Carson is 1 Month Old

 Our little cutie sleeping

Today our sweet little boy is one  month old.  Man, this month seemed to fly by.  Not going to lie, I'm glad.  I'm different than most I think, because I'm not a fan of the newborn stage,  You don't sleep, you don't feel good and baby sleeps, eats, and fills his pants.  Well after one month, he still eats, sleeps off and on and doesn't fill his pants as much.  We still aren't getting that much sleep but that's going to change this month (fingers crossed).  However, he's becoming more and more alert each day and is trying to focus a lot on things.  He already thinks he is big and can hold his head up for little bits of time. He doesn't like tummy time, but likes his play mat for short periods of time. Carson is a cuddler, he loves to lay on our chest and sleep that way.  He falls asleep a lot in his swing, unlike his brother who never liked his.  He is getting used to bathtime and we are starting to semi form a daily routine.  He has been taking a long nap in the afternoon lately and it has coincided with his brother's which is good for mom.  Also  he has been going to bed at a fairly decent time but then gets up through the night about every 2-3 hours.  He has been smiling a lot, I don't think they are supposed to smile at people yet, but he really seems to every once in awhile.  This week he has been such a good baby, which I'm so thankful for.  He is still being breastfed but we have started bottles here and there this week.  Not quite sure big man is getting enough. 

Yesterday we went to the doctor for his 1 month visit and everything was good  He weighed 8lbs and 10 oz, and was 20 1/2 inches.  At his birth and 1 week check up he weighed 6lbs and 4 oz so he has gained quite a bit in a few weeks and has grew 1 1/2 inches.  I knew he was getting taller because he is starting to outgrow in length a lot of his newborn clothes and we have moved up to size 1 diapers.  So our new little man is doing great and looking more and more like Noah each day.  We have been blessed with two cute boys!  Love them!

Wide awake playing on his playmat.  He has learned he has to stay alert to watch out for that crazy brother of his always trying to get as close as he can to him. 

Carson

Carson at 3 weeks old....

Noah at a few weeks old.. 

Carson at 3 weeks old

 Noah at a few weeks

I think they look so much alike, except for Noah was so much bigger.  Carson is still in newborn, he's starting to get too long for a few things, but Noah had completely gone up a size already.  However he did start out 3 lbs heavier so that has a lot to do with it. 

Blessed with two cute boys!

Up to No Good

Noah has been something lately.  He is always up to something. 

Noah thinks it's funny when his little brother cries.  Mom doesn't think so funny!

 Loves playing with the swing, whether Carson's in it or not

 Whats this, lots of shoes in the laundry basket, who did this?

 That's right Noah, it's his new fascination, taking all my shoes from my shoe rack and putting them all in the laundry basket.  Frustrating because 1) makes a mess and 2)  I can never find the shoes I want because never fails the ones I want are buried in the hamper. 



Thankful

Last week sometime Dinah had emailed me a link to her sisters blog and to a particular post about a couple who have now lost 2 babies.  This family I haven't been able to get off my mind.  My heart goes out to them and boy has it made me thankful.  This last week, I have been thankful for the presence of my two beautiful, healthy boys.

These last few weeks haven't been what I would call a piece of cake
Noah's behavior has been exhausting
Carson has kept us up and given us many nights with minimal amounts of sleep.
I have  been stressed and overwhelmed about life and was very emotional after the birth of Carson.

But after reading this story about Erik and Chelsea, what I'm going through has been nothing.  My boys are here and I get to experience life whatever it may be with them every day.  I haven't had to go through the heartache of losing a child not once but twice.  We are truly blessed and am so thankful for the wonderful children God has given us. 

