Paxton's First Month

Our little Pax is keeping us very happy and quite busy. He is truly a super sweet baby. He is easy to please for the most part and is soooo adorable! Here are the things we have learned about him during his first month of life...



At 1 month old Paxton...
Weighs: 10 lbs 7 oz
Height: ?

He is such a snuggler. I love this of course! I can carry him around in the Moby wrap most of the time. At first he doesn't like it but then he falls right to sleep and sometimes will sleep in it for hours while Rowen and I are out and about or we are at home and I am getting little things done around the house.



Pax has been snuggled by so many people who love him during his first month. His Grammy and Papa and his Nana and Grandpa have all had lots of snuggle time with Pax. Daddy gets in some time each night and Rowen would like for Pax to sleep with him all night but we are not there yet of course ;). Mommy gets the most snuggles and I plan to keep it that way for as long as I can!




He is mostly very content until the evening rolls around and then fussy time begins. It seems to last about 2-3 hours then he finally falls asleep and does really well throughout the night thank goodness. I have found that taking him outside often calms him down. Also, daddy walks him around the house so that he can look at all the lights.



Likes his swing. If we wrap him up tight and get him swinging in that thing he will sleep through lots of noise and give mommy some time to eat, feed Rowen, and sometimes get a shower.

Loves to snuggle with his Grammy. She can put him to sleep in seconds! Eric asked her to move in. That is how good she is :).



He poops so much I am amazed even as a second time mom. I don't remember this much poop with Rowen :). I am glad that everything is working well for Pax but I am looking forward to the pooping to slow down a bit!



Sleeps really well when I am holding him! Pax usually does a three hour stretch then a 4-5 hour stretch, if I am holding him. However, the past few nights I have been putting him down in the co-sleeper and he is sleeping 3 hour stretches which is still great for now! I could never sleep holding Rowen but this time with Pax I am able to relax much more and fall asleep with him in my arms. I don't sleep that great of course but at least it is sleep and right now that is all I want. I have also been putting him down for naps more and more. He has had a few long ones and then the next day I can't put him down without him crying.



Pax is still pretty much in the eat, poop, awake for about 30 -45 minutes or so then sleep for an hour or two routine. Sometimes he will go really long stretches between feedings and other days it seems like all I do is breast feed.



Speaking of feeding Paxton, he really loves his milk! He is a getting much faster at nursing and guzzles down each meal. Consequently he is gaining weight very well and is starting to show some major signs of becoming a serious chunk. I love chunky babies (Rowen was the epitome of a chunky baby) so I am loving every new roll and extra chin!



Unfortunately, Paxton had a tongue tie and a lip tie. This caused breast feeding problems mostly for me. Paxton was somehow still transferring milk really well and thus gaining weight like a champ but I was extremely sore and damaged :(. Pax had his tongue tie and lip tie clipped by an ENT (an entirely different and long story). It was a sad experience for Pax and mommy and daddy! Grammy too, she came to one of the appointments with us. However, we are through that ordeal now and are just trying to focus on getting me healed. This is proving to be more of a challenge than we expected. I am hopeful that I will be feeling back to "normal" soon.



Is taking a pacifier pretty well. We tried to give Rowen a pacifier for a few weeks but he wasn't too interested and we actually were relieved. We didn't want to have to rely on a pacifier all the time and we especially didn't want to have to wean him off of it. However, with my need to have some time without a baby using me as a pacifier so that I can heal, we have decided to give it more of a shot with Paxton. It is a life saver at times!




Paxton despises his car seat. I think he dislikes it as much as his big brother did at this age. The great thing about being a mama for the second time is knowing that it is just a phase and it will pass pretty quickly.


Paxton has met lots of new friends already. Porter is almost exactly one month older than Pax (photo of Porter and Paxton below), Callen is 2 months older, and then of course all of his older buddies- Cooper, Bennett, Josie, and all of his cousins- Olivia, Matt, Charlie, and Liz.



