Reunion

Here are the babies that are graduates of our Lamaze class. We had a great time today getting to meet all the babies and talk to all of the parents. Once again we were amazed at how everyone has such different babies and different experiences. One of the reasons there are so many baby books out there is that one thing does not work for every baby.

Speaking of baby books - we started reading to our son on the suggestion of our doctor. It was interesting. I used one book that had little mirrors in it and he liked that one the best. He seems to like mirrors. We have also been teaching him how to stick out his tongue. That one is more fun. He has been smiling a lot and now he is trying new facial expressions along with the smiles. His dad is especially good at getting him to do funny things.

I think we will turn in a little early tonight since we have had two later nights. Even though Thomas slept for a good 6 hours last night, I still need a couple of nights like that to catch up...

Smiley

We went out to see Quantum of Solace tonight and Grandma C took care of Thomas. We came back and he was full and happy. We have been smiling a lot with Thomas lately and once we got him in his seat, we all made faces at him while he smiled. He can also stick out his tongue which is the cutest thing to watch. He will watch Josh or I do it and then thinks about it for a while and then sticks out his tongue.

We have our class reunion with our Lamaze class tomorrow. We should get some great pictures :)

8 weeks old!

Thomas is 8 weeks old tomorrow, so we took him in for his official well check. He weighed 12 lbs 10 ounces and is 23.5 inches long. He is in the 75th percentile for both weight and height now. We also went over his milestones and he is definitely hitting them - smiling at us, lifting his head when he is on his belly, recognizing our faces and making noise other than crying (cooing and other "talking").

He also got his first big round of shots. I was there with him the whole time and was able to console him. The anticipation was worse than the actual shots. They were over faster than I expected and then they gave us a lot of time to just hang out with him and feed him before we had to give up the room.

The only bad news is that he has thrush. I had suspected that he did and that is why we went to the appointment today instead of tomorrow. Thrush is a yeast infection in the mouth that happens because an imbalance occurs. Babies usually only get it in their first few months of life while their little immune systems are getting up to speed. He has to have some medication for it and we hope that it clears up pretty quickly. We had to sterilize all of his bottles and pacifiers, but you can do that in the dishwasher, which makes things a lot easier. He is such a content baby that it doesn't seem to bother him a lot.

Thomas' grandmothers came over for dinner tonight. They are both without husbands this evening since our dads are away for various work reasons. It was fun to have them over and eat all together. I went back on the Weight Watchers on Monday, so I cooked something out of my great WW cookbook - Rosemary Chicken and Wild Rice. I love to cook and I don't do it a lot when I am working, so it is nice to be able to get to do it when I have some time here at home.

Here is Grandma C holding Thomas. He is so active - always moving his little arms and legs and working off all of his energy...

And here is Marna. She got a chance to feed him tonight and that made him laugh and smile. It is nice to be appreciated for the little things (like providing food) and I love that everyone gets a chance to be a part of that process.


It is late enough now that I could easily get distracted and end up staying up a couple of extra hours. Instead, I think I will post this and go to bed.

I will report that I read my book after my last post instead of napping. I finally finished it today and I loved it. Now maybe I can catch up on my sleep. :)

We got our new car!

The Volkswagen dealer called yesterday to tell us that our new car had finally arrived. We ordered it in July and we were not quite sure when it would get here. It is a 2009 Jetta Wagon. We had been waiting for the 2009s to come out because VW is finally doing diesel Jettas again. Although diesel costs about 85 cents a gallon more than gas, we expect to get much better fuel economy. I took it out this morning and for the whole trip I got 38.5 miles to the gallon. Not bad. We were also excited to get it because we expected that Thomas would fit in there a little better than in the sedan and he does. So now we have our "family" car. So far we love it.

This morning, Thomas and I went to the La Leche League meeting. For those of you who don't know, LLL is an international organization dedicated to the support and education of breastfeeding moms. They have a monthly meeting on Bainbridge Island and there were women there from all over the Kitsap Peninsula. My friend, Sara, invited me to come with her and I was glad I had someone I knew there. They also have a smaller group for new moms that meets weekly and I am going to join them for the rest of my maternity leave. It is always nice to have a group of other new moms to meet with and share information. I am lucky because Josh is here all day with me so I have someone else to talk to all the time. But, it is nice to have an outing and it gives Josh a chance to get some work done without Thomas and I distracting him.

In other news, we are putting one of our houses back on the market. Josh met with our realtor while I was out and got all the paperwork done. It will be for sale again starting on Monday. We would appreciate your prayers that it will sell quickly and with no weird conditions. After all we have been through with our houses, we still have hope that we can sell it soon. It is in a great area and there aren't that many other houses for sale there so we are really hoping that this will go well.

Okay, I'm off to nap - or read my book, can't quite decide.

So Cozy

Thomas is not a big fan of his swing. He far prefers his bouncy seat (thanks Uncle Jason and Aunt Joanne!). He will hang out in his bouncy seat now and kick and bat at the toys that hang over his head. I did use the swing to put him in while he was asleep last night and he slumped right over. He looked so cozy!

Our friends, Matt and Sara, came over for a visit today with their son, Rudy. Rudy is one month older than Thomas so I always feel like we get a little bit of a glimpse of the future when we see him. We had a great time exchanging stories. It is really helpful to have friends that have babies the same age as Thomas so we can swap stories and know that what we are going through is normal.

