Here are a few sweet photos of Boone that were taken over the last couple of weeks. The first one was taken on May 22nd (he's one week old). The second one was taken on May 27th. And the last two were taken on May 29th (two weeks old). Boone is doing great and so far seems to be another good baby. However, we will admit we are a bit overwhelmed with our "new normal" and are completely exhausted at this point. You always hear the second child is easier, but that is so not true. Yes, it is easier because you already know what you're doing. You already know how to take care of a baby. But taking care of two (a newborn AND a 17 month old) is really difficult.
I'm trying really hard to breastfeed and make it work this time, but once again I have a grazer. He takes forever to eat. Plus, sometimes it takes several minutes to even get him to latch on and start nursing. By the time he's finished with one feeding, it's almost time to sit down for another. And that doesn't leave me any time to rest or spend with Fenn. And the guilt of not being able to spend much time with my first little man is tearing me up. I am already contemplating giving up trying to nurse him and just pump. At least then, Dan can help with some of the feedings.
Anyway, we've made it through the first two weeks now and are looking forward to getting through the next few weeks. By that time, we'll hopefully be starting to get into some kind of routine around here. As for Boone's progress, there's not much change to report at this point. He still just mainly eats, sleeps, and poops. He mostly only cries when he's hungry.
I'm trying really hard to breastfeed and make it work this time, but once again I have a grazer. He takes forever to eat. Plus, sometimes it takes several minutes to even get him to latch on and start nursing. By the time he's finished with one feeding, it's almost time to sit down for another. And that doesn't leave me any time to rest or spend with Fenn. And the guilt of not being able to spend much time with my first little man is tearing me up. I am already contemplating giving up trying to nurse him and just pump. At least then, Dan can help with some of the feedings.Anyway, we've made it through the first two weeks now and are looking forward to getting through the next few weeks. By that time, we'll hopefully be starting to get into some kind of routine around here. As for Boone's progress, there's not much change to report at this point. He still just mainly eats, sleeps, and poops. He mostly only cries when he's hungry.
and goes under water like a little fish. He even opens his eyes under water. We'll continue to work with him this year, and then will get him in some more lessons next spring/summer.
Check him out in the next photo. He is already anticipating going into the water and is closing his eyes and holding his breath. (You might have to click on it and enlarge it to see.)
But Fenn had a blast playing with the big kids. That's Miles, Fenn, Cade, and Alina in the first photo below. And in the 2nd photo, that's Suzanne, Fenn, Alina (behind Dan), Hayes (who is only 4 days younger than Fenn), and Hayes' daddy, Will.
In this last photo, I was quickly trying to catch a sweet moment at the airport, but for some reason my camera focused on the background instead of on Angie and Fenn. Oh well, you can still see what's going on.
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After Fenn's nap, Aunt Angie brought Fenn to the hospital for a visit. Fenn and Boone wore their adorable Big Brother & Lil' Brother t-shirts. They were made by Becky of 
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I know... I know... we changed the name on you. At the last minute, we decided not to use William and went instead with Joshua. And unfortunately, we couldn't figure out a way to let Boone be his first name, so he's going to have to deal with being called Joshua and having to correct people a lot. Boone Joshua just doesn't flow as well, and I don't want people to start calling him BJ. Personally, I'm not really all that fond of initials being used as an actual name (versus just being used as a nickname), but then I also don't like the way almost every phrase has been turned into an acronym these days. I guess I just don't like for things to be abbreviated.
We appreciate everyone participating in the name poll. It was really fun to see which name was the most popular. I wanted to let you know why we decided to go with Boone. First of all, we just like the name and think it is unique (like Fenn's name). But also what helped seal the deal (at least for me) was the feedback we got from some young people. Someone I work with was telling her teenage son and nephew about our name choices. They didn't really like Liam, but when she said we were thinking about Boone, they said "That's a cool name." And then Dan was telling some girls down the street (I think they're around 12 or 13) that we were probably naming him Boone and they really liked the name, too. So I think it's a good sign that young people like the name. Now... onto the birth.
