Happy Father's Day Adam!!!

Today we got to celebrate Father's Day with both of our Dad's, but more importantly we celebrated Adam's 1st Father's Day. I'd venture to say he had a pretty awesome day getting to hang out with his little man!! I think these first three weeks of fatherhood have treated both Daddy and Alex pretty good!! ALEX LOVES YOU, DADDY!!! (and so do I!)

He's so CUTE!!!!!

Not much to report other than our little man is just cute as ever!! Thanks to Gwen for the outfit!! I absolutely love it!! ENJOY!!

Meeting Dr. Galle

Today, Alex officially met Dr. Galle and all the wonderful nurses and staff. Since the day Alex was born we have been telling him how special he is, and how hard we tried to get him. We really felt it was important for Alex to meet Dr. Galle, even though he won't remember it. But just as important, for the office to get to meet Alex. They were beyond thrilled to meet our little man!! He was passed all around and was awake for the whole event!! They couldn't get over how perfect he was, and of course we completley agree!! We left them with a few pictures of Alex, and promised to send more as he grows and changes. We truly would not be where we are today with out the help of Dr. Galle and the love and support of all our family and friends. Again, we want to thank everyone as we've journeyed down this road. It's been hard, but well worth the wait!!

Alex is doing great. He's only getting up a few times a night, and it's to eat and go right back to bed. We are hoping this trend continues!! We've transitioned back to breastfeeding, but are going to continue with a bottle as well. We're trying to keep him flexible, and he seems to be adjusting just fine. He will go back to the Dr. next Friday for another check up, so we are hoping that he is continuing to grow. He's doing a great job of holding his head up too.

On a side note, if I can brag about myself for a second. . . I officially am back at my pre-pregnancy weight!! Pretty good considering it's only been 2 1/2 weeks. Not only that, but I'm actually in a size smaller pants than I was before I was pregnant. This too is a trend that I hope continues!!! We've been walking 1 mile everyday, and I hope to increase that as time goes on.

So enough about me. . . we'll continue to keep you posted on our little man and post pictures of his sweet and perfect face!!!

It's Gone. . .

Yes, today Alex officially lost his umbilical cord. Quite an exciting moment, however I don't really know why. I guess because it was the last little sign that he was actually attached to me, his true life line for nine months. It is nice that we won't have to worry about cleaning it anymore. And now Alex can take a good old fashioned bath and splash around a bit. As you can tell, Alex wasn't as excited as we were about seeing his belly button!! I think it's funny that as soon as it came off Adam was off to get the camera. You can really tell we are first time parents!!! At least we are willing to admit it!!

Back to the Doctor

Alex's size 3 diaper!!

Daddy with his wet clothes!!

We ventured back to the Dr's office so that Alex could be weighed again. He managed to gain 7 oz in two days. Pretty impressive if you ask me. That means he's now back to his birth weight and in the 50th percentile for his age and weight. He is also is looking less jaundiced. So, obviously this means Alex is eating just fine now. He's on a schedule of eating every 2-3 hours now, but I'm struggling to keep up with him. Luckily I had frozen some milk earlier, so we are getting by. I'm hoping my body will kick in and keep up soon!!

The nurse took Alex's diaper off to weigh him, but she quickly covered him back up because she thought he was going to pee. As she passed him back to Adam, Alex let loose and peed all over Adam. He had it on his shirt and shorts, including his crotch. We had a good laugh!! Adam said he'd never had anyone else pee his pants for him!!! Of course, I didn't bring the diaper bag in because we were only running in to get weighed. They had a size 3 diaper that I put on Alex until we made it back down to the car. Needless to say, I learned my lesson early in motherhood that you can never go anywhere without the diaper bag!!

We were running to Virden after the Dr's visit, so we had to make an impromptu stop at Old Navy so Adam could buy some clean and dry clothes. I had a $25 gift card, so that worked out well!! Grandma Kershaw showed Alex off to all her co-workers and then we went and hung out at Grandma and Grandpa's for a little while. I think our little man is getting a little spoiled by being held all the time. He seems to get a bit fussy when he has to sit too long by himself. We're going to need to get over that really quick. Alex also really loves his pacifier, but he can't always manage to keep it in his mouth.

Yesterday, Alex also made a visit to both Mom and Dad's work. He's got to meet so many people, and loves being held by everyone (as I mentioned earlier!) I think we are going to take it easy and chill at home all weekend. All this running around is catching up to me. I'm pretty tired. Waiting for Alex to eat here in about 20 minutes and then it's off to bed!!

