Week 11: The Last Week of Freedom

These last 3 months have flown by and my maternity leave is officially over....sad sad sad...I have 2 more days to win the lotto so i can spend my days with my sweet boy and forget work...a girl can dream right?  I have been trying to work up to this week but i dont think any time away can prepare me.  It also doesnt help that my mom no longer is available to watch him so this week was stressful trying to find someone permanently to watch him as well as cover until we find that person.  I must say we are blessed with family and friends that want to help in whatever way they can and have offered their time, as well as their resources to help us find that perfect person for our son. Stay tuned for details in next week's blog because if i talk about it anymore, the waterworks will start...
As each week goes by it gets better and better.  Liam is growing so fast and i am loving it.  He loves to "tell stories" (aka babbling and mimicking the sounds we make at him) and is starting to grasp at things.  He has had the same activity mat since he was born but lately has discovered it has 4 friends on it that he can play with.  I think the elephant with the ball in his tummy has become his favorite.  He also has discovered the mirror on it and smiles at himself non-stop, sharing his stories with himself too.  It makes my heart smile!  I am head over heels in love with 2 boys now and it is amazing!
We have conquered the night screaming which makes bedtime that much better.  I am not saying he has perfected it yet but we are one step closer.  Now, there is a lot less crying and a lot more smiling from all of us as he goes off to dreamland happy. I cant quite figure out what did it or what we changed to make it happen, but i am certainly not complaining.
Encouragement and prayers for the difficuly week ahead are appreciated....this face is going to be hard to leave!!!!

Week 10 and a Date...

Week 10 taught us the beauty of a schedule.  I was given BabyWise by a good friend and although i don't agree with everything it says, it provided tips on getting a baby on a schedule to make your life easier.  I now am no longer anxious when we go out because i know what times he eats and can plan my day around those times.  We even made it to church tonight and although he didnt make it the entire service, he went longer than he has since he was a newborn. We have conquered sleeping through the night and i am proud to say once he goes down, he doesnt get back up until 8am. Still, the going to sleep is a problem that baffles me.  He takes all his naps in the crib and doesnt fight but when it is time for bed...forget it.  He screams and cries. So what does that mean for me? I cry with him because he breaks my heart.  My mission for next week is to get that situation figured out and any suggestions for a peaceful routine are welcome.
This week, Jesse and I were able to go out on Valentine's Day while Liam stayed home with our good friend LaShawn. It was the first time we were out since he joined our family and it was much needed although now i know why everyone said i need to start leaving him more often to prepare for when i go back to work.  We were gone 4 hours and i couldnt wait to come home and hold him.  12 hours is going to seem like an eternity!! sigh...i am not ready.
He is still discovering his hands and is trying to perfect the skill of fitting his entire fist in his mouth and is still trying to figure out what those 2 things on the end of his legs are.  He has outgrown the mesh sling in his bathtub and now sits up in it with assistance and splashes around with his legs.  When he does it he gets a big smile on his face.  Grandma and Grandpa Hinson along with Uncle Jeremiah came to visit this weekend which Liam enjoyed.  He was able to show off his new skills since they last saw him.
Until next week...

9 weeks down...so many more to go...

This past week i have been introduced to consignment sale shopping and i am OBSESSED.  A friend of mine told me about one in the area and i immediately became consumed with the idea. I researched tips of what to buy, what not to buy, how to plan so you don't overspend, etc...and Tuesday when the doors opened, i was ready.  Liam now has a complete summer wardrobe of the most adorable clothes.
We also learned this week that Liam has found his hands and can't get enough of them.  Everytime i look at him he has them in his mouth and smiles with pleasure.  He also started sleeping through the night which is a dream come true.  Now he gets to sleep sometime between 8:30-9p after a long drawn out bedtime routine that involves him screaming his lungs off for an hour (we will address that later when it doesnt make me want to scream) and around 0430 i hear him smacking on those hands but he eventually goes back to sleep and then i dont hear from him until about 0700.  I LOVE IT!! I finally feel like a normal human again.  My goal this week is to write down when he naps and eats and start getting him on a routine.  "Babywise" has become my friend and i am determined to get him scheduled for when i return to work (which is another event we will address later when it doesnt make me want to scream).  I will keep you updated on that.
Until next week......

