My Little Brother by Big Brother

Every week Corbin has to write a spelling story using his spelling words and every week it is a struggle. It is getting better as we work on it, but it is usually hard for him to find a topic. The week after Garrett was born, he decided to write about Garrett! His story is so sweet, I wanted to share it!

MY LITTLE BROTHER

For the last nine months, I've been waiting for my little brother. Daddy and Melissa told me about him. They decided to call him Garrett. We got his room ready by getting clothes and furniture.

Cyrus, Michael, and Tessie came from Arkansas to see Garrett. They're Melissa's parents and brother. They stayed in a hotel in Hickory. We went swimming there.

Didi and RaeRae came, too. They're her mom and aunt. They flew from Arkansas and stayed at our house. Didi slept in my room, and RaeRae slept on the couch.

On Tuesday, Daddy and Melissa went to the hospital. Garrett was born March 25, 2009 at 2:04 p.m. I got to see him and hold him while sitting in a chair. His hair is the same as mine. I took care of him by feeding him. Everybody stared at him. Now I'm the big brother!

By Corbin Gragg April 1, 2009

Wonderful Week

Well, this week we got out and about! On Wednesday, I went shopping at Kohl's for some new essentials since my body has changed! I spent way to much money but it was nice to shop in the normal clothes section again and have all those choices! On Thursday, I went to the dr. and she released me, but I still have to just lay gauze in between the layers until it seals up. Robert thinks that may take up to a month. I was excited to step on the scales and see that I had lost 3 more pounds and am 4 pounds less then I was on my first dr.'s visit at 9 weeks pregnant! On Friday, we went to school and took Garrett to Corbin's classroom for show and tell and visited my classroom! It was very sweet and Corbin was so excited. We also stayed and had lunch with him. It was great to get to school and see everyone again after what feels like forever away! On Saturday, I went to the Mothers of Multiples "yard" sale with Mary! I got up at 4:30 with Garrett and then was at Mary's by 6:30! I got Garrett an excercise saucer where he can sit and bounce for $15 (when he's ready to use it) and one of those playmats that he can lay on his back and all the toys are above him for $10 plus a few hard paged books to read to him! After that Corbin had a baseball game at 11:30 which unfortunately he lost! Then, we went to Boone, NC for Robert's grandpa's 94th birthday party! Robert's side of the family except for his mom and brother had not seen Garrett so they were all excited to hold him! Of course, Sunday is church!

Pray for us next week as Robert goes back to work and he is not excited about this! I will miss the extra hands at home, but may enjoy the time without him...we'll just have to wait and see! It has been nice to have him home and to spend time together.

Everyone have a blessed week!

Week 3

We finally got to get out this week! We went with Robert and Corbin to Hickory on Tuesday to buy them some shoes. Corbin is growing so fast...he is in a size 6 shoe and his size 8 jeans we just bought this fall are already too short...glad short season is coming! On Thursday I went for my weekly dr.'s visit and she said it was healing well and that she would probably release me next week! Yeah...prayers answered! On Friday, Garrett and I got out and walked around our neighborhood. He seemed to enjoy riding in his stroller which is good because I plan to do this more with him as the weather gets warmer! On Saturday, we went to see Corbin play baseball! He hit one in the park homerun and got on every other time! They won 16-5! One mom at the game said, "Wow, you look better than you do in your hospital pictures!" I said thanks, I hope so! I have been working to lose some more weight because at this point I am back to the weight I was when I went for my first pregancy visit!

Hopefully this time next week, I'll have been released from the doctor. Joy! Joy! It will also be a sad time though because it will be Robert's last week home with us. He goes back to school on the 27th! I will miss someone else being here to talk to and take some of the load (which was a big discussion we had one night this week and things have improved considerably)! I will definitely be ready to see him when he comes home from school!

We thank God for all he did for us this week and hope everyone has a blessed week!

Week 2

Have you ever been stuck in your house unable to go anywhere or do much of anything? As we rush from place to place and go, go, go, we think it'd be fun to be stuck in the house for a few days to get caught up! Then it happens to you, and you wish you were anywhere but home! Due to my c-section complications, I have been limited on what I can do and with a newborn you are not suppose to get out for 4 weeks. Needless to say I am going stir crazy!

