wednesday, december 11 entry well, it's over - owen had his shots today: look at those little legs! he has four snoopy bandaids on his owies. keith helped the nurse hold him still; i couldn't even watch. i just heard him start sobbing. it wasn't the little newborn wail, it was a full-on cry. he even had little tears! i got so choked up. then when it was over, and the nurse was putting his bandaids on, i went over and looked at him, and he looked in my eyes like, "how could you?" it was so sad. but at least it's over for another two months. we dosed him with baby tylenol before we went, hoping to keep his fever low. he does have a mild one, and he's kind of cranky, but it's not as bad as i thought. he slept for a long time this afternoon, and he is playing with daddy now. he stops playing to fuss every few minutes, but he's had a second dose of tylenol, so that will help. the rest of the check-up went great. the doctor really likes owen, and always tells us how handsome he is (like we don't know). he currently weighs 13 pounds, 4 ounces, which is well over the 10+ pounds i estimated. he is in the 75th percentile for weight. he has almost doubled his 7.5 birthweight. he is 23.25 inches long, up from 20.5 at birth. he is growing exactly right on the growth curve, and is completely healthy. he didn't fuss for the doctor at all, and she just loves him. i really like our doctor now - i didn't at first, but she has turned out to be really great. so except for the shots, we had a nice day. earlier this morning i wanted to take some pictures of owen, and i thought i would take them in the laundry room, because the light is good in there. but when i laid him down on the dryer to set the camera, he zonked! it was running, and the humming and the warmth must have done him in: later in the day we did some errands, getting ready for our christmas trip. we are leaving tomorrow for home (arkansas) to spend the holiday. keith is going to do some construction work while we are there, which is a great thing for us - seems that no one around here is going to hire him any time soon, so earning some money will be nice! and we will have a nice holiday visit. i think we will stay through the first of the year, and then i am back to work on january 06. it breaks my heart, but is unavoidable at this time. hopefully i will be able to access my webpage from home this time, but if not, happy holidays! tuesday, december 10 entry tomorrow my boy gets his 2-month shots. i'm taking keith for moral support. owen got a hep-b shot in the hospital when he was born, and i cried. i don't know how i'm going to handle four shots in his chubby little legs. i'll probably take it worse than he will. we're going to give him a dose of baby tylenol before we go, so hopefully we can prevent a fever. but i am expecting him to be fussy and not feeling so great. we'll see how both of us hold up. i am really interested to see how much he weighs, and how long he is. he just seems to be growing like crazy! and i think he is in the middle of another growth spurt. he is eating every two hours or so, and is sleeping and fussing a lot. tonight i was holding him over my head like an airplane, and he spit up in my ear and hair. disgusting, let me just say. my hair is all crusty. i think a shower is in order. will report back tomorrow with the boy's stats. sunday, december 08 entry saturday owen turned 8 weeks old. i can't believe it! we celebrated with a 5-hour stretch of sleep friday night. it was delightful. it hasn't happened again since, but it sure was nice. i think he is getting a little more used to his bassinet. he hasn't slept with us since we've been back from arkansas (except the night we didn't have any heat), and it's getting a little better. the boy just isn't into sleeping. we tried a little experiment today. keith was feeding owen around 4PM, and owen was so tired, he kept falling asleep while eating. he hadn't had a nap all day, so i knew he was exhausted. keith laid him down in his bassinet while he was sleepy, but not yet asleep. he actually fell asleep on his own, for about 5 minutes. he woke up in full-on wails. so keith let him cry, to see if he would go back to sleep. he screamed for about 5 minutes, then fell back to sleep for 5 minutes. he followed this pattern several times, waking up screaming then going back to sleep. i wouldn't have let keith try it at all, but the boy was so exhausted, i knew he would go to sleep. anyway, after about a half hour of the scream/sleep game, i couldn't take it anymore. i had to go in and get him. i picked him up, and within 2 minutes he was conked. i laid him down, and he is happily napping now. i know some people really think you should let a baby "cry it out." but not me, not yet. i don't know, i just have to go with my gut. and my gut says to pick up my baby. he's too little still to let him cry until he's sick. so that was the experiment for the day.
