Yesterday, we all made a not-so-fun trip to the doctor’s office for Nathan’s two month well-child checkup. It didn’t start out well since it was right during Nathan’s nap time (and we all know how he responds when it’s nap time!). But it went WAY downhill and fast when the poor nurse came at him with a needle!

Jon met us at the doctor’s office when he got off work and called as I was driving there. “I’m so excited for this!” he says.

I had been worrying over this appointment for weeks and was barely eating most of the day because I was dreading him getting his shots so much. I went to the grocery store in the morning and stocked up the essentials (bread, milk, cereal, diapers and a cantaloupe the size of a basketball) just in case Nathan was an invalid for the next few days and we couldn’t leave the house.

I know not who I married. God has a definite sense of humor. We got to the office about the same time and Jon was all smiling, grinning at me and Nathan and I’m almost shaking as I’m putting his insurance card back in my wallet because I know I just sentenced my child to unbearable Pain and Agony.

And all Jon can talk about is being so curious about what Nathan weighs and how long he is now.

Nathan was just getting to sleep when we got called back and he woke up just in time to smile at the nurse as she was getting ready to measure him.

On the plus side, I love Nathan’s doctor. She’s just one of the sweetest ladies I’ve ever met and she’s so encouraging. Plus, she really takes the time to sit and talk to us about all of our questions.

Nathan now weighs 11 pounds, 5.5 ounces and is 24 inches long. That puts him in the 90th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for weight. No shock about the height – his 0-3 month clothes are starting to get too short (SO sad!!). It was so good to hear that he’s gaining weight and growing, though, since we had so many issues right at the beginning with the nursing!

So he got measured and weighed and our doctor came in and chatted and then the nurse came back in with the tray full of Pain and Agony.

Apparently this child has inherited his mother’s flair for the dramatic, because he was smiling and cooing on the table, the nurse poked him and he got so MAD and screamed so hard that his face turned bright purple and he stopped breathing. Meanwhile, I’m crouched over the table, cupping his head and yelling, “Breathe, Nathan! Breathe!”

He finally breathed. The millisecond the nurse finished with his shots, I ripped him up off that table and both of us just cried while I paced the floor. Jon just stood there shaking his head.

That poor, poor nurse. She left looking about ten years older than when she came in.

So, we’re preparing to raise a high maintenance, dramatic, tall, knobby-kneed child. I’m all ready for a kid who thinks they are dying whenever they get bitten by a mosquito, panics when their arms get stuck in a shirt in the dressing room and can’t see a camera without posing for it.

I know my own mother is laughing as she reads this. She claims she never wished for me to have a child like myself.

I’m not sure I believe her.

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We had a completely fun, crazy week! 🙂

This is my friend Kaitlin and her husband, Eitan. I just love these two! They live in Israel and they came in town to visit for a little while. Last week, Eitan flew back home and Kaitlin stayed at my parents’ house, so Jon, Nathan and I packed up everything we own (no joke) and headed over to Mom and Dad’s for a few days.

It was SO fun! I think Nathan is very glad to be back home (someone was a major cranky pants for a period of everyday. 🙁 I think he’s becoming a homebody), but we all had a fabulous time hanging out. Kaitlin is my Pride and Prejudice buddy, so of course we had to get it in this trip. I love our P&P nights! We’ve done these since I was in high school. We get a bag of candy (preferably Milky Ways), Starbucks and a bunch of cozy blankets and hibernate in my parents’ basement for five hours with Mr. Darcy. 🙂 Jon was a SUPER sweet husband and took Nathan for most of it – which was wonderful because then Kaitlin and I got a chance to chat just the two of us. 🙂

We got back home on Tuesday after a teary goodbye that morning. 🙁 I spent the rest of the day doing laundry (oh joyousness!). And then yesterday it POURED rain like I haven’t seen here in a long time! I had a doctor’s appointment and needed to make a Wal-Mart trip, so Nathan and I decided to brave the weather. My first time trying to get Nathan in and out of the car in the rain – and I can say this, I’m glad I don’t have to do that frequently!

