Georgia is 2 1/2!

Today our favorite girl is 2 1/2 years old. We literally blinked and this happened. Daddy is taking her on a daddy-daughter date tonight to celebrate the occasion. The date plan is to eat at a restaurant with macaroni and cheese per ggh's request, go shopping for a new outfit at one of our favorite stores and ice cream for dessert. She's had a rough week battling allergies (we assume that's what it is, she hasn't been tested) so I'm sure this will cheer her up.

Georgia-you are 2 1/2!

• You weigh 23-24 pounds, wear size 24 month clothes best and a size 6 1/2-7 shoe. Your 2 1/2 year checkup is scheduled for next week and I'm anxious to see how much you've grown in six months!
• Your favorite foods/drinks are baby corn, black olives, macaroni and cheese, any type of cheese, orange juice and pop pops (popsicles). Some days you are a big eater, some days you're not. It just depends on your mood. You do love to go out to restaurants.
• Your favorite things to play are baby dolls and kitchen. You like to pretend to take our orders, write them down on a pad of paper and then go get our food for us. You are always taking care of a baby and sticking them in Jack's baby equipment or wrapping them up in blankets. 

 

• Speaking of Jack, you became a big sister just a few weeks ago! You are in love with your baby brother. Every morning when you wake up you ask about him. You color pictures for him, hold him and give him lots of kisses. You were meant to be a big sister.
• You love going to preschool and learning. Every day you come home and tell me something new you have learned. You love seeing and playing with your friends and you wish everyday was a preschool day.
• You know your ABC's and can identify the letters, your birthday, your age and everyone's names in your family. Your vocabulary continues to impress us. You always speak in complete sentences and use expressive words.

• You are a healthy girl but most likely you are going to have seasonal allergies like your Daddy. For the past few season changes you develop a runny nose and this time it turned into a sinus infection. We hate that you will battle this but we are thankful that besides that you are happy and healthy.
• You continue to love to go places and be active. You would rather be anywhere but home ha! Your favorite places are AKK (Grandmomma's), church and the carousel at the mall.
• Your normal bedtime is 8:30-9 until 7 and you take a two hour nap during the day. We would like to get you in bed earlier because you are happier in the morning the longer you've slept but you are the queen of bedtime stalling :)

Your friend Erica's campfire birthday party the night mommy went into labor!

•  Even though you like to delay bedtime it is one of your favorite parts of the day. We have a routine- bath (if it's bath night), pj's, brush teeth, bedtime stories, prayer and bed. You love a good routine. Also, you are still sleeping in your crib. You have been an awesome crib sleeper since you were 12 weeks old and we are in no rush to transition you to a big girl bed.
• You have a huge heart and sometimes wear it on your sleeve. You still love to be carried in your hooded towel after bathtime and let us ooh and aah over the baby :) You also love to cuddle on the couch and be rocked occasionally. 
• You are a Daddy's girl. You love your Mommy but Daddy is your favorite person. I know you two will always have a close relationship and an inseparable bond.
  
  
  

  
  

Happy 2 1/2 years Georgia Grace! You make our days brighter and life more fun. Even though watching you grow from a baby to a toddler is hard in that we would love to keep you little forever, we're proud of you and wouldn't have it any other way. We love you so very much!

Love, Mommy

Hospital pictures

While we were at the hospital following Jack's arrival we took some pictures of memories we made during his first 48 hours. These are not professional, just us pointing our Canon 40D and clicking (and a few iPhone snapshots thrown in) but I know we will value them someday and hopefully Jack will enjoy seeing them too.

 

He's here!

Daddy pushing the button for brahms' lullaby to announce his arrival.

 

Just a few minutes old in Daddy's arms.

 

My two dear friends Marcie and Susan who helped me deliver both Georgia and Jack! They will always hold a special place in my heart.

Our healthy boy!

Weighing in

 

His newborn exam. He passed with flying colors.

