Baby's First Christmas

Cooper celebrated his first Christmas today by sleeping through most of it. Typical newborn. :-)

Santa visited him last night and dropped off three books for us to read to him.

After we all had breakfast my mom, step-dad and my step-brother came over for lunch and to exchange gifts. They gave Cooper a video camera!! I don't think he quite knows how to use it yet, so we'll take over for the next...16 or so years. He also got a few more books, toys and clothes.

They headed back to spend the rest of the day with more family and the three of us have spent most of the afternoon on the couch watching tv and enjoying our baby's first Christmas.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Eve Outing

A few weeks ago I realized that if we didn't go to church on Christmas Eve it would be the first time I missed it in...as long as I can remember. And according to my mom, we always went. So it would be the first time in forever. Going to church on Christmas Eve was a big deal growing up. Mom's whole family came to our church (they usually went to a different one) and we had a candlelight service before heading to the house for food and drinks after. As we (the "kids") got older, the 'food and drinks' after lasted longer and longer. I think I remember one year going to bed sometime around 2am. Luckily there were no young kids in the house to wake us up waiting on Santa.

Jason and I toyed with the idea of going to church and finally decided that it was about as dangerous as an outing to Target. Keep him in the car seat covered and he'll be fine. We picked the 5:30 service thinking it would be better for his time and less crowded. Boy was I wrong - that place was packed and we ended up standing the whole time. I was thankful we were able to go and Cooper slept the whole time - stopping only for dinner during the service.

After church Jason and I celebrated our Christmas Dinner together. We had grilled steaks with horseradish sauce, garlic mashed potatoes and green beans. As well as a blow out diaper! Apparently Cooper was jealous that we were enjoying dinner.

2 Weeks Old

Yesterday was Cooper's 2 week birthday. We celebrated by taking him to the doctor for his 2 week check up...poor thing.

He did great! Although mom and I had taken him to the pedi last week, we still had to go back and see Dr. K for his official visit. We stripped him down and they did all the measurements - 22.5 inches long (either he was measured wrong in the hospital or he grew an inch) and 10lbs 9oz. We're in the 95+ percentile for height and weight and since he's put his birth weight back on we know he's getting enough to eat.

Although recently - he eats like it is a trip to the all day casino buffet. I don't know if it's a little growth spurt that he's going through or the fact that he would just much rather sleep...but he eats off and on for hours at a time. I need to try harder to wake him up and make him nurse, but after a good 45 minutes of nursing he comes back an hour and a half later for seconds. Or dessert. Either way, it is driving me a little crazy. I feel like Golden Corral. Oh well - we'll figure it out. He is sleeping like a champ! He goes for a good almost 5 hour stretch at night - makes for a happy mom and dad. And the pedi said that's perfectly ok.

Cooper still has clogged tear ducts and they seem to be getting worse, in my opinion. Last week the right looked fine and the left was matted. Well, this week the left looks ok, but the right one is crazy goopy. So we're supposed to keep massaging it with warm water and we got a prescription for eye drops. Hopefully we can kick this soon. Other than that, he looks great. We ended the appointment with the rest of his newborn screening - that involved a heel prick. He was a champion and only cried for a minute before falling asleep again. I was so proud!

Here is his 2 week photo:

I owe someone

Last week my mom helped out big time. Jason wanted to go back to work Monday after we had Cooper so that he could take off 2 weeks around Christmas. I knew I'd need help around the house for a few days...and possibly more. So I asked my mom to come in and help out. It really ended up being a blessing when Cooper came out at a whopping 10+ pounds. Dr. F really didn't want me to pick him up much so I needed quite a bit more help than I initially thought.

So I have to say a big thanks to my mom and that I owe her big time! Although...I think she was really here for Cooper than to help me out. It was nice to have a second pair of hands and another opinion on a lot of things that I just didn't know the answers to. We spent a lot of time staring at the little man and trying to accomplish stuff around the house with some success. It was really nice.

