Pumpkin Patch and family pics

Sunday, October 14th-

We had a full day today! At 9:30 we had family pictures done-the weather and fall colors were perfect! We couldn't have asked for a better day! Hannah and Eli were both in good moods and took some wonderful shots. Our photographer gave us some sneak peak photos and we will get the full finished product later. Can't wait to order my canvas for above the fire place!

After pics, we headed over to the pumpkin patch to play around, enjoy the weather and get hannahs pumpkin. She loved this and had a great time! And I love that all this fun can be had for free (minus the $2.90 for the pumpkin).

And here's some cute pics-as a bonus!

Eli is 2 Months Old!

On October 5th Eli turned two months old. Here is his monthly pic...

 

(at one month and now at 2 months)

At his 2-month appointment he weighed exactly 12 pounds (almost 4.5 lbs bigger than birth), was 23 3/4 inches long (2 inches longer than birth) and his head is 16" (2 inches bigger than birth). He is in the 43% for weight but 93% head circumference! (I don't think he looks out of proportion though :)


He seems to be a very mellow baby overall and is pretty calm most of the time. We are both learning how to get him to sleep at the right times and for the right lengths but we will get there. Here are some fun pics of him and Hannah over the last month.

 We had our first snow and Hannah opened the back door and ran out in her pajamas. I got her back in and bundled up (though still with her pajamas on-see the red polka dot pants) and she got to go out and play for awhile. The snow only lasted a few hours and was melted by 9am. 

 Hannah loves to be close to Eli! She spends a lot of time next to him on his play mat. I love this little red turtleneck that his Great Aunt Marilyn sent to him! And of course we all love the A&M cheerleading outfit from the Clayburns! She wears this a lot of game days. 

 First time sitting in the Bumbo chair. He's not quite ready for it-Hannah is helping to hold his head up. And I want it to be known, she would not let me put any clips or bands in her hair this day. It wasn't worth the fight since we were just at home and not going anywhere. :)

 Today, our friends, the Murray's, came over. This is Haylie-she is one week older than Eli. The are already holding hands-good friends. 

Big siblings Charlie and Hannah! It is very hard to get a pic with two squirming preschoolers!

Amie Murray would like it to be known that Haylie is not this wide, it is just the shape of the dress. :)

 

Eli's first flight was to see Nana in the Palm Springs area at almost 8 weeks old. He slept, smiled and ate! He did great!

 

Meeting Nana for the first time! They were both happy to finally meet. 

 My current mommy reminder-just enjoy my children (and hubby) and the rest of life can be put on hold. Children grow so fast. 

 Do you know who this is?? Its me (hunter) as a newborn! I think Eli and I look like twins! Finally, a child of mine who looks like me!

Beautiful Hannah! We went for a walk and she was wearing her current favorite dress-her cinderella dress. We found a pile of leaves and she had so much fun playing in them. 

This morning at 6am! What a happy wake up call!

Eli a Month Old

This post is really a week late-he was a month old on September 5th. But here he is! 

I think he looks like such a little kid instead of a 5 week old infant. He can lift his head and chest up when he is on his belly. I think he may be smiling at us but I'm not entirely sure yet. He is a very calm baby. Only cries when uncomfortable and hungry-the complete opposite from Hannah as a newborn. He eats about every 2.5-3 hours during the day and about every 3-4 hours at night. I have been able to line up Hannah's one nap a day with one of Eli's naps each day so both are sleeping at the same time. YAY! That was a big accomplishment for me. 

Hannah is growing too! She is such a smarty these days. She keeps us laughing and saying funny things all the time! Here are some recent quotes-

When getting ready for naptime:

Hunter "Hannah do you need to go poo?"

Hannah "No, smell my bottom."

Hunter "No thank you!" :)

At Babies R Us she saw a picture of an African American baby:

Hannah: "That baby dirty"

We then discussed how God made us all different and it is all good.

Her Poni gave her a photo album about being a big sister. It asks a lot of questions for her to answer. 

Book: What foods will you share with baby when he's older?

Hannah: Ketchup

Book: What do you want to be when you grow up? (there were three blanks)

Hannah: Mommy, Baby Eli, Daddy

She loves her baby brother!

 New game-lay out blankets and lay on them. Fun!

 Making friends....

Eli's first bottle-Daddy's first time to feed him.  

During our week alone when Jesse and Hannah were in Houston. Great bonding time! 

 Brother and Sister!

My first time "wearing" Eli-he fell right to sleep and stayed that way for 2 hours!

Eli's Newborn Pics

Hannah was 5 weeks old before I got around to her newborn pics. Eli was 10 days! I'm much more "on the ball" this pregnancy. Here they are! I only purchased the last one-which in the purchased pic it is zoomed in where you can't see diaper and belly button. I don't know how to do that on here :) (Just a real quick post between naps for Eli and Hannah playing contentedly)

 Did not like being on his tummy!

 Looks like he ate something sour

 Stretching

 Yawning

 Grumpy old man

 Lifting his head up so good!

This is the one I purchased and had framed but it is zoomed in more than this....

The Big Day-August 5, 2012

WARNING: Lots of birth details, but nothing too graphic and lots of pics at the end....