We are off to Josh's hockey game in a few minutes. My baby is fed and happy and we are going to root for Daddy to make a goal tonight!

On Thursday we went over to the Canfield's house for some manual labor. They pulled out the ceiling in their basement and discovered that one of the beams is not as thick as it should be, so they needed to put steel beams in before they finished putting in a new ceiling. I don't have pictures of the carrying of the steel beam since I ran off to lunch with Hannah, but I understand it was quite the production. They had 5 guys to carry the beams, but I'm glad I missed it since I would have been worried about permanent injury to Josh.

Here is a picture of Jeremy and Marvin jacking up the house before they put in the new beam:


Last night we went down to Tacoma to the Old Spaghetti Factory to meet up with the extended Snelling family. There were 25 of us there and we had a great time eating and visiting. My parents and Robb and Reba are out of town so they were unable to come, which was too bad because we had a great time seeing everyone.

Here is my cousin Marci holding Thomas and showing him off to my cousin Christine and her niece (my second cousin) Maddie:

My grandparents have 9 great grandchildren and 5 of them were there last night. Thomas is their 8th great grandchild - my cousin, Tim, and his wife, Stephanie, just had a baby 4 weeks ago. Last night was the first time they got to meet Thomas:


The reason for this get together is that my cousin, Sondra, was in town with her husband and her (almost) 2 year old from North Carolina. They won't be back for Christmas when we all normally get together, so we took this as an opportunity to see everyone. Faith is only 18 months older than Thomas and she was fascinated by him.

We got home rather late and Thomas was still in his car seat. He stayed there for until his 2 am feeding. He is now chilling out next to me in his swing. He has been eating like crazy so I suspect he will once again break the scales when we go to the doctor on Thursday. :)

Today we will just be chilling here. It looks like we are going to get a break from the rain so we may even get a walk in today.

I guess we have been busy in the past couple of days since I haven't posted any pictures. Thomas has been pretty wakeful during the day which doesn't leave me a lot of time to post either. We have been blessed by two long sleep stretches at night. Last night, Thomas slept from 10 - 3 (that is 5 hours!) and the night before from 10-4 (6 hours!). I knew that we should expect that to happen around this age, but I wasn't holding out hope. He seemed pretty set on waking up every 3 hours or so. After the long stretch, he wakes up every couple of hours to eat until about 9 or 10. He takes about 3 one hour naps during the day, but he likes to be awake the rest of the time. We may be getting to an actual schedule.

Yesterday, Josh took my older nephews ice skating and I spent some time with my sister and my nephew, Noah -

We also hung out with Jeremy and played a game.

Tuesday we had a visit from the cable guy. Afterward, we ventured out to Best Buy and Costco. We bought a few new technology toys (like a big hard drive to store all of our pictures and movies). Thomas has also been hanging out with his dad a lot -
We are expecting a visit from Hannah today and then we will be helping out the Canfields on some heavy lifting (well, Josh will be doing the heavy lifting).

Thomas is waking up again to eat. Have a great day!

My son is laying next to an inch worm toy that he has. It is exactly 24 inches long. Crazy. He is growing out of clothes faster than he can wear them. I bought size 2 diapers for him today (we have about 50 of the size ones left and that will be about the time when we really need to go to a bigger size). I'm curious about when it will slow down. Obviously he cannot gain a pound a week for his entire first year - he would be 52 pounds! We'll see how big he is at his 2 month appointment next week :)

I had my appointment with the doctor today and got a clean bill of health. Everything has healed well and I can now start lifting weights. I went by myself and then did a little shopping before meeting Josh and Joey for lunch. After lunch, we went to visit Josh's parents - they have been out of town for a week and they were dying to see Thomas. It was a crazy full day. Tomorrow is more low key - the only thing we have going is a visit from the cable guy. If it doesn't rain, we may be able to go out for a nice walk!

Date Night

After Thomas eats, he likes to take a BIG stretch. It is really cute.

As you can see, Thomas is in fan mode again with his Seahawks gear. He is not a fair weather fan. The Seahawks have been having a pretty rough season. Today's game looked a little better. Even though they lost, it was pretty close.

Last night, we had our first away from baby outing. We dropped Thomas off at my sister's and went to a movie. We opted for funny (Role Models) rather than action/violence. It was a good choice - nice and diverting. We all survived. We might actually go to dinner and a movie next time :)

Okay, I have dinner on the stove so I must go - more pictures tomorrow.

Friday Lite

Thomas is zonked out in his chair, so no new picture today. We took him to the doctor this morning for one of those "Is this normal?" visits. He has a rash on his neck and cheeks and has had it for a week or so. I was pretty sure it was heat rash, but after a week of looking at it, I wanted to be sure. The doctor assured me that this is a normal rash - it has a technical name, but it translates to "baby rash". She told us we could put vaseline on it if we were concerned, but it won't really make it go away any faster. It reminds me a little of the baby acne - don't do anything and it will go away on its own.

Of course, they also weighed him, so now we know how much he weighs when people ask. He is now a healthy 11 lbs, 7 ounces. He has gained almost 3 lbs in 3 weeks! If he continues at the current rate, he will weigh over 13 lbs at his 2 month appointment :)

That is all the excitement for today. Josh and I are off to clean his old house.

