The Reason for the Season

Eric and I have always made it a point that Christmas is about Christ's birth, not Santa. We don't banish him, but we talk a lot more about Christ and why we celebrate. So it's funny to see where a 2 year old's mind goes. I made a snapfish book for Cara's 2nd year (for free--thank you Oprah--I'm not a fan, but happened to catch the part where they gave away a free book woo hoo!) and we took it to Thanksgiving so everyone could see. My mom asked Cara who was in this picture with her:

And her answer was: "Baby Jesus!" :)

Gotta love breastfeeding

Cara: I NEED to feed the baby!

Me: Ok honey, how about you feed your baby:

Happy Thanksgiving

Wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! We are at my uncle's house. Later today we'll have about 25 people and about 8 dogs here!! :) Fun times.

For my faithful blog reader.....

Happy Birthday Colleen! I hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

9 years together

Today marks the 9th anniversary of when Eric uttered those special words to me via IM "I guess we can be boyfriend and girlfriend, I don't think it'll last long though." Ahhh...the memories ;) Love you baby!

7 blissful hours!

So on Saturday night, I fed Micah at 5:30, laid him down at 7, and figured he'd wake up around 8:30 to eat and go to bed for the night. He never did, so I woke him up at 9:40 (the magic time a week ago I fed him and he slept till 4:15!), fed him (tried to, he was so sleepy!) and went to bed, hoping to get till 4 am again! Not so, he was up at 1:30. Eric went and put the pacifier in, but it only (kinda) held him off until about 2:30 :(. I was frustrated and exhausted. I had to feed him again at 5:30 and 8!

However, Sunday night was blissful! He did amazing all day, riding in the car an hour each way towards Spring to attend a good friend's baby shower. He ate at the shower at 4:30. Then we got home and he was fussy, so I went ahead and fed him again at 6:40. Then again at 9:09 (I remember when I started!). And what did he do?? Sleep until 4:19! That's right, 7 hours and 10 minutes! :) I remembered the last time he slept so long, he had a couple 'cluster feeds' in the evening, meaning every 2 hours instead of every 3. If that's what it takes to get that good sleep, then I'll do it. Too bad I didn't go to bed until almost 11 because I was up reading blogs. I'M ADDICTED! :)

this is how tired I was at 6:40 tonight....

I tried to 'count' back from tuesday (when Micah will be 1 month) and came up with the fact that Micah was 29 days old, so we were playing with Cara's numbers and found the 2 and 9 and took his picture. Then later I told Eric he was 4 weeks old today (that would make him 28 days, not 29!) :). Tired mommy....

Fryday post

I know it's Saturday, and totally college football time, but Texas Tech is getting their behinds beat by OU, so I'm not as interested. That and I'm falling over asleep waiting to feed little man before heading to bed myself. So I checked my favorite blog to read (because she updates even MORE than I do!) and she has a contest going on. I need to post about her Fryday contest and LINK to her blog. And in doing so, I'm entered into a fun drawing. I need a new blog header including both of my beauties, and totally need photography lessons! :) I am saving reading her photography tips blog post until I can actually concentrate on it without 2 little rugrats underfoot (and not totally tired so that I can remember it!). So enjoy, if you've never read her blog, enjoy!

Just for my memory..

When we took Micah to the doctor this past Monday, he was 10 pounds 1 ounce!!

Things are going well, he's such a good sleeper (Tuesday night he gave me from 9:40 - 4:20!!! -- he hasn't since though). Cara is sleeping great too. Today we all slept till 8:45, it was awesome, and exactly what I needed. We are lounging around at the house on this cold day. We can't WAIT to get to Thanksgiving break!

11-18-1999

That day will forever be engraved in my brain. 9 years ago today I lost my best friend. Miranda Denise Adams died early that morning in the tragic Aggie bonfire collapse. I miss her dearly, oh how many fun, sweet, sad, loving, silly, memorable times we had together. We even lip synced (yes, to NKOTB!!) back in 4th grade (part of our PE class, weird, I know). We were always in band together, and study partners. And when we went off to college, she to TAMU and me to BU, we seemed to get closer with the miles between us. I spent some FUN times visiting her and our other best friend Kate (they were roomies freshman year) at TAMU freshman year.

