1st Christmas and other news

Mason's first Christmas was a busy day, but so will all his others, I'm sure. We did have a break in the afternoon that allowed for a good nap (for me, too). Christmas was also the day that Mason became a one month old, and with that milestone, I think we've also welcomed either his first cold or he officialy has colic. (We actually went to the doctor today after a long, screaming weekend. I hate to be "that" mother, but I would also hate to be missing something. Official word...not anything major, like illness/injury, could be a cold, could be colic...helpful, right?) In more exciting milestone news, Mason has started to smile real smiles. They are so cute, and can almost make me forget how awful all the screaming has been...almost!

Here's a couple pics from Christmas. Landon is showing more interest in his cousin every time he sees him, but this was the first time he actually got close enough to touch him. He was so fun to watch! Landon was really gentle, and seemed so amazed that this little creature (Mason) had a "button" (belly button) and hair and fingers....just like he has! They both also had shirts on that said "What Santa doesn't bring me...Grandma will!" Isn't that the truth!!!
















In other news, my parents did manage to bribe Todd and I with a gift card on Saturday to get us out of the house for dinner. I think they were mostly just dying to babysit. It was hard to leave Mason, especially since he had been fussy all day and I was worried he was sick, but it was so nice to get out. I even had my first glass of wine! Mom had her surgery today to fix her Achille's tendon. Everything went well and she's home resting. I had my MRI today, without any Valium or Ativan I might add! My unofficial opinion is that it looks worse than my previous, but I'll have to wait and see what the radiologist says. More on that later.

Silver white winters that melt into spring...

...these are a few of my favorite things!

Today Mason is 4 weeks old and I thought I'd share a few of the things he and I have come to love! Here are our top six...


Mason LOVES music! Well, Mason loves any noise...even the vacuum, ice maker, and humidifier. So this was a smart purchase for the nursery, especially late at night when we're trying to get him back to sleep. He prefers female voices, Eva Cassidy, Norah Jones, but he also is a fan of Jack Johnson and the Garden State/Last Kiss soundtracks. My voice also works really well, but Todd is tired of the songs I sing to Mason getting stuck in his head.





I haven't ever actually seen this show, but we have all started to call the nights that Nana has spent the night "Nanny (or Nana) 911". My mom has been so wonderful, and Mason loves when she comes over to spend the night with him...not to mention how much Todd and I love the extra sleep we get when she comes over! Todd gets pretty much a full night, and all I have to do is wake up when my mom brings Mason in for feedings. It's great!!!


The dogs. Ok, technically this is probably two things, but we're grouping them together. It has been so amazing watching the dogs investigate the new addition to the house, and now that Mason is a little more alert, he's been checking them out too.





These pics were taken with Todd's iPhone, so they aren't the greatest quality, but you get the idea.












Mason LOVES going for rides in the car. He may not always love getting into the carseat, but once he's in and we're ready to go, he's a happy baby.











The boppy. This has been one of the best gifts! It's perfect for feedings, playing, tummy time...every mom and baby should have one of these.








Nap time! This is a new favorite of mine as well. While I still have to laugh at all the people who say "sleep when the baby sleeps" - it is true, if you can manage to do it! Mason, however, has no problem napping...especially when it's on mom or dad!

Starting him off right....well, left

Mason continues to grow and grow. It's so much fun to watch him learning every day. He is really starting to have more awake/alert time and loves looking around at his surroundings. Of course, yesterday he spent most of the day sleeping, so he was a little confused as to why he needed to sleep at night. I'm sure we'll have many more confused nights, but man are they rough! I'm convinced that post-partum MS flairs have far more to do with stress/fatigue than they do with hormone drops. I've been good so far, although I have been having some random symptoms the last couple of days. Nothing that classifies as an offical flair up though...keep your fingers crossed for me. We'll see what my MRI looks like on the 29th.

Well, in some of his awake time yesterday, I managed to get this pic of Mason. Todd laughs about this shirt, but I just remind him that I will encourage and support our son in anything he wants to be when he grows up....except be a republican :)

Finally

I finally finished my final paper for my advanced patient care class. Phew. It was a 4 week class that started the week before Mason was born. 4 weeks, 4 papers. I had meant to finish the entire class that week, but I only got 3 of the 4 papers done. Thank goodness I did that much seeing that it's taken me 3 weeks to finish one! Now I have a little break until the next trimester begins.

One other thing. About comments. Feel free to leave comments and let me know you're out there. You don't have to have an account or anything, just click on where it says "0 comments" or "2 comments" etc at the end of the post...it's pretty self explanatory from there. We would love to hear from you :)

All-night buffet

That's basically what I have been feeling like. Mason decided to have his 3 week growth spurt a little early. I knew it was coming, but in no way was I prepared for the hourly feedings and crankiness that it would bring. He just wanted to nurse ALL THE TIME!!! I can't imagine what he weighs after all that. And he wasn't the only one who was hungry, his constant feeding made me feel completely famished, not to mention the incredible thirst! I'm crossing my fingers that it's over now, last night he was back to sleeping for about 3 hours between feedings. Now I'll just wait to do it all over again at 6 weeks.

