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Friday, June 30, 2017

Carter Grant: One Month

How?! I cannot believe a month has already flown by. Somehow having two and doing this newborn thing all over again has been bizarrely easy. Don't get me wrong, I am still tired, but compared to how I felt with Gray those first few weeks, its been a cakewalk.


Carter Grant Dunaway: 1 Month Guestimates

~11 pounds
~22 inches


EAT. Champ. He has been latching and eating like a champ since birth. After my experiences with Grayson, I am so thankful that this has been so easy. He has only had 2 bottles, which were only 2 ounces each for Gray to be able to help feed him and then I fed him afterwards. With that said, I am not sure how much he is eating at each feeding. He went from 15 minutes on each side, to anywhere between 8 - 10 minutes on each side. He is eating every 3 hours. I am having to wake him during the day, and I am letting him sleep until he wakes me at night, which can go anywhere between 3 and 5 hours... more of the 3 hour mark, but here's to hoping soon he sleeps a bit longer!


SLEEP.  Carter has also been a great sleeper. He likes the rock and sleep, but truly prefers to be swaddled and in the pack and play. Gray loved to snuggle on me and would sleep there for every nap had I let him. Carter was the same for the first two weeks, but now once he starts showing that he is tired, he wants to be put  down. If you try to hold him too long he will start his real cry (that produces real tears... ALREADY! its so sad!) Over the past two weeks he has also started to stay up longer after each feed, but definitely still naps for at least an hour in between.





PLAY.  As far as play goes, we do as much as you can with an itty bitty. We do bicycle kicks, stretches of the arms, make sounds to see if he will turn his head. He isn't much f a fan of tummy time on the floor yet, but he can hold his head up pretty well while on my chest, over my shoulder or sitting in my lap. hopefully these floppy head  days are numbered.



  • Nicknames - Sweets, C, Mr C
  • He makes sounds like a little lamb
  • Ive noticed that he tends to lay his head to the right. Which has me paranoid about flat head or torticollis. I also thought Gray was blind at one point, so this may be a paranoid mom thing, but I intend to talk to the doctor about it at G's 2 year check up
  • He is are stingy with your smiles so far, but when he does smile, its with his whole face. I cannot wait until he gives us real smiles!
  • His eyes look like they are turning blue. Now to wait and see what shade of blue they will be!
  • He doesn't take the paci very well yet, but when he does get ahold of it he sure does like it. He will even rest his hand on it to hold it in.
  • He likes white noise to sleep - thank goodness for portable sound machines
  • He has moved into size 1 diapers/borderline for needing size 2, and has fully grown out of any newborn clothes/jammies. He didn't even get to wear everything!
  • Layla has acclimated to having the new baby so well. When Grayson isn't around or once he has gone to bed, Layla is right by Carter's side. She is such a sweet friend to both of the boys.
  • When he wakes up and is unwrapped from the sleep sack he makes almost identical faces while he stretches and toots - just like Grayson did. I laughed so hard the first time he started to do this, as it was one of my most favorite things that Gray did as a baby.
  • He doesn't cry very often. He fusses more than anything. But if he gets into a full cry, he turns so red, he is almost purple. But the good news is, he doesn't take long to console.
  • He is a super loud eater.
  • He gets the hiccups often
  • He holds my finger tight or my shirt while nursing. He has started to rub my side with his other hand just in the past few days.
  • He had his first hair cut at 5 days old. & is due for another!
  • He seems to be very relaxed/chill. He is certainly making this transition to two easy for everyone. I am sure that this will change at some point, but for now I will take it and not complain a bit!
































Thursday, June 29, 2017

Carter Grant: A Birth Story

Carter Grant Dunaway
May 30, 2017
12:41 pm
8 pounds, 4 ounces
20 inches




truth: this is boring (& long AND loaded with a million pictures). But in my opinion, birth story and boring together is a great thing. That means it all went well and we are proud owners of a new healthy baby boy.


My pregnancy was great, mostly uneventful outside of having polyhydramnios (an excessive amount of amniotic fluid, that is generally unexplained). I had to take it easy towards the end of my pregnancy to help prevent my water from prematurely breaking. Since Grayson was a cesarean, Carter was scheduled for May 30th, right at 39 weeks. Although I was paranoid about not making it to "the day", we made it without a problem!


If you know J, you know that he is a creature of habit/borderline OCD. So when we discussed what we were going to do on the last night as a family of three, it was a no brainer in his book. The hibachi dinner we had the night before G. No complaints here - hibachi is by far a favorite of mine and Gray loves it just as much as I do.


From 2 to 3:
Our family of 3 ready to meet Carter






Just like the night before Gray was born, I slept really well. We woke up early that morning, got G ready to head to school, and J dropped me off at DryBar to get my hair blown out. Gray knew it was the day he was going to meet "Baby Carter" and had been so excited about it! Until, I got out of the car... he cried the entire way to school (which he never does) then proceeded to have an epic meltdown while J tried to drop him off. Finally the teachers told J to just go... and not a half hour later they sent us a pic of a smiling boy, doing just fine. Thank goodness!


We arrived a bit early to our scheduled time so we sat and waited in the waiting room... nothing like having your nerves start to get to you!




The beauty of your first time to have a baby is that you have no idea what to expect (or at least for me it was) I just went with whatever they said. But this time, I knew the drill. I knew what it felt like to walk into the cold OR. I knew I was going to have to hop up on that table and hunch over for the spinal block. It made me much more nervous this time.


Thankfully my wedding photographer/super sweet friend, Brittany, agreed to photograph the day with us, just like she did for G. She makes both J&I laugh and helped to keep my mind off of everything. I love that lady -- BIG.









Although Britt wasn't allowed into the OR with us, my nurse was confident to use her gigantic camera and captured some really amazing photos for us (specifically of the birth, but I wont share the guts and glory of those)


This time the nerves got the best of me when I stepped foot into the OR. J isn't able to come in until I've had the block so its a lonely walk in. My nurse and the anesthesiologist were amazing and so sweet. But I was not relaxing enough to get the block in. Several sticks later (OWWWWWWW) it was finally in and I was getting prepped.


J came in and Dr Walsh was ready to go!







Before I knew it, I heard Dr Walsh saying "How many chins do you have?!" Another  chunk chunk baby.... yaaaaasss!













 The close up this time seemed longer than last, but you tend to not think about it since your sweet babe is there with you. Once he was cleaned up/weighed/etc. they immediately brought him over for skin to skin. There was a brief moment where J had to take Carter since I was getting nauseated but as soon as that was under control, he was back on me.








 Once we got back to the recovery room, Carter got to eating right away. Latched on without a problem, which is such a great feeling!












 The recovery room is probably some of my favorite time after Carter was born. its dark, its quiet, and you get to just look at that sweet babe from top to bottom. Once we finished up in there we were on our way upstairs for Big Bro to meet Carter, and for the grandparents to as well.













We had a smaller crowd than when G was born, but that was just fine for us. It was an overwhelming situation for Grayson as it was. Leading up to that day, Grayson was so excited. We had a countdown and he would repeat all day every day how many more days until we meet "Baby Carter" but then it was the day. Gray was not very interested in holding/touching/really anything about Carter.


"Grayson, do you want to hold Baby Carter?" "Nope."


Over the next few days in the hospital Gray warmed up by touching his hand, feet and then with a little bribery we finally got him to hold Carter. Since being home Grayson has changed his tune - he loves on Carter all the time and asks to hold him several times a day. phew





Its hard to remember life without you already, sweet boy. Our family of four is just perfect thanks to you.








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