Leading Up to 4 Months

Well I am a horrible blogger-- that being said here it what has been doing on in the Hayford household these days. 

Last time I posted Samuel was starting to sit up and he had just gotten baptized. Since then Samuel and I celebrated my first Mother's Day! It was so nice- Brandon let me sleep in and he then went got my breakfast. Then I got a very sweet card from both my boys and then I deep cleaned the house in attempt to clean up the dog hair and dander since it has been bothering Samuel a bit. I deep cleaned the carpet and after I was done with that we went to Sears to let Brandon use some of his gift cards that he has been keeping since last Christmas.

Mother's Day 2014

Samuel is now 4 months old and he LOVES to sit up. He honestly doesn't really like sitting back like a baby unless he is tired and getting a bottle. 

Enjoying his new chair from Mommy and Daddy

Samuel for his 4 month photo

At our 4 month check up Samuel weighted in at 17 pounds and measured at 24 inches long! I can't believe how fast he is growing. We also got the green light from his pediatrician to start giving him rice cereal 2-3 times a day! As soon as he has cereal 3 times a day and is still have good bowel movements we can start on vegetables-- I really can't believe my little baby is already big enough for that!

Samuel trying Rice Cereal for the first time

Other than preparing to make my own baby food, we have just been going to family birthday parties and get togethers. Samuel has also started teething so he is constantly chewing on everything and he has been talking up a storm! Its so cute to ask him questions and he responds (I think!) 

Hammock time with Daddy

Teething on Daddy's Hat

Smile!

We also had our first time in a Swing! 

All in all he is a very happy little man and he is just the sweetest. He loves to chew and play in his exersaucer and play with mommy and daddy. 

Until next time!

Just a Little Update

Holy blog fail! So I did not realize it has been MONTHS (geez!) since I made a post! BAD MOM! But now that I have a spare few moments I wanted to give you all an update on what has been going on with our little family since my last post. 

Samuel at One Month

Samuel is now 3 months old and is beginning to get a little personality on him :) its so cute to watch him smile and laugh when you pick him up and another blessing seems to be that he is always in a good mood! 

Always Smiling

He is now trying to sit up as best he can, and he definitely has more head control now so we have been trying out a few of our other toys and sitting apparatuses (ie.i bumbo and exersaucer) to see how he does with that as well.

Another milestone we have reached is Samuel's first Easter holiday! This year was a bit busier than other and since we have 3 sides of the family to see we tried to split it up during the week which made it less stressful for us. On Easter Sunday we spent the day at my moms with a lot of my family. Samuel was super well behaved and toward the end of our day we got a little fussy but we managed to get some cute bunny ears on him (Thanks Aunt Ashlee and Uncle TJ!)

Happy Easter 2014

Easter Sunday was also the first day we tried out our Bumbo

He seemed to like it quite a bit so he can sit up and look out at what mommy and daddy are looking at- he doesn't really think he's a baby most of the time. He is already trying to stand up when you hold him so I know it won't be long before he is all over the house.

Nap time with mommy

Mommy's Sweet Sweet Boy

Another big milestone is that on Sunday May 04, 2014 we had Samuel baptized at the First United Methodist Church of Pearland. This is extra special for me because this is the same church I was baptized in as a child, and of course I had a special outfit made for him.

Bowtie for the Ceremony

And removed for the party!

He was such a good boy! He didn't cry when they put the water on his head, he smiled the whole time and when the Reverend took him to show him to the congregation in the church he smiled and laughed! I was so proud! 

That is just a little update as to what has been going on with us in these last 2 months. Of course I am back at work and miss my little man every day and still call and check on him, however, it makes the time I get with him before and after day care that much more precious and the ladies at day care take really good care of him so I know he is in good hands.

I will do my best to try to post more frequently but until next time I hope you all have a wonderful day or days as it seems with me posting ;)

-Jenn

Life with a Newborn and Newborn Pictures

Well with it being my last week off before I head back to work and little man heads to daycare (TEAR!!) I have really be thinking about our last 6 weeks together. I never could have imagined that I could love someone like I do Samuel.

