Happy 5 Month Birthday!

Today is Jack's 5 month birthday! It really doesn't seem like it's been 5 months, but it has! Really there isn't much new this month in the way of milestones, but here is a list of some new things and changed things!

• Jack now blows Raspberries like nobody's business. I'll wake up in the middle of the night and he is blowing and blowing and blowing, and in the morning when he wakes up he is automatically back to blowing. It started out really cute, but then he started getting a little more spit behind them and now if you are within a foot of him you are most likely to get sprayed! Ha! It's still cute, even though Chris cannot stand spitty/drooly babies. He thinks they look dirty or something.
• Jack is talking more and more and is starting to make some sounds like ba and da every once in awhile. He is still more in the just babbling weird noises stage, but every so often we here a syllable or two.
• Jack made the transition off his Nutramigen formula and has been on Parent's Choice for about a month. It all went pretty well although he now has to get about 1 oz of apple juice with 3 oz of water every day to keep his system going or else he gets a bit stopped up...ugh!
• Jack is sitting up better with every day that goes by - I'm really hoping that by the time we get his 6 month pictures he will be really good at it! We'll see.
• Jack still isn't rolling over, but he is getting closer - I just don't think he has any interest in it?
• We've had a bit of a sleep regression or well, maybe a change is a better word. He still goes to bed at 7pm. He used to get up anywhere between 1 and 2 or would sometimes sleep all the way through - it was totally unpredictable. The last week or so he has started sleeping until almost 4am, he eats then goes back to sleep until I wake him up to get ready for daycare - usually about 6:45am. I actually kind of like this schedule better b/c it allows me to get ready for the day before he is awake and screaming for me to pay attention and play with him! I'm just hoping that gradually 4am will turn to 5am, then 6am, then 7am! That would be nice!
• Jack does not NAP on the weekends! He takes a morning nap of about an hour and an afternoon nap of 2-3 hours everyday at Tonya's, but when he is home on the weekends - I'm lucky to get 30-45mins a couple times a day! What the heck!?
• Jack has also began to show his displeasure with a situation - it's like on command. Here are a couple examples: he will be sitting contently and will then follow you as you leave the room and he will turn his neck, look over his shoulder, until at last he cannot see you and then immediately SCREAM! Ha! Another example, he was happy as a clam swinging the other day for like 15-20 minutes by himself in the living room while Chris and I were cleaning up around the house, but as soon as I made the mistake of walking through the living room in his direct line of sight and then back out he was SCREAMING again! We haven't experienced any "stranger anxiety" or anything like that - he will still pretty much flash smiles at anyone and everyone so that's good!
• Jack is getting bigger and bigger! Another last note is that we went the whole month without going to the dr. for some random reason! This is a first - before this past month I don't think we went more then 2 weeks without some reason to go to the dr.! I think my new momness is starting to wear off and I'm not totally freaking out about everything!

I think that's pretty much it for month 5 in Jack's world! xoxo

Pumpkin Patch!

We made a trip out to The Wood's Family Pumpkin Patch outside of Pitt this Saturday! It was so packed, but so neat! I must admit I haven't been to a Pumpkin Patch in FOREVER, if EVER?! Anyway, they have all these spots set up for pictures, a little train ride, inflatable jumping toys, slides made inside big hay bails, a pumpkin sling shot, a corn pool, and a little petting zoo! I can't wait until next year when Jack is running around - it will be so fun! Jack was quite a trooper b/c it was pretty cool and windy! His nose was running the whole time and the wind kept taking his breathe away! We didn't stay long, but I got a few pictures while we were there! Enjoy!

xoxo

Congratulations...

to Jenny and Cary on getting engaged! FINALLY! Yea! I'm so excited and happy for the both of you!

xoxo

Momma Update

So I'm actually feeling pretty well, which I'm pretty surprised b/c usually I'm am the WORST sick person. I can't handle not feeling well, but I'm doing good and I'm proud of myself! Thursday could not have gone any better - well my scar could maybe have been smaller, but other then that all went well. Turns out I had something called Hashimoto's Thyroiditis - its an autoimmune disorder where my body attacks and destroys the thyroid. It also causes the thyroid to swell and essentially grow goiters - which was the what the "growth" was. So no cancer, nothing dangerous! Yea!

