A Time for Creativity

Oh, the creative juices are flowing!  I can't help it, I'm just so stinking creative.  Okay, just kidding.  I don't know if losing brain cells during pregnancy and childbirth also goes for losing your creativity too, but lately, I've been struggling to even get a shower everyday... much less be creative!  Buuuuuuuuuut, I do know some people who are EXTREMELY creative.  Okay, that's a lie too.  I don't actually know them.  I follow their blog, so I guess you could say I stalk them?  Well, maybe it's not that severe.  A LOT of people follow this blog, and I can totally see why.  Um, it's because they're AMAZING!  Yes, I'm using a lot of CAPS in this post.
Anyway, shout out to John and Sherry Petersik, the authors of Young House Love- my favorite blog.  They are serious DIY'ers and just reading their blog makes me feel somewhat empowered to tackle any job around my house- and to jump in feet first and make something myself.  So, with that being said... what do these items all have in common?

They're the ingredients to the new mobile I put up in John Michael's nursery.  I never bought a mobile because the ones I thought were reasonable in price just weren't my style.  My style is more along the lines of the ones that have a hefty price tag.
But that's when I saw the mobile that John and Sherry made to go in their daughter Clara's room.  They also posted instructions on how to make your own version.  So, with a little 1, 2, 3... I made two to go up in JM's nursery.  And, I decided to hang them from the air vent in his room in hopes that our air/heater might stir up a little action for them.  Well, probably not.  I think it's more the fact that I have some unreasonable fear of putting holes in the wall/ceiling/cabinet.  I'm getting better about it, but in the meantime, I'm just going to tie them to the air vent.  They do have a nice twirling action going on though.  Here's my final product!

And here's my trusty assistant, Maxwell vonSeeberg Schnauzer Sanford, posing with the finished product.  He held the ladder while I hung them.  You should comment on how nice you think his new haircut looks- seriously- he got his feelings hurt because he thought nobody liked his new do.  Nana had to Skype him last night just to make him feel better.

Mine don't look as cool as the Petersik's, and I could only get two done- which I know goes against all decorating rules (hang/organize things in odd numbers).  Who cares- I'm a decorating REBEL!  Or I have a baby with colic... whichever one you want to go with.
But I think it'd be cool to chill in my crib and look up at this view.

Stay tuned as I share in my next post about getting organized... and my OCD tendencies.  But, let's not call it OCD.  Let's just call it... particular.

A Time for Friends!

John Michael is 8 weeks old today, and he's really starting to come out of his shell.  He loves playing on his activity mat with his daddy.  They just play and JM smiles and gets praised every time he touches the rattle.  He's rolling over which is insane to me- but I put him down on his stomach the other day, and walked over to the other side of the room to get a rattle- and when I turned around he was on his back!  Maybe Max has been helping him with that. :) It has happened several times though. But he's holding his head up alot, and we're able to get him to stay on his tummy for longer periods of time.

Last weekend, we were so blessed to get to spend some time with our friends Woody and Kristen.  They brought their adorable son Foster along, who is a couple of months older than John Michael.  I think JM was a little jealous of how much hair Foster had.

Foster is such a cutie!  I got tickled at one point because JM had been in a cranky mood, so he was swinging in his little swing (which is usually the only thing we can do to calm him down).  We were playing with Foster, and I looked over at JM, who looked like he was in time-out over in the swing.  It was really funny.  After daddy fed him though, he was a little more sociable.

Somehow I caught Foster making some really funny expressions- he looks a little nervous in the one above.  And then this one cracked me up so much, I just had to share...

It was so nice to be with friends and get to hang out a little, share stories, and just catch up.  We had not had a chance to meet Foster yet because I was SOOOOO pregnant when he was born, and then he was still so new when JM was born.  So needless to say, this was a welcomed visit for us all.

