Welcome home Charlie!

Charlie is finally home! Here's a picture of Charlie, ready to head to his new house. Hard to believe that he will be too big for this car seat in 9-12months.

Here's a recap of what we've been up to (from what my fuzzy brain can remember!):

Nanny & Poppa (Mark's parents) visited us in the hospital on Tuesday and at home on Wednesday. They were so excited to get to see Charlie "brand new" since they weren't able to see Ella until she was 2 weeks old. Here's a pic of the proud Grandparents with their 1st Grandson!

Charlie came home with us on Wednesday, July 7th. He left the hospital down about 8oz from his birth weight and a little jaundiced, but other than that, a perfectly happy and healthy baby boy. We had a couple of check-ups on the jaundice, which seems to be getting better on its own, and Charlie is definitely gaining weight (at least according to the scale at the nursing bra store!), so nothing to worry about at all. Only bad news is that Charlie isn't the best sleeper. Right now he's getting up every 2-3 (sometimes a little more if we are lucky) so I'm really going to work on getting him to sleep better. Cross your fingers for me.

GG (my Mom) has been staying with us since we left for the hospital on the 4th and is taking care of all 4 of us, especially Ella. Don't know what we would do without her here! She leaves in the 17th and we don't know what we are going to do without her. On a funny note, GG took Ella for a bike ride with our bike trailer and totally crashed and fell. She is a little bruised up but totally fine, and Ella wasn't phased at all. Here are some pre-crash photos.

We've had so many visitors to the hospital and to our house, and so many wonderful people making us meals and offering us help, it would be impossible to mention all our great friends and family, but just know how much we appreciate all the love and support!

Speaking of Ella, she couldn't be more excited and proud to be a big sister. She is so excited to introduce everyone to her new brother and wants to hold him and touch him all the time. We're so happy that she is just as excited as we are about our new family member.

Some special visitors to note:

Our great friends, Kara & Mark Cowie just happened to be in Breckenridge on a family vacation over July 4th, so we were lucky enough to see them before Charlie was born AND after. Here's a pic of all 4 of our kids together.

Granddaddy (my Dad) visited us our 1st weekend home. We were so excited to introduce him to his 1st Grandson, Charlie.

Not much else to report. It's been a crazy week or so. We are so happy that Charlie is finally here!

Charlie's 1st Visitors

Of course we made sure that Charlie's first visitor was the most important one... his big sister Ella! GG and Ella arrived at the hospital around 5:30pm and Dad went downstairs to meet them and bring them up to our room. Charlie had been in the nursery getting his 1st bath and arrived back just in time to meet Ella.

When Ella got to the room, I wanted to make sure to give her lots of attention and not make a big deal about the baby. I reached for her to give her a big hug, but she wasn't interested in me at all. She asked me right away, " Where's the baby Mom? In your belly?" I pointed over to the bassinet in our room to show her where he was and she went right over to see him. The look on her face was so precious and she started talking sweetly to him. I told her the baby had a gift for her, but she wanted to hold him right away. I finally got a hug from her while Dad picked the baby to put into her lap.

After holding Charlie for a little bit, we exchanged gifts. Ella presented Charlie with the stuffed dog that she made him at Build-a-bear. We gave Ella her gift "from Charlie", a baby doll with it's own little crib and high chair.

The visit was so sweet and Ella responded to the baby much better than we could have ever imagined. She was sad to learn that we all wouldn't be coming home with her today.

We are expecting a visit from Nanny & Poppa (Mark's parents) tomorrow and then Granddaddy (my Dad) this weekend. We can't wait for everyone to meet him!

Charlie's Birth Story

Mark and I headed to the hospital around 7pm on Sunday evening, July 4th, for an early Monday morning induction. Before we left, we enjoyed a nice dinner with my Mom (GG) and soon to be big sister, Ella.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30pm to get all checked in and settled into our room for the evening. Around midnight, they started me on some cervix softening drugs and then at 5am on the 5th, we started the pitocin. We were ready to get this show on the road! Our doctor came in at 7:30am and broke my water and by 9:30am I was ready for my epidural. Labor was pretty easy once the drugs took effect until I had a really sudden drop in blood pressure when I was dilated to about 7cm. I was seeing spots and almost passed out! Pretty scary stuff! Turns out, baby was sitting on a main vein and was restricting my blood flow. Good news is that it didn't affect him at all, and they were able to give me some medicine to bring my blood pressure back up. A little bit before 2pm, I was ready to push and by 2:16pm, he was here!

Our little boy is actually quite a big baby, just like his sister was!

8 lbs 6 oz

21 inches

After all the stress and uncertainty of this pregnancy, it was SUCH a relief to finally meet Charlie and see for our own eyes that he was OK. Our little guy has been through a lot over these last nine months. We have real fighter!

