Happy 1 Month Birthday, James!

Dear James,
Look at how cute you are!
You are now 1 month old! Can you believe it? I cannot believe it. It seems like this month has flown by. In some ways, I'm thankful you are getting older because it means you will be sleeping longer and longer throughout the night...but in other ways, it makes me sad because just like everyone has said, I'm trying to cherish these days when you are so new and tiny. You started out at 6 lbs 11 oz and 19 1/2 inches long....and last week at your month appointment we found out that you are now 8 lbs 9 1/2 oz and 21 1/2 inches long! Boy, you have grown this month!

You are cracking us up with your faces. You have the sweetest little mouth! And, you make the funniest faces - the way you put your lips together while you are going to the bathroom cracks us up. I never thought watching a baby's every move 24 hours a day could be so fascinating. Even though I'll be glad to get more sleep, I'm always so glad to see your sweet little face in the middle of the night when I come in your room.

Things to note about your first month of life:

- You are very strong. In one of the first nights you were home from the hospital, you halfway rolled over in the Pack n Play and I had to call the pediatrician to find out what to do - they didn't believe me! Then, just a few days ago, you rolled over 3 times from your tummy to your back on the floor! We got it on video so now people will believe us! And, when you are on your stomach for "tummy time", look at how strong your head is!

- You pee all over everything - just today I heard a funny noise while I was changing your diaper and you were peeing over your shoulder on all the empty boxes of wipes piled in the corner! Oh well, at least it wasn't your face. I've gotten at least skilled enough so you don't go in your face or in your ear! I will be very excited when we get through one night where I get you out of your crib and your back is not wet.

- You are starting to coo in a higher pitched voice and you are grunting a lot. This cracks me up.

- You've slept 5 hours two nights, and it happened about a week ago. Since then, nope, no way. It hasn't happened. I don't know why....I don't know what the magic of that night was, but I so want to recreate it.

- You really like light. You always stare toward windows, and you like it when you can stare up at the light in the living room.

- You sort of like baths. You like your luve since it keeps you warm. You really like to try to eat the water and suck the soap off your hands...but you hate getting out of the bathtub. We try to get you dried off really quickly, but to no avail. You pretty much freak out every single night while we dry you off.

- We are trying to let you soothe yourself to sleep. Sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn't.

- You've had some acid reflux issues, so you are now taking Zantac to help with it. I'm not really sure how much it is helping, but hopefully it will keep getting better.

- You are really staring at us now. I think you definitely recognize our faces and voices. You are starting to bat at objects and toys we show you. You will even grab something just for a few seconds and then let it go.

- Daddy loves to play with you, but I think he overstimulates you because he is so fun. He likes to talk to you in all kinds of different voices, and he kisses you all over your face! I know you can't show it yet, but you are excited when he comes home because you know the fun is about to begin. He is a very, very good daddy.

- You like the pacifier, but you don't know how to control it yet. I'm hoping this will come very soon...
- You've been to Cracker Barrel and Sonny's - our favorites. You have not been to church yet. We'll wait one more month before taking you to Bethabra. We miss going with Daddy on Sundays though!All in all, our lives have really changed since you came! We are amazed at how you are changing every single day. We are learning as we go...and although sometimes I don't think I'm doing a very good job, know this, no mommy could love you as much as I love you! Most nights when I'm in your room feeding you in the middle of the night, I spend time praying for you (when I'm not accidentally falling asleep). I pray for everything about you - even your future wife, and that you will know exactly what God wants you to do with your life (no pressure, huh?). You are our greatest blessing!

From Tummy to Back!

Guess what?? James rolled over all the way today!! You know a few weeks ago I had to call the pediatrician about him getting stuck in a funny position because he was swaddled and rolled over halfway. They told me, basically, that they'd never heard of a newborn being able to roll over this early and that "if" that was really the case, just to leave his arms out of the swaddle. So, that's what they've been doing. Then, a few days ago, he rolled all the way over on the bed and on the couch. - but, those are really soft places, I know. BUT THEN, today, just now, he was on the floor and Landon put him on his tummy for tummy time, and guess what?? He rolled over...all the way!!! Not just once...but twice (which is the video), and then 2 more times!! In fact, I don't know if he'll even do tummy time at this point because he just wants to roll over. We were so excited! I looked in the milestone book, and this is a milestone for Week 15...so...we're just Week 4, but whatever. We now have video proof!

