30/52 new friends

Raelyn had her first play date with her new friend, Jack. Jack’s mommy is my long-time friend, Jen, who was also my matron of honor. We are so happy that they have moved to Indy and we are finally living in the same city. Welcome home, Bute family!!

29/52

This week Raelyn has taken an interest in coloring. I’ve found this is a great activity toward the end of the afternoon when she is getting restless. She colors with both her right and left hands.

1 month (July 14, 2011)

I feel like I’m still partially in the newborn fog. I can’t believe it’s already time for his first month update! Having done this once before I know how quickly each month comes and goes so I truly am trying to soak up each moment. I had a wise friend tell me to cherish this time with my kids. I only get this one chance to enjoy them just as they are today so that’s what I’ve been trying to do. I even try to cherish those 2 am feedings because I know those quiet moments alone with Max won’t last much longer.

Here are Max’s stats at 1 month old:

• Weight: 8 lb 11 oz (26%)
• Height: 21 1/4 inches (41%)
• Head circumference: 14 3/4 inches (35%)

At his 1 month appointment with Dr. Rob he was a trooper. After his exam, he was declared perfect and healthy! We already know he’s perfect. ;)

Here’s a few quick facts about Max at 1 month:

• He eats 3oz every 2.5 – 3 hours
• At night he sleeps in 3 hour stretches
• He sleeps a lot during the day, but is beginning to have longer awake periods
• He loves to be held, especially by mommy
• He enjoys bath time and the water seems to calm him down if he’s a bit grouchy
• He’s wearing newborn size clothes & diapers (not much longer)
• He likes to be swaddled much of the time
• He doesn’t cry or fuss much unless he’s hungry or needs a diaper change

While in the hospital, I told Max that he was my little turtle. He was so tiny and his neck looked long since he didn’t have a pudgy face. When he cried he kind of stretched his neck out and it reminded me of a turtle. (Remember that Raelyn is our little birdie.) Once we got home, Mark started calling Max “frog-man” because of his long skinny legs that he like to curl up. Poor guy, he’s not going to know if he’s a turtle, a frog, or a baby! Most of the time I call him Max but several times a day I throw out a Bud or Buddy. Who knows if any of these little nicknames will stick.

On Max’s 10th day, we had a photographer come over to take his newborn photos. It’s a lot of work to keep a newborn asleep and happy plus reposition him for each photo!

Now, looking at these at 10 days old and the photos I took at 1 month old I can see how much he has changed! His cheeks have really filled out! I told Mark that all of Max’s weight gain is going straight to his cheeks and double chin (his legs are still skinny). :)

Click here to see Max’s first photo shoot.

18 months (July 9, 2011)

It was quite difficult to get photos of Raelyn sitting in the chair. She is constantly on the go and when I have a camera in hand she would prefer to see the display instead of posing.

She will sit still to read though. The girl LOVES her books! The one you see above is a current favorite and we read it everyday before nap time. She really enjoys all of her books. Raelyn is constantly pulling out her books to look through. This may play a role in her fascination with words. She points at every picture in her books and looks at us to say the word. We now ask her to point to the picture of certain words. “Raelyn, do you see the bunny? Point to the bunny.” She is great at this game!

Like I said, Raelyn is usually go, go, going! She enjoys dancing, twirling, running, being chased, etc, etc.  Here she is twirling (the photo is blurry, but you get the idea).

Raelyn “talks” all day long but it’s her own language. She still says daddy and mama and on occasion she’ll throw out a duck. We think that she’ll explode with words once she is ready. She definitely understands everything we say. I can name any one of her toys and she’ll go get the right one. When we play with her blocks we can say, “Can you find the bee, bzzzz?” And she can find every block that has the picture of the bee. It doesn’t matter if the bee is face up or face down she knows every side of that block. During her bedtime prayers I’ve always drawn out the word amen at the end. Something like, “Aaaaaamen.” She has started saying amen (“men”) after I do. I love it! 

She makes this face that I call the crinkly nose face. She does it when she knows she’s being funny or doing something cute. Sometimes she does it because she’s done something she isn’t supposed to and knows the face melts my heart. At least I think she knows. When the photographer was here for Max’s newborn photos she caught the crinkly nose face on camera!

Can you hardly stand it?

She is just so fun right now. She holds our hands to lead us from one room to the other. She gives the best bear hugs. She loves forehead kisses. She stomps her feet when she is mad or isn’t getting her way. She is just the perfect little 18 month old girl!

And her eyes…

…her eyes. Oh how we love this girl!