Rites of Passage

Happy 6 week old birthday to Thomas. It is hard to believe that we were all in the hospital 6 weeks ago. Now we have a smiley, active little boy. Check out those (tiny) fat rolls on his thighs. He is growing! Two more weeks until his next weigh in and measurements. I'm excited to find out how big he is, but sad that he has to get shots.
I'm told that it is traditional for a new mom to change her hairstyle. So, we all went down to the salon today and I got my hairs chopped off and got rid of all the blond highlights. I loved having long hair, but Thomas has started getting it stuck in his hands. Josh also got a haircut. Then we went over to Old Navy and did a little family shopping.

We are off to the Ice Arena for Josh's hockey game!

Yay! The election is over!

I won't write about the election since so much has already been written. I was really happy to be at home (not working) so I could watch all of the coverage yesterday and today. Regardless of what happens next, it will be cool to tell Thomas about the election when he grows up. This time we have with him in his first few weeks of life is precious and I can't wait to tell him about the historic things that happened while we were getting to know him.

Our one outing today was to Costco. I like to go just to get out of the house and to walk around. It gets me out of my chair :) That is all the excitement for today.

Last night, we headed over to Seattle (well, Tukwila really) to pick up Josh's cousin, Joey, from the airport. Joey is here from LA visiting us for the week. We went with Josh's parents and his brother, Jason, to dinner. Here is Josh, feeding his son in the restaurant:

And, Uncle Jason feeding Thomas as well. Thomas was fed by lots of us at the table. I find that the bottle is nice because it allows everyone to get involved in the process. I really enjoy the time when I get to feed Thomas and it is nice to share that experience.

Thomas was uncomfortable all day yesterday. I hate to describe him as fussy because he is so mellow. Fussy for him means a little cry here and there. I knew he was uncomfortable because he was so wiggly and the noises he made indicated some discomfort. He ate like crazy all day and Josh suggested he might be having a growth spurt. It is the right time for it - generally babies go through growth spurts at 3 and 6 weeks and then 3 months, 6 months, 9 months. I have noticed in the last week how much bigger he looks.

We were at the restaurant until 9 or so and he got pretty fussy at the end. Lately, he has been fighting off sleep instead of just dropping off. I took him and rocked him a little and he went to sleep in about 2 minutes. He must have been really tired because he slept until 2 am! It was great. We are working on stretching out those long sleeps and getting them to go from 11 to 4 or 5, but I'm not complaining. Any time I get 4 hours of sleep in a row I am happy.

Here is a current picture of Thomas, sleeping away the morning:

Happy Election Day everyone. Remember, this little guy is going to be voting in 2026 :)

I love coming home on Sunday afternoon and hanging out as a family. This time is truly restful for us and we get a chance to enjoy each other. Today Grandpa C came over for a visit. He brought Thomas some new booties from Grandma C - you can see them in the picture below.
We then gave Grandpa the joy of feeding Thomas. He was fed by Marna at lunch, so he is getting lots of food from his grandparents today.

I forgot to mention yesterday that Thomas is growing out of all of his clothes. I can now buy 3 month old clothes for him - he has grown out of all of his newborn and 0-3 month clothes. The reason he needs bigger clothes has a lot to do with his length and not as much to do with his weight. He is a tall, skinny dude. Once we got past the initial weight issues, he has really taken this growing thing seriously. I love to see him change so much.

Other big milestones are coming up and we can already see signs of them. He is great at smiling and has started giving us the big grin. Today, Josh had him sitting up and you can see that he has a lot more head control. Pretty soon he will be cruising around the room :)

We had a fun day in Seattle yesterday visiting my friends at work. It was fun to see everyone and Thomas did a great job, even giving us a few smiles. On the way home, Thomas was a little fussy in the car, but he calmed down and went to sleep. Josh and I were very grateful that we won't be making that commute every day with Thomas in the car. Although I will really miss my boys when I go back to work, it seems like making that drive every day with him would be a little much. We are happy that Josh can stay with him here in Bremerton and not force him to sit in a car seat for 3 hours a day.

Today, Thomas and I headed over to the mall with my mom and my sister.

Hannah loves to come and visit and today she got the joy of feeding Thomas.

Thomas gave Marna a big smile. The kids call my mom Marna because Jacob couldn't pronounce Grandma, so my mom became Marna. The smiles kill me - he looks so happy and trusting and I love to see him like that.

We are off to dinner!

Happy Halloween!

Thomas is very excited for Halloween :)

He would like to go trick or treating on his own, but he needs Mom and Dad to take him this year.

I keep trying to take pictures of Thomas when he is smiling because he is so cute. Last night, I took this one, but I think it makes him look a little bit drunk - you decide.


We are off to Seattle for the rest of the day. Happy Halloween!

Total Trust

Here is Thomas, sleeping on his daddy's lap. I came out of our room after my nap today to find this scene. We had less sleep than usual last night. Hungry boy just would not sleep for very long. I was up from about 6:00 on, so it was awesome to get a nap today.

I also started reading again today. Up until now, we have watched a lot of television. I think it takes a little less brain work to stare at the TV. I am reading Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth on my Kindle. I downloaded it a while ago and thought it might be nice to have a long novel to read. So far, I can't put it down.

Tomorrow we are going to Seattle. Josh has to work at the gym and I am going to visit my work as well. On Halloween, people at my company bring their kids in to trick or treat in the afternoon, so I though it would be a good time for me to bring Thomas in for a visit. I'll try to post a picture of Thomas in his Halloween outfit, but it may not come until Saturday.