Me - 2 weeks post baby

I had my 2 week postpartum appointment this afternoon and everything looks good. I'm healing well and am cleared to drive - a little. Like the grocery store and work my way up. I did sit myself up from laying flat on the exam table and got the evil eye from the doctor. Apparently I either feel better than I should or I am too hard-headed to realize I feel bad and do stuff I shouldn't.

I also lost 26lbs. That puts me 15 from my pre-pregnancy weight. All in all, it's WAY more than I wanted to gain. But I did really well until the very end - then I put on a LOT in the last month. Like a few weeks of 5+ pounds gained. In my freaking feet! Remember - I couldn't wear anything other than flip-flops for weeks? Yeah, that would be the extra weight. AND I had a 10 pound child. Dr. F estimates I lost 15 the day I had him when you add in baby and placenta.

So, I have a goal. Between breastfeeding and the fact that I'm going to slowly start working out again...hopefully it will come off faster than I put it on. I mean, the way this kid eats I should drop 2-3 pounds a day, right? Ha...not likely.

For the record, this was me the day of delivery. I didn't realize how big I looked until I saw this photo. Holy crap.

One week old & a day of firsts

Wednesday Cooper turned 1 week old. It ended up being a big day for him - full of first. He had his first:

• trip out of the house
• visit to the pedi
• blow-out diaper
• Hollywood photo session

When we got up for the morning my mom mentioned that his left eye looked a little goopy and it seemed like he had a hard time getting it open. We both watched him for a while and decided to call the pedi just in case it was an early sign of a cold. They called back and decided to let us go ahead come in for a visit because of his age. We actually managed to stuff down some sandwiches for lunch, pack his diaper bag, get stuff in the car and get him changed in less than an hour. AND that included the first blow-out diaper. Boy was that a mess all over his clothes and changing pad. And it made us feel better about taking him since it was really watery (sorry!).

We made it to the office and back to see the pedi. They weighed him, of course, and he'd lost about 7oz putting Cooper at 9lbs 15oz. Dr. K came back and looked him over, well, at least she tried. He would not wake up! It's hard to look at the eyes when they just won't open. We finally got them open and she concluded that it's a clogged tear duct. We're supposed to wipe it off with a warm cloth and massage around the duct to stimulate it.

After the visit we made it back home just in time for Jess and her mom to come by for a visit. Jess has an awesome camera and loves taking photos of babies so I let her go at it. By the end of her visit Cooper was wondering when we'd up and moved to Hollywood. I guess that's why Viula calls it the Mamarazzi!

Here are some of the photos and our 1 week old photo shot. I'm really going to try and do this weekly to see how much he's grown - however he's already bigger than his teddy bear!

I think the instructions are in German

Or Greek. Or Russian. Or anything other than English because I don't know how to read them. This parenting thing can be a little confusing at times. Our intention was to have Cooper sleep in our room in his pack-n-play for the first few weeks. This was to make feedings easier and maximize sleep time, plus we could keep a closer eye on him.

That was the idea until we got home with a baby that talks in his sleep. We sent him to the nursery between feedings in the hospital so we had no idea what his habits were like. After 2 hours he was in the guest bedroom (I can't get off of our bed with my incision), I was on the sofa and Jason was on the floor. And the next night we moved him to his room. Just like that. He's still in the pnp because of the vibrate feature that he seems to like, but he is in his own room!

I also realized that breastfeeding makes you sleepy. I do ok for the first feeding, but the second overnight feeding is tough. I doze...he dozes...and we both wake up 20 minutes later. So on day one I decided my strategy would be that if we fall asleep...we fall asleep. He loves being held while sleeping so for now, we'll do what works.

I am also horribly impatient. Breastfeeding is going pretty good, as far as I can tell. But I want to be like - a month down the road and not 6-7 days in. I realize I have a bigger baby with a bigger appetite and I'm ready for my girls to be able to keep up. The first few days home were tough because I couldn't keep up and wasn't sure if he was getting enough to eat. It doesn't help that I'm really Type A and need to be in control. Well, in this house the control is in a pair of very tiny little hands!

