general life, life with baby

Four Generations

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On Sunday, we visited Brian’s grandpa Thomas in the nursing home for his 90th birthday. It was very nice– we got a very nice photos of all 4 Thomas’s! Brian’s dad was excited to get everyone in one photo.

It was nice to have an opportunity to see Brian’s cousin Gabrielle, her son Griffin, and his uncle Mike. There were also two cousins of Brian’s dad, Bob and Carol, who I got to meet. Jameson’s great grandpa enjoyed having everyone there! Jameson was very well behaved and took his bottle so well!

This week Jameson and I went to the grocery store for the first time! It was our first errand out alone. It was uneventful save that I had to go to the bathroom myself and was at a loss as to what to do when you have a full cart of groceries plus a baby and need to use the restroom. I barely made it home to the bathroom, haha!

We have also been doing tummy time more this week, and I have taken a few videos of him, one where he looks like he’s trying to eat the mat, it’s hilarious.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODsKhSK6FYU]

Today Jameson turns 4 weeks old, but I am not taking 4 week pictures, because I will be taking one month picture this Sunday. I can’t believe he’s already almost one month old. He is such a good baby, I can’t believe how lucky we are. Most of the time, he only gets up once in the night, though last night he got up twice. I’ve been watching Battlestar Galactica on Netflix to occupy the night feedings, I am on season 3 already. I can tell he’s getting a little bigger too, I think he is fuller in the face and hands. I finally got the cute naked baby photos I’ve been wanting to get for some time yesterday. It’s difficult with a little boy but I was able to get nice ones yesterday after his bath.

That’s all for now since he’s getting a little fussy!

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general life, life with baby

Jameson turns 3 weeks old

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This week was Brian’s first week back and my first one alone most of the time with Jameson. We have a good routine going, though it is a little lonely. Next week I will take him with me alone on an errand or two, which should be fun. I wasn’t quite ready for that this week! We have sent Brian pictures every day of our activities (mostly of Jameson sleeping haha). I’m sure Brian misses us, but he keeps busy at work which makes the days go by faster for him. He was awesome enough to cook for us this week, but I think next week I will try my hand at a meal or two. I don’t usually do the cooking, though I have on occasion in the past, it only makes sense if I am home. Though I find myself exhausted much of the time just by sitting nursing and picking up dropped pacifiers.

I do manage to find some time to take and edit photos, though it’s a bit of a struggle! I dressed him in his cute cable knit sweater for his 3 week photo shoot– he was pretty good up til the end when he needed a pacifier. Later on that day he had an explosive poo! Luckily I was already in the process of taking off the nice outfit to change him when it happened! It seems to have ruined the onesies under it though, poo went all up his back! Jameson didn’t mind at all until I started wiping him down haha.

The time definitely feels like it’s flying. Next week, I will have been off work for a month… only 2 more months until I have to return. I don’t want to begin the countdown, but this week I felt like I was starting to. For starters, I began pumping this week every morning to start freezing mommy milk. The pumping is going fine, I feel like it’s gotten easier over the past couple days, though I am sure it will be more difficult once baby is not around and I am pumping at work. I also called the childcare, to let them know when Jameson would be starting. I will transition him into daycare the week of March 7. It does not seem so far away already.. though a part of me will be glad to see people again.

One of my co-workers who I have known since starting has left the company. I am sad to see her go, and it will be weird going back and not having her around! I was a little disappointed that I missed out on her going away get-together, but we will have to make time to see her before I return to work.

Jameson had his very first bottle this week. I had prepared us for having difficulties, based on the book I’ve been reading called Baby Bites. It has all sorts of tricks for getting baby to take a bottle, but we didn’t need any of them, Jameson liked dad giving him milk from the bottle just as much as he likes mom. I may have gotten a little jealous!

Jameson is usually only getting up once a night now, sleeping for 4-5 hour stretches, which is great for me! Brian was kind enough to let me sleep through the night last night and gave Jameson a bottle. He’s pretty good at going right back to sleep at night too, which is great, though nursing takes a long time when he’s sleepy. I’m starting to think he just likes to “comfort nurse” some when he’s already done too, though I only mind that when I am ready to climb back in bed!

Tomorrow we will be bringing a bottle with us to a nursing home, it will be nice and convenient to not be constrained by his feeding times while we’re in Pennsylvania visiting his great-grandfather. We will have 4 generations of Thomas’s in the room for Brian’s grandfather’s birthday!