The Past 8 Weeks....

Liam is 8 weeks tomorrow and boy has he taught Jesse and I ALOT since he joined our family.  I have never known such exhaustion but it is an exhaustion i wouldnt trade for anything.  Since he was born, he has been termed a "good sleeper" by friends that are moms.  I still consider him a sleeper-in-training because i get up 2x in the night since we switched him to the 8-8 schedule our pediatrician recommends.  In the earlier weeks, he was 11-11 which worked for me cause i would go to bed at 9 and Jesse would take the night shift (highly recommenr that new moms) and i would only have to get up once and it would be a more acceptable morning hour then the 3am wake up i am doing now.  But again, wouldnt trade it for the world.
If anything, i would say the hardest part to this new mom thing was and still is breastfeeding.  I will spare you all the details but the first 2 weeks were hard.  I would take childbirth with no epidural 10x over if with our next child we can skip over those weeks.  You want to give your child the very best but let me tell you, no one prepares you for the emotion tied to breastfeeding or the difficulty.  No one tells you the first 2 weeks are the worst with your hormones all over the place and your milk supply not fully in yet.  What does that equal?  Tears from both you and your baby.  Jesse deserves a medal for what i put him through.  You question your ability to be a good mom, you pass the screaming baby to him and say things like "make him stop" or "i cant handle this."  He looks at you like "What do you want me to do, your the one who has the milk" or "i know you will kill me if i make a formula bottle because you want him to be only breastfed."  O the fun of those first weeks!!!  Some of you know exactly what i am talking about and are having flashbacks to those days and can only laugh now because those days are over.
I think this past week was the first week that i thought to myself, "i can do this."  Liam is smiling and is more verbal, meaning he makes more noises then just crying.  I get excited for morning because i know when i go in there to get him from his crib i will see his precious smile. He also is more interactive with us, which makes it less like staring at a campfire (thanks Jackie for that analogy).  It only gets better from here on out and we cant wait to see what he is going to grow up to be.
Until next week....

I'm Back.....

.....and ready to blog! Alot has happened since my last post.  As you may have noticed, the title to my blog has changed.  It all began Saturday, December 10th, 2011 at 1:12pm.  Jesse and I had been staring at each other for 4 days straight and we were getting restless.  Jesse was officially on "paternity leave" and i had been on bedrest for a week due to my swollen feet and high blood pressure.  Jesse was dying to see one of his guy movies and since i was feeling nothing, i encouraged him to go see a matinee assuring him i would be fine and we would run our errands when he got home.  Those errands never got done.  At 1:12pm that Saturday afternoon, as i was settling in on the front couch for a little nap before Jesse got home, i felt a pop and a gush of water run down my legs.  My first thought was "did i just pee myself" which was quickly followed by "get to a bathroom."  After about ten minutes, i realized it would be nice of me to fill Jesse in and call my doctor.  When the nurse asked me over the phone if i was sure my water broke and it wasnt a trickle, i had to laugh out loud.  I am still baffled how women survive the embarrassment of their water breaking in public.  It is no joke.  About that time, Jesse came home and we packed up the car, kissed our puppies goodbye, and headed to the hospital.  We checked in to Hotel Northside around 3:30pm and waited for our little boy to make his grand entrance.  I won't go into details about all the fun "medical procedures" that I got to experience but you lose all sense of modesty when having a baby.  And being a nurse, i definately have some more sympathy for my patients after being on the other side.  Finally settled at 6:45pm with my epidural, my pitocin going through my IV, and a foley in place, I think it hit that we were going to have a baby.  Our doctor was thinking he would be a December 10th baby but Liam had other plans.  After 45 minutes of pushing, our little angel was born at 0443 the morning of December 11th, 2011, weighing in at 8pounds 2ounces and 18inches long.  And our life changed for the better.

We have learned alot in the past 7 weeks he has been a part of our lives and although i am by no means the perfect mom, i wanted to blog about daily happenings and maybe help other new moms out there that are learning things along the way.  And maybe they can help me out.  It is always a good feeling to know there is someone else out there thinking the same thing.  So here we go....anyone want to join me on this adventure?