Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Simple {update}

Not too much going on... at least that is new.

Classes are done this week and than I only have 4 more to go. Still on track to graduate July 29th! I finished math with a B- which I will gladly take. Economics final this week and than I should hopefully have the hardest classes behind me.

Jensen is my little rock star. He is so smart, funny, and lovable. He can sit by himself for awhile, he eats cereal like a champ, and loves to splash in the bath. Jensen loves time with his daddy and making silly sounds and faces at each other. You are not sleeping through the night every night, but you only wake up once (usually) so I can definitely handle that. You sleep on your stomach and I can't manage to keep you on your back for more than two seconds. You love to roll over. You have rolled from your belly to your back, but you don't do it anymore. You are super strong so I know you will get the hang of it again soon. I made homemade squash for your first baby food and you get to try that in a week! I am sure you will love it. You love food and always want to steal what your dad and I are eating and drinking. Your next doctors appointment is at six months which will be in just a few short weeks. I can't believe that you are already 5 months (and a week).

Work is good and I can never complain about my job and who I work with/for. I still look forward to coming to work every day and doing something that I feel matters.

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Rollin, rollin, rollin

Jensen can now roll over from his back to his belly! He did it for the first time yesterday at his grandma Jill's house while she was tending him. He has been trying really hard for about a week now but he would get caught on his arm under his body and it would fling him back onto his back. Now, he goes so fast and his arm still gets caught under him, but he can work it out from under him. It is so funny to watch and I am such a proud mommy of all of his accomplishments. It may be something small, but it's a big deal to me! Way to go Jensen, Mama Bear loves you and is so proud of you!

Friday, February 10, 2012

{rice} cereal

Jensen had his 4 month check-up yesterday morning and everything was PERFECT! He now weights 15.3 pounds and is 26 inches long! He has grown 5 inches since he was born! He is actually in the 90th percentile for height and somewhere in the 70th percentile for weight. I thought it would have more since he eats like a piggy! The doc said he is ahead in his fine motor skills since he grabs and holds onto stuff. He also puts good weight on feet, follows toys, holds his neck up, etc. His head is perfectly round, and his ears/nose/throat all check out fine. He is one healthy and happy baby (after the shots). He got permission to start eating rice cereal so we tried it for this first time tonight and...

IT WAS A SUCCESS!

He loved the organic brown rice cereal I started him on today! He didn't like the baby spoon, but it ate all of it off my finger... and some from the spoon. He never spit it out either. He loved it and  can't wait for him to eat it every night. Hopefully it will keep him full.

The {OTHER} fab success you ask???

Jensen has now slept all through the night for 2 nights in a row! It seems that when he hits a new month something great happens. At 3 months he moved into his big boy crib and has been there ever since. Now at 4 months not only is he moving onto his first 'solid' foods, but he is sleeping through the night! Dr. O said that babies at this after are capable of sleeping through the night but a lot don't because they burn so many calories that they need a night time feeding. He said feeding Jensen the rice cereal at night before bedtime will keep him fuller longer because his belly will have to work harder to digest it.

Okay - I better get back to my homework! I HATE my econ class! Finishing week 4 of econ and week 5 of math - half way there for these ones... woo hoo!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Bulking {UP}?

So lately I have not been feeling so hot about my body. I am sure I am not the only new mom who feels this way, but it is hard watching other women "spring" right back into shape. It isn't just celebrities, but co-workers, and friends too. I have lost a big bulk of the weight, but I still have a flabby belly and huge thighs. I really thought I would have done better getting rid of this weight since I was fit before and I exercised a LOT while pregnant. I think the worst part is my stomach. Not only is it flabby (which I have NEVER had before) but the stretch marks are awful. I have them on the sides that are dark purple and red and then faint lines below my belly button. I try to remind myself that it has only been 4 months and that I need to give myself some credit, but I honestly feel like I was much more attractive pregnant than I am now. I have a hard time "getting in the mood" when it comes to Corey and I and I think it is hurting our marriage. I try to tell him how I feel, but I am not sure he 100% understands. I need to give it more time and find a few minutes each day to exercise those areas, but for tonight complaining and crying seems like the solution.

Onto a few other quick notes:
-There wasn't any posting done for nearly a month because every one in the family got really sick. Luckily mine only lasted about 4 days and Jensen was only sick for 2 with a bad fever. Corey had it first and was sick for weeks! Then it spread to my SIL and brother... awful!
-School has been incredibly hard! My macro and micro economics class is MUCH harder than my math class. Who would have guessed? I am hoping all my classes after these two are easier. I graduate in 6 months!
-Corey and I will have been together for 5 years on Feb 21st although we are both too poor to do any kind of celebrating. We don't do much for Valentine's either. Maybe we can just go on a date soon and see a movie and go out to dinner or something. We need to spend more time together - ALONE
-Work. Work has been great, but very busy. Symposium is this week and I am really excited to see my manager speak and to help with his presentation. I am excited to meet more of our clients face to face and build our business.
-Vacation. This is the most exciting part of the post! My mom wants to take our family to California! My mom moved it to the first week of August so that I can go after I graduate instead of during finals (she wanted to go over 4th of July). She already rented out a 3 bedroom 2 bathroom home for all of us to stay in. I am so excited! I can't wait to take Jensen to the beach - he is such a water baby and will hopefully love it! Venice Beach here we come!
-Jensen's 4 month check up is in 2 days! I am sure he is at least 13.5 pounds but we will see. He is so big now. I hate seeing him grow out of clothes and toys that don't hold his interest, but I am proud of him and all of the developments he has already made.
-Teething? I still can't tell if he is teething or not! I am going to confirm this with the doctor. I think he is because of the crazy drool, the sucking of fingers, and biting. His gums also have changed in density, but I hear this can last months?
-Baby food. I have now decided I am going to make baby food from scratch! I bought containers for baby food to freeze in. I found a great book on homemade food and I can't wait to try it. I am sure it will get more fun as he gets older and can get more foods. People add cinnamon and other spices into their food- I am sure he is going to LOVE solids! He already seems to have such a huge interest in what I am eating.

