Silly Monkey

The Glasgow family comes over to our house every Monday night. Cade and Cole normally spend their time showing us new karate moves, working out with Joey's exercise equipment, or showing us what Cade learned in P.E. that day. This past Monday night, Cade showed us how to do the cha-cha slide--hilarious! They are usually not very interested in Andrew. Cole will sometimes bring toys over for him to play with, such as cars, and then quickly realizes that Andrew is once again too little to play. Last Monday, we told the boys to watch Andrew while the grown ups ate. Of course, we were right there with them, but they took their job very seriously!

Cade doesn't really like to touch Andrew yet. Cole always give him a good bye kiss, though.

This week, Andrew and I have continued to work on his tummy time. We also work on strengthening his vision by tracking objects. We also count to 5 several times a day, sing the alphabet, and our favorite praise songs. Joey works on the Alabama fight song with him each night--I'm not kidding. The newest addition to our routine is picking up and shaking his toys. Here he is with his leaf rattle.

Happy Birthday, Grandmommy!

Today is my mom's birthday! Andrew and his cousin, John Marshall sent her a dozen pink roses at work. Her co-workers decorated her desk in black and took her out to lunch. Susan and I have thought about something very weird. We have talked before about how much we love Mama and that we are now the mama to our little boys. It's strange to think that Andrew will one day love me as much as I love my mama. If there is one thing in this world that I know for sure, it is that my mom loves me more than anything else. It is my goal for Andrew to know that about me one day. I love you, Myom!

Family Pictures

I mentioned in an earlier post that we had pictures made for my mom's birthday. Andrew was only 13 days old.

6 weeks

Andrew is 6 weeks old today. He weighs 11 pounds and 7 ounces! He no longer fits in any of his newborn clothes, and we are going to have to remove the newborn insert from his carseat. He is really growing up! I think that he hit his 6 week growth spurt because he was a little fussy today and constantly hungry. My boys enjoyed the Alabama football game on Saturday.

My parents came over to watch the game with us, too. Since Andrew's birth, my mom and sister have alternated bringing us food on the weekends. Mama brought us groceries for the week and cooked us a few meals, too. Joey's family brings us food on Monday nights as well. I don't know how I would make it without all of the food. When I am home alone with Andrew during the week, it is wonderful to have food ready to just pull out and eat.

Finally, I got a picture that really shows how well Andrew is able to hold his head up. Look at my strong man!

Joey always lets me sleep late on the weekends. I tell him that he has worked all week, and that he should be the one to sleep late. He is quick to tell me that what I do all week is hard work, too. If there are any male readers of this blog (which I don't think there are), take note! I love that I have a husband who understands that being a stay at home mom is hard work. He always gives me breaks, helps around the house and shows his appreciation for what I do. Anyway, I slept late and he was up with Andrew. During this time, ANDREW SMILED. I can't believe that I missed it, but I'm glad that Joey got to see it. I have thought a couple of times that he has smiled at me, but it always seemed to be because of a reflex rather than true happiness. Joey said that it was absolutely a smile this morning. I tried the rest of the day to get him to smile again, but I could not...maybe tomorrow!

Andrew-isms

I looked back at these pictures today of Susan and me meeting our sons. Despite the exhaustion (Susan more than me--she had a natural birth!), dirty hair and lack of make-up, these pictures are beautiful to me with several similarities. People say that you will immediately fall in love with your child-true, that you will feel such a sense of relief the first time that you hold him-true, and above all you will feel an overwhelming feeling of gratitude to Jesus-true! However, I realize now that in that moment, Andrew was really a stranger to me. I knew nothing about him except that I loved him. Now, as I spend every moment with him, it is fun to watch him develop as his own little person. At almost six weeks, here are his top 5 likes and dislikes. We'll start with the bad first.

DISLIKES:

1. Topping the list...tummy time! He despises it. He is getting better, though so it is not as bad as it was in the beginning. Here he is last taking a break from working out those neck muscles!

2. Diaper changes

3. Having to wait even one second for food when he is hungry

4. When his pacifier falls out of his mouth

5. Car rides-This was initially a "like" the first couple of weeks, but lately he really does not enjoy being the car. I really hope it changes.

And now for the LIKES:
1. His swing

2. Stretching-He can literally stretch for 10 minutes. He will stretch his arms, legs, back and then start the process over again.

