Newborn photos!

One of my friends from Tech is beginning her photography business and she came on Monday to take pictures of us. It was so much fun! Blake stayed awake for almost 6 hours that day:) Incredible! She has some sneak pictures on her blog from the photo shoot. The rest should be added in a little bit to the website. Her website is: http://www.jmeyerphotography.com/. She is going to have it available to buy pictures from her, as well, so help her out! And post our son's picture everywhere:) Just kidding about posting Blake's picture everywhere!

feelings of a new mommy

We have such a wonderful Sunday school class. Last night, the guys from our class took Raun golfing at a course that one of them was members at. Raun had a blast! They all took off part of the afternoon to spend time together and hang out. In the meantime, the ladies spent some time eating appetizers and talking, waiting for the men to finish so we could eat the hamburgers and other food. It was so nice to spend some time with them outside of class. They each made us a dish to take home with us so we don't have to cook for the next few days, which was awesome! I was talking with one of the ladies last night about how different it is to become a mom. I had gotten a lot of advice from my friends telling me that it was okay if I didn't feel attached to him at first. I thought that was crazy because he's my son and I just knew that I'd want to be with him all the time when he was born. However, when he came, I experienced just what they had said. One of the ladies told me that somehow we imagine it will be so much more different than what it was and we expect to feel something completely different than what we do. It's true for me! I mean, I love him and adore him and love spending time holding and talking to him, but it still doesn't feel real that he's all ours and we're responsible for him. It's almost too good to be true. I have been warned, though, that in a few weeks it will be harder for me to leave him more because reality will begin to set in:)

Blake had his 2-week appointment yesterday and all was well. He is within an ounce of being back up to his birth weight. He's at 6 lbs. 5 ounces, so that means that my milk must be filling enough since we left the hospital at 5 lbs. 13 oz. His hips have stopped clicking, so he won't be needing a hip MRI or anything. That's a huge answer to prayer.

Our church is celebrating their 100th anniversary, so I'm picking up the bassoon to play again this Sunday. They had a piece commissioned to the church for their anniversary and the bassoonist has her own part! So....we're going back to Sunday School and I will play for both services and we'll leave after I play during the 2nd service. Raun gets to get Blake ready for church all by himself since I have to be there by 8! I wonder if he'll be there on time....good thing our class is mostly made of choir and orchestra people and we'll all be a little late from the service!

Raun has taken this week and next week off to be with me and Blake. I have loved it! Today is the first day that we have really stayed home, though. I'm not going to lie...I needed it! I slept like a baby last night and so did Blake. He slept a little over 7 hours without waking up. I did too....not meaning to....and woke up with milk all over my shirt:) Oops! Needless to say, after I fed him, I still had to pump and came up with 2 1/2 bottles full! Sheesh! I think I'll have to turn up the alarm tonight so I hear it to wake up.

Blake gets his baby pictures made on Monday. I have a friend from Tech that is going to do them for free since she is beginning her photography business and is working on her portfolio. I'm all about helping people begin their businesses...guess it's because I'm a small business girl myself.

Speaking of business, I get to go back to work 2 days a week in October. It'll be so incredibly hard to leave him, but I know Julie will be absolutely wonderful. Blake and Eli will have fun growing up together and I know Julie will teach him everything that I want to teach him, as well. However, I'm still enjoying my time with him and him getting my undivided attention. It's kinda nice to not have to worry about planning sessions at this point or sending out invoices!

Where did the week go?

Our week has gone by so fast. It was so weird to think back to what was happening a week ago on Wednesday. Blake is doing so well. He's still only getting up once during the night, so that's great. We still don't sleep too soundly because we're trying to listen out for him.

My mom stayed with us this past week, which was wonderful! She cooked and cleaned for us and babysat while we ran a few errands. She was able to take him for a few hours in the morning so I could sleep in or take a nap. When she left, it made it more real that this child is ours and we're not just babysitting. We love being parents. We like staring at him and talking and singing to him. We're definitely cherishing every moment. He is a miracle!

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4 day appointment

Blake is doing so well! We had our first pediatrician appointment yesterday and he's doing so well. He is within 1/2 ounce of being back up to 6 pounds. He is doing great with eating and so far we haven't had many problems. He sleeps between 5-8 hours at night most of the time, which is nice for me. He's a pretty content and happy baby and doesn't fuss too much unless he's hungry or has a dirty diaper. It's amazing how you can love a little one so much even though he hasn't been here for long. Although, I guess I have known him for long time, though. It's neat to watch him and remember how his feet used to feel the same way in my belly and his bottom was the same size that I thought. He loves having his bottom patted...I guess that's because I used to pat it all the time when he was in my belly. It's so hard not to hold him all the time because he's just so sweet and cute and feels as soft as a peach! I wonder if that's from all the peaches I used to eat during the last few months:)

Well, gotta go feed the munchkin so I'll post more later!

New update!

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36 weeks and a baby:)

Well...I'm sitting in my hospital bed and proud to announce that Blake Anthony Taylor arrived on Thursday afternoon (8-7-08) at 4:04 p.m. after 18 hours of labor, including a little over 2 hours of pushing. It was a very different experience...one I'm sure that many moms can relate to. It's one of those things that is just so hard to describe. He looks absolutely beautiful. We get to come home tomorrow. Due to some complications with me, we've had to stay an extra day. Apparently he wanted to break my water, but wasn't so enthused on coming out. On his way out, he broke a blood vessel so they had to work hard to get the bleeding stopped and I had to have some blood last night to help bring my platellets up since I kept passing out. But today has been a WONDERFUL day. I've gotten to walk around and move about. Blake is improving with his sucking. He's having to work on his sucking since he was a little early, but he's doing better with practice (as am I).

Here's some pictures and I'll update more later. Enjoy the pictures!

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