Extra Long Post

...to make up for me not posting for a really long time. Except for the video, of course. I know people try to be honest and tell you having a newborn baby is hard and that you will be sleep deprived. However, I have learned there is no way anyone can actually help you see how it really is until you just experience it yourself. It is hard. It is exhausting. At one month now, I think we are finally starting to come out of the exhaustion and see what a "normal" baby life is like. I really wanted to do like Babywise, and put James in his crib to sleep without rocking him or nursing him to sleep. We've tried to do that, and for the most part, it's going great! It was hard at first, but it's getting easier. It's tough to listen to him cry. If he cries, I am counting down the 10 minutes to go in and talk to him!! For the most part though, we are really getting in a routine with him and that is good. I even took him to the mall in the stroller a couple days ago and walked around. I haven't been back to church yet. The pediatrician said I should wait two months to go to church with him since people will be in his face wanting to see him (and rightly so....is he cute or what???), but that it was fine to take him places like the store or restaurants. All in all, things are going well, I think. I have several observations about this first month to talk about....I'll just intersperse the pictures throughout - even though most of them have nothing to do with anything - they're just our sweet baby James.

First of all, what is the deal with the pee, poop, and spit up? People told me before I had a baby to make sure I had lots of onesies, they told me how many diapers I'd go through per day, and we talked about how many swaddle blankets I should have on hand. Well, my friends, I cannot believe how crazy it is. Average number of changes per day: 4. At night: 1 (we are down to one - whoo-hoo!). We've learned a lot about having a boy and how to handle "things" to help pee not get everywhere. At first when I changed him, I could not get it together about his peeing. He has gone in his face, in his ear, in my face, on the wall...etc. He has also pooped everywhere....even in my mouth one day when I was leaned over trying to make sure he was good and clean before putting on a new diaper. And...spit up. He usually just spits up once per feeding, but I still feel like my clothes are continually wet. Even though I have a burp cloth on my, he always chooses to put his head where the burp cloth isn't and then spits up. The laundry is unreal. Are all babies like this? I don't know, but ours definitely is. That man likes to change clothes. It reminds me of that Quick Change act on America's Got Talent from a couple of seasons ago (I hate that show, btw, but we watch it out of boredom sometimes). That's what I call James - Quick Change - because we have to change his clothes so much. Jeff and Olivia, from church, let us borrow some magic sheets though for James' bed. You put the sheets on like normal and then put this special sheet over the top and it snaps around the bars of the crib. Then, if he wets on them, you just unsnap and snap a new one on top of it - that way, in the middle of the night, you're not having to pull up the mattress and try to get the fitted sheet and pad off of it. Genius. Thank goodness for help from wise friends! And the changing table - why even put a cover on it? It has stains all over it - I've washed it, of course, but man, it's just over. At this point, I try to keep the cover on it so at least James is not lying on cold plastic, but then I keep a disposable pad over the cover at all times.

This cow outfit is so cute! It's one of my favorites because look at the bottom! There's a cow on it!! I love it when stuff is on the bottom of the outfits!

The breastfeeding is actually going really well. Let me just tell you, I love the pump. I love a project, you know, so I really want to fill up the freezer with milk. I don't really like the nursing stuff - you know the whole "you feel closer to your baby" jazz - well, I don't think I really feel like that. In fact, when I pump and give him a bottle, I feel like that's even easier because then I can just relax and enjoy watching him eat. BUT, I feel like nursing was the best decision for us, and I'm very thankful that so far, my body seems to be producing plenty of food for James. And, it's not been nearly as hard as I thought it was going to be - it's just time consuming and very demanding for me...but I do think in the end, I'll be really glad I did it. We have had what we think are some acid reflux issues - where he jerks his head back while nursing. We took him to the pediatrician last week and they gave him some acid reflux medicine and just said to try it - that it wouldn't hurt. It's really bitter though, so he makes such sad faces when we give it to him. Next time we have it filled, we'll know to ask for a flavoring to be added!

Below is a picture I took of James when I was going in to see why he was crying. He likes the pacifier, but he has trouble with it. He doesn't quite know how to control it yet...which is very frustrating for both of us. It really soothes him, but see how his hand is on his mouth - he likes to hold it on there and then, inevitably, he shoves it out - it's like to him he would like to have the pacifier and his fingers in his mouth at the same time. But, alas, this cannot happen.

So, when I go in to check on him (without the pacifier) because he's crying, I'll give him the pacifier, but then I'll stand there and try to help him put his arms to the sides of his head so that he won't knock it out - I'm really hoping he's going to get the hang of the paci!!

Here he is in his rocker. He's just starting to bat at the toys at the top.

And, here's a sweet picture from yesterday. He is really growing! I want to do a post telling about 1 month milestones...so I'll be reporting back soon (hopefully). His one month checkup with the pediatrician is tomorrow.

In other news, my incision is healing. Landon and I have left James twice - once to go out to lunch together at Cracker Barrel (of course) and once to drop in at a Sunday School party where Landon was baptizing a sweet lady in our church. It hasn't been terribly hard to leave him, but I am very thankful to get home! I am always so happy to go in and get him after naps or in the morning - I miss him when he sleeps (but am glad for a break, of course)....church is going well. We'll be glad when summer ends and all the people come back!! Alright - gotta go - he is crying now...time to eat...again....

