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baby a : 2 months

Published on June 12, 2017 by JessLeave a comment

2 months!

and just like that, austin is 2 months! and what a great month!
we are cooing so much more now! i’ve learned when and how to get the most of this guy’s little voice. he has to be completely full, diaper changed and propped up. sometimes he’ll coo up a storm on his back but more often than not he has to be propped up on the boppy!

wanna hear something amazing?? austin never spits up! that’s impossible you say?? but it’s not and it’s amazing! jaz used to spit up all the time so everything smelled like baby puke but not this guy! there was one night that he projectile vomited his bottle but that’s because i’m an idiot and let him down a full 4 oz bottle without stopping to burp him. doh! my bust! but even then it was right back up as soon as it went down and hadn’t even curdled yet so it doesn’t count!

how many moms are familiar with the 8 week growth spurt?? what a freaking doozy! literally happened overnight. he slept from 9 to 6 and i was like oh my god, i have the most perfect baby! that morning he woke up, ate, took a 20 minute nap, woke up was hungry again ate 2 more oz…took a 10 minute nap, woke up ATE AGAIN! THIS WAS THE WHOLE DAY FOR 4 DAYS! i’m almost positive he gained 3 pounds in just one week. cale and i had to google, “can i overfeed my infant” apparently you can’t so that’s good to know.
and because he wasn’t napping, he was sooooo fussy. however, he did let us sleep at night so THANK GOD! it was rough you guys but just like it started, he went back to his normal routine overnight.

i’ve tried to keep him on as much of a schedule as i can. not so much during the day but just in the morning and at night. morning time, he’ll wake up around 4:30 eat, burp, get a diaper change and go back to sleep till around 6 where he gets a little fussy. i’ll get him out of the bassinet and snuggle with him a bit. at 7 i’ll nurse him which usually won’t fill him up so then at 8 we supplement with a bottle. then its off to take jaz to school. at night i am trying to get him down when we put jaz to bed which is at 8 but that hasn’t really been working in my favor. so he’s usually down by 10 and won’t wake up till 4:30.

we had another sickness run through our home again and taking out both jaz and cale so we are really working on getting everyone healthy again. jaz seems to be back to normal so i’ve been letting her feed him and hold him as much as he will let her since she will be leaving next week for her summer break in texas. she won’t be back till august! get in as much baby snugs as possible!!!!

turning 2 months old comes with the icky first set of vaccinations…blegh! that happens later today so i will update you on how that went next month! i know austin will be a champ, it’s more me i’m worried about since i will be alone. 😦 i’ll probably cry. get it together mom!

it’s been another great month home with my boy! he is proving to be the most chill baby ever which, according to my mother-in-law, is just like his papa!

likes // still loves his baths, loves when women sing {men not so much}
dislikes // getting his hair brushed…but loves when i wash it, weird boy,
weighs // 12.3 pounds
length // not sure we will see at the doctors today! but he is in 3-6 month clothes sooooo
eye color // dark slate grey, still! yessss!
hair color // black brown
nicknames // mr.sweetface, a, duderz, bud, handsome
sleeping through the night? // kind of? 10-4:30
tummy time? // working on it! not his fave but he enjoys his mirror!

happy 2 months baby boy!

baby a : nursery reveal

Published on May 29, 2017May 30, 2017 by Jess3 Comments

this is a way overdue post!
AUSTIN’S NURSERY REVEAL!

i wanted to stay neutral with a’s nursery just in case our next babe is a girl. i also stayed away from the typical “boy” theme that has cars, dinosaurs. trucks, etc. i really hate those things, ESPECIALLY on baby clothes!

so here you go! the sweetest nursery for the sweetest baby boy!

{ all items will be linked at the bottom of the post! }

we realized after putting everything up that we were going to need much longer shelves. eek!

above the rocker

personalized quilt // pottery barn // { here }
elephant // pottery barn // { here }
personalized elephant rocker // pottery barn // { here }
hanging clouds // pottery barn // { here }
rocking chair // target // { here }
accent table // homegoods
jellycat elephant // nordstrom // { here }
changing table // pottery barn // { here }
crib // pottery barn // { here }
crib bedding // pottery barn // { here }
light fixture // land of nod // { here }
rug // target // { here }
wall art // etsy // { here }

sooooo you might be thinking to yourself…geez did pottery barn throw up in there?
and the answer to that is…yes, yes it did!

i love how everything turned out and it will be perfect for the next babe should it be a girl!
if you have any questions about specific items, please feel free to email me or comment!

baby a : 1 month

Published on May 11, 2017 by JessLeave a comment

welcome back!

i will be doing monthly updates on austin so keep on reading to follow all of his milestones with us!

i realized that i never posted his “just arrived” photo so here is that preciousness!

look at how teeny! weighing less than his birth weight, around 6 pounds 7 oz and a little jaundice. poor dude, but i’ll get into more of that in a bit!

