Jacob is 2 Months :)

We are several days into this month, so Jacob is really 2 months and a week old, but I am learning that I don't really get to be on my timeline most of the time these days. This has been one of the most challenging months in our parenting journey of the last 4 years, but I'll talk more about that in a minute since this is Jacob's post :)

Jacob is a delight to have in our family. He is such a happy baby. And a calm baby. It has been interesting to see the different demeanor even from birth that he has from his siblings. He sleeps, I've never had a baby that sleeps. I even asked the doctor to make sure him sleeping through the night was ok, because I didn't know a 2 month old could actually do that, but many nights he sleeps until at least 3 if not 4 or 5. Getting that much sleep is amazing considering the other 2 were up every 2 hours for at least 18 months. And thankfully, the doctor said as long as he's gaining weight, the sleep is fine, so I am thankful for every night of sleep I get. He does eat, all. the. time. Which helps with the sleep at night. I feed him almost every hour while he's awake. We've officially given up the bottle as it was too stressful for me to hear him screaming, much like the other 2, they do have that in common. And since I'm not working, there's no reason to push the bottle when I can just as easily feed him. He's getting to where he has good awake time and loves playing with his brothers, or at least loves having them around :) He smiles at them and coos at them. Both the boys love when Jacob has floor time so they can play with him. They both love to shake toys in his face. Curtis loves to make silly faces at him and Judah loves to snuggle with him. Judah will often climb in my lap and ask if he can hold Jacob, which always melts my heart, so of course, I let him hold him and Jacob usually does well for as long as he can with a 2 years old holding him. It's so fun watching these 3 every day, seeing their growing friendships, their tender hearts towards one another and watching them learn how to be brothers.

Like I said earlier, while it's been a good month, it has been incredibly challenging. It started off with Judah getting his first set of stitches. He slipped in the tub and cut his chin on the metal where the glass doors used to be. And notice I said used to be...the next day, Isaac spent the afternoon taking the glass doors down and making the tub a little more Judah proof. So he now has a scar on his chin which Isaac tells Judah the "chicks dig it" since Isaac is now a country music fan. This fall has made me a little overly cautious when it comes to Judah. He really has no sense of self preservation. Before the fall, I let him, within reason, explore his world without too much worry, and I hope to get back to that. But I am fearful of all that could happen. I hope to get over that but for now, I am very protective of my fearless middle child.

A few days later, Jacob gave us a scare with a high fever and 3 days in the hospital. When a newborn runs a high fever, it tends to scare the doctors because it's usually unclear as to what's causing the fever. Because they can't be vaccinated that early, the fever could be any number of infections or viruses so they test for everything. Thankfully, it ended up just being a virus, but it was still sad seeing him in the hospital hooked to an IV, knowing he was sick, knowing something was causing him pain and not being able to do anything about it except hold him. Thankfully, he is well now, no sign of a virus or anything else.

This month has also brought lots of travel for Isaac. That may be the most challenging thing this month. I am learning, even more to rely on God to help me through these days. The days Isaac has been gone have been difficult. Many of them have been filled with cranky children, discipline, yelling, crying, and early bedtimes. I've had to do lots of apologizing for words said and hurtful tones. Thankfully God has given grace for me to leave the room several times rather than yelling or disciplining out of anger. I am learning to love my boys for who they are and trying to embrace how different they are from me. I am learning that I can't expect my boys to behave all the time and act like Christians because they aren't Christians. It's my job to teach them about Jesus, to teach them to love each other, to teach them kindness and self-control and to ask God continuously for his Holy Spirit to change their hearts. I'm also learning through these days how amazing my husband is. While God is teaching me that he cannot be my god, I can't rely on him like I tend to do, he is also showing me exactly how blessed I am to have him as a husband and father to my boys. When he's gone, I have to be mommy and daddy. But when he's here, he is definitely not the sitcom dad that this world tries to portray fathers to be. He changes diapers, he gets the boys up many mornings and gets breakfast for them. He handles many of their meltdowns. He does bath time, and bedtime. He makes the coffee, turns off the lights, takes care of Baxter and so many other things. He's an amazing man and Super Dad. I am so thankful for all he does and through him being gone, really now see all he does. I love him so much and am grateful to be his wife.

Next month, or rather this month, hopefully will not be as challenging or exciting as September, but I know it will bring even more changes in Jacob and even more fun for our family.

Jacob's official 2 month picture

 One of his favorite places, hanging out in his bathtub, not taking a bath, while the older boys take a bath

 I'm so incredibly thankful for my mom and all the help she has given me, this past month and all the time. I couldn't have gotten through the pregnancy and these post partum days without her. 

 This little stinker gives me a run for my money, but he is too cute and I look forward to his hugs and cuddles every day.

