2 Months!

Well, Parker was officially 2 months old on Monday! Man how time flies (I feel like I am going to be saying that on a regular basis for a long time...). We had a great weekend! Saturday afternoon we took a family walk (Mom, Dad, Parker and Shadow) to the grocery store to get some items for dinner. We cooked a great meal together - salmon, mmm mmm! Then Sunday we went to a Frisco Rough Riders (minor league baseball) game. Cane's was a sponsor of the Lil Wrangler Party charity event. All in all it was a great weekend together with the family!

We also started sleeping Parker in his nursery last weekend. On Saturday night we slept in the guest room next to his room just in case he was fussy (we didn't want to be going up and down the stairs all night!). He slept just fine though and only woke up once at about 3 am to feed. We started him on a more regular schedule (following "On Babywise" roughly - see link to the right for Chronicles of a Babywise Mom - AMAZING blog) with him waking up at 7am for the day, eating every 3 hours, taking a nap 1 hour after eating, then going to bed right after the 7pm feeding. He does get one "dreamfeed" at 10 or 11pm to help hold him over through the night. I realized we can work towards dropping the 2-3am feeding and get to sleeping through the night because he wasn't eating very much when he woke up at 7. So since he doesn't really need the feeding in the middle of the night, we have been weaning him off of it. The past 2 nights he has gone from the dreamfeed until about 5:45! At thatt point we just gave him an ounce or two then popped the pacifier in his mouth to hold him over to the 7am feeding. We should be sleeping through the night soon!!

Tummy time has been very productive lately! I was worried because he wasn't very active when we would put him on his tummy, but this past weekend he kicked it into high gear! He turns his head back and forth repeatedly and he is even lifting up his head. Most of the time he lifts it to about a 45 degree angle, but yesterday he pushed up on his hands and lifted it so high he could look at me - just amazing! He is so strong...

Today when I picked Parker up from Mom and Dad's house, they had him in the Boppy with a blanket and he looked like he was missing the lower half of his body! Too funny - had to take a picture.

Traumatic Events

Today brought many dramatic events for the little Parkster... First of all, we had his 8 wk appointment with the pediatrician this morning. Everything went well! He is 10 lb, 4 oz now and 23 inches long - that puts him in the 22nd percentile for weight and the 58th percentile for height (both are up from the last visit). He is pretty skinny though because for his weight to height ratio he is in the 2nd percentile! We might have to beef him up a little ;) But the doctor said he is eating good and is right on track.

He also got 3 shots and one oral vaccine today - as you can guess, he didn't like that very much. He took them pretty well though. They did 2 at once then the third so it was like he only got pricked twice. She was pleased to hear he is smiling now, so that was a big check off his development list! His assignment for the next appt at 4 months is to be able to roll over and laugh. I can't wait until the laughing comes! So, to get him rolling over we will have to be diligent with our tummy time. He does good with it right now and has mastered switching his head from side to side. He also lifts his head up sometimes too just to look around.

We just opened up his play pen this last weekend for the first time and put him in it. Man does he get giddy in that thing! He just smiles and coos for a good 15 minutes straight! He loves it!

So I had a suspicion coming into this appointment that Parker might be tongue-tied (tongue attached too tight to the bottom of his mouth). Kyle thought I was crazy and just getting freaked out by things I read on the internet, but turns out I was right! My first inclination was the fact that he was taking awhile to latch on when breast-feeding, or he would just lose the latch and have to re-do several times in one feeding. So I started my investigation and found that one reason could be because he was tongue-tied. Then I realized Parker was experiencing a couple other symptoms... when he had a big open mouth cry, his tongue was in a V-shape (like the middle was tacked down). I also noticed as we were starting to wean over to bottle feeding, that certain nipples were not working. He would suck happily for 20-30 minutes and not even get a whole ounce out. I realized that those particular nipples require him to depress the part closer to the base, and I figured Parker couldn't stick his tongue out far enough to make that happen, so he wasn't getting a regular flow of formula. Anyway - we went to an ENT today and got it snipped, so he his A-OK now! He definitely didn't like it (no anesthetic), but it was quick and he was over it in a couple minutes. He got a little bit on the bottle and then his paci right afterward (apparently the sucking makes the bleeding stop!). I'm glad we went ahead and got it taken care of now to avoid any speech problems later down the road.

