Friday, December 23, 2011

One Month

Happy one month to my sweet (sometimes cranky) baby!





  • You are getting chubbier every day!  You were 6 lbs, 14.5 oz at your 2 week dr. appt and I anticipate you are close to 9 lbs now.  
  • We survived your 3 week growth spurt on little to no sleep.  You were very fussy and wanted to eat 24/7!  I learned how hard motherhood could be.
  • You now sleep pretty good at night, letting us have 2.5-3 hour stretches of sleep.
  • You are sweetest in the middle of the night when you are most alert.
  • You seem to like my awful singing and don't mind that I make up songs about random objects in the room.
  • You have started sleeping in your crib, even though it takes us a few tries to get you to stay there without crying.
  • At week 4 you started paying more attention to your toys.
  • You like Tummy Time with Daddy.
  • I swear  you are trying to smile at me, but Daddy doesn't believe me.
  • You are very close to growing out of your newborn clothes. *tear*  However, your Christmas outfits are all 0-3 months, so at least we have a few days where you can wear them.
  • Santa is coming to see you tomorrow night and we, er, I mean he can't wait to eat the Andes Creme de Menthe cookies I bought for him!
Tummy Time!

Your first bottle, given at 3 weeks.

Dre & Christina meet you and you were very good for them!

Scary Face!


The reason they tell you to not let your newborn sleep in the boppy.  Disclaimer:  we were on the couch the whole time.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Eat, Poop, Sleep, Repeat

That about sums up my life for the past 3 weeks.  I can't believe Henry is 3 weeks old today! *tear*  I have no clue where the time has gone.  We spend most our days nursing, changing diapers and sneaking in naps when we can get them.  Jason and I make a pretty good team... I do the feeding, while Jason does diaper duty (even in the middle of the night!).



Note the large pump bottle of anti-bacterial on the end table.

Want to guess who dressed him???


Henry met his Great Grandmother and peed on her cute Christmas sweater!



We have had a few minor bumps in the road, but what new parents don't?  
  1. Henry was tongue-tied and having a difficult time nursing.  We had a lactation consultant come to the house (which was well worth the money... her knowledge is invaluable) and she helped us find ways to get him to nurse better, but also referred us to an ENT doctor that could look at his tongue.  We visited the ENT last week and they had to clip his frenulum (the little fold of tissue under the tongue).  I cried more than Henry did, even though he was fine and able to eat within an hour of having it done.  Nursing is much easier on both of us now, although still a lot of work.  I never knew how time-consuming and sometimes frustrating breastfeeding could be, but I figure we have come this far, why stop?  Everyone says it gets easier and we have already made it 3 weeks.  Not to mention, I want the best for my little guy.
  2.  Somehow I pulled/damaged my shoulder rotator cuff... probably from all the lifting and the odd positions I was in while nursing.  It STILL hurts!  
  3. Henry is a LOUD sleeper!  We have been letting him sleep in a Rock & Play beside our bed, but he makes so much noise that I get up to check on him, only to find him snoozing away.  I seriously do this 15 times a night!  EXHAUSTING!  Sooooo... last night after the early morning feeding, Jason decided to put him in his crib in the room next to ours.  I was convinced it wouldn't work, but miraculously he eventually went to sleep... alone, in his own room!  Of course we have a video monitor so that we can see and hear him.  I actually slept really well without him snoring/moaning/squeaking next to me.  Do I feel guilty about it?  Not one bit... I was a much happier mommy this morning because of it!  Happy Mommy = Happy Baby (or the other way around).
Here is a cute video of him sleeping in his swing today.

Saturday, December 10, 2011

I love a good deal!

I am a sucker for a good deal!  I rarely buy anything (clothes, shoes, cosmetics, misc items) without a coupon or promo code.  Just today when I went to Wal-Greens to pick up some pictures I received a coupon for $10 off a $30 purchase for next week.  I really don't need anything, but by-golly I will be back next week to get my $30 worth of goods for $20!  

