Lately

Things have been a little crazy in our neck of the woods lately. Ben volunteers at the North Texas Fair and Rodeo every year as the chairman of the beer and ice committee. We literally do not see him unless we go visit him there for a solid 9-10 days.  While Henley LOVES going out to the fair every night and it did help this new mama to get out of the house, it was exhausting! We are happy to have Ben back as of Sunday and return to some sort of normal. As normal as things can get with a newborn! 

Since I have been a bit MIA after having George and with the fair in town, here is a look at what we have been up to lately! 

I can't wait to post more from our newborn shoot! It just so happens that my best friend, Brenda, is a photographer, so she does all of our family pictures. She came over Saturday, the 12th, and snapped these fabulous pictures of my babies. I am in love with them all! 

George finally got to meet his namesake, my Papaw! It took a couple of weeks because my Papaw had a cough and didn't want to pass it along (so sweet), but it was well worth the wait! 

At week 3 postpartum, I was finally feeling a little bit like myself again, so we started walking. It felt so good to get a little bit of a sweat in every now and then, but we are now back to taking things slow. Walking coupled with even more walking and standing at the fair caused me to go a little bit backwards in the healing process, so I am now waiting until I go back to the doctor next week to start any more activity. 

I posted this picture on Instagram one day when I was trying to get out the door, but George had other plans for me...more nursing. We did finally get out the door, but I'm pretty sure you can find me in this chair about 85% of the time right now. 

After the first night of the fair, I brought home two exhausted kiddos. While I was trying to put Henley to bed, George was losing his mind because he was more than ready to eat, but when I laid him down next to Henley, all was right in the world. These two adore each other! 

This girl LOVED the petting zoo this year! She went in completely on her own this year and owned the place! I was talking to the guy who ran it at one point, and when I looked back over, she was holding a baby goat. What?!?! Looks like we may need to get her a goat! 

Just another night at the fair with my two buddies! George did amazing every single night. Most nights he slept right through everything. Thankfully, one of the other guys who worked with Ben had a trailer out there, so I was able to nurse in the air conditioning. It worked out perfect! 

Y'all, this girl and her shoes! She is obsessed! We went to the mall one day to look for tennis shoes and all she wanted were those silver shoes with a heel. She was dancing and running all around the store in hopes that she would get them. Then, the next day, we went to Walmart to look for tennis shoes again, and she found these red sparkly shoes. I told her she needed tennis shoes for school and her response was, "no, I look so pretty in these!" Good grief! She kills me! 

With the arrival of a little brother and daddy being gone for 9 days, this girl has gotten plenty of treats. We needed to get out of the house one night, so we ventured to Sonic to get mom a drink and Henley a chocolate and m&m custard concrete. She was so happy! We took it to the front porch to watch the rain and hear the thunder...I love this girl! 

Henley has been loving her dance class on Saturday mornings. We are doing it through our local rec center and it is so worth it! I have not signed her up for a class in September in hopes that we can adjust to our new routine first, but we will definitely be signing up for another class soon. 

Just a fabulous day out running errands! Did I mention that I love this girl?!?! 

And this guy too! His little napping positions are my favorite! Don't worry, I am right next to him if he is napping on his tummy. 

More fair fun! This was our first year letting Henley play games and ride the rides. She was obsessed! I'm pretty sure the free petting zoo and bounce houses could definitely have kept her completely entertained, but it was so fun to see her discover some new things. She will definitely be looking forward to next year's fair activities! 

This sweet boy turned one month, and I just can't believe it. I feel like we were just in the hospital! 

And last but not least, we celebrated daddy being back home with a family day on Sunday. We visited the zoo together and finished out the night with Mexican food and some fun in the fountains together. Usually, Henley and I do these activities together on our own during the week, so it was super fun to have Ben with us. 

I won't lie, I am exhausted, but we have had a blast lately. We love having George at home, and we are so happy to be getting into a new routine with our new normal! 

George's Birth Story

How in the world has it been 4 weeks since I had George?

