It's a Boy!

Well, I was supposed to wake up in the hospital this morning, but instead I was in my own comfy bed cuddling with my little man (that would be Jacob). Yesterday was Jacob's due date. God is so smart. Adam has had the flu since Saturday - wouldn't that be fun? Delivering a baby while Adam has the flu?

As I am writing this, my wonderful baby boy is sleeping across my legs. I can't believe that God let me have an extra 2-1/2 months with him! What a precious gift time is! I cannot imagine my life without him - I can hardly remember my life before him. He is doing so well (I'll post an update on him tomorrow). I love him so very much.

Yesterday was a crazy day (a sick husband, a very tired mommy and a visit to another doctor for another shot), it almost came and went without me taking the time to stop and think about what day it was. My mom sent me BEAUTIFUL flowers, one from her and one from Jacob. When I was born, my grandmother sent my mom flowers in a tea cup and yesterday my mom sent me flowers in a tea cup. I love things like that - things that have historical meaning, for lack of a better term.

What an amazing thing it is to be a mom. What an amazing gift God has given me. I pray for Jacob so much (more for his gas and tummy than anything) and had the coolest experience last night. Most would say it is coincidence, but I don't think there is such thing and I know that God hears the deepest cry of my heart - even if it is about spit up. I was praying for my little man before he went to bed and just asking God to help his tummy and for him not to spit up in his sleep (I am so afraid of that!). Well, before I finished the prayer, Jacob spit up. God answered my prayer - he spit up on me and not his bed!

I love that God takes care of the smallest things like spit up and the LARGEST things like our lives. He is so God to us. I don't know what I did to deserve this extra time with my son, but God has BIG plans for him and this didn't surprise Him. Thank you Lord for my precious gift, for the promises You have given us about him and for my extra time with him. I love him so much!

Sick Days: I am living in a sick house. Adam has been sick now since Saturday. He has been running a fever. It is a weird fever. It shows up late afternoon and goes away in the middle of the night, but is back the next late afternoon. He is all sniffley as well. He stayed home from work today to rest, but isn't feeling too much better. Hopefully he can get into the doctor tomorrow. It seems that his fever has broken early tonight, so hopefully he will be much better in the morning. Tonight will be in the 3rd night in a row that he has slept apart from me. We are trying really hard to keep Jacob and myself well, but it is lonely for me without him. I miss him at night the most. He goes to bed early and I am up for at least 2 hours alone with Jacob. I didn't realize how much he helped me with Jacob until I had to do it all by myself. He is such an amazing husband and dad!

The Dog: Everyone keeps asking how Garnet is doing with Jacob and he is doing great. He is curious, but cautious around him. We don't really leave him along with Jacob too much. Surprisingly he hasn't hit Jacob with him tail yet. His tail can be quite lethal. There aren't too many babies that have a big of a puppy as Jacob does. Garnet must be related to Clifford the Big Red Dog - he is his cousin, Garnet the Big Yellow Lab!

Dedication Sunday Jacob was dedicated. All of our family was there - his 3 grandmothers, his 3 grandfathers, his 3 aunts, his 2 uncles and 1 set of great grandparents. He was dedicated along with Luke Schuessler. Carrie (Luke's mom) was 6 weeks ahead of me, but delivered Luke 2 weeks after Jacob was born. Luke and Jacob are destined to be best friends. When Carrie had her second son (who is 2 now) she was overwhelmed with having 2 kids under 2 so she went and saw Pastor Joe for some prayer. He prophesied that she would be pregnant with another child as the same time as someone else and that those 2 children would have a special calling on their lives and service together - God would use the 2 of them, together for some pretty incredible things. Then when Carrie and I were both pregnant, Pastor Joe was at our young married's group and prophesied over both of us that our sons would be great friends, he compared their relationship to that of David and Jonathan, and that they would serve together. What an incredible promise.

