Tyler is 4 months old!

I cannot, for the life of me, keep up with this thing...and I so desperately want to!  Time spent in my office is so limited these days (and it shows).  What little time I am in here is spent keeping my Pampered Chef business alive and working on the thousands of pictures I have already accumulated of our sweet boy!  Speaking of...can you believe Tyler is already 4 months old?!?

I have never experienced a more joyful four months as these past few have been!  ...and FAST!  Wow, everyone says they grow up fast, but seriously wasn't I just pregnant the other day?!?  This little boy warms my heart in ways I only dreamed about.  There is nothing better than motherhood.  I'm about 10 days late with this post.  Ty had his four month appointment last week.  As we suspected, he's a growing boy!  He is now 14lbs 6oz (28th percentile), 24 1/2 inches long (23rd percentile, and his head is 16 1/2 (61st percentile).  I was a little concerned that his weight might not be up to par.  At his 2 month appointment, he was in the 48th percentile.  He is still exclusively breastfed (which I am damn proud of, by the way!) and I halfway expected the doctor to tell me I needed to supplement or start giving him cereal, but she said just the opposite!  Ty is still right in the middle of his growth curve, which is all that matters.  The percentiles compare him to all other 4 month old babies.  So, he's just a little peanut!  

Ty is a busy little man these days!  He loves to be on the floor.  He first rolled from tummy to back at 7wks, but went on rolling strike for a good 5wks after that.  Maybe it was an accident?!?  At 12wks, he mastered the back to tummy roll, which is supposed to be harder to do, but that's how he rolls (get it?!?...lol).  He has gotten really fast a rolling over now, but he gets frustrated very quickly on his tummy and prefers to be flipped back over as soon as possible.  He has wonderful head control, which he's had since very early on.  While on his tummy he can pick up his head and support his shoulders and upper back.  His balance is getting better every day too.  I think sitting independently is not too far away!  Ty grasps toys now, mostly his rings and an occasional stuffed animal.  He has a teether toy that honestly looks more like one of Laila's toys, it even squeaks like her toys, but he loves it!  Pretty much everything goes straight in the mouth now...hands, toys, blankets, etc.  He loves blankets!  He likes to be covered up (which is a no-no at his age), and has several little blankets that he hugs while he sleeps. In fact, he likes them on his face.  That really does a number on my ability to let him sleep on his own...since every time I check on him, he has a blanket over his head!  Ty also loves to hear his own voice.  He can make so many different sounds now.  He even has the most adorable facial expressions to go with his "conversations."  Recently he likes to see how loud he can make his voice.  

Our baby boy is growing and changing every day.  As much as I want to keep him little, its so neat to watch them achieve each milestone.  Especially to think that he's learned to do this all in a few months time!

Here's a few recent pics of little man...

