Thursday, December 1, 2011

time flies when you are having fun

I seriously cannot believe it is DECEMBER!  Oh my goodness!

Wasn’t I just hugely pregnant and burning up hot 24/7??  Didn’t I just give birth to a tiny little munchkin boy?  So how in the world is it December with Christmas and a new year just around the corner?!

We have definitely been busy.  Having a new little human to care for seems to do that for ya.  I never ever in my life realized how busy I would stay with a baby.  And I even nannied for several months!  I love my sweet boy to the moon and back, but he doesn’t leave me a lot of time to get things done.  For instance… I had 4 photoshoots last week and have barely touched the editing.  :(.  He is SO worth it though, and I refuse to wish this stage away.  I’m already missing the itty bitty newborn stage.  Heck, I even miss the pregnancy stage.  But that’s another post for another day!

Besides Mr. Judah, we have been busy with a move.  We moved (again!) right around the middle of November.  We found the place, packed, moved, and unpacked all within a week.  It was nuts!  We are all settled in now and loving the extra space.  We have 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a dishwasher now! haha… yes, the dishwasher is important enough to mention.  It’s a life saver with all the bottles we go through!

And now that December is here, we have Christmas pics, Christmas parties, etc to go to.  Plus a dear friend of mine is getting married at the end of the month, so I have her showers to shop for and attend.

Busy, busy bees!

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Tuesday, November 29, 2011

my thanksgiving turkey

We had a busy but wonderful Thanksgiving.  For the holidays we usually have about 4 places to visit in order to see all of our family.  Thank goodness most of our family lives nearby!  It was a little rushed and crazy, especially having a little one… but we really enjoyed time with our families.

I have so much to be thankful for… but this year, I have to say that one of my very biggest blessings is one that came in a pretty small package.  I am so beyond grateful for my little Judah man.  Words cannot begin to describe how thankful I am that God blessed me with this son.

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I love my boys!

Wednesday, November 16, 2011

instagram and diptic

I’ve always enjoyed being able to use my phone to take pictures, but since the birth of my sweet son.. I have gone crazy using it!  And to top it off, I’ve discovered these apps that make it even more fun.

Instagram and Diptic.

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He’s such a cutie!

And that last picture… that melts my heart into a big pile of mush.  I adore our special time together at night when he takes his bedtime bottle and holds onto my thumb and sometimes my pinky.  So.Stinkin.Sweet.

Judah’s birth day (part 3)

After what seemed like forever, the nurse came back in the recovery room.  I could tell that it was even hard on her to see me so upset.  She said that she wanted to remove the warm blankets, cool me off, and then retake my temperature.  So we did all of that.  I even took a drink of some cold sprite to cool me down a little.  When we retook my temp, it wasn’t quite down to normal, but very close.  The nurse left the room again.. and when she came back she had good news!  I was going to get to see my baby!  This time I was crying tears of joy and gratefulness.  I was cleaned up and rolled into my new room where we would spend the rest of our hospital stay.  Justin and I tried very hard to be patient, and the nurse finally brought our baby boy in to see us. 

It was like no other experience in my life.  Holding him for the first time was so wonderful.  So unreal.  Such a dream come true.

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I held him and examined every little part of him.  He was perfect.  So tiny yet so big!  I couldn’t believe he was ours.  I wanted to spend hours and hours with him and not send him to the nursery… but Justin and I were both worn out.  I was falling asleep holding him while sitting up in bed.  We hadn’t slept much at all in well over 24 hours.  We decided to go ahead and send Judah out for the night while we got some rest.  He was still in to see us every 3 hours for his feedings.

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Over the next couple of days we had tons of visitors, but also got to spend some good quality time getting to know our boy.  I was surprised at how easily I was recovering from my c-section and ready to get home. 

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But then came another surprise.  Judah’s blood work showed that he had jaundice and would have to stay an extra day.  Thankfully the hospital allowed Justin and I to stay in our room an extra day as well.  I couldn’t handle the thought of going home without Judah.

Seeing him under the light was very hard and emotional for me.  I had to remind myself that we were very blessed.  He wasn’t in the NICU.  He was going to be just fine.  We would have our baby home and in our arms within a couple days.  Not all parents are so fortunate.  But still… it wasn’t easy.  My “momma bear” instinct was in full force.  I wanted to protect my baby boy and wanted him 110% well.

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After staying under that light for almost 24 hours and only coming to see us during feeding times, his bilirubin levels were down just enough for us to be discharged.  It was a very happy time!  I got Judah dressed in his going home outfit, Justin packed up the car, and our friend Jenna captured it all on camera and video for us. 

Oh happy day!

