Powerful Poop

It has been cool here in the mornings lately. This morning it was cool and breezy when I was wanting to take a walk. So...I dressed Brody in his sweatshirt and hat. He looked so cute & cuddley in this outfit! I'm excited for the cool weather to get here. Not much longer!
This afternoon I was changing Brody's wet diaper when he decided he needed to poop. Of course he didn't wait for me to get another diaper on. I caught part of it in the old diaper...but most of it squirted all over the changing table. There is major force behind a baby's BM! So I took him with me to the laundry room to wash out the changing table cover and fold a load of laundry. I put him down on the bean bag in the corner and within seconds he was out!

Even though he was sound asleep...he still had a very tight grip on his paci!
 

No longer a newborn

Brody has gone from a newborn to a little boy! Monday I changed his diaper before we left for the dr and his circumcision bell fell off! (I didn't take a picture...sorry!) Last night the last part of his newborness went away...the cord. It has been barely hanging on for days but the dr warned not to pull it off or it would bleed and we'd feel bad. I was laying on the couch and Mike was on the floor playing with Brody when suddenly Mike said, "YES!!!!" and held something up in the air. Somehow he'd played with the cord enough that he got it to come of (without bleeding). Here's a picture of the stump of the cord after it fell off...

Here's Brody without a cord on his belly!!! He took after both of us and has an inney (have you ever tried to spell that?!?!? Is it a real word?) belly button :)


Here's a picture Mike took of me and Brody. I was trying to keep Brody awake. I'm not as good at that job as Mike is. I tend to snooze when he lays his head down!
 

Dr Appointment

Yesterday was Brody's 2 week check-up. I was anxious to see how much weight he'd gained. He's such a fast eater (only eats for 8-15 minutes a feeding) and always spits up some afterwards. I was a little worried that he wasn't getting enough to eat. My worries were laid to rest at the appointment. When he was born Brody weighed 8 lbs 8 oz and was 21" long. Yesterday he weighed in at 9 lbs 14 oz and was 22" long! She told me that I didn't need to worry but should feel blessed that we have such an efficient eater!
After Mike finishes the yard I'll take a picture of it. Let's just say he's VERY excited about football season. The grass portion of the land in front of our house is HUGE. Mike calls it his football field. This week he has been marking it off and is in the process of mowing it like a football field (mowing 5 yards in one direction and then the next 5 yards in the opposite direction). Our siblings and their spouses are coming to visit this weekend and I think Mike is planning on a football game :)
 

Smile

I guess I'd call it more a grin than a smile. It's REALLY hard to catch Brody's smile on camera right now because it's so random! When he smiles big you can see cute little dimples. Yay! I just love dimples :) Last night Mike finally caught one of Brody's grins on camera. It was a good picture to have so that Mike could look back at it this morning at 4:30 am to remember that Brody is a sweet little boy. He decided to be really fussy during the night and Mike spent 2 hours sitting up with him trying to calm him down. I'm praying that tonight will not be a repeat since Mike has to go back to work tomorrow and needs some rest!  

Family Visit

After I feed Brody I don't just pat his back until I hear a burp...I pat it until he spits up a little. Yes...our baby is a spitter. We've already gotten a TON of use out of the burp rags we received as shower presents. The one below was from Suzanne. I'm thankful that breastmilk doesn't stain and VERY thankful for oxyclean!
Today Jim, Nancy, and Grandma Knowlton stopped by to see Brody. Here is a picture of 4 generations: Mike, Grandma Knowlton, Jim, & Brody.

Great-Grandma Knowlton was very excited to get to hold her first great-grandbaby!

Brody really wasn't a very good baby while they were visiting. In fact, he was fussy the whole hour they were here! Mike put him in his swing when they left and of course he feel right to sleep :)
 

First Walk

Today we tried out the jogging stroller that Jan & Julie gave us. You can recline the seat, put a head support in, and then it works just perfectly for Brody!
The whole family went on the 1.5 mile walk down the dirt road (Mike, Staci, Brody, Remington, & Trevor). The cats were the only ones that didn't want to go along ;)

I'm sure over the next few years that we'll put a lot of miles on this stroller! (Don't worry...we made sure he was not in the sun during our walk.)

Brody absolutely loves his Daddy. It was so cute when he laid on his chest and then wrapped his arms around Mike!

So far Brody has been a really good baby! He's going 3 hours between feeding during the day and 3-4 hours between feedings at night. He's also been doing really well at going right back to sleep after eating during the night! He is a fast eater which is wonderful for time purposes...but terrible on the laundry! When you eat fast you tend to spit up more. I'm just glad that it's spit up and not throw up! lol 

Naked Babies

Last night Mike learned an important lesson. Never leave a baby without a diaper on! He decided that Brody needed to "air out" and was holding him without a diaper on. I was in the bathroom when I heard Mike yell "NO!!!!" and saw him run with Brody towards the changing table. I guess Brody had started peeing while Mike held him on the couch. Mike then left Brody to go get the blanket off the couch and I heard an explosion! I asked Mike if he'd put a diaper on Brody yet and he said no! I just started laughing and told him I'd heard something in the bedroom. I hear Mike saying, "NO!!! What are you trying to do to Daddy?!?!?" LOL!!! Let's just say that Mike learned that babies need their diapers (and mommies need their oxy clean)! Brody intensely watching Mike as he talked to him.

