He's Here.......early!

The newest member of our family, Clark James Decker, arrived Thursday morning, October 29, at 6:20 AM. He weighed 7 lbs 5 oz, and was 19 1/2 inches long.

Short birth story: my water broke while driving Kaylee to preschool on Wednesday Oct 28 at about noon. We got to the hospital at around 4 PM. After nearly 8 hours of minimal contractions and no change the doc made the decision to start Pitocin at around midnight. That got things going! Not the totally natural birth we planned but it didn't take much pit to get things started and we did manage to avoid pain meds or any other interventions. He was turned crooked so it took some time but once he straightened out he came in a hurry!

He was nearly 4 weeks early by the initial due date, so his coming surprised us as well as the doctors! He had a little trouble getting started breathing and now has some problems with jaundice, but we came home together today and for the most part are doing great. Here are a few pictures. As you can see, we all think he's the cutest, most precious baby ever. Don't you agree? :-) I'll try to post more pics when we get settled in.

Welcome Baby Regan!!!

A great big welcome to my friends' (Pete and Jenni) beautiful baby girl, Regan Kail. Born last night at 6:26 PM weighing in at only 5 lbs 13 oz. She's a tiny little bundle! I sure hope the hat I made for her doesn't cover her entire face :-)




Congratulations! We can't wait to meet her!

(Pics sent to me courtesy of her proud Grandma S. but I think her Aunt Erica must have taken them. Thanks for sharing!)

Does this make me wish my baby would come soon? OK, I admit, a little bit. That sweet little face looking up at her mommy just melts your heart, doesn't it? But mostly I hope he stays put for at least another month, so that I can get all my fall work done first. Then I can settle in with my baby and not have to fret about what needs done outside. Oh, and I really need to finish that sweater and hat! So hang in there baby. Just another month. And then it will be our turn.

More Prepared

Well, I'm feeling much more prepared for baby now. The clothes, blankets, and diapers are washed, folded, and put away in their appropriate places. The car seat is washed and reassembled, and the BundleMe is inside it. The Moby wrap is washed. Plus the baby sweater I started knitting about 6 months ago is finally getting to the final stages....I only have the sleeves left to finish! So whenever baby decides to make his entrance, we're pretty much ready. There are still some things I"d LIKE to get done before he arrives, but nothing major or terribly urgent. Such things include.....

-Wash the bouncy seat cover and the Moses basket cover
-Sew some new cloth wipes: the ones I'm currently using for Miles will do, but I could use a couple dozen more with 2 in diapers.
-Pack the hospital bag. OK, theoretically this should be done before I go into labor, but I've come to realize how little you actually need to take. I can easily throw a few things in a backpack just before we leave, or worst case scenario, have Rich bring whatever we need to the hospital after the birth!
-Pack an overnight bag for the kids to take to Grandma's. Again, nice to have done, but not totally necessary ahead of time. Besides, if it's the middle of the night, Grandma will just come here, and then a bag won't be needed anyway!
-Knit baby a hat and possibly a matching blanket (the blanket most likely won't get done!)

So, I"m feeling much better. Plus, I got my house more in order this weekend, and we've got plans underway for our bonfire party on the 17th. Now if it would just stop raining so the contractors could get the siding on our house!!!

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Can You Actually Have Too Many Onsies?

I recently realized that I likely have less than 6 weeks left before baby comes and I have NOTHING prepared for him. I mean nothing. So this week I decided that I'd better start getting ready.

I dug the car seat out of the basement where it's been hanging out since Miles outgrew it. I located the bouncy seat down there too, used more recently for baby Evan. Sometime this weekend I plan to wash the cover on the car seat at least. I'm in the process of moving the kids clothes to a bigger chest so that baby can have the one they're currently using (and sorting out anything they've outgrown in the process.)

Since I'd vowed to get started, I picked up the newborn baby boy clothes boxes from Mom's attic this week. The ones that have been going back and forth between my sister and I for our boys for about 3 years. When Miles was born, I seem to remember that there was only 1 box. Somehow it has now grown into 2 full rubbermaid tubs. So tonight I sat down and sorted out all the things that I thought baby could wear..... sleepers, onsies, some hats, and a few actual outfits for Sundays and/or special occasions. After I washed them and started folding, I was amazed at the amount of onsies there are in those boxes. So after I got them all folded, I counted, just to see how many there actually were. I found.....

40 onsies (12 are plain white)
6 newborn sleepers
11 small sleepers (0-3 mo)
5 fuzzy fleece sleepers
6 long sleeve onsies wth pants
8 outfits (cute little things he'll probably never wear)
1 baby sock.

So, tell me, what newborn baby actually needs this many clothes????? Since Ian and Miles were both summer babies, they practically lived in onsies for their first few months. Plus it's always nice to have onsies to layer under sleepers when it's cold out. But 40 of them? Where did they all come from? And what happened to all the socks? I know socks disappear, but honestly, I had at least a dozen pairs for Miles. Did the various dryers actually eat 23 socks?

Anyway, I'm off to put a load of newborn cloth diapers in the machine. And see if I can find the box with the baby blankets in it. I have a feeling I'll be washing diapers MUCH more often than baby clothes!