March & April

Here I am playing catch-up again!  We've had so many opportunities to spend with our families lately, which has been so awesome.  My mom and Derek's mom both came for week-long visits soon after Paul was born.  It was so nice to have their help as I adjusted to having two kids.  Anna especially loved getting to play with her grandmas!

While Karry was here, we were all able to go watch two of Kyle's rugby games.  So fun!  Grandma Karry bought cute BYU clothes for the kids to wear, so we were all one BYU-blue family!  Side note: Anna refers to everything BYU (the "Y" symbol, the rugby games) as "Go Cougars!" haha.

Two weekends ago was Kyle and Amanda's graduation, so we had Derek's parents and grandparents here for that.  Naturally, Anna and Paul were spoiled with love and attention.  :)

Over graduation weekend, we were also able to attend the Payson Temple open house, which was really special.  All temples are beautiful, but I think this one is especially gorgeous.  I am so excited that it will be "our temple."  It is only about 10 minutes from our house.

Anna had to smell all the pretty flowers!

Paul-Six Weeks Old

I missed the month mark post...and technically, Paul will be seven weeks tomorrow...but six weeks seems like more of a milestone age than seven...I guess because it's a month and a half?  I don't know. Anyway, this is his six-almost-seven-week post. :)

Five weeks old

Look how much he's grown!

2 days old

One month old!

Paul is a chunk.  Because he loves to eat.  Being hungry is the worst part of his life and the only time he really cries.  During the day he eats every 2-3 hours, but this past week he has thankfully started going 4-6 hour stretches at night between feedings.  He weighs over 12 lbs now, is in size 2 diapers, and is about to outgrow all his 0-3 month clothes.  His cheeks are especially chubby and kissable. :)

Four weeks old

Six weeks old

Paul is staying awake for longer stretches during the day.  He's usually awake for about an hour and half between naps.  He usually wakes up for the day around 8:00, and usually takes four naps during the day, ranging from 45 min to 2 hours.  He's starting to get a little fussier in the evenings before bed, but even when he's fussy, he's pretty easy to console.  He usually just wants to be held and snuggled, or to suck on his binkie.  Paul is kind-of a night owl.  He used to go down for the night around 11:30, but we've slowly moved it earlier so now it's about 10:00.  He typically sleeps from 10:00 until between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m., wakes up to eat, then goes back to sleep, sometimes waking up to eat once more around 5:30 (at which point he gets to come snuggle in bed with me because I'm too tired to get up again haha).

Paul spits up a lot.  I wonder sometimes how he's getting so big because it seems like he spits up half of what he eats.  It's pretty unpredictable too.  Sometimes he spits up while I'm burping him, sometimes it's in the middle of eating with no warning, sometimes it's twenty minutes after eating.  But it's always a ton of spit-up!  He also sometimes has trouble nursing.  I'm not exactly sure what the problem is...it seems like his swallowing gets out of rhythm with his sucking and he starts choking on the milk.  It makes him really upset because he wants to eat, but then he chokes and gags.  It only happens sometimes though, and he's obviously getting enough to eat, so I'm not worried about it.  It's just a little frustrating.

Paul is becoming more aware of what's going on around him.  He will respond when you are talking to him by looking directly at you and if you're really lucky, cooing or smiling at you.  His smiles are really rare but so sweet.  He is really wide-eyed when he's awake and looks all around.  He especially likes to look out the window.

Five weeks old

Smile! Five weeks old

Such a happy boy!

Paul does really well with tummy time.  I actually think he likes to be on his stomach better than his back.  Sometimes he even falls asleep on the floor on his tummy.  He's starting to be able to push up with his arms; his neck muscles are also getting stronger and he can hold his head up for several seconds.

Two weeks old

Anna likes to have tummy time too. :)

Paul loves to be held against your chest, with his cheek against yours. That's my favorite way to hold babies, so I'm glad he likes it too. :) He also really likes the baby carrier.  When we go for walks, I'll just put him in that and then pull Anna in the wagon.  It's really nice.  I've been using it for grocery shopping too so I have more room in the cart, and it works really well.  Except he's getting heavier, so my shoulders start hurting after too long. :)

Three weeks old

Paul does pretty well with his baths.  He doesn't like them very much, but he tolerates them.  Except the few seconds between getting out of the warm water and into the dry towel.  :)

I think Paul inherited my dry, sensitive skin.  He was really flakey on his hands and feet right after birth.  That went away, but now he's got a little bit of cradle cap.  He hasn't had diaper rashes though, which is good!

