Charlie at 10 & 11 Days Old

I think pictures of babies crying are almost as cute as when they're content or smiling... I love watching Charlie's face in his various moods.

Thank you mom for all of your help since Charlie was born!! She went home last night. We'll see how I function next week completely on my own... (I have VERY low expectations - my only requirement is that I squeeze a shower in every day)

worried face!
We need to trim Charlie's nails - I've already done it once since he came home from the hospital, but they've grown again and he keeps scratching his poor face
I gave Charlie a bath and decided it was time for a quick photo shoot while Eli was napping.

My favorite quote from Ben about Charlie - "That sounded like a car crash" - referring to Charlie's explosive pooping sounds

And it's a whopping 36 degrees today! The wind makes it feel much cooler though. The sun is shining and the icicles on the back porch keep crashing down - it's crazy how heavy and noisy they are when they fall. I don't think our huge blanket of snow is going to melt anytime soon, unfortunately! This winter feels like it is never going to end, but I'm excited we've almost made it to February.

Dr. Eli

Eli was being really sweet this morning, happily playing with toys around the house. He loves this wooden sandwich making kit that Caroline gave him (it also has pieces for a hamburger, and it's hilarious hearing Eli try to say the word hamburger...)

And here's Dr. Eli, giving the Rody donkey a checkup -

checking his ears...
We gave Eli the doctor kit when Charlie was born, and it's really fun watching him use it on various toys/stuffed animals.

I'll Change the Blog Name Soon...

I'm having a hard time changing the top of my blog, but it's time... it's no longer just Eli Love (I am way too sentimental about the picture though)! But in honor of the blog's first star, here are some fun things about Eli this week.

First - his crib is exploding with stuffed animals. The child has WAY too many favorites - a few frogs, a few dogs, Elmo ("Ha Ha"), a manatee, an elephant, a bunny, a kitty, a bear, a dolphin...

These stuffed animals make Eli so happy.

But sometimes he's a little bossy, even from the boundaries of the crib:

This week he started counting to 10 - we discovered this when we were reading one of his favorite books, 10 Little Ladybugs (he first loved this book when we were visiting Amber in Atlanta). At the end of the story, we always count the 10 ladybugs on the last page, and last night he did it all on his own!

He has also had a funny sense of humor lately - he picks up on when we're being silly and calls us on it - "Silly Daddy!" or "Silly (fill in the blank)" with whatever we're playing with, whether it's his froggy, a train, etc. I love hearing him say, "Silly Charlie" when Charlie burps or makes a funny face.

Eli has also been really cuddly since Charlie was born - especially with Ben. On Tuesday (Ben's last day at home before going back to work), Eli kept going up to him and putting his arm around his neck in a side hug. It was very sweet.

And for some Charlie news, we took him to the doctor today, and he's now 8 lb 2 oz, back to his birth weight! We don't have to bring him back until he's a month old now since he hit that milestone. This means he gained 6 ounces in three days, which is a lot for a little guy. We may have a chunker in no time :)

I love both of my little boys so much! I'm still taking blog name suggestions, so keep 'em coming! :)

One Week Old

It's a little hard to believe a week has passed since Charlie was born. But I will say I feel SO much better than I did even a few days ago. Charlie is such a good baby - he has spent a good chunk of his first week sleeping and eating. He loves lounging in the boppy (shown below) that I won in one of the blog contests - it's snug and cozy for him and he often sits there looking around and eventually falls asleep.

Ben went back to work today. I was so glad he had a week off to help at home - Eli had a blast playing with him so much. Ben also did a ton around the house to get things organized and cleaned up. My parents were here through the weekend and then went home for a few days, and now my mom is coming back this afternoon to help for a few more days.

This morning I felt so happy - I was able to feed both kids and myself breakfast, take a shower, give Charlie a bath, and cleaned/organized my closets (basically realizing I have about 3 things that fit me right now in my awkward, very recent postpartum shape).

So after the first week, here are some stats:

• At his last drs appointment (Monday), Charlie weighed 7 lb 12 oz. Not bad since he'd of course lost weight in the first days after the birth. He's gaining an ounce a day, so that's right on track. I was a little worried because he was such a fast eater, but now I'm realizing it's a blessing!
  
  
• Packs of gum that I've gone through while nursing this week - 4 (it is still pretty painful, but things were much worse w/ Eli when he was a newborn, so I can't complain too much)
  
  
• Pounds lost - a measly 12. Come on, Charlie was 8 of those 12!! It took a while for my belly to go down after having Eli, so I didn't have too high of hopes, but still! I'm not one of the lucky few that can fit back into their normal jeans a week after delivery, darn it :)
  
  
• Number of times I have kissed Charlie's cheeks - every time he's in my arms, he gets at least five :) Those cheeks are SO soft and chubby. I just love it.
  
  
• Number of times Eli has been sweet with Charlie - too many to count. Last night Eli kept bringing books over to show Charlie and would point at the pictures and talk about them. It was so cute! He loves his little brother and so far hasn't been too jealous.