Presents: Jacob got 2 fun presents on Sunday. He got his first dump truck from his Gramma and Grandpa Shaw. He is very excited about it and can't wait until he is bigger and can play with it. Garnet is tilling up the yard in preparation for Jacob and his dump truck. We also got the neatest gift from Aunt Juli and Uncle Thomas. Juli made us a photo album of Jacob's time in the hospital. It is so amazing and a wonderful present.

Photo Shoot: Jacob's gifts inspired me to do another photo shoot with him. The first pictures are just of him enjoying outside. He did so good. He was fussy before we went out there (he doesn't like Mondays - he is always fussy and gassy on Mondays. I don't know what it is - maybe it is Pastor Joe's preaching that does it to him!) ...anyway, he was fussy before, but when I put him on the blanket, he just relaxed and looked all around. The next group of pictures are him enjoy his photo album from Aunt Juli and Uncle Thomas. Lastly, there are pictures of him riding his dump truck. I have the cutest kid ever!

Ouch, Mommy!

Jacob went to the doctor today and he weighs 6lbs! He is such a big boy. He got his first round of immunization shots today. He got 4 shots - 2 in each thigh! He did well. He screamed of course, but calmed down quickly. I didn't know that he was going to get the shots today so I didn't give him any Tylenol. Hopefully he will not be too cranky. He has just been sleeping a lot.

He has gained about 1oz per day which is really good and Dr C. was pleased with that. He does want him to now start gaining 2oz per day so I have to increase his feedings to 8 times per day with 2 of those feeding being formula. We are doing a little formula just for the extra calories. The formula we have is 22 calories and breast milk is only 20 calories. I'm OK with giving him formula because that is what he needs, but I'm still a little disappointed. Hopefully at his 14 week check up we can take him back to 6 feedings a day and get him off the formula.

I think the most disappointing thing about adding the extra feedings is that he tried to sleep through the night last night. We have been getting him up at night whenever he stirs which is normally right on his feeding time, but last night we just let him stay a bit and he wasn't really ready to eat until 3am. Now, I have to get him up even more - he is so close to sleeping through the night. Oh well. He does sometimes get hungry an hour before his normal feeding time, so I guess I can't be surprised that he needs a little more food. I just hope I don't get too tired. He has really spoiled me with his eating schedule! Adam is going to help and give him one of his bottles at night so that I can sleep - he is so wonderful!

We got our new computer hooked up and I love it. I haven't set it up too much. It is Vista and I'm a little nervous about figuring out how to do things. I'm going through the setup steps that they have you do. The next step is to transfer files from your old computer to the new one. Hopefully that goes well. We don't have that much - just a TON of music and Jacob's pictures. I pretty much kept everything else at work (which they are burning on a DVD for me and it is taking over an hour!). I'm a happy camper now with my computer. No more complaining!

Jacob is my son

So for those of you who know me, you know I like my schedule. In fact in college, I worked with a leadership program and was a mentor to and taught a leadership class to freshman. For Halloween they have a big party (I didn't go) and they made tomb stones for all of the mentors. Mine said that I died because I lost my planner.

Jacob made it very clear that although everyone says he looks like Adam, he is my son through and through. Yesterday morning he slept until 10am - an hour past his breakfast time! It was wonderful to get that extra hour of sleep. I figured he would be starving and eat a ton and I would then have to work to get him back on schedule. Nope, not my son. He ate less than usual so that when his normal lunch time rolled around (1pm) he was good and ready to eat. He did the same thing this morning. He woke up 45min late for his early morning feeding and ate less than normal and was good and ready when 9am rolled around and it was breakfast time. I love my scheduled son!

He is getting so much bigger. So many of you are asking how much he weighs. We go to the doctor tomorrow and will find out (Adam doesn't really want me to have a scale in the house. He thinks it will just depress me when I weigh myself and he is probably right!). You might have to be patient, though. You see we got our new computer today - hip hip hooray! I HATE our current computer. It is old, slow, has no more memory...I better stop before I hurt its feelings and it crashes on me for the 10th time today. So anyway, once Adam gets home from work we are going to start putting it together, but I don't know how quickly it will be up and running.

