Sunday, December 25, 2011

Merry Christmas!



What a blessing to have a bigger family this Christmas with this little guy! But we are most thankful that, as C.S. Lewis said, "The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God."

We had a great time of worship at church, including my dad singing a beautiful Casting Crowns song about the peace of God reigning in our hearts no matter what goes on around us in the world. My favorite lines in the song are

Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor does He sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, goodwill to men

So comforting to think about, that no matter the hate, trials, and storms that exist in our country and in our world, God still reigns and we can still have peace because His Son gave up everything to come here for us.
Merry Christmas, friends! Hope that you all know this peace!





Joey got his steel toed tennis shoes he wanted :)

Friday, December 9, 2011

3 months

Today marks 3 months for our little Marshall (aka Martian). Some milestones:


with his buddy, Carter Jones Cameron


"reading" his book

eating 5 oz. 3xs a day and 6.5/7 oz in the morning and at bedtime

sleeping 10.5 hours at night (and we usually have to wake him up in the morning)

until the past few days was still struggling with 30 minute naps, but we may have figured this one out (letting him stay up longer between naps and get really tired and he transitions through the 30 minutes easier), so lately he's been taking 3 hour to hour and a half naps during the day.

must be VERY entertained during wake times! He is extremely active like his Daddy!

only fussy when getting sleepy, really hungry, or BORED!

can roll over from tummy to back, haven't quite mastered back to tummy (can get on his side but can't quite make it)

coos but mostly "hoots" haha! Smiles and laughs a lot, especially at Daddy!

grabs a lot - his books, toys, bottle, etc.

wears 3 month, 3-6 months, or 0-3 months (depending on the brand)

uses his left hand a TON! (not sure if this is developmentally appropriate or we have a problem lol)

We love our little man, and are really getting to enjoy him since he's no longer screaming from fatigue!

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

2 months


Little man is 2 months old today! To be competely honest with you, it feels like it's been 6! Had his shots today :( He actually did so well, though! He only cried for a few seconds after each shot (had to have 3!) and then stopped! I was impressed! He's tough like his daddy!

He weighed 10 lbs 11 oz (50th percentile) and was 23 inches (40th percentile). He still takes his reflux medication (which has helped a lot), but he is otherwise a very healthy baby! He does still have his sleep issues during the day - we've literally tried EVERYTHING! Dr. says it's a sleep cycle issue where he can't transition from REM to deep sleep, which is why he wakes up at the 30 minute mark each nap (thankfully, he is still tired enough to sleep at night but it does take him over an hour to settle/fuss on and off to go to bed). Unfortunately, there isn't much we can do about this unless we want to drive him in the car or put him on the dryer for every nap (soothes him through the transition). So I'm praying he grows out of it soon because it's already been going on 3 weeks! I feel so sorry for this tired little man!

Here's some stats on him:
eats 4.5 oz 4 times a day and usually 5 oz at bedtime and at his early morning feeding (with 1 to 2 tbs rice cereal for the the reflux)
goes 6 to 7 hours between feedings after going down for the night
socially smiles a lot (when he's not tired)!! It's adorable, he even smiled at the dr today! He said he's about a month advanced with this!
Coos a little, but the doc said this should increase over the next month
wearing 3 month clothes (0-3 and 3-6 are too big and newborn is too small) which are kinda hard to find
wears 6 month socks (this child has huge feet and toes!)
still loves bathtime, will lay back and relax or kick and splash
no longer swaddles for sleep
still has strawberry blondish hair



We love our sweet boy!

