McDaniel Family Journal

Oh goodness, where to begin!  We had such a busy summer and you are up to so much these days!

I’ll start with our annual trip to Captiva and Sanibel Islands.  We had a wonderful time the last two weeks in July at these places.  The first week was spent on Captiva with the bulk of the family and you had a blast!  You love rough-housing with Uncle John (Grunca) and Cassie, and you were definitely the life of the party every place we went.  You started saying “Batman’s coming!” and running to grab a blanket to hide under. Of course everyone else had to hide with you, so that became the “game” of the week. For some reason you think Batman has blue eyes, because every time you hid you’d also say “Hurry, hide, you see those blue eyes peeking out?”

The second week was spent on Sanibel with Grandma Ann and her friend Nicollette.  You didn’t like the beach as much as you did Captiva, but we spent some time at the pool. Mostly we just hung out in the unit and played with your Leggos. You and Daddy built some really nice and intricate things with those.

Right before we left on vacation you started a new class at school and you love it! Your teachers, Miss Andrea, Miss Portia, and Miss Rachel think you are the cutest thing ever and every day you come home with a new story to tell. Your school also put a new curriculum into place, so at the beginning of every week you bring a handout home telling us the words and letters you are working on and any other concepts for that week. It’s wonderful and it’s so very nice to have you back into a class that you look forward to going to!

August brought a lot of baby-planning, since your brother was due in early September. You helped daddy in the yard a lot, and we just spent a lot of time hanging out and reading stories.  Also making them up actually. You love to make up stories and have us tell you some, too 🙂

Just a week before I gave birth to Benjamin your daddy and I took you on a date to the zoo. We had a wonderful time and spent the whole day just playing with you.  It was kind of our last outing as a threesome, so we hope you had a great time 😉

Now we move onto some mushy stuff that I’m sure you’d rather I not write, but I must 🙂

Your brother was born on September 5th, 2009, and you have GOT to be the best big brother that ever walked the earth. You love him to death. You are not jealous, you are never mean, and you care about him so very much!  I have always known that you are an unordinarily sweet child. You are very smart, but you are so incredibly thoughtful, and loving, and sweet, that it just makes my heart melt!  You are always ready to give hugs and kisses, always first to respond when someone gets hurt, and always there to lend a helping hand. Your teacher says that you help her every single day with snack or books, or whatever else she needs, and with Benjamin around, that has not changed.  You love him so much, and it is so very sweet to see you two together.

Now it’s October and we’re gearing up for Halloween. This year you’ve said you want to be a ghost, so this weekend we are going to go and get the stuff to make you a costume (I don’t think I can find a ghost costume around here).  I’m sure we’ll have a blast. We always do. 😉

Some cute/funny things you’ve said lately:

• “Mommy, you need to move over. You’re booty is large!” (Thank you for that, by the way) 😉

• “Mommy, Benjamin is crying again. Can you give him some milk out of your nipple, please?”
• When you got up in the middle of the night, I asked you why you were up. Your response: “Because I needed to. Daddy needed me.”
• “Oh, Mommy, I found a baby ghost and he’s crying!” – you then lifted up your shirt, put your hand, which held your imaginary ghost, to your chest and said “Glug, glug, glug. There now he stopped crying ‘cuz I fed him milk from my nipple” LOL

I know there are more, I may update this list later 😉

Filed under: It's all about Brighton, What Brighton is up to now on October 14th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

Well…we’ve decided that you’re not as mellow and easy going as we had thought, but you are still pretty sweet!  For a while you were very fussy in the evening right before bed, but we figured out it was because you were over tired.  You would eat and eat, then get so wound up.  We’ve since gotten a better handle on that, but you’re still a bit fussy for 45 minutes every evening.

You have got to be the cutest thing, though! Just in the past week you’ve started smiling a lot more, and cooing. Goodness, you make the sweetest sounds! You are also very alert and inquisitive about everything. You love to look around and stare at my face or out the window. It’s very sweet. I always wonder what you’re thinking about when you are focusing in on something and looking so serious.

