5 Months

The little lump is growing into an active, engaging little baby boy. I cannot believe how quickly and dramatically he changes - from his size to his abilities to his personality.

At 5 months there is no official weigh in with the Dr. but according to the Wii scale he's over 19lbs and my measuring tape logs 27.5in of baby. Simply put, he remains a big boy! At Christmas we visited with family and he is bigger than his 9mo old second cousin - both height and weight.

James is developing quite a personality, he likes naps, tearing apart things, sitting up and looking at the world, watching the dogs play, petting the dogs, and laughs whenever the dogs lick his feet. He also enjoys eating and grabbing at everything. He will look up at me while I'm drinking, fascinated by the disappearing liquid trick. He loves the "flying baby" game with Dad and toys, especially ones that he can manipulate to make noise/etc.

He is very close to sitting unassisted, and can for a few seconds at a time. He love to stand but needs us holding him for balance. He twists and turns and scoots and rolls all over as much as he can. James would love to crawl but hasn't got the whole system worked out yet. When on his belly he tries desperately but isn't quite strong/coordinated enough to get off the ground. We are going to have to baby proof the house soon!

I can't think of very many dislikes. He will play alone for a little while but generally doesn't like when we leave him alone in a room. He doesn't like laying down except to sleep/eat. And he gets mad if he's on his belly for too long. Also he seems to get annoyed when strangers are up in his face, especially if he's tired. Overall he is a happy little guy.

Merry Christmas

Hope you have a magical day filled with happiness and wonder, friends and family, good food and great traditions!

4 Months

James has been hanging around this world for four months. He is growing bigger by the minute it seems. He wears 9mo size clothes, can sit a few seconds on his own, and can roll over from his tummy to his back. He loves chattering nonsense, laughing at my singing and when I tickle his belly or feet, he can blow bubbles and drools non-stop. His hair is getting thicker, especially on top, and he loves watching football with Daddy. Another favorite pastime is sucking/chewing on his fingers and grabbing his feet during diaper changes. He also has discovered the joys of grabbing and moving things on the table when Mommy holds him close enough for his chubby little hands to reach things.

He dislikes being on his tummy more than about 5mins at a time and he's not overly fond of the dogs licking him but he tolerates it and he finds their other antics amusing. He doesn't like being up for more than about 1-2 hours during the daytime hours between naps but if he's well rested and has a full belly he is a pretty happy little dude.

In a few days he goes in for his 4mo appointment with the Dr and we will get his "official" stats then. I did measure him at home a few days ago and he is now 27in long and according to our scale weighs in somewhere between 17-18lbs. I expect that by 6mos he will be wearing 12mo clothes. Everyone says he will stop growing so fast after 6mos...I hope they are right because we can't keep up with the nonstop shopping!

After going to the Dr. he officially weighed in at 17lb12oz and is 27in long. He is off the chart in his height!

3 Months

So I've been majorly slacking and neglected to do a 3 month post. Whoops - I'm only 2 weeks late....anyhow James has been kept alive for 3 months despite all our bumbling. He holds his head steady, loves watching our crazy dog, laughs like a maniac and desperately wants to move/go places. He hates being on his tummy flat but doesn't mind it as long as he's on one of us. He loathes being left alone for even short times, like when I have to go to the bathroom.

I am back at work but he loves his Auntie C who is taking care of him. He didn't have a Drs appointment this month so there are no official stats but we weighed him on a Wii - 15lbs and measured him at 25.5 inches long. Should be fun to see where he ends up at 4 months.

Overall he is doing great, growing fast and changing so much every day. He was super grumpy on Halloween so we dressed him up the day after. Here he is modeling his costume.

2 Months

James is two months old, well technically he turned 2 months on the thirtieth of September but that's a minor detail really. Anyway he went for his doctors appointment today and weighed in at 13lb 12oz and is 24in long.That's 2 1/2 lbs and an inch of growth this past month. He got his first round of vaccines too. So awful to hear him cry but he calmed right down as soon as I picked him up.

He is changing so fast, he can hold his head steady for brief periods, loves smiling at mom/dad and babbling at us especially in the mornings, he is strong and can even bear weight on his legs. He hates tummy time, but will tolerate it on our chest, he also hates wet diapers and being up too long without a nap. He loves breastfeeding and being naked. He tolerates bath time but seems weirded out by the whole concept.

