Cason-One Month!

Our sweet boy turned one month old on Sunday! We celebrated by taking him to church for the first time. He did great through Sunday School, but only lasted about two songs in big church before he was done.

Here is what Cason has been up to this month:

-Weighed 7 lbs 13 oz at his two week check up and was 20 1/4 inches long

-We graduated from newborn to size 1 diapers last week. We prefer Pampers Swaddlers.

-He is the most hot-natured baby I have ever seen! He hates wearing hats or thick clothing and will almost always kick his socks off.

-He started cooing this week and ‘talking’ to his play mat.

-He LOVES to be held. It’s his favorite. I’ve learned to use my Moby Wrap at work so I can actually get things done. We have started a bad habit at night of letting him sleep with us. He will be completely knocked out and as soon as you put him down, he wakes up and cries. But if you cuddle him in the bed, he falls fast asleep. It’s the only way we are getting any sleep at this point…

-When he lets you put him down, he loves his play mat. He also likes to swing, but only for short periods of time.

-He eats anywhere from 2-3 ounces of formula every 2-3 hours during the day and 2-4 ounces every 2-4 hours at night. I was able to breastfeed for about a week, then we switched to Enfamil Newborn formula. So far, he does well with it. He is a pretty gassy baby and is hard to burp, at least for me! But gas drops and lots of patting/rubbing usually help.

-He still has a head full of brown hair, but it has lightened up a bit since he was born. I still can’t tell what color his eyes will be. Some days they look blue, other days brown or green. I have green and Brad and Noah have brown…so I’m guessing his will eventually turn brown, too.

-He loves taking a bath! It relaxes him and will always make him happy!

-He is wearing newborn size clothing and is starting to fill them out more.

-I have to cut his fingernails about every three days. They grow so fast! And he has the longest fingers and toes that I have ever seen on a baby! He got that from his Mommy!

-He loves to look out the window and at “The Catch” picture we have in our living room.

-Big brother Noah absolutely LOVES him. He asks to hold him often and LOVES when Cason’s eyes are open.

We love Cason so so so much. He is the perfect little addition to our family!

Cason’s birthday in PICTURES!

Three weeks later… ha!

Here is my push team! Brad…

my Mom…

and the sister!

Ta da! 6 pounds and 13 ounces!

My most favorite doctor ever! He was SO EXCITED when we told him that he and Cason shared a name!

My first time holding him!

Brad’s first time holding him!

Big brother time! He was a weeee bit excited! And soaking wet from playing in the water fountain…

Opening his Big Brother gift from Cason. The OCTOPOD!

Our new family of FOUR!

Cason's birth story

We got to the hospital at 5:45am Thursday morning. The nurses immediately put us in a room and got us settled. I didn't expect much to happen for a while because with Noah, they didn't start my pitocin until around 9:00am and I didn't see my doctor until around 10ish. Well around 7:10am, my doctor walked into my room and was not happy that I didn't have an IV yet, so he got a nurse to come and start that. Shortly after my IV was in, my doctor came back and broke my water! He was obviously ready to get the party started! After he broke my water he said, "Well prepare for a long day. It probably won't happen until late tonight." That was NOT what I wanted to hear! Apparently Cason was still pretty high up and my cervix wasn't as thinned out as he thought it would have been. 

My family stayed with me for most of the day. Around 10:30am, I decided to get an epidural. It hurt more than the last time I had one, but it still wasn't that bad. After that I was able to relax a lot more. My nurse, Megan, was awesome and told me that she predicted I would have the baby around 3:30pm. She put my catheter in and that was a lot more painful than last time...and I had had the epidural in for a while at this point. I tried to tough it out, but after about 30 minutes I could still feel the catheter. So my nurse called anesthesia and they came and gave me an extra dose. After I got that, I could not feel a THING. I couldn't move my legs at all. 

Around 2:30pm I started to feel SO restless. I couldn't tell if it was because my legs were so numb or if I was transitioning, but it was miserable. I was shaky, dizzy, cold, nauseous, yuck. I started to feel a lot of pressure around 3:00pm and told the nurse that she better check me. And I was a 10! Once my doctor came in, I pushed through three contractions and out came my little angel. Perfection!