Growth-wise, you are a champ! I don’t know how much you weigh, but I’m guessing at least 10 or 11 pounds. You are getting very chubby and I love it!  Still no bottle, but I plan on getting you used to one next week since I have to go back to work soon.

You are fitting into the family very well. I can’t even imagine what things would be like without you. Brighton absolutely adores you and is always trying to play with or hold you. He makes sure he always give you a kiss first thing in the morning, before he goes to school, when he comes home, and before he goes to bed. It’s adorable how much he loves you, and how attentive you are when he’s holding you.

As for sleep, we’re doing a little better. We’re now sometimes gettting 4 hours at the beginning of the night, then eating every 2 1/2 to 3 hours until morning. Not too bad…but I do look forward to the days of 5 and 6 hours in a row 😉

Filed under: It's all about Benjamin, What Benjamin is up to now on October 14th, 2009 | No Comments »

On Thursday, September 3rd, I had my 39 week appointment.  The doctor asked the typical questions and I told him I’d had no contractions, no bleeding, nothing. I’d had no signs of any type of impending labor.

Since I hadn’t had a cervix check yet he decided to do one, and lo and behold I was 3cm dilated and 50% effaced. I was shocked. Granted, you can be like that for weeks, but with Brighton I didn’t dilate at all until labor started, so I was pretty excited. 🙂

On Friday I went to work and made sure that I had everything in order…just in case. My boss told me she didn’t expect me to be in on Tuesday (Monday was a holiday), and it turned out she was right 😉

Friday, the 4th was date night. Your daddy and I went to the mall to see a movie (District 9) and grab a bite in the food court.  We talked a lot about you and how we were looking forward to finally meeting you.  Before the movie started, I went to the restroom and found that I had lost my plug. TMI, I know, but it was at that very point that I knew it was only a matter of time before you arrived.  Throughout the movie I think I had one or two contractions. Nothing painful at all, just a bit of tightening.

I slept pretty well that night. No contractions, no pain.

The next morning I think should be labeled: “Family Chore Day”. Your daddy went out and mowed the lawn, while I cleaned the kitchen, did some laundry, and straightened up all the rooms. Brighton and I also went to the park while your daddy went on a run. It was a great morning.

Come lunch, we were starving and for some reason both your daddy and I wanted a Tuna Sub from Subway. Don’t ask me why 😉 So, we piled into the car and went out for lunch. After we got our food, I had a single contraction. I told your daddy and about 20 minutes later, at 1pm, I had another one.

I still didn’t think I was in labor. 2 contractions don’t mean anything, but when the next one came 10 minutes later I thought we were on to something.  The first one was at 12:45, the second at 1pm, the third at 1:10pm.  The next 3 were 10 minutes apart, then they were 5 minutes apart.  They weren’t necessarily painful, but they weren’t real pleasant either.  At about 2pm, you daddy called Grandma Ann to see if she could come over…just in case. I still wasn’t positive this was the real thing, but soon after she arrived at about 2:20, contractions began coming every 3 1/2 minutes and were 1-1 1/2 minutes long.  They were getting to where I couldn’t talk during them and I HAD to walk around to get through them.

At about 3:15pm we decided to go to the hospital.  I wanted to stay at home longer, but the contractions were so close together and I knew that I had to get antibiotics run before you were born, that we thought we should just go in…just in case 😉

When we got there, your daddy dropped me off at the front while he parked the car. I went into triage, filled out the forms, then paced the area until he came in. The contractions were getting stronger, and every 3 minutes you could fine me standing, facing a wall breathing through them.  I never sat down. For some reason sitting made them worse, so I walked around the whole time.