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general life, life with baby

Jameson is Two Weeks Old!

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Jameson has had a busy week! Wednesday we went to the doctor for his two week appointment. He weighed 5 lb 15.5 oz, so he is probably a 6lb-er by now! We also got a referral to see an ear, nose and throat specialist to get his tongue tie cut. Then he got to meet all of Brian’s friends! We also heard good news that evening that Jason and Lisa are expecting a baby sometime in August next year. Everyone loves him, of course.

So on Thursday we went out again to the doctor. The ENT was just great, we liked him a lot. The tongue tie cut was quick and clean, barely any blood. We nursed there in the office and everything was well! Jameson is a champ. We were doubly glad we went ahead and got it taken care of because the ENT said that his was severe enough that it may have cause orthandontal problems later. Later on we introduced him to his first pacifier! He likes it, and now that he spends more time awake, it is very soothing for him (and for mom).

On Thursday, he also turned 2 weeks old! We got some cute photos of him with alphabet blocks (I stole the idea from an old co-worker!)

We took him for his first walk on Friday since it was so nice outside. There was still snow on the ground, but melting very quickly since it was a warm 50 degrees! He slept almost the whole time, which was impressive since we were rumbling over snow banks and ice on the sidewalks. The stroller is nice, it felt like a little all-terrain vehicle.

Jameson enjoyed his New Years Eve; that night, JP and Lisa came over and we had king crab legs (first time I have ever eaten crab that wasn’t already out of a shell), filet mignon, twice baked potatoes and spinach artichoke dip that Brian made from scratch. Lisa met Jameson for the first time. They are due in early March, so they are getting very excited and enjoyed holding him. He was on his best behavior! They didn’t make it to midnight because Lisa was getting tired early so late in her pregnancy, but Brian and I did with Jameson.

We had yet another visitor on Saturday! Celine, who lives in Alaska, stopped by for a surprise visit. She called that morning because she was in Cleveland! I hadn’t seen her in years, so it was great to see her and to meet Keith, her boyfriend. Her mother even got Jameson a cute duck book with a little music CD.

It’s been a great weekend. Tomorrow, Brian is going back to work, so that will be different. I have enjoyed having him home these past few weeks… tomorrow I have some goals though, so I should be able to keep busy. I will be taking down our Christmas decorations!

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general life, life with baby

Jameson is 10 days old

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Today Jameson is 10 days old!

Jameson has been holding his head up and moving around a lot more. He’s spending more time awake (sometimes, to my dismay!). Often after feedings he likes to stay awake for a while. He also is keeping his legs stretched out a lot more often instead of curled up. He still seems so small, but I bet when we taken him for his two week appointment he’ll have gained a lot of weight!

Jameson has what the doctors called a tongue-tie, which means he can’t move his tongue past his bottom lip. This is starting to make breastfeeding him a lot more painful for me, and I think more work for him! We decided that we are going to have it “snipped”. It’s a simple 10 minute out patient procedure that can be done in the office by an ear nose and throat doctor. At our two week appointment this week, we’ll be getting a referral to get that done.

At 10 days, babies are supposed to start going through a growth spurt, feeding more often. Jameson does seem more awake and a little hungrier, but not extremely so just yet!

Brian and I wanted to do a professional photoshoot, however we had trouble getting a hold of the photographer and ended up trying to take pictures ourself. It actually turned out really good! We couldn’t get any good naked shots because he was wide awake, but we got lots of great basket shots which we’ll be using for our announcements. We put him next to a bottle of Jameson whiskey for a couple shots (Brian asked if it was tacky and I said who cares hah!) We also got some great shots with him in the knitted bonnet that his Great Grandma made. She didn’t know when she gave it to me that it would be a boy (in fact, she thought later that it would be a girl), but he looked just adorable in the slightly too big hat.

Jameson got lots of great clothes for Christmas, in bigger sizes for when he gets older. We had a great Christmas. I got Brian a perpetual daily flip calendar with different pictures for every day! It was a lot of work, he is going to enjoy it. “Jameson” went over budget, but apparently Brian didn’t. They got me a Pandora bracelet with Jameson’s birthstone and a rose charm; and Jameson got me feety pajamas which are just too cute! Brian’s family came for the afternoon, bringing dinner with them. We had a very nice turkey dinner!