I return to work in two weeks which makes me sad but I know he'll be in excellent hands. The money is necessary, you know if we want to stay in our house and eat, and it will allow us to provide a great life for James. Plus it will give me money for retirement and hopefully the time away will make me value our time together that much more. Basically I'm trying to focus on the positives only lol. I hear the anticipation is worse than actually going back. Once I start going we will settle into a routine and it will just be our life.

All in all I am so in love and enjoying watching James grow. The past two months have been the fastest of my life, stressful at times but his smile every morning is the best way to wake up.

Go Tigers!

9 months in pictures

During my pregnancy I took a pic every week to document my belly's growth. It was fun to look back on these pics and think about how "huge" I felt early on compared to how big I got the last few weeks. So I thought it would be fun to share a few.

In the last pic I was actually in labor, early labor, and I took the pic because I had a feeling I would have the baby that weekend and wanted to get one last pregnant photo. I'm so glad I did this throughout the pregnancy.

And here is a picture of the little monster just because. He is very excited that the Tigers are going to the post-season.

Book Reviews

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Took a tad too long to get the story rolling, I kept reading because everyone said it's a good series and I'm a weirdo who will waste my time reading a bad book just to see what happens. Turned interesting though, which is a good thing! And as a 3 part series it ended with many points unresolved which was annoying but expected.

Overall an enjoyable read with a few twists and turns that kept you guessing. I recommend it!



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Book Review

I Do, Now What? by Giuliana Rancic




Eh. It was ok - I borrowed it from a friend and I wasn't overly impressed. I expected more of a story about their first years of dating/marriage. It was also very preachy, and made me think they really thought highly of themselves. The whole book was based around telling the reader how to have a great marriage. But their tips were basically "here are the things that we do and you should do them too because we're super duper awesome!!!"

Definitely not something I recommend unless you are looking for a cheesy self-help type book.



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1 Month of Baby James

James has been with us for over a month now - at his one month check up he weighed 11lb 6oz and was 23in long! He is zooming up the percentiles and growing too fast for mommy. 

He has already outgrown his "newborn" diapers (we are cloth diapering) and newborn clothes. James can already hold his head up for short periods (like seconds) when we put him on his belly. He smiles for us when we do enough foolishness to delight him but we've yet to capture one of those adorable grins on camera. He is also losing his hair. But mostly he's been eating, sleeping, pooping and growing.

Birth Story (only a month late lol)

Blogging has been on the backburner my last few months of pregnancy and first month of parenthood but I wanted to share my son's birth story. It was a truly amazing experience.

James was born on July 30 at 10:53 am, weighed 7lb 7oz, 20.5 in long after about 8 hrs of active labor and less than an hour of pushing. It's been a busy, sleep deprived ride since but we are getting used to being parents although sometimes I can't believe I have a son. 

A few minutes after birth

 All week I was having some crampy feelings at the end of the day which I attributed to being tired from work/chores since it would be gone by morning. I had my 39w appt. on Thursday when she said I was about 1.5cm dilated and still thick - she said probably won't have baby soon so we'll schedule you for a NST and appt next week. 

Friday, July 29 I woke up and the crampy feeling hadn't left. I went to work like normal and felt a bit off all day and on/off cramping feeling. When I used the bathroom right before leaving for the day I had some pink tinged discharge that continued through the early evening. I called my mom who said it sounded like early labor, but I really didn't believe her lol. Did some stuff around the house, had dinner and took a nap. H got home from work at around 11pm and made eggs/bacon and I had a plate of food. My cramping was getting worse but not painful just annoying. I told H I thought maybe we would have the baby that weekend but it could be a while.

We went to bed around midnight and I dozed off for about an hour. Woke up and watched some tv and dozed until about 2 am when the cramping had turned into more consistent pain and wasn't letting me sleep. I got up and took a shower. After about 30 mins in the shower I got out and tried to watch more tv but the contractions were coming regularly and getting increasingly painful.  I figured it was time to start timing them just to see. 30 mins went by of regular painful contractions every 2-3 mins lasting a minute+ each. It was now about 3 am and I figured I better wake up H. We talked about it and decided to go to the hospital since the contractions were pretty close together and regular. 