Paxton has truly completed our family. It just feels right- me, Eric and our two boys. I am amazed at how wonderful it feels to have my two kids here with me all the time. Eric and I are so fortunate, so grateful for our Pax!



Stayed tuned for some photos of Rowen and his "little guy".

Rowen went camping

Rowen has been asking to go camping since our one and only camping trip in June. Grammy and Papa have not gone camping all summer because they wanted to stay close to home in case baby decided to make an early arrival. Well, finally a few weekends ago Rowen got to go camping with Grammy and Papa. He had the time of his life! Eric, Paxton and I met them at the campground on Sunday, enjoyed the sunny day together and celebrated Grammy's 50th Birthday.

Our 3 1/2 year old LOVED tubing. Uh oh- I am so in for it with two boys :). I might have an early heart attack!

Catching frogs- such a big milestone for Rowen. He hasn't been willing to touch bugs or frogs ever but he caught tons of frogs over the weekend and even tried to scare mommy with one.

Rowen also just all of a sudden became very comfortable with the water. He jumped into Daddy from this log over and over again with no hesitation.

Happy Birthday to Grammy! She is truly beloved by her Rowen and the rest of our family.

Playing with cousin Matt, or as Rowen says "my Matt".

Sleeping in the camper with Grammy and Papa is so much fun!

And of course Paxton had his first lake day at only 2 weeks old. He was an angel the entire time.

We can't wait to watch our boys grow up spending time with family at the lake- catching frogs, tubing, jumping off of logs, climbing trees, playing in the sand, and just being little boys in one of the best places on earth.

First Day of Preschool

Rowen's first day of preschool was yesterday, September 7th, 2011. We had visited his preschool 2 days before Paxton was born so Rowen was familiar with the classroom and his teacher. He has been very excited, asking me when does he get to go to school and talking about what he plans to play with when he gets there.

The night before preschool we gave him new Lightning McQueen light up shoes. He LOVES them! He couldn't wait to put them on in the morning but he was a bit anxious about going to school. He kept asking where daddy and mommy and Paxton were going to be. He also wanted to be sure that he was going to get to show Paxton off to his friends, however when we got there he completely forgot about little brother- just as it should be :).

Daddy and Rowen made french toast together for breakfast then it was time to eat and head out the door. We tried to keep it very low key, not talk about school too much and it actually worked best for Rowen this way.

Our big boy... he is so special.

Standing in front of his cubbie.

I had to get one photo with my preschool boy.

As soon as we got to school he posed for photos and then walked into the classroom, found the cars bucket right away and began playing. As soon as we felt he was busy and happy we said goodbye and walked out.

When we came back to pick him up he was playing on the playground, having a great time. According to his teacher he did great the entire time! He loved every minute of it. We knew he would.





Rowen told us about everything he could possibly remember doing at preschool... blue play dough, his teacher reading aloud Brown Bear, Brown Bear, cheese and crackers for snack, the purple car and the car that looks just like Daddy's bronco, the little boy who got stung by a bee outside, coloring a picture for mommy, how Miss Rachel and Gail like his light up shoes, the names of all the boys in his class (he didn't know a single one of the boys until that day- he knows a few of the girls), measuring things with his teacher, and how much he wants to go back to school! We couldn't be more proud!

Paxton Eric Volk

We are proud to introduce Paxton Eric Volk

Paxton was born on August 27th at 9:18 p.m.
Weighing 8 lbs 3 oz and 19.5 inches


On Friday August 26th I went in for one of my regular OB appointments. I was a little concerned that maybe something might not be right because I had been feeling a bit off over the last 2 days. It is hard to explain what it feels like but I just know it isn't right. I didn't hurt or have any major symptoms at all but I wasn't surprised when my nurse took my blood pressure and it was high. Not scary high but certainly on the higher side. I was told to lay down so that they could take it again in about 10 minutes. 10 minutes later my doctor came in and took my blood pressure again, instead of going down it went up slightly. He sighed and said that he had a decision to make... "When are we going to have this baby? This weekend?". He wasn't really asking me my opinion because a moment later he said, "Tomorrow sounds good. You will be induced tomorrow morning." I have to admit I was a bit taken aback. I shouldn't have been but I thought that maybe he would give me a few more days however he went on to explain that due to my history with HELLP syndrome that he didn't feel comfortable waiting any longer to deliver. So, I was told to go to the lab for blood work and then to schedule the induction.