On Monday (July 24th), I felt different all day. I was so tight and uncomfortable the entire day and did not want to do a thing. I made myself walk on the treadmill during Henley's nap in hopes that I would jumpstart labor. That night, we went over to Ben's parent's house to celebrate his sister's birthday and swim. Ben kept trying to get me to swim, but I parked myself on the pool steps and told him not to touch me. :) I was so uncomfortable and it hurt to move. When we got home that night and went to bed, I was convinced that I wouldn't need my induction date on Friday. It felt like labor was definitely coming soon...

I woke up twice in the middle of the night/morning to pee. Once at 2 and again at 4. Both times I just felt off, so at 4, I decided to go into the living room instead of getting back in bed. When I sat down on the couch, I immediately felt cramping, so I got out my Sprout pregnancy app and started timing to see if I was having a contraction. I was so nervous about going into labor, because I wasn't sure that I would know what a contraction felt like, and all of the aches and pains I had felt so far couldn't have been timed. Turns out, you just know. The cramping came and went in intervals and I kept on timing for about an hour. 

By 5:30, I woke Ben up after putting on a little makeup and blowdrying my hair. Oh, and cancelling the massage I had scheduled for that morning in hopes to induce labor! I told Ben I was going to call the doctor, so he might want to pack his hospital bag. The on-call doctor told me that I should probably go ahead and make my way up to the hospital since I was at a 2 and 70% effaced at my last appointment. For the hour and a half I had been having contractions they were between 30 seconds and a minute long and between 3 and 5 minutes apart. When she told me I should probably head to the hospital, I kind of started freaking out. I texted my parents and told them that we needed them to go ahead and make their way to our house to stay with Henley and then I made sure I had everything in my bag, Henley's bag and George's bag before we could leave. My parents live about 30 minutes away and by the time I got everything packed, they were about to leave their house, but I just couldn't wait any longer. I was so nervous that I called Ben's best friend who is always up by 4:30, and he came and stayed with Henley until my parents could get there.

We got to the hospital about 6:15, parked and walked up to labor and delivery without our bags. I didn't want to bring all our bags in just in case we got send home. I almost punch Ben as we were walking in, and he uttered the words "I bet we'll get sent home." I told him to quit with the negativity and think positive thoughts...I was so ready to have that baby!!

We checked into triage, and after a few more contractions while walking around, I got checked pretty quick. I was still at a 2, but 90% effaced. They told us we should stick around for a little while and they'd see how much I had progressed in a couple hours, so we hunkered down in our freezing cold room. Seriously, it was so cold in there! I saw the thermostat at one point and it read 55 degrees...WHAT?!?! Ben asked for blankets from the hospital and then grabbed ours from the car when he left to get breakfast.

Sidenote: I did not learn my lesson with Henley's delivery...at 4 AM I ate a Nutrigrain bar when my contractions were just starting, and I neglected to ask Ben to stop for breakfast on the way to the hospital. So, pretty much, I was STARVING all day long. Thankfully, Ben spared me and ate his breakfast before coming back to the room...he's a good man!

After 2 hours of waiting, my nurse came back in to check me, and HALLELUJAH!, I was at a 4. I was so glad that we would not be heading home! Not only was I just so so ready to meet our George, but one of my close friends was working, and I really wanted her to be George and my nurse (she was Henley's nurse too), and my doctors just so happened to be the on-call doctor at the hospital. I was so thankful for my doctor during Henley's delivery and I really wanted her there for George's.

We moved to our delivery room and settled in for a while. I was almost at a 6 when I was able to get my epidural. Unfortunately, it did not take on my right side immediately. My nurse had to turn me and administer a couple more doses before I started to feel it. It took a while before I stopped feeling all the contractions as well as the cath (yuck!). When she was checking me for the cath, my water broke, so we hoped things would continue to progress quickly. All the nurses kept saying that my contractions were strong enough to hopefully have a baby around 2 or 3. I got my epidural around 11.

Sadly, things started to slow WAY down...

Even after my epidural finally started working on both sides, I was still in some pain. During pregnancy, I had a lot of back and rib pain and the back pain continued during labor. I did my best to zone out, relax and forget about the pain while I continued to labor. Did I mention it was shark week, so we had plenty of good tv?! We watched lots and lots of entertaining shark shows and even channeled my Mamaw at one point when we came across the Maury Povich show. We watched it for about 5 minutes before I couldn't take any more, but Mamaw loved that show, so it lifted my spirits a bit!