Because I was walking and completely fine between contractions, it took the triage nurses a while to get to me. I think I waited over 20 minutes before they finally called my name.  They took me and your daddy into an exam room, and did a cervix check. As she did the exam, she called out the door to get a gurney. Then the whole staff was in our room prepping me to go up to Labor and Delivery. Apparently I had walked my way to 7cm, and they were all remarking on what a great job I was doing. More than one nurse told me she didn’t understand how I could still be walking around at that point 😉

I have to note that during all of this, your daddy was amazing.  He has really bad Carpel Tunnel syndrome from all the writing he does, but with every contraction he was there massaging my back.  It was amazing. He was constantly giving me support and telling me what a good job I was doing, and I know that all of the encouragement really helped me along.  He is the best husband in the entire world 😉

When we got to the delivery room, we noticed that it had a beautiful view. We mentioned it and the nurses said that this was the room that everyone asked for and that they gave to VIP people that delivered there. We thought that was pretty cool 😉

I think when they checked my cervix in triage they inadvertently broke my water a bit. Not all the way, but I was definitely leaking and the contractions began to be ridiculously painful.  I was trying to focus, but apparently they pay one of the nurses to bombard you with health questions (where all the answers are no) to try to break your spirit 😉 I joke, but that’s what it seemed like. The pain was bad, but when you can’t concentrate because you are answering a ton of random questions, it makes the next contraction that much worse.

After all the questions were answered, I went to the tub.  I had been walking/standing this whole time, but thought the warm water of a bath might help…and it did, until the water cooled off 😉 While I was in there the anesthesiologist came in and we discussed an epidural.  I told her I didn’t want to be completely numb, but I needed a bit of the edge off if I was going to be able to push.  About 20 minutes later my epidural was done…not pleasant, but I got through it, and at the same time the antibiotic arrived.  Because I was GBS+ I was supposed to have the antibiotic run 4 hours before you were born, but due to the speed of the labor and the slowness of the pharmacy at the hospital, that didn’t happen. 20 minutes after I got the epidural and the antibioitic, I started pushing.  It was just after 6:30pm.

After a couple pushes I asked if I could have a mirror to see what was going on.  Let me just tell you, that was the coolest thing ever. I could actually see what every single push was doing. I could see your little head and the massive amount of hair that you had. It was amazing!

After just over 20 minutes of pushing, you arrived into the world at 6:59pm on Saturday, September 5th, 2009. You were 7lbs 6.8oz and 21 inches long. You were beautiful, and I remember the very first words out of my mouth as they placed you screaming on my chest were “He’s perfect”. I remember looking up at your daddy, who was just transfixed on you, and seeing so much love in his eyes.  It was a very perfect moment, and one that I will NEVER forget.

Your birth was amazing. Better than I ever dreamed it could be.  Afterwards, we nursed and you did fantastic.  Then Grandma Ann drove Brighton over and we introduced the two of you. Of course, he too was enamored with you.  He kissed you and told you he loved you. It was sooooo incredibly sweet!

We were only in the hospital until the next night. You were doing great, and as I was told by my doctor, apparently I’m just made to give birth, because I felt fine. Apparently we were the talk of both the labor and recovery floors for a super-short stay. On that Sunday morning I went to a breastfeeding class and one of the mom’s had been there for 6 days, another for 3. You and I were only there a little over 24 hours.  We are troopers 😉

Sunday night at about 8pm, your daddy and Brighton came to pick us up. Brighton was adorable telling everyone how you were HIS Baby Benjamin, and that he was taking us home. The ride home was fine, definitely not as eventful as Brighton’s ride home was, and when we got here, it was a though you had always belonged.  You really did complete our little family, and I look forward to seeing what the next few years will bring with my two wonderful boys 😉

Filed under: Benjamin's Birth on September 7th, 2009 | No Comments »

Dear Baby Benjamin…

The end is near…can you feel it? We are very anxiously waiting your arrival, even though from past experience, we doubt you’ll be here much before September 9th 🙂  I can’t believe in just a few short weeks you’ll be here for me to hold in my arms! It is very surreal.

Not too much has been going on since I last wrote you. We spent the last two weeks of July on Captiva and Sanibel island, and as always, we had a wonderful time. Other than getting pretty tired from trudging up and down all of those steps, being pregnant at the beach was pretty nice. I had quite a few ladies stop me and tell me how good I looked and that from behind they didn’t even know I was pregnant, so that was nice 😉

You my dear are doing fantastic!  At our last appointment, which was a week and a half ago, the doctor guesstimated you to be about 6 pounds, so like your brother, you’ll likely be born at a pretty healthy weight (yay!)

