December, I'm ready for you!

Is it December already?! I suppose it's time for me to update! (And maybe change out of the fall layout?)

SO, here is an update on my life the past couple weeks, yes I am terrible at blogging!

-We got back from our mini-"vacation" in Kansas... the plane ride home went okay, only some fussing! Okay..maybe more than some. maybe lots. and tons of people giving me that "i-know-what-you're-going-through" look and nod, with a shy smile. Also, tons of crazy advice: "your baby is crying because he can smell burger king and he's hungry..." uh? excuse me? my baby is less than 2 months old. he doesnt get hungry smelling food hes never tasted before. lol.

-We have all had colds ever since returning from KS. For some reason, we just can't kick them! All three of us.. brad less than Colton and I, but him a little bit still. What is going on with colds this year? Seriously.

-On a very happy note: colton has been sleeping through the night. Yes, 8-9 hours every night. can you believe it?! its been over a week of it, and he is STILL doing it!!!! Honestly.... I am soo thankful for sleep these days!

-Christmas shopping... I am almost done with all my XMas shopping for this year, only have to finish Colton's presents and Brads presents. And my mom, but I have a wonderful idea for her, hopefully it will pan out! I have Brads all planned... but for Colton... i dont know why shopping for a will be 3 month old is so hard! I nixed all clothes from my options list. So, I have gotten him gloves and sunglasses for his stocking so far. What else? If only we had a better toy store around here. Online shopping: here I come. Any ideas for a baby for Christmas??

-Christmas card... almost done. Ordering it today (hopefully) but here is a preview of the picture:

Yes, I know. Adorable. We decided to go with a picture with just Colton in it. We just couldn't figure out how to get a good picture of all 3 of us, without another person here to take it. So just Colton it is! Anyway, I think that it is probably cuter with just him anyway!

-Speaking of pictures.... I won a photo session with the amazing Linnie Arnesen through her blog! She was our wedding photographer, and she did our engagement photos. Love her, So excited. When we head back to KS for Xmas, we should get some super amazing family photos! Though not in time for XMas card pictures, still perfect for framing!

Anyway.. that's all for now.

Lots of love!!!

Lots & Lots of Firsts

Okay, okay... I am going to try this "Monday Miscellany" thing... all thanks to my good friend over at Daily Sips

1. The first I am SO excited about: sleeping through the night. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Colton has slept through the night for the VERY FIRST TIME. Last night... 10pm-6am. No crying whatsoever, just sleeping. My baby might be a prodigy. I hope this continues!!!!!!!

2. A couple days ago, Colton had his very first flight! And he did SO good! I was super nervous to fly (by myself) with a 7 week old, but Brad was heading out for the week and I was not excited to stay by myself in NC with all my family in KS. So we decided, pretty last minute actually, that I should head home and give my baby some grandma/grandpa/auntie meggie/lots of family time. And I am so thankful. The flight went SO WELL though... He slept practically the whole time, no fussing at all! What a relief! Hardest part: holding the baby, my carry-on, and the diaper bag, while folding up/unfolding the stroller at the end of the terminal. But, thanks to a couple very kind strangers, I survived. And here I am!!!

3. Speaking of flying... while there I had the first person to be rude to me about my baby! While getting in the front of the line to get on the plane, a perk to flying with a child under 5!, a not-so-kind lady took a look at my baby sleeping in the stroller and said "he's sleeping now... so probably he will be screaming the whole flight" UM.. WHO SAYS THAT! I was baffled. Bewildered. Shocked. All I could mutter was "i hope not!" While on the plane, I worked extra hard to prove her wrong, and thought of all these amazing come-backs. "Probably... hopefully we'll sit next to you." "Sometimes, you just have to let your child scream." "He screams so loud it used to hurt my ears! But i'm used to it now"... etc. PS... I'm not a bad mom. These are just rhetorts and don't necessarily convey the truth! Any other good ones I've missed?

4. Colton met his future favorite 2nd cousin. LB of Kelley @ Daily Sips met us in KS for them to meet and play. We got so many ADORABLE pictures of them. Colton is almost 2 months, LB is 5 months, and the difference in their size is ridiculous (and hilarious!!!) Pictures to come... i don't have any way to upload them off my camera right now.

5. Colton decided he wants to be a bully. When laying next to LB for pics, the first thing he does is reach over and grab LB's hair and pull. Luckily that boy has a tough scalp! Don't worry though... he definitely got Colton back. He tried to roll onto him and play with him. It was hysterical!

6. Has anyone else noticed that my life has become consumed with baby? Seriously... what did I do.. talk about... think about... before him? He is my world and I abso-freaking-love him so much!!!

7. The unit Brad deployed this last time just deployed again. It doesn't seem like they have been home long enough to deploy again! Seriously.. talk about taking this "one year dwell time minimum" to the absolute minimum. I can't imagine what these women are going through so soon after we just went through it. I have been praying and praying for them.

Okay.. thats enough miscellany for this monday.