Short post

This is how my son sleeps. Hands in the air with a tiny little smile on his face...

Sometimes during his waking times, he just stares at the light. I wonder what he must be thinking.

Just a short couple of pictures today. I have dinner on the stove (turkey chili - not made from a can!) and Thomas is starting to make some noise.

A quick note here on how I don't know how people do this alone. I have a lot of respect for single parents. I am able to stay sane because my husband is such a great partner in this whole process. Because he takes most of the night duty (except the parts of the feeding process that only I can do), I am able to get some sleep, which makes all things a little easier. Even though Josh is out right now, I know that he will be back later in the evening and that allows me to have a lot more confidence in taking care of Thomas.

Okay, the timer just beeped - the chili is ready :)

Today is one of the days when I realize how blessed we are. Thomas was pretty mellow all day - in fact he had several long naps. He is probably making up for all the activity yesterday. Now is the time of night where he gets up for a couple of hours and has some active time. He likes to kick it on his mat by himself for a few minutes to get some stretching in. He was just laying down there while we ate, having a great time looking at the mirror that is hanging by his head.

I did get my Target shopping in today along with a trip to the grocery store. All of this while Thomas slept contentedly in his car seat. Josh was able to get some work done and get a shower while we were out.

We also got our vote on today. Our county is all vote by mail (which I love), so we sat down with our ballots and the voter pamphlet and made some decisions. I like this method because it gives us a chance to talk about how we are voting and why we agree or disagree with some of the initiatives on the ballot.

The other big news of the day is that our son is starting to outgrow some of his clothes. He is definitely getting too long for any newborn outfits and even for some of his 0-3 month clothing. Our boy may not have a lot of fat on him, but he is tall. I would not be surprised if he got to at least 24 inches (if not more) by his 2 month appointment.

That is all the fun news for today, so I will leave you with another picture of Thomas...

Thomas and the big day out

I did not post anything yesterday because we had a big day out and didn't get home until 10 last night. By 10 I am usually in bed and mostly asleep and Thomas also is pretty crashed out by that time, so we went right back to bed and did not have any computer time.

Josh had planned to go into Seattle to work at the gym yesterday and I was going to Bainbridge Island to have lunch with my friend, Sara O. Sara and I work together and were pregnant at the same time so we swapped lots of pregnancy advice and got to be great friends. Her baby, Rudy, was born about a month before Thomas. We took a lovely walk from her house into town and had lunch at Bainbridge Bakers. Our babies cooperated by handing out and being pretty mellow the entire time.

Here they are playing together on the bed. Isn't it amazing the difference a month makes? Sara said that Rudy was about Thomas size at a month old.

Little boys are full of energy and our kids laid on the bed and kicked their little legs and flailed their arms. We watched closely to make sure that they didn't whack each other. Thomas looks so happy in this picture because he gets to have freedom to move around.


Before we left in the morning, Josh suggested that I take the ferry over after lunch to pick him up in Seattle. I was feeling good and adventurous so I said "Sure!". We packed up the car with lots of extra diapers and bottles and clothes (since Thomas can't seem to go through an entire day without peeing through his clothes at least once). So, after lunch, I headed down to the Bainbridge ferry. Thomas was pretty happy the whole time - he is really good in the car seat. The surprise of the day is that he was pretty awake a lot of the day. I expected him to be out, but he only slept about an hour at a time. Thankfully, he slept through the entire ferry ride.

After picking up Josh at the Columbia Center, we headed down to Aunt Joanne and Uncle Jason's for dinner. Jason is famous for his pizzas and calzones, so we let him cook for us :)

Here is Jason with Thomas after dinner (see, really awake) -

Before dinner, Aunt Joanne fed Thomas. He ate like crazy (I think from being awake all day).

We had a great time, talking about politics (we are all so done with negative campaign ads) and some of the other stories that were on the news. Then, we watched Saturday night live - only the funny skits (gotta love Tivo).

One last picture from Sunday afternoon. We were having special family time (also known as watching the football game) and Josh was taking care of all the kids. I love that our cats want to get in on all the action. I think it is just that Josh is a nice warm place to sleep.



After all that action yesterday, Thomas gave us some nice stretches of sleep last night (4 hours and 3 hours). We are going to play with him a lot today to keep him awake. I think this might be the key to having good nights. :)

Feeling kind of Sunday

I've been told there are not enough pictures, so we decided that we should post a picture a day. It will also give us a record of how much he is growing.

It is Sunday, so Thomas is decked out in his Seahawks onesie. Here he is cheering for the team (okay, not exactly - he is actually sleeping right now and this is a picture from earlier when he was playing).


This picture is blurry because he is waving his arms and legs around. As you can see from the slight smile on his face, this is the happiest time for him. He is really discovering freedom of movement.

I love this look. It is a mix of skepticism and mistrust - as in "Why do you keep taking pictures of me - isn't it time for me to eat again?"

Now that Thomas is a little more alert, it is really fun to see him trying out different facial expressions. We love seeing him learn and grow. Hope you are enjoying it, too.

Happy Birthday to Thomas

Thomas is one month old today. I can't believe it. He is much more alert now and his interactive times are much more entertaining. He makes noises and looks all over. He seems to be most fascinated by lights and shadows. He loves the skylights in our living room. He also needs time every day to kick it out on the floor. He does not want to be held during this time - he just likes to wave his arms around, kick his legs and make some noise.

