Fall Festival Craft Preview

I'm bringing a suitcase of handmade goodies to the Fall Fest this Sunday! These items fill me with the spirit of the season (and a lot of them are the perfect size to stuff in a little girl's stocking)!

Also, James Ambrose will be making his debut into society. I'm not sure yet if he and I will be at church Sunday morning, but he is planning on attending the Fall Fest!

3 Weeks Old

You slept through those first few weeks, but now you are waking up. Amazingly, you have lots of patience with your sister and you don't complain when she holds you and spanks you --but you don't much like it when she pokes you or grabs your little face. You have outgrown your first pajamas. You are as healthy and sweet and beautiful as any mama could hope and I love you!

Next Book, Please!!

I finished reading Dune by Frank Herbert last night (at 11:30, in the bath). I can't wait to get the next in the saga. If I had an extra $10 lying around, I'd probably buy this:

It's a journal made out of pages from Dune.

Have you seen the movie? You know, the silly-80s-B-movie? I love it. I want to watch it right now. It is so quotably cheesy! It was directed by David Lynch and a total flop!

 The story in the book is waaaaay different, though. As usual.

Two Weeks

I'm a bit late getting this up here... This is Ambrose two weeks old:

But what fun we had!

James has to go back to work now. I wish paternity leave could last forever- so do the kids. We did so many fun things and really enjoyed being a full-time quartet for a solid week!

Here are some fun moments:

 

 

One Week Old

I wanted to post this yesterday, but that's how it goes with little kids!

Reading Dune, hair in curlers, nursing... pretty much sums it up.

Can't really believe the amount of poop such a tiny human produces!

Birth Story in Pictures

The day before our scheduled cesarean, I did my hair. I love how it looked that day:

For some reason I thought it would still look nice the next morning when we got to the hospital, but I was so wrong...

We got there at 5:30am and had time to kill. I had Elle Magazine:

I didn't get really nervous until they wheeled me back. I hate that the husband has to wait in the ante room while the mother is prepped. I wish they'd just let him be there at least to hold my hand for the spinal! Anyway, this is how I looked once I was all settled:

The whole thing was a little scarier than Bea's birth because he didn't want to come out. There was a bit of tugging involved (it hurt to breath for a few hours and my shoulders were sore for days!) and the cord was around his little neck THREE times!

He turned out just fine though- 7 pounds, 21 inches long, born at 7:46am, lots of dark hair, Apgars 8/9:

And really cute:

James and I got some good cuddle time with our little James Ambrose as soon as we got back to the room:

After Amby got all checked out and fussed over, the nurse gave him to me for skin time- half hour minimum, she said. That was my favorite part of the day!

My family came to visit that evening and someone snapped our first portrait as a quartet:

Yeah, Beatrice wasn't having the best time there in the hospital room. But she didn't really know what was going on. James brought her by the next day to get better acquainted with her brother. She was more interested in the bed:

James and I got lots of sleep at the hospital because I let James Ambrose go to the nursery from midnight to 6am. They just brought him back at 3 for a meal. I took a picture of sleepy Daddy during one of the 3am up times:

We stayed 2 nights and came home with lots of flowers! Even though I was really eager to get back to my own home and have my family all in one place, I enjoyed our hospital stay. We were there just a short amount of time, but I had my little routine with my shower and make-up and cuddle time and people bringing me medicine. The nurses were so nice, especially a young one named Jessica who took care of me at least for a part of every day I was there! Our room was pretty cool, too. It was on a rounded sort of corner, with windows along two walls. Plenty of natural light.

Baby Ambrose is doing great. He has gained weight and didn't lose any of his birth weight. He is nursing really well. So far he mostly sleeps all the time, but when he is awake he looks around and is content. He had his first doctors appointment on Monday and all is well. We are so happy to have our little man!

As far as my recovery, it's going about how I expected. I'm pretty sore and achy, but James is on paternity leave and he does everything! He made us a nice big breakfast today and gets us out for little walks each day. He rented some movies and got hot chocolate. The only real problem is that he makes me laugh too much. Seriously, I have to ask him to stop talking and sometimes I have to leave the room. I'm afraid I'll bust some stitches or something!

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!