Customer with Child Parking

You will soon learn that my blog topics will be as random as the thoughts scattered about in my head. I even have notes on my phone with future blog topics or things I plan to discuss. Seeing as I'm still suffering from the forgetful baby brain (that I was oh so hoping would be better by now), I must write everything down the moment it crosses my mind for fear that it disappear into the black hole inside my head! So at our HEB, there are several designated parking spots labeled "customer with child parking." Now, pre-baby (and even when I was pregnant) I swore I wouldn't need to use those parking spots. There was no reason I couldn't walk from the back of the parking lot as I always had before, with baby in tow. My mind soon changed after I learned how much work it is to get a baby in and out of the car, and safely in and out of the store (especially when he's asleep and I am determined to keep him that way). First of all, the bigger he got, the heavier he got in his carseat. I didn't brave the grocery store for a good six weeks, but even then I was still very sore. Finding a parking spot close to the door then began to excite me. Lately I've been using the Baby Bjorn sling and wearing him out and about, as being strapped down in a carseat doesn't suit my little nosy rosie boy (excuse the rosie connotation for lack of a more masculine name). Whichever mode of transport I choose, there is still the sunny walk from the car to the store that partially blinds my poor baby. So I justified another reason to utilize the convenient parking option. That all being said, I realized today that some people have no patience or consideration for those with babies and/or small children. You can expect, as a parent with child(ren) at the store, that things just take longer than the average Joe. I get all riled up when someone gets impatient with me while I'm trying to get Ty in or out of his carseat. Since he no longer likes to be stuck in his seat for the whole shopping trip, I have to buckle him back in every time as well. As luck would have it, the person parked next to me will show up as I'm in the middle of wrestling his carseat, so naturally I feel compelled to hurry. I am not purposely trying to waste their time. What gets under my skin is when the other car starts backing out or another attempts to pull in while I'm clearly trying to get my baby in or out of the car. I've had to quickly climb in the backseat before, to avoid having my door hit. Its amazing how inconsiderate the world can be at times. I've been honked at for being in the way (yes, honked at because my passenger door was open and I was removing my baby from the car). Then yesterday, as I'm loading groceries into the car (and wearing Ty in the sling), the woman next to me arrives and proceeds to load her groceries through the passenger side of her car. So Ty and I wait for her to finish because I need to put him in the same side. As soon as she pulls out I start loading him in. I'm in a hurry because, after all, I am in the "Customer with Child Parking" which means the open spot next to me is a prime spot for any other driver. As I expected, someone was already waiting on her spot and I hadn't even completely unstrapped the sling. The next car pulls halfway in and revs up their engine as if to speed me up?!? It is the middle of the day on a Monday so there are hundreds of other spots, but I get annoyed and easily anxious these days. So I pull the carseat out, and carry a dangling Ty around to the other side with the sling still attached to my body so these impatient people can get such a great parking spot with not so much as a thank you wave or nod in my direction. I load Ty and go to the drivers side to get in and find that the car next to me is still running and they are eating hamburgers. Really?!? Rush me and my baby because you need a great parking spot to eat your lunch?!? Oh and I couldn't even hardly open my door because in their mad dash for prime parking, they didn't have time to park between the lines! So I slither in and drive out. Rant over. Just wish it was easier to find a little patience and hospitality from total strangers. Sheesh!

the lost months...

Blogger MIA... Finding personal computer time with an infant demanding full-time care is far harder than I expected. He's just going to sleep all the time, right?!? Wrong! Or when he does, as do you! Hmmm...to blog or to sleep?!? Oh being a naive first time mom! I already feel so much more "mommy wise" since my initiaton 15 weeks ago, yet I've only just begun. I have dearly missed writing. I've said it before, but writing is my time in the zone...it's so refreshing to take thoughts and feelings out of your head and put them to paper (yeah, yeah it's 2011...put my thoughts on the computer, via blogging!). I seriously thought I'd come home from the hospital with this sleepy little baby, and spend hours staring at him while I blogged my every move to family and friends. I completely over estimated, not only the amount of time caring for a newborn takes, and most importantly the toll it took on my body! I didnt realize what nursing every 2-3hrs would do to me, or what it felt like to never get more than three consecutive hours of sleep at a time. I also had no idea what recovery would truly feel like. I pushed my limits all the time, and constantly had to be reminded by Cooter and my doctor that I had major abdominal surgery. I remember choosing to stay awake all night at the hospital, just so I could hold my baby and study his every feature, while Cooter slept, visitors halted, nurse visits slowed down, and time stood still. If I'd only understood the value of sleep! Or somehow bottled up that natural high I was on. Bottom line...I have missed blogging and vow to be better at keeping in touch! I need it for my own sanity... That being said..my family news updates are going to take a bit of a turn. Instead of my traditional journal entry of a significant event, with pictures and witty commentary, it's going to be more of a set of tales in the day in the life of me...mommy memoirs if you will. It takes a lot of time to upload the pics I want, and of course imbed them in the perfect places amongst my babble. Plus I'd say most of my readers are also on facebook, where my pictures are shared with the world (or world of people I deemed good enough to be my friend lol). Blame it on the fact that I chose to buy a desktop instead of a laptop...requires dedicated sit-down office time to blog. That's how the "lost months" were created. I wanted my first post-partum blog to be Tyler's birth story (nothing gross or inappropriately detailed, but I did plan to tug the heartstrings a bit). Way too time consuming. It will happen eventually, but for now daily (or maybe somewhat daily) me-isms will have to do! What little office time I do manage, during Ty's incredibly short catnaps (whole other blog topic in itself) or while he sits happily in his bouncy chair, barely leaves me enough time to take care of my Pampered Chef business (which I am so blessed to have kept afloat during this time) and constant downloading of the hundreds of pictures already in existence of our baby. Much of my time online is spent on my iPhone or iPad (thank you, Apple!) and most of it is done while I am nursing! So be forewarned, typos may run amuck as I am most likely typing one handed! Also, thanks to the phone, I no longer have the ability to separate my thoughts with proper paragraphs...drives me crazy! Hope you enjoy the return of the blog!

birth announcement

Birth announcements have been ordered and will soon be in the mail!  Check it out!

