Conference

Here are some cute pictures of my boys during Conference Weekend.

Isn't James getting chubby!?! I love it!

Lots of James (and about how he was born)

James has been a joy! We love this little guy so much! And, really, who wouldn't!

He is really just the sweetest thing! When I was pregnant I thought about having another baby through the lens of "how will this effect Henri," but right when he was born I felt so much love for him! It really is amazing that we do love this little boy just as much as we loved Henri.

Since I haven't posted this yet, here is a quick rundown of James' birth story:

• The night of the 15th the hospital calls us and tells us to come in at 5am the next morning to get induced. (Awesome! I was happy to not have to wake up and call them at 5am and be told to call back later.)
• I pack my back the morning of the 16th (unlike when we were expecting Henri and my bag was packed for four weeks,) I sneak in to kiss Henri and then we have a nice, relaxing drive to the hospital to get ready to get induced.
• 7am the pitosin is started.
• 8am Doctor Hulme (who also delivered Henri) comes and breaks my water. Also, I had an awesome nurse named Moira who is from Scotland and was just delightful.
• 10am I decide to get the epidural because contractions are getting quite painful. I am still only dilated to something like a 3.5 or 4.
• For the next several hours I lay in my hospital bed in a state of blissful relaxation. I can still feel the contractions if I pay attention, but I can also nap. And let me tell you about this nap: I didn't have a 2 year old I was listening for and for the first time in 9 months I felt comfortable- my muscles and my mind were relaxed! I loved it, and I love epidurals!
• I don't progress as quickly as I did with Henri, or as quickly as I expected. I start to feel ready for to meet this new baby, and a little frustrated that things aren't moving more quickly, then I remind myself that I feel like I am in a spa, so just sit back and relax.
• Probably around 3pm I am still only at a 6 (maybe 7 said the nurse, if she stretched me- I don't get what that means, but oh, well.)
• Probably around 3:10 I tell her that my body just feels a little uncomfortable, like I should move it somehow. So she checks me again, and tells me she will go call the doctor, because it is time to push.
• I was actually happy to wait for the doctor because I felt that giving my body a little more time to get ready for pushing was fine and hopefully it would help to minimize damage.
• We are ready to push and I push for two contractions and on the third contraction James Clayton Hope is born at 3:55pm. He is 7lbs 14 oz and 20 inches long.

The last part of the story is that during labor James' heartbeat would drop during contractions. I knew that my nurse was monitoring this closely. I was grateful to her because she acted very aware, but not worried. I think his heartbeat wasn't really dropping into a scary range, but for the mom, anything worth monitoring is worrisome. This is why I think I got a little impatient for things to progress more quickly.

Also, I asked Charles to write down what was going on with labor so that I could remember. I saw him making some notes on his phone. Later he sent me a text with what he had recorded:

Typical.

Regarding recovery: There was less damage (2nd degree tear) and recovering this time as been so easy! This is in part thanks to my wonderful mom! She stayed for three weeks and waited on all of us, hand and foot. I was able to get a ton of rest and relaxation. We also had enough energy that we watched a lot of Downton Abbey and Larkrise to Candleford (SO GOOD!)

Also, James as been the most amazing sleeper! Since he was just a few days old I could count on him sleeping for a 7 hour stretch, and now it is getting longer. I have so much energy and feel really great! (Was it because I felt so awful being pregnant?) I think I feel better than I have since I got pregnant with Henri!

Time has just flown by since James was born! Last Thursday he was 6 weeks! I really can hardly believe it! Here are a few videos of James. In this first one he is only a few weeks old:

Here is James as 6 weeks. It is amazing to see how much he has grown! Also, this is his first recorded smile! When he was about a month old there was a moment where I thought, "I think James just smiled at me!" I told Charles, who replied, "Nope, our kids smile at me first." The next day I thought, "I am pretty sure that was a smile!" The day after that James definitely was smiling. I actually started crying it was so sweet! I just love this little boy!!!

Spring is in the Air!

Well, not really here in Houston. Yesterday it was 89 degrees and our AC is on full blast! But on Friday Charles surprised me with these beautiful Spring flowers!

I also wanted to document my Valentine's Day presents!

And, for the nicest present of all:

Yes, Charles got me a new ring! (Last summer, a few days after we moved in my ring got stolen.) After almost 8 months of not having one, I have loved wearing my ring! I chose to get the same one that Charles had originally picked out for me because I love it- I love that he chose it, I love that it is perfectly my style. And, most of all I love the boy that gave it to me!

