Church Time

We took Brennan to church today! He was such a good baby. He slept the whole time and only made a couple of squeaky noises. He sure was the center of attention and everyone loved him!

Here's a family pic!

For My Daddy

My dad really isn't much of a computer person. However, mom told me that since Brennan was born my dad gets on the blog every morning to check for pictures. So, here are some pictures for my daddy.

Squeeze please!


Such a handsome boy!


"No more pictures, mom!"

Friday's Fab Five

It feels like I just did a Fab Five post!

I guess time flies when you're having fun and boy oh boy am I having fun with my little man!

Here is some fabulousness happening around here lately!

1. My mom and and sister and here! I picked them up from the airport yesterday. It is so nice to visit with family and to have help with the baby!

2. The car ride to the airport was my first solo car trip with Brennan. It went great! He slept the whole way there and back. We stopped at Chili's for lunch on the way home and I was able to feed him there and then he got to be held by his Auntie Lauren and Ga-Ga.
In fact, he is just a super baby all the way around. He is sleeping in his crib now and doing great! Last night he ate at 7:30, was asleep by 8:15 and stayed asleep until 12:30. Then he was back to sleep by 1:15 and slept until 4:30! He was back to sleep by 5 and slept until a little after 8! Such a good baby!

3. Brennan went to the doctor for his 2-week well baby check today. He weighed 8lbs 13oz, so he's almost back to his birth weight of 8lbs 15oz! The doctor was very happy with his progress, so that was great news! It was also great to have my mom and sis there to help; especially since I left my military ID in the car and mom went back out in the snow and wind to grab it for me.

4. Ringo is being such a wonderful dog! He had already adjusted pretty well to the baby, but I was worried about how he would do with my family here. He is great! He was only hyper for a few minutes and now he is listening so well and just laying on the couch not bothering anyone.

5. We are going to church this Sunday! I can't wait! I'm excited to be back at church and equally excited to show off my baby! I'm also thinking I'm ready to start praise team practice again. I have only missed a couple of weeks, but can't wait to be back! We made it to OCF this past Wednesday and that was great. It is nice to get of the house some!

Our First Kids!

The cats looked so cute today watching out the door. They have been super with the baby so far. They pretty much stay away from him.



Here are few more pics Kyle took the other day. We don't want the pets to feel left out of our many photo shoots!

Mr. Bear

Take a look at a little sneak peek of our photo shoot with Becky Anderson. More to come soon!

Friday's Fab Five

Wow! What a fabulous week! Here are a few highlights.



1. Bringing baby home-
It was a little scary getting ready to leave the hospital on Saturday. There were lots of questions going through my mind. Will I know what to do? Will he cry all the time? However, once we got home everything seemed to just fall into place. It has been completely wonderful; better than I could've ever imagined!

2. Food from friends-
I have known for a long time that we have amazing friends here in CT. This was proven yet again this week. Our friends Eric and Christie were nice enough to organize meals for us. Each night since we've been home, a different couple from our church has provided dinner for us. It arrives at our house ready to eat! It has certainly made our life easier. It is such a blessing to have caring and thoughtful people in our lives.

3. Paternity leave-
Through the Navy, Kyle was able to take 10 days of paternity leave. His first day back to work is Tuesday. Having him at home has been wonderful. He is a very hands-on dad. He's great at changing diapers! I am able to take naps without worrying about Brennan. Kyle is constantly praising my skills as a mom, which is a great confidence booster. We are really working well as a team. I feel more in love with than ever before.

4. Nursing-
Brennan had difficulty nursing at the hospital. The nurses and lactation consultant were great, but I was still very nervous about having to do it on my own at home. Since being home, he has been doing great with nursing. Each day seems to get a little better. I love watching him eat. He puts his hands on his face and looks so peaceful. I love listening to the sound. It makes me feel so good that I am able to give him all the nourishment he needs.

5. Gaining weight-
While I am concerned about losing my baby weight, Brennan needs to put on weight. Probably due to his difficulty nursing at the beginning, Brennan's weight dropped a little further below his discharge weight when we took him to the doctor on Wednesday. We were asked to bring him back in for a weight check today and he had gained weight! We are praying he continues to gain weight now that he is successfully nursing!

One Week Old!

Today Brennan is one week old! It's hard to believe that seven days have already gone by. Here are some pictures of our precious baby boy.

My mom surprised me by shipping my favorite giraffe from back home. The giraffe was a birthday present the summer before my senior year of high school. When I found out I was having a baby, I knew I wanted the giraffe in the nursery, but didn't know how we'd ever get it here. I might've shrieked with excitement when I opened the huge box and saw it in there. Not only does it fit great with the nursery decor, but I wanted to use it to document Brennan's growth each month.

Here is Brennan with the giraffe at one-week!


Happy one week birthday, baby!


What a cutie!


His feet say, "Later Gator," but it was hard to get the whole thing in the picture.

Burping is Such Hard Work

I was trying to burp him after a feeding and he just couldn't stay awake any longer!

Bath Time!

