Wednesday, December 30, 2009

1 month

Conley is 1 month old today.

According to our own scale, he weighs almost 13lbs.

He holds his head up really well and does a fair share of headbanging against mom and dad.

Loves his hands and has to have them in front of his face.

Has sucked his thumb a time or two but definitely loves his hands by his mouth.

Makes more noises than I can believe (which we NEED a video camera to document!!!)--those that have heard his array of noises are quite amused by them.

Likes his swing and his bouncy seat.

Does not like his carseat if he is awake (but has slept 4 hours in a row the past 2 nights in a row in it!).

Seems to like music and dancing around to it with me :)

Does not like his crib much these days. He's been congested the past few days and I'll use that as the reason (hence the sleeping in the carseat).

Is often content being laid down in his pack and play while he's awake where he can sit and make his noises and wiggle around.

He has 2 signature looks that I LOVE-- 1 is the little bird look where he opens his mouth and does a little "elvis lip" action....usually when we tickle his cheeks or his chin; the other he crinkles his eye brow revealing a "dimple" he has above his right eye.

Has the MOST AMAZING blue eyes ever and eyelashes that are growing and are now longer than mine (not a difficult feat, believe me...he didn't get my lashes!).

Smiles often and has let out a few giggles.

Likes to be held on his side/belly with our hand on his belly.

Likes to rock in the rocking chair.

Likes to eat. Duh. ;)

Likes his changing table.

Loves baths.

Generally is a really laid-back baby, but lately he DOES NOT WANT TO GO TO SLEEP AT NIGHT. During the day he is fine, but as soon as I lay him down for what I want to be the last time that night, he decides not to and it takes about an hour and a half to finally get him settled. Ugh.

Loves to be held and can fall asleep most anytime in our arms.

0-3 outfits still fit for the most part, but we have already retired a few items that he has outgrown. He can wear a few 3-6 outfits as well.

Tolerates tummy time well.

Not a big crier-- mostly only when he is hungry or gassy.

That's it for now...I'm sure I'll think of more as we go. I got his first scrapbook page done today...yay!!!

Even when he is crabby and crying and waking me up in the middle of the night, I am madly in love with the little man and still can't believe he is ours. Those smiles melt my heart!!!

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Pictures...finally!

I have taken daily pics of the little man (too much? I just uploaded 438 pics...) since he was born and it is about time i get a few of them up here. Now, SIGH, if only I could scrapbook them, right? Oh how I want to scrapbook. I see it in the near future though...I cleaned the house today while he was napping (is napping!), so tomorrow should give me a few free hours...maybe?! Otherwise, Christy and I have a scrapbook weekend in the works for Jan/Feb.

I'm starting back to work VERY, VERY, VERY part-time on Monday. Yikes! It's kind of a spur of the moment decision, but my job is flexible enough that I will only be out of the house for a day or so for now(with Conley!) and that way I can save up some of my PTO for when he is a bit older (and less easy to work with) so we can do things like go to the zoo in the Spring and other non-blizzard weather things. The fact that I can work with him is such an amazing thing--I'm looking into drop-in daycare, but other than that, I'm just hoping to start work slowly so I can easy my way into doing both.

He's 1 month old tomorrow. I'll post more about him then, but here's some of my favorite pictures for now.

PS- I know I'm supposed to be keeping him awake during the day as much as possible, but HOW IN THE WORLD am I supposed to do important things like eat lunch, do laundry/dishes, and keep up on my blogs without his good noon time nap? I'll sacrifice a little in the middle of the night sleep for the couple of hours I get now. :)



Cousin Allison who is 3 weeks older. This is the 1st year or many years to come of matching Christmas PJ pics!







Allison again.




There ya go! Just "a few"! How to choose?! :)

Saturday, December 26, 2009

My good little sleeper

...is only a good sleeper during the day.

He can lay down and sleep like a rock for hours upon hours during the day. Then when he falls asleep at night when we rock him or feed him, he is out like a light...until we lay him down. Then he stays sleeping for another 5-15 minutes or so and wakes up grunting and groaning and making all kinds of noises. We don't pick him up until it turns into an actual cry.

He's waking up almost every hour during the night for the past week or so. Feed him, rock him, sleeps, lay him down, sleeps, wakes up soon after, repeat. It's pretty exhausting! He doesn't CRY much though, just makes all of his crazy noises and cries if he is hungry.

So, mamas, I need some tips! He's too young to let him cry yet (right?) and I have a nice soft blanket he lays on in his crib (very safe--all tucked in!!!), soothing music, a warm room, tried the pacifier, etc...what's next?

