Cranky Baby, Happy Baby

Oops...for some reason, I forgot to update the blog last week. (Could it be baby brain, lack of sleep, having a kid attached at the boob 5 hrs a day, or all of the above?) Still have NO idea where the time goes--my days are jam-packed and there's rarely ever a spare moment, but I barely have anything to show for it!

Last Saturday, Jason's bro Steven and his wife Aimee invited us over for a yummy dinner. Just thinking about Steven's cooking gets my mouth a-waterin' ;) The nephews also had a chance to 'bond' with Reid. And most excitedly, we found out Reid will have a new cousin around Valentine's Day!! It'll be so fun having one that close in age! Congrats, you guys!! Here's Hayden holding him:

And this week, we had our first official playdate with Lacy Shiligani (Bennett's wonderful Art teacher) and her daughter, Violet, who's a month older than Reid. It was so fun to compare notes and see our little miracles out of the womb! Reid wasn't a very good host, but Violet was a little angel.

And when Reid actually does nap during the daytime (not so often, I'm afraid!), he definitely prefers being on his tummy. Here's my little "inchworm," hiney sticking up and all:

He was a very cranky little guy this week for no apparent reason...wanting to eat more often, so I'm hoping it's that 6 week growth spurt everyone talks about. But the on Friday evening and Saturday evening, he was SO happy for about 10-15 minutes...made it all worth it! Here he is with Daddy and some new cool threads (thanks, Aunt Sharon and Uncle Steve!)

And the next one was even cuter!

Here's a little snippet of our happy little guy--we actually got an even better one on our video camera, but I have yet to learn how to upload those...

Ho Hum...

Not too much going on this week (which isn't a bad thing ;) Mondays seem to be my 'catch up around the house' days--laundry, cleaning, etc. Unbelieveably, I'm looking at the clock and realizing that Reid and I slept a little longer than usual, did a load of laundry (and #2's in the washer), gave him a bath, ate lunch, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, plus did a little stint on the treadmill. Not much to show for it, but guess I've accomplished way more than I thought! Next on the list is tackling my mountain of paperwork to be filed (that's definitely been waaaay back on a burner somewhere, lol) and I'm hoping to get my HUGE Snapfish order in soon so I can fill in some pics for his baby book. Never knew I'd spend $80 on one picture order alone...but I just couldn't choose which pics I wanted b/c they were all so cute ;) I do find it ridiculous that they charge sooo much for s/h. Sheesh.

Laura, this one's for you:

I am still in awe that Reid's eyes are so beautiful...they're a steel blue. I'm sure it'll change to brown one of these days, but I'm trying to get pictures while I can. This really doesn't do them justice, but at least you get an idea.

I am still shocked at how "off" my poor body is after all it's been through. My tummy, face, and feet are peeling like I'm a lizard shedding my skin or something. I slather on the lotion every single night after showering (and now in the mornings, too), drink a TON of water, and eat as healthy as I can. Don't get me wrong--the Blue Bell is still a part of my diet ;) Gotta have some fun in there somewhere!! I look relatively normal again, but still have ten pounds to go (I've lost 30, now) and about 5 inches to go on my waist... Guess that's not too bad for having a 5 1/2 week old, but seems like it's taking forever...mainly b/c none of my regular clothes fit, yet maternity stuff's too big. I bought a few things to tide me over during this in between period--Reid had a fully tummy, so he was a good little shopper at Kohl's the other day :)

Aunt Laura!!! (and other fun things)

Aunt Laura's visit was much too short (you know I'd say that even if she were here for like an entire year ;) but boy did we enjoy ourselves!! We ate a ton, took walks in the nice 70 degree weather (love clouds!), played with baby boy, bonded over cheesy movies and tv shows, shopped a bit, and just had wonderful sister time.

A family pic (I realized we only have one from the hospital, so need to take advantage of when people are here to snap a photo for us):

Aunt Laura, Baby Reid, and a furry Dixie cat (whose good graces I seem to be back in once again...she's purring on my lap even though Reid is right next to us):


I was bummed this pic didn't show what his bib said, so the one below shows it more clearly (and no, we don't call her Auntie, but all the other bibs were way girly...I had actually tried to find one ahead of time that said, "I love my Aunt" but again...all too girly):

Sisters and Baby Reid:

And our weekly pic. Guess at this point I'll probably move to one month pictures, but it was neat to see him grow sooo much in just a month's time! Aunt Laura accompanied us to the pediatrician last Friday and Reid is now 9 lbs and 21 1/2 inches long...tall boy!

