Casey Month 2

Ok so I finally am getting a chance to post this, Casey is in the swing, so hopefully he'll give me 20 minuets to post an update on him!

 Casey has inherited his mother's worried face...all his pictures he looks concerned

Weight: 12 lbs. 9oz. (he was 7 lbs. 15oz. at birth)

Length: 23 inches

Eating: 4 oz. Mostly every 2 hours (unfortunately, he's a spitter-upper so he might be eating so often for comfort reasons, so we're in the progress with the doctor of figuring that out) Casey is bottle fed because of latching issues (bummer because I so wanted to breast feed, hopefully next baby!)  So I pump and because my supply is not super great I also formula feed. 

Sleeping Location: Casey will pretty much sleep anywhere which is nice...I try and have him sleep somewhere different through out the day so when he sleeps through the night he'll be ok with sleeping in the crib.  We've never had him sleep in our bed but we're always near.

Sleeping time:  He sleeps probably 20-30 minuet naps throughout the day, with maybe one or two longer naps in there.  He sleeps from 7pm or 8pm through to around 3 or 4 am and eats and then wakes up again around 5 or 6 am to begin his day again.

 still concerned

Mama sleep time: I sleep pretty good I go to bed around 8 and my husband takes the shift of putting Casey to sleep which can be a chore some/most night because although he's happy though the day he gets fussy around 6 pm.  I wake up around 12 am to take my shift with him but I just sleep when he sleeps.  All in all I sleep pretty good.

Mama Crazyness:  I'm doing pretty good, there was a while there where I was a hormonal mess.  I've already had my period...twice...Boo!  My body clock is super super regular, also not breast feeding helped with that little beauty.  So yeah Sunday I was in a puddle of tears all day long, pumping was really getting to me and my baby was awake all day...phew...my husband had to try and make sense out of my emotional rants...period came on Monday morning.

Miscellaneous: Casey is now playing, he's loving his floor mobile his Grandma Mary Jane bought him.  He also love his little bird mobile in his crib.  He's starting to like his swing too...thank the Lord I can put him down and put some make-up on once or twice a week!  High five!  He's also smiling at everyone and is so desperately trying to giggle.  It's so cute!

Rating: On a scale of one to ten how much to I love being a mama?  1 billion!  I love it so very much! I got to go he woke up hungry!

 this is how the photo-shoot ended, trust me my baby photos look the same

My Favorite Towel

 

This hippo towel was one of the first things we bought for Casey.  Casey is almost 2 months old so stay tuned this week for an update!

Happy Fourth!

Happy Independence Day! 

Series: Lessons from my Father

⁸ Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.⁹ “This, then, is how you should pray: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, ¹⁰ your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."  

Matthew 6:8-10 (NIV)

I have always always struggled with the question of "What does God think about me?"  I can mentally comprehend gift of grace and forgiveness, but even still it's hard for me, especially when going through any time that is challenging, to think that God likes me at all.  I always think that God really doesn't like me at all. 

The Bible refers to God the Father so so much, you cannot deny that God designed us to be His children.  When ever I hear a sermon or anything reiterating that God is our Father I think about my own father.  I am incredibly blessed to have a wonderful Dad.  And I know that so many people struggle with the idea of "God the Father" because they didn't have a good Dad.  I then feel ashamed that I struggle with the idea that God likes me based on the fact that I know how much my own father loves me, and I know that God loves me even more than that!  And still I struggle. So as I was pregnant the idea came into my head that becoming a parent would be a great way to see how God really does love me.

So I'd like to share with you some things that God is showing me through becoming a parent.  

We (my husband and I) were lying on our bellies in our bed with our heads at the foot of the bed starring.  We were starring at this new sleeping baby, a precious little boy that God as blessed us with.  He was napping in his crib, which up until now he was primarily sleeping in a little bassinet.  It was so exciting for us, that we just watched and whispered to each other. Then he started to awake.  He was on his belly and he was lifting his head and fussing a little bit.  There my husband and I lied, the bed was divided into team pink and team blue.  I was ready to jump up and hold my little boy and console him.  My husband stopped me and told me to wait as he quietly cheered his little man for having such a strong neck, telling me "he's getting stronger!"  Casey didn't really stop fussing so shortly after we picked him up held him and fed him.  But now because I don't pick him up right away he can go back to sleep after a little fussing by himself.

This reminded me of how God has those masculine and feminine sides to him as well.  How when we are struggling down here God must be looking down on us one part cheering one part nurturing.  The great thing about God is that he knows exactly when we need both.  He let's us go though hard times to strengthen our faith but He will never give us more than we can handle.  What a wonderful Father we have!  

