Weston: 5 Months

It has been 5 glorious months since I met this little man.

Doesn't he just have the cutest little smile?

He is such a happy little baby, unless he is being smothered by his adoring big brother.

He loves to suck his thumb and occasionally takes a binkie.

His socks are always wet from sucking on his toes.

He definitely does not sleep through the night, but is generally pretty good at going back to sleep after eating.

He sleeps the first part of the night in the porta-crib next to my bed and the rest of the night with me.

Poor thing has had a clogged tear duct since he was born. I'm constantly cleaning all the goop out of his eye. I rub and rub it, but it just won't go away. I'm hoping it does.

He loves to be held and sang to.

We feel so lucky to have him!

Weston: 4.5 Months

Weston is the sweetest little baby in the world. 

He lights up a room.

 He's so smiley.

And snugly.

 He loves to be held. A lot. Like all the time. 

I sometimes wonder why I bother with two swings, a bouncy chair, an exersaucer, Bumbo, boppy, crib, etc. The only place he every really likes to be is in my arms. Just where I like him. Except when I need to get anything done.

He is an expert at rolling over and has been since he was 3 months old.
He rolls over the instant I put him down.
The only bummer is that he's not a fan of tummy time. At all.

He started taking a binky about a week ago to my HUGE surprise. 

He loves it and it seems to sooth him so well. He had taken to sucking his thumb, but it would sometimes take him a little while to find it and get content.

Jackson is enamored with him, but I'm not sure how much he likes Jackson at this point. 

He seems to get a little apprehensive of all the full-body hugs and constant kisses. 

Jackson is so sweet with his little brother.

He's a great eater and has made nursing him a breeze.

He hasn't tried any solids yet.

He has blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

He's in the the 65th percentile for height.

And the 59th percentile for weight.

He is super interested in everything going on around him.

He's loves to stand up.

He loves it when we sing to him.

I could not love my little blue-eyed boy any more than I do!

Weston: 2 Month Update

Weston is now about 2.5 months old. Yah, I'm a little late in posting a 2-month update. I'm kinda feeling a little behind in most things these days. In fact, I've had Weston's birth announcements printed for over a month and still haven't sent them out. I'm hoping to get them out before his first birthday. :)

Weston is pretty huge for his age. He's already filling out 3-6 month clothes. The same clothes that Jackson wore when he was 6 months old. I can't believe how big he's already gotten. Here are his two-month stats:

Weight:          14 lbs. 91%
Height:           24.8 in. 95%
Head Circ.:    16.5 in. 89%

Sometimes it's weird to me that my baby's name is Weston. We have so many nicknames for him that he rarely gets called by his name. Instead, we usually call him, "the baby," "baby," "baby bro bro," "baby guy," "little brother," etc. Since we found out that he was a boy, we've been calling him "baby bro bro," and it just kind of stuck. Brett also likes to call him, "Deeter Bop." Strange, I know, but Brett has a knack for coming up with strange nicknames.

Weston is the cutest. I can't get over how sweet and snugly he is. He loves to be held, at all times if possible. He still sleeps with us for most of the night, but sometimes will spend a couple hours sleeping in his bouncy chair if we're lucky. I completely gave up on the bassinet for now. It was way too much work than it was worth. Unfortunately, he still wakes up A LOT during the night, but luckily, he'll go back to sleep pretty easily.

Weston smiles as soon as you smile at him. He loves being talked to and he'll coo right back at you. Just a couple of days ago, I woke up to him reaching for my face for the first time. It was really sweet. He hates being swaddled and won't usually take a pacifier, which is the complete opposite of Jackson.

(Jackson brushing Weston's hair for his photo shoot.)

Jackson is soooo good with Weston. He loves to constantly give him kisses and hugs. Whenever Weston starts crying, Jackson is sure to tell me to check on the baby and that the baby needs milk. He even came up with his own nickname for Weston: "good guy." Haha. I love seeing them interact already and I'm so excited for them to be able to play together when Weston gets a little bigger.

I'm in love as ever with this little guy. He makes me so happy!

Weston - One Month

It's been one month since this little man entered my world and I can't imagine my life without him! I would hold him all day long if I could. I really can't get enough of him. I now realize how fast the newborn phase passes, so I am trying to get in as much cuddle time with this little one as I can.

I thought I knew what I was in for with Weston since he's my second, but so far he is so much different than Jackson was as a newborn. 

He sleeps most of the day away. Sleeping for us, however, has been a challenge for the past month. Weston doesn't seem to want to sleep in anything intended for him to sleep in. Instead, he insists on sleeping in our bed. After too many sleepless nights, we gave in a bought a king size bed to make some room for him. I'm hoping he'll start liking his bassinet though sometime soon. 