Monday, October 31, 2011

Sleep Issues

Ok. Can somebody please tell me they experienced this and know what to do or can tell me that it will pass??! Marshall pretty much sleeps fine at night, every now and then we have to let him cry a few minutes at bedtime to fall asleep, especially since we've broken him of being dependent on the dryer for naps during the day. He'll go 4, 5, and 6 hours between feedings at night and pretty much go straight to sleep in between. The big problem is naps. One day he'll do great and stay up about an hour to an hour and a half then go down for a nap and fall asleep on his own, sleeping about an hour and a half to two hours. But every other day or so (since not using the dryer) he picks one nap (usually the lunchtime nap or the afternoon nap) to have issues with. He will go down for 30 minutes, then wake up. Instead of going back to sleep on his own like he does on the good days, he cries for several minutes (5 to 10) then falls back asleep for several minutes, then wakes up crying starting the cycle all over. We do this back and forth sleeping, waking up crying for an hour or so until then it's time for a bottle and he basically gets no nap. Typically after that our naps are shot for the day because he's so tired he does the same thing at the next nap (even if I try to put him down earlier because he's so tired). Somebody please help! I know he's miserable on those days because he's not even happy to be up and awake. Is this just his age (almost 8 weeks) or is it something we're doing or not doing? We try to stay on a pretty consistent but flexible schedule, eating every 3 to 3.5 hours and napping after being up every hour to hour and a half. So I don't know that he's getting "off" or anything. Any ideas??

Sunday, October 30, 2011

Halloween

I'm not a huge fan of Halloween, but I took the opportunity while I could to dress Marshall up...


as a chicken! I thought it was pretty funny considering his Daddy works in the poultry industry and his Gramps works for Tyson. Maybe we can get on the poultry magazine! :)

We went to my sister's church, Mayfair, to their big Fall Festival. Kinda interesting with one this young, but we survived. Caiden had a great time...


Saturday, October 29, 2011

Gettin' Crafty

No, not witchcrafty. I'm usually not the crafty type, I mean I like decorating, but when it comes to actually making something, I'm not usually that talented. But I saw a wreath I liked on pinterest.com, and decided to attempt one similar to it. Here's the finished product.



Bought everything at Hobby Lobby - a grapevine wreath, an unfinished wood letter, a sheet of moss, burlap, and small pumpkins. Hot glued the pumpkins to the wreath, hot glued the moss to the letter, tied the letter to the wreath with fishing line, and hung with burlap!

Monday, October 17, 2011

Jinxed

Well, I guess I jinxed Marshall when I said at 1 month he sleeps anywhere during the day because at 5 weeks, that's no longer true. He is still sleeping great at night, long stretches and going straight to sleep. But daytime is a different story. He is having trouble going to sleep (unless he has just eaten) and is waking during his sleep cycle transition, right around 30 minutes or so. He is fussy and yawning so I know he's still sleepy and sometimes he's even crying and not alert. Sometimes he will fuss back to sleep and other times it requires a paci or some bouncing in whatever he's lying in to go back to sleep. I know he can't be getting good sleep in like this. Any of you ever experience this (especially this early when I don't think he has formed sleep associations yet, like we don't rock him all the way to sleep at night. We just rock him til he's dozing then he falls asleep himself in his bed), was it a phase, what did you do?

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Milestones

I probably should have put this with the 1 month post, but I forgot. I want to use the blog to have Marshall's milestones "written" down since a baby book is only so big. So here goes...

1 month:
sleeping up to 5 hour stretches at night between feedings
swaddled at night
sleeping in crib at night, wherever (swing, bouncy seat, bassinet, carseat) during the day :)
eating 3.5 ounces per feeding (with 2 tsp. of rice cereal to help the reflux)
loves: bathtime, outside/sunshine, riding in the car
hates: diaper changes, waiting for food, any paci other than the big 6+ month ones!
takes a paci sometimes but spits it out when going to sleep
looks just like his daddy (especially in baby pictures), has his reddish hair
Not sure about weight - weighed 7.9 at 2 weeks, 21 inches long

That's my precious boy!

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Fall and One Month Old

Our little boy is one month old today!