One other thing that has been happening this past week has been the mysterious "changing of the sounds" from JM's sleep sheep.  He loves his sleep sheep, so much so that we have two of them... one for the crib and one for traveling.  But we usually set the sheep on "rain" and it goes off by itself within a certain period of time.  Michael and I laugh at the "heartbeat" and "whale" settings, but we don't ever use those unless we're playing a joke on each other.  However, the other day, JM was swinging with his sleep sheep set on "rain" as usual.  All of a sudden the rain stopped, and I heard whales speaking and singing in our den.  After I busted out laughing, I changed it back to rain.  But, it has happened several times now, so either JM really likes the whales and is changing the sounds himself, or we need to sprinkle some holy water on ol' sleep sheep #2.  Regardless, I found JM petting sleep sheep yesterday, and it was so cute!

Next week's post will hopefully include a little nursery project I've been thinking about.  Stay tuned...

7 weeks

I got a surprise in the mail today!  I ordered some pictures to put in frames around the house.  If you're not on Facebook, then you probably haven't seen the professional pictures that the amazingly talented Jessica Wright took of our sweet boy.
And if you are on Facebook, well, you get to see them again. :)  Can't post them all because that would take FOREVER- well, not really forever- but every moment is gold in this house until JM starts crying again.  So, I'll start with the ones I ordered for the house- and then add in a few more of my faves.  These were all taken when he was just a wee two weeks old.  What a handsome lil fella!

Documenting the big stuff (or the little stuff)

For those of you who follow this blog, I need to back up and explain something.  I realize that I never explained my purpose for this blog, although I was thinking it in my head.  Since John Michael's arrival, I have been documenting each week with him, talking about the good and the bad, in hopes that I'll be able to look back at this one day and remember it all.  I may even print all of these posts out one day and put them in his baby book.  But I want to remember everything- not just the good things.  So, I plan to be brutally honest in this blog- as if I wasn't before. :)  But, I don't want you to get the feeling that I am complaining, or whining, or anything else for that matter.  I am simply documenting every thought, feeling, moment, and event.  Some things will be interesting for others- some may only be interesting to me.  So, with that all being said, here are a couple of things I want to remember that I have forgotten to blog:

January 13, 2011- 4:00am feeding

I went into the nursery for our usual feeding time, and everything was just as it always was.  However, this particular feeding was exciting to me because it was the first time that I changed JM's diaper in the dark without turning on his lamp.  This was a big deal to me because turning on the lamp inevitably made JM want to get up for the day, and I would have a hard time getting him back to sleep.  When I returned to bed, Michael asked if everything went okay, and thus one of the funniest conversations occurred.
Michael:  Was everything okay?
Me: I successfully changed his diaper in the dark.
Michael: Really?  How did you do that?
Me: I didn't turn any lights on.
PAUSE
Michael: Really Kay?  I feel like I'm in the movie Airplane right now.

January 26, 2011- 7:00am

This was actually this morning, but I felt like putting the date above it anyway to keep things looking uniform (OCD much?).
I fed JM at 6:00am, and put him down to go back to sleep around 6:30.  Somewhere between 7:00 and 7:30, I heard him starting to stir.  Normally, he starts to stir and it immediately turns into crying, and I will go get him and either feed him (if it's time for that), or soothe him, give him his pacifier, etc.  But today was different.  After the stirring, he started to coo.  It was the cutest thing, because it was like for the first time, he discovered his voice and was starting to have fun with it.  I stayed in bed, listening to this in the monitor for about 15 to 20 minutes, as his "AHHHHH" changed inflection, going from low to high pitch and back down.  Or the "Ooooooooo, ugh."  Or a loud "AH!"  After about 15-20 minutes, it started to turn into a cry, but it still wasn't a full cry.  I have to say it was the cutest thing I've ever heard.  Even as I sit here typing, he's doing it again from his swing.  Except this time he has the hiccups- so the cooing gets interrupted every now and then.