Got to the hospital and they said I was between 2-3 cm but having such regular contractions they were going to admit me. We got settled in our room at about 4 am and H called family. Fast forward to about 6 am and the Dr came to check me. I was still 2-3 cms despite having regular strong contractions every 2-3 mins. I was feeling so discouraged since I fully intended to have a med-free birth. Dr basically said I needed to relax better and offered me pain meds which I denied and opted to take a shower. Another 30 mins in the shower and lots of painful contractions. I pretty much broke down at this point, between the pain and the sleep deprivation and the lack of progress I didn't think I'd get through labor without help. H was a rock - he kept insisting I could do it and just being super supportive of me. 

After getting out of the shower I asked the nurse what my options were besides an epidural. She explained the pain meds and I said I wanted to wait. At some point I found my groove. The tv was on the entire time but I stopped watching it or even being aware of H or the nurse checking on me. They dimmed the lights and I just stared at the floor and focused on my breathing. I didn't realize how much time had passed until the pain shifted into my thighs. The Dr came in at 9 am to check me and I was at 6 - woohoo!!! Progress! He guessed the baby would come sometime that afternoon (H asked lol). About 20 mins later I told H I thought I needed to go to the bathroom. Once on the toilet I felt the most overwhelming urge to push. I told H OMG I've got to push and he literally yelled HELP! for the nurse. 

The contractions were seemingly nonstop at this point but somehow I just didn't care because I was so focused on not pushing since I assumed I was still at 6. Nurse checked me and I was at 9! She stayed with me for the rest of my labor and was awesome helping me breath through the pain/pushing urges.

I layed on my side at this point (I had been sitting up in bed up until then) and made it through the final cm and they had me move to a modified squatting/sitting position to push.   Pushed for less than an hour and at the end Dr said - Reach down and pull up your baby. It was the most amazing feeling to pull him onto my chest. I am so glad I was successful in my goal to have an intervention/med free birth and H told me I was his hero after seeing how hard labor and delivery is for us ladies.

Overall it hurt more than I expected but it was so worth it! Here's some more pictures:

Anniversary Trip to Cleveland

A few weeks ago we were discussing going to a Tigers game while also talking about doing something for our anniversary. We realized the Tigers were playing in Cleveland on our anniversary - thus a trip plan was decided.

We went to the Christmas Story House which was pretty cool. And to a Tigers game along with going out to dinner. It was a fun trip.

Random Goings-On

I hate ironing. It is a seemingly simple task but my Husband's work shirts suck to iron and that's the ONLY thing I iron. Tonight while ironing I realized I iron left handed. Which is weird because I am right handed. This is how boring my life has become - hence the lack of blogging.

My dog is still cute and getting along better with the cats. Here's a cute picture of two of them.

The only other thing going on in my life besides animals and ironing is baby-hosting. That is going well, however at our mid-pregnancy ultrasound they discovered a few things about the baby. Measuring exactly on track, heart, lungs, etc looking good however baby has bilateral accessory renal arteries. What does that mean you ask - well apparently a standard issue human has one artery going to each kidney to 'feed' it. Our human has two arteries going to each kidney - so I've decided that means baby is super human.

Dr didn't confirm or deny this claim. However, Dr did say it's a normal variant. I guess that means it's normally abnormal lol. The only real impact at this point  is we go at the beginning of June to 'check' and make sure that the extraneous arteries aren't causing any issues - which is a very minuscule possibility. Dr seemed like it was zero concern so that's how we're going to proceed. Plus we get to see the baby an extra time which is kind of fun. Oh and we found out the baby is a BOY! Husband continues to insist the baby looks like him based on the ultrasound photos.

My belly is also growing in relation to this continued gestation. Next week is 24 weeks which marks "viability" basically it's the time at which our chances become greater than 50-50 that baby would survive if born. Obviously we're planning on keeping him inside for much longer....like 16 weeks longer.  I would really appreciate if baby chooses to make his arrival on his due date. I've planned things around that date so it would be helpful. Anyhow - here's a pic of my growing midsection just ignore the messy room.

And the last bit of 'fun' that's up and coming in my life - in 3 weeks I get to do my gestational diabetes test. Woohoo! This basically consists of me drinking a premeasured sugar drink and them (the vampires) taking my blood exactly one hour afterward to see how my body reacts.

