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!