From the day he was born he has been an excellent eater. He spits up quite a bit, but doesn't seem to every get an upset tummy like Jackson did.

He's also very polite. Instead of crying, he usually just grunts when he needs something. He started smiling at me a couple of days ago and every time he does, my heart just melts.

I'm so happy to be this little guy's mama!

Weston's Birth Story

My baby is already three and a half weeks old! Time flies when you're busy holding the most adorable little baby all day long...and chasing around a very busy toddler. I've been meaning to write about Weston's birth and am just getting around to it. I know I'll forget most of the details later on, so I've got to write them down now while I still remember. WARNING: this is going to be a long post. I have a lot to say on this topic, but there will be lots of pictures. :)

Okay, so here's how this thing went down. My due date was May 6th. Jackson was almost a week late, so I was convinced that Weston would be the same. On Wednesday, May 2nd, I woke up at about 3 AM with strong contractions. Brett woke up a little while later. When I told him that I thought I was in labor, he said that we should just go back to bed for a few hours and then head to the hospital in the morning. Ha! He may be able to sleep through my contractions, but I definitely can't. After about an hour of consistent contractions (about every 3 to 7 minutes), I headed downstairs to watch a movie and eat some cereal. I was sure that I was in labor, so after my movie, I went back upstairs to finish packing my hospital bag. Around 7:30 AM, still having consistent contractions, I laid back down just waiting for the contractions to get a little stronger before going to the hospital. The next thing I knew, I woke up at 10:30 AM. I was so bummed. Apparently, I was not in labor.

The next few days dragged on and on. I thought I would go into labor at any moment, but after a couple days I felt like pregnancy would never end. On Friday, May 4th, Jackson and I went over to a friend's house for a play date. While we were there, I talked with my doctor's office, and scheduled an induction for Sunday morning. My fluid was low again with Weston, so my doctor wanted to induce me on my due date. We stopped for McDonald's on the way home, shared some fries when we got home, and Jackson went down for a nap. About a half an hour after I got home, probably around 2:30 or 3:00 PM, I started feeling contractions again. I didn't really think much of them because of my false alarm earlier, but just in case this was labor, I called Brett around 4:00 PM and asked him to not come home from work too late. He didn't believe that I was in labor (and I didn't really either at that point), so he said he would work another hour or so, deal with Friday traffic, and be home in a few hours.

The contractions got stronger and closer together as the day went on. I called Brett frantically around 6:00 PM wondering where he was and when he was going to get home. Since Jackson's labor went so fast, I was afraid of not getting to the hospital in time and without Brett at home, I wasn't sure how I would get to the hospital and what I would do with Jackson. Brett got home around 6:30 PM, walked in, and asked me what I wanted to do that night. He wasn't convinced I was in labor and acted like it was any other Friday night. I told him I was pretty sure we were going to have a baby, and  I'm pretty sure he laughed when I said that.

Instead of packing a hospital bag, he sat down and started watching tv with Jackson. I kept telling him that we should go to the hospital soon, but he REALLY didn't believe that I was in labor. He said I just wasn't acting like I was in very much pain. His uncertainty made me second guess myself. I had been on the phone off and on with my sister and my mom (who is in China for the year). Finally, after my mom warned me not to wait too long to go to the hospital, I decided that I should probably just go ahead and go.

We headed to the hospital around 8:30 PM. When I got there, I was having contractions every 2-5 minutes and I was dilated to a 4 or 5. After being checked out in triage, the nurse confirmed that I was indeed in labor and that I would be admitted. Woo hoo! My sister, Caroline, got there just before they took me to my room. She stayed and her family took Jackson to their house to stay for the next couple of days. I had been worried about leaving Jackson for a couple days since he usually has separation anxiety when we leave him, but he just said "bye bye" and went with my sister's family without any fussing at all. He LOVES his cousins.

After I got some fluid in me through the IV, which took way too long thanks to nurse Kim, the anesthesiologist (my favorite person of the day, possibly the year) came in around 11:00 PM-12:00 AM (see, I'm already forgetting the details) and gave me the most amazing epidural ever. Before my epidural with Weston, I thought that all epidurals were created equal. Not the case. My epidural with Jackson was great. It worked and I wasn't in pain, but my legs were also completely numb. I couldn't move them for hours after he was born. My epidural with Weston, on the other hand, was perfect. I didn't feel any of the pain, but I could also move my legs and was able to walk around just a couple hours after he was born.

