Miller's Newborn Pictures

(click here for Jack's newborn pictures)

Thank you thank you THANK YOU to Becca for these amazing photos!! I was OVER-THE-TOP stressed out this day because Miller would NOT stop crying, Jack was in a bad mood, and poor Jason was caught in the middle of it all. (We tried to do a feet picture with all 4 of us but... yeah, it didn't happen.) 

I am seriously shocked that these pictures turned out so amazing - not because I don't totally trust Becca, but because I was certain we didn't get any of Miller looking peaceful. Thank goodness I WAS WRONG! :) 

Here's Becca's blog post and don't forget to watch the slideshow!!

Baby Miller - One Month!

Our sweet new friend is already ONE MONTH OLD!!

Birth: 6lbs 8oz, 19 3/4 in long

1 Month: 8lbs 10oz, 21 in long

(he was cold... and not happy that Mama kept taking pictures instead of snuggling him!)

Here's what Miller is up to at one month:

• He still wears newborn outfits, the 0-3 clothes DROWN him!
• He has the most beautiful dark blue eyes and is very calm and content 90% of the time!
• He's a great eater, but has a hard time burping afterwards - but he NEEDS to be burped or he gets kinda grumpy!
• We've dealt with some fussy/grumpy/grunting/crying related to gassiness - he is on Zantac now to help with that, and I think it's helped, but it's not "cured" or anything. :)
• Because of the above, he's not the best nighttime sleeper. He will sleep for about 1 1/2 hr. in his crib, then wake up to eat (20 min), take FOREVER to burp (20 min), then start the cycle again. If I prop us up in the bed and hold him, then he'll sleep about 3 hours, so... sometimes a girl just needs some shut-eye. 
• Daytime Miller is precious and adorable and wonderful (not that I'm not crazy about nighttime Miller too). As of Sunday, he has really started to follow you and focus in on you when you're holding him and talking to him. 
• I'm still trying to figure out if swaddling helps him or not. Sometimes at night, he will be swaddled and fussy, and when I unswaddle him, he's happier and sleeps longer; then the next sleep cycle it's just the opposite. So it's still trial and error over here...
• He's really good with the "Eat Play Sleep" cycle and will stay awake about an hour or so after he eats, before being ready to take a nap. 
• He's also been taking daytime naps in his crib! What a champ!! He'll sleep about an hour or so - and BONUS points for Mommy if both boys are sleeping at the same time! Whoop whoop!!

I sure love this sweet baby! We can't imagine our family without him!!

Here's a video of Miller on his one month mirthday:

And a side-by-side of my boys at one month:

Baby Miller - First 3 Weeks

Here are a TON of pictures from the first 3 weeks of Miller's life!

road trip to the Cookie Jar cafe!

meeting Mamaw (2/26)

meeting Grandmother (Gam-unner) & Granddaddy (G-daddy) Lawhorn

snuggles on the couch!!

first tummy time! (3/2)

meeting Emily! (3/2)

...and Samantha! (too bad it didn't work out to have both my buddies here at the same time, but it was still WONDERFUL to see them both!!!)

BIG EYES!!

"Mi-wah's mouth!" (3/8)

brave Mommy taking both boys to Chick-Fil-A by myself! (3/8)

mmmm... brownie!!

holding brother for the first time! (3/9)

meeting cousin John Luke, just 10 days apart!! (I'm holding Luke and Elizabeth is holding Miller!) (3/10)

brothers holding each other's babies! so sweet!!!

Miller (left) and Luke (right)

"Sure, honey - I'll watch the baby!" Father-son bonding over video games.

Hanging out with Aunt Cara! (3/11)

first time out walking through the neighborhood, first time in the Baby Bjorn (he is in there, I promise) - MOMMY WAS EXHAUSTED!! (3/12)

Miller James - we love you so much and are so glad that you decided to make an early appearance! I can't remember life without you!!

Dining Room Shelves: {Before & After}

I love the display shelves that are in our kitchen/dining room area, but I've never really felt like I had them "styled" in the best way. My wonderful sis-in-law, Vanessa, is a PRO at styling. We tried to coordinate schedules to have her come over and help me work on them, but it never worked out. 