 

His first footprint 

 

First bath 

 

His bassinet updated and ready for him. The sweet nurses know how much I love a monogram and made him a personalized hat!

I know I'm slightly biased but he takes cuteness to another level

 

He will hate me someday but I couldn't resist :)

 

 

Jack and his sister have the same little button nose

 And mommy's big lips

But he mostly looks like the Harrison side. His Daddy is sure proud!

 

Just a photo I snapped with my iPhone one night after a feeding. He's almost too pretty to be a boy :)

Squishy squishy rolls

 

 

 He was helping Susan check his vitals.

 

Long feet and toes

 

The proudest big sis!

Father and son. Marcus is the only grandson out of seven grandkids so it was up to us to pass on the Harrison name.

Mommy and baby.

He's going to be a momma's boy y'all I can just feel it.

 

 

 

As I've mentioned before this blog is my virtual family scrapbook so I want to document as much of these days as I can. These truly are the best days of our lives.

Newborn Days

It's been two weeks since we welcomed Jack into our family and we're slowly getting into a rhythm around here. Not every moment or day is easy but I know each rough patch is just a season and I will someday sleep longer than four hours at a time, develop a pumping schedule around naps and nursing, and learn how to perfect the swaddle :) You would think after two kids I would have that one down by now.

 

I'm enjoying my days at home so much. I have my daily chores that I do but I make sure they don't consume me and I get to cherish this time. I caught him in the middle of a sneeze one day. That's when you know your mommy takes lots of pictures :)

And just a shout out to whoever designed the side zip infant gown-thank you! I love gowns on newborns, especially until they lose their umbilical cord and this is so much easier than the tight elastic band bottom. 

Georgia Grace loves preschool and has requested to keep going while I'm home with the baby. We let her choose what she wanted to do so she doesn't feel like we're making her do anything she doesn't want to do. I'm hoping once Jack isn't so needy she will be ready to stay home with us this summer :)

 

Owen stays right by my side through the day. He helped me organize Georgia's clothes one afternoon so she will be ready for the warm days that are upon us. And Jack helped too if you can spot him :)

A mamaroo would be nice but our hand me down lamb cradle swing does the trick. We did purchase some new equipment like a carseat and bouncy seat since we wore Georgia's out but we are trying to reuse what we can. The joys of being a second child!

 

We really think a music career could be in her future. She loves to sing and can learn songs so quickly. And she has the sweetest little voice!

Yesterday Marcus purchased his very first lawnmower and gave it a trial run. He was a happy man. I hope his excitement for mowing 2+ acres carries on the whole season. 

It's birthday party season for this girl! She was invited to three yesterday but of course we couldn't make all of them so Daddy took her to her best bud Roman's first pow wow. She loves a good birthday party as much as anyone.

 

I stayed at home with Jack and Rachel sent me the video of Roman and his smash cake and you can hear Georgia in the background saying "Messy!" and "Wipe it off" ha! She's all girl.

 

Jack's nursery has an extra special touch thanks to his Aunt Paula who made this beautiful wreath to use at the hospital. I'm going to display until I need the diapers, it's just so cute!

It's been a fun second week at home. This coming week looks like we will have lots of sunshine and some more 70 degree days. I'm trying to decide which double stroller to get because strolling days are here. Happy Sunday!

Jack's Birth Story

I'm writing this birth story with a sleeping Jack on my chest and my ipad 2 and zagg keyboard on a pillow in my lap. I'm so thankful for new technology that allows me to do both at the same time. This is the best type of multitasking.

Saturday April 11th started like any ordinary day. We hadn't made any plans for the weekend since I was due on Sunday so when we were given a 75 degree, beautiful day we decided to spend some time outside playing with Georgia. Around 3-4 pm I started having faint contractions. Nothing alarming or painful but I could tell I felt different. I told Marcus that I felt like we would have a baby in the next 24 hours. Things got exciting then!