Storytime with Daddy

Landon read James a book the other night, and in the middle of it, James was making such funny faces that Landon told me to bring the flip camera over so I could capture it. It was hilarious. I'm not sure if it's really that hilarious, or if it's our child, and we are sleep deprived, so we are ready to laugh (and cry) about anything. You'll have to let me know if you think this is funny. So far it is one of my very favorite video moments.

Update on the Week

Alright. Finally an update and some new pictures. Landon's parents have been here this week with us. They've had a great week of getting to know James better...and we've had a great week of more help! Landon and his dad built a shed down below our deck to keep the lawnmower and other stuff.

Here's our garden for this year...so far these tomato plants look like they're going to be a much bigger success than the last couple of years in the townhouse. Landon planted tomatoes and cucumbers.

And, my favorite subject...Baby James. Look how sweet!

This is my favorite face!

The Arrival of our King James

Wow! I don't know where to start to update the last few weeks. Although I was pregnant for almost 40 weeks (37 and 1/2 to be exact), the arrival of James was still shocking to me! Even through the ultrasounds, it was so hard to envision a REAL baby was in there. Guess what? It was a REAL baby! Our sweet baby James! Here's the story:

Two Sunday nights ago (so Father's Day night) Landon and I were hanging out at home. We didn't have church that Sunday night since it was supposed to be family time. I can't even remember now what exactly we did do, but we got some rest and called our dads to tell them Happy Father's Day before going to bed. We both got off the phone with our dads about the same time and headed to bed. We have a king size bed, and for some reason, that particular night, Landon turned over toward me in the bed. He was holding my hand and we were just chatting for a minute about something. All of a sudden, my water broke. I was afraid I wouldn't know if or when that happened, but I must just say that it was very clear what was happening. So, I said to Landon, "My water just broke." And then Landon said, "Are you sure?" And, let me tell you, I was sure. So, it was go time. We got up. I changed clothes (why, I don't know since it really didn't matter to put on other clothes). We gathered up a few extra things that weren't in the car, and headed to the hospital. I called both sets of our parents that we had just gotten off the phone with, and they headed to Atlanta. It was about 10:40 pm when we left for the hospital from our house.

After checking into Northside, they immediately put me in a pre-op room (instead of the pretty labor and delivery rooms) since I already knew I was having a c section. Because I had milk about 10pm before we went to bed, they didn't want to do the c section until 5am Monday morning....which meant that I had to go through contractions and labor during the night. I'm still not sure why they didn't go ahead and give me the epidural, but they didn't. They did give me some drugs, when I asked for them, to slow the labor down, but it was still pretty significant pain. It was a lot of new craziness at once - I'd never even been in the hospital before, and now all this crazy stuff was happening with my body and pain and being stuck with needles, etc. When they gave me the epidural at 4:30am, I was extremely grateful and immediately wondered why any woman would not want an epidural. The relief I felt was unreal. Anyway, I admire women who want to do it naturally, but it's not for me.




James weighed 6 pounds 11 oz and was 19.5 inches long. He was perfect. I mean, I could not even have imagined how he would be. Things felt so surreal as it all happened. I did have a problem with part of my incision closing. I didn't anticipate anything like that happening, so let me just say now that Landon has been incredible during this whole thing. He has done gross stuff for me in the past couple of weeks that I'm really sorry he's had to do. He's been a great dr. to me at home. There's so much more I could say, but I hear James waking up so I have to hurry! Here are a few pictures:

Landon's dad and mom with James (my parents and the Frymires arrived right before the C section began so they didn't miss anything!)

Here's Landon's mom with James:

Here we are when we were getting ready to go home Thursday. This was a tough day because it's when I found out about my incision problem. My parents were waiting for us at home (thank goodness).

James in a cute outfit....

Getting ready to go to my dr. for a check up:

Landon, me, and James with Dr. Hirsch, my great dr. (even though he didn't get to delivery James...):

Sweet James playing on the floor (or not really playing...but just lying on the floor looking around:

James first real bath! ha - is this cute or what????

Here are my parents with James. My mom stayed for over a week. She was amazing. She didn't take over with James - she did all the yuck work - she did all the laundry, all the cooking, all the cleaning, waited on me hand and foot, AND she took James when I needed help. Most mornings around 7 after I fed him, I knocked on her bedroom door and she took him for me for a couple hours so I could sleep really well. This no sleep thing is pretty crazy. Dad came back to get her Friday and they went home Saturday. I LOVED having her here - she was a great help. I know James will miss his Grammy and GatorPa.

That's all I have time for now - there's much more I want to say....it will be coming...just more sporadically, maybe :) Pray my incision heals and that we get sleep!!