Month 2: Gratitude

For my 2nd month of my year-long happiness project I focused on writing in a gratitude journal everyday.  As expected, it really helped me with perspective as I focused each day on what I would write in my journal and therefore was looking for the good.  I also tried to think about how I recognized God's influence in my life each day--mostly those observations turned out to be our safety and health.  I know these are precious blessings that I hope never to take for granted.  This month's project was especially enjoyable as I was able to focus on all the things I love about newborns.  Third time around, I feel like I'm able to enjoy a newborn a lot more due to being an experienced mama.  I love all the grunting, stretching, and cute cooing noises.

Each month I'm trying to read a spiritual book as well.  This month I read: House of Learning: Getting More From Your Temple Experience.  Several good thoughts and ideas included that I know will improve my experience in the temple.

Exercise also is a daily goal because it makes me happy.  At my two week OB appointment, I was shocked when my doctor gave me the go-ahead to start running again.  So you better believe I was out there running the next day!  I'm 4 weeks out from having a baby and have run 4 and 4 1/2 miles for my Saturday runs, and I'm running 2 miles during my weekday runs.  It's tricky to do my running when Matt's at home to watch the kids so it usually happens at night as I'm not getting up early these days.  I'm still working on getting my time down; I can run 9-minute miles on my short runs, but about 9:45 miles when I go longer.

I set a goal to index 200 names a month as well.  That didn't happen this month. :o)

Next month my goal is to work on being calm and controlling my anger.  Carter is not always very nice to the baby, and I can't take my eyes off of him--ever it seems, which just isn't realistic.  I've noticed that Mama Bear comes out when he's too rough with the baby or he does something really naughty when my back is turned.  I need to work on my patience and control as I remind him how to act around the baby.  (I never had this problem with Caleb when Carter was a baby!  And my boys are all the same distance apart.)  Patience is an attribute that's lacking right now anyway when I'm going on little sleep each day.  I figured this would be a good month for this goal especially as I have Elfie, our elf on the shelf, to help encourage Carter (and Caleb at times) to behave so that they don't get any Christmas presents taken away. :o)

I've also gotten behind on my blogging, so I hope to catch up in the next few weeks.  Especially the exciting news that I'm a new aunt--my sister has adopted a baby girl!

My boys

Just some pictures...

These two things greeted me when I came home from the hospital.

 Bryson sleeping in the cradle that my grandpa made for my mom, and she passed it down for Ariane and I to use.

Close-up of that sweet face

The boys love to hold Bryson and have their picture taken.

Due to Carter's "roughness," he doesn't get to hold the baby very often.

Sometimes when I take pictures of my newborn babies, they look more alien than baby.  Such is the case for this picture, but it was a cute one of Caleb.

Caleb holding Bryson's head straight

 Bryson admiring his big brothers

Big brothers admiring Bryson

Things are going pretty well.  The lack of sleep is always difficult.  I wish I had the talent of falling asleep quickly after nursing.  But after changing a diaper and nursing, my brain is stimulated enough that it takes me about 30 minutes to fall back asleep.  Having two older children who wake up on occasion in the middle of the night or who wake up at an earlier time after I've just fallen back asleep from nursing Bryson sure adds a lot of frustration to sleeping!  We're adjusting well, and I have the energy to be a mom and keep up with the laundry for the most part! :o)

Baby Bryson

Pictures first, for those of you that only care about that.  Labor story at the end.

First bath

Measurements

Caleb and Carter meeting Bryson for the first time when Bryson is 4 hours old.  They did so well and were so gentle!  Carter kept saying, "This is my baby."

 First snuggle with Daddy

Meeting Grandma and Grandpa for the first time

Meeting some cousins

 Snuggles with Mommy

2 days old

Friday morning I started feeling a few contractions, but they weren't very hard or long, and I wasn’t sure if it would amount to anything or not.  I went to help sort vegetables for a veggie co-op I participate in, and felt a few contractions while sorting and on the drive home.  I decided to start timing them and as of 10:30 am, I noticed the contractions were coming about 10 minutes apart, but none of them lasted longer than 30 seconds.  I decided to call Matt home from work, and he arrived home around 10 minutes past noon.  He gave me a priesthood blessing to calm my nerves, and my mom arrived around 12:20 to watch Carter.  We got to the hospital around 12:45; we were put in a triage room for me to change while the nurse did some paperwork.  She came back and checked me, and I was dilated to 6 cm.  (Phew!  It's always scary that you won't have progressed as much as you've hoped for!)  I was able to work through the contractions by myself up until this point.  Once I was changed, I laid down into the position I find most comfortable where Matt could massage my back during contractions.  They were coming 4 to 5 minutes apart at this point.

A new nurse came in to move me to the labor/delivery room.  Between contractions, the nurse was asking all kinds of health-related questions and having me sign and initial.  This happened last time as well, and it doesn’t allow me to fully concentrate on relaxing as I would like!  Matt did a lot better at coaching this time around.  His praise and relaxation reminders made a huge difference.  My contractions started coming a minute apart, and the second my water broke, I felt the need to start pushing.  I announced such and asked them to get my doctor in right away!  

Matt says when the doctor walked into the room, the baby’s head was already partially out.  He had enough time to put on some gloves and “catch” the baby.  (My doctor had been upstairs in the hospital while I was laboring--I'm not sure why!!)

I was so relieved when it was over, and of course my first concern was for the baby.  I heard a nurse say the cord was wrapped around his neck, so that made me nervous!  Bryson was healthy and born at 1:59pm.  He weighed 8 pounds even and was 21 inches in length.