For the most part our days consist of eating, sleeping, diaper changes and playing- well I play with him and he mostly stares at me but I get a few laughs and smiles in there sometimes, but my favorite part of the whole day is when I get to feed him and he holds my hand and then I get to rock him to sleep and my son much like his mother is a snuggler. He like to get right up on the top of my shoulder and then snuggle into my neck and I swear to you there is nothing better than that feeling. 

Once Samuel was two weeks old we had two big milestones- first was our first real doctor appointment. Now that morning was a bit challenging because breast feeding wasn't going to well, Samuel is a bit of a biter and had literally destroyed my nipples. So every time he nursed I was in massive amounts of pain and of course he was feeling my frustration and I also hadn't started pumping yet and I really really didn't want to give him formula, but I actually had to break down and try to give him some so he wasn't starving and of course as luck would have it he wouldn't take a bottle either. Luckily my mom is on hand any time I have a question or need something so I called her and I was in tears and so was Samuel and being the awesome mom she is she turned around after she had just got to work, about 35 miles away, and came to my house to help me try to get him to take a bottle and also go with me to the doctor. 

The doctors appointment was ok for the most part, they had to prick Samuel's heel to get blood and he cried and so did I (thank you hormones!) and once that was done with the nurse the doctor came in and talked me off the breast feeding ledge and also helped me give baby man a few ounces of formula to get him satisfied and talked to me about breast feeding tips and gave me the nursery phone number for Clear Lake Regional to talk to the lactation specialists to get some help once my breasts healed and I could go back to nursing. Still so glad and thankful that we chose that pediatricians office! After the doctors appointment my mom took me to pick up some breakfast since little man was asleep then we went to buy buy baby to find some different bottles that hopefully Samuel would take, then it was back home for us and exclusively breast pumping until I was mended- I even squeezed in a doctors appointment for myself that day to get checked out thanks to my mom. I am honestly not sure what I would have done without her that day. 

Then we had newborn pictures the next day with the very talented Taryn Melgoza Photography. She was beyond amazing with our maternity pictures so naturally I wanted her to do Samuel's newborn photos. She took them in her home studio and wasn't afraid to get pooped and peed on, which was a good thing because it happened in the first 5 minutes once his diaper was off (Sorry Taryn!) but she was so great with him! She had tons of wraps, cute hats, and props for us to use and the proof is in the pictures!

Mommy and Samuel

Our First Family Portrait

Daddy and Samuel

Baby in a Box :)

One of my Favorite Pictures

I am trying to get better about posting more frequently- but I make no promises with a 6 week old :)

Have a blessed day!

The Delivery...Dun Dun Dunnnnn!

So as many of you readers can imagine my life has drastically changed in the last 6 weeks (12 if you count my last post), I am now a new mommy to our son Samuel. He is truly amazing! I never thought I would be in love with any one of any thing quite like this. 

Some (maybe not many) of you are wondering about delivery. Well I went into the doctor on February 5th, the day before I was 39 weeks, and I had started to get more swollen and my blood pressure seemed to be a bit elevated when the nurse checked me before we (my mom and I) went into the room to see my doctor. So when my doctor came in she looked at me and smiled real big and said, "So would we like be get induced tomorrow?! and all I could do was smile equally as big and say, "Seriously?! UM YES!" 

Once we had that decision squared away (imagine my moms face and excitement at this point) Dr. Ohlemacher went through everything I should expect to happen when inducing and that she would call and let the hospital know that I was a voluntary inducement and that they will get all of the priorities in first and then they will call me and let me know when to come in, but that I should call around 4 a.m. and check and make sure they couldn't take me then. So of course I was too anxious to sleep knowing that I was going to become a mom the next day (EEK!) so I got up at 3 a.m. and took a bath and got ready and put on some make up and called the hospital at 4 and of course they didn't want me to come in then but to call back around 7 a.m. if I hadn't heard from them yet. So, knowing I was going to be in for a long day I tried to go back to sleep even though that was the hardest thing ever, but around 6 the hospital called and the nurse let me know they were ready for me to head in and I told them we would be there in about an hour since we would for sure hit traffic. 

