Weekend Fun...

This was our first "normal" weekend since Nathan was born and it was great!! You would think that since I'm home every day now, the weekends wouldn't seem that different from any other day. But, I just LOVE the weekends! They just have a different feel... Gary is home and the pace just seems to slow down - we don't follow our "normal" weekday routine (which has become quite the routine by the way... I am such a routine oriented person and have instilled that in my two year old and 3 week old already). However, even being such a "routine" family, we are also very flexible and can change things up easily for weekends!

Saturday mornings are my favorite. We wake up whenever we get up (let's face it though, with a newborn and 2 year old "sleeping in" on Saturday means getting up at 7 a.m. rather than 5:45 or 6) and we all head down to the couch to enjoy coffee, cartoons, snuggles, silly little boy giggles, and the planning of our day. We are slow to get around and get ready and I normally cook a bigger than usual breakfast with chocolate chip pancakes and bacon. I love the Saturday relaxed, no hurry morning feel.

This Saturday, after our lazy morning, we headed to the park for a picnic! We had a great time - Alex played, Nathan slept, and Gary and I had time to just talk and enjoy our family. We got back just in time for naps all around - Alex is still taking close to a 3 hr nap every day... 1-4 is nap time around here - I think we lucked out! Even if he doesn't fall right to sleep, he is almost always in bed until 4. So after nursing and straightening up a bit, we all enjoyed afternoon naps :)

Since we forgot to exchange our movie for a new one while we were out in the morning, we decided to go out for Panera (my personal favorite!!) and pick up a new movie and firewood. After a nice family dinner out, we went home and had our first campfire of the season! I just love sitting around the fire in the evening when it's not too hot and not too cold roasting smores. Alex LOVED his smore! That's another great thing about the weekends - not having to worry so much about when we all go to sleep - our normal bed time is 8 for Alex, and 10 for the rest of us - and we are pretty rigid about it. On the weekends though, we can be much more flexible about things and still not get too sleepy since we have plenty of time to relax and nap!

Sunday was our first week where we all went to church since Nathan was born (Gary has been taking Alex the past couple of weeks while Nathan and I stayed home to rest). It was so nice to go though - I had really missed being at church on Sundays! After church, our afternoon consisted of Gary (and Alex) mowing the lawn while I cleaned up and got lunch ready, then nap time for Alex and an afternoon movie (GI Joe - not my favorite, Gary's pick) for Gary and I.

Sunday evening was enjoyed out back - Gary put up the new kiddie pool and we all played out back till dinner. Then we grilled burgers, ate on the deck, relaxed, and then came in to get Alex around for bed and relax before the beginning of a new week!

Anyway, all that to say - I just really enjoy the weekends - when the whole family is home enjoying time together :)

Brotherly Love

Alex and Nathan are so cute together already! Alex has done fantastic with the transition and just LOVES his baby brother! Gary and I were so nervous about how Alex would do and were so worried that he'd start regressing and would be super jealous... this has not been the case at all so far! Alex has been happy and excited with Nathan from the start!!

Favorite things:

*Alex calls Nathan "NayNay"... when he actually says his name... but mostly he calls him "baby brother" - if you ask him what his brother's name is he will say "baby"

*Alex will tell us Nathan is "my baby" or he'll say "I want my baby"

*When people come to visit, Alex runs to introduce them to Nathan right away, it is so cute! He is proud for sure :)

*He tries to give Nathan toys... we've tried to explain that his hands are too little to hold them though. We showed him that Nathan can hold little links though sometimes and Alex thinks that is very cool :)

*He doesn't like that Nathan sleeps most of the time... he'll often say "wake up!" or when he notices Nathan IS awake, he'll say "he's awake mommy!!!"

*Alex LOVES to hold Nathan... he asks often

*He randomly gives Nathan kisses (without being prompted) - this is so sweet!

