Keeping in Teutsch

I wanted to show off our birth announcement/Christmas card to those of you who I was unable to send it to. (I wish I could have sent it to everyone I know, but that would have been expensive.) I also decided it would be nice to take a little walk down memory lane of our past Christmas cards since Juliette has been born. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!!

And, I can't forget big sister in this update. Juliette will talk to him and play with him when he is awake. If he is crying (and we're not holding him), she'll go stick the pacifier in his mouth. If he spits up while sitting in his bouncy seat and I'm not looking, she'll get the burp cloth and wipe it up, and she still thinks he's adorable!

I'll close this post with something she said last night while I was bathing John Hayden in reference to the male anatomy that made me laugh: "I'm glad we had a boy, so I can see how their booties work!"

John Hayden will be one month old next week, so I thought I better share his birth story and pictures before time got away from me. He was born on Tuesday, November 6th at 1:19 pm via a repeat c-section and weighed 7 lbs. 8 oz. and was 20 inches long. (I guessed he would be 7 1/2 lbs. and as you can see, I was right!)

We had to be at the hospital at 9 am Tuesday morning and the c-section was scheduled for Noon, but an emergency c-section had to be performed on another patient, so our time got pushed back. Most of the morning was spent waiting around, and everything went smoothly except for one little "we're going to pick on him about this forever" moment that is best described with the following pictures:


I had to be in recovery (next to the operating room) for about an hour before we could move into our regular room and everyone could come see him. As soon as we got in our room, Matt went and got Juliette so she could have a few minutes by herself to see him and hold him. And then after a few minutes, our families came in to see him--and to pry him from Juliette's hands--she's quite the baby hog!


And now I'll tell you a little bit more about John Hayden:
1) He's like a little teenage boy: he eats A LOT, and burps and passes gas just as loudly as them! :)
2) He hated being naked/diaper changes at first, but now he doesn't scream through those as much. (Sometimes he still gets upset when you undress him, though.)
3) He LOVES being swaddled. Juliette hated it and wanted her arms free. He loves it, but I only swaddle him at night since he had his days and nights mixed up at first and sleeps so soundly when swaddled.
4) Although he loves to eat all the time during the day, he goes 3-4 hours at night between feedings and sleeps soundly. I'm able to get about 6-7 hours of sleep a night, so things are going well and I don't feel too sleep-deprived.
5) He LOVES having his hair washed if you hold him over the sink to do it. He isn't very fond of actual baths yet.
6) Speaking of his hair, he actually has quite a bit of hair and it's reddish blond. You should see it in the sunlight! It looks more brownish red on top and blond on the sides when you are inside, but we had his newborn photo shoot last week and the photographer was set up in the sunniest place in the apartment and when she showed me a couple of the pictures on her camera, you could see the red. We're quite curious to see if it changes color and/or falls out and he becomes a bald baby like Juliette was.

And, to answer two other questions that everyone asks:
What does Juliette think of him? She loves to hold him and tells me everyday how adorable she thinks he is. When we first came home, she pretty much sat by me on the couch the whole time she was home and asked to hold him every 10 minutes, but she's gotten back into her normal routine of playing in her room and doesn't ask to hold him as much since he doesn't really do anything. I know she is going to love it when he can interact with her and actually play!

How am I doing? I feel good now. The first week or so after a c-section is always rough, but I'm happy to be past that time and back to being able to drive, lift John Hayden in his carseat, and stand up or sit up in bed without pain! My incision area is still a little tender, but for the most part, I'm back to normal. (Except for the fact that I have almost 10 lbs. left to lose and can't fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans yet!)

If you were waiting for this blog post, sorry it took so long. This kid does not like to sleep during the day. He only cat naps for about 30 minutes at a time about a handful of times a day, so it's hard to do any extra things beyond taking a shower, washing bottles, doing laundry, etc. Matt is officially at home full-time, though, for the month of December (he's done with school for the semester), so this month should be much easier to get things done, although I'm not looking forward to having to share the remote! :)

Check back next week for 1 Month pictures and an update. I'm going to do updates on him every month.

 Pregnancy Update: THE EVE OF WEEK 39/JOHN HAYDEN'S BIRTHDAY!