Mark you calendars - March 8th is a very special day. Jacob and I will be baking a cake to celebrate. March 8th marks the day when Jacob has spent more time at home than at the hospital!

Below is a picture of Mister Jacob to help give you some perspective (and show you my cute husband!). Don't drool over Adam ladies - he is taken!

New Pictures!

Here are some great new pictures of Jacob. I was so hard to choose which ones to post as I think they are all wonderful. My favorite are from his "cooking" photo shoot. Adam and I don't want to work, we want to just stay at home with him and the only way for that to happen is for us to win the lottery or for him to be a very successful baby model - we have a better chance of the model thing working out for us so we practiced it the other day. Enjoy!

I LOVE BEING JACOB'S MOMMY!


Jacob has been home for 2 weeks now and I'm loving it! It is so wonderful to finally have him home where he belongs. He is doing great. He eats every 4 hours (thank you nurses for putting him on that schedule) and doesn't vary too much from that. Here is an update on some of the things that have been happening the past 2 weeks.


EATING: he is a good eater. He takes about an hour to eat (sometimes an hour and a half - uhhh!). I have to burp him half way through the first side and then when he is done with that side and then half way through the next side and then when he is completely done and sometimes a couple of more times just to keep him awake enough to get enough food to last him. He is nursing well. I still have to use the nipple shield (when I try it without, he just doesn't get enough). He has started spitting up these past couple of days. I can't tell if it is a normal amount or a ton - it has been too long since I have been around a newborn. He is sticking to his eating schedule. He varied when we first got him home, but now he eats at 9am, 1pm, 5pm, 9pm, 1am and 5am. Sometimes at night he eats early or a little late, but during the day he is like clockwork (plus during the day I can hold him off if he wants to eat early; at night I just want to go back to sleep so I feed him). It can be hard to hold him off, but sometimes he wants to eat just to snack and I did that one day and will never do it again - we were both miserable and he didn't get a full feeding at all that day. I must say I am proud to say I haven't had to give him any formula since he has been home and I don't have to pump after I feed him anymore. God has really blessed me with helping my milk to come in and keep up with Jacob's demand.


SLEEPING: he is a loud sleeper when he is falling asleep. He sleeps great during the night and OK during the day. Today I am trying something new. I fed him his breakfast and then went for a walk and then put him down for a nap. Normally he just falls asleep whenever he wants, but I want him to get on a nap schedule. Sometimes he doesn't nap until after his dinner and I want him to be a good nap taker when he is older. He has been in there for 45 min now and hasn't cried, but hasn't fallen into a deep sleep - no big deal. We'll see how this goes!


BATH: he loves his bath. He freaks out a little with so much space around him, but I put my hand on his belly and he calms right down and seems to really enjoy it. Yesterday when he was all clean, I was trying to let the plug out in his tub and he was just laying there with his legs wide open and he eyes closed - he was ready to nap right there in his tub! He has peed only once in the tub (I considered the water to pee ratio and decided not to run more water) and he pooped a little once, but thankfully it was at the end of the bath.


WAKE TIME: I love his wake time. He is becoming more alert and looks around. Yesterday he sat in his swing for 2 hours and then I took him out and he just laid on my legs and looked around. He makes the greatest shapes with his mouth. I love watching him!


SOUNDS: he has a scream that could break some windows. This kid can scream like there is no tomorrow. He only cries when he is gassy or hungry so it is not too nosy around here, although he makes other noises to make up for it. He likes to imitate baby animals with his grunts. So far he can do a baby dolphin, baby horse, and baby sheep (that one is his favorite). The sounds that make us laugh the most are the sounds that come out of his rear. Too bad there isn't a competition for the noises baby gas sounds because he would win. He can toot-toot with the best of them. They are sooooo loud (thankfully not stinky). He just makes us laugh. He arches his back and moves around and then lets it rip. If he is fussy because of gas, he lets out a scream and then lets one rip and is just as happy as can be.


