Family & Canines

This weekend Aunt Kristen and Uncle Larry came to visit James! It was sooo good to see them and have them around for the extra sets of hands. Larry is a master "swaddle swinger" (we are working on the patent on that one) and Kristen loved to hold her nephew -- which meant Mom & Dad got some much needed extra zzz's :-) Thanks you two!!! Larry is going overseas to Afghanistan in July, so we need to get some more QT in soon with them!One of the many "James" faces we've come to love...usually his lips are a bit more together, but it's so funny, he can get a perfect circle almost...it's one of his "thinking" faces I believe.

Kris and Larry brought their two dogs, Callie and Dutch, with them this weekend, which made Easton EXTREMELY happy -- finally someone here to play with him! The three of them had a ball chasing/pouncing/smelling each other all weekend and Easton slept all day Sunday and Monday after they left from all the hard work of entertaining his canine friends!

Corey and Jenny also visited James on Sunday. I didn't get a picture of Jenny holding him (who had baby custody most of the time) but I did get a good one of Corey *maybe* practicing for herself one day (*maybe*). It was great to see some friends from work and hear about my students (for the first time in 5 yrs of teaching, I thoroughly enjoyed all 3 of my classes I taught -- maybe that's bc I usually teach 5 classes/day, but I like to think it's because of the smaller class sizes and that I've changed as a teacher -- hopefully for the better)! Sorry about the run-on sentences, I do teach Physical Education, not English, so I just go with the flow as I type and use lots of "...."s to continue thoughts ;-)

Now That's Sharing!

Easton wondering why this little man keeps on screaming...I mean, he's totally willing to share the pillow, why won't James?

After a few minutes, James gave up his fight and decided to sleep it out with Easton.

The "sleeping" lasted less than 2 minutes and James was ready to check things out again, but without the screaming and howling to boot ;-)

GGs Visit

GG came to visit this week to help me recover and get some QT with James. She's been a busy lady! She has been awesome -- laundry done, bathrooms cleaned, meals cooked, doctor's appts for both myself and James made (close to) on time :-)
Above: James checking out his world -- he gets SO ABSOLUTELY MAD at himself if he needs to take a nap -- he doesn't want to miss anything that could be happening in his world -- so much to learn, so little time!

Below: GG holding James one night as he FINALLY fell asleep -- he looks so peaceful; however, he was up screaming until 2am this night, little stinker ;-)

My doctor's appointment went well today. They just wanted to check out my incision and see how it was healing -- the midwife kept looking at it because she was so thrilled w/ how it was healing! She said "all incisions should look this good!" Jim did a most excellent job caring for the wound before I could actually do it myself -- he's the bestest! I think the fact that my body rejects the type of stitching they use (Vicryl) may have helped the incision site heal better bc they had to staple me up -- guess it was a big debate in the operating room what to do, but they went w/ staples because I may be talked into having more children sometime (in the very very far future). Other than that, a pretty uneventful appointment, just some good advice and things to watch out for in the next few weeks. Hopefully James and I are both done with dr. appts. until I go for my 6-week post-partum and he goes for his 2 month appt!

Two Weeks Old & Lovin' It

Daddy and James on his two weeks old night...still such the little Peanut! This outfit is from Mr/Mrs. Grimaudo -- it's a "Make Way for Ducklings" (one of Jimmy's favorite kid's books) onesie from their trip to Boston (side note: I love Boston). Anyway, I really didn't think he'd be small enough to fit in it, but it's actually a bit big on him still, so maybe we'll get a couple more wears out of it still!







Two week comparison to the teddy bear GG bought James. I guess he's only about 1/2 inch longer and 5oz heavier, so the difference isn't too noticeable yet -- I'm sure it will be crazy different in a few months! This picture was taken after a feeding, so we had a bit more of a happy camper (who then leaned over and spit up on the couch, of course the one w/o the blanket on it ;-) thanks Jamesy, hehe!







LOL -- this is the "not so happy" camper picture that we tried earlier in the day -- you get a good idea of how long and skinny his legs are though!

Second Week Happenings

Hmmmm, who dressed me this morning? I think it's pretty darn cute though!

James doesn't usually mind a dirty diaper, he'd much rather be dry, but he absolutely HATES the process of diaper changing...here is a picture Gma Chele took on a visit after a diaper change...she thinks he's contemplating the world, I think he's also wondering why he couldn't get all zipped up first before his photo shoot :-)

James likes to look at all the lights/shadows in the room. This morning GG walked him around all the rooms for almost an hour -- he's very inquisitive and gets really mad if his scenery isn't changed regularly.

James in his bouncer with Easton keeping guard of his baby brother. Easton definitely doesn't like it when James is unhappy and crying -- he's always checking to make sure James is OK in his pack'n' play and we're doing a good job soothing him after James cries.

Daddy had to work from home at the end of last week -- here's some proof that he can be productive AND hold a baby! I think he should work from home all the time, but I don't think work would appreciate that too much :-)

So, OK, this picture was sort-of staged (Jim wasn't really asleep) but it was too cute to not post my 2 favorite guys!

James, myself and Easton all cozied up on the couch relaxing a bit.

Bath Time!!!

GG helped us give James a bath tonight. I had attempted one last week, but needed some reassurance that I was getting him clean (not that he's running around playing in the mud or anything yet, but still). Here's the "before" picture -- notice someone lost his umbilical cord! The dr. had said it would probably fall off in the next week or so -- it was about 6 hours later! I totally freaked when I opened up his onesie and it was missing and Jimmy (who was previously grossed out by the thing) had to find it and throw it away -- kind of like w/ a spider being found. The belly button isn't completely healed yet though, so we will continue to sponge bath for a bit to help avoid infection, etc.

James actually didn't mind the bath too much -- only cried a bit towards the end when he was probably getting a bit chilly.

Week 2 Dr. Visit

Above is one of the pictures the hospital's photography company took of James when he was 3 days old (our365 gets the credit) -- I can send the link for people to order pictures, let me know if you're interested.

Today was a pretty busy day for us considering we've pretty much been holed up at home since getting out of the hospital. My mom is here for the week to help us out and it's already been awesome! This morning Mom, James and myself joined our neighbor Rachel at a breast feeding support group. Very nice to hear that even people who have been nursing for almost two years still have their issues with it. We had to leave the group early to get James to his 2 week dr. appt. He is looking good -- essentially back up to his birth weight (he was 1/2oz. shy, but we'll round up) and almost 1/4in. longer at 19.25in. -- how amazingly fast they can grow! Guess that means he's actually getting enough food when he eats -- we can even up the amount of milk Jimmy gives him at night while I pump to see if he'll finish it. Peanut was all content sleeping in his bundleme in the car seat until the dr. came in and we had to get him naked down to his diaper -- then he broke out the howler monkey screeches (still so funny because he'll usually stop crying within 10 seconds of picking him up as he's just faking). I started to feed him after the dr. left because it was coming up on 5 hrs since his last meal and then the BIG BAD NURSE came in to give him his first Hep. B shot -- he was NOT happy to say the least but recovered quickly to finish eating -- good way to a Montalbano's heart is through the belly!