7 months

Macky Mack!! Big Mack!! Our sweet little baby boy! How has the first half of the year passed us by already?!  I thought finishing residency would leave me with lots more time on my hands... and while it has left me with time on my hands to spend with the kids and be more active with them/school, etc. it seems to leave me with much less time to blog, online shop and all those important things ;)

Maybe I've said this with all my kids but Mack seriously is the sweetest little baby.  He is a chill little dude and I am seriously so thankful for it.  At night I typically will recap for Andy all the shenanigans the kids have put on during the day and it seems like when I get to Mack all I have to say is that he was so freaking sweet :).

Mack loves being held but is also very content to be on his play mat, in his bouncer, rolling around the floor, etc.  He definitely loves attention and rewards anyway who talks to him with a big gummy smile.  Fortunately for him there is no shortage of attention between all the other kids and the dog.  He still has big blue eyes and is getting a little longer patch of hair in the front :) His bottom gums have been super swollen for the last couple weeks but still no teeth have poked through yet!

He is super strong and gets a death grip on anything he can; sisters' hair, Rosie's fur, necklaces, etc.  He will roll everywhere and it keeps me on my toes because I've got to keep the chokeables away! He isn't trying to crawl yet but will just rock and roll to get to anything he wants. He loves his paci and has mastered the picking it up and getting it back into his mouth... which is really a milestone that matters in my book.

He loves to laugh and things that amuse him the most include Emma Kate's silly faces in the car, being kissed and tickled.  He is just getting over his first little cold but handled it fine.  We've moved him out of his dockatot which he loved but now he just sleeps with a little dog lovie nestled up by his face or else rolls over to his belly.  When we went for his 6 month check up he weighed about 18 lbs and I forget his length; but he was about 55th for weight and 80th for length so he's thinning out a little bit.  He definitely fills out 9 month clothes well! I'm still nursing him but we've started a few solids and he's doing great - first food was avocado and has also had oatmeal, applesauce, peas and bananas.

He had his first trip back to the beach in October.  While the weather was beautiful we unfortunately had to deal with Red Tide.  It really didn't seem to irritate him much though, surprisingly.  He's been to almost all of the UK games and I'm hopeful he will get to experience another UK season with this many wins at some point in his life :)

Pretty much he's just the coolest little dude.  His sisters (and parents) are obsessed and we are so thankful for him!

2 months

Big Mack is 2 (and 1/2) months old!! I was procrastinating writing this until we went in for his 2 month well child check and since we completed that task last week, it's time to write!

In his second month he went from sweet snuggly newborn to sweet snuggly baby that is aware the world exists :)  I love, love that first month where they seriously sleep and snuggle all the time but is there anything sweeter than those first smiles they give during their second month?  He was about 7 weeks old for his first smiles and they are just precious.  I think he is the smiliest first thing in the morning if he wakes up on his own.  He loves being talked and sung to and doesn't even mind his sisters right up in his face screaming 'lalalala' at him.

He still sleeps a ton and I guess that's just what growing boys do??! He's kind of on a 2-3 hour cycle where he will eat, be up for another 45 min and then sleep for 1-2 hours; repeat however many times in a day!  He is sleeping pretty great at night, relative to my other kids, and has even given me a couple nights of no wake ups!  He goes down about 730 and usually eats once, anywhere between 3-5, and then sleeps again until about 8.

I knew he was big but his doctor appt confirmed that he's ginormous - weighing in at 14 lbs 11 oz which I think was around 90th percentile? I think he was around 24 inches long which put him about 60th for height.  He's pretty much rocking all the 3 month clothes and has grown out of many of those outfits that run on the smaller size.  I need to do some shopping for him and I am totally looking forward to it.  I've found one of the perks of a boy... no bows/headbands to keep up with/coordinate with outfits!

He loves his swaddle, dock a tot and noise machine and typically goes to sleep with a Paci and then loses it at some point.  He likes being held upright and facing the world around him to see what all is going on!  He loves stroller rides and being outside.  The car sometimes is good and sometimes not so much.  Oddly enough he usually falls asleep in the car if it's a nap time, but if we put him in the car around 7-8 he gets very upset and just wants to be wrapped up snug in his bed!!  The one thing I think he hates the most is being hot; he just gets so fussy and of course even hotter.  We've been at the pool a lot and I usually just get in with him because neither of us can handle all the sweat!

He has kept the prettiest blue eyes and everyone says he looks just like Emma Kate :). We LOVE baby Macky as everyone likes to call him and are so thankful for this sweet boy.

