glorious sleep

we got some much needed rest last night thanks to our wonderful grammie! noah spent the first part of the night upstairs, and then after he got a clean diaper and a full tummy, he went downstairs to spend some quality time with grammie. she stayed up with him for about an hour and then slept with him in "noah's room" downstairs. i woke up a few hours later ready to feed him...when i came downstairs to get him, i discovered he was just getting ready to eat (the body is an amazing thing, huh?). after he ate around 6:00, he was wide awake...so ryan got all ready to take him for a spin around the block..he loves his car seat-so much so that by the time ryan put him inside and walked down the stairs, he was already asleep. ryan kept him by his side while he did some work on the computer-which allowed me a few more hours of sleep..all in all, i'm pretty sure i got around 9 hours of sleep total-which hasn't happened in a LONG time (since way before noah was born, i think)! i feel like a new person! and now, ryan and noah are napping upstairs and grammie is napping in her room, so i don't feel quite so bad about them staying up with him earlier... :)

our day

in some ways today, i have felt like a newborn myself. you know how they say all little babies do is sleep, eat and poop...well, i have joined noah in those activities-he's been looking like he's been having such a good time. for the most part, i have slept when noah was sleeping...ate a little here and there...and, well, gone to the potty a few times. and that has been my day. we did hear very exciting news yesterday-they put a redbox in the walgreens just minutes from our house! ryan ventured out last night and got a few movies for us to watch, which has been nice. earlier, we watched the tale of despereaux, which all in all was not a bad movie. it has such a good message about courage and not being afraid that made up for any lack in the story.

yesterday, we drove down to the ross bridge neighborhood park and had a little stroll. noah loves his stroller (thanks cece and papa g!)!
and grammie went with us...

then...grammie had a cake at her house for us to celebrate noah's one week birthday!!

as you can see, he was all about the party!

one week (complete with pictures)

last week at this time, i was just coming out of the operating room with our brand new little one snug in my arms! despite the lack of sleep and other ups and downs of parenthood, i am so thankful that we aren't at the hospital any more. i am feeling better and better each day and slowly by slowly, my stitched up tummy is healing. compared to the pain i was in a few days ago, i think i could run a marathon today (that is if i liked running, which i don't)!

getting ready to head into the o.r. after pushing for an hour...ryan actually was the delivering doctor, or, well, dressed like him at least! :)

during my first moments with our little one. i was so drugged out that i didn't even know what to think. i was terrified that i was going to drop him because i didn't feel like i had any control over my arms. thankfully, they wrapped him in with me so that never would have happened! those nurses are so smart!

presenting Noah Ryan Smith: 9lbs 13 oz, 22.25 inches long! today is officially noah's one week birthday! and our night last night turned out to be one big party! ruthie had prom last night and planned to have an after-prom party at the house, complete with a space bounce and unimaginable food! since we knew they'd be late in getting here, hopie and mollie had a pre-prom party complete with the same fun! since we are up all hours of the night anyway, we decided to crash the parties, which turned out to be a great idea. we had lots of yummy (albeit unhealthy) party food at the first party! then our sweet grammie (aka my mom) said she would take care of noah while we got some much needed sleep. sleep is such a luxury these days that we dared not pass her up and quickly headed upstairs to get a wee bit of shut eye, with her promise to call us or come up at the slightest hint of distress in noah. ;) we laid down and not two minutes later, ryan was out like a log! i, however, had the hardest time falling asleep. i think my lack of sleep has caught up with me and i am now so far past the point of exhaustion that i can't sleep-oh the irony! all the same, i got a good three hours of resting my eyes and ryan got almost as much of sleep, both of which we were VERY thankful for!! my mom texted us right around 1 to let us know that the second party was beginning and breakfast was ready. we came down to the biggest feast i've seen-pigs in a blanket, sausage balls, breakfast casserole, fruit and yogurt, strawberries and chocolate, biscuits, and more! we ate until our hearts were content and then took sweet noah up to enjoy some food of his own. the rest of the night was up and down...for some reason noah doesn't love sleeping in his cradle. two people told me yesterday that it is probably because we hold him too much during the day, which i suppose could be the case. we don't like to put him down, and when our arms tire completely out, there are always plenty of other willing people who are begging to hold him... we don't want him to feel unloved! :) all the same, we are going to try over the next few days to put him down when he sleeps, to see if that doesn't help a little.
a few more pictures...

life with a newborn

i knew that life would be different when noah got here, but i had no idea how much. he is a wonderful baby, but he's keeping us busy! and when we aren't busy, we are catching up on a little missed sleep. people keep asking when i'm going to put pictures on the blog and i earnestly want to show off our little boy, but i have yet to find the time to do that. right now, noah's asleep and ryan's making us some dinner (what great boys i have!), but i have no clue where our camera and cord is to upload pictures. i did put quite a few on facebook from my mom's computer over the weekend, so check those out...and please be patient for more to come. i will say that noah has got to be one of the most photographed babies around! it felt like the paparazzi was at the hospital with us, so often were flashes going off! we were watching a video of when everyone first got to see noah (as he was getting his first official bath) and there are people all in front of the video camera with their cameras and phones snapping pictures like crazy! it was a funny sight to see...but, what can i say? he's a beautiful baby! :)
noah is a growing boy and is doing wonderfully at nursing! for whatever reason, he latched right on first thing and hasn't stopped since! he eats about a zillion times a day, which gives us lots of sweet time together. sometimes in the middle of the night, i don't feel at all like nursing, but once we get started, i am always reminded of what a precious gift it is to be able to do this special thing for your child. ryan keeps saying that he is jealous that he doesn't have milk coming out of him-lol!
well, dinner is nearly served, so i better run. but a word for all of you family and friends: we LOVE visitors! please don't feel like you are intruding and come on over and meet this precious baby! he'll take your heart... :)

we made it!

we are home from the hospital and soooo thrilled to be! pictures to come soon!

procrastination

i'm a worrier by nature, though i lived in denial for many years. these days, i don't shy away from admitting it, and find myself continually turning to the Lord and begging him for peace. as i have neared the end of this pregnancy, i have found myself overwhelmed with worries most days. and now that we have a set date, i find myself filled with anxious thoughts about the impending labor, birth and then life of our little one. but i have decided to procrastinate on worrying any more... i put off everything else when i don't want to deal with it, so why not this? and when those little worries do try to slip in, i try to remember my favorite bible verse from my younger years: "do not be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

39 weeks

we went for our check-up yesterday and i was really hoping to be admitted-sure that i was nearing the time for noah's birth. i got especially excited when my nurse told me that my doc was down in delivery, thinking surely this was a sign that yesterday was the day! while we were waiting for her to come back up, we did another scan and were told that noah's looking to be a little over 9 lbs right now...only an estimate, which can be off by as much as a pound in either direction. that's all well and good if they are overestimating, but if they are underestimating-yikes! during the ultrasound, the tech tried to get a good picture of noah's sweet face, but unfortunately his cheeks were taking up all the room! he's nice and plump, it seems..and "finished cooking" as our doctor put it. after discussing our options for quite a while, we decided to give him one more week to come on his own...if he does, we will see how it goes. the doctor was skeptical, at best, about me being able to push him out at his size (those chubby cheeks are attached to a pretty big head, you know), but she said we could try if i go into labor on my own. otherwise, we will have a c-section next week...it was a tough decision, but we are going with the opinion of our doctor-that's what we pay the big bucks for, right? so, we have a week to get used to the idea, so long as he doesn't come first (which would be a-okay with us). anyone out there with good c-section stories, i'd be glad to hear from you... :)