A "great-great" day!

Today we had a really neat experience -- Christopher got to meet his great-great-grandmother.
I have no living grandparents; my grandfathers passed away when I was just a little girl, and my grandmothers died when I was 12 & 16. My great-grandparents were not living when I was born... so I think it is really neat that my son was able to have pictures made with a GREAT-GREAT-grandparent, even if it wasn't on my side of the family. He is such a blessed little baby to have so many different kinds of grandparents here to spoil him. (My parents and Stephen's mom are here in Mena with him; Stephen's biological father and his wife are in Utah, [who Christopher can't wait to meet!] Stephen's maternal grandfather and his wife are in Tulsa; Stephen's paternal grandparents are in Oregon; and Stephen's great-grandmother, of course, is here in Mena.)

Here is Christopher, Stephen, Stephen's mom, (Deanna) and her grandmother, Virginia.
Deanna's mom passed away several years ago, so unfortunately all 5 generations are not in this picture, but there is still a 5 generation gap here.


All of us...


She was so excited to meet her great-great-grandson!


I forgot to mention -- Christopher took his first nap in his crib yesterday!
(He has been sleeping in a bassinet right outside our bedroom. He is still sleeping there at night, but I think I am going to transition him to his crib before I go back to work. In two weeks... *sigh.*)


Ok... did anybody else watch The Biggest Loser tonight? I won't say too much, in case you've DVR'd it and haven't watched it yet -- but OH MY GOODNESS!
(1) Tracy is crazy, crazy, crazy.
(2) I CRIED MY EYES OUT
(3) Of course, I cry every time I watch this show...

I need help!

So... question.

Can anybody tell me how to upload more than FOUR pictures to a blogger post via Picasa? I have so many cute pictures of our afternoon (we went out on the front porch - it was a gorgeous fall day- and played fetch with Baxter) but I can only upload four pictures through Picasa. I could upload them through blogger -- but it's so much easier through Picasa because I can put the pictures in the order I want them to be in... etc etc etc. Help, please?

(But just so you know how cute my boys are - here's what I could upload...)

(Christopher decided he was tired of playing ball at this point. Ha! Needless to say, Christopher won, and we came inside.)

AND.... last but not least, a video.

Photo Shoot

So, the other day I decided that Christopher and I needed to have a little photo shoot.
(I am needing a (few?) good picture(s) of him to send out as a birth announcement.)
Here are a few of my favorites.
(Not including the two pictures in the new banners at the top of my blog.)
Do you have a favorite?

I had trouble getting him to actually look at the camera. I was wearing a tie-dyed shirt that day, and he just kept staring at it instead of looking at the camera!

We have had a great weekend! Stephen was home with us Friday and Saturday, then today we went to chuch with my mom and dad and hung out with them for the afternoon. Now we are just lounging around!

Not really much else to report right now!

(Let me know which picture(s) you like best between the two in the header and the four in this post!)

Afro-Man

LOOK AT THIS CURLY HAIR!!!

These were taken after he had a bath the other night, while it was still wet. Isn't it adorable? I knew he'd have Momma's curly hair!

quick post and pics!

I can hear my little man starting to wake up as I start this post, so it's going to be quick!

Stephen and I had a good anniversary yesterday. Stephen's mom (Nana) gladly accepted the task of watching Christopher for us while we went to dinner together. I was a completel WRECK before we left, but I managed to make it through dinner just fine. Go me!
We shared a piece of wedding cake when we got home -- and it was still good! I totally expected it to be freezer burned and gross. (It was a spice cake with Bavarian creme filling and buttercreme icing. Yum!) I have been munching on it today, too. (Because cake and icing is good for nursing mothers, right?)

I have been off work for nine weeks, and go back in THREE weeks now. I am SO glad that I am only going to be working part time, beause I am going to miss this little guy SO SO SO much. Here are some pics from a few nights ago when we made a pallet in the floor. He's such a sweetie!

And lastly -- this thing is my new best friend. I LOVE holding my son and would cuddle with him all day, but there are times when I need to put him down and get stuff done around the house. (Or take a potty break! Ha!) Plus, I really don't want him to be completely spoiled and want to be held nonstop. We just got it this week -- it's a Boppy Bouncer, and C loves it, especially when he's getting sleepy. He will usually take a short nap in it.

09/21/2008 - 09/21/2009

Sooo - it's been ONE YEAR since the hubby and I did this...

It is SO hard to believe that a whole year has passed by already. It's been a great year -- hard, but still great! We had a beautiful, wonderful wedding (my Mom is freakin' awesome) and, with the exception of the day our son was born last month, it was the best day of my life!

