Sully is Three Weeks Old!

Sully is officially in his third week with us. Hard to believe three weeks have already passed since he joined our family. Everyone said things like "you will wonder what you did with your free time" and "you won't remember life without him," before he was born, and boy were they right! Its hard to remember what it felt like to work with both hands (in fact, as I type, he is in the crook of my left arm, very close to dozing off), or to have to take only one trip to the car when loading up, or sleeping through the night. We are working very hard at the last one, although we are making progress, I got a three solid hour stretch last night!

We had a nice day on his three week mark. Dave worked, so Sully and I spent most of it together. We had a full morning and then took a nice nap in the afternoon. We then went to visit Grandma Helen. Its fun to see her whole face brighten up when she is holding or even just looking at Sullivan. She is so comfortable with him, you can tell she is a very seasoned grandma. We then went to The Washington Pavilion where my mom had a silent action for her painting which was chosen for The Sidewalk Arts Festival as their official poster this year. It will be used as the backdrop for all advertising needs. She had to tweak 10 of the prints to be auctioned off. It was really great, we are so proud of her. Dave and I wrapped up the evening with dinner at Josiah's, a new coffee shop downtown. We had pizza and dessert, all in honor of Sully :).

Yes, Dave and Sullivan are matching. Dave had to get one outing in with similar attire before Sullivan outgrew one of his first favorite outfits ;).

Daddy, Grandma Helen, and Sullivan

Daddy, Grandma Mary, Sully and me at the Washington Pavilion

Sullivan and Mama at Josiah's

Happy Father's Day!

We had a jam packed Father's Day, full of family and activities. After pondering what the best activity would be for a guy who waited 50 years to be a father, we decided on a picnic at Newton Hills with Dave's mom and two nieces followed by burgers at my parents house. It was a great day.

We were exhausted last night on our drive home and swung though Walgreens for (another) package of diapers when I asked Dave if first dad's day was everything he had imagined. His response was very touching and describes his relationship with Sullivan very well. He talked about how surreal everything is and about how he had ruled out ever having his own father's day, so everyday and every moment is very unexpected and something he feels so fortunate for. 

I feel very lucky to have Dave as Sullivan's daddy. He has been a great partner in this new adventure. He is very supportive, encouraging and eager to spend time with his new son. Im looking forward to watching their relationship grow. 

We love you, Daddy!

Two Weeks Old

Sullivan is two weeks old today. We spent the day early with the first real sleepless night, he was wide eyed from about 1:00-4:00am. We slept in this morning, trying to recover from the restless night. It was hot and humid today but we walked to Kaladis, one of our favorite lunch spots, then came home to work on the nursery (we are trying to make it a little more boyish) before heading to the doctor for another well baby check. Everything looks great. He is 8lbs even, which is a whole pound weight gain from his last visit (10 days ago), this puts him in the 50 percentile. I am super proud of him for being such a good eater, and of myself for learning the breast feeding ropes and sticking to it (we still have a lot to learn, but I feel like we are on the right track). We are taking it easy tonight, dinner at home with a Twins game on TV, and trying to keep Sully awake so he sleeps like a champ tonight ;). It is great to spend evenings together as a family.

Below are a couple of photos taken today, two weeks old. 

Sullivan and Great Grandma and Grandpa Scott

Dave had his first weekend of call this past weekend and I was super anxious about my first 24 hour stretch alone with Sullivan. Not that I couldn't handle it, it was more of the idea of Dave being gone. He had been my social outlet, my sounding board, my sense of reason, and my side kick around the clock for eight days straight, so I knew I just needed to get through it, and that I would get through it.

My mom and I were chatting and she was talking about heading to Mitchell and the light bulb went on, this was the perfect way to spend one of Dave's call days. I could steal some quality time with her in the car, and I could also introduce Sully to his Great Grandparents and Great Aunt Janet. So, we packed up and hit the road. Sully did awesome. He slept the entire way there and the entire way home, and woke up long enough to squeak hello while in Mitchell.

