Happy Birthday Emery

Our sweet Emery; you’ve fit right in since day one. Your calm happy demeanor, your independent playing, your infectious smile. You bring us all so much joy and confirmed jumping all the way into their parenting gig (as if one kid didn’t already do that) was the best decision we’ve ever made.

Saying this for the 76 time but this year has flown by; I mean really, so much so we themed his birthday party Time Flies. Because it really does. Like wow. You’re one years old. With Moses it was more a celebratory YAY we’ve survived the first year but this time it was more YAY we’ve loved having you a part of this past year.

In no particular order here is a snapshot into Emery’s world. He loves to eat; I know last time I was battling the mom guilt over organic pouches but those days are long behind us now that he eats table food at every meal. Waffles with applesauce, sweet potatoes, strawberries, watermelon, steak, corn, black beans, you name it, he eats it. He still wakes up once a night! Honestly I’m used to it but man after 12 months I’d love to lay my head on my pillow and not open my eyes until the sun comes up; maybe one day I’ll stop making excuses and work on that whole sleeping through the night thing. He loves playing in Moses room; they wonder down the hall (oh hey by the way WE BOUGH A HOUSE) and get lost in cars and balls and climbing all over the bed.

In the few weeks leading up to his first birthday he got his first tooth and started walking! He’s been walking for less than a month but boy does he get around; runs up and down the halls and darts for any open doors. Just writing this I’m filling with such joy talking about him…he really does make our life so much brighter!

My first born taught me how to be a mother; to give up a large portion of my selfish ways and multitask both mentally and physically. We scanned the baby books looking for answers why our baby was up crying so much at night and used gas drops (HAHA). When our second came around it was old hat, second nature; no mommy meltdowns in the middle of the night or googling every new thing he did. It’s confirmed just how much I love being a mother and I wish everyone could have their second child first!

A few pictures of his party and a sneak peak at the house!

 

 

Emery's Birth Story

Something about going into our 41 week appointment Monday May 13th and hearing I was still 3 cm and nothing had changed made me relax. I wasn't happy to agree to an induction Friday and I wasn't too excited about spending another week twiddling my thumbs but somehow in our minds it calmed things. Monday night came around and I went to bed per usual only to be woken around 2:30am with a contraction. I'd been feeling contractions for weeks but I knew immediately this lower ab cramp like contraction was labor. I waited and sure enough another then another came. I shut my eyes and tried desperately to get rest because if this was going to be anything like Moses' birth I needed rest. Every 7 min I was back to concentrated breathing and then the bathroom trips started. Contractions bounced from 5 to 3 min apart for most of the morning. Around 5am I was on all fours in the bed trying a new position to work through a contraction when Davy rolls over and noticed; very excitedly he asked "are you in labor?!" and I couldn't lie "yes, but go back to sleep and relax"....yeah right. I could see his mind wheeling and we hugged and giggled and tried to chill out. My goal was for Moses to wake up naturally for school, get him out the door, and then head to the hospital.

Things started to pick up and by the time Moses woke I was hiding during contractions so he wasn't alarmed. By 7:15am I was asking Davy how much longer before they got out of the house aka how much longer before we can go to the hospital. Before Moses left we got to sit him down and share with him today was the day Baby Brother was coming; to say he was excited was an understatement. To be able to understand that when he got picked up from school he would get to meet him was so much fun for him to think about and made our hearts swell. 

At 8am we were checking into triage and by 8:30am I was hearing the nurse's surprising voice as she couldn't believe I was already 6cm and extremely favorable. At that time she asked about pain management and after a slight waiver of pure fear of the unknown I told her I wanted nothing. She left and I cried; cried because 1. this just got real 2. I was actually attempting unmedicated birth 3. finally.

Once we got settled into our room our nurse Joanna walked us through some checks that needed to be done and once we shared I wanted to go unmedicated she turned on her crunchy side and was 100% supportive the entire time. For the next two hours I labored in the shower, walked around, and sat on the birth ball.

 

I was surprised to find that during contractions I didn't want anyone to speak a word and the only comfort I needed was Davy's hand to squeeze. Between contractions I came back to earth fully aware and able to hold conversations, laugh, and feel normal; such a difference between last time when I felt so much was out of my control. I even fell asleep on the birth ball leaning onto the bed at 8cm during a set of contractions which I didn't even know was possible.

Around 11:30am Jane, my midwife, checked to find I was 8cm with a very bulging bag; we decided we could wait until it broke naturally or she could break it and most likely I could start pushing so I went for the 2nd option because at this point a few more intense contractions were worth the few minuets her breaking it would shave off. Once waters were broken she said I was welcome to start pushing on the next contraction. Wait a minuet, is this a joke? I was so surprised that we were here; we were to the pushing stage and I'd come this far is such a short time and more importantly I wasn't freaking out! Jane sat on the side of the bed with Davy to my left and the nurse on my right and I started pushing.

The ring of fire is exactly how it sounds and ouch, it burned! Two contractions in they made it sound like he was practically out and I was able to feel the top of his head. Between the excitement, the adrenalin, and the burning I was able to push him out two contractions later.