We have our 37 week appointment and an ultrasound scheduled for next Tuesday, so that should be fun.  I’ve been having sporadic contractions since Sunday, so we’ll see what the doctors guesstimate on delivery will be then.

We can’t wait to meet you!
Love,
Mommy

Filed under: Pregnancy Journal for Baby #2 on August 14th, 2009 | No Comments »

Dear Baby Benjamin,

This weekend and last has been busy, busy! I’ve been working non-stop in your and Brighton’s room putting up shelving, rearranging the furniture, and organizing things so that the two of you can comfortably share that room. It’s been fun (I happen to like doing those sorts of things), but exhausting nonetheless.

You are doing as well as ever. Moving and kicking around in there like you own the place 😉 You still haven’t balled up though, and there are times when I feel like I have an octopus growing in there! Seeing as we only have 9 ½ weeks to go, I’m thinking you’re going to run out of room pretty soon and HAVE to curl up 😉

We had our 30 week Dr. appointment last week, and everything looked great. I had gained a total of 13 pounds, and your heartbeat was a strong as ever (when she finally found it!). I swear you can sense the waves that that doppler emits when they go to get a reading on your heartbeat. Every single time that thing is place on there you move, or begin to kick/punch at it. The nurse kept remarking how she couldn’t get a reading because you kept moving away, so finally after she got a few seconds of one, I said that was enough. She was really starting to irritate you with that thing!

I think that’s about all for now. The next couple of weeks will be finishing up your room and getting work situated for the our 2 week Captiva vacation. It should be fun!

Love,
Mommy

Filed under: Pregnancy Journal for Baby #2 on July 6th, 2009 | No Comments »

Dear Brighton,

Last week you turned 3! We can’t believe it. Where has the time gone? Where is my little baby that never crawled, was a pro at using baby sign language, had pudgy cheeks, and was shy around anyone but us? I’ll tell you. He’s that 3 year old running faster than the adults can catch him, speaking better than most pre-schoolers, slimming down by the week because he grows like a weed, and walking up to people, shaking their hand, and saying “Hi! My name is Thomas Brighton McDaniel”.

Not to get too mushy on you, but I am so very proud of the little boy you have become. You are intelligent, confident, caring, strong-willed, opinionated, thoughtful, empathetic, and just an overall joy to be around. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to express how much I love you and how much you mean to me. It’s not something that I can put into words. I miss you when you’re asleep. I can’t wait to see you after work. I look forward to taking you places on the weekend. You are this really cool little person that says the funniest things, makes the most adorable faces, and holds very interesting conversations. I love you!

As for growing and learning new things, you do this everyday. I can never stress enough how well you speak, and how complete your sentences and sentence structure is. You are also doing very well at counting items, and memorizing your books. The other night you and Daddy were reading this book where they have you count things and you counted the 7 things they had on the page, and he asked “Can you count those in Spanish?”, and you replied “Sure…uno, dos, tres…” It was great!

Daddy has also taught you to swim really well. He has done such a wonderful job with you. You put on your floaties and you head for the deep end. No fear, no trepidation. You can also do pretty well without those on, but you prefer with since it’s a little easier. It’s definitely amazing watching you grow and learn all this new stuff.

Last weekend we had your 3rd birthday party. The last two years we’ve held it at our house, poolside, but this year, will me being 6 ½ months pregnant we figured it might be more fun for you and less cleaning for us if we had it at this place call “Sliderz”. It’s the large building with every large inflatable slide and bounce house known to man. You had a ton of classmates show up, family, friends…about 35 people. It was great, and you had a BLAST! After all of the jumping fun we had pizza and cake in a separate party room where you got to sit at the head of the table in a throne-type of chair. It was very cute. We did everything in a Backyardigans theme, down to the cake and 3-foot-tall balloons of Uniqua and Pablo 😉 You had a great time and spent the majority of the time flirting with the 6-8 year old girls who sat next to you and thought you were the cutest thing they’d ever seen 🙂

You got a ridiculous amount of presents that have taken you a week now to open. You’ll open one thing, play with it, then a few hours later open something else. It’s very cute. Grandpa Dan mailed you some money and a police car, complete with lights and sound, and Grandma Pat also mailed you some spending cash.