Here is a link to the story of Erik and Chelsea as wrote by MaryAnn (Dinah's sister)
http://www.maryannemorganblog.com/365-project-2011/365-project-day-250-i-will-remember/

Then from her blog or  the following link you can get to Chelsea's own blog which she has wrote a few posts herself.   (Warning, they are tear jerkers!)
http://tearsinpreciousbottles.blogspot.com/

Our Two Boys

Carson is now 3 weeks old.  Last week we got his newborn pictures taken.  The photographer did a great job.  I was kind of bummed Carson woke up after we changed him into his lil bro onesie and then we never could get him back to sleep so some of the pictures I had in mind we didn't get.  However she still got some great ones I love.  It was a challenge, pretty much we would have a pacifier in his mouth right up until she took each picture then I would take it out and she would hurry up and take it, then we would start all over getting him to calm down and take the paci so we could just take it back out. We took them at night which is usually a fussier period so we probably should have tried for a morning session but I wanted Matthew to be able to be there to help with Noah.  Also Noah is at an age where he just doesn't listen too well and didn't want to sit by Carson, so we opted for him holding him to get pictures together.  After we got this one we just quit trying and gave up on the idea.  Maybe when they get a little older we can try again to get some more pictures of them together.  For now I will just have to deal with separate ones! 

One of my favorites from the session

 Sweet little feet

When it comes to sleep there hasn't been too many good nights of sleep.  We have some nights that are better than others.  Some nights we can't get him to bed until really late and others he will decide to be up for hours in the middle of the night.  Most nights though we do get him to bed by 11 and then he's up about every 2 hours to eat.  He then usually takes a great long nap in the morning, which I would love to move up into the night where I could sleep along with him.  When you have a baby everyone says sleep when baby sleeps well when you have a 20 month old I can't exactly do that so I don't get to make up for my lost sleep at night during the day like I could with Noah.  It's okay we are making it and hoping he starts sleeping better soon.  Overall he seems to be a pretty good baby, but thinks whenever he's awake he needs to eat so we have started using a pacifier to hold him over until it's closer to a 2 hour stretch in between feedings. 

Our boys together. ....
So far Carson sleeps through his big brothers squeals and screams.  Thankfully!  Hoping this will make for a sound sleeper later on

Noah is very interested in Carson and has to know where he is.  Every morning when he wakes up and we bring him to the living room he will look for him.  Then when I change a diaper or an outfit Noah likes to be right by Carson and gives his version of a kiss or tries to grab his hand.  We have to  watch him closely though he doesn't get how gentle he has to be. He also likes to help him swing or bounce in the bouncer but tries to do it a little too hard.   There are also times though when he doesn't want to be close to Carson and doesn't want us to be either.  Sometimes when we are holding him he will say down and try to  pull him away or tell us to put him in something like the swing.  And one last thing. he thinks it's funny when Carson is really crying.  Overall Noah is doing better than I thought he would.  I'm proud of our big boy!  I think once Carson gets to the moving stsge Noah will really start to enjoy him even more.

What Noah's doing at 20 Months

Noah at 20 months is something else!  There isn't a perfect word to describe our big boy, so that's all I have.  He is all boy and a major character. 

Noah...
-talks all the time now, we just have no idea what he is saying
-really interested in his new brother and likes being by him, even though it's a dangerous thing, we have to watch really close
-still doesn't eat any new foods... grrrr
-has the cutest laugh/giggle
-thinks he is the boss around our house.  All day he is pointing and telling me where to put Carson, or taking my hand and leading me where he wants me to go.
-has really started climbing on everything he can, coffee tables, chairs, his play table.  It's weird how all of a sudden he just started doing that
-loves playing with kids
-loves walks in his stroller lately, weird because we went through a phase where he screamed everytime you put him in one
-has been sleeping in later, perfect timing since we aren't getting much sleep with Carson
-loves stickers
-is getting very quirky.  He has to have everything just how he wants it.  A few examples
When he is with me and I get the mail (usually before we go somewhere so we are in the car) he points at it and grunts then I will give it to him and he puts some of it on each side of him in the car seat and leave it there until we get home
With fruit snacks, he will dump them out on the coffee table, throw away the bag, then eat all of them but 4 usually and those last 4 he will just keep in his hands for awhile until he decides its a good time to eat them
Every morning when I tell him it's time for breakfast he has to run in his playroom and get some trucks to bring to breakfast and has to arrange them a certain way on his tray. 
In the morning when we watch a show and he's drinking his juice or milk, once it's gone he will hand it to me to put on the coffee table, it can't go anywhere else but the same table every day
I'm sure there are a lot more things, just can't think of them right now.  He's just interesting to watch, you wonder what he is thinking when he does half of the things that he does!

