busy, busy, busy…

I’ve been so busy with photography that I have hardly been able to get on myspace just to look around and post a blog or anything.

So, I’m back to work, I have actually been back since the 10th (SEE, busy!) the transition from being home to working full time, even on the weekends if you count photography, has gone extremely well. Although I was dreading it a lot…I actually really enjoy working and Landen is doing so well at daycare, I think it’s just best for all of us. We were having a really hard time getting him to bed and since daycare he goes to sleep right away and sleeps ALL night, wahoo!! this actually just started on Friday and has happened 3 nights in a row where he sleeps a full 8 hours in his crib and I must say I am loving it…I still tend to wake up around 3 or 4, it’s just habit…but I’ll go right back to sleep…that was happening even while I was pregnant, every night around 3 I would wake up, it’s crazy cuz that was usually when Landen would wake up in the middle of the night, your body SO prepares you for that. He is just getting so big, he’s still little though, but just so big compared to the tiny little fella he was at one point, in 3 months I’ll look back at him now and say he was so tiny! He is starting to get really exciting, he’s moving him arms and legs more, definitely knows mommy and daddy…and smiles and giggles all the time. Yesterday we fed him rice cereal for the first time, he did great, better than I thought he would, he swallowed it right up..it’s tough knowing when they are full but we’ll get the hang of it. He is in between sizes right now, so none of his clothes fit, he’s outgrown newborn and most 0-3 month clothes are just too big still. He’s losing a lot of his beautiful hair, and he still has pretty bad cradle cap, we looked at pics of Josh when he was Landen’s age and he lost all of his hair and then by 6 months, it was back and blonde! So it will be interesting to see if Landen’s does the same.

What else? Well, we’re learning how much kids really cost, yikes! Daycare is soo expensive, and then I quit breastfeeding so we have to buy formula as well, good gosh!! It’s sort of sad that the things that are required to raise a child are so expensive. Josh is still doing well working at Holmes, the new dealership is busier than the old one, but business is still slow and he doesn’t make as much money as he’s worth…but what can ya do…guess it just wasn’t the most lucrative business for him to be in, but we’re doing what we can with what we got. I’m doing great at work, still have the same position at MetLife, we are so insanely busy it’s hard to even stop to think about Landen, I’ve only had 1 or 2 days where I really missed him, but everyday I can’t wait to pick him up. I think that is basically all I have to update everyone with, but I’m including some pictures I took of Landen within this past week, just some snapshots, nothing fancy.

Right after he ate cereal for the first time!.Saying a prayer before we eat.

He likes his bouncer!

He can almost reach, soon he

 

Look! I can hold the bottle all by myself.

SNOW!!

Ewwww…today around 11:00am it began snowing, and it is now 8pm and it’s still snowing, luckily it hasn’t really been sticking to the ground, but around 6:00 we noticed you could start seeing it on the rooftops. Last year was such an awful winter for us Iowans…that I just hate the idea, I am however looking forward to Christmas, even though we don’t exactly have a lot of money, we’re officially starting to realize how much kids cost, because I stopped breastfeeding, so now we have to buy formula (so ridiculously overpriced) and also, daycare (almost as much as we pay for our house each month, no joke) But he’s still totally worth it, we’ll get use to it all, it’s just not going to be the best Christmas for us, luckily Landen is so little he won’t remember and I’m sure the grandparents, and everyone else will still spoil him to pieces.

I’ve been meaning to add a lot of pictures of him, that we’ve taken over the last 2.5 months but this website is a little tricky to figure out…which is odd for me, cuz normally I never have problems with that sort of thing. So I will be adding some pics, especially the ones I took today!

P.S. I’m going back to work next week, on Monday the 10th. I have a feeling I’ll be updating this a lot more, cuz it’s something I can easily do at work on my break or lunch when I’m just sitting at my desk, because of course I’ll be thinking about Landen.

Ok Ok…

I’ve been soooo busy, Landen keeps us busy most of the time and now my photography is booming (no complaints there) First things First….I would like to let you all know, I am going back to work in a WEEK, ahhhhhh….I’m going back to work on November 10th, I have mixed feelings, part of me is excited, the other part is dreading it. What I’m expecting is that the first week will actually be easy, then it’s going to get really really hard…and then eventually when we get into a routine, it will be ok again. But it’s unfortunate that as soon as Landen is getting really fun (giggling, cooing and just smiles) It’s time to go to work.

Landen is a good baby, he is…but he is difficult at times as well. I can’t say I wasn’t expecting it to be tough, but it is really tough sometimes…how on earth people have baby’s back to back is beyond me, sometimes Josh and I will say…I’m not so sure about having more kids, haha. But it’s also very rewarding and although the first 3 months is as tough as it is, it’s all going to get better soon. Actually I think it’s going to be better once I’m back to work and not having to entertain him all day every day.

