pumpkin patch

Ok, so I wrote this post before Blaire was born, and the actual trip was even before that, but I still think it is timely to see our pumpkin patch trip - and also totally appropriate to focus on Hendrix in the midst of the arrival of Blaire ;). Enjoy!!!

a couple weeks ago we went to the pumpkin patch with some friends and had a blast!  the weather was really mild still, and hendrix had fun running around with his special pal flora ;)

the tractor ride was definitely a big hit...

and he had fun running around picking his very own pumpkin.

while mommy was a little sad that she couldn't jump on the big orange pillow the the boys, it was fun to watch them stumble, trip and splat on the bouncy surface.  hendrix is a pro at jumping on the trampoline so he thought he knew what it was all about!

look at that air!

good think daddy doesn't mind being a little bit silly!

hendrix has learned that corn like this goes in silos and he likes to point that out on roadtrips through the countryside......he is gonna be my little farmer boy yet ;)

happy fall!

one week

my baby girl is a week old today, and i already can't remember what our family was like without her here.  she brings so much joy to each one of us, and it is just so precious to see more and more of her eyes each and every day.  she still sleeps a ton, but is starting to take in more of the world around her; and hendrix is doing his best to tell her about everything.

hendrix recently picked up on daddy calling blaire, sweetheart, and he has decided that is going to be his nickname for her too.  oh we still hear 'blaire' about a thousand times a day - usually in a sentence like, 'blaire, look'  'scuse you blaire (when she burps)', 'i love you, blaire', and 'drink milk, blaire?'

but now when she is laying in her bed, or when she is in my arms eating, he comes up to her and says 'hi sweetheart', and it just melts me.  sibling love is really the best!!

all her little features are so teeny tiny, and she fits just perfectly in her newborn sized clothing.....hendrix was swimming in newborn clothing for several weeks but i also remember that once they start growing it will continue rapidly!  in the meantime, i want to get as much mileage from those tiniest outfits as possible!

i have loved playing with bows and flowers, headbands and hats; and oddly enough hendrix is fascinated in all those accessories too.  he likes to help me pick them out for her, and i would be lying if i said that he hasn't wanted to try on a few of them.....maybe even a tutu and some leggings also.....

we love you, my little blaire!

linking up with: 

 

introducing blaire robyn baumgartner

our sweet daughter was born on saturday, october 6th at 9:45 a.m.

blaire robyn baumgartner

she weighed 7 pounds and is 20.5 inches long

she has very dark eyes, but very light hair, and is absolutely perfect!

so far everyone is telling us that she looks just like mama and her side of the family, but i see so many similar features to hendrix when he was just a wee newborn.  

she was born at exactly 37 weeks, which is just plain perfect as that was my target date.  i had been so fearful of an early arrival, and this was the goal by my doctor for optimal growth and development, and blaire did a beautiful job of listening and being patient!

she was able to snuggle skin to skin with mama immediately, meet her big brother when she was less than an hour old, and room in my room the entire short two-day hospital stay.  it was the most different experience from my delivery of hendrix, and i couldn't be more thankful for how special and awesome it was!

her birth story is pretty short and sweet.....

i woke up to my water breaking at 4:15 a.m.  contractions got regular and strong pretty quickly.  we called my mom and told her it was time to come and stay with hendrix......

i hopped in the shower and did some last minute toiletries packing having to stop every couple minutes and breathe.  the contractions got really intense really quickly, and i labored at home bouncing on hendrix's toy beach ball as if it was a birthing ball, until my mom got to our house.  we then left immediately and got to the hospital at about 7:30 a.m.  we went in through the ER entrance, and i had to ride up to the birthways floor in a wheelchair as i just couldn't walk through the contractions anymore. 

my contractions were less than three minutes apart, and they got me set up in a room immediately to find that i was already dilated to a 6.  the doc on duty came in and said hi briefly, i got going on the birthing ball again, and before i knew it i was feeling kinda 'pushy'.

i got in the bed and pushed for about 30 minutes and my baby girl was in my arms before i had even been at the hospital for two and a half hours.  

it was perfect. 

i got my natural birth just the way i wanted it, and it went very quickly!

we are home and happily adjusting to life as a family of four!

hendrix adores his role as big brother, and wants to see, talk to, and touch blaire all. the. time.  he has been a little more clingy and needy of mommy, but i am trying to be really sensitive to that and help him feel needed and still very important to me.  

we have had a few meltdowns, but overall he has done way better with the adjustment than i was expecting him to.