First Parental Scare

So, every parent overreacts from time to time, especially new parents. Luckily for us part was overreaction, but partly not. Alex has been struggling to latch on to eat lately, if he does latch he eats like a champ. Last night I had to wake him up after sleeping 5 hours because I know he shouldn't go that long without eating. We tried to eat a 3 am, did a little but not to my satisfaction. He fell asleep for a bit and we tried again. This process went on until 6 am when I got so frustrated I had to hand him to Adam and just walk away. I went and pumped and then laid down and cried myself to sleep. Adam woke me up at 8 am because he thought it looked like Alex had some blood in his urine. We immediately called the Dr. and they told us to come in at 9:30. I then felt like a horrible Mom for getting so frustrated with him.

We went to the Dr. and saw the nurse practitioner, Tracy. We liked her just as much as Dr. Veronica!! Anyway, she said it wasn't blood in his urine but the skin moving around and healing from his circumcision. His umbilical cord is about to come off, and that had also rubbed on the inside of his diaper. She did say his was jaundiced and that she wanted to run a blood test on him. And there was concern that he wasn't getting enough to eat because he had lost 2 oz and was down to 8 lbs. He also has a blocked tear duct, so his eye is all yucky.

We went back to Memorial and got his blood drawn, but his billy rubin level was fine. We now have to bottle feed Alex to make sure he is getting enough to eat. We have him eating every 2 1/2 hours and he is eating like a champ!! I'm pumping, and that's going well. We go back on Friday to get him weighed again to make sure he is gaining weight. Once we get him back on a better eating schedule, we'll try to incorporate actual breastfeeding back into the mix. Apparently jaundiced babies tend to sleep more and eat less, so hopefully we can get things back in order! While we were at the hospital we got to see the nurse who was with us the day we delivered Alex. We love Robin!! She is soooo awesome!!

So, even though there was no blood in his urine I'm very glad we took him to the Dr. I kept saying I didn't think he was eating enough and everyone told me to let him sleep and he'd eat when he was ready. I've learned that Mom's really do have a natural instinct and I'm glad I followed it!!

Molly's Big 3-0

Well, today is Molly's 30th birthday, so I'm back on the blog to publish a post about the day. The morning began with the continuation of my hunt to rid the yard and house of snakes. Today, Briggs warned me of another snake in the yard, so I went out there and killed it with a hoe. I'm somewhat relieved because it is the size of the first snake that I saw a few weeks ago. Hopefully, that means that the snakes are all gone. In any case, we've got an exterminator coming out on Thursday to double check the attic and crawlspace. Having them in the yard is one thing, but when you kill a snake crawling out of the soffiting, that's something else entirely. I think they're all gone, but I want a professional to reassure me of that fact.

The past week has simply flown by. Molly and I celebrated Alex's one week birthday with his first walk last night. Briggs came along, too. He's done very well adjusting to the new little person in the house. Besides the occasional lick, he's very good with Alex. He's even handled the idea of no longer being the only baby pretty well. (Some inappropriate personal licking and scratching, but otherwise he seems quite comfortable with the idea.)

As for Molly and I, we've just been trying to get into a routine. Alex is sleeping quite well. In fact, Molly even woke him up to eat last night because it had been six hours since he'd eaten. We've realized that the hospital's recommendations for feeding times simply don't fit every baby. As long as we don't try to force the feedings on him, he eats very well, and all of his other bodily functions are quite functional also.

Tom and Karen as well as Thomas, Amy, Gabbi, and Roman (Lil' Thomas) came over for birthday dinner tonight. We had a fabulous meal of fried chicken followed by angel food cake w/ strawberries for desert. There was a bit of a scare at one point as the porch swing broke with Tom, Roman, and Gabbi sitting on it. Thankfully, nobody was injured (besides a bit of a bruise on Gabbi's shoulder). At the end of the night, Thomas gave Molly a card that said he'd been praying for our family every morning since last July. The card included the finger rosary that he'd been using for his prayers each morning, and he told us to pass it along to someone else who needed prayers.

Of course, Molly and I were both touched by Thomas' thoughtfulness, and it is humbling to know that he is just one of many, many people that has prayed for our little miracle. Alex is the most amazing blessing we've ever received, and no amount of thanks could ever repay our parents, siblings, family, or friends for all of their prayers and support. To look into our son's eyes is to truly know the depth of God's love and blessings.

Because of those blessings, Molly and I will never be the same. Having Alex has changed our entire world for the better, and everything--from waking up in the morning to the taste of angel food cake--somehow seems a little different. I know that I speak for Molly when I say that Alex is the best birthday present either of us has ever laid eyes on.