Our baby boy is here!

Well our baby boy decided to make an early appearance, 2 WEEKS EARLY! I had Libby a day late from my due date and we were hoping we could at least make it to my due date with this little guy. Mainly because it was going to be over my spring break for school. He definitely had other plans.

Seton Allen Cherry
Birthday: March 13, 2013
Weight: 7 lbs 15 oz
Height: 21.5 in

Happy and healthy!!  Here are pictures first, since that's what everyone wants to see anyway!  :)

Yes, he was 7 lbs 15 oz, at 2 weeks early!  Thank goodness he was early, can you imagine how big he could have been if he were actually on time and not early??  YIKES!

 Mommy holding baby Seton for the first time.  In love, immediately!

 First photo, except for missing our little Libby.  

Look at that hair?  It looks exactly like Libby's, but Libby had about twice as much.

 Such a proud daddy of his little guy.

 Going home, yes, it's all baseball in our house.

 Libby seeing Seton for the very first time.  That smile says it all.  She is in love with him!

 I hate this picture of myself, but I love what Libby is doing.  This was the very first thing we did when we walked in the house coming home from the hospital.  Libby HAD to hold her baby Seton.

 Again, that smile is priceless!

 First wash down.  He's not a fan of being woo-woo (what we call naked in our house!).  He cries every time he has his clothes off.  He's getting used to it a little more, but still hates not having anything on.  How can I bottle that up and save it for ever?  I'm thinking this will change quite quickly and this little man will want to strip down every chance he gets.

 Such a good big sister.  She wants to hold him all by herself and gets bugged that I have to help her.

Here is Seton's birth story (I wrote the birth story with our first one and I am so grateful I wrote it down to remember. So I am going to do it again.  Sorry for the little graphic tidbits.)

