Cry It Over

For now, we're done. We decided we're not ready, he's too young right now, and maybe we don't need it. He's been doing great, going down easy with just a little patting, a little rocking, and a few paci reinserts. Nothing I am not willing to do right now. He'll only be my baby once. No new pictures to post. I'll get some good ones tomorrow.

CIO Day2

Well it didn't go so well yesterday... mom is a weenie. I must have reinserted the paci about 42 times and then ended up cuddling him when he woke up after only napping 40 minutes. Oh well. I'm not quite sure we're ready for this. I am feeling like he's too young for the Cry It Out method. I know millions probably start earlier, but for us it might be too soon. We may come back to it when he's 3 mos, but I'm not sure.

Last night he slept from 8:30-2:30 ish and then ate again at 6:00. That means I got like 4 1/2 hours of sleep in a row!

Here are some funny pictures of Will's morning hair today. He gets it from his mama.

CIO Day 1

Well it wasn't terrible at all! I'm sure it was probably a complete fluke, but Will only fought the first nap. Nap 1 took 45 minutes of crying before he went down finally. I folded laundry in the living room and turned off the monitor so I could only hear loud crying if it came to that. I realized a big mistake on my part though that probably could have saved all that crying- I put the kid down on his back when usually he sleeps on his side. I will save that adjustment for later, one thing at a time.

And that was it! Both naps 2 &3 had 0 minutes of crying! He went down right away and slept for 2 hours each time. There was no fourth nap today b/c we were at Danny and Christina's and he just would not go to sleep. I figured I'd spare them a cry it out session.

Here are some pics from yesterday's naps (I know only the grandparents will be interested!). Also, I know babies are not supposed to have any stuffed animals near them, but I learned that if I put the bear between his arms then he can't knock the paci out. I keep a very close eye on him and take it away once he's more settled and the arms are thrashing around.

Notice the arms in motion... we've been doing lots of batting practice!
Look who's learning to suck his thumb! Not sure if I'm going to encourage this or not.
Not quite asleep yet. Look at that rooster tail hair!

Crying It Out

"This hurts me more than it hurts you." - What a parenting cliche- and what a true statement. Today is our first day of letting the baby "cry it out" or CIO. I have taken much appreciated advice from dear friends, talked it over with Steven, and prayed. I will give it a shot, hoping I'm tougher than I think I am. We have a very good baby. He is happy and such a joy to Steven and I. Most of the time he goes to bed at night with no fuss and is put back down extremely easy after each night feeding. However, during the day I am spending all of my time patting and reinserting the paci at nap time. That has left me with the decision to try this approach.

I'll post at the end of each day with a summary of how I do and how he does. I will admit I cried just laying him down a minute ago... and yes, he is crying his little red eyes out right now. Please pray for my heart and determination, and pray for sweet Will. Pray he knows I love him and doesn't feel abandoned.

Ok... going in for the 10 min pat.

One month photo shoot

When Will was born we wanted to get some photos taken of him. Unfortunately one of our photographer friends was getting ready for her own baby and the other one was in Singapore, so we had to wait about a month to get his pictures taken. When our friend Danny Clark got back from Singapore, we had him come over and take Will's pictures. He hadn't shot a newborn before, but he did such a great job! I am so pleased that I have these to remember the little guy. He has changed so much already. (Side note: Will spit up twice, pooped once, and peed three times during the shoot- one of the pee streams even got Danny!) Here are some of the pictures Danny took:

so beautiful

Chunky Monkey

Last Friday Will had his two month check up. Our behemoth child weighed in at 15 pounds! He has already about doubled his birth weight! His weight is over the 100 percentile, height 75th%, and head measured 50th%. I'm going to get some big muscles carrying this big boy around. He has really started to take in the world now, noticing everything. It's so cute to see how gigantic his eyes get every time we walk into a new room. He still loves the headboard and ceiling fan, but is giving his Mama and Daddy more smiles now too, so that makes us happy!

I am still trying to figure out this whole schedule thing and how we can get him to sleep longer at night. He was doing well last week and had some 6 hour stretches at night, until his vaccines on Friday morning. The rest of that day and most of the next he had a fever, was very fussy, and super tired. So there was no way of keeping to the newly accomplished schedule. Then on Sunday he still seemed tired so I committed to get back to it on Monday. We are doing ok, but are back to waking every 3-3.5 hours at night to eat.