Paul's eyes are really, really dark, and they're starting to look a little brownish rather than blue-gray. I'm pretty sure they will be a dark brown.

Paul is still a grunter.  That's usually how I can tell he fell asleep is when he's stopped making grunting/snorting sounds haha.  I think his noises are really cute, including his cry.  It's a soft little "Waah!" with his bottom lip pouting out, and it's just too sweet.

Skip to about 0:36 to see a good pouty lip :)

I really think sweet is the word that best describes Paul.  He is so snuggly, usually calm and content, and overall, just a really good-natured baby.  We sure love our sweet little boy!

Paul's Birth Story

Now that Paul is already a month old, I'm finally getting around to posting about his birth.  I started this post when he was two weeks old, and it's seriously taken me three weeks to finish it. At this rate, I'll be lucky to get his one month update finished before he's crawling. :)

Paul Xavier Lontine was born on February 18th, 2015 at 8:05 pm.  Unlike his sister, he decided to make his appearance six days ahead of schedule.  (Fine by me, little guy!)

Here's a timeline of events leading up to his birth.

Feb 16th- My birthday!  After having a little family birthday party, I started feeling some stronger contractions in the evening.  But after going to bed, they went away.

Feb 17th- Continued having stronger, but irregular contractions throughout the day.  I really wasn't expecting him to come for another few days at least, but I could tell it wouldn't be too long!  I spent the day cleaning the house and packing a few last minute things in the hospital bag.

Feb 18th, 5:30 a.m.- Got up to go to the bathroom and felt a little gush.  Went to the bathroom and saw that I had lost my mucus plug along with some clear fluid.  I told Derek, "I think maybe my water just broke...maybe?"  I really wasn't sure.  I knew that if it was, I would probably go into labor in the next few hours.  So I decided to just wait and see what happened.  I changed and went back to bed, and then I started having some stronger contractions that were about 10-15 minutes apart.

7:00 a.m.- Got up for the day, and Anna woke up shortly after.  We ate breakfast, I got her dressed, then showered and got dressed myself.  I was still leaking something, so I was pretty sure it was amniotic fluid. Contractions continued to get stronger and closer together.  I decided to wait until they were 3-5 minutes apart for a hour and then we would go in.

8:00 a.m.- Contractions started coming every 5 or so minutes.  I called Derek and told him I thought we would need to go to the hospital within the next couple hours.

9:00 a.m.- I finally sat down to time my contractions, and as soon as I did, they stopped.  The next one didn't come for almost 30 minutes.  During that time, Derek came home from work, all ready to go to the hospital as soon as I decided it was time.  After only 2 contractions in 45 minutes, I told him to go back to work and I would call him if anything changed.

11:00- I put on a show for Anna and took a little nap on the couch.  When I woke up a half hour later, the contractions had started up again.  They went on and off like this for the next couple hours. Frustrating!  I didn't know if I should just go to the hospital or not.  I tried calling my doctor's office, forgetting that they are closed on Wednesdays because that's the day my doctor is at the hospital.

1:30- I put Anna down for her nap.  I finally decided to call the doctor's office in Provo where I went with Anna because they have a nurse you can just call to ask questions.  I was all prepared to describe what it felt like when I thought my water broke, what the fluid looked like, etc, but she just told me, "If you think you might be leaking amniotic fluid, you need to go into labor and delivery right away."  So I called Derek again and he came home.  I called my Aunt Beth and she came to pick up Anna, and then we headed for the hospital.

3:15- We arrived at the hospital.  They admitted us and I changed into the hospital gown and got all hooked up to the monitors.  My doctor was still at the hospital and saw my name at the nurse's station, so he stopped in to check on us.  Then the nurse checked my fluid with a little strip to see if it was amniotic fluid, and it immediately turned bright blue.  That was exciting because it meant we got to stay and have a baby!  The nurse also said I was dilated to a 3.  Pretty quick after that, the contractions started coming every 3-4 minutes, and this time, they didn't slow down.  They were strong, but still not horrible yet.  By the time I was at a 3 with Anna, the contractions had been way worse and going on for hours already.  So I was pretty happy about that.  I decided to hold off on the epidural until they got to that point.

