Monthly pictures so far

So I want to post a progression of pictures each month. Here are the crazy changes in just 3 short months!!!

4 Days old

1 month

2 months

3 months

4 months!

5 months!

Updates :)

Sweet Levi,

I cannot believe two months have passed but we also cant imagine life without you now! You are SUCH a sweet and gentle baby. Every day you grow more and more alert which makes my job even more fun. You started to smile around 5 weeks. I still remember the first real one you gave me. It was about 6 in the morning after one of your feedings and you were laying on me and I looked down at you and you were just smiling the sweetest smile I have ever seen. On the day you turned 6 weeks old you did your first 6 hour night stretch. I felt like a new woman! Who knew that me (who loved sleep) could totally not care about waking up multiple times in the night- love will do that to you :) We took you for your 2 month check up and you weighed 14 lbs 12 oz and were 24 1/4 in long! You were 90 percentile in weight and height and 85 in head circumference. You are a big, proportionate baby :) You are now wearing 3 month clothing (which is starting to get tight already!) and size 2 diapers!! The night after you turned 2 months you did an 8 hour stretch of night sleep! I woke up at 4 am and had to go check on you because you were in such a deep sleep. I think we have turned a sleep corner because in the week since you have done a few 7 hour and 6 hour stretches! Yay!!! You have already been to the beach 3 times in your short life! You do so good in the car. Your dad is crazy about you! He loves to get into his bathing suit and get in the bath with you and you absolutely love this! You kick like crazy and talk in the bath. Maybe you will be a swimmer like your uncle V! In the last two weeks you have developed quite the little personality. You love to smile and kick on your changing table in the mornings. Those times are my favorite. You also are loving to lay and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. Your sweet cousin EB also loves him- looks like a trip to Disney will be in our future :) We have started to do morning walks with crazy Grady. You love them. We put on Pandora and are on our way! You love any 'chill' music. We usually play Dave Barnes or Jack Johnson. We have started to get somewhat of a schedule. You wake up between 8 and 9 and have your first feeding. We then go downstairs and you watch Mickey while I have coffee and read. Then we take our walk and that wears you out. When we get back you take your morning nap. You eat again around my lunch time :) and then you are awake for another hour or so. Then you take your long afternoon nap. This can sometimes be a 3 hour stretch! You then have more awake time and eat and we wait for dad to get home. You may take an evening cat nap while me and dad eat dinner. You then get your bath and eat one last time and go down around 9. You are such a joy to be around. You never cry unless you are hungry or tired. I am so thankful God put you in our lives! We cant wait to see how you continue to grow! We love you!

You LOVE your daddy 

Beach trip for 4th of July

 Hanging out with EB- you 2 months, her 8 months

 On your changing table at 6 weeks

 Sweet smile at Grangie's house! 6 weeks

 Enamored with Mickey- 2 months

 Sweet thing on your two month birthday!

Birth Story

I still am amazed every single time I look at this precious little baby at the fact that he is ours. What an amazing thing parenthood is! Anyways here is how it happened…

Monday afternoon we went to the Dr. and were somewhat discouraged as we left because I had made no progress since my last appointment and the doc said he thought I could go another week. He told me to come back Wednesday morning and to pack our bags just in case. Well Tuesday night I was having uncomfortable contractions every 6 to 7 minutes from 4 am to 6 am and then they tapered off. We woke up and I had this extreme anxious/excited feeling as we drove to the doc. I just kept feeling like this was it.

The nurse called me back and checked my urine and blood pressure like they always do and she then asked told me that I had protein in my urine and high blood pressure which is the beginning of preeclampsia. I was not worried, knew that me and baby were covered but was so excited that this was the day! The doctor came in and as soon as he heard that he said 'ok lets get this thing going, its time' We waited for him to call the hospital, got our paperwork, then headed over.

A side note of why May 9th is special- my Uncle Chris passed away on May 9th when I was in kindergarten and the Lord gave us this special gift to redeem this day! I know Uncle Chris is happy that this can now be a day of celebration as well!