we got up yesterday and went to church. quite an accomplishment for us! we haven't been to a church here in nashville since before owen was born. at first he was too little, and we had visitors. then we spent several weeks in arkansas. so yesterday was the first time. we got the boy dressed in his fancy clothes that his aunt joni gave him: he did well at church for a while. he enjoys the singing and the music. but when it got quiet, he started to scream. then he let out a monster belch that had the rows in front of us and behind us chortling. finally he fell asleep in my arms, but he was working on a number 2, and he wasn't exactly quiet about it. so after a few minutes of his loud grunting and groaning, and the beneath-their-breath laughter of those around me, i decided owen and i would do better in the family room. so i stood to take him out, and he let another huge belch. that boy, i swear, he has no shame. i could feel my face turning red. but they had a really neat family room with several rocking chairs, a crib, toys, dim lights, a changing table, and a video feed of the service. i enjoyed taking him in there. i didn't miss everything, but i was comfortable with him finishing his business as loud as he wanted to! keith was out job hunting again today. i swear, no one in the vicinity of nashville is hiring! i know he is getting super frustrated. i definitely hope something good comes up for him soon. and if not, he can be a stay-at-home dad, and i'll bring home the bacon!
friday, december 06 entry finally - i caught the boy's smile on camera! we spent today christmas shopping. we bought nothing. the malls around here are really hit-or-miss. today we went to a totally nasty trashy one, and one that was so ritzy we couldn't afford anything. what a disappointment. so we're back out tomorrow to continue the shopping. it was fun to get out, though, so that was nice. we went to one huge mall in nashville, and as soon as we walked in, we noticed that owen was missing a sock. and we were bummed, because where in this huge mall were we going to find that other sock? but an hour or so later, a couple walked by, and the guy held out owen's sock, and he was like, "is this yours?" so that was pretty neat. not that the sock was recovered, because socks aren't that big of a deal, but that someone was nice enough to pick up a baby sock and return it. this incident was in direct contrast to the other thing that happened tonight - keith lost his wallet. it fell out of our car in the mall parking lot. so when we got home, we called all the credit cards to report them lost, and get this - within an hour of his losing his wallet, someone had started charging gas on his discover card. how frustrating. so we cancelled all the cards, reporting them stolen. luckily, he didn't have any cash, but his driver's license, social security card, insurance card, all of his phone numbers and addresses of industry contacts, lots of good stuff, all gone because a thief found his wallet, and probably trashed the non-usables. isn't it easy to despise your fellow man? we did our grocery shopping last night. we decided to take advantage of owen's being a nightowl, and we headed to wal-mart around 10PM. most people looked at us like we were nuts - having a tiny baby out in this cold in the middle of the night! but come on, he'd be keeping us up anyway. so we shopped until midnight, doing the two-cartload thing as usual (we only go every six weeks, after all). we now have food in case another ice or snowstorm comes through. lots of schools were cancelled for a few days this week because of the ice. we were a little worried, because we didn't have any food in the house. but we're ready now! we finally got the tree and other decorations put up. owen loves to watch the lights on the tree flicker and chase. i will have to get pictures of the baby by the tree, it is just so pretty. and speaking of pictures - aren't the pictures of the baby smiling just adorable? i was glad to catch him smiling, because his smiles are still few and far between. and there's no rhyme or reason to them - like, i can't figure out what it is that makes him smile, it's just random. but he looks just adorable when he does, so i'm glad i can share. also, below is one of the pictures that we had done for christmas. a couple from arkansas took these pictures at their home. they do photography as sort of a hobby, and they are great! i am so pleased with how they turned out. we had several poses taken, but for now i am only going to share one. stay tuned for more! tuesday, december 03 entry beautiful baby! not much happening around our house lately. we are still working on unpacking and getting the house cleaned up. we haven't put up our tree yet, as previously planned, because the living room still has some suitcases laying around. but we should have that picked up, and start putting up the tree, by tonight. keith had driving