Has been in love with the book Hungry Caterpillar the last few weeks, and has a favorite page that we have to do over and over and has a few other favorite books that we read daily (not sure if you can really call it that sometimes)

Still throws fits and definetly does things he shouldn't to get our attention but now he has a brother he's competing with.  I'm sure some of his new ornery behaviors are to be expected after bringing a new baby home.  We still love him more than ever and do our best to spend as much quality time with him as we can. 

Hanging out with my Boys

Nothing exciting, just some pictures from the last few days

Apparently I'm not the only one who has been a little sleepy.  Noah still loves his burp cloths.  He raided the drawer and grabbed all he could.

 Another sleepy boy, chubby cheeks for such a little peanut!

 Noah hanging out with his little brother.  He really seems to like him, he was getting ready to rub his head here.  Gotta watch him though, doesn't fully understand that we have to be gentle with the baby yet.

 Today was our first attempt at playing with play-doh.  It was mostly me making bowls and balls out of the play doh and Noah moving the balls from one bowl to another.  He seemed to enjoy it though, so that's all that matters.  I have been trying to think of new things to do with him.  I'm getting bored, being here every day all day with the same toys.  Matthew always says Noah doesn't need any more toys, what he doesn't realize is sometimes new ones are for me! 

 Snack time on the deck, while Carson was sleeping.  It was so nice this morning, the breeze was awesome out on the deck.  I could of stayed out there all morning, my kids not so much! 

 Noah pointing to the trees. They are starting to loose a lot of leaves, they were flying all over this morning, I just love fall.  Anxious to get our double stroller so I can start walking and enjoying it. I haven't taken Noah outside much since Carson came since there really isn't anything to do with him out there.  However, stroller should come in tomorrow so now we can all go on walks together.  Hopefully it stays warm enough for awhile to take Carson out.  Walks help mom burn off some more of that baby weight and gets us all out of the house, win win for all of us! 

Carson's First Real Bath

This evening Carson's cord finally fell off.  You know what that means, he could actually get a real bath instead of a sponge.  I have been dying to really wash his hair. 

Getting ready for the bath....

Once in the bath, not a fan at all.  He much prefers sponge baths.  Notice Noah in the corner with the cup we use on him, ready to help. 

 Really, really not happy

 All done and trying to get him warmed up. Noah right where the action is still, trying to give me another towel. (such a helper he is)

 Pj's on and feeling much better. 

Whew, we made it.  Hopefully he gets a little more used to them after awhile.  I don't like it when babies get that upset! 

Stir Crazy

I can't stay home every day, just can't do it.

This afternoon after Noah's nap, I had to get out of the house so I decided to make a trip to Walmart.

That's right take both boys out by myself, I hadn't done it yet and was a little afraid to try. 

However, went very well.  It was pretty much like running errands with Noah just something else to carry along because this is what Carson thought of the way there, throughout Walmart and on the way home.

Yeah, he just slept.  It's tiring being a newborn. 

Noah on the other hand was begging for juice, and the frazzled mom I was when we were leaving forgot it behind.  So we didn't have any juice, for some reason I thought it was a good idea to get a milkshake from McDonalds.  For one it sounded good to me and I didn't really think Noah would really like it but it would pacify his need to keep telling me he wanted juice and I figured it would be safer to let him try than a regular drink.  I figured for sure if we got lemonade or something the backseat would be one huge wet mess.  So I did it, got a milkshake and let Noah try it.  The rest of the way home, well it went like this. 

Apparently Noah loves milkshakes.  Just about everytime I would look back at him he would start screaming because he thought I was going to take it away.  He was right I was going to but decided to keep my children safe, drive and let Noah continue to drink the shake. 

Then when we got home we played with our new stickers.  We just found out after Noah's craft at church that he loves stickers, so we went to Walmart today and bought some foam stickers, and some other fun crafty things to do.  Today this was all we got out. 

 Love the look of concentration it takes to put the stickers on the page.

 Then when I was distracted and not looking Noah takes the whole bag and dumps it out and then throws them all on the floor.  My fun sticker activity then turned into a huge mess.  Oh well.. Boys will be boys and make messes.  That will be life for the next 18 years in our house!