I would love some ideas of how to get the little man's schedule turned around so he isn't sleeping so much during the day and is actually sleeping at night. :) Help?

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Christmas Vacation

I'm blogging from my parents' house in Wisconsin where we have been since Saturday and will be til Saturday. Things have been going great with the little man and there have been numerous times over the past 2 days where Ryan and I have had to literally get out the calendar to confirm that he is really only 3 weeks old. That part isn't what is SO surprising, but the fact that he has only been with us for 3 WEEKS?! Unreal.

It seems like a long time ago that I got to experience that joyous delivery.
(ha. ha. ha)

I feel like we've had him forever.

It just seems so right.

So, it's been fun sharing him this week with family and friends (especially when my mom comes to steal him around 6am each day where I then continue to sleep for another 4 hours. Heavenly.).

Conley has been smiling a ton this week and I'll say they "officially" started on Saturday. Nothing could be better. I wonder if his smiles signify that he wants to live in Wisconsin?

I have a zillion pics to share at some point, but let's just say my parents' internet is less than stellar, ok?

Merry, merry Christmas!

Monday, December 14, 2009

2-Week Appt

Conley is 2 weeks old already! How many times will I end up saying "Conley is _____ ______ old ALREADY!"?. A lot.

Here's the stats:

Weight: 11lbs (96.9 percentile)
Length: 1'10.24" (93.54 percentile)
Head: 15.55" (93.39 percentile)

Everything looked great and it looks like we have a nice and healthy guy on ours hands. Weird to think we don't need to go back until he is 2 months old!

The appt today was the first time I've ventured out by myself with him. It was tiring! We were in the car for a whole hour, stopped at Ryan's work to pick up some paperwork and show him off there, he cried in his car seat the whole 10 minute ride to the clinic, then was an angel for the appt, then to the house we used to live at to visit the staff and residents. He has pretty much been sleeping ALL DAY LONG which terrifies me when I think of the night ahead. Yikes! I sure could use a nap myself!

Overall though, a great day and it was nice to be out and about. We have plans again tomorrow and then we're heading back to my parents' on Saturday for a whole week!

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Super Cute Video from YouTube

Look out Jason Mraz

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Daddy



I got this picture on my camera when Gina was hearing doing her pro pics. I absolutely adore it.

First Outing

Ryan, Conley, and I made our first real outing as a family today (other than an appt last week). I'm proud to say his first store was Archivers...haha. :) Ryan was glad that stop #3 was Gander Mountain, so I suppose it evens it out.

It was my first outing since Monday when I ventured out to WalMart on my own and I was glad to get outside. Sounded like a good idea, but I was tired and sore after an hour and we headed home. Conley was fine, it was me that was the big baby.

We got some Christmas shopping done at our 3 stores visited and then Ryan went in and grabbed us lunch from Chipotle followed by me and Conley's routine nap on the couch together. :)

I have a new appreciation for weekends when Ryan is home!!!

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Big man


I swear that Conley grew overnight last night while we slept. His cheeks are bigger today, I just know it. Might be due to the 26 oz of milk he ate yesterday? Yes. We have a little big man on our hands.

He is SUCH a good boy. I know that I am super lucky to have such a content guy-- he knows just how to show us he's hungry and otherwise he only cries if has a big burp to get out for the most part. The dog can bark like crazy and the TV can be on and we can vacuum and he just sleeps right through it (he obviously heard the dog barking enough while he was inside me!). I can set him in the boppy or the bouncy chair or lay him in the pack n play and he will usually just hang out with his eyes wide open looking around while I'm able to do a few dishes or get a load of laundry done. We are truly blessed by his good nature. Last night he only woke up 3 times. He got a bottle, got his diaper changed, and went back to bed. The funniest thing about him is that he is such a noisy little baby, especially when he is hungry or falling asleep. He's been sleeping in his crib since day 1 and the monitor is in our room (his room is right next to our room) and he lays there grunting and growling and purring and carrying on until he falls asleep. He doesn't need anything, he's just noisy. I think it's hilarious and wonder if he'll be as big of a talker as he is a noise-maker. I know that I should appreciate each day of this good baby!!!

