Charlie and Miles

When you tell a two year old that they are getting a baby brother or sister it's hard to know how much they understand. You know they see your belly growing and that you point to that belly and say it's a baby...but how much does that really mean to them? I would occasionally catch Charlie waving or blowing kisses at my belly but that was about it. 

I've wondered how much Charlie would be interested in this little brother once he came. I assumed that Charlie wouldn't really care about the brother, especially since he's all about doing his own thing and doesn't even seem that attached to Max or myself. We imagined that Charlie would come to the hospital and be more enthralled with the doctor's tools than his brother...

So this is what really happened. Grandma (my mom) was able to bring Charlie to visit us in the hospital. It took them awhile to get to our room because Charlie needed to stop and play with every little button and lever he saw. 

When he got to our room we hugged him and Max picked him up to show him his baby brother. Charlie seemed so excited. He kept pointing and smiling and saying baby or brother. When we asked if he wanted to hold his brother he looked at us with a big smile and wide eyes and gave us an enthusiastic nod. 

He enjoyed holding him and checking out his little feet and hands.

Yes this is kind of blurry but Charlie really seemed the most fascinated with Miles' feet. 

After holding him for a little bit, Charlie decided that he was done and ready to explore the hospital room just as we predictied and once he got too into his exploring we decided to give him his special gift from Miles. (His Buzz Lightyear) He was excited about that for a little while!

Since being home Charlie has been somewhat indifferent about his new sibling for the most part however he will get excited about helping him drink a bottle or holding his hand. He hasn't acted in anyway that would lead us to believe he is jealous of his brother. We've even caught him blowing unprompted kisses to him and checking on him in his bed.  

And now I'm kind of obsessed with getting pictures of them together. 

Madeleine came over and when we asked if Madeleine wanted to hold baby Miles, Charlie got right in there and showed her how it was done. 

For such a strong kid, Charlie really has been gentle with his brother...so far!

And then there was the time that Charlie had a late nap on the couch so Max thought Miles should nap there too.

And Charlie was pretty excited about helping with Miles' bath.

When Miles was 5 days old I attempted to get some good photos of him. I had tried to do some practice photo shoots with Charlie before Miles was born but Charlie would never be still or cooperate. Once I started taking pictures of Miles, Charlie actually wanted to get in on the action. I hope this happens in the future as I will be trying to take lots of photos of them.

Once again Charlie was excited about Miles' toes.

This was a favorite moment...Charlie counted Miles' toes then did the "This little piggy" rhyme.

When I'm feeling more like myself I hope to get more pictures of my boys together! I love that Charlie seems to be adapting well to having a baby brother.

Miles Spencer-a birth story

I never wrote down a full birth story for Charlie and I'm regretting it. I meant to do it shortly before Miles was born so I don't have 2 birth stories that I confuse in my memory. That being said...it never happened so I need to move forward and write Miles' story before I forget it. I still plan to document Charlies as well...but I'll do so in the future. 

So, as you can tell from my previous post...Miles' due date came and went. He was due on March 31st. I was hoping to get him induced on the follow Friday April 4th because that would work perfectly for my mom to watch Charlie all weekend. The hospital would not let me induce him that day for whatever reasons and said I could have an induction date the following day (Saturday April 5th) I wasn't super eager to induce him because I really wanted to know what it was like to go into labor naturally although I didn't know if my body was capable of it. 

