O.MI.GOD.

I so suck at blogging! But then again, I never claimed to be good at this stuff. :)

So, my sweet, chubby baby boy is knocking on the door of SIX....yes, SIX months old. WHEN IN THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN? He is still as equally awesome as he was the last time I checked in. He really wants to sit unassisted and does fairly well until he lurches for a toy in front of him and topples over. He is eating solids these days too! Oatmeal and fruit for breakfast and rice, veggie and fruit for dinner. We haven't started the lunch solids yet - mainly because I just don't feel like it. :) Probably will start after his 6 month appointment on April 9th.

If I had to wager a guess, I would say Noah is weighing somewhere around 20 lbs. He is huge! We went to the neighborhood spring fling this past Saturday and he is twice the size of some nine months old. I mean he is long and he is just solid....like a brick. I am seeing an NFL star in my future. :))

He loves his exersaucer and his doorway jump n go! He is a trip to watch. I mean how lucky am I that I get to sit and watch him and just giggle at all the cute things he does!? Incredibly lucky.

Well, that is about it for now! Moral of the story....my kid is freaking awesome. :))

Lovin'

• Non-screaming baby during tummy time
• Baby toes
• Comfy sweats and hoodies
• Tomato and mozzarella salads
• Cooing and sweet smiles
• Fat, pudgy legs and bellies (not mine :))
• Sleeping for 8 hour stretches
• Trying new recipes
• Planning for Noah boo's baptism
• Catching up with Bruce when the boo goes to bed
• Hearing great news from wonderful friends

Three Months

Noah is growing bigger and bigger everyday! He is such a cutie and I could not be in anymore love if I tried.

He smiles and coos all the time. He knows his mommy and daddy's voice and already has us pretty well figured out. For instance, he knows that if he raises his voice just a little more while up in his crib that we will come running and as soon as he sees your face, he smiles huge and laughs as to say "SUCKERS!" I live for those moments.

He has been sleeping pretty well. He teased us one day by sleeping from about 7:30 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. the next morning. We couldn't believe it! We haven't been so lucky since then, but he does sleep 8 - 9 hours stretches every night. So, I will take that any day of the week.

I love our days together and my new full time job is wonderful.

Just look at that sweet angel..........

Ringing in 2010!

Wow, 2009 has come and gone and what a wonderful year it was. Just to recap some of the more amazing things that happened to us this year:

The first of February I woke up, decided to "waste" one more pregnancy test and saw this:

Yes! I was finally pregnant after 11 months of trying and one miscarriage later. We were so ready and anxious to take this journey, we could not wait!

I had an amazing pregnancy and I enjoyed every second of it. I felt good, I looked pretty good and the best part was that my baby was growing and was 100% healthy.

October 1st was an exciting day. My water broke around 4:45 p.m. and at 4:44 a.m. on October 2, 2009, we welcomed our beautiful son, Noah Allen Calkins to the world and our lives would be forever changed for the better.We began this wonderful journey into parenthood and I can honestly say that it has changed Bruce and I and made our relationship stronger and we have cherished every moment of the past 3 months with our son.

Shortly after going on maternity leave I was laid off from my job. My former company obviously saw my becoming a new mom as an opportunity to save on my income by splitting up my work and basically telling me a bunch of lies. But I digress.

After wasting a week being sad, shocked and upset over what they did to me, Bruce and I reevaluated our priorities and came to the conclusion that there were things we could do without, if it meant that I got to stay home with our son for at least a year, rather than shipping him off to daycare. It was the most fulfilling and liberating decision we were able to make together.

So, as I sit here typing this entry and my baby boy takes a nap, I am reminded of how lucky I am and how everything happens for a reason and with a purpose. Today I would have been sitting at my desk, upset that my baby was in the hands of a stranger and instead, I get to wake up and watch this sweet angel grow and share in all of his special moments. And for that I am grateful for all that 2009 gave us.

May 2010 be even better.

My baby is 2 months old ALREADY?!

How is it possible? It is all so surreal and so amazing at the same time. He is everything and more that we could've ever hoped for or dreamed of.

Things are going really well. He is on a pretty good schedule already and with the exception of a few bad nights and days - he is a wonderful baby. We struggle during the day with naps and most of the time I walk in his room to see him staring at me with a huge smile and I cannot help but pick him up and snuggle with him. He goes down around 8 - 8:30p for his bedtime and normally sleeps for about 6 - 6 1/2 hours before he is ready for a little food. Then he sleeps until about 7a - i cannot complain about that at all!

He had his 2 month shots this past Friday and he handled them fairly well. He only cried for about a minute after getting them, but that night he was up every hour on the hour. And the next day he was crabby from the time he woke up until the time he finally went to bed. Mommy and daddy were exhausted by Sunday!

We are getting excited for Christmas! I have been shopping a little online and every now and then me and Noah venture out to see what we can get done. Santa is going to be very good to our little man this year!

