Ethan - Week 4

I cannot believe that Ethan is officially a month old today. Wow! I'm still working feverishly to get his baby book all caught up, but I have a feeling that it will be another month before it's actually caught up to where he is. There are so many entries that need to be made right at the start, and since my Type A perfectionist tendancies have found an outlet in this book it is taking me FOREVER! I really hope that this will be a meaningful keepsake for him one day though (or at least for his family since I'm not sure how much guys really get into this stuff) and I'm trying to capture every moment. In addition to his official baby book, I'm putting together a box that has all of his cards (from pregnancy to showers to his arrival), a calendar that I'm keeping all year to record all of his milestones and development, and multiple photo albums. By the time all is said and done, I'm hoping to have a pretty good memory box of his first year of life. We'll see if I'm able to keep all of this up all year, but I'm going to give it my best effort because I saw how much it meant to Patrick when we looked through his baby book and read the stories that his mother had lovingly recorded of his growth and development.

Ethan had his one month check up with Dr. Wiese today. She is such a wonderful pediatrician and I am so glad that we are able to have such a fantastic person helping us to care for our son. I proabably scared her when I pulled out my list of questions today though. (Hey, if I don't write everything down I might forget something!) Everything went really well and he was weighed and measured today too. Our big boy weighed an incredible 10 pounds 8 ounces. He's in the 75th percentile for weight! I guess I should stop and say that this kid eats like a champion so this shouldn't be all that surprising, but considering how small he got that first week while we were waiting for my milk to come in (I was delayed and so Ethan dropped almost 15 percent of his birth weight during those first couple of days which was mildly alarming to the doctors) it's incredible to see how quickly he rebounded...and then some!

Daddy carrying Ethan in (I'm so glad Patrick's schedule allows him to be flexible with his days off so that he is able to come to any appointments he wants. I'm sure we won't both be going to too many more checkups, but it's pretty nice to be able to go to these first few together!)

It's hard to tell from the picture but these socks look just like golf shoes and socks and were a gift all the way from Bel Air Country Club (which is especially neat since I sing him the theme song from the Fresh Prince of Bel Air all the time...I need to work on my lullaby collection, huh?!)

Ethan got a shot today and it was so sad but funny at the same time. He was laying on the examination table peacefully and the second he received the shot (the second in his Hepatitis B round) his little face looked shocked and he let out a yelp. I immediately picked him up to comfort him which seemed to help, but we had to strap him into his car seat to take him home and he was still whimpering when we made it out into the lobby to check out. A little girl in the waiting room heard his whimpers and immediately started crying which then got him going again. It was a chain reaction and I thought it was hysterical! (The other mother might not have found it so amusing though!) Fortunately Ethan loves his car seat so by the time we made it outside he was already drifting back off to sleep and all appears to have been forgiven. I'm dreading next month's appointment though - he'll get two shots that cover 5 vaccinations and an oral antibiotic to guard against some sort of aggressive baby stomach virus. I've been doing a lot of research to ensure that it is okay for him to receive all of these immunizations together (I have friends who have delayed some of these shots so I really want to be an informed parent and make the best decisions for Ethan) and as of this moment I feel okay with keeping him on the recommended track. I still have a month to keep obtaining information though, so I'll let you know how we decide to proceed when the time comes.

Comforting Ethan following his shot...he looked so sad and pitiful!

In other Ethan news, he had a pretty bad gas issue earlier this week and the poor little guy would scrunch up his face and turn red and cry as he strained to find some stomach relief. Fortunately the issue appears to have passed (for now) but it was a long two days as I watched him suffer without being able to help him much. I was able to give him some gas drops which helped, but I will tell you that there is nothing that makes your heart hurt more than seeing your child in pain. It was awful! He's back to himself now though, and I am so grateful to have my sweet little boy back. (He was pretty fussy during the gas issue as well, which made for some long days for me.) I'm so glad to have him back to normal now!!!

Ethan sleeps so well at night and I've actually been able to put him down in his pack n play for a few of his daytime naps now. I keep him in his infant rocker for at least one of the naps so that I can see him while I'm trying to get ready for the day, but otherwise he doesn't seem to mind where I put him to sleep during the day now either. Hooray! I hope he keeps this up, because if so we can prepare to address our next hurdle - sleeping through the night! He currently gets up twice at night and he falls right back asleep after he eats, but it is still hard on me to have my sleep interrupted like this each night. He is going for slightly longer stretches between feedings now and isn't eating as much at either middle of the night feeding so I'm really hoping that he'll be ready to drop one of those feedings sometime in the not too distant future. Fingers crossed anyway! If we keep going at this rate for much longer, I will have to repost my entry to my dearly departed friend, Sleep.