I got up around 4:00 a.m. to start getting ready to go to the hospital. We were supposed to be there at 6:00. Right before leaving, I went into Fenn's room to pat him on the back and tell him goodbye. I was hoping not to wake him, but as soon as I touched his back he popped up. So Dan and I gave him quick hugs and kisses before leaving him with his Aunt Angie. We were so fortunate that Angie was willing to come and take care of Fenn while we were in the hospital. We arrived at Parkwest Hospital around 6:15 a.m. Since we had already done the pre-admission stuff a couple of weeks ago, things went quickly. They induced me (i.e., started the Pitocin) around 7:30 a.m. Dr. Cottam came in and broke my water around 7:45 a.m. At this point, I was already dilated about 2 centimeters. Aunt Angie brought Fenn by for a quick visit before taking him to school. It was so good to see my little man for a few minutes. We let him go to school in an effort to keep his schedule as normal as possible. I tolerated the contractions for a little while. But once they started becoming pretty intense, I asked for the epidural and got it around 9:30 a.m.
The morning went by pretty quickly, and I had dilated a little more each time they checked me. This time was a little different than when Fenn was born. With Fenn, I didn't really feel anything once I got the epidural. But with Boone, even though I wasn't feeling any real pain, I was feeling a LOT of pressure. Although it wasn't unbearable (thank goodness for the epidural!), it was definitely very uncomfortable. As with Fenn, we had our Bose stereo with us and listened to some great music all morning (Michael Buble', Shawn Mullins, Ray Charles, etc.). Because Fenn's birth went so smoothly and we had so much fun that day, I wanted to listen to some of the same music. Call me superstitious! Angie came back to the hospital after taking Fenn to school. And my mom got there sometime between 10:30 and 11:00.
By lunchtime, we were getting really close. I can't remember how much I had dilated by this time, though. But between 12:30 and 1:00 p.m., things progressed faster than I was mentally prepared for. Right before 1:00, Leigh (my labor & delivery nurse) told me to push. I thought she just wanted me to do a couple of practice pushes so she could see how I was going to do and how the baby was going to move. But then I realized it was really time for me to push. And Dan had stepped out of the room to go down the hall to the waiting area. I started asking where Dan was, and for some reason I thought he was just outside the room and couldn't get in past all the hospital staff for some reason. Once I figured out he was actually down the hall, I started worrying about him missing Boone's birth because I was already pushing and he was coming fast. I kept saying, "Somebody get Dan. Somebody get him in here now!" He did make it in time, but probably not until a couple of minutes after 1:00. I officially started pushing at 12:59 p.m. Nine minutes later, after just 5 pushes, Joshua Boone Piper arrived at 1:08 p.m. on Friday, May 15, 2009 to the sounds of Ray Charles (the Ray soundtrack). Within a few minutes after he arrived, I commented that I didn't know which song was playing. One of the nurses immediately said it was "Georgia On My Mind". That's appropriate since Dan and I met in Georgia. Boone weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 20.5 inches long. This is one of the very first photos taken of Boone.
He came into this world with a head full of dark, wavy hair. And it looks like he'll have brown eyes eventually because right now they're that dark gray-blue color. Keep in mind that Fenn arrived with a head full of very blonde hair and eyes that were obviously going to stay blue.
Just like with Fenn, my mom was there during the delivery... she was on one side and Dan was on the other. Thanks for being there Mom!
Not long after Boone's arrival, he got to meet his Aunt Angie and his Grami & Poppy.
Angie picked up Fenn from school a little early and brought him back to the hospital to meet his little brother. When he walked in the room, he was carrying a bouquet of multi-colored roses for me. So sweet! When he got up on the hospital bed with me while I was holding Boone, he quickly started trying to push Boone away. Uh oh... not a good sign. I don't think he liked the fact that I was holding another baby. And I'm sure he was a little confused about why I was in the hospital bed. All in all, we think it went pretty well for the first meeting. Here's our first family photo. (Wish it was more in focus, but one of the nurses took it.) Our family is complete now.
