Cuddle time!

We've had lots of visitors in our house, and they all want to cuddle with Autumn! Our church has been providing meals for us, which has been such a HUGE help and blessing, and with the meals comes lots of love for Autumn!

Cuddles from Uncle Donovan

Cuddles from Auntie Helen

Cuddles from Granny Anne
Isn't she cute in Granny's arms?

Cuddles from us!

Cuddles from Alison

Cuddles with Celia and Vicky

Cuddles with Kerry

Cuddles with Cait

Cuddles with Charl and Nina (don't they look good with a baby in their arms?)

Cuddles with Lori and baby Gemma :)

Cuddles from Regina

Cuddles with Wendy

And sleepy cuddles with daddy. I love this photo with her bum in the air :)

So where are the cuddles from Noah you ask? Well, its been a slow start, but today he gave her a little hug, and patted her head, and said she is going "nigh nigh" and when I left a blanket on the couch he said "uh oh" and brought it to her and covered her up and smiled lots at her today. He also offered her some of his cheese from lunch. This is an awesome improvement cause the first few days he would just cry if he saw her :) So I'll try and get a cuddle Noah photo as soon as he's ready!

In the hospital

It was so weird walking into the hospital this time with baby #2 knowing by 8am she would be born. It took some of the "surprise" element out of it, but it was exciting cause I knew within 2 hours I would be holding my girl! This is in front of the hospital at 6am.

After dressing us in our doctors outfits, I walked myself into the surgery room (kinda weird, last time I was rushed in on a bed) so it was more like I was volunteering myself for this operation! The doctor gave me a spinal, which I guess is like an epidural, except I could move my legs a bit. Clint decided to watch the whole thing! He said it was amazing. The anesthetic made me feel quite sick, but after 20 minutes of what felt like to me as a lot of tugging, out came my little girl! She was slightly blue, but totally fine. I could hear her crying as Clint went to see her go under the hot lights for a minute, and she was wrapped and brought to me.

I was wheeled into recovery, and Clint got to watch her get bathed, and weighed. After about 20 minutes they brought her to me all clean and pretty! Her first feed went really well. She eats so much quicker than Noah did, and doesn't really cry when she's hungry, she just makes little clicks and sucking sounds. So cute.

Clint's first cuddle of a clean girl!

That afternoon Clint's mom and Noah came to visit. Noah was very scared to hear her cry, and was crying most of the time we held her. He is very timid around new things in general. But when he saw there was a TV on the ceiling he couldn't stop laughing. :) So Noah and I sat on the bed watching cartoons together while daddy held her and chatted to Granny Anne.

After one day I was up on my feet walking around, and the doctor said I could go home after 2 days instead of three, which I was grateful for! It was fun having extra special bonding time with just me and Autumn, but I couldn't wait to get home to my new family.

Clint holding her the day we took her home

It was so fun to dress her all girly instead of being in those funny hospital gowns!

Strapping her in for the ride home! She dozed the whole way. It's like taking home the most awesome present. The Lord is so good in giving her to us as a gift.

My recovery has been quite quick, and today I felt pretty normal without pain medication after a week of being home. Granny Anne stayed with us to help out to let me recover, and left today. She was such a great help taking Noah out on "dates" so I could have some time just me and Autumn. I still can't pick up Noah or drive or anything like that, so bath time with him, and getting him out of his bed etc. I need someones help, but the Lord has been so good to sustain me and help me get stronger every day! I am soooo thankful for my husband who works from home and so lovingly stops what he's doing a few times a day when I need to pick up Noah, or they are both crying at once etc. He's so patient and kind to help, I don't know what I'd do without him! :)

Introducing....

Autumn Dawn Archer
Born on Feb 19th 2009 at 7:55am
Weight: 3.645kgs Height:53cm

On her changing table

Clint holding her before she's weighed

First time holding her all clean!

Sleeping on my hospital bed

Wakey time!

At home with her, they let me out from the hospital a day early :)

Sleeping in Uncle Donovan's arms

And doing what she does best....more sleeping!

I'll try and upload more photos/tell the story of her birth and little life so far hopefully soon, just thought I'd upload my favorite photos so far in the meantime.... :) She's a healthy precious gift from God and we love her to bits!

Family of 4 as of tomorrow!

So by 8am tomorrow my Dr. says we'll be holding our little girl! Today we had extra fun Noah time because tomorrow when he wakes up, we won't be here! My c-section is scheduled for 6am, and Grandma and Uncle and almost (engaged) Auntie are coming down to look after Noah while I'm in the hospital for 4 days. So when Noah wakes up he'll most likely have a sister! I'm actually quite nervous about the op. Last time it was an emergency c-section so I didn't have time to get freaked out about the fact that they are cutting me open, but this time I've had a long time to think about it. Clint's debating if he should watch the surgery. I can just picture a fainting husband in the OR! It's also so weird to me that its all planned out and the date isn't a surprise like last time. But anyways it means that our little girl will finally be here, so I guess it doesn't matter :-) We got a gift for Noah today from his sister, its a little car with a steering wheel that he can scoot around on. It's perfect cause whenever I go to a certain shopping center his favorite thing is to hop into the kiddy cart with the wheel on it. He drives around smiling and waving at everyone walking by.

The Lord is so good, and I can't wait to see how He'll take care of my little Noah without me for 4 days, and how He'll take care of my baby girl and me in recovery as well.

Hopefully there will be photos up soon for you all!

