A list

I am going to list off things that come to my head about Whit bc I will never catch up or be able to remember the past if I dont do it this way :)

-Whit started sleeping through the night at 11 weeks. I worked so hard to try and get him on a schedule before I returned to work and he did it! I was so proud of him!!

-He smiles all the time and is for the most part a happy baby.

-He loves to be outside in the fresh air.

-He is a little whiney but just whiney never really screaming.

-He always smiles at me as soon as I get him out of the bed and that is the most precious time of day to me.

Just wakin' up- good stretches

-He hated his bath for the first 6 weeks but now it is one of our favorite times of day

-He eats really well. 4 oz at around 7 weeks, 8 oz at 12 weeks. We started rice cereal in his night bottle at 6 weeks. At 7 weeks it became rice/formula to hold him over longer

-Enjoy sitting in my bumbo seat so I can see everything

-He loves walks in his stroller

- He was an every 3 hours eater for a while but when we started rice in his bottle he slept 5 hours at night! I thought it was a miracle! He quickly progressed and I would have to get up only around midnight and 3:30. We moved to once a night probably around 9 weeks.

Sick

*** just to point out, this is where we start current and this was this week***
they say that when you are a mom somehow you just keep on truckin'. i am now a firm believer in that. nate woke up tuesday morning about 4am with the stomach bug. gross! around 6:45 i grabbed whit out of the crib threw his stuff in my car and went to meet my mom so she could keep him at her house. i made it to work by 7:30! all day i kept thinking i did not feel well but i thought maybe it was just bc i was thinking about nate being sick. well about 3:30 i just felt terrible so i went home. mom brought whit over about 5 pm bc i was thinking it would be no big deal. ya'll i felt horrible! my whole body ached and i was so nauseated. nate was still sick so he couldn't help. luckily i never threw up but that is totally typical of my body. so i was struggling trying to keep little man happy and not fall over. the only solution i could think of was a bath so i got in the tub then i put his whale tub horizontal and he got in his tub. so there we sat in the bath for about 45 min. i got him to bed about 6:45 pm and put myself down at 7:45 pm. i have never felt bad enough to go to bed so early, not even when i came home with whit!

the fun part was trying to figure out what to do with whit wednesday. luckily nate's aunt saved the day and had him at her house til about 1:30 wednesday. i felt a million times better and only a little queasy so we made it. nate is still on the mend but hopefully headed in the right direction.

somehow i managed to stay mom and feel terrible at the same time. Lord, thank you for giving us moms superpower when it is needed :)

Back to work

I started back to work Feb 14th (happy valentines day, right?). It is not an easy task at all. When I am at work I am trying to focus on my work here and not think about Whit at home. I am lucky to have help from my mom and a nanny. I have been truely burdened though with the fact that raising Whit has eternal value and sitting looking at a computer screen does not. This is where my heart is being tugged. I did not really start having this feeling until I started back at work. Of course I was dreading it but I did not really have this heart feeling like I have now. It just seems pointless for me to be sitting at a desk while someone else is at home talking to and playing with my baby. I need to teach him, I need to learn about him, I need to love on him and I need to prepare him. Obviously this is just where my heart is but unfortunately a job brings me something else that is a necessity right now so I am here for now.

Just to add some happiness to all the words :)

First trip to the farm...

Just to clarify for you.... the farm is where my mother in law (aka DeeDee) grew up. It is in the middle of nowhere and we LOVE it! We are blessed to have a lot of gorgeous land to enjoy and a wonderful home to stay in. It is a very special place because it is where DeeDee's family is from. Her daddy, Whit, is also who baby Whit is named after. Nate respected and loved Grandaddy Whit a lot and he cannot wait to show Whit his grandaddys farm. The farm is where we go to relax and enjoy God's creation. So all that said....

