Yesterday Robert and I had breakfast with an old friend of mine, Sarah, and her little girl, Kinsley. It was so nice to visit with her have "mom talk." I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it! Not the being with my friend, I knew that would be great, but I mean the whole being a mom thing. I was a mom out with my baby visiting my mom friend and her baby.
10 months ago I would have seen that and been thankful I didn't have any kids, but now adore it all! I loved holding my baby while talking to my friend and watching her adorable little girl play all around us, not caring if their squeals bothered the few other people in the cafe (sorry, lol). I loved going to the shopping center afterwards and taking 5 mins to get him and all our stuff in and out of the car. I loved walking around the stores with him in the little sling and people saying, "Oh how cute! Look at the baby!" I loved buying a bottle, wipes and a mirror for the backseat so I can see him in the carseat, and nothing for myself. All those things I dreaded I am now soo thankful for. I used to be afraid I wouldn't be a good mom, that I could never love anything more than I love my cats (seroiusly!)... but I am filled with so much love and joy over the smallest things. Its really amazing. I wouldn't trade this for anything... such a blessing. I mean, just look at him!!
It looks like we will be able to join our boys and kitties in Korea in about 2 weeks, if all goes well. We miss them so much and can't wait to be there!! Until then, mama and I are enjoying our time just the three of us. Great bonding time. <3 id="gwProxy" type="hidden">
Today my baby boy is 3 weeks old! I can't believe it. Exactly 3 weeks ago right this moment I was in labor... my baby was still in my belly. Crazy to think about. My sweet, sweet boy... I love him so much. Learning how to be a mommy as I go, and its going pretty well. Can't imagine my life any other way. :)
My best friend Autumn came to visit us a week ago and took a bunch of wonderful pictures. She hasn't had a chance to upload all 200+ of them, but she has made us a wonderful video! The second I hit play and heard the song playing I started balling! She put the pictures along with my favorite verse to one of my favorite Jason Mraz songs "1000 Things." The verse reminds me of my baby. Months before he was born I would listen to this song and imagine how wonderful it was going to be to see him for the first time. I love it. CHECK IT OUT!
Things have been pretty crazy lately. We have soo much to do before we take off, but can't do one thing before doing another, and can't do that before we do another and so on and so forth... its insane. Quite stressful. And on top of all that, our alarm system was messed up for 2 or 3 days... we couldn't open any doors without the alarm going off and our code wouldn't work. Finally today we got that fixed, but it was such a pain. Thank goodness Bobby isn't bothered by loud noises... he didn't even flinch at the sound. Such a good boy. <3
I have some more pictures of the love of my life! :D There's another one of him sleeping, which is just so precious. This one of us together is our first "outing." Not the first time out, but first time feeding him in public, (get it? OUTing? lol). We had lunch at Macaroni Grill and it was awesome. He ate right before my meal came, and then stayed snuggled up on my chest while I started to eat. I didn't want to put him down!!
He is still the little super star he's been since he arrived. At night he wakes up to eat around 2 am and 6 am, which is nice. We just lay there in bed while he eats and both go back to sleep... I love it. The movers are here now packing up our stuff for Korea and he's zonked out here in his carrier in the living room. The voices, stomping around and tape pulling doesn't bother him at all. I'm just glad the movers haven't come over to see him, LOL! Its hard enough having them all up in my stuff, I couldn't deal with them all up in my baby's face too.
We can't wait to get to Korea to be with our family! I miss the boys, sure, but I also REALLY miss my other babies!! I have a picture of Kitty as the wallpaper of my cell phone... sweet girl. I'm worried about how she will react to this little guy. She has been my snuggle baby for 16 years... now she's going to have to share. :/ Maybe she'll continue to sleep with Daddy... I hear they have formed quite the bond in my absence. Lol. <3
I cannot believe my son is two weeks old.It feels like he just arrived and like he has always been here at the same time.Like he’s grown up so much already and like he’s still brand new.Being a new mom is amazing.SO much love and simple joy in every little thing!!
The labor and delivery was pretty spectacular.My water broke in the afternoon of Sunday, September 6th and contractions started an hour later (Note: when your water breaks, it isn’t a one-time-good-deal… more comes with every contraction!I wish someone had told me that – LOL!). They started out about every 20 mins or so, and eventually got to about every 5 mins which is where they stayed for MANY hours!