Ethan's favorite thing in the world continues to be cuddling on my chest in his "tree frog" pose. I love that he loves to cuddle his mommy so much right now. I am trying to enjoy each and every moment because I know there will come a day in the not too distant future where cuddling his mommy is the most uncool thing he can think of. He enjoys going for walks in his stroller, although he really only stays awake for the first half and he goes off to dreamland pretty quickly. He likes his swing but I try to save that for times when he is fussy so that it will continue to be a soothing item and not part of his daily routine. He still doesn't like tummy time at all, but when he's laying on my chest he's taken to picking up his head and looking around a lot so I figure that this counts as tummy time and I'm not pushing him to lay on his tummy time mat. He has become a lot more alert this past week and focuses his eyes right on you when you're doing things. I sometimes wonder what it is that he's thinking ("my parents are nuts!") and I'm really looking forward to the day that he'll smile in response to us. (Right now all we get are smiles when he's doing something like passing gas!) His BFF Graham smiles all the time and he's only 7 weeks older than Ethan so I'm hoping that he'll start smiling soon.

We've been enjoying the Panthers preseason (although the offense looks like it might be in trouble!) and I cannot wait for football season to start. I probably won't be able to go to many games this year since one of us will need to be home with Ethan, but maybe we'll be able to bring him to a game with us at least once. We'll see if I can convince his overprotective father that it will be okay to do so before the season is over! That's about it in updates for today, but I'm really trying to keep this blog updated in a more timely fashion these days. I got three posts in this week - that might just be a record!

Ethan's Friends

Ethan is a very lucky little boy, because he already has several friends. Of course, he is oblivious to this fact, but there are two very special little babies that are in his life that I wanted to share with everybody. Faith is Ethan's "girlfriend" (we joke that they are betrothed) and is the daughter of our friends and neighbors, John and Nikki. Ethan and Faith were due on the same day and were born only 2 days apart. (Faith actually arrived on our due date, while our little guy arrived 2 days late!) They were both 7 pounds 14 ounces and 21 inches long (although Faith was technically 21 1/4 inches!) We are so sad that they will be moving at the end of next month, but as you can see in the pictures below it looks like Ethan is already trying to hold Faith's hand so it might be for the best that they'll have a little distance between them. (And absence does make the heart grow fonder!) Since they still have family in the area (and on our cul-de-sac!) we will still get to see them fairly regularly which makes the fact that they are moving much easier.

This past week his soon to be BFF Graham and his mommy Lindsay came to spend an afternoon with us. (You may recall seeing Lindsay and I taking many pregnancy pictures together in many recent blog posts.) It was so much fun to FINALLY have our boys together. Lindsay and I went through most of our pregnancies together and now it is wonderful to have a friend who understands exactly what my days as a stay at home mom are like. Lindsay and I have been friends since graduate school and always seem to go through major life events at the same time (starting jobs, engagements, weddings, pregnancies - all the major stuff!) Graham was so sweet and has big beautiful eyes and lashes. I call him little Clooney since one day he may just be a Hollywood heartbreaker!

Ethan's First Bath

So this will probably humiliate my poor child one day, but of course I took a million pictures of his first bath and seeing as how I'm using this blog to record all things Ethan, I thought that this milestone deserved to be documented here as well. Please don't use this against him one day! (Oh, and all things that should be covered are properly covered so as to retain some of his dignity!)

Newborn Photo Shoot - 8 Days Old

My friend Erin is a fantastic photographer and has her own business (let me know if you need her contact information...she is the BEST!) so when it was time for us to get Ethan's newborn pictures taken of course I had to call Erin and put her to work. Here are a couple of great pictures from our day together...enjoy!

What a Day!