We planned a trip to the farm with a few friends. I decided that I would go early in the day so Whit would be easy and I could get him to bed at his normal time. So I had everything together, so proud of myself, by 11 am. I fed him, walked out the door to go to Pub for a prescription and was planning on being out at 11:45. Well 30 min later I have my prescription. Then we head to Nate's office to drop off something. In the meantime I realize we need gas too. So after all our errands we get on the road at 1 pm! I am so frustrated at this point bc now I am going to have to stop to feed him. Well it basically monsoons on me the whole way so I am going 10 mph under the speed limit, Whit is crying and I can't reach back in the backseat bc I am trying to focus in the rain. In Troy I decided to stop at the Hampton Inn lobby to feed him. I get him out of the car we go in, I take him out of his seat and he is soaking wet and covered in poop! I am dying! I run to the bathroom to change him on ly to realize I forgot his changing pad so I put down a blanket to change him on. He is SCREAMING! I get new clothes on him and we are back ready to eat. I feed him, put him back in the carseat and decide I might as well pump now that I am off schedule anyways. We finally arrive at the farm 4 hours later! It was quite an experience and I opened a beer as soon as I walked in the door :)

The rest of the weekend was wonderful! Whit slept pretty good and we enjoyed our friends! We had a lot of visitors to meet Mr. Whit and we got to hear many stories about Grandaddy Whit which was so fun!

 first ride on the 4 wheeler- i love this!



 the way of transportation to the pond

already enjoying this wonderful place with mommy

Our First Trip

For New Years my family decided to go to the beach. Whit and I went down with my parents on Wednesday and Nate came Thursday night. I was so proud of Whit. We planned the trip around his feedings so we jumped in the car right after he ate and then he ate again at Bates when we stopped for lunch. He made it almost the whole way without making a sound! He slept great in his pack and play too. It was so much fun to be there with my family and just to relax. Whit loved the screened porch and the fresh beach air!



Christmas

I love Christmas so much and I love our family traditions. I was a little worried that Whit would mess up those traditions but of course he didn't! We dressed him in the Christmas gown his Deedee made him and went to the Christmas Eve service. He didn't make a sound. Then to continue our traditions we headed to Cookie and Docs house for dinner and to spend the night. It is a tradition that we all stay at my parents house for Christmas Eve. I really do not know when I will get too old for that. I love this tradition! Oh and did I mention we wear matching pjs :)

When Whit woke up for his morning bottle Doc came and got him so I could sleep a little more and also bc I was not allowed to go downstairs without everyone! Then we enjoyed gifts, cider and SNOW!

Looking at the snow

It actually snowed on Christmas for once. Whit is a lucky boy to have his first Christmas be a white one! Whit got a rocking tiger, his first set of golf clubs, a Sophie giraffe, pj's, his first pair of Carhartt overalls for the farm and some books! We had a delicious brunch like we always do and relaxed all afternoon at their house.

Christmas night we enjoyed a delicious dinner at my aunt and uncle's house. Whit did pretty good this night too!

Christmas Dinner at my aunt and uncles

It was a wonderful first Christmas for Whit and I cannot wait for all the years to come!

The days after...

Our first night home was a nightmare. Neither of us slept at all. Nate got in the bed at 5 am and slept til I woke him up to go to Thanksgiving. After that night things got better :)

Our days were sweet and nights managable. Whit slept in the swing a lot. My mom would come over around 11 every day and leave around 3. I was not very good at napping but somehow I managed. I was so worried at first bc all he did was sleep. I was trying so hard to get him to be awake and it just would not work. He really was not a bad crier so I was lucky. I was really bad at staying still and being at home all the time so we would get out when we could. Nate got the flu when Whit was 2 weeks old. I was so scared he was going to get it so Nate went to his parents house. Then Whit and I moved in with my parents for a night or 2. Luckily we all made it through that!

The days came and went and we all survived those first few weeks! Below are a few pictures from the early weeks...