My official due date for our little guy was March 27th. My last Dr appt was on Thursday March 7th. I was officially 37 weeks along. At my appt, there was nothing too exciting going on. Seton had been head down prior to this appt for about 6 weeks and at this appt, he had turned and was now head up. This made me extremely nervous thinking he wasn't going to flip back around. My dr said that I had plenty of fluid and my little guy was just swimming around. He was 100% confident that my baby boy would turn again, so Jedd and I went off his confidence and hoped for the best. Because the baby was now head up, I was not dilated at all, just 90% effaced. So life went on as normal. Fast forward to Monday March 11th. Jedd came home from work and I was complaining to him that my hips were hurting pretty bad, but I just thought they were stretching like everything else. (Everything hurts every where this far along, right?) Well I had a horrible pain at dinner, but didn't think much of it. After dinner, we decided to take Libby to the park because it was just so beautiful outside. We were not planning on jump starting labor, but I guess that's what kind of happened. I was still 2 weeks away from my due date and I was determined to make it to the last week of March. We went to the park and had a fun time together. Libby was in heaven playing on the toys. We came home and I didn't have any more pain, so we went to bed. I woke up that night starting to have some contractions that were about 30-45 minutes apart. I didn't wake Jedd up, just thought it was Braxton Hicks, there was so way I was in labor! As the night continued, the contractions continued. Pretty consistent, and no changes. I decided I was going to go to work on Tuesday March 12th and see what happened. I tried to get into my Dr's office to get looked at, but they were solid booked so I made it through my day the best I could, having contractions 30 minutes apart. I got home from work and things hadn't changed much. Jedd and I decided to go for a walk and see what happened, and it was almost like my contractions started slowing down and becoming further apart. (Good news for me, right?) Well by the time I went to bed, I was having no pain and figured it was truly Braxton Hicks. I packed a bag with just a few supplies, just in case, but thought I was being completely ridiculous and silly. I woke up that night at 1 am having contractions and they were now closer together, being every 15 min apart. I decided I was going to wake Jedd up but had to go to the bathroom first. I had discovered that I had started to bleed, so I ran and woke Jedd up in a panic. (Poor guy, your wife wakes you up at 2 am in a panic, it didn't go over well!!) With me now being exactly 38 weeks, we decided to call the hospital and see what they said. They explained that we needed to come in and get checked, just as a precaution. So at 3 am we had Jedd's mother come out and stay with Libby while we went to the hospital. We figured we would be sent home because my contractions weren't close enough, but we went anyway because I was bleeding. We were checked into a side room.  You know the type of rooms where they put girls that come with every ache and pain, just to make them feel better, and then send them home?  Yes, that is where we were. (This was a big joke for Jedd and I, and we couldn't stop laughing about it all morning.) They checked me when I got there and I was dilated to a 2-3, but my labor was not progressing like it should have. In fact, it started to slow down so they let me stay to see what happened. A sweet nurse came in around 6 am and said that she was sent into my room to send me home, but wanted to check me first. I was dilated to a 3-4, but my bleeding was so bad that she didn't feel good abou sending me home without talking to my doctor. Between the time they would call my doctor, they wanted me to roam the halls and see if my labor would progress any. So Jedd and I walked the hospital halls, making circles for over an hour. My contractions would be every 5 minutes apart, and then would go 15 minutes, so nothing was consistent.  I was so frustrated by this time, I knew they were going to send us home, and I just didn't feel good about going home with my bleeding the way it was.  By about 8, they had contacted my doctor and he said that because I was 38 weeks and bleeding as bad as I was, they should check me into labor and delivery and get pitocin started. My hospital has a rule that if you are not 39 weeks along, they will not induce labor so there was a little bit of hesitance on the hospital's side but with my condition, the circumstances had changed. So my nurse came in, told us it was going to be our baby's birthday on Wednesday March 13th. It was completely surreal, and this is when I started to panic. What was I doing? Giving birth again? By about 9 am I was finally moved into a labor and delivery room and they had hooked me up to an IV and started my pitocin. The pitocin kicked in quite quickly and my labor started progressing, and being more painful. The anesthesiologist came in at 10 am and said he was off to a c-section and wouldn't be back until 11:30 and wanted to make sure I could make it without an epidural until then. I said yes, I'd be fine. This time around, I was not waiting to get an epidural, I was going to get one as soon as I couldn't handle anything anymore.  With Libby, I waited too long and wished I had gotten it sooner.  By about 11 am, I was praying he would get done sooner with his c-section because I was ready for my epidural, NOW! I told my nurse that as soon as he was done, I wanted him in my room. It wasn't 15 minutes later that he came in and by 11:30 I had my epidural. The epidural worked wonders this time and by the time the anesthesiologist left my room, my whole right side was numb. After that, things were going great. I was dilated to a 7-8 and progressing nicely. It went much quicker the second time around. I was able to sleep for about an hour and a half, which was much needed. My Doctor finally arrived at 1:20, broke my water and said I was dilated to a 9. He was going in to do a c-section, but would come for me right after and it would be time to push.  Wait, what?? This is happening?? So I started to prepare myself for a long pushing session like I had with Libby. By 1:50, my doctor came back in my room and it was time. The baby was +2 position, I was 10 cm, and it was time. I was not prepared for what was about to happen. Everyone got ready, the doctor put his sterilized clothes on, the nurses were all ready, and with my next contraction I was going to push. I had a contraction, pushed for 30 seconds and immediately started feeling nauseous. The baby was now crowning, and Jedd and I looked at each other like what? I started to throw up about 4 times, which I found out later just pushed this baby further and further out every time I threw up. That was awesome, pushing without actually pushing! I had one more contraction and pushed the baby out. He was here! And we were all in shock, how in the world did it go that fast? Two pushes and he was out, it was a miracle. I had such a bad experience with Libby, they weren't even able to put Libby on my belly, the doctor had too much to fix on me. This time around I was able to see my baby before they rushed him off, and only had very minor tears. It was surreal, but again, the biggest miracle that he was here, safe and sound, healthy as could be. He looked just like Libby, and I was in love immediately. That night, I was up walking around and was able to be taken off the IV and blood pressure machine and was doing amazing. After Libby, I had a rough time, but this time around, I was doing awesome! The baby and I were able to come home 24 hours after he was born and I was so grateful, I couldn't last another minute in that horrible hospital bed or room. I was ready to be home with my family. Libby was not able to come to the hospital due to the time of year so I was of course dying to see her and have her meet her new baby brother.

So there you have it, the birth story of our little man, Seton Cherry. Now what you're all waiting for, the pictures which is the best part.

Christmas 2012

Christmas was extra fun this year.  Libby was a little more into it than last year, definitely.  She still didn't want Santa Clause to come to our house, but we had him come anyway.  Santa sure spoiled this little girl, next year with 2 kids in this household, he might have to be more careful.  Here are just a few pictures of our day.

 This is a picture of our Libby on Christmas Eve.  Since both grandma's give jammies for the grandkids, I decided to start the tradition of giving slippers on Christmas Eve as a present to open.  My mom always gave us jammies on christmas eve, but I don't really think Libby needs 3 pairs.  So slippers it is from now on.  Also, just as a side note, Libby calls these her kangaroo jammies.  She knows it's a reindeer, but likes kangaroos better.  In fact we have a couple outside blow-up reindeer in our neighborhood for christmas decorations and she calls them kangaroos too.  It still makes us laugh.