3. Baths (thank goodness)

4. Sleeping with an arm behind his head

5. Being snuggled up with his face in my neck or laying face down on Joey's chest

At 5 weeks, he is supposed to begin smiling. We have not seen it yet. I do everything that I can think of to make him smile, but I think he just thinks that I have lost my mind. Occasionally, he will raise an eyebrow at me but no smile. Hopefully, it's coming soon!

Baby Jack

One of my best friends, Christin had a baby boy (Jack) in July. We met in college, joined the same sorority, lived in the same apartment complex for a year, and taught kindergarten at Buhl together as well. She is a wonderful friend, and it was so much fun to be pregnant together. The day that I called her to tell her that I was pregnant, she said "Congratulations...me too!" Here we are in May with very pregnant bellies! Today, our boys met for the first time. While they both slept for most of their "play date," they did hang out a little bit. They were holding hands, but I couldn't grab my camera in time to take a picture of them.

Look at Jack's sweet smile!

Growing Boy

Our little boy is growing so quickly. He now weighs 11 pounds! His newborn clothes do not fit him anymore. This makes me so sad. There are several outfits that I loved seeing him wear and I will miss him being in them-mainly all of his dinosaur outfits. Joey's friend from work gave him four onesies with dinosaurs on them. He basically lived in these for the first couple of weeks. I can't believe that I won't see him in them anymore. Would it be weird to frame them in my house?

Andrew is also able to do a lot more now. He picked up his hairbrush last night and started to shake it. He also works a lot on lifting his head. While my boys were watching the Alabama game on Saturday, he lifted his head for a good 30 seconds. It was long enough for me to grab my camera and take this picture of him. It is kind of hard to see in the picture, but he is completely supporting his head here. I know it looks like his chin is on Joey's shirt, but it was not.

We are not on a sleeping schedule, but he is a great (and really cute) sleeper. We have really only had 1 "bad" night since he was born.

We have been very blessed with friends and family members bringing us food and coming over for visits. Here is our children's minister from church, Lynne. She brought us a delicious dinner (with a homeade apple pie) and snuggled with Andrew. Thanks, Lynne! Notice Ralph in the background:)

Three years ago today, Joey proposed! That seems like forever ago. In the past 3 years, we have planned a wedding, gotten married, honeymooned in Antigua, vacationed in Italy, sold a house, bought a house, and had a baby! Marriage is wonderful, but I am quite certain that Joey's heart now belongs to someone else:)

1 month

Andrew is one month old today! Part of me feels like the month went by quickly, and part of me feels like we have had him forever. This month has been wonderful and hard all at the same time. I feel like Joey and I are just now starting to figure out what we are doing, establish some routines, and gain confidence in our ability to take care of him. Honestly, neither of us had much experience with babies before having Andrew so we have learned a lot! My body is beginning to adjust to less sleep and the demands of breastfeeding. Physically, I am feeling like my old self again which is allowing me to enjoy motherhood.

We are going to take a monthly picture of Andrew like the one below. Joey and I had a small disagreement (and I am pretty sure that he was right) about his weight. Our scale said 10.75 pounds. I was reading that to mean that Andrew was 10 pounds, 7 ounces. Joey said it was 10 pounds and 3/4 of a pound, which is about 12 ounces. Looking at it again, I think he is right. Regardless, we weigh him with the same scale each time so we are just looking for growth. We will compare our weight to what the pediatrician says at his next appointment.

We have gotten our bedtime routine down pat! Each night, Joey completely handles getting Andrew to bed. He starts "bedtime" around 8:30 each night. He normally has Andrew asleep by around 9:00. While he is doing this, I sanitze pump parts and bottles, clean the kitchen, do some laundry, or take a bath and relax. Joey and I both thought it was important for him to be in charge of bedtime so that they get some quality alone time together each day. Once Andrew is in bed, Joey and I will spend about 30 minutes together watching television or talking in our room. Because Joey has to get up so early each morning, I am in charge of all of the feedings (which there are normally only 2) throughout the night. I would have to get up to pump anyway, so it really works for us. Here are my boys starting their bedtime routine by reading Andrew's kitten book.

Speaking of kittens...

