man-child

12 lbs 4 oz
22 inches

wow.

edited to add:

someone asked what % that was.

weight: 97%
height: 75%

jordan weighed this at 2 months old. so he already has a good month on his bro!

one month!

i asked asah last night where this month had gone. thinking it over, i can break it down by weeks for you:

week one: have baby. note that Hurricane is coming straight for you. Evacuate. spend week in GA introducing baby to family and friends.

week two: come home. get adjusted to new baby at home and and try to get house back in order after Evacuation. restock all food in fridge, etc. purchase minivan.

week three: discover baby is colicky. oh, no!

week four: start to really enjoy new baby and really miss cheese and dairy products. realize that a three hour stretch of sleep is awesome and the "new norm".


this has been a whirlwind month. jaxon is doing (a bit) better with the crying spells/gas and we'll be heading to the doc on monday for a checkup. i plan on asking her all about colic stuff when we go. i cant wait to see what the dude weighs! he's filling out his 0-3 month clothes and the Newborn sizes are "too tight".
he is still doing an amazing job of eating and we plan on introducing a bottle soon so that i can get out of the house for more than 2 hours.
i spent my first week this past week solo with the boys and it was great. we are getting into a groove and i love being with both of them. i'm completely exhausted by the end of each day but it's a good tired.

off to watch some football while they nap!

pics of the big one month old:



photo shoot OVER!


FOR COMPARISON:
Jordan @ one month-

i see definite similarities, but they look so different to me!

hanging out; being silly

around the house last night....

jordan is going through his 1st asthma/allergies flare up of the season...he enjoying laying around on daddy.

finally got some pictures of me with the boys!


silly....

i was trying to wake jaxon up last night for his bath...he wasnt having it.

pics. (too exhausted for creative title)

double diaper change.


baby acne. getting much better. this was at its yuckiest.

brothers. jordan just stares/laughs at him. we love that he loves him. who could ask for more?

first real bath after cord fell off. he loved it.


we. are. tired.

colic. stinks.

trying not to wish away the next 8-10 weeks...but praying for an early end to jax's colic so we can rest. we are beyond exhausted and are zombies and i have no idea how we are functioning right now. by the grace of God, that's what i know. He's for sure given me grace to make it through each day, have energy for Jordan, keep up the house (sort of).

gotta go take care of some little boys!

hmmmm. might have found the culprit?

i've been doing tons of research on colic and breastfeeding....and we've put a couple of things into practice which (seem) to have helped.

first, the lactation consultants/websites i've talked to concerning diet all seemed to agree that you should be able to eat a normal diet without affecting the baby. there are "fuss foods" which if eaten in a large quantity can upset the stomach, but since what you eat goes into your digestive system and your milk is made from what passes through your bloodstream, the idea that you can eat whatever make sense.....

HOWEVER, with colicky babies one of the first things you can try is eliminating dairy. this is because sometimes the milk protein is something the baby can have a sensitivity to.
anyone who knows me knows i'm a cheesehead. not only cheese, but i love all dairy foods. I was eating cheese for just about every meal on or in something; and i also love sour cream, ice cream, yogurt, etc. Needless to say I was eating a ton of dairy.

Today is day 4 of total dairy elimination.

Yesterday Jaxon did not have his usual crying jag from 3-8pm. He also only woke twice to eat and only had a minor gas episode at 4 am. This is HUGE improvement over the past couple weeks.

I'm not going to say that the dairy elimination was effective until we ride this thing out. But you better believe I'm still dairy free! It take two full weeks for the dairy to be completely out of the system, so I've been label reading and just being really careful to eat nothing made with milk, butter, creams, etc. We've definitely had to be creative!

