Big Sister

Even though Tori still doesn't like the idea of holding Garrett, she is starting to get the hang of being a big sister.  One of my favorites, so far, happened this morning when Tori first came into our room.  She ran over to the pack n' play (which is where Garrett sleeps), got up on her tiptoes, peeked in, and said "baby!" 

Jared went to get her a stool so she could see him better.  It is so fun watching Tori get excited about Garrett being in our home and in our family!!!

Another big sister moment happened this afternoon when Tori gave Garrett his binky!  I was so proud of her and how soft she was with him!!! 

I can tell that Tori is going to be a great big sister!  We are really enjoying watching her transition into her new role and I am sure there will be many more cute moments along the way!!!



A Few Thoughts

Jared has been doing such a fantastic job keeping our blog up to date since Garrett joined our family!  But, I wanted to add a few of my thoughts before I can't remember them.  The first thing I would like to note is that I think Heavenly Father has a great sense of humor.  For quite some time now, Jared and I have joked around about Garrett being born early (really on the 9th- since that is when Tori came in her pregnancy).  But since this pregnancy was going so much smoother, we really thought we would at least make it to 37 or 38 weeks before he joined us.  So when I woke up at 4:30 a.m. to my water breaking, my first thought was 'you've got to be kidding!'  But sure enough, my water was broken and we were on our way to the hospital. 
I think the thing that worried me the most through my entire pregnancy was what we were going to do with Tori if Garrett came before Grandma Allen was here to help us.  Saturday evening a dear friend through me a baby shower and while there another friend made sure that I knew Tori was welcome at their house any time and made it a point that she could come over while I was in labor.  I really don't think she expected a call at 5:30 the very next morning!  But, after we had dropped Tori off, I felt so much peace knowing she was with people who loved her and that she would be just fine.  Talk about lifting a huge burden off my shoulders! 
I have had  a few people ask me this time around why we were still going to deliver at Clarian West (officially now IU Health West Hospital - but that just doesn't have the same ring as Clarian West!).  There is a great hospital that is much closer to our house and would be tons more convenient.  After all that happened with Tori, we really didn't want to start over with new doctors.  And once we checked in, I remembered another reason why we love this hospital so much - the absolutely fabulous nurses!!!  My nurse Jenn was so attentive and made my labor experience such a positive one!  This is the sign that greeted us when we got into my room:

Through the course of our stay, we had several of our Special Care Nurses that came down to say hi and see how Tori was doing.  These ladies amaze me!  It has been two years since we were there and they recognized our names and remembered so much about Tori.  We even had a few comment on how much Garrett looked like Tori- they are awesome!!!
This time around, my labor seemed to progress very smoothly.  With Tori I had to have tons of pitocin to get my contractions going - not fun might I add.  This time my contractions started on their own and progressed on their own - so much better!  My epidural went well- yeah, I am not one of those all natural girls.  But right before Garrett was born, I started to panic a little.  Things seemed so different from Tori's and it scared me.  As it turned out, Jared and I had a few minutes alone as our nurse was rounding up my doctor and getting the last minute things ready before Garrett was born.  I told Jared I was scared and he started to get a little teary-eyed.  I asked him what he was thinking about and he said that this moment felt like when we were being married in the temple.  Then that same peace and comfort seemed to wrap around me like a blanket- heaven felt very near!  My fear vanished and I knew that Heavenly Father was very aware of us and that everything would be just fine!  It was such a sweet moment - one I am sure we will never forget!!!
Jared has been so wonderful over the past few days - okay, really over the past 8 months!  He has been so patient with me and my crazy pregnant self.  And now that Garrett is here, he helps out with everything! I am so blessed to have him as my husband and know our kids have the best Daddy ever!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart Jared - I love you so very much!!!

These are the beautiful, boy inspired, flowers that Jared brought me.  Aren't they perfect?

I must admit that I am a little overwhelmed at the thought of having two little people that depend on us. But, I am also really excited for this new chapter in our family and the many adventures that await us!

The numerous sleeping positions of the G-Man

Just in the first few days of our son being home, he has taken after his sister and has discovered some fun, but cute sleeping positions. We hope you enjoy them as much as we do!!!

The I'm so cuddly position!!!

The praying position!! 

The superman position!!! 

The I'm not letting this binky ever fall out position!! 

The mommy wants me to wake up but I am refusing to position!! 

Stay tuned for more of our sons fantastic sleeping positions!!!

Chicken Legs

Our wonderful son has the most adorable chicken legs. Here he is on his changing table right before a diaper change. As you can see his legs are so cute, and his socks do not fit him quite yet!!!

 

Also as a side note, today I went out and bought a new changing pad cover and a new boppy cover so that my son will not be fed nor changed on something pink or flowery!!

I'm Going Home

Finally, the day has arrived that Garrett will come home with us!! Both Rachel and I are excited and ready to bring him home. On this glorious day we decided to take our first family photo. We attempted it three times and our first attempt ended up being the best.

Before we could leave Garrett had to have two more firsts.

The first one was that he had to receive his newborn screening test. The nurse wrapped his little foot in two warming pads and then wrapped a warm diaper around that to encourage blood flow to his foot to draw blood. 

