Mark is 5 months

I guess for now keeping up with his monthly updates is all I can do on this blog. I want to catch up with more things here but it just isn't happening. Anyways.
Mark is still our little joy. He really does have such a mellow mood. He loves to be held and he is usually pretty content with whatever is going on. When he is ready for something new he will let you know that is for sure.
We are having a harder time leaving him with Katelynn in the same room for a minute or two. She likes to play with him but she doesn't play appropriately with him. She usually starts off okay but then gets closer and closer in his face. Then she tries to give him toys but she is too forceful with them or if he is playing with something she will yank it away. Then there comes the hitting or squashing and we have to separate them which she doesn't like but I won't stand for her being mean to others. He just takes it most of the time, but I don't like it.
He likes to be around others and see what they are doing. He likes to be on the floor playing with toys, he will play in his exer-saucer for a good 10-15 minutes or longer if Katelynn is playing with you, you will sit in your chair and watch me make meals pretty contently and of course you love to be held and rocked by momma. He is drooling and chewing on his hands like crazy so maybe he is teething but I don't feel anything coming yet. So, I think that we have another month or more before teeth will come. He wears size 3 diapers and 9 month clothes. He still eats about 30 oz a day with 3 naps during the day. He is 16lbs and 10 oz. He is very happy with his schedule.
Other than being the cutest little man I know he hasn't been doing too much at five months.

Mark is 3 Months

Yesterday Mark had his 3 month birthday. I just love him. He usually is in a good mood and is such a mellow little guy. He is wearing 6 month clothes very well now and should be moving on to size three diapers soon but I hope to use up the size 2 that I have left. He eats about 6-7, 4-5 ounce bottles a day. Sometimes he will just eat it all and sometimes he will only eat 3 ounces, which is just fine since he isn't lacking in the growth department.
His naps are a work in progress. He would just love to sleep on me or Ben for his naps all the time but that isn't going to happen. He usually takes at least 4 catnaps a day. I can't wait for him to stretch those out. He falls asleep in our arms and then we put him into his crib and he will wake up in about 20 minutes with an average sleep time of 45 min to an hour. Hopefully, something will get figured out.
Today we went to the Dr for an immunization and he is now 14lbs even. He is me bald headed, blue eyed, bowling ball, baby boy. And just as cute as can be.
He likes tummy time so much better than Katelynn ever did. He can hold his head up at about 90 degrees and will look around for a good 5 minutes. He loves to sit in his bouncy and kick to make himself rock. He also loves to bat at the over the head toys he grabbed onto one of them octopus legs and was tasting that. He smiles so much and is starting to giggle.




He also rolled over from his tummy to back three times yesterday. I didn't think it was a fluke, but he hasn't done it since, so maybe it was a fluke.

For a special treat yesterday Mark and Porter met. Porter was one day old. Katelynn had a runny nose so Ben and Katelynn stayed home while we went to Kevin and Beth's for a quick peek at our newest nephew. Boy, what a difference three months and 7 lbs make, but boy is Porter a cute little thing with a ton of hair.
Porter was singing "Popcorn Popping"

Mark 2 Months

Mark is now two months old. Wow! He is my little blue eyed boy that I love to snuggle with and love on.
He has better head control now but still has some drunken moments where he violently swings back while we are holding him against our chests. He smiles so much now, usually in the morning before we get Katelynn out of bed. I am sure he likes the alone time that he is getting then.
We put him in the Bumbo for a minute and then his neck muscles wear out. He plays under his little gym in the morning and usually falls asleep under it while Katelynn and I eat breakfast. He has the routine down of: eat, play, sleep and repeat. He will take a few cat naps and then at least one 3 hour nap during the day. He is eating 6 or 7 four ounce bottles a day. He is wearing size two diapers and almost grown out of 3-6 month clothes.
He really is a good baby. It doesn't take much to console him once you figure out what he needs, which usually takes a minute or two to figure out. Ben, thinks he is more high maintenance than Katelynn was, I don't. I think it is more our attitude. I was stressed with Katelynn so, I was never relaxed with her, so I thought that she was a crazy baby. Ben is more stressed with Mark and so he thinks that he is more high maintenance.
Here he is in all his 2 month glory. Today we had the perfect temperature so we went outside and got a few shots. Isn't he the cutest thing.




His shirt says "Rock and Stroll" in case you couldn't read it.
Updated 11/15/11: On 10/31/11 Mark had his 2 month appointment and weighed 12lbs 15 and a half ounces and was 23.5 inches long

Mark Andrew's Birth Story

Mark Andrew was born on Monday August 29th at 2:04am, four hours before the scheduled induction was supposed to start. Sunday evening I was going around the house getting things cleaned up so that in the morning when we left it would be nice and clean for a few days. I vacuumed the front room, swept the kitchen, got the dishes done, and all the laundry folded. It was time for Katelynn to go to bed so we did her bedtime routine and then it was my time to relax and enjoy one last nights sleep. I went from Katelynn's room to the bathroom and knew at that moment that my water had broke. It was eight o'clock and my chances of having a good-nights sleep were now over.
Mary came over and we headed to the hospital and were admitted by nine pm. As we were sitting in the hall waiting for our room we saw a Dr talking to the nurses at the nurses station and saying goodnight to them and that he hoped not to see them again that night. As he was saying that Ben and I were saying to each other that he was the Dr on call for our group. He came down the hall towards us and as he approached I asked him if he was the Dr on call for Swanson. He stopped dead in his tracks and said, "Noooo." with a huge grin on his face. We stopped and chatted and he didn't think that I would have Mark till morning and Swanson would be able to deliver. Contractions hadn't really started then and I was worried about the long night ahead. He didn't start the pitocin, he just wanted to give my body a chance to start labor on it's own. Which it did. When I was checked at about ten I was 2.5cm. My contractions really started to kick in but I was so uncomfortable on their bed that laying on my back was the only position I could handle. Mark was still moving all over the place and the nurses were having a hard time tracking him. The charge nurse came in and had me lay on my right side which is the opposite side that I had been laying on for the past 9 months. That was when my contractions really kicked in. It was 11 o'clock and I was breathing heavily through the contractions and having the nurses come in and out to find Mark. At 11:30 I was 4.5 cm and was ready for the epidural. They started doing the epidural at 12 and was finished by 12:30. The moment the drugs were being pushed, which is painful, I had a contraction and the blood pressure machine went off. I was about to snap at that moment with all the painful stimuli going on but managed to make it through it. Ben was waiting behind the curtain while I was getting the epidural and Jody our nurse was holding me. We then spent the next half an hour rolling me from side to back to try and find Mark. At one o'clock he was found, I was comfortable and I wanted to take an hour nap. I told the nurses I didn't want to see them for one hour. Thirty minutes later I felt a drop and pressure. I knew my nap was over. The nurses came running in and asking me if I felt anything different which I did. His head was there and we needed the Dr. The next twenty minutes was spent getting everything set up. I couldn't feel my legs at all. I couldn't move my legs. I couldn't do anything. When everyone was ready and three pushes later Mark Andrew was born weighing 8 lbs even and 21 inches long. mark had the cord wrapped around his neck twice and wrapped around his leg. At home at that exact moment Katelynn woke up and didn't go back to sleep for an hour with Grandma.