The first week and a half with our new little love.

Warning <Long Post with picture overload>!!

Oh Baby Jack, goodness gracious you are a sweet one!  It's no secret that Barrett and I have often joked that Champs is totally OUR child.  He's extremely Type A, very busy, talkative, active, energetic and in a toddler this can certainly be exhausting :)  We told everyone we were hoping new baby boy would bring some Type B to our lives.  Well we're only a week in and he most definitely hasn't "woken up" yet, but so far - he is the calmness that we need!  He is the sweetest little love that barely even cries even when he's hungry!  We'll see whether this has totally changed in a few weeks, but let's just say I didn't even bring out a paci until over a week in and I know I had stuffed one in Champs in the hospital! 

So the main questions everyone is asking me is who does Jack look like and how is Champs adjusting!??

Let's take a look....

Here is newborn Champs and newborn Jack.  I think they definitely have a lot of similarities, but a few differences too.  It will be fun to see how Jack's looks change in the coming weeks and months.  These 2 pictures I think they do look really similar.  Others I don't see it as much.  I feel like Jack has a LITTLE of me in him, where I think Champs looks just like Barrett.  I'm still holding out that one of my children will look something like me!

How is Champs doing?

Well, all in all, I'd say he's doing well.  He has been very sweet to Jack - not overly interested - but when he wakes up he wants to see him and gives him kisses on his head everyday.  He has only asked to hold him once, and it happened to be one of the rare times that Jack was crying!  Poor Champs.  But the week has definitely been tough on Champs.  To start with he ended up having a virus on Sunday (the day after we came home) and ran a high fever and threw up everywhere.  Thank the lord my mom was here with us b/c I didn't want to get too close to the germs and it killed me to not be able to hold Champs when he was sick, but I was so scared for my 3 day old to get sick that I did stay away for the night.  Now that I'm finishing this blog post a week and a half in, I'd say Champs is great with Jack so far!  Just this morning, we sang Baa Baa Black Sheep to Jack as he had on his sheep hat and Champs loved that.  Hopefully I can get some good pictures of them together in the next few days!

The issues with Champs aren't really related to how he is with Jack or him acting like he's jealous of me holding/feeding Jack.  It's more that since Jack has arrived, he has been acting out, talking back and doing things he would NEVER normally do!  Of course we know this is a huge transition for him and he's doing things for our attention, but I do hope to see more of our sweet Champs in the days and weeks to come and much less of this little monster we have seen some of this week!! Oh toddlers!!

Here is the only picture I have so far of Champs holding Jack!  Must work on this!

Here is a summary of our first week and a few days with Jack with pictures from my camera!  When we had Champs I think I took a picture of everyone who visited him!  With Jack, I have not been as good about taking pics, so sorry to those of you who have visited us and I didn't snap a pic!  We still soooo appreciate all the love, support and visitors we've had this time!!!

KK and Jack!

Boo with Champs & Jack!

Boo with Champs & Jack!

Poppy and Jack!

Poppy and Jack!

Aunt Ashley!

Aunt Ashley and Uncle Will and the cute monkey they brought Jack!

Baby Margaret Mimms and Jack!

Baby Margaret Mimms and Jack!

Ready for his first trip to pediatrician office to see Dr. Williard!

Big brother is home from school!

Hey there Jack!

Grandmama Bell comes to visit.

Mama and Grandmama Bell with Jack!

Looking at our newest little love!!

Granddaddy & Grandmama with my 2 boys!

This is Jack's namesake :)

Marj already multi-tasking with my babies.  Reading to Champs and holding Jack!

Che and Jack!  Boy was it great having her with us all week!!

Che and Jack! 

Loving this sweet angel!!

I put on makeup - wahoo!!

Aunt Ne and Uncle Crues came to see us!

Cat and Harrison came from Charleston!

I love this pic of Cat and Jack!

Uncle Crues and Jack


And a few notables from my phone...

Harrison is 8 months old and Jack is 8 days old!

Another of Margaret and Jack!

Sweet boy!

First snooze in his crib!

Laying on Mommy's bed

Snoozin on Che!

First "Playdate" with his buddy Hugh Ellison.  Their big brothers, James and Champs, are BEST buddies as Champs loves to tell me!

Champs checking on Jack!

Love seeing him wide eyed!

First bath - what are you people doing to me??!

Okay, maybe it's not so bad.

Hey - I think I like this!

Fresh and clean after bath snuggling with new friends.

Barrett and I took Champs to the book store on Sunday.  He desperately needed some time with Mommy and Daddy!!  Thankfully KK and Boo helped us all weekend and stayed home with Jack!

First night alone with just the 4 of us.  Super Bowl Sunday!

Caught a smile on camera for first time today (2.8)

As you can see, we are totally smitten with this new little love bug!!! 

Champs (and other family) meets Jack in hospital!

After Jack was born, we were in the delivery room for a while it seemed.  Our parents were finally able to come in and meet him after over an hour.  The hospital had a new thing in place where they want the baby to stay skin-to-skin with Mommy for a whole hour before they even take him to be measured, swaddled, held by others, etc.  So we spent a little time in this room letting parents see him for the first time and then they took him for his bath and to do a blood sugar test.  Apparently when the baby is over 8 1/2 pounds, they have to check this for the first 24 hours.  My parents went and go us food and we just chilled for a bit before moving to our room where we'd spend the next 2 nights.

We finally got to our room probably around 9pm and all parents had gone home for the night by then.  Barrett held Jack since he hadn't even been able to hold him yet at this point!  We were so happy in this moment.  Our baby was here, he seems healthy as can be and all is well!

