George Atticus

Friends of mine who follow my facebook page are aware that on January 18th, BJ and I welcomed our second precious son into our family. George Atticus was born at 3:14pm, weighing in at 7 pounds, 8 ounces and a long 21 inches, just like his brother. The child was seriously born in one push; how lucky is that? I honestly pushed for less than 60 seconds with this guy! The story of George's birth and my labor with him is extremely picturesque in my mind, as everything went so perfectly and I felt absolutely surrounded by positivity, despite the fact that George was induced, which was definitely not my preference. However, BJ and I completely trusted my doctor, who we feel steered us toward a great decision. My sister-in-law Jenny is a nurse on the mother/child unit at the hospital where we delivered, and she cleverly pre-arranged for me to have Melissa, the same wonderful labor and delivery nurse that I had with Silas. Family members and my close friend Sara were all by my side during the short labor process; one of my closest friends was even right across the hall and down one door, laboring away and delivering her own beautiful baby boy just a couple of hours after George made his appearance. As it came near to pushing time, even the scrub tech in the room told us that she has been a close friend of BJ's brother for several years. After delivery I had the honor of having Jenny as George's and my nurse on the mother/child unit for two whole days! I was amazed that everyone in my situation seemed connected, and in some way it made me feel protected and surrounded by love.

George is wonderful in every way. To me, he looks absolutely nothing like Silas or me. His nose is perfectly BJ's, but I truly struggle to see if he looks like BJ in any other way. I honestly have no idea who this baby looks like. =) I do know that he is adorable, and I went crazy over the newborn pictures that the hospital photographer captured the day after he was born. The CD for these came in the mail today, but alas my netbook does not have a CD drive so I will have to wait for BJ to work his magic before I can upload my beautiful pictures. Like many babies, George likes to have his head rubbed and his bottom patted; he squawks that newborn cry so loudly and yet so feebly, and he stares his big blue eyes intensely into mine at times. He is an easy feeder, unlike Silas. The first several days he drove both mommy and daddy crazy by having his nights and days backward, which left BJ and me doing shifts in the middle of the night (one of us up until 3AM, the other waking up at 3AM) since he wouldn't go down in his crib. However, the last two nights he has gotten this turned around and is now sleeping in his crib, which leaves me up for three middle-of-the-night feedings but really no extracurricular awakenings (fingers crossed!). As for Silas, he was extremely unsure about all of this in the beginning, but he has warmed wonderfully to his brother in the last two or three days and now takes an active interest in George (with the occasional complete meltdown!). He is also quite interested in George's pacifier, leading BJ to dub Silas "the paci hawk," as Silas is always aware of the whereabouts of George's paci and is willing to lick it himself before trying to place it into George's mouth. =)

As I journey into motherhood times two, I will certainly chronicle the highs and lows in this blog. Things in life have definitely changed, and I'm ready to experience and share it as it unfolds for us.