My midwives came by around 2am and said I wasn’t having strong enough contractions for them to check my dilation, so they spent the night with us in case I progressed.I couldn’t sleep laying down because the contractions were too uncomfortable that way, so I had to sleep in the couch sitting up!Every few mins I’d wake up and breathe through a contraction before zonking back out for 5 mins, haha.That was crazy. My midwives ended up going home in the morning and asking us to call around noon.By then the contractions still weren’t very strong, and we were getting pretty close to having my water broken for 24 hours.They said that if I don’t get going strong by then that I would need to take castor oil to help things speed up, and boy that sure worked!!I poured 2 tablespoons of castor oil onto my chocolate frozen yogurt and exactly on time (I think it was 3 hrs) my contractions got strong!It was wild!They continued to get stronger and stronger and we were happy to have the midwives come back around 6 or 7pm on Monday, September 7th.We decided that was also a good time to have Rahlene and Brittney Luna come over as well.They are like my second family here and are so special to me, it was great to have them there.
When they all came over I was sitting on the big couch in our upstairs living room having good contractions ever 2 mins.I remember breathing through them and thinking to myself through each one, “its okay, its almost over, you can do it, its not that bad.”It was exciting to have those sensations and know I was getting closer to being able to climb into the bath!At 8:30pm I remember being excited that The Big Bang Theory was coming on TV, and asked Rahlene and Brittney if they had ever seen it because it is such a great show… and then Sheila (one of my midwives) came upstairs and said, “Okay! Its’ time!You can get in the tub now!”I was soo excited but also bummed to miss the show, lol!
When I walked into the master bathroom they already had it set up with candles lit, the lights dimmed, the tub filled with soap (which made it nice and bubbly!), and my Baby Bobby playlist on my iPod radio… it was beautiful!!!It was soooo nice to be in the warm water – it helped my back and belly so much and relieved a lot of pressure.I started pushing within minutes of being in there and it felt GREAT!I was trying to conserve my energy between pushing, but I wanted to tell everyone that it wasn’t so bad.The moaning and grunting probably made it sound hard and painful, but it was really pretty wonderful and exciting, mainly because I knew my baby was getting closer and closer!!After about and hour and a half of pushing and trying different positions in the water, Sheila told me that I could feel his head!It was so wild to feel the top of his squishy head so close to coming out… I couldn’t believe it!
Then a half hour and many hard pushes later at 10:33pm on September 7th, my Robert Carlisle Goodman Floyd came FLYING out!!After his 14in head passed my pelvic bone, his whole body wanted to shoot out, they had to catch him and hold him to help him get the umbilical cord from around his neck.That was probably the hardest part; holding him in place by not pushing while they did that… I wanted him out and in my arms!!Once they had it taken care of, his beautiful, warm, squishy little body was in my arms and I was looking into his lovely face.It was amazing.I couldn’t believe how perfect he was!He looked like he was already a month or two old!And he didn’t scream and cry, he just squeaked and looked around, taking it all in.His chill and attentive personality came through right away and everyone feel in love with him in an instant.
After he was born we were able to stay in the tub with fresh water and an herbal soak, skin to skin, looking at each other and falling in love before heading to the bed for us both to get checked out to make sure we were doing okay after all that hard work.He weighed in at 8lbs 2 oz and 21 3/4in long… big boy!He was only an oz and 1/4in smaller than my brother was when he was born, so I’m sure this little guy is going to be big and handsome like his uncle!
After everyone and everything was all cleaned up, our awesome midwives and dear friends took off and left Grandma, Mama and Baby to bond and soak in all the love and joy.I was sore all over and exhausted after 38 hours of labor, but it was worth every single bit of it!!
The next several days were hard… recovering from the stitches, fever and hard work took a while. I couldn’t get in and out of bed alone and could hardly walk.I just thank the Lord that my mama was here… she has been our hero!For the first few days she was taking care of both of us, and teaching me how to be a mama myself.It was crazy, but still worth every bit of it.I am now totally recovered and so happy to be able to help mama around the house.She is my hero, and Bobby loves her for sure.