The only other 'sugar' testing I've had was purely a fasting blood test and it was perfect so I'm hoping I have equally good results from this test. Since gestational diabetes rarely has signs/symptoms it's something the medical-types make all pregnant ladies undergo. You want to see what I get to drink????

 Bingo says "Looks delicious Mom!"

Springish

My oh my it's a glorious day. Temps got up to the mid-forties today and it has been sunny. So wonderful. Took the maniac dog for a 20 min walk, which he loved, and we heard BIRDS CHIRPING! BIRDS!

I realize of course there is technically another month of winter left, at least according to the calendar makers. However, on the great "blizzard 2011" (which was kind of over-blown around here but really bad elsewhere in the country) the crazy people in PA decided groundhog day would go on - blizzard or not.

And in the snowstorm there was nary a shadow to be seen, by groundhog or human. So supposedly spring is coming early this year. I would be delighted if this turns out to be true.

Another oddity on our walk, I noticed a tree down the street with it's leaves still attached. Brown, dry, old leaves. But the WHOLE tree was still covered. It was very odd - unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so I'll have to take a picture on some future walk. But rest assured, it was weird.

Finally, I got up at 8 am and went grocery shopping. WTF is wrong with me? Although I will say, going to the grocery store that early was awesome. Even though it's a Sunday (usually a day of horror at the grocery store) it was quiet, I got a good parking spot and all the fresh foods were...well...fresh.

Guess what internet.

My stomach is growing, and as Arnold would say "It's not a tumor".





Can you guess????








I'll give you a hint.....it rhymes with blegnant.


That's right - Husband decided to make sure I didn't run off with some hot Latino stud. You want to see the creature?

Of course you do! So here's a picture:

This little person is scheduled to make an appearance on or about July 31. So don't be alarmed when I start making posts about a baby at the end of the summer.

In somewhat related news, I made a delicious dinner tonight. Nothing that deserves it's own post, plus I ate it before taking a picture (hey I'm pregnant!) besides there really wasn't a recipe.

Hamburger and asparagus. But I made the hamburger with salt, pepper, garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce. Then I cooked it on a bed of onions and melted a slice of american cheese on top. OMG simple and yum. Add some steamed asparagus with butter and I am sitting pretty!

I have a problem.

My memory sucks. I cannot remember my own posts. I was going to make dinner tonight and blog about it, but then it took me over 2 hours to get home from work. It normally takes me about 30 mins. Now I'm home, grumpy, and I can't for the life of me remember if I ever blogged about this meal.

I know for sure, not since I switched, but did I on my old blog? I suppose I could go look but instead I decided to whine about my drive and crappy brain.

That's it. Thanks for reading this when really it should have gone in my journal instead of the internet. 

I'm pretty sure they are plotting

After we brought home Bingo, our two resident cats were not happy. In fact, the one cat hid on top of our fridge for a good month. We have reached happiness - and now I'm worried.


I walked into the living room to see this

Now I don't know what the stuffed hippo's role was/is but surely animals do not place themselves in a circle UNLESS they are plotting. I think I need to invest in a nanny cam to see what goes on while we're at work.

Book Review

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro




Very interesting story. I wasn't sure what to expect as this was my first time reading anything by Kazuo Ishiguro, but I definitely plan to read more of his work.

Intrigued me from the beginning, which is always a good thing and kept me fascinated throughout. A page turner, and I normally don't like sci-fi type books. It reminded me of a brave new world in that it was set in a different time. But it wasn't obvious, i.e. no flying spaceships. The subject matter was quite believable given the current medical knowledge that exists. I definitely recommend it.

This was recently made into a movie so I am curious to see the adaptation.



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Oh Hi!

So a whole year has passed since my last post (badumbum). Yep - that's how I roll, slacker posting and cheesy new year jokes.

To wrap up - got married, saw Ireland (check off bucket list), bought first home, got first dog, had another nephew born, saw good/bad movies, heard good/bad music, kept my job through a scary time, and generally enjoyed a fabulous year. 2010 was a busy, eventful and happy year. I'm hoping 2011 brings some more good stuff.

I've been lazy about cooking lately, and even worse about updating my goodreads list although I've actually been reading. So hopefully I get motivated to do more in the kitchen and more around the house - there's definitely a list of improvements that needs to get attention.

Happy New Year internet!