Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Rice Cereal

"Baby" had his 4 month checkup last week. He weighed in at 13lbs 8ozs and measured 25 1/4 inches. Unfortunately he has bronchitis and an ear infection. Poor little guy! This postponed his next round of immunizations for 2 weeks. The doctor gave us the go ahead to start rice cereal. "Baby" loves it!!!




The same day "Junior" decided to take a stab at his artistic side. He has decided that sculpting is fun and wants to be just like his uncle! Now I'm worried that I'll be continuing to support him 23 years from now! Maybe they'll be a large need for eggplant/fork sculptures!


Sunday, February 17, 2008

Pictures



"Junior" at 4 months





"Baby" at 4 months





"Junior" at 8 months (or so.)





"Baby" at 3.5 months.






My boys!

Friday, February 15, 2008

"Baby"





I promised myself that I would write the birth story of "baby" following the birth. Now it's 4 months later and I still haven't recorded anything. So I struggle to remember all the unimportant details that are so important to me.

When I opted for a repeat c-section the hospital sent me my itinerary. I was due to check into labor and delivery at 8am on Wednesday, October 17th. A couple days prior to "the day" I was contacted and told to check in at 10am. So much better since we were traveling into Boston! I could actually have one last morning to sleep in! What a joke that was! I didn't sleep at all the night before!

Daddy and I arrived at BI on the 17th. We were probably a little late, as that is customary for us! Now is when the confusion set in. I gave my name. My married name, which is different then when I first became pregnant. The nurses were waiting for Mommy So&So and had no clue who Mommy Mack was! Finally after waiting for 45 minutes Daddy straightened out the confusion and I was able to walk through the locked doors to have "baby."

Our nurse was absolutely fantastic! Her name is one of those things that I would love to remember, but I have no clue!! She was just the sweetest person! Very attentive to my every need and since Daddy is a bit of an attention hound, she was particularly attentive to his needs also!

I didn't have to wait long before the O.R. was ready for us. I was able to walk into the room and was shocked at how cold it was!! I definitely don't remember that from having "junior!" It made me really sad for how shocked poor "baby" would be when exiting the womb! There was also a radio playing. Now please know that I paid so much attention to this radio. I swore that I would remember what songs played- especially when they announced to me that the baby was here. I remember nothing of that except for it was on 106.7. I'm guessing that we listened to Christina Aguillara and Kelly Clarkson, but I can't be sure!

The epidural went really well. I was especially nervous about this because with "junior" it was horrible!!!! Lucky for me it was painless this time around! Daddy got to come into the room following the epidural. It was great to see him! Unfortunately (and true to his word) he didn't last very long! Daddy has a pretty weak stomach when it comes to this stuff. Just thinking about what they were doing behind the white sheet proved to be too much and Daddy had to leave the room. He tells me that he had some OJ and coaching from the nurses. I think he loved all the attention he got! Although I'm certain he would have preferred to be with me!

The fabulous nurse and fabulous anesthesiologist kept me well informed on what was going on behind that white sheet! They kept me calm and laughing. Finally it was time for "baby" to arrive. Daddy was sent for. There was probably about a 10 minute wait from that time that Daddy came back into the room before "baby" made his entrance into the world. Finally at 1:33pm "baby" was born. The look on Daddy's face was of complete joy! He was given permission from fabulous nurse to go over to the warming table and take pictures. He was so cute after trying to show me the pictures he had taken. But he couldn't stop shaking. I couldn't see anything, although I pretended that I had. Fabulous anesthesiologist told me that I had a 10 pound baby! I was amazed (and pretty excited at the immediate weight loss potential from a 10+ pound baby!!!) How on earth did someone so large fit inside of me?!?!? Then the true weight was revealed. 8 lbs. 9 ozs. The c-section before mine produced a 10 lb. baby!!!!

When Daddy and fabulous nurse brought you over to Mommy, I was amazed. Such a beautiful baby! It never fails to amaze me that Daddy and I can make something so wonderful, so amazing, so breath-taking! This was the 2nd time we perfected the baby making area of our life!

The doctor began to stitch me up while I admired my new baby! Daddy was holding baby and he and I were both so content and so in love!! It was taking a really long time to finish up the surgery. The doctor announced to us that they "only had one more layer to get through." Daddy turned a shade of pale that I had never seen before. He immediately beckoned for fabulous nurse and handed "Baby" over. He attempted to sit back down and stay with me for the remainder of things. However, things didn't work out in his favor. I graciously excused him from the O.R. to make the all important phone calls. Daddy did a good job at that!

I will never forget the doctor and fabulous nurse wheeling me from O.R. into recovery. They laid "Baby" along side of me. I was terrified at first. So worried that I would break him or that he would roll off the rolling bed and onto the linoleum floor. But we made it into the recovery cubicle and immediately called Grandma's cell phone. Poor Grandma was a nervous wreck! She expected "Baby" to be born close to the 10 o'clock hour. But I explained the last name mix-up. We had an amusing chuckle over that and she was so happy to hear that I was ok and that she had a beautiful, an amazingly beautiful, grandson!

