We got our tree, we got our tree!!!
Yesterday Jamie, the boys and I headed out to pick up our Christmas tree. This is pretty much one of my favorite days of the year- I LOVE getting our tree! It’s outside waiting to be brought in after it falls a little- can’t wait until it’s in the house and strung with lights :)
Charlie,
Two weeks ago Thursday you surprised everyone by coming 10 days early. You were ready to be in the world and weren’t going to wait on anyone; not even for your Mama to pack her hospital bag. In hind sight, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Your Daddy did a great job of packing everything that we needed while we were at the hospital (he sent me photos from his phone to make sure that he had everything right) AND I have already had two precious weeks with you- what more could I ask for?
I am over the moon for you little man; you are precious beyond words and continue to take my breath away daily. As I write this you are snuggled in on my lap and along with the soft Christmas music I can hear your tiny baby snores… bliss. Wrapped in two blankets and bundled in your southern miss hat you snooze and I am amazed that you are mine and that I get to be your Mama. It has taken a while for us to get to know you; you are so different from your brother and so alike at the same time. You love to be snuggled up, the cozier the better- hence the two blankets, but you don’t want to be swaddled tightly like your brother did. You like to have one or both arms out of your blanket and near your head (this is a Daddy pose little one and I think it was passed down from Pepere). Your cry is louder than Jay’s was and you make these brief little hiccup noises and grunt a bunch where Jay sounded more like a pterodactyl when he was your age. You are a great eater, nursing almost every two hours during the day and less so at night (I thank you for this) and growing like a bad weed. You weighed in at 8lbs 12oz when we were at the doctor today, having gained 14oz in 2 weeks- wow, little one, wow! You have a round little face that I recognize from my baby pictures, soft squishy lips and the same button nose as your brother- you are cute, I mean really cute :)
Being a family of four has taken adjusting to. It hasn’t been a smooth process and we are nowhere near over the adjustment period but we are continuing to work out the kinks as we go and taking it one day at a time. Jay was a bit jealous when we first came home from the hospital and mostly chose to ignore your existence but he is warming up to you daily. He refers to you as ‘baby Charlie’ (I really need to get that on video- it’s precious), brings us a paci when you are crying and hugs and kisses you from time to time- although the hugs are more like head locks at this point. We are working on the concept of being gentle with him- I promise; hopefully it will catch on soon. I can’t wait to see how your relationship will continue to grow and I hope that you will become fast friends.
I can’t cuddle you enough and don’t want to blink because I am afraid that when I do I will open my eyes and you will be a toddler (it happened with Jay- I swear) and I don’t want to miss a minute of this tiny squishy phase. But at the same time, I love seeing you grow and change before my eyes, what a miracle. I can’t wait to see what your personality is going to be like and already can’t imagine all that you are going to do with your life. I have big dreams for you little man, big dreams indeed…
I love you more with each passing day and am so excited to see what tomorrow will bring. Thanks for coming early to meet us, I love you.
Love,
Mama
p.s. Your two week stats from the doctors visit today are as follows, you know for posterity’s sake…
8lbs 12oz, 21 inches long- and both are in the 50 percentile- but anyone that has been able to cuddle you knows that there is nothing average about you ;)
Lately I have been quite concerned with checking things off of a “to do” list. With the holidays fast approaching, a new baby’s arrival pending (or at least it was) the white board on the fridge and lists (yes that is multiple) on my iPhone have been a revolving door of things to do. Prepare some meals for when baby arrives, stock pantry and toiletry cabinet, purchase Christmas gifts, work on the handmade gifts we are giving this year, do the laundry, clean the house, steam clean the carpets, finish photos- personal and otherwise and this isn’t even the half of it… The lists went on and on and when I or Jamie checked something off I was able to add another two or three things to replace it. To say the least it began causing me stress, I would check the lists before bed and make adjustments before my head could “shut off” for the evening and sleep. I would worry that I wouldn’t be able to get it all done and felt guilty when I didn’t end up accomplishing much during the day. Heck, I even stopped taking as many photographs of our day to day because I didn’t need (want) to add any more photos to the to be edited stack…
It has taken me a while to realize it (and I am not sure that I have fully grasped the concept yet) however I am surely working on it but those kinds of lists won’t ever end and they are not what is important. There will always be laundry to do, a house to clean, another project to be added to the to do list; what will end is the time when my children are small, a time when they want me to be there and need only my undivided attention.