We used to go to College Station every year and visit with her family on the site where bonfire fell at 2:42 am. We went to the memorial dedication when it was 5 years past. We haven't been the past few years because of Cara and work schedules, but we're already planning on being there next year for the 10 year anniversary. Her family is part of my family. I know all her aunts/uncles/cousins. I love her parents, 2 brothers, their wife/fiance and kids. Her parents, as tired as they were today from being up in the middle of the night, and just the emotional drain they must go through this day every year, came by my parents house tonight as soon as they got home to Santa Fe to come meet Micah. It was so sweet. They can't believe I have 2 kids (either can I!), and oh how I wish we could have gotten married together and had kids together. God is good, I know that and I praise Him daily. I know He takes all of us in His timing for us, but oh how we miss the people He takes. Lord, today I just pray peace over her family and all that loved our sweet Dada. We miss you girl!

I should have taken a nap today! and other random thoughts....

Ok, so you know how you THINK you know what's going to happen, so you prepare for it, and then of course it doesn't?? That's God saying "haha, you THOUGHT you knew my plans for you!" Like last night, Micah was a little cranky, you could tell he was trying to push out a BM for us, but he wasn't getting anywhere. So we thought, UGH gonna be a long night. It was also the first night in 2 weeks I'd decided to put him in double stuffed bum genius' overnight, because the fitted cloth diapers I have just weren't holding up anymore. AND the BG's weren't going to rub his belly button raw anymore now that it's all healed up. So I doubled stuffed like 8 of them, thinking, ugh, he's going to be up all night trying to poop and being cranky. He fed at 8:30, stayed awake for a litle bit with us, then finally quieted down around 9:30. You know when I heard him next? 2:30 the next morning! Woo Hoo. He had done that quite a few times, but not recently. That was a nice surprise!

Then today, Cara went down a little late for her nap and wasn't acting tired (around 1:40), then he didn't go down until almost 2:45, so I thought, I'll just look around online, fold some clothes, I probably won't have time for a nap. Cara (who used to take good 3 hours naps) has been taking shorter (sometimes only 1.5 hour) naps is STILL asleep at 4:15, as is the bitty boy! Man I wish I'd had known that about an hour and a half ago!

Today went well, we hung around the house this morning. I got a shower (getting to be a normal occurence!) when Micah went down for his morning nap (around 9:40) and I let Cara watch an Elmo video. Then we headed off to the doctor because I had a few things I wanted to get Micah checked on. I thought his baby acne might in fact be a rash....it is so red and bumpy all over, and has spread down his neck and a little on his shoulders. The doctor says it is just baby acne, but it's a really bad case, so she gave me some cream to put on it. Also wanted to check out his circumcision, it's healed nicely, but there's just one little spot on the bottom that looked weird, wasn't sure if it was vaseline build up or what. Doctor says that part just takes a little longer to heal and it looks great....woo hoo. I don't know!! Then wanted to check with her on if she thought he had diarrhea last night (long story). She said he sounded fine and looked totally healthy. I like Eric's new insurance for the kids, no copays ;).

After that we headed to the mall to get Cara a jacket. I got to use the double stroller for the first time, and it worked great. She got a really cute pink jacket, and pink polka dotted (60% off) rain boots :).

Ok, he's waking up now, gotta run and feed my boy!

More Brother/Sister Loving

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

The Baby Acne begins..

Micah is a champ. If my face looked like his...oh wait, it kinda does :). He's like Cara, hits the 3 week mark with a BUNCH of baby acne. Although Cara's was mostly on her cheeks/forehead, Micah's is mostly on his neck and lower jaw. Poor guy.

I thought HS football was over!!

