Kaiser Holiday Fun

We decided to spend Hanukkah at the McGee household and Christmas with the Kaisers. This would be Brooks' first year to celebrate and of course he made out great with presents!!! Unfortunately, he slept through the Hanukkah gift giving because it was at night so Alex and I opened all his gifts. He brought home some great books, stuffed animals, a Chanukah bib and stuffed dreidle that plays music and some other toys.

He also experienced his first Christmas with his grandparents, Uncle Bret and cousin Madison. Aunt Wilma made him his first winter hat and cousin Madison gave him a talking snowman and his first guitar! He is starting to become a musical stud early so he can get the chicks later on :o)

New Friends

We finally got together with our friends, Emilie and Florian Delaplace, and their son Mael. Mael is almost 6 months old and we hope he and Brooks become life long pals! Brooks and Mael hit it off immediately. They just stared at each other and Mael tugged on Brooksie's shirt a few times. It was pretty darn cute. Maybe later down the road, Mael can teach Brooks how to speak French so he can pick up on the ladies!!!

We all hung out at our house for a little while before our visit with Santa and then out for some delicious Thai food and yogurt. It was a fun night!

Picture with Santa

We took Brooks to visit Santa on a VERY cold and windy night this past weekend. There is a nice man in Coppell who decorates the front of his house with lights and a sleigh, dresses up as Santa and lets families bring their kids over to take pictures with him. Brooks has no idea what is going on of course but he sure looks cute!

Our Family

We went to Nana and Poppy's house for dinner the other night and took some pictures with Nana's new camera.

Singing the ABC's

Brooks was a little fussy this morning so we decided to sing our ABC's with Mr. Elephant. He was fascinated. So was little Nellie! She joined in the fun!

I love to KICK!!!

Brooks' new favorite place is his changing pad b/c he can kick and kick his little legs. He is so happy there. He has also found his hand which is really cute. He forms his right-hand fingers into the sign language sign for 'T' and then follows it until it goes out of his sight. It is pretty amusing!

Growing Like A Weed

Brooks turns 10 weeks old on Thursday, 12/13 and he is just growing like a weed. He is still pretty small (tall and skinny like his daddy) and changing all the time. He smiles constantly and has a lot to say.

He finally likes to take baths. We sing songs while we wash and he loves the hot water over his little nakie body. Sometimes he hangs his leg over the side of the tub sling and puts his toes into the water. It is really adorable!

My Nana & Poppy

Just a couple of sweet photos of Brooks with his Nana & Poppy McGee.

My little cowboy

Nana bought Brooks this really cute little cowboy outfit and I just had to take pictures of him in it. He has almost outgrown it so I need to get pictures while I can! Our little man is so freakin' cute!!!

Good Morning Brooksie

Little Man - BIG Bed!

Our little man thinks that this is his bed! He sure loves to nap on his mommy's pillow!!!

Brooks' First Holidays

Alex and I are having such a fun time with Brooks. We can't believe he is going to be 8 weeks old this Thursday! People always told us time would fly by and they would grow quickly but you don't realize it until you experience it. Brooks is growing like a weed and just gets cuter and more fun by the day. He is the sweetest little man too. He is starting to get a little personality - he makes lots of adorable faces and has finally started smiling (smiles other than gas grins!). He isn't much of a napper but he sleeps well at night. I am only up with him once late night and hoping that he will be sleeping through the night in the next month. I don't mind too much though as I actually like the late night feeding and watching his sweet little face while he eats. It just melts my heart.

Brooks had his first Halloween experience although we just stayed in the house and gave out candy. We dressed him in a cute little onsie with a pumpkin on his rear. It was pretty darn cute! We celebrated Thanksgiving at our house with the McGee and Kaiser clan, including Brooks' cousin Madison. Alex's aunt and uncle from Colorado also were in town for the occasion. Brooks wore his 'Baby's First Thanksgiving' outfit - gotta dress them in this stuff now while they don't know what is going on! It was wonderful spending time with the family.

I'm 3 Weeks Old!

Brooks turned 3 weeks old on Thursday, October 25th. We had Hal Samples, the same photographer who did my maternity photos, take pictures of our little man. We were in his studio for about 3 hours and Brooks was great! We had so much fun and the pictures turned out fantastic. He took over 300 photos. These are just a few I thought were cute.

Time Flies!

