Thursday, September 13, 2012

Troy is Three!

Knows his alphabet

Knows most sounds to letters

Can count to 20

Knows most numbers (0-10)

Can recite The Lord’s Prayer on his own

Favorite Letter: X

Favorite Color: Red

Favorite Characters/Things: Peter Pan, Thomas the Choo-Choo, Cars, Garbage trucks and any other trucks, Pirates, Play-doh

Favorite Song: Never Smile at a Crocodile

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Do you see that thing on his left hip? That would be a Melissa and Doug wooden knife. It has become his “sword” which he wears like Peter Pan. He pulls his underwear out so he can stick the sword in his pants. At least he’s wearing pants. He’d rather run around with just underwear on.

Troy is still an intense, excitable, somewhat obsessive, loving and sweet child. These characteristics seem somewhat contradictory but they are what he is! Love him to the moon and back!

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Blaine–One Week Old

Time is already flying by. Here’s this little booger at a week old. Before we left for the hospital, he was down to 9 pounds, 12 ounces. Five days later he was still at 9#12oz. Still pretty good for a newborn. At 11 days old, he surpassed his birth weight and was at 10 pounds, 8 ounces. At a week old, he was eating every 2-3 hours and we were trying to figure out where he would sleep. UGH! For three nights, Brian slept on the couch and we put him in our room. Shame on us, right? Well, when the baby screams so loud it makes your skin crawl, after a few hours, you become a bit desperate just for a little sleep.

I’m glad to report that he now sleeps in his pack n play next to our bed and sleeps soundly. One thing about this big baby: he likes to EAT, eat often and a lot. So I’m just trying to keep up with him.

He’s starting to coo which is sweet and fun. And he’s more alert each day. In just a short period of time, this sweet baby will no longer be so small and needy. So I’m trying to love and soak up the time I have with him.

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Saturday, September 8, 2012

Blaine’s Birth Story

Seriously, how do I begin? With the third child in less than as many years, you would think I knew what I was doing. Since I’ve been asked, I’ll share this experience also.

Blaine was due August 26th which was also my and Brian’s 12th anniversary. I thought he would come early. Why would one whose other children came past their due date ever think their baby would come early? Okay, that’s a rhetorical question.

So Saturday, September 1st rolls around. I tell Brian that I want to go to the pool, float a little and hang out. At almost a week past my due date, I needed something to do. My stomach was enormous, like seriously – about.to pop. enormous. I could not have imagined it could stretch anymore. The pain from the stretching skin burned on a daily basis. My lingering cough pulled at my stomach and burned a little more. I kept the complaining to a minimum, though; what does complaining do besides make you dwell on the issue at hand, right? We spent from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at the pool. It was perfect to wipe out the boys. I started feeling a little cramping while we were at the pool but planned on taking a nap when we got home….

At 4:40 p.m., I started timing the contractions on my Notes on the iPhone. They were a little stronger than mild cramps, every 3-7 minutes. I call these little piddle-piddle contractions. I took a break from writing them down between 5:44 and 7:47. Took Troy outside after dinner to walk around our neighborhood a little with our flashlights. Gave me some time to walk around a bit and see if I could get things moving along. I thought I’d head to the hospital soon, right? Third baby….things are supposed to happen quick…..At 10:53 p.m., I decided to lay down. Took a nap for 30 minutes without contractions. This happened again between 12 a.m. and 1 a.m. Then they were a little more intense every 3-8 minutes. I wasn’t sure what was going on! I was still able to easily talk through the contractions.

At 7:30 or so in the morning, I told Brian that it was getting more intense but I wasn’t sure if we should go to the hospital soon or not. I didn’t have the intense back labor like I did with the other boys. Our good friend, Tracey, came over with her daughter around 9:30 to watch the boys. At 10 a.m., I told Brian it was probably time to go. I could barely talk through the contractions even though they were still 5+ minutes apart.

Arrived at the hospital at 10:15 (or so). I was just praying that I had progressed….I was 7 cm. 20 minutes later when Dr. M came in, I was 9 cm. While Dr. M and Brian stood in the room talking football and “boy stuff”, I was sitting on the edge of the bed and would tell Brian to push on my back. Counter pressure helped. Okay, so this labor felt very different. I could actually feel it in my stomach….the pain/intensity that I had read about where you feel the muscles contract from the top to the bottom, then relaxing in the same way. I prayed during this time and remembered how Jesus promised me that I am strong and courageous. I told myself that my body was made to do this. These little things helped a ton. After about an hour, Dr. M left. I was GBS positive earlier so I had to get antibiotics and we needed me to get those as long as possible.