In other news, we are now in the home-stretch of this pregnancy and Baby Benjamin will be here in 12 short weeks. We have been trying to prepare you as much as possible, but who knows how you’ll take it when he gets here 😉 I’ve been getting you to talk to him sometimes and you tell him about your new cars. When you do he kicks like crazy. He really responds to your voice. You and Daddy really get him amped up.

Since we are so close, we’ve also been trying to get things together. I need to organize your room to fit him in, and last week, I finally bought a new car 😉 I needed something bigger so you boys would have more room, so I bought a 2009 Kia Sportage. It’s awesome. Brown with tan interior, I can hook my iPod into the radio, and you love it. I’m excited. The Corolla was 9 years old, so it was definitely time for a change.

That’s about it for now.
I love you, Baby…Happy 3rd Birthday!

Love,
Mommy

Filed under: It's all about Brighton, What Brighton is up to now on June 18th, 2009 | No Comments »

Dear Baby Benjamin,

Holy smokes…we just hit our 3rd trimester! You are about 14-15 inches long now, and weigh about 2 ¼ pounds. It’s crazy to me that you’re that big already! Your brother used to ball himself up underneath my ribs, but not you. You like to spread your 15 inches all out and kick and poke in every direction. If I hadn’t had an ultrasound confirming it was just you, I’d swear you had a playmate in there 😉

Your pokes and prods are now full on nudges and pushes, and you and I have a lot of fun “talking” and pushing back. I can already tell that you are going to be a lot of fun when you come out 😉

Love,
Mommy

Filed under: Pregnancy Journal for Baby #2 on June 17th, 2009 | No Comments »

Dear Baby Benjamin,

Oh my goodness, guess who’s a little over 26 weeks now?….We are! Boy, we are just moving right along. I can’t believe that you’ll be here in just 14 short weeks…so crazy.

So, this week I’m reading a book on Hypnobirthing. It’s all about relaxation and bringing a calm baby into a calm atomosphere. It is very interesting reading and I’m excited about the idea. Not sure if I could pull it off, but excited nonetheless.

You are doing very well, as usual. Kicking and moving around like crazy. You respond to our voices now and absolutely come alive when Brighton or Daddy come talk to you. I am so looking forward to you meeting them. You are going to love them just as much as I do 😉 Daddy is already completely enamored with you and talks and plays with you every chance he has. You are definitely coming into this world loved and wanted. We look forward to loving you for the rest of your life!

I’m feeling fine, too. Pregnancy isn’t that difficult for me, so other than a few aches and pains every now and again, and having to go to the bathroom 5 times a night, I’m doing well 😉 In the next few weeks, I’ll be re-organizing your and Brighton’s room to make room for all of your stuff. In just a couple weeks, we’ll be in the home stretch, so I need to get started on all that 😉

Love,
Mommy

Filed under: Pregnancy Journal for Baby #2 on June 5th, 2009 | No Comments »

Dear Brighton,

The months are just flying by now. You are growing in leaps and bounds every day, and it is getting harder to keep up 😉

Last week, you and I took a trip up to Indiana to visit your Grandma Pat and to see Uncle Donnie. He has now been diagnosed with having a few brain tumors, so is undergoing treatment. With Benjamin on the way, and now knowing the next time we’d be able to make the trip easily, you and I packed our bags and flew up there.

Because at times you are a “flight risk”, meaning you will take off running and not listen to me when I call you back, and because I was 6 months pregnant, I decided I’d buy you one of those backpacks, with the detachable strap (or leash) on the back that I could hold on to. I definitely got some interesting looks in the airport, but I also got a “that’s the greatest idea ever!” comment too  You loved your little back pack and we made sure it was full of snacks and cars.

