Happy One Month Birthday Andrew!

The past month has flown by, but at the same time I can't imagine our family without this little dude. 



•  He weighs around 8 pounds (can't really get an exact weight for an infant on an adult scale)
• We just switched him from newborn diapers to size one.  I'm estimating that we've gone through 330+ diapers and 8 packs of wipes in a month!
• He's wearing newborn and some 0-3 month clothes
• Andrew LOVES to be held.  He is not a fan of the swing or his car seat.  He'll occasionally tolerate the bouncy seat, but not in the evenings
• He doesn't cry hard very often, except when he's hungry.  He does whine quite a bit though (whenever he's not being held).  He has kind of a squirly cry.  It's cute until it lasts more that 5 minutes.
• He's such a good cuddler.  His favorite position to be held is upright on someones chest.
• He doesn't like pacifiers, but we're trying really hard to get him to like one!
• He nurses every 2-3 hours during the day and every 3 hours at night for 20 minutes.
• He's a MAJOR grunter.  We moved him from a swaddle blanket to a sleep sack, and that seems to have helped some.
• He still sleeps most of the day, and his most alert time is in the afternoon/evenings.  He has a very intent stare like he's concentrating heavily on what he's looking at.

Valentine's Day

We had a wonderful Valentine's Day with our sweethearts!

I made the photo collage above for Jon and put it in a frame for his office.  Andrew is supposed to be the "I", Madeline's shirt says "love", and the picture on the bottom left is supposed to be a "U".  It's a stretch, I know. :)

We started out the day with heart shaped eggs in toast.

We also had a little Valentine's Day photo shoot.  Like Madeline's new smile?  Whenever she sees a camera she'll say, "Say cheese" and make this goofy grin.

Jon came home for lunch and we went to eat at MiMi's.  Someone was very excited to go out to lunch with Daddy.

That evening we made raspberry chipotle grilled salmon with garlic green beans.  We spent the rest of the night playing games and dress up with these two goobers...a perfect evening in my world, especially paired with red wine and chocolate chip ice cream. :)

I had to share this because it cracked me up.   Madeline made this at school and. I'm pretty sure it'll stay on our refrigerator long past Valentine's Day.  How can this not make you smile? :)



Life with Two

Andrew has had a good first three weeks at home!  I've been meaning to do this post for awhile, but being the steller (*ahem*) mother that I am, I accidentally saved over all the pictures I've taken from his first few weeks.  I've spent hours trying to recover them and have not had any luck, so if anyone has a suggestion on how to resolve this let me know! 

Life with two had home has been busy but fun!  Andrew is a very good baby.  He loves to snuggle and loves to be held.  He doesn't like the swing, which can be challenging when I'm trying to get things done, but it's a good excuse to sit and hold him.  Madeline is adapting very well.  She's pretty indifferent to having a sibling around.  When Andrew cries, she'll go up to him and say, "It's ok, don't be silly."  She'll ask to hold him about once a day, but after a minute or two will try to push him off her lap and say "here you go." 

As far as sleeping goes, he'll usually get up twice a night which is very acceptable for a newborn. :)  He does seem to have a grunting problem.  For the first few weeks this kept us up quite a bit.  Through trial and error we figured out that he doesn't like to be fully swaddled.  We switched him to a sleep sack and the grunting has improved some.

I get cabin fever easily, so we were out and about very quickly.  His first real outing was to Madeline's dance class when he was 8 days old.   Over the next few days we took him out to lunch for Maria's birthday, two birthday parties for Madeline's friends, and to Mass. 

Recovery for me has been MUCH better than it was for Madeline.  It must be a combination of an easier labor/delivery and knowing that I really don't have the option to sit around and rest much with a toddler. 

He's already changed so much in four weeks.  His hair has lightened up and he's starting to look more like an infant than a newborn.  At his two week appointment he was 20.5 inches (45%) AND 6 lbs 13 oz (8%).  He's still tiny, but he he has long legs, fingers and toes, and is finally starting to get fat rolls on his legs!

First day at home: Two days old

Such a good big sister, "He's soooo precious."

5 days old: With his flowers

First Bath at 2 weeks old (had to wait for the cord to fall out)

Super Bowl at 2 1/2 weeks old, representing the Who Dats!

...and the Texans 

3 Weeks Old, watching Madeline at dance class

Andrew's Birth Story

To say we were a little surprised by Andrew's early arrival is quite the understatement!  For no logical reason, I was convinced that January 28th would be his birthday.  Jon was predicting February 1st.  Oops!  I guess you can only say how unprepared you are so many times before God laughs and brings your baby into the world 2 1/2 weeks early!
Tuesday (1/17) was a typical day for us.  My friend Kelly and her son Jack were in town visiting, so Madeline and I met them in Clear Lake for a play date.  Kelly said she was secretly hoping I'd have him while she was in town (ha).  Tuesday night I went to my friend Emily's house.