This is our Christmas before Libby went down to see it.  Notice, there is no christmas tree.  We barely were able to finish our basement and get carpet in time, just for Santa to have the kitchen set up downstairs.  Our christmas tree is up, it's just upstairs.  Our new basement holds all of Libby's toys and we thought Santa better put her kitchen down there too.  

 This is just a picture of our semi-finished basement.  We have been working on finishing half our basement since October, and it has consumed our entire lives.  Jedd has done the work himself (obviously with help from family, a LOT of help).  Like I said, we barely finished it in time.  The paint was done a week before Christmas, electrical was done the Thursday before (thanks to a brother-in-law that stayed here way too late to help us finish).  We had carpet delivered the Friday before Christmas and got some furniture from family on Saturday so we could at least have a semi-set up room.  It looks much better now, it's more organized and a few more things are up, but this gives an idea of what we have been working on for the past 2 months.  

 Here is our princess using her kitchen.  Santa made the mistake of wrapping every little thing so Libby could open them on Christmas morning.  Little did Santa know, even though she loved opening presents just 2 months prior on her birthday, she was too overwhelmed on Christmas.  We MADE her open a few presents so she had some things to play with her kitchen.  She was not really happy.  

Santa also brought dress-ups.  She absolutely loves them and has started wearing them on a daily basis, all day long.  Of course, the shoes are the best part about dress-ups.

 Grandma and Grandpa Downs gave her this table and chair set.  My dad made this for Libby and it couldn't be more fitting with her kitchen.  She constantly has us sitting with her eating dinner.  The table is usually set 95% of the time, unless she is doing the dishes.  

Grandma and Grandpa Cherry gave her a purple roller-racer that she just loves and goes back and forth in our basement on it.  

 Here is Daddy and Libby playing "Eat Time" on christmas morning.  It was so cute, I was trying to get Libby to look at me, but she just kept smiling at her daddy playing with her.  

 Santa also brought Libby a princess castle.  This was the moment daddy put it up and she immediately put her princess chair in it.  The picture is kind of blurry, but that smile just kills me.

 She loves to pick out the window and say "hello mom and dad".

Libby's castle is usually where she can be found.  She reads books in there, plays games, watches the I-pad and many other things.  She loves it in there.  I'm glad Santa decided to bring that on a impulse.  She sure loves it.

We had a great Christmas.  We hope you all had one too.  Next year will be different for us, we'll have 2 kids that will make the holiday even better!  Happy Holidays (even if I'm a little late)!!

Halloween 2012

I have a lot to catch up on, but the most recent seems to be the most fun to post.  So I guess I am starting there.  My little girl LOVES Doc McStuffins.  It is a cartoon on Disney Junior where a little girl  pretends to be a doctor, she makes her toys come alive, and she is a doctor to her broken toys, fixing whatever is the problem.  I have to admit that it is quite a cute show....at least I'm not annoyed with it yet.  Ever since the first episode came out, she has been obsessed.  So for Halloween, I had to make her Doc.  There are no costumes out there (believe me I looked because I thought it would be easier!!), but I ended up putting something together by myself and it turned out better than anything else I think I could have bought!  Of course my mother used her sewing machine to whip some things up for me, so I can't take all the credit.  She made the pink skirt and adorable doctor's coat.

So first off, here is a picture of the actual Doc McStuffins:

And here is a picture of our "Doc".  Picture overload by the way, I couldn't pick just one.

 (this one makes me laugh.  She decided she was done with pictures, and was as stubborn as an ox to get any other pictures taken.  So for the moment, we were done.  I had to bribe her to take the pictures below with candy.)

 (I had to snag a few pictures of her pig-tails.  I just love how cute they are on her!  I don't get to do them very often, but when I do I love it!)

 (Showing off her modeling face.  I think she's ready for the runway!)

 (for some reason when I uploaded this picture, it rotated, and I can't fix it! Darn!)

And here is my sweetheart with me.  This was at my mom's Halloween party.  

We sure had a fun Halloween this year, compared to last year, it was a total 180.  Thanks to cousins on both sides of our family, she now knows how Halloween works and ran from house to house with cousins on Halloween night getting candy and saying Trick-or-Treat and thank you.

Now for the Exciting News....

So I had to wait a few weeks to tell our exciting news.

