Merry Christmas!

It was a big Christmas this year.  Not only because we had John Henry but also because we had our families in town to celebrate with.  Jay's sister's family from Colorado was here, my family from Colorado and of course, all of our Georgia family stuck around to celebrate my favorite holiday!  (Don't worry, I know they came for John Henry and not for me!)

We had the annual Starr family dinner on Thursday, a nice and relaxed Christmas eve Friday and then gifts and TONS of food on Saturday.  It was too much for John Henry, so he slept through it.  I'm sure it will be different next year.  Maybe we won't be as sleep deprived (pictures below are evidence of that), John Henry will be awake to open his gifts (seriously, he couldn't be bothered to be awake this year), and maybe we'll have furniture in our living room to go with the Christmas tree (doubtful)!

We had a great Christmas.  Our one regret is that we didn't get to make it to church the entire month of December.  We missed that this year because of bed rest and then the newborn.  Although Sumner and Max did an amazing job reading the true Christmas story, we would like to get back to our church to celebrate the holiday next year. 

Our family picture (Lady didn't want to join us) before we went to the Starr family dinner on Thursday.  Can you tell that we could barely keep our eyes open?

On Christmas eve my Aunt Sonnie and Uncle Edward came to visit JHS.  As expected, he slept through the visit.

Proud Schuler Family

Christmas eve with Santa

Our Christmas eve dinner with roast beast

All of the kids opening their loot on Christmas morning.

Cece helping Holland with her toys.

John Henry's first Christmas gift!

Jay wishing he was asleep like John Henry.

The Starr trio (JHS III, JHS IV, and JHS V)

Sherridan and Holland

The Santivanez, Ladner, and Starr children.  Seven crazy cousins, and I still can't believe one of them belongs to us!

I guess it's a good thing we don't have furniture in the living room...

We look a little more awake after 3 cups of coffee.

Lady opening her loot.  The bone was the grand finale.

Grandma and Grandpa Schuler

Josh M and Grandma S.

Thanks Jared, Jenni, and Devin!  I know JHS will love his toys.

Grandma Yeary and Josh S

The Josh brothers being silly as usual.  (No they did not get Chinese takeout - my parents got them Bronco tickets).

Lady guarding her loot.

Okay, I lied.  John Henry didn't sleep through all of Christmas.  He was awake for a few minutes.

Unfortunately I didn't get pictures of Wendy, Steve, and James.  I think I know why.  Wendy was busy searching for Cece's gift that accidentally got thrown away.  I'm impressed that she found it!  After helping the kids with gifts, Steve put us all to shame and went for a Christmas morning run in his new work out clothes.  And James, he was busy with the video camera and then assembling the guns that Bebe bought them. Yes, I said guns.  Don't worry, the worst they can do is shoot their eye out!  I promise to do a better job next year and get pictures of everyone. 

Merry Christmas!

Redneck Babysitting

Jay and my brothers spent a few hours on Christmas eve building a fire and shooting pellet guns at makeshift targets.  The boys were sweet enough to let John Henry tag along. 

As cute as they all are, I refuse to use this as our baby announcement picture.  Sorry boys!

A Full House

Jay and I are lucky to have lots of family.  Most of Jay's family is here in Georgia but most of my family is in Colorado.  My family travelled all the way from Colorado to come help us with our little one.  My parents arrived the day after we got home from the hospital and my brother Josh arrived on Tuesday.  My other brother, also named Josh (don't get confused), arrived before John Henry was born.  It was a full house but it was so great to have everyone here to help. 

 Grandma and Grandpa Schuler

 Grandpa Schuler is so proud!

 Uncle Josh is a natural!

 The other uncle Josh!

Grandpa Schuler got lots of hands on time with his grandson.

 John Henry in his special tractor outfit for Grandpa!

Grandma Schuler getting some love!

We are so grateful for everyone's help!  Our fridge has never seen so much food and it was so nice to not have to cook for a week.  It was also great to have someone help love on Lady so she didn't feel neglected as well as hold the baby so we could get a nap every night.  I know John Henry won't remember this visit but we definitely will.  We are blessed to have such a wonderful family! 

The Dreaded J word

Before this week I've never really thought about Jaundice.  I never had a reason to think twice about it.  I knew what it was but never realized the frustration, agony, and helplessness it could bring.  I'm not being dramatic.  I'm just being honest.

The night John Henry was born we were told that he had Jaundice and they wanted to put him under the lights in the nursery.  We were concerned but the doctor assured us that this was common and after a day or so under the bright lights, our boy would be fine.  To be honest, I wasn't too worried and actually thought it was God's way of giving me a good night sleep since they wanted to keep him in the nursery.  We did get some sleep that night but it wasn't worth the frustration that was ahead of us.  John Henry spent the rest of his time in the hospital under the lights and the doctor sent us home with a small portable photo-therapy "light" bed on Saturday.  We were told that our baby had to be on the bed at all times, with the exception of 30 minute stretches every three hours that were needed to feed and change him. 

(John Henry getting photo-therapy in the cradle)

Thirty minutes is not a long period of time.  Especially with a newborn.  Jay and I worked hard to stay within the 30 minute requirement.  It meant we both woke up with the baby to get the bottle ready (no time to breast feed), feed the baby, change the baby, wash the stupid straight jacket blanket that he had to be in on the bed, and then get him back in.  There was no time to just hold and love on him.  Not to sound immature - but it sucked.  What made it worse was that for the next four days, we had to go back to the hospital to get his blood tested to check the Jaundice levels.  My poor baby had to have his heels pricked to get the blood.  By the end of the week, his sweet little feet looked like he was dragged across shards of glass.  As his levels continued to rise, Jay and I felt more defeated.  We were doing everything that was asked and our sweet baby wasn't getting better. 

(Since we couldn't pick him up, we had to find other ways to love on him.)

By Wednesday, we finally got some good news.  His levels were on the way down and we could take him off of the bed.  Although our sweet pumpkin had a little orange left, he was on the road to recovery and we could love on him the way we wanted.  We celebrated with a quick trip to visit BeBe and CeCe and then went home, had dinner, and opened a bottle of champagne.  We ended our celebration by burning the stupid light bed blankets that we had been washing every few hours for the past four days.  It was glorious.

(A family of blue.) 

 (Sumner, Holland, Sherridan, and Wendy came to congratulate John Henry)

(Not too much orange left.)

(I'm not joking when I said we burned the stupid light bed blankets.)

I'm sure we'll look back one day and say it wasn't as big of a deal as we thought it was when we were in the moment.  Maybe not.  Maybe we'll say it robbed us of the first few days with our new baby.  Regardless, it happened, we got over it, and we're on to bigger and better things.

It's a family!

Our dog Lady may not agree, but we are now officially a family.  A family of three with a dog.  At 8:53 am on December 16th of 2010, John Henry Starr V was born.  He's got 10 fingers and 10 toes and seems to be very healthy indeed.  Amanda and I feel very blessed to have so many friends and family shower support on us.  We'll need it - the little guy isn't crying right now, but I know he's got it in him.  There are a thousand thoughts in my head right now, but let's let some pictures do the talking.  Enjoy!