Jericho's First Christmas!

What a busy last couple days. I just felt a mad rush to get stuff done and half of it didn't even make it to the 'completed' list. I didn't even get my in laws gift mailed in time for Christmas. Nor did I have Christmas letters mailed in time. But you know what? It doesn't matter. It was an awesome day celebrating with family.

Some highlights:

1. Being able to give Nate a TV, a hat, and a mixed CD all on a $50 budget and seeing his look of shock at my sheer cleverness with making it happen.

2. Watching my 7 week old son try to master the art of opening a gift from Uncle Phil. He was fairly in awe of the pretty gold paper and kept grabbing at it. He wasn't so sure of the adorable Team Canada hockey jersey though. I will have to break him gently.

3. Playing cards with Nate, Nina, Kyle and Phil. I think we all had a little too much Christmas candy and coffee (Matt arrived this am with a Starbucks to-go carton with coffee enough for 14!!).

4. Watching my son sleep contentedly in the arms of many a family member.

5. Hearing Joe ask Kyle what his card from my parents said and having Kyle quickly reply "I like you better than Joe." Kyle is dating my little sister and Joe is married to my pregant sister.

6. Getting just what I wanted from my hubby!! A new jersey and an IKEA blanket I've been craving for awhile.

7. Thanks to the beauty of technology, Grandpa and Grandma in Ontario were able to see Jericho on our new webcam. They were really excited to see how much he's grown. Thanks for the Noah's Ark and super cute bib!

Also, my parents must really love Jericho. They want more like him. My dad's idea of great gifts for us married ones all entail chocolate body lotion, perfume lotion, and a two night stay at Harrison. I get the hint. You want more.

I hope everyone had as Merry a Christmas as we.

Busy Week

Tonight we go for dinner again at 4ever29's. We had an amazing time with them on Tuesday night. She spent all day preparing a Jewish meal so we could see what kind of food most might experience during Hanukkah. The Challah and Latkes and Brisket were all really good. It's really cool to try new foods and to try and put yourself into someone elses shoes. What is it like to celebrate Hanukkah and not to know Jesus? I mean, we didn't even make it a completely traditional thing. It was really about the amazing food. Have you tried something new before and been pleasantly surprised? Is there a religion out there that you admire for a certain reason? Ok, that sounds like a weird question - I mean..those who are Muslim don't like that we have different translations of our Bible, because to them that means it's been tainted somehow - the meaning is not as true as the original. The concept behind that makes sense...and how when you go to a Mosque - no Quran ever touches the floor or comes close to being at ground level. I think we need to treat the Word of God with respect, but also to be able to understand it and most importantly - to read it. I'm not sure where that sermon came from...

Anyways, Nate's been at a course all week and I've been getting up at 6:45 to drive him and his friend to the train. Then I pick them up anywhere between 4:45 and 5:45 depending on which train they catch. We actually had his friend and her son over for dinner last night. It was great. And like I said we're out again tonight - makes a woman tired. Jeepers.

Bye Bye Content Baby

Jericho has an ear infection. Last night at the party at 4ever29's he was bawling. Poor baby. So we are decked out with antibiotics and infant Tylenol. Miracle drugs. He calms RIGHT down as soon as he has the Tylenol. I'm sad he's already got this silly infection, but glad we caught it early. He was starting to not be himself and get upset so much more than normal... so I made an early Doctors appointment and sure enough. It just goes to show you that if you've fed, changed, burped and let him sleep and he still won't stop crying - there's something wrong. I'm learning to listen to him. But not quite like the Baby Whisperer or whatever she is.

We have some company right now and we're going to play Cranium as soon as the baby is sleeping and the guys are finished playing James Bond.

Here's a pic of him in a sweet outfit from Karin -THANKS DUDE. You can see how angry he is.

My Content Child

Life is unfair

Today I'm holding baby with a little bit of guilt. It's unfair I have a healthy son. It's unfair my labour and delivery were uneventful. Someone who will remain unnamed lost a child last night. A newborn baby. It makes the sleepless nights and days of crying more like little blessings. I'm going to cuddle my baby a little more today and pray for those who have to go through times I don't understand and can't explain.

Jericho - don't grow up too fast. Realize how much I love you and how thankful to God I am that you're here. You are the most precious gift besides salvation I've ever been given. Even as you sit here beside me and fuss, I wouldn't trade you for anything.