If you have any ideas as to what I can eat I'll take them!
I'm sticking to meats, some bread, veggies and salads, etc. It is so hard to think about meal planning when you cant add butter, milk, or cheese though.

milk!

i began pumping once/day to build up a supply of milk for bottles for later on so that we can go on a date, asah can feed jaxon, etc.

today Jordan saw me pumping and curiously came over and just watched for awhile. he exclaimed "milk!" and thought it was cool to see it collecting in the bottle.

right before lunch asah was dying laughing and said Look! and i saw Jordan over by the sink with my pump parts lifting up his shirt trying to attach it to himself.

a little humor can get you through any day.

more pictures

finally taking a paci!

very rare nap

the guys

mimi and jordan and jaxon

playtime

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

the dreaded "c" word....

long time no post.
explanation:
jaxon likely has colic.
i suspected it a bit last week...it usually rears it's ugly head for sure around 3 weeks which is where we are today. he's been following a pattern now fairly consistently so after speaking with the lactation consultant and pediatrician yesterday that's what we're thinking. yucky!
basically he is inconsolable from about 3 or 4 pm to 8pm. he wakes every 1.5 to 2 hours with gas pains at night.
I asked about changing my diet, etc but the lac. consultant says it just needs to run it's course. this is the case with about 20% of babies.
we could complain and cry but it wouldnt help matters....the good news is it's usually over by about 12 weeks or so; peaking at 6-8 weeks.

we are so blessed with jaxon, considering what the doctors were thinking earlier in the pregnancy. if colic is what we have we'll take it.
not to say this isnt very very hard...especially with a toddler to care for. i find myself taking care of jordan with a cranky jaxon often crying in the backround. we're getting used to it though...

please pray for us.

i'll try and post some new pics later.

and if you have colic advice i'll gladly take it.

we're home...and pics from GA

we're home! we made it safely here in far less time than it took to get to GA last week. the boys did okay, poor jaxon is a trooper.
we took jax to the doc today and he's almost up to birthweight! he weighed 9'10 today. the doctor was pleased. and we havent even thought about a supplement or bottle. it's been all breastfeeding; something i prayed for throughout the pregnancy. it has been wonderful.
jordan is doing awesome with jaxon and is very loving. we could not ask for anything more!
here are some pictures we took in GA while at gram and pops.








he sat like this for a long time...just loving his bro!

the road home

i just called our house and our answering machine clicked on. power is ON! we will be trekking home tomorrow. please pray over this trip for us. the one here was SO HARD on jaxon. poor little guy has been through so much in a week...please pray for smooth, SAFE travels. it's the last thing i want to do, put him in a carseat for that long again, but we really want to be home.

we have some cleanup to do once we get there....fridge and deep freeze, etc. please pray that these can be salvaged. we really werent in the market for new ones but if these are stinky they'll have to go.

also my 12 year old cat has been boarded up in there for a week and while i'm sure she's had plenty of food and water the heat was probably rough and i'm sure the storm was traumatic. i'm ready to make sure she's okay as well.

thanks for all the PRAYERS. our next post will be from Louisiana!

good news

Jaxon's jaundice has improved. We prayed last night for this to be the case; because like i said i just dont need "one more thing"....
and get this...the little pig gained 4 oz overnight bringing him back up to 9'6.
We took him to the pediatrician's office that I used to go to when i was little....and they really were helpful. Now we'll just have those records faxed to our pedi in Hammond....
we plan to go home as soon as power is restored. we are hearing that things are coming back up slowly and steadily so we're hoping for this weekend.
thanks for all the prayers, comments, and emails once again.
Our baby boy is one week old today, oh, what a week it has been!
God is good.

meeting family.....

papa bryan



gram


papa bryan and aunt taylor


mimi


sweet boy



typical am scene...jordan on the floor with cars; jaxon in bouncy; asah in recliner

daddy and his 2 boys

jax update; hurricane update

we are still safe n sound in GA...the hurricane did cause some damage in and around Hammond; of which the Mayor said was "worse than Katrina". power is out everywhere but we got good news this morning from some friends that our home is OK! praise the Lord! they went over and walked around and everything looked fine.
if you'll recall we JUST (not less than a month ago) got a new roof put on due to a hail storm; so we were pumped that there was no damage to the roof or house.

jaxon went for his one week check today. the little piggy weighed in at 9'2 and is 22 inches. we feel so good about his weight....he lost a lb in the hospital so that means he went from:
Birth: 9'11
Discharge: 8'11
Today: 9'2
Not bad for a breastfed baby.

He's looking yellow, though...so they poked him for a bili check today. We have to go back tomorrow...please pray these levels are ok. we really really really dont need "one more thing".

we will stay in GA until the power's back on at home.

thanks for the prayers!