I had a DR appointment on Thursday April 3rd to check on baby, they said I was dilated to  4cm and about 50% effaced. He swept my membranes which left me with uncomfortable cramps the rest of the day. This had happened at my previous appointments so I didn't feel like this would put me into labor. The next morning at 7am I woke up to those same cramps that were consistently coming and going. Around 9am I decided to start timing the cramps. They weren't exceptionally painful but I could definitely notice them. For an hour the "cramps" were coming every 4-8 minutes. I called Labor and Delivery and they told me I was probably in the early stages of labor but I should wait until the contraction were stronger, lasted for a minute, and come every 3-4 minutes. At 10am we had our friends Kerri and Madeleine come over. We were already planning on this because I wasn't expecting to be having contractions. We decided to have them over anyway because they had been out of town and we hadn't seen them in weeks, also, if we did need to go to the hospital, they could take Charlie home with them until my mom got off of work. We had a fun time but at the end of their visit I still felt like I wasn't that close to going to the hospital so we kept Charlie home with us so he could nap in his own bed. Around 3 pm the contractions were getting really strong so we decided to wake up Charlie and take him to Kerri's house and go to the hospital. The contractions were getting bad enough that I couldn't talk through them. Max ran Charlie into their house and we left for the hospital. It seemed like everything was taking forever...I mean when your unit of timing is contractions..things take longer...I got checked into triage and laid in the bed waiting to be checked again. The midwife that checked me said I was between a 4-5cm. This kind of bummed me out because it seemed like the contractions all day were for nothing. They still checked me into Labor and Delivery. Before I received any pain medication I wanted to try siting in the large jacuzzi tub. Part of this is because we don't have a functional tub at our house and I've missed it but also because I have 2 sister-in-laws who have had water births and swear that the warm water relieves contraction. The tub felt so nice and did relieve my contractions. I enjoyed that for awhile but was then ready for some stronger meds to numb the contraction. I dried off and got in the bed where they gave me my IV and some fentanyl. That felt really nice! I kept thinking of how relaxing it felt to get out of the Jacuzzi tub and then lay down and just relax and not worry about chasing my 2-year-old. It was kind of like a luxurious date! The fentanyl lasted for about an hour then I was ready for the epidural. Yes, I'm a fan of modern medicine! That felt great as well and Max and I spent time relaxing and trying to get as much rest in preparation for the long nights ahead of us. The epidural felt great for awhile but then I started to feel the contraction come on strong in my back...and then move to the front. (do contractions move?...) anyway, I tried upping the dose a bit but that didn't do much. Probably sometime between 11pm and 12am the doctor checked and said I was at a ten and just about 100% effaced so I would probably be pushing soon. The thought of starting to push scared me. I had to push for 3 hours straight with Charlie and I wasn't ready to commit to another 3 hour marathon...I think I felt better about taking on more contractions. Shortly after midnight I was finally convinced that I should start pushing. Since I could feel the contractions it was much easier to tell when I should start pushing. I had no idea with Charlie and that is probably why it took so long to get him out. I started with one big push. I could tell from the doctors reactions and Max's face that the baby was close to coming. If that was the case, I thought I could give it a couple more pushes before trying to rest again. I gave a big push with the next contraction and Miles slipped right out. I was completely shocked. When Charlie came out, this was the most painful part but with Miles, this pain didn't compare to the contractions and it really did feel much easier getting him out. They placed him on my chest and Max and I were once again overcome with shock and emotion. It was beautiful seeing my little boy's face for the first time and knowing that he was ours. His head was the perfect shape. He laid on my chest for quite awhile silently staring at me. It was perfect. He was born at 12:24am on April 5th 2014. 

All of Miles' test turned out great. He has some unique small toes and the end of his sternum protrudes a bit neither of which will be health issues. After the tests, we all took a little nap while preparations were being made to move into the Mother/Baby Unit. Half of the units in the hospital were being remodeled so only the high risk babies stayed there so we were transferred to the Mother Baby units in Doernbecher Children's hospital which were still pretty nice. We got settled in. Miles slept great in his little bassinet. (Charlie had issues sleeping in the hospital if he wasn't in our arms.) And Max and I were able to get a couple hours of sleep. And I think I'll stop the story there. IN the meantime we are learning to adjust to a life with two little boys and figuring out how to keep them alive and fed. Also did I mention that Charlie got me sick 2 days before Miles was born so I was completely congested and coughing through this whole experience? I'm stiill sick which has made the recovery a little more challenging, Also, Miles is having the same nursing issues that Charlie had so I've been up day and night trying to feed him and pumping in the meantime. Luckily, Miles is more ambitious about getting milk so he may just be a nurser if we work hard enough! 

And here are some pictures from the hospital....

I loved seeing Charlie meet his baby brother. I will have a future blog post about these cute brothers but just know that Charlie was more interested and excited about his brother than I thought he would be.

His excited face when meeting Miles!

This is a favorite!

We feel so blessed to have our amazing boys!

Max's boss got us all "Grow Construction" shirts...so here is Miles' shirt

We are so excited to have Miles join our family. He is a very sweet, mild mannered baby so far. He doesn't cry much yet. He likes to sleep, eat, and just observe the world around him,. I'm excited to see how his personality develops as he grows.

40 Weeks

Technically speaking, I'm only 39 weeks and 6 days and my due date isn't until tomorrow but today, Sunday, I was dressed and my hair was brushed and my husband was home. With the stars all aligned, we decided that we should do a due date photo shoot. Baby boy still has about 24 hours to be "on time" but chances are he will be late and induced on April 5th. Also, this weekend, Charlie got some nasty sickness and is fevery and vomity so we wouldn't mind if baby brother took a little more time cooking on the inside while Charlie gets better, also, I don't really want to make anyone watch my grumpy, sick toddler while we are in the hospital. (This may or may not be causing me significant stress)  

Anyway, back to our photo shoot...any photo shoot with Max turns out to be a laugh attack and then digresses into Max burying himself into our bushes..?..