Stationery Card

View the entire collection of cards.

last pregnancy post

Well...its finally time!  Tomorrow morning our lives will forever change with the birth of our son, Tyler.  We have waited 2 long years for this day to arrive.  Its almost 2 years to the day that I found out that I was pregnant with our first angel back in 2009.  Who knew the journey God would send us on from that point?!?  We are such stronger, faithful people because of it.  I break down into tears all the time thanking God over and over for each day this baby has grown and thrived.  I cannot fathom the flood of feelings and gratitude I will feel tomorrow.  Hearing his cry for the first time, looking into his eyes, feeling his tiny fingers wrap around mine...

A flawless pregnancy comes to an end with our scheduled c-section tomorrow morning at 7:30am.  Baby Ty remains breech following 3 unsuccessful attempts to turn him otherwise.  His position was confirmed at my appointment on Tuesday, and since no changes had been made, we were given the go ahead to schedule my pre-op and make plans for Friday.  Its so surreal knowing that your baby is coming that day.  Although I've never been induced, even though you know what day you will go to the hospital, there's no guarantee you will have your baby that day.  Its so weird knowing that by the time most of our friends and family get to work, we'll be holding a baby in our arms.  I get more anxious about it everyday, but it still hasn't fully sunk in.  It probably won't until I'm walking myself through those hospital doors.

38 week belly

 hadn't given everyone a front shot in a while...so here's one last time

Last weekly belly shot taken at 38 weeks.  I won't get to use my 40wk sticker...and I will be 1 day shy of 39 weeks at delivery.  I will take one right before we leave tomorrow to document the belly one last time.  As uncomfortable as it can be now, I sure am going to miss it.  As much as I want him out, I want to keep him in.  Just a short few months were all mine...feeling him wiggle and move about as no one else in the world can.  I have thoroughly enjoyed my pregnancy.  I stated months ago that I didn't  LOVE being pregnant like some women, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. 

My anxiety got the best of my blood pressure this week.  The past two weeks it was slightly elevated compared to my norm around 128/80.  This time I was all over the place...139/88 and 148/88.  So I had to lay down while I waited for the doctor.  She checked again and I was 136/84...better, but still pretty high for me, so I had to lay back down on my left side and rest.  That did the trick...within 30 minutes it was back down to 114/80, so I got to go home!  Its really hard not to feel anxious when you are working with a deadline!  I was told to lay down on my side as much as possible to keep my blood pressure down.  So I spent the afternoon Tuesday running errands...LOL.  I want to clean the house, do laundry, wash sheets, etc. at the last minute today so everything is clean and ready to go.  I KNOW I will not feel like doing anything but hold my baby boy when I get home.

Our house has experienced a baby explosion...and I can only imagine it will get worse from here on out! Ty's room is all done...officially done this time.  After each shower I would spend days getting everything put exactly where I wanted it, exactly where I believed it would function the greatest.  Nesting at its best!  So here's the final pics of his room and other places baby necessities have settled amongst our house.

glider, crib and bookshelf

 chest

 window and toy basket I made 

 changing table/dresser

 laundry basket

 bookshelf

 master bedroom...Johnson family bassinet (Cooter's mom's family) and pack-n-play with changing table stocked and ready to go!

 living room now houses the swing and activity gym...

 ...and bouncy seat!

 another bassinet in the living room

 stroller stuck in the hallway until it makes it to the car, and the jumperoo temporarily in the dining room until he is big enough to play in it!

Dare I say...I think we're ready!  Next post will have pics of our sweet baby Ty!  Patience though...I will blog as soon as I can once we're home again.  And I'm sure I will have to sort through a few thousand pics before I can decide what to post!  SO excited!

countdown

The countdown to Ty's birthday has officially begun!  Its been a very busy couple of weeks since my last post!  So just FYI...this is a LOOONG post!  We have since started our weekly OB appointments...which meant we were within a month of Ty's due date!  Updates from our 36 and 37 week appointments in a few...