As soon as the epidural started working, I felt great. It's such a relief to go from such intense pain to no pain at all. I really don't know how women birth without an epidural. Wow, I really couldn't handle it, but props to those of you who can. My doctor happened to be on call that night and I was so excited about that! A random, but also good doctor, delivered Jackson, but it was really neat to have my regular doctor deliver Weston. Shortly after I got my epidural, my sister, Suzanne, showed up and my doctor came in and broke my water to get things going.

For the next couple of hours, I just chatted it up with Brett and my sisters, while they ate chips and dip. It was after all Cinco de Mayo! I felt like I was just hanging out and not like I was in labor at all. It was great. Brett and my sisters occasionally watched the monitors and would let me know when I was having big contractions, which I couldn't feel at all. Thankfully!

Every so often, the nurse would check to see how dilated I was. Around 1:20 AM, she said I was ready to push. She had me push a couple of times before waking up my doctor. After two pushes, I was ready to go. She called in my doctor, who showed up at about 1:30. Three more pushes later, and Weston William Fawcett was born at 1:49 AM. 7 lbs, 11 oz. of cuteness!

The doctor placed him right on my stomach immediately after he was born. It was such an amazing experience to hold my sweet little boy for the first time. I loved hearing his little newborn cry and studying his cute head. I was sad my mom couldn't be there for Weston's birth, but she was on the phone throughout his delivery and got to hear his first cries. I can't wait for my parents to meet him when they gets home this summer.

Jackson came to visit later on that day with my sister's family. I had missed him so much and was so excited for him to meet his little brother. When he got to the hospital, he really wasn't interested in anything except playing with his cousins. After being there for a few minutes, he finally noticed Weston. He pointed to him and said, "baby," but then went back to playing. Finally, after being there for about a half an hour, he pointed to Weston and said, "hold it." Brett helped him hold his little bro for the first time. He has been so sweet with Weston since we brought him home from the hospital. He constantly wants to give him LOTS of kisses.

Weston is perfect and I am so blessed to be his mom. He is such a wonderful addition to our family and we love him to pieces!

Today is a good day

Today has been a great day. My house is clean, the sun has been shining in through the windows, Jackson has been an angel all day, and I have a time to blog while Jackson is sleeping. 

The past several weeks have been crazy busy as far as work goes that I feel like I haven't had a spare second. Plus, I have been super exhausted with this pregnancy lately, so anytime Jackson is sleeping, I have have either been working or sleeping myself. I've actually gotten Jackson onto a terrible schedule of staying up late and sleeping in, so that I can sleep in myself. Oh well, it works for now and Brett loves it since it means he gets to spend more time with Jackson at night.

I have about 4 weeks left in this pregnancy. I can't wait to meet the little baby who has been kicking me nonstop for the past several months. I love his little baby kicks, but I can't wait to see his face. I'm really curious to see how Jackson will adjust to having a little brother. He loves babies, but I'm getting nervous that he won't like all the attention that this baby is going to get from us.

I'm trying to really enjoy these last few weeks with Jackson before his world is rocked. I have been trying to get out with him as much as possible, since we'll likely be staying in for a while after the baby comes.

Jackson is growing up so fast. He talks a ton and is very social. He cracks me up in public when he yells, "hi," to people who are several feet away. On one hand, I love to see him talking so much and learning so many new things. On the other hand, I still want him to be my little baby. 

27 Weeks

I've never done belly pictures before. I think others' belly pictures are adorable. I just feel silly taking and posting pictures of me by myself, but here goes. 

Here's our little guy already flexing his muscles for us.  

I love him . I love feeling and seeing him move all around. I can't wait to meet him. The anticipation is killing me. I see little babies at church every week and can't wait for mine to arrive.

Little guy doesn't have a name yet. Brett and I never agree on boys names, but hopefully we will by the time he comes!

Timeout

I'm anxiously awaiting a package from Amazon today. And it's not even for me. It's for this little cutie:

Who knew I would get so excited about getting some new puzzles?!? I think it's because I know how excited Jackson is going to be about them. It will be a nice little change. Maybe we won't do the same five puzzles 100+ times per day from now on. :)

By the way, Jackson puts himself in timeout these days. It's hilarious. He knows when he's done something that warrants a timeout and he'll head over to the timeout spot saying, "wall." Ha ha. This kid cracks me up.

Jaime and the Birdie Sling

My best friend from college was in town for work this week. It was so fun to see her! It had been WAY too long (almost 2 years) since we'd seen each other. We were pretty much inseparable during college. She's so much fun and the best friend anybody could ask for. I just wish we lived closer now.

While she was here she got to meet Jackson for the first time and we stayed up till the wee hours of the morning chatting just like old times.

All we got was this crumby cell phone picture, but it's better than nothing I guess.