We went home and immediately got to work on the last minute details. Checked to make sure our bags were perfectly packed, gather everything in the living room so it would be ready to go in the morning, took a few photographs of my 37 week belly and then finally tried to settle down with dinner and our bedtime routine for Rowen. All of this with the help of Grammy and Papa and Nana (Grandpa was out of town).

That night was probably the longest night of my life. I was so excited to meet this little person that I loved already so very much and also scared about how everything was going to go. I knew I wasn't going to sleep hardly at all and sure enough Eric and I were up late into the next morning when we finally both got a few hours of sleep. To make matters worse our air conditioner went out that day so our house was VERY HOT! It took until about 2 a.m. for it to cool off enough outside for us to even be able to sleep in our bedroom with the windows open and fans blowing. We laid around in the living room watching a movie and a few TV shows and talking about how our life was about to change forever once again the next day.

The next day we got up early to get ready to go. Grammy and Papa came over to take care of Rowen while Eric and I headed to the hospital. We arrived right on time but it took about another 2 hours to get the induction going. I labored from about 10 a.m. until about 4:00ish before I decided to go ahead and get an epidural. My doctor didn't come to break my water until 6:22 (yes, I know the exact time because I was very irritated that it took so long) and at that point things picked up very quickly. By 8:15 p.m. I was dilated to a 9 and at shortly after 9 pm I was ready to push. My nurse checked me again and said very calmly that baby was right there. She asked Eric to push a button behind my bed and when he did she once again calmly asked for a delivery team right away. My doctor and a few other nurses walked in very slowly but quickly realized that baby was coming like right now! I gave one big push and 2 little ones and baby had arrived into the world! Eric announced, "It's a boy!". We looked at each other and laughed and cried. Paxton was put up onto my chest immediately (something I didn't get to experience with Rowen's emergency delivery) and I fell immediately even more in love with my baby boy. We stared at him and talked to him as he cried and made all sorts of adorable noises. He looked absolutely perfect and beautiful and adorable. I couldn't stop staring at him and kissing him. Finally I said it was okay for the nurses to weigh him. I was very curious to find out how big this boy was. When they said he was 8 lbs 3 oz everyone in the room was amazed but not surprised. We were so thrilled to have such a healthy big boy! Soon after Paxton got his footprints taken and Eric and I got stamped with his tiny precious feet too!

Then Paxton was wrapped up and daddy got some time to get a good look at his second son.



Soon, it was time for Rowen to meet his little brother. The introduction was one I will never forget. Rowen was thrilled, smiling from ear to ear and giggling. He climbed up on the bed to get a good look at Paxton. Paxton got a few kisses from big brother then it was time to go to the room we would be staying in for the night.

Rowen and daddy got to ring the bells after Paxton's birth.



Before Rowen left to go home with Grammy and Papa, Paxton gave Rowen a big brother gift... dinosaurs! Lots of dinosaurs. Rowen entertained himself at the hospital with his new dinosaurs until late at night.


The next day...


Our family of 4 the morning after Paxton's birth.
We couldn't be happier with our two sweet boys!

Rowen brought Paxton this outfit as his gift to his little brother. Rowen wore his Big Brother T-shirt and Paxton was immediately dressed into his "little brother" outfit.

Big bro and little bro
As you can see from the photo, Rowen is very proud and excited to have a little brother.

After a few good friends came by to meet Paxton, we celebrated Paxton's 0 birthday with our family. Rowen had a great time singing happy birthday to his little brother and blowing out the candles.

Eric and I are so happy to welcome Paxton into our family. We can't stop staring at him, kissing him and snuggling him. He is ours, our sweet little boy.