At 11:52am our Emery Shepherd was here!
9 pounds 13 ounces 21 inches long!

 

It was surreal; he was here, perfectly healthy, sitting on my chest...all before lunchtime.

After we got settled into our room our first visitor was Big Brother Moses which is exactly how I wanted it. He came into the room and almost immediately wanted to know where the surprise was that Emery had mentioned in the letter "he wrote" to him that day. After opening his Big Brother present he started to become more interested and the rest is history. The touching, the kissing, the more kissing, the holding, the loving.

 

As first time parents there were lots of tears; fear of the unknown, fear he would die in his sleep, fear we weren't doing things right. This time around we were ol' pros and even found ourselves twiddling our thumbs Wednesday ready to go home. Here are a few more pictures of our hospital stay and our very chunky (who doesn't even look chunky today!) boy in his going home outfit.

 

God is so good and we are so blessed. To be given Moses to raise and love was enough to last a lifetime so to have Emery is like icing on the cake; our wonderful family of four.

He's here! {ESW}

And just like that, in His most perfect timing, he's here!

  

Emery Shepherd Waldman

Born at 11:52am Tuesday May 15th

9 lbs 13 oz 21 inches long

 

A birth story is to come but I wanted to get out a few things about the last 5 days before they start running together.

Overall it's been an incredible experience; after a picture perfect birth we had excellent care throughout our stay at the hospital and the adjustment at home has been kind to me.

Emery surprised us all with his dark hair and complexion! We still can't get over his long fingers and mirror image feet of his Daddy's. His nose is just like Moses' which is just like mine but his head shape and chin are all his own. He had lots of built up mucus the days following birth so there was lots of burping, choking, and congestion but on day 5 we are down to just a little snoring and heavy breathing. On thing to note about his complexion is the almost non existent jaundice this boy has; not 1 but 3 nurses and our pediatrician told us they've never seen someone with such low bilirubin levels!

Moses is handling things really well. We knew taking him to school Tuesday that he would have a baby brother by nightfall and we're able to share that with him before he left which made him very excited. I had a note written from Emery to Moses telling him how excited he was to meet him and that he had a surprise waiting when he got to the hospital so needless to stay after a brief hello to Emery he was looking for the special surprise! After that he warmed up to him, help him, and has given about 85 kisses since then.

I just heard poop from the swing so that's all for now!

PS. We are so head over heels crazy in love.

Bounce out the silly! {4th Birthday Party}

This year he really got it. He counted down and eagerly awaited January 5th because "THAT’S MY BIRTHDAY AND I’LL BE FOUR YEARS OLD". In true Davy fashion a few days leading up to his special day he started making comments like "because I’m the birthday boy I’d like…" or "please let’s get a treat because it’s my birthday" and of course we ate it up. For his party we did his most favorite thing to do; go wild. We had all the friends and family get together for lunch then headed over to a bounce house and arcade to jump out all the sillies. I love seeing year after year the same gang of kids growing up and those who used to be fearful of jumping on the trampoline were now flipping off the top of the bouncy slides. Moses tends to think a lot of teenagers and adults are just as much his friends as they are ours and he absolutely loved having everyone he knew in one place. We are so thankful for the love and support these people have shown us since day one!

 

 

 

 

Thanks to smallfry.com I was inspired to do a birthday art project that he could enjoy for years to come and I love the way it turned out! Finger prints of most of our guest to make up a big bunch of balloons!

{glorious} birthday.

The only reason I’m sharing about my birthday before Moses’ is that after reviewing the 100’s of photos my sister took of the birthday party I still had over 50 I wanted to share. And uploading 50 photos takes a heck of a lot of time. And that is not something I have a lot of. I promise to narrow it down and I might even get crazy and post a FB album because there are just too many worth sharing. But alas, my special day. Or shall I say days.

Overwhelming love. Thanks to Davy, Moses, and my Mom I feel loved every single day of my life; this particular week it’s been extra special. Starting last Monday I have been showered with special treats, small gifts, sweet cards, more treats, celebrations, and love. By Friday I felt like my birthday had already been celebrated and in reality it had just begun kicking off with a delicious lunch with my office family. 

I cannot say enough about how glorious my night out with my very favorite girlfriends was. We all piled into one car and took the 30 mile trip to Thomasville to eat at my most favorite restaurant, Jonah’s. It’s a small, quaint little place off the main street that is Christian owned and serves the best food. I can proudly say I’ve never had a bad experience when going there and this was no exception. To add to the wonderful food was my wonderful girlfriends; whom each I treasure in their own special way and made the night unforgettable. 

The next day the boys and I woke up early and decided to drive to the Jr. Museum for family time. The trip started off right with perfect Starbucks orders and a happy little boy. The weather was perfect, there was only a handful of people there, and we had a blast. We took our time exploring the animals, old farm houses, and the beautiful natural scenery in north Florida. Am I making you sick yet with how wonderful this weekend was? I promise I’m not trying to…it really was just that wonderful!

