Our Teether and our Newborn

Noah is now 2 weeks old and doing great. He finally passed his bilirubin test on Tuesday. He was fighting a little bit of jaundice and had to go to the lab to get 'pricked' every day or two since we left the hospital. It was great news to find out that we wouldn't have to go back again.
Night times are never fun with newborns, but I must say that overall Noah's been a dream (no pun intended). He doesn't cry very often, and so at night we just wake up to grunting noises. It's kind of cute. He has been getting at least one 3 hour stretch in every night, and often does a 4 hour stretch. There was even a fluke night of 6 hours of sleep! Let's just hope he stays on this route. . . or improves.Hyrum is still being a great big brother. He doesn't quite understand his own strength or Noah's fragile little body, but his heart is in the right place. We're still working on it with him, but one upside is that Noah will be one tough little boy. Hyrum has been struggling with his molars coming in and so we've had a couple of nights that were not very fun. Hyrum would wake up in the middle of one of Noah's 'long' stretches of sleep, screaming and needing more drugs. We look forward to a mouth full of teeth. . .If we time it right Hyrum will have all his teeth the same time that Noah sleeps 8+ hours at night. Woudn't that be awesome?!
Anyway, I just love having my two little men. They're so cute together and will only get cuter as they get older.P.S. We'll be closing on our house in a little over a week!!! We're so excited!

1st Time-2nd Timers

I know this is a long post with lots of text, so I've just divided it up by topics. Since this is our family journal as well I didn't want to miss anything.

The Departure:

I hear that the more kids you have, and the older they get the more you'll appreciate time away from them. I'm not saying parents love them less, but they're just smart enough to recognize that the kids will be with them forever so alone time is good to enjoy. I haven't really reached that point. One of the saddest and happiest moments of my life happened on February 20th. We went to take Hyrum over to play with his cousins while I went to the hospital. I knew he would enjoy it, because he always loves being over at Ryan and Jennifer's (by the way, thank you again!!!!), but this time I knew that this drop off would mean that I would be away from home and him (other than visits) for 2-4 days. Let's just say I was a bit hysterical. Brett took him inside so that I could stay in the car and cry. I was so excited and happy to be having Noah, but I just wish it didn't mean being away from home for so long. the news I received was that Hyrum had a lot of fun and did just fine with out me there. . . although he missed me horribly and couldn't wait till I got home. It wasn't fun being away from Hyrum, but I made it through and Hyrum is still alive. He has been a little extra clingy since I've been home, but I think it will get better when he relizes that I'm not leaving again for that long in quite a while.

The Delivery:

No, I'm not going into gruesome detail, but for those who were curious I thought I would just state here what happened. Hyrum's delivery was a necessary c-section because of a large cyst blocking my birth canal. I was hoping to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarian) with Noah. Hyrum came a little over 2 weeks early, and so I was kind of planning and hoping on Noah doing the same. VBAC's have risks and complications that I was made aware of in the beginning of the pregnancy. Brett and I made a few decisions in the beginning that would have us aiming for a VBAC. We also knew that when things came to a certain point the risk of complication would increase and then we would opt for the c-section. Well, one of the increased risks of complications occurs once you reach your due date if the baby hasn't been born yet. With that said, I went to my 39th week appointment to find that I was only dilated to a 2 and 80% effaced. This was a shock and disappointment to us because I had a few nights of regular contractions and also a night of food poisoning that had me throwing up a dozen times (if that doesn't put someone into labor, I don't know what will). We went ahead and scheduled the c-section for the 20th, in hopes that I still would go into labor before then, but it didn't happen. If, by the 20th, I had dilated to a 3 or more my Dr said that she could break my water to try and get me to go into labor (VBAC's can't be induced). The 20th came, nothing changed, and my cervix was 'too far back' anyway (whatever that means). So, the c-section was the answer. I'm just so happy for the medical advancements today and that we will still be able to have a bundle of kids.

The Recovery:

I feel great! I really wasn't sure what to expect. Hyrum's surgery was a double surgery, and I went into shock halfway through, so they pumped me soooo full of drugs. My recovery with him took a while and I sadly really don't remember much of anything the first few days after he was born. It took me a week before I could walk without being hunched over and 2 weeks before I got off Percocet. I was really worried that it would be the same way again. Luckily it wasn't even close! I'm not saying that I'm back to normal yet, but my recovery has progressed so much better than I expected. I was able to walk to the bathroom on day 2 and on day 4 when I was released from the hospital I was able to walk around the house (minimally) with out any problems. Yesterday I went on a walk with my mom and the boys and played with Hyrum in the backyard. The only thing that has been really hard for me is not being able to pick up and hold Hyrum. I can't lift anything other than Noah for 6 weeks (but I'm going to talk to my doctor to see if that's negotiable). It really breaks my heart to not be able to carry him down for his nap, or pick him up when he falls. This is the one thing I look most forward too in my recovery.

The New Kid on the Block:

Noah is doing pretty well. He's a bit Jaundice-y, and so his skin has a yellow tint. It hasn't gotten to a point where he needs to be under the lights. We do have to keep taking him in to get tested in the lab. He had a really tough time nursing, but is finally starting to get a hang of things.

