Again?

And, he thinks work is exhausting...

Well, I survived my first week alone. At the beginning of the week, I was pretty sure that I let help leave too soon. I think my doctor would not have been happy, if he saw me straining to get Holden and his car seat in and out of the car everyday (to pick up Jack). I guess I could have let Jason pick up Jack, but I hate for him to stay at daycare until 5pm or later. Anyway, I felt much better as the week went on. Actually, due to our lazy morning and the rain, I decided to let Jack stay home from daycare, today. And, I'm not ashamed to admit that it is 4:45pm and he is still in his pajamas. At least, I'm not. The reason for our lazy morning... Jason's Uncle John spent the night with us. The weather delayed his flight, so Jack, Holden, and I were in bed before he got here. The only time to visit was this morning. It was a short visit, but a nice one.

I tried so hard to not talk about Holden's good sleeping habits because he was only 2 weeks old and it could have easily been temporary. Overall, he still sleeps much better than Jack, but not as good as a couple of weeks ago. He always starts out with a 3 hour "run", which definitely gets me that deep sleep that I need. Then, he wakes up every 1.5-2 hours. But, he gets a diaper change, eats, and goes back to sleep within 30 minutes. The biggest difference is that once 6am hits, we all get up, for the day, because Jack will be up soon.

Who is in charge, here?

Just the Two of Us

My parents are not here, this week, so it is just Holden and me. I was spoiled, when they were here. They brought groceries, cooked meals, cleaned dishes, made bottles, washed bottles, fed Holden, changed his diapers and even picked Jack up from daycare. Most nights, they even bathed Jack and put him to bed. My dad was my personal chauffeur. He drove me everywhere I went. I definitely needed the extra help because of the c-section, but I'm feeling pretty good. It's confusing to feel this good, but I'm still not supposed to lift anything over 10 lbs for 3 more weeks.

We've had a nice quiet day, so far. We met Jason for lunch and then went to Holden's doc appointment. He is going to be a BIG boy, which doesn't surprise us because he eats all of the time. He weighed 9 lbs 6 oz and was 22 1/2 in long. That put him in the 95th percentile in height and 85 percentile in length. It's no wonder he has been such a good sleeper.

Last weekend, some of our friends came to visit and bring us some dinner. Jack had a lot of fun playing with their little girl. She is 2 months older than Jack. It was so cute to seem them playing together. We had not seen her in about 6 months. I took this picture, after I caught them looking at a book, together, on the the couch. The picture makes me laugh because she is wearing one of Jack's house slippers...

Tummy Ache

Holden has been battling a tummy ache. He hasn't gone to the bathroom, since yesterday, and has had lots of gas. He took a nap on his belly, today. It was the only way he could get comfy. Poor baby.

Things have been going great. I have been fortunate to have lots of help. My mom spent last week with me, while my dad went to ATL, to help Jen with Will's surgery. For the long weekend, we had LeeLee, Big J, and Aunt Jennifer come visit. We also had a visit from Aunt Susan, on Sunday. Today is my first day alone with both boys. It has gone well, so far. The three of us spent a couple of hours, in bed, watching a movie. (Thanks for the movies, Aunt Jennifer!) Holden just sleeps all of the time. I remember Jack sleeping a lot (during the day, not at night), but Holden sleeps all day and night. I am trying to not take it for granted because I definitely remember what is was like when Jack had reflux and cried all night. I think I cried all night, too!

Kiki working on a burp

Daddy teaching his boys how to use tools

Jack helped Daddy trim the bushes

Jack watching TV with LeeLee

He won't even wake up for diaper changes

so sweet!

Aunt Susan holding Holden

Aunt Susan bought Jack his very first guitar

Jack likes to hold Holden's hand. It makes me nervous that he might squeeze too hard.

Jack hates having his picture made, but when I started taking Holden's picture, he insisted that I take his.

Jack has become quite generous with his kisses

Don't Ask.

This has been going on for a couple of months. One morning, his teacher told me that there was a "gang" of them that won't take their coats off in the morning. I have this odd feeling that Jack is the ring leader.

Hello, World.

We had a short doc visit, this morning. Everything was great. Holden weighed 8lbs 1oz, which was his birth weight. So, things are going great!

Typical Day...

...in the life of Holden Lee

Life is Good

The craziest 2 weeks of our lives.

I have so much to tell that it is overwhelming. So, I am going to keep part 1 short:

Part 1:
On December 30, we sold our old house, but did not purchase our new house until January 4th. So, we had all of our furniture and belongings stored in our "old" garage, sent Jack to Huntsville, and spent 5 days at Fionnuala and Paul's house, while they weren't even in town. The scary part was that I was 38 weeks pregnant and terrified of going in to labor.

Last Monday, we closed on our new house. Also, on that day they began moving our furniture. They went back for a second load and the guy hurt his knee, so they couldn't finish. This left Jason and I sleeping on a mattress, on the floor, for our first night in the new house, with plans for the movers to show up at 8am.

Part 2:
At midnight, I woke up with pretty regular contractions. I knew this was it. For those of you that know the in depth version of this entire story, we had tempted fate one too many times. I timed the contractions for about 1 hour and then decided to wake up Jason, since they were about every 8 minutes. We got to the hospital around 2am. The nurse said that we would watch the contractions until 5am and then call the doctor to see what the plan would be. My doctor decided to bump his 2 scheduled c-sections, since I had been laboring all night. We called our parents and they began making their plans to head this way. (A special thanks to my Uncle James who was called around 6:30am and went to our house to wait on the movers)

At 8:36am James "Holden" Lee was born, weighing 8lbs 1oz. I can't believe he weighed entire pound more than Jack did.

We are all doing well. Kiki and Grandad are back in Hunstville resting up from keeping Jack for the last 7 days. They are headed back, this weekend. LeeLee and Big J are at our house, with Jack tonight. We are so thankful and fortunate to have wonderful grandparents that can help us out, when we need it.

Schools are closed, tomorrow, because of the weather, so I doubt we'll have any visitors. We should be released Friday. I'm ready to get my new baby home, spend some time with Jack, and check out our new house!