:) Haha. Eric's old band (Memorial HS) is currently playing Taylor HS here in Katy for a playoff game and the kids were bombarding his cell phone with texts and calls telling him to come see them. He promised he'd go to a game this year when he left last year, but he never did. So, he left earlier (it was already 3rd quarter) after the kids were in bed to go see his old kiddos. The senior class this year were freshman his first year at Memorial. It's making us feel old!! :)

I haven't posted much about Cara. She's doing great, she loves Baby Micah. She's never said just Micah, although today she did sing 'Micah James...' ;). She LOVES my boppy, and that's been the only real 'issue.' Every time I go to feed him, and use it, she says "Mommy, I NEED the blue pillow/boppy." I have to promise she can have it when I'm done. She's actually napped with it too. Her new thing is saying "I like your _____." Today my friend Jackie came by and watched Cara while I ran to the doctor and she told Jackie "I like your hair, it's so soft" as she pet it. She told Daddy today she liked his chin, and pet his beard :). She's wanting her baby and paci a little more often, so we're letting her have it, but we've already noticed a decrease. When he first came home she wanted it all day long!! :).

Today was a good day. This week was good! Eric was back at work full time starting Tuesday. Micah had his circumcision that day, and Cara was at school that day. Wednesday we made an outing to get stamps and to playgroup. Thursday we stayed home most the day. We did go get a coke at Sonic and take it to daddy at school. And today Cara stayed home but Micah and I went to the doctor. I also got a good nap today!! That was a nice Friday surprise.

Tomorrow morning I hope to make it to get some groceries and a birthday gift for a friend's little girl's party tomorrow. We are on the last roll of TP in our house!! We have been having such yummy dinners delivered 4 days a week, we haven't been making it to the grocery store. Eric's gone a couple times to get milk/fruits/veggies, but we didn't realize how low we were on TP, dog food, etc! Ok, that's enough for my boring Friday night!

Can you read this better?

I changed the font to white, can you read it better? I got lots of complaints about it. Give me to Thanksgiving, and I'll change the whole thing, ok? :)

Today was fun. Micah had a poop explosion. I sat him in his swing for the first time today to get Cara's breakfast all ready. I heard him pooping (he grunts REALLY loud), so I knew it was coming, but when I went to get him up, it was out of the diaper, on him, his clothes and the swing. Fun. I got it all cleaned up, but man I can't wait till he's back in our cloth diapers!!

I went back for my 2nd follow up appointment today with my PCP. First I went for the rash under my arms, then another follow up last week, and he decided I needed to be checked for diabetes! So I had a bunch of blood drawn on Saturday morning, and had to go in for another follow up today. I'm not diabetic, praise the Lord, but he told me 3 things based on my test:
1) I need to drink more water. Ok, if you know me, this is not an issue! I drink about 4-5 GALLONS a day :). So, I was like, ok....
2) I don't eat enough meat. Um, ok.....
3) My cholesterol is REALLY high again. 3 years ago it was 323!! I had it checked last October and I had brought it down to 273--down 50 points with diet and exercise alone. It was still high (supposed to be under 200), but going in the right direction. Then, my old PCP told me to not check it during pregnancy because it always goes up when you're pregnant. I figured he'd check it Saturday when I was getting the blood work done. I had hoped it'd be down again because I'm already 8 pounds under my pre-pregnancy weight, however, I know my hormones are still raging. Ok, so it's SUPER high. I don't even want to put the number, I'm seriously a heart attack waiting to happen. He told me to lower my fat intake. Granted, at the end of my pregnancy, I didn't watch what I ate as well as I did before, but I'm like, what can I cut out now? Besides M&Ms, my weakness, I know, I've cut out LOTS of the stuff I used to love. So I'm bummed. Kinda disappointed. So please keep me in your prayers, I really need to get this down!

Just kidding about not having much to post about....