The Big Brother

Hyrum has been doing really well with the adjustment so far. He does have a little jealousy sometimes, and so I have to put both boys on my lap at the same time, but it's not that bad. He's actually been really cute about it. He's given Noah his pacifier a couple of times and even tried to share a sucked on conversation heart with him. . . yah, we have to keep a close eye on them when they're together. Today he was 'talking' on my moms cell phone and then put it up to Noah's ear for him to talk. It was so funny, he tried to put it in Noah's hand and got a little frusterated because Noah wouldn't hold on to it. I'm really excited to see them play together as they get older. I think they'll be great little buddies.

The Grandma

Last, but definitely not least I have to give a huge thanks to my Momma!! My mom got here on the 20th to be my right hand. . . and left. . . and everything in between. She was able to schedule us in for two weeks. It has been great to have her take care of all the cooking and cleaning so that I can focus on being mommy exclusively for a little while. Thanks Mom! Here are a few more pictures. Above is Hyrum's first introduction to Noah. . .he was busy on an important call most of the time he was there. Below is Grandma's visit and also Noah all packed up to go home. Can you believe how little he looks?!? I'd forgotten how little babies are.

Noah Clyde Partridge

February 20th, 2009 - 1:26pm
8 lbs 3 oz
21.5 in

It is written in Moses 8:27 that "Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord; for Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generation; and he walked with God." Our little Noah has just left his "walk" with our Father in Heaven and joined our family and we are so glad that he did! Although I can't claim that our little guy's generations (parents) are perfect, we do the best we can and are just so grateful for this new blessing in our life! Below are a few pictures of the day's events. Hyrum has not yet been to hospital to see Mom and baby Noah, but once he does we'll put some of those pictures up too. Also I'll be posting a ton of pictures (beware some are right after birth) later tonight on our family website.

This is just minutes after he was born.

Wide eyed and ready to start rockin' and rollin'

It's okay buddy, I don't like it when people make me bathe either :)

All dressed up with no where to go (actually it's time to go find mommy)!
Ahhhh, there's mom!

I'm getting used to this "Monkey Suit" that dads wear in the O.R. :)

A house for Valentines!

It was a great day for us with really happy news! We found out that the owners of the house we love in Cedar Hills accepted our offer! It really came as a shock to us and our realtor, because we were expecting a counter-offer, and we wanted to have room to negotiate. We were ecstatic when we got a yes and a signed contract for 3-4% lower than asking price. There are now 30 days of them moving out, us getting the house inspected and appraised, loan approved, and closing. . . . and then we're in! It's going to be a little crazy but hopefully everything will go smoothly. Anyway, here are a few pictures:

They made a really cute playroom that connects with the area under the stairs and we just fell in love with the space. It's so cute and has a little peak window and half door:

This is going to be Hyrum's room. I love the red stripe:This is a picture of the dining and kitchen area. I'd like to refinish the cabinetry someday, but it's a cute space with 2 pantries.Now in honor of the "Day of Love" I had to put a picture of these beautiful flowers from Brett:

Woa, Tag x 2

Craziness. I haven't done a tag for quite a while and now I got tagged twice. So, here's one of them:

Sixth Picture Tag:

1. Go to My Pictures

2. Go to the 6th file folder

3. Select the 6th picture

4. Blog about it

5. Tag 6 people

So, I was a bit worried that picking the "6th and 6th" picture might be some weird picture of the back of Brett's head or something like that. I was so happy to see that the pictures Kristen took for us happened to be our 6th folder! I was lucky. The funny thing is that of all the pictures that Kristen took this was the one that I felt huge in. This is going to be my inspiration picture to help me loose weight after the baby comes. Oh, well.

I tag the first 6 people who read this blog. . . I'll use the honor system:)

Tagged

Ok Hina, I'm not going to procrastinate. So, here we go:

Here are the Rules:
1) Post Rules on Your Blog
2) Answer the six (8) items
3) Let each person know by leaving them a comment...
PS these 8 items in each category don't have to be in order

8 Favorite TV Shows:
1-5) Anything on HGTV
6) What Not to Wear
7) The Office
8) American Idol

8 Things I did today:
1) wake up and watch some of Ratatouille with Hyrum
2) Breakfast for Hyrum and I
3)Play Dominoes with Hyrum
4) Laundry
5)nap
6) lunch for Hyrum and I
7) Sit in rocker while Hyrum plays in playroom
8) clean up some of the messes from playtime

Things I look forward to:
1) Noah's arrival!!!
2) Brett being done with school in April
3) Moving into a home of our own. . . . we've found one in Cedar Hills that we love and are hoping to make an offer this week! Stay tuned.
4) Having my body back
5) Cooking again without pain from standing to long
6) Decorating our new house
7) learning new things
8) family time altogether

Favorite Restaurants:
1) Denny's ( I really love their Fabulous French Toast Platter)
2) Olive Garden
3) Bamboo Hut
4) Bombay House
5) Los Hermanos
6) Classy Cuisine (the best salads in the world. . .mmmm)
7-8) I'm at a loss. . . I just like food

I tag everyone Hina tagged too + anyone else that hasn't done it yet.

Censored

My apologies for the less than savory taste of the baby countdown. I put that up there because to begin with the comedy was just that. . . funny. But over the last while they haven't been so tasteful. Anyway, I think you all get the idea that we're having a baby and he's coming soon :)