SICK: we had our first sick day on Monday. He is more gassy than a full term newborn so he is fussy a lot. I give him medicine after every feeding to help with that, but some days he is just a mess because he can't release the gas. Monday he was backed up and I was sick with my allergies and sneezing all day. We were 2 peas in a pod. Thankfully, my brother came by and held him while I did some chores (we had our house sprayed that day to get rid of the roaches in our kitchen. I had to empty all of my cabinets in the kitchen for them to spray and had a little left. I have been working on putting the kitchen back together and hopefully will be done today. Man, I have a TON of cabinets!) and my mom came by later and held him. He didn't sleep well Sunday night either so we both were really tired and not feeling well. Thankfully he slept great Monday night (and so did I), had some BLOWOUT diapers (yuck, yuck, yuck – he wore 3 outfits that night!) and we both were feeling almost completely better yesterday!


DOCTORS: he has been to his pediatrician, the eye doctor and a developmental doctor so far and they have nothing but GREAT things to say about him. He is doing amazing and did amazing in the hospital. When he was in the hospital I kept asking God to help Jacob just amaze the doctors with how well he was doing and God answer my prayers so much more than I could have expected. The coolest thing happened at the developmental doctor's appointment. He was testing what he called Jacob's "taste". The doctor had made him mad checking everything else and then the doctor held Jacob where he could see me and his entire demeanor changed - he recognized me and that comforted him! It was so cool to see. The doctor said that for about 2 years Jacob will have 2 birthdays - the day he was born and his due date. All of the milestones we should count from his due date, but so far he is on the fast track.


MOVEMENT: this kid moves a ton. I can't imagine what he would be like in my belly! He is a very good stretcher. He can hold his head up. When you put him on your chest, he arches his back and holds his head up and looks all around. The other day I put him on his belly to sleep in the living room and started trying to put the kitchen back together. He started crying and I just let him cry a little (I'm trying to do that more. He is a good self-soother so I'm trying not to mess that up) and when I went in there he was on his back with his arms and legs freaking out and really big eyes- he looked like a stuck turtle. I felt so bad. I forgot that he can roll over and just thought he was fussy. Lesson learned there!


So, that is the update so far. I love being his mommy, I love holding him, I love our conversations, I love him!


I read a lot of blogs and wonder why people go so long between posts, now that Jacob is home I understand. It is so hard to get everything done. He demands my attention and when he is not demanding it, I love to still give it to him. I might not be posting much, but if you come to my house you will see that so far I have done a good job of keeping it picked up and clean (I even make my bed everyday and have kept all of his stuff organized!). I think the hardest thing to do has been writing my thank you notes from my shower - not easy to do with a baby at home. So, if you haven't gotten one yet, they are coming soon!


I'll post some recent pictures soon! He is starting to scream now (he thinks it is lunch time)...off to be his mommy!

BIG Changes

So, for those of you who have been keeping up - I know I haven't finished Jacob's delivery story yet. I do want to do that and promise I will - I want it for myself so that I have his history written down. I must say, I do have a good reason for not being able to get that up right now...MY JACOB IS HOME!

He came home Monday night and is doing great! This week has been full of first. First bath at home, first outing (my doctor's appointment), Jacob's first doctor's appointment. He is doing wonderful and there are no complaints. Medically he is great! He sleeps about 3-4 hours between feedings (the benefit to bringing him home at 6 weeks old!). He is just wonderful. Below are some pictures of his first week home...

dressed and ready to finally leave the hospital

my first car ride...i slept the entire time (and it was over an hour past my dinner time!)

i loved my first bath. mommy says that my next bath i'll get to try out my new tub. hopefully i will like my second bath as much as i likeed my first!

i'm ready for my first outing to mommy's doctors appointment.

sleeping in the craddle granpa shaw made me

so this is a funny story. my mommy and daddy gave me a bath when i really wanted to eat. after my bath, daddy held me up to kiss me and i confused his nose with mommy's milkers. boy was i surprised! mommy and daddy laughed at me and i still can't figure out why!

We love visitors and the doctor today said that we can go out (just not too many crowds!), so give me a call as I would love to introduce you to my wonderful baby boy!