Vlog - Parker's first video!!

Well, here is my very first video blog. I decided to video Parker doing his famous high stepping routine. This isn't his very best routine but we get a good look at his potential as well as some of his talking.

Enjoy!

Dear Parker - Month 2

Dear Parker,

It's incredible to me how things have changed since I wrote your last letter. You've grown in weight and length and filled out and are just an amazing little boy.

At 5 weeks you started sleeping through the night. This is mostly because we went to the pediatrician for your check up and Mommy found out that she could feed you more formula because you were HUNGRY!! Once you started eating more you started sleeping better. Also, we put you in your crib to sleep and swaddled you and you LOVED IT! We were so proud of you after that first night and to our amazement you kept sleeping like that.

We had your photo taken for your birth annoucements around 5 weeks as well. You were the sweetest little subject and posed beautifully. Your announcement was the most talked about topic among the family over Labor Day weekend!

Around 6 weeks you found your tongue. Grandma and I have had a ball laughing at your funny faces and sticking our tongues out with you. You grin and stick your tongue our and smack your lips and you can even curl your tongue! You are certainly your Mommy's boy!

Around 7 weeks you started cooing and talking a lot to Mommy and Daddy. You'd laugh and smile and talk to us every morning when you'd wake up. Mommy loves that time with you and talks back to you.

We spent the week before Labor Day in Tennessee visiting family, you were so great and charmed everyone we met. Everyone loved meeting you and they couldn't get enough of your sweet smiles or your cute belly. Mommy and Daddy spent their first night away from you when we went to a bed and breakfast in the mountains. You were pretty fussy on Grandma and Grandpa and we think it's because you missed Mommy. I came back to you the next day and we were all happier!

You have made so many changes over the last 4 weeks, I can hardly believe how you're growing and changing. You are Mommy's handsome boy and the bestest boy in the whole world - never forget that my special son.

I love you with all my heart,
Mommy

Dear Parker - Month 1

Dear Parker,

Today marks exactly one month since you were born. On one hand it feels like time has creeped by and you've been around forever. On the other hand time has flown and I feel like I can hardly catch my breath.

Our time in the hospital was like a fairy tale. All our needs were quickly taken care of and our wishes were granted. Once we arrived home, the fairy tale continued as your Grandma stayed with us for 4 weeks - as I couldn't drive due to my surgery. She helped me clean and cook and take care of you. Mostly she loved you and hugged you and fed you and couldn't get enough of you.

I will tell you that we had a very interesting first night home. You didn't feel good at all and cried most all of the night. We had no idea that there existed a magical cure and me, Daddy, Grandma and Grandpa all took turns staying up with you and rocking you and trying to comfort you. The next day the doctor told us of the magical cure and we've relied on it often during your first month. Since that first night you've been a complete angel. You hardly cry and you sleep so well.

Parker, there have been so many times when I have just watched you sleep in my arms and cried until the tears wouldn't flow any longer. I find it terribly hard to put into words just how much you mean to me. My mind has a hard time fathoming just how I can love you so much in such a short period of time. From the moment I held you I would have done anything for you. You are an answered prayer and an angel sent from above - a true blessing to your father and I. You have helped me open my heart to a size I never knew possible.

You are making me a better person, Parker. I never could quite grasp the concept of "don't sweat the small stuff". Now I understand. I hope that as long as we are on this Earth together that we make each other better people.

I promise to you now, I will do everything I can to help you be a man of good character, high integrity and much compassion.

Oh....and I don't think I'll ever be able to get the songs from your swing or Pack N Play out of my head....it's a blessing and a curse....

Parker, my boy, Happy (1 month) Birthday!

Hypo What?!?!?

Well, Parker is growing like a weed folks! I know this because my arm falls asleep when I feed him, he's grown out of his newborn onesies and he's almost grown out of his newborn diapers.

I also know this because we had a doctor's appointment last week and he was weighed for the first time since we got home from the hospital...he weighed 10 pounds 2 ounces!!!! He's just remarkable! He's trying to be as big as his Daddy as quickly as he can!

We had to go to a specialist last week...a pediatric urologist...in regards to a small birth defect that Parker has which is call hypospadias. It basically means that his urethra doesn't exit his guy part at the very end like it should. His urethra exits just a little bit south of where it should and it's incredibly minor as far as that kind of defect goes. Apparently it's caused by the mother taking progesterone early in the pregnancy which I did. Our urologist basically gave us two options: 1 - Don't circumsize Parker and leave the minor hypospadias as it is or; 2 - Wait until he's 6 months old and have the surgery to correct the hypospadias and circumsize him. We feel strongly about circumscision so we'll be electing to have the surgery done to correct his defect and circumsize him once he's six months old.

Anyway...at least I have a while to prepare myself for his procedure....

