One Month Bday and Two Year Anniversary!

Parker was officially one month old on Friday! Gosh, time is flying by! He is getting bigger and is more awake now with a little bit more of a personality. He will make eye contact with you now (which is nice as opposed to the blank stare we're used to!). He is also starting to use his voice to make sounds now instead of just grunting and crying. He just gets more handsome everyday! I can't help but stare at him all the time - how can you not when there is always a new and exciting face!? He is also probably getting annoyed with how much I slather him with kisses, but I just can't resist.

Although he is getting bigger, he is still in the Newborn size diapers. And let me tell you, we go through those like crazy! We use a whole 84 pack every week. People told us you go through a lot of diapers and they weren't kidding! We also are starting to give him some formula to make a slow transition off of nursing. He just gets one bottle a day right now and we will slowly start to add more. He is taking to it very well and it doesn't seem to phase him. He goes back and forth with no problem!

Our new found gadget that is AMAZING is the Itzbeen timer! This thing is a must-have for new parents! We just love how it keeps track of everything and alarms us when it's time to eat or nap, etc. I highly recommend this to anyone trying to keep a schedule for their baby and doesn't want to keep an eye on the clock all the time...

Kyle and I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary this weekend as well! It was actually yesterday, the 29th, but he was traveling for work so we went out to eat on Sunday. That was our first time to go out together without Parker! It was nice to be able to leave him in the trusted hands of my parents for a little while. We needed a date night to ourselves and it was a much needed break. It's amazing how much has happened in the past two years since the wedding... we are just growing up so fast, but I know we also have so much ahead of us in the years to come!

Happy St. Patty's Day

Parker and I wore our green around the house today and showed our Irish pride! I got a few pics in before he got squirmy and decided he was done...

I also realize that on the last post I didn't really do Parker justice with the pictures I posted. So here are a few of my favorite pics so far..

 One of the first days home

Sleeping Baby

The Model

Daddy and Parker napping

Happy Dreams

Parker praying

Mesmerized by the skylights at the lake house

Cross my heart

Ok, enough pictures! I just have so many, it's hard to narrow it down! Things are still going good though. He is sleeping well majority of the time. We haven't been using the Gripe Water everyday and have only had a couple more colicky instances. We are just using it on an as-needed basis, which is still very helpful! Our big challenge now is trying to get him sleeping on a flat surface. We spoiled him by letting him sleep in the pack and play because it puts him in a cozy cradled position instead of flat like he will be in the crib. So, in an effort to make an easier transition to the crib in the future, our goal is to get him falling asleep on his own in the bassinet! He is pretty fussy in there, and I have to admit the past couple nights after awhile I just put him in the pack and play so we can both sleep. It's getting better though... he's sleeping in there right now! Hopefully tonight is better. Well that's all for now, more to come later...

Drumroll Please....

I know this is long overdue, but PARKER HAS ARRIVED!!! He was born Friday, February 26th at 6:35 pm - 7 lb., 20 in. Now that you have the vital stats, here is a quick recap of the day:

We checked in the hospital at 7:30 am. They gave us our room and I got my awesome hospital gown. They hooked me up to an IV (which they burst the first vein they tried and I still have a gnarly bruise to show for it!). My doctor was ready to break my water and get the show on the road, but we had to wait on the anesthesiologist for my epidural... there were 2 unexpected c-sections that he was tied up with. So we started the pitocin without him at about 10am. By 10:30 he came to administer the epidural (I only felt about 1 or 2 contractions!). Quickly after that, my doctor broke my water, then it was just a waiting game.

Things started slowly and the contractions weren't very strong. It probably took an hour or 2 to dilate another cm to 4. My nurse, Claudine, was a great French lady and she was motivated to get this baby out before her shift ended at 7pm. So, she kept coming in and increasing the pitocin to get things moving! Eventually I started making some quicker progress, meanwhile I wasn't feeling a thing! I could tell I was having a contraction only because my stomach would get really tight. Kyle and my Mom would watch the monitor and we saw how the intensity increased throughout the day. They started at about a level 7-8, then by the end of the day I was having level 15+ contractions and few that were off the charts!

We just watched movies all day and had a few visitors. Muffy, Marge and my Aunt Cindy came by to visit. Then my friends Allison and Whitney each came by to hang out for awhile. It was great to have a distraction and someone to keep me occupied!

Finally around 5pm they said I was at 8 cm and would probably push within the hour. At that point I could feel the pressure to push coming on and I knew I was getting ready! Sure enough, I moved along just as they thought and I was pushing by around 6pm. Overall, I pushed a maximum of about 30 minutes and Parker was born! Luckily it was a very easy delivery and he was a happy, healthy little boy! All the nurses said I was made to have babies considering how easy the delivery went! It was a really special experience for Kyle and I to share.

We got to spend about an hour with him and have a few visitors before they whisked him away to the nursery for a couple hours. The rest of our stay at the hospital was great! Well, except for the student nurse who put our embroidered pillowcases in with the rest of the hospital laundry!! What a mess, and we still haven't gotten them back...

We went home that Sunday and things have been going great! He had his first car ride to his 2 day checkup, and he had already gained weight from leaving the hospital! He also gave the doctor a little golden shower!!! We quickly realized that a spare onesie was a must for the diaper bag...

He has had a few colicky episodes, but it's not a daily occurrence. We are hoping his digestive system is just going through an adjustment period... Gripe water is our new best friend though! That stuff works magic. At his 2 wk checkup, he was over his birth weight as he should be. This now means we are allowed to let him sleep as long as he is willing during the night and only wake up when he is ready to feed. Unfortunately he is still on the every 3 hr schedule, so we are still getting up regularly throughout the night. We are lucky though that he usually sleeps straight through between feedings! He usually just falls right asleep in a food coma after a feeding, no matter what time of day...His umbilical cord finally fell off, so he got his first real bath today (full water instead of a sponge bath)!

Now that we are all caught up, I promise I will post on a regular basis to keep everyone updated on the latest happenings and pics! One last picture - Parker and his Daddy...