He weighed exactly 7 pounds and was 20 inches long. The big question had always been the color of his hair and if he would have red hair like Curt but we were all surprised to see him with a full head of black hair! We are not entirely sure where it came from and so are curious to see what color he ends with. Ethan had a bit of a rough time adjusting to the real world but thankfully finally settled down for his first night of sleep. We spent a couple of days in the hospital recovering and trying to adjust to life with a baby. We were thrilled and scared to come home from the hospital on Monday and have been adjusting to life with a baby since then. Ethan is truly a VERY good baby. He eats well and is already back to his birth weight. He sleeps well and is up on a pretty good schedule at night. I am learning to sleep better at night when he is sleeping without waking up on a regular basis to make sure he is breathing! :) We truly love our little man!

I must also give a shout out here to our wonderful families! My sister, Gretchen, was there through most of labor and was a fantastic support. Our parents were also there for some of labor. My mom and Curt's parents and sister were at the hospital through all of my pushing and the c-section. My poor father-in-law slept on a chair in the hallway while I pushed! They waited for HOURS to meet baby Ethan and finally got the chance to see him at about 6am on Friday morning. They are the best! :)

There are pictures documenting all of this on my Facebook so feel free to check those out. I am feeling great and recovering well from my c-section. It is hard to remember that I had major surgery and to take it easy but I am doing my best to relax. My family is also making that easy as they have been cleaning our apartment and doing my laundry. We truly feel blessed by God! He is, in my biased opinion, the cutest baby ever!! :)

It takes a baby to make you do things you normally wouldn't do. :) This is for our friends and family, near or far, that want to keep updated on Baby E's life. So here goes post #1...

We are getting very excited for his arrival as we get ever closer. It is hard to believe we have only a little over 5 weeks to go! So far everything has been perfectly healthy and normal and we are praying for the same with labor and delivery. I am also praying for a fast easy labor! :) He is a very active baby and it is truly amazing to feel him kick and move around. There is nothing like pregnancy to remind you of how awesome our God is. It is truly miraculous that He can create another human being inside me while I go about my daily activities!

I will post more once he arrives with all the details. :)

Ann