The last item of business was that Garrett had to pass a car seat test. We brought the car seat Tori came home in for this occasion. However, Garrett failed his car seat test. The nurses informed us that the regulations have recently changed and that they were no longer allowed to wrap towels around a smaller infant to secure them in a car seat. Rachel informed me of this as I was leaving our house to go to the hospital. I then asked for help amongst our friends in the Ward and our friends so graciously donated their beautiful car seat to allow us to pass the car seat test.

Here is our little man in his car seat after arriving home.

(Thanks so much to the Kenney Family and Melton Family for making this possible!!!) 

Here is our beautiful baby boy soundly asleep in his bassinet at home!!! 

Garrett's Firsts (Part II)

On day two of our son's life a few very important firsts occurred. Probably the most important one of this day would have to be his first time meeting his older sister Tori!!

Here is a video of the first reaction. Granted it is not the reaction we hoped for but it's a start!!

However, once we turned on The Little Mermaid she was in heaven!!

Here is Tori opening her gift from her new baby brother!!

By the looks of it, we think it was a great hit!!!!

I guess all the big news tuckered out our little girl. Here she is zonked out at the hospital.

Here is Garrett's first time sucking his pacifier.

I thought it would be a fun comparison to show you Tori's first picture of her sucking a pacifier...

See any resemblance?

Alas, our first attempt at a sibling shot....maybe we will get a better one next time!!

Here is our strapping young man passing his hearing test with flying colors... making his mother quite happy!!!

Here is the first time of many..we are sure.. that he will pull his beanie over his eyes!!!

Garrett has had a very busy day today and we are proud to have him join our little family. We are looking forward to going home tomorrow and cannot wait to show our cute little boy off to the world!!

Garrett's First (Part I)

Today, on his first day on this earth, we were able to view and be a part of some of Garrett's firsts that we were not able to be a part of with Tori.

Probably the most important first that Rachel cherished the most was to hold her son right after giving birth.

Here she is in her first with her son.

Here is our son lounging under the warmer "in our room" (another first) and without any medical equipment attached (another first).

Here is my beautiful wife getting ready to feed Garrett for the first time.

(Tori's first feeding was through bottles)

Here is Garrett's first manly cry...if a cry can be manly...hahaha

 Garrett's first picture with his bear. This will be the the bear that will show his growth every month!! 

 

Here is a video and pictures of Garrett's first bath!! 

 

 

 

Here is our beautiful baby boy all clean and dressed with his eyes open!! 

 

Here he is wearing his first outfit... a little too big but he will get there!!! 

 

Lastly, and probably my favorite.... Daddy's first time holding his first son!!! (I'm not biased at all) 

 

With our daughter all of these firsts did occur. However, they either occurred up stairs in the special care nursery or a few days after her birth. We thought it would be fun to document these firsts for our son since not only did they occur in our delivery room, but they also occurred on the first day of his life!!

We love our little G-man and cannot wait to tell you about his first time meeting his older sister!!

Stay Tuned!!!!

Garrett Jones Allen

We would like to formally introduce you to the newest member of the Allen Clan.

Garrett Jones Allen

Weight: 4 lbs 15.4 oz

Length: 18.4 inches

Appendages: 10 fingers; 10 toes

Our beautiful baby boy decided to follow his older sister's footsteps with exactness. Tori was born at 36 weeks and 6 days and so was Garrett. Tori's birthday is 8/10/09 and Garrett's is 10/9/11. We find these two similarities quite intriguing.

However, he also is quite competitive. He just had to one-up his older sister in a few places. Unlike his older sister he was able to stay in the room with his parents and also he came out 8 hours quicker than his sister as well. We are so ecstatic to have him join our little family and cannot wait to see how this competitive nature progresses as our two children grow up together!!!

My Big Helper

Over the past few months, Tori has turned into a great helper!  I love that when I open the dishwasher, she says "dishes" and comes over to help.  Her favorite part is either loading or putting away the silverware.

She has a great time "putting away" the spoons! 

As previously posted, Tori loves to pull all of her clothes out and spread them out on the floor.  After her rearrangement of her wardrobe this afternoon, she really wanted to read some stories.  I told her she needed to put away all of her clothes and then we could.  I didn't realize that I needed to specify that the clothes needed to be in the drawers and came back to find this:

It cracks me up that Tori loves to help wind up the cord on the vacuum - especially since she is still afraid of the vacuum.  But, I have to admit that she does a great job getting it all on there!!!

I have to admit that it (most of the time) takes me longer to get things done with my big helper in tow - but I will never turn down her help!  It's great having a side-kick!!!

Conference Weekend

This weekend we had the awesome opportunity to watch General Conference!  I love being able to hear messages from all of our church leaders - they are so in tune and so many of their messages spoke right to my heart!  Since Tori is getting a little older, we decided to try adding in some fun things to help her be more involved this time!

For starters, we pulled out our hide-a-bed to make it a special thing for the weekend!

It was so comfy that we had to try really hard to stay awake at times!

We also had a few picnics in the living room and had popcorn as a fun treat! I think that we will do these for future conferences as well- we all enjoyed them!!!

Tori's new favorite toys- her seahorse and whale, joined us for the Sunday afternoon session!

Who knew that bath toys could be so fun!!!  

We don't know how much Tori got out of conference, but I am so glad that we were able to participate as a family!  I love that we could have the words of our prophet and leaders in our home all weekend long - it was wonderful!!!