Milk

Why do I go to the lengths that I do for milk?
Organic Consumers Association's Ronnie Cummings discusses corporate greed and organic milk
I love my Amish farmer milk.... YUM.

One Month Jack Stats

weight: 11lbs 5oz
length: 23.5in
head: 38cm (first time this was ever measured...)

Let's Party!

We headed out last night across the street to Emily and Craig's house for our first night out. Jack got himself all dressd up with his BabyLegs and jean jacket as well as a mini mohawk for the grand occasion! Tough guy ready to party!

Dory and the Monkey

This afternoon Dory had the pleasure of a man's company... and her first butt pinch.



Go Monkey!

Christmas? Already?

I just can not believe it is two days past Thanksgiving... I feel like I lost an entire month. (Big surprise, huh?) When I was little holidays were often really big family events, and then it changed and they were really little. It took a long time for the holidays to 'feel right' after that. This year we decided since Jack would be so little to 'cancel' the holidays. Now that we have made it through Thanksgiving dinner, which was tastee, with basically no guests... well... it doesn't feel like it is two days past Thanksgiving, that Advent starts tomorrow and that Black Friday is already past. Not even a little bit. Everyone is decorating and I look out the door and say to myself, "That's just crazy how early they are decorating!" I really feel like it should be Halloween this weekend! I have missed an entire month somehow. Is this how someone who wakes up from a coma feel?

I did some of my holiday shopping online; overall, after one trip to the bookstore I will pretty much be finished. At least I have that done.

She has grown

Over the past month, Dory's face has changed again. No, it is not my imagination; it really has elongated. This isn't the best photo to really see it, but it will have to do since all of the sudden she really hates for you to take her picture. It often now prompts a meltdown.

My Men

They are so good looking.

See how he's grown!!!

I must make super milk...

3 weeks 1 day

4 days
Just no comparison in the fit of the shirt.... no need to adjust your screen, it's not an optical illusion. He's just that huge.

Our first night up.

SO, he slept all evening yesterday. I didn't think anything of it... Until 3am when I STILL had not slept for 5 minutes. My first day all alone, and I am running on no sleep with a cranky toddler and 3 week old.

Yeah.

A few virtual tears

It's amazing to me how fast little ones grow. Jack doesn't resemble a newborn to me anymore. I almost feel jipped. Sure, I'm not sleep deprived or in the throes or PPD or baby blues, but really, it's killing me. He's gained nearly 2 pounds in 3 weeks, or at least 1 and a half already and his newborn diapers already fit completely different than they did. They are so much snugger and some of his newborn clothes are already tight. His shoulders have filled out and look like miniatures of Daddy's right now.
Tomorrow is the first day that I will have the kids all by myself, and today was our first trip out alone. It went well, almost too well actually. It just feels unreal that I gave birth 3 weeks ago, it seems like it was so much longer ago, but should only have been a few days ago. I feel too good physically. Where has 3 weeks gone? Honestly? I don't have a clue and that bothers me.
I really like savoring every moment of a child, at least that is what I did really well with Dory, enjoying the moment and not wishing it away. I want to savor Jack too, and feel like I am, but time is moving so much faster this go around that I feel like I am missing it. It hurts, in a very real way.
I wish I could just slow time down, just a little bit.
I want to savor a few more of the little moments, peer in his face just a little more.
Father time... are you out there?

and on we go...

SO, this weekend was a disaster. Nope, don't want to talk about it, but it was quite rotten. But... Dory and Daddy did go to the mountains for part of the day on Sunday to collect apple cider for us. Yum.
Grandma and Grandpa Raymond were here to help this morning, and took Dory for a walk and to throw the ball outside. It was a really nice visit!
This afternoon, we made our first outing just the 3 of us. I drove us down to Earth Fare to find a 'happy turkey'(no antibiodics, growth hormones, free range, etc.)... I was hoping for roughly 10lbs since there is just 3 people eating it, but well, ended up with almost 14. We'll be eating turkey for awhile I guess. Good thing John and I like turkey! I must say, Jack slept the whole way, and dory was well behaved as usual. Now, if only every trip I go to make goes this well.
This evening, Uncle Andy has come to visit... and is certainly keeping Dory VERY excited... oh, my eardrums!

Go back

and reread through the begining of November, I've added a ton of stuff tonight with backdates. Use the November 2006 archive to do it easily.

Dory's developing

new skills... a few weeks ago she started imaginary play with dolls and figurines within her castle set. Today she started first person imaginary play, role playing. She decided she would be Caillou and I was Rosie. We played just a bit and then a few minutes later she switched us. Role playing is really cool!

