One month old

Today, Grant turned one month old. It is hard to believe that it has already been a month since he was born! But, it also seems like a lot longer since he was born... At his doctor's appointment on Tuesday, he weighed 10 pounds 15 ounces and measured 23 inches long. (Compare to Leah at two months: 11 pounds 4 ounces and 24 inches... her length then being in the 90-something percentile.) He still doesn't like to sleep at night, but he sure is growing!

It has already been almost five weeks since I stopped working. That is how long I had off after having Leah before I went back to work. I am relieved to not have to go back this time! I still feel way busier now than I did when I was working.

Matthew has successfully completed his last "full-time" quarter of classes, and has been doing research, which he will continue throughout the summer. Plus, we are moving to student housing in a couple of weeks!

Here are some pictures from Grant's "birthday" today:

Leah is an excellent big sister!


This is one of Grant's most common expressions so far. And notice we downgraded Leah's bandage... just to clarify, she's fine; she just hit her head on the edge of our fireplace the other day and, well, head injuries can get rather gruesome, which is why she had the mega bandage on the last post.


Leah got everyone involved in tummy time (yes, even me, not pictured):


Funny face:


Good-looking boy:

Bonk!

Yesterday, Leah got the worst bonk of her life... literally! Here she is showing off her mega bandage:



Thank you to Matthew for rushing home to rescue us right when this all happened! He sure has a special connection with his little girl :)

Awake

Not only is that how we spent most of the night last night, it is how Grant was when I took these pictures yesterday...







I still haven't caught his little smiles on camera... but let me assure you, they are so sweet :)

Also, I was looking at some of Leah's newborn pictures recently. I used to think she had a lot of hair when she was born, but now I'm convinced she was a bald baby, haha!

Two weeks

Our little guy is two weeks and one day old! He already seems so much older and stronger from when he was born.

We were very excited when Grant slept for a four-hour stretch last night!


Sometimes he finds his little thumb to suck on :)


And this was fom his first bath:


I have realized that I don't have very many eyes-open pictures of Grant... so that is something that will be worked on!

The Newest Brewer

Grant Lincoln Brewer was born at 12:22am on Monday, May 24, 2010, weighing 8 lbs 5 oz, and measuring 20.5 inches long! He came ten (almost eleven) days ahead of his due date. (Compare to Leah: 7 lbs 8 oz, 21.5 inches long, seven days late.)

Everything went so smoothly! We had some wonderful help with Leah from one of Matthew's friends and my mom, even though it was a little sudden. Labor was around six hours. When we got to the hospital, we found out that I was completely dilated and effaced (or, ready to go!). I was in a lot of contraction pain, but I felt mostly in control. I figured that any pain medication I got, wouldn't save me much pain since I was almost done already. (Which was true... we were at the hospital for about 40 minutes before Grant was born, so by the time I would have gotten any drugs--and they were taking their time--I would have only had them in effect for 15 or 20 minutes. In fact, it happened so fast that I was still wearing my regular shirt and jacket until right after Grant was born!) So I gave birth completely drug-free! The only drugs I got were after birth, because I needed a couple of stitches from a very small tear (MUCH better than when Leah was born).

Some thoughts: I never thought I could handle a "natural" birth. I had read a lot about breathing and relaxing, but mostly with the idea that it would help until I could get some medication. These things really helped me through, though. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would have been. I mean, it was hard and very painful, but I was able to manage it. I felt very blessed and strengthened... there were a few very late contractions here and there that just weren't that bad, and I was so sleepy from a bad night's sleep the night before that it was easy to relax between the really bad ones. I don't know that I would ever plan for another "natural" birth, but I am SO glad I was able to make it through. I am amazed at how fast I felt good afterwards. No epidural = no epidural headaches!!! That might be the best part :)

Anyway, I am feeling great, Grant is nursing great (even that is going so much better this time), and we are all enjoying this brand new baby so much! Last night, he slept between every feeding so we even feel somewhat rested. Leah has been a good girl, but not showing a lot of interest in Grant yet (some, just not a lot). She has been more interested in playing with Grandma.

Okay, picture time!

Saturday, May 22, 2010, at 38 weeks 2 days ("before"):


Monday, May 24, 2010, at 38 weeks 4 days ("after"):


Right after birth:


Our sweet little Grant:


He has lots of dark hair!:


A smile? Kind of:


Leah came to meet her new baby brother at the hospital:


Leah and her mommy:


And just another cute one of Leah:

Longest on record

"I want to go outside and play with bubbles!"

That's nine words! And a complete and correct sentence! It's the longest one I've caught Leah saying so far.

Also, she calls gummy bears "yummy bears". That always makes me smile :)

Big girl

I realized I haven't posted much about our little sweetheart lately... Here is some of what she's been up to!

Feeding the ducks...

One time, her duck friends followed her halfway to the car :)

Being incredibly cute...


Attempting to draw Ernie (from Sesame Street, or "Sen-sah-yeet" as Leah would say) for the first time...

Right afterwards, she drew Bert too!

Telling me she's a bunny when I put a banana sticker on her nose...


Making her own "rolls" when I gave her some extra bread dough to play with...

Learning to wink...

Picking all the "white flowers" (dandelion seed things) she can find, blowing the seeds off, and making wishes...

Playing at the park...

And last but not least, learning how to do shadow puppets...

Big month

Next month brings with it a lot of change for us. We have...:

- 1 week of my work left
- 20 days until my due date
- 3.5 weeks until the end of Matthew's quarter (yes, my due date is during finals week)
- and quite possibly one more that is still being worked out

Needless to say (so why am I saying it? I don't really know...), The Brewer Family Blog will likely take a back seat pretty soon.

