1 month old

Parker turned 1 month old on Saturday!

Here are a few things we want to remember at 1 month old:

• He is still eating anywhere from every 2-3 hours. He can go longer at night-sometimes up to 5 hours! He's started getting 1 bottle a day from his dad. Phillip usually takes one of the night feedings, which really helps me out alot!


• He is getting into more of a routine. He likes to be up and play in the mornings.


• He doesn't really take long naps! That's ok, though, I'd rather him sleep longer at night!


• He is really starting to respond to us, and he's trying to smile!!! It is really the sweetest thing I've ever seen!


• He likes baths-usually only after he's eaten, but last night we bathed him before he ate, and he enjoyed it!
• He's officially outgrown his newborn clothes and newborn diapers!

We're learning more about him every day. I can't believe a month has passed already!! Happy 1 month birthday Baby Boy!!

Get the camera...

Parker made his first road trip this weekend! We headed south to visit both sets of grandparents for Father's Day. We really had a great time-he got to meet his great-grandmother and the rest of his cousins. He did really well on the way down, and he was pretty well behaved while we were there. If you're wondering about the title of the post, it actually comes from my 3 year old nephew. That was his favorite line this weekend. He actually instructed me two different times to "get the camera." Once while he was playing with Tulip, and the other time was when he was holding Parker!

Bathing Parker is a family affair...(sorry you can't actually see Parker here..)

Gavin and Parker...I think they're talking about tractors and dirt and other boy stuff..

4 generations of Pettys

Parker Petty + Zane Bell=B.F.F.

Dear Zane,
I LOVE the onesie your Dedee made for me (pardon my spelling of her name, I'm just a baby you know)! My mom kept telling me over and over again how handsome I looked in it. I am so glad you and your mom came to visit us yesterday. Please tell your Dedee how much my mommy loves the onesie-she said I'm going to wear it every day that it's clean! I know my mommy video taped us playing yesterday...something about they're going to show it when we're in each other's weddings one day? Anyway, I really love the outfit and I love you, too! Mommy says it's ok for me to say that when we're little like this. Thanks for putting up with my fussiness...maybe next time I'll be in a better mood!
Love,
Parker
Yes, they match! Mrs. Zanette Bell made these adorable onesies for them! I love them!!!!! Thank you, Ms. Zanette!

Lately...

This is one of my favorite sleepers of his....How cute is the truck on it? It's a newborn, and it's getting a little short in the sleeves..I guess it's time to retire it.

Phillip always takes the morning shift and lets me sleep in. Meredith took this pic of him while she was here helping this week-apparently this is what they do every morning. As you can tell, Tulip is adjusting quite well to having a baby brother. Please note that the t-shirt Phillip is wearing is approximately 10 years old as the back of it says "Pledge".

Alot goes on while I'm sleeping. This is what I awoke to one morning while my mom was here helping....Tulip was just lying there watching Parker. I think she was supervising to make sure Mom knew what she was doing.

Sleeping Angel

Here are some pics of Parker in his bouncy seat. He really likes it as you can tell from the peaceful look on his face!

1st Doctors visit

Devin and Dayle-These pics are for ya'll!!! :)

Yesterday was Parker's one week birthday. We had his follow-up doctor's appointment, and everything was great! He has gained 9 oz. since we left the hospital on Saturday, and Dr. Weed said he'd probably exceed his birth weight in a couple of days. They want them to be back up to birth weight by 2 weeks.

We LOVE our pediatrician. He was very gentle-Parker didn't even flinch when he did the exam. He said everything looked perfect, so in the words of his Marmee-"Now we have medical confirmation that he's perfect." He also gave him bonus points for behaving!! Hopefully we won't have to go back until his 2 month appointment.

Things are still going great here! We really appreciate all the prayers, food, and visits. I'm posting some pics of a few of his visitors.

This is him after the dr.'s appointment...

The Stogsdills and Bells came out this week to bring us dinner. It was great to get to visit with them. Parker and Zane got to hang out some more-they were both very well behaved.
Zane: "Maybe if I just hold his hand he'll stop all that crying..."

A couple of years ago, who would have ever imagined that this would be our life?