Mom's Helper

Mom came to help out to help out this week... it was really nice. She took Dory outside everyday for walks and ball throwing, did dishes and laundry, changed MANY diapers, made sure I ate and even allowed John to take the car to work so I didn't have to take him so that we would have the car for errands.
We did actually get out quite a bit... to the grocery on Monday, the co-op delivery on Thursday, Target for a few returns on Wednesday... I forget if we went out on Tuesday! The week of course went way too fast, and I really enjoyed my time with her. I see her so little it was really nice to be able to just sit and talk during the nap times in between getting things done.

Hey there good lookin'!

2 weeks 4 days old, and getting fatter by the minute!

Nap time

Nap time for JicJac, and downtime for Mommy since Dory is sleeping. Nap times this week have been a bit off, but not awful and luckily Jack and Dory seem to be sharing nap times overall. I know it will not last, but it is a really nice way to be broken into having two to care for! I do hope it lasts a few more weeks...

2 weeks old

Dory sleeps

much better now that we unplugged the lamp and turned off the ceiling fan light at the fan. She knocked right out tonight!

"Let's go outside!"

Baby's first bath!

Auntie, Jack's Godmother to be, followed Ba's footsteps in offering the first bath. Jack was not amused.

The real world

Well, I needed more fresh air, so we headed out for the Farmer's Market this morning. Not even 2 weeks and I can't believe I would have wanted to do such a thing. At this point with Dory I was so overwhelmed that I could barely function. Who would have guessed. John thought it was really funny, because of course some older women stopped me and were dying to see the baby... and I ran them through the wringer making sure they were not sick before I peeled back the thin blanket that covered Jack's face. He thought it was a hoot apparetnly.
It was also an unexpected pleasure that we ran into Grandma and Grandpa Raymond while there. I had considered calling them to see if they wanted to go this morning, but had decided against it; honestly, between nursing and a toddler, well who knows what time you can actually be where... But, to our surprise, we didn't even need to call, they were there just waiting for us to find them in the 2nd building! What a fortunate morning.
And to further the good fortune, the man with the greek/arabic food (serious YUM) was there as well as the people that I get my fave salad dressing from... and I even got the last bottle! :)
Needless to say, it was a great morning. No one had to meet the mommy wrath for coughing or sneezing on Jack.

And she sleeps...

She took a 4 hour nap but I don't think it is directly related...
I put her to bed at 8pm, and she has JUST NOW gone to sleep!!!! ARGH! She just wants to read. What a problem to have huh? Every time that I have left her room, I have returned to find her light on and her in the chair looking at one of her princess books that Miss Emily and Miss Megan gave her for her birthday. Tonight's book of choice was Beauty and the Beast.
She better sleep until at least 9:30 tomorrow.
Isn't 2.5 years a little early to pull the flashlight under the covers routine? Good thing she doesn't have a flashlight.

Peds

Went really well... this afternoon he weighed in at 8.85 after losing what seemed like 2 oz of baby poo. we ran the PKU, which he didn't even flench over... seeing as he was at the tap the whole time. You know, filling the massive 2 oz hole he had just opened.
Other than that, he looks great, no issues. Big surprise, huh? :)

From 2006-11-17

To the ped's, finally.

We are finally heading in to the official doctor's!
That said, the midwife came by this morning to check up on us and... this little guy is 8lbs 8oz!!! Nearly an entire pound heavier just 11 days after birth. I guess we will see how well he is doing on other things here real soon! (Personally, I think he is doing just perfect.)
We will be delaying all vaccines for awhile, and of course didn't have the eye drops at birth or the vitamin K injection. The only thing other than an intro to our pediatrician will be the PKU test. I would be fine skipping it, but it certainly doesn't hurt to run it since it is just a blood draw and tests for over 30 (here in NC) possible problems, many of them genetic, and not an issue for us, but one is cumulative and better treated as early as possible. Do I think it is an issue? No, not a bit... but the test certainly will not hurt anything. So, we'll see! Off we go in a few minutes.

"hi!"

Dory gives Jack some socks

At 1.5 weeks old, Jack gets socks with the assistance of his 2.5 year old sister...

One week, 3 days old.

Going crazy?

No... I'm adding posts under backdates... so don't think you were blind the first go around!

Tiny

Sometimes it's too easy to forget how small they really are.

Car trip!!!

Well, after too many days at home, we decided to hit the road for Jack's first car ride. We drove down to Earth Fare for a few groceries and Dory and I went shopping while Daddy and Jack drove around. The event went really smoothly after I gave him just a timy bit of milk as we were leaving the neigborhood - he slept the ENTIRE over 2 hour span! Dory knocked out on the way home as well... two very peaceful kiddos in the backseat... now, if it would always work this well. It felt really good to get out after 10 days of not leaving the homestead.