While natural labor is difficult, I think it is worth it for the after-effects.  I love being able to get up right away, and I just feel like the recovery is so much faster.  I need to add that my favorite part about the delivery was the fact that I didn’t have to have an IV in my hand!  There wasn't time to get it set up; the IV is such a nuisance while laboring!  I'm not sure if there is any proven research, but I will continue to swear up and down by my running throughout pregnancy which I think makes labor/delivery/recovery so much easier!

It was so fun to see Caleb and Carter meet Bryson for the first time.  We were so excited to call and tell Caleb the good news after he got home from the bus stop.  My mom and dad brought them later around 6pm to meet Bryson. Carter said over and over, "This is my baby." Caleb talked about how he knew to be gentle with Bryson, and they both enjoyed holding him.  They are going to be such great big brothers!

We are so grateful to have Bryson in our family!  The newborn stage is so precious and with each baby I am amazed at God's trust in Matt and me as parents to raise these special spirits.  I learn so much about what matters most in life through motherhood and appreciate the perspective it gives me.

We're grateful for all the well-wishes and for family and my good friend, Kim, for stopping by to visit Bryson and me in the hospital.  We're glad to be home and learning to adjust to being a family of 5!

*At Bryson's doctor's appointment yesterday, he weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz.  By day 3, he'd already gained back his birth weight plus some!  (And this was after a major diaper explosion in the waiting room at the doctor's office!)  Like both my other boys were, he's a champ at eating.

Month 1: Organization

The first month of my happiness project was focused on organization and getting ready for the baby.  My goals specifically included going through the closets in the house, going through baby clothes, and making some freezer meals.  I discovered right away why I haven't taken the time to really organize the closets as they collected more junk...it's so time-consuming.  It was difficult to do these tasks on top of the daily cleaning and laundry that I do.  Carter takes a nap about every other day or every third day, and it's always so tempting to use a portion of that time to take a nap myself.  But in order to accomplish my monthly goal, I had to utilize this time to go through closets or to prep freezer meals.  At the end of the day, it felt so good to look at all that I accomplished.

All of it was rewarding, but it felt really good to go through my own closet and weed out all the clothes that don't fit anymore.  I lost some weight due to nursing Caleb that I've been able to keep off for the last 5 years with running, but a part of me was afraid to get rid of these larger sizes of clothes just in case I ever needed them again.  It was liberating to donate them all and clear out that space in my closet as well as promise myself that I won't need those larger clothes ever again. :o)

So I went through everything in my closet, the boys' closet, the baby's closet, and a linen closet organizing and throwing out.  (Matt went through his closet as well!)  Another good feeling was going through our filing cabinet of insurance papers, house papers, bills, etc. that we've been hanging onto since 2009.  I organized clothes and dressers to get ready for the baby.  I also have 5 meals in the freezer that will hopefully make things easier when baby Bryson comes.  (I wrote this Thursday night, but didn't post right away.  I had no idea Bryson would come in just over 12 hours.  Post to come on that soon!)

Some other goals I accomplished this past month that I want to be monthly goals were to read a spiritual book, finish another year of turning my blog into a book, and index 200 names.  I read The Peacegiver, which had some insights in relation to the atonement about the story of Jonah and Abigail from the Bible that I've never considered before.  I'm really enjoying indexing, and I love finishing my blog books by year.  (I just got year 2009 in the mail today!)

I wanted my goal for next month to be simple since I know I'll be super busy and out of it with no sleep.  I decided the perfect goal, and fitting for this time of year, is to have a month of gratitude.  I'm going to keep a gratitude journal every day writing down at least one thing I'm grateful for each day.  That's it. :o)  I plan to work on my monthly goals as well again and just see how I do.

Halloween 2012

A cold front came through right before our church Trunk or Treat party, so we were dealing with windy weather + sprinkling at 50 degrees.  Much different than the 80 degrees the day before!  The poor kiddos were so cold!  Caleb just wanted to stay in the car.

Gavin the pirate and Carter the lion 

Dallin as Thor and Caleb the mailman

Family picture for Halloween

(I went as a bowling ball)

A fun family activity for Family Home Evening: Caramel Apples

We all enjoyed coming up with our own yummy creations!  Caleb and Carter had a lot of candy on their apples, and mine had a lot of chocolate. :o)

We enjoyed having my grandma come visit for the last two weeks!  It was a little confusing for Caleb to understand that I have a grandma just like he does.  She was a good sport to put up with our fluctuating--but mostly warm--weather during her stay!

Pumpkin Patch

Carter and I went on a little field trip to a pumpkin patch that had lots of other fun activities as well.  Every time I do something fun like this with Carter, I can't help but miss Caleb being there with us. :o(

Petting zoo

Carter and cousin Gavin watching a pot-bellied pig drink water

Standing next to a goat

Hay ride

Sitting on a pumpkin

Playing miniature golf

The best part: zip lining

He had a blast!

Go Team Go!

Last Saturday we were able to enjoy a family night out together at a soccer game.  Since Caleb has started playing soccer, we wanted him to see a real soccer game so he could understand how the game is supposed to go (specifically passing the ball, which we want Caleb to work on).  We enjoyed these tickets courtesy of Matt's work, and it was fun to be so close to the action.  You can kind of tell from the picture below that we were 7 rows up, so Caleb and Carter could see everything really well.  Caleb especially loved seeing the players use their heads to hit the ball during the game.

It was a very exciting game as this game decided whether our team made the play-offs or not.  Each time we scored a goal, the crowd went crazy with balloons, confetti, and streamers.  The hard-core fans around us were very into the game...lots of cheering and booing when they didn't agree with the referees' calls.  We enjoyed spending time together as a family.