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My sweet boy’s birth and first few days was quite the adventure.  I wouldn’t trade him for anything in this world.  He is my pride and definitely my JOY! 

Monday, October 31, 2011

happy halloween!

Judah’s first halloween.  Having a not quite six week old little one kinda limits what we can do as far as outings go.. but our church has a Fall Festival every year around Halloween that is super fun!  We went this year and took our little guy.  He ate as soon as we got there and then slept the entire rest of the time.  But we had fun pushing him around in his stroller and talking to lots of friends and letting them admire our precious little monster.  :)

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Before we went to the church today, I did a quick little photo shoot with the little monster himself.

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Monday, October 24, 2011

a few firsts

Yesterday Judah experienced a few more “firsts”.  He went to church for the first time, wore shoes for the first time, and had his first real try at a family photo!

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He did really well in church.  He slept through the entire time of worship and stayed quiet after he woke up.  I took him out for a few minutes during the message so that I could prepare a bottle and feed him.  I felt so overwhelmed with thankfulness that I finally had my baby and had the privilege to have him in church with us.  I was reminded of God’s goodness and faithfulness to give us the desires of our hearts.

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After church we went to the grandparents’ house for lunch, and Justin’s dad attempted to get some family pics for us.  Most of them didn’t turn out great because Judah wouldn’t look at the camera or Justin would be squinting because of the sun.  Oh well, we will try again soon!

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Saturday, October 22, 2011

1 month

I’m definitely not keeping up with this blog as well as I hoped to.  My sweet angel is one month old, and I haven’t even finished his birth story.  I will soon!

But for now…

Judah turned one month old yesterday!  I can hardly believe it.  The first month went by so fast.  It hasn’t been as hard as I prepared myself for.  But it hasn’t been easy by any means.  We have had quite an adventure.

For the first week or so that we were home from the hospital, Judah was such an easy baby.  He slept so much, ate well and rarely ever cried.  He made having a newborn in the house a very easy transition for mommy and daddy.  Both of us fell absolutely head over heels in love with this little guy.  After that first couple of weeks, though, we ran into some problems.  Our poor baby has had terrible tummy troubles that still aren’t quite resolved.  He has had really bad gas and shown signs of colic.  He fights going to sleep, especially at night.  He developed a mild case of thrush.  We have been through 3 types of bottles and 4 types of formula.  We have already been to see the doctor 3 times.  Like I said, quite an adventure!  haha! 

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His first outing was actually the day we came home from the hospital.  We wasted no time!  We went over to Justin’s parents house for dinner that night.  They only live about 5 minutes down the road, so it wasn’t a huge deal.

His first doctor appointment was to have his bilirubin levels checked for jaundice.  He still had a mild case, but the levels were dropping, so he got a good report!  At this appointment he had already gained some weight and was weighing 9 pounds, 7 ounces.

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By his two week appointment, he was weighing 9 pounds 12 ounces and seemed very healthy other than his tummy aches.

At his most recent appointment, which was this past Wednesday, he was weighing 11 pounds 8 ounces!  He is such a big boy!!!  That appointment was to check on his thrush and get a prescription to clear it up.

Judah has had many firsts already during this first month…  first trip to each of his grandparent’s house, first trip out to dinner with mommy and daddy, first bath, first real smile (we think), first time to hold his own weight up on his little legs, first photo session with mommy, and many more.

He is wearing size one diapers and size 0-3 and 3 months clothing.  He outgrew his newborn stuff very quickly.  He is eating on average 3 ounces every 2-3 hours.

He has many nicknames already.  Judah Man, Judah pants, peanut, mommy’s monkey, pumpkin boy, little man.  I’m sure he won’t approve of many of these names for much longer.. so I’m getting them in while he still doesn’t seem to mind ;).

Judah loves his swing, his pacifier, and his daddy!  All three of those things can calm him down and make him happy when mommy can’t do it.  He seems to already have a special bond with his daddy, and it is so sweet to watch.

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Our little boy has taught us about a love we didn’t know or understand.  We have both spent so much time just sitting and staring at him.  I can’t believe how blessed we are or how absolutely precious he is.  I can’t believe how fast he is growing or how fast time is passing us by.  I’ve had many moments during this month where I have felt overwhelmed.  I’ve felt the need to cook and clean house, but keep reminding myself that he won’t be little long.  That thought makes me sit and hold him a little longer and just breathe in his sweet baby scent.  So often he will fall asleep in my arms, and rather than putting him down so I can sleep or do things around the house, I’ll just hold him and cuddle until he wakes up.

Today starts month number 2 in his little life.  I can’t wait to see what this month holds, but I sure don’t want it to pass by too quickly.  I’m trying to enjoy every day.