On a different note, I followed my first real pattern (Amy Butler's Birdie Sling) a few weeks ago to make this beauty:

I LOVE it. I have to say that I am pretty proud of myself for how well it turned out. I even have big plans to make more and possibly turn one into a diaper bag.

19 Months + The Great Wolf Lodge

My little man is 19 months old today. I wish I had stats, but I forgot to write them down from his 18 month appointment. I think he's about 25 lbs, but that's all I've got for now. :)

I also wish I had better pictures of him, but most of the time I can't get him to look at a camera for the life of me. We'll be working on that.

He is still as cute as ever. He is so sweet and fun to have around. We just love him to pieces!

He is saying a ton, from booos (shoes) to way (throw away). He's got quite the vocabulary. Unfortunately, I think Brett and I are the only ones who can understand most of his words.

I taught him to say, "bro bro" for his little brother on the way and he'll kiss my stomach to give the baby a kiss. It's very sweet. I can't wait for them to meet.

He NEVER likes to be alone. We spend most of our days playing in his room together. If I get up to leave, I can be sure to have a little shadow behind me within a matter of seconds. He'll follow me, grab my clothes, and make sure that I come back to his room to play. I absolutely adore spending time with him, but I'd gladly take pointers on how to teach a kid to play on his own occasionally.

He emphatically nods his head "yes" or "no" when you ask him a question. I love that he can communicate so well and he looks so cute doing it.

He's a puzzle-aholic. He can literally spend hours doing puzzles. Easy ones, of course. 

He loves music. Brett and I sing to him every night and he can't get enough. He's gotten pretty good at doing the motions to lots of songs too, like "The Wheels on the Bus" and "Popcorn Popping." Randomly, his favorite song right now is "Barbara Ann" by the Beach Boys. Brett started singing it to him one day and he's been hooked ever since.

He's the pickiest eater in the world. He won't even try most foods. I'll gladly take pointers on how to get him to eat too.

We went to The Great Wolf Lodge last weekend with Brett's family for a company shareholder's meeting. It was a lot of fun. 

Jackson was hesitant at first, but he definitely warmed up. He ended up loving the kiddie slides and being in the water. I'm already planning a trip back there when I'm not pregnant so I can do the fun rides. 

Snow Week

Despite being stuck in the house for the past week, we enjoyed our Washington snow week. I've never seen snow like this here before. I think we got around a foot of snow, which is huge for us.

Since Brett has a pretty long commute to work and the road conditions were so bad, he worked from home for a couple of days. I LOVED having him home. We actually ate dinner together as a family at a normal time three days in a row. This is also huge for us.

Jackson loved the snow! He can't say the letter "s" yet, so snow sounded a lot like "noooooo." He kept asking for it. We had to improvise on snow attire, but we made it out to play in the snow every day and he loved it. He would laugh so hard every time we threw a snowball. 

We had fun, but I am so ready for the roads to clear up so I can get out of the house! Thank goodness for the rain today!

Merry (late) Christmas

Our Christmas was fabulous. I know I'm a little late posting about Christmas, but it's better late than never. One of my New Year's resolutions is to blog more. It's a good way for me to journal without feeling like I'm journaling. :)

Before Christmas, I got into the Christmas spirit by making stockings for Brett and me, and making lots of Christmas throw pillow covers. I made more than what is pictured below, but never got around to taking photos of them. Maybe next year?

We spent Christmas eve at my sister-in-law's house with her family, Brett's parents, and Brett's aunt. We ate and read Luke 2 while acting out the Nativity.

 Jackson giving his cousin a kiss.

 Our little family and my pregnant belly.

 Nephews as shepherds.

On Christmas morning we went to Church first thing. It was a wonderful way to start the day we celebrate the birth of Christ. When we got home, we had Jackson "run" down the stairs to see what Santa brought him. He didn't really get what was going on and stopped halfway down the stairs to just stare at us. We actually had to coax him down the stairs. I'm guessing that won't happen again next year.

He got lots of fun presents, but his favorite thing by far was the candy in his stocking. This kid is in love with sweets. He'd eat them all day if I let him.

 Christmas was so much more fun this year with Jackson. I can't wait till next year when he gets even more excited. Some of his favorite presents were: a car track, his own recliner chair, a pop-up tent, and a cash register (from Aunt Bridget and family). I also got some really fun presents.

That evening we hosted Brett's family for Christmas dinner. I planned ahead and made everything the day before so I didn't actually have to do much cooking on Christmas. We also saw a puppet show put on by Brett's parents and some of the grandkids. It was fun to be surrounded by family on such a special day.

I hope you also had a merry Christmas!