By the time 2 and 3 o'clock rolled our hopes of having an afternoon baby were gone. Around that time I was around an 8, but George did not seem to want to move himself down. My nurse rotated me every so often to try to get things progressing and get George to move on down.

Around 5, I started to get super discouraged. My epidural was wearing off and I was having trouble getting it to go back to my right side. I was also in more and more pain due to my back. My parents came up to the hospital around this time (leaving Henley in the lobby) and it was perfect timing. Right before they came in, my good friend and nurse, Megan, came in to start prepping George's station in the room. When she started talking to me, I immediately started crying. She could tell I was super uncomfortable and frustrated, so she talked with me for a while and then prayed over me. I was so thankful for her! Then, my parents came in the room, and I was so glad to see them. They loved on me and encouraged me before I told everyone to go ahead and go to dinner. My nurse had just checked me and I was at a 9.5, but we were waiting a little while in hopes that George would move some more.

Right after everyone left, my doctor came in and said she didn't like how George's heart rate was dropping during my contractions, so we were going to start pushing. This was at about 6:20, and I delivered George at 6:47. Yep...that was fast!

During delivery, George's heart rate continued to drop significantly during each contraction. I had to wear an oxygen mask and really focus on deep breaths in between contractions. When he came out, the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck twice. I didn't see it, but Ben did and it really scared him. Thankfully, George started crying immediately and everything was fine. Ben cut the cord and Megan immediately put George on my chest.

This was the best! I was able to snuggle and nurse him for about an hour. He settled down pretty quickly laying on my chest, and I was in heaven. Ben and I could not stop staring at him!

George Phillip Clark was born at 6:47 PM on July 25th. He weight 8 pounds 15 ounces and was 21 inches long. Just perfect!

Since George was born later in the evening, and there were plenty of people, including kiddos, waiting to meet him, I asked that our families be allowed to come into the delivery room. Once everyone got back from dinner, and the room was cleaned up, everyone came back. To say that George is so loved is an understatement!

Henley immediately fell in love and would not let anyone hold him without her being right next to them!

Be on the lookout for more "how we're doing" posts to come and a post on my favorite/can't live without newborn items. I am still trying to find time to hop on the computer in between nursing George, playing with Henley and taking some rest time for myself as well, but I will do my best to give you lots and lots of updates and pictures!

39(1/2) Week Bump Date

Well friends, we've almost made it! Honestly, I didn't think we'd make it this far. I was just sure that George would come early, but here it is the Wednesday before my due date and there are zero signs of labor. 

HOW FAR ALONG: As of Monday, I was 39 weeks along...how did that happen?! Gosh, I am so ready to meet baby George! At 36 weeks, when we got back from Vail, we had a sonogram to check on George and how big he was. At that point, the sonographer estimated him to be 6.5 lbs. I told her I was starting to really feel him in my ribs and when she measured his foot, she told me she understood why I was feeling some pain...his foot was already 3 inches long. Holy cow! I feel like George is gonna be a biggin'! 

I am due on Monday and have an induction scheduled for Friday, the 28th, just in case. I went to see my doctor yesterday, and we are going to stick to our plan. She offered to induce this Friday, but I decided to just wait and see. I'm hoping he'll make his debut really soon! 

FEELING: I am definitely feeling super pregnant. I would say that I am still feeling pretty good for being due any second, but I am just really ready. I'm not sleeping very well and have officially moved to the couch for the time being. For some reason the couch feels a little bit better, but I still find myself waking up at least three times a night to either pee or readjust my back. I have also had to start sleeping with a fan blowing straight on me. 

During the day, I still feel great other than some back pain. Usually I can get to about 4 or 5 without much pain, but by the late afternoon/evening, I desperately want someone to give me an intense back massage, sit with the heating pad directly on my back or have someone walk all over it. By the end of the day, I am so ready to lay down. 

I am still feeling TONS of movement from George too. He is super active and all over the place. I swear he is all up in my ribs, but also ready to be birthed! He is everywhere! 