Sullivan is my grandparent's 21st great grandchild. The age range is from 12 years to 14 days old. Its amazing how the family has grown. We are very lucky to have my grandparents with us, they are going strong at 89 and 96 years old and will celebrate their 70th wedding anniversary this fall. They are a great example of love and strength to all of us. Below are a few pictures of the day.

Sullivan and Great Grandpa Wally

Great Grandma Gladys, Sully, and Grandma Banana

Me, Gma and Gpa Scott, and Sullivan

Baby Munce and a Monarch

Among the numerous visitors over this last week, Sullivan was fortunate enough to meet his Great Aunt Jo, my mom's sister. She made a quick stop over on Friday evening while Dave was on call and dropped off a gift for Sullivan. This gift was a bit different than most, it was a dirty clear plastic cup with a small oval thing inside and was given to me with specific instructions...

There was more than what met the eye, that little oval thing inside was a cocoon, which had been spun on Sully's birthday. What a treat! Jo told me they usually hatch in 10 days, so to be on the look out on Sunday to see what happened. Sure enough, as I was scrambling to get out of the house with my hands full, what was in the cup stopped me in my tracks. The monarch had hatched, and was patiently waiting in the cup for me to set it free. As I released it, I frantically grabbed for my camera and happened to get the perfect shot just as it flew away. It will be fun to tell Sullivan the story someday and to search for "Sully's monarch" in the years to come.

Sully's First Week

Its hard to believe a week has already passed since Sullivan joined our family. It has been a great week, the weather is gorgeous for June and we have been able to get out in the stroller several times already. What a blessing it is to live in the McKennan Park Neighborhood, so much activity and many miles of familiar streets and sidewalks to roam.

Sullivan has also met several new people, we have had lots and lots of visitors, both family and friends eager to meet this new little person. He is so lucky to be loved by so many, and so are we.

Dave and I are also experiencing a lot of new things. We knew we were in for a wild ride, and to be totally honest, the transition has gone pretty well, at times I catch myself feeling overwhelmed and tearful, but it passes and I seem to come out of it just fine. Im hopeful that those times become more and more minimal over the coming days and weeks. Dave has been very supportive throughout the night feedings, he realizes there isn't much he can do besides offer to get me water or a pillow, but even those small gestures at 4am are majorly appreciated. I should mention that he did ask about night doulas twenty minutes into our first night home with him. I laughed and told him he has to give us a chance to succeed before assuming we will fail, and that has been the motto ever since.

Anna, Isaac, and Sullivan

Cappy and Sullivan

Sophia and Sully

Matt, Sarah, and Sully

Kenzie meets Sullivan

Sweet Sully

Sullivan Paul Munce

Boy oh boy was I surprised when I was woken at 2:30am on May 31st and realized my water had broke. This was the last thing I was expecting, as I had a doctors apt at 9:30 that day and we were planning to go the induction route because of my blood pressure problems. We had the induction tentatively planned for Saturday, June 3.

Apparently Sullivan had different plans. We arrived at the hospital at 3am to learn I had made very little progress since the week before, but since my water had broke, they would move things along. After taking a medication to induce labor, I started having contractions around 6am. By 8:30am I was dilated to a 3 1/2 which meant I was ready for an epidural, if I would like...and you bet I would like one, those contractions hurt! I had the epidural placed by 9:30am and they started pitocin around 1pm to keep things moving in the right direction. By 4:30pm I was completely dilated and was able to start pushing. My doctor was able to make it over after her clinic hours, so was there by 4:45pm to help coach me along. I delivered Sullivan at 5:58pm and he was perfect.

The experience is something I will never forget. The pain, the anticipation, the anxiety that everything would go well, and finally, the reward of a perfect baby at the end of the day. It was so overwhelming. I look at photos from the delivery and in many of them my composure is completely gone. I was a blubbering mess, especially when he was in my arms. He was finally here, the little baby I had wanted, prayed for, and spent many tearful hours wishing for, was here. What a surreal experience. 

Sullivan Paul Munce

Sullivan with his Aunt Maggie

The Munce Family

Sullivan with his daddy