1 Week Old

Yesterday I took Carson back to the doctor for his one week check up. All is good, he was born at 6lbs 4 ozs and left the hospital at 5lbs 15 oz, then yesterday at his appt he was back up to 6lbs 4 oz, which is good since they give them 2 weeks to get back up to his birth weight.   I was glad to know he has gained some weight, helps a nursing momma know she is feeding the baby enough.  Now hopefully we can get him chunked up a little soon.  It's so hard to put clothes on our little peanut, they have to be newborn and still even some of them are just too big.  We are still waiting to give Carson a real bath, since his cord still hasn't fallen off.  I'm so ready for it too, his diapers are so hard to put on, I have the fold down the top of the newborns so much still so that they don't rub on it.  It makes his diapers fit so weird.

This first week has been interesting, so much different than when we brought Noah home since we have another boy to take care of as well.  Overall so far Carson seems to be a good baby. Noah was such a difficult baby and I always said Carson was going to have to be a good, calm baby but I can't exactly remember when we started having the issues we did with Noah.  We might of had a newborn grace period, I can't remember so I guess time will tell.  Our nights have been up and down.  The first two home weren't the best but then the next two he did awesome only waking up twice.  Since then it's been good night, bad night, but at least we have some good nights in there.  Carson sure does like to be held when he sleeps, and eat a lot when he is awake but that is like any other new born.  I have been really bad about taking pictures, so I'm hoping to make sure I take more in the next few weeks.   Things are a lot crazier around here, I don't think of it all the time like I did with Noah (sorry Carson). 

Noah sure does seem to love his brother.  He has really been throwing a lot more fits lately, and I'm sure it's just to get attention more than anything so he has been proving to be a real challenge lately in that aspect.  But I do have to say he is doing awesome with Carson.  He likes to look at him, stay close to him and when he's sitting with us he always points down to his lap and wants to hold him.  It's just so cute when he does that.  It never lasts long because he either decides he wants him down or he tries to push our hands away because he doesn't want us helping him hold him.  Sometimes he just looks at him and starts laughing, melts my heart!  I look forward to when Carson starts moving and playing with toys, I think Noah will help out a lot and I think he will really enjoy having someone to "play" with around the house.

Our First Day Home

Wednesday morning about 10:00 we got discharged from the hospital and got to head home.

Here is our tiny little boy in his big carseat!

 When we got home I went in by myself through the garage door like normal and Matthew took Carson in through the basement so that way I didn't walk in with him.  I sat in the living room for awhile and hung out with our big boy.  Matthew had brought in some of our stuff and Noah loved all the balloons so we spent time playing with them. 

 Then after a little while we brought Carson out and showed him to Noah.  Noah just kept pointing at him and saying his version of the word baby.  He seemed to like him better at home than he did in the hospital. 

 The rest of the day he was pretty intrigued by him and wanted to be close to him.  He kept sitting right by him in the bouncer.  It was sweet!  Of course we had some moments where he wanted our attention but for the most part I would say we had a good first day at home and Noah did better than I expected. 

Our new little man checking out his loud big brother that he has been hearing for the last 9 months! 

Carson and Noah's 1st Meeting

We decided we would wait to bring Noah to the hospital until Tuesday that way I could be in regular clothes and be able to get around with him better. So Tuesday morning Jill brought Noah up to the room and we had Carson laying in the bed on the side where he wouldn't really notice him.  Noah gave me his typical Hi when he walked in and immediately wanted to go out the door to run down the halls.  I got out some fruit snacks so he would forget about the halls and stay in the room with us.  We hung out with him for a few minutes before we got Carson out to show Noah.  At first he really didn't care but then we moved him closer to him and he just kind of tried to push him away.  That was really about all their was to their first meeting.  They didn't stay too long since Noah wasn't a big fan of the hospital room.  Then when it was time to go, he just kind of grabbed onto my legs and broke my heart.  I cried, I hate seeing my little boy upset even though I knew he would be fine with his Nana Jill and daddy that evening.

