From Bellies to Mohawks...

Today was a normal day, nothing really big happened. There were no crazy poops. No pee in the face. (There was one spit up incident, but it wasn't a big deal-it was on Kevin!) No crazy screaming. All in all-a pretty uneventful day. So, I thought I'd keep it short and sweet and just post some cute pics from the day.

Daddy was off so Kaleb got some much needed belly time!

Gammie and Poppy came over for a visit.

I think this is a classic picture. It's as if Kaleb is saying "what...?"

And this is how we are doing our hair these days. I call it classy punk! And, if you cannot tell, we are growing very fast! When we weighed Kaleb this afternoon he was a whopping 9lbs 14oz!

I think I hear him beginning to stir. I wonder if I can down a bowl of ice cream and a cookie before he really wakes up? Ahh motherhood...

Newborn No More :(

Today Kaleb is one month old! Can you believe it's already been a whole month? The past few days have been pretty full of milestones.

First, Kaleb can no longer wear newborn diapers. He is now officially in a 1! Although they are still kind of big, he is certainly making size 1 poops!

He is also wearing 0-3 month clothes and actually filling them out! (Of course, he can wear straight 3 month clothes in length, they are just too wide!)

Kaleb is also beginning to be very interested in moving objects, bright colors and things that jingle! He is doing a great job of lifting and turning his head to follow things! Our other new thing has to do with food! He is a PIG! He recently decided that the four to five hours he was going between nighttime feedings just wasn't enough! He now needs to eat every two hours! Hah-not so much! So, we have started with some cereal in his nighttime bottle! The first night he slept sooo soundly for 5 1/2 hours, then another 6 hours. Kevin is really enjoying getting to feed him his bedtime bottle!

Although it has gone by quickly, this month has taught me many lessons!

1. Keep the poop shoot covered (or be ready with ninja-like reflexes) while changing a diaper. Too much emphasis has been put on the tee-tee!

2. Once you are able to move around and not be medicated, do not expect your husband to change another diaper!

3. Spit up happens!

4. Be very cautious when "peeking" into a diaper from the side! Just because the diaper is there, does not mean that it will protect you if the stars align and the baby poops just as you pull open the side!

5. Any time you brag--be prepared!

6. Sleep is sooo over rated!

7. Baby poop is still poop and you should wash your hands after changing a diaper!

All in all, this has been the best month of my life! Although sleep has not been had, showers are few and far between, I have been pooped on several times and I never want to work again...I would not trade it for the world!

Oh what lies ahead...

Oh to be a stay at home Mom...

Today was a day I have been dreading. Although it was a Super fun day, I still have been dreading it's coming. I have known all along that it is going to be REALLY hard to go back to work when my maternity leave is over. This is something that I am slowly preparing myself for but not really focusing on. We have had some really fun and relaxing days around our and Gammie's house. We have gone and visited family, we have run errands and we have shopped. But today was different. Today I saw what it would really be like to be a stay at home mom. And I loved it.

I started my morning around 7am with feeding Kaleb and watching the morning news. Then (after pulling the dog thrown up on sheets off the bed and piling them with the dog thrown up on comforter from earlier in the morning and putting the dogs back outside) I gathered stuff up and managed to get the baby into his vibrating seat and position him outside the bathroom door where I could see him, I took a shower. I then finished getting dressed, got Kaleb dressed, (including his hair brushed!) got him into his swing and picked some stuff up around the house. This all by 8:30 and the arrival of Gammie and Micah! (However, I am not sure that I remembered to brush my teeth...hmm...) Then, we gathered the boys and took them to "The Bounce".

For those of you who do not follow my sister-in-law's blog (which you should!), the bounce is a place in College Station where they have those big blow up obstacle course/bounce/slide things. My nephews LOVE it. I know that Kaleb is too small for it now, but I could see myself taking him there to play... during the week...between the hours of 8 and 5...reading a book and enjoying his smiling face running around. Maybe we'd have playdates there with other stay at home moms and their happy kids...uh ohh...this was the moment. This is when I realized that I DO NOT want to go back to work. I would be such a good stay at homer. Why can't we win the lottery...? Oh well. I'll at least enjoy it while I can!

Not only did we go to the bounce, but today was Kaleb's first trip to Chuck E. Cheese. I have added pictures of all the action!

Here's Daddy enjoying Chuck E. Cheese...

Here's Kaleb enjoying Chuck E. Cheese...

Daddy...

Kaleb...

Daddy...you get the picture?

Of course, since Kaleb is too small, Poppy was there to play with Kevin!




Although today made me see how hard going to work is really going to be, it was a great day! What a great family I have!

(oh, and so far no crazy poops! of course, the night is still young!)

Belly Buttons, Baths and Poop...Oh My!

Tuesday morning, while changing Kaleb's diaper, I noticed something looked different. Then I realized that it was the lack of umbilical nastiness! Kaleb finally has a belly button!!

Because of this, we finally got to get a big boy bath! He had just eaten, and thus was on his way to unconciousness, so I was afraid that he would not enjoy the bath. Boy was I wrong! He LOVED it! This is definitely his mellow spot. (I could have used this information the night before!)

(Sorry for the shots of the "private parts". I am not as good as Rachel with the photo editing!)

Here are some cute shots from Kaleb's first bath!

Later that afternoon I was changing Kaleb's diaper and dressing him to go out to dinner. After filling one diaper, getting a clean one on, filling that diaper, getting a clean one -and halfway through- beginning to fill that one...I decided that we would wait before "closing" him up. You know, making sure his was finally through. Just when I thought the coast was clear, as I was holding his feet and preparing to finish putting on the clean diaper, I turned around to talk to Kelly, and it happened... I heard a bubbling and turned just in time to see a stream of poop fly through the air! It was like a fire hose...

