Skylar turned five weeks this past Sunday and amazingly, he is already showing his personality. He squeaks, squawks, coos, whimpers, meows, sneezes, hiccups, and best of all, he now smiles these big circle smiles while squinting up his eyes. He always wants to be held - vibrate seats, swings, and play gym mats don't cut it - he wants the warmth of a body and a beating heartbeat. With a little head or back rub, Skylar can fall asleep in anyone's arms. When he's hungry, he brings his little fists up to his mouth and he looks like a squirrel nibbling on a handful of acorns. He excitedly starts kicking and waving his arms when Dax comes near and doesn't protest too much when his big brother plants a wet one on his lips or lays his hands on his cheeks. He's a light sleeper and prefers sleeping on his belly to his back just like the rest of his family. He hates being swaddled (I thought ALL babies like being swaddled!) and if a noise is more sudden than it is even loud, he jumps out of his skin. He gives his daddy a big sideways grin in the mornings when he first lays eyes on him and is ticklish everywhere, especially the neck and behind his meaty thighs. He's already growing out of newborn onesies and even 0-3 month clothing is fitting snug. His wave machine knocks him in to a deep sleep and he's learning how to push the binki (he ONLY likes the green hospital "soothies") back in to his mouth by using his fist. He's starting to rock on to his side and back and he can follow a voice or a face across the room. Of course I'm going to sound like a proud mother when I say this, but I swear he already knows his name and Dax's name and when he looks at me with those dark blue eyes, I'm sensing he understands a lot more than he's able to articulate! I can't wait to see what the next five weeks brings.

Both my sweet boys are sleeping so I thought I'd finally update my blog for the first time since giving birth to Skylar Drake Murrell.
I can't believe our second son is finally here and he's healthy, robust, and just bursting with cuteness from his fingers to his tiny toes. I gained just about 40 pounds in my pregnancy and when the labor and delivery nurse noted what a big baby he was as he was entering in to this fine world, I realized where a lot of this weight had gone. He was 8 1/2 pounds at birth and when given his first taste of milk, he latched on with a powerful clamp. Ah, now I've witnessed with my own eyes how much easier full term babies are than early babies. Skylar latched right away, sleeps well, has nice fat on him for warmth and has a very congenial disposition. Dax was three weeks early and didn't have the muscles in his mouth to latch properly (it took him two months to breastfeed), his tear ducts weren't fully developed and so his eyes clogged easily, he needed to eat ALL the time because he was making up for his small stature and he had breast milk allergies to my dairy intake. And it goes on and on. I am so thankful that Skylar made it to 40 weeks and one day - the time incubating has helped him enormously. And unlike going totally natural with Dax during the delivery, I opted for the epidural this time and I've never been so happy with such a decision. I was able to enjoy and remember Skylar's birth and I feel like as a result, he came out less stressed and healthier because of it. I earned my badge of honor going au natural with Daxie - but this time, I knew I needed my pain to be mitigated. I made a promise to myself that I was not going to end up on the floor on all fours trying to rock away the overwhelming waves of intense contractions - ones that had me moaning but speechless and worrying Tim to no end.
Now we are a family of four. How silly of me to think that I wouldn't be able to love a second boy as much as my first. Oh, how wrong I was. They are so uniquely different that I'm already loving them each for all their differences and of course, similarities too. And having Skylar has made me appreciate Dax even more. I adore Dax for lavishing wet kisses all over Skylar's silky dark brown head of hair, for helping with bottle feedings (yes, I'm having to supplement with formula because I'm not making quite enough breast milk but my supply gets better each day!), for propping Skylar up in his lap in the big leather recliner and watching as Skylar slips in to a restful sleep in Daxie's arms and for climbing in to my bed every morning saying he wants to see "baby Skylar". The brotherly love is already there. For the first two weeks home with Skylar, I would silently weep as I fed him in the rocker. And my tears were always tears of gratefulness. I'm so incredibly grateful that at the age of 41, I could give birth for the second time to such a healthy, gorgeous baby boy. It makes me believe that there is a god or presence out there and that this spirit is closely watching over my family. I hold Skylar close and repeat over and over, "thank you thank you thank you" to whoever is listening to this teary-eyed mama.