Gosh, I can't believe Brooks is already 3 1/2 weeks old! Time sure does fly by. Everyone tells you that but you don't realize it until it actually happens. He is doing great and growing like a weed. He was 6 lbs 7 oz when he was born and yesterday he weighed in at 7 lbs 7 oz. He is making sweet and funny faces now and loves to use his legs as much as he can. He is a very strong and busy boy. We can't get enough of him.

Just a little update

Brooks is now 12 days old and doing great. We spend most of our time feeding / eating, changing diapers and sleeping of course. He is growing and changing so much since the day we brought him home. His jaundice is clearing up and he doesn't look so much like a pumpkin or a tanning bed guru anymore!

I haven't been able to go up and down the stairs much due to the surgery, but he finally took his first nap in his nursery crib yesterday. He did pretty well and has been napping there ever since. We went on a nice long walk today around the neighborhood. I needed to get out and the weather here is perfect right now. It is overcast and cool and wonderful for walking!

We have had quite a few visitors since Brooks has come home. Our friends are so gracious and have been bringing us dinners almost every night since we've returned. We have dinner coming to us every night this week! We are so lucky to have such amazing friends and we really enjoy seeing them with Brooks!!!

More to come...

Family in love

Just thought I would post some pictures of Brooks being loved by his other family members (and mom and dad). Grandma Kaiser, Nana & Poppy McGee, Aunt Heather and of course Nash & Nellie. We don't have any pictures yet of Brooks with his Grandpa Kaiser, Uncle Bret or cousin Madison but I will be sure to get those posted soon!

Pictures of Brooks

I have uploaded some cute pictures of Brooks. He is a bit jaundice so he either looks like a pumpkin or someone who really likes to tan ALOT! He is so adorable and we just want to spend all our time hugging and kissing him!

Baby Brooks has arrived!

Well, my water broke around 9PM on Wednesday night (10/3) and it was time to go to the hospital. It was nothing like the movies where the husband and wife are freaking out and running around! We took our time. Alex packed a bag and I called the doctor, emailed work to let them know I was leaving, called our parents and made sure we had everything we needed before we left. We arrived at the hospital around 10PM, checked in and immediately I told the nurse I wanted an epidural!!! I wasn't in any pain and didn't want to be in any pain. I got changed into the lovely hospital gown they provided and the night began.

The anesthesiologist came in around 11:30PM and started the epidural. I know many people who didn't even feel their epidural but let's just say that it was one of the worst parts of my entire birthing experience. Poor Alex had to hold my hands and watch me scream and cry when they put it in. I got shooting pains down my right leg b/c he didn't hit it quite right. Finally he got it in and I felt OK as my lower body went numb. However, come Thursday, it caused severe pains in my neck, shoulders and back.

I went in to the hospital dilated at a one and woke up on Thursday at 6:30AM dilated at a one! They decided to start the pitocin to help move things along. By 1PM it was time to start pushing. I didn't have my epidural up too high so I could feel the contractions and know when too push. But as the contractions got worse, I would up my epidural dosage and unfortunately that caused the neck, should and back pain to become much worse. If I lowered the dosage the contractions would be horrible. So, it ended up that I pushed for 2 1/2 hours with full contractions AND excrutiating pain in my neck and shoulders. Brooks just did not want to come out. After 2 1/2 hours of pushing, he was stuck in the birth canal and the doc tried to vacuum him out with no success. It was then that she decided an emergency c-section would be best.

They wheeled me into the operating room, redid my epidural and started the c-section. Alex got to watch the entire event and he said he had never seen so much blood! He called my belly the Grand Canyon. Finally, at 5:17PM my little baby boy was born. He was not able to breathe on his own so they put him on a ventilator overnight in the NICU. Alex was the first one to see him and I guess they wheeled me in there on my bed that night but I don't remember.

Brooks spent the entire hospital stay in the NICU so we were not able to keep him in our room. We went down to visit him every chance we could though. It turns out our NICU nurse lives on our street! What a small world and a good thing for us!!!

I was referred to by the nurses on my floor as 'the walking queen because I was up walking laps around the 8th floor 3-4 times a day starting the day after surgery. I just wanted to make sure I was able to heal faster and keep up my strength. It paid off because I am feeling pretty good right now.

We finally made it home on Monday night, 10/8, and it has been a whirlwind ever since. We are a bit sleep deprived as all newborn parents are but we are enjoying him so much. And the labor and delivery process was nothing like I expected but I guess it never is! We are just happy he is here, healthy and home with us.