So we get to the hospital at around 9:30 am and they check me in. I am already having contractions every 3 minutes at this point. My Dr. gets there around 10:15 and breaks my water and within 10 minutes my contractions were SO intense. I had to get an entire bag of fluids in me before they would give me the epidural but they were able to give me some pain meds through my IV in the mean time. Praise the Lord I only had about 45 minutes of the intense contractions before they were able to give me the epidural and then there was no pain. I actually took a two hour nap which was much needed rest.

The Dr. checked me at 12:30 and I was 5 centimeters. They were estimating that I would start pushing around 6. Well at 3:30 the nurse came in and I asked her to go ahead and check me again and she said O wow you are 9 centimeters and I can see his head! She said she would be back at 4:00 to check me again. She came back, checked, and said alright say goodbye to your family- its time! I started pushing at 4:00 and he was born at 4:26 pm.

It is such a surreal feeling when you hold your child for the first time. That first day is such a blur for me and DR. All I knew is that I had this overwhelming love for my husband as I watched him hold our son for the first time and this little boy began to capture our hearts.

My mom came home with us to help us transition. What a BLESSING her and DR were those days after. I seriously could only sit and watch and thank God for an amazing mom and husband. Especially now having a child and knowing all that you go through, it gives you an entire new appreciation for your own mom. She is the most selfless person I know and I could not say enough to thank her. DR has been nothing but supportive. He totally gets me, like no one ever has. I never thought I could love him more than I did two weeks ago but I was wrong.

Every day is better than the last. I am just amazed at watching this little life and cannot believe that our son is here! OUR SON! Holy cow, it is still unbelievable that this little miracle was knit together in my womb!

Here are some Pictures that Erin took that I absolutely love! She is awesome! Thanks Aunt Erin!!

He is HERE!

He's here!!!  Levi Miles Granger- Born Wednesday, May 9th 2012. 8 lbs 4 oz, 21 1/2 inches long
He is a beautiful, healthy little boy and we are so in love! Birth story to come!
Praise the LORD!

37 1/2 weeks

Well now we are in the waiting game! We go back to the Doc on Monday to see what our next plan is but he says one way or the other he will be here next week! Very exciting. Here are some pics from this week. I think you can totally tell he has dropped. Its a lot more comfortable now as far as breathing and all of that. I am ready to meet this little guy!!

Ode to the stomach

So here is my stomach starting at 8 weeks and moving up. Some I took every week, most are every few weeks. CRAZY!

36 weeks!

How Far along? 36 weeks

Size of the Baby? Coconut! or two in this boys case!!

Maternity Clothes? O Yes/ DR's t-shirts

Gender? Boy

Movement? Still moves all of the time. I don't know how he has room in there but he finds a way to jab momma's ribs pretty consistently! 

Sleep? Well we have bathroom breaks 3 times a night now and every time I need to roll over, I wake up…so I have had better :)

Cravings? Nothing really lately. Food isn't as appealing to me these days. I think we are in the final stretch!

Symptoms?  Lose joints, frequent bathroom breaks, major nesting mode (only in his room unfortunately ha)

What I miss? Being able to sit up without me and DR both counting to three and him hoisting me up with all of his might HA

Milestones?  Almost at the 37 week mark which officially means full term! 

What I’m excited about?  Having this baby! Last Thursday's appt he measured at 6 1/2 lbs. He is getting ready! Also excited about these next days/weeks to have with DR before our little guy comes into the world. I am so thankful that God blessed me with this man. I literally could not imagine having anyone else next to me for this process. He is seriously amazing

Baby Center update: 36 weeks

Your baby is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She's shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. Your baby swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement.

At the end of this week, your baby will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she's in a head-down position. But if she isn't, your practitioner may suggest scheduling an "external cephalic version," which is a fancy way of saying she'll try to coax your baby into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of your belly.