Speaking about Big Change #2, I had a doctor's appointment a couple days back, and now I'm starting to have weekly appointments. Everything still looks fine, and we are still happy with how things are handled there at the hospital. Today I am 37 weeks and 1 day, so this baby is considered "full term" and could probably breathe on his own by now. Of course, the longer he stays in, the better :)

One, or both, of us is definitely getting bigger...

35 weeks

I haven't updated this for a while, and I can't think of much to write about. The biggest (literally) thing going on for me right now is our upcoming arrival!

I had an appointment yesterday and everything is measuring just right. Our doctor and the nurses are all very friendly--they even remember Leah's name in addition to mine :) But the appointment was overall pretty uneventful, which is good.

We are still figuring out a middle name for the new little guy... he sure has been active! They say to make sure you feel the baby ten times in two hours (or something like that), and whenever I start to count, he makes it to ten in like two minutes.

So here I am, with about a month to go...:

Spring Break Beach Trip

For Matthew's Spring Break, I took the week off and we spent a few days at the coast! We went to Ocean Shores, Washington. Somehow it was sunny the entire time! We had lots of fun walking on the beach, collecting treasures, miniature golfing, bowling, eating yummy food, watching movies, chasing birdies, running from the waves, etc.

On the way home, we made a stop at the Olympic Rain Forest, saw the "world's largest spruce tree", then drove north along the coast and around the entire peninsula. We drove right along the ocean, mountains, and lakes. It was a beautiful drive! We stopped at Port Angeles and found some great tide pools and saw Canada and the strait. We kept going, rode a ferry, and made it back home.

The whole trip was so nice and so fun! I wish we could go again. Leah was great and she keeps saying, "Beach! Do again!" :)

A Little Catch-Up

Matthew and Leah and I went on a picnic to this fun park right on the water across from downtown Seattle. We had a really nice time, and the park had a lot of personality :)


Looking out across the water from the park.


Leah has become attached to several stuffed animals for naptime and bedtime. Her current favorite is this hedgehog-looking thing named "Tiny Bear". He is very easy to misplace :)


Our cute girl is growing up!


But she still loves "kid" things, such as playing in great big boxes!

Toddler Bed

Imagine here a picture of a sweet little two-year-old, sound asleep in a brand new toddler bed big girl bed.

About two weeks ago, we decided that since Leah was going to bed and sleeping so well, she would be ready for a toddler bed. And that would give her two months to adjust before having a little brother take over "her" crib. We took down the crib and set up the new bed, got Leah a special new blanket, and got her really excited about being a big girl in her new bed. We fully expected Leah to get up all through the night and protest having to stay in her bed by herself. Nope! She was a pro from the very start. I think she tried to get up once, but I told her she needed to stay in her bed to sleep, and we have had no problems since then. It was so much easier than I expected! What a good girl! (If only potty training came so naturally...) She even sleeps exactly as long as she used to, except now she goes to sleep happier and wakes up happier, sometimes opening her door and greeting us with a great big "Surprise!" It is especially cute to listen to her pitter-patter down the hallway to come say "Good morning!" if we are still in our bedroom!

Now, we are staying at Grandpa (gwappaw) and Grandma (gwammaw)'s house, and she is sleeping in a different room on a twin bed (with pillows on the side to prevent falls). No problems again! It makes me so happy :) No more portable crib to worry about! For a couple months at least...

29 weeks

Yesterday I "turned" 29 weeks! We had a doctor's appointment on Wednesday, and everything looks perfect. She could even tell that Baby's head is down, so hopefully he settles in and stays that way! Everything measures just right for Baby and for me. I got to drink the fabulous glucose drink (which is sort of like drinking 3 cans of orange pop, condensed into one cup of sugary syrup). I'm just glad they don't have to do a salt tolerance test ;)

Anyway, here is a picture of me and my tummy at 29 weeks... I even smiled!

March Madness

Hooray for BYU! Made it to the second round!!

Watching the BYU/Florida game, I tried to get Leah to say "Go BYU!". She would look at the TV and say, "No BYU! Go Jazz, go team!" Guess she's not that in to collegiate sports ;)

Also, Villanova better not have any more close calls like that... they can't lose until the championship game!

Animal Crackers

A conversation overheard between Leah and her animal cracker:

Leah: "How are you?"
Animal Cracker: "..."
Leah: "Good!"



Animal Cracker: "..."
Leah: "Okay, bye bye!" Chomp.



Note: These pictures are reenactments.

Leah's Pretty Dress

Maybe I should rename this blog to "A Blog about Leah, and Sometimes Her Family". ;)

This is Leah's "pitty dess" that she got as a Christmas gift. Lately, whenever she wears it, she has to run in to her room and put on her Sunday shoes! Then she likes to tell me all about how pretty and cute she is :)

Anyway, it is hard to get really nice pictures of Leah mid-play, but she makes them pretty cute anyway (at least I think so!).

Park #1

A trip to View Ridge Park.

Learning that we are about to go to the park ("I love park!"):


Picking flowers on the way to the park (and developing yellow noses):


Trying to share flowers with the birdies on the way to the park ("Here go birdies! For you!"):


Playing on the little kid playground:


Going down the little kid slide over and over ("boo side"):


Taking a quick break:


Playing on the swing ("wing"):


Discovering the very big kid slide (and making mommy a little nervous!):


Playing in the tunnel, and looking darn cute while doing so:


I think we'll head there again right now :)