Yes, we are expecting BAYB #2, hence the belly-buldge in my pictures.  We were supposed to find out what we were having the day before we left for Chicago, but it seems this little one would not cooperate, even after being shaken, poked and prodded for 10 minutes.

So we waited 4 more weeks to hopefully see what we are having.  And after being poked and prodded and shaken up a little bit, this little one would not uncross their legs and sat indian-style for the whole appointment.  However, the doctor did find one little thing and now we are 90% positive that this little one is going to be a

BOY

Seton Allen Cherry will be making his appearance in the end of March.

We could not be more excited and thrilled that HE is happy and healthy and growing.  I am still in shock, as I was more than 100% positive that it was another girl, but it seems I was 100% wrong.  We are already planning the nursery and I'm already wanting to spend lots and lots of money on clothes, since I have literally nothing for a boy, not even uni-sex onsies to put this little guy in.   

As for me, this pregnancy has been much harder than my first, and everyone says it's due to having a boy.  I guess they are right!  With Libby, the morning sickness hit it's peak around week 10 and I felt amazing on exactly week 14.  With this little guy, the morning sickness hit it's peak (up until then) around week 10 and I kept getting worse (although it was not just morning, it was all day and all night sickness!).  By week 14, I was worse than before, and my headaches were so bad, you could find me every night either in bed or laying on the couch with a caffeine-free diet coke and wash-rag on my forehead trying to have some sanity.  My poor Libby girl suffered quite a bit with me being so sick, but we are on the up swing and I am finally starting to feel better....I am week 18 now.  I still have horrible headaches but they aren't as frequent.  My morning sickness has started to get better and I can now stand to look at food again, for the most part.

Pictures to come soon.  It seems that with baby #2, I'm "poking out" way earlier than I was with Libby and am still trying to come to terms with it!! 

Chicago

Hello??  Is anyone still out there?  Does anyone still check this thing?  I know it has been a long long time (I'm thinking 10 months??) since I have written a new post.  Things at this house have been crazy, but not crazy enough to not post.  Let's just say I have been busy and spending my time on pinterest rather than blogs.  Not to say that I don't check blogs on a regular basis, just don't update my own.  Well I figure this was totally BLOG WORTHY and this would be a perfect time to update.  Is it sad that it has been so long since I've posted, that they have changed the whole layout and I sat staring wondering how I do this??

Chicago, IL.  The city where dreams come true, at least in our family.  When Jedd's family decided they were going to take a trip to Chicago and go see the Cubs and Bears in person, I knew Jedd had to go and fulfill his LIFELONG dream of going to Chicago. However, I didn't realize how much I wanted to go until I pushed myself into the mix of Jedd's brother, dad and mom to head out.  You see, Chicago is probably one of my most favorite cities in the whole US.  I was able to go 10 years ago for work and had the best time and so I was so excited to have the opportunity to go again.  We planned the trip a few months before and when September came and it was time to go, reality sank in that we would be leaving our little girl at home with my parents.  She did amazing, by the way, and had more fun than she could ever imagine with cousins and being spoiled by grandma and grandpa.  In fact the whole 5 days we were gone, she didn't even mention our names.  WHAT??  Talk about depressing, she didn't even care we were gone; however, we were glad she was taken care of and having a fun time herself.

Day 1:  Travel Day

We arrived in Chicago around 3:30 pm and headed to our hotel.  We were in awe of the city (me seeing it for the 2nd time and Jedd seeing it for the 1st time).  Our hotel was just 2 blocks off the Magnificent Mile (Michigan Ave) and it was amazing to us to find out that everything was in walking distance, literally everything, besides Wrigley field.  We did a lot of walking this trip, but it made up for all the Chicago food we ate.  

I knew when we found out I was able to go, that the River Boat Tour was on my #1 list of things to do.  So we decided to do that the first day, due to horrible weather threatening our trip.  So after checking in and doing maybe one or two things, we headed out to Navy Pier for the River Boat Tour.  To say I was amazed would be an understatement, even with it being my 2nd time seeing it.  It was awesome.  Architecture seems to be one of my most favorite hobbies to look at and this provided a great opportunity to do so.

Navy Pier

Loading the Boat.  (That is Jedd's dad in the background.  He got in trouble for climbing the fence, but figured the photo-op to be behind us was totallly worth it.  That was just the first of many funny stories.)

Jedd before we headed out.  The city is absolutely beautiful.  

A picture of us in front of the city line on the boat.  I just love this picture.

