Cash's Birth Story: Part One

The day before my scheduled c-section was spent hanging out with my two boys. We went to Walmart and stocked up on easy to prepare foods for the boys to eat during the week I would be in the hospital. It was a cart full of man food, I joked. Then, we headed to Hardee's for supper so that Morgan could play in the play place - something that has recently been a life saver as he's quickly outgrowing our apartment and needs somewhere to run around and play during these long, frigid winter days. We ended the evening cuddling on the couch as we picked up where we had left off on Season 3 of "Big Bang" as Morgan calls it (aka The Big Bang Theory). 

I spent the day trying to keep my mind busy while soaking up our last day as three, but all day I felt that sweet anticipation as my mind wandered to the excitement the next day would hold. I topped the night off with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, washed down with lots of water and Tums - anticipating my not being able to eat again for far too many hours for a pregnant woman to fathom. 

I hardly could sleep that night. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve, but even more anxious because I was getting a present the next morning far greater than anything I have ever found under the tree. From about 2:30am on I dozed off and on, but couldn't fall fully back asleep...I kept checking the clock. Our alarm was set for 4:15am, as we had to be at the hospital at 5:30am, but I decided to get out of bed and start getting ready at 4:00am because I just couldn't lay there a moment longer. 

We drove to the hospital filled with excitement. The thermometer on the dash read -8 degrees. We joked about how this little guy would be born on the coldest day of the year {thus far} and how his brother was born on one of the hottest days.

We checked in at hospital registration and sat there in nervous quiet as the lady checked us in. We headed upstairs and right away got to business. I barely had set foot in the room before the nurse was handing me a gown and ushering me in the bathroom to strip down to nothing. What's that they say again about having a baby and modesty? From there it was all IV's, wristbands, and checking in on baby's heartbeat. 

The anesthesiologist came in to talk to us and the nerves really started to kick in as I remembered my last experience with an epidural. I was reminded that while I was here to have a baby, I was also having major surgery - a scary thought that I kept pushing to the back of my mind. After the anesthesiologist left, my OB popped in for any last minute questions. She told me that we would be heading back between 7:15am and 7:30am and that we should have a baby by 7:40am. 

I spent those last few minutes on my phone, texting Mom and my two best friends. 

Then, it was go time. I kissed Frank good-bye. We'd only be apart for minutes while he waited for them to get the spinal in and get me draped but it seemed like an eternity. Once they brought Frank back everything moved very fast and before I knew it my OB was telling me that she could see his head and it was full of hair. Soon we heard those first beautiful cries and she held him up quickly above the drapes so we could get our first glance at our little boy.  "He looks like Morgan", she said. Tears flooded my eyes and Frank brushed them from my cheeks.

A few minutes later...that again felt like an eternity, they brought him up by my head so that we could get a slightly longer look at him. Tears again flooded my eyes and I just kept saying "He looks just like Morgan". Then, Frank headed back to the nursery with our sweet baby boy while they finished up with me. I waited, not so patiently, for the call from the nursery: "7lbs 11oz, 20 inches!". "Bigger than we thought!" says my doctor.

After, they wheeled me over to recovery where I chit chatted with the nurse and watched the clock. "When will they bring him back to me?" I asked. She called down again to the nursery to tell them we were ready when they were. 

When they finally wheeled him in I got to hold him for the first time and kiss his sweet cheeks. Before we even headed back to our room I was able to get him to the breast - something that made me so happy - we were already off to a better start than with Morgan.

Once they wheeled us back to the room Frank texted my parents and gave them the go ahead to head up with Morgan to meet his little brother Cash Mason...

project 365: days 15 - 21 of loveliness

day 15: snack time. sweet tooth and nothing sweet in the house = cheerios + chocolate chips, it is!
 

day 16:  our soon to be forever home. i just love those two little words: "sale pending".

day 17: my new favorite place to be after the little one goes to bed, tucked in with my ipad on my google reader + me nestled in between a gazillion pillows. 

day 18: this is his orange eating face. 
 

day 19: my 38+ week bump.

day 20: my main squeeze turned the big 3-2.  he will now forever share his birthday week with his youngest :)

day 21: morgan's napping. the clock is ticking by slooowly. I know! I'll bake a cake in honor of tomorrow's birthday boy!

be prepared for baby overload in next weeks batch. 

i'm guessing 7/7 will be filled with squishy, newborn (+ big brother) goodness.

xoxo,

Ashley

baby's corner

Right now we are living in a 2 bedroom apartment which means this little one does not have his own room, but rather a designated corner of our room.