2 weeks and lots of firsts

Yesterday Mason had his 2 week check up with Dr. Elliott. He totally shocked everyone when he weighed in at a whopping 8 lbs 10 oz!!!! Needless to say, he is growing quite well. It was his 1st visit since we were discharged and everything is going great. All my questions were answered, and all the answers were basically that he is a normal, happy, healthy baby. So now I just need to learn to relax :)



He had his first real bath yesterday and LOVED it. I was a little nervous after his strong dislike of his prior sponge baths, but he did great!


We also tried some "tummy time" yesterday for the first time. He was not such a fan of this, but today went a little better. He is already stronger than I thought and can lift his head up and turn it to the other side.

I got our Christmas card/birth announcements ordered yesterday, too. I'm sure they'll be going out a little late this year, but hopefully everyone will understand. A woman that works with my aunt is going to be starting her own photography business after the new year so she came over to practice a little on Mason. She did such a great job with him, we're planning on having her come back again when he gets a little bigger.


Well, that's all for now. I can hear him calling for me again.

Play it again, Mom

Mason seems to be on an every-other-night fussiness pattern (I refuse to use the word "schedule" as that obviously does not apply to a baby by any stretch of the imagination). Last night was a great night....which makes me somewhat fearful of what tonight has in store. It seems like he's been gassy lately, but I don't really know what it is. We have some Mylicon (sp) drops, but I'm not convinced they really work. Someone told us to try Gripe Water.......any other suggestions out there?

Oh, and please don't ask me what I ate. I did have some ice cream the other night, which I later found out can upset a breastfed baby, but really, I swear, I haven't had any broccoli, spicy foods, chocolate.....nothing weird. It is on my list of questions for the pediatrician tomorrow.

Anyway, back to the up all night business. Mason loves being sung/hummed to. So far his favorites have been "Over the Rainbow" and "Moon River". I know, I need to stop singing the poor kid show tunes but he seems to like them. At least I'm not singing him songs from Grease or Cats!

Baby Firsts

Mason had his first trip to Target on Thursday. I know, this isn't exactly a baby milestone noted in any baby book or calendar, but to me it was a momentous event. He of course slept through the entire experience. Before the Target trip, Todd and I took Mason to my grandparents house. They hadn't seen him since he was born, and it's easier for us to go to them. After the great grandparent visit, we drove out to Target. I pushed the stroller and Todd had the cart, and for the first time in my entire life of loving Target, I didn't buy a single thing there for me!

Yesterday Todd dropped Mason and I off at my mom's house for a while so he could go Christmas shopping. We ended up staying a lot longer than we planned, but it is so nice to get out of the house sometimes.

I should really be writing a paper now. I have one last paper I need to write for my advanced patient care class. It's a 4 week class that started the week before Mason was born. My goal was to finish it all before he got here, but with all the kidney stones and pre-term labor, that didn't happen. I did get 3 of the 4 papers done, which I'm grateful for now. I keep telling Todd he should write it for me, but I think I need to forget that dream and get writing!

Granny to the rescue

Last night my mom stayed the night with us. We put Mason's bassinette in the guest room with her and she brought him to me when he needed to nurse. It was WONDERFUL! Todd got a pretty much full-night of sleep and I was only awake long enough for Mason's feedings. Of course, all the nights before last night Mason was up every hour to hour and a half and then would have a crazy stretch from 2am til 5 or 6am that he was wide awake and had no interest in sleeping. Needless to say, Todd and I were already exhausted and the kid is only a week old! So, Granny to the rescue...and of course Mason slept great last night, usually 2+ hours at a time, and had no long stretch of being awake and/or fussy. Now my only question is...will he do this tonight? Not likely, I'm sure.

Anyway, thanks, Mom! You're a life-saver!!!

While he's still sleeping...

Here are some pics since we've been home. I know, "some" is kind of relative...what can I say...we're proud parents :) We've had some LOOOONG nights, but also a lot of fun!

Mason checked out his new swing

And his vibrating chair

Hanging out with dad

And being adored by mom

Had a quick sponge bath

And washed all that hair

One week old

Today Mason is already one week old! Things have been going OK since we've been home. I had a long weekend worrying about if Mason was nursing OK and getting enough. We were both having a hard time with the breastfeeding thing, that's for sure. Of course, added to this was the onset of crazy post-partum hormones that had me crying almost as much as Mason. Apparently this is just what happens, and it should go away after a couple weeks.

We had our first outing yesterday since Mason had to go in for a weight check. When we left the hospital he was a little under 7lbs 1oz (his birthweight was 7lbs 8oz). I was certain that he was going to be even lower than that yesterday and my fears would be confirmed about nursing and my mothering ability.......well, when the nurse put him on the scale he weighed in at 7lbs 9oz! I had to go look at it myself because I thought she might have read it wrong. What a relief to know that,even if it doesn't seem like it all the time, I might just know what I'm doing after all.

My c-section incision is pretty sore again, which is frustrating because I was feeling so great. I think I probably felt too good and over-did it. So today we're all hanging out at home and relaxing. I'll be sure to get some new pictures up soon, but as you can all imagine, my time available to sit at the computer is somewhat limited these days :)