After a few days (I'd say which one, but they all run together) I realized that I need to go with the flow. When he's hungry, he'll eat. When he's done, we'll sleep. I also started pumping after he eats to help increase my supply and have a little in the fridge if I can't nurse because of company. I still have a million questions and have only figured out enough to survive. But hey, we're all still alive. That's a positive thing, right?

Bringing home baby

Saturday we busted free. From the hospital, that is. It was a relief and scary at the same time. I was ready to be comfortable in my own home, but also scared to leave the nurses and 24 hour help. However, you can't stay forever.

Jason and I managed to get Cooper dressed in his "coming home outfit" and gathered all of our paperwork and out the door. About 2 hours after we initially thought we would be leaving. I have a feeling that will become a common thing in my life.

We made the trip home with a sleeping baby and no clue as to what to do next.

Rachel came over Saturday to visit and helped out while Jason went to get my prescriptions from Target. Since Cooper tipped the scales at more than 10lbs, my doctor wanted me to try to only pick him up if I absolutely needed to. Apparently 8-9lbs is ideal for recovering c/s patients and my little chunk was 10lbs 6oz! It makes the idea of being home alone with him non-existent.

Sunday Cooper met his great-grandmothers. My aunt brought them to Houston for a visit - he was on his best behavior. He slept the whole time!

After they left, we had just enough time to doze off, feed the kiddo, and change him before my Aunt LaDonna and Uncle Stevie showed up for a visit. And they left right as my mom arrived. What a busy day for a little...wait, no...young man!

Welcome to the world!

Wednesday, December 9th at 12:22pm this little guy was born.

Isn't he amazing?

All 10lbs 6ozs and 21.5 inches of him.

We arrived at the hospital Wednesday about 10am for pre-op. Despite making Jason take me to Denny's at 2am, I was hungry. And so stinking thirsty! We were sent back to the room where they prep for cesareans. I changed and the nurse started my vital signs and checked on his heartbeat. We both looked fine. A little nervous, but I was really ready to get the show on the road. The waiting is a killer. My mom, Maegan and Jason's parents were waiting to meet the little guy and Maegan was nice enough to loan her video camera. I have no idea what Jason filmed but I'm sure one day I'll be glad he did it.

Finally Dr. F came back to say hello and that we were ready to get rolling. She was excited to see how big he would really be. The nurse walked me back to the room (which was odd) and I met the anesthesiologist for my epidural. The room...was kind of scary. Lots of machines and lights and people...it made me think of a CIA interrogation room. I know, I'm weird. We got started on the epidural and it was less...scary than I thought it would be. By the time they needed me to lie down I couldn't pick my legs up! It works fast. Dr. F and her team came in and started putting up drapes. The whole experience is strange - I could feel them pushing and pulling on me, but couldn't see it. Kind of like an out of body experience. Jason showed up and sat next to my hand. Dr. F was great about telling me what was going on. Once I actually felt like they were going to toss me off the bed by pulling on my belly! Before I knew it Dr. F announced that they were pulling him out...and then followed up with "Oh my, here's your kindergartner!" They held him over the drape for me to see and took him to clean up. I remember people asking if he was going to be double digits - and he was! The first thing out of my mouth was "Holy sh!t."

After the nurses cleaned him up they brought him over to me for a few photos. It was really hard to hold him since everything from the boobs down was numb and they were still sewing me up.I headed to recovery while Jason and Cooper went to the nursery. They needed to monitor me for a while and get my body temperature up. From past surgeries I know one reaction I have is to shiver like crazy. Even if I'm not cold, I shake. The heated blankets they threw on were a relief and I finally started to feel ok.

We finally got a room about 4:15. Maegan and Lindsey met us up there while Jason went to check on the baby. The nurse brought him in shortly after and we tried to nurse. I think between my drugged up state and his shock we were a little off, so she suggested we cuddle skin to skin for a while.

The rest of his birthday was spent meeting more family members. I felt surprisingly well but tired.