(This is where it gets good.  Proceed at your own risk!)
9 pm:  I came home, took a shower, and Jon and I talked about how we should probably pack for the hospital and talk about what to name him. Instead we opted for  watching Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. 
9:15 pm: I'm sitting on the couch and my water breaks.  Exact words out of my mouth: "S*&t!  I can't believe this is happening.  We are so not ready for this!" 
9:16 pm:  I immediately call my mom so she can come over.  I spend the next 15 minutes frantically running around while Jon tries to calm me down and Googles: "What to bring to the hospital when you're having a baby."  (as if we haven't done this before) 
9:30 pm:  I finally get my act together, pack and call the doctor. 
10:30 pm: My mom arrives at our house.  Jon and I are sitting at the table while I try and eat as much as possible, knowing that my next bit of real food could be 24 hours away.  Throughout all of this, I'm still having no real contractions and do not feel like I could be having a baby soon.  We decide to wait until after midnight to go to the hospital just to make sure we don't have issues staying an extra night with insurance.  To kill time, my mom paints my toes since I obviously wasn't going to make it to my scheduled pedicure 2 days later.  (and pretty toes are an essential part of childbirth, right??)
11:45 pm:  We decide it would probably be a good idea to head to the hospital.  (Still feeling nothing)
12:15 am (Jan 18th):  Check into the hospital, confirm my water did break, and that I'm only 1 1/2 cm dilated.  The on call doctor gives me 2 hours to progress on my own.
2 am: No progress, start pitocin.  In hopes of speeding up the process, I decide to tough it out without an epidural for as long as possible.  Jon tries to sleep, and I get none because the child in my tummy chooses to move every time the nurse gets the baby heart monitor situated.  This game continues until he's born.  The nurse tells me the baby is upset because we hadn't decided what to name him.  (haha) 
4 am: 3 cm dilated and trying to tough out contractions, which still aren't regular even with pitocin. 
4:45 am: I give in to the epidural and immediately become a more pleasant person.  I tell the anesthesiologist that he must be the most popular dude in the hospital and he tells me it's like selling water in a desert. 
6:00 am:  4 cm dilated.  I pout and have a pity party, convinced that he will not be born until the afternoon.  I'm bored, tired and the ice chips were not cutting it (although Women's does have the good Sonic-type ice).  My mom calls for an update.  I tell her not to come to the hospital yet, and Jon tells her otherwise. 
6:50 am:  I start to feel very different and find out I'm 8 cm.  My mom and sister arrive shortly after that, and I'm grateful that Jon went behind my back and told them to come to the hospital. 
6:51 am:  My mom begins the very necessary task of applying my makeup.  (nah, we're not vain)

Between 7 and 8 am: I feel like the kid is going to be born on his own.  I find out Dr. Ball is performing a surgery so I have to wait for at least 30 minutes for her to finish.  That was interesting.    The nurse tells me not to laugh, cough or move unless I want the baby to be born before Dr. Ball shows up.  I start laughing, and she says, "Seriously, no laughing."  Dr. Ball casually walks in, chats it up for a bit, checks me and says, "Wow, they weren't kidding.  Don't move!  Don't cough!  I have to get ready."  Everyone starts laughing, including me.  Everyone looks at me and says, "NO LAUGHING!"  Apparently they were not kidding.  Three pushes and at 8:06 am he was out!  He was perfect, and Jon and I kept saying, "He's so tiny!"

Andrew Lawson: 6 lbs, 6 oz.  19 1/2 inches long.  Born at 8:06 am
Madeline Grace: 6 lbs, 6 oz.  19 inches long.  Born at 8:46 am
I think 6 is my new lucky number!

Overall, this was a pretty easy labor and delivery.  I thought Madeline's was easy, but I must say I'd pick my water breaking any day over hours of contractions.  Here's some of my favorite pics from Andrew's first two days:

To answer a few questions:

How did we decide on his name?
We had it narrowed down to two choices for about a month.  Neither one of us could decide which one to go with, so I finally told Jon it could be his choice.  He decided to wait and see what he looked like.  Right after he was born, we looked at him and Jon decided he looked like an Andrew.  Luckily I agreed. :) We are just calling him Andrew for now.  I'm sure a nickname will come later, but if anyone calls my precious child Andy I'm going to give you a dirty look.  Lawson is Jon's middle name, and that of the oldest born Kleckley male for now the 6th generation.

How did Madeline like meeting baby brother?
She walked into the hospital room, took one look at him, and said "No baby Andrew" for a good 10 minutes.  I think our families had been shoving it in her face all day and she was tired of it.  I brought a present to give to her from baby Andrew, and as soon as we handed it to her, she was cool with him.  From then on it was, "He's soooo cute." 

Introducing Andrew Lawson Kleckley!

In case you haven't heard, our little boy surprised us 2 1/2 weeks early! He was born Wednesday, January 18th at 8:06 am.  He weighed 6 lbs 6 oz and was 19 1/2 inches long.  Andrew is just precious and we're so in love! 

Houston Marathon

Last Sunday was the long anticipated Houston Marathon!  Jon had been training for awhile and was ready for the challenge. 

Ready to go at 5:30 am! 

Our caravan of cheerleaders left at 7 am to cheer on Jon and his brother Ben.  My parents, Aimee, Jon's parents, Madeline and I rode together. 

If you were a participant in the marathon or half marathon, you might have seen this at mile 6:

Sporting our most popular sign.  We had lots of runners say "that's so true" and one guy said "that's not true."

There were so many people that we almost missed Jon!  Ben was running ahead of pace so we weren't quick enough to get a picture of him.

In case you're wondering what the yellow outfit above was all about...

That would be my mother in law dressed as a giant banana!  She was handing bananas out to runners until she got in trouble by race officials.  It was so much fun and the runners loved it. 

Pics from mile 14...

 There goes Ben!

Mile 22...almost there!!

My OB, Dr. Ball, was working the medical tent at mile 22 so we stopped by to say hi.

This sign is SO not true.  I'd go through L&D any day over running 26.2 miles!

Marathon Finishers!

Our Group

Attempt at a family pic

Ben's time was 4:12, and Jon ran it in 4:30, 15 minutes better than expected. 

I'm so proud of both of them!