I am little obsessed with taking pictures right now.

He did very well during his first sponge bath. About 10 minutes after this bath, he filled his diaper. Go figure.

Baby Boy

So, it's official! I am in love!

He is so stinkin' cute!


This face is just hilarious.


Trying some tummy time.


Here are some things we already know about Brennan:

• He is a tongue thruster.
• He likes his bouncy seat.
• He likes his swing.
• He loves to be swaddled.
• He likes to suck on his hands.

Baby Brennan

As I am sure all of you know, Baby Brennan James made his arrival at 9:26pm on Thursday, February 11th. He weighed 8lbs. 15 oz. (only one oz. from being a 9lb. baby!!!) and was 19.5 inches long.

Here is a recap of our last few days.

Thursday morning I woke up thinking my water might have broken. I completely felt like "that woman" because I had already been to the hospital Tuesday night and was sent home and now I wasn't sure if my water had broken or not. Of course I googled facts about water breaking and laid down for half an hour to see if when I stood up there was any additional leakage. I felt like there was, so I called my doctor. She asked me to come into the office after lunch so she could do a labor check. Kyle came home and we got to the office just after 1:30pm. My water hadn't broken, but I had made some progress since Tuesday night because I was dilated 2 cm. I was also having pretty intense contractions every 2-3 minutes at this point. She asked me to come back around 3:30 to check my progress again, so we went home and came back. At that visit, I was dilated 3 cm. and my contractions were really starting to hurt. We were told to go to the hospital!

We checked into our room at 4:15pm and everything else went very quickly. I was able to breathe through my contractions even though they were painful. I quickly progressed to 4 cm. and decided a little after that check that I was ready for an epidural. I was hesitant because I didn't want it to slow down my labor or make it more difficult to push. When I got my epidural, I was 7 cm. and the nurses were very impressed that I made it that far without drugs. The epidural was wonderful and it didn't slow down my labor at all! My contractions were super strong and close together, but I barely felt any of them. At 8:50pm it was time to start pushing. I was still able to push really well even with the epidural. Just a short 36 minutes later, Brennan was here!

The rest of that night is pretty much a blur. They put Brennan straight on my chest and Kyle cut his umbilical cord. Kyle took lots of pictures while they were doing Brennan's stats and bath. He nursed several times that night with some difficulty, but the nurses were a great help. Kyle went home Thursday night to take care of the pets and I didn't get much sleep.

Friday, Brennan got circumcised and had a hearing test done. He was very stubborn about nursing after that and we ended up having to give him a little formula. Then we were blessed to have a new nurse come on duty, Mel. She was awesome and Brennan picked right back up on the nursing thing with her help. Our preacher and one of his daughters came to visit and later Eric and Christie visited. The babies typically just stay in the room with the mom's at the hospital, but you can have them go to the nursery. Since nursing had been frustrating, I decided I need a better night's sleep, so I sent him to the nursery Friday night. They brought him in 2 times to nurse through the night and he did great. Then he came back at 6am for good. They did some labs overnight on Friday and thought Brennan looked a little jaundice. They would have to take more blood Saturday afternoon before discharging us.

Today has been a great day. Brennan nursed well each time (although he is a very sleepy nurser). His blood test came back fine, so we were able to be discharged. We have had a great night so far at home. Thanks for dinner Eric and Christie! We will see how the overnight goes!

We feel very blessed with our new baby boy! We thank everyone for their prayers and support and can't wait to show him off. Enjoy these pictures!

He's here!


Life is rough!


Family of three!


So handsome!


First hair wash!


First bath!


Mom and baby!


Pucker up!


Ready to go home!


We are home!

The Doc's News

As I sit here at the kitchen table contemplating taking a walk because it is so beautiful and sunny, I am thinking to myself, "Wouldn't today be a perfect day to have a baby?" Then I quickly realize that the chances of Brennan arriving on a beautiful, sunny day are probably very slim; especially with a blizzard in the forecast for tomorrow. Last I checked they were saying 8-12 inches. My doctor said 15 inches and the doctor's office is already closed for tomorrow simply based on the forecast. I will just keep trying to wait patiently.

My doctor's visit went well today. I got to sit in a leather recliner for about 20 minutes for my non-stress test. It was pretty cool because I got to hear the baby's heartbeat that whole time. Brennan cooperated very well and they saw two spikes in his heart rate just like they needed to see.

We then moved across the hall and the doctor checked my cervix. I was actually really excited about being checked because I hadn't been checked up to this point and was just curious to know if I was progressing at all. The doctor didn't use a lot of numbers, but did say:

• the baby is very low
• my cervix is very thin
• I am dilated 1 cm.

She predicts that labor will go quickly based on the first 2 stats once I start really having regular contractions. So that is good news. She actually had a hard time finding my cervix and once she did said it was very posterior. Based on all the stats she said labor could start today or in a week (same ole story). Hopefully I will NOT make it to my next appointment next Tuesday!

So, that's the scoop for now. I'll be sure to keep everyone updated!