So needless to say, he had quite a traumatic day with the shots and the frenulum snip, but all is well now. Sorry for the lengthy post!

Big Changes

Well, a few things have happened over the last week or so... Last week I let TracyLocke (my employer) know that I would not be returning from maternity leave. I am so thrilled to be able to spend more time with Parker, however I am going to miss my co-workers greatly! I got so close with many of them over the last 3 years, it's hard to imagine not seeing them everyday. I will be working part time (2 days/wk) doing marketing for a doctor's office in Plano though. I'm already working and am really excited about it. I think it's going to be something that will allow me to be creative and use a lot of my wide array of skills.

I also plan on using this time to push my invitation/stationery business! As many of you know, I have been doing custom invitation design on a word of mouth basis, but as of last week I am official! I filed a DBA for PaperCrush and got a Tax ID number from the IRS. It feels good to take this step in really getting the business going, but there is still alot of work ahead. I am currently working on getting my financials setup and creating a Facebook page, Flickr page and website/blog. So more to come on that soon!

Another fun addition to the Gordon house is patio furniture!!! With the help of my grandmother, Muffy, we managed to finally furnish the patio after almost 2 years of being in the house. Muffy and her sister, Marge, were generous enough to give us a conversation set that belonged to their mother, my Great Grandmother Maggie. We found some great cushions at Home Depot for the time being and we plan on painting them black. We also got a table and 6 chairs to go along with. It looks so great and we can't wait to use it as the weather gets warmer! THANK YOU MUFFY!

To celebrate our new patio furniture, we had a big family dinner this past Sunday evening! We planned on a warm afternoon lounging on the patio with cool cocktails, but instead we made a fire outside to keep warm and it ended up raining. Total bust on the patio portion, but it was great to have the family over. My Aunt Cindy was in town, so she got to see Parker for the first time since the hospital! Speaking of the little fella, here are a few recent pictures...

Happy Belated Easter

Happy Easter to all! I hope everyone had a great weekend. We spent the weekend in Austin with Kyle's family and had a great time. Before we left though, we had Easter with my family in Dallas on Thursday night - we had great food (as usual) and everyone got to see Parker in his cute Easter outfit!

Parker did great on his first road trip - he slept the whole way down to Austin! Friday we went to dinner at El Rancho, then we went to see Jenn and Justin's new house on Saturday. It looks amazing! Saturday night we had a great dinner at Kim and Jason's. Our nephew Sam just loves Parker, so we thought he would get a kick out of carrying Parker in the front carrier! It was so cute, whenever Parker would fuss, we just told Sam to walk and bounce!

Sunday we went to church and Parker slept straight through - thank goodness! We had relaxing rest of the day, then a yummy Easter dinner. Overall it was a great weekend and we were glad everyone got to spend some time with Parker.

 

Coffee on the porch with Pappy

 How cute is he in his "Baby's First Easter" bib and bunny hat!? Anyway, Parker is just growing up so fast... He is up to 10 lbs now, I just can't believe it! He is also much more awake everyday, however he tends to get cranky in the evenings. We are having to make sure he goes down for naps throughout the day to keep him from getting overtired. I am also having him nap in his crib upstairs, so hopefully in the next couple weeks we can get him sleeping overnight in his room. The longest stretch we've gotten overnight is about 5 hrs, so we are getting closer to sleeping through the night. We are also increasing the number of formula bottles he is getting - we are up to 3/day now. By next week he should be on formula all day and I will still try to nurse at night if I can. Also, a little bumpiness has recently popped up on his face. I know it's completely normal, but his skin was so pretty and clear before! Hopefully it doesn't stick around too long.

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...