Christmas Card Time!

As long as I can remember, my family has always sent out Christmas cards. They were always the kind that had a picture of either just us kids or the whole family, along with some sort of decoration around them or words and our names. Similar to these at shutterfly:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-cards

I LOVE these Christmas cards! I have always wanted to send out my own, but as my husband's family does not send out these cards, I told him I would wait until we had a baby. And so now.. it's on. Christmas card time, here we come!

Speaking of shutterfly... I love them. I made Brad a photo book of the first few years of us for our anniversary this year, and it was so easy to make and he loved it. I gave it to him about a month late... but nevertheless, it was pretty amazing. You can find photo books here:

http://www.shutterfly.com/photo-books

Anyway, Christmas cards. We haven't taken a Christmas card picture yet, but we are debating between one that has just Colton in the picture, like this one:

or one that has our whole family, like this one:

What do you think? I am torn, and my husband really isn't being much help! I love them both! PS... the pictures they use as examples are pretty much perfect... I am not sure that our photo will be of that quality! Hopefully it would still be cute though :)

Hopefully, I can get our cards out before Christmas... I am not sure if I will be able to though!

PS.. Shutterfly has a wonderful promotion right now where bloggers can get 50 FREE photo cards!! Learn more about it at: http://bit.ly/sfly2010 .. pretty amazing. Shutterfly has always been so good at sending our coupons. We even got $20 free as a baby gift from Shutterfly! A-mazing.

One Month

Well, I don't have much to say, or much time to say it. This past month has been a whirlwind of .... amazingness. Brad and I have watched Colton grow and grow and it is wonderful. He has gone from a teeny tiny infant (okay, he still is that!) who sleeps all the time, doesn't have too much awake time, and doesn't eat much at a time. He still sleeps quite a bit, but he has increased periods of awakeness, with increasing alertness. He now LOVES watching mobiles - the mobile over his swing is his favorite. I tell you, he can stare at that mobile waving above him for 10 or 15 minutes straight, just observing. It is so sweet! He sleeps better at night than before. He will go to sleep in his bassinet around 10 or 1030 every night, as opposed to 1230, and wakes only 2 times usually to eat. Both times he goes right to sleep after he eats for an hour. During the day, he does NOT want to be apart from either Brad or I. If he is being cuddled or sleeping on one of us, life is good for him. If we try to put him down, not so much. His swing is our saving grace, the only thing that keeps him happy (sometimes) and lets me get something done!

Brad has been home from work the whole first month, which was SUCH a blessing. He only went back to work on Monday (Coltons 1 month bday) and now he still gets to come home around 10am every day, except once a week he has a full day. This should go on for another couple weeks. I honestly can't believe how blessed we are for him to have this kind of time to spend with us. So many army wives spend some or most or even all of the first few months of their child's lives with their husband deployed or on a TDY, it is quite common, and I know that the Lord has blessed us tremendously and planned the timing of Colton's birth just for us.

My favorite thing that Colton has learned to do this past month, is smile in response to my smile. He doesn't do it every time I smile at him, just about half the time, but it is so stinkin sweet! I love his little smile, his tiny dimples in his cheeks, his toothless gums.

My baby woke up... Until next time!

Jessica

3 weeks old

So, every time I try to add a picture, google chrome glitches and shuts down and loses my whole post! :( so no photos this time. And... this would have been a long post but it probably will not be any more!

So my baby is now 3 weeks old... where does the time go!!!

We had almost one week of "just the 3 of us" after my parents left, before Brads mom came to visit, and it was so fun. I felt like we were playing house... except for the 3am feedings of course! We had a few fun outings and Colton did so good! We even went to the mall for me to buy a pair of non-pregnancy jeans that fit... not quite the same size as before, but not pregnancy! woohoo!! We spent several days at home the whole day, and usually I would get a little stir-crazy doing that very often, but now that there is a baby here to take care of, I didn't get stir crazy. It was cozy and fun, and we all loved that time. I left Colton with Brad for the very first time that week. I only went to the grocery store and it was right after a feeding so i knew he would be okay, but i was still a bit nervous! I was gone an hour and a half, and was definitely ready to be home by the end of that time!

Brads mom came and we had fun with her here. Her and Colton bonded and spent lots of cuddle time together. During that almost week she was here, brad and I left colton for the very first time. We just went to walmart, and only for 30 minutes, but it was quite a big step for us! Everything was fine, of course, and I was very proud of us. Brad and I tried to go on walks every evening that week, and usually Colton loved the walks. A couple of the times he fussed, but I think those days were a little windier and was making his face, the only part of him exposed, a little chilly. Poor baby!