One of the many reasons I love blogging is because of all the deals I learn about through the blogs I follow.  I thought I would share with you my favorite website for deals... Plum District.  It works much like Groupon, but it is more "mommy friendly". 

Already over the past month or so I have gotten an Erin Condren planner for $12.50 (reg. $50), monthly onesie stickers for $1 (reg. $22) and today I ordered an 18x24 photo canvas of this pic (awww...) for only $39 (reg. $127)!  I had planned on getting a canvas print anyway, so I jumped on this deal when I saw it in my email. 



Here are some other deals going on today (can be found in the Louisville district)... if you are interested, don't wait because the deals expire after a short time.  There are some great gift ideas!

$129 for the Keurig Coffee Maker, Stainless Steel Mug, Chocolates & More... - a $179 Value (Includes Shipping)

$20 for $40 Worth of Handmade Decor from Lewa's Designs

$15 for $30 Towards TeaDistrict[.com]

$45 for $95 Toward Handcrafted Photo Boards, Blocks, Ornaments, and More from PhotoBarn
$15 for a One Year Subscription to Zoobooks, Zootles, or Zoobies Magazines

Please share any other websites or online deals you know of!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

New Family Pics

A very talented friend of mine, Ashley, came to our house this past Sunday and snapped some family pics.  Henry was a tad grumpy and not the easiest of subjects... but you would never know from looking at the pics!  I never would have imagined they would have turned out this great.  If you live in Lexington and are looking for a photographer, I highly recommend Ashley.  Not only did she take wonderful pics, but she came to our house, charged us much less than what we would have paid anywhere else and she is putting all the pics on a cd for us to print as we wish.  Click here to see her facebook page.

Pretty sure I will be framing all of these!










Sunday, December 4, 2011

The best moment of my life... (Henry's Birth Story)

"I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him."  1 Samuel 1:27

I have lived a very blessed life and had many moments of great joy.  However, none can compare to the joy and happiness my heart experienced when Henry entered this world.  
Here is the story of the best moment of my life.

Monday 11/21 @ 8:30 am - Doctor appointment... only 1 cm dilated and fully effaced.  No changes since the week before.  Doctor comments for the third week in a row that baby is "really low".  We talk about induction for the next week if baby doesn't come by then.

The last bump pic taken at 39 weeks.
Monday 11/21 @ 10:30 am - Head back into work, disappointed and very emotional... to say that I was a hot mess is an understatement.  I couldn't look or talk to anyone without crying.  It was so embarrassing!  Luckily, I work mostly with women who are friends of mine.  I was at the point where even sitting in a chair hurt b/c of all the pressure, I had a headache, backache and very bad braxton hicks contractions.

Monday 11/21 @ 5:30 pm - After a very stressful day at work, I head home.  The contractions are more noticeable and I wonder if they are "real" contractions, but decide to not worry about it because I have been wrong before.

Monday 11/21 @ 9:30 pm - Head to bed.

Monday 11/21 @ 10 pm - Wake up to what felt like a water balloon bursting in my bed!  MY WATER BROKE!  I yelled for Jason and we quickly grabbed a few things before heading out the door (the hospital bags and car seat have been ready to go for 3 weeks).  On the way to the hospital I was shaking uncontrollably (which didn't end until an hour or so after delivery) and started having some major contractions.  Eeeekkkk!!!!  They really hurt!

Monday 11/21 @ 10:45 pm - Arrive at hospital and get set up with monitors, iv's, etc.  When the nurse tells me I am 3cm dilated and my contractions are 2-3 min apart, my response is "Oh Sh**!".  I quickly apologize for my profanity and she laughs at me.  I guess she hears much worse than that all the time.  Ha!  I ask for an epidural stat and they put in a request for an anesthesiologist.  There were a bazillion babies being born early that week b/c everyone wanted to be induced and home before the Thanksgiving holiday so it took a little while before the anesthesiologist to get there.  So much pain... I have no clue how women do this naturally!  Kudos to those who have!

