Honey, Don't Get Mad at Me

When your hubby comes in the back door saying "Honey, don't get mad at me" you don't quite know what to expect...that is until you see him holding a towel bunched up tight to his chest. "You didn't get a kitty did you?" "She was gonna die!" Oh brother. This from the guy who told me he wanted to get rid of our 2 cats when the baby was born. Yes, she is cute...she was the runt and needs a lot of love and care. We had to debate about what to feed her. Jake ended up going to WalMart and getting some wet kitten food and some kitten milk. She scarfed that down in no time! We made a little bed for her in our bathroom and crated her in so she wouldn't go in our bedroom. She's litter trained but the poor thing has diarrhea...probably from the change in diet b/c yesterday night it was fine. I am torn because I would love to nurse her back to health but I just can't do that with a newborn and two other cats that absolutely despise her. She's very sweet and loves to be held and purrs up a storm. I hope we can find someone to take care of her...any takers out there?

Sometime today, whether it was just finishing feeding the baby at 3am to find that now the kitten is meowing for something, waking up to find poop all over one of my towels, trying to run a load of laundry to find that, no, I can't use my washer anymore like the repairman said...it's BROKEN for sure...or when I looked around my kitchen to realize that no matter how hard I try, it seems that piles of crap just keep ending up all over our bar and kitchen table forcing us to eat Lord knows where and yes crumbs are all over the floor even though I just swept....that I realized that I'm going insane and all I want to do is be able to put some lotion on my legs and feet and do my hair and makeup so I can feel like a civilized person. And yes, Julia, I got a shower but that's only because Elijah likes the sound of the water running. Sigh...I am over the half finished projects cluttering the house, the piles of things for a yard sale, the shoes in the middle of the floor, clothes lying places other than the basket...the list can go on and on. Yes, I am a tired mama and it has only been 4 weeks. I'm sure I'm not the only one who wishes that all of the misc. stuff would go away and I could just spend time with my little boy and my hubby.

This was supposed to be yesterdays post so here goes. Elijah has been awake for longer periods of time now so I thought I'd try to play with him a little. I got out his toy and put him on it. He seemed to like it and made some happy faces.

Then he got tired and mama got to clean up a bit.

Of course the other child had to play with the hanging toys too.

Welcome to Motherhood

Yesterday I got my first taste of motherhood. Not that I didn't feel like a mom before seeing as everything has been overwhelming..just...well...this is how the day (and night) went. Elijah had a 2pm appointment with the cardiologist and I wanted to go to the chiropractor to see if I could get rid of this perpetual headache I've had. Jake asked if I could bring him lunch and show off the baby to everyone at work and I figured why not. I made the chiropractor appointment for 11:30 and set off to loading Elijah and all the misc goodies in the car at 11. It was at this time we had a melt down. Elijah loves the car...usually. He just screamed. I had to take him out to calm him down and by this time he was all sweaty and he had little ringlets in the back of his head. Once he was quiet we headed out and were a little late to the appointment..but no biggie. Jake's work is right there so we got some Chipotle and headed to see daddy. All the ladies loved him..of course. After lunch Elijah was getting hungry so I figured I would feed him in the car (tinted windows are great!) but Jake suggested feeding him in the cubical next to him b/c that lady was gone. I reluctantly said yes so I wouldn't waste gas. This is 1pm...my appointment is 2pm...oh yeah and remember in my previous blog I discussed the whole nursing issue. Needless to say we ended up with a frustrated mama and an even more frustrated and hungry baby. I left just in time to get to the hospital for his appointment. I figured I had a bottle and I would just feed him while I was waiting. Offices always make you wait right? Wrong. I got there and had some paperwork to fill out so I tried to hold my now screaming baby and a bottle at the same time so he could maybe get some milk all while filling out the paperwork. They ended up calling me back while I was still filling out the paperwork. Of course he did not like being interrupted and screamed at the top of his little lungs while we weighed and measured him. Thankfully I was able to give him most of the bottle while he was getting his EKG and he calmed down. The cardiologist saw him soon after. He was great with him! I was really impressed. I had never worked with him before but would recommend him to anyone. Pretty much we are waiting for another 4 months, getting another echo and then finding out if the VSD, PDA, and PFO close on their own. More then likely the only thing left at 5 months age will be the VSD and that will probably close within the year...we're just going to keep watching. And oh, by the way, double glad for insurance. Paid $30 of a $595 bill. Praise the Lord!
Anyway. Now Elijah was calm and we went to pick up Daddy. We wanted to look at our rocker at Babies R Us and find out if we had to order it or if we needed to pick it up with a truck. While we were there Jake noticed that Elijah was really gassy. He wasn't fussy though. We then went to Costco and by the time we got out Elijah was showing signs of reflux and indigestion. I felt so bad for him b/c I could tell he was in pain. I just wanted to take it all away! How hard it is to see your baby with a grimace on his face. By the time we got home he was crying and fussy. He eventually calmed down...for a season. He slept until about 2 or so and then he didn't really sleep until 11am. I had to keep changing his position, put a warm diaper on his belly, give him gas drops...he was miserable. He kept choking on thick mucous and I had to keep sucking out his nose and mouth. Of course by morning I was exhausted. I think I caught a little cat nap here and there..like maybe 15 minutes! The whole time I felt so bad b/c I know he was uncomfortable. After the 11 am feeding he fell asleep and was a little angel when I went to lunch with my friends from work. He was good for the rest of the day. Of course once we were done with lunch we were back at home in the dark, quiet, cool and familiar house...maybe that's why he was better. Maybe I am forever doomed to stay at home. One thing is for sure...after all that running around I was exhausted and sore. I'm very glad I don't start work tomorrow...I don't think I could physically do it. Thank God for 6 weeks of short term disability! I hope that tonight is a little better than last night...I definitely need some sleep! Of course...he's sleeping now and what am I doing..blogging. Go figure. Oh yeah, and the discouraging thing is that because I fed him a bottle of milk I had made a couple days ago, I have no idea what I ate before I made it so I can't tell what he didn't like..if that's even what it was!
Well, I guess I better post a picture of our little sweetie...can't let you think I have any negative thoughts...I still love my little guy..just a little sleep deprived.