Good thing I like doing laundry, because I hate disposable diapers. We are literally on outfit # 6 today!! Either from spitting up RIGHT after I changed him (twice this morning) or wetting through the BACK of the disposable diaper onto his outfit. I mean, I know I've been cd'ing for awhile, but I still know how to put on a disposable (he wore them in the hospital). And explain to me how a little BOY wets through the back?!?!? I've been using them because of his circumcision, we're putting vaseline on the gauze, and I didn't want the vaseline messing up the cds (not sure if it will), so I just put him in 'sposies for this week. UGH.

Oh, and Val P, if you're reading this, it came off today. ;)

A recent cute picture....nothing much to post about today!

Birth Announcement

It is finished!

My poor little man! Today he and I had to wake up early (well, I woke up, he slept) and we were off to the hospital by 5:40. Eric also had his monthly JH band directors early meeting at 6:15, so my father in law stepped up big time and was at our house by 5:45 to let Cara sleep, get her ready, feed her breakfast, and get her off to school today. I wonder if he put a bow in her hair?!?! I will find out shortly I'm sure. Little man did awesome. I got to see my OB for the first time since my 38 week check up (he didn't deliver me since I had Micah on a weekend....got the on call OB). He slept up until it was time (straight through putting what looked like a pacifier on his little part to numb it 1 hour before the procedure) and then came back and nursed like a champ. We had to stay until 9:30 so they could watch it and make sure the bleeding went down. At one point during a change, as I was getting a diaper, he peed all over the little sweet nurse! And since I had the only baby on the day stay floor, I got lots of attention (aka - HE did) :). We also had to go get his heel pricked today for the 2 week newborn screen. He did WAY better than Cara during that as well. Now we're home and resting (gotta catch up on my Army Wives...the season's already over!) before we go pick up Cara. Just thought you'd like to know!

No procedure today

Oh my goodness hospitals are ridiculous. So we had Micah's circumcision scheduled for today at 7 am with my OB as an outpatient procedure at Katy Memorial Hermann hospital. We were supposed to be there at 6:30, or so we were told Friday morning by my OB's office manager. Then, around 2:30 on Friday we were called by someone on staff at the hospital saying the rooms were over booked and we were supposed to be there at 8:30 for a 10 am procedure today. I asked if my doctor was made aware of this, and of course no one could answer me. I should have used my better judgement and just showed up today at 6:30, but I couldn't get my tired bum out of bed. So, at 7:30, when I was up and dressed ready to feed the boy to go, I get a call saying I wasn't there, and my doctor was, and he can't do it at 10 because he has office visits....blah blah blah (which I knew would happen). Long story short, the office manager (Toni) at my doctor's office, whom I love, called and found out the scoop, called the hospital and did "lots of yelling" in her words, and now we're rescheduled for tomorrow at 7:30 am. Did I mention Eric took a half day to go with me this morning and mom took the whole day off to stay with Cara, and neither of them can take tomorrow off??? Yeah, it's been a fun morning. But we're scheduled for tomorrow and my father in law is going to come over at 6 am tomorrow to sit with Cara (or hopefully sit while she sleeps), and hopefully I'll be home in time to take her to school, but we shall see.

In other news, you can probably tell I have started looking at all the cute templates out there for my blog. Oh my gosh, had I known it was this easy, I would have started playing with it ages ago! I'm still trying to get the picture thing figured out at the top, but oh well. Please click on the link to follow my blog if you like... :)

Church Sunday

We took the kids to church today. Cara missed her sunday school class, and she talked about seeing her friends Caroline and Noah (although Noah is in a new class this year) the WHOLE way there!! Micah stayed with us, and we just went to our NewGround adult bible fellowship this morning. We timed it perfectly and he slept the whole time. Of course my friends thought I was crazy for being there, but mom was here, and she wanted to run some errands, and helped us get out of the house on time. We miss going and seeing friends and learning some more about God's word. Can you believe I didn't take a picture??? :)

Our little miracles

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Originally uploaded by mistylnewsome.

Here's a link to the pictures on flickr from JC Penney. Remember, you have to contact me and let me make you a friend or family to see all our pics.