I'll post more pictures soon... but I'm off to get a nap in while I can!

First Few Days at Home

Charlie is 4 days old! He's been pretty sleepy so far, but has quite the yell to let us know when he needs something. I can't decide who had more of a piercing cry as a newborn... Eli or Charlie :) On our first night home, we were lucky enough to have a four-hour stretch of sleep, which was great.

The second night, Charlie woke up EVERY hour (from 11-6) wanting to eat. I thought I was going to die by the next morning. The problem was he wouldn't eat for more than 10 minutes or so at a time... luckily things were resolved the next morning when he finally pooped after not going for two days.

And now it appears that Charlie's pooping problems are a thing of the past - because last night he pooped at least five times in just a few hours - we lost count after a while (sorry for the potty talk on the blog). Luckily I had a nice four-hour stretch at the end of the night, which helped me not feel too awful by the time morning came.
Here's Charlie on the way to his first doctor's appointment on Friday - Ben took him (our pediatrician suggested this, which I thought was a great idea! I stayed home and took a nap and avoided an uncomfortable car ride - I'm definitely still healing)

The Klearmans came over for a visit on Saturday - here's Caroline holding Charlie

Eli with Caroline and Charlie

Davey (Uncle Munkle) and (a very hungry/grouchy) Charlie

My dad singing songs to Charlie

love those chubby cheeks!

Gram talking to Charlie

Eli and Ben having fun
(Eli has enjoyed lots of daddy time over the last few days)

First bath:

He's Here!

I went into labor with this little guy on Inauguration Day, just as I had wished...

But the official arrival of Charles Benjamin was on Wednesday, January 21st at 12:45 a.m. weighing 8 lb, 2 oz and measuring 21 inches. I was shocked he was that big!

He was very alert when he was born. We think he definitely looks like Eli did as a newborn, but has slightly rounder cheeks.
Here's Charlie with my favorite OB, Dr. Miller:
Labor Story (feel free to skip this and just look at pictures)
The night before (so Monday night) was a rough one for me and I didn't sleep well because I was cramping and feeling gross. I had some contractions on Tuesday morning, but they were 10-20 min. apart and not very regular. I called my friend Lindsay, and we went to lunch at our favorite Mexican place with the hope that some spicy salsa would get things going... and it did!


That afternoon I had more contractions, and they got more intense and closer together from 3-4 p.m. I realized they were about 5-7 minutes apart and stopped being in denial that I was really in labor - I called Ben and he hopped on the train to come home from work, which would get in a little before 5 p.m. I talked to my OB's nurse, and she recommended I go in to the hospital pretty fast, so Lindsay and her daughter came over to be with Eli (my mom was coming, but wouldn't get there until a little later), and my friend Maraley drove me to the hospital. Ben arrived soon after that (he walked from the train stop to the hospital).


I was really happy that my OB was on call at the hospital that day, so he checked me and I was 5cm dilated. I labored for a few more hours, trying to wait to have the epidural so things could progress as much as possible. I asked for the epidural at 8 p.m, but the anesthesiologist was tied up in a surgery until almost 9 - that was not a happy hour waiting for it! Then when he did come, he tried the first time and the needle went in the right spot, but the catheter didn't go in well. So he had to REDO the epidural and the whole thing took forever. And didn't feel so great. A little while later, I was still feeling the cramping and contractions, so he gave me more through the IV (but this left me numb until 5 a.m. the next morning).


Right before the pushing, I had a really long, hard contraction that caused the baby's heart rate to drop and stayed low for a little while. It was pretty unsettling since this happened many times in Eli's delivery (and caused the emergency c-section), but it didn't happen again.

Also, the baby was posterior for a while, which is why I once again had awful back labor, but he finally turned the right way. I pushed for an hour and 15 min., and then he was here! I was SO happy to have a successful VBAC. I had second-degree tearing, so that hasn't been fun, but it's still a much better recovery than with the c-section. Here's a shot of the three of us just after he was born.

The next morning, my parents brought Eli over to meet Charlie!
Eli wore his Big Brother t-shirt :)

This is my favorite shot of the two boys:

Eli was (and has been) very sweet with Charlie. He is very curious about the baby and likes identifying things that are for the baby.

My mom with Charlie:

He already has chubby cheeks and thighs. His cheeks have at least two dimples, which are pretty cute.

My dad with Charlie:

We had visits from Carrie, Rebekeh, and Lindsay, which was really nice. It was fun to have them hold my brand new baby!

We left the hospital yesterday (Thursday) afternoon. I could have stayed until this morning, but the floor was completely full and it seemed pointless because we were getting zero help from the nurses by that point - I was ready to come home.

We were welcomed home with this cute sign from Carrie:

Eli was excited to show the baby his favorite things, like froggy:

Overall, we're doing well. It's definitely different healing from this delivery... by the end of last night, I couldn't sit down because it hurt too much. Hopefully that will get better soon.

And you know I was tired because I didn't have the energy to do this blog post when I came home yesterday :) We're so happy to have Charlie here and think he is such a sweet little guy!