 So thankful for this friend! Brenna not only was there when Jacob was born, but came and spent a day with us while he was in the hospital. And then came and celebrated my birthday with me. This is one of the best things about living in NC.

 He's learning to love Daddy, which I am so thankful for as it can be difficult when I'm the only one he wants most the time. 

 We went to the pumpkin patch with some friends from church. This is one of the boys most favorite fall things to do.

 And they love to pain pumpkins. Curtis was so proud of his.

 This is Judah. While he can be incredibly difficult sometimes, God shows me these sweet moments that give me faith that God will do great things through him. He is praying for Grandma Creed in this picture, she's recently been in the hospital. We were painting pumpkins, he put down his brush and asked to pray. When I told him Grandma was sick, this is what he did.

Jacob is 1 Month

We've kept baby number 3 alive for 1 month so far :) It's been a challenging month, although made much easier by having my mom here so much. It's been fun getting to know the newest addition to our family and getting to see how Curtis and Judah interact with him and how they are learning to love him. Both their reactions are different, but it's clear they will one day have a great bond with Jacob just as they do with each other. Curtis shows no animosity towards Jacob at all. He gets so excited when Jacob's eyes are open and he can see Jacob looking in his direction. He always exclaims "Jacob loves me!" because he thinks Jacob is looking right at him, which he probably is starting to do. He loves to give Jacob hugs and kisses, always tells me when he hears Jacob crying and likes to remind me that those cries mean he's hungry. Judah still has some difficulty with not being the baby anymore, but he still is showing he loves Jacob. He likes to help me pat his back to put him to sleep, and also loves to give kisses and hugs. He asks if Jacob can build something with him or read books, not quite understanding Jacob can't play with him yet. One day, they will all be good friends.

Jacob is doing well, weighed in at 10lbs 2 ozs at his 1 month check up. He loves to eat and does it often while awake. Some nights he lets us sleep, and some nights he is really restless and wants to be held all night. He definitely sleeps better on his belly so I'm looking forward to when he can turn over on his own so we can start putting him on his belly at night. I think that is when we will start sleeping a little more. He's beginning to be content being put down some while awake, which is really nice, to give my arms a break. He likes his little play mat and is beginning to like his swing. When he's on his mat, Curtis and Judah like to try and play with him, shaking toys in front of his face, giving him his pacifier. He naps really well most of the time, which has been nice to keep up with housework. He actually takes a pacifier, which is different than both his brothers, so I'm hoping that will eventually help with sleep as well. He seems to be a much calmer baby so far, but I know that means nothing for the future, a boy is still a boy and Judah was a fairly calm baby, then he turned out to be my wild child.

This month has been a great month, a month of difficulty and much blessing. We've seen God working in our marriage and our family. God is using all of these experiences to draw me closer to him and show me how much I need him to get through the days. There's nothing like having a newborn to remind me how much I rely on God. When I've gotten little sleep and all 3 children are crying, God is showing me how to slow down and have patience, although it's a learning curve, the patience doesn't always happen. There's been a lot of apologizing to Curtis and Judah on my part for my lack of patience. We've been blessed with mom and dad coming often to help with the boys so I can have time to bond with Jacob. We've gotten to spend some good time with some of our best friends and we've found a church who's kindness and generosity are astounding but much appreciated. This next month will be challenging as Isaac will be travelling quite a bit, but thankfully I have mom to help some and other friends who will come visit. I'm looking forward to seeing what changes this next month brings with Jacob.

I have my traditional monthly pictures of Jacob. This is the only one I got where he wasn't screaming

We went to Lucy's School Party a few weeks after Jacob was born. It was a lot of fun, we love Perez parties :) And loved celebrating with Lucy!

 Curtis is pretty infatuated with Lucy. He followed her around everywhere.

 They all loved Baby Jacob

 Possibly one of my most favorite pictures I've taken of Brenna

 Sweet sleeping baby, he does like his belly much more than his back...I'm that mom

 One of Papa's most favorite things

 Isaac went out of town for a few days, the boys helped me make gingersnaps for his return

 Spending the morning with Yaya drawing on their whiteboards

 I have a similar picture like this of Curtis around the same age, it must be a 2 year old thing

 Wide eyed and covered in spit up

 The best daddy ever

 Will double fisting the pepperonis

 So thankful for this sweet friend driving down for a visit. Jess time was much needed. We had so much fun catching up and I loved watching to boys play. Hopefully in years to come, they will become good friends

 Judah wasn't feeling good, so he needed a little rest by the tree

Our First Week with Jacob

We've been home for a week with Jacob. Life is definitely different with 3 little ones instead of 2. I am slowly getting the hang of it but am super thankful mom has been here to help with Curtis and Judah. Our first few nights home were pretty miserable. Jacob did not, at all, want to sleep being put down. He wanted to be held and every time we tried to put him down, even after nursing and rocking, he would wake up within just a few minutes. So Isaac and I took shifts sleeping in the recliner with him on us since we refuse to co sleep and have him in bed with us. Finally, he seemed to get the hang of sleeping on his own, at least for a little while. I've been trying to put him down during the day to sleep, which I think is helping, although I do love holding him and just sitting and rocking with him when he sleeps, so that is hard, but once mom leaves, I'll be thankful I have done that so I can actually take care of the older boys. 

