Month Two

Oh Month 2, you were such a dream compared to Month 1. I don't really have big dramatic stories to share unlike the last few posts (not that I'm complaining!). I rather enjoyed a few weeks of "boring!" 

So for this update, I thought I would update through pictures. 

Week 4-5 is when he started to become extremely alert and responsive. His facial expressions really turned up a notch. 

This is may favorite expression of Silas'. His poop face! Ha! Can you tell he's really trying his hardest?

Another play date with John! John -10 weeks, Silas - 5 weeks

We spent a lot of time in our pj's this month. A typical day for us was to wake up around 8-9 am (after waking up like 4 times during the night.... We needed the extra sleep!), eat and read books, play with the dogs a bit, nap, repeat. Sometimes I would even try to sneak a nap with him in the afternoon. ;)

Silas got a good ol' case of baby acne. Why does that bother us moms so much?? So silly and vain. But man, it drove me nuts!

Silas really started to thin out up top! Ha! He kept his Mohawk going strong, but really lost a lot of hair on the sides. 

Mimi and papa came for a short visit on their way to a family reunion. Silas was just 6 weeks so we stayed home. But it was good to see them! And fun for them to see how responsive he had become. 

This visit is when we discovered who Silas takes after. I am on the top left. Tyler, top right. When we saw my picture we both just laughed. It was kind of scary! We even showed several of my friends my baby picture without telling them anything -- they thought it was a picture of Silas! And freaked when I told them the truth. 

Silas really began crying much louder in month two. His cry at first was really not terribly upsetting in the beginning. But boy did he learn how to work that pout! 

The dogs became much more comfortable around Silas. Sabby loved to bring his toy and lay right next to Silas on his play mat. Sometimes he will even lay at Silas' feet but quickly learns that's the "danger zone" as Silas loves to kick as hard as he can. 

Silas started outgrowing his newborn outfits. He still wasn't quite into 3 month clothes so we had to squeeze in to some things for a bit. :)

We really got into a good rhythm during the day, although I will say Silas has never been a great napper. Naps usually last 15-30 minutes and are pretty fitful. Around 7 weeks he finally started to nap without being swaddled. I felt this was huge progress since I knew he wouldn't be swaddled while at day care. (Can you tell this was one of those days we napped together?? :))

Silas watched his first ManU game! We got him all dressed up. And I just know he was excited as we were. ;)

Sorry for the boob shot, but I had to include this picture. He really began reaching for things (books, toys, etc). My favorite, though, is when he reaches for me! He would try to grab my face as I talked to him. He would grab my hair (ouch!) while holding him, or just reach out to touch me while nursing or napping in my arms. Best. Feeling. Ever. 

Silas began big boy baths (vs. sponge barhs) and loved it! He absolutely LOVES splashing in the water. 

We made our way to the library for their annual sale. We racked up!  Silas slept in the bjorn while I piled books in my bag. I consider that trip a great succes!

And finally, we were much more social in month two!

  Side note-- I feel like I owe so many people an apology for basically ignoring them for two months. Trust me, none of it was personal! The month before he was born, I didn't want to talk to anyone because I was sulking that I was still pregnant. I was having a major pity party, and everyone asking me about it only made it worse. Then the month after he was born.... Well, we've already established I was a hot mess, so we wot go there again. But basically I was in survival mode and didn't think I could spare a moment of energy on anyone who wasn't needing me to survive -- aka, anyone but Silas. 

Gran and Ms. Glenda came to visit a few times. It was so nice to spend the day with them! (The pups loved the extra attention too. ;))

My HU besties all came for some much needed QT. It was so good to see them and catch up! It had been much too long, ladies! 

Katherine, my dearest of friends, asked me to be in her wedding! I was so excited!!

Jennie, Abby and Megan all came for a short visit while they were all together for Megan's baby shower. It was SO wonderful to catch up!

Sorry for the terrible picture of a screenshot, but this was the best I could do. :) My favorite part of Month Two was going back to NWA for the weekend. Friday night I took Silas out to one of my favorite places on earth.... Green Valley! Even though we were only out there for a short time, getting to see some longtime friends (and their babies) was simply amazing. Like, good for the soul, amazing. 