*He also asks to hold him... he'll tell us "my turn" when we have Nathan in our arms

*He goes to "check the baby" for me... not really sure what he thinks he's checking for, but it is very cute! He'll announce "he ok mommy" when he returns.

*The first thing he'll ask when he wakes up is "where's my baby?"

*Alex will tickle Nathan's feet (the only part he's allowed to tickle) and say "tickle, tickle!" he thinks this is so funny. We usually have to make him stop after a minute or so... he's not super great with being "gentle" yet...

*Nathan is wide-eyed when Alex is close by - so alert and just watching everything! It is so cute - they will lay under the baby play gym together (per Alex's request) to "play". Nathan will just watch and watch his big brother. You can tell he already looks up to Alex!

*Alex is always looking for ways to help mommy and daddy with Nathan. He goes to get diapers, blankets, wipes, etc. for us often! It really is helpful!

*Alex always thanks Jesus for his baby brother when he prays before nap and bed :)

*The sweet, tender look that Alex has when looking at his baby brother, it really melts my heart!

*The way Alex will say "awww" when Nathan does something cute!

It has been so fun to already see the two brothers developing a little relationship of their own! I worry about sibling rivalry and competitiveness with boys that are just two years apart. I pray that we can help foster a positive and loving relationship and that they will be real buddies!


In other news...
We have been so blessed to have so much help these past couple of weeks! My mom drove up from Alabama as soon as Nathan was born to help with Alex. She stayed from Saturday until Friday doing everything from cooking to laundry and vacuuming and holding Nathan while I napped each afternoon! Thanks mom!!! :D Gary and I also had the luxury of going on FOUR dates while my parents were in town!!! It's funny that we were able to go on more dates with a newborn than we'd typically go on - but hey, the key to a healthy family is a great marriage! We had a few days to ourselves in between visits. Our wonderful small group provided dinners for us those days - It has been two and a half weeks and I have only cooked one meal (hamburger helper - ha!). My mom and sister returned on their way back to AL from PA on Wednesday this past week. Then my dad came up for the weekend. Everyone was headed back Sunday. We've got two weeks now before Gary's family will visit, which we are really looking forward to :) We feel so blessed to have friends and family that are so generous and giving!

Getting to know Nathan :)

Nathan is 11 days old today! I can't believe we've already had a week and a half to get to know our little guy... time is already flying! It is amazing to me that just a little over 9 moths ago he was conceived and now we have a little baby... I was just reflecting and thanking God this morning for such a huge miracle. It is things like this that make me wonder how anyone can claim there isn't a God! How amazing to have created a little person. How sweet to have two babies that are a part of me and the man that I love and share life with... what a special gift God has given us. Anyway, on with the point of this blog! :)

Here are things that we've gotten to know so far about our little miracle:

*At his first doctor's appointment (last Thursday at 6 days old) Nathan had gone from 6.2lbs (weight when we left the hospital - 5% loss) back up to 6.7 lbs! That means he's nursing great and is back up to birthweight :) His weight is in the 20th percentile, along with his height. The circumference of his head is in the 15th percentile. The doctor said everything looks great!!

*Nathan is such a good-natured baby. He is content most of the time and does not get worked up easily or frequently. (So different from what his big brother was like as an infant!)

*He does not like the sun to be in his eyes!

*When awake, he can sit and watch contently for 30 minutes or so in his bouncy seat just taking in all that's going on.

*He calms easily with a snuggle or being picked up.

*Nathan loves to watch Alex already - built in entertainment all the time for him!

*He is a champ at nursing! It takes him about 30 minutes total including a diaper change to wake him up about halfway through.

*He likes to be swaddled tightly at night, with his hands by his face and his legs curled up close to him.

*He tries to find his thumb or finger often... we decided to introduce the paci yesterday to help him satisfy his sucking reflex since nursing is already going so well... we've only had to give it to him twice so far though! He took to it both times.

*He eats pretty much every 3 hrs like clock work during the day. Occasionally he gets a little fussier at 2 1/2 and I feed him a little early. BUT most of the time, I get him up or start feeding him before he even "asks" for it.