Once we got to the hospital it was SUPER easy, we checked in at the front desk because Brandon had to get a badge to let them know who he was and then it was up to Labor and Delivery for us! We were sent straight to the nurses station and then they walked us to our room and then it was time to change, answer questions from the nurse, sign consent forms, get my IV started, get hooked up to a fetal monitor and the next thing I knew my doctor was there to break my water and get the pitocin started. Now I have never really had anyone come at me with a crochet needle before (not really what they use obviously) but I was told to sit butterfly style, then lay back and pull my legs in toward me as much as I could- not such an easy task at 39 weeks I might add- and then she broke my water and the fun really began. 

I was somewhat trying to be hardcore (mostly thanks to Bri) and go for a little bit and experience contractions before I got the epidural but of course I am a baby when it comes to pain and so I made a deal with myself once the contractions really got started that I would try for one hour and then all bets were off I would get the drugs. I was having contractions every 2-3 minutes for about 45 second durations and let me tell you once that hour was up I was allllllll about the epidural! I never felt the needle go in or anything like that (THANK YOU LORD!) and once it was in and started I felt like a million bucks. I spent the next few hours just hanging out, taking a few cat naps, watching t.v., playing on my iPad- oh and eating popsicles!

My doctor would come in and check me every fews hours but around 4 in the afternoon I told my nurse that I was feeling a lot of pressure so she said she would call Dr. Ohlemacher and have her come check me again and at that time once she was there I was at 6 cm. Still had some time to wait, however, I asked my nurse to check me again about half and hour later and I was at 9 cm! Super exciting of course but then I also started to have chest pains and difficultly breathing- every one thought I was having a panic attack but come to find out I had an adverse reaction to my epidural due to having a narrow spinal column and it caused that as well as traumatic back pain. I even ended up having another little cocktail added to my epidural to help with that pain but no such luck. 

After all of that drama and pain it was time to start pushing- which seemed to come very quickly! I had Brandon holding one leg and foot, my nurse holding my other and my mom helping to push my forward on my back since I was in so much pain and could barely do it myself. I tried pushing for about 30 minutes when I asked my doctor if I could stop and please have a c-section but she told me that ship had sailed and I needed to commit to really pushing because she could see the top of his head and all of his hair!! So I really tried to give it my all and after about 4 or 5 big pushes HE WAS OUT!! He was born at 6:32 p.m. and he was 8 lb. 2 oz. and 21 inches long.

Now no one told me that babies are SUPER blue when they come out (call me silly) but I sort of freaked out but of course I had been through a hell of a delivery and it was a flood of emotions at this point so Samuel's nurse said, "Oh I got this, I can get him pinked up and get him crying for you mom." and she did just that. Once he was cleaned up a little and warmed up he was in my arms and I knew instantly that I loved him more than anything. 

We spent the next two hours or so in Labor and Delivery until our room in postpartum was ready and we had some of our family and friends come in a visit us. Once our room was ready we left L&D and went and got checked into our room and met our night nurses and once they left Brandon passed out and it was just me and Samuel and of course I was still on a high from just having a baby and so I sat there and just held him and looked at him while our nurses came in about every hour and checked on us. 

Nothing too scary or dramatic happened during delivery God Bless and we ended up with a perfect little boy to call our own. 

Mommy and Samuel

Baby Hayford: 36 Weeks

Baby Hayford Update: 36 Weeks

How far along?  36 weeks!! I cannot believe we are almost at the end :)

Total weight gain/loss?  At my doctors appointment last week I have gained about 20 pounds :) all healthy weight I'm sure.