Our hospital stay was really nice this time.  To start, we had a room that was about 3 times the size of the one we had when we had Champs, so that was nice.  All the nurses were wonderful at Baptist and we really had a great experience.  Barrett and I couldn't get over how much easier and calmer things seemed during our stay.  I think it was just because we were so much more comfortable and confident with our new little bundle than we were the first time.  The nursing came right back, we knew we weren't going to "break" him and we just knew what to expect.

Barrett went home to meet up with his parents and get Champs to bring him up to the hospital on Friday morning.  I was so ready to see him.  Everyone told me he would instantly seem so much bigger and older after I had the baby and they were right.  When he came walking into the room, I felt like I was looking at a 4 year old.  He was really sweet to Jack and mostly just wanted to sit right beside me. 

Here is a video of him first seeing Jack.  You can see he wasn't overly interested at first, but then decided he did want to kiss and hug (smother - eek!) him!

Here are more pics of this first meeting!

 Here are more pics of Jack in the hospital and more family holding him for first time!

On Saturday morning, we were so ready to get home!  Even though we stayed a night less than last time, it still seemed like we had been there a while.  Maybe because I was eager to get home to see my big boy!!

Here is Baby Jack ready to go home to see his house for first time!

Ready to get to Gervais Street!!  Mommy was TIRED at this point as I barely slept at all the second night because sweet Jack was either wanting to be held or nurse all night! 

Welcome, Baby Jack!

Barrett and I are thrilled to announce that John Christopher Burley was born on Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 6:08pm.  Baby Jack weighed 8 lbs and 10oz and was 21 inches long.

I was so ready to have our sweet baby boy by the time we headed to the hospital on Thursday morning I could barely stand it.  It was such a different experience and range of emotions than before I had Champs.  With him I was nervous, scared of what labor entailed, anxious about whether or not I was ready and prepared to become a Mama and unsure if Barrett and I knew exactly how much was about to change with life as we knew it.  With Jack, I was excited to get on with our new life with 2 children, become a family of four and love on another sweet newborn baby!!!

My mom came over on Wednesday night as Barrett and I were to check in to the hospital on Thursday morning at 6:00am.  Champs was on an EARLY rising kick last week so we actually got to see Champs before we went to the hospital which was nice.  He was so sweet when I told him I was going to the hospital to have Baby Brother.  Who knows what he thought that meant, but regardless, we were on our way and I guess he understood to some degree that we'd be coming back with a baby!

Once we got there, we actually had to wait in the waiting room of the Birthplace until about 7:30 to get checked in to our room.  I met my nurse and my doctor, Dr Salley, came by pretty soon after I got to my room and hooked up to the monitors and IV of fluid in.  He told me I was welcome to get my epidural as soon as I wanted, so I said, okay, let's go ahead and get it ordered.  I had no desire to wait on that so why not go ahead and get it!  My anesthesiologist was Dr. Boykin and I honestly feel that this totally affects how labor goes.  With Champs I had what I would describe as a bad epidural - it only went to one side of my body and made me feel numb all the way to my arms and hands, as opposed to just below my waist.  This time it was perfect!  I seriously did NOT feel a contraction ALL DAY LONG until I was 9cm dilated.  Crazy!

So epidural was in and then was just a waiting game until it was time to have our baby.  Since I seriously felt good all day, besides a little queasiness here and there, I just relaxed, rested and waited until go time.  Dr. Salley told me around 2:00pm that he thought I'd have the baby at 5:52.  He was pretty dead on as around 4:00 I finally started feeling some contractions until I knew I was getting really close.  At around 4:45 or 5:00 they brought in all the nurses to get the room ready for delivery.  All the nurses were so great and my doctor was there the whole time.  I know some doctors don't come in until the end, but mine is very hands on which I love.  The delivery wasn't easy, but it wasn't as hard (or long) as with Champs.  At 6:08 out came Baby Jack and my heart felt such RELIEF and AMAZING GRATITUDE when Dr Salley laid him on my chest.

I wasn't sure what it would feel like this time around, but it really was just as amazing of feeling as the first time.  Knowing that you made this perfect, tiny little person and have been housing them inside you for over 9 months and they are finally HERE is just the best feeling in the world.

We had 4 parents out in the waiting room who were very eager to hear the baby's name, as were all of our friends.  After Barrett cut the umbilical cord and looked at our precious miracle laying on my chest, we decided we were ready for him to go out and announce the name and tell everyone he was here safely! 

So here's the origin of the name:
John - named after my granddaddy (Mom's Dad), John Bell.  My Granddaddy has been so sweet to all of his grandchildren and great grandchildren and it makes me so happy to name one of mine after him.  He is such a great example of a kind, hardworking, loving, smart Christian man!
Christopher - named after his daddy!  Barrett is Christopher Barrett and who would we rather have our baby be named after than his own amazing Daddy!

We decided we wanted to call him Jack because we love the classic simplicity of Jack and love the way it sounds with Champs.  It is also a small reference to Blanche March, who was one of my favorite people in the whole world.  She was the amazing lady who helped my parents with Will and me and also helped my grandparents with my dad and his siblings.  Her nickname was Jack.  She meant the absolute world to me and I think about her all the time to this day. 

So after all these months of keeping the name to ourselves, we were so excited to finally announce his name - John Christopher "Jack" Burley!

Here are some precious moments I never want to forget of the minutes after Baby Jack was born.  This truly is a feeling like no other.  Baby Jack, you have made your Daddy and me so happy and we are so excited about you joining our family.  Let the fun begin!!

More pics from the first week and how it's going with big brother coming soon!