2 week checkup

I forgot to post this, but Thursday he had his 2 week check up. He was 9 pounds, 1 ounce. He was 21.5 inches long and his head was 14.25 inches around. His finger has healed nicely, and now we're on to a crusty nose, thanks to big sister Cara. But besides that, he's totally healthy. The umbilical cord came off a while ago (maybe last weekend, I can't remember). However, last night was awful. He was up fussing from about 9-12:30. Mom was here, so when I gave up at 11:30, she took over. However, I woke up at 5 am, with no feeding since 11, and had to go wake him up to eat. He does that. He'll be really fussy, then sleep for 5-6 hours!! He ate pretty good, but I pumped because I was still full and got out 2.5 MORE ounces. He slept till 8:30 (and Cara slept till 8:15) thank goodness because we were all tired. Eric has to judge region band today, so he left around 6:40 and won't be home until 7 or so today. Mom is here, Aunt Bailey has come to visit and uncle Matt will be here later. Eric's aunt Joanie is coming to meet Micah in a little bit. Busy Busy day!

Nurtured Family

Ok, I just have to tell you, Eric, the kids and I ventured out to a store called Nurtured Family today. It's awesome!! I had ordered some stuff from their website previously, but they have recently opened and old brick and mortar store near Copperfield. They have WAY more fun things in the store to touch and feel than online. They have almost every brand of cloth diaper imaginable, all the accessories, babywearing stuff, lots of baby clothes and mommy (nursing and maternity) clothes and bras. They even have a play room where Eric kept Cara entertained. Anyways, fun outing and the kids did great!

Super Mommy!

Haha, not really, but I got a shower this morning, so it makes me feel that way. Eric took the day off again, and we started getting ready at 8 am for our pictures scheduled at JC Penney for 10:30! :) He shaved/cut hair/showered while I fed the kids breakfast, then he watched Cara (funny how that works out....Micah went down for his morning nap) while I showered. I had already picked out our blues/browns outfits the other day. I got to blow dry my hair, put makeup on, and have my kids and hubby look SO cute! Did I mention (with the thanks to key undergarments) I was in pre-pregnancy clothes!! Woo HOO!!! I can't wait for the Smiles by Wire to come out so I can post the pictures online, they turned out SO well. Well, all the ones of Micah. Cara of course didn't want to participate or even sit still, so the two we got of the 4 of us, 1 she isn't smiling. The other, it's an overhead shot and we're all looking at the baby, and Cara is holding her baby, her paci and a sucker! :) haha. My friend Jenny gave me this really cute blue camo cloth diaper, so that is what he wore for most of his alone newborn shots. We did happen to get a really cute one of Cara kissing his head too.

In other news, I've become re-obsessed with looking at, shopping for, and reading about cloth diapers online. I have PLENTY, so I don't need to shop, especially for like the next 6 months, but it's so hard not to. My friend is letting me borrow all her newborn sized fitteds that her 3 month old has grown out of. I have 4 covers for them, plus 24 prefolds I had already purchased, so we have enough. Did I mention the awesome friends and family I have that have added 9 bum geniuses to my 2 I had already purchased! Plus, for the next size up (small), I have 13 fuzzibunz/swaddlebees that a SWEET lady from church gave me (that my friend is currently borrowing). I have 3 really cute covers, plus the prefolds will work for awhile I'm sure. I guess when I type it all out, I have room to order some smalls ;). I just have to keep the bum geniuses in my head that they work for all sizes :). I have found a cloth diaper board I like to read, and then hyenacart.com has like 200+ stores I can just browse forever and ever. Plus, I have recently converted 2 friends to cloth diapering, so it's fun to not be the only 'crazy' here ;).

In other news, Micah is THE BEST BABY! He's on a good eat/awake/asleep schedule during the day, usually taking 3-4 naps. He eats every 3-3.5 hours. Although at night, he's usually giving me one stint of 5 hours. The past 2 nights he's slept from about 11-3:45/4 or so. It's been awesome. He's awake right now looking at me with those big blue eyes. I really need to sync up his and Cara's schedules, but it's awesome nice to have them alone a little while. Eric is staying home tomorrow again, and then my mom is coming up to help with Friday and Saturday (eric has to judge region band all day).