Saturday morning Tyler, Silas and I all went to visit my grandmother Vi. I had not been able to see her in quite some time because of the pregnancy. It was SO wonderful to be able for Silas to meet his only living great-grandparent. We know Grandma's time is limited so I'm just beyond thankful for this time. 

Even though she didn't really understand what was going on, I know how happy she would have been to meet him. She is truly one special woman. 

This picture means everything to me. 4 generations!

Later that day I visited my friends Whitney and Cortney, and Josh and Natalie, followed by dinner with our parents and Tyler's aunt and uncle. Such a full day with so many people we love! Even though making the drive to NWA has become a BIT more difficult nowadays (hello, 2 dogs, 2 kennels PLUS all that comes with a baby!) I was so glad to make it home before going back to work. 

And to conclude, here is his monthly picture!

Month One

Month one was definitely the craziest month of my life. Crazy delivery, hectic first week, and oh ya, having a new baby. 

Silas hanging out with John for the first time. Silas -one week. John -6 weeks. 

By week two, I was going a little stir crazy still living in my basement. Seriously, someone please get me out of here!!!

Thank goodness my mom put together yet another wonderful beach trip for my family! It wasn't until the Wednesday before we left on Friday that we finally decided we were going. (We always said we would play it by ear. If he was colicky or we weren't up for it, we wanted to be able to bow out). Luckily, Silas was getting over his staph infection and had clearance from the doctor. (She did advise not getting him in the ocean. No, duh, lady. Ha!)

So Tyler, Annie and I braved the 9 hours drive with Silas. And really, all things considered, he did great. It may have taken an extra hour or so but nothing to complain about. 

We got to Fort Morgan and I was in heaven. Not only did I not have to clean, I also had (amazingly delicious) meals prepared for me, a babysitter any time I needed a break, lots of quality family time, and I was at the freaking beach. 

Don't get it twisted, this two-week post partum self was not about to get in the water (or a bathing suit for that matter). But it was just the fact that out the back door was sunshine, sand and waves crashing. Therapy -- it was really great therapy, minus the talking about your feelings crap. 

I basically laid around in pjs all week. I only became presentable one night when  we went to Lulu's. The rest of the time I was my hot mess self. 

PS -- I have decided all those girls that get fancy (ie: showered, makeup and anything nicer than pajamas) days after delivery are just plain freaking crazy. I felt like if I BATHED my day was a success. This went on for like a month. So all you girls that get all dolled up three days after you have a baby? Go away. Just..... Go away. 

Aunt Amanda and baby boy. 

Harry LOVES his boy cousins. It's the cutest!!!

Before the USA World Cup game. 

Like the only time I went out to the beach except for family pics. 

Mallory and GK were the hand-washing police with anyone that held Silas. :)

Levi loved Silas! He got the biggest kick out of the little baby.

Gran snuggles!

Tyler and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary at the beach. We celebrated with key lime cheesecake -- my kind of celebration!

Once we got back home from the beach, we moved back upstairs to our normal living arrangements. It was the first time Silas had been in his nursery! (At 3 1/2 weeks old) Coming home after the beach made me feel like a completely different person. I actually wanted to get out or the house. This was major progress. 

Netflix night and baby cuddles!

Beginning to hold his head up a bit during tummy time. 

Silas and I out on our first walk. This was the first day we had just the two of us. 

During the first month, here are a few special things about Silas I don't want to forget...

-Your sneezes came in sets of three. 

-Your head control was freakishly good. People would comment all the time about how much older they thought you were because you could practically hold your head up at two weeks. 

-You took about a week to get the hang of sleeping more at night. You were sleeping about 4-5 hours at a time during the night. We were thankful!!

-You did well in pretty much any environment we put you in. You'd sleep anywhere and only got overstimulated once or twice (which is pretty impressive since we were in one house with 15 people for a week!)

-You really started interacting at two weeks old when Chad had you in his lap at the beach. He talked to you and sang to you and just listened and coo'd. That was pretty cool to see. 