Size of baby: it's anybody's guess now! I predict 7 1/2 lbs. We'll see how accurate I am!
Weight Gain: final total comes out to 36 lbs. A little more than I was wanting it to be, but it's not 50, so I'll take it! 
Movement: their movements are supposed to slow down some at the end, but he hasn't really, although they are smaller movements with less kicking (because I'm sure there really isn't any space to kick now).
Sleep: I've been fortunate to be able to sleep pretty well for most of this pregnancy, which is good since I'm about to be sleep-deprived!
Symptoms: My back and feet haven't hurt as much these last few weeks, which is odd. Maybe I've just gotten used to it? Anyway, still have some swelling in my feet. Have also had some contractions and pressure, but nothing consistent. And, I have to use the bathroom pretty much every 5 minutes. Literally.
Cravings: Sweets in cake-like formats (like donuts, cupcakes, cake, Little Debbies) and ice from Sonic.
Best Moment of the Month: Counting down the days and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel! My work also threw me a little lunchtime baby shower, which was incredibly nice. My boss's wife made a delicious vegetable lasagna and everyone gave us gift cards to help finish up the last minute buying.

And, now, a final look back at all my pregnancy pictures (click on them to make them larger):

Pregnancy Update: WEEK 36
Size of baby: probably weighs around 6 lbs. and is around 18 in. long (at this point, it's a guessing game, since he could be bigger or smaller, but considering he was right in the middle of the weight range at our 32 week ultrasound, he is probably around average size)
Weight Gain: the time has come in which I do not wish to discuss my weight, but you've come this far with me, so I guess it won't kill me to divulge. BABY and I have gained 33 lbs. now. Why, yes, this IS a 8 lb. weight gain in 4 weeks, when it should have only been a 4 lb. weight gain. I'm blaming water retention on this (and John Hayden--I'm pretty sure he had a growth spurt)! :)
Movement: John Hayden is quite active. Sometimes I wonder when he sleeps! (Oh, and when I was pregnant with Juliette, she never had the hiccups, but he has had them about five times and it's quite interesting! One time when he had them, I think he got mad because he started kicking my ribs, which did not feel good!)
Sleep: the same--still able to sleep most the night at this point
Symptoms: I announced on Facebook a few weeks back that the cankles had finally made an appearance. I was SO close to getting through this pregnancy without any swelling! My feet swell off and on, depending on how hot I get and how much standing and walking I do. I also had to take my rings off, although my fingers aren't nearly as swollen as they were with Juliette. I could probably still wear my rings, but they are just a tad too tight for my liking. The "end of pregnancy" tiredness recently started as well. (My face looks a little puffy in the picture above, but I don't really think it looks like this in person [in fact, Matt just said the other day that I hadn't gained weight in my face this pregnancy], so it might just be the angle or the fact that I took this first thing this morning and was still waking up!)
Cravings: Right now I want a cupcake or some chocolate cake. Or another Little Debbie snack (yes, I've had one already today). But these new sweet cravings have absolutely NOTHING to do with that weight gain this month. At least that's what I'm telling myself and you should all agree with me! :) I also want cereal for breakfast all the time now, and I think that is simply because I CAN'T have it. (I have to take my iron pill in the morning and can't have milk near the time I take it since it hinders its absorption.) This makes me want cereal for dinner a lot, but that's not really possible since I have to feed my family something more substantial than that!
Best Moment of the Month: My women's Bible study group gave me a baby shower and Juliette came with me. They did a great job and everything was so cute. I don't have the pictures from it yet, just the few that I snapped with my camera, so below are pictures of the food table, the diaper motorcycle one of the girls made, the cute cookies, and the adorable wreath one of the other girls made that we will put on the hospital door (and the bedroom door as well). We're also pretty much all ready for John Hayden. We just have to install the car seat and get the pack-n-play bassinet out of storage, which we will do this weekend. We've got a stockpile of diapers and wipes (in fact, I don't have room for any more!) and he might have too many clothes, but I don't really consider that a problem! :) So, we are all set for his arrival in 3 weeks (c-section is scheduled for November 6th) and just hope he stays put until then (so that my maternity leave doesn't run out before the university closes for the holidays. If he came earlier than November 1st, I would have to go back to work before the holiday break begins). My last day at work will (hopefully) be November 2nd and I've already trained the person who will be filling in for me while I'm gone. I'm absolutely positive that because I'm all caught up at work and have everything done at home that the next 3 weeks are going to drag by!

