It's the most wonderful time of the year...

James is FINALLY DONE with his first semester of law school and there is much rejoicing in the Purcell household. I love having the grown-up company during the day and James, who was suffering from recurring nightmares over his contracts exam, is loving the multiplied hours of restful sleep. We are spending the next few days with my family and are getting ready to head to Utah for Christmas and the New Year! Setting aside our angst over being the people with the screaming baby on a long flight that we used to judge, we are so excited to see our friends and family there.

Chase becomes more fun every day. He smiles all the time and will chatter in the cutest and drooliest (is that even a word?) baby garble. (Disclaimer: I am fully aware of the fact that James and I sound like idiots on this video... we will do just about anything to make our little man talk!)

This cute little man weighed 10 pounds and was 22 1/2 inches tall at 6 weeks old. We are pretty sure the weight has been evenly distributed between his cheeks and his thighs.

This year, Chase and I had the honor of playing Mary and Jesus in a nativity scene. Once I got past the initial fear of Chase having a total meltdown and ruining the Christmas scene for everyone forever, I had some time during the scene to ponder the humble beginnings of our Savior. Chase was just quietly watching me and I began to think about how Mary must have felt. I don't think it was very different from what I was feeling. Chase is a perfect and innocent little baby, just like Jesus was as an infant and then throughout His life. She must have felt some sense of the great responsibility of teaching her sweet baby, helping him to grow and learn and interact with the world around him. Every day I feel that same weight of responsibility. And she certainly felt the same incredible and instant love and adoration for her new little one. I am so thankful, especially this year, for Mary's obedient willingness and celebrate, with even more appreciation, the glorious birth of Jesus Christ.

Santa Baby

A million thanks to my beautiful and talented friend Jess, who took these gorgeous pictures of our sweet baby Chase. He was such an angel the whole time! Enjoy :)

3 Years

Happy Anniversary, my love.

Three blissful years down...

Forever to go.

Bathing, Napping, and Remaining Neutral

The much-anticipated day finally arrived last week when we could give Chase his first real bath [Shout out to Matt and Steph for the awesome whale tub!] He gets so excited when he is in the water and does some serious splashing- legs and arms in all directions. It cracks us up so much- we just let him sit in the water and have a ball as long as he wants.

The cutest part is that he sings while he is in the tub.He also tries to lick the side of the tub pretty much the whole time.

Well, we are inching closer to the end of James' first semester in law school. I'm really proud of him- he is working so hard. He leaves the apartment around 7 in the morning and I don't see him again until around 7 at night. It makes for long days for me at home with the baby, but I know it is paying off- he got a 97 on his first law school exam! What a smarty pants. Such hard work during the week makes for sleepy weekends...

And this is how my boys spend their Sunday afternoons.

Now you might be saying to yourself, so Chase takes baths and James takes exams and naps... what does Stephanie do? Well I took my first real break yesterday and left Chase with my mom while Lindsay and I went to see New Moon! We decided that we wanted to wear something special and both of us, after having reread New Moon, decided that we are big fat fence sitters when it comes to the ultimate question- Team Edward or Team Jacob?

What up Team Switzerland. Unfortunately, no one at our showing understood our shirts and probably just thought we had come from volunteering at the Red Cross. I won't post my opinion of the movie here out of respect for those of you who aren't crazy enough to go on opening day and brave the screaming adolescent girls. But give me a call... we'll talk about it.

The First 2 Weeks

Chase is now 17 days old and I can hardly believe it has been that long already! We are absolutely in love with this little bug- he is perfect in every way. He has already grown and changed so much- I am constantly torn between pride that he is so strong and healthy and despair that he won't be my sweet little newborn for very long. Here are some pictures from his adventures so far.

Chase loves to sleep. He smiles all the time in his sleep and makes the funniest faces- my books all say that they can't smile this early and that if you think they are smiling it is probably just gas. Could be- but I think he just has funny dreams.
He is also constantly playing the air guitar. James thinks this is a sign we should buy Rock Band. Nice try, babe :)

I think the thing Chase loves the most is hanging out with his dad. They have a really special bond and it is so cute to watch them together.

This is my favorite picture of my boys. Chase is so attentive when James talks to him- let's hope that characteristic stays for a couple more years.
The one thing this boy doesn't like is bathing- let's hope this characteristic dies off soon.

James' mom and sister Stacie came to visit us and we had some beautiful fall weather (LOVE being in the east for the fall!) so we got to go out with the baby.

Chase with his Aunt StacieTHe birthdays in our family coordinate wonderfully- Chase's birthday is exactly one week after mine, and James' birthday is exactly two weeks after Chase's. Here are my boys at our birthday party :)

Chase's first Halloween- how cute is this little pumpkin butt?

Halloween outfit #2- and Chase giving me his best stink eye

Note on Chase's hair- no matter how we try to style this baby's 'do, it sticks straight up on top and goes into a fauxhawk. We love it and can't keep our hands out of it!

