Christmas 2012

Merry Christmas

from our family

 

to yours!

 

Home for the holidays

Holidays and family are synonymous.  It’s only fitting then, that the rest of our families got to meet Alden this Christmas.  Here are some of the pictures we have capturing the first meetings...

 

Aunt Emily holding Alden shortly after arriving. 

 Omo reading with Alden while Mommy and Daddy caught up on some much needed sleep. 

 Aunt Whitney back from Japan (early!) meeting her nephew – Phil and Rebecca met him at the same time, but I only have a picture of Rebecca holding him.

 

 Alden has two great grandmas and one great grandpa. This is one of those special ladies, my mother’s mom – Grandma Bechard holding Alden, who is named after her older brother, for the first time.

 And just because it’s a cute picture, Omo and Opo right before saying goodbye to Alden who is dressed in a knit Christmas stocking and hat.

In search of an Xmas photo....

I wanted to use a family photo but we haven't taken a good one yet and the deal on Chriostmas cards was ending at 4pm yesterday, so I decided that our card would just be of Alden and it would serve as a birth announcement too.  So I dressed him up in his cute Christmas outfit from Aunt Nancy and spent the afternoon trying to get the perfect shot...

 

And there were plenty of these....

How IS Boone handling the new baby?...

Well, he gives Alden space and has been mellow which has made us happy - but the other day he started throwing up with regularity.  We tried to wait it out a few days and chalked it up to him eating something he shouldn't have, but 3-4 days later he was still going at it.  So we took him to the vet to see if that standing water he gulps in our neighbor's yard after Frisbee gave him some bad parasite.  After multiple tests the verdict came back that he's just stressed.  STRESSED.  Apparently the new baby in the house is giving him indigestion, or at least that's what the vet speculated.

 

So apparently Boone isn't handling the new baby as well as we thought...

Busy, lazy weekend...

This weekend we were able to try our first bottle feeding.  I stressed a little bit over the bottles we had registered for and whether or not they would be the "right one" but our go-with-the-flow kid wasn't fazed at all.  He took the bottle like a champ and Daddy enjoyed the rare opportunity to feed his son and bond.  Turns out it wasn't enough though so Mommy had to take over after.

 Uncle Brad stopped by for a night this weekend and enjoyed holding Alden.  We're looking forward to a longer visit with him NEXT weekend, for Christmas.  Can't believe it's so close!

Chelsea and Devin brought hugs and gifts to meet Alden - much needed diapers...thanks!  So excited for their wedding this June!!

 Aw, and then Michelle came by to meet him and catch up.  It won't be long before she has a little boy this size too!  Looking forward to the play dates to come!

First Play Date

My coworker Erica brought her daughter Keagan over for a play date today. Keagan is almost 2 months old and Alden is almost 2 weeks old.  These two were due exactly a month apart.  :-)  We new moms had a grand time swapping stories about how these precious ones were doing and our experiences as new moms.  Both of our kids came early and we had both worked hard to get our sub plans together for school but weren't completely ready...      

                                                                                  

 

I especially appreciated that Erica could share with me what I could be expecting a month or two down the road.  It's nice to have a friend who is going through a similiar experience and is a step or two ahead and can share with you what you can expect.  I had a lot of questions for her and she had a lot of great answers.  And, the icing on the cake was that she brought me lunch AND dinner.  Seriously?!?  She has a 2 month old and is already putting together meals for new moms.  Wow.   

I had a blast - can't wait till the kids have another play date!  ;-)

 

 

Go Terps!

Greg's business school is winding down for the semester, just in time for Alden's arrival.  At one of his last classes of the year, last night, his cohort gave him a present to welcome the first baby born to one of the students.  Alden got a hat and socks in the Maryland school colors.  Apparently, he's been designated the official cohort mascot.  We unsuccessfully tried to reach Alden for comment but from the pictures we think it's safe to say he likes the new duds.

11 Days Old

Alden is 11 days old today. It's amazing how much can change in such a short amount of time. Sometimes it occurs to me that we're still not at his "due date." We got him early.  As I hold him and smell his baby scent I thank God that we're done waiting. (I'm also secretly grateful that I can sleep on my back again, see my toes and tie my own shoes, not to mention bend over without squatting to pick something up!)