Pregnancy Update: WEEK 32
Size of baby: weighs around 3.75 lbs. and is around 16.7 in. long
Weight Gain: 25 lbs. Hoping to keep it around 30 total and I just might be able to!
Movement: All the time, except it feels like he is doing flips more instead of kicking.
Sleep: I'm sleeping pretty good. Thankfully, I haven't gotten to the stage where it's hard to get comfortable and sleep. Maybe I won't!
Symptoms: Back and feet are still the main things that hurt (but not all the time). Other than that, everything else is good. Still no swelling (yay!) and my blood pressure has been perfect this entire pregnancy, so I'm hoping that doesn't change in the next 7 weeks. I have to say that this past month has been quite pleasant and even though I didn't think I was really tired when I found out my iron was low last month, the iron supplement has helped give me a little boost of energy. Or maybe it's just the nesting kicking in!
Cravings: Nothing really. I've noticed that my appetite is diminishing since there isn't much room in there anymore.
Best Moment of the Month: Finally getting the "nursery" (John Hayden's part of the room) finished, and getting to see him yesterday on the ultrasound. He weighs 4 lbs. (although the weight they get from the ultrasound is not always accurate--it can be a pound off in either direction) and he is measuring a week ahead. (That doesn't mean he'll come a week early...just that his measurements are a week ahead. That also doesn't mean he'll be big. Juliette's measurements were a week ahead most of the time I was pregnant with her and she was 6 lbs. 15 oz., but had long arms and legs, so that may just mean he's long. It also could mean that he just had a little growth spurt early and will even out by delivery time, so you can't really predict how big he'll be with these measurements. Based on what he weighs now, though, and how much babies grow on average in the last weeks of pregnancy, he'll probably be around 7ish lbs.) He also is head down, which is where he should be now (but isn't really necessary since I'll be having another c-section), but good that he's getting ready!

Below are pictures of his side of the room. (And, I think I've said this already on Facebook, but not here, and I'm just going to say it again one more time because as the third of four children who shared a room and bed with my sister until she got married and moved out, it annoys me that I've had more than one person make comments about the fact that Juliette and John Hayden will be sharing a room. Ironically, these people have only one child! Anyway, they will survive. He won't be in her room for the first two months, and many, many people have their children share a room with a baby and everyone turns out fine.)

Also, at the end is a picture of some of John Hayden's outfits that I monogrammed this past weekend. (Monogramming his initials on some of his clothing made me even more excited for November 6th to get here!)

I've had this pail-like container sitting on my kitchen counter for years that I stuff recipes in. For the longest, I've had intentions to type them all out in a cute font, print them, and then glue them on cute scrapbooking paper backed with cardstock and put them on a ring with cute ribbon tied on it. The thing is, though, recipes take FOREVER to type out and when I would start typing them, I would lose interest pretty quickly. So, year after year, they've just been sitting there and every time I would need to find a recipe or want to look through the recipes I had saved, but hadn't tried yet, I had to go through every one of them. This was happening almost weekly and it was getting really old. I knew I could just buy a picture album and stick them in there by category (or even some specialty recipe book), but I wanted something a little more creative. So when I ran across a picture of a recipe smash book on the blog Joy's Hope that linked to this recipe smash book, I knew I had found the perfect solution for all my loose recipes.

All you need is a smash book (that's what it's called literally as you can see) by K & Company (scrapbooking company), some tabs (that are sold in the same section--I found my smash book and supplies on an end cap at Michaels), some pockets to glue in to your smash book, and the best part--the really fun looking tape! (If you decide to make one, the smash book with the pink spine has pictures of food in it if you want to keep with your "theme." Also, the supplies aren't that expensive.)

Juliette turned 6 on August 24th and this year was the first year in three years that we didn't celebrate her birthday multiple times over multiple weeks. (That's a good thing, because it was getting kinda crazy with all the celebrating!)

Since we've been in Lafayette, we have taken Juliette to Chuck-E-Cheese's every year on the night of her birthday, but this year she wanted her birthday party there, so we just went to Chick-fil-A for her birthday dinner. Since we live in a small apartment, we obviously can't have birthday parties at home. (Well, we could, but I'd rather not!) Chuck-E-Cheese's made hosting a birthday party so incredibly simple (and I literally got to sit down and talk with other moms for most of the party...doesn't get much easier than that!).