Everybody says it's gone by so fast, but to be honest, it feels like forever to me! Not that he's been a difficult baby because really, he hasn't. We've only had a couple of difficult days before we found out he has reflux (but the medicine has taken care of that) and one other difficult day when he got overstimulated/overtired (which got taken care of with several good naps in a dark room).
He truly is a great baby. Sweet and happy most of the time and sleeps anywhere! I was even able to take a trip to south Georgia to surprise one of my best girlfriends from college at her baby shower. He did so well, sleeping in the car and only having to stop once on a 4 hour trip to eat/diaper change. My sister went with me to help out (very nice of her), and it was great to see Erin's surprised face!

And she got to meet little man for the first time.

We also got ready for fall around our house. I made some pumpkin topiaries (idea courtesy of pinterest).


Might still do some finishing touches...moss under the bottom pumpkin in the pot maybe?
Great backdrop for a family photo!

The great weather also gave us an opportunity to take Marshall on his first sroller ride, with his buddy Carter Jones Cameron, no less!

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Update: A Good Night

Thanks for all the advice and words of encouragement ladies! I really don't expect him to be on a schedule this early - I'm not very Type A. My biggest concern with his late night feasting was that he was depleting my milk supply, and I really didn't want to buy and supplement with formula if at all possible.

Anyway, he did wonderfully last night. He did try to do his late night feast at his 1:00 feeding again (wide awake). I fed him a little more than his usual 2 to 2.5 oz, fed him 3 oz. Then Joey and I were able to take shifts for about an hour and soothed him back to sleep, rocking and with a paci. He also slept a 3 hour stretch (4 hours between feedings) and a 2 hour (3 hours between feedings). So I'm very pleased. I figured it was some kind of habit since he was doing it at the same time every night, not just a random hunger/growth spurt. So it's good to know those instincts y'all were talking about were right! Thanks again!

Friday, September 16, 2011

Advice Again

Ok, I'm going to love blogging more now that I'm a mommy because I love the free advice!

So diaper update: the size up diaper was way to big to wear around his legs, but we put it on top of his newborn diaper and that seems to do the trick! Yay! Hopefully it will continue to work. Thanks again for all the input!

So, the new problem: We are planning to implement Babywise (or at least most of it), and right now we are supposed to be trying to get in full feedings every 2 to 3 hours. Well, Marshall has insisted on going way above and beyond a full feeding at his 1:00/2:00 AM feeding. He is wide awake (even though I'm trying to keep him up more between feedings during the day) and refuses to be satisfied with his normal 2 or 2.5 oz. (which is still a lot anyway). He will cry and cry (paci doesn't satisfy and won't rock to sleep) until he gets another ounce and then the same thing until he's up to 4 or more ounces!! Dr. Chupp said that since he's back up to birth weight already (in less than a week), we need to try to limit that big feeding. Has anybody dealt with this and what did you do??

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Growing

Marshall had a great Dr.'s apointment today. He is already back up to birth weight of 6.12 after being down to 6.4 when we left the hospital! Dr. Chupp said most babies take 2 weeks to do that! This little guy can eat, let me tell you!

Sunbathing for the jaundice.


Maggie is sooo interested in him! Ty doesn't care.


We had a really good night last night. Hopefully, its a habit because I started getting him up every two hours during the day to eat because he seemed to want to sleep all during the day and be up eating often at night. So last night he went 3 hour stretches between feedings without waking up! I actually got in almost 7 hours of sleep! Pray it's not a fluke! :) My wonderful sister is staying with us tonight, though, to let us get a full night's rest. Pretty sweet huh?!

Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Diaper Situation

Ok, so we made it home. Not gonna lie, the first night was the pits! Pretty much no sleep (he slept some, but by the time I would pump, clean up, and get to sleep he was up again).

But y'all, he is so sweet! He sleeps anywhere - in his crib, swing, or in your arms (though we're not doing that much). He really only cries if he's hungry, has a dirty diaper, or cold/wants to be swaddled. So precious! Look like his daddy or what?


