Welch Family Blog: March 2012

Charlie's Room & Newborn Pics

I just wanted to share a few pictures of Charlie's room and also of our first few days at home. Nate and I were tired after the weekend at the hospital. I remember us laughing and thinking it was crazy that we were allowed to leave with this little person. He was all ours and we were responsible for his well-being....scary. Let's just say there was very little sleep, lots of feedings, plenty of wet diapers and no shortage of fears that we were doing everything wrong. But we had the support of all our family and friends, so that is what got us through.

Charlie's Room

This dresser used to my Dad's and then mine.

Newborn Pics

(Karen's first Newborn photo shoot I might add :)

First Bath

First Bath w/ Mimi's help....had NO idea what I was doing.

First Official Family Photos

Charlie's Birth Story

Ok, I'm not going to lie, it's been 5 years and details are fuzzy. I was scheduled to go to work on Friday, October 20th, but I wasn't feeling well. Not sick, but just not quite right. I had been feeling good most of my pregnancy, except for the initial morning sickness t/o the first trimester. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I just didn't feel like I should go to work. It was a week (I think) before my due date at that point. So, I called in sick for the first time at my job. After the first couple of hours of laying around, I started feeling better and decided that this would be a perfect time for Charlie to come into the world. It would be over the weekend, so it would be a good time for our families to come down to the hospital. We get to plan these things, right? I decided to go for a long walk....on a walking track....in the freezing cold. Did I mention I didn't exercise t/o the pregnancy? So, after about a 2 mile walk, I decided to head home. When I got back I was exhausted and took a nap on the couch. When I woke up, I stood up, and my water broke. Just like that. I called Nate who was 1 1/2 hrs away and told him to get home, called the dr's office who said to head that way, w/o waiting on Nate, which I of course did not do. Instead I took a shower and waited for him. Hey, I've heard of people having babies in cars, and there was NO WAY I was driving myself! Granted that doesn't normally happen to first time moms....but still! When we got to the hospital, they hooked me up to an IV and Pitocin to get everything going good b/c of course my body wasn't really ready to go into labor yet. I don't remember when I got an epidural and all of that, but I'm sure it was as soon as I could :) I went through that Friday night, slept some, and waited. Between 5 and 6 am, it was time to push and Charlie was born at 8:55 am. It was a rough 3ish hrs. I got really nauceous and didn't feel quite right for awhile. I couldn't really enjoy holding him, b/c I was too scared I would drop him, but after a couple of hours, I was good to go. He was so handsome! All of our friends and family made the trip to the hospital. He was the first grandchild, great-grandchild, and nephew in both families. We were just a little excited :)

Charles William Welch

October 21, 2006

7 #3 , 21 in

8:55 am 

From the Beginning....

So, I've been wanting to start a blog for awhile now. But the prospect of going back as far as I wanted to was daunting to me. The fact that I never got around to doing baby books for Charlie or Hayden has been eating at me for a very long time. I always thought I was too far behind or it would take too long to catch-up. The fact that I wasn't going to be able to remember everything (all milestones, funny stages and sayings or stories about the kids) was just an excuse to not even try. Each year that has past (Charlie is now 5 and Hayden 3) made me feel like I had missed too many opportunities to pick it up and start. However, the other day when Hayden said another funny thing, and I was telling someone about it, they said the same thing I've heard a million times...."You have GOT to write that down!" And once again, I was like, "Yea, yea....I'll never remember that and I'm sure I won't write it down." That just makes me sad! My kids will want to hear things from their childhood when they're older and I won't be able to tell them the best stuff! So, instead of saying,"They are already 5 and 3, I've missed too much"....I'm going to start saying, "They are only 5 and 3, there is so much more that they are going to say and do from this point on and there is no better time to start than now!" It will just be a personal family blog to go back and chronicle as many of our family's milestones as possible. I'm talking back to their birth stories, pictures at each age, Christmas/Birthday pictures, milestones I can remember, and funny stories/quirks. The beginning of this blog will be interesting to only family members, I'm sure....or maybe just Nate and myself, but that is fine. It will be written down somewhere! And then once I do all the background work and catch-up, I will try my best to keep it updated on a regular basis. I am not a writer. My grammar and punctuation will not be perfect, but it will be everything I want to say and how I would normally think or say it....so no making fun of me :)