He gave us a real gift last night, sleeping from 1-5. After two nights of waking up every 2 hours, we were grateful to get 4 straight hours of sleep. Of course, there were several times I woke up and listened to make sure he was breathing. I wonder if I will every get over that.

He is also at the stage now where I can put him in his bouncy seat in the bathroom while I take a shower. I can see him the whole time and I still get a shower. Best of both worlds!

All in all a great day!

Robb and Rebecca and Noah came over this morning to take all of my shoes. It is great to have that project done. I'm still half way through the closet since Thomas hasn't been napping very well the last couple of days. It could be due to his stuffy nose or he could just be going through an uncomfortable phase. At night, we can get him to sleep for 2 hours or so, but during the day it is a little harder. My sister reminded me this morning that I do not have to be an expert at 4 weeks. In fact, Thomas does not have a "schedule" yet, nor is he acting the same from day to day. He is learning and growing and all of that change can be daunting.

He IS sleeping now, so we got a chance to eat dinner and are watching a movie. Instead of running into the kitchen to clean up or getting the laundry in here to fold, I am just enjoying the moment.

One month pictures will be posted tomorrow!

Stuffy Nose

My little boy is 4 weeks old today! His one month birthday is Saturday so we will have to take pictures and post them to show him what he looked like. Right now, he is sleeping beside me, but he had a tough night last night. He will only sleep for about an hour at a time. I think his stuffy nose is keeping him awake. He is not sick - just stuffed up. I went out and got him some "Little Noses" this morning and he has improved a lot today, but he is still a little fussy. Believe me, he does not like having the saline drops put in his nose, but he is better afterward.

He also makes noise now when he is awake. He used to only make noise if he was crying, but now he makes happier noises. And, he doesn't always want to be held. He likes to lay in his chair or on the floor or on my lap and kick out his legs and wave his arms around. It is really cute.

We have a late hockey game tonight, so I am going to try to sleep in tomorrow - we'll see how that goes since I seem to always be up at 7. At least I will attempt to get some extra sleep :)

Your feet get bigger when you have a baby

I haven't posted anything today because we were really busy. I went out with my dad and my sister and Noah and Thomas for lunch and a quick trip to Costco. Josh stayed home to get a little work done and to prepare for the work he had to do at his old house this afternoon.

After he left to work on that house, I decided that it would be a good time to go through my shoes and get rid of the ones that don't fit anymore. Everyone told me that your feet get bigger when you have a baby - and they did. I can no longer fit into all of my old shoes. So, I did a massive purge. I was really afraid that most of them wouldn't fit anymore and I'd have to go out and buy a lot more shoes (okay, I was kind of looking forward to that part). It turns out that more than half still fit and I have plenty of shoes. I won't say how many I still have because that would reveal the excessive amount of shoes I had.

I also started clearing out the maternity clothes since I reached another milestone today - putting on regular jeans. It was very strange to wear pant without an elastic waistband. And, I wore an actual belt. I still have a lot of weight to lose, but it is nice to be able to wear different clothes.

Now that Josh is home and we have had a little dinner, it must be close to time for sleep, so I will sign off for the day. :)

I forgot the diaper bag

For those of you who don't know, Josh and I own 3 houses. We each had a house when we got married and then we bought one together. We tried to sell our houses, but the market really took a dive and we got to the point where we were going to end up selling them for a loss, so we turned them into rentals. Today, we went to Josh's old house. We had a renter in there for the last 6 months that was originally going to buy the house. We hadn't been back there since she moved out and we were a little taken aback by the status of the house. She left a lot of stuff there and it was a mess. So, now we have to get it into shape to rent it again.

When we got to the house, I realized that I had forgotten the diaper bag. It wouldn't have been a problem except that Thomas woke up and was hungry. I fed him for a while and he fell asleep, but he woke up when we were in the middle of Loews and was hungry again. Now, when you don't have a bottle (it was in the diaper bag) and you can't change his diaper, you have to get creative. This led to me feeding him in the ladies room at Loews. Crazy. I'm sure this won't be the last time I forget something we need, but I will be a little more careful about leaving without the diaper bag.

That is all for our exciting day.

The picture says it all

Thomas and I took a nap this afternoon - Joanne and Emily should recognize the quilt :), they gave it to Josh and I when we got married. The traditional wisdom for moms with newborns is that you should sleep when the baby sleeps. I am good at going to sleep at night - Josh says I fall asleep really fast - but, when I wake up between 6 and 7 to feed the baby I usually can't get back to sleep. So, I get up and pump and eat and shower (if I have time). Then, when the baby wakes up again, he is usually awake in the morning. If he sleeps, I catch up on dishes and laundry. But, this afternoon, I realized that I need to be making more of an effort to sleep during the day until Thomas sleeps through the night. It was delicious. It was raining outside and I could hear it beating down on the skylights and it was peaceful and quiet in the house.

Before the big nap, my sister, Reba, and my nephew, Noah, came over for a visit. It was the first time Reba had seen Thomas with his eyes open. Noah got to hold his cousin and then play a little Wii with Uncle Josh.

All in all, it was a great day. Hope yours was good as well.

Every Day is like Sunday

I just realized that I hadn't posted anything today and I am in the habit now of posting on a daily basis.