Another hour later, the intensity was about the same, I really had to work through the contractions but they were still about 5 minutes apart. I asked the nurse if we could talk about breaking my water. This is all we were waiting for (besides the antibiotics). I was ready but my water had not broken. Dr. M came in, he agreed that two hours was enough for now and I told him that this baby would probably come fast! He broke my water and told the nurses to call him when I was ready. Gigi, our nurse, started getting things ready and within a couple of minutes, I told her the baby was coming. As I pushed through the next contraction, she began to tell me to stop….

This is when I sort of took over. EEk! Let me digress….when this time came when I was in labor with Justin, they told me to stop, I did the whole panting thing and followed their direction. If you have had to go through this, you know how difficult this part actually is. Your body wants to get rid of the baby so it goes against everything your body is trying to do to keep the baby from coming….

Back to Blaine’s delivery….so, here I am and I start telling Gigi that they need to call Dr. M because I am not holding the baby in this time. I actually start saying, “hurry, hurry, please hurry” and tell her that she is going to have to catch the baby. Ha ha! She was yelling at Brian to “push the red button, push the red button” and then started telling the tech in the room to get the doctor fast. When Dr. M came in, I told him to hurry and said that I knew the baby would come right after my water broke. He was pretty quick about being there to get the baby. One more push and that was it.

For the next 20-30 minutes, I held Blaine in my arms while we checked him out: his face, ears, fingers….and I asked the nurse if she looked at his feet. Let me tell you, my heard skipped a beat right here….having had a prior child with clubfeet, I had silently worried about this one’s feet. She checked his feet with me and they were perfect.  Thank the Lord. For the next few minutes, we played the weight guessing game. 9 pounds was about as big as we thought he was.

As I watched them put Blaine on the scale, one nurse said to pick him up and reset the scale. Brian said that as he picked him up, his legs unfolded and we saw that he looked long! They thought the weight was wrong….uh, it was still 10 pounds, 6 ounces. 22 1/2 inches long. We all erupted in laughter, even Dr. M. No wonder my stomach was so heavy and enormous!

So I have to admit I took some Tylenol around 3 or 4 in the morning but that was it. I didn’t feel like I had delivered a baby that big. He didn’t seem that big, he’s still a newborn and seems so small!

Had I known he was going to be that big, it might have played with my mind and my ability to deliver via drug free. Glad I didn’t know and now I know that it can be done. Although I don’t think everyone’s body is made to have a baby that big.

I will say that Blaine could not have come at a more perfect time! God chose his birthday which makes my heart happy. Our family of four was over the fever/virus we had passed around. Grace allowed Brian not to get sick and still help care for everyone.

What is different with a 10 + pound baby verses an 8 + pounder?

1. Well, we’re only in day 6 and I can honestly say this one eats a lot more.

2. Does he sleep more? Negative – no – nada! What’s up with that?! He eats a LOT.

3. Completely skipped Newborn diapers and clothes.

4. Cannot figure out (yet) where he can get comfortable enough to sleep well…except for in our bed. This cannot last!

Brian was a saint – was so attentive to me and took care of everything. He knew I wanted the bathrooms cleaned before we went to the hospital – and he did it. Having two young children running around the house while I was in labor helped me go through the process. They were the perfect distractions. Brian got me water, ice, snacks, helped by rubbing my back, told me precious stories about our children…all of which helped me get through the hard work.

Friday, September 7, 2012

Blaine Johnson Corbitt

He’s here! Such a sweet child, too!

Blaine Johnson was born September 2, 2012 at 12:53 p.m.

10 pounds, 6 ounces

22 1/2 inches long (15” head, 14” chest)

We are absolutely smitten!

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Birth story to follow…..soon…..hopefully!

Saturday, September 1, 2012

Nursery and Toddler Rooms….Finished!

Seeing that we wanted to keep our “guest” bedroom, we had to make a plan to (eventually) put the older boys in the same room. We finished this about 3 months ago but I’m just now getting around to posting about it.

Took Troy’s room (before)

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Painted it and turned it into the new “nursery”. My mother helped paint and do a whole bunch of other stuff.

Nursery finished

So we basically turned the “nursery” into the toddler/boys room.

Before (this is where Justin sleeps)

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Now it’s a boys’ room:

Boys room finished

Huge kudos, thanks, you’re the best, etc…goes to my mother who helped with these rooms. Of course Brian helped a ton as well. The framed initials above the beds cost $12 for the frames, $4.99 (with a 40% off coupon) from Hobby Lobby for the blue mat, $2.00 for the stencil material and $4.99 for the paint. Not bad and I love how it turned out. The frame in the middle is a shadow box, cost $19 and I used the same materials (stencil paper and white paint)  to make the saying. The words and letters were cut out with my Silhouette (which I LOVE)! I had already made the pillows for Troy’s other big boy room as well as the curtains. Purchased the comforter from Pottery Barn Kids and the sheets from overstock. I love how everything came together!