Sunday Photo Shoot

I think I have been replaced as Jake's favorite subject. That's okay though because I know everyone would rather see photos of the little munchkin. Of course Jake took lots of good pictures and would have taken more if we had the time. Overall the session went really well. Elijah was awake before he needed to eat so we took those pics first. When he started getting cranky I fed him and then we got the sleeping pictures. I'm sure there will be plenty more sessions after this. I am just posting a few of the pictures. Some different ones will be in the announcements...which I hope to have done shortly after the pics get developed!

Of course we had to get the picture of the diaper and feet.
And of course we got some naked bum pictures...didn't think I should post them though...might get flagged for inappropriate. People are so silly.

Of course we got a few ones that are a little funny, but cute...hey...this rug tastes good...look ma, I'm crawling...that sort of thing.

Overall I think we got some really great pictures. I just can't post them all :) I hope he is cooperative like this all the time. Especially once he gets older. Hope you enjoy!

Much to do

The past few days have been a whirlwind. Thursday night we went over to our friends, Tim and Clarinda's and had dinner. It was nice to get out. It's hard to get used to what we need to take for the baby. I've found it's also hard with him nursing b/c he's not always the most cooperative and when you're in a new environment and there are new people...it's just a little difficult. Anyway..
Friday night we went to Brian and Louann's to eat pizza and play games with the teen group. We played Guesstures and had a lot of fun.
Friday Elijah also tuned 3 weeks. He's getting so big. He's been in size1 diapers for at least a week and today while doing the laundry I had to put away all of his 0-3 months/newborn clothes. His 3 month clothes fit him perfectly. He's starting to sleep for a little longer at night. The past 3 nights he has gone to bed at 10:30 and woken up to eat between 3 and 3:30, then at 6 and 9. Yeah a pattern! That's not to say I feel rested at 9! Elijah is awake from the 9am to the 12 fdg. He loves staring at mommy and tolerates all the kisses I give him. He pretty much lives in my arms or the snugli all during that time. I still have down times and have days that I really don't want to get out of bed but do for the sake of him. Thankfully I haven't had a really bad day since Sunday. Just a few tears here and there. Nothing major. Here's a picture of Elijah yesterday.
Today Jake and the girls from the youth group worked outside on the weeds and trimming the tree. I didn't think it looked that bad...it's been worse. Apparently someone thought otherwise b/c we got a warning letter. Whatever. We just had a new baby. We haven't thought about the yard. Anyway..they spent until lunch time on it and now Jake is picking up the remainder by his lonesome. It's very hot and I feel very sorry for him. I've come to the conclusion that we need a yard guy...and a maid...and maybe a laundry service LOL :) Anyway. Elijah and I are inside the air conditioning doing housework. Here's a picture of him relaxing after his meal.
Well, I best go..he's hungry!