This isn't a big deal because a. he'll be sleeping in our room for a while anyways and b. we're moving into our first home {!!} 3 weeks after he's born. 

You'd think that knowing all of this I wouldn't have felt the need to set up his own little space, but nesting got the best of me and I just NEEDED him to have his own semi finished space to come home to. 

I was going to hang more on the wall, but decided it was pointless since it would be coming down in a matter of weeks anyways. So, the only art is a cute little printable hung up with a vintage pants hanger that I found on Pinterest and colored in the other day.

Here's our little guys corner:

The mint green color scheme I seem to have going on just came about naturally. It all started with the little trunk that I bought about a year ago for something like 5 bucks from Goodwill. We randomly pushed it in the corner one day and I decided I liked it there and that it was perfect for storing extra baby stuff we won't need right away. The crocheted throw I picked up from St. Vinny's for 3 bucks, and the wet bag for dirty cloth diapers hanging on the dresser is from when Morgan was a baby and just happened to tie in with the mint green color scheme.

All that's missing now is a sweet baby to lay in that crib!

xoxo,

Ashley

thirty-eight....a little late

Well, this will be my last weekly/biweekly pregnancy update. 

It feels so surreal to type that. 

You spend your whole pregnancy counting down to a certain date...the days waiting on your little babe pass slowly, but the weeks fly by and then before you know it you get to the point where the milk in your fridge expires after your due date and suddenly everything seems so real.  

Now, here I am at just over 38 weeks. I feel ready. I feel like we're as prepared as we're going to be for baby #2 to enter our world. I feel like I've soaked up as much time as I can enjoying our simple life as a family of three {imagine that, calling life with a toddler simple, ha!}. 

I just want to hold my baby boy. And smell him. And kiss his sweet head. And see him in his daddy's arms. And see he and big brother meet for the first time. 

2 full days to go. Let's do this. 

Pregnancy: 38 weeks 

 

How big is baby?: Belly is still measuring 2 weeks "behind". We're thinking 6.5 to 7 lb range.

Heartbeat: 168 bpm at my LAST prenatal appointment Thursday.

Sleep: This past week it has not been great. A combo of my mind that won't quit + my bladder + an aching back + heartburn, does not for a good nights sleep make. Still, I know it's amazing compared to what we're in for in the coming weeks :)

Feeling: The past few weeks I've been feeling pretty great...the past couple of days not so much. I don't know if its pregnancy related or if I caught a little bug, but I've not been feeling too hot. 

Movement: It's slowed a little again, but he's still an active guy.

 

Belly: He's still sitting pretty low. Like I said above, it is smaller than I was with Morgan and Im still measuring 2 weeks "behind". We're just expecting a smaller little guy this time around {trust me, it's not for lack of eating on my part ;) }.

Countdown to baby: 2 days. TWO.

xoxo,

Ashley

project 365: days 8 - 14 of loveliness

day 8: tiny little baby boots 

 

day 9: he loves the chalkboard almost as much as his mama. 

almost.

day 10: practicing his big bro skills

 

day 11: bath time + story time

 

 day 12: cuddling on the couch. look at that sweet profile!

 day 13: we tried.

day 14: he loves to lounge in the tub these days.

also, this might be one of my new favorite pics.

days 1-7 here

xoxo,

Ashley

thirty-seven

Pregnancy: 37 weeks

How big is baby?: Well, I'm measuring small and weight gain has halted over the past month, so my OB is guessing that this little guy is going to be a smaller baby than Morgan. She's guessing between 6.5 and 7 lbs.

Heartbeat: 158 bpm today.

Sleep: I'm not complaining. I've been savoring these last few weeks of uninterrupted sleep because I know night time's about to get hoppin' up in here soon!

Feeling: Good. Just ready. So. Ready.

Movement: He's an active little guy still. The other day I was kicked back on the couch with a small bowl of oreos sitting on my belly when the bowl started to bounce up in down from all his activity in there. It was a hilarious moment. There were some serious pregnancy cliche's going on there. I even took video of it on my cellphone, but think that might be too weird to share?

 

Belly: He's still sitting pretty low. Like I said above, it hasn't gotten much bigger over the past few weeks. I'm thinking he's ready to come out and meet the world! :)

Countdown to baby: 12 days. We're not talking weeks anymore people. Days.

xoxo,

Ashley

boxes

Our new infant car seat arrived yesterday {we had to order a new one due to poor planning in storage on our part}, and I was totally reminded of a Jerry Seinfeld monologue when I later found myself examining the box it came in and thinking to myself how perfect it will be for packing.

