Free money? Yes please!

I discovered something recently that worked out in my favor over the holidays. ;) If you don't shop online, you can disregard this. I discovered a website called Ebates, that gives you cash back for any purchase you make online. I was skeptical at first, but it is definitely legitimate. All you do, is click the link below and sign up. Then whenever you need to buy something online you go through this website http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=C2c4kjLdiPEC7VoN3um7Sw%3D%3D, and you get a percentage of ever purchase back in a check. I ordered most of my Christmas presents online this past year, and I received a check for $21 in the mail last week... just for going through this website. Free money always makes me happy. ;) Anyway, thought I would let you know about it. I may be slightly selfish because you get $5 for any referral you get that makes a $25 purchase at some point. If I get 4 by the end of March I get an extra $40. So, I figured I would throw it out there in case any of you shopped online and hadn't heard of this before. ;) I hope you have a great Tuesday!

A whole new world

One Month Old!

This baby is experiencing all sorts of new things. I can't believe he has been in this world for a whole month! Don't worry, I haven't blinked, but time still flies by!

Our baby boy is so full of yumminess! He is super smiley and never ceases to amaze us with all his crazy facial expressions!

He constantly moves his hands and already has really strong neck muscles. He is alert and loves looking around, even if that means he has to move his wobbly head around in the process.

We are trying to get him used to his pack in play. Right now that's in small doses as he of course loves sleeping on us way more. Drew has been great with night shifts!

He does sleep pretty well. He will usually wake up twice to eat between 9 pm and 830 am. About an hour to two hours in that stretch he wants to be up and play, but the rest he just eats and falls back to sleep. 

Peyton eats super well, although sometimes gets really hungry (because of the long stretches of sleep) which = gulping which = uncomfortable bubbles in his belly. We're working on that! ;)

We tried to avoid giving him the paci the first couple weeks so that he would have the hang of breast feeding. We gave him our pinkie to suck on instead, and although he has the hang of the paci, sometimes he just wants mommy or daddy's finger. It's cute, I don't mind. Although it doesn't really work with other people's fingers.

We are starting to see the hint of attachment issues. Well, it's not really an issue, it's pretty normal, but for a stretch of the evening he gets fussy and I'm the only one who can settle him down. Again, I don't mind, I'm actually kind of a fan of being needed like that.

He definitely looks a lot like Drew, but I've been told has some of my features as well. Definitely has Drew's hair and nose. Possibly my mouth and ears. His eyes are still up for debate because we know they can still change, but so far they are staying blue... which is definitely mommy. ;)

I was pretty sad the other day when I noticed how chubby his fingers were. He also had a super wrinkly forehead when he was born, but those are disappearing. Drew, the practical guy that he is, reminded me that's a good thing, that we want him to grow. All I could think was he's already leaving the newborn stage. AHHH!!! He barely wore newborn clothes, more for his length than his weight. Oh, and the first time we put that huge size 1 diaper on him? Yeah, I may have been close to shedding a tear! Growth is good, and sad.

Our dear child has screamed from day 1 when he is naked. He started out not being a fan of a diaper change either but thankfully he tolerates that now. Unfortunately, he hates when his clothes are off, and screams bloody murder when we give him a bath. Stinks for him, because he gets a bath pretty often (the gulping when hungry = milk running in his neck crack, just waiting to stink up the place)

Our baby folds his hands on my chest and props his chin on it to sleep. If he starts out sleeping on our chest, he often falls to our belly. I guess it's comforting to feel us breathing. I kiss his cheek and if he is hungry he will try to bite/kiss me back. He crosses his eyes a lot. We catch ourselves laughing often at his facial expressions! Oh, and we can't forget that he is ALL boy! Seriously, he sweats all the time, soaking his clothes and ours. But I sure do love that boy!

Happy One Month Birthday Baby Boy!

Don't Blink

I have been told probably 1000 times since getting pregnant that I need to cherish the moment. I need to slow down and enjoy every part of my life and don't wish it away. I need to snuggle my boy, don't worry about the housework, and enjoy each stage of his life. I couldn't agree more. I keep being reminded of the Kenny Chesney song below. Because of this, my new life motto is that I'm not going to blink. I'm done, no more blinking for me, because I do not want to miss out on all the simple joys/sorrows/growth of this precious boy that God has trusted with me for who knows how short or long! 