Anyway, here are few pictures of the last couple days... and yes, maybe someday I'll blog about something other than the baby again!

Trying to get a pose for his two month shot.

Getting tired of taking pictures...

...giving up.

Breaking the scales at Dr. Senevey's office.
Father's Day present to Steven.

Lately...

Why didn't anyone tell us that babies are a lot of work?!  -Please know I'm kidding-  We have been so busy, but having so much fun getting to know this little boy.  He is definitely his own person and is starting to let us know what he likes and absolutely does not.  We are starting to try and figure out his schedule.  His sleeping is getting better- we haven't had anymore 1 hour stretches lately- thank goodness!  On Sunday he was 8 weeks old.  He is beginning to smile more, but not consistently and then most times is smiling at the oddest things.  For instance, he just loves looking at our headboard and will just smile so big at it.  I never thought I'd be saying I'm jealous of a headboard!  Of course, I can't compete with the window or ceiling fan either, but I'm working on it.  

He is getting so big.  I can't believe he's already 8 weeks and at the same time I can't believe he's only 8 weeks!  He has outgrown most of his clothes and I just know he's like 13 or 14 pounds by now.  We'll see on Friday.  He is so strong and really fights to stand on his legs. ( I hope there's not any truth to that old wives' tale about that making babies bow-legged.)  His neck is very strong, but he won't lift it much at tummy time.  He only wants to focus on pushing legs.  Basically he drives his face into the ground and grunts as he pushes those little fat legs.  I'm trying to help him push up, but he doesn't really want to.  Hopefully that will get better.  I started letting him sit in the Bumbo a bit, but know he's probably still too little.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the past few days:

Playing on his activity mat.
Thinking about smiling at Mama's crazy faces.
I think he's smiling at me, but it's probably the fan.
This smile was really at me!  So amazing!

I wanted a picture with him in his cute little shorts b/c he outgrew them before even getting to wear them. So sad.
"What is this thing you put me in?"

Propped on pillows with his fluffy hair- looks like he's doing the twist!

Sleeping with Daddy again.  Will's favorite!

"Up-date"

Baby boy did great!  I'm sure that all the people who saw me coming in with a baby were thinking I was nuts, but he was as as quiet as a little mouse!  He slept the whole time.  

Now about the movie... it was really good.  There were definitely some heavy issues that adults would understand much better.  Turns out to be a love story in a way!  See it

Our Ordinary Miracle

I heard this quote before Will was born, but didn't fully appreciate it until after:

"Childbirth is the ordinary miracle, you can't believe it happens everyday."

Birth Story- Part One

Towards the end of my pregnancy, I was overcome with horribly itchy feet and hands.  I would lay awake at night digging at my feet.  I can't tell you how many times I got out of bed in the middle of the night to soak my feet in ice water, put on anti-itch lotion, anti-itch powder, or sit and scratch using my super long back scratcher (of course, b/c there's no way I could really reach my feet with my hands!).  Anyway, it was Sunday, April 19th at 2:00 am and I had woken up because my feet were driving me crazy.  So I sat up to get my back scratcher when I felt that something was wet- (down there... sorry!).  I wondered if I had wet the bed- not because I had before, but because I had heard that pregnant women do that sometimes.  So I get up to go to the bathroom, and that's when the water starting running down my legs and onto the bathroom floor.  I flipped on the light and bent down to look at it closely.  It kept coming and was clear- not pee.  All I could say was, "Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh," and then, "Um, Steven, I think my water just broke".  Two and a half weeks early!  Did not expect this!

So he jumped up and examined the growing pool on the floor.  Thankfully, just that night I had watched a Lamaze video and I guess Steven had heard it while he was cleaning.  He had decided that the house should be completely cleaned and our bags put by the door just in case something happened soon (strange!).  So anyway, he recalled exactly what the video said to do: "Stop, sit down, note the time, call the doctor".  I was not having any contractions at all, so we decided that things were probably not going to be happening any time soon.  Steven took a shower as I tried to manage the flow of water coming out of me.  I must have soaked at least 4 washcloths before we even left the house and then another walking into the hospital.  