Let me make a sidenote here -
Remember my post about the reasons I love my husband... well add to that 
#11. He is my pillar of strength when I am not strong enough to deal with the situation on my own.
He was as involved with the childbirth as I was (mentally anyway), by helping me breathe through the contractions, letting me squeeze his fingers, counting as I pushed, telling me constantly how great I was doing and never leaving my side.  Ladies, I know I have it good and I thank God every day for him.

Tuesday 11/22 @ 12:30 am - Anesthesiologist (the most loved man in the maternity ward) arrives and I finally get relief!  The minute the pain went away is another one of the happiest moments of my life. : )  I actually didn't think the epidural was painful, but maybe that is because the contraction pains were much worse in comparison. 

Tuesday 11/22 @ 1am - I am now at 4cm and baby is at Station +1... pretty low in the birth canal.  Our nurse, Chelsea, spends most of the night chatting with us.  She is close to our age and grew up pretty close to where Jason did.  We discover that we have some mutual friends and spend a good hour or so talking about how much we love our dogs.  She was so kind and made the whole labor experience very calm.  Her shift ended an hour before Henry was born and she stayed so she could meet him.  How sweet! 

Tuesday 11/22 @ 3am - I am now at 6 cm dilated.  Jason and I try to sleep, but for obvious reasons never seem to get any.  We contemplate Henry's middle name, which we are still undecided on.

Tuesday 11/22 @ 5am - I am fully dilated!!!!  Holy cow, that happened fast!  Chelsea calls my doctor and we begin pushing.

Tuesday 11/22 @ 7 am - Have been pushing for almost 2 hours and am exhausted.  Doctor requests that my epidural get turned off so that I can feel the contractions better and push harder.  Eeeeekkkk!  They assure me that the epidural takes a full hour to wear off, so I agree to give it a shot.

Tuesday 11/22 @ 7:20ish - It is all a blur at this point... the doctor tells us that even though I am pushing hard, there isn't much progress because the umbilical cord is wrapped around something and keeps pulling him back in.  Say what????  Talk about scary!  She suggests that forceps be used and is confident she can get him out within a few contractions.  I REALLY didn't want to have to use forceps.  I mean, have you seen the things?  On the other hand, the pain and pressure were really getting to me and I just wanted him out and know that he was okay.  So we agreed... but I requested the epidural be turned back on beforehand.

Tuesday 11/22 @ 7:30ish - Anesthesiologist comes back in to turn on epidural, but by this time there is so much pressure that we don't wait for it to take effect.  Pretty sure I was very audible at this point.

Tuesday 11/22 @ 7:42 am - With the help of the forceps and a few good pushes, HENRY IS BORN!  How I feel when I first look at him is indescribable.  Seriously.... I have typed and retyped what I would say here and nothing fully captures how I felt.  He is perfect and I am in love with him!

Another sidenote - the umbilical cord was wrapped around his leg, but didn't do any damage.  Thank goodness!

Hello World!
Our new family, minus Lucie.

Daddy is an expert swaddler!

Go Cats!

Mini photo sesh on the day we got to come home.


Mommy's Little Turkey - coming home on Thanksgiving Day!
Lucie meeting her new brother for the first time.  This was the moment I totally lost my cool and cried like a baby.  Not sure if it was the hormones or just because I had really missed her.  Lucie acted a little odd that night and kept her distance, but came around in the following days.  She likes to sniff Henry and give him an occasional kiss.  :)







According to Ashley

My photo
Kentucky, United States
Loving life and enjoying every second of it with my college sweetheart and husband of 3 years, Jason, my precious baby boy, Henry and our sweet dog, Lucie. Welcome to my blog - hope you enjoy this glimpse into my life!

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