We snuck off to the beach with Patrick, Alaina and Brayden a couple of weeks ago.  We hadn't been to Galveston since my brother's wedding 2 years ago!  I bought a maternity swim suit and I was determined to get to wear it somewhere!  Pics from the beach...and no its not a beached whale, that's me!

from the front

 from the side...holy belly!  34w1d...5.15.2011

 and sitting down

In the meantime, we had a wonderful family shower at Melissa's house on May 21st.  I was 36 weeks to the day.  I remember a few weeks back, wondering if I would make it to the shower...LOL and I am still very much pregnant!  I also took Emily's 2 year pictures that morning.  Here's me the day of the shower...

It was so great to have family in town and altogether in one place!  When the shower was over, I could only think of one word to describe how I felt...the same thing I felt after the last shower...beyond BLESSED.  Here's a few of my favorites from the shower...

the cake matches the bedding in Ty's nursery!

 Breastfeeding gift basket...it says Tyler and has camo ribbon around the top!  Love it!

 Buc-ee is on top of the diaper cake!  

 me with my hostesses...Melissa and Lindsey

 super soft Pottery Barn blanket with Tyler's name on it

 This is Zugly.  He was Cooter's when he was a little boy...so now it's Ty's!

 Cooter wore this home from the hospital!

 my Mimi's piggy (well, froggie) bank

 tiny board shorts!!!

 Gram is expecting 2 more great-grandbabies this year!  

 me and the kiddos...Anna, Ava, Justin and Emily

With such a busy day, I forgot to take my 36 week belly shot.  So here it is at 36w1d.  I know its a little late, my bad...

left side

 right side (Ty's side)

 front...I think I ate a basketball?!?

On to the baby updates...  Last post, I was just over 34 weeks and we found out that little man was breech.  The butt and feet that I had been poking all this time, was actually his head and hands.  We left the doctor with a wait and see approach...after all, he still had 6 weeks to get head-down.

So we began our weekly appointments at 36w3d.  We had another ultrasound to check his position.  No pics...sorry, he wouldn't cooperate for us.  He was, of course, still breech, but face down into my ribs so we couldn't get a profile pic of him this time.  He weighed an estimated 6lbs 15oz...holy geez!  That means he gained an average of 0.75lbs each week.  Ty was also rather mellow during the ultrasound...receiving only a "slightly active baby" label for the record.  So the doctor came in and we did the usual...blood pressure was up a tiny bit at 128/80, but still perfectly normal, no protein in my urine, no swelling, and heaven forbid, I gained 3lbs in the last 2 weeks.  I was tested for Group B Strep (totally routine) and had my first pelvic exam (wa-hoo).  Much to my dismay, I had made absolutely no progress...cervix is still high and closed.  I know, I know, I still have plenty of time.  Then I received a huge shock as my doctor started trying to manually move the little guy into a more preferable position (called an external version).  Um...OUCH is all I can say!  I haven't been through labor so I have no comparison, but it was up there on the pain scale.  I couldn't breathe.  Basically she has one hand manipulating his head and the other pushing his butt.  Its not just pushing though, her hands and fingers are dug so far into my ribs and hip that I could no longer see her finger tips.  The entire time, Ty pushed her right back, causing immense pressure in my abdomen.  His head is currently (well, always) under my left rib...she was only able to push him to my right rib this time.  Eventually she gave up and said we would try again next week.  As soon as I sat up, you could watch the knot on my belly that is Ty's head move from right to left and settle exactly where he was before.  Seriously?!?

So then, due to his decreased movement during the ultrasound and pressure from the attempted external version, I was hooked up to a fetal monitor for a non-stress test (NST) and to track my contractions.  For the longest time, little man remained pissed off...he wouldn't move unless it was to disrupt the heart monitor.  I don't know how many times he fell off the scale altogether and they kept having the readjust me.  I ended up on my left side and they showed us how to adjust the monitor ourselves since he was being such a turd.  Finally, after bringing me some apple juice, he started moving a bit.  I had to push this button every time he moved and they wanted to see spikes in his heart rate coincide with movements.  After about 45 minutes, he produced the results they wanted and we were sent home.  Whew!