This is just one of the things I have learned for far, I will be sharing more soon!     

 

Casey at one month

little smile

In an effort to make this a place where family and friends can see how little Casey is growing I'm going to do my best to post pictures of my little guy more frequently....As a new mom it's been hard to focus on the picture-taking because, well it's hard taking care of a newborn!!

 Casey with Ellie and Grandma and Grandpa

So highlights from month one.  The first week of Casey I was still recovering from a "hick-up" in my birthing experience...involving not being able to go "number one" because my bladder was traumatized. So that wasn't fun, also the hormones were not fun either.  But Casey was a little bundle of joy!  He came out very mellow...and is still living up to that for now.  He getting to like baths more he smiles at least once a day at each person.  He loves to watch people especially his cousin, Jaxon, who is one year older than him!  I can see that Jaxon can't wait to play with Casey but for now brings him blankets when he cries...it's adorable.  Casey's other cousin Ellie can't wait to play with him either! She loves babies and I know she's already a natural mother!  Casey is not much into toys yet, every time we present him with one he would rather look at the person who brought the toy than the toy itself.

 Casey with Grandma

Casey has proven to be a trooper traveler as we have visited my husband family and friends this month.  He really likes the car as long as it's moving.  It reminds me of his first car ride home when we drove 5 miles an hour and whispered to each other comments about how good he was being and to be careful about the bumps in the road....we pretty much held our breath the whole time!

 Casey's first month picture

Casey is a good eater, gaining lots of weight!  He spits up a lot and I know that it bothers him sometimes so that breaks my heart!  He's not too fussy, on a rare occasion he takes a while to be consoled but it's mostly when his routine is off or if he's had a bad spit up day.

 Casey with Daddy

We love him very much and it's been a joy and a blessing to watch my husband become a father!  As for now we are working on getting him to sleep in his crib and enjoying his smiles, and cries, fusses, wiggles, everything!  You are our precious gift Casey!    
 

My love bug

Here he is.  The most precious gift God ever gave me, among my many many blessings.  Casey.  A sweet little name for a sweet little boy. 

Casey was born on May 9th at 6:39pm.  He weighed 7 lbs and 15 oz.  I woke up around 2:30 am and started to labor...phew it was painful! I had back labor because he was posterior.  We waited at home until around 7:30 am and I said "let's go I don't care if they send me home I want drugs as soon as possible!"  When I arrived at the hospital I was 6 cm dilated and I was so happy!  I labored for a couple more hours naturally and then around 10 am got an epidural and life became oh so good!  I had an extremely pleasant afternoon just waiting to fully dilate. 

I was fully dilated at around 3:30pm but he was still posterior so the nurses and my mom and husband did all kinds of things to get him to flip...which he did.  Then it was time to push and the nurse said a first time mom with an epidural will usually have to push for 3 hours.  I said "not me."  I am super determined when I want to be...some would say stubborn I say determined!  Well I cut that time in half...with every ones help!  Honestly even though at times I thought while I was pushing that I would never do this again...it was the most beautiful moment of my life.  The pushing ends...babies come out...that's the good part! 

At one point my mom was counting me through my contraction/pushing and then my husband tried to count but he was too nice and I needed firmness.  So they started to count at the same time and then nobody counted and in the middle of my pushing I yelled "NOBODIES COUNTING!"  And everyone laughed even me, well I laughed in my head because I was busy.  There was a high school student who volunteers at the hospital because she wants to be a nurse and I was happy that she got to witness the joy of helping someone through labor.  Nurses are so awesome and their job is so under-appreciated. There were so many amazing things to remember from that day!

Now It's been two and a half weeks with our precious baby.  He's cute, sweet, he smells good, he loves the car and being in a moby.  I love him so much and I just pray that God gives us the wisdom as parents to raise him well.  Casey, your name means brave...and we pray that you are brave in honoring God in all that you do, welcome little one! 
 

Things to do while you wait

 source photo

Here are some things you can do while you wait for you're baby to appear on the scene...

1. Eat tums.  Yes in the last month of pregnancy your esophagus shrinks to roughly 2 inches long.* So you will need to eat the tums all day long.

2. While you're eating the tums...try and find reoccurring patterns in the flavors. For example...Shake the tums into your hand "Oh I got 2 green an orange and a yellow" See how that works?  It's a fun little game.**

3. Take super long walk near a dog park and see how many dogs let you pet them.  Yesterday 2 dogs let me pet them.  (I really want a dog now to cuddle in the morning with, wish you could rent a dog to cuddle sometimes)

4. Watch Glee.  I know, I was pretty anti-Glee.  But the first season came on Netflix so I started watching it, and hooked like a fish.***

5. Fold and re-fold little onesies. And admire baby socks...and wonder why anyone would want to cover baby feet up.

6. Clean....?  Maybe you could do this.  Personally my sink is full of dishes.  However I did do some much needed dusting yesterday and my bathroom is clean.