1 month

what in the actual heck! how has it already been a month?! that is just bonkers!
look at the tie and where it’s at on him now! i did not realize he had grown that much already!

this first month with austin has been everything i’ve expected it to be. exhausting, trying, boring, AMAZING.
coming home with austin was so different than coming home with jaz. i was so sick with jaz {they hit my spinal cord with her epidural and i had a spinal headache} that i don’t even remember her first few days. but i know for a fact they weren’t as easy as austin’s first night(s) home.
my body really just whipped right back to it’s normal self. i was hardly swollen in ‘the’ area which is not what i remembered with jaz and i was up walking around just a couple hours after having her. the only thing that hurt was where they put the epidural and my uterus contracting down to normal size again. BUT THAT’S IT! i felt like wonder woman! cale & i even went to babies r us and target 2 days after having him. seriously, wonder woman!
i attribute his easy nights to my awesome recovery, had i had a c-section or just a rough recovery, i can’t imagine what it might have been like.

from night one at the hospital, austin slept for 3-4 hours at a time. we had 4 different nurses come in to try and help me wake him up to eat but he just wasn’t having it. because of this, they pricked his foot a couple times just to check his glucose levels. they always came back great so they weren’t too concerned. because my labor went so fast and he was out in less than five minutes, they said that can make babies super sleepy.

after bringing him home, he kept this up. halla-freaking-luya! it was amazing, you guys!
the weekend after we brought him home, we noticed he was becoming a little more yellow. at our appointment that next monday, the doctor said he had a mild case of jaundice. they checked his bilirubin levels and they weren’t high enough for him to have phototherapy so she just said go home and set him next to a window undressed. which..if you live in seattle, you know how hard it was to find any kind of sun this past month. ***sighhhh*** but because of his jaundice, we went back to dr everyday for 3 days so they could check his levels again. by day 4 he was perfect and didn’t need to come back to the dr until his 6 week check up! woop woop!

mom’s with newborns or any kids, know that these first few months are pretty borrrring. he literally eats, burps, poops and sleeps…AND REPEAT. it hasn’t been until this past week that he’s been staying up for 30-45 minutes in between his day naps.

we just started moving him to his crib during the day to nap. i really, really, want to get him used to his crib for when we switch him from the bassinet next to our bed {no, we do not cosleep} to his crib at night. i did this with jaz and she has always slept in her own bed. it was such a seamless transition that i wanted to do the same with austin and luckily, i have a husband who 100% agrees.
so for now, he’s in the bassinet at night and will be until around 6 months or when he starts sleeping through the night, and he naps in his crib during the day.

he’s not smiling on his own yet, still just at his own gas. i am hoping to see those handsome grins in the next month!

even though he is only a month he already likes and dislikes quite a few things!
likes // baths, mama’s chest, papa’s arms, sister’s voice, his hands, mama’s boobs
dislikes // his weiner being cold, being hungry for more than 1 minute, being swaddled, getting strapped into the carseat {he loves the ride though}

weighs // around 7.5 pounds still in newborn clothes
length // 21 inches
eye color // dark slate grey, we are hoping that stays! it’s beautiful!
hair color // black
nicknames // mr.sweetface, a, duderz, bud, squeaks {he only squeaks when he nurses}
sleeping through the night? // no, waking up around 2 and then again around 4:30-5. morning routine & feeding starts at 8 and then every two hours until 10 pm.
tummy time? // we just introduced this to him last week. he’s little and came early so his muscles aren’t quite where most 1 month olds should be but he doesn’t get irritated and he flips his head from side to side so yayyy!

we can’t wait for him to start cooing, smiling and holding his floppy head a bit better!

happy 1 month sweet boy!

