Newborn Babyness

I love the newborn stage.  There is no doubt it is difficult with nursing every 3 hours, waking up several times a night, and trying to function with inadequate sleep during the day while you try to take care of the older children.  But even with all that, I can't get enough of my newborn.

They are so small and snuggly. I love it when Marco nuzzles into my neck.  I love his irregular breathing and sweet little squeeks and grunts.

I love it when he scrunches up into a little ball because it makes him seem smaller than he really is.  When he was 6 days old we had his newborn appointment with our pediatrician and he weighed in at 8lbs 3oz, this little guy is eating good and he has a bulgy, froggy belly to prove it!

It won't be long before he takes up more space on his changing table.  Babies grow way too fast.  So I'm going to soak in these newborn days while they last.

Nathan The Photographer

Every now and then Nathan goes on a picture taking spree.  He entertains himself for a good chunk of time taking random pictures of things around the house, he even took pictures of clouds in the sky through our front window.  He loves the pictures he takes and proudly shows each one to me as he scrolls through them on the camera.  A few days ago he had fun taking pictures of himself.

  

 

He was trying out different smiles.  What a cute kid!

To wrap up his photo session he wanted to take one with dear ol' Mom.  I'm glad he still thinks me picture worthy even when I haven't put on my makeup and look tired because I am now keeping a newborn schedule.

Snoozes and Snuggles

Sunday was a low key day, resting, enjoying the snow fall, and resting some more.  I love these pictures of Curtis asleep with the babies, I have one for each of our boys...

Marco...

Nathan....

& Bracken.

Newborns are exhausting for Papis too.

Nathan has really been enjoying baby Marco.  He likes to hold him and Nathan is very good about helping me with baby things like fetching diapers and such.

Winter's Last Stand

"Holy moly gosh, that's amazing!" were the first words out of Bracken's mouth when he looked out his bedroom window Sunday morning.  We have had a very warm and dry winter.  My boys were sad they didn't get their yearly snow play and sledding fix, and then out of the blue we have this crazy snow storm that made their day! After church they immediately changed clothes, bundled up, and headed outside.

Nathan wanted me to capture his super hero poses!

They made snow angels, threw snow balls and ran around crazy with delight.  Bracken decided he needed to taste the snow too.

When Curtis came home from his church meetings, he joined them out back and they made this 6 ft tall snowman.  Back in November I found some adorable snowman kits and we finally got to use them!

The snow kept coming down all day Sunday and into Monday which of course meant a snow day for us Arizonans.  Curtis took the boys sledding at a local hill all morning and then after lunch they headed out to Grandma and Grandpa Kleinman's house to catch some air on their hill.  They met up with their cousins and had a blast

Grandma fixed cocoa for the kids to help them warm up and Bracken used licorice for his straw.

And if 1 is good 3 are better, and he did try to use all 3 licorice straws at the same time.

Both boys were tuckered out after a full day of snow play.

First Bath

Saturday evening we gave Marco his first sponge bath at home.  At first he was cool with it, but once we started sponging him down he decided we were inflicting a cruel and unusual form of punishment

At least he smelled baby fresh again, and he slept well after the traumatizing experience.

Our New Arrival!

He's Here!!!!!!

Introducing....

Marco Finley Kleinman

3.14.2012

1:49 pm

7 lbs 13 oz

21 1/2 " long

The Story:

Wednesday morning at 5:30am Curtis and I headed to the Family Birthing Center for my scheduled induction.  They checked us in, got us settled into our birthing suite, and made me change into one of their very flattering hospital gowns.  Even though I finally tested negative for Group B Strep, they still wanted to give me the antibiotics just to be sure.  By 6 am I was hooked up to the IV and all the necessary fluids were pumping into my system.  At 7 am my first dose of antibiotics was gone so they started me on pitocin.  Within 30 minutes mild contractions started up, coming every 2-3 minutes.  For the next several hours Curtis and I tried to watch to TV but found nothing interesting or worthwhile, so he worked on his laptop and I read a book.  With all the fluids pumping through me I went to the bathroom about every hour.  I had a great nurse who increased my pitocin dosage in easy intervals so I hardly noticed my contractions picking up.     