28/52 splash park

We took Raelyn to a nearby splash park one evening to try and cool off in this heat wave. Look at those thighs! I just want to pinch them. :)

Max’s Arrival

It took me 4 weeks to post Raelyn’s birth story so it’s only fair that it took me 4 weeks for Max too. Maybe it just takes me that long to get in a groove and to process my blessings. ;)

I can’t believe it’s been 4 weeks since baby Max was born. In some ways it’s gone by so quickly. In other ways it seems like a lifetime ago that I stepped into that operating room. It’s amazing how in such a short time it’s already difficult to remember what life was like before he arrived.

One last maternity photo from the triage room.

We arrived at the hospital on our scheduled date, Tuesday, June 14th, two hours before surgery time. Registration was a breeze since they were expecting us and then we were escorted to a triage room to prepare for surgery. My triage nurse started my IV and attached a monitor to my belly so we could hear Max’s heartbeat. I remember telling Mark, “This is the last time we’ll hear his heartbeat from the womb.” I think it was starting to hit me that this pregnancy was coming to an end in a short time. While in triage we met the anesthesiologist and the nurse who would care for Max and me post delivery. The staff was in and out of the room as they checked our vitals, drew blood, explained what would happen, etc.

Around 11:15 am, I sent Mark off to grab a quick lunch knowing that he wouldn’t have time to eat for several hours after delivery. The nurse told him to hurry in case the doctor arrived early. He made it back in plenty of time and even moved all of our things to my permanent room. At 11:55 am the nurse walked me to the OR and Mark waited in triage while the nurses prepared me for the c-section and the anesthesiologist administered the spinal.

The OR was full of nurses and they were all busy getting me ready. They were so nice and worked to keep me at ease. I could feel my nervousness start to set in. It was still hard to believe that I would be meeting our baby very soon. The staff asked if we had a name picked out and I finally felt like I could share. These were the people who would see his face first, after all. There was a collective, “Aww” when I told them, “His name is Maximus and we’ll call him Max.” From them on, they referred to him as Max instead of “the baby”.

The anesthesiologist explained what she was doing as she administered the spinal and she let me know that I would feel pressure as I was poked and prodded, but not pain. It was such a strange sensation. I had this desire to move my legs or wiggle my toes but no matter how many signals my brain sent, nothing was moving. Mark came in wearing a scrub gown and cap. He sat at my head and held my hand through the whole procedure.

Dr. Voelkel arrived and the next thing I know she had started the c-section. I watched Mark the whole time and I remember asking him a few times if he was ok. The anesthesiologist kept whispering in my ear what was going on and I remember at one point she said, “You’ll want to see this later” and then she grabbed our camera and started snapping photos of Dr. Voelkel pulling out the baby.

At 12:35 pm, Maximus Bruce Wood Repko was born and shortly after that Dr. Voelkel lifted him over the curtain and I got my first glimpse of my son.

I couldn’t control the tears falling from my eyes. They quickly whisked Max away and all I could do was watch from the operating table as they cleaned him and did a thorough exam. I remember thinking that all I wanted to do was hold him, yet I could barely see him from that distance. 

Mark went back and forth between Max and I. He brought the camera over at one point to show me close up pictures of Max. My first real look at our son was through our camera. He looked beautiful!   It seemed to take forever before I was put back together and they were done weighing, measuring, and checking out Max. When they finally brought him to me I was overcome with emotions. Here was my son. The baby I carried inside of me for 39 weeks.

I was so happy to finally have him in my arms. Did I mention that he is absolutely perfect?

The rest of the day is a blur to me, but I do remember our very first visitor meeting her new baby brother!

This is only day one in Max’s story. Just like Raelyn, we pray that he’ll make a big impact in this world.

James 1:17  "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." (NIV)

27/52 sweet boy

Just a photo I took of Max this week. No story behind it, he’s just a sweet boy.

3 Weeks Old - Max

For Max’s 3 week “birthday” Amazon delivered a new bouncy seat. He’s beginning to have more awake time and I can’t hold him constantly, as much as I would like to. I’m hoping the bouncy seat will allow Raelyn, Max, and I to have some good playtime in the living room together.

Raelyn helping Daddy put together the bouncy seat:

Trying out the bouncy:

Max just hanging out:

Max back in the box:

 

I sure do love these kids!

Quick snapshot #2

Photo taken: July 5, 2011 @ 7:25pm

26/52 clowning around

One night this week we ate dinner on the back deck and enjoyed a beautiful Indiana summer evening. Raelyn got a kick out of not sitting in her booster chair and after dinner played peek-a-boo behind the chair cushion. She can be such a clown!

p.s. Can you believe we are 1/2 way through Project 52? Time flies!