No photo day

Today I didn't take any photos so nothing new to post. I did want to mention 2 things. For one my mom told me of a very cool website that I checked out and hope to use. It's sparkpeople.com. I couldn't sign up for it b/c of breastfeeding but they have one for me to...babyfit.sparkpeople.com. It has nutritional information and will allow you to count your calorie and nutritional intake each day. You can also keep track of your physical fitness. I thought it would be nice to help keep me accountable for what I eat and once I can exercise, get me a little motivated. I want to try to have our family a little healthier and maybe this will help.
The other thing I wanted to mention was how thankful I am for insurance. I got the "bill" in the mail. Our insurance is covering roughly $9,100 for the hospital bill. I'm pretty sure that's not including the physician bill and other misc. expenses. I mean, it may, but even so that's a lot of money! Thank God for good insurance!

Good Day

Today we had a nice day. Because of my bursts of baby blues and Jess, Phil and the kids in town, I haven't really been able to spend any time with Jake's mom...and she hasn't really spent any time with the baby either. So today we went to the library and Walmart and then came home to do a little scrapbooking. I've been working on the pregnancy book and am almost done...then the BABY book. Yeah! I think this will be my favorite. Jake was excited b/c he got a new video game in the mail so he played that for a while. Overall we are starting to get into a routine. I still have some freezer meals I made when I was pregnant (glad I did that!) so I haven't worked too hard on dinner but that's ok. My only complaint is that the stupid frit fly bug things that we get every once in a while came back. It seems like we get them in cycles and it doesn't matter what you do to get rid of them, they just stick around until one day..poof..they're gone. They drive me crazy b/c I feel dirty. Yes my house was a little messy for a little bit but no food left out or anything. In any event I cleaned the whole place yesterday and sprayed bug spray all in the kitchen and dining room and they are still roaming around. Glad I'm not doing bottles or anything.
The pictures of the day were taken by Jake Saturday b/c he couldn't resist the little guys sweet face.

Special Dinner to Say Goodbye

On Saturday we said goodbye to Aunt Jess, Uncle Phil, Isaac and Abby. We all went out to eat. Caitlin and Amy came too as they were staying at Mom and Dad's house for the night. We had a good time and enjoyed watching Chef Miguel throw shrimp tails in his pocket and make an onion volcano. The last time we went to Benihanas was when we first found out that we were expecting Elijah and wanted to go celebrate. I remember we saw another woman that was very pregnant and Jake told me..don't worry, that will be you soon enough. It's hard to believe that was 8 months ago! Time flies. In any event it was hard to say goodbye to everyone but we're very glad to be able to see them when we can.

Happy Father's Day!

All of these posting are a little late. Yesterday I had somewhat of a meltdown and turned into a blubbering baby all afternoon and evening. It was very disturbing and when it happens, makes me feel like I am letting everyone down. Jake didn't know what to do. He did all that he could and has been very supportive with hugs, kisses, and a shoulder to cry on. In any event I hope he had a good Father's Day the earlier portion of the day. I had Elijah wake him up. I put him in a knew onesie that said "Daddy's Little Helper". We got him Starbuck's for breakfast and went to church. We went out to eat at Lucky's so that he could get his favorite...sushi. At church they recognized all the fathers and gave them a nice pocket knife. Jake's dad had made a prediction last year that Jake would be standing up there. He was right! I'm so glad that Elijah has him as a Daddy. I bought some board books about Daddy and Jake read them to him last night. He really enjoys cuddling with him!

Bath Tub Fun- or not so much fun

On Saturday we gave Elijah a bath in the tub...and he screamed. I thought maybe he would like it...but no..hated it. Jake ended up being the one to calm him down and get him dressed. Way to go Dad!

2 Weeks Old

I almost forgot...today Elijah is 2 weeks old! Wow! I can't believe it! Time is just flying by. Here's pics of him today. One is with the new Tigger from Aunt Annie. It's about as big as he is! He's such a cutie!

Washer Nightmare

So before I get into the whole washer deal I thought I would post pictures I took yesterday of Elijah in one of his Winnie-the-Pooh outfits that he is growing out of. His little toes come out the bottom of the gown! He is also a little Houdini and gets his hands out of the mitts. I tried taking a picture without the binkie but he would not have it.
So on to the washer nightmare. I was excited that someone was coming FINALLY to fix my washer. I didn't care that I had to get up early for the "sometime between 8 and 12" appointment. Well, the damage is extensive. We had bought a nice LG front loading washer when we got our house (only 3 1/2 yrs ago!). It was the best and rated well...we thought spending a little more money would give us less headache in the end. We shall see. The mechanic said that our back bearings were shot and it's a MAJOR repair....5 hrs of labor plus parts. We're looking at approx $700-800! Whoa! Apparently the parts involved are not covered by warranty. The mechanic recommended calling LG and seeing if we could get a new washer or parts or something! Even if they cover parts it will be $500 to fix plus we already paid $100 to get them to come out today! If for some reason they offered to pay labor it would be a couple months for the guy to come out and fix b/c apparently the company only gives them $150 for labor so basically they only do 1 warranty job a month b/c it's not beneficial to them. I can see there point. Going from a $500 job to a $150 job is a big deal. Unfortunately one doesn't really like not having a washer with a new baby. Jake's Mom has let us do laundry at their house which is really helpful, but not as easy as having your own washer. What a pain in the neck! I guess I just have to realize that all things work together for good and there has to be some reason that we are going through this annoying and expensive trial.