So yesterday was an interesting day with my sweet little Ethan. Evidently (and I was completely unaware of this!) a baby is capable of spitting up the entire contents of their stomach...and then some! Ethan hasn't been much of a spit up baby up to this point, so I was mistakenly lulled into a false sense of contentment thinking that my child is not one of those really spitty babies. While he hasn't had an incident at all yet today (and it's already lunch time) I am no longer living under the false impression that it will not happen to me...it can and will happen again one day :)

Yesterday immediately following his first morning feeding while I was looking into his precious little eyes he looked up at me and launched a small projectile spit up directly in my face. Oh my! I will say that when it is your own child (and just baby spit up...we'll revisit this discussion one day when it's actual vomit!) it is not nearly as awful as it sounds, but it was still surprising. So I cleaned myself up and we went about our business for the day. Then, after his next feeding I was carrying him through the living room when my little angel went all exorcist on me and decided to empty the entire contents of his stomach all over me, his outfit, the carpet, etc. I was shocked that so much spit up could come out of one little person. At first it really scared me because I thought that something was wrong, but I've been told that this is not completely unheard of and not to panic. We were both soaked. What a day!

Aside from the great spit up of 2010, Ethan continues to do really well in his third week of life. I finally got his birth announcements ordered so I should be sending those out sometime next week. I realize that I am behind with this project, but it took me forever to pick the ones that I wanted, decide on the pictures, etc. etc. I think I am living life perpetually behind these days but I am surpirsingly okay with that. He finally fits into his newborn clothes and so I have been having fun dressing him in all of his sweet little outfits. (Although after yesterday's incident, he spent the remainder of the day in a plain onesie!) We are really adjusting well to life together, and starting next week all the company will have returned home and we'll be home alone together (for the most part - we have some visits scheduled with some wonderful friends to which I am really looking forward!) I am so excited about getting to be a stay at home mommy with this little guy and getting our daily routine established. I'll try to post some of my favorites from his newborn photo shoot here in the not too distant future too. We'll see how long it takes me to get this project completed!

Ethan - Week 3

Today marks three weeks since Ethan was born. It is so hard to believe and time really is flying by. Everybody said that it would, and they were not kidding! Ethan has been such a joy and a blessing to our lives. Sometimes I just look at him and am in awe that he is actually here with us and that I was able to get through pregnancy and labor and delivery without any real complications. (I was oblivious to the scare that occurred when he was born so I never experienced that fear or anxiety until well after the fact.) It still seems absolutely surreal that Patrick and I are actually parents and that for the rest of our lives we have a son. Here's a little bit about how he's doing so far:

Ethan is a champion sleeper at night. I could not ask for more at this stage in his development (although I am so looking forward to the day when he drops one of his two middle of the night feedings! Alas, he is too young for that just yet...) After his 10:00 pm feeding I put him down in his pack n play in our room (I am way too overprotective to let him sleep in his nursery yet...why did I spend so much time, energy and money putting a super cute nursery together? By the time I feel comfortable letting him out of my sight it will probably be time for his "big boy" room. But I digress...) He's up again every 3 - 4 hours but as soon as he is done feeding I put him right back down and he is out like a light. I hope this doesn't change because it has made my life much easier. I can drop back into sleep immediately these days so it helps to have a baby who does the same at night.

Days are a different story...After I feed Ethan during the daytime hours, he will spend the next 20-30 minutes having some quiet alert time. During this time I will put him on his activity mat and he'll kind of pay attention to some of the toys on it. (It really depends on the day though, because sometimes he is oblivious to the objects around him.) He'll follow my finger if I move it around in front of him and I also sing him some of the classics - NKOTB's The Right Stuff, Hangin' Tough, and I'll Be Loving You Forever as well as the theme song to the Fresh Prince of Bel Air. (Hey, it's one of the few songs to which I actually know all the words!) I've started giving him some "tummy time" during these awake periods, but he is not a fan of it at all. He makes these pathetic little whimpering sounds as he strains to pull his head up and I usually feel so sorry for him that tummy time doesn't last for more than a few minutes.

After about half an hour of awake time he falls asleep again until it is time for the next feeding. However, during the day if I put him down in his pack n play he wakes back up after a few minutes crying to get out. He will sleep for the next hour or two in his bouncy seat, vibrating chair, or swing though, so that's where he has taken to napping during the day. I'm not sure if this makes me a bad mom yet, but my survival instincts are to keep him (and me!) happy and this arrangement allows me to shower, do things like update this blog and work on his baby book, and even eat all my meals. (I've heard of new moms claiming that they forgot or were too busy to eat, but this new mama has thus far not had that problem!) Perhaps one day I will address the issue of putting him in his actual bed for his nap times, but considering we are only three weeks into getting a routine established I will take what I can get. If anybody has any advice to help though, I am all ears!