I couldn't get enough of "Baby." I just wanted to stare at him and memorize every part of his face and head and neck and chest. But the time came when fabulous nurse had to take him to the nursery for his official evaluation. She confirmed all my thoughts when she took him though.

"What a beautiful, absolutely perfect, baby boy."













Saturday, February 9, 2008

Babies, parties, and more

I cannot believe that "baby" is nearing the 4 month mark. He's meeting all his milestones just as we would hope he would. Holding his own head up, laughing at our lame jokes, and making us fall more in love with him everyday. Perhaps that isn't a milestone. But it's still an amazing feeling to have!

What I can't believe even more then "baby" being close to 4 months is that "junior" will soon be having his 4th birthday. It's more then just a birthday party though......it's a chance for "junior" to say good-bye to his friends from daycare.

We decided to move to give our children a better life. To be closer to grandparents. To be able to buy a home. A better school system. But when I think of how difficult this move will be on "junior" I wonder if we're making the right decision. Daddy seems to think that we are. He feels that kids are so resilient. I'm the worrier. The one that agonizes over every decision and stays awake at night wondering if we're doing this parenting thing the right way. I guess there is no way to measure if you're doing things the right way. Or even if there is a right way.

Tonight I told "junior" that we were moving to a new house. He was a little confused. A little worried. He wanted assurance that we were bringing our belongings with us.

"Will we bring my bed?" "Yes honey- and the sheets on your bed too."

"What about the lights?" "Yes honey- Daddy and I bought the lights."

"Well can we bring the rug?" "Possibly- maybe our new house will already have a rug."

"But if we don't live here then who will?" "I'm not sure."

I decided to wait to fill him in that he will no longer go to the same daycare.

"Junior" has always been such an amazing little guy. And when I say little..I really mean little! He's in the 3rd percentile for his weight and height. But he is smart. And inquisitive and funny. So funny! No one can make me laugh the way that he can. It sounds corny but he really is a ray of sunshine.

When he was born I was terrified to hold him. That is what I remember the most. I was absolutely terrified. Everyone at the hospital held him before I did. I never expected that Daddy and I would have created someone so wonderful. So perfect. And from the c-section I couldn't stop shaking. So I admired this creation at a distance. I just kept trying to get the feeling back in my legs while other people held him and kissed him. And I continued to admire him from a distance sure that I could never handle him the way his daddy did or his grandparents did. Finally daddy handed him to me. Daddy didn't really give me a choice as to whether or not I wanted to hold him. He just put "junior" in my arms. Immediately I fell in love. I looked into his eyes and fell in love unconditionally with this little guy. And the most amazing this is that he didn't break!!!

I've watched his personality grow everyday for the last 4 years. Everyone that meets "junior" falls in love with him. You can't help but not too. His laugh is infectious. His smile brightens up the room. He is truly loved by everyone.

Now he is turning 4. My heart is already breaking for the day when he goes off to school. He'll do great. It'll be mommy that has the adjusting to do.

I desperately want this birthday to be amazing. Perfect. I want him to remember it always since it'll be one of his last memories with his friends from daycare. I've spent so much time looking into places analyzing what is included to how much fun the kids will have. I never would have imagined how expensive birthday parties can be. I know that "junior" will have a wonderful time no matter what. No matter where his birthday is. I'm the one with the high expectations.















"Junior" 3/24/04















"Junior's" 1st birthday

















"Junior's" 2nd Birthday

Friday, February 8, 2008

A confession......

I was hestitant to tell my husband that I had created this blog. I knew that he may not approve of it. But it may have been a tad unfair to have pictures of him and his children all over cyber space and not fill him in. He reacted exactly as I suspected he would. "You know that I do not like the idea of anyone being able to track me on the internet." I gave him my motivation behind the blog and promised that I would not identify us by our actual names. However I should probably come up with code names for our family.........

My code name will be "Mamma Mack" (Very orginial....I know!)

My husband's code name will be "Daddy Mack" (See where I'm going with this?!?)

Our first born will be "Junior Mack"

Our second born will be "Baby Mack"


Now that you're filled in I thought that I would share some of my favorite pictures of "Junior". It's amazing how much "Baby" resembles him





Junior looking so sad at his parent's engagement photo shoot!


















Junior's favorite hiding place as a baby. He constantly cleaned out the cupboard to hide in here!


Saturday, February 2, 2008

The making of a blog......

Seeing how everyone nowadays has a blog- I decided to jump aboard the bandwagon and create one for my family. My real motivation behind doing this is so that our friends in the Boston area can keep tabs on our family and see pictures of the boys as they grow. I suppose I could constantly send emails with pictures attached but this way seems a little less intrusive!