My three best friends stood by my side at our wedding - my best friend from high school, Jessica, my brother, and his fiance, Britney. I was SO honored to have the three of them stand up there with me, and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I let the girls pick out their own dresses, and it ended up looking great with Ty's brown slacks and red tie.

Stephen's attendants were his friends John and Damon, and his brother, Jim. We were a handsome bunch of people!

I think Stephen and I are going to celebrate by going to a (very quick) dinner together and leaving the little man with one of his grandmas! (I'm sure I can get one of them to watch him!) Then we'll come home, watch a movie, snuggle with our boy, and eat the top layer of our (probably freezer burned) beautiful wedding cake. Have a great evening, everybody!

One Month Old!

Christopher -- you are ONE MONTH OLD TODAY!

• You are a WONDERFUL BABY!
• Your 4 week weight was 11 pounds, 1 ounce
• You measured 22.25 inches long
• You sleep 8 to 9 hours STRAIGHT most nights
• You nap 2 to 3 times during the day, usually for 1-2 hours
• You are a WONDERFUL traveler!
• You nurse a LOT during the day, probably because you sleep so much at night!
• You have smiled at me several times now, and I know it's not just gas!
• You love to pee AND poop on us (usually Dad, though!) when we are changing your diaper! The timing is hilarious!
• Your Daddy and I love you more than you could ever imagine!
  
  
  

rain, rain, go away!

I was totally planning on blogging sooner than this, but my laptop has been messed up. I finally gave up on trying to get it to work, and am typing this on Stephen's desktop, but was too lazy to transfer my pictures. So, sorry but no pictures of the cutie-pie on this post!

Christopher had his 4 week appointment today and he is a healthy boy! I'll post his stats on Friday when I post his ONE MONTH updates and picture. (Cannot believe it was 4 weeks ago yesterday that he was born!) He is the best baby ever - I'll write all about his wonderful ways on Friday.

I have LESS THAN four weeks of maternity leave left and I am already starting to get anxious about it. I am really enjoying my time at home with him and would give anything if I could be a FULL-TIME stay at home Mom, but I know we just can't do that right now. Maybe in the future it will be a possibility. I know he will be in GREAT hands while I'm at work though -- my mom is going to be keeping him, which is a HUGE blessing. I won't have to worry about his care and I know he will be in safe hands!

Has anybody heard of the new CMT show, The Singing Bee? I caught a few episodes of it one night at midnight (and was up till 2 watching it!) and I love it! It's like a country version of "Don't Forget the Lyrics." Basically you compete with 6 other people to see who knows the most lyrics to (mostly country) songs, and the winner gets $10,000. And guess who filled out an application to audition as a contestant on the show? That's right... yours truly! Ha! Am I totally crazy?!? Thank goodness the headline of the show is "You don't have to sing it well, you just have to sing it right," 'cause I got no voice. But I can memorize lyrics like you wouldn't believe!

It's been raining for what seems like months, but it's actually been more like a week. We are S.I.C.K. of it. Where'd that beautiful fall weather go? We (and the dogs) are sick of being stuck inside all day long. We're ready for crisp, cool walking weather!

It's 1 in the morning and I should really fold the clothes I washed earlier, empty the dishwasher, and pick up the house -- but I think I'm just gonna brush my teeth and go to bed. =)

freakin' adorable

Christopher makes the cutest noises when he's sleeping. Here's a video I took with my phone. (Hence the crappy quality -- sorry! It's still as precious as can be!)

A real post will be coming soon!

things that make me sad

**I put Christopher in this cute sleeper outfit today and realized it was too small. It's a size Newborn, and he is too long and his feet are too big for it. (The picture below was taken one of his first days home.) Most of his NB onsies are getting too small, but he has officially outgrown the NB sleepers.

**I also noticed that his pacifier looked like it was getting too small for his mouth. (It was a size 0+) So, I broke out the 2months+ size paci, and it looks a lot better. HE JUST TURNED 3 WEEKS YESTERDAY!

**He is wearing size 1 diapers now (and has been for about a week.) No more newborns. (However, it does make me happy that I have about 5 packages of NB diapers that I get to take back to Walmart!)

**I have 5 weeks of maternity left. =( It's over halfway finished.

i stink at titles. i shouldn't even try.

Christopher and Mommy's first day home alone went really well! I had hoped to go to church this morning - I even dressed had Christopher ready, but I didn't have enough time to get myself ready. Maybe next week!

We didn't really do much -- slept til 9:45 (this is something I am SO grateful for - Christopher took after his Daddy and likes to sleep and sleep in. He sleeps so well for a newborn!) nursed, watched TV, pooped! I think I changed FOUR poopy diapers in the first hour and a half that he was awake! He didn't sleep much today, so we pretty much just hung out in front of the tube all day! It's wonderful. =) Actually, it would have been nice if he'd taken a nap while Stephen was at work so that I could do some housework -- but he sleeps so well at night, I wouldn't trade it for anything! The thing is, he has been sleeping 6 to 8 hours straight at night, without eating... so when he's awake during the day, he nurses about every hour or hour and a half. It makes it hard to get anything else done, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Wanna know a little Christopher trivia???