*Night time is a little different... he has had about 60% "good nights" so far I would say. On these nights, he goes down easily after his night feeding (around 10pm) and sleeps for between 3 and 4 hours before waking up... gets up around 2am to eat, goes right back to sleep and is up between 6 and 6:30 to start the day. These nights are great and I feel fairly well rested by morning!

*The other 40% of the time he has trouble going to sleep after either one or two of the feedings and keeps mommy (and helpful daddy who usually takes him for me for a while too!) up rocking him and helping him sleep... and he usually ends up getting one extra night time feeding on these nights. I don't get near as much sleep and feel more tired in the morning of course.

*Needless to say, though, we have already fallen into a pretty good routine!

*He is SUCH a pooper! HA! He goes after EVERY feeding and often goes again RIGHT after I change him! I can't believe how many diapers we've gone through! He has pooped on me twice... the first time he did it, it was ALL over me - yes, I had to change my pants, shirt, and bra! Gary was hysterical with laughter as he took pictures before helping me get cleaned up!

*In addition, he's probably peed on Gary and I at least 8 times during diaper changes. He peed on the nurse in the hospital once too.

*He still sleeps a lot during the day of course... he is usually awake for an hour or so in the morning and again after another feeding at some point in the afternoon. After the rest of his feedings, he's usually just up a short time... and then we've been trying to keep him up some more in the evenings (or at least not in a deep sleep) so that he's ready for bed when we are!

Those are the first things that come to mind when describing our little buddy so far! He is wonderful and perfect and we love him so much already! :)

Welcome to the world, Nathaniel!!

"Before you were conceived I wanted you. Before you were born I loved you. Before you were here an hour I would die for you. This is the miracle of life."
~Maureen Hawkins


Warning: I pretty much wrote a novel... and don't really expect lots of people to read it... Mostly for my own memory, this post is to tell my birth story: from even before contractions started until we were home from the hospital with our beautiful baby boy :)

So Friday the 23rd was my last day of school! Normally I am sad on the last day and I've always cried - but this year, I was sooo ready and after a long, tough year, I waved good-bye, gave hugs and left with a huge smile on my face! :) My parents were in town passing through on their way back to Alabama on Saturday night and stayed with us... Alex woke up sick on Sunday morning so we ended up just hanging around the house instead of heading to church. That began Alex's week of moodiness, diarrhea and throw up, fever, and refusal to eat! It was so strange though because it was so off and on again... and the fever/throw up/diarrhea only lasted a day and a half. Once that was over I figured he was fine... but he continued to not eat and was just moody. So it wasn't exactly how I imagined spending my last few days as a mommy to just one, but we did get to do lots of snuggling and at least he slept well for me so I was able to get in some good naps and sleep in!

Wednesday we went out for a "family date" because Gary thought it may be our last night to be able to go out before the baby (he was convinced all along that baby Nathan would be early!) So the three of us went to dinner at Applebees and then got ice cream at Baskin Robbins. We had great evening together! Sure enough, that night the contractions started! I was up pretty much the entire night starting around midnight with contractions every 10 minutes and bad back pain. I really thought that was it and we'd be in the hospital some time the next morning! But then around 4ish I was able to fall asleep and the contractions weren't so consistent anymore. Thursday morning Gary went on to work... contractions were sporadic and not as strong. Once Alex got up, I decided it was a good thing that Nathan wasn't coming just yet, becuase I really needed to get him checked out at the doctor to make sure everything was ok. So we went to the doctor on Thursday morning and sure enough, Alex had strep! I'm thankful that the contractions DID stop and that I finally decided to take him in - as soon as he started the antibiotic he was eating and doing so much better! By Thursday night he was acting like himself again :)