I had him in the cutest outfit yesterday, so of course I had to do a little mini photo shoot! 🙂 We’re getting our real family pictures done next week, so this was kind of a warm up for the Nater Tot.

I can’t believe how big he’s getting!

Isn’t he just a little man now?

I think this is when he realized it was starting to rain. 🙂

I love, love, LOVE my life! I wish I could find that pause button and keep everything as it is right now!

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I cannot believe that our little Nater-Tot is already TWO months old! Time has just flown by and people were right – it does go MUCH faster on this side of it! I remember when I still had two months before he was due it and felt like forever. 🙂

He is getting to be so much fun! I love when he is napping because I feel like I finally am getting a few things done around the house and with my writing, but I LOVE when he is awake because he talks and laughs and squeals and it completely makes my day! I go to bed absolutely exhausted but I wouldn’t trade my life for anything right now.

His new favorite thing to do is play under his little activity gym – he loves, loves hitting the toys and he’ll just squeal and laugh at them moving around.

He’s also become a bath boy – and I think a big part of that is Bath Time is officially Daddy Time. I think he’d stay in the tub all day if we let him! He’s starting to try and splash a little bit – I have a feeling that soon we’ll all get soaking wet.

He’s always super fussy right before he goes to sleep. I’ve never seen a baby fight sleep as much as Nathan does. He fights it – kicking and screaming. The swaddle has become our new best friend. He does so good if he’s swaddled, got his paci and is being rocked. Then he’ll conk out in about ten minutes. But if one of those is missing? Sheesh.

Nathan is such a homebody. I’ve tried to be really good about getting out of the house for at least a little bit most days just so I keep my sanity (I was ALWAYS going somewhere before he was born), but he would be very content if we never left the house. He loves being home and is definitely happiest when he’s chilling on the couch with us.

He’s also really recognizing us now – he definitely knows me and Jon and he also can recognize most of my family, I think. We went to visit Auntie Cayce at her work today and he just grinned and grinned at her.

He’s started getting very snuggly, which I LOVE. In the beginning, he didn’t really get too into being rocked or held close, but now he’ll rub his little face on my shirt and cuddle in when he starts getting sleepy and just calms straight down when I rock him.

He’s getting so big way too fast – I told Jon that I can’t wait to see what God has planned for our little boy, but I really hope it’s His plan for Nathan to just stay a baby forever. 🙂

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Yesterday was a VERY special church service – my brother, Caleb, got baptized and my Dad got to be the one who baptized him.

I have to tell you, I bawled. Caleb has been a Christian for years and years but seeing him get baptized and knowing that he wants to live his life for Christ just made me so incredibly happy! Baptism services always make me emotional, but this one was so special.

Pastor Mark preached on joy in the Spirit and it really was convicting to me – are my days filled with joy because I belong to Christ? Or are my moods totally dependent on circumstances?

Lots to think about.

After church, we went with some of our sweet friends – Clint and Leigh Ann (who are twelve-weeks pregnant!!) – and my parents to lunch at a local diner that had the most amazing milkshakes (I’ve decided milkshakes are my current love language). SO fun! We had such a fantastic time. I wished Caleb and Cayce could have come too, but homework and work were calling.

Nathan’s starting to play with toys and as soon as I get it on video, I’ll post it here because it’s so fun to watch him! I love how you can see him learning right in front of your eyes. He’s also becoming quite the ham – we went and hung out at Gammy and Pops’ house yesterday and he just grinned and laughed and talked… 🙂 He’s two months old today and as soon as I get a birthday blog done about him, I’ll be sure to post it!

One of my best friends, Kaitlin, is back in town for a little bit with her husband Eitan and I’m so excited about getting to hang out with her! She got to meet Nathan for the first time a couple of days ago and she came over to see us for a bit today. Nathan slept almost the entire time she was here, which was very nice because we got a lot of girl talk in. 🙂

Now he’s chilling in his swing and I’m debating a workout – first one in probably three months! I think the thought of what I’ll feel like tomorrow is not really adding to my enthusiasm right now. 😉

Y’all have a great Monday night!