Good Buy

I thought I would share my good buy with you all. I got this blanket for $2.58 from Target. It was usually $20 because it's organic cotton. I got the matching hat, booties, and mitts for the same price. I wanted to get him mitts b/c he's starting to scratch himself on the face. That was a good buy to me! Unfortunately, he's such a big guy the hat didn't fit him. Sigh. He's getting to be such a big boy. Yesterday his cord fell off. His newborn/0-3 month clothes just barely fit. My little sweet pea is growing like a weed!
As far as everything else goes, things are just so-so today. Yesterday was a really good day. I put away a lot of my maternity clothes b/c they no longer fit. I'm back at the 3-4 month pregnant stage where nothing really fits. Some of my old clothes do but a lot of the onrs that fit before are the wrong season. I ended up taking Elijah for his PKU (finally!) and stopped by Salvation Army to find a few larger size, normal clothes. They didn't have much but I found 2 skirts and 2 shirts. It was hard to find something that was nice. I just can't see buying new clothes for such a little time frame. Well, at least I hope it's a little time frame! Anyway. Here's the pictures of the good buy as well as a picture of what Elijah does while mommy is typing.

Finding Joy in my Elijah

I have realized that the baby blues has become a tough battle for me. I burst into tears for no good reason at any time of the day. I can't bring myself out of bed earlier than 11 or 12 o'clock. I have absolutely no appetite and have to force myself to eat something knowing very well that Elijah needs me to eat. I even tried setting little goals for myself each day, like today I'm going to fill out the paperwork for Elijah's insurance and even this small task has been a burden. I am just thankful that I do not have another child right now to take care of. The physical and emotional aspects of having a baby have just been tremendous for me right now. Last night I felt really sick...looking back I wonder if it was a panic attack. I just started sweating and felt like I had a fever, my head started throbbing and I felt awful. I just started crying and then it felt like I couldn't breathe. Jake had to take me home from his parent's house and leave me at home from church. This morning when I got up I didn't feel much better. I am very thankful for Jake's mom. She is very willing to help out and helped me finish my laundry (since the washer is still broken). She dropped it by today and brought me a cherry lime aid from Sonic. It made me feel a little better. Like I said before, the only things that really seem to make me feel better are taking care of Elijah and posting about what's been going on around here. I feel bad because I feel really jealous when other people hold Elijah. It doesn't really bother me when Jake does but other people are different...family members or not. It makes me feel awful because I don't want to feel like that...I want people to be able to share in the joy of my baby...but it's my baby and right now I'm being very selfish. I can now sympathize with some of the mom's in the NICU. How awful they must feel that they can't do much for their baby except maybe hold their hand or take their temperature. What a horrible feeling. I just feel like he's growing so fast and the time I can spend with him is so short. Who came up with 12 weeks for staying home with a newborn. Maybe I should go to Canada..I read somewhere they get 26 weeks. Anyway. I don't want this post to be whiny and gloomy..just stating how I feel today. I did get a couple of cute pictures of my little guy in a cute little onesie with a doggy on the but and his little booties that just barely fit him.

First Sunday Morning Church Service

Yesterday was Elijah's first Sunday morning service. You can't really see him very well but I gave him a bath and put him in a cute little collared romper with old school Tigger on it. I had found it at Target on clearance and thought it would be perfect for a little boy whose daddy loves Tigger. We felt that we should dedicate him to the Lord and so we went forward at the invitation. Pastor Jay and all the church members prayed around us for the wisdom that we needed to raise him in a Christian home so that he will one day come to know Jesus as his Saviour and serve Him. We want nothing more than to see our son serving Him.

Elijah's first smile!!!

Jake here, taking a crack at blogging, I'm not very good with words but I was so excited I had to post about it (pun most definitely intended.)

