Levi's First Bath

Amidst all our craziness of having a baby, going back into the hospital for a blood clot, buying our first home, and preparing to move - I have tried to be good about taking pictures of Levi's first few weeks of life. I figured that I better take pictures to avoid being accused of not caring as much about our second born. Whenever I get around to it, I also have some sweet sleeping newborn shots. But in the meantime, here is Levi getting his first official bath at home.

Happy Birthday Levi!

Levi Glade Baker

August 7, 2009
8:09 am
9 lb 12 oz
20 1/2 in

We went to the hospital on Friday morning for a scheduled cesarean section. My doctor thought this was the safest way to deliver because I had a previous shoulder dystocia with Elijah and this baby was measuring even bigger.

It was quite a different birth experience this time around. We scheduled the cesarean for Friday and were able to prepare everything ahead of time, like getting a sitter for Elijah. We even would have been able to walk into the hospital leisurely, except that we slept in and had to rush to the hospital so we didn't miss our scheduled time. After signing paperwork and getting hooked up to an IV, I walked into the operating room so they could prep me for surgery. They gave me spinal anesthesia, which started working immediately. After a few minutes they allowed Brian in and started the surgery. Brian brought the camera, and he documented the birth beautifully with these photographs. I am so grateful he has become such a good photographer.

I couldn't see anything with this large sheet in front of me. It's probably a good thing to not see what's going on. It was weird enough to feel all the pulling and tugging in my abdomen.

Our doctor allowed Brian to take a few photos of the baby being delivered. I love having these since I couldn't really see or experience what was going on at the time. One funny thing is that as soon as they started taking the baby out, he peed on everyone!

Cutting the umbilical cord.

When they weighed him, the baby was 9 pounds and 12 ounces! A pound and a half bigger than Elijah was at birth (8lb 3oz)!! Our doctor said it was a good thing we had the cesarean. With the baby so big, it could have led to some major complications with a vaginal birth.

Brian brought the baby over to me to meet. We were lucky our anesthesiologist was a hobby photographer, so he was able to take our first photos together as a family. That's the drawback of our camera - most people are not able to operate it to take a quick shot of us.

In the recovery room, I was finally able to hold the baby and start to breastfeed him.

We discussed names and finally settled on Levi Glade Baker. We both love the name Levi and Glade is my grandfather's name. My only concern was how similar Levi and Eli sound. After talking about it, we decided to just use Eli's full name: Elijah the majority of the time.

A few details.

Elijah is so excited to have his little brother here. He exclaims "brudder!" each time he sees him and asks to hold the baby. So far, he has been surprisingly gentle, though I'm sure that will change as he gets more comfortable with Levi. I'm just glad he likes his little brother. Elijah is even willing to share his cars with the baby, which is saying quite a lot.

On his second day, we took some portraits of Levi. Isn't he adorable?! Look at those bright eyes - he is so alert and observant.

And finally, since everyone keeps asking if he looks like Elijah, I'll let you decide for yourself. Here is Levi at two days old in daddy's hands:

And here is Elijah at 4 days old in daddy's hands.

What do you think? Do they look alike? I can see some resemblances.

Thank you everyone for your prayers and kind thoughts on our behalf. We are so blessed to have two amazing, beautiful sons. We are so grateful Levi is here safely and in good health. More photos to come soon, so stay tuned...

Eli's 2nd Birthday Party

Since our new baby will come right before Eli's second birthday, I planned his party a couple of weeks early. I figured I better post it early too, or it might never happen with the new baby coming and moving into a new house.

For Eli's party, we had another water party (really, what else is there to do in August?). We had sprinkler toys and pools and three pedal cars (and they managed to still fight over them!). Here are some pictures of Eli at his party.

Do you notice a car theme with Eli? Those were his favorite - especially when he could ride in the back. We took a few minutes out for Eli to eat lunch.

And jump on the trampoline. I love that his feet are all shriveled from the water.

And here are some of Eli's friends that came to the party.

Cake time!

We've taught Eli to say "two" and hold up his fingers when you ask how old he is. It's so cute!

Later that afternoon, after Eli's nap, he got to open presents. He was so excited. We had to try to pace him to get some pictures.

Because Eli LOVES cars, I was a little worried Eli would get a TON of cars. But he only got one set of matchbox cars. It was perfect.

He promptly wanted to open them and line them up and "park" them over and over again. He's been doing this with his cars for a while, so I was glad to get some pictures of his organizational skills. He can really concentrate on something for quite a while when he is interested.