1 Month - Mack

Mack is 1 month old!  We go back and forth between feeling like he just arrived vs he's been with us forever!

Our first week was an adjustment, mainly for Caroline.  It's hard losing the spot of baby of the fam and she let us know.  I was so thankful to have Andy home to help us out and keep everyone in their normal routines and day by day things got much easier.

Mack has been a pretty good baby - eating great, sleeping... like a newborn... ;), just generally hanging out and sleeping all the time! I took any opportunity I could find to snuggle with him and we have taken plenty of naps in this first month!

Somehow I always forget how noisy little newborns are and all the little squeaks and sounds they make.  Just the sweetest little things ever.

Harper was initially pretty reserved with him - we think she didn't him to cry or anything but she warmed right up and is so sweet with him. Emma Kate wants to hold him allll the time and they take turns at bedtime snuggling with him while we read our books.  Caroline did eventually fall in love too and loves to call him baby mackey and widdle buddy :)

He still has beautiful blue eyes and pretty blonde hair.  He was up to 9lbs 13 oz at his 2 week checkup and is very close to completely graduating out of the newborn clothes.  We moved him up to size 1 diapers about 2 weeks too.

We love you so much baby Mackey and are so thankful for the little guy!

Mack Joseph's Arrival

Baby Mack is 1 month old! He is the sweetest little thing and is adored by all of us! J

Before we get too far away I wanted to write his birth story so we can always remember that exciting time J

I had been admitted overnight at 37 weeks due to having regular contractions 3 minutes apart.  The contractions persisted the whole time I was there but they went ahead and discharged me as it didn’t seem like my exam was changing.  After that false alarm we figured he would come very soon after – I took it easy for a few days, got through Easter and somehow through a busy spring break with the girls.  On the last day of spring break I figured he could come so did not hold back – walked 8 miles that day, visited the mall, park and farm… yet somehow he was still hanging in there!  

We went ahead and scheduled an induction for 39 weeks, April 13^th.  We felt like it made sense logistically given my history of fast labors and the need to make sure all the other girls had their care arranged. I had some mixed emotions because a big part of me just wanted him to come on his own when he was ready, but we went ahead with that plan.

I worked as planned that week, even moonlighting for a few hours that Wednesday evening.  Thursday morning I wrapped up my work and went to meet Harper for lunch at her school.  I hadn’t gotten around to that all year and wanted to be able to before Mack was here.  

As I was walking to my car I felt a little pop and immediately called Andy to let him know that I thought my water had broken.  Fortunately, he had just picked up both the other girls from school so I wasn’t actually in charge of any kids when it happened!  I trudged through the hospital during lunchtime, literally with my shoes squeaking and made it to triage.   After what seemed like forever they finally got me into a room and I got settled.

My contractions did not start immediately or at least were not very painful for probably the first hour after my water broke; they leisurely let a student poke around my arm for an IV for way too long but finally got that and a resident came to visit me.  I had made it clear that I would really like an epidural and felt reassured when she checked me and I was only 7.5cm. 

I feel like that exam must have moved everything right along because the pain became much worse and I was so happy to see the anesthesia resident.  I asked him how long it would take him to get the epidural in and he said 5 minutes ;) By the time he came back with the attending I was 10 cm and in serious pain.  My only requirement was that I had to sit still enough for them to put a needle in my spine and I almost had to tell them I just couldn’t do it.  But then I thought… of course I can sit still for a brief moment with the alternative being pushing out that baby unmedicated J  

Long story short, my OB was AMAZING and suggested that they just do a spinal block; less than 60 seconds after they were done I was like… is this pain really decreasing or is it in my head?? The anesthesiologist loved that and got a good psychiatrist joke out of that J  The pain was diminished significantly but I could still move entirely, no catheter in my back and it just made everything so much more relaxing/less stressful.  And as the resident had promised, they walked into the room at 1:17 and the block was complete by 1:22 ;)

We started to push soon after and about 3-4 rounds later, our sweet, sweet boy was born.  I was so emotional! I think because I knew it would be the last time I got to deliver a baby and I was just so thankful for another healthy pregnancy, delivery and baby.  We have been so incredibly lucky. 

Some of my favorite moments in my life are the quiet moments soon after a baby is born when the mass of people leave the room and we’re just left to snuggle with and meet this sweet new person.  We immediately thought he looked an awful lot like Emma Kate – lots of blonde hair, blue eyes.  But assured Harper and Caroline he definitely had their nose and mouths ;). His official birth time was 1:34 PM, weighed 8 lbs 12 oz and was 20.5 inches long.

We love this little guy so much and are so thankful to have in our family!!