So Thursday afternoon I had irregular contractions and lower back pain, but nothing consistent and nothing strong enough to make me think Nathan would be coming too soon. When Gary got home from work we ate dinner and then decided to take a walk around the neighborhood to see if it would help! We walked for about 45 minutes, then came home and got Alex around for bed and I took a shower. By that time it was about 8:45ish... we sat down to watch TV and relax and the contractions started! When they started up they were about 7 minutes apart and got closer together for the next hour... a little before 10:00 Gary decided he should call the Bowman's (our sitters for Alex) and let them know it might be that night! A little after 10 my contractions were consistently every 4-6 minutes and getting stronger and Gary decided to call the doctor. She said to come in and get checked at the hospital! Amy came over to stay with Alex and we were off! (What a blessing to have such great friends!!)

When we got to the hospital I was still having fairly strong and consistent contractions. We had to sit in the waiting room for about 45 minutes before they had a bed ready for me to get checked. They checked me and I was at 2cm (at my doctor's appt 2 days earlier I was at 1.5cm). She said they would monitor my contractions and the baby's hearbeat for about an hour and see what I was doing then... at that point they would let me know if I would be staying or not . I was praying that things would progress and I could stay! A little after midnight they came in to see how I was doing. She said my contractions were every 4-6 minutes apart and that it might be a while... I could either go home and come back later that night when they were a little closer, or I could stay and Gary and I could walk around for an hour to see if that would help. I did NOT want to leave and have to come back, so we opted to walk. I also knew at this point in my gut that our little boy would join us soon, so there was no way I wanted to leave!

It was a looong hour of walking! I was stopping every 2-5 minutes for a contraction. The birthing floor was pretty quiet and empty though and Gary and I just walked and talked a little in between contractions. They were definitely getting more intense as time went. It was about 1 a.m. after we walked around and it was time to get back in bed and get hooked back up to the monitors. They left me for about 30 minutes to monitor my contractions again and then the nurse came in to check me. I was at 4cm! Contractions were a little stronger and about 3-4 minutes apart at this point. She said this baby would be here soon, and we were ready to get things going!

Within the next 45 minutes they got my IV plugged in. My nurse started putting out all these drop cloths under my arm, and I'm thinking, what is THAT for? She tells me she is pretty messy with IVs and scares me to death! (nurses always have trouble with my veins and I often get stuck twice and end up hurting and bruising from the IV) She took a look at my arms and said she didn't think she'd be able to do it after all and called their "pro IV nurse". She came in and took her time marking my arms and finding the perfect vein - then she got it on the first try! They took blood for testing and hooked me up to fluids. I had to go through one bag of fluids before I could get the epideral, and the blood testing had to come back. She said they'd get it taken care of as soon as possible. At this point I was beginning to feel ready for the epideral... it was about 3 am - I was handling contractions and breathing fairly well but they were definitely strong and I had a lot of back labor going on, which is very painful! Gary was very supportive the whole time, encouraging me to breathe and asking if I needed anything and what he could do. I have a fabulous husband :)

About 4:15 am my bloodwork was back and my IV fluids were in... I was about 8cm at this point. It was time for the epideral, thankfully - I was ready! Gary left the room and the anesthesiologist (sp??) came in. It took about a half hour to get the epideral - which was much different than last time I had one because I was having STRONG contractions at this point and they kept telling me not to make any sudden movements and not to startle if he touched me. I like when they tell you what they are doing step by step... but this guy was just like " assume I'll be touching you and doing stuff back here, and don't startle when I do things"... luckily my nurse understood that I wanted to know when he was going to do something and what and she was very supportive and helpful. (It was the same nurse we'd had all night - Dana - very nice and encouraging.) It was stressful trying not to move when the contractions would come but soon enough it was over.