So back to our diaper situation. Part of our night issues (including last night, which was a little better than the first) is that we're spending a lot of time changing clothes and sheets because he's leaking through his diapers, then the cycle starts because he's all stimulated and awake! Did it twice each night so far! Here's some details you might need to know - we are using Pampers swaddlers (Huggies little snugglers aren't as tight around his legs as these). He doesn't leak during the day, but he is also eating a lot more at night and more often than during the day, guess his days and nights are confused. Joey says it's because we jinxed him by putting owls in his room!

Anyway, does anybody have any advice/tips or dealt with this before? Do I just put a changing pad under him and still have to change his clothes? Do I try to fit two diapers on him at night?

Saturday, September 10, 2011

Birth Story



Our little blessing arrived Friday, September 9, 2011 (one day earlier than his due date).

I figured I would go ahead and write the birth story (because I hear you tend to forget the details especially with the fatigue).
I had been in some form of labor since Monday. I say some form because I was hurting and even on a regular schedule but not enough to be what I thought contractions should be like. They would never increase in intensity or closeness together but just moderately hurt about an hour apart. I was very much hoping all that discomfort wasn't wasted and that on Tuesday the Dr. would tell me I had dilated from the 1 cm the week before. Thankfully, it was music to my ears when he told me I was at 3!

Then I had a difficult decision to make...he offered to induce me that night because he would be leaving to go out of town Friday (when he thought the baby might come on his own). I had said from the beginning I didn't want to be induced (unless medically necessary) because I had heard too many horror stories of how long it takes and all the complications due to your body's not being ready. So after discussing it with Joey and some other friends and family, I decided to let things happen on their own.

So Thursday rolls around, and I'm very uncomfortably wondering when this thing is going to happen. Joey decided to go in to work because he had been waiting around on this little guy for a week and a half. He thought maybe if he left, Marshall would be spiteful and come :)
So that evening I decided to take a bath to try to get comfortable (thinking to myself, even though I know it won't happen would I know if my water breaks in the bathtub?). Not many mintues later, just that happened!! Joey was halfway between home and Huntsville on his way home, so I told him to just turn around and head to the hospital and that my parents could take me.

So mom and dad picked me up and we got to Huntsville about 9:00 PM. At this point I was mostly hurting in my back but still not as bad as I expected. When we got to the hospital, they were packed in L & D! A nurse came out and said I could come with her and that I had gotten the last room! She said she picked me out of everybody waiting because I was bent over holding my back, ha!

I met my wonderful nurse, Bethany, who checked me and told me I was at 4 cm. The contractions were coming about every 6 minutes or so but still weren't too bad. I was grateful, hoping that I could hold out on the epidural til the last minute. About an hour and a half went by and I was at 5 cm. Then the contractions picked up. They first were coming about every 3 minutes and were getting stronger, then they picked up to where I only had about 30 seconds rest between and they were awful!! Joey was awesome - letting me lean over him to try to take pressure off my back. I was so hoping I was 7 cm or so since it had been probably 2 hours. But unfortunately, I was only 5.5 cm. At that point I decided I wanted the epidural and would just hope it didn't slow down my progress.

The nurse got the ok from the dr. (thankfully, my doctor was still in town and decided to wait until I delievered to leave probably Friday) to use pitocin with the epidural so my progress wouldn't slow. Thankfully, either because of this approach or because I finally got to relax, I progressed to 8.5 cm in a couple hours. That epidural was so wonderful. The nurse put me in a "wedge position" to drop him as much as possible. About an hour later, I was ready to push! I did a few pushes with her before she called the dr. because he had crowned. Dr. came in and I pushed several sets with him, and there my baby boy was!! After just 45 minutes of pushing and 9/10 hours of labor, John Marshall was born at 7:19 AM, weighing 6 lb. 12 oz and 19 1/2 in long (not much different from his daddy at 6 lb 14 oz, 19 in)! It was such a physical relief, emotional relief, and pure joy to finally see him (and exactly what I hoped - his strawberry blonde hair!).