Cousins

I did not have any cousins growing up, so I am very excited that Andrew already has 3! Here he is with John Marshall before we had family pictures made. I love John Marshall's smile in this first picture:) Kissing his cheek:

Angel Face

This picture was taken with Holly's phone, so it is a little blurry.

Our little mummy

It is funny now how much Joey and I talk about Andrew. We talk about what he did each day, what sports we think he will play, what he will be when he grows up, and the list goes on. Sometimes I wonder what in the world we talked about before we had him?!? I tend to say things such as, "I can't wait until..." For example, I can't wait until he can talk to us, sit up, sleep through the night, etc. Joey is really good about living in the moment and reminds me not to wish away these special months with Andrew. He talks about how he already misses his newborn days. I need to be more like him and enjoy Andrew for who he is today instead of always looking ahead. So, I thought last night about something that I will really miss when he grows up. The first thing that came to my mind was how cute he looks when he goes to bed each night. Joey and I call him our little mummy because he is all swaddled up. I wanted to take a picture of him, but there was no way that I was going to flash a camera when he was sleeping. So, this is what I look at on my monitor each night while my little man sleeps. The last week has actually been very hard in our house--probably the reason why I have been looking ahead to the future. Andrew hit his 3 week growth spurt. For several days, it was hard to soothe him and he ate constantly. This was very stressful for me because I felt like I could not keep up with his demand for milk. He seems to be back on track now and is once again a calm, easy-going baby.

During his fussy moments, we are very thankful for the swing! He loves it! The only thing that really frustrates him is when he loses his pacifier while rocking. Joey and I have been working on showing him how to hold his "pappy" in his mouth. Look at our big man holding his pappy in his mouth!

The other thing that pretty much always soothes Andrew--his dad! My two boys are best buddies. Here they are hanging out in bed before Joey put him in his crib for the night.

Labor Day Weekend

We had a very busy Labor Day Weekend. Andrew spent time with his family from Virginia and some friends from Wetumpka. On Saturday, Andrew met his great-grandmother (Meemaw) for the first time. Here he is with his great-aunt, Barbara and his grandmommy.Andrew spent some time with his Uncle Marshall before the Alabama game. They are both dressed for the big win!

Andrew with his cousin John Marshall:

Some of our closest friends from Wetumpka stopped by to see Andrew before the game. Ashley, Blu, Mariella, Emma and Ella all visited our little man. Here he is with his grandmommy and Blu.

Because all of Mama's family was here from Virginia, we had a surprise birthday party for her. Her actual birthday is not until the 28th, so she really wasn't expecting a party. For her present, we all went in together and had professional pictures made of all of her children and grandchildren. I will do a post soon and upload some of the pictures that we had made.

After all of those visitors, Andrew needed a bath! Even though his cord fell off over a week ago, his pediatrician said to wait a few more days to give him an actual bath. After a week of waiting and several screaming fits during his sponge baths, we decided that it was time. Because of his sponge baths, I was certain that he would hate a "big boy" bath. I was pleasantly surprised, though. He seemed to really enjoy it. I got in the tub with him, and Joey sat beside us to help clean him. I'm sure as we get better and more confident that I will not get in with him, but we had fun together.

We were so excited that Joey did not have to go to work on Monday. We went for a walk around campus with our little man.

My boys stopped to look at the football captains' prints next to Denny Chimes.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful weekend!

2 week check-up

Andrew will be 3 weeks on Sunday. He is growing up so quickly. On Monday, he went to his 2 week check up. He weighed 9 pounds, and half an ounce. The goal was to be back up to his birth weight (8 pounds, 10 ounces) by this appointment, so he is doing great! I was relieved by this because we are exclusively breastfeeding him. It worries me that he is not getting enough because I do not know exactly how much he is eating, but he is clearly getting enough. Of course, Joey and I had a long list of questions for the pediatrician. She checked everything on him, and he received a clean bill of health! Joey met us at the office and laughed when he saw that I had decided to dress Andrew as a bear for his appointment. Here he is before leaving for Dr. Roberts' office in his bear suit. Here are a few new pictures of Andrew. Enjoy!

Andrew with his favorite book about kittens:

His cousins are still not too sure about him:

Joey and I call this look--"crazy eyes" He does this all of the time, but I like the picture because it shows how brown his eyes have gotten. He is going to be his daddy's twin!