**When he was born, he weighed 9 pounds 13 ounces and was 21 inches long. At his two week appointment last Wednesday, he weighed 9 pounds, 14 ounces, and measured 22 inches long. This was great because he lost alot of weight his first week outta the womb. I think he lost so much because of my high blood pressure, C-section, multiple medications, etc, and it took awhile for us to both get over the trauma.

**Like I mentioned earlier, he's a sleeper. The first night home was the worst and hardest, (after being up pretty much all night, I called my mom at 8am to come over and relieve Stephen and me so that we could get a few hours sleep - long story, but I'll tell it eventually) then the next few nights he got up about every 3 hours, then about a week ago he started sleeping anywhere between 6 and 8 hours at a time! Some nights he might wake up fussy needing a diaper change or wanting a paci, but he falls right back asleep. We LOVE this about him and hope it is a constant thing, especially after I go back to work.

**He can't stand to be dirty! He gets super fussy if he has a dirty diaper and will cry and scream while you're changing him, but as soon as he has a clean diaper he's happy as a lark!

**He has a wonderful sense of timing when it comes to Daddy changing his diaper! He's peed and pooped on all of us - Stephen, me, and my mom - but Stephen holds the record... It seems like every single time Stephen changes Christopher's diaper, he ends up going through 2 or 3 diapers and at least 1 change of clothes. Take today for example - Mommy managed to change his diapers all.day.long. without changing him out of his cute Calvin Klein onesie... but the SECOND diaper Daddy went to change, and I hear, "...Guess who just peed on himself!?!?"

**He's spoiled rotten and loves to be held. I blame Aunt B and Granny!

**He hates baths in his baby bathtub, but LOVES showers with me. He practically falls asleep in my arms. We started this whole "showering with Mommy" business because he had a leaky diaper one time when I was nursing him and I just decided it would be easiest if we took a shower at the same time. He loved it and didn't cry and scream, so it's become a normal routine. And yes, I am EXTREMELY CAREFUL with him.

I love this little onesie, and it's a newborn so it won't last much longer. It says "I still live with my parents" and I bought it last year before I was ever pregnant with him. It was at Walmart and I thought it was adorable!


This is his CK onesie that he was going to wear to church today!

And here is a picture of Christopher and Daddy... it's hard to tell, but can you see how he has his legs pulled up under his tummy? He loves tummy time and he always hikes his legs up like this -- I'm convinced it's because he was all folded up like this when I was pregnant with him!

Okay... I look ROUGH in this next picture, but it's me and my boys and THEY look cute and that's all that really matters. I'm supposed to be taking it easy still! Oh, and please ignore the laundry on the back of my couch, I forgot to photoshop it out. Thankyouverymuch.

Baxter is still not really sure what to think of Christopher, but at least he has gotten over his initial FEAR of him. He's pretty much just super jealous all of the time. We're working on it. Isn't he cute in this next picture?

I know...

I'm a horrible blogger and I should have all blogging rights taken away from me, I know.

I don't even have an excuse as to why I'm not updating daily with pictures of my cutie-patootie son and stories about life with a newborn.

Seriously, it's not like I do anything else all day long.

The last two weeks have been full of nothin' but me and the hubs chillin' in front of the TV, taking turns holding our precious little bundle of joy. And yelling at Zoe (our yorkie) to leave him alone!

The laptop is right next to me -- all I have to do is pick it up and type.

I promise a good post tomorrow (actually, I should say later today -- I'll shoot for sometime before midnight) with lots of pictures, stats, and stories.

However, I have LOVED doing nothing and sitting around with my husband. He has made lunches and dinners, brought me drinks, snacks, and changed more than his share of diapers. He has gotten up with Christopher in the middle of the night more than I have. Seriously not joking here, people. He gets up if he hears Christopher fussing and checks on him -- gives him a paci, changes his diaper, whatever is needed, and wakes me up only if Christopher is hungry and needs to nurse. It's allowed me to get 6 straight hours of sleep several nights in a row, and I know that it helped me through the Baby Blues and to recover from my C-section.

Unfortunately, Stephen goes back to work tomorrow. Boo. I'm sad. He's sad. Christopher's sad. We have loved having Daddy here to help take care of us -- but starting tomorrow, it's just Christopher and Mommy! We'll see how it goes... but I KNOW we are going to be happy to see Daddy walk through the door at 4:15!!