Here's the quote if you're looking for a good laugh {and a link to the video clip below}: 


Jerry: When You're moving your whole world becomes boxes. That's all you think about is boxes. Boxes, where are there boxes? You just wander down the street going in and out of stores. Are there boxes here? Have you seen any boxes? I mean it's all you think about. You can't even talk to people because you can't concentrate. Shut up I'm looking for boxes. Just after a while you become like really into it you can smell them. You walk into a store. There's boxes here. Don't tell me you don't have boxes. Dammit, I can SMELL them. I'm like I'm obsessed. I love the smell of cardboard in the morning. You could be at a funeral. Everyone's mourning crying around, and your looking at the casket. That's a nice box Does anyone know where that guy got that box? When he's done with it do you think I could get that? it's got some nice handles on it. And that's what death is really. It's the last big move of your life. The hearse is like the van. The pale bearers are your close friends the only ones you could ask to help you with a big move like that. and the casket is that great perfect box you've been waiting for your whole life The only problem is, once you find it you're in it. 

Video

xoxo,

Ashley

toes

This one time when I was 36 weeks pregnant I decided it would be a good idea to paint my toes.

It actually wasn't as hard as one would expect thanks to some innovation on my part that may or may not have included the use of an exercise ball. 

Regardless, I'm still counting it as exercise. 

I mean I did use my exercise ball and all.

xoxo,

Ashley

project 365: days 1-7 of loveliness

day 1: enjoying hydration via mason jar thanks to my cuppow

day 2: morgan took a nearly 4 (yes FOUR) hour nap. 

we snuck in to check on him and found him snuggled up like this with his little feet poking out.

day 3: yogurt + honey + my beautiful mint green anthro bowl

day 4: he loves playing in the water. 

i love sitting in my old school desk and watching.

day 5: my mom bought little man these baby levi's. 

i cannot wait to see his little tush in these!

day 6: we went on a mini road trip with grandma. 

morgan got to try his first krispy kreme.

day 7: we collaborated on a picture this morning. 

morgan thought my cowboy needed a little more blue in his life.

xoxo,

Ashley

This past week has been wonderful. I had the week off so it was spent filled with lots of quality time with my boys and lots of baby prep. Luckily my nesting came back full force because a few weeks ago when my energy and motivation were at an all time low, I feared it wouldn't happen. Everything is ready for our little mans arrival, and I've moved on to cleaning and packing. Oh yea did I forget to mention we're moving just a few short weeks after little mans arrival? Yep, moving with a newborn, that's how we do it. So now we're slowing becoming surrounded by boxes and blank walls as I want to try to get as much done before he gets here because then I'll be recovering from my c-section and not able to move around quite the same for a few weeks {so not looking forward to recovery}.

We've been soaking up the short time we have left before our family of three becomes a family of four, and I think we've been enjoying it to it's fullest. In the morning it's just me and Morgan cuddled up on the couch watching morning cartoons. Morgan has been extra cuddly this past week - it's almost like he senses big change is coming too and he wants to soak up all the alone time he can with us too.  I've also been making it a point to be the one to give Morgan his bath {which is usually Frank's thing} and have really been enjoying that quiet time just me and him. Bath time is such a special time, perfect for reflection on my first born and imagining life with two little boys...there's usually a tear or two shed, yes. The evenings spent with Frank and Morgan have been wonderful too. There's been lots of cuddle time on the couch, and we've taken to putting Morgan to bed together...best 5 minutes of the day - he can be such a silly little thing when it's time to turn in. 

Every once in a while that feeling I wrote about here creeps in, but overall, I think we've lived these last few weeks to their fullest and really have enjoyed being just the three of us. Now, I just feel ready. Ready to see what my little man looks like, ready to smell him, ready to see him and Morgan together, ready to try breastfeeding again, ready to see what his temperament will be and how he'll compare to Morgan when he was a wee one. So much excitement and anticipation built up in my heart, it just might burst!

xoxo,

Ashley

bump progression

I had grand ideas of doing a bump pic every 2 weeks and in the same fashion so that they all looked alike and showed the progression of the pregnancy well, but real life got in the way and it just didn't happen. How do some women manage that? Super women, I tell ya. Regardless, I have quite a few photos to document the pregnancy, more than I did with Morgan - so that's an improvement! And, something tells me that my little boy will be happy with any pics of when he was in mama's belly.

Here they are:

 35 weeks

Looking back at the photos from the beginning of my pregnancy compared to the recent ones is kind of bittersweet. It's so fun to see how my belly has grown with my little one, but I also had just lost 20 lbs when I got pregnant, and now I've put those back on and then some. Here's to hoping this baby weight comes off quickly so that I can keep working towards my ultimate goal!

xoxo,

Ashley