Henri's First Week with James

As stated in a previous post Henri is very cute with James. He talks to him using a baby voice, he pats him. When he gives James his binky he holds it gently by the baby's mouth until he opens up and then puts it in. It is really fun for me to watch.

I would not be telling the whole truth, however, to say that Henri didn't have a rough first week and a half with James in the house. For example: one of Henri's new phrases is, "More Mama." At first Henri was just more needy. Then, he developed a fever. I thought it was just because his two year old molars were coming in (all at the same time.) Why I thought that is beyond me, since he never got a fever with any of his other twenty teeth. Anyway, after three days of a fever of 103 I took him to the doctor. Of course it was a virus, but at least we knew we just had to wait it out. Henri was miserable and grumpy and needy and it was a long week. I also had a hard time because I got mastitis and so I was pumping exclusively for several days. (If you don't understand what that last sentence is referring to, don't worry, you don't want to know.) So, I got to cuddle a lot with Henri, which was good, but then, instead of cuddling with my sweet newborn I was spending a lot of time with a plastic pump (which I was resenting quite a bit.)

Well, Henri started feeling better around day 5 or 6 of the fever. Just before he was going to bed that night he got a burst of energy and started running in circles around the kitchen. He fell over and started crying... and bleeding. Because of this:
To me the picture doesn't look as bad as it was. I really almost fainted and was convinced that we needed to rush to the hospital right away. Charles is sure that this cut went to the bone. Thankfully there wasn't that much blood. My level headed mom and level headed husband convinced me that there was nothing that really could be done about it. A call to one of the doctors in my home ward (I am so grateful I can call a health professional at just about any time! Thanks Morris!) confirmed that there wasn't any reason to rush to the hospital. So, we put some rubbing alcohol and a band-aid on and sent him to bed. There will probably be a scar, so my beautiful little boy will now look a little more tough. For me watching Henri run around is a little scary. I am hoping that he doesn't take after some of his uncles (Mike) by having a little too much "youthful exuberance." (Becky, you should write a post about that.)
All in all, Henri's terrible, no good week could be a blessing in disguise: now that he is feeling better he seems pretty well adjusted to having a new baby in the house. Here's to hoping that lasts after Grandma Grace leaves!

James is Two Weeks!

Wow, I can't believe that James is two weeks old already. He is such a good baby! Last night I started feeding him at 9:30 and probably put him in bed at 10:30-ish. This morning I woke up to some grunts (he was looking for something to eat) just after 6. I have to admit, this doesn't happen every night, but it does happen most nights. It is awesome.

I choose to believe that babies can really smile.

This recovery has been WAY easier than my last post-baby recovery. Things that I haven't had to deal with in the last two weeks (that I did after Henri):
epidural headache
horrible stomach problems (we won't go into further detail)
nearly a fourth degree tear that got infected
pretty serious anxiety (although it only lasted about 4 or 5 days)
a headcold (this one was the least serious in this list, but it happened last and after bravely dealing with everything else the headcold pushed me over the edge of sanity.)

Here are some cute pictures of James with his eyes open.

We are loving our sweet baby James so much! He has such a sweet little spirit! He is always happy---this could be because every time he makes a peep his Grandma Grace goes to his rescue and cuddles him. I am also feeling great---this could be because every time I make a peep my Mommy Grace comes to my rescue and gets me some food, or a drink, or anything that I require! Thanks Mom!

Brothers

I think these two little boys look like brothers:

Henri

James

Here are some more cute pictures from this last week. I think James is going to have blue eyes.

Henri getting ready for a haircut. See that bruise on his forehead? There has been a bruise there for the past two months, just in slightly different shapes and sizes. He just keeps hitting that spot over and over.

Cute brothers

Here is Henri reading a book to James. He talks to him in a cute high baby voice. It is pretty funny. Of course, by the time I grabbed my camera Henri was not quite as animated, but you can see how cute Henri is to James.

Rock A Bye Sweet Baby James

Our sweet James Clayton Hope arrived on Feb. 16 at 3:55 pm.

I never got a picture of myself late in this pregancy, so Charles snapped one just before I got induced.

About 8 hours later we had this precious baby in our arms

and we fell in love with another little boy

Henri likes him too. He pays him the perfect amount of attention: some positive cute attention... but not too much

Henri also likes him, possibly because Baby James gave him 'Mator.'

The proud daddy. Even though Charles pretends that he wishes James were Henri's age and could run around and play with balls and cars, he is so good with James and he secretly loves just hanging out holding him. One thing that Charles has always been good at is to talk to his sweet newborns all the time when he is holding them. James is already getting a good dose of French.

Our family.
We love our Sweet Baby James!