Sleepy baby. He'd just had a bath, meal, and a clean diaper :)
There was no waking Brody up to get him to eat more. He was out!

 

Littles Come to Visit

Sunday night Julie and Malachi got here from Colorado. It has been fun getting to spend some time with them. Malachi thinks "Baby Brody" is fun to entertain. I think he wishes Brody would stay awake more and play with him!
Malachi also loves the kittens (Hank & Buster). They seem to like all the attention he gives them too!

I took this pictures of Brody early this morning after he finished eating.

Around lunch time Brody spent some time in his bouncer. He is starting to pay more attention to things around him and was reaching for the toys hanging down!

 

Saturday/Sunday

Saturday Mike and Dad spent the day working on the bathroom upstairs. By 4:00 it was time to make a run to Hutch to get more supplies. This meant we'd be in Hutch for dinner....and that means TACO BUENO!!! It was Brody's first visit to the legendary restaurant. He slept the whole time ;)




Dad spent some time playing the guitar for Brody while Mom held him.


During our trip to Lowes we let Brody try out the John Deere lawn mowers.

Today Brody went to church for the first time. Here's a picture of our family after church today.
Mike thinks that Brody is already working on football plays in his dreams :)

For Audria

Audria does this weird thing with her toes. She sits there and just flexes her big toe back. I know that Brody's only related to Audria thru marriage (not blood)...but somehow he got the toe thing from her!

Here are 2 pictures where you can see that he's sitting there with all his toes relaxed except for the big toe! 

First Outing/Birth Story

Last night we took a road trip to Hutch. Mike needed to go to Home Depot and Mom & I needed some stuff from Target & Wal-Mart. I think some people thought I was crazy when they asked how old Brody was and I replied with "2 days"! I guess they thought we should still be home in bed.

The picture below is for Mykeal & Angi. I know they took Adam to HD when he was just a few days old. Here's our picture with Brody at 2 days :)

I've had several people ask for the "birth story". Read at your own risk!
I woke up around 11:15 pm on Sunday night with contractions. I slept off an on until around 1:00 am. At that time I prayed asking God to let me know if this was it or not so I knew whether or not to go into work at 4:30 am. As I got up out of bed to start timing contractions my water broke. I knew then that I didn't need to go into work!

I called Debbie (the dr) and told her I was having trouble timing contractions b/c they seemed almost constant. She told me to go to the hospital when they were 5 minutes apart. By 4:00 am they were 3-5 minutes apart and I told Mike we better hurry. They were starting to get more painful! We stopped at Mike's office on the way to the hospital so he could grab his bag that he'd packed with clothes.

As we reached the Lyons city limits I suddenly felt nauseous. Within 5 seconds I was throwing up. Luckily I had a pillow in my lap (and only cantelope and water in my tummy!) This made the contractions even more intense! Mike began driving a little bit faster to get us to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 5:00 am. Mike parked around back and we went in the emergency room entrance. By this time my contractions were anywhere between 30 seconds to 2 minutes apart. When they checked me I was surprised to hear that I was only dialated to a 3! The contractions were so intense that within the next hour I was dialated to a 6.

Mike and I had decided beforehand that we wanted to do labor & delivery naturally. By 6 am I was begging Mike to let me have the drugs! LOL! The contractions were right on top of each other and so intense that I was wearing out quick! The anesthesiologist was in Wichita (1.5 hrs away) and the nurses told me that by the time he could get there it would be too late for me to get an epi. I decided to take some stadol. It didn't do anything to decrease the pain of the contractions, but it helped me to relax inbetween.

By 9:00 am I was dialated to a 10 and ready to push. After 1 hour and 16 minutes of the most excruciating pain of my entire life...our precious Brody Michael made his entrance into this world! 

Brody Has Arrived!

Brody Michael
Born August 14, 2006
10:16 am
8 pounds 8 ounces
21 inches long

more to come....I'm tired!

 

It's Time!!!!

This morning I woke up at 11:15 (I guess that was really last night) to contractions. They weren't very strong...but they were keeping me from sleeping. I got up a few times to go to the bathroom and at my 1:30 am potty break my water broke! I called my doctor at 1:40 am and we both got a laugh. She said that lately all the girls she'd been delivering had called her in the middle of the night because their water broke! I guess I'm just following suit ;)

I called Dad & Mom around 2:20 and it was the first time Mom has answered the phone lately without saying, "Is it time?!?!?". I guess calling in the middle of the night kinda threw her off. Before our 3 min. 40 sec. conversation was over....Dad was already out of bed and in the shower! Mom said her bag was already packed and ready to go :)

Hopefully sometime today we'll be holding our little baby boy in our arms!!!!
Here's the last belly picture. It was taken yesterday at 39 weeks 3 days pregnant