Here are some pictures from the party:






Every year I like to do a Q&A with Juliette to see how she changes. Here is the one I did recently:

Pregnancy Update: WEEK 28
Size of baby: weighs around 2.25 lbs. and is around 14.8 in. long
Weight Gain: 21 lbs. (Not happy to hit the 20-lb. mark, but I was WAY higher than that with Juliette at this point, so I still think I'm doing good. And, technically, I'm right where I should be, gaining about a pound a week.)
Movement: All the time. He's officially started playing kickball with my bladder!
Sleep: Some nights are better than others. Third trimester = horrible sleep. I'm not looking forward to that! 
Symptoms: My ankles and lower back have started hurting quite frequently. If I sit too long, my back will start hurting. If I stand too long, my ankles will start hurting. It's a no-win situation! I also have to go to the bathroom ALL THE TIME! In regards to swelling, my ankles are still visible, although I think my face is starting to look a little fuller. And, finally, they tested my iron at my last doctor's appointment and it's low (which is common in the third trimester of pregnancy), so I have to take an iron supplement and I'm supposed to be eating more iron-rich foods. Eating more of some things are no big deal, but eating more red meat does not appeal to me!
Cravings: None really. Most definitely not red meat! :)
Best Moment of the Month: Finally getting all the baby stuff out of storage and getting the crib and changing table set up (and being able to put the bedding on it)! Below is a picture of the day we got it all set up. I've ordered a couple of prints online to put on the wall and I'm working on a few crafty things to hang on the wall as well, but nothing is hung up, so no pictures yet. Also, I'm officially in the third trimester! Woohoo! Eleven weeks to go (since I'll deliver at 39 weeks and get to skip that last week). Well, technically 10 weeks and 6 days since I'm blogging this a day late.


I also wanted to share Juliette's first drawing of our family that includes John Hayden. When Matt asked her why he was holding him instead of me, Juliette said it was because Matt was the biggest and strongest and wouldn't drop him. (When she drew this a few weeks ago, she still didn't know how to spell his name correctly; since then, she has gotten it down.)

Pregnancy Update: WEEK 24
Size of baby: around 12 inches long and weighs around 1 lb. (At this point in the pregnancy, his measurements could be ahead, so these are just averages; when I'm 32 weeks, I'll have another ultrasound and will get to see how big he is exactly; I'm not going to give the fruit comparisons anymore because for this week it says cantaloupe, but when you look at one--as I did in the store this past weekend--the measurements don't seem the same.)
Weight Gain: 16 lbs. (On a side note: I've decided to not talk to women with smaller stomachs in the waiting room anymore. Yesterday a woman that I was sitting next to barely looked pregnant--like if she had baggier clothes on you might not even realize it--and she was 32 weeks. Ridiculous! I REALLY didn't want to tell her that I was 24 weeks when she asked! Made me want to shove some brownies down her! I also had a male co-worker tell me that I looked like I was going to burst before November and asked if I was sure it wasn't twins. Oh, and he also said he thinks this baby is going to be huge. I wanted to shove something else somewhere else on him!!)
Movement: Yes. And, around 21 weeks we were all able to feel him kick from the outside! Juliette thinks it's cool. Matt says it's weird (he's not one of those rub-the-baby-belly type guys) and it just freaks him out a little bit that I'm walking around with a tiny, little human in me. Also, this past weekend, I finally saw him kick my stomach, but as soon as I called Juliette to come see it, he stopped. He tends to always stop kicking when I call her to come feel it (or in this case, see it). It's like he's already teasing her from the womb! She says he's a "stinker-poo" for not letting his big sister feel his kicks. :)
Sleep: I've been waking up more during the night and it's taking longer to go back to sleep. Not sure what the deal is with that, but I do not like it!
Symptoms: Feeling good other than my feet hurting when I stand or walk too long. Still no swelling (thankfully!). 
Cravings: None really.
Best Moment of the Month: Feeling John Hayden kick from the outside and just feeling his movements a lot more. He definitely has a sleep/wake pattern that I can identify now, and it's really comforting to feel him on a consistent basis and know he is okay in there. Also, all the shopping...it's been fun so far! I've done a lot of online shopping, so it's been fun getting all the packages in the mail. We also had fun registering for some small things that we need at Target. (My women's Bible study group is having a baby shower for me in September, which is why we registered. Juliette loved scanning the items that we wanted to register for with the "gun" they give you, so much so that she announced later that she really wants to work at Target when she grows up so "she can make things beep.")

I spent last weekend sewing, so here are some pictures of some of the things I made (my standard baby gift of the backpack with the applique name and some bibs and burp cloths):