A visit from Cousin Lily-she wanted to hold him the entire time! Throughout my pregnancy, she would say, "I can't wait to meet Parker." She is definitely in love with him! Courtney and Mom were having to force her to let them hold him!

Birth Story

I decided to go ahead and relay the birth story for those who haven't heard it. If you've heard it, just ignore this post!
Last Monday, I started really having contractions, but they weren't very strong, or at least they didn't feel like I thought they would. They got worse as I walked, but weren't as strong when I was sitting.

On Tuesday, I went to school-I was still having contractions, but they weren't as noticeable. So....I decided to call my sister who is a nurse for an OBGYN in Texarkana. I didn't really want to bother my dr. about it, because I still thought nothing was going on. I talked to Courtney, and she said she'd ask her dr. about my symptoms (there were also some other small symptoms going on). About 10 min. after I got off the phone with her, I get an email that says, "GO TO THE HOSPITAL NOW." So...I called her back; her doctor told her it sounded like I was in labor, and I really needed to go on. I let everyone at school know, except my kids. I told them I had to leave to go to a dr.'s appt. and that I'd be back later!

I drove home to pick up Phillip. By this time, my sister had already called my mother who had already left school and was headed home to get her bag! I had to beg her not to leave yet, because I still really felt like it wasn't the real thing. I got home, and Phillip asked if he needed to grab our bags. I said, "No, they're just going to send us home."

Anyway, we got to the hospital around 2:30pm..they hooked me up to the machines and said my contractions were 3-4 minutes apart! I felt really silly at this point! I was only dilated to about a 3, but I was 80% effaced. They called Dr. Wiedower who told them to keep me because there was no sense in me going home to be miserable and just have to come back that night. We called all the family, and they hit the road. Dr. W came in around 4:30 and broke my water, and they started the Pitocin around 4:40. At this point, I sent Phillip home to grab our stuff, and Brandi showed up to sit with me while he left. Poor Brandi, she had to sit through the strong contractions w/ the Pitocin!

Anyway, our parents showed up around 6 or so (I can't remember exactly) and my sisters got there around 9pm. I think I got my epidural around 8 or so, but again, I can't really remember. I do remember that it really didn't work! It would work for about 30 minutes and then they'd have to pump more into me. I felt like a druggie by complaining, but I was in ALOT of pain!!!

So, I labored all night, was dilated to 10, and finally felt the need to push around 12:45 am-I'm really fuzzy on my times. I pushed for a while, and knew it wasn't a good sign when one of the nurses came in and said Dr. Hubach (dr. on call) said to call back when I was getting closer. Not a good thing considering I felt like I'd been pushing for a long time!!! She got there later, and I pushed for an hour! I stopped after an hour and said, "Let's talk about this. I need you to tell me what's going on." (Ok, maybe I wasn't really that calm) Her response, "Well, he's not moving down." At this point, I insisted we figure out another course of action because I couldn't do it anymore! She listened to me ramble for a while, and then agreed that we should do a c-section. I was so relieved!!!!!!!! They got me back there a while later (it once again took a while to get me fully numbed b/c of my epidural). Anyway, we got back there, and he was here by 2:41 am!

My dr. came in the next morning and said that Dr. Hubach told her he was absolutely not coming out. I feel so blessed to have dr.s who didn't make me keep pushing when it obviously wasn't working!

Fast forward to today-we're doing great. I really feel good; I'm a little sore, but I'm actually feeling good considering I had major surgery a week ago! Parker is perfect, of course. He's doing really well-he's eating like a champ and sleeping pretty well, too. He doesn't cry just a whole lot (not since we've been home-he was pretty fussy in the hospital)..and he's pretty easy to soothe when he does cry. He doesn't like his diaper changed, and the jury's still out on the baths. We go back for his one week appointment tomorrow, so we're just praying everything is good.

We really appreciate everyone's love, support, well wishes, and food! Keep the prayers going; we certainly feel God's calming affect on us. Yesterday Phillip said, "I really thought it was going to be alot worse than this. I thought we wouldn't even be able to talk to each other." I'm just praying that it continues to go this well!

I'll post more pics later this week!