7. Count your stretch-marks.  HA HA don't do this! It's depressing.  I do not have the type of skin that likes to stretch...I learned this at puberty, I feel that it is for this reason that I am the shortest one in my family...because my skin refused to stretch any further than it needed to.

8. Go into public and answer questions.  Don't worry this will come naturally.  The people want to know why your belly is so big.  They might even tell you that you make them nervous.  They will say things like "you must be due any day now!" And they won't maintain eye contact because they peer in wonder at your belly.

9. Buy some ice cream.  Look around at the women in the isle and chuckle evil-ly because you know they wish they could buy a jumbo pack of Drumsticks without feeling guilty.****

10. Do your hair and make-up just in case today is the day.  Alright I still don't do this everyday...every other day I think is acceptable, because drying your hair is a pain the the booty...which is already in pain because the baby's head in on a nerve.

*Pretty sure I have no idea what I'm talking about here...but I feel like my food doesn't go very far down.
**This is misleading.  It is not a fun game.
***Please don't call me a "Gleek" I do not accept that, I reject it.
****For the record I don't feel any guilt what-so-ever!

P.S. This is all meant in fun.  I have enjoyed being pregnant very much.  There does come a point where you're so uncomfortable that gotta keep your mind off of all the waiting!




 

Belly Awaiting a Zip Code

It's getting to the point where I feel as big as a house.  Most things that I wear accentuate my growing belly.  I'm still working as much as I can, which is about half as much as I was working a few months ago.  I like to work because I like my job and during the day I feel pretty good.  Usually working with customers is run of the mill, today though was a different story...

I had customers all morning say things like "you must be due soon!" Or "Are you sure you should be doing that?"  I even helped an older man who said "You make me nervous, shouldn't you be lying down at home?"  And he kept commenting on how much ground I must cover in one day.  I really really dislike any attention from people, so having a belly that demands attention (I guess) is hard for me.  My co-worker thinks my belly needs it's own zip code.  I'm ready for this part to be over but I still have 6 weeks left...and 4 weeks of work left, if he comes on time.  Until then I guess I'll just have to deal with the comments and questions.   

In Honor of Ms. Taylor

I don't know if any of you heard but Elizabeth Taylor died today.  Because I have a great love for classic movies I wanted to do a post on my favorite Elizabeth Taylor movies.  The best part about Elizabeth Taylor is that, yes, she was incredibly beautiful, but she could act!  She really could...which is why I think she was chosen for so many great roles! So here we go...

1) Elizabeth was the original bride in Father of the Bride.  So that's my number one pick.  Make sure you also see the sequel Father's Little Dividend, where Elizabeth as Kay has a baby. (This is one of my most favorite movies!)

2. The next one is Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  This is a play written by Tennessee Williams about a troubled family in the south.  Elizabeth stars opposite Paul Newman.  This is a great movie with tons of layers, great acting!

3.  The last one I'll talk about is called A Place in the Sun.  Elizabeth is a young girl who falls in love with a man with one big secret.  Drama, of course, ensues.

These are just some of her movies that I have enjoyed but there are so much more!  Enjoy! 

Pancakes, Labor, and Tummies

 source photo

Today is National Pancake Day?! I love pancakes, or before I was pregnant I liked them every once in a while...now that I am pregnant they are a weekly staple.  I wasn't planning on having pancakes tonight but I just might have too now :) Delish...also for some strange reason I crave Cherry 7up. 

What else?  On Wednesday I will be 30 weeks pregnant.  This past Saturday my hubs and I went to a birth class.  I feel so much more prepared and more confident in the process...the process of having a baby I guess.  I really liked that the instructor was super positive and reassured us that I was made for this!  Because P.S. have you guys been watching the new show on Lifetime called "One Born Every Minuet?" I have...I can't help myself...um it's totally terrifying though. I just have to tell myself that they have to put the dramatic ones on otherwise nobody would watch. (because I'm not going to stop watching)

In my third trimester I have noticed that sleeping has become uncomfortable for me.   For a couple nights I have slept on the couch with the middle back cushion removed so I can put my belly in the space.  It's so nice! My sweet husband slept on the floor beside me.  Last night we slept in our bed, not comfortable.  I don't know what to do.  Boo for that.  That's pretty much it, except for the fact that I feel giant now.  I don't know how more baby is going to fit in this belly!  10 weeks to go!!