Lots to share!

I know it's been ages since I've last posted, but a lot has been going on! I had a baby! Samuel Kelley Jones arrived on January 19, 2011 at 2:53 pm! Here's a pic of my slippery little fella making his big debut in the world!

Here's the abridged story of his arrival. I was induced on January 18th at 7pm. Things slowly progressed through the night with pitocin and an oh-so-incredible epidural. After 20 hours of labor and 1 hour of pushing, Sam just wasn't coming out. Apparently he was face up and also my contractions were too far apart to help move him down the birth canal. So, Dr. Missy and I decided that I should go in for a c-section. Everything went fine until after Sam was removed. My uterus basically turned to mush from being over-worked and I started to hemorrhage. I had what was called a "uterine atony" and I continued to bleed out for nearly an hour. Finally Dr. Missy got everything under control and sent me off to recovery for some rest and a blood transfusion. I hardly remember any of this because I was very heavily drugged. This is probably a good thing! What I do remember is seeing Sam for the first time...I was teary eyed and overjoyed! I also remember Brian holding my hand and supporting me through every single moment. He was amazing....IS amazing.

 

So back to Sam! He's the sweetest little boy ever! He was 7 lbs 14 oz at birth and never went below his birth weight! He has only been gaining ever since! He's now 8 weeks old and probably weighs nearly 12 1/2 lbs! Hefty little fella!  He's a very mellow baby.  He doesn't fuss unless he is hungry or wet.  When he's not sleeping he's just hanging out and studying the new world around him.  He's very strong and has huge hands!  My brother thinks Sam will grow up to be one of those guys that tears phone books in half.   The visual gave me a good laugh!  So as you can already see from my pics, Sam is adorable and perfect! 

Since Sam was a week old we've had him out and about everywhere we go!  We've taken him for sushi, Mexican, to the movies, the science center and most recently, to the St. Patrick's Day Parade...he's a man about town!

 

 

Sam is very much loved by his big brother, Jackson.  Jackson takes great care of him and is constantly loving on him.   Sometimes we have to remind Jackson not to give Sam tight "head hugs"!  It's really quite sweet how much Jackson adores his baby brother.  He loves to read to him and snuggle.  He always wants to hold him and kiss his "cute little head".  We are really lucky that he loves and cherishes his little bro so much!

  

I absolutely love being home to take care of the boys.  It's so great to see the changes that Sam goes through every single day.   I've taken at least a thousand pictures of him since he was born!  Jackson has been growing leaps and bounds this year and I think it's because he's a new big brother.  Lots of new responsibilities!  He's almost done with Kindergarten and anticipating summer vacation.  He has lots of bike riding to catch up on since he was cooped up all winter long.  Speaking of summer vacation, we booked our Second Annual Summer Vacation to Hilton Head, SC in July,  We're renting an adorable little house near the beach, pictured below.  Last year, Brian and I (along with Sam who was in utero!) came to HH for the first time and had such a lovely time that we knew we would go back again this year.  Jackson and Sam are going to have so much fun!  We can't wait! 

Now that we're a family of four, our cars are at max capacity.  Brian's car is big enough to comfortably fit all of us and our "stuff".   My car, however, is just too small for all of us to fit without someone being cramped.  Actually, I take that back.  It's only the person in the front passenger seat that is cramped.   We usually take my car on road trips because it's a luxury ride, but now we have to reconsider.  I rode shotgun for a mere 3 miles the other day and my knees where in my chest for the entire ride.  The front seat had to be moved all the way up to accommodate Sam's car seat behind it.  Ugh!  So uncomfortable!  So long story short...we're buying a new car this year.

There are 4 cars that I'm looking at and all of them are fairly expensive so to help supplement the payment I decided to take on a little side job selling Mary Kay Cosmetics.  I really love the products so I figured I'd give it a shot!

As you can tell, we've been quite the busy family these past few months!  I couldn't be happier because we are all happy and healthy and doing well!  Each day just keeps getting better and better!

Well on that note, I'm signing off.  Until next time...Love love love!