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Last weekend, our sweet friends from Colorado Springs came down to meet Nathan (and to hang out with us!). My brother Bryant also flew back in from Austin to hang out with everyone. It was SO fun – what a fabulous weekend!

The highlight of the trip? Nathan and Noah finally got to meet each other – live and in person! They’ve been exchanging text messages for awhile now. 😉

We had so much fun dressing them up and getting their pictures – there were a few meltdowns too, but for the most part they did pretty good. And I got zero – and I mean zero – pictures of any of the adults unless there was a baby with them.

We did a little shopping, ate out a few times, hung around my parents’ house and Jen, Greg, Jon and I went on another double date (I love those!).

Binky buddies. 🙂 Can we tell who stole the show?

It was also Nathan’s first time in my parents’ pool and he loved it! He actually only went in the hot tub because the pool was too cold for him being so little. So, my dad heated the hot tub up to bath water temperature and he had such a good time!

Noah was big enough to get in the pool and he was SO cute swimming around with his little floaties!

Hanging out with Dad and Uncle Bryant watching his bestest buddy 🙂 I love the diaper peeking out – his swimsuit was SO huge on him! I had to use safety pins to hold it on!

Chillin’ with their dads.

I just love these two! I can’t wait to see them grow up to be best friends! 🙂

Hope you had a wonderful, restful Labor Day weekend! Anything fun happen?

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A HUGE thank you to everyone who offered their advice and prayers for me about the mastitis! I talked to my doctor at my six-week checkup and he put me on yet another round of antibiotics just to make sure we definitely get the infection cleared up. I also bought some new undergarments 😉 and I’ve been taking lecithin and vitamin C. So far, everything seems to be working much better!

I’ve been thinking a lot (there’s not much else to do while nursing in the middle of the night unless you’re into watching infomercials…I’ve almost bought bareMinerals three times now) about how much fun God has to have orchestrating everything in our lives. And how we’re not even really aware of it until we look back and notice it.

Like how Jon decided to go to school here because of the football scholarship but got so homesick the first year he almost transferred back to California. His parents talked him into finishing it out here and we met his junior year. 🙂

Or how an ad for the Christian Writers Guild in a magazine I read got me thinking about trying to write full-time instead of just as a hobby. I took their courses, went to their conferences and Miss Match was signed a few years later.

And especially the circumstances around Nathan’s birth. When we went in for my last prenatal visit at 40 weeks and Dr. Gordon first started talking about inducing us, we tried to schedule the induction for the following Friday. It ended up because of scheduling that the only day that worked was Tuesday, July 13, which was only four days past due for me. Since I didn’t know I was in labor until we got there and the cord was wrapped around Nathan’s neck, I’m SO thankful that we ended up going in earlier as opposed to later!

I love hearing stories like this! Totally everyday, normal stuff when you are in the middle of it, but then it ends up changing your life. 🙂 What are some of the ways God has done this for you?

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to take advantage of this special one-time offer for the ab workout machine that not only tones your midsection, thighs, glutes, hamstrings and ankles, but it also has a cup holder, toaster oven and a magazine rack. 😉

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I can’t believe we’re at the magical six weeks already! Everyone told me if I can make it through the first six weeks, it’s smooth sailing from here. Yay!

I had my doctor’s appointment yesterday and everything is healing perfectly – thank you so much for your prayers! I’m so excited that I can now do everyday things like get Nathan in and out of the car in his car seat without someone – ahem, Jon – panicking about me ripping my stitches open. 😉

He takes good care of me.

And I had to share a video of our happy boy because pictures can only go so far. 😉 Anyone else out there hate the way they sound on videos? And apologies to any of you who might get motion sickness easily – I’m like the worst videographer in the world. There is a reason I’m a writer instead of working the wedding circuit.

Hope you are having a great day!