I can officially say that all the pregnancy pounds are gone (I am floored by this because I have not yet been cleared to exercise and I am not missing any meals or snacks!) but I will say that half of my pre-pregnancy wardrobe does not fit yet. I'm not sure if some serious time in the gym will fix this situation or if my body has changed forever (I'm starting to think that it will be the latter of the two, but we'll see.) I feel very fortuante to be in this situation, but at the same time I am really hoping that I'll actually be able to fit into the rest of my clothes sometime in the next couple of months. Seeing as how I am unemployed, I cannot afford to go out and buy a whole new wardrobe so whatever no longer fits is just lost and cannot be replaced. Ugh!

I had no idea how much your body goes through to support a pregnancy and labor/delivery. I am definitely feeling a lot better these days than I was initially, but I am still not close to being fully recovered. Oh, and here's a story for you - so one of the first days that we were home I was so sleep deprived that when I was walking down the stairs I managed to slip and fall down our large set of stairs. Fortunately I was not carrying Ethan at the time (it scares to think about what could have happened!) but I landed squarely on my bottom and slid down until my feet hit the floor. I had to call the doctor's office since I landed right where I'm all stitched back together and was humiliated to have to talk directly to the doctor that had just delivered Ethan and tell him about what a ridiculous new mom I had become. Here's my advice to everybody out there - allow people that offer to help to help you so that you do not become the sleep deprived person falling down the stairs. In those early days I told Patrick to sleep in the guest room so he wouldn't be up with the baby and could get a full night's sleep. Ha! That arrangement has changed and now in the middle of the night he helps with what I need and I'm more rested (although he's slightly more tired.) I somehow thought that I could do it all...evidently it took falling down the stairs to show me that I cannot!

Ethan and I are at home together most days and I am really looking forward to getting the all clear from his pediatrician to start bringing him out into the world. Hopefully at his one month appointment we'll ge the green light to start running errands and things of that nature together. I'm going a little stir crazy being stuck at home all day every day and getting out to run errands would make all the difference in the world. It's been way too hot for me to take Ethan on many walks around the neighborhood (we've done two so far in three weeks) but I will say that if he has a super fussy day that his stroller/car seat is going to be my lifesaver. As soon as we put him in his car seat (which connects to his stroller) that kid is out. We've taken him over to our neighbor's house several times and pretty much just left him in the car seat the entire time because it puts him right to sleep. I can see why some parents end up taking their kids for drives to put them to sleep because I honestly believe that a car seat/stroller has magical powers. Hopefully I won't have to put them to good use, but since Ethan is a baby I am sure that my days of "purple crying" are coming in the not too distant future and I want to have several potential solutions ready in my arsenal to make those times as manageable as possible for both of us.

There really isn't too much to report from here right now. Yesterday was one of the first days that the three of us were able to spend alone together as a family since Patrick went back to work and it was wonderful. I love our little family so much! Tonight Patrick and I have our fantasy football draft so cross your fingers that I get some good picks. This is the first time that I've been able to field my own team and I am excited but nervous about it. I really want to do well, but I am going in with low expectations since I really haven't ever done this on my own before. I'll keep you posted on our progress.

Pictures - Weeks 1 & 2

Since I am totally behind on this blog I thought I would at least go ahead and share a few pictures from the last two weeks. I'll work on getting myself organized and updated here soon (I can at least see a light at the end of the tunnel now!) and in the interim here's a glimpse of what life has been like in the Strain household lately:

Me right after we got settled in the labor and delivery room...why do I look so happy in most of these pictures? There must be something wrong with me!!

What is referred to as the "baby closet" in the birth story post (a small room off the labor and delivery room where Ethan was taken immediately after delivery)

In labor (and 6 hours labor Ethan would be in our arms!)

Patrick changing Ethan's diaper...yes, he wore gloves the first several times he had to do this!

Getting wheeled out...I was put in a wheelchair when we arrived, wheeled from the labor room to our hospital room, and wheeled out (I could totally get used to this kind of treatment!)
Our little family getting discharged from the hospital

The kitties meeting their new baby brother

Daddy & Ethan on our first day home from the hospital

Our first day home from the hospital - it was overwhelming yet wonderful to be home as just a family of 3 for a few days before our families arrived to stay and help out

At his first pediatrician's appointment - 7 days old

Ethan's first date with Faith (they were due the same day and born 2 days apart)...he brought her a rose since he is a little gentleman!

Funny face - Patrick took this while holding him and I thought it was pretty cute

Ethan's first ride in his stroller to the end of the cul-de-sac and back - 12 days old

Hanging out in his baby papasan wearing an outfit from Aunt Jeannie