Layton's First Bath

Layton's umbilical cord stump finally fell off so we decided to give him a real bath. Surprisingly he loved it! He just sat there and chilled out while Clifton and I washed his little body. He seemed to enjoy us spraying the warm water over him. Here are a few pictures of him enjoying his first bath!

The first week!

Jackie meeting Layton
Layton meeting his great grandma Hindes
Cooper checking out his new cousin
Mommy and Layton
Layton with Juli
All ready for bed
Layton with his boxing gloves on
Uncle Carter and aunt Laura
Aunt Amanda
Layton with great grandma Hill

We survived the first week at home with Layton. He has been sticking to his great sleeping/feeding schedule I hope he continues with it. We are going 3 to 4 hours at night between feedings and he is more alert and awake during the day. The days have been flying by I can't believe how fast they go. I look up and before I know it Clifton is home from work ready to take Layton and talk to him and hold him. We are enjoying him so much I still can't believe he is here. I feel like he is a pretty easy baby so far he loves his swing and bouncy seat. I just move his seat from room to room depending on what I'm trying to get done. It is hard to get chores done around the house because all I want to do is hold him and just stare at him. We have been blessed with so many close friends and family stopping by and bringing lots of yummy food so we haven't had to cook dinner yet which has been awesome. Layton is most alert in the evenings from about 4 to midnight and takes just a few short naps during that time so daddy gets to see him wide eyed and awake usually. He usually goes back down to sleep after the 7:00 feeding in the mornings so we have been taking advantage of sleeping in with him while we can. I got out of the house on Wednesday and had lunch at Juli's house, went by my parent's house and then took him to meet his great grandma Hindes and Joe. He was awake most of the day he didn't want to miss anything. He loves his car seat and always manages to fall asleep in it though. Here are some pictures of Layton from the first week at home Enjoy!

Clifton's First Father's Day and trip to pediatrician

Grammy D and Clifton watching Layton on Father's Day
Leslie and Mason
Grammy D and Layton
Clifton on Father's Day with Layton


We were so blessed to have Layton arrive just in time for Father's Day for Clifton. That was the best gift he has ever received! Unfortunately Sunday was a long day for me Layton only slept an hour Saturday night and I was exhausted. He wanted to nurse every hour so I just kept feeding him thinking okay maybe this will hold him over for at least 2 hours so I can get some rest and the cycle never ended he just wanted to eat and was wide awake all night. I was really discouraged and emotional all day on Sunday but I kept telling myself things will get better.

We did manage to get out of the house I was so ready to go somewhere even though I was beyond tired. We had lunch with my family at Daniel and Lauren's house and it was a nice break. Everyone held Layton while he slept so soundly. We enjoyed some yummy hamburgers and homemade ice cream. Clifton and Daniel entertained us with bowling and tennis on the Wii. That afternoon Deborah, Leslie and Mason came by for a visit and were so encouraging to me telling me it will get better. We also decided to move the swing out of Layton's room to see if he liked it and it put him to sleep right away. It was nice to get some fresh ideas of what might work for him. Layton was really fussy while they were here because I know he was tired but I enjoyed their company and seeing how big Mason is getting already. Layton has a lot of catching up to do. Sunday night he decided to start a great sleeping/feeding schedule. He made it from midnight until 4:30 I just laid in bed waiting for him to wake up so I could feed him and then he made it until 7:30. I never thought 3 hours of sleep could be so great!

Monday morning my mom and I took Layton to the pediatrician for his first check up. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 11 oz. so that was reassuring to me knowing that all the nursing was working he was gaining weight. He weighed 8 lbs. 6 oz. when we left the hospital on Thursday so he gained 5 oz. in 3 days. His jaundice levels were great and his circumcision had healed up nicely. The doctor told us how to treat his diaper rash which he started to get on Saturday. She assured me that he should be going at least 3 hours between feedings and I no longer needed to wake him up at night to eat since he was gaining weight. She told me lots of newborns nurse like that at the beginning to build up the milk supply so that made me feel better. After the doctor's appt. my mom and I ran to Target to get a few things I needed for him and then we went home. My mom was awesome and stayed at our house for the afternoon and watched Layton while I slept for 2 hours. Monday night I felt like a new person after having a great night and a nap.

Layton is here!!!!

This was the morning we left for the hospital. It was 4:00 a.m.



Holding Layton for the first time. . .
First family photo of 3
Daddy holding Layton for the first time
Getting checked out in the nurseryEnjoying every minute of him in my armsWide eyed in Daddy's arms
So tiny and preciousDaddy changing Layton's diaperLeaving the hospital with our new bundle of joy All buckled up in his new car seat.

Sorry it has taken me a week to post but needless to say things have been a little crazy at our house. The first week has been a lot of fun and very tiring at the same time. We are slowly figuring out what works with Layton and just trying to get as much rest as we can when he is sleeping. Here are all the details from Tuesday June 16th his birthday.

We were induced because my doctor thought he might be a little bigger than average. We had to be at the hospital at 5 am so we were up at 3:30 that morning getting ready so we could leave the house by 4. Surprisingly I think I slept a couple of hours that night but that morning I woke up and was so excited and nervous. It hit me on the way to the hospital I kept thinking wow today we will get to meet our son and I was a little emotional. I managed to pull it together by the time we got to the hospital. We got checked in and they started the pitocin by 6 am I didn't really feel any contractions until about 8. The nurses told me I would probably have him by 3 or 4 in the afternoon. My doctor came in at 7:30 and broke my water and that was a little painful. By 9 I was really feeling the contractions so I went ahead and requested the epidural. The labor and delivery unit at the hospital was so busy that day I was third in line for the epidural. I finally got the epidural at 10:45 and was feeling no pain which was amazing.