It seemed a lot harder to get to church on time this morning than it was last week and the week before. We are still trying to figure out what to do at night. Josh had been staying up with the baby and just waking me briefly at night for feedings. At 6 I would take the baby and Josh would sleep until noon or so. But, it is not always practical. So, last night, we went back to splitting the night feedings. That meant that I got up later this morning and then time just flew by and we ended up being a little late. It really made me realize that we are still trying to figure things out - but that is normal only 3 weeks after giving birth.

This afternoon, our friends, Tom and Margaret came over for a visit. It was great to see them and have some time to hang out at our house. They had not been to our house before so we got to show them where we live. They have 3 kids and I had not met their children before and it was great to finally see the whole family.

Thomas is waking up, so I will sign off. For those of you that are connected to me on Facebook, I posted a photo album with some of our Thomas pictures, so take a look.

Mommy and Baby time

Thomas and I took a trip to the mall and the grocery store today. Because Josh took the night shift again, we let him sleep in a completely quiet house. The mall was easy, I just put Thomas in the stroller. The grocery store was harder. I couldn't really shop with the stroller and I didn't want to put him on top of the basket, so I put him in the basket instead. It was interesting to work around the car seat, but it worked out and it made me buy less groceries today.

This afternoon, Thomas' Uncle Jason and Aunt Joanne came by for a visit. They are expecting a cousin for Thomas in March and we found out yesterday that it will be a girl cousin. Finally a niece I can spoil with little girl clothes. They live in Seattle, so we don't get to see them as often as we see the rest of our family now that we don't make the trek to the city on a daily basis. It was great to catch up and hear about their latest news in person.

Tomorrow is a very full day. We will go to church in the morning and out to lunch with my family. In the afternoon, we are expecting a visit from our friends Tom and Margaret. They live on the east side, so it is a little bit of a trip for them. They have 3 kids and we are really looking forward to seeing them.

Okay , true confessions. We watch a lot of TV. And, today, I Tivo'd a bunch of shows like What Not to Wear and Top Design. Too much fun, really. Hope you all are indulging in your own guilty pleasures.

What day is it today?

It is really hard to keep track of what day of the week it is. Today, I was amazed that it is already Friday. It seems like we were watching football just yesterday. I think I was so caught up in waiting to figure out if Thomas gained enough weight this week that I didn't realize how quickly time is passing.

We definitely have noticed that Thomas is bigger now. He is starting to leak through his newborn diapers which means it is time to go to the next size up. The clothes that were fitting him a week ago are starting to look small. This morning his face looked bigger to me.

Thomas was 3 weeks old yesterday which means we are almost to the one month mark. He is starting to have more ability to focus and be interactive with us while he is awake. I can see him trying to figure out what is going on in the world. It is really amazing to see him grow and change so much.

Josh gave me a big treat last night. He stayed up with Thomas and did all of the feedings last night so I could sleep. I actually slept from 11 pm to 6 am. It was a real treat.

My baby is stirring so I will sign off for the day. Happy Friday!

Thomas is FAT!

We went to the doctor and found out that Thomas has gained 11 oz in the past 3 days and now weighs 8 lb 8 oz. That puts him at 1 oz under his birth weight and officially off the watch list. Thomas does not have to see the doctor again until he is 2 months old. What a relief! Now, I can relax a little. :)

That is our big news for today. We made our regular trek to Target afterward to pick up a few necessities. We also have hockey tonight which should be fun.

Hope all is well in your worlds.

Bassinet

We moved Thomas to his bassinet last night. Up until now, he has been sleeping with us. It made things much easier when he wakes up in the middle of the night. But, now that we have to get up to make a bottle anyway, we thought we would try to have him sleep in his own bed. He is still in our room (well, in our closet), but now we are not as worried about rolling over on him. Our closet has doors on both sides (it is like a long hallway), so we can close off the doors and make it quiet and cozy for him. Then we use the baby monitor to hear him. Of course, the first night was a little tough because whenever we put him in there, I laid there and listened to the monitor for a while just to make sure he was breathing. I'm sure I will get used to it, but it may take a few days.

(pause)

We took Thomas for a long walk and then came back here for lunch. After lunch today, Thomas and his mommy took a nap. It was lovely. I have been trying to get some down time every day since I wake up and get going in the morning. I can't seem to stay in bed even though he usually goes back to sleep after the 7:30 feeding. Since I can't seem to go back to sleep, I usually try to get some laundry/dishes/breakfast eating done before he wakes up again.

Thomas has been eating up a storm today. We are still trying to figure out the right amount to feed him. Our pediatrician told us to feed him 2oz of formula at every feeding and then increase if he is taking it and not spitting some of it up. So far, he just eats up to that amount and whenever he eats the entire amount he spits up. It makes for more laundry (if that is possible).

Tomorrow we go back for our weigh in. Please pray that he has been gaining weight. We are hoping he is over 8 lbs now. We will update as soon as we get home.

Moby wrap!

I finally got my Moby wrap to work! Up until this point, we have just been holding Thomas, passing him back and forth as needed. But, with Josh trying to get some work done, I wanted to figure out how to get Thomas in the sling so I can hold him and empty the dishwasher or do some laundry. We tried to put Thomas in the sling last week while he was awake and he did not like it, but he seems perfectly content to sleep there. I love it!