We also go in on Monday for our one month checkup with the pediatrician! I can't believe he'll be four weeks old on Friday! I am already compiling my list of questions for the pediatrician. One of them is if I can start giving Parker some Pedialyte. A good friend of mine said that her pediatrician said she could give her son Pedialyte during the day to keep him full without extra calories. I am worried because Parker is already taking 4 ounce bottles every three hours and sometimes wakes up at 2 or 2.5 hours between feedings so hungry. If I could give him an ounce or two of Pedialyte then that could satiate him until feeding time. We'll see what our pediatrician says. Also, I'm going to ask him about the possibility of giving Parker some cereal before bedtime. My same friend said her pediatrician allowed her to give her son a bit of cereal at the 9/10pm feeding when he was one month old. We'll see...I'd love to get the boy sleeping a little longer than 3 hours at a time.

We're hoping to get our pictures made soon for our announcements...I promise to post them soon!

Gratuitious Cuteness!

Okay....I'm warning you now...there's more cuteness on this page than most people can handle in one day. It's overwhelming and could cause adverse effects on your fallopian tubes if you're a woman. Scroll at your own risk, that's all I'm saying. :-)



Okay...Here's baby Parker dressed to impress on the day we left the hospital.



Isn't the cuteness just jumping off the page at you? Those fingers...those cheeks...ugh, it's more than I can handle for sure. How I'm ever going to say no to this boy is beyond me.

Also, this cute bundle doesn't even come close to revealing the not so cute behavior that plagued us the night he came home. We were insulated in our nice warm hospital room. We were lulled into a false sense of security. We weren't exactly prepared for our first night home with this 8 pound munchkin. The night this boy came home with us was a night from hell. I won't sugar coat it, it was one of the hardest nights of my entire life. He had been through so much change that he was all out of sorts....and gassy....and just didn't feel good. Did I know how to soothe him, heck no! Did Grandma or Grandpa? No way....well, Grandma finally did get him hugged up to her so that his belly was up against hers and he seemed to like that....but mostly he just cried, and cried, and cried and couldn't be soothed. I cried and fought back the desire to drive back to the hospital and return him. No...I wouldn't have done that....well, maybe....no seriously, I wouldn't have ever done that. I was thinking irrationally from lack of sleep, we all were. Luckily we went to see the pediatrician the next day and he was all like, "Give him some infant Mylicon drops and he'll be fine." Well thanks doc...where were you like 12 hours ago? :-) Anyway, Mylicon is the next best thing since sliced bread and Parker's cheeks. If you're a new Mom or about-to-be Mom, stock up. Trust me!


And now....for my little ducky....




Now those cheeks...they slay me....those blue eyes, oh Lordy be I'm in trouble. What else is there to say? He's just too cute for words. Of course, he's mine so I can be that blatantly biased. :-)

Hugs to you all!
L.

My sweetest boy!

Here are the first pictures of me, Shooter and Parker from the OR delivery room. As you can see in the first pic, I have an ice pack on my chest. Apparently most women end up vomiting during a cesearean delivery, I lasted longer than most....I didn't get sick until the surgeons were sewing me up. That made spending time with Parker a little difficult, but we managed some first family pictures thanks to the wonderful anesthesia nurse, Barbara.

Here is the first picture of Mommy and Parker:

Here's the first picture of Daddy and Parker:

Here's our first family picture:

Here's Parker after his first bath while he was being worked on in the transition nursery. He inhaled some meconium during delivery and had to spend 4 hours in the transitional nursery being monitored. He was born at 5:11pm and I didn't get to hold him until a little after 9pm.

But once I got to hold him, I didn't let go for a while. This munchkin grabbed my heart and hasn't let go. Methinks it'll be that way for a long, long, long, long time. :0)

He's a little yellow here...we fought off jaundice and we won, but he looks a little like he's been in a tanning bed. :-)

Look at those cheeks will you? They slay me. I kiss and smooch and snuggle to them daily. I can't help it. They're addictive....like Cheetos only better for you!

Labor....wherefore art thou labor?

Well....now it's time to talk a little about my delivery of Baby Parker. As I mentioned in my earlier post, I was on Pitocin for several hours with no progression of my labor. As you can see by the picture below, I was in so much pain.... ;-)

Since I knew the day before that I was being induced, my parents had time to make it down from Tennessee. Here are me and my Dad in the labor room.

We were really hoping that Parker (and I) had progressed so that we could get the delivery show on the road. Here is Shooter giving Parker the what's what on how he needed to come on out and greet us. Unfortunately it didn't work!

Once the doctor came in and evaluated me, it was determined that we were off to surgery. Here I am prepped and ready to go!

I also had to give Shooter's head a good rub for luck....here we both are dressed, prepped and ready to head off to surgery so that we could meet our precious Parker.

Here is a picture of me with my L&D nurse DeAnna. She was the sweetest nurse and really made the time I spent in L&D a good experience. She accompanied me to the OR and then was there through my surgery as well.

More to come......