This past weekend we had friends come over and visit the Prince of my world.Autumn flew in from Georgia for the weekend, which was lovely as always!Robert was the perfect host to all our friends… so peaceful and adorable.Then after the busy weekend of socializing, my little champ was circumsized on Monday afternoon.He did SUCH a good job!We found an awesome pediatrician who performed the procedure in his office, allowed me to be there too, and treated him with such gentle care.It was great – well, as great as it could be, poor guy.
So today we enjoying the rain and relaxing together on the couch all day.He’s going through a growth spurt so all he’s doing is eating and sleeping.He’s soo precious!I couldn’t be happier. <3
My mom bought my dad one of those nifty machines that transfers old VHS tapes to DVDs, and I've started to make the transfers for him. First I did a video from a family trip to Myrtle Beach in 1996, then my brother's 2nd birthday (1991) in Black Forest, and now a family gathering at my grandparents' ranch in Black Forest in 1986, the year after I was born.
It is so wild to see my family so young and sweet (well, I wasn't always sweet). It is also something else to see my late Grandma Goodman, who would be 78 today, and my late Uncle Bobby Goodman, my son's namesake. What I would give to have a chance to go back in time and visit all of them again. To play with THE cutest baby (so far, lol), my little baby brother, and THE most handsome man, my daddy. My mama was beyond words beautiful, too, like that is hard to imagine. My family is gorgeous.
I'm so looking forward to having my little baby boy here, to record home videos and make more memories to last multiple lifetimes.
Thank You, Lord, for blessing me with the most amazing family that anyone couldn't even imagine to ask for.
Soo... we're in the week Robert's due date! He is expected to join us around September 3rd, hopefully sooner than later. :)
I had my first physical exam this past Thursday and got some good news; I was just 1.5cm dilated, but about 50% effaced. So with any luck we'll get to that 100% SOON and get this party started! Haha!
Its so weird how time has gone by these 9 months. It feels like last week and last year all at the same time that I found out about this little love ball, just yesterday I had my ultrasound, and a few hours ago I got my first pair of maternity pants. And now that we are within days of the THE day, it feels like its taking for-ev-er!
Another thing that is blowing my mind is how to prepare. Granted, I am about as well read about the event (haha) as possible, but its so strange for me to not know some of the most significant things about it. When you anticipate an upcoming event you usually have an idea of when it will start, where it will be, and how things are likely to go. In this case, I have noo idea when it will begin, where I will be when that happens, or if it will go quickly, slow, or if I really will end up having him in the water like I intend to. How amazing that the most important and significant thing to happen is a completely natural process that doesn't need your planning. Wiiild. :D
So, I don't know when the next time I post will be... maybe while in early labor to share my joy, or a few hours/days after he has arrived to share pictures and stories of this new life... but I'm looking forward to it! :D
We're getting so close! I'm at 36 weeks and just had my midwives come for the home visit to check out where I will be for the labor and delivery, and make sure I have everything I need. We had it all set up! :D
They were able to tell that he has not dropped yet, so we still have a little bit to go. Granted, he isn't due until September 3rd, but we're ready for him now!!
To help get my uterine muscles ready to go, I'm drinking a bunch of homemade pregnancy tea with raspberry leaf (tones the muscles of the pelvic region. It also contains vitamins A and B complex and many minerals, including phosphorus and potassium. It can increase fertility, prevent miscarriage and hemorrhage, ease morning sickness, reduce pain during and after birth, and also increase milk supply), nettle leaves(known to have more chlorophyll than any other herb. The list of vitamins and minerals in this herb includes nearly every one known to be necessary for human health and growth. Nettle is beneficial in aiding the functionality of the kidneys, nourishing mother and fetus, easing leg cramps and other muscles spasms, preventing hemorrhage after birth and reducing hemorrhoids, in addition to increasing the richness and amount of breast milk) and yellow dock(an assimilated source of iron that is more effective than supplements). I usually also add peppermint and alfalfa, but I'm out right now. The tea also helps stimulate Braxton Hicks contractions, which it feels like are almost constant now!
He is still as active as ever and getting bigger all the time. I'm enjoying these last weeks to relax before he arrives and thinking about what he will be like as an individual. Can't wait to see that little face and dress him up like a Care Bear! <3