WEIGHT GAIN: As of Monday, I am up 26 pounds, and I feel great. My belly is absolutely ginormous! Every now and then I will look down and think, "he's not that big," but then I will catch sideview glimpse of myself in the mirror and think "whoa!" We have continued to go out on the lake and go to the pool, and y'all, I can see all the little kids staring at the "baby in my belly." Yesterday, we went to a splash pad and there were at least two kiddos who stopped in their tracks to take a gander and I have had dozens of kids come up and ask "There's a baby in your belly, right?". 

CRAVING: I don't think I'm really craving anything right now. I legit eat two watermelons a week, but I'm not sure whether it's a craving or the water in it. It's so dang hot outside right now, no food sounds awesome, but I want all the liquids and all the ice. I chew ice like it's my job! 

WORKING ON: Ohmygoodness...all the projects! I have finally gotten the house all cleaned up, but it's been a big of a challenge, because the real nester has been Ben. He has started all the projects in the past few weeks. I won't lie, it has totally stressed me out since I've hoped to go into labor for the past few weeks, but it has been worth it. He has done such a good job and once they are fully complete, we are going to love them! 

I finished repainting George's room this weekend since we tried to patch the wall and could not get the color to match. There were seriously little patched everywhere, so I did a quick repaint. Ben started demolishing our laundry room a couple of weekends ago, and as of last night, I can at least do laundry again. The house is clean and our bags are packed, so we are ready to go! 

BIG SISTER: Henley is so dang excited to meet George!! I cannot wait to see the two of them together! She talks about him all the time and loves to talk to him. She loves going into his room, read his books, and play with his toys. We recently watched the Daniel Tiger episode where he becomes a big brother and she is so excited to be my helper now. I asked her what she is going to help me with, and she told me she was going to help change his diapers. Gosh, it's just too cute!!

We are also trying to soak up every minute we have with her as our only child while we can. We went to the water park as a family a couple of weekends ago, last weekend we went to the lake and we have just been trying to spend lots of quality time together! 

WORKOUTS: Yes, I am still going to the gym and working out, but they are definitely more few and far between. On the days I might not make it to the gym, but feel good, I have been walking on our treadmill at home and lifting weights. I haven't gone to a spin class in a while, but I am still making it to bootcamp and bodyworks classes. I definitely modify lots of moves, but am still enjoying working up a sweat! 

I told myself that I would be done working out at some point, but now I feel like I am doing it to coax him out! 

Hopefully we will get to meet baby George any day now! I am so ready to meet him, and lets be honest, I am so ready to get him out! 

Vail

Yes, I am still alive, and no, I have not had this baby yet! I have just been completely MIA, aka, unpacking, doing laundry, packing hospital bags, finishing George's room and nesting like it's my job!  

We were able to get away for a little bit with Henley and some friends during the last week I was able to travel. We headed to Vail for a week and enjoyed every minute! Now, usually, I would break the trip up into a few different posts, but I decided to just let the pictures speak for themselves. Plus, considering I still don't think I've done my last Seattle post (from March), posting it all at once is probably the best bet! 

Ready to go!! Henley was so excited about riding on the airplane, and she did AMAZING! Our flight was during nap, but she didn't nap until the drive to Vail. She sat on the plane with her iPad and was content to watch videos and play games. I loved that she had her own big girl seat! 

We flew into Denver on Saturday and made the quick 2 hour drive to Vail to get settled in. We planned our flights so that we wouldn't have to rush out the door with Henley early in the morning, so we didn't arrive into Vail until about 5:30. After getting our bags and talking with our friends for a little while, we headed out to dinner in Vail Village. 

I don't know if I've shared this before or not, but Henley will only go #2 at home and really only in her little potty. Well, we knew this would have to change in Colorado! Thankfully, as soon as we arrived to our place, she went in the lobby and she even went again at dinner, so she was rewarded with a nice scoop of chocolate ice cream after dinner. Thankfully our place had a washer and dryer! 

The next day was Father's Day, so after enjoying a delicious breakfast in our room, we headed out to the Farmer's Market. Somehow I took no pictures there, but it was fabulous! It was right outside where we were staying and had TONS of different booths. We enjoyed crepes from Crepes a la Cart for lunch and sat outside enjoying the glorious weather by the creek! 

Ben and Henley enjoyed some father/daughter pool time before nap while I relaxed and read on a chair for the first time in who knows how long! 

