Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Sam's Peeps and other firsts...

A day late and a dollar short seems to be the  name of the game right now!! But I've got some major catching up to do on our sweet baby Sam!

First of all, there was a slew of big brothers just waiting to meet Sam... they all were shipped out in their sleep and waited for the news all day. Lucky for Max and Jack, time doesn't really apply, but to Gabe, he knew there should be news, and just couldn't wait to know... finally, once Sam arrived, he talked his grandparents into bringing him over almost immediately- he was there by about 4:30pm! Gabe and Grandma and Grandpa were baby Sam's first visitors. They snapped lots of pictures and oohhed and ahhhed over his headful of hair!



Next, Max and Jack, along with Annie, Pop, Uncle Eli, and my dinner :) arrived. Max was so in love- it was like a scene from a movie. He was proud and beaming... kind of like me and Chad! Jack was so excited, he was screaming "baby Sam!" and giving him kisses all over. Chad had to hover to protect Sam from Jack, totally because Jack just didn't understand how gentle he needed to be- never has he shown any roughness or ill-will towards Sam... just love, bull-in-a-china-shop style. Of course Annie and Pop and Eli thought he was perfect- which he is- and everyone took turns holding him and being in awe of him.





Later in the weekend, my friends Jill and Danielle stopped by too, and of course, melted, because he is that precious. And from there, we took it really easy and remained low key. This is really the first time we took that route- typically we've had some visitors in the hospital and then lots right when we get home, but with the home birth, it just changed all that- I'm not sure why! We didn't scare anyone off or anything, but me and Sam did a lot of feeding and sleeping and Chad joined us for naps when he could. And then even when the big brothers came home, I took more time than I normally do just to soak in my baby. It was an incredible time because Chad and my mom were here running everything and playing with the little men, and I felt so good and wasn't sore at all, so I seriously got to just hold my baby close and smell him and take in his every inch. He was within a foot of my body at all times for the first 5 days! It was such a sweet time. I honestly don't know why us women are in such a hurry to get back into the swing of things, because doing the opposite was such a precious few days that I'll never get again... and that I'll never forget! I'm blessed to have people around me that made this
possible!





By Sam's 1 week day, Chad had returned to work and my mom stayed home (but remained on call if needed!) and I was itching to get out. It's very unlike me to stay at my house for a week straight so I needed an adventure. It was mother's day weekend and the weekend of Sam's munch n' meet, so I decided the little boys needed a hair cut... in the worst way! Typically, my cousin does all of our hair, but it's a longer drive than I was willing to make and I hadn't planned ahead at all, so we headed around the corner to the kid haircut place, Pigtales and Crew cuts, after making a stop at Dunkin Donuts of course... this was Sam's first outing besides his weigh in at the doctor, which was really like a 2 minute excursion, and obviously I had to train up a child in the way he should go, which obviously calls for donuts on the first outing. He was impressed.

This was how Max prepared Sam for his weigh in at the doc... gave him a book to read while he waited :)






Sam also had his first bath to celebrate his first week in the world!




The next day, Saturday, Sam's 8th day, was his munch n' meet that my sweet friend Danielle put together, along with some other sweet girlfriends-- Jolynn, Lisa, Anna, Heather, and Jenny. I'll do another post on this once I get the pictures from Danielle, but to say we were blessed and loved on is an understatement!

On Sunday, we made it to church for Mother's Day and then went to my aunt's house for lunch with my Dad's side of the family... my Dad's parents were there, along with their 6 great grand children (including my 3) and everyone enjoyed great weather, watched the boys play baseball, and held our sweet bundle. This was Sam's introduction to the Noblitt's and he did some of his best work wooing them... with his eyes closed :)







When Sam was 11 days old, I took all 3 boys to my last BSF bible study of the year... I missed the girls in my group BAD and they had prayed me all the way through my pregnancy- I was literally just like 8 weeks when it started, so I wanted them to meet Sam so bad! It was totally uneventful- I got us in and out of the car like I'd been doing it for weeks, we were even a few minutes early! AND then we joined the Prusa ladies for Chick-fila lunch... until Jack totally melted down like he was about to be 2... and then I ran to the safe haven of the minivan faster than you can say lickety-split!


The next day, with Chad's help, all 6 of us went to the last youth group of the year... once again, my sweet 6th grade girls have been so excited about this baby and before we broke for the summer, they needed to lay eyes on the little precious man! They were thoroughly impressed, as was my sweet co-leader, and I kept him tied to me in the moby wrap to keep hands off for a bit longer... I just let people peek and explained that they could all hold him in a few weeks, that I just wasn't ready for germs or to pass him around. Even as 12 year olds, they were totally on board with this and just stared at him in amazement! Some people are just baby people at birth, and we have a group full of those!



And then on Sam's 2 week day, we ventured to my mom's for the day, which included some shopping at the mall for new shoes for Max, and the first swim of the year... Sam was thoroughly impressed by this as well!


Basically, Sam is THE sweetest, most laid back baby. He's a great eater- he's gained over a pound and a half in 2 weeks... they usually just want you back to your birth weight by then, but our boy has jumped from 7lbs 1oz to 8lbs 8oz- he's also a great sleeper, barely gets upset and if he does, he just makes a noise or two for a moment and then chills again. He is pretty hot-natured, so doesn't love to be bundled except after baths, but does think cuddling and sleeping on my chest is the way to go. He's already a paci baby, although he spits it out as soon as he gets good and asleep. He sleeps for about 5 hours at night, eats, and then goes 4 more-- which makes for awesome nights for his mama as long as his reflux doesn't act up. He potentially has a lip and tongue tie, after being assessed by a lactation specialist, but his pediatrician doesn't think this is the case, so we'll see an ENT next week to have everything checked out. I keep waiting for vampire baby to strike or that lovely witching hour, but so far, he's a dream baby! Needless to say, we've all voted and we're in favor of keeping him! I seriously feel like God is playing favorites and somehow we made the list :) All I can do is say thank you Jesus again and again and again!





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