 

 DON'T BLINK

I turned on the evening news
Saw an old man being interviewed
Turning a hundred and two today

Asked him what's the secret to life?
He looked up from his old pipe
Laughed and said, "All I can say is

Don't blink, just like that you're six years old
And you take a nap
And you wake up and you're twenty-five
And your high school sweetheart becomes your wife

Don't blink, you just might miss
Your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads
Next thing you know your better half

Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years
Goes faster than you think, so don't blink

I was glued to my TV, when it looked
Like he looked at me and said
"Best start putting first things first"

'Cause when your hourglass runs out of sand
You can't flip it over and start again
Take every breathe God gives you for what it's worth

Don't blink, 'cause just like that you're six years old
And you take a nap
And you wake up and you're twenty-five
And your high school sweetheart becomes your wife
{ From: http://www.elyrics.net/read/k/kenny-chesney-lyrics/don_t-blink-lyrics.html }

Don't blink, you just might miss
Your babies growing like mine did
Turning into moms and dads
Next thing you know your better half

Of fifty years is there in bed
And you're praying God takes you instead
Trust me friend a hundred years
Goes faster than you think, so don't blink

So I've been trying to slow it down
I've been trying to take it in
In this 'here today, gone tomorrow' world we're living in

popcorn - it's what's for dinner

Drew and I (and Peyton) decided to get out of the house yesterday. It took us til close to 4 before we were up and showered and Peyton was fed, but we then we ventured out! He made me close my eyes, as he was going to surprise me and take me to a Japanese steakhouse, but it was closed. Although we were starving, we drove by Tanglewood mall and remembered that they have $5 movie tickets in the afternoon. So my two men took me to see This Means War. It was mostly chick flick, but have enough fighting/shooting/stuff blowing up to make it an okay pick for Drew as well. We also bought a big bag of popcorn to replace our mid day meal. Delicious if I do say so myself. While eating said popcorn, I bit down on what I thought was a kernel, spit it out, and then realized there was a sharp spot on my tooth. UH OH. I made a mental note to call the dentist this morning because it was either a chipped tooth or cracked filling. Yuck, I really hate going to the dentist! Anyway, the movie was good, and we stopped by Papa John's to complete our eating food that's totally bad for you day. Thank you Superbowl for picking the right coin toss, you gave us free dinner and a free soda. Score! ;)

I headed to the dentist this morning and 30 minutes later I was numb and yet sore, but fixed. I did crack a filling, but thankfully all is well. Well, it will be when I can feel my tongue again. I don't know about y'all but I always worry about biting my tongue/cheek. I am NOT a fan of having sores in my mouth. End of Rant.

Having a date night was very much needed and will be a must starting now. How did Peyton do you ask? Slept the whole time. ;) I think I might like dating this two men!

First Road Trip

 Mom and I headed down to Winston-Salem bright and early Saturday morning. It's so strange that while normally I would sleep until the last minute when heading on a road trip, now that I have a kid I was up over an hour early! I was also only 10 minutes late from meeting mom. Which is huge considering I'm still trying to figure out a routine for getting both myself and Peyton out the door! He slept the whole way there, only waking up when we were pulling into Katie's apartment parking lot!

Katie's birthday was last weekend so we celebrated Saturday by lunch at Chili's and then one two at least three pieces of chocolate pie, each. YUM-O.

 We spent the afternoon chatting/dozing while the kids took naps. Jeremy came home and snuggled Peyt and managed to give me a foot massage before making home-made pizza. I'm a tad spoiled. ;) We enjoyed a few more hours of playing and snuggling the little cousins before heading back home around 9. Peyton slept the whole way home, and being a new mom, I was very impressed I only looked back to make sure he was alive once! (Blankets tucked around him make me a tad nervous, especially when he is sleeping so soundly for hours!)

I'd say we had a very successful first road trip!

less than a month

 The before picture was taken less than a month ago. The after was taken a week ago. It's amazing how your life can change in less than a month!

Message for Katie

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT KATIE! I MISS YOU AND CAN'T WAIT TO CELEBRATE WITH YOU SOON! 

- peyton

a few of my favorite things

 I love...

 snugglin' with cozy blankets

suckin' on mommy or daddy's pinky, 

and if I'm not in my mommy or daddy's arms, my Boppy is my best friend!

31 hours to see my baby

I want to remember the details of my baby's birth. Those of you that are interested, it is below. 

 We went to the doctors office on Tuesday, Jan 24 so Dr. M could see if I had progressed at all. I was about 1 centimeter so he decided to go ahead and send me to the hospital that evening. [I believe I have explained before, they don't let women with gestational diabetes go past their due dates because of possible complications. My due date was Jan 26, and Dr. M was on call the 25th so that's when we wanted to have Peyton.] Drew and I grabbed a quick dinner and spent about 30 minutes with my mom, sister, Audrey and Owen. They came in town to see Peyton, but I really wanted to love on them before all the craziness came!