What a crazy feeling!  So surreal!  You imagine it in your head for 9 months, but when it finally comes time, you just can't believe it.  We get to Labor and Delivery, where they put us in a room and hooked me up to the monitors.  Then they got this little piece of litmus type paper to test the fluid coming out of me to see if it really was the "baby water".  The paper did not turn blue.  The nurse then begins to explain that many pregnant women pee in their sleep and get confused.  I tried to tell them that I DID NOT PEE.  So two hours and two litmus tests later... they finally believed me, admitted me, and started my I.V. 

The monitors were showing contractions, but I was not feeling a thing.  The nurse decided to start me on some Pitocin unfortunately.  When I got there I was dilated to a 2.5.  I was feeling pretty good so I decided to wait until I could actually feel a contraction before getting the epidural.  Let me just tell you now that at no point did I ever entertain the idea of not getting an epidural.  Anyway, the nurse upped the "pit" drip and about an hour later I began to feel a little bit uncomfortable, at which point I asked the nurse to go ahead and call the anesthesiologist b/c I had heard it can take awhile to get that ball rolling.  

That's when things started going downhill.. this is getting too long, so I'll try to abbreviate the next few hours...

I went from 3cm to 7.5 cm in one hour- the hour that it took the anesthesiologist to drive in from EGYPT!  I have never begged for help more in my life!  I thought I was going to break the bed rails off.  

Pain doctor finally arrives, and thanks to the I.V., I was so swollen and puffy that he had to stick my back three times because he "couldn't find it".  After it was in I was able to relax for awhile.

Finally, I reached 10 cm, but the baby was not low enough so we waited about another hour for him to come down some more.  The nurse decided it was time to push around 1:00.  The contractions were so strong.  I couldn't believe that I was feeling so much with the epidural.  I could move my legs and everything (which is what they want-but not me!).  Anyway, little baby boy was stuck behind my pubic bone.  Steven and the nurse held my legs while I pushed for 2 1/2 hours.  I was so exhausted and literally thought I was going to die.  I couldn't see straight.  I thought I was passing out.  It was so hot in there- ice chips do not help!  I kept begging for someone to help me and get that baby out.  Eventually, the doctor did an episiotomy and used the vacuum to help sweet Will out.  I was in so much pain and was really freaking out, I barely even got to see my boy.  They didn't even bring him right to me like I wanted.  Honestly, it was probably best b/c I was still gripping the bed rails.  The doctor came back in and gave me some more epidural b/c I was in so much pain.  All I could think was, "There is no way people do this every day!"  

Once the stitching was done with my level 4 ( or stage 4 or something) incision, I was able to hold my baby and relax a bit.  I just couldn't believe he was really there and that I had pushed him out!  Honestly, I was also feeling very let down that his birth had been so horribly traumatic for me.  It was just awful, not how I wanted it to be.  I didn't think it would be a cake walk, but I thought at least with an epidural it wouldn't be so bad!  

At least I had my precious boy.  I was in love!  

The rest of the story is awful and wonderful, but that will have to wait for another post.  The following pictures are out of order.  sorry

Holding my boy for the first time.
    He sure does not look happy about what just happened!
Finally admitted- holy cow- here we go!

Thank you Mr. Epidural!... for awhile anyway

Up

So I think I'm going to try and take the baby to a movie today!  I'm a bit nervous, hoping he'll sleep the whole time.  I figure that I can sit in the back and nurse if needed.  Also, if he gets a little bit fussy the movie may be loud enough to hide it.  And- if I go early there may not be many others in the theater.  I've been thinking about this for awhile.  Of course, I am fully prepared to abandon the movie if things get out of control.    Up at 11:30.  Wish us luck!

New pics!

So I'm not doing so well at updating this thing as frequently as you'd think a new proud mama would.  Here are a few pics of the last few days.  

New Family!
Hi, I'm a little man!

All "spiffed" up for church

Is there anything cuter than a sleeping baby with his binky?

Some tummy time on his surf board.  This does not look like only a 6 week old baby to me!

Close up of those beautiful blue eyes

Fluffy, right out of the tub hair.
Taking a nap with Daddy.  One of many more to come I'm sure!