a’s newborn photo session

Published on May 10, 2017May 10, 2017 by Jess1 Comment

as promised,
here is austin’s sweetest and most adorable newborn photo session!

thank you so much to the sweet & talented kristin of
kristin harris photography
thank you for capturing this beautiful time in our lives!

now on to the sweet goodness!

look at those toes!!

ugh! my mr. sweetface!!! why is he so perfect?!

big sister jazmyne is the proudest big sister on this planet!

some of my favorites of just me and my boy

sweet baby stretches!

obsessed with all of him

i live for these teeny forehead kisses.

my babies!

ahhh squeamish LOOK AWAY…it’s a boob! lol
in all seriousness, i will treasure this photo. with jazmyne, i wasn’t able to nurse her. i tried and admittedly gave up way too soon. it hurt and i was 17 so i had no apprehensions of just stopping cold turkey. i knew that i wanted to try so much harder with austin and i am going 1 day short of a month strong! when i am able to fully fill his belly, i can’t tell you how proud that makes me. or when i pump 4+ ounces!
i’m not sure how long i will nurse him and i’m not going to put a time limit on it but i am going to try my darnedest!

papa and his boy!

i’m obsessed with this picture. look at that smile my husband has on his face. it’s contagious!!

our new family of four!

here is a’s announcement design from minted.
design {HERE}

front

back

WELCOME TO THE WORLD SWEET BOY.
YOU ARE SO LOVED

baby a : his birth story

Published on April 28, 2017April 28, 2017 by Jess2 Comments

HI GUYS!!!

i am so sorry i have been mia but incase you missed it on my instagram or facebook…

OUR PRINCE HAS ARRIVED!
we are more than thrilled to announce
austin david anderson
born 4/12/2017 @ 3:25 pm
6 pounds 15 ounces
19 inches long

austin’s birth story :

this is a very long post. you are warned.

4/27 was our due date but circumstances prevailed and A came 2 weeks early! as so many of you know…i was miserable this entire pregnancy. his little testosterone body wreaked complete havoc on my body. as soon as i turned 37 weeks, full term according to most doctors, i was praying he would decide to come ASAP!
be careful what you wish for…
on monday, 4/10, i woke up with an incredible headache. not a migraine, just a really weird headache. not normal for me. not only did i have a headache, i was also very swollen, my feet, my hands, my nose, i just looked and felt more puffy than usual. i just shrugged it off and took two tylenol so that i could get through work without wanting to kill somebody.
when i got to work something told me to check my blood pressure. i hadn’t really been worried about preeclampsia since i didn’t have it with jaz but it was in the back of my mind. one of my coworkers had a blood pressure cuff that she said i was welcome to use at any time so i took her up on the offer, after checking it twice the diastolic number (bottom number) was high, i called my doctor justttt to be sure. she said come to triage, we need to monitor you, baby and see if there is any protein in your urine. well…crap. i called cale and he met me at the hospital.
after being in triage for 3+ hours and finding a small trace of protein in my urine, i was sent home with 2 ginormous jugs, a pee hat and orders for a 24 hour urine sample…so.much.fun….so that’s exactly what i did for the next 24 hours…all the while, still swelling and contracting. i had been having steady contractions that i knew weren’t braxton hicks but they were never consistent so i paid no mind to them.
4/11-i had to call in to work on tuesday. i’m sure my co-workers would not appreciate there being 2 jugs of pee in the fridge so i decided to spare them. around 3 was when my 24 hours was up and i headed back to triage for them to test my sample and to monitor both me and A. the good ol hubby met me there, and jaz was at school. at this point, the thought that we might get admitted and have a baby tonight was there but highly unlikely so we didn’t set anything up for what we would do with jaz…FAIL!
contractions were becoming much more frequent and consistent. probably about 20-30 minutes apart. again nothing too alarming but definitely showing signs of pre-labor. {yay!!} after 2 hours of being monitored {and becoming more and more famished} the doctor finally came in. for me to pass my protein test, my levels needed to be under 300, my result was over 430 {yikes} and because i was over 37 weeks and to avoid any major complications closer to 40 weeks, the doctor said, IT’S BABY TIME!
SHIT JUST GOT REAL, Y’ALL!