Valentine's Day

On Valentine's Day we had a braai (bbq) at our house to celebrate Clint's birthday with a bunch of people from our church. Noah had a blast with his friend Kristy, its the first time they really played "together" instead of just side by side, laughing at each other the whole time. They were having so much fun and we said "its Valentines Day, give Kristy a kiss!" :) I can't believe I actually caught it on camera it was so cute :)

We were surprised cause he had been avoiding her hugs the whole night

And when we gave Noah his milk right before bed she ran to the bathroom, got some tissues, and came back to wipe any milk he spilt (totally on her own will). I think Noah's got a great future caring wife here. :)

Anyways, our Valentines Day/Birthday braai was alot of fun. Clint and I aren't really into the Valentines day thing, its too commercial for us, so we usually spend it at home anyways to avoid the crazy restaurant scene (maybe I was burnt by it being a waitress for so long!). But anyways it was so much fun to have a bunch of people over to celebrate together.

Projects....

I think when your pregnant you all of a sudden have a million projects you want to get done around the house before the baby is born. Call it nesting, call it what you will, I have been one of those people this last month!

Inspired by the most awesome restaurant we went to in Cape Town with the most amazing view.....


I wanted to change our patio table into a fun "date" place for Clint and I when the baby is born since we won't go out as often for the first few months. Restaurant a-la Archer. So I decided to paint it white like the cane furniture in the restaurant I liked. So, with alot of paint...and a LOT of different angles to cover....

I finally finished it today! 3 days before the baby is born, whew!

We had a fun pasta date out on our new table, it was a perfect evening, with a HOT date! :)

Noah time

We've been treasuring moments with Noah lately as this is the last week where we only have "one" child. Not that our love for him will change at all, it just seems like an extra special week where we've been pouring our attention on him before the baby comes. He still I think has no idea that she's coming. We ask "where's the baby?" and he looks with blank stares. :) So I think it might come as quite a shock to him.

Book time with daddy before bedtime:

Playing in the pool

And watching him ride his favorite bike on our patio "vroom vroom"

Contractions...

I've always been one of those people who never wanted to get turned away from the hospital for going in too early in labor. Then you just sit there in an uncomfortable hospital with straps around your tummy monitoring you for way too long. Or you get turned away. So this Sunday (the day before Clint's birthday) I started feeling contractions at 2pm. We were thinking....cool, she'll be born on Clint's birthday at this rate! They were a half an hour apart exactly. No big deal. I kept timing them and by 4pm they were 15 min apart. Cool. By 6pm they were 10 minutes apart. All the books say to go in when they are less than 10 min apart, but Clint had to leave to preach evening service. So I was left home alone, in labor, for quite a while. He bumped the sermon first before songs or announcements, got home quickly, and by then they were 7 minutes apart at 8pm. So we got Kerry to babysit Noah and left for the hospital. On the way there, they were like 6 minutes apart.
So the whole way to the hospital we are thinking....this is it! She's totally going to be born on Clint's birthday! How fun!
Well, the monitored me for an hour (by now they are 5 minutes apart) and then determined it was "false labor" and labeled me as having a "irritable uterus" which totally sounded like a funny insult to Clint and I. So the nurse calls the doc. and the doc literally says "take two pain killers and call me in the morning." Rookie mistake. It felt so real and exactly how Noah's contractions were! So I was one of those rookie moms that got turned away. Nuts. I still am having contractions, but the nurse said unless they hurt really bad, to not worry about it.
I guess it will make for a cool story when she's older. :)

Summertime

Summertime in Durban can't make up its mind. It's either boiling hot, or raining and drizzly and cold. But on the hot days I've been filling Noah's little pool for him to swim, but he decided that swimming wasn't as much fun as playing "splash Spurgeon" our dog.

It was much more fun to climb OUT of the pool, unscrew his sippy cup, and use it to douse our dog with water....i love his little bum in the air

ready....(an unsuspecting victim lurks by)

aim....and fire!

Our dog is a lab, so he doesn't mind the water at all, but it got about an hour of laughs out of Noah, and a very wet dog. He also tried it on our cat Tobi, who wasn't very impressed with the game, and quickly assumed position outside our fence.

Two more weeks!

Almost there! The Lord has been so good in not only providing everything this little bubba needs (and could want) but in sustaining me through these last 9 months as well. I've been blown away by all the provision. The only thing I was lacking was newborn sized clothes, and this last week a girl in our church with a 3 month old gave me all her newborn baby girl clothes to borrow! (And they are all super cute!) So perfect. It's been a fairly easy pregnancy, but now we can't wait to meet this little gift from the Lord! Come already come!

"Dee door?"

is a phrase I hear every day now. Noah is fascinated by how doors open and close and which key opens it. The only door he can reach on his own is the one from our patio to our bedroom, and everyday while I get ready he figures out which key opens it.

He toddled outside in his PJ's and looked longingly at the door asking for the "eeese?" keys

Much concentration

And he successfully opens dee door!

He's picking up new words every day. This week he is saying "Noah" "kiss" and "ticky" (the word Clint uses before he tickles Noah.) Ticky is such a fun word cause now Noah can ask to be tickled :)

I had some pretty hectic contractions on Saturday afternoon every hour or so, but they finally stopped! (I'm now 37 weeks, so technically the baby is fine to come anytime). But the contraction scare has now put me into a nesting mood (which I never got with Noah) so I've been washing all her clothes and cleaning out cupboards etc. I like the nesting instinct, I just wish I had it all the time!

My c-section is scheduled for the 19th at 6am, so its 17 days to go! :) She's been kicking the same spot that Noah did on my ribs, and getting cute hiccups everyday. Can't wait