The same day that Jo left, Megan, my sister, arrived. I was so excited to have her here! Another first: I left Colton with Brad through a feeding for the first time! Meg and I wanted to hit the mall and do a little shopping here, but that isn't as easy with a baby.. so I pumped right before we left and Brad bottle fed him when he woke up. He did so good with the bottle, what a champ! I was a little nervous about it, but he ate 3oz in 15 minutes... hungry baby! It usually takes him about an hour to eat the same amount when nursing. I think he just likes the closeness when nursing though :) BTW, while shopping, I bought another pair of jeans that are only ONE size bigger than my pre-pregnancy jeans. WOOHOO! Hopefully not much longer, I miss having so many jean options. Right now I only have 3 (meg brought me a pair of jeans! Thanks sis!).

Colton had his 2 week appt today, which is actually 3 weeks but we werent able to make an appt for earlier. He now weighs 9 lbs 9 oz, almost 1 lb bigger than his birth weight! What a good grower!!! They also checked his jaundice levels again, and he is at a 16. That is the same it was when we went to the hospital 2 weeks ago. Hopefully it is just breastfeeding jaundice, most likely it is, but they will re check at our 2 month appt. If it hasn't dropped by then, we will discuss further treatment. Hopefully it has though!

Well.. sorry about the photos but hopefully next time I can get it to not freeze up when uploading them!

Have a great week friends!!!

1 week old photos

crying shouldnt be this cute...

daddy, baby, and cat

on our way to church

Brad, Colton, and Lambie taking a nap

precious sleeping baby

baby is more entertaining than tv

cuddling in the recliner

the first week has been a whirlwind. my parents came in town to meet their grandson and they loved every minute of it. they were so much help as well- we didn't have to think about meals at all or do any dishes. Also... Brad and I got to nap and put the gparents on "baby duty" (which I think they secretly really enjoyed!) which was a big help for those nights we didn't sleep!

during this first week we did spend one night and one day in the hospital again. when we went in for his 2-day after discharge appt they checked his bilirubin levels and he was at a 21- which requires intervention. So we were immediately sent upstairs to the pediatric unit at the hospital to put our baby in a bili bed. It was so sad - he had to wear baby shades so he couldn't see and we couldn't hold him at all except when he was eating. I was a slight mess about it and didn't sleep at all the whole night. Colton didn't seem to mind too much actually. He fussed a little bit but we were able to calm him down just talking to him and holding his hands. luckily one day and night was all it took to get his levels down to an acceptable level and now he his jaundice is almost gone!

His sleeping is going well - he sleeps for 3 or 4 hours at a time during the night and during the day we have noticed more periods of awakeness lately. he loves to just look around. its very fun - the first few days he slept in between every feeding and had very few awake periods (i hear that is normal for most babies, esp those with jaundice). I love seeing him so curious about the world! It is so sweet!

Have a wonderful week everyone! :)

Birth Story

I first want to say... giving birth is definitely the most amazing experience of my life. Seeing my son for the first time and holding him for the very first time is something I will always remember and always cherish. He is absolutely amazing and I am every day thankful that the Lord has given brad and I such an amazing opportunity.. such a wonderful blessing .. to take care of a tiny little helpless baby, and help him grow into an amazing child (although hopefully not very soon. i want him to stay little forever.)

So here is a summed up version of Colton's birth:

My water broke around 4am Saturday morning, although I wasn't having very many or very intense contractions. Brad asked if we could sleep a couple more hours before going to the hospital since I wasn't having contractions 2-3 minutes apart yet. Haha he definitely didn't understand! At the hospital, they gave me pitocin to get my contractions jump-started and to get me to dialate.. I was only at 1-2 cm when arriving. Around noon, they re-checked and I hadn't dialated any more. My contractions were then one minute long and pretty intense, with only one minute in between each. Since i couldn't get an epidurral until 4cm, and it didn't look like that would happen any time soon, I went ahead and asked for pain medications. I had thought I didn't want anything but the epidurral because I didn't want my baby to come out sleepy, but the nurse assured me that pain medication will help me dialate faster since my body will be more relaxed. She added it to the IV and from that point on, I was pretty drowsy. I remember I could feel the pain about the same as before but I was too drowsy to care anymore. I drifted in and out of sleep for several more hours and when they checked me again at 4 or so, around the time the pain meds were wearing off, I had dialated to a 5. Thankfully! So I got the epidurral and slept another hour. Around 645 it was pushing time and Colton was born around 715. The pushing wasn't painful- but it was hard. I am so thankful that I got the epidurral because this big baby ripped me - vaginally and cervically. That would have been very painful. Because of the tears, I had to get sewn up (obviously) and it took two doctors to accomplish this. I was not allowed to hold Colton right away like I had asked. I wanted to hold him before he was even washed up, but the nurses wouldn't allow it and so I couldn't hold him for almost an hour after he was born. When I finally was able to, it was beautiful and amazing. I am so thankful for him and I can't imagine my life without him.

Brad has been the best dad I could have ever hoped he would be. He changes diapers more than I do (a lot more!) and he loves Colton so much. We are constantly "bickering" over whose turn it is to hold the baby. I never knew that having this baby would increase the love I have for my husband. It definitely has and the Lord has blessed us more than I would have ever hoped.

There's more to say.. but my baby is hungry now. :)