He's such a great baby already. I'm sure it can change in the coming days/weeks, but right now he loves to sleep (wherever, however) and nurses very well. Maybe this won't jinx him :) We are so in love! Amazing that God entrusted such a sweet little human to us!! We already pray that we'll be parents that point him to his Heavenly Father!


Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Almost there...

I got good news at the dr. today. I was hoping all my discomfort would mean progress from my being dilated 1 cm last week. Thankfully, I'm at a 3!!

I had to make a difficult decision, though. He offered to induce me tonight because he will be out of town this weekend (when he predicts the baby could come on his own). I had said from the beginning that I would not have an induction for convinience, only if the baby were in duress. It was so tempting, though, to know that I could be over this discomfort sooner (and that my doctor would for sure be the one to deliver him).

Finally, after discussing it with Joey and a few other family members/friends I decided I shouldn't let my discomfort and desire for control/convinience outweigh what I think is best - the natural process.

So that's where we are! Just uncomfortably waiting to go into active labor!

Monday, August 22, 2011

Full Term!

So we're 37 weeks and full term!!



Doc said he's dropped even more! So much so that he had to move his head to examine me! Started dilating too! Contractions are making themselves known but not with any regularity. Sorry for the TMI to any of you that can't handle that kind of talk :)

Hopefully John Marshall will be here soon!

Saturday, August 13, 2011

The Reveal!

So yes, it took a lot longer than I wanted to finish the nursery, but it's finally done, with 4 weeks, give or take, to spare! (other than some accessorizing/arranging here and there).

The walls were pretty involved (for Joey and family that helped, that is).


But I LOVE them!! Got my inspiration here It's pallet wood!





The awesome bookcase my father in law made!! This is where some more accessorizing comes in.


Repainted changing table and initials by a friend's sister.


Light made from a Target basket.


Lamp was an Ebay find and table was an antique store find.


Paintings done by my niece and a friend.


Owl dream ring and awesome name photo by my sis in law. (for you Auburn fans - not me - the letters were all photos in downtown Auburn)


I'm so happy with the results and sooo grateful to all who chipped in! Now just waiting for John Marshall to arrive!

Monday, August 8, 2011

Shower

I was very blessed to have several wonderful ladies host a baby shower for me. Beautiful setting, good food, and great company.






Of course, everybody was so generous and gave us such great things.





Hopefully, nursery pics to come soon...gotta finish! This little guy has already dropped - a lot!!

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Nursery...slowly but surely

Well, the nursery is coming along piece by piece. Still just have to get a few things like a side table, stain the bookshelf Joey's dad made, and a mirror (any tips on DIY twig or birch mirrors?).

But here's the rocking chair I got! Found it on Craigslist for 30 bucks!


and here it is reupholstered, and with more cushion :)


I also love this pillow my friend Brigett made for the nursery. I think it will look great in the rocking chair!


I'm very ready to see it all put together!! Don't have much more time...
We're at 34 weeks!

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Growing Together

So cool how God worked out one of my "dreams" that I never thought would actually happen - several of my friends are pregnant with me. I always thought how cool it would be to share that with a friend(s) and then get to raise kids together, experiencing all the ups and downs of it all with someone I've shared my life with.



These girls have been through a lot with me. Melissa (end) and I had tons of beach trips together in middle and high school. Claire (middle) and I grew up throughout school together, and I had the priviledge of seeing her come to know my Savior as well as perform her marriage ceremony to one of my best friends. As the goalkeeper in high school, both of these girls were also my defensive backs, and I relied on them a ton! Claire's fiesty fearlessness and Mel's skills got me out of lots of binds!

Now we all three get to raise boys together. Me - due September 10, Claire due a week later, and Mel due about a week after that! And this doesn't even include a best friend from college who is due in November! I'm loving it! Thank you, Lord, for precious friends and babies on the way!