Really though... I have to kiss this baby's cheeks almost every time I see him.

Thanks for an exhausting, instructive, and memorable 2 weeks baby Chase!

A Labor of Love

I realize that this post is a couple weeks late... but who doesn't love to read a labor story? On Thursday, October 22nd, the hospital called me at about 9 am and told me to come in at 10:30 that morning to be induced. James, with an ability to focus on the task at hand way above my own, had gone to class that morning. Luckily the law school is only a couple blocks from the hospital, so I packed up the car, picked James up, and we headed in. Right as we got there, so did two other very pregnant women, both of whom were already in labor. This meant that we had to sit around in the waiting area for about an hour until they cleared up a labor and delivery room for me. My parents arrived in the meantime and around 11:30 they admitted me.

By noon I was hooked up to the pitocin and when my doctor checked me around 1, I was already 5 cm dilated. The nurses had to keep coming in every 10 minutes to readjust the belt that was monitoring the baby's heartrate- every time they got a strong signal he would just wiggle away and they had to find it again. My sister Lindsay showed up and it was so nice to have so much company while we waited. I could feel the contractions, but they weren't too uncomfortable. At about 2:30 my doctor decided to break my water... and by 3 I was REALLY feeling those contractions. I wanted to get the epidural before it would be too hard for me to sit still, so the anesthesiologist came in and gave me the epidural. I really didn't feel anything- they did a good job (James freaked out a little because he saw the size of the needle going into my back but was kind enough to pretend he didn't).

Me right after the epidural with the trusty button that allows you to give yourself a dosing anytime you please. Pretty exciting stuff. Well the epidural works with gravity, so you are supposed to switch from lying on your left to lying on your right from time to time to keep things even. I started out lying on my left side and was told to roll to my right side when the left went tingly. Oddly enough, over the next 2 hours, my right side went completely numb and I could still feel everything on the left side. The nurses called the anesthesiologist back in and they had to readjust my epidural because it had gone in a little to the right. In order to get things corrected, they gave me another full dose and this time both sides of me went completely numb from the waist down. As in I was pretty much paralyzed- I couldn't move or feel either of my legs and I definitely wasn't feeling any contractions.

I was a 7 at this point and progressing right along. The nurses finally got sick of readjusting the heartrate belt and put an internal monitor on the baby's head instead. About this same time the contractions started coming much closer together and with some serious intensity (or so the monitor said... I was still only half a person). Chase's heartrate started to drop pretty low every time I had a contraction, and they decided to put me in an oxygen mask to help him out. The situation started to get worse- his heart rate was dropping dangerously low and the doctor thought maybe the cord was wrapped around his neck. I was dilated to a 9, so the doctor stayed close by. That last hour before I was fully dilated was absolutely terrifying- we watched his monitor constantly and prayed that he was strong enough to pull through.

After what seemed like an eternity, my doctor declared me fully dilated at 9 pm and everyone but James filed out to wait. I could feel things pretty well at this point, but I wanted to be able to feel when to push, so I didn't push the epidural button anymore. Ouch- that was a minor mistake. As I was pushing, Chase's heartrate continued to dip really low and they called in a pediatric unit just in case. Poor James looked absolutely terrified and I think he was squeezing my hand more than I was squeezing his. There were about 20 people in the room while I was pushing and a bunch of random people kept yelling, "Come on Stephanie- you can do it!" This was the first time during labor that I felt like cursing and screaming... who were these people and how the heck did they know I could do it?!? Finally, at 9:35 pm, I pushed one last time and watched in a giant mirror as a beautiful, dark-haired baby was born.

As soon as they cleared his mouth and nose he started to yell and it was the most reassuring sound I have ever heard. The pediatric team examined him and found that he was a perfectly healthy newborn. The cord wasn't wrapped around his neck at all- it turned out he just didn't appreciate being forced out.
Here is the first picture we have of our sweet baby boy.James holding his son. Seeing my two boys together for the first time was, aside from being sealed to James on our wedding day, the happiest moment of my life.

In order to get Chase out faster, they used a vacuum and even though I had an episiotomy, I still acquired quite the tear. (Apologies if that is TMI.) It took my doctor almost an hour to get me sewn up. It is hard to put into words the amount of love that swept over me the first time I finally got to hold Chase in my arms. I couldn't believe that he was finally here and so perfect.

The next 2 days in the hospital went by in such a blur and on Saturday we brought our adorable baby home for the first time. He is such an alert and cuddly little guy! We can't help but to kiss those pudgy cheeks every couple of minutes. Being a mom is exhausting work, but so rewarding. I am so thankful to have Chase as part of our eternal family.

Chase Christopher Purcell

Chase Christopher Purcell

October 22, 2009

9:35 pm

7 pounds 3 ounces, 21 inches

Heaven on earth.