Interesting day yesterday

It began as any normal day - with a phone call at 7:30 am. Ew. It was Jericho's agent letting me know that he needed to be on set at 8:42 pm (Why didn't they just say 8:45... who knows). I guess she figured I needed the 13 hour notice. She called back 15 minutes later and said they had moved it to 5:00 pm due to the child labour laws. A newborn baby HAS to leave the set by 10:00 pm. She called again 5 minutes later and said nevermind - make it 3:00 pm. Argh. So we proceeded to get up and do all our normal morning activities. Nate hasn't been feeling well these past couple days and yesterday at 2:00 pm he was just getting up. He was up more in the night than Jericho and I! He had wanted to come with us and see Jericho's second job, but I told him he should stay home as he still looked green. So we left at 2:40 pm, without Daddy. Twenty minutes later I was wishing he was there. We had to park at a church about 2 minutes from the set and get shuttled to the hospital which was where they were filming. If any of you recall, yesterday it was POURING out. I got out of the car and was drenched a second later. I got the baby out and found Nate's rain jacket in the back of the car - score! No, I didn't plan well for myself. To make a long story short, I was frustrated with lots of things. For one, I have never put the car seat base in or out of the car. If I had stopped to look at it I would have figured it out eventually... but I was flustered and stressed. Many people would be shocked and horrified that I just held tight to my baby's carseat in the shuttle. I'm ashamed, yes. But I just didn't know what else to do. And the assistant director was not expecting me until 8:40. Argh. But there were other people who knew I was coming earlier. I ended up in a cold room with just the baby, three folding chairs and a plastic table. People would ask me what I wanted, but I was fairly overwhelmed. All I could think of was how much I wanted Nate. So I borrowed a cell phone. When I called him he was still a little groggy and I told him I needed him. The problem was I had our car. He couldn't get a hold of my mom so he taxied on down. I have never been so happy to see him.

There were some really sweet people on set. This lady was a nurse and would watch Jericho while I went to get some dinner with the rest of the crew and she would burp him and bring me stuff to snack on a drink. This other girl who was also an extra demanded one of the crew guys to bring heaters into my room and insisted I stay in their room until mine was warm. That's where I learned of 696-1033. It's a rude phone number to give to people who are hitting on you who you don't like. It's mean. Anyhow. I keep making this story longer and longer, but it was a long day. We didn't end up going on set until 9:15 pm. Count 'em - 6 long hours! But he'll get paid for 8. The kicker is that if we had gone at 8:42 pm, he still would have gotten paid for 8. Argh. But - he did do a FABULOUS job. He basically played a brand new baby. This guy hands him to this actress and says, "Congratulations, it's a beautiful baby boy!" and she says "oh... Mitch should be here." Then he does these other shots with three different guys who may or may not be his father. And one was in full scary makeup. Like a monster of some kind. The first part he just STARED at his new mom. The director kept saying, "Close in on the baby, close in on the baby!" He didn't cry at all.

It was cool because this show will be running in the States starting in March and most likely will get picked up by CityTV sometime after that. It's called Blood Ties and Christina Cox is in it. She came into our room with Dylan Neal. She kept asking Jericho how old he was and what his middle name was. Lady, he can't quite talk yet...duh. And Mr. Dylan asked me if he was latching on alright. Not many men have asked me that. I thought it was a little weird.

Does this happen to you?

Ever get the feeling like you have to pee like a racehorse that just drank enough water to fill the Pacific Ocean AND you're walking on by Niagara Falls?

My Nana Said

Highlight of my day so far?

When my Nana was over holding my baby and to calm him she said, "It's okay, be a good doggie." I had to break it to her gently that she has a great-grandson and not a puppy.

Cutie Patootie Learning To Sit

Okay, so he's not quite sitting yet.. But trust me when I say this little kid is STRONG and is getting real good at holding up his head and staying in one spot for an extended period of time. He's also starting to smile at me when I do goofy faces and poke his cheeks. It's a beautiful smile, but you all are going to have to just trust me on that as I haven't mastered holding him and a camera while I take the shot to prove it.

Baby's First Santa Pictures

Each year our church does this big Christmas event geared towards families in the community. There's a dessert theatre, pictures with Santa, crafts, an inflatable room, etc. This year my husband wrote the play so we went twice to see it. It was really well done. The best part was sitting with children who giggled throughout it. We figured since we were there, we would get pictures taken with Santa and the baby. They turned out pretty cute!