the induction would start with me taking misoprostol every 4 hours to soften my cervix, which was supposed to start at 7 pm on 4/11. my body had other plans though. i was contracting about every 7-10 minutes, meaning i was laboring on my own, which coincidentally happened with jaz too. i guess when my body hears induction, it kicks into gear and gets it done on it’s own, haha! so in order for them to give me the miso, they had to stop my contractions {don’t ask me why…it seems very odd to me to that in order for me to start contracting and go into labor with the miso, they had to stop natural contractions to induce fake ones…I DUNNO!} so i got hooked up to some fluids to space them out a bit. i got my first dose around 8!

hospital gown and pillowcase // baby be mine

for the rest of the night i contracted, not bad though. i was able to sleep through them so that should tell you the level of pain they were. every 4 hours i would get woken up to take another dose.

4/12- 7 am – i woke up to a gush. so being curious i reached down just to be sure and yupppp! that was my water! cale was still sleeping so i said “cale…calllleee, can you hand me the phone…my water just broke.” i think those words have been haunting him because i swear i’ve never seen him jump up so freaking fast! my nurse came in and confirmed that it was my water and checked it to be sure austin didn’t have a bowel movement. everything looked perfect…felt gross though. with jaz, the doctor had to break my water so i really wanted for it to happen naturally this go-round. and it did! my nurse {amy} was really surprised it did happen and i think that hit the nail on the head that yes i was being induced but my body had already started the process all on it’s own. but because of the preeclampsia they couldn’t just let me labor on my own because who knows how long that would actually take so, pitocin started at 11.

HELLLLOOO PAINFUL CONTRACTIONS!
every 2 minutes. with jaz, i only made it to three centimeters so i was hell bent on making it as long as i could without the epidural.

can we talk about my husband real quick?
we had talked about what he should do while i was laboring and all i asked was not to ask me if i was okay…because OBVIOUSLY! but you guys, i could not have asked for a better partner to labor with. i was legitimately concerned about snapping at him or getting annoyed with him {sorry honey} but he was amazing. he laid behind me and put pressure on my lower back through contractions. once they got stronger he sat in front me and let me squeeze him, basically head butt him, sometimes i lightly kicked him…WHAT A TROOPER! haha he was even keeping track of the machine to warn me when another contraction was about to rear it’s ugly head again so i could prepare. thank you for being amazing, honey.

5 cm – after two boosts of pain meds through my iv, it was time for the epidural. they were coming way too fast and way too hard. before the anesthesiologist came in i told my nurse, okay with my daughter i went from 3 to 10 within 2 hours… so just a heads up! after it was placed, amy told me to try and take a nap, i was going to need it to push.
30 minutes later – something was funny feeling, i felt lots of pressure and tingling, so i gave little amy a jingle. “uhmmmm, yeah i feel tingling…” she came in, checked me, her eyes got big and she said “oppp you’re ready” 30 minutes, y’all…i went from 5 to 10 in 30 minutes!! my epidural hadn’t even fully taken yet! i could still move my legs!

as amy is trying to track down my doctor, she looked over at me and could see the “oh shit, i’m pushing” face and she said, “you need to have your baby now, don’t you? don’t push don’t push!” of course this sent me overboard and i instantly started crying and saying, i can’t help it! all the while, cale had went potty, maybe in there 2 minutes, he went in with just amy in the room, came out with another nurse, and the nearest midwife {she was checking on a patient next door} suiting up. his literal words were, “OH SHIT THIS IS HAPPENING NOW”
as the midwife was getting her gown on, she was simultaneously telling me to push when i needed to, with one hand there just in case a baby plopped out.
AGAIN…EPIDURAL NOT FULLY IN EFFECT. I COULD FEEL EVERYTHING.
3 contractions later, the midwife asked me to reach down and pull my baby out, i got to pull austin out, y’all!

and our beautiful baby boy was born. cale & i instantly started crying and it will forever go down as one of the most beautiful and chaotic moments in our lives, it all happened so fast!

skin to skin with papa!

not even an hour later big sister jazmyne was there to meet her baby brother!

we stayed overnight and i could not put him down.

i’m a spoiled mama! my push gift from the hubby!

custom receiving blanket // etsy-gingerlous
and less than 24 hours after giving birth, we were able to go home! austin passed all of the necessary tests with flying colors and i was walking around, both patients were ready.to.go!

proud papa!