We arrive at the hospital about 6:45pm. Side-note: I wanted to wear my own clothes over the hospital gown and can I just say that was wonderful! I got situated and they started me on Cervadil which was supposed to open my cervix. When I was hooked up to all the machines (so annoying!) I realized I already was contracting, but once the medicine was in I started feeling them pretty consistently. They were relatively painful, and I started having about 6 every 10 minutes. [that's the most the doctors want you to have them in that amount of time] I asked for some medicine once I was pretty uncomfortable. They gave me Fentanyl which made me super dizzy and hot, but allowed me to get about 3 or 4 hours of sleep between the 3 doses I received.

I was scheduled to start Pitocin around 7 Wednesday morning, but my contractions were already about every 2 minutes so the doctor wanted to hold off. I walked around as much as I could that morning. Being out of bed helped so much with the pain. Whether I was on my knees or leaning against Drew, it was a huge relief on my back!

It wasn't until around 4 pm that Dr. M came in and asked if I wanted the epidural. He wanted to put it in and then break my water and start the Pitocin, because my contractions were starting to slow down. They put the epidural in, and then soon after broke my water and started me on Pitocin. Unfortunately that is when things started to get rough. The contractions definitely got a lot stronger, and I know that because despite the epidural, I felt them. My right side of my body, and lower left leg were numb, but my left stomach, side, and back weren't numb at all. NOT a pleasant feeling at all.

I had a fair amount of back labor, and strong contractions. Drew was wonderful with helping me concentrate and breathe. I honestly don't think I would have been able to get through it without him. Even when I didn't acknowledge him, he was there to remind me what to focus on to 'forget' about the pain.

The anesthesiologist tried to up my dosage in my epidural but it didn't help. Sometime that night he came in to give me another one. That was my first major breakdown. He put the needle in my back, but it was only making my right leg react. He kept sticking me closer to the left, but I literally had sharp shooting pains down my right leg. He suggested that I might have some scoliosis. Who knows, I might but I was terrified. Lots of tears and sharp pains (while contractions also ensued) later, he went to a lower vertebrae and it worked like a charm... for a couple hours.

After a few hours, the epidural wore off in many places that makes the epidural worth it. I kept having strong urges to push. My Dr checked me, and I was 9 cm, totally effaced, but Peyton wasn't down far enough. He had a C-section to do and said he would be back and I should be ready to push by then. Within 10 minutes I asked my nurse how long his c-section would take and she responded 2 1/2 hours. THERE WAS NO WAY I WAS GOING TO BE ABLE TO WAIT THAT LONG! It was around 12:30 when the writhing in uncontrollable pain began, but by 1:20 I told my nurse I had to start pushing. So that's what I did.

I was really disappointed that Dr. M was in OR. He delivered me and I really wanted him to deliver Peyton. My pain definitely won out on that battle, so Dr. G stepped in at the last minute. I am so blessed to have multiple wonderful doctors around me!

Peyton was born at 2:22 am, and was delivered right to my chest which was such a great feeling! Obviously I was exhausted and in a lot of pain, but the adrenaline you have helped me to hold, kiss, and love on my baby right away. The first thing I noticed about Peyton [besides the ridiculous amount of black hair he had] was that he definitely had Drew's nose. That moment with Drew looking at our precious miracle was something I will never forget! It is honestly something  you can't understand until your there, and you can't really explain afterwards.

I joked later about how if I would have realized that the Epidural wasn't going to work I would have just gone with a natural delivery. I had the pain meds, but still experienced a lot of the pain anyway. Just didn't get the bragging rights of doing it natural. ;) I can honestly say though, that through the 31 hours of pain, I definitely plan on doing it again. It didn't scare me or turn me away from having another baby, because my baby is completely 100% worth it!

Brandon, SamShe, Mom, Phyllis, and Bryan were the troopers that waited all night to meet Peyton. We were so glad that he was loved on right away by some favorites! Dr. M also came by to apologize for not being there for the delivery. We had to get a picture with him as well!

Happy Birth Day Peyton

I've been very much MIA. There is WAY to much snugglin', feedin', and sleepin' going on in the Hunsley Household. Drew and I brought Peyton home on Saturday and are doing very well! He was born on Thursday, January 26, 2012 at 2:22 am. Peyton was 8 lbs, 5 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long. We just love him! Details of the birth and my handsome son will come semi soon.