Being a stay-at-home-mom takes some getting used to. It is definitely a lot harder than I thought to get out and about with a newborn in tow. And plus, once you get a schedule down, you hate to mess it up by him not taking a good nap or something. I said I'd never be one of "those" moms, but I am teetering dangerously on the edge. :)

Life is good. We are very lucky and enjoying every minute of our sweet boy.

Noah Allen's Announcment

The Birth Story

I figured that I better get this down before it all becomes a distant memory!

On Thursday, October 1st, 2009, I did not go into the office because basically I was miserable and tired of sitting at a desk for 8 hours. I worked from home and chatted with Heather on instant messenger and complained of my baby's awkward movements that day and my more than usual braxton hicks contractions. She joked that I would not make it through the weekend without having my baby. "Yeah right", I thought. Around noon, I left our house to meet Melissa for lunch at my favorite local mexican restaurant. After I finished eating, the braxton hicks contractions seemed to subside, so I did get a little bummed and figured at this point, I wouldn't have a baby until after 40 weeks.

I came home and relaxed on the couch until Bruce got home from work around 4:00 p.m. He asked me if I wanted to go for a walk and I agreed, so around 4:40 we went upstairs to change clothes. I bent over and Gasped! Bruce said, "what's wrong?" "I think my water just broke...that certainly wasn't normal." Bruce just stared at me as I hustled into the bathroom. Yup, this was definitely not normal. We hung around and waited to see if it continued to happen and also if any contractions would start. Two hours later, I continued to leak and the contractions kicked in, so I called the on call doctor, who told me to get to the hospital immediately. So, we packed up some last minute things, said goodbye to the dogs and we headed to the hospital.

We checked into the Northside around 7:30 p.m. and they hooked me up to all the proper monitors, started an IV and confirmed that my water did break and we'd be having a baby within 24 hours! YIPPEE!! Shortly after, the nurse checked me to see if I was at all dilated. That would be a negative...maybe a fingertip, but not much more than that. CRAP! My doctor came in and told me that that were going to start me on Cervadil that would start the process of "softening" my cervix and they would then give me some Ambien and Morphine so I could get some sleep and then the next morning at 7 a.m. they would start me on Pitocin. Sounds like a plan to me...but things don't always go to plan. :)

Around 10 p.m., my contractions were coming faster and stronger and I was literally climbing the walls. Holy Hell do they hurt! The nurse came in, took one look at me and said "Honey, that Morphine isn't helping with those contractions?" UMMM, NO, it is NOT helping! She decided to check me again for dilation and surprise, surprise I was already dilated to 3 almost 4 cms! The nurse said, "I better get you an epidural." PRAISE JESUS! The anesthesiologist a.k.a. my new best friend, showed up about 40 minutes later and stabbed me in the back with the best drug in the world! About 10 minutes later I was completely relaxed and able to get some rest. Phew!

A little before 4:00 a.m. I woke up to my nurse and doctor standing over me and my doctor said to me "Carrie, we have a choice to make. It seems as though your baby's heart rate has been elevated in the 180's and 190's for quite sometime and we are not sure what is causing it. Right now, I am leaning towards having an emergency c-section because I do not want to have you labor for a long time and put your baby in anymore unnecessary distress. I am going to check you one more time to see if you have dilated anymore and then I will make a decision." She checked me and I was dilated to 10 cms and our baby was ready for me to start pushing. My doctor left the room and came back minutes later and said "we're having a baby via c-section tonight." I asked, how much time we had until we went to the OR and she answered "30 minutes". Oh hell! We made 2 phone calls, one to my parents and one to Bruce' and they started wheeling me down the hall.

I was prepped in the OR around 4:30 a.m. and 14 minutes later I heard Bruce say, "It's a BOY!" and I got the first glimpse of my beautiful baby boy. He was just splendid, wonderful, PERFECT.

Noah Allen Calkins born October 2, 2009 at 4:44 a.m. weighing 8 lbs 0 oz and measuring 20.5 inches.

The c-section wasn't all that bad! I recovered nicely and my doctor did an amazing job with the incision. We are all healthy and happy and completely enamored.

Noah Allen Calkins

Born October 2, 2009 at 4:44 a.m. via c-section after laboring for over 9 hours and reaching 10 cms. He weighed 8 lbs and was 20 1/2 inches long. Our sweet boys heart rate climbed into the 180's and 190's and I was told at 4:00 a.m. that they would not take the chance of me trying to push and putting him in anymore distress. So, I was wheeled to the OR at 4:30 and 14 minutes later I heard the words from my husband's lips "It's a Boy!" I can now say with absolute certainty that it was totally worth it to not find out what we were having ahead of time! Nothing beats that moment.

So here he is...and he is as perfect as I ever could have imagined. He is amazing.

Eggplant Parmesan from Scallini's = FAIL

No Scallini's baby for me. Although the dinner was delicious and the company wasn't too shabby either. :-)

12 days until our due date. Maybe the doctor will have a plan at Wednesday's appointment!

*fingers crossed*

Almost 38 Week Belly picture

We are ready for you baby Calkins!! Even Mia is ready... :)

We are even going tonight to Scallini's for the eggplant parmesan! We'll see if that shit works!

(Excuse how tired I look...eesh!)