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.