This is where it landed!

This is how I responded...or well...laughed so hard I couldn't move...

And this is how Kevin responded...


Kevin's response was definitely more useful--although breastmilk poop stains carpet--he at least got it dried! Of course, the best part of his response was verbal. "Great. First I clean dog poop off the carpet, now I have to clean the kid's poop off the carpet. It's not the dog's that are going to cost us the pet deposit...it's him!"

Of course, the only thing that would have made this better would have been if Kelly had still been standing beside me/infront of him!

What a great day!! I really needed this after the previous night...

...ps-last night was back to normal!

Lessons of the night...

Last night I learned three important parenting lessons. They are lessons that deep down I already knew, but I now know firsthand!

In the three and a half weeks that I have been a parent, I have said many times "Man, we have such a good baby!" I have not questioned the decision to become a parent, nor have I wondered if it were too late to give him back. I did last night!

We have been very fortunate in that Kaleb has been such a good eater and sleeper. We have been going at least four hours between every meal and most nights have had a six hour stretch. Not last night.

Which brings me to Lesson #1.

Do not ever think that you are in control/have everything figured out!

I sat down to feed Kaleb at 10pm. Kevin had just gone to bed and I had let him know that we were not far behind. Kaleb pooped in his jammies. No big deal. I got some clean ones and back to eating we went. At 11pm I tucked him in and, with a confident smile on my face, laid down in bed. He fussed a little. I replaced his pacifier in his mouth. He fussed a little more. I helped him scoot himself farther up in the bassinet. All was quiet. The he fussed some more. Then he squeeled a little. Then he was quiet. Then he fussed. Then Kevin sighed loudly. He continued spitting out the pacifier, then wanting it back, spitting then fussing, spitting then fussing. So, I got him up with the thought that he might have gotten some more poop out. Nope. All clean, but now screaming! So, maybe he's still hungry?

Which leads me to lesson #2.

Breastfeeding is only great during the day.

As I sat in the rocking chair, arguing with a 3 week old about how much help his little hands and his screaming were not, I wished nothing more than to have a bottle to give to Kevin. I could tell that he was still hungry, but he was so upset that he wouldn't eat! After about an hour, we had successfully finished eating again and seemed content. All I could think of was the fact that I was going to have to do this all over again in a few hours. Why couldn't Kevin breastfeed? Why hadn't I thawed out some of the frozen milk and made Kevin bottle feed him? ughh, why is Kaleb still fussing????? So, we rocked, we walked around, we laid down in the pack n play and so on. Finally I laid down on the couch and cuddled him. Ahhhh peace!! For about 5 minutes. So, we changed positions. Ahhhh peace!! For about 5 minutes. Finally, at about 2am he was mostly calm and quiet and soon asleep in the pack n play. So begins the debate...he ate (for the second time) at about 11:45...so four hours...3:45...he's asleep...no I am not going to dare move him...I'll sleep on the couch. It's only for about 2 hours anyway! And so I did. He actually slept until about 4:45! An extra hour!!

He woke up in his normal good mood. We changed his diaper and ate very peacefully!! Just as he was finishing eating I heard Kevin's alarm clock...5:30. Ahh, I don't have to go anywhere! I finished getting him back to sleep and successfully got him into his bassinet and me into the bed! It had been about 10 minutes since Kevin's alarm and I hadn't heard it again, so I whispered to him that he needed to get up.

Which leads me to my final lesson of the night/morning.

Killing your husband will not help you sleep. Even though having him alive doesn't do much good for sleeping either!

As I whispered to him again, he sighed/grumbled and said, "man, it feels like I just laid down..."

I'm Back!!

After a 3 week break, I am back to blogging! Oh how I have missed it! I have sooo much that I should have blogged about, but some of us aren't cool and do not have a lap top for comfortable computing!! So, the past three weeks in brief--

-went to the doctor for my 38 week checkup and my water broke during the exam!! Yay for Kaleb 2 weeks early!
-after no epidural and 3 1/2 hours of actual pushing--got the epidural and had a c-section! (please note that if my son had not been soooo stubborn, I would have made it with NO EPIDURAL!!)
-Kaleb arrived on March 27th at 2:39 am. After four days in the hospital--we were all ready to come home!
-Aunt Caroline did an AMAZING job of decorating our car for the trip home and our house for our arrival!
-Mom (thankfully) stayed with us for the next two weeks! (It was a week before I could get on and off the couch by myself)
-We spent the third week at Mom and Dad's running errands, shopping and visiting!

And now we are home! We made it through our first night alone--and it was a piece of cake! We got home from Mom and Dad's around 5:30. Kevin unloaded the car and bathed the dogs while I fed Kaleb and started dinner. Kaleb sat in his swing very sweetly while I got dinner cooked and we ate. The dogs stayed in the kitchen with me, or layed near Kaleb in the living room, but did not bother him!!!!! I was sooo impressed with us! Then, of course, Kaleb had to make sure to bring us back down a little!

I began feeding him around 10pm. He usually works up a really good poop during his feeding, so his grunting was nothing new. Then, about halfway through (actually as I was switching sides) I felt something wet on my hands and his back. That's right--POOP! Soaked through his pjs! Laughing I got up and went to change him. As I undid the diaper I noticed something very strange--there was no poop in the diaper...at least not in its usual location. I am guessing that his poop must have coordinated coincidentally with the exact timing of my patting his hiney or sitting him down to burp, because all of the poop had shot straight up his back!! Kevin had to wipe his back while I held him! There was actually very little poop on his bottom! Then, of course he spit up all over me!!

But we survived! He got clean. He got fed. He went to sleep!

One night down...many thousand to go!

(ps-I am back to blogging, but not quite back to full organization so pictures will come later!)