When we got to the airport, you were very interested in everything and very willing to obey. You were funny. When we got right inside the Orlando Airport, you looked around and said “Wow, mommy…this is Indiana. Yay! We’re in Indiana!”. It was hysterical. I told you that we were still in Florida and had to get on the plane to go there, but you were certain we’d already made it 😉

Once in the plane we did pretty well, until about 20 minute before we landed. Then, you threw the tantrum of all tantrums. It’s amazing how loud your screams sound in a huge metal tube with 150 silent people 😉 The pilot came on and asked everyone to put their seatbelts on for final descent, and you were having none of it. I asked you calmly, told you‘d get in trouble with the pilot…but to no avail. At this point I was frustrated, on the verge of tears, and really had no clue what to do. You and I are a lot alike in that we don’t have much patience, so I just sat back and let you scream. I got some irritating looks, but I was clueless and felt utterly helpless. I have moments all the time where I just wish you’d do what you’re asked without it being on your terms. I understand that’s how toddlers can be, but I dream nonetheless.

A flight attendant came by, was very stern with you, but you still kept hollering. We eventually (after about 5 minutes or so) were able to get you into a conversation, and even though it was us talking and you saying “No” to everything, at least you stopped screaming. I don’t think your seatbelt ever made it on though 

Once there, I knew you were tired, so thankfully you slept in the rental. Getting the rental car was another unpleasant experience in which I got smacked upside the head and had to man-handle you, our backpacks, and our bag that we checked. It was hard, but luckily it was over relatively shortly.

It was nice to see Mom and Uncle Donnie, and as usual, you charmed everyone over the 3 ½ days we were there. Right now we are going through a phase where you practically refuse to poop until you can no longer hold it. So throughout the trip, but mostly on the first day, you kept saying “Oh no, the poop is coming!” but would never go.

You have been both day and night trained since the end of April, but for some reason you say that “the poop is scary” and don’t like to go at all. You refuse to go on the potty, so whenever you tell me “it’s coming” I just put a diaper on you. It’s no big deal to us, we just feel bad that you seem so scared about it.

Anyway, while in Indiana (aside from “visitin’) we went to the Marengo Cave, a park for you to play at (where we found a caterpillar that you played with for over 30 minutes), and watched a few of your favorite movies including Cars and Finding Nemo.

It was a nice trip, but we were both glad to be home. You slept for about half of the plane ride back, and through a major tantrum when it took about 20 minutes for a bag to come down the conveyor belt at baggage claim, but we made it back in one piece 😉 From Wednesday to Saturday, you and I were never apart for more than 2-3 minutes. We ate together, took our naps together, slept in the same bed, everything. We had a pretty good time 😉

Love,
Mommy

Filed under: It's all about Brighton, What Brighton is up to now on June 1st, 2009 | No Comments »

Dear Baby Benjamin,

Today we had some issues 😉 I was sitting at work, minding my own business, when I started having some pretty strong contractions. Since you were moving around just fine in there, I gave it a couple hours to subside, but finally had to call the doctor. They wouldn’t see me since I’m 23 weeks along, so we had to go to the hospital!

I felt so silly, like I was overreacting or something, but I went anyway just to make sure you were doing okay. Of course, it happened at a time when I couldn’t reach your daddy (he was out for a run), so I drove myself across town and he met us there as soon as he got the message. It was about 11am by the time I got there and I was starving! Your daddy, being the best daddy ever that he is, showed up with sandwiches, fruit, and water, and we ate a picnic lunch on my hospital bed 😉 It was very sweet.

Well, after observing me for a while, they decided we were good to go, and instructed me to increase my daily water intake. I had one contraction when they first hooked me up to the monitor, but I only had one more over the course of the next hour. We were soooooo very relieved! You were funny, too. The nurse kept trying to listen your heartbeat to get a count, and you would literally kick or punch the monitor off everytime she started to get a good reading. It was hysterical, and definitely assuaged my fears. You were just fine. I was just a bit worn out and over tired. They suggested I take it easy 😉

Love,
Mommy

Filed under: Pregnancy Journal for Baby #2 on May 11th, 2009 | No Comments »