Snow Day!

Last week, we had a snow day! It was nice to be snowed in. Too bad David still had to work.

This was William's first snow, so we had to get a picture! We bundled him up just to go outside for about 15 seconds!

Layla enjoyed playing in the snow too!

Our home!

The snow may have put a stop to a lot of things, including church last Sunday, but it didn't stop my parents from coming to see the grandkids!

"Pop Pop" and William, or as my dad calls him, "Sweet Willy D"

Snow days are good days to nap!

Two hours later...

Almost 8 weeks!

Hi everyone!

So, William will be 8 weeks old on Sunday! I can't believe it...he is getting so big! For the most part he is a great baby. He's starting to be awake much more during the day, which includes a lot more fussiness in the afternoon. Some mom's I know call this the "witching hour." But he has also started sleeping longer at night! yay! For the past few nights instead of waking up every two hours, he has been sleeping for 3.5 to 4 hours at a time!

His two month appointment is February 9th. He will be getting his vaccinations :( Maybe David won't desert me...he won't even go with me to get Layla's shots!

Well, I know you all are dying to see some pictures, so here they are!

Just 4 days old!

Daddy, baby and Layla

First trip to the Big Tree in Wilmington at 1 week old!

Baby's first Christmas!

He likes the swing! Thanks Aunt Kristy! (5 weeks)

This is what happens when Daddy is watching him...

A little smile at 7 weeks!

And here is a video from today! Isn't he cute?! :)

1 month today!

I can't believe William is already 1 month old! He is growing every day!

He is doing well. We had his first appointment with the pediatrician when he was only 4 days old. He weighed 6 pounds 9 ounces. We went back the next day to make sure he didn't continue to lose weight, and he didn't! He weighed 6 pounds 10 ounces. What a relief - I think all mothers worry about their babies losing too much weight. When we went back for his 2 week checkup, he weighed 7 pounds 15 ounces! He definitely met and exceeded his goal of getting back to his birth weight of 7 pounds 2 ounces...which surprised me because he spits up so much! The pediatrician put him on medicine for acid reflux :( But he doesn't seem to be as cranky when he spits up, so I'm glad it's making him feel better! We are very blessed that he's such a healthy baby!

We had his pictures taken when he was just over a week old. Sarah did such a great job! Here are a few of my favorites!

Mostly people say he looks like David! He definitely has brown eyes like his daddy, but I think he at least got my nose! Whoever he looks like, I think he is the cutest thing in the whole world :) I definitely feel like my life has been turned upside down, but I wouldn't trade it for anything! I'm pretty sure he's the only person who could wake me up every two hours, and I still love him like I do ;)

I'll add some more recent pictures soon! But for now, it's time for bed!

Baby William

Welcome Baby William! Born a few weeks early on December 6, 2009 at 10:55 p.m. He weighed 7 lbs. 1 1/2 oz. and measured 20 1/2 inches long.

So, let's start from the beginning. Saturday we were out Christmas shopping until after 10:00, and then we decorated the Christmas tree until after midnight. Then at 3:55 am, I woke up because I thought I felt a "trickle." When I went to the bathroom, my water broke! I was shocked. I woke David up, and called my OB. The on call doctor, Dr. Henderson, told me to go to the hospital. That's when David had a small freak-out. He felt very unprepared because we didn't have the hospital bag packed - which was mostly my fault because I kept putting it off thinking we had until Christmas! After telling David I needed him to "calm down," we packed the bag, and we were on our way to the hospital.

We arrived at Rex at 5:00 am. They sent me to the triage where they made sure that my water did break. In fact, it did, and I was admitted. The nurse asked me if I had been having contractions, to which I said no. Then she looked at the monitor, and asked "you don't feel that?" Looks like I was having contractions, but they weren't painful. I started to feel them more and more, but they still weren't very painful. I made it all the way to 5 cm without having painful contractions, but then I stalled out. Also, the baby never dropped. So, after getting an internal monitor to monitor my contractions, it was confirmed that I was in "inadequate labor."

So, at that point, they started pitocin. That's when things started to get painful. I decided very quickly that I would like to have an epidural. The doctor gave me the epidural, but the first time he couldn't get it to set right. So, he had to do it again in a different spot. Just when I thought things were getting better, I realized that the epidural wasn't working on one side. After trying different positions, they decided to re-do the epidural. Finally, it worked!

Next thing I know, I'm 10 cm dilated, and they say it's time to push! I started pushing at 8:45 pm. After two hours of pushing, the doctor decided that the baby needed some help. After using the vacuum, William David Brown was born at 10:55 pm.

Proud daddy!

Tired mommy...

Happy family :)

The whole crew...

Ready to go home!

It was definitely a long day, but well worth it! He is absolutely perfect :)

Baby Showers

Ok...so, I have a lot to catch up on. In this post I'm going to sum up my showers. I had two more showers in November. One at the church I grew up in, and the other was given by David's parents' church. I had such a great time at both showers! Thank you to everyone who came to celebrate this time in our lives!

Here are a couple of pictures from the first shower...

Another awesome diaper cake!

Me, Mom, and my sisters, Kristy and Beth

And here are a couple from the second shower...

David and I opening gifts. Check out that awesome diaper wreath! What a cute idea for Christmas!

Here's another of me, David and the UNC Christmas tree!

We had such great time, and got some really great stuff! Thanks again for helping us get ready for the baby!

34 weeks!

I can't believe there is less than 6 weeks to go before the due date...and Christmas! It's been a great week for Baby! We had our first baby shower this past Sunday. It was so much fun! Thank you to Lauren, Beth, and Melissa for throwing such a great shower! I know it was hard for you to make the diaper cake, but I LOVE IT! Besides...State red or Duke blue wouldn't have matched the baby boy theme so well :)

Here are a few more from the shower! Look how cute the cake is! By the way...we finally decided on William David Brown for the name :)

Here's a picture of me and the wonderful hostesses!

And one of me, my mom and my mom-in-law :)

We also had our maternity pictures taken! My friend, Sarah, did such an awesome job! She's so talented! David and I had so much fun! She posted a few on her blog - you can check them out at http://elainebellaphotography.blogspot.com/

Here are just a couple - make sure you go look at the rest!!!

33 weeks!

David and I had our all day (8:30 - 5:00) birthing class at Rex yesterday. It really wasn't as bad as I was expecting, even though we did get to see a great video! haha! Congratulations to David for not passing out! We also got a tour of the hospital. At least we know where to go now, and sort of what to expect. It was also a lot of fun to see the newborn babies in the nurseries. They are soooo tiny :)

We also got carpet - woo hoo! Finally! It looks and feels great! Here are a couple pictures of the carpet and a sneak peak of the nursery!

Ok...so the carpet is about as far as we've gotten, but at least that was a big step! There is the crib. Hopefully David will be putting it together sometime this week :)

I've also been trying to see how "domestic Nikki" is going to work out :) I decorated my dining room table for fall and I also (with David's help) made a cake to take to a dinner we were invited to...I think it turned out ok :)

Ok...here is the belly bump at 33 weeks - even though I think it is so large now it needs a new name - "bump" just doesn't seem to cut it anymore!