We continued celebrating Father's Day with a delicious Italian meal at La Bottega. I got the truffled gnocchi and cannot recommend it enough! 

The next day, we headed up to the top of the mountain for Epic Adventure. There were lots of fun activities for everyone (other than me and Henley) to enjoy, and we had a blast!! 

Henley was a huge fan of the gondola ride!

Technically, there were a few things that Henley could have enjoyed - the kid's zipline, tubing and bungee trampoline - but she was just not at all interested. She would be all excited to do one of them, but once we had to hand her over to a stranger, she was out. I actually had to put rocks in her pockets for her to even be allowed to do those things since you had to weigh 30 pounds and she only weighed 29! How cute is she all geared up to zipline though?!

This was after she asked a thousand times to do the trampoline and I was finally able to get enough rocks in her pocket for them to let her try, but when it was time for the guy to put her in her bungee, she just screamed. We enjoyed watching the girls instead! 

Once we realized Henley wasn't going to do anything and Ben could do a few things, we headed back down the gondola for lunch and to exchange our bracelets. We got a refund for Henley's and got Ben one to do the ropes courses, rock wall and mountain coaster. 

After lunch, we went back up the mountain to cheer everyone on while they did the coaster and take a few pictures before Henley and I headed back down for nap.

By the time everyone got back, they were all pretty exhausted, so we decided to go pick-up pizza from Blue Moose. Henley and I went to help pick it up so we could enjoy one of the playgrounds and burn off some more energy before bedtime. 

The next morning, we rented bikes to ride around on and we had a blast! Well, it was our first time pulling Henley in one of those carriage things, so I would say we had a blast, but Ben was exhausted! We rode around Vail Village, Lionshead, made our way to Betty Ford Gardens, and up a big hill by the golf course and houses around the area. It was beautiful! We eventually headed back to the villages to cool off and let Henley play in the water before lunch. 

She enjoyed every minute! 

We also took her to play at Pirate Ship park for a little while.

After lunch, the three of us headed back so Henley could take a nap and Ben could go fly fishing. I so want to go fly fishing the next time we are in Vail, but I didn't think it would be wise as an 8 month preggo! 

Ben had a blast and met us for a late dinner at Vail Chophouse that night. We all rode our bikes there and back, and it made me really wish we could ride bikes at home everywhere! 

The next day was Wednesday, and the friends that were with us were leaving and some other friends were flying in, so we took the day to just relax and enjoy ourselves at the pool. Ben and Henley went to the grocery store that morning, and I treated myself to a facial at the spa. It was heavenly! 

We ordered lunch by the pool and this girl and her adorable facial expressions kept us very entertained! Once our friends arrived, we enjoyed more time and drinks (they had a fabulous strawberry lemonade) by the pool before going in to get ready for dinner. I cannot believe I did not take a picture of dinner, but we went to Bully Ranch this night and it was so yummy! I learned after our first night that a light dinner worked better for me, so I ordered soup, but could not resist their truffled tots...yes, truffled tater tots as a side!! They were amazing! 

The next day, we walked around Lionshead for a little while before the guys headed off to go play golf and the girls relaxed again at the pool. It actually got a little cloudy and rainy at the pool, but we enjoyed our heated robes by the fire! We got these pictures from the guys while they played golf. 

It was apparently gorgeous and they had a blast! 

The girls fully intended to do a little shopping, but we lost track of time after relaxing and getting ready, so we just walked to dinner and enjoyed some pizza. 

On our final full day, we went back up the mountain to show everyone the views and enjoy some more fun! 

Everyone (but Henley and I) did the ropes course before lunch and had a blast! The above picture is of Ben crushing it! He is a pro at the outdoor sports! 

After lunch, we cheered everyone on again as they did the coaster and watched daddy conquer the hardest parts of the rock wall. We were very impressed! Henley was his biggest fan! 

Vail Chophouse called our names again for our last night at dinner and we loved it! There was a fabulous magician there that night that entertained us all. He left us all pretty darn amazed! 

We LOVED our time in Vail as a family and with great friends! We can't wait to go back in December with little George for Christmas and for Henley's first time on the slopes! I am now a full Colorado in the summertime convert!