So, this has been our first week home alone together and it has gone pretty well. The snow irritates me now that he is here because I wish we could go out somewhere, but instead we're snowbound with freezing temperatures. On one hand I'm glad I don't have to leave the house in this weather, but the other part of me is going a little stir crazy already. Visitors are more than welcome to break up the day!!! We do have an appt on Monday (2 weeks already!) and then a Christmas brunch on Tuesday and we're heading home for Christmas next Friday for a whole week. I can't believe it's Christmas already. In the afternoon when he is awake and we're waiting for Ryan to get home I put on the Christmas music station on our TV and we dance around to the Christmas music. :) He likes that too...for now.

On a side note, I found this deal on someone else's blog and thought I'd share. I just ordered one and know that there are some mama's out there that would appreciate this deal. Go to this site , put one in your shopping cart, then enter the code PLANNING. It ends up being free and all you have to pay is the $8.95 or so for shipping. Cute ones too! Enjoy.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Our baby

We got newborn pics done of the little man and I am even more in love!

Check them out on the amazing Gina's blog: http://zeidlerphotography.com/blog/?p=1273

Leave a comment on hers and she's donating a can of food to the homeless per comment, so it's also a good cause! ;)

Saturday, December 5, 2009

...and baby makes 3!

So, time for a post I believe. :) Have to get some things in writing so I don't forget them (other things I will post knowing that I will never, ever forget them anyway).

First and foremost, I have been constantly amazed over the past couple days that Ryan and I are parents and that we have this absolutely amazing little man in our lives. I just sit and watch his little faces or snuggle up with him and think how amazingly lucky we are. I realize that I used the word amazing 3 times there, but I just don't see many other words that fit as well.

Conley is a great baby so far! :) He has a big sore on his head from being vacuumed out during delivery. I don't mean a little sore, it was pretty big, more like a burn (they had to actually vacuum him twice which is why it was so bad). Luckily he has lots of dark hair so you can't see it that much and it is looking better every day. Because of that, he was also at higher risk of jaundice, but that is clearing up nicely as well (after a number of heel pricks to on his poor little feet to check his billi levels). Despite these things, he is such a content little guy. He's getting up every 2-3 hours in the middle of the night (more or less), but just eats, gets his diaper changed, and goes back to sleep. He makes the most adorable little faces and always has his hands up by his mouth. He was weighed again yesterday and was at 9lbs and 8oz, up a little from hospital discharge which is great. My sense of size is way off however, because I know that nearly 10lbs is BIG for a baby, but to me he looks just SOOO tiny. I can't imagine a 6 lb baby!

Ryan has been absolutely awesome. He has had this week off from work, and I honestly do not know how I could have survived without him home! Conley is GREAT, but I'm still so sore that Ryan has been doing a ton...he's been super helpful by taking the baby, cleaning, running to the store for embarrassing items, and being uber supportive. He is an amazing daddy which is no surprise. It's weird to think that it's been the 3 of us for nearly a week now and that I feel like we're doing a good job. This precious little man was brought into our lives and we actually know how to be parents! :) Phew!

As for Tytan, he is also doing pretty well. We weren't worried that he would be bad, but were curious as to how he would react. He is definitely interested in the baby to some extent, but has been really good. He likes to know where the baby is and will give him a sniff here and there, but mostly I think he just wants our continued attention. We've been good so far at making an extra effort to do that. He is our first baby after all! :)

I'm feeling better overall, but didn't realize or think through the fact that I would be so sore still. I will be thrilled to wake up one of these mornings and feel good---what a difference it will make once my body is up to par! I've been managing well though and trying to take it easy as much as possible. I know that I haven't blogged about the labor and delivery part yet, so here's a brief summary:

We went in for the cervadil gel on Sunday for appt #1 or 4. We were supposed to be induced on Tuesday, but one cervadil gel later I had regular contractions within a half hour. They weren't uncomfortable, but so regular that they decided to keep me. I went from a 0-2 during that time and got admitted. That started around 12:30 that afternoon and he was delivered 12 hours later. I would say that the first few hours were a cakewalk, then got the epidural once I was at a 4. The epidural only worked on one side at first, so the doc had to come in and readjust the IV which helped. I still have a hard time believing that the epidural worked like it was supposed to though. I started the actual delivery at about 10:15pm and he was born at 12:53am. That's the worst part, obviously. Ugh. Here's my summary of that...

1. People always told me their horror stories about birth.
2. They weren't exaggerating.
3. Delivering him was the hardest thing I have ever done in my entire life and I will NOT say that I forgot all about the pain once I held him, but I will say that it was worth it.

So, now he's here and I'm a mommy and Ryan and I have gone from sleeping 8 hours each night to needing much less. Our lives are turned upside down, but at the same time our lives are better than they ever have been, so maybe they were just turned right side up. Either way, life is good!