After the baby arrived, Mark tried his best to get the news out to family ASAP, but we still didn't have a name! We narrowed it down to a couple choices ahead of time, but were waiting to see what he looked like. After making the decision, we wanted to wait a little bit to let it all "sink in" before announcing it to our families and friends who were all asking! We finally sent an email letting everyone know that Charles William Herb would be his name and we will call him Charlie. His name is extra special to us because it's in tribute to both of Charlie's amazing Grandfathers. We knew our strong baby boy needed two strong names to match his personality.

We think Charlie looks just like his big sister. He actually has even more hair than Ella did and its a little darker, but their facial features are really similar. You can look back at newborn pics of Ella HERE and HERE.

Charlie is here!

Charles William Herb, arrived this afternoon at

2:16pm. He is 8 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches long. We are all exhausted, but

everyone is healthy and happy!

Charlie is named for both his grandfathers: Charles is in tribute to his

Granddaddy, Carl Wayne Godsey (Carl is the German form of Charles) and

William, for his Papa, William David Herb. William is also Mark's middle

name and the name of Mark's maternal Grandfather and Mark's paternal

Grandfather's middle name.

Ella will arrive this evening to meet her little brother and all three of us can't wait to see her.

Love,
Becky Mark Ella & Charlie

Ella's 1st "Camping Trip"

Mark and I thought it would be fun to take Ella "camping" in the backyard tonight. I was secretly hoping my water would break just as soon as we finished setting up the tent... but no such luck. I figured I would have to lounge in the tent with Mark and Ella until she fell asleep, but turns out I didn't even have to do that. By 10pm she STILL wasn't asleep, so we decided to abandon the tent in the backyard in favor of a good nights sleep for all 3 of us. (Especially me!)

Here are a few pics from our camping adventure:

I have TONS of memories of camping in the backyard with my own Dad and I hope that Ella and her brother will have lots someday too. Of course, my Dad would bring the TV out into the backyard for our camping "trips". I DO NOT plan on doing that with my kids. Haha! After a few backyard test runs, we hope she is ready for the real thing. :) We do live in Colorado, after all.

I have to say that it was really sweet lying in the tent with Ella between Mark and I and the two dogs at our feet. Every few minutes Ella would open her eyes to see if I was still watching her and then quickly squeeze them shut and smile. PRECIOUS! After a while I turned my back to her, hoping THAT would make her finally fall asleep and she started rubbing my back. Such a sweet girl. Maybe next time we can actually sleep in the tent!

PREGGO PICS

I seriously did not think I was THAT big this time until I saw the pics Mark took of me tonight.

FINAL Baby Update

It's so exciting to be writing my FINAL baby update! Next time I write a post about the baby, he will be here! I'm happy to report that the craziness of this pregnancy is OVER. Thank you all so much for your prayers. Our little guy seems to be just as healthy as can be and is actually going to be a FULL TERM baby! Never expected that one in a million years! My doctor actually gave me a hug at my last appointment and said "I'm so happy you are still pregnant!".

We are not so patiently waiting for him to arrive, but if he refuses to come on his own, we have an induction scheduled for July 6th! Less than 3 weeks to go!

Hoping to post some belly pics this week. Stay tuned!

Picture Update

We recently got a new camera and have been playing around with it quite a bit. Here are some recent pics of Ella.

School's Out For SUMMER!

This post is a little delayed... but definitely worth posting. Ella had her last day of school on May 25th. It's hard to believe that my little girl has already been to "school" 1 year. It started out a little rough last September with crying every time I dropped her off, but eventually Ella warmed up to her teachers Miss Pat and Miss Marsha and the rest of the kids in her class.

Here is a picture of Ella last fall before her 1st day of school:

And here is a picture of her from her last day of school:

I can't believe how much Ella has changed this past school year. She went from a baby to a total kid. Her last day was a bittersweet day, for sure. At the end of the day Ella said goodbye to all her friends and teachers with big hugs. It must be the pregnancy hormones but I was really getting emotional when we were leaving. I have loved my "breaks" on Tuesday's from 9:30-1:30, but even more, I love the school and her teachers. Sadly, Ella won't be returning in the fall. She is enrolled in a different Parents Day Out program at a school closer to our house. I'm sure it will be just as good, but it was sad to know we won't be seeing Miss Marsha and Miss Pat in the fall.

Every once in a while Ella still asks if she can go back to school. I just remind her that we will start at a "new school" after summer is over... and because it's so close to our house, I can point it out to her every time we drive by.

32 week ultrasound appointment

Today I had my 32 week ultrasound appointment. Baby Boy Herb seems to be doing great and we couldn't be happier. The doc was pleasantly surprised with how "stable" my pregnancy has remained over the last 10 weeks or so, especially after how rough the 1st 20 weeks of the pregnancy were. She says that while I am still considered high risk, I can probably expect to have a relatively "normal" last 8 weeks.

Here are a few pics from our appt. It's kinds hard to seem him since he had his hand in front of his face, but we think he is starting to look a bit like Ella with his chubby cheeks and lips. We know he has a big head (just like his big sister) and already a bunch of hair!

We can't wait to meet you little boy!