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That last one is what my lunch was like. Because, at this very minute, Nathan is sleeping in his little swing (side note to parents-to-be out there: Buy a baby swing! It’s one of the best investments we bought!), and I can type with both hands. So, I’m going to try and quickly catch up on some of the things that have happened.

Nathan turned one month old on the 13th – where did that month go??!! I cannot believe our little man is so big already! He’s starting to get really interactive – talking, squealing, cooing and reacting to us and what we do. I love it!

He’s also started holding his head up by himself – the only time we really have to support him now is when he’s really tired. He’s also outgrown most of his newborn clothes (very sad face here!) and he’s now wearing mostly 0-3 month clothes. Also, he’s got a bad case of baby acne. Tell you what – life is hard when you are spitting up, pooping out your diaper and dealing with pimples! I need to remember this next time I’m frustrated with just one whitehead on my face. 😉

Today is my brother’s 24th birthday, but we celebrated it last week because on Sunday he moved to Austin for grad school. We are all very sad and teary here. It’s only for a year and I have to keep reminding myself of that. Still. I spent a good portion of Saturday crying because we usually see him at least once a week and it will be sad not to. He’s having fun though – right now he’s in San Antonio with my great aunt and uncle at their lake house and probably by this point he’s racing around the lake on one of their Sea-Doos.

He’s just suffering right now. 😛 He had been something of a baby hog the last few weeks leading up to leaving – I looked through the pictures we took recently and most of them had Bryant carrying Nathan in them.

Jon is officially back at work teaching which means I’ve spent the last week at home with Nathan by myself. And good news! We are both still alive and relatively sane, so I think I’ve been successful so far! My mom came and watched him for an hour yesterday so I could go to the grocery store without the production of taking him and it was so weird being away! It was the first time I’ve ever left him. Weird…

Could you please be praying for me? Not to get too TMI here, but I’m on my second case of mastitis and things are just rather painful still in the whole nursing area. I’m on antibiotics again and they seem to be working, so I’m holding out hope that this time it won’t come back! Nathan is growing and gaining weight, so I’m not too concerned about him but it would be nice to not dread feeding him sometimes. 🙁

And we also had our first REAL meltdown in public, Wal-Mart to be exact. And it was Nathan’s, not mine (although, I was pretty close too!). We were waiting for my antibiotic prescription to be filled and he screamed – and I mean screamed – the whole time we waited. Those poor pharmacists were running like gold medalists trying to get my medicine finished. Every single person who was in that quadrant of the store was looking at me and saying super helpful things like, “Aw, wa ood eh ee?” which was probably, “Aw, how old is he?”, but I’ll never know because he was crying so loud right in my ear.

It just saddens me that Wal-Mart – the place I visited on a near-daily basis when I was pregnant with him – was where he decided to test his lung power. You’d think he’d be used to the soothing voice of the Wal-Mart intercom lady. But no. I’ve never been looked at by so many strangers in my life. I used to be that person who could quietly slip in and out of stores without anyone but the cashier knowing I was there. Those days are apparently over. Nathan is a boy who likes attention.

Anyways.

I hope you guys are having a good day! To those of you who are headed back to school – have an amazing first semester! I have a feeling it’s going to be a great one! 🙂

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Sort of – as I’m typing this, his eyelids keep flickering, so we’ll see how this blog goes! 🙂

Nathan is almost exactly a month old and I feel like this month has been one of the fastest and slowest months of my whole life. Fast, because I can’t believe we’ve had him that long! And it seems very slow when nursing is painful or when he is being extra fussy.

For the most part, he does pretty good. He gets fussy when he’s tired – which is usually about an hour after he finishes eating. That hour in between though is SO fun! He’s starting to get very interactive and I just love watching him smile and squeal and kick his little legs around!