Today Elijah was sitting on Mommy's chest and he had this little scrunched up face that was kind of cute.  My camera wasn't near by but Elizabeth's was so I grabbed it to take a picture, I took one shot and then it happened.  I couldn't believe it!!! with camera in hand, prepared and pointing at his face he gave me the biggest smile of his life, what are the odds?  So far he's smiled lightly once or twice, more of a smirk or grin really but this was the daddy of them all, and I got it on film (well more like digital, but you get the picture, once again pun intended.)  So here it is for the first time for the entire world to enjoy, I present to you ladies and gentlemen. . . Elijah's first smile!!!! 

And now that you've been inundated with corny puns dripping with tackiness, I hereby resign my post as blog poster, but will how ever remain the official blogographer.

Daddy and Me

Hi, my name is Elijah and I love my Daddy, he gives me lots of kisses and tells me that he loves me all the time.  Daddy says I'm his little buddy and loves to talk to me and hold me as much as he can, daddy says when I get older we will play cars and build legos together, I can't wait!!  Daddy tried to change my diaper the other day when Mommy was sleeping, he told me, "how hard can it be?  You just put a clean diaper underneath, open the dirty diaper s-l-o-w-l-y, (we know how little boys can be,) wipe him off and voila!"  So I thought it would be fun too mess with Daddy a little so as soon as he opened my diaper I started squirming around like a worm on a hook.  Daddy tried to hold on to my legs and keep me still but with no avail, after putting up a valiant effort daddy finally gave up and I laughed a little inside and thought, I WIN!!!  Daddy was almost in tears as he brought me half naked to Mommy so she could show him how a real pro does it.  I'm sure after a little training Daddy will be good at it in no time at all.

I really love it when Daddy holds me and when we sit on the couch together, his hands are so big and that makes me feel safe.  Yesterday we both took a nap together, Daddy's chin was a little scratchy on my head but I don't mind and while we were sleeping Mommy got out the camera and took some pictures.  Don't we make a good pair?

Postpartum Blues

Although I have had a little postpartum blues during the last week, it was nothing compared to today. I woke up feeling a little sad and just wanted to lie around in bed. Unfortunately, Elijah wouldn't have it and so I was forced to get up and get moving instead of hiding under the covers hoping to avoid reality. I needed to take him in to get his PKU test and found myself to truly hate the doctors office. I went to the lab just as they told me, only to find out that despite the fact that they told me the paperwork I had was sufficient to draw the test...it was NOT! The lab was very apologetic and said they needed an order but they would call the doctor's office to see if they could fax the order over. That would have been nice, except that the doctor's office WAS CLOSED! Now I have to drag Elijah out in the heat yet again once I get an order that they should have written when I was there yesterday. By that time of course, I was in tears and spent the remainder of the day laying on the couch staring at the TV holding the only thing that made me feel any better...my precious little man. Looking back on this week I've realized that I've been a little blue and have done absolutely nothing that needs to be done...even call to get my much needed washing machine fixed. The only thing that I look forward to doing is taking care of Elijah and posting about all the daily events and bragging with photos of my beautiful boy. I hope that this only lasts a little while as I know can be expected after birth.

Stressful Day

So today was Elijah's first doctors appointment. Earlier in the day I called my friend, Julia because I was a little stressed about feeding Elijah. Although he seems satisfied at night (only waking up every 3-4 hrs-YEAH) during the day he seems hungry all the time and pulls away acting like he is starving and I'm not giving him enough milk. Well, after the doctors appt. I realize that he is getting enough milk, he's just a little piggy. He weighs 9 POUNDS! I can't believe he's gained 5 1/2 oz! The whole appointment was a little stressful though because it was at 3pm, I fed him at 2:30, we FINALLY got into the room at 3:45 and waited another 15-20 min for the doctor. He said he looks great, besides the murmur that is, and I had gotten the Hepatitis vaccine in the hospital right? Uh, no..we've decided to delay vaccinations. Well, by this time Elijah had decided he was over all this and wanted to eat again so he is getting progressively more and more fussy. I was stuck sitting in a very uncomfortable and postpartum unfriendly chair for 10 minutes while I was lectured on the benefits of immunizations and how it is a shame that lawyers can rise such controversy over something that's never been proven. I was so ready to get out of that office, get home and feed Elijah when I realized that they hadn't drawn the second PKU test that needed to be done. I asked at the front desk and apparently they do not draw them, I have to go to a lab to get it done. Something I do daily at work and I have to go to a lab to get it done on my own son. To make matters worse, the lab (that's right next to the office) was closed for the day so I have to go back tomorrow. Ughh! The last thing I want to do is lug the car seat and diaper bag yet again for something that I could do myself in 5 minutes! I asked if I could do it myself but apparently that's not kosher. Double Ughh! Needless to say, my hormones kicked in and I spent the way home in tears over nothing. It's okay though...I have an excuse, right?