Carson Robert Jones

Carson Robert Jones arrived into the world on Monday August 29th, 2011 at 11:29 a.m.  He weighed 6lbs 4oz and was 19 inches long!  I am still in shock that 1) he's here, I wanted to go early so bad but really didn't think I would and 2) that he was a 6lb baby.  Noah was 9lbs 3 oz so that is almost 3 lbs more, which is a lot in a baby.  We all thought Carson would be smaller but I was still guessing a small 8 pounder, I never would of guessed 6lbs.  I definetly have no complaints about his small size and that wonderful tiny head of his!  Anyways onto his birth story.

Monday morning I woke up like any other day and got ready for the day.  Normally on Mondays I have a meeting at work at 7 and was up and ready for it but Jill was out of town so I was going to have to bring Noah but he woke up late and was cranky so I decided just to stay home with him and so glad I did.  Matthew left about quarter til 7 and Noah and I were just sitting on the couch watching some Mickey when I started noticing some stronger than normal contractions.  I didn't think too much of them right away but noticed they seemed pretty timeable so I started to time them and sure enough they were about 7 minutes apart.  I kept waiting thinking maybe it was in my head, or false alarm or I won't say anything until my water breaks.  Well it had been an hour and a half and still pretty much 7 minutes apart.   I then started to make a few calls to Matthew to tell him something might be going on and to my mom to see what she thought.  Matthew told me I should probably figure out something for Noah in case I was going to have to go in.  I called my wonderful sister in law and asked if she would be around for the day to take care of Noah if I needed to go into the hospital.  She said sure so I felt better just knowing that I had somewhere for him if I was in labor.  Well in a short time I had pretty much decided these definetly were real and I was going to have to start getting things together and get a bag packed for Noah and myself (Carson's had already been packed).  Not long along after  I started to get a little panicked because I was afraid of being stuck out in Heartville with Noah and not having anyone too close so I asked Jen if we could just come to her house to wait until we went to the hospital.  Matthew's last patient of the morning was at 10:45 so originally I had thought I would wait around for him to get done so he could take me. 

I had so many thoughts/emotions going through my head.  With Noah I was induced so it was planned I knew the day before and had my house cleaned, everything caught up, and was ready for what was ahead.  I had been dying to have Carson, I desperately wanted to go early and have a different experience than I had with Noah but once it started I staretd to get a litle freaked out and decided maybe I wanted a planned birth where I was prepared again.  I had a little pep talk with Noah and cried because I knew it would be hard to leave him and be away for a few days.  As he played with toys I sat there and cried telling him how much we love him and that things were going to be different when I came home but remember we still love him just as much as always. 

Then we left for town, on our way in town the contractions were getting closer to 5 minutes apart.  By the time I got to Jen's I felt I probably should get to the hospital soon so I called my mom and asked if she would be able to take me so Matthew could just meet us there when he was finished with his patient.  Mom came pretty quick and we left right away for the hospital.  We got checked in and were up in the labor and delivery room by about 10:30.  Right away they had me change and got me hooked up to the heart rate monitor for baby and the contraction monitor.  Then shortly after she checked me and to our surprise said I was already about an 8 to 9.  I was shocked and had no idea I would of been that far along so I told my mom we better call the office and tell Matthew he should get here sooner thna later.  Contractions got stronger and stronger and closer together and I decided I wanted something for the pain but then  I got bad news I didn't expect "sorry you are too far along, there isn't anything we can give you now".  I was a little ticked but knew there was nothing I could do but just deal with it. 
Matthew got there shortly after mom called and before I knew it the doctor was on his way and I was ready to push.   My water still hadn't broke so she figured pushing would break my water and we would be even closer to having a baby well little did the nurse know that once my water broke baby was coming right behind.  Carson Jones was born before the doctor even got there, he was delivered by Matthew and our wonderful nurse only a short hour after we got checked in!  They put him on my stomach until doctor got there in a few minutes before they could do anything else with him.  And one more thing, Dr. Haller (my doctor, the only one I ever saw) is now off on Mondays (which I didn't know beforehand)  I would now have to have the on call doctor. Dr. Schultheis (sp).   So we officially didn't meet until after baby was bor\n, crazy! That's the eventful story of how Carson Jones entered the world a very different experience than we had with Noah.