Jacob is nursing well, which is wonderful and a very different experience. He doesn't self latch, although I know that will come but after a minute of working with him, he latches well and nurses very well so he's already over his birth weight. We did try a bottle with him last night for the first time, and he drank it right down, so hopefully we can be consistent with that, and get him to take bottles so I can have a little break every now and then and we can go on a date without him soon.

Curtis and Judah are doing well and loving being big brothers. Curtis has seemed to adjust very well. He loves to help me out, bringing me things when I need it and can't easily get up because I'm nursing. He loves to pat Jacob's back and give him kisses. Judah, it was a little more difficult. He's definitely had an adjustment period, and still does, but he does love his little brother. He'll crawl in my lap while I'm nursing him and want to rub his head and give him kisses. But he definitely is aware that he is not the baby anymore and he doesn't quite know what to do with that. 

All in all, it's been a pretty good week. I've been able to get some rest, and he does sleep a few hours at a time now at night so I'm very thankful for that. We've had an outpouring of love from so many people, even though we barely know people here. Our neighbors have brought gifts, one of Isaac co workers brought dinner, and we're close enough that family and friends have visited. It's been nice, in this new place, to not feel alone like it could have been if we'd gotten a job somewhere else. We enjoyed Isaac being home for several days, the boys loved having him around so much, and they love mom being here to play with them. So while it has been challenging to figure out how to take care of 3 boys, I've been blessed with a lot of help so I don't have to do it on my own yet. That comes Monday, so we'll see how that goes...

Here's a few pictures from our first week. Sadly, I can already see that Jacob will probably not have as many pictures of his early childhood as the other boys just because there doesn't seem to be time, but I am trying to remember to capture some fun memories...

He's not sure what to think of his swing yet, but sometimes he likes it for a few minutes, so that's good

 He really does love his little brother

 This is how Isaac made dinner one night

 A few newborn pictures...unlike the other boys, he was awake and completely calm the whole time. 

 The boys woke up while I was doing pictures so I tried to get a few pictures of the all 3. This was the only one I could get and Jacob rolled off their laps immediately afterwards, again, completely calm and landed on his belly happy and content

 Jacob's first bath, I'm pretty sure I have a picture of Curtis that looks just like this. Neither of them liked their first bath. I'm hoping that will change.

Jacob's Birth Story

Jacob was born on Aug 1st at 0706 weighing 7lb 13oz and 21in long. Much like I expected, everything about his story is different than both Curtis and Judah. This is a birth story, so if things like that make you squemish, skip ahead to the cute pictures instead :)

