Reaves: week two

On Monday Granny and I decided to get out for about an hour and leave little man with his daddy! I had a few returns to make at Belks. Then Granny suggested we get a Frappe from McDonald's. I never knew that going to Belks and McDonald's could be so fun!!!! ha ha Although it was great to get out of the house, I couldn't wait to get home to Reaves. Later that afternoon the paparazzi came out. I decided to snap some pictures of our little guy at 1 week old. Here are a few below! Later that day all the first grade teachers I work with came to hold Reaves and bring us dinner. It was such a nice visit! Thanks Casey, Pam, and Stephanie!

Daddy Time

Stephanie

Pam

Casey

Tuesday Reaves had his one week well check appointment. He was back up to his birth weight! I was so ecstatic!!!! His doctor was very proud!!! After his appointment we went to Chili's for Lunch. He sleep the whole time!!!! Later that day Holden and Her Nanny came to visit us. We enjoyed their visit very much! 

Holden

Nanny

On Wednesday Reaves enjoyed his swing for the first time! He LOVED it! Wednesday was our first night home with just the three of us! It feels nice to be a little more settled and in somewhat of a routine! ha ha That afternoon Eric and Kristy came with their children. Khloe just loved Reaves and wanted to be my little helper. She kept saying "she is so little" even though her mom kept telling her that Reaves was a boy. It was so cute!!!! Y'all will have to come back and visit us again soon! Wednesday was also my aunt Jackie's 60th birthday so we surprised her at dinner in Raleigh. Everyone was so excited to see Reaves. He slept throughout dinner again! I hear now is the time to take him out before he is in to everything!

Khloe

Kathy, Jackie, Mom, Mary Lou

Happy 60th Jackie!

On Thursday Reaves slept in his swing for 2 hours! Yeah for swings! Later that afternoon Christy and Olivia came to love on Reaves! That night Scott and Anna came to visit. We had a nice dinner and watched American Idol. Dal also dropped by to meet Reaves! When it was time to go to bed and he was all dressed in his pj's and I was feeding him he peed all over me!!!! I mean I can't figure out how to change this baby's diaper. If it doesn't go up the front it goes up the back! Any suggestions?????

swing time!!!

Christy and Olivia



Anna and Scott

Dal

Friday Aunt Carla came and spent a few hours. She loves to hold Reaves and love on him. She watched him for me while I went out for about an hour. Later that night my cousin Ashley arrived from Charlotte to spend the weekend with us. We rented a movie and had some girl time!

bathtime

Saturday one of my best friend Courtney Hester came to visit us. She brought us lunch and then we went out to the outlets. It was so funny I didn't know how to open his stroller. So it took Ashley, Courtney, and me to watch a YouTube video to figure out how to open his stroller. It was too funny! Then we hit up the outlets for a bit! My cousin Eric came and met us out there. Then we had a nice dinner! A little later Jennifer came to meet Reaves for the first time. Matthew stopped by too! He was so nervous to hold the baby but he did! Then Sandra and Emily stopped by to chat. They had me laughing so hard!!! Fun night!!!

Court

Cousin Eric

Jennifer

Matthew

On Sunday Ashley and I took Reaves to Mucho Mexico and had a nice lunch. Then we went to visit my brother's kids. The twins were asleep but Brendan and Rhett were up. They were so excited to meet their new little cousin! They call him Ricky Bobby Cataliotti! Long Story!!!!!! Later that afternoon Kenny and Lauren brought their baby Ruth to meet Reaves. We thoroughly enjoyed their visit!!!! I can't believe Reaves will be that big in just 7 months!!!! We hope to see y'all again real soon!

Cousin Ashley

Brendan and Rhett were patting my head and kissing me!

so precious!

Lauren

aww the dads with their babies!

I love this picture!

Night Night!

Reaves: week one

Ok so am I really going to be able to document his every week? Well here's trying! So as you know Reaves was born on late Monday night May 2nd. The following days at the hospital were spent loving on our new baby boy!!! Joe stayed by my side the entire time! He learned how to change his first diaper and became a hands on dad real fast as I was recovering from my c-section. Mom came each day to rock Reaves in the rocking chair and dad came to bring us food and love on his little Joe Joe as he calls him.We had lots of family and friends who came to get their hands on our new little man! So here are a few more pics from the hospital.

Finally on Thursday morning we were told we could go home. It was a gorgeous day in the mid 70's. It felt so nice to be out in the fresh air holding our new little miracle. When we got home mom was waiting and our dear friend Bud was helping around the house so that everything could be just right for our baby boy. We watched American Idol on DVR and both Joe and I fell asleep as we were exhausted. The first night home was a little rough. Reaves was up every hour on the hour!!! Now I knew I was going to be sleep deprived, but man I was running on empty by Friday morning.