Since I had a feeling our night could be eventful, I decided to take a shower and get things squared away in case we were headed to the hospital. Georgia Grace had been invited to a birthday party that night so I called my mom who came over to give her a bath and get her party ready. I still felt ok but I had been too big to give her a tub bath for a couple weeks so my mom graciously came to help. What did Marcus do? He mowed :) Our yard needed it and since we could be gone for a few days and then be coming home with a newborn he thought he better squeeze it in.

My mother-in-law came and took Georgia Grace to the party for us. My contractions were about 10 minutes apart at this point so partying didn't seem like a wise choice. I'm so glad she filled in for me so GGH didn't have to miss her friend's birthday!

When Georgia got home around 8 pm, my contractions were closer together and I felt even stronger that this was the real thing. Our tentative plan if I were to go into labor was for GGH to stay with Grandmomma so we decided to go ahead and take her so we didn't have to wake her up in the middle of the night. This turned out to be a wise choice.

We came back home around 9 pm and my contractions were 6-7 minutes apart. We were told to head to the hospital when they were 4-5 minutes apart. At this point I was ready to get things moving so I started trying to induce labor on my own. I ate watermelon and pineapple, climbed our stairs several times, cleaned up the entire playroom and Marcus and I were walking our 1/10th mile long driveway at 2am :) By 3:30 am my contractions were 5 minutes apart so we gathered our things and headed to the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital, I registered in ER, was taken to the OB unit and hooked up to the monitors. I was already 5 cm and 80% upon arrival! They commended me for laboring as long as I did at home and I hoped that meant it would speed up the process.

The next few hours were pretty uneventful which included a lot of Q&As, needle sticks and such. Around 6-7 am I requested an epidural and shortly after that they broke my water. I had been progressing steadily all morning and was 7-8 cm at this point. Everything continued to go smoothly except I had one small bout of hypotension. Granted my normal BP is about 90/60 it still dropped lower than they were comfortable with to 80/45. At this point they increased my IV fluids and pulled out an O2 mask just in case. They said usually just having the mask readily available does the trick and sure enough my BP came back up in a few minutes.

Getting from 8 to 10 cm seemed to take the longest of the whole process and at this point my doctor said, "He's acting like he's going to be big" ha! He just wasn't descending very fast because it was such a tight squeeze for him. Around noon I was at 9 cm and my doctor encouraged me to lay and sit up in different positions to help move the baby myself to save me pushing time. So I gladly did it if meant potentially less pushing!

After about an hour of laying on my sides, sitting up like a frog, and bouncing I was at 10 cm and ready to push. I won't sugar coat it, the pushing part became pretty intense, much more so than my delivery of Georgia.  But I had the best group of nurses (two of them were with me with I delivered Georgia and will aways be dear friends!) and support team encouraging me and pushing with me every step of the way. After 22 minutes of exhausting pushes at 1:28 pm Jack Porter Harrison entered the world!

They placed him on my chest and the tears of joy started falling. Another miracle was safely in the world and in my arms! The ten month wait was over and I was finally meeting my son. I don't think there's another moment in the whole world that compares to seeing your child for the first time.

We immediately commented on his large size, how he had a ton of blonde hair and that he resembled his sister. He weighed in at 8 pounds and 15 ounces, measured 20 1/2 inches long with a 14 1/4 inch head and 14 inch chest. Supposedly those last two measurements are very large and explained his slow progress.

After they took his measurements they placed him back on my chest for skin-to-skin and to nurse for the first time. He immediately latched on and has been a champ eater ever since. This was another answered prayer.

Once all of that was complete family and friends that came to meet him on his birthday were allowed to come back and see him. The very first visitor of course was big sister Georgia Grace. She had waited patiently after hearing the lullaby that he was here and she was ready to meet him! I'll save those pictures and comments for another post. It was another moment that no other will ever compare to.