On the food front, Thomas has been getting his extra formula at every feeding. Sometimes he will eat it and sometimes he will not. He was not having it in the middle of the night. He actually at some and then spit it all back up on Josh. It is kind of nice to have Josh be able to help out with the feeding in the middle of the night. We are hoping to get Thomas to his birth weight soon so we can let him sleep through the night. We need to get him a little heavier before we can stop waking him up at least every 4 hours during the night to eat. He has been sleeping longer at night - at least 4 hours in between feedings, so I think he is getting ready for more sleep.

It is almost time for him to wake up and eat again so I will sign off for the day.

Parenting is full of surprises and challenges

During pregnancy, I focused a lot on the end goal - the birth. I thought about what would come afterward, but only in the most abstract way. I could not imagine what it would be like to actually have a baby in the house. It is something that no one can describe adequately because it literally changes everything. So, even though I wanted to have a natural birth and not a c-section, when it came down to the health of my child, there was no hesitation in going with the surgery as long as it meant that Thomas would be healthy. I now feel the same way about supplementing Thomas' feedings with formula. We went to the doctor and he has not gained any weight in a week. At this point, he should be back to his birth weight and even with all of the pumping and feedings, he is not getting enough to eat. We will continue to breastfeed and then just give him an extra bottle at every feeding. When we came home today, he had an extra ounce and a half of formula before passing out. We will go back to the doctor on Thursday for another weigh in. In all other respects, he is healthy, so we are grateful for that and will focus on getting him to grow.

After the appointment, we picked up my nephew, Jacob, and he came over here to do the project with Josh. Things did not go as planned - we used bones from a couple of rotisserie chickens and they seem a little too soft. So, we will try again at a future date with an uncooked chicken. Josh and Jacob are playing Boom Blox instead. Thomas is curled up with his Grandpa taking a nap. After all of the excitement of the day, it is the perfect place for him to be.

A lovely Sunday

We went to church this morning and Thomas did very well again. My aunt, Nancy and her husband, Owen and my cousin, Amanda came to church today. Afterward, we went out for lunch with them and my parents and my nephews. Thomas managed another restaurant experience (he slept through it).

We made our way home and have spent the rest of the day as a little family. I was really happy that we did not have a hockey game tonight so we can just hang out.

Tomorrow we have our doctor appointment. Then, my nephew, Jacob, is coming over to build a dinosaur out of chicken bones with Josh. They have been planning on this for some time and I'm very curious to see how it turns out. We will update tomorrow afternoon with Thomas' latest stats.

Tough Night

We don't have too many hard nights with Thomas. He usually wakes up, eats and goes right back to sleep, but last night he was more fussy and it took him longer to settle back down. He finally settled down this morning and then went right to sleep as soon as I walked him around the house. He definitely looks like he is getting longer, but I don't know how much weight he is gaining. We have our doctor's appointment on Monday to check his weight again and I am anxious to know how much he is growing. I'm wondering if all of the extra pumping and the extra water drinking has made it so that he is getting more milk and getting back to his birth weight. If not, I think we will have to go to supplementing with formula. While I don't want to have to do that, I would rather see him growing fast enough. I knew that I would have some worries when I became a mother, but I have been surprised just how much I pay attention to all the little details. I think that the sleep deprivation adds to the worrying. Josh tries to help me be better about this so I don't get myself too worked up, but I do tend to let myself think about things a little too much. Once the pediatrician signs off on his growth, I think I will be able to relax a little about all of this, so I'm really looking forward to Monday.

Okay, that is all the serious stuff . . .

We took Thomas out for his first restaurant experience last night. My parents are taking care of my nephews while Robb and Reba are on vacation, so we met them all at Azteca last night. It went pretty well. I had to feed Thomas when we got there and then he fell asleep and put up with being passed around so everyone could have a turn holding him.

Today, his Canfield grandparents are visiting and Thomas is hanging out on the arm of his Grandpa. All is well in our world.

My appointment

We all packed up this morning so that I could go to my 2 weeks post c-section appointment. It was a very simple appointment - my doctor just had to check my scar to make sure I am healing well. Everything looks good. And, I've lost 17 lbs since the baby was born.

Thomas continues to do well. He is hungry a lot, but that is just from being a growing boy. I am trying to rest when he sleeps to make sure I am getting enough rest. It is difficult to figure out how to do that the right way since I get up in the morning and then sort of get caught up in things going on around the house. Then, all of a sudden, it is time to go to bed again.

Tomorrow, we will go for a walk again since I am now allowed some light exercise. Hope all is well with all of you.

Pictures from Sunday and yesterday

This is a picture of Thomas getting ready to go to church. You can't see it, but he has a Seahawk onesie on under his jacket. The outfit came from my friend Michelle in Colorado. It is fleecy and warm, which worked very well on Sunday when it was a little chilly outside and we went to both church and hockey.
That's my boy yesterday prior to our big doctor's appointment. Hannah bought him some newborn outfits and they fit him very well. At the rate he is growing, they won't fit very long, but it is really cute to see him actually fill out an outfit.

We had a good and tranquil afternoon yesterday. Thomas was sleeping a lot, so I though there was no way he would sleep last night, but he managed quite well. Both of my boys are now sleeping soundly so I am going to take advantage of the calm and get some laundry done (there is no end to laundry with a baby in the house).