He had his 2 month shots last week, he did well when he got them, I actually cried more than he did probably, he was really good right away, in fact he mostly just slept…but the next evening he was really fussy but we got through it.

He is holding his head up better, and learning new things all the time, each week he changes so much…his little thighs are still very little…but looking so much bigger to me.

The hardest thing about him is putting him to sleep, I’ve never seen a baby fight falling asleep as bad as him, and even when he is asleep he wakes up a lot off and on if he is alone, which is why it is so difficult to have him sleep alone in his crib all night, and it’s beginning to get very hard and frustrating, of all the things I thought would be hard before I had him..I never thought putting him to bed would be one of them.

I breastfed for the first 2 months, and we’re weaning him off, it’s WAY earlier than I planned and I’m actually extremely dissapointed in myself, but I’ve learned from it and I’m hoping with the next baby I’ll be able to do it for a lot longer. It’s probably going to be easier with daycare for him to be on formula though and I keep telling myself he got breastmilk for the first 2 months, which is more than some people have…and the more the better, I’m still giving him some occassionally but my milk supply is practically deminished, I could probably get it back, but It would involve 2-3 days of doing absolutely nothing but pumping and nursing every hour, and although I’d like to say I want it back badly, I don’t think I do that bad…I don’t have the time or the patience and I don’t think Landen does either.

Today is Halloween, we didn’t do anything…but I did get some cute pics of Landen which are in this post. We painted a pumpkin on his butt, we = my sister and I…Josh wouldn’t have any part of it, haha. It’s too cute though and he got me back by peeing on my while I was holding him, so we’re even.

Ok..well enough rambling for now. I am so sorry I don’t post here as often as I should!!

Whoops!

I haven’t been so great about posting blogs as regular as I wanted. But I did post a blog on my myspace page when he was 6 weeks, and now I’ll just paste that here. And then I’m writing a new blog with more updates.

Landen is already 6 weeks old, and he has changed so much even in the last 2 weeks, he’s just growing more of a personality and he’s learning the ways of the world just as much as I’m learning how to be a mom. Here is what we know about Mr.Landen James so far. Landen is pretty mellow like Daddy and likes to sleep a lot like Daddy, however he is definitely a morning person…he would probably get that from me, at 6 in the morning when I want to go back to sleep he is wide awake and just giggling and smiling making it extremely difficult to be mad at him for not being able to go back to sleep. Landen has a little bit of a temper and knows what he wants…and he’s usually the only one that knows too…I don’t know where he gets that from (or do I?) he has what we call “The Rage” it’s this build up of anger that usually results in kicking his legs and getting really angry in the face and turning red and not make any noise, if you don’t catch the Rage building up…you’ll soon regret it because he becomes even more upset and lets out a yell…not a cry it’s literally a yell…at this point his back is arching he’s twisting his torso and you just kind of have to let him kick for a while and get it out of his system and then he’s perfectly happy again…some people say it’s gas, I personally just think it’s blowing off steam.

Here is my favorite part of what I know about Landen, he loves his mommy….originally I didn’t feel like a mom right after he was born, I was totally in love but I just didn’t feel like he really knew I was his mother or Josh was his father…but now, it’s different. He calms down when I hold him, he quiets down and starts to look around the room when I’m talking and someone else is holding him and he just smiles when he stares at me (which he’ll actually do for almost anyone now) I hope he doesn’t become to much of a mamma’s boy, but for now it just feels great and I’m enjoying it…because let’s face it, you don’t get this kind of love from your kids when they grow up.

Landen also enjoys getting out of the house (sometimes) ..it’s almost like he gets tired of being cooped up just as much as me, so he definitely gets that from me so sometimes when he’s fussy we just go somewhere, the mall or visit someone anyone really. But then on the rare occasion he’s just not in the mood to go out and then I quickly regret taking him anywhere..but that’s really only happened once maybe twice.

Landen gets an upset tummy sometimes, and when he’s upset he’s just not the happy baby he is during the day, unfortunetaly this usually occurs in the late afternoon to early evening which is when we visit a lot of people or people come visit us so they don’t get to see happy Landen. But he’s getting better, this week has been a huge transition from last week.

Landen is undecisive (just like mommy) which is why it’s SO hard to get a routine with him. He’ll decide it’s easier this way and then do a 180 and decide it just doesn’t work, or he’s bored or something and you have to figure out a new way. Breastfeeding him has been hard for the simple fact that he just can’t figure out if he prefers breast or bottle, he’ll be on strictly just breast for like 3-4  days and then he’ll just refuse it, so then I have to give him a bottle and the same thing, a few days that works and then refuses….so I don’t think he really knows what he prefers but he sure gives mommy and daddy a ride!