Maternity clothes? Are definitely more comfortable now that I'm bigger and beginning to drop but I still rotate in a t shirt and sweats every now and then. 

Stretch marks? I do have one stretch mark across where my belly button ring was (I wish I could talk to my 16 year old self now and say don't do it) but still putting on lotion religiously and I have no added vitamin e oil for good measure. 

Sleep?  Still sleeping throughout the night (Whoo hoo!!) but now having more vivid dreams which have been both good and bad but I suppose that's always better than not sleeping. 

Best moment last week? One of the best moments last week was Brandon and I seeing him in his growths and measurement ultrasound-- he's roughly 5 pounds 9 ounces now and then we also found a end table for the nursery that we had been looking for and we're having a hard time finding. 

Movement?  He is still very active and definitely running out of room and moving lower which makes mom a little more uncomfortable for sure. 

Food cravings?  I haven't had much in the cravings department which I'm sure makes things easier for Brandon and Bri for lunches and dinner because then there is no one being picky :) 

Labor signs? I have had a few Braxton hicks again today but other than that no, but we toured the hospital and no what to look for and what to do if the time comes now. 

Belly button in/out? Still in! 

What I miss most? I still miss my old clothes as selfish as that sounds :/

What I am looking forward to: Finally being able to hold him and see him little face. Also, his awesome Aunt Bri is going to come over tomorrow and help me with my last decor project for the nursery and I also have 2 baby showers in the next two weeks!! I also get my super cute burp cloths this week!!

Milestones: I start my weekly appointments next week!! And finishing the nursery for his arrival of course :) 

Until next time,

Jenn and Samuel

XOXO

Baby Hayford: 34 Weeks

Baby Hayford Update: 34 Weeks

How far along?  34 weeks tomorrow!! Only 6 more to go!

Total weight gain/loss?  Well again I am really bad about weighing myself at home but I go to the doctor next week so I will find out then :)

Maternity clothes? Are beginning to be a must when we go out places but when I'm at home I pretty much wear sweatpants and Brandon's t-shirts and be very comfortable. 

Stretch marks? Dare I say still no (eek!) but I do put on lotion quite often and pray that I won't get them but we will have to wait and see how it all goes once I get even bigger and eventually deliver.

Sleep?  Sleeping has gotten a bit tricky these days. I wake pretty much every time I roll over but I still feel pretty rested when I wake up in the morning so I am counting that as a huge blessing in itself.

Best moment last week? The last two weeks have been crazy busy with Christmas and New Years holidays so there was a lot of running around but I would have to say the best moment of the week was getting his hospital bag packed and ready to go just in case he decides to make his entrance into the world sooner than expected. Next up is packing my bag! 

Movement?  He is still a very very active little boy all through out the day but get calm in the evenings or when Brandon puts his hands on my belly or starts talking to him-- I think we know who has a soothing power more than mom!

Food cravings?  Food cravings have been about the same- fruit and veggies are still pretty delicious to me but my new craving would have to be Dr. Pepper! I am trying to be good an resist but sometimes I cave and indulge in one.

Labor signs? I have had my first bout with Braxton hicks contractions- not so much fun but I know that we are inching our way to being closer and closer to the big show so it is nice to kind of get a little taste of what is to come and prepare myself. 

Belly button in/out? Still in! 

What I miss most? I sort of miss my old clothes :( and being able to stay awake longer than 9 p.m.

What I am looking forward to:  Getting closer and closer to seeing what he is going to look and being able to hold him!!

Milestones: Just getting to go to the next doctor appointment and see the progress he has made. 

Baby Hayford: Maternity Pictures

So on December 1st Brandon and I had the pleasure of working with Taryn Melgoza Photography to capture some beautiful maternity pictures before Samuel's arrival in February, and here are a few of my favorites.

We really had such a good time taking these pictures and we both really can't wait for this little one to make his appearance in early 2014!

Until my next post!

XOXO,

Jenn