Here is my favorite pic of the week--a smile!! And I actually caught it with the camera!! :) This makes ALL those poopie diapers (and there are a lot of them) and sleepless nights totally worth it!

Here's what the little guy is currently doing... I now understand the phrase "sleep like a baby" much better. He can sleep anywhere! (this happens to be on a soft blankie next to mommy on the desk)

Three Weeks Old

The most exciting news this week...Aunt Laura is here from Australia!!! She has been a wealth of information (she's the mom of two precious little boys herself!), help, and fabulous company. I've been looking forward to our sister time ever since she booked her tickets soooo long ago. She's full of wonderful tips on little (and big!) things to do with a newborn, plus she's taking great care of me :) I will have a whole update with her once we have more pics, but here's the first of many:


And here's my little guy at two weeks, then three weeks. I can already tell he's gotten longer and heavier--even within a week!! Already growing too fast... Our four week appointment with the pediatrician is on Friday!

But, sadly, the cats are both still twice his weight. And obviously, still not too fond of him. But Dixie does check on him sometimes when he cries a lot--it's kind of cute...until she bites Samson's hiney when she's decided Reid has cried long enough...

Reid's new favorite position to sleep, when he actually naps (which has been an issue some days, totally not an issue others...think we've hit a growth spurt!):

Things this new mommy has learned about having an infant:

- It is not uncommon to go through twenty diapers in one day (but thankfully most days aren't like that!).

- Eat. Sleep. Poop. Play. Repeat several times. Throw a walk and a bath in there somewhere and that's our new daily "routine" (and by "routine," I mean it will probably change tomorrow!)

- Newborns are cuter than just about anything else on earth!!!

- Wubbanubs (pacifiers with cute little stuffed animals attached) are life savers.

- Swings and bouncy chairs are also life savers.

- It's quite a feat to get myself dressed and fed before 11am.

- The pile of baby books I got before he was here probably should've been read before he was here...because now there's no time for reading.

- Blog entries that would've taken 5 minutes now take an hour and 5 minutes (like this one!) because someone needs feeding, or three diaper changes, or his paci put in for the 10th time, or rocking...you get the picture!

- Reid is the master of sharding (pooping just enough to warrant a diaper change), and then sharding again...and again...and again... Secretly, I think he knows exactly what he's doing, lol.

- I love our new family soooooo much and it's so amazing to see Jason in his new role as Daddy :)

And finally, the clip of the week (just like Talk Soup, hahaha)! This is the cutest little outfit...I love it because he looks like a little boy, but I hate it because it makes him look so grown up already--does that make sense? ;)

Happy 1st Father's Day!!

Our happy, new family, for which we are so grateful!!

I have to do a quick little post to tell Jason happy Father's Day!! I had actually prepared well ahead of time (I thought!) and gotten his gift a long time ago b/c I didn't know if I'd be able to get out, etc. What I'd forgotten is that they didn't have Father's Day cards out yet...so Reid and I snuck out on Friday (I'm not technically supposed to drive until tomorrow due to the c-section, but Walgreens is soooo close...) to go get our cards for Jason's first Father's Day. We are so grateful to have such a wonderful husband/daddy--God picked the perfect man for me!!

Here's the tired Daddy (Reid hasn't exactly been Mr. Cooperative today...)

Two Weeks Old

Reid is officially two weeks old today--I can't believe it! The hospital stay already seems soooo long ago (and I don't want to forget anything), and the past two weeks have been a blur of diaper changes, crying, feedings, and attempts to sleep. And it has been absolutely, utterly amazing :)

On the Monday we arrived home from the hospital, Aunt Kristen and Oma/Gamma drove up from Houston to see our new arrival.

Aunt Kristen brought the cutest Aggie gear--check out those precious booties--which I dressed Reid in this week. (and yes, I was a big dork and wore an A&M shirt that day, too) We have tons of LSU goodies, but the Aggie goodies are beginning to catch up!

