April 21, 2011

3 months

 Little Gabriel, please stop growing up so fast!  I cannot believe how much faster time is passing with Gabe, than it did with Addisyn.  You now weigh 13 lbs, and have started rolling from belly to back.  You are such a good and happy baby!  You sleep like a champ (12-14 hours at night!).  You smile all the time now!  You cannot even imagine the joy that you bring to us Gabriel!  We love you so much!




March 17, 2011

2 months

Gabriel turned two months today!  I cannot believe how fast his "newborn-stage" has passed.  He is definitely out of ALL of his newborn clothes now.  He is smiling at us all the time now, and sleeping more and more every night.  We went for our big 2 month check up today and got the "let him cry it out" talk.  Ugh...I dread this talk.  I keep hoping that there is a better answer.  My husband is totally on board with this, but I cannot imagine laying him down for 10 hours, and not checking on him at all.  So far, the longest he goes at night without waking is 6 hours, which until now, I thought was pretty good.  Please let me know your experiences with this!
Ok, so little Gabriel...You are still nursing like a champ, which I absolutely love.  At your appointment today, you weighed 11 lbs 4 oz (40th %) and were 22.5 inches long (36th %).  Your big sister only weighed 9 lbs 4 oz at her two month check-up, so you are definitely a growing boy!!  I had to go back to work this week, which absolutely broke my heart, but your Daddy has been very good about bringing you up to see me.  And, I am very blessed to have a job that allows me to be home four-five days per week. You are still such a sweet baby and love to cuddle!  Your big sister adores you, and always wants to be your second little mommy.  Please stop growing up so fast!

You already LOVE watching baby-Einstein...

But will stop just long enough to ham it up for the camera! 

Your two-month birthday 

Love the faux-hawk bud! 

Rockin' it out.

February 17, 2011

1 month


Today my baby-boy is 1 month old!  I already cannot even remember what life was like before he arrived.  He is such an angel, and we feel SO blessed to have such beautiful and healthy children! 
At one month:
You weigh about 8.5 lbs and are 20.5 inches long.
You are starting to figure out the days from nights.
You are such a good snuggler!
Your big sister adores you and wants to hold you all the time.
You love the Paci.

Happy 1-month baby Gabe!!



Lovin' life as a mommy of 2!!

You and your sweet-sissy!

This is a cool comparison photo from our 4-D ultrasound and the day Gabe was born.   

 











February 1, 2011

Baby-Gabey

**Warning: Semi-graphic photos to follow.

I realize that I am the worlds worst blogger.  There have been so many times during this pregnancy, that I wanted to sit down and record all of the details.  I am disappointed that I have never taken the time, but working full-time and taking care of a three year old did not leave much time for blogging.
Anyway, most of you know that we had a lot of difficulty getting pregnant with both of our children.  We tried for two years with each of them.  You can imagine my excitement when I discovered on my birthday that we were expecting!  This pregnancy was very different than the first.  I was way more tired and way more hungry ALL the time.  I had super-intense cravings.  Strangely enough, I was cold all the time.  My eyes became 100% intolerant to contact lenses, which is why I've been in glasses for the last four months.  Needless to say, Rich and I were convinced from pretty early on that we were having a boy, and were so excited when we discovered that we were right!
We tried to fill all of our free time doing fun things with Addisyn.  We took two incredible vacations, saw several movies, took countless trips to the zoo, and spent lots of time with friends and family.  I will always cherish the time that we took to spend together in those last several months.
So, let's get to it...

Baby-Gabriel was supposed to be a scheduled C-section for Wed, Jan 19.  I had been having horrible insomnia for several months.  I remember posting on Facebook at 5 am on Jan 17, saying that I had not yet been to sleep.  I finally closed my eyes at about 5:30 am.  I woke 3 hours later when my water broke.  Of course, we did not have a single thing packed for any of us.  We stayed at the house for a couple of hours getting bags packed, showering, making phone calls, etc.  We arrived at the hospital at about 11 am.  After that, things moved pretty quickly.  I.V.'s getting started, papers being signed, family arriving....and before I knew it, I was headed to the O.R.  Baby-Gabes was born at 1:16 pm, weighed 7 lbs 12 oz, and was 19 inches long.  He was beautiful and healthy.  I had asked a very close friend of mine who is a photographer, if she would consider being in the OR with Rich and I, to capture the first moments of Gabriel's life.  Her photos have been so special/emotional for me.  Here are some of my most favorite pictures from that day.
Again, some of these pictures are a little graphic, but too amazing not to share...

Contractions!!  Yowza.

Our final picture as a family of three

Surgical-assistant

Almost time!!



January 17  1:16 pm





Our first-glimpse...


The first picture as a family of four!!

                                           Holding my son for the first time....priceless.

Thank you so much Mandy Stansberry for doing this for me!  I cannot tell you how special these photos are to us.  We love you, and are so happy that you were a part of this day!