I thought I’d catch up on a few things that happened! Two weeks ago, Jon’s parents and grandparents came in town to meet Nathan. It was the first time his grandparents have been here since we bought our house and got Kody, so it was fun showing them our little life! Also, Nathan has now been to two softball games to cheer for his daddy – isn’t the outfit he’s wearing just adorable? I need to get a picture of both boys in their pinstripes. 🙂

Here’s when everyone got to see him for the first time – I love this picture!

Jon, Nonnie and Nathan 🙂

Today is Jon’s last day off before teaching begins again and to be honest, I’m a little nervous about what it will be like to be home with Nathan by myself. Jon is such a big help – it will be hard to not have him here! I think I might be calling Nathan’s Gammy to see if she wants to come hang out. After all, just look at him – he wears himself out, so you know he is exhausting for me! 🙂

What have you been up to this summer? I feel like I’ve missed most of it – any fun trips happen? 🙂

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First off, I recognize that it has been forever since I last wrote and I’m SO sorry! It has been hard to tear my eyes off my beautiful son to work on a blog. Plus, someone likes to eat about every three hours (for about an hour) and I haven’t quite mastered the art of one-handed typing.

But he’s so cute that I have a hard time focusing on anything but him anyway.

The last almost three weeks have been the best, happiest, craziest, sleepiest, most overwhelming and amazing weeks of my whole life! So here’s what I’ve learned about Nathan, motherhood and myself in the last few weeks:

* I absolutely LOVE watching Nathan wake up! He stretches and yawns and balls up his little feet and it’s the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.

* I love, love the feeling when he is crying so hard and I pick him up and he immediately settles down and just looks at me and then falls asleep. It is just the best feeling in the world!

* Breastfeeding is a lot harder than I ever thought it would be. My milk didn’t come in as quickly as it should have and I think a big part of that is because we had to supplement for a little bit in the hospital since he was jaundice, and then afterward because my supply was so low. I worked SO hard to get the milk in and it is SO worth it now – despite the pain (not to get too personal here!).

* I’m way more possessive of him than I ever thought I would be. It’s the hardest thing in the world sometimes to watch someone else hold him or touch him (and sheesh – if I don’t even know you, then definitely get your hands off my child!). I’ve become extremely protective of him.

* He makes the sweetest noises in the world – I love his little moans and when he gets all happy and excited after he’s eaten.

* I always knew that Jon would make a great father, but seeing him as a father just completely warms my heart! He’s changed diapers, cleaned up spit up, calmed a screaming baby at 4:30 in the morning and has become the Master of the Swaddle.

* I never knew how little sleep I could survive on! Nathan is such a good baby and he’ll go about four hours at night before needing to eat, but then he’s up for a couple of hours. Some days I’ll get a nap, but the majority of the time, once I’m up in the morning, I’m up for good.

* Changing a boy’s diaper is a lot more challenging than I ever thought it was – it took about three times of getting hit by a fountain before I finally figured out that a strategically placed wipe prevented an entire load of laundry. 😉

* Germs are EVERYWHERE! I have never been so aware of bacteria and I’ve always been a very clean person. Now though, everything is sanitized like nothing else.

* Learning to let go and let other people do things while I’m still recuperating is so hard for me – In the first couple of days after we got home from the hospital my parents came over and watched Nathan for a few hours a day to give Jon and I a chance to sleep. It’s hard for me to not be a hostess (but after waking up from a three hour nap, I never loved my parents more!).

* I appreciate my mom more than I ever have in my whole life now that I know what moms go through in the very beginning.

* I’ve decided that Nathan can get old enough to sleep through the night and then he can’t get any older. I’m going to be that mom who is sobbing when he goes to kindergarten someday.

* I never knew how time consuming babies are! By the time I get him fed (which takes an hour), we get him changed, and I eat, shower or get the house sort of straightened up, it’s time to feed him again and start the process all over. Getting anywhere on time has become a miracle in and of itself – and half the time getting somewhere on time involves no makeup for me.

So forgive me if I don’t blog quite as often anymore! I’m hoping that we’ll get into a routine soon and I’ll be able to find the time (and energy!) to write more. 🙂

Hope you guys are having a great summer!

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