That's all I can remember today that I wanted to make sure I got down in print before it left me again. :)

6 weeks

John Michael turned 6 weeks old last Thursday, and it's amazing how much he has already changed.  The colic is in full swing now... (our doctor said it would peak between 6 and 8 weeks).  We've had three pretty rough days in a row, and I think it's safe to assume that Gripe Water makes our son gripe, instead of taking it away.  Everytime we've used it, the crying has gone from bad to worse- so I think we're going to put it away for good.
He has started smiling alot more though, so that makes the good times even better.  He's so cute when he smiles- I could just eat him up.  We're starting to have a little more fun with his clothes too.  He's already wearing three month onesies- and this kid is SO TALL.  I know, I know- I have no idea where he gets that from.
When we went to the doctor last Wednesday, he weighed 10 lbs, 4 oz.  And they sprung his first set of shots on me.  We were set to get those in February, but they decided to go ahead and do them since we were already there.  I think it was better that way, because I didn't have time to worry.  I also don't know if I handled it well because I'm just so used to the crying, or what.  But, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.  He didn't really cry that long, and he slept alot when we got home.  That was nice.
JM is really starting to enjoy his activity mat alot more- which is great because it's one trick in the bag that we use for fussiness.  Other tricks are the swing, walking around the house, singing Barbra's greatest hits, Beatles lullabies, classical lullabies, car rides, sleep sheep, the fan, and so on and so on. Seriously, anything that we can think of, we will try.
But, we're hoping that things will get better soon in that department.  In the meantime, here are some recent pictures that make me smile.

A Time for Firsts

I'm sure there will be many more firsts, but today we took our first stroll around the neighborhood in the stroller.  John Michael slept the whole time, and then woke up just as soon as we hit the garage.  But, it was worth it just to get out and get a little exercise.

As an update from the last post, we went to the pediatrician's office last week hoping for some relief.  We were told that JM has colic and reflux, and now we have a prescription for zantac and we're adding rice cereal to his bottles.  He still gets fussy, but I'm thinking that maybe things are getting better.  I don't want to speak too soon because every time I think it's getting better we have a really bad day.  But, he seems to be sleeping better- and for longer periods of time.  This picture is horrible in quality, but it just shows that sometimes we don't even make it all the way through our bottle before dozing off.

He's just the sweetest little guy though.  We've gotten over our dislike of outfits going over the head.  I figured we needed to get used to that since he can't wear snap down the front onesies forever. :(  He's also starting to smile alot more.  Not at me though- just random things, like the blinds, or the fan.  It's still really cute though.  And he LOVES his daddy!  Something about Michael just seems to calm him (and me for that matter).  I love watching them together, and seeing how small John Michael looks in comparison to Michael's hand, or face.  It's incredible really.  I think I'm still in awe that JM is our child- that we're parents- that God has entrusted us with this precious life.  The past five weeks have been crazy and wonderful all at the same time.  I can't believe he's already going to be six weeks old this Thursday.  Well, I'll leave you with another really bad quality picture, but a cute one all the same.  (He loves sleeping with those arms up- and will Houdini his arms out of the sleep sack)  Night night!

4 weeks!

How did four weeks already go by?  I guess in the midst of midnight feedings, Christmas, New Years, and doctors' appointments... it just flew by!  There's so much to report on, but for fear that I will make this post eons long, I'll try to stick to just a couple of subjects.

First of all, we've had to change formula three times!  We started out on just the regular newborn formula, and then had to switch to gentlease because of fussiness.  Then we had to switch to soy because the gentlease wasn't helping.  Then the soy caused some digestion issues, so we switched again to nutramigen. This has helped with the digestion- however, the fussiness is still in full swing.  BUT, we have some good times too, so we're not crazy just yet.

As far as I can tell for the first month, here are some of John Michael's likes and dislikes:

Likes
The picture of Chicago above the couch
Any and all fans in the house
His swing
His sleep sheep
Eating
Strategically peeing on mom and dad while changing- and catching the wall in the stream if possible
When mom sings Barbra's "The Way We Were"
The changing table
Car rides
Classical music
Max

Dislikes
His back rubbed
Going to sleep sometimes
Afternoons
Any outfit that goes over his head
Initially getting into the carseat

We're exhausted... but he's such a cutie, so it really is worth it!  Here's a picture of him at 4 weeks.