daddy is loving his new little princess, and spends every chance he can with her snuggled on his chest.  she spends most of her time either eating or sleeping, and he loves to talk to her and snuggle with her.  he even does a great job stepping up to the plate to help with burping and changing dirty diapers.  

he has been home from work all week, and i am thankful for his help not just with miss blaire, but also with hendrix.  he has taken him to do some fun things that help him burn off energy and allow him to be a lil' bit calmer when we are home with baby sis.

as for me, i am just elated with my precious bundle!  i couldn't be more in love with her tiny little features, and i am soooo thankful for the way this labor, delivery and recovery has gone to allow me the opportunity to bond with and care for my baby from the very beginning.  

our family is so blessed!

photos courtesy of bella baby photography. 

36 weeks

though i am just now getting around to posting these 36 week belly photos, i will actually be 37 weeks here in just a couple days......

on saturday to be exact.....  

while i was trying to capture a couple images, my sweet little boy kept saying "belly" and "blaire" and "kisses", so though it is a little blurry and i am awkwardly bending down so he can reach me, i thought this photo was really precious!  he is going to be such a wonderful big brother ;)

i am really poking out there.  i have heard lots of funny and interesting comments about how i look ready to pop; and believe me, that is exactly how i feel.

i have very few shirts that seem long enough for my belly, and i have actually started feeling really uncomfortable in maternity pants.  none of them have panels that go up high enough, and there is nothing worse than wearing a waistband part-way up my belly.  in these shots i am actually resorting back to my pre-preg pants with a belly band.....

makes me feel pretty good about myself that i can still fit my butt into them!

sort of helps to soften the blow that i have now gained 20 pounds. 

that is 4 pounds more than i did with hendrix.

and, she could still wait another couple weeks to arrive.

wowzers.

i have really gone back and forth about how i am feeling.  over the weekend i had a couple rough days and was really thinking that she would be born very soon - but i am now thinking it might have been my body reacting to just having such a full plate.....and i am settling back into the role of patiently waiting mama.

she has definitely dropped, i can see that, feel that, and the doctor noted that at my appointment on tuesday. i am feeling a ton of pressure down low on my pubic bone, but that is giving me some relief up higher on my rib cage and lungs.  it isn't terribly uncommon to drop a couple weeks before you deliver from what i have read though.......it just makes sitting and walking a lot less comfortable.

i made it to the appointment where you get tested for strep this time (hendrix was born before that ;) and had my first cervix check in which the doctor found that i am 1 centimeter dilated and 50% effaced.  she said those numbers are no prediction of anything to come and are in the very normal range for this point in time.  in contrast to my first and only cervix check with hendrix, which was the day before i delivered him, i was 1 centimeter dilated and 70% effaced.  my hubs is convinced that following in that pattern......today will be the day.  he thinks he is going to get a phone call that will pull him from work and change our family dynamics sometime today!

i did have some braxton hicks last night, and am randomly awake at 5:20 am (which is really not a normal scenario for me).  usually i try to sleep until the last minute possible - in fact, most mornings my toddler starts pounding on my shoulder saying "wake-up mommy" and then literally takes me by the hand and drags me out of bed......

it is so interesting to now be almost two weeks past when i delivered with hendrix.  while i am soooooo thankful and feeling so very blessed, i am emotionally unsure how to proceed with my schedule and plans.  i have a few things on the calendar for the next couple weeks, but most of them are easily "skippable" and i keep telling everyone that it all depends on blaire's arrival....

but honestly she could make me wait until the end of the month.

heck, she could make me wait until november.

i don't really want to think about that though......lol

the doctor said she is really happy with how far i have made it, and would consider it safe to have her anytime now.  yippee!  so i guess that really takes the fears and pressures away, and i can just relax and let it happen when she is ready.

here's to being all ready, and just patiently waiting!

blaire is going to look so sweet snuggled in her crib.....i really can't wait to meet my sweet lil babe ;)

wordless wednesday {fallin' leaves}

enjoyed a gorgeous fall day playing in the yard with little man.  can't believe that soon these lazy afternoons are going to be including a sweet baby girl too ;)

in the meantime i am trying to soak up as much special one on one time with him as i possibly can!  

even though the weather has turned cooler, he is still very obsessed with playing in the sandbox.....

i love his dirty little toes!!

you are going to be the best big brother ever, hendrix.

i just know it!

linking today's wordless wednesday post with:

tara's view of the world, project alicia, tots and me

& my organized chaos