 1 week old

Just like daddy from the beginning

Thanksgiving

we were able to go home from the hospital on wednesday the 24th. We were so glad to get home! the first night was terrible and we all basically were up the whole night! but thursday was thanksgiving and we were so thankful for our little blessing! we made it to my parents house to celebrate with everyone. we did not want to miss all the wonderful food! it was very nice to have some help for a few hours. i had my first breakdown as we were about to leave my parents. the exhaustion and hormones finally kicked in :) i have no pictures bc it was all a blur!

Whit's Birth Day

we went to the hospital sunday night around 7:30pm. we were lucky to be in a corner room that night far away from the nurses station so it was nice and quiet. jodie got there about 9 to put in the ez- cath. nate and i both took a sleeping pill hoping to sleep so we would be rested for monday. they came and got me about 5:30 am to change rooms. about 6:30am they broke my water. i was about 3cm at that time. i was not in pain at all and we just were relaxing in the room. i had a great nurse, jennifer, that was ready to help me all day! about 10:30 i decided to go ahead and get my epidural. the contractions were not terrible but the epidural was definitely better :) i was glad to not feel anything but i hated not being able to feel my legs. my sisters and mom came around 11. i was about 5 cm around 11:30. at this point i was thinking it would not be too long, oh i was so wrong. nate was going crazy in the hospital and we still were only half way! so basically we just all hung out and waited :) every time i was checked nothing had really changed. i was getting really discouraged and just knew i was going to have to have a c-section. about 4:30 (as we were watching oprah's favorite things) they checked again. NOTHING! jennifer told me to mentally start thinking c-section. well i lost it! i was so sad that i had been waiting all day and it was coming down to this. nate was so sweet and supportive.



jennifer said lets try all these weird positions and see what happens :) so jodie (my doctor) came in about 5:30 and we had made progress!!! she asked what i wanted to do and i couldn't decide so we said lets wait one more hour and then decide. she came in about 6:45 pm and said i was ready to push! it was a miracle! i seriously could not believe it. nate's mom had left to get jim so we called and said hurry back! my family was still there waiting :) we started pushing about 7 pm. all the nurses were wonderful and so helpful. nate was so great and stood there rubbing my arm the whole time(with his back to my lower half :) ) jodie came in and told me she had an emergency c-section, that my dad was just going to help her with since he was there, and i had to stop pushing (ha!) or hurry. i was so glad she was in there for a while bc it helped a lot! dad kept buzzing in telling her to hurry :) whit made his debut at 8:24 pm. at first he was not breathing which gave nate a heart attack. i did not even know what was going on. luckily he was fine and came out weighing 7 lbs 14 oz and 21 in long! such a healthy little one! i was not allowed to hold him at first but it worked out fine so everyone could come see him on the warmer. it was a wonderful night! we sent him to the nursery about 11 pm. what a day! we love our precious whit!





The week before...

the week before whit was due to arrive (november 24th) i went to my appointment. they checked me and i was right where i had been the past week, which was about 75% effaced and 1 cm. i was extremely disappointed and stressed because i was scheduled to be induced monday the 22nd. basically jodie(my doctor) told me it was up to me. my dad(and obgyn) really did not want me to do it because he said it would increase the probability for me to have to have a c-section. it was a long week.... i was so upset and just could not get over it. i prayed about this and so did all my wonderful friends. i went back to the office friday the 19th and i had progressed to 2 cm and 100% effaced. jodie told me that it was a HUGE difference and she was totally fine going ahead with the scheduled induction. my prayers were answered and i was ready for monday. nate and i went to dinner at bottega cafe friday night to have a last date with each other!

leaving to head to the hospital

** BTW- these posts may be really boring for most but i need to remember the details :)

Here we go...

i decided that i needed to blog so that i remember what goes on with my life since i will not be able to remember anything from now on (or so everyone says once you have kids) so i am going to start with the week prior to whit being born. that is where it really all began anyway, well i guess it really started august 11, 2007. nate and i began this journey together and it has been a fun one so far!

** disclaimer: i am a terrible writer and have absolutely no idea about grammar so please do not judge my use of commas or any other grammatical errors made. just wanted to put that out there from the beginning