The afternoon we played volleyball at my mom’s followed by a home cooked meal of all my favorites; steak, scallops, shrimp, harvest salad, baked potatoes, and cake. Oh my gosh can a person really eat all this? Yes. It also felts great being the birthday girl and just laying around not lifting a finger; truly enjoying my special day(s).

 

All the gifts and activities were great but it would not have been the same without all the wonderful Birthday wishes and friends and family giving up their time to celebrate me. Overwhelming love. 

On your birth date.

Prepare yourself for photo vomit this week. Since this little guy lights up my life we shall start with his birthday. 
 

Tradition around here is going to dinner with family on your birth date. Instead of forcing Moses to sit still at a nicer restaurant we took him to his most favorite place to eat, Chick Fil A! It was perfect; the kids played, we ate chicken, we opened presents, and we ate cake! So simple and enjoyable that I may just throw a birthday party there next year! 

Unfortunately this was the night that Moses started his multi-day stomach bug so the poor guy didn’t even want to eat a piece a cake. When my garbage disposal child doesn’t want to eat a huge slice of cake we knew something was wrong! 

 And this is....The Cake. Davy decided earlier in the week that he HAD to make him a cake! He did all the planning, purchasing, baking, and decorating. I giggled when I first saw the beauty but seeing the proud look on Davy's face made this messy thing into a wonderful memory!

A sneak peak

I'd call the birthday party a success. 

What's in a 3 year old {a lot}

I’m calling it writers block even though I don’t consider myself a writer. All week I’ve had topics come to mine and even have pictures ready to load…but I just couldn’t do it. I was active with other social media, I went to the gym, I worked on the birthday party, but I could do the blog. Until today.

This is one of those posts I WANT to write so I can look back and remember the stats. I’m terrible with stats and if people ask how much did he weight at his first birthday I wouldn’t know if it was 15 or 25 pounds!

This week at his 3 year well checkup he was 35 pounds and 39 inches; between 75-80% on the charts so we are considering that a win! I’m not just saying this because I’m his mom and think he’s the most awesome kid in the world but we have been told by teachers, doctors, ect that he has an great vocabulary for his age; clear enunciation, wide range of knowledge, and the excitement of a kid at Disney! I’d like to say we’ve done flashcards and watched Einstein and trained him to speak so well but…that’s not the case at all. We just talk to him, a lot. We read and play and tell stores and watch movies and this is the result. And for that excitement, he gets it from within. Oh my gosh that exuberance is hard to wrangle; as a parent I want to let him be free and expressive all the time but at the same time we have to hone it in, finding ourselves saying “calm down” 100 times before bedtime.

He’s independent every way he possibly can be right now. It may take three solid minuets but you better believe he is putting on his own jammies. He wants to put the game together, pick out his own clothes, brush his own teeth, put on his own socks, turn off the TV, and anything else that needs assistance…he wants to do himself!

He’s figuring out the 6 degrees of separation; always curious how we are all intermixed. He knows is Grammy is my mom but I’m his mommy. He’ll tell you the name he calls everyone (Pop, Grammy, Daddy) but then tell you their “other name” (Rob, Catherine, Davy). He’ll even tell you I call Davy, Honey! He’s into knowing who everyone’s mom is and quickly asked his 6 foot friend Josh “what’s your mom’s name”.

He’s finally into games! Before it’s been blocks or toys, something simple, but now it’s the year of the games. He got a few games for Christmas and we’ve been playing them daily. Hi Ho Cheerio and Diggity Dog are his favorites; he’ll help put every piece in place and patiently wait for his turn to arrive. He has even gotten into Wii sports! Sometimes he loses, sometimes he wins, but he likes playing either way.

Still loves: throwing the ball, sports, being outside, eating bananas in the morning, reading stories before bed, sucking a passy at night (ending very soon!), tackling his Daddy, jumping on the trampoline, sweet treats, eating in general, going to school, his school friend Teagen, needing his privacy in the bathroom, and being awesome!

{three}

Laying in bed last night I was smiling at Davy talking through the play by play of events that happened 3 years ago exactly. The sausage spaghetti leftovers I so foolishly ate, the 1am shower after I figured out I was in labor, the pizza we wolfed down in our hospital room after 15 hours of labor; it all feels like yesterday. How did all of this happen in a blink of an eye?

When did those 3am scream fests end and sitting up begin?

 

 

When did crawling under the end tables become walking down the hallway on Christmas morning?

 When did the baby monitors get replaced with a wide awake kid banging on our door?

 

When did mashed up baby food and Puffs become Chick Fil A and Starbucks?

 

When did this baby turn into a toddler?

 

When did this toddler turn into a boy?

 

It’s the smiles and giggles that get me, it’s the exuberance and rowdiness that kills me and it’s the entire package that melts me. I could not be more proud of the curious, excited boy he has become. I love all the questions, all the comments, all the quarks that have come with this age. Happy Birthday to the light of my life, my son, my everything, my Moses!