7 Weeks!

Today Henry is 7 weeks old! He is getting so big and and developing a little personality already, and it's so much fun. I know it just gets better from here, and as much as I love and cherish those first few days and weeks with a newborn, I have to say I am looking forward to the next few months and watching him grow....and sleep better! Ha! A few days ago I thought he was on his way to waking only once a night, because he went from about 9 or 10 until 2 or 3 in the morning, but the last few nights he has been waking up twice again. It's mostly gas that is waking him up, because he hardly eats anything. I think I am going to try giving him the paci instead of nursing him to see what happens...

We also have been trying to get him to sleep in his bed during that first stretch, and then because his room is upstairs and ours is down, I just take him down with us after he wakes up the first time, and he sleeps in the pack and play in our room.

He is a great eater and seems to go a lot faster than Abbie, which is nice at night because I'm not up for an hour each time like I remember with her.

He is starting to recognize us now, and grab at things, and pay attention to the mobile on his swing. He loves to be in the Baby Bjorn, likes sleeping on his belly, and definitely has a fussy time in the evenings. He's also not a big fan of the car seat right now.

His eyes are still blue, but I'm still pretty positive they are going to change to brown. His hair is dark, and he has an olive skin tone.

He is pure cuteness!!

Wes

We celebrated 11 years on Friday.

I can still remember the first time I saw him, sitting on the back of a truck, getting ready to go fishing in Daytona Beach.

I can still remember the first time he flirted with me, whistling as I walked by in the gym at Western.

I can still remember how I felt when my friend Rachel came up to me one night and said Wes said to tell you that you have the best legs he's ever seen.

And then finally, the night I got the nerve up to make the first real move and talk to him.

I remember he sent me yellow roses about a week later.

And took me on our first real date that week too. We drove over to the Nantahala River and went fly fishing (imagine that.) And to my surprise, we met his Mom for dinner afterwards. I remember my hair was a mess from riding all that way in his Jeep with the top off, and here I was, straight from fishing with a ball cap on, meeting the woman who would be my future mother-in-law!

And the rest is pretty much history. Sure, he got scared at one point and broke up with me for about 24 hours. It was the worst 24 hours of my life, as I recall. But then he came to a friends house where I was and told me he was sorry. And about a week later, in his parents basement, he told me he wanted to get married.

We had known each other for about 5 months. Everyone probably thought we were crazy, but somehow most of my friends knew that I had never been this way with any guy I'd ever dated.
I love thinking back to that time, because falling in love has to be the greatest thing. When you don't care about eating, sleeping, or anything else but being with that person all the time.

I feel so blessed to call Wes my husband, and even more, I know that he loves me now more than he did back then. He is so faithful, so true, so devoted. And pretty darn good looking too!

Sweet boy

5 Week Update!

Henry is five weeks today, and I just wanted to jot down a few updates on what he is doing as of now!

He eats every 2-3 hours, and seems to want to eat a lot in the evenings. He takes a good nap in the morning, and then usually a "marathon" nap in the afternoons. He sleeps a lot, it seems, a lot more than I remember Abbie ever sleeping at this age, but maybe I just don't remember!

He has a lot of gas and going to the bathroom problems right now. He has had it pretty much since he was born, and that tends to wake him up a lot from naps or at night. I am really praying this goes away in a few weeks - and if anyone has any advice I will take it. We have tried mylicon but it doesn't really help. It doesn't make him mad all the time, but there is usually about one or two times a day when he gets really upset. As I write this right now he is in the pack and play fussing about his belly...

He loves the Baby Bjorn, and we carry him around in it a lot. I think the upright position is comfortable to him because of the gas thing too - and at night I tend to hold him on my chest so he can go to sleep. His first stretch at night is his best and most restful, and that is usually from about 9-12. Then after that it's very sporadic, depending on his belly that night.

At his last appointment he weighed 10 lbs, 5 oz, and was 22" long - I am pretty sure they said that was 50 % for both. And he had to have his first hepatitis B vaccine. Broke.My.Heart.

And lastly, I think he looks like Wes. He is absolutely gorgeous, with blue eyes and dark hair. He has three dimples, one in each cheek and one in his chin, which runs in my side of the family. He has long fingers and long thin legs.

I will post some pics soon!!

What's happening around here...