4:30- The nurse came back to check me again, and I was still only at a 3.  My contractions were starting to get pretty painful...to where I had to squeeze the bed frame as hard as I could during each one. I also started shaking, probably just from the adrenaline rush.  Around 5:00, I told the nurse I was ready for an epidural.

5:30-The anesthesiologist came to administer the epidural.  With Anna, they had me lie on my side, but this time, they had me sit up.  When I got the epidural with Anna, my water had just broken, and the contractions got like 10 times more painful, and I was literally screaming in pain.  So I honestly don't even remember feeling the needle.  This time, it kind-of hurt!  Not nearly as bad as the contractions, but still not pleasant.  But it did it's job, and I was no longer in pain. The only bad thing was that the shaking seemed to get worse.  I couldn't even hold my phone to text or do anything.  But it went away after about an hour.

6:30- I was now at a 5.  Dr. Nance wanted me to get a small dose of pitocin to get things moving a little faster.  It sure did the trick.  By 7:20, I was at a 10 and they called Dr. Nance to come deliver our baby!

7:40- Dr. Nance arrived and we got all ready to start pushing.  My epidural had worn off a bit so I could feel the contractions again, but still not nearly as intense as before.  Just like it was with Anna, I couldn't really feel myself pushing, so it was hard to tell if I was pushing hard enough.  I felt like I pushed for a long time, but it was only about 15 minutes.

8:00- Baby crowned, but he was turned at an angle instead of face down and was having trouble getting out.  Dr. Nance decided they needed to help him out a bit by doing an episiotomy.

8:05- With the little extra space and one more push, his head was out.  Then Dr. Nance told me to stop pushing because the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck.  He was able to slip it over his head, then one more big push, and he was here!

He weighed 7 lbs, 2 oz and was 19 inches long.

After cleaning him up a bit, the nurse brought him to me for some skin-to-skin time.  He latched on and nursed right away.  Then all the nurses left and let us have some time alone with our new baby.   I nursed and snuggled him for almost an hour before we had to move to our new room.  I didn't remember getting that much time with Anna, and it was really nice.

We stayed in the hospital for two nights.  Because of the RSV season, they only allowed visitors over 14 years old, so Anna unfortunately couldn't come visit us at the hospital.  Uncle Trevor stayed with her Wednesday night and all day Thursday, and then Derek went home Thursday night to stay with her.  Paul and I were able to go home Friday morning.

Apparently he wasn't as excited to go home as I was!

All ready to go home!

When Anna first met Paul, she was so cute. She pet his head and touched all his fingers.  She was really interested in everything he was doing for the first little bit.  Now she's usually off doing her own thing, except for when he cries.  Then she runs over and rubs his tummy and says, "It's otay, Paul!" Or, if she's busy eating or doing something, she calls out, "Just a minute, Paul!"  :)

Our family of four!

Anna seems so big next to her baby brother!

Kisses!

Paul had a little bit of jaundice, and we had to get his levels checked twice at the hospital during the week after he was born.  But the levels went down enough that we luckily didn't have to do any treatment for it.  At his two week check-up he had gained over a pound from his birth weight and had grown an inch and a half!  So he's a pretty healthy little guy. :)

Paul is a really good baby.  He is a great eater and eats every 2-3 hours, day and (unfortunately) night.  But other than waking up during the night, I really don't have anything to complain about.  He doesn't cry very much at all, usually only when he's hungry or when he's getting his diaper changed. And his cry is really adorable...his bottom lip sticks out and trembles and it's super cute.  It's also pretty quiet; I have to turn the monitor on when he's asleep in his room because otherwise I don't hear him until he's really wailing.  He's definitely a snuggler.  Pretty much as long as he's being held, he's happy.   He is also a grunter.  He is almost always making little grunting/growling noises.  Derek and I were mimicking his grunting the other day, and then Anna started doing it too.  Now if you ask her, "Anna, what does Paul say?" her response is always, "Paul says, 'hmmph'"  Too funny!

We sure love our sweet little guy!