Brian has just a week left before he has to go back to work. Life with a baby is going to be a series of transitions!

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general life, life with baby

Happy Birthday Jameson Charles Thomas!

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Jameson was born on Dec. 16, 2010 at 10:06 pm, weighing 5 lb 13.5 oz and 19 3/4″ long.

On Tuesday, we went in for our follow up appointment with ultrasound to check the fluid levels. We were at a 5.8 fluid level, which is borderline being too low. The doctor recommended induction, and scheduled it for the very next day at 4pm! I finished up work for my last day and Brian and I both tried to relax a bit on Wednesday morning, though I did have Brian do a little housework in preparation for baby’s arrival.

We didn’t really know what to expect for induction; I had read that induction can mean many things, including using hormones and pitocin to start contractions. On Tuesday, I was about 1 cm dilated, which was better than the previous week with no activity, but apparently that is still not enough to start right on pitocin, so when we arrived I was allowed to have dinner and then the hormone was inserted for 12 hours. Brian and I were not expecting such a long wait! The next morning I was only at 2 cm but I was allowed to have cheerios, and then they started me on the pitocin. I began having mild cramping contractions, but really didn’t feel anything until they finally broke my water at 4 cm. Less than a minute after that, I had severe painful contractions. I did attempt for a little bit to go natural, and used pain killers and breathing for about an hour and a half to manage the pain. Then I decided to go ahead and get the epidural, for which I am very thankful!

After that, things moved very quickly. I went from 5 cm to 9 cm in an hour. Brian came back with his dinner, expecting we would have a long wait still ahead of us, and the nurse told him he better get my dinner ready too! Then it was time to push, and Brian helped hold my legs; it was great to be able to have him involved and helping during my labor! After about 1 1/2 hours of pushing, baby boy Thomas was born and Brian got to cut the cord!

Brian and I were torn between Brendan and Jameson as the first name for our son. However, after seeing him we both decided that Jameson was definitely his name. His middle name is Charles after Brian’s grandfather. They took his blood sugar level, which was a great 77, and his apgar score was also good, about an 8. I shook for a little while after his birth, which was interesting. I enjoyed dinner and then we went to the recovery room.

Thankfully, we did not have to have a roommate during our stay. Since I had already been in the hospital so long, I was ready to come home right away. The nurses were very kind and helpful, giving tips for breastfeeding and swaddling. The hospital food was great for me, though Brian did not enjoy his cafeteria food as much!

I went home on Saturday and Brian’s parents brought over lasagna dinner! The proud grandparents waited in the hospital for his birth and are so excited about their first grandchild!

Tomorrow night, Jameson will be one week old! The past week has been amazing (and tiring). I am pretty sure I must still have some great hormones running through my system because I am running on little sleep. Brian has been great staying up with me almost all the time while we got through nursing together and my milk coming in. Everything has been a learning experience, and it’s been great having my mom around since we got home from the hospital. She has helped us keep up on our laundry and vacuuming and of course helping watch Jameson, and enjoying holding him.

We did get Jameson circumcised, and today finally we stopping putting Vaseline on it, it is healing well. The past few days have been difficult changing him with just one person while we keep his legs away from his body and use warm washcloths around the circumcision. The belly button has been tough to work around too as we have to be careful while diapering him!

His first outing was to the doctor’s office on Monday, 12/20. He was 5 lb 9 oz, which is what he was when leaving the hospital, so we stopped his losing weight fairly quickly. When we went again today, he was back up to his birth weight already! He gained weight twice as fast as the doctor usually expects. We had been on a fairly strict schedule of feeding him every 3 hours, with no more than a single 5 hour stretch between feedings. While he usually stuck to the schedule himself, we did have to wake him up sometimes. After this most recent visit, we are going on an “on demand” feeding schedule. It will be interesting to see what kind of routine he has. So far today he has been awake a lot because we had visitors!

First bath (sponge bath anyway), 12/20

We had visitors on Sunday from my family; my dad, Tyler and Holly came to visit with Jameson for a day. Today, my Aunt Carol stopped by to see him.

Jameson has so many facial expressions. He does smile some, a reflex right now, but hopefully soon it will be because he’s looking at his parents! So far he seems pretty content with sleeping, eating and peeing a lot! I am excited to watch him grow. See more pictures of Jameson!

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