Yesterday Henry was 4 weeks old. I have to say I can't believe it's already been 4 weeks, even though some days seem to drag by. It's been an adjustment with the move and having a new baby and having Abbie home with me full time. I am not going to paint this perfect picture of our life and say it's a cake walk, because it's pretty hard and my patience wears thin on a lot of days. But I am learning about my limits and adjusting and with a lot of prayer and a little wine, I think I am managing ok! I truly love these two kids so very much, and my heart has totally made room for little Henry!

Abbie is going to a church camp next week for a few days, which will be great for her and me. I'm looking forward to a little bonding time with Henry, and Abbie is so excited already!

That's about it for now!

Introducing....

James Henry Ledford!!

This post is way overdue, about 2 weeks actually, but wow, life with two kids is busy!!

Henry was born on Friday, May 6th at 4:48pm. He weighed 7lbs, 12 oz, and was 21" long. He is absolutely perfect in every way and we are loving him so much!

So here is how the day of his birth went - I had a scheduled induction for Friday, the 6th, because of Wes and I's situation of living apart, plus the fact that I really didn't want Abbie and Henry to have the same birthday. So anyways, I went in at 6am, and it took a good couple hours to do paperwork, bloodwork, get my iv in, etc. So by the time they started the pitocin it was about 8:30 or 9. They also put the line in for the epidurral but I opted to not get the medicine in until I made some more progression(when I got there I was between 1-2 cm dilated). I started having pretty good and steady contractions almost right away, but wasn't making a lot of quick progression with dilation, so they broke my water around noon. It wasn't much longer after that until I got the medicine going for the epidurral - I was about 4cm at that point and the contractions were getting much stronger with the pitocin. I think the next time they checked me I was about a 5, and then, just like with Abbie, I progressed really quickly to over a 9 and it was about time to push! From there it went so fast! I pushed through about 4 contractions, and he was here! I couldn't believe how much quicker the pushing part went with Henry, it literally took no time at all once he was ready. Oh and also the epidurral had numbed me up a ton, like too much, and they had turned it off about an hour before I started pushing, so thankfully I could feel enough to push. They layed him on my chest, and my first thought was he looked just like Abbie when she was born. I was able to nurse him right away, and he had no problems and was really in picture perfect health! I immediately fell in love with Henry, just as I had with Abbie.

This time around it was just Wes in the delivery room, but my grandmother and Aunt Debbie were at the hospital all day waiting, and then Wes's parents were taking care of Abbie, and they brought her to meet Henry later that evening.

Since Henry's birth, things have been a little crazy, but we've made it through! We were able to come home on Mother's day, which was a wonderful present in itself, and then we had a few days before we started packing up our stuff and getting ready for our move to Atlanta! We celebrated Abbie's 3rd bday on the 13th, and then the following day made the move down here to our new home. We had soooo much help from family, and couldn't have done it without them.

So now we've been in our new home for a week, and things are great. We are loving the area, Wes is back to work and is so happy to not have to drive to NC every weekend, and just be able to come home and have a normal life again, and I'm adjusting to being at home alone with two kiddos!! Henry is a great baby, he hardly ever cries! Abbie is doing great with him. She loves him so much and wants to hold him and kiss him all the time. I do think she goes a little stir crazy being here at home with us so I try to get out and keep her as busy as possible. She's used to going to Pam's house every day, so I have to keep reminding myself this is a big change for her too. Thankfully we live in a kid-friendly neighborhood and town, so there are parks and all kinds of things for kids to do. I've also enrolled her in a preschool that starts in August, and she'll go to a couple morning camps in June and July.

So that's about it for now! We are truly so thankful that our family is together again and that everything went so well with Henry's birth! Enjoy the pictures and I'll try to be better about posting!

Oh and just for a stat update too - Abbie went for her 3-year check up Friday and weighed 30 lbs and I believe was 3 foot 2" tall. And Henry, at 2 weeks, weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz.

We did it!

I feel like singing the Dora song and dancing! We did it - we made it to the end of this separation and Wes is home and now we just have to wait on the baby to get here and we can move down to GA together, as a family. There still might be a few days where Wes has to go on down there before me, but overall, we've made it to the end, and it seems unreal to me almost. I keep thinking, well, today is Friday, and Wes has to leave Sunday or Monday, but no, not this time! He's here and I couldn't be happier. Next update? Might be about baby boy, we'll see!!