Moving On....here is my massively huge belly at (almost) 40 weeks!

And then there is my dreamy husband!

And there you have it. We are excited for baby brother to come and eager for Charlie to get healthy!

Movie under the stars!

As part of "the waiting game," I decided to have a little party to distract myself. With the weather getting warmer we decided to try an outdoor projector movie night again, this time we chose to watch Frozen! Charlie (and pretty much every child and adult we've met) is a big fan of this movie. We also have been wanting to get to know a couple families from our church, so it was fun to have some new friends over. This movie night was much more successful than our freezing January movie night. We had two families and my mom come. A bunch of other people were out of town for Spring Break and others didn't want to keep their kids up that late. We couldn't really start the movie until 7:30ish because that is when the sun set but we decided it would be totally worth it to keep Charlie up late for this fun event. Everyone brought some snacks to share and we made popcorn. Charlie and Cora were enthralled in the movie, Baby Oaklyn was tired and fell asleep. And the brand new baby Charlotte slept through the whole thing. It was quite the success and it didn't even get very cold. We were also able to get to know these friends better which is always a plus! I didn't take any pictures during the movie because it was dark so this is the one picture Max took on his phone after the movie. 

Charlie has made a new good friend. Cora is a whole year older than Charlie but much tinier. I think Charlie was excited about his new friend. (Or the fact that it was 10 pm and he was still up playing) 

38 weeks

On Sunday we decided to take some 38 week photos of this massive baby gut I have. You may remember This Photo Shoot from 2.5 years ago. 

We didn't have anyone to help with the photos so Max took some, I hope to have someone take some of us together in the next couple of days. We took a whole bunch of photos but I was appalled by how huge my rump looked in this dress so this is the only one I will put up for now. Haha!

My body is getting tired and slowing down. I feel huge and baby brother feels cramped. Part of me wants this baby out now but the other part of me enjoys the sleep I'm mostly getting now. As tired and achy as I am now, I can't really say I'm in pain. My back still feels strong, I have aches in the pelvis. Last time around I remember getting pain in my hips and shoulders from sleeping on my side but that hasn't happened this pregnancy. Our new bed is just way more comfortable. Probably one of the most annoying symptoms is losing circulation in my arms and hands when I sleep. I wake up from it and sometimes it takes awhile to get feeling back into them. At my 37.5 week appointment I was dilated to a 3 and 50-70% effaced. I was at a 3 with Charlie for nearly a month so that isn't too exciting but I wasn't this effaced so MAYBE this little guy will not be as late as his big brother. At my appointment today (38.5 weeks) I was still at a 3 and 50-70% effaced so not much progress in the last week. I feel like baby boy is getting lower and my heartburn has decreased so that's another good sign. I'm somewhat hoping that he comes in the next week because my mom is home for Spring Break and that will be perfect for Charlie to stay with her. I'm sure he will arrive right when he is supposed to and luckily we have wonderful friends here that are willing to help with Charlie. (I seriously get more worried about Charlie's accommodations than going through labor and delivery again) 

I guess that's all. Our little boy will be here before we know it!

Spring Day 1

We are excited that Spring is finally here and that we have been having relatively good weather. I've been getting extra tired these days keeping up with my busy Charlie so once swimming ended we have been staying home more. Our OMSI and children's museum outings have decreased as well. I still like to get out at least once a day, especially when the sun is shining.Charlie sure appreciates any outing so we made an extra effort to get to the park for the first day of Spring .

Charlie had never played on this playground before and he was making me laugh so much because he was scooting around it like an old man. When he climbed up high he would take tiny little shuffling steps until he could reach something he could hold onto. 

We played on the playground for only about 10 minutes when a man came walking by on the path and asked if anyone had a black car, there were only 2 other moms there who said they didn't, I asked if it was a black Jetta and he said "yes, with a car seat in it" He informed me that it had rolled backwards down the hill, I was shocked and asked if it had run into anything. He said it hadn't. It also surprised me because I was barely parked on a hill and I knew for certain that I had put the emergency break on. Charlie was not very excited to leave the park early and I was not that excited about hauling him away with my 9 month pregnant body but we walked over to the car and a couple of the park workers were there waiting by the car. They told me that the car had not hit anything and that happens at least once a year. They also showed me that the car was stuck pretty deep in the mud which would make it hard to get out but also probably helped the car stop before rolling more into the picnic tables or baseball diamond fence.

My car was parked in front of that smaller green pine tree, you can see the tire tracks from where it rolled.

And there it stopped.