37 week belly

I hit 37 weeks and we made a road trip to Dallas for a wedding of a Maxwell family friend.  Don't worry, the doctor okay'd the trip unless my contractions got regular or painful.  None of which happened of course.  So not only did I pack our bags for the weekend, but we had the carseat, boppy, Viacord kit, and hospital bag with us the whole time...just in case.  Last night out as a couple!

Cooter and Justin all dressed up!

 loving on the belly...he comes to check on my belly all the time!

 Gonzalez family

 Sis and Lindsey

 Can't hardly see the belly, but its there!

 Justin...LOL.  

 Rupert and Cooter...yes we're still at the wedding!

 Sis, Cooter and Lindz

 all dressed up!

The trip was flawless except for a little swelling on the way home that I attributed to too much time spent sitting in the car!  I had to take my wedding rings off for the first time because my fingers were tingling.  No worries...they are back on, no problem!  So we went to our 37 week appointment yesterday.  For a solid week I have been worrying about having another external version.  I really wanted to be strong and give it a try...I didn't want to just give in to a c-section without exhausting every outlet we could.  I think it was harder going into it this time, knowing what was coming.  We started the appointment with another ultrasound to check his position.  I told the tech that he was still heads up and sure enough, I was right!  Ty received an "active baby" status on his report this time around...and boy was he!  While the tech was measuring his right femur, he gave her quite a kick!  We all started laughing.  He weighed an estimated 7lbs 4oz...not near the weight gain he was experiencing weeks before!  Whew!  We were able to get a pic this time...kinda.  Its not great quality, but not only is it hard to see him now, but he was on the move, complete with hands on his face and a foot up by his head!

Nice, big round head (measuring almost 40 weeks by the way!) and you can see his eyes and nose, but he has a hand in his mouth.  You can't see it here, but I swear on the screen I saw a thumb sticking up...Gig 'Em!!!

Weekly stats were good.  I haven't gained much weight this week, no protein in my urine, blood pressure remained the same as last week and my swelling went down.  I continue to have braxton hicks contractions, but never anything regular and never painful, just uncomfortable.  Sometimes I don't even think I notice them anymore.  Doesn't really matter, because after another pelvic exam I still have yet to progress at all.  Much is due to the fact that there are only tiny baby feet putting any kind of pressure down below.  In a perfect world, there's a head putting constant pressure, or at least a breech butt helping move things along.  But no...littlle man is considered footling breech, which means he is feet first.

And the moment I had been dreading.  Time to turn him again.  Luckily I wasn't even given an option to back out, she just got to work.  I was prepared this time, had a fresh piece of gum to chomp on and lots of ceiling tiles to count while she worked.  At first push, she was able to get his head to my right ribs almost immediately, so Cooter and I both became more interested in the procedure.  She kept pushing and next thing we knew his head was on my right side!  The pain is so worth it when you start seeing motivating progress!  About 20 minutes in, his head is down to my right hip...SO close!  But...  Anytime she lets even the slightest bit of pressure off, he starts to gravitate back in the direction he came from.  So she goes to get a nurse to help hold him in place which she pushed, but at that point he had enough.  They brought in a small ultrasound machine maybe 2 minutes later to check his position for progress.  During that time, I told Cooter that his head had moved and he was back up in my right rib.  Only 2 stinking minutes later!  Sure enough, ultrasound confirmed that he was well on his way back to being breech again.  The doctor let me rest and then decided to try to turn him the other way.  He was definitely NOT having that!  He wouldn't budge that way, especially once she got him back into my left rib (his apparent sweet spot).  After that she stopped pushing (thank goodness!) and we decided to go ahead and schedule a c-section.  Not what I want, but my gut feeling says he isn't going to flip over.  Between the fact that he's been in this position for so long, and after 3 attempted turns, he still manages to return to the same spot within minutes of the version.

So...baby Tyler will be here Friday, June 10 (that's NINE days away!!!)...or sooner if nature decides to take its course.  Can't wait!  I feel like I have done everything they wanted me to try.  We've attempted 3 external versions and I've been doing stretches that are supposed to promote him to turn head down.  If he should turn on his own, then we'll go with a vaginal birth when the time is ready, but for now I'll be delivering at 38w6d...just 8 days before my due date!

And this is how I know Cooter is going to be such a sweet dad!