Feeling Overwhelmed

I made a list yesterday of stuff I want to get down in the next little while. It's too long. I have yet to venture out of the house with Jericho on my own to do errands. Mostly because we're down to one vehicle so that makes it difficult.. but also I find myself getting so tired. Last night I was up with J for almost 3 hours and I just wanted to crash.

Just the thought of those things I want to get done overwhelm me. I want to get my Christmas shopping done, portraits taken, portraits mailed, doctor appointments made, etc. I think I just had a baby at a very bad time of year. Then I have three baby showers in there somewhere, which is amazing... but scheduling in December is a nightmare. My aunts already gave up and moved the family one into January.

I think I really just need a nap, and maybe eventually I can get going on my social life again. I also feel like DAY 3 all over again. The third day after Jericho was born I spent about 3/4 of the day crying, I'm not doing that... but I just feel emotional. Again, it's most likely the lack of sleeping.

Oh and E - I will take time and hold my baby lots!

One more thing...

I forgot to mention in my post below that I have now lost 25lbs since J's birth. I have a bunch more to go before I can fit my pre-pregnancy clothes, but I feel good and am keeping it all in perspective. I just had a baby for goodness sakes. My goal is to be able to fit into this dress for my 28th birthday at the end of March. Wish me luck!

Funny Things About My Baby

Jericho is a funny kid. I'm not surprised judging by who his parents are. He uses his hands more than any baby I've ever seen, and when he opens his eyes and looks at me.. it's as if he knows exactly who I am.

At his dedication yesterday I heard Mike & Lindsey saying they have yet to see a picture of him with his eyes open... So I've searched high and low for the following.



This is right after I found out I had a jaundiced baby, so if I look upset - I am.





Yes, he loves noses. Gross.








This is when he was all better.






Aunt Megan & Aunt Nina bought me this cool play gym which I LOVE.







"Great to meet you, got milk?"






This is him most of the time, unless of course he's sleeping.

I do have to say that last night was one of the best nights we've had in awhile. He fed from 9:15-9:45 then went to bed at 10 and slept until 4:30am! He ate some more and was asleep by 5:30. I was pretty excited that he went 7 hours.

I'm a little worried about this week though - his grandparents have been visiting for the past week and he would get picked up every single time he cried and cuddled and soothed until he slept. I can't do that every time he needs to sleep. It was so great they were able to see him - we aren't sure when they'll be able to visit again so it's a little sad... I'm supposed to be investing in a webcam for their benefit.

Anyways, my baby is asleep - enjoy the pics!

Jericho's Dedication Take Two...

Okay, so sort of disregard the last post... Jericho will be dedicated this weekend at the church, but not until the 11 am service. I had some scheduling difficulties. Can you regular Saturday night people come Sunday at 11 to celebrate this event with us?

Jericho's Dedication

For any family members and friends in the area who read this blog of ours, Jericho will be getting dedicated at our church this Saturday, November 25th at the 6:30 pm service and you are all invited. My dad has pointed out to me that it's not J who is getting dedicated, but Nate and I who are dedicating ourselves to raise our little man the best way we know how - with the faith and values our parents imparted on us. And we pray he will come to love Jesus with all his heart.

Scary Dreams

Jericho generally wakes up twice per night. Usually around 2 and 5 am. I'm not finding it too hard, but the one thing that weirds me out is that every single night I have a dream just before he starts really crying where he's already in bed with me and I'm feeding him or cuddling him. At first it really creeped me out because I swear I could feel the blanket moving and I seriously believed as I was slowly waking that Jericho was in bed with me. We never bring him to bed. I never feed him in bed. But Nate sometimes finds himself trying to convince me that yes, my son is in the crib waiting for me to feed him and he's not my blanket. It's strange that it happens every night, but it's good because I'm getting less hysterical about it. At first I would sob in confusion, but now I just state the obvious to help myself get over it. Strange? I think so.

Cabbage Patch Anyone?

Let's just say Mom and Grandma were a little bored one day. Did I mention little Jericho will have a small role (very small role) in Alien vs. Predator II? I don't even like scary movies... but he can open his first bank account.

Jericho's First Walk

We went for our first walk yesterday. Thanks to Aunt Noelene's pretty white outfit it was plenty warm for baby.

Whew, Healthy Baby

Sometime late Thursyday night my little man took a turn for the better. We realized that he was starting to associate nursing with crying and getting upset... so I only tried to nurse when he was calm and it seems to have worked. We haven't used the syringe since 2 am Friday morning. My baby gained 5 oz. in 2 days! He's doing great now. Mommy is so proud.