At 11am my contractions were right on top of each other with little to no break in between and they were starting to get intense.  Curtis accompanied me on a walk around the birthing center, because I prefer to move through my contractions.  I was planning on heading back to my room and making use of the exercise ball for a while, when my nurse informed me the anesthesiologist  was in house and finishing up with another patient and would be available soon.  I decided to go ahead and get my epidural while he was there, no use making the guy come back later.  By noon my epidural was kicking in, my nurse examined me at this point and I was 5 cm.  For some reason my body doesn't cooperate with epidurals, because this one did the exact same thing as my other 2, all the meds start drifting down my right leg leaving the rest of me to feel everything going on.  Luckily it was enough to take the edge off; making my back labor bearable.  Within an hour my doctor came in, checked me and decided she had better stick around, I was getting very close.  I could feel the pressure building and I was starting to have the urge to push.  Thirty minutes later my nurse and doctor had everything set and ready to go.  I pushed once and baby's head came, he started crying before he was all the way out.  A second push and he was here!  It was by far my quickest and easiest labor, 2 1/2 hours of active labor with hardly any severe contractions, and 2 pushes to finish the job.

Marco is my biggest baby, beating Nathan by 2 oz and 1/2 an inch.   

They immediately put him in my arms which is my favorite part of the whole labor experience.  He was crying but once he grasped my finger with his tiny hands he settled down and gazed at me with his dark eyes.

After the nurse cleaned him up a bit, wrapped him in a blanket and put his blue hat on him I nursed him and he latched right on.  This little guy loves to suck.  In all of his ultrasound pictures his little fist is in his hand and the tech commented several times about his constant suckling.

After his first feeding (he sucked 30 minutes on each side) Curtis and I just sat there looking at him and he looked back at us.  He was alert for almost 3 hours after his birth before he started to doze.

For now everyone is agreed that Marco looks the most like newborn Bracken.

Our nurse got me all cleaned up and settled back in my bed then she gave Marco his first little bath.

He didn't care much for the bath, but he settled down once he was dry and lying on the warming table.

Once we were left to ourselves again to rest and relax I ordered me some food, a chefs salad and the works pizza.  It was a ton of food, but I downed it all much to the amazement of my nurse. 

Later that evening Grandma King brought Nathan and Bracken over to meet their new baby brother.  They were both twinkle eyed and excited to see him!

It's amazing to be the mother of 3 adorable boys!

After they boys left, Grandma and Grandpa Kleinman gave us a visit.  Once they left I fed Marco again, ate my second meal (turkey sandwich and onion rings) and then we all settled down for the night with our fingers crossed for a little rest.  Our new birthing center is wonderful, Curtis had an entire sofa/futon bed to sleep on complete with bed linens.  A huge improvement for him over the last 2 births.  Marco did really well through the night,  he woke up to feed every 2-3 hours and went right back to sleep except for his 11 pm feeding were all he wanted to do was suck and suck, so I woke Curtis up and he fished the chupi out of the diaper bag and that kept Marco busy till he fell asleep.

We were hoping to get discharged after our 24 hr mark and luckily all the doctors gave us the go ahead.  The day was busy with nurses, doctors and other important people coming in and out of our room making sure all the necessary paper work and check ups were taken care of so we could go home.  In all the hustle and bustle I was able to catch a shower, eat breakfast and later our special Celebrating Life Meal and nap for about 30 minutes.  But the craziness was well worth it when we changed out of our hospital garb and packed up our bags to head home at 4:30 in the afternoon.

It was great to arrive home to our sweet boys and enjoy a nice dinner all together.  So far Marco is a great baby, very calm and content.  He eats great which helps him sleep pretty good too.  Right now we are taking things easy adjusting to our new family dynamic.  I'm so blessed to have another healthy baby to love and tend.  It makes all the hard work well worth the sacrifice.

Last Fling As A Family Of 3

Tuesday evening we decided to take a little family outing knowing that Wednesday morning we were set for our induction.  Nathan has been nagging us to go shooting for the last couple of days, it was on his bucket list for Spring Break, so thats what we did.

Nathan loves to discover treasures at our shooting sites, really they are just other peoples casing left behind but things they are awesome.

Nathan tried his hardest to fing the clay pigeon from the thrower but he doesn't have the leverage necessary to dislodge it.  He gave it a valiant effort though.

Bracken wasn't interested in shooting this time, he just watched from a safe distance and munched on his chips.

Still tyring....

Eventually Curtis decided to be a one man show, throwing his own disc.  He was really good at it.  He only missed one disc, but we had to watch out for the launcher.  He would chuck it so fast to aim and shoot his gun that a few times it almost hit Bracken and myself over in our safe spot.

Nathan loves to shoot at targets, empty bottles, boxes and whatever else he can scrounge up.  He gets better everytime!  Eventually we ran out of daylight and had to call it quits but it was fine while it lasted.  As it grew chilly Bracken snuggled with me on my lap and the thought crossed my mind that this was the last evening that he would be my baby, because if all goes well tomorrow he'll be a new big brother.  It was a sweet moment and I enjoyed it while I could.