At 4am I woke up with some back pains but just assumed they were from normal pregnancy aches and pains. I stayed in bed till about 5am when I got up to use the bathroom. I then had several back to back kind of intense contractions. I woke Jesse up after they passed and told him I thought I was in labor. I asked him to call my dad and Jimmi and let them know that within the next 24 hours I thought we'd have a baby and they needed to fly out. While he was on the phone with them I had several more stronger contractions back to back. Then they stopped for a bit.

Took this picture between contractions-39 weeks and 2 days, getting ready to go to hospital

I went downstairs to eat some breakfast-labor requires energy and who knows how long the day ahead could be. I also put away some toys, did some dishes, and straightened up the house. Hannah slept in till 7 which is about 45 minutes later than usual-as if God knew we all needed her to have extra sleep that day. During this time I was having contractions between 5-11 minutes apart. They were very irregular and about "medium" strength. We could tell labor was coming though and decided to take Hannah over to our friend Meredith's house to go to church with them and spend the day there. This was at 8:30am.

Jesse came home from taking Hannah and we settled in waiting for contractions to get closer and regular. We had been planning and preparing for a natural labor and delivery without pain medication or other interventions. Our prep paid off. We used all our relaxation techniques at home while watching the movie "Clueless"-I wanted a silly movie that I didn't have to pay much attention to for focus inbetween contractions. By 9, the contractions weren't getting any more consistent so we decided to go for a walk to see if that would help them become regular. On our 20 minute walk they became about every 3 minutes. (The general rule of thumb is to go to the hospital when contractions are 5 minutes apart, lasting for a minute after an hour) I was afraid that if I lay back down or went to the hospital that they would space back out and not remain consistent. So I decided we should walk for another 30 minutes to make sure they stayed consistent then go to the hospital.

Ten minutes into our walk they were every 2 1/2-3 minutes apart with a lot more pressure. We decided to go to the hospital, though I still worried I wasn't fully in labor yet and maybe we were going too early. But I knew they wouldn't send us home since at my last appointment I was already 3 1/2 cm dialated and figured the mornings contractions had done some more work. We left the house about 10am and got to the hospital about 10:30ish. We had to check in through the ER since it was the weekend. This process took quite some time and I started to really struggle with my contractions-especially after the 25 minute car drive with the 2-3 minute apart contractions.

We got to our room and I entered full blown "transition"-the hardest part, but shortest part of labor where you are getting ready to deliver. My doula was already at the hospital and met us in our room. She and Jesse helped me through the contractions while I had to get a hep lock put in. (an opening for an IV incase of emergency need for it, as I didn't need any IV at the time) They checked my dilation and I said "Please let me be at 5cm". I was at 7! Thank you Lord. Then I had a little bit of a melt down. I started crying and said "I don't want drugs, I just don't want to be pregnant anymore!" Jesse and my doula were quick to remind me that I wouldn't be and I was almost done.

After a few more contractions they checked me again and I was at 10cm! At this time, my water still hadn't broken. This made my contractions so much better than they had been with Hannah where my water broke first thing. Having my water intact really helped keep the contractions much more bearable-not that they still weren't the most painful thing I've ever experienced. But all our relaxation techniques and Jesse and my doulas encouragement and help made it all very do-able and never too overwhelming.

After staying at 10cm for awhile and never feeling the urge to push, the doctor, doula and myself agreed that breaking my bag of water would help give me that urge. After breaking my water I felt a little need to push and pushed for about 20 minutes on my hands and knees. When he looked like he would be born soon, I flipped over into a sitting position and he came out in one contraction. His head was pretty big-an average infant has a 12-13" head, his is 14". But his head didn't tear me, it was his broad shoulders. I got a second degree tear. But I was so happy once he was out!

Afterwards, I hemorrhaged, like I had with Hannah. So I received a dose of pitocin in my heplock to help my uterus clamp down. That didn't work though so they had to give me a shot of Methergen in my leg to help stop the bleeding. This was the most painful part of my labor. The whole labor went beautifully and I couldn't ask for anything different! I was only in our hospital room for about an hour till he was born and I did so good coping with the contractions and labor pain. My Natural Unmedicated Childbirth went perfectly! Thank you Lord.

Welcome to the world:

Elijah Hunter Clayburn

7 lbs 13.5 oz

21 inches

11:54am

 Just born! Welcome to our family Eli!

That night Hannah came up to the hospital with Pops and Poni. The first thing she asked when she saw me in the hallway was "Baby come out" while pointing at my belly. Then she went in the room and saw Eli with Jesse and said "That baby Eli?" She wanted to hold him immediately and all on her own just bent down to kiss him. She loved him instantly!

 The next day my friend Amie Murray came to visit. Her daughter Haylie was born one week before Eli. We are close friends who have now been pregnant together twice (her son Charlie was born 4 months before Hannah). This is Eli's first friend.

Hannah came back to visit the next day too-she loves her baby brother and can't stay away from him!

We are so happy to have Eli in our family! The last 5 days have been wonderful! I'm already wondering how he hasn't been apart of our lives forever. Hope you can all meet him soon!