Grammy took good care of us all week long. She cleaned, shopped, brought me things I didn't know I'd need when nursing, and put up with my craziness/weepiness as I got no sleep. Literally. One night, I survived on 30 minutes of sleep. Reid got about 45 minutes. Now I understand what "babies have their days and nights mixed up" means!

I was trying to get a video of Reid's beautiful, dark blue eyes (I'm sure they'll change to brown since Jason and I both have dark brown eyes, but you never know...) but ended up with a funny hiccupping kiddo. He had the hiccups daily while in my belly--it was reassuring and cute while he was in there, but out of the womb it's been interesting...cutest sound and facial expressions, but not so cute when it's 3am and he won't go to sleep b/c of them.

But who can resist this precious little guy? Most nights, I was fine with the little sleep thing, but a couple of nights I thought I'd go mad b/c I had no idea what he needed. The mental checklist: Is he fed? Check. Clean diaper? Check. Warm enough? Check. Burped? Check. Needs to be held or rocked? Check. So why's he crying? Who knows!! ...but at least someone in the house is sleeping...albeit during the daytime ;)

Thank goodness for swings! Ten seconds before this, he was screaming his head off...

I try not to use it unless he's inconsolable and it's nowhere near a feeding time, but how cute is this little guy? Reid can sometimes hold Ducky all by himself (I'm sure it's by accident, but still really adorable!).

And here's what we do most of the day...drift away to dreamland. I am quite grateful that for the past two nights, he's figured out that nighttime is sleep time (and of course, we eat every couple of hours) and daytime is for alertness, naps, and being awake. Makes Mommy one happy camper!

Finally, how are the "fur babies" reacting to baby boy's homecoming?? It's been interesting, to say the least. The first day, we had the video camera out and ready, but Dixie cautiously approached and sniffed from four feet away...Samson just stared for a second and went right back to sleep. The first time Reid really let out the big wails of a newborn, Dixie freaked and went to bite Samson's hiney. Weird!! But the most humorous thing is how the cats have taken all the new baby goodies...they apparently think it's new stuff for them. A couple of examples:

The Hospital Stay

We were fortunate enough to have lots of visitors at the hospital. It was soooo nice!! Grandparents, Aunt/Uncle/nephews, Bible study members, co-workers, you name it--we loved it! Here's a shot of Grammy and Grumpy Shepherd:

On Saturday evening, we got to have our steak and lobster "celebration dinner" (did I mention we LOVED Baylor Frisco??) since we weren't sure if it was the final night of our visit, or if Sunday night would be. Everything was delish!

By this time, the nurses only had to come now and then since baby boy and I were stable. My epidural was taken out on Friday morning after an extremely itchy night (guess that's a side effect?), so I was just given pain meds after that. It was kind of weird b/c at first, the nurses were very punctual and brought them every four hours, but at some point I had to start calling the nurse's station for them (possibly b/c it was the weekend and there were only about 5 rooms occupied on the floor?). I learned my lesson with the laparotomy surgery a year and a half earlier when the pain got "ahead of me"...keep up with it or it'll get the best of you. We also enjoyed the quiet times, especially with the new addition to our little family. Proud Daddy on Sunday morning, at naptime...

Sweet baby boy, who we've decided will do lots of talking with his very expressive hands:

Monday morning...time for our discharge. Two happy, excited parents:

Our suite at the hospital was absolutely wonderful--a little 'living area' plus a regular room. (we found out later these rooms are usually reserved for folks who have extended hospital visits, not just normal stays, so we lucked out!) We packed up and shipped out because Jason had to head to work to finish a bid that afternoon.

Our little guy in his carseat for the first time. The headrest thingee wouldn't go any lower, so I ended up rolling up a towel (similar style to the one by his legs) so his head wouldn't bob around on the way home. After a bit of fussing, he was out as soon as someone picked up the carseat.

The hospital visit was wonderful...great doctors/nurses/lactation consultants, wonderful visitors, nice room, yummy food (and that's from a couple of self-professed foodies!). I'd do it again in a heartbeat! I also highly recommend "rooming out" for the nights--you can send the baby to the nursery and they'll bring him back for feedings, which allows you some great sleep (for the last time in 18+ years, I'm sure ;)