Jedd will probably correct me, but this I think is the oldest building in the city, still standing, after the big Chicago Fire, the Water Tower.  Grabbed this picture on the way back from Navy Pier.

Day 2:  Chicago Cubs Game Day #1

To say the Jedd was excited for this day would be a total understatment. I don't really think he slept all night.  Jedd has dreamed of going to Wrigley Field since he was a boy and part of my fun was being there, watching him fulfill his dream.  It was totally worth it, even though it rained pretty much the whole game.  It was quite the experience, batting practice, the game, going into extra innings, and ending with the Cubs actually winning with a walk off hit.  

Jumping on the subway to head to the game.  There were quite a few fans, and the energy was fun!

The one and only Wrigley Field.  This was our first view from the subway station.

The first picture of standing on the actual property of the Stadium.  He was a kid in a candy store.

Our first glimpse of the actual field.  The smile says everything.  He was only disappointed that the gate was still down.  However, with it being 3 hours before the game even started, it didn't surprise me the gate was still down.  

The Harey Carey statue.

Before heading inside, we walked around the stadium to see what there was.  Jedd loves the roof-top bleacher seats outside the stadium.

 We sat in the bleachers on the first day and it was a totally different experience.  Our first view of the field from inside the stadium.  I have to say, it was pretty awesome.

 Getting a picture of the field, while batting practice was going on.

 A picture with the "Ivy" and the roof-top seats on the outskirts of the stadium.

 The score board.

 Eating an actual "Chicago Dog".

Day 2:  Chicago Cubs Game Day #2

Day 2 we had actual seats, no bleachers.  This day was absolutely freezing to say the least.  The Chicago wind was biting cold, but it was still a lot of fun.

Probably my favorite picture of the whole trip.  The smile says it all, we were ACTUALLY there.

Jedd with his brothers and dad.  I think this was a lifelong dream for all these guys.  Ty was the only one that had already been to Wrigley, the rest, they were first-timers.

 A picture of ......a statue.  Jedd will kill me for not remembering who this is.  But I sure thought it was pretty awesome they painted it "cubs blue".

 Inside the stadium, different view.

A closer  view.  The lighting was not great, but you get the jist. 

After the game, even though it was freezing, we decided to do a little sight seeing.  We caught the subway down to the park, only to realize it was walking distance of our Hotel.

 The Chicago Sign, down the theater street.

 The Metal Bean.  Funny inside joke, but "Look, it's the METAL BEAN!"

 Look at that city view, amazing.

Day 3:  Bears Game Day

On day 3 of our trip, we ventured down to Soldier Field to watch the Bears play.  It was a total different atmosphere then the Cubs for sure.  The fans were insane, and mostly all drunk.  I honestly think we were maybe 6 of 1000 that didn't drink in a stadium full of 80,000 people.  But it was still fun.  And I guess I was mostly shocked that it the Bears game was just like a glorified high school football game.  The announcers, the field, it was just all amped up.  I was picturing something totally different.

Before the game, we walked around the stadium.  We found this view and with the Lake behind, it was beautiful.

 Of course, photo-op.

 A view of the city behind us.

 Soldier Field.

 I had to snag this picture.  Debbie and I hung back just a bit, mainly because Kim was in such a hurry to get in the stadium, with it being 2 hours before kick-off we were not in a hurry.  But this picture I love.  All 4 guys heading to the game, excited as ever.  Priceless.  

 The famous columns.  Jedd thought there were columns that went top to bottom, but this is the only ones we could find at the time.  Had to snag a picture of the "columns", even though I have to be honest, I don't know the importance of the columns, they were still pretty cool.  I was amazed at how much the stadium looked like historic buildings, not just a modern football stadium.

 Inside the stadium.  WOW.

 Jedd's family that came.  Love this picture.

Since going to Chicago 10 years ago, I have wanted to see Buckingham Fountain.  So on our way back from Soldier Field, we walked the whole way to our Hotel, we stopped by Buckingham Fountain.  It was extremely close to Soldier Field.

 I love water fountains.

 And last but not least, a picture of the Chicago River and some of the skyline.  

All in all, it was a crazy and busy trip, but we had a blast.  It was a dream come true for the Cherry family, and I was so excited that I was able to be a part of it.  I love Chicago, and I think now, Jedd and I will have a special place in our hearts for Chicago.  In fact, Jedd from the day we arrived, was ready to pack up and move there.  I'm not sold on the idea.

(If you happen to notice my big belly in these pictures, wondering, wow, she has gained weight, just wait a little bit longer for some exciting news.)