Another doctor visit

Thomas had his circumcision appointment today. Prior to the procedure, he had another check on his weight and height. He is in the 90th percentile for length (21 inches). He keeps gaining about 1/2 inch at every appointment. He gained another 3 oz to get to 7 lb 14 oz. However, he is not getting back to his birth weight fast enough, so we are going back to pumping and supplementing to help him gain weight faster. He has been really hungry the past couple of days, eating every hour and still not getting full. The doctor thinks he is going through a little growth spurt, so we are going to try to get him enough food. Plus, it will give us a jump start on freezing some supply for when I go back to work.

We are now home again and Thomas is recovering from all the trauma (and so are his parents). We will post more pictures tomorrow.

Busy Sunday

We had a busy day yesterday so I didn't post anything. We got up in the morning and managed to get to church on time. The morning stuff is the hardest to get to since we normally don't get "ready" until about noon. My parents went and got us Red Robin burgers afterward and brought them back here since I am not quite ready to go to restaurants yet. We also got to watch the (awful) Seahawks game which I had Tivo'd.

In the evening, we went to Josh's hockey game. His whole family came down to the rink and we got a nice visit with them. Josh had a great game, too.

When we got home, Thomas became a little hungry and proceeded to eat at one hour intervals until about midnight. He was having a difficult time in between feedings and did some protesting along the way. Josh stayed up with him after he ate, so he didn't get much sleep last night. I think Thomas finally got to sleep around 1 and then was up by 3 for his next feeding. We are really blessed - this is the first night we had where our baby was really restless and fussy. And, he finally settled down after the 3:00 feeding, so we got some sleep before he woke up this morning at 7:30.

This is a good time for me to write about how great Josh is. He stays up late with Thomas, makes all the meals, cleans the kitchen, changes diapers and loves to hang out with his son. I can't imagine doing this without him - or with him going off to work every day. I am really happy that he is able to stay at home with me and work from here.

We have to go down to Fed Ex today to pick up Josh's replacement phone (his iPhone crashed) and that is all of our big plans. Tomorrow we go to the doctor for Thomas' next appointment. We will update on his progress tomorrow afternoon.

Bits and Pieces

We are sitting here at the end of another day. Thomas has been eating a lot today. We feel like we can see him growing. After his initial slow growth, it is great to see him thriving.

Our big trip of the day was to the grocery store. We made it almost all the way there and back before he woke up. By the time we got home he was ready to eat again.

Tomorrow we ae going to church and to hockey - another big day of outings. In between we have the Seahawks game and Thomas has his little Seahawks onesie to show his team spirit.

I haven't written about my recovery very much, but I am on the mend. I am now able to go up and down the stairs and pick things up off the floor. In addition, I can put on my own socks and shoes and last night I was able to sleep on my side for the first time since Thomas was born. The swelling in my legs has gone down considerably and I have lost enough weight that I was able to put my wedding rings back on after months of not wearing them.

We are celebrating being back at home for a full week today. It is amazing how fast it goes by.

Friday Pictures

Getting ready for our Target outing yesterday. He stayed likr this the entire time we were out.

With Aunt Hannah

Lazy Day (for me)

I keep meaning to post an update and forgetting because I have been cuddling with my son all day. After all of the activity yesterday, I had planned on having a really relaxed day today. We got up late and have stayed relatively calm all day. It has been raining all day and we are now watching Iron Man while curled up under a blanket.

Our trips yesterday were great. We did well on our Target trip. We got everything we needed and now we have lots of wipes and I got a couple of sweaters since it has been so chilly here.

We also made it out to hockey last night and Thomas' Aunt Jen was there and got to hold him while we watched the game. We have another game on Sunday and now that we have been through it once, I feel more confident that we can actually make it to church on Sunday and hockey as well.

I have some pictures to post later and Thomas' Aunt Hannah is coming for a visit so I should have some new ones.

Pictures of the day

Thomas' Uncle Jeremy came over for a visit yesterday and he was able to participate in some of the extra feeding. He then got plenty of time to hold Thomas as the baby dropped off into a food coma right away.

One of our favorite poses is the one below where Thomas throws the peace sign while sleeping. Guess who he is going to vote for...

Growth!

Our hospital offered a program where a nurse comes out a week after the birth for a home visit. Our visit was today. It was really helpful and calming for me. She also brought a scale and weighed him. He now weighs 7 lb 11 oz! He has gained 3 oz in two days! We called it in to the doctor and she is happy with his growth (the goal is 1 oz per day). After all the pumping and the worrying, it is great to know that it is paying off and he is getting bigger. So, I breathed a sigh of relief.

Our big outings for the day are Target (we have already gone through an entire box of wipes) and then Hockey tonight. We'll let you know how it goes.

Thomas doesn't sleep ALL the time

There are people in my family who would swear that Thomas sleeps all the time. They never see him during his wakeful times. I took these pictures about two hours ago and he has been awake this whole time. He had been sleeping quite a bit in the last 24 hours and now he is having some time in the world. Josh and I are really blessed to have a very content baby. He doesn't cry a lot - just when he is hungry or uncomfortable. He is mostly uncomfortable when he has to get undressed - like when we change his diaper or give him a bath or take him to the doctor. Otherwise he is as happy as a little clam.

Today is our resting day. We don't have to go to the doctor or have any appointments, so we are enjoying our family time. Tomorrow morning we have a home visit from a nurse and lactation consultant. We hope she will bring a scale and weigh him. Otherwise we also have to go to the doctor in the afternoon for a weigh in. Those are our exciting plans.