Big Boy!

We've got a big little boy now! He weighed in at 15 lbs, 5oz at his 4 month check-up. Not surprisingly, he was in the 75th percentile for height at 26 inches! Peter also got to try cereal for the first time. His Oma and great uncle Ron were here for the occasion. He seemed to like it but was having more fun smiling for all the flashing cameras. He's a pro at eating his cereal now though. He LOVES to smile, laugh and dance, especially on his favorite quilt from my great aunt Erika. I was making cornbread the other night and every time Ron said "cornbread" Peter belly-laughed. Peter also had many adventures this past week. We took the visiting relatives to see Opryland and The Hermitage, not to mention lots of shopping and eating out! We also successfully nursed in public! Peter is just so much fun these days!

He's going to be tall like his dad...

...that's what we keep hearing! We celebrated 3 months on Valentine's Day and packed up most of his 3 month clothing. I just can't believe how fast he's growing. I wish there were a 3 month check-up so I could post his current stats. Either way, we've got a long little guy:) Peter started daycare 4 weeks ago and has made the transition wonderfully. We are so thankful for his caregivers. I was a little worried that going back to work might mess up his schedule, but thankfully it hasn't. He still goes to bed at 8:30 and sleeps until 6:00 when I wake him up to feed him before work. It's always sad leaving him in the morning, but he is well taken care of and gets A LOT of attention. It was also nice to get a few bonus days with him thanks to all the snow we've been getting. Peter still loves his changing table. He starts dancing and smiling the minute you lay him on it. And Curtis even got him to laugh on it! He hates "tummy time," but has been holding up his head for a while. I have to say, he's pretty easy to tote around. He even made it through the entire super bowl at his very first "party!"

2 Months

Well, I can't believe my little guy turned 2 months last week. Hard to believe that it's about time to go back to work. I'm glad it warmed up a bit so we can spend our last week together enjoying our afternoon walks again. The snow was fun, but it kept us indoors (except for a quick photo!). I can't believe how much has changed in the last month. I had to pack up Peter's newborn clothes:( He weighed in at 11 lbs, 12 oz at his 2 month check-up! He's now in the 75th percentile for height and weigh! He's sleeping through the night- started sleeping about 6 hours straight around 6 weeks and is now sleeping about 8 hours straight. He's still a "cat napper" during the day, but he sleeps so well at night! He smiles all the time now! He absolutely loves being on his changing table (I know that's strange) and he loves his owl mobile. We also started using our Bum Genius cloth diapers. I have to say that cloth diapering is well worth it. It's easy and I never have to buy diapers again! Peter also went on a few outings with us. Daddy took us to Tequila's (our fave Mexican restaurant) for my birthday and we celebrated our anniversary with breakfast at the Loveless. Peter also got to meet the Lee Lab. We all had lunch at Mellow Mushroom and then spent some time in the lab. Peter starts daycare next week so he'll be getting lots of attention from some sweet little girls. They were so interested in little Peter when we brought him for the tour! We're so glad to have found Miss Kathy!

Peter's 1st Christmas

Peter's first Christmas was definitely low key so there's not a lot to share. His family had all already come and gone, but he was blessed with some cute clothes and fun toys! We got him a cookie monster teether/rattle and some fun learning rings though he really didn't need anything. This boy has been extremely blessed, we've hardly had to purchase anything! As he gets older we are going to desperately try to preserve the meaning of Christmas and hope that he doesn't just look forward to presents. Misty, if you're reading this, we love your idea of three gifts- one want, one need and one to further his relationship with God. I guess that's about it! I can't believe I'll be posting his two month update soon. He's already outgrown his newborn clothes:(

1 Month

Peter turned 1 month old on Monday. He weighed in at 9 lbs, 4 oz. He was slow to regain his birthweight so we were thrilled with his most recent weigh-in! Peter is already on a great nighttime schedule. He typically sleeps in three, 3-5 hour stretches. He wakes up to feed and goes right back to sleep! He's a pretty good daytime napper but has been spoiled by all the visiting family holding him all day long! His Oma and Opa (Jamie's parents) were here for Thanksgiving. Peter's stump came off on Thanksgiving day so Oma and Opa got to witness his first tub bath a few days later. Peter's Nanna and Poppa (Curtis' parents) were just here for a visit. Peter has been much more alert lately so they got to see a lot of those big beautiful eyes! Peter's relatives from Knoxville also came for a visit this past weekend. Turns out our house can hold 12 people AND two dogs! It was a lot of fun!