I numbed up pretty quick but the back labor was still strong on the lower left side and I was still having to breathe through contractions. They decided to up my dose a little more. After the anesthesiologist upped the dose, I had only slight back pain and was comfortable. The nurse checked me again and looked over the contractions/baby heart beat (which all along she said was looking fantastic!) It was about 5:45 by this point and she said I was fully dialated and ready! And right as she checked me, my water broke! She called Dr. Moore (my doctor was home sleeping through the whole thing... getting updates every few hours. she said she was just 5 minutes away) and told her I was ready. Dr. Moore said to go ahead and start laboring down and she was on her way. Dana and another nurse sat me up (my legs were completely numb and I couldn't even help sit up) and then they called the anesthesiologist to cut down my dosage so that I could feel a little bit more to be able to push. He cut my dose in half.

As we were waiting for the doctor, Dana and the other nurses were getting things in the room ready. Dr. Moore arrived (looking like she JUST got out of bed!) about 20 minutes later at 6:20ish. She said she was going to go ahead and check me and we'd get the show on the road! When she went to check me, she didn't even have to finish checking becuase she saw our baby's head! She was like, wow, you're ready!! About then, the nurse accidently knocked all of the doctor's tools off the cart and they had to get all new stuff! It made me a little nervous everyone rushing around the room... several nurses were in there doing stuff at this point and Dr. Moore was getting things ready.

So everything was ready and it was time to push (the hardest part of my delivery with Alex - 3 long hours of pushing before they used forceps to get him out... I was so sore and exhausted - so I was geared up for a long process...) -- well, ONE push and Nathaniel was out!! Gary cut the cord and they handed Nathan to me. He looked perfect - he was absolutely beautiful and all I could think was "thank you, thank you, thank you for this precious gift!!"

Nathaniel Karl Friske was born at 6:37 am on April 30th. He weighed in at 6.74 lbs and was 19 inches long. (Weighing 1.1 ounce more than Alex and looking just like his big brother did!)

Nathan took to nursing right away... he latched right on when they gave him to me to try for the first time - I was nervous after the stressful process that it was with Alex at first! But Nathan is a pro for sure! He's been doing great with it ever since :) Such a huge blessing!

The first 24 hours were kind of a blur... after being in labor all night (and the night before) Gary and I were both exhausted and hungry (Gary had his heart set on donuts ever since the nurse mentioned them around 4 am... he had been to check for them MANY times haha and couldn't stop talking about them! We DID finally get our donuts around 8:30!) We spent most of the day just staring and snuggling with our new little boy... such a surreal time as a parent! Nathan slept most of the day of course and barely cried at all... the only thing that would really make him upset was when people would check things on him or if he had to change his diaper... but he calmed down quickly and easily each time :)

Gary went to get Alex from the Bowman's around 4:30 to feed him and bring him to the hospital to meet his new brother. I was so nervous about this! Alex was excited from the minute Gary told him that he was going to meet his baby brother though :) My mom got to the hospital around 6pm to meet Nathan and Gary and Alex showed up about 30 minutes later. Alex walked right in and came over to see his brother and give mommy hugs! He was all grins and kept saying "baby brother" and pointing at Nathan. He gave him a kiss and touched him and giggled. He was so happy and excited! He sat up on the bed with me and snuggled with both of us - what a precious moment as a mom... it was a perfect introduction and I couldn't have imagined it going any more smoothly!

We gave Alex a present from Nathan (a truck that makes noises and has a little trailer it pulls) and told him it was for being such a good big brother. He was SO proud and excited for the truck! He told Nathan thank you several time and gave him kisses! We spent the next hour playing in the room with Alex and eating some dinner - Alex couldn't understand why Nathan couldn't have french fries and ketchup though!

I slept off and on that night... Gary snored away most of the night, not waking up even when the nurses came in! I think I was still running on adrenaline though, I really didn't even feel that tired. The next morning we waited on person after person who had to come in and do something or check something... we were so ready to be discharged and go home! Finally we were able to leave around 3:30 on Saturday afternoon!!

I really can't imagine things going any more smoothly, I am so thankful for how everything went and am so happy to be a mommy to our two boys! Praise God and to Him be the glory!! We are truly blessed!

"We prayed for this child and the Lord has granted us what we asked of him." 1 Samuel 1:27