The first night we sent him to the nursery between feedings and had a great baby nurse. She helped both of us with the feeding and I felt pretty confident by the next morning that we'd manage. I'm currently on my last day in the hospital and we're all three doing well. Recovery is a little slower than I'd like - but I'm impatient. Cooper is a champ - so content!! He's nursing pretty well, but we're also having to supplement with formula. Even after an hour of nursing he's hungry - I can't understand why! He only weighs 10lbs. :-) I'm both excited and anxious about going home tomorrow. It will be nice to be comfy in my own house, but a little scary without the 24 hour help. That's what friends and family are for, right?

In less than 24 hours...

there will be 3 of us. That is, provided that everything starts on time. And considering that most of my appointments run late I wouldn't be surprised if my c/s doesn't start at noon on the dot. But that's ok. I mean...sometime tomorrow I'll have an outside baby.

I went in this morning for one last doctors appointment and a trip to the hospital for pre-op. Dr. F wanted to take a guess at the kids weight before tomorrow. After feeling around on my belly for a while she came up with 9.5lbs. I kind of agree! Especially when my 39 week belly measured at 45 weeks. No wonder it feels like I'm carrying around a freaking watermelon!! And I'm not talking about those cute little mini ones at the store. I'm talking about the full sized ones. Like on Dirty Dancing.

I will admit that I had some second guesses last week after we scheduled the c/s for tomorrow. I wondered if I was doing it too early and if maybe we were jumping the gun, etc. But as of today he's just not dropping and I'm still at 1cm. Combine that with his size and my fear about my hip...and I feel 100% sure that I'm doing the right thing. I've had a few contractions, but nothing regular and I feel like if I were to wait this out...I'd still be blogging at 41 weeks with an even bigger kid. I also feel like I'd either really do damage to my hip or we'd end up with an emergency c/s...or both.

So for now, I'm back at work wrapping a few things up. Our plan for the night is to grab dinner as soon as Jason gets home and finish some things around the house. I also want to load up the car - just in case I forget something. And Jason is being a great husband and taking me to breakfast at 2am. Yes, you read that right. I can't eat after 4am and, well, if you know me well enough you know that when I get hungry it's not pretty. So I'm going to try and stay full as long as possible by loading up with a good hearty breakfast from 59 Diner. I may even opt for a milkshake. :-)

Our last kid free weekend

Since we scheduled a cesarean for Wednesday it's been kind of nice knowing how much time we have left. I'm a planner, remember? Now I know that I could have gone into labor (and still could) at any time, but we tried to use the weekend to relax and do things that we probably won't get to do again for a while.

First, our weekend started a little early. Well, Jason's did. See, it snowed here in Houston on Friday. A lot - for Houston. So because 99.9% of Houstonians don't know how to drive in the rain, much less snow, both of our bosses were nice enough to let us go early for the day. It got home about 4 and put my pjs on...and then sat on the sofa working until 6:15. Jason took a nap. I will say that I think I got more work done in those 2 hours than I did all week!! I feel SO much better about leaving work for maternity leave.

For dinner we went to Mia Bella in Vintage Park. It was really good. We really don't have a nice Italian restaurant on our side of town, so this was a great addition. Of course, I think I ate too much.

Saturday we slept in. Well, I tried to but by 8:30 I gave up and decided to make breakfast. I woke Jason up about 9:30 and we just piddled around the house. We did a little laundry, put up the Pack-n-Play, watched tv, watched a movie (Four Christmases) and played on the computer. We also built a fire!! I was adamant that we were going to and coming off of a snowy day Friday, the weather was perfect.

Some friends had a party later that night and we decided to out for one last adultish party. There were (cute) kids in attendance and we had a nice time getting to visit.

Sunday we met Lin & Adam at Second Baptist for church. During the 11:11 service they have a band playing. I grew up in a really traditional church so the band was a little strange in the beginning...however I really like them. And I love them at Christmas. It also made me realize that I will probably miss church on Christmas Eve for the first time since...before I can remember, if ever. I'm not sure if we did church on Christmas Eve when I was a baby. It's just odd because I can remember going forever. We always had church and my mom's family attended (they usually went to another church). After church, everyone came to our house for a party. That was Christmas! I just felt strange and a little sad realizing that this year we'll probably stay home since the kid will be a little small to get out and about.