We were moved from our L&D room to our suite and began getting adjusted to our new surroundings and new person. Our whole stay at the hospital from start to finish was such a wonderful experience. Having worked there for three years I knew most of the nurses and doctors on a personal level and they really went above and beyond to make us as comfortable as possible. I was almost sad to go home because they had been so good to us and it was great seeing them all again.

Jack is now ten days old and he is a thriving little boy. He decided his due date was the perfect day to enter the world. He is our Masters Sunday baby :) (I've already thought what a cute birthday party theme that would be!) We are all doing well, especially big sister who loves her brother very much and has transitioned beautifully so far. I have recovered well and am feeling good despite being a little sleep deprived. Even though I had a bigger baby, the second time has been easier on me. We are just enjoying these newborn days and are so thankful God chose us to be Jack's parents! 

One Week New

Daddy went back to work today, we are on our own without my mom and mother-in-law staying with us and we are starting our new routine as a family of four this week. Having Marcus at home helping me the first week was so great. He helped in so many ways by keeping the house picked up, fixing food (food brought in by family and friends, we are so blessed!), laundry and so much more. I'm so glad he is who I get to experience life with. And having an extra pair of hands for a week at night was a big help too (thanks Mom, Shannon and Gram!). It takes a village!

I've started working on Jack's birth story and gathering our hospital pictures we took with our Canon. I hope to get both posts completed before the end of the month. But if I don't I'm giving myself some grace on that one :) Napping with a newborn is more important right now!

Here's a glimpse of what our first week has looked like-

We headed home with our newest family member on Tuesday. He slept the whole way and never made a peep, just like his sister did on her first car ride home. 

Both our babies loaded in their carseats ready to leave the hospital. I think you can definitely tell their siblings in this comparison.

Jack is home! And I should note our azalea bushes are blooming for our Masters Sunday baby :)

Can you spot Owen? He was a happy boy to have us home and loves his new brother. He has loved all the company we have had, maybe a little too much ha! He has a big heart and loves people, especially his people.

 

We have a lot of sleeping pictures because when he's awake he's mostly interested in one thing ha! He is trying to keep his healthy figure.

 

Georgia is continuing to transition well. She really loves her brother and hasn't shown any signs of jealousy yet. The only battle we've had is just being out of routine. She lives for routine just like her momma. We've all tried to do things to make her feel special this week. Since the weather has been nice, I've been taking her outside to play just me and her. It's good for both of us.
 

Saturday my friend Julia came over to take newborn pictures. She has photographed most of our biggest life milestones and I was glad she was available to capture this special time too.  It was a beautiful, perfect spring day and it went really well.
 

I'm so glad she was able to come to our house to take them. It was less stressful and I think we were able to add personal touches that you couldn't have captured in a studio. Georgia decided to turn the camera around on Julia :) I thought it was the sweetest!

 

Jack received his first piece of mail this week from my cousin Shelky in Tennessee. And big sis also received the sweetest coloring book that brought on the happy mommy tears. Thank you Shelky! We love them!

  

Just a little sneak peak from the newborn session because I'm too proud not to share. He was a good boy and was awake for some and asleep for some so we should have a good mix.

The Ross's also came over Saturday to visit and bring us supper. I can't believe these two are big enough to be sitting in barstools!

She was a little aggressive with her goodbye kiss but he didn't mind :)

And so it begins. Even with a big newborn eating every 1-2 hours I still have a surplus. But what a wonderful thing to have in abundance! I should have a good stockpile when we introduce breastmilk bottles.

 

Napping on daddy. We all took lots of naps this week and he is the best nap partner. 

 

Georgia decided to put on a fashion show for my mom and I one night. After she drug out every article of clothing in her drawers she said "these are all baby clothes" HA! I guess that's her way of asking for a new wardrobe.

 

We may have missed Easter but my two baby bunnies. Sibling pictures allow personalities to shine :) After the picture she said "He's heavy". We have a feeling he will pass her before too long.

My little butterball 

One week as a family of four and my biggest emotion is grateful. God has given us two of the best gifts in Georgia and Jack. My heart overflows!