But my surgery lasted a little under 2 hours, and I felt decent from the time I woke up. I do remember being a little "out of it" when they woke me up and Chris and Mom said I was saying some funny things when I got to my room, but nothing too bad! Ha! I didn't have a bad reaction to the anesthesia and came off of it pretty easy! My throat feels really sore, my neck feels really stiff and I've had a constant headache, but really nothing too horrible! I also have limited mobility in my neck as far as turning side to side and I can't drive for about a week. I have to take it easy with Jack, but can still hold him and today I fed him for the first time, which was great! It's just hard b/c he likes to play with my hair and throat when he is going to sleep, which is impossible at this point!

My scar is about 3-4 inches long right in the skin fold at the base of my neck. I don't have any stitches or staples, just skin glue so hopefully the scar won't be too bad. It looks pretty nasty right now b/c there is blood and stuff under the glue, so I can't get a real good idea of how bad the scar looks...but overall I think it will be OK. That's it for me!

Check out Jack's new 4 month picture! It's my new favorite!

xoxo

It's Official...Part 2...

It's official! Not only is Jack a chunk, but Momma is a chunk too! I know baby weight, baby weight, baby weight! But in my mind it's not really "baby weight" if it doesn't come off magically in the first say 3 weeks or so after giving birth! The remaining weight is just "sorry you took advantage and simply ate way too much while you are pregnant" weight. Just F.A.T.

So Momma is a Fatty, Fat, Fat, Fat! I gained 55 pounds total while pregnant - of which only 30 was true "baby weight" the rest was just F.A.T. Since then I have lost about 5 pounds of the remaining 25 pounds, so I have at least 20 to go, but ideally it's more like 30!

I have no self control when it comes to food, never have, I have a major obsession with food (as many of my HS girlfriends know! remember the McD's every 3 days diet with only water and cigarettes in between phase? Yeah, horrible!) and I love junk food, fast food, F.A.T food!

Chris has even threatened to divorce me in 10 years if I continue to eat like I eat and end up F.A.T.-T.E.R! Ha, I'm pretty sure he was kidding - I hope he was kidding....???

But I've come to a realization that I don't want to be F.A.T. no matter how good McD's tastes - oh the thought of a Quarter Pounder with Cheese Only....yum! Wait, what am I saying! I need to cut out the F.A.T. and make exercising a priority again!

So here is my promise to myself! After surgery tomorrow and recovery I am getting back on the straight and narrow - no more junk food (except maybe on the occasional special ocassion!) and I think I'm going to start doing Weight Watchers again. I started doing it for a short while before my wedding (based off recommendations from Chelse) and lost those last few pounds. It's fairly easy and you can still eat what you like, but just not as often or as much and if I really want that Quarter Pounder with Cheese Only - then I will have to sacrifice somewhere else that week! I'll give an update when I start this whole "plan" - I'll have to see how long I'm going to feel totally crummy from surgery, but I'm hoping no later then 10/25/09 - it's a Sunday and a good day to start my new "life" of not being F.A.T - or at least not doing anything about it!

Wish me luck! xoxo

It's Official...

Jack is a CHUNK! Ha! We went for his 4 Month Well Baby Visit this morning with Dr. Mijares, all looks good in Jack's world. He weighed 14lbs 13ozs! CHUNK! And he is now 24.5 inches long! I can't remember how big his head was...maybe like 41cms? IDK.

She said he looks great and that she isn't concerned about him not rolling over yet. She said that ever since the "Back to Sleep" campaign has been going on that lots of babies roll closer to 6 months then 4 months, which was the previous benchmark. She said he does hold his neck really well and he does push up, which is all good! I guess he will just get there on his own time!