austin is now 2 weeks and 2 days! what a whirlwind it has been!
i still have his nursery reveal to post about and now his newborn session as well!
stay tuned!!!

always,
-the proudest mama bear ever, jess♥

our weekend adventures (x2)

Published on March 27, 2017March 27, 2017 by JessLeave a comment

last friday

i have been so into chocolate milk these days. my glass keeps getting bigger and bigger, now i’m up to a large coffee thermos! it’s just so cold and delicious!

last saturday

i made lulu & chandler mini pancakes and neither were amused. ungrateful little poop heads!

i take it back…lulu loved the butter. shoulda named her paula dean!

last sunday

i started on austin’s laundry and cale was blown away and so perturbed that an actual human being is going to fit into this! he was positive i shrunk all of his clothes.

friday

my little guy has dropped, or at least i think he has! i can finally breath (for the most part) and i have so so so much pressure in my pelvic area! let’s go baby boy! mama is ready for you!

saturday

baby shower day!!!
our sweet sweet friends aaron & misha hosted the most beautiful
Baby Shower En Blanc (baby shower in white) for us and our sweet boy!
y’all…misha blew me away! everything was so gorgeous and sweet! you would have never guessed she just had a baby 3 weeks ago! more pictures will be up later in the week!

these ladies! ❤
i’m missing two, my sister-in-law, kelsey, and good friend, britt but thank you gals (and your husbands) for making this day so special for us! it was so much fun!

after the shower we headed home and installed austin’s car seat and we have two car seats in our car now….TWO! i’m going to have two kids you guys….anxiety attack anxiety attack!!!

sunday

no one wanted to get up sunday morning, including the lusers!
i would just like to point out that they are both on MY side of the bed. cale always seems to manage to scoot over and use my pillow and lulu…well, she’s just a tard.

i got my breast pump this weekend…the industrial kind haha. so i just HAD to try out my pump bra! hehehehehe obviously i have no modesty. sorry not sorry?

it was a very eventful weekend to say the absolute least. we are getting so close to our due date, 31 days to be exact, so it is crunch time!!
more to come this week! a recap on the baby shower and our 9 month update!
stay tuned!!

always,
-jess♥

our weekend adventures

Published on March 13, 2017March 13, 2017 by JessLeave a comment

friday

we got to see our boy!!! because my pregnancy has been healthy and normal i was not scheduled for another ultrasound. the last one i had was when i was 20 weeks. so we opted to do one through a private company. cale’s mama joined us and so did jaz!!

LOOK AT THOSE SQUISHY CHEEKS!!
this little bugger wasn’t cooperating so most of our pictures are him squished up against my placenta. that’s why his nose looks so flat. you can see in the left picture that it’s really not flat at all! haha i feel like i have to tell everyone that so they don’t think our kid has a shnoz. and look at that little pouty face! gosh darnit i am so in love!!!
he also apparently, has tons of hair and ginormous hands. cale thinks babies that have a ton of hair when they are born are weird lookin…sorry pal, shouldn’t have married a mexican then. 😉

after the ultrasound we took jaz to school and then went and toured a prospective daycare, which we loved! i will go more into this in our 9 month update in a couple weeks.

saturday

we had a lunch date with a very very dear friend of mine, my CASA {court appointed special advocate} from when i was in foster care! she was in town for some training and we had to take advantage since the last time i saw her was at my wedding! she had never tried poutine soooo..duh… we made her try it!

after lunch we headed over to my brother-in-law’s house to play with our nephew and visit for a while and before my dinner date!

later in the evening i met up with a few of my girl friends for a little petite baby shower. we all moved away from each other {we were all neighbors at one point} but we still like to get together and catch up! thanks becky, jessica & megan for the sweetest little gifts for baby austin!! it was so nice to catch up and finally meet baby hayes!

sunday

sunday morning was rough because of the time change but somehow we managed to speedy clean our house in an hour. i worked up quite the appetite and indulged in some fruit loops!! sometimes these just hit the spot!

in the afternoon we headed over to my brother-in-law’s house again for our nephew’s, olen, FIRST BIRTHDAY! although technically his birthday is on leap day, so this was his first un-birthday. we cannot believe how big he is and how fast he is continuing to grow!! jaz is obsessed with him and obviously couldn’t ever leave his side. we are all pretty smitten with him, to be completely honest! happy first birthday sweet boy!