Daddy enjoys the snuggles between Alden's meals.

 Alden is forever bringing his hands to his face.  He has even found his thumb to suck on already.  He pulls on the rest of his face with the remaining fingers, so it's not so cute to photograph, so you'll have to take my word on it!

 His nose is so precious to me, I love to rub noses or smother it with kisses.  I may be slightly bias, but he is the cutest kid I've ever seen...

And how does Boone react to Alden? Fairly well, I'd say! He gives Alden a reverent distance and seems to understand that I am not quite ready for the long walks we once enjoyed. Alden in turn ignores the barking that happens anytime someone passes our house or a neighbor gets out of a car... and when the mailman comes to drop off the mail... oh, my.

We are loving our new "normal."

My Mom is WONDERFUL.

Seriously, don't know how we would have managed without her this past week.

She's washed and endless amount of laundry and folded it, and would have put it away too if I hadn't insisted I needed to do SOMETHING. The house is clean and tidy, the kitchen has been cleaned and the dishes done.  Multiple times.  Our fridge got restocked with great fresh food and some frozen dinners for when I can barely get off the couch.  (Funny though 'cause these frozen dinners can't get microwaved... or something.)  I have actually been able to nap, and Boone has been walked.  Alden has had some sun exposure to help with the jaundice - yes it is December but it's also really WARM out.  The baby room is now organized and Alden will sleep on his own.  Not to mention I've had someone to talk to.

My mom is wonderful.  I hope I'm going to be like her when I grow up, which needs to start soon cause as of five days ago, I'm a mommy too!

I'm a mommy too.

::deep breath::

..grateful tears..

Opo visits...

Greg and I can't wait for Alden to meet the rest of the Stawickis, but for now, he's met Opo.  And for my proud new-daddy hubby, that was what made everything alright: he got to introduce his baby son to his family.  Thanks for coming Opo, you have no idea how wonderful it was to have you here.

We took a family outing to the LLBean store.

   

   

Three generations of Stawicki males.  Little Alden is so blessed to have the father and grandfather that he does.  I am so blessed to be a part of this family!

He's home, he's ours.

I still can't believe it.

Nine months of knowing...

But it's still surreal.

This baby is mine.

And he melts my heart daily.

Thanks for visiting

We were so excited to introduce Alden to friends who could make it out to the hospital the next day.

And then finally we could go home... but we had to figure out how the car seat worked first...

Greg couldn't have been happier to carry the car seat with Alden inside out to our car.   Alden did great riding home, hopefully that will continue in future car rides!

Two Weeks Early

I was hoping that my baby would come early, but it caught be by surprise when it happened anyway.  I thought I was prepared, having attended the Bradley Method classes and we had our hospital bag (mostly) packed as well as car seats strapped in both cars... but I also expected to have contractions.  I didn't really consider what to expect if my water just broke say... as I was making dinner?  Should have thought of that one 'cause that's exactly what happened... kicking off a delivery that took our birth plan and chucked them out the window.

We checked in at the Hospital and settled in for the night, being as I was not experiencing any "labor" pains.  I had until 6AM to show "improvement."

Our son's heart rate started dropping in the middle of the night with the contractions that were reading on the monitor but not rating on a pain scale for me, which meant oxygen mask for me, IV and 24/7 monitoring.  Not super conducive to relaxing or progressing in labor... which meant that 7AM brought on a pitocin drip, increased every 30 minutes until hard pains happened at 11.  12PM brought about antibiotics since it was now 18 hours past bag of water rupture.  By now I'm realizing my dream of having this baby naturally without medicine is becoming a dimmer reality.   My progress at this point had been minimal and we were told we could expect what seemed to be minute improvements each hour.  Meanwhile I'm experiencing painful contractions every 3-5 minutes. Out of sheer exhaustion and desperation we ordered the epidural around 12:30.  Best.decision.ever.  No regrets.

I woke up from a nap around 2:30 and was greeted with the happy news that "it was time."  40 minutes of pushing and at 3:48PM on Friday, November 30, 2012, Alden Gregory made his appearance.

Tipping the scales at 6 pounds 13 ounces, this 20 inch baby boy made us the happiest parents in the world!