He had to get more vaccines today - 2 shots and another oral one! OUCH! The mean nurse wouldn't even let us hold him - he just laid there all by himself on the table. He did really good though, he only cried for like maybe 30 seconds then he calmed right down!

I took him back to Tonya's and stayed to give him his noon bottle and a little cuddle time with Mama! He seemed in a fine mood though! Tonya did tell me that he was SO close to rolling over yesterday from his back to his tummy, but just couldn't quite make it - so I think any day now he will be rolling all over the place! I'm still more focused on sitting up though b/c I think that will be way more fun then rolling!

xoxo

More Pictures!

These are from the end of September (towards the bottom) and from Tonight (at top)! Enjoy!

We've started working on sitting up since he REFUSES to roll over! Ha! He is pretty good already!

Showing off the BabyLegs! Too cute!

xoxo

Surgery for Mama

I usually post primarily about Jack, but thought I would add a little bit of I guess fairly important news about myself. I am having my Thyroid taken out on Oct. 15th. Most of the people reading this know I have been monitoring my Thyroid since I was in highschool and well the time has come to take it out. It is still producing an adequate amount of hormone, but the Goiter is still growing. We tried hormone therapy (I began taking a low dose of hormone replacement about 18 months ago in hopes that the extra hormone would shrink the goiter), but an ultrasound a couple weeks ago showed that the goiter has NOT shrunk and in fact the left size has gotten larger, slightly, but larger.

So Dr. Garner set up consult with Dr. Cedeno (the surgeon) and I met with him last week and I loved him, really, really liked him and immediately felt comfortable! He was friendly, personable, took his time to explain the procedure and answered every question I had! It also doesn't hurt that I work with his brother at Watco! Ha! After the consult the surgery was scheduled for Thursday Oct. 15th! Some might be asking, "Why the rush?" The reason...since we have already hit our insurance deductible for the year from having Jack my surgery will be 100% F. R. E. E. which is a total bonus!

The only thing I was not too happy about was the fact that I was under the impression it would be an outpatient procedure, but I was WRONG! I will have to stay in the hospital OVERNIGHT! I'm totally bummed about it, but my Mom is going to come stay at the house to help Chris with Jack that night so I'm not too concerned, but I still don't like the idea of spending the night away from him! Boo...

xoxo

SUCCESS!

We have done it! We have successfully weaned Jack off the Nutramigen and on to Parent's Choice Gentle formula! He is a tad more gassy, but I think it has more to do with the fact that he refuses to be burped (this goes in phases and lately it's the "What are you doing? Give me back that bottle right now or I'm going to scream phase!" so getting a burp out of him is near to impossible!), but he hasn't seemed to get bound up at all and hasn't had a Screaming Gas Fit or anything! His BM's have changed, he is only going about once a day now, but thankfully it's usually at daycare in the mornings! Ha! Sorry Tonya!

You readers may be wondering why I'm so excited we have achieved this task, here's why: We started out Breastfeeding = $0, but when my milk wouldn't come in we ended up Jaundice, Dehydrated, and back in the Hospital. We switched to formula and ended up trying 1 "Regular" formula (24ozs for about $23), 1 "Gentle" formula (24oz for about $25), and ended up on Nutramigen which is a "Hypoallergenic - Completely broken down formula" (12.9ozs for $23)! Wowza! Nutramigen is expensive! So needless to say we spent about $500 for the 3 months he was on Nutramigen, which equates to about $167/month or $42/week! OUCH!

So the new formula Parent's Choice Gentle - which is NUTRIONALLY the same as the Name Brand Enfamil Gentlease (some of the fillers are different) and it is $15 for 24ozs! So instead of what we were paying, our formula will now cost about $60/month or $15/week! PLUS - now that he is off the Hypoallergenic formula he can be enrolled in the food program at daycare and Tonya will provide all his formula while he is at daycare! And when we start cereal and foods, she provides that too! My big hope is that we will somehow even out by the time Jack is 1 with all the formula cost!

Either way, I'm glad Jack is doing great with the formula and I'm glad my checkbook will be doing better now that I don't have to buy Nutramigen!

xoxo