After church Jason and I went to lunch and watched a little football before heading to Babies-R-Us again. We installed the car seat (um, how strange was it seeing THAT in the car on my drive to work!) I made cookies and and Jason cooked taco soup before we headed over to Kelly's house. I wanted her to show me how to use the breast pump and she needed our help in cutting the bottom off of their real Christmas Tree. We got to visit and see a happy Eileen!!

And then we finished off our last kid free weekend by watching another movie (Star Trek).

Now we're down to 2 days before his arrival. I'm nervous - but not so much about being a parent. More so about having everything done - at work and at home. I know I have unrealistic expectations, but that doesn't mean I don't want to try! I'm really glad we made a point to have a weekend hanging out and doing stuff that we probably won't get to do for a while. I could have spent it doing a million and one things, but that would have just worn me out and I'd be left wanting another day off...to recover.

More pumpkin, please

I've said it before, but Jason is not a fan of anything pumpkin. He turns his nose up at the idea, but the other two things I've made (Pumpkin Roll & Pumpkin Bars) have turned out to be hits. A few weeks ago I was reading a baby blog and came across a link to this blog. After scanning some photos - because really, that's how I decide what may or may not be good - I decided that I wanted to try the following recipe.




Pumpkin Spiced Cream Cheese Crescent Rolls from Lauren's Kitchen

• 2 packages/cans Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
• 4 0z cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 t ground cinnamon
• 1/8 t fresh ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unroll crescent rolls to form 4 rectangles placed side by side. ((After I did this I tried to roll them up, I decided that next time I'll just do them 2 rectangles at a time - much easier to roll.)) Pinch seams together to form one long rectangle. Beat cream cheese, brown sugar, pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg with a mixer. Spread mixture over crescents leaving a 1/2 inch border around edges. Starting at long end, roll up then cut into 1" pieces. Place around 2 9" inch round pans that have been sprayed with cooking spray. ((I used my two round Pampered Chef stones, so I did not use cooking spray.)) Bake for 28-30 minutes or until rolls are golden brown. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes. Frost warm rolls with cream cheese frosting recipe below.

• 4 oz softened cream cheese
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1 T canned pumpkin

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl until smooth. Spread over warm rolls.

We both really liked these. Jason's comment was that everything with pumpkin in it sort of tastes the same. Hopefully this means I can try more recipes. I think I cut them a little large because they fell over while baking, but they still tasted good. And when we reheated them the next day I threw them in the oven again - we thought they were still pretty good.

Give me a kiss

I think these cookies are a Christmas staple. And if you look online you can find, oh...about 157 different recipes. This is the one my mom has had for years and I have no idea where she got it. But...it works. These are not Jason's favorite cookies. He's not a fan of plain chocolate - like solid Hershey's Kisses or a Hershey's chocolate bar. Really, he's not a huge fan of chocolate, but he can be persuaded. So, being the nice wife I am I bought the Hershey's Hugs (white & milk chocolate Kisses) this year hoping he'd like them more.

They were definitely more favored, however the Hugs melt more than the Kisses did. In my opinion the cookies aren't quite as pretty, but they still taste the same.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

• 2/3 cup unsalted butter at room temp
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 T milk
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 t baking soda
• granulated sugar
• Hershey's Kisses

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cream the first 4 ingredients in a medium size mixing bowl. Beat in the milk and vanilla. Add the next three dry ingredients until well blended. Form the cookies into 1" balls and roll in granulated sugar before placing them on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are slightly brown. Remove from the oven and press in the unwrapped Hugs (or Kisses). Move to a cooling rack and let them cool completely.

I actually burned the first batch. I haven't burned cookies in...well, forever. I'm blaming it on Jason. He made me sit down on the sofa to get off of my feet and I wasn't sure how long to bake these. I usually just bake cookies until they look right. Well, I started to smell these in the living room and knew I'd just lost 1 dozen cookies. Still, I managed to get 37 good ones out of the batch. Plenty, if you ask me.