We went for Garrett's two week check up on Tuesday and he weighed 8 lbs. 7 ozs. That is almost a pound more than his birth weight. She said everything else looked good as well! We go back at 2 months to start shots....Mommy is not looking forward to this. Daddy is going to take off work and go with us! Garrett's naval cord feel off on Thursday! So, he got to take a bath in the little tub on our kitchen counter! How exciting! I was going to publish some of those pictures but you can see all his business and I would rather not put that out for the whole world to see!

On Monday, I had to go back to the dr. before my scheduled appointment on Thursday because when my nurse, Robert (ha ha) changed my packing on Sunday, there was green puss on the gauze. The home health nurse came back and checked it and called the dr. on call and they said I call the dr. on Monday. So, back we go to the dr. and had to see a different one because my doctor was on call at the hospital. He cleaned it out and agreed that it is infected but since I am already on antibiotics that it should get better. We then returned to the dr. on Thursday and I saw my dr. She cleaned it out again and said it looked really good! She thought we'd have it all healed up in the next two weeks! Yippee! She also said I could get out and start walking around the neighborhood! Yahoo!! I am already back down to my pre-pregnancy weight, so I want to start walking to lose some more.

We hope everyone has a wonderful Easter! We thank God for the blessings he has brought into our lives every day!

What a Week!

I have always been a little dramatic! Drama found me a lot in high school, but it seemed to have calmed down the older I got until.... I got pregnant! As I have stated before throughout my pregnancy there was drama, my delivery was drama, and now after delivery we have more drama! Yesterday, about 2:00 pm, my incision from my c-section started to bleed, and we're not talking drops, we're talking loads. So, I had to go back to the doctor where she drained it out and packed it. There was a blood clot that she had to drain out and an infection had set in. I was again running a fever. I hadn't taken pain medicine since 9 am so it was very uncomfortable. She explained that a c-section heals from the inside out and the part that is holding everything in has sealed up fine, but the top had gotten an infection and you have to pack it to keep the top part from healing over and leaving a big opening in the middle that could collect blood until it busted open and bled out! About 10% of c-sections have some type of complication and as my dad says if there's a chance of something happening...it will happen to us! So home health care is coming in twice a day to pack it until Robert feels comfortable doing it. Then they will just come and check on us. It could heal anywhere from 10 days to 4 weeks. Needless, to say my husband is taking off another week to stay home with me because I can't drive as long as I am on pain meds and I have to take those to handle the pain of the packing.

The doctor asked yesterday if the reward was worth it and I said oh yeah! I wouldn't trade Garrett for the world! He is so precious! Every time I look at him, I just love him more! For someone who really wanted a girl, I wouldn't trade my baby boy for the world! He went to the peditrician on Wednesday and they said he was perfect and he weighed 7 lbs. 14 ozs. ( a 5 oz. gain from when he was born).

My step-mom joked in the waiting room when I went back for the c-section that she wondered if I was telling them to just go ahead and tie my tubes. I said no, I wanted to try again. When people say that you forget the pain soon after, they aren't lying. I remember that it hurt and I wanted to scream and cry, but in the end it is gone and you are left with the most precious gift you have ever been given.

I told Corbin and Robert about my friend, Erica, saying she'd only seen pictures of Corbin, but that Garrett looked just like him and Corbin looked just like Robert, and my friend, Misti, asked where I was in the baby! Corbin loves to hear this! He loves it that Garrett looks so much like him. So, Corbin says when we have a baby next month...I said we aren't having a baby next month. Robert said remember we talked about how it takes 9 months for a baby to come. I said we're not having another baby in 9 months! So, Corbin says well, when we do have another baby, what if he doesn't have dark hair either? I said then I guess I'll have 3 boys who look just alike. He said no, four with Daddy and I said yeah, that's right. Then he tried to count the dog as he always does and I said no, Milo doesn't count!

We have been so impressed with how well Corbin has done with Garrett! His spelling story this week was about Garrett! When he gets it back next week, I'll have to post it. He loves to hold hm and he kisses him all the time. It is so precious! Garrett couldn't ask for a better big brother! His teacher sent me an e-mail saying that he had really improved the last few weeks and seemed to be really trying to do better! We have really praised him for this and told hiim he is setting a good example for Garrett! He reads his reading homework to Garrett at night!

Corbin's first baseball game of the season is tonight. Of course, Garrett and I will have to miss it since they suggest not getting him out for 4 weeks, so we have 3 more to go! Robert is the coach and this year they will be called the Hiddenite Wildcats. Their uniforms are nice! I will post pictures of this as soon as I get some!

So, keep us in your prayers and enjoy your weekend!