Charlie came 10 days early surprising all of us and catching me with an unfinished list. Since he has arrived I have been forced to slow down, to let my list go unfinished and to focus on what really maters… my family. My time with Jay is more limited now so I am trying to be more deliberate about it and trying not to multitask while he is around. I am spending extra time reading stories, playing with cars, stopping to really listen when he talks to me or wants to show me something, helping when he asks in his sweet little voice “help me Mommy, help me”, and grabbing the extra hug or kiss when he slows down long enough to give them. I am trying to just sit back and enjoy all of the time I am getting with Charlie- to cuddle him, shower him with kisses, to enjoy the 3am and 4am feedings, to marvel at just how tiny and perfect he is. I am trying to appreciate (outwardly) all that Jamie does for me and the boys and sneak time for the two of us whenever possible. I am making an effort to pick up my camera and shoot until my heart’s content because even if I don’t get to editing all of the photos I have taken, I will some day and regardless of when I get to them I will be grateful that I took them- that I captured the tiny baby smiles or a little boy engrossed in his “fast cars”. I will want to remember those moments, the ones that only last for the blink of an eye. So while realistically my to do lists won’t be vanishing any time soon, I am not consumed by them anymore and I have started to add to do’s of another variety… like go to to the park, play cars and cuddle in the hammock ;)
And because all posts are better with a few photos, here’s a few of our little Charlie…
Neither of these pictures were staged. In both cases, I started out with just a baby and the rest joined on their own
We have twice as many things to be thankful for this year…
Wishing you a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving; may you share it with those you love.
These are the first pictures of our new family, after the addition of Charlie. These pictures were taken on November 17th during Jay’s first visit.
Today, Jay met Charlie for the first time. I don’t think their meeting could have gone any better than it did! Scroll down to see what I mean…
Welcome
Charles Hinton Perreault
Born 11/17/2011 at 12:51AM
Weight: 8lb 1oz
Length: 21″
Mother and baby are both doing very well
I haven’t mentioned much about my growing bump in a while so I figured that I should give a little update…
Last Saturday we hit the 30 week mark; which means that I have about 10 weeks left until we get to meet this little guy. Yes, you read correctly we have almost hit the single digits- which is SO hard to believe in my opinion. I know that I have said this before but this pregnancy is really flying by! I had a doctors appointment yesterday and our doctor said that everything is looking great- that his heartbeat was strong and that he was about 3 pounds. At this point, I will see the doctor every two weeks which will continue through the beginning of October when I start going every week.
As for how I am feeling, I can’t really complain at all. I am pretty blessed with great pregnancies (knock on wood) so other than the usual third tri-mester stuff things are great! I have been taking naps every once in awhile in the afternoon while Jay sleeps; because I have been more tired than usual. I am also be a little short of breath while holding Jay (when I do, I have both boys squishing my lungs/diaphragm which isn’t really fun). This cuts into our dancing time which is a shame but we have been dancing on our own too (I have a cute video of Jay that I need to share soon). My sciatic nerve bothers me from time to time and I have a few contractions here and there but mostly I get an ache or a pain when I try to do something I shouldn’t (move or pick up something heavy) or when I move to fast. Honestly, even with the watermelon sized belly I forget occasionally that I am pregnant…
I am pretty much in full on nesting mode at this point; however, this doesn’t differ a whole lot from my normal personality so… I am not sure that it should really be called nesting. Most of our “baby preparations” are going into Jay’s big boy room since we are keeping the nursery the same for this little guy and plan on moving Jay to a new room. Once I get everything settled in there for him I plan on washing and pulling out all of our tiny little clothes, I am sure that they will all look huge compared to the stuff I put on Jay, and getting that settled in the nursery. My project list is long (what else is new) but there are only a few things that I really, really want to finish before he gets here- like his baby blanket. I will keep you posted on how that goes :)
I guess that is about it for now. I will try to be better about the updates and I promise to be really good about photo updates when he actually arrives. I CAN’T wait to get some photos of him and some photos of him and Jay, they are going to be such sweet brothers!!
And because every post is better with a picture- here is one of the three of us from our Canada trip (yes, I am still working on those photos- I have just been a little busy lately). I know that we aren’t in focus (don’t blame the stand in photographer my camera is not easy to use- especially when you are trying to get a toddler to look) but it is the best photo that I have of the growing bump and the scenery around us is great, don’t you think?
the perreault family 