Last night I left Jericho with my mom for 3 1/2 hours while we went to my staff party. It was awesome. I came home and he was sleeping, but woke up quickly when he realized food was home. For a present Nate and I got a $30 gc for Frogstone as well as a tonne of second-hand boy clothes from Mike & Tanya. They are all really cute. It's been so encouraging to have so many people giving us clothes and not having to buy much besides diapers. And we're switching to cloth soon. Nate works the night shift tonight so we're going to set up our tree this afternoon together before he leaves. We got it for free...again - thanks Uncle Wes and Uncle Daniel. These past couple years I've noticed how their trees are getting better and better. I don't know of a better place to get a noble from. But this year we got a grand because I feel those who are paying for the tree should take the more expensive ones. I don't want to be a total mooch.

I weighed myself this morning and since last Monday I've lost 3 lbs. I've started to eat healthy and gone on a few walks. One was 6 blocks up and 6 blocks over. It was great.

Christmas Parties!

Last night we went to a great party, fun was had by our whole small family. The crowd consisted of mostly young couples - few were married, most were not. No one had a kid, but one couple is expecting their first in March. So Jericho spent the whole night sleeping in the arms of lovely young ladies. We were out from 8:30 to 12:30 and I had fed him at 7:30. The child slept for 5 hours before he realized he was starving. But it was awesome to have him well behaved while we caught up with friends and got our fill of adult conversation. Nate had fun catching up with an old friend and I just enjoyed laughing at all the silly people.

We have another party to go to tomorrow night, but the baby is visiting grandma. It's my staff party at Steve & Neva's. YES. Nate and I will just try to time it just right so hopefully Jericho will be fine for a bit. It will be the first substantial time apart for us. I've dropped him off a few times with my mom, but only for an hour or so at the most. There's also a gift exchange so I'm wondering who had my name. We got Steve and Helen a basket of fun food - chocolate, cheese, crackers, etc. Should be so yum.


Here's a pic from Jericho's first job - the set of Alien vs. Predator II.

We're tired now and J is sleeping so nighty-night!

4 week appointment

We missed our two week post-partum update with the midwives due to a miscommunication and yesterday we finally had our four week appointment. Turns out our little man has gained three pounds in the past month and now weighs in at a hefty 10lbs, 8 oz. The say that 15-30 oz in the first month is good and he's at 48. Thats my boy!

Pictures Perfect

Here are the proofs from Jericho's photo session. Notice anything about one of the shots that might be construed as disrespectful?

Jericho's One month Today!

My little guy has now been around for one month. How do I feel about being a MOM? Pretty darn good most of the time. I have nights where I'm exhausted and mornings of just trying to comfort him when he gets fussy, but overall it's been an amazing experience. Why didn't I have kids a long time ago?

Tonight we get some family pictures taken and I'm fairly excited about that. I just don't know what to wear. I can get J & N to match almost perfectly, but I don't have beige cords and a blue dress shirt so I'm the odd one out. I'll just plan on looking hot.

Here's a picture of Jericho getting tired of me taking pictures and also some of him bonding with his Daddy.

100th Post

I feel like I have so much to blog about, such a backlog in my mind of things I wanted to share with you all. First of all, Jericho's first job went well. He was an extra in Alien vs. Predator II. If any of you are 24 fans, Reiko Aylesworth is in the movie. We didn't see her or anyone else famous for that matter. Just some really creepy tall dude with long hair who kept staring at my sister - I should mention that he was there to play Alien. Jericho and 11 other newborns were called in to do a scene where they're in a nursery and the Alien looks in at them. The Assistant Director had us there for 11:30 in a warm, yet strange room in the old Riverview building. We were 9 new moms with our babies, two mommies had twins. Finally at 1:00 we were called to the set, 8 of us who had non-crying, non-hungry babies. Jericho was asleep. I do have to mention that we were one of the last to arrive and were stuck with a pink blanket, so my poor baby boy's first role is as a baby girl. So we went down to the set and each placed our kids in little bassinets - much like what you would find at any normal hospital. Jericho's tag said "I'm a girl and my name is Katharina." Pretty, but not my style. He lasted all of about 2 minutes being asleep and as I watched on the tiny monitor in another room I could see his little legs thrashing and the pink blanket going everywhere. I don't think he was happy in his role. The crew had told us we could get our babies once they cried to much, so I snuggled him for a bit and got him to sleep for his second shot. I'm not sure he'll up in the movie, but I'll keep you posted once I know.

But I did need to post pictures of J having a bath because it's almost his very favorite thing to do - besides have Mom feed him! He likes to sit on his little ramp and "skooch" down until he's drinking the bath water. Silly kid.

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.