He has the longest fingers and toes. He has black hair just like Noah did and it is pretty long in the back! I'm pretty sure his eyes will be brown, too. He is so precious and just the best baby. 

Noah was pretty excited about meeting Cason at the hospital. Cason got Noah the Octopod toy he has been wanting, so he was really happy about that. It took Noah a few days to acknowledge Cason without us asking him to and he acted out for about two days, but now he absolutely loves his little brother. He asks to hold him and kiss him, and he loves when Cason has his eyes open. 

We are so blessed and so thankful that we had an easy labor and delivery and that we now have another beautiful baby boy to love! 

I can't post my cameras pictures from my iPad, but they are coming soon!

Introducing....

Cason Reed McMichael

Born on December 5th at 3:35pm

6 lbs 13 oz

19 inches long

He's our perfect angel and is truly a miracle from God. We love him so much already!

A visit to see Santa

We decided we didn't want to take a newborn to the mall so we went ahead and took Noah this past weekend to visit with Santa Claus! Noah's shirt had his name on it, so when we walked up, Santa said "Well hey there Noah!" and I wish you could have seen the look on his face! It was priceless!! Noah hopped right up in Santa's lap after that and told him everything he wants for Christmas (the Octopod from Octonauts and the island from Jake and the Neverland Pirates). 

I highly recommend going to see Santa on Black Friday! Everyone was busy shopping so we just walked right up to Santa! It was perfect!

39 weeks

Sorry if things look a little different on here...I'm officially on maternity leave and blogging from my new iPad mini! Thanks to my hubs for an early Christmas present! :)

How far along? 39 weeks, 1 day

Total weight gain/loss:  Up 42 lbs.

Maternity clothes: All the time

Stretch marks: Oh yeah.

Sleep: Awful! I have horrible insomnia these days. Not to mention the aches and pains that come with laying down. I feel like getting out of bed at 39 weeks pregnant should be an Olympic sport! It takes mad skills!

Best moment this week: Thanksgiving! We spent the entire day stuffing our faces and were surrounded by family!

Movement: Not much. He has just run out of room in there. I did have a little tickle session with him in church this morning though! I would scratch my belly and he would kick back!

Food cravings/aversions: I am craving sweets a little, but really nothing sounds good anymore. I'm hungry but don't really want to eat anything.

Gender: Boy!

Labor signs: A couple BH contractions.

Belly button in or out: O.U.T.

What I miss:  Jimmy John's....I can't wait to eat that again soon!

What I am looking forward to: Doctor’s appt tomorrow! Last week he said that I was at 1 cm, but he wanted Cason to drop a little more and wanted me to thin out more. I definitely feel like he's dropped significantly this week. So I'm expecting to get an induction date when I go in tomorrow! Best case scenario, he will tell me to be at the hospital Tuesday morning!!

Weekly wisdom: Walk and rest!

Milestone: Less than a week until my due date and prooobably my last weekly bumpdate! Come on baby Cason!!!!

38 weeks

How far along? 38 weeks, 2 days

Total weight gain/loss:  Up 41 lbs.

Maternity clothes: All the time

Stretch marks: I’m scared to see what I will look like after having this baby!

Sleep: What’s that? I sleep really good from about 8pm-11pm, then I wake up about once an hour and toss and turn the rest of the night.

Best moment this week: My Sunday school class threw a shower for me! We got a lot of cute stuff! :)

Movement: I had a little scare one night this week where I couldn’t get him to move for about 30 minutes, but thankfully he eventually woke up! Scared me to death! His movements have definitely slowed down in general though. No more room in the inn!

Food cravings/aversions: I haven’t really been craving anything in particular this week, except pizza last night. Still gagging when I smell bbq.

Gender: Boy!

Labor signs: A couple BH contractions.

Belly button in or out: O.U.T.

What I miss: Having the energy/ability to do things like clean my house, dry off when I get out of the shower, play hide and seek with Noah…

What I am looking forward to: Doctor’s appt today. Crossing my swollen fingers that we schedule an induction date!!

Weekly wisdom: I have no wisdom….at 38 weeks pregnant, my brain no longer functions properly.

Milestone: This is my last week to work!