Then POOF! I came home from the hospital after having Miller and the styling fairy had come!! She is so sweet - she took before pictures before she started re-doing it, in case I didn't like it! (Yeah right!!)

So here's my before. Fine, but nothing special. And I HATED all the mismatched glass pieces near the bottom; I couldn't figure out what to do with them.

And the AFTER!! The first thing I noticed was how AWESOME all the glass pieces looked on the top!!! I hadn't even thought of that! And now the rest of the shelves don't look nearly as cluttered. I love the little "scenes" she made with the books and the green canisters. Heck - I love everything!!

Here's a side by side:

Isn't it awesome?! I love it, and I'm so glad Vanessa took a chance and just DID it for me! 

THANKS SIS!!!

Baby #2 - {Miller's Birth Story}

The weekend after Valentines Day, Jason had a fire under him to get everything ready for the baby. He put the new crib together, I washed Jack's old baby clothes and some of the new ones we had received, we bought a crib mattress, and put the carseat base in the van - just lots of little things that hadn't been done yet. All three of us were still fighting off wicked colds, so I had been coughing like crazy all weekend. 

Sunday February 17th, Cara hosted a luncheon for me to celebrate Baby Brother (full post with pictures to follow!), and I kept telling everyone that now that we had done all those last minute things, the baby could come whenever! 

That night, I woke up at 2:35am to go to the bathroom... typical. When I got back in bed, Jason asked me if I was having contractions, but I wasn't. Then like 5 minutes later, I had 3-4 contractions within a 10 minute period! And I'm laying there thinking, surely these aren't REAL ones, and I start to feel like I'm peeing... but I just went! Surely it's not my water breaking! So I got out of bed and headed towards the bathroom and- oh yeah, that is TOTALLY my water breaking!! I woke Jason up at 2:50am and we got ready (packing our hospital bag was one of the things on the list that we HADN'T done yet... whoops!), woke Jack up and headed to the hospital at 3:35am.

When we got to the hospital they confirmed that my water did break (and it kept coming for like 2+ hours!), and they put us in the Fuchsia Room. The absolute worst part about early labor for me is "getting checked". My nurse, Wendy, was very sweet and did the best she could, but it was completely miserable!! She said I was a 3-4 and 80% effaced when she checked. We called our parents, Sam and Vanessa, Hunter and Elizabeth, and I texted a couple friends to let them know that I was REALLY in labor!!

this is my "I love pain meds" face!

I got an epidural at 5:40am and then Mom, Patricia, Sam and Vanessa came and hung out for a while. Up until then, Jack had been happily sitting in his stroller watching Jake on Jason's iPad (such a sweet boy!), but he was sure happy to see some friendly faces! I got checked again at 6:30am (PTL for the epidural - I didn't feel a thing!) and was a 5, then at 7am Sam and V took Jack to our house to let him take a nap (he'd been up since 3am at this point!). After they left, from 7:30-8:30 we tried to rest but didn't actually sleep. At 8:30am Vounett checked me and I was 7cm dilated and 90% effaced. I got to turn on my side for a bit which was a good change for me, since I had been stuck on my back for HOURS at that point.

We hung out and talked for a bit with my Mom, Patricia, and Jess, then I got checked at 10:30am and had only gone to an 8 and 90% after 2 hours, so to move things along I got some pitocin at 10:45am. Within 5-10 minutes my contractions started to look like mountain peaks, when they had been a little irregular. Vounett checked me again around 11:10ish and and called Dr. Brown to let him know I was "complete" and ready to push (Oh yeah, by the way - MY doctor was out of town!! AHHH!!!). By the time everything was ready and it was time to push, I only had to push through 3 contractions!! 

On February 18th at 11:53am Miller James Lawhorn was born! 
He was 6lbs 8oz and 19.75in long! 

I can't believe he came 23 days early - what an amazing blessing!!

{Jack's Birth Story}