Please pray for Micah on Monday. After lots of contemplation and prayer, Eric and I have decided to get Micah circumcised (although man, it's been an ordeal with insurance, etc). Because no one was available to do it when we were discharged from the hospital, we had to wait and schedule it outpatient at the hospital. Monday the 10th around 7 am, he will be having it done, so please say a little prayer for us all that morning.

What to do today....

So, Eric went to work today. I didn't want him to waste one of his days off when Cara would be at school all day. I successfully got Cara to school and now Micah and I are home and he is napping in his crib. I've been a laundry queen the past few days (that's one chore I don't mind doing, I actually enjoy it, I know I'm weird), and the dishwasher isn't full enough to run a load (thanks to all the amazing dinners we've been getting from our friends in NewGround!), so what to do? I haven't taken a nap yet since he's been sleeping so well in about a week. Maybe today I'll do that, just for fun :). There are of course a hundred things to be done, like I need to go to the store and get milk and some more fruits/veggies, but that can wait (for eric :) ). I need to vacuum, but I think I'm going to spend most of the day just enjoying this gorgeous little boy that God gave me just 10 days ago. The Lord is so good!

Update on finger, etc

Well, the little man can eat. Last Monday he weighed in at 7 pounds 13 ounces (my milk came in that evening). Today, he weighed 9 pounds, 2 ounces, at 9 days old. The doctor gave me some cream to put on it a few times a day, and then we go back on Friday for our 2 week check up. Anyways, hopefully it clears up by then, keep praying, it looks really yucky! :)

First night in own room

With Cara we put her in her crib on day 10. We decided to do Micah last night because Eric is going to go to work tomorrow (Tuesday) since Cara will be at preschool all day, and I have to try this thing on my own at some point ;). We thought it might work better if Micah wasn't in our room. This was his 3rd night in a row to eat and go right back to sleep. He's been down since 8:30 last night and fed at 9:30, 12:45, 3:45 and 7. He's still asleep (it's 9 am, we're waiting for him to wake up to eat and start the eat/awake/asleep cycle for the day). We're happy he seems to be so content. I think it's partially us not being nervous since this is our second go round, and we know what to expect. We have pictures scheduled for Wednesday at JC Penney, so I'm super excited. I already have our outfits picked out :). Keep his little finger in your prayers, it looks like he has an infection in it. We think that's why he was so fussy on Friday night. It may have gotten caught in something. We are heading to the doctor today at 2:30 to have it looked at. But besides that, the nursing and cloth diapering is going GREAT.

Happy Day

Well, the past 2 nights have been great. Micah has been eating and going right back to sleep throughout the night, for up to 3-4 hours at a time. We are fans of babywise. We didn't start Cara on the semi-scheduled thing until she was a month old, and that night she slept 6 hours straight. So we've been slowly transitioning Micah to that. Basically, it's eat, awake, THEN asleep. He's been doing it for 2 days straight and so far the 2 nights have been wonderful. He's so happy and alert when he's awake. Yesterday late afternoon/early evening he was fussy for a good while. Our kids have pooping issues (mainly, that they don't go but every 4-5 days when they're babies, sometimes longer, which our pediatrician says is normal up to 7 days). So we had to help him along last night, since it had been since Monday evening when he did it last. He made 2 dirty diapers, but was still fussy. Come to find out this morning, he's got what looks like a little infection on his finger. We cut his super long nails on Tuesday, and Daddy got him a little close on one finger. Now, it looks a little bad, so we put neosporin on it with a mitten, and that has seemed to help. Plus, today he pooped all on his own! I know, TMI, but it was a happy day :). Here's a new picture.

1 week old - Micah James

He was so happy and alert after his little sponge bath today. Isn't he just the most handsomest? :)