Landen likes to cuddle, I was telling Josh the other day…I figured out my favorite thing about having a baby…it fulfills my cuddle needs. Josh is not a cuddler, so having Landen to cuddle with 24/7 is just my absolute favorite thing and makes me feel so loved and needed and I hope I make Landen feel the same way.

I probably know much more about him, but I can’t think of all the things right now! I do have a funny story and anyone who has had a boy has maybe had this happen, lol. Yesterday we were literally walking out the door and then I needed to change him, so I’m wiping his butt and as most of you know boys like to pee when it hits the air…well I heard it and I looked over and he was literally peeing on his face and hair…oh it was horrendous! We had to bath him and change him and I didn’t do the best job at quickly bathing him cuz he still smelled like pee later on, I just will never get that image of his face out of my mind!!!

As far as a routine goes, we actually do have somewhat of a routine, but it just varies by an hour or two on different days of the week, but hopefully by the end of the month he’ll be more prone to a stricter routine so he can get use to be going back to work in mid-November.

So for now, this is really all I have to share…I can’t believe Landen let me type this long, now I am off to see what else he’ll let me do! TaTa!!

5 weeks later…

he likes baths until you wash his hair!

Gosh, time does definitely go fast. He is already 5 weeks old, he’s officially a month old. If you would ask me how the first month is, I would say……about what I expected. The first 2 weeks were WAY easier than I expected, he was a perfect baby and slept a whole bunch. I think he had a bit of a growth spurt around 3 weeks, because things got a little tougher…and he was fussy a lot, and was always hungry and wouldn’t sleep very well for me. But now he’s sleeping in his crib again and he’s back to his regular feedings and he’s just a perfect baby. He is officially smiling, you’re lucky if you get to see it though because it’s just very rare and random still. I got a little pic of a big ole smile, it’s not the greatest cuz my finger was in front of the flash, lol…I just used my little camera since it’s easy to grab and I don’t have to doing anything to the settings, but I sometimes forget how to use the thing, lol….even though I’m a photographer, lol. Honestly, the first few weeks, I didn’t really feel like a mom, even though I knew I was…but the bond between us is growing more and more everyday…and I feel more like a mom now than I did when he was born. Maternity leave has been great, although I’m not sure I could do this for much longer than the 12 weeks, but maybe it’s just because of his age right now….and if I had more friends that were home during the day…I could definitely do it. But it’s actually hard to get anything done around the house and it’s frustrating because the house gets dirtier than normal since I’m home during the day…and he just doesn’t give me a lot of time to clean…lol.

Life is definitely different, but honestly it’s for the better…I couldn’t even imagine my life without Landen James. I couldn’t even imagine a whole day without him.

Landen James is here!!

As you can tell, we’ve been busy..hence why I haven’t posted in a while. So as most of you know, I had the baby, the baby is here…he’s healthy and beautiful and his name is Landen James Padget. Landen arrived on August 25th at 2:13 am and weighed 7lbs 11oz and was 20 inches long. He is now 2 weeks old and growing so much, cuz all he wants to do is EAT! Mommy is breastfeeding so she feels mostly like a milk machine! So now, I will go into detail on how little Landen arrived into the big world.

The week prior to his birth I was having mild contractions off and on. Sunday the 24th, Josh and I went to Adventureland, which is a theme park in Altoona. We had free tickets from Josh’s work and some of our friends were going, and at this point…I figured walking can’t hurt and if anything may get things going. So around 2:00 we went to Adventureland, spent the day there, walking around…of course I didn’t ride any rides other than the ski lifts and the ferris wheel. We went home at 8:00 and as we were walking out to the car I started having contractions, that were a little more than mild, I was timing them the whole way home and they were about 6 min. apart. Once we were home, I tried relaxing and watching TV to see if they would go away, and they didn’t…instead they only intensified. I got up to load our dishwasher and was literally on my hands and knees everytime I had a contraction because of the pain, finally Josh said “should we go?” and I said yes. Luckily I packed our hospital bags that morning, just in case. Josh grabbed our bags and loaded the car, I made my way to the bedroom to change into pajama pants and then Josh asked if we should bring a towel…in case my water broke, and then I said..”Yeah, I think it just did” I grab a towel and walk through the living room, and sure thing..my water had definitely broke. So we got into the car, right at about 9:00 pm and drove to the hospital..we called the siblings and parents. We arrived at the hospital around 9:15 and I was wheeled to the maternity ward. When I got there they examined me, I was 2-3cm and 80% effaced. 20 min later they moved us into a room and the family joined us. Around 10:30pm I got my epidural…which is amazing…I didn’t feel the contractions after that! They checked me again around midnight and I was 5cm dialated…the nurse said we should get some rest and she would check me again around 2:00 am. So we turn the lights out and try and get some shut eye. Around 1:00 the nurse comes in and says my contractions are really strong and close together so she wanted to check me, I said that I’m starting to actually feel some of the contractions again..she checked me and sure enough..I was fully dialated and it was time to push. I woke Josh up and the nurse said we’d start doing pushes for a little while before the doctor actually arrived to move the baby down. So we did just that…I pushed 3 times for 10 sec each with each contraction, we did this probably 4-5 times before the baby was so low that it was time to call the doc. So they call the doc and I have to wait and push until he arrives…which was extremely difficult. By the time the doc arrived I probably pushed 3 more times and out came Landen. I cried…he cried and I was totally in love, his cry was the one of the most soothing sounds I’ve ever heard…which of course is something that changes instantly, haha. Since he was born so early in the morning, we were only up for another 2 hours..after the family got to meet him, and I was able to nurse him..we all went to bed. Landen stayed in our room with us the entire time, I just found it easier to nurse with him right there.