Luckily we were at a large park so there were a handful of park workers. First I tried to drive out with no success. Then 4 workers tried pushing the car while I drove and it was still stuck. It was some deep mud. A park worker was going to call a tow truck but I wanted to call Max first and see if he could pull the car out with his work truck. He headed right over with his co-worker who had a larger truck with a tow cable. In the meantime, another park worker happened to show up in a truck that had a tow cable.  Luckily, the park truck was able to pull my car backward into a gravel patch and I was able to drive out of the park. I felt so lame but all the workers were so helpful and kind. I called Max who was almost there letting him know I was out and on my way home,  apparently his co-worker, KJ, was bummed because he was excited to try out his truck and tow cable. haha. They were at our house when I got home. KJ then went back to work and Max stayed home for lunch and to get some things done on the property. It was quite the experience that left me a bit traumatized but I was so grateful that no one was hurt and nothing was damaged except a little bit of the soggy grass. 

Moving on with our first day of Spring, Max and I got to go on a date to a graduation ceremony for a class that he took through his work. It was a  construction management course done through Turner Construction. It was quite the event held in the Governor's Hotel downtown. 

We even hired our first ever babysitter. One of my piano students, Faith, turned 12 a couple months ago and has been wanting to watch Charlie for awhile. My mom or good friend are usually available to watch him when we go out so we hadn't asked Faith yet. She is very responsible and has spent time with Charlie before during our piano lessons so we thought we would give it a try. She did great and Charlie had a great time.

Anyway, we got to the event a little late due to traffic and parking. When we arrived we spoke with some people and had some appetizers and drinks. There was a short ceremony then each student was presented with a plaque/certificate. It was pretty fun and we are excited that Max is done with that class because he will be home earlier on Tuesdays and Thursdays. He also learned a ton and did a lot of great networking for the company. Anyway, our first day of Spring was quite eventful!

Baby Shower

This last weekend, we were able to celebrate our new baby boy with a shower thrown by my amazing Sister in Law, Lisa! There really isn't much we need as we are having a boy but Lisa was still able to throw an amazing party and made us feel extra special. 

I stole some of her pictures because I was too lame to capture some of the amazing details she put into the party.  Here is her blog post about the party and the location from where I stole her photos!

Lisa's post

 We walked in to the party to see this beautiful food table with a Greek theme...our mouths watered. She cooked and prepped almost all of it! Wonder woman I tell you....

She handmade all these decorative pom poms. It really added to the party. Have I mentioned that this woman is a full time student and a mother of three very active boys?

The event was held at Annette's house (our river Grandma)

Lisa made these amazing prizes for the games. In each bag was a scented candle, two tea bags, some hot cocoa, and some bath salts. And she made those awesome tags too!


As people arrived to the party we mingled and ate some of the delicious food. Lisa had also created an amazing scrapbook for people to write parenting advice, especially advice about parenting multiple children. She had also placed out a calendar where people could guess baby's due date and stats. Also, she had custom created an amazing CD full of lullabies and songs that included the word baby in it.

And I got my own Tiara!  

Cousin Kim, Aunt Cindy, and Cousin Stephanie!

Lisa had prepared 3 fun games. The first was Baby Bingo. I love bingo and she handmade each bingo card! We sadly didn't win! I can get competitive!

We also played the "measure how big you think my belly is" game. Somewhat awkward but still fun and I still have the measuring tape from Charlie's baby shower so I can compare how big my belly was then and now. Max almost won this one which made me pretty proud but then Kim beat him by a centimeter. I was impressed they were able to get so close. I always think it's funny when people think my belly circumference is much bigger than it actually is...if I made an actual guess I bet I would have guessed much bigger than I am.

We then played "How many stuffed animals can Rebecca diaper in 30 seconds" I only got three but that is just because I like to make sure I do a thorough job! No leaks for those animals.

We were then able to eat cake and ice cream and open gifts! Everyone was so thoughtful. We got a couple new outfits for baby brother which is exciting for him to have a couple things that are his own! He are also set on diapers and wipes for awhile. My cousins even brought a box of Charlie sized diapers. We got nice burp cloths (I had previously been using old diapers that were my brother's burp cloths 20 years ago) and Baby Brother got his own handmade quilt from Grandma Baertlein. Charlie loved helping unwrap the presents.

Our beautiful and hardworking hostess.

Charlie tried to wear his little brother's clothes as we unwrapped them.

 Little miss Chloe saw the camera point at her at this is the face she made....reminds me of her mama!

Overall, it was an amazing baby shower and my little family felt so spoiled. I don't know if we can truly express our gratitude to Lisa and all the organization and time she spent in making this such an exceptional party. All the details were carefully planned and executed! She is amazing and we want to thank everyone that came to show their love for our new little boy!