Tailgating

Our final shower was hosted by my aunts and some friends from home. My mom and her clerk worked really hard on the invitation - and it turned out really cute. My aunt Doris decorated the cake to look like the invite. She also did Jason's grooms cake...drunk. Don't worry, the cake was awesome. But it makes for a funny story.

It was nice to spend time with family and we brought home a lot of much needed stuff for the kid. Especially a rocking horse. Every kid needs a rocking horse and my sister took on the responsibility of buying one for Cooper. Poor Jett thought it was his horse...as we were opening gifts I noticed him dragging it away from the chairs. When we asked where he was going he just said "I'm going to go ride it" and kept walking. Lin managed to save the horse and he's safe in the nursery.

Jason was slightly less than thrilled to be on display opening gifts, but he survived.

See the little horse thief at the bottom of the photo?

Jett & I in our Aggie gear

More Baby Shower fun

I have some great coworkers. That's a good thing - we spend a lot of time together. And we know a lot about each other. Once I announce that I was pregnant my coworker Kadi started talking about a shower. I think she was more excited than I was! We had the shower one night after work and invited a few former coworkers as well.

And being the total slacker that I am, I didn't have a camera. But Kadi did have these super cute invitations.

We got a lot of adorable outfits and a few of my coworkers pitched in on our car seat! As of that night, we could have the kid and legally bring him home.

Such talent

Remember how I said that Meg was gracious enough to help the girls out for my shower? Well, I finally had Jason scan the works of art and I FINALLY got him to bring the scans home and now I'm going to share.

Like I said - Meg did an awesome job! She's so talented. And I loved the invite. She also made thank you notes and tags for the favors.

1 week

Yes, I'm down to 1 week left of being pregnant. 1 week left of not being a parent and 1 week left of just having 2 humans in my house. Holy crap.

I went to the doctor Monday for my 38 week appointment. The fluid I seemed to have lost last week came back. And brought friends. Good grief! My feet have officially outgrown my shoes. I can usually squeeze them on in the morning to walk to the bathroom, but after lunch it's all flip-flops. Those shoes actually laugh at my feet when I try to put them on.

Everything else looked fine. Except that I seem to be on a "rinse and repeat" cycle. Still 1cm. Still 70%. And this kid still has not dropped. In fact, last night when I was in bed his foot was about 1" below my right boob. I'm not kidding. My poor directionally challenged child! He's going the wrong way!!!!! South, kid, head south. Honestly I think it's the cold front that came in this week. I got out of bed Monday and he said "woman, it's cold out there - I'm not going anywhere!"

I've said before that Dr. F and I have talked about a cesarean if I go past my due date. Last week we talked about possibly scheduling something the week before, but I decided to hold off until my 38 week appointment just in case I was making progress. Well, since we're not we discussed going ahead and getting me on the schedule. Next week I'll be 39 weeks, so a few days early isn't a big deal according to Dr. F - especially since we would go that route at 40 weeks.

It's really our choice. I could wait it out and hope he decides to come on his own, possibly induce and try for a vaginal delivery...sometime between now and 41/42 weeks. But my concern about my hip gets bigger and bigger as he gets bigger and bigger. Plus, I would rather not put stress on him by trying for a vaginal birth and it not working because of his potential size...then we end up with a cesarean anyway. I've had surgery quite a few times so the thought of having surgery doesn't really scare me. Yes, I know recovery is hard but I'm pretty confident I can handle the pain.

So...Dr. F said they would check the schedule at the hospital for next week, or the week after if necessary and let me know. I got a call yesterday morning and we're set for noon on Wednesday the 9th. They listed the reason as macrosomia. Yes, there is a medical term for "big baby." And since mine is measuring in the over 90th percentile we qualify.

Till Wednesday I'm still telling him that he has options. He can come on his own before he's forced to vacate the premises. But if not, we'll be meeting the kid in person a week from today.

Also - here is a photo from this morning. Notice my shirt is just hanging out there. I spend most of the day tugging it down and pulling my pants up.