My parents, my grandma and Deborah all showed up in the mean time. It was nice to have more people to talk to while I waited for the epidural. It took my mind off the pain. We tried watching a movie but I couldn't concentrate on anything my mind was going a hundred miles an hour. I tried to sleep but couldn't I was too excited. It was a really long day and they told me not to eat anything that morning so I was starving all day. The only thing they would give me were ice chips. My epidural slowly stopped working on the left side so they came in and adjusted it several times before it started working again. My doctor checked me at noon and I was only 3 cm and I was 2 cm the day before at my doctor's appt. so I hadn't made much progress all morning. The nurses continued to increase the amount of pitocin I was getting but the intensity of my contractions weren't increasing enough for me to dilate. The nurses told me I had wimpy contractions but I don't care what they said they still hurt before I had the epidural. We hung out all afternoon and just talked and the nurse came in and checked me around 2:00 and I still hadn't made any progress and they started warning me that I might have to have a c section. I was okay with that I had already prepared myself for either because I just wanted a healthy baby I didn't care how he got here. At 4:00 they checked me and I was 5 cm and they all seemed encouraged that maybe my body would start to dilate. By 5:00 I was at 7.5 cm and I knew then that I would be able to have this baby without a c section. About this time one of my monitors started beeping and I slowly started to feel the contractions which were coming right after another at this point. I called the nurse and my epidural had run out so they came and replaced it and then I was good to go again. The anesthesiologist wasn't very happy with the nurses because they should have been watching it closer.

At about 6:30 my brother Daniel and sister n law Lauren showed up and they came to the room and talked just for a minute. At this point my body was shaking uncontrollably I was so nervous and excited I started to get red and blotchy all over my chest. It was like I knew it was about to happen and couldn't calm down. I told my mom it felt like I needed to go to the bathroom and I was feeling a lot of pressure so she went and got the nurse and they checked me and I was finally at 10 cm. Clifton told everyone that it was time for them to go to the waiting room that we were going to have the baby. Clifton was so good to me all day long getting me whatever I needed and he was really trying to calm me down at this point I was so nervous and shaky.

The nurses came in and started getting everything ready and we started with some practice pushes. They were so encouraging and said we would have the baby in no time at all. It was a strange feeling because I didn't feel any pain but I felt lots of pressure so my body knew when it was time to push. The nurses finally decided they better call the doctor because he was coming after about 30 minutes of pushing so they had me wait a little bit until she got closer. Once Dr. King came in I was determined to get him out. They were all calling him the inch worm because his head was slowly coming out. Finally after an hour of pushing Layton made his way into this world at 7:46 p.m. They immediately put him on my stomach and he was so warm and the doctor made the comment wow he is so big you just had a toddler. Then the nurses were all placing bets on how much he weighed. He weighed 8 lbs. 14 oz. and was 21 1/4 inches long. As soon as they cleaned him up they handed him to me and I was crying this whole time I just couldn't believe that he was finally here and was just perfect. While Clifton and I were taking it all in they began to play the lullaby over the speakers at the hospital. Everytime a baby is born they play it and we kept hearing it go off all day so that was really emotional when we finally heard Layton's lullaby we both cried. I called my dad to let everyone in the waiting room know that he was here and was healthy. The doctor stitched me up I had some minor tearing and then I was able to nurse Layton right away. Then our families came in to meet the little guy and I got to hand him off so I could eat some dinner. I was starving after all that hard work. Everyone went to the nursery window to watch him get checked out and get his first bath. Clifton went in the nursery to take pictures of everything. In the mean time the nurses got me all cleaned up and ready to move to my post partum room. Everyone eventually came back and told us goodbye and then they moved us to our new room. My legs were still not working because the epidural hadn't worn off yet so they put me in a wheelchair to transport me to our post partum room. They brought Layton to our room finally and I got to nurse him again. We were up until about 1 am just staring at him and enjoying our time with him.

We stayed in the hospital 2 nights so we were home by Thursday at noon. The nurses took such great care of both of us and I was really happy with the way everything turned out. I am so thankful I didn't have to have a c section after all. Clifton changed almost all the diapers while we were in the hospital and was so helpful with everything. I was really sore the next day so it was a challenge getting out of bed by myself. I was able to get up and shower the next morning which made me feel so much better. We had lots of friends and family come see us which was so nice. Layton has so many people that love him so much already. Above are some pictures from the hospital. Enjoy!

One more week. . . .

I went to the doctor today and they went ahead and scheduled me to be induced on Tuesday the 16th. We will go in Monday afternoon to her office and she will check me to see if I've progressed any further and if not then we will check in to Labor and Delivery on Monday night to get things started. Now that I know for sure he will be here by this time next week I'm a little nervous but so excited that the end is in sight. Overall this has been a fairly easy pregnancy with very few complaints but I'm anxious to meet our little boy and can't wait to see what he looks like. Please keep us in your prayers over these next few days in case Layton decides to come sooner. I will keep you all updated!

Clifton's Latest Project

Clifton has been building our gate for our entrance these past few weekends and it is finally finished and hung. He spent a lot of time on it and it really turned out nice. Here are some pictures of Chad and Matthew helping him hang it and then some of the gate once he painted it.

Memorial Day Weekend

We went to Canyon Lake on Memorial Day and had so much fun. I figured it might be my last chance to get out in the boat before Layton is here. The weather turned out nice and the water felt amazing. Cooper really enjoyed the boat and he absolutely loved the water. I think he is going to be a little water baby. He was a good sport about being in the heat so long and we all had a great time. Here are some pics of Cooper enjoying his first trip to the lake.