Baby Boy Thorne!

Our sweet boy was born on November 14th at 9:54 am. He weighed 7 lbs, 12 oz and was 19.5 inches long. We are so excited that our little guy is finally here!

His Birth Story...
November 13th was my last day at work. It was a fun day full of surprises! My 1st period AP Economics class threw me a surprise diaper party. I walked in to find our table covered in diapers! Later that day my freshmen advisory group threw me a surprise luncheon. They reserved our private dining room, decorated it and had lunch brought in! I finished the day with a faculty send off party. All in all, it was a fun last day. My school’s football team had a playoff game at home that night against our rival, MBA, so of course I had to go. I joked that hopefully the game would send me into labor. Turns out, I was right! By the end of the first quarter I noticed that I had been having contractions that were definitely not Braxton Hicks. Curtis and I timed them for a while and they were about 8-10 minutes apart. We decided to leave at halftime just in case this was the real thing. We got home and relaxed for a few hours. By 11:00 pm my contractions were about 6 minutes apart and somehow I managed to doze off for about three hours. I woke up at 2:00 to a painful contraction and my water breaking. At that point I decided to time a few contractions just to see where things were. The contractions were about three and a half minutes apart and much more painful. I definitely could not talk through these so we decided to head to the hospital. I was checked into my room by about 3:30 in the morning, was dilated to a 5 and contractions were fast and strong. By 4:30 I was dilated to a 7 and contractions were about 2 minutes apart. I was having intense back labor and decided to go ahead and get the epidural. I was a bit hesitant, but the epidural didn’t slow my contractions or affect the baby at all. Most of all, I felt wonderful. I could still sense my contractions but was totally relaxed and finally enjoying my labor. Curtis even caught an hour or so of sleep. I, however, was way too excited to sleep! At 7:00 am I was fully dilated but the baby’s head was turned so they tried different things to move him. At 8:15, I started pushing. With each push, the nurse tried to turn Peter’s head. After an hour of pushing the doctor came in and decided that c-section was my only option. Peter was determined not to turn! It’s possible that they could have tried the vacuum but Peter’s heart rate was as high as they wanted it to be. He was almost in “distress” after an hour of pushing. I was hoping to avoid c-section but I really felt at ease after talking with the doctor about it. It was actually quite an amazing experience. When the decision was made, they had me in the OR within 10 minutes. My anesthesiologist came by to up my epidural. He happened to be an MBA grad, and joked that he’d relieve my pain only because Ensworth lost the football game that night. The doctor who delivered Peter also happened to be the doctor that delivered a colleague of mine’s children, who also happens to be our head football coach. Needless to say, I was distracted by all the football/rivalry talk. I needed the distraction because the OR was a bit intimidating. I remember it being cold and brightly lit. There were at least 10 people in the room prepping things. I wasn’t really nervous, though I started shaking uncontrollably the minute they moved me to the operating table. Once I was prepped, they brought Curtis in to sit with me above the curtain. All the doctors and nurses were aware of Curtis’ tendency to pass out at the sight of blood so he was carefully watched so that he wouldn’t see any. About 10 minutes after entering the OR, they were tugging Peter out. Oddly, I stopped shaking the minute I felt the doctor make the incision. It was a very weird feeling. I could feel significant tugging but the minute I heard Peter’s cry, I was perfectly content. The doctor held him up right away so that we could see him and Curtis was able to snap a photo. As soon as he was cleaned up and checked out they handed him to Curtis who brought him to my face. One of the nurses then took our first family photo. They finished sewing me up. Again, it was a weird feeling. I could still feel significant tugging. They quickly brought me back to the labor and delivery room and I was able to nurse Peter. He was and still is a great nurser! About an hour later they took us all to a recovery room where we spent the next several days. Peter spent most of his time with us, though he did pay a few visits to the nursery at night. I have to say that it was a great experience. Things definitely didn’t go as planned, but I have no regrets. I have a happy, healthy boy!

Charleston 09

We spent our last real pre-baby vacation in Charleston, SC this summer. It's a city I've always wanted to visit so we drove down for an extended weekend. I was only 24 weeks pregnant at the time so it was still easy enough to get around. It's definitely a walking city. I think we enjoyed walking the historic streets most but decided to do some of the typical touristy things too. We toured some museums, took a boat tour of the harbor out to Ft. Sumter, and sampled many the the local dishes that are so famous there. The city is famous for it's carriage tours so we took a sunset tour one evening and spent our last night watching the sun go down at Folly Beach. It was very relaxing!