JicJac winner cap!

Thanks Grand!!!

Of eggs and foreheads...

Dory wacked herself REALLY well about an hour ago... and now has a massive egg on her forehead. She was running around the powder room with a friend and had her babylegs on, half on her feet, and like socks, she caught the corner wrong and took a dive - right into the metal stripped corner of the wall. A serious dive! Almost immediately she looked like she had a third eyeball on the right side... about that size and blue like her eyes. After some milk and an episode of Seseme Street she seems to be just fine... but I bet we will be just a bit whiny for the day. (She will be just fine.)

What a chunk

Our midwife just stopped by and weighed Jack again for us. We knew he wasn't loosing, but um... we went from 7.10lbs to a full 8lbs in less than a full week!!!! Exact same scale, so it's true! He is one growing chunk of a boy!

Cord news

Gone already... I know you cared! Dropped off this morning.

Now this is pretty cool!

http://www.coverpop.com/whitney/index.php?var=v6

I feel like a supermom...

I managed to get Dory up, fed, washed and dressed for church this morning while John was at Mass... all while attending to Jack as well, without major tantrums from either of them!

*jumping up and down screaming Dory style* "I did it!!! I did it!!!"

Jic Jac

So Daddy calls him Jic-Jac and did from the get-go. No one knows where it came from.
This afternoon I decided that he should have a onesie that had his nickname on it and John suggested that we google it to make sure it was some sort of Aussie porn slang.... well, it's not. (jack jick did come up in the urban dictionary though...)The only real thing that we got was this obscure soda from St. Louis, MO. We really liked the logo, so like all things logo, we are going to photoshop the secondary word and make a retro looking personalization for him. So, whatda' ya' think the secondary lines should read? Something about not needing to bottle to milk?

Where is the coffin?

This is the first grandfather in about 3 generations of Raymonds to hold and see his grandson! (Apparently they have a habit of dying right before or after birth missing the event of meeting...) Jack almost gave him an urn as a gag gift.

Life is good

So, here we are, day 4 of a four person family. Life is good. Jack is sleeping well, Dory is adjusting, and life is calming down some. Family has all been to visit at least once, and I know they all want to come back, but we are trying not to overload on visitors here... for all of our sakes. I don't think any of us can handle too very much right now, but we are doing perfectly at the moment.

Jack is feeding well, but when he is awake, nearly constantly. However, when he's sleeping... forget it, so we are not too sleep deprived this go around. I wonder if that shoe will drop this time?

John is off work for 2 weeks, so I have him around for one more week, and he has been everything I have needed! He's been awesome, taking care of Dory in the morning and bringing me breakfast in bed. He's changing diapers at night and running errands when needed. I am trying hard to make sure he slows down and doesn't overdo it. ;) He's prone to such things being a superhero and all.... Now, the only thing to really complain about is that I look like I just had massive breast implants; and it hurts like it too. But, again.... I guess that is not an honest complaint, since I do want to be breastfeeding and that is how the body works it. I should be thankful that the milk is in, and so very early at that! (It only took me 24 hours to start and 2 days to be fully and painfully engorged.)

Dory is adjusting better than I imagined. She has most certainly had moments of "Um, this is great fun, but I want Mommy back" but they are not that often and are easily handled with a little bit of one on one time. we've read books and cuddled away from the commotion as well as played hard and held Jack on several occasions. Today has been very quiet and it has finally been just us. Not one tantrum today, and things have gone very smoothly. Whew.

Me? I'm healing quite well. Everyday I feel even better, and something different is sore each day as well. all of the swelling is gone, and it is just a little bruising to heal. Other than that different muscle groups keep taking turns for stiff and sore. But seriously, I feel so much better than I did after Dory was born it is remarkable! Maybe it's my Grandmother's prayers and my Superhero Husband.

"Hospital" picture contest

I've worked hard over the last few days to make a comparable picture to Dory's hospital photo to sit with hers on the mantle. Now, here are my 4 contenders, tell me what you think!

For comparison, here's Dory's pic:

Litle rocker babe

I made the shirt from on Old Navy adult XL... (the original pic of it is up on the JonquilMom site) and I think it looks great with his newborn cap turned inside out! Next, the mohawk. :)

Breast Shells are made for stuffing!

Beauty complexes start early....

Milk maid is here!

Milk came in last night, just about the same time that the soreness kicked in (like 24 hrs after a car accident...). However, even with that, I feel really good, Dory is still great, we got several hours of uninterrupted sleep last night, and Daddy is the biggest help ever!!!
Our little man is still perfect. I was worried last night about a possible rash, but it looks just like a bad case of baby acne now. Worry gone. I'm thinking we will head out to the ped's tomorrow afternoon.