That's it for now... gotta go do homework and I am exhausted....

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Nothing creative today

So I feel like I speak too soon sometimes...
I wrote about my shingles, but the next day the Urgent Care doctor called me to tell me that I didn't have shingles and to continue to use the antibiotic but not the cream. Um, okay? What is it then? They weren't sure but were happy to put me on a steroid - NO THANK YOU! Plus, were they not listening? I am nursing! I went to my primary care doctor on the following Monday (the 9th) and he confirmed that in fact it was shingles and it was good that I finished the treatment. He told me that the way the Urgent Care people tried to test for shingles is not accurate. He said that by poking for fluid only tests if it is contagious and not actually shingles! He said they would have had to do the scrape test. Since it was pretty much gone there wasn't anything he could do, but did recommend some ointments for my insanely dry skin. At least I wasn't contagious which is probably why it didn't spread to other parts of my body or to anyone else.

Also speaking to soon.... my Bubba has been a moster lately when it comes to sleeping! Last night he was up practically every hour or two! Finally at 4 am I gave him teething tablets and he slept on my chest until 6:45 when I realized I was going to be late for work (but was dying for more sleep). This past Thursday was also really bad, but I think we were all in a funk. Corey was extremely sick and I sent him to bed with tons of cold medicine after dinner. We have a good night time routine where he puts Jensen to bed and I either go to bed too or I do homework. Jensen didn't want to go to sleep that night and didn't until 12:45 am! I think it was just because I was putting him to bed and not Corey. Clearly having a routine is a good and a bad thing!

Okay - gotta get busy! Having another 3 day weekend was awesome, but having 4 days to get a lot of work done is.... a little hard!

Thursday, January 12, 2012

My sleepy boy

I have to post about how EXCITED I am that my little man is sleeping so well at night! Jensen has made a few great strides in his sleep schedule this past week or two and it deserves more than a blog post... for now this is all the attention it is getting.

For the past 5 nights Jensen has slept in his big boy crib in his room. No more bassinett for him! Also, we have implemented a bed time routine that starts between 7-8 and takes about an hour and then he goes down for the night. It usually looks like this: feed, take a bath and play in the water (which he absolutely loves!), baby massage, pjs, and another feeding. Yes, I feed him twice in one hour but it "tops" off his belly and helps him sleep longer. Corey takes him after I feed him last and he gets him down for the night. He has been sleeping for 5-6 hours for the first stretch, but last night... he slept from 9-4! 7 hours!!! I was in heaven! I of course didn't go down until 11, but that meant five solid hours for me which was pretty heavenly!

I still have the bassinett next to my bed because most of the time I will feed him in our room after he wakes in the middle of night and then set him in there to sleep for the last few hours before it is time to get up for the day.

I am so glad we are finally getting a routine and he is sleeping longer. It helps knowing when he will crash out so that I can plan on a certain time to get homework and house stuff done after he is asleep.

I love you my sleepy little man! I'm so proud of you for sleeping in your crib in your room!
Mommy loves you!

Thursday, January 5, 2012

December, Shingles, February

So I decided that the month of January should be renamed to "Shingles". Yes, you read that correctly!

I got shingles on January 1st and I have never had them before and had no clue what they were. Apparently it is the chicken pox virus that is left dormant in your nerves and can spring back up at any time. LOVELY. I got them from stress I guess, which makes sense since everything have been stressing me out from school, work, money, etc.

My arm looks a little freaky. It is on my right arm and is about 2 inches by 2 inches. They are tiny bumps with a pus looking fluid inside them. It hurts like crazy! I feel I have been punched in the arm a million times because the muscles in my arm are sore. The actual shingles hurt really bad and sting/burn. The feeling stays the same all day. On Monday the 2nd I went to Urgent Care and they got me a perscription for an antiviral medicine and a topical cream to put on it.

The scary part? I could spread them to someone that already has had chicken pox or if it is a child I could give them chicken pox if they have never had them. I am trying to be super careful around Jensen because he could get pretty sick if he got chicken pox this little. I put the cream on and put bandaids over it so that you can't touch it. They only way to spread it is if the bumps open and I get the fluid inside on my hands and spread it or someone touches them directly. It has been a few days now and so far no one has gotten them and the sores are almost all open now. Hopefully it goes away soon because being contagious is scary and they hurt so bad I am ready for this to be done!

I took a picture of my arm right before going to the doctor on my Monday and when I get a minute I will load it here so you can see what they are and what they look like.

My New Year's Resolution: Lead a less stressful life!