school last night. he was supposed to go for four hours, but they got out early and he was only there for two and a half hours. he had to go because he got a ticket in franklin, tennessee in september, just a few days after he got one in arkansas! no more for him. we are expecting some snow tonight. i haven't seen snow in quite a while! the winters were definitely the best part about living in florida. but i missed the cold weather and snow - it is hard to get into the christmas spirt without a little bit of cold weather! sunday night owen slept in his bassinet. he still got up every three hours, but i kept putting him down in his own bed, and he did really well there. last night was not so good. every time i'd put him down in the bassinet, he would start fussing, even if he was in a good sleep. so i finally moved him to our bed. as a result, we didn't get to bed until after 2AM. i can't wait until the boy starts sleeping through the night! here are a few pictures we took tonight of owen hanging out on the couch. and if you click here there are some pictures that my aunt and uncle took while we were in arkansas. you can't see it in the pictures, but owen's eyebrows have turned bright red. his baby hair is falling out, and he is just beginning to grow some hair in the front. i wonder if it will be red...? sunday, december 01 entry we're home! after almost three weeks in arkansas, we finally rolled in last night around 230AM. we had a much easier trip this time, because owen slept most of the way. we were able to shave three hours off our driving time. much better! when we arrived home, we came into the house and found that our heater had gone out! it was a cozy 45 degrees, and we could see our breath. we put owen on a heating pad and bundled him up in a sleeper, hat, and blankets. keith ran to wal-mart at 400AM to get a space heater, and we closed ourselves in the bedroom. the room heated relatively quickly, and we were able to get a good amount of rest. we called a heating guy to fix it, and he was here today. we are currently at 65 degrees and rising. what an adventure. because i missed so many days of updating, i feel a little overwhelmed on how to catch up. i guess i will just hit the high points. we really had a nice visit, and the main reason for our journey, thanksgiving, was wonderful. it is always an exhausting day, because we drive all over to visit both families, but we were able to introduce owen to all of his family and our friends. in the few weeks that we were there, he changed so much! he has started smiling now, not that often, but when he does, it is just beautiful. he also gained two pounds. he is over ten pounds now, and is getting lots of little baby fat rolls. we had his picture done for christmas, and i will post one when i get them - he has changed so much! his 0-3 month clothes are actually fitting now. he was a great baby, most of the time, and we had a smooth visit. i can also say that i am successfully formula-feeding owen. doesn't that sound nicer than saying that i am unsuccessful at breastfeeding? suffice to say that the trip sealed the deal with the breastfeeding - just the change in schedule, and being so tired, seem to have taken their toll, and we are now almost completely bottle feeding. he still gets a bottle a day of breastmilk, but that is quickly waning. he won't even nurse anymore, unless he is desperate, he would just rather take a bottle. i forsee another week or so of breastmilk, and then he will be strictly formula-fed. so we failed, but i blame owen. just kidding - but he is the lazy sucker, not me! owen turned seven weeks yesterday. i can't believe he is almost two months old! where has the time gone? i am over halfway through my maternity leave, and it makes me sick at my stomach to think of leaving him and going back to work. how will i ever do it? i can't hardly stand to miss a second with him, he is just growing and changing so much! i know i will miss some important milestone if i'm not with him 24/7. and speaking of milestones - we finally got him to take a pacifier! i wondered while we were in arkansas if he would take one when we got home. i tried a few different kinds this morning, and he will take the soothie pacifier, which is the one we bought from the lactation consultant. it is so cute to see him sucking away on it. i had to take a few pictures. tomorrow we are putting up our christmas tree. i can't wait for owen to see all the lights. he loves to stare at lights! we are also going to try to plan our trip home for christmas. i think christmas is my favorite time of the whole year. and we have already bought several of our gifts, so i'm feeling good about that. keith is coming down with a nasty cold and cough. i wonder how to keep owen from getting it. so far so good, but we're just in the earliest stages. i hope keith feels better soon - he has a busy week of job hunting ahead of him. ||| home |||
