Week Two: Out and About

Jackson is doing great - and is literally growing by the minute. He was born 7 lbs 14 oz, came home at 7 lbs 2 oz, and by his 2 week appointment weighed in at 9 lbs 1 oz! By his 3rd week birthday he is topping 10 lbs. and we think at this rate he might just skip preschool and head straight to kindergarten by next year. Highlights for the week included getting circumcised by Dr. Belman at Children's Hospital - where Kevin worked earlier this year during a rotation, so we got VIP treatment and went to the best. We also took tons of walks and went to the park (all with Bodhi), and got a visit from Ben, Colleen, and Zachary Ross - there's a picture above of the West Springfield boys and their "mini-me"s! Finally, a video of him holding up his head (that was intended just to show Kevin, but it's fun for others to see him "in action" - since this is about the limit of his physical abilities right now and every picture doesn't really do him justice). Enjoy!

Week One

Here are the highlights from our first week with Jackson!

His first walk in the stroller, and first bath...

And finally, a selection of our favorite pics - playing with all that McDreamy hair, lost in thought in the bouncy seat, and - my personal fave - his first blowout all over papa (don't look if you're squeamish!) Kevin dealt with it like a pro; my mom and I were rolling with laughter;)

At the hospital

Here are some pictures from our hospital stay with Jackson:

From labor and prep, to his first moments with us...

...Our stay in the hospital...







...And leaving to go home!

The Nursery

Jackson's nursery was our old office, so Kevin painted the walls, had a contractor add a ceiling fan and light, installed a closet system (thanks Stacy!) and dealt with me making us spend an extra 2 hours at the Pottery Barn Kids outlet in PA, to take advantage of some good deals:)

The colors are blue and green, and there isn't really a theme. Except 'baby.' Though by default, we got a ton of puppy-themed items and outfits, so you guys must know us well!

So far Jackson has enjoyed it, especially the fan and light! Here are the pictures of his new digs:

What's in a name...

Jackson was named for special people in our lives, on both sides of his lineage. Jackson was just a favorite name of mine for a long time, Nolan is the maiden name of my maternal great-grandmother, Phillip is in honor of Kevin's great-uncle Phil- who was a family fixture and passed away at the age of 89 - and Blumenthal represents Kevin's dad's side of the family.

Jackson Nolan Phillip Blumenthal is here!

We are thrilled to announce that we welcomed Jackson Nolan Phillip Blumenthal at 11 pm on Tuesday, August 5th! He indeed was late, for you pollsters, but not by too much. He weighed in at 7 lbs 14 oz, and is 20 inches long.

The summary of his birth story goes like this: we had a checkup Monday morning, and the Dr told us that she thought we were at least a week away, so we scheduled an induction for Aug 11th. The next morning (Tuesday), I thought I had some minor signs of labor by midmorning but nothing too serious, but called the Dr anyway. She told me to go immediately to Labor and Delivery at Alexandria Hospital, but I decided to take a shower and finish packing the labor bag "just in case." She called back within 15 minutes and said I needed to get there NOW because the maternity ward was overwhelmed and there was just 1 bed left and another couple was en route to the hospital too. I arrived in 3 minutes flat at around 12:30, followed by Kevin, they broke my water at 1 pm, and we labored until about 9 pm relatively comfortably (with meds!) They then discovered he was turned, we went into C-section at 10:30, and Jackson took his first breath at 11 pm on the dot. We were wheeled back into the L&D room, where Jackson got to meet his Aunt Jame (who drove in from NC), Mozzie, and Opa (on mom's side), and Uncle Eric, Ro-Ro, Ken, and Gigi (on dad's side - who all drove up from vacation at VA beach). We're adjusting to new parenthood, so might not get a chance to post many pictures too soon, but will do our best!

[We were] Waiting on a baby...

[Below is the posting I wrote the morning we went into labor, but before I realized it. We never got to post it but got such a kick out of re-reading it that we thought we'd post it now...]

So according to our blog poll, 72% of you apparently were spot on - our little man is late. I'm feeling ok, though very ready to meet him! He's doing a good job of keeping me inside with my feet up and drinking as much water as possible; meanwhile his big brother has taken it upon himself to be an active bodyguard and won't let me leave his sight. Which is actually encouraging that something will go down soon; usually Bo is interested in my activities, but mostly because they are correlated to me possibly walking or feeding him. These days he is sleeping at my feet, regardless of where I am, and has a general worried look about him.

All that aside, we had a feeling the little man would be late, so we waited until the last minute to debut the nursery. It has been more or less functional since May, but we added a brand new closet over the weekend to get everything organized, and just finished hanging pictures yesterday.

You all might be aware that we've had a ton of people trying to guess the name, or trying to trick us into spilling the name - the biggest culprit being Kevin's mom. We have blocks on the windowsill that spell out 'laugh' which we bought on our babymoon thinking that there will be 2 am feeding moments when we need some perspective. When we showed Ro the nursery for the first time, she got quiet and really focused, which I thought was odd since I expected a lot of ohh'ing and ahh'ing. Turns out she thought the blocks were scrambled and actually spelled his name, and that I had left them out by accident, so she was trying to figure it out in her head before I realized "my mistake." Lucky for Singy, we are not naming him Gauhl or Haugl - but you'll find that out soon enough;)

Anyway, here are his new digs, for whenever he decides to leave his old ones!

[I never got to post the nursery pictures because we went into labor 2 hours later]