Plus his yellow colouring has substantially subsided and he is a healthy shade of pink. Here are some pics we have taken in the last week - Happy one week bday Jericho!

Pictures

I can't take it anymore! I have pictures that need to be posted, I just don't think it's appropriate to post them on my blog when they are pictures of Sara's baby. So she was kind enough to give me the power to post on her blog.




I feel much better now. Hope you all enjoy the pictures. They were taken within an hour of his arrival.

Update

My little man is jaundiced. Actually, it was a horrible day yesterday. The midwife came over and noticed how yellow he was and that he was lethargic. He was just starting to not nurse as well and we were getting worried. Turns out he had lost 11% of his birth weight and was down to 7.5 lbs. I cried and cried. I went to the midwife office with Nate - my first outing since giving birth. Then they took me home with my mom while Nate took Jericho to the hospital for the bilirubin test. They also picked up a breast pump and some other stuff. They were gone for almost two hours and I was devasted. I missed the sound he makes when he breathes, I missed his little nose and kissing his face. I missed the little guy so much it physically hurt. When he came home I was good and ready to kiss him to death.

Today has been much better. I went to the hospital for the second test and we stopped by the church to introduce him to some of the staff. They all thought he was adorable - which is totally is. I'm just watching my mom burp him... You can all keep praying for him as I'm still a worried Mommy. He's not nursing well still - but we do have a syringe we're using and I am able to mostly feed him breast milk. It's just so devastating for a brand new mom to have something 'wrong' with her new little one.

But my energy is up and so is my baby's. I love him. I promise you all will too. I still don't have a pic, but you can check out 4ever29.blogspot.com and go down a bit and you'll see a little teaser.

My Son

I'm sorry I don't have pics yet as our internet is down, but we have a beautiful son. He was born Saturday, November 4th at 5:00 exactly. Just in time for dinner! His name is Jericho Edward Stephen and he weighed 8lbs, 8 oz. It was a natural birth, which was good... And I did need an epidural in the end as I needed to be induced as my water had been broken for 24 hours before I went into active labour. But I had plenty of contraction. In the end my midwives were very impressed with my labour and delivery - apparently I'm a natural. I'm so in love with my little man. Thanks for all your prayers. Pictures coming soon...

Busy Week.... NO BABY YET

So at my last post I talked about my dad's back. The real reason I wanted him to be able to leave with my mom is because we were planning a surprise 50th birthday party for her. Luckily he convinced he was well enough and they were able to get away together while my siblings and I cleaned my mom's house and decorated it for her party. I cleaned cupboards, organized bottles to be returned, and couldn't sleep that night because I was so sore. That night the baby dropped all the way. I couldn't believe the difference when I looked in the mirror Saturday morning. And the pressure!! Wow. Then Saturday I headed back to my parents for decorating and getting food ready.

The biggest surprise for my mom was this scrapbook we put together. It's over 50 pages of letters from friends and family letting her know how much they love and appreciate her. We also were able to get a lot of old pictures - some she had never seen put in it as well. Nina, Megan, Christa & I were able to put a lot of work into it and it turned out beautifully. Each of us kids did a page of our own - and we put a lot of work into our dad's page to make it extra special. But it was so awesome to read letters from so many people and to see how much love they have for my mom. It wasn't hard at all to get people to participate. A lot of the letters brought tears to my eyes... Not unusual.

So basically she was totally surprised and felt very blessed by the end. But she also got after me for what she thought was doing too much. But my blood pressure this week was only 122/66, so it couldn't have been that bad.

Sunday morning I woke up to having FOUR Avon boxes at my door. FOUR. Due to my awesome Open House I had a substantial amount of sales and a lot of merchandise to sort through. About 30 orders actually. Then my aforementioned wonderful mother took me out to deliver most of them on Monday. Fabulous.

Then Sunday night we went to the Cactus Club - my dad refers to it as the T&A Cafe - and celebrated with my mom again. The Saturday party was all her girlfriends so we felt we needed something for the guys in her life - ok only her hubby and sons. It was fun, but I started feeling sick again. It's likely just fatigue.

I haven't been able to check email or blog for a few days due to our laptop being out of wireless commission. Plus Nate takes it to work with him and works quite a few evenings. So I've been hanging out at my folks tonight catching up on internet news, applying for mat leave, and placing my next huge Avon order. Busy night for me for sure.

I think my mom would appreciate it if I get off her computer now... so hope you all enjoyed the update.

PS - I've been having a lot of contractions today... and I raked the leaves in my yard. I think Deanna would be proud.