The next day…or actually the same day, just later on…the family came back to visit, yet Landen wasn’t being to social..he literally slept for the first 18 hours of his life. He didn’t even wake up to eat…which led to him having to have his blood sugar levels tested every 3 hours or so, which resulted in them pricking his foot. His blood sugar levels were fine so the nurses weren’t concerned, finally I pumped a little and bottle fed him…and he ate that which held him over for a little longer. At 10 pm on the 25th he finally decided to open his eyes, and that night he started wanting to eat every 3 hours or so. Because he was doing well and I was doing well the doctor offered an early discharge, which we gladly took. So our first day home was 8-26-08. I thought is would be way worse than it was but Landen is a good baby…he sleeps a lot and eats when he wants to eat.

2 weeks later, it still isn’t as hard as I ever expected, and being a mother is the best feeling ever. I can’t wait to see Landen grow up and go through all his “firsts”. It’s so amazing to see something that you and your husband created…it brings you closer together and now we’re a family and life almost feels complete…even though I know there is so much more ahead…

“Your body is preparing for labor” 32 weeks

Ok, for my first post on the new family blog I will update you all on the pregnancy. I wish I would have thought about doing this much earlier than I am now…but I planned on doing this after the baby was born, why not start now. I have a feeling this particular post will be long to mostly fill you in.

So far, all 32 weeks have gone extremely well, my mother was blessed with 3 healthy pregnancies and labors. I hope to be that lucky. We haven’t run into any complications, there was a point where I took the gestational diabetes test, didn’t pass…had to go for another longer test in which I passed but was borderline. The doctor has told me that at this point changing my diet will not help or hurt anything therefore I’ve basically been eating for 2 still =)

I’ve gained a whopping 20 pounds, which continues to fluxuate up and down this week, you may find it odd that someone in their third trimester would lose weight, but I found a way. I was concerned, Josh was concerned so I made a call to the doctors office yesterday for them to tell me, this is normal and that my body is preparing for birth…she didn’t exactly explain what that meant, but basically any complaint, concern or happening will from now on have the excuse of “your body is preparing for birth”.

My maternity clothes no longer fit, I emphasize the maternity because I don’t understand who the designers of certain maternity clothes are, but they must not be pregnant nor have ever been pregnant. I have yet to find a comfortable pair of maternity jeans, I have 1pair of white capris that I like best, but can’t wear everyday and should probably wear sparingly considering that my clumsiness is only building up as we progress, white and pregnancy just don’t mix well. My belly is peaking out of the bottom of my maternity shirts, which has lead me to my last resort…Josh’s t-shirts and summer dresses. Don’t mistake the summer dresses as “she still looks so cute” and “I can’t believe you still work hard to look good” believe me, there is no working hard to look good, you get what you get at this point and whatever fits is what I wear.

We spent the month of June preparing the house and purchasing necessities for the arrival, I had my first baby shower just 2 weeks ago in which we were blessed with almost everything that was needed. We spent this past weekend moving a bunch of furniture from room to room, bringing in new couches and making much more space in our living area, which I sure will find it’s way to be filled coming soon in the next few months.

I continue to work full-time and plan to up until I go into labor (god-willing that won’t actually be at work!) Unless of course the doctor insists on bed-rest for any reason, fingers crossed that will not happen. As of now I plan on taking a for sure 8 weeks of maternity leave, in my mind that is not nearly enough time so I would love to do 10, if not 12…but financially we’re just not sure if that will be able to happen. Ideally I’d rather stay home and not return to work, but again financially it’s just not the right time.

Our next doctors visit will take place on July 14th, I’ll be a whopping 34 weeks pregnant and hope to bring back great news and baby progress.