Reaves first outing was to his first doctors appointment Friday morning. The doctor said he had a little jaundice and weighed 6 lbs 12 ounces from his original 7 lbs 6 ounces. The nurses said that they wanted to steal him he was so cute!!! We then went to Chick-Filet for lunch. Next I ran into TJ Maxx and Target to pick up a few newborn outfits b/c the 0-3 months were swalloing our little man while mom stayed in the car with Reaves! When we got home we gave Reaves his first bath! As you can see he was not a fan!!! In the second picture you can see his soothie (passie). It was so cute I was changing Reaves and accidently snapped his soothie in his outfit. I couldn't find it anywhere. Then Joe came in to pick him up and said here is the "smoothie" you snapped it up in his outfit. He called it a smoothie! It was sooo funny! Later that night dad grilled out steaks for us and we had a delicious meal! Friday night was not much better. I believe our little peanut had his days and nights mixed up.

On Saturday Joe's parents came to hold their grandson for the first time and to spend a few days with us. They couldn't get enough of the little guy. I'm sure he was in someone's arms the entire time they were here. They were wonderful helping around the house in the yard and with the cooking and cleaning. At around 2 Crickett from Crickett Photography came to shoot his newborn pictures. I can't wait to see how they turned out! He did so good and slept throughout most of the photo shoot. I will post the link for the sneak peek! Finally Saturday night Reaves got more into his schedule sleeping for 3 hours at a time. Praise the Lord!

http://crickettphotography.com/blog/

Scroll Down to Baby R and get a sneak peek of a few of his newborn pictures!

They are sooo cute!

Sunday was Mother's Day what a special day!!! I looked at our baby boy and asked my mom will he ever love me as much as I love him? I don't know if it's possible. We had a wonderful lunch prepared by Marilyn and Tony aka Granny and Grandpa. He had another great night sleeping every 3 hours, there may have even been a 4 hour stretch! As you can see in the picture below he loves to be swaddled. Mimi says he looks like a glowworm.

                                                              Our little Family

                                                           Mother's Day 2011

My First Mother's Day 2011

Ok so let me rewind back to Sunday May 1st the 39 weeks marker. I met mom at church as Joe was at work. After church we went to Smithfield's because I wanted a bbq sandwich. ha ha I craved one about once a week while pregnant. I then went to my dear friend Brittany's baby shower. She is due later this month with a baby boy. Then I wrote thank you notes for several hours asI wanted to be all finished before the baby came. I made spaghetti for dinner and invited my dad over to eat with us. He tells me I make the best spaghetti in the world. I don't know about that, but it makes me feel good!

After dinner I then wanted to go for a walk. As everybody kept telling me to walk if I wanted to go into labor. So dad and I walked about a mile. When I got home the grass needed mowing. I love to mow the grass for exercise. So I mowed about half the yard and ran out of breath. I asked Joe to mow the rest. While he mowed  I cleaned out my car. I wanted everything perfect. As if Reaves would know if the car he rode home in was clean or not! ha ha Then while he was finishing up I felt something. So I walked outside and told Joe that I thought my water might have broken. While standing there my water really broke. You should have seen the look on his face. So we called the parents, and I called Sandra to get me a sub for the next day as I still had another week of work. My sister, dad, and mom were over in a flash.

We then ventured to the hospital. I wasn't having any pain, but they told me to come in since my water had broken. They checked me and and I was a whopping 1 cm. They said they would start petocin at 5 a.m. on Monday morning. So everyone went home except for Joe and dad. My dad said he wasn't leaving just in case. So he fell asleep on Joe's chair leaving Joe to sleep with me in the hospital bed. He snored the whole night and made some other wiered noises, but I thought it was sweet he wouldn't leave my side.

The next morning Joe's parents, mom, my aunt, and my sister came to be with us. The day was sooo long. I didn't start having contractions until mid afternoon. It took me forever to get to 2cm and took me from 5 a.m until 9 p.m. to get to 3cm with heavy contractions. At that point it had been 24 hours since my water had broken and they told me I would have to have a c-section. I cried and cried. This was not planned, this wasn't what I had envisioned. Everybody kept telling me it would be o.k. and it was.

So at 10:12 p.m. on May 2nd Reaves Makinson Cataliotti was born via c-section. He weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces and was 21 inches long. My sister in-law Jackie was working at the hospital and was able to be in the delivery room with me. What a blessing that was. Joe stayed right by me holding my hand telling me that I was doing good. Then I heard it, I heard our baby cry. It was the most precious sound I've heard in all my life. I cried happy tears as Joe walked away to video our new bundle of joy. Then they brought him to me. I couldn't hold him, so I nuzzled up to his face and kissed him. It was instant the love I had for him. Joe was so excited looking like doctor in his scrubs.

Then we had precious time with our new son. I will forever cherish those moments with our little family. He fills an emptiness we never knew existed. He looks like his daddy from his head down to his toes. He is perfect!

We were in the hospital from Sunday until Thursday. Finally we got to go home!!!!

                        I am a mommy!!!! Mother's Day took on a whole new meaning this year.

"A mother's love is instinctual, unconditional, and forever."

-Unknown

I love you Reaves!