At 37 weeks, I began having contractions, consistent contractions that I timed almost every day. They would last for a few hours and then just stop. This happened with Judah as well, so naturally, I just expected that within a few days, I would probably go into labor and we would get to meet Jacob. 38 weeks rolled around and no labor. I had officially been pregnant longer with Jacob than either of my other children. The contractions continued and I was just barely dilated. 39 weeks rolled around and no labor. I officially did not have a wimpy white boy and was thankful that I'd made it to 39 weeks. I stopped timing contractions because I really thought I was probably gonna go to my due date or over at this point so I didn't even think about the contractions much, they were just a part of my day at that point. 39 weeks and 1 day I had contractions on and off all day. Judah ran a fever so I didn't get my grocery shopping done like I always do on Mondays, so after dinner, Isaac did bath and bed time with the boys and I went grocery shopping. I had a few contractions walking around Ingles, but didn't think much about it. Then I had a few more at home before bed, but again, didn't think much about it. Judah woke up at 10ish with his fever back up. Isaac gave him some medicine and rocked with him a while. He had just gotten in bed when I had one pretty strong contractions. I got up to go to the bathroom and as soon as I stood up, my water broke up. I wasn't 100% sure that's what it was because it wasn't the dramatic gush of fluid that you see in movies but as I was going to the bathroom I told Isaac we may need to get ready for the hospital. I used the bathroom, started to go back to bed, and then quickly realized that, yes, my water had broken and went back to the bathroom. Side note: my fear since Curtis' birth has been my water breaking at home because after my water broke, it was a very short amount of time before I was fully dilated and ready to push, and the same with Judah, I only had one more contraction and was ready to push. So we quickly got going at this point. I texted and called my good friend Ashley, who came to stay with the boys. We texted dad, but for some reason, didn't tell him my water broke so he was waiting till we actually went to the hospital before coming. Once I realized that, I quickly corrected it that yes, my water broke, Jacob is coming and they needed to get on the road. We also texted my best friend, Brenna, who immediately got in the car and drove down to hang out with us at the hospital for the night. On the short drive to the hospital I had 1 or 2 more contractions and definitely felt them, unlike the last 2 babies since most of my contractions with them were with my water still intact. Triage confirmed everything and I was admitted. They checked me to see how much I was dilated and at that point it was only 2 cm. I was very discouraged because my contractions were very painful, coming 2-3 mins apart and I was told I could not have an epidural till I was 4cm dilated. Brenna arrived at some point during this time and Isaac went home because Judah woke up and couldn't understand why Ashley was there. So with Isaac home, several IV attempts were made. And by several, I think they stuck me 4 times, with my contractions very strong and close together. Brenna texted Isaac and told him he needed to get back because I was in so much pain and we honestly thought I was much further along, but I was still only dilated at 2cm after that. But once fluids started running and after a dose of stadol, I was doing much better. The contractions spread out a little and I was able to rest just a bit. In another hour or 2 I dilated to 5cm and was very ready for my epidural. The anesthesiologist got there around 0400. Isaac and Brenna were not allowed in the room during this time so I leaned on the nurse heavily as I am not good with needles. She was a wonderful nurse during this time as the epidural proved difficult to get placed. Three attempts were made. By the third attempt, they had to give me O2 to prevent me from passing out but that helped me relax a little and he was finally able to place it. Between inserting the catheters and the Lidocaine injections, I think I was stuck about 10 times in the spine. It was not a fun time at all and if he hadn't gotten it that last time, I probably would have opted for the natural birth but thankfully, he got it placed. It did not take long to take effect and by the time it took, I was 9 cm. But thankfully, I was allowed to rest for a little while and we all took a little nap at this point. The nurse checked me again about 0600 and I was still 9cm. Since it seemed the epidural slowed down my labor, they started a very low dose of pitocin to get me through that last little cm and get me ready to push. By about 0645, I was ready to push. The doctor came in. They got me in position and about 4 contractions later, Jacob made his appearance in the world. This was so very different than both the boys. He was born fairly quickly and face down. I feel like I barely pushed and that he came out so easily. Curtis and Judah both were hours of pushing and face up so it was much more difficult with them. They immediately put him on my belly, I got to do skin to skin with him and he latched on within the first hour and nursed very well. As far as labor experiences go, this was my easiest, which I am so thankful for. I had been nervous about it, actually dreading labor and everything that comes with it and after it. But God met me in my dread and guided me through, showing me that he was in control and could easily work everything out. And now, we are a family of 5 with the sweet little boys. More will come in a few days on how this first week at home has been, but for now, we are good, exhausted, but good and very happy to have Jacob finally here with our little family. 

I am so thankful for everyone involved the night Jacob was born. God had a perfect plan of how it was suppose to go. He put us here in Lincolnton with a friend who, being 9 months pregnant herself, was willing to come at anytime to stay with the boys. If not for Ashley, I might have had to drive to the hospital myself while Isaac waited for mom and dad. Brenna gave up a night of sleep and drove an hour and a half to be with us, support us and help us through the night. She held my hand during contractions and horrible IV attempts while Isaac was comforting our sick child. She entertained us with stories and brought me breakfast after Jacob was born. I am so thankful for such a good friends. And Mom and Dad drove 2 hours in the middle of the night to wake up at 0630 with 2 little boys so Isaac could be with me at the hospital. I am so thankful for all their help and their love for our little boys. I know it's a cliche, but we are so incredibly blessed and I am very thankful for how God orchestrated everything so perfectly. 

Here's a few of my favorite pictures from our time in the hospital:

The boys have been so excited to meet Jacob and could not wait to come to the hospital. Both wanted so badly to hold him and still do. They were so cute with him!

 Mom and dad came down to stay a few days and brought the boys to the hospital to meet Jacob

My sweet little one, I love that face

 This man I love, such an amazing man, and a wonderful dad. Everytime I see him with our boys, I fall more and more in love with him.

 Jonathan, Melissa and the girls came down to meet Jacob. Sadly, I didn't get a picture of Melissa who is the baby whisperer, but I did get cute pictures of the girls. They were excited to meet their new cousin.

 I rarely have pictures of me with the kids, but I was excited to get this one. This was right before going home, very excited to not be in the hospital anymore.

 He is not a fan of being changed, but quiets down as soon as he's wrapped back up and swaddled.