-You slept so well when swaddled. I am forever thankful to Bo and Bess for lending us one of their swaddle me blankets. I didn't think we would need any so we were just using muslin blankets. But one night in the swaddle me blanket and you slept 5 hours for the first time! We've been hooked ever since. 

You took the paci at 4 days old and have loved it ever since. 

-You had a full head of dark brown hair. No clue where that came from!

-You LOVE bathtime!! You instantly calmed down and got bright eyed. 

-A few times early on, I was so tired I would feed you laying down in bed so we  could both get some rest. Tyler did not approve thinking this was too dangerous. So he would stand at the foot of the bed (he'd stand so he wouldn't fall asleep himself) just staring at us to make sure you were safe. 

-The dogs did surprisingly well around you. We were never worried about Sabby, but we were about Giggs. He can be needy and possessive of me and I had my concerns. But overall they just ignore you, which is as good as I could have hoped for. :)

-Your cry was fairly quiet. (That has since changed!)

-Tyler worried your feet were malformed because they curled up so much when you were first born. It took a few weeks to prove that that wasn't the case. 

-You were not a good burper. At all. 

It took a few weeks, but you stopped feeling like a stranger I didn't know, and became this person I had to know everything about. You are an extension of me -- a piece of my heart I wish could be tied to me forever. You are perfect! I love you Silas Lee!

The First Week

Please don't think I'll be posting weekly updates -- that's just plain crazy. BUT Silas' first week was pretty ridiculous so I thought I would document. That way, when he's 16 and moody and being brought home by the police (kidding!), I can look back and know that since I survived his first week on this earth, I can survive anything. 

The Monday we were admitted into the hospital, the heat and air man confirmed our suspicion -- our air unit was dead. We knew when we bought our house we would have to replace the unit soon. We just hoped it wouldn't be the week our first child was born. But I guess that was us just being high maintenance, wasn't it?😜

So a new hvac system was going to  be put in the following week. 

We went in to the hospital on Monday, and didn't come home until Friday. Boy was it good to be home!!! 

And then the power went out 30 minutes later. 

I kid you not. We get home, the wind blows, and the power goes out. (Our old neighborhood means above ground electrical wires, so it's not the most unusual thing. More like ridiculously terrible timing)

Ok, the power goes out. No big deal, right? It can only be out for an hour or so, right? Right????

Wrong. We didn't have power for 2 1/2 days. 

So how did we survive nearly three days without power? 1. Flashlights and headlamps 2. Family  3. Lots and lots of take out

Thankfully we were experiencing cooler than normal temperatures so our basement stayed nice and cool. We lived down there. The worst part of it all was worrying we would lose our entire deep freezer full of food! Just when we were giving up hope, the power came back. I may have shed some tears of joy at that point! 

Once power was restored, Tyler decided to turn on his computer. A few seconds later he asked if I was cooking something.  Ummm, in the basement? No, dear I'm not. That's when he realized his computer WAS ON FIRE! Seriously, I can't make this stuff up! 

His second hard drive (with all our old pictures) had caught on fire. We still don't know the extent of the damage and if any of our pictures can be recovered. Big thumbs down for that!

The next morning, the hvac crew arrived and demolition began. Because the old system was... well, old, the ductwork needed to be replaced as well. This meant ripping out all the old insulation and ductwork in the attic to make room for the new. So all the "nesting" I had done to clean upstairs and get it just perfect for a newborn? Worthless. The upstairs became a danger zone with insulation and construction materials everywhere. Tyler wouldn't even let me go up there for a few days so I again just camped out in the basement (I think he saw my sanity teetering on the edge. This would most certainly send me over the edge). 

Silas' first appointment went great! He had stayed the same weight since leaving the hospital (8 lb, 6 oz) which meant he was well on his way to getting back to his birth weight (8 lb 11 oz). Great!

A few days later we noticed a rash, assuming it was just a small diaper rash. That changed over the next few days (blisters formed) and we went into the doctor's office again. After several trips to the doctor and one week later, we learned Silas had MRSA staph. Ummm, excuse me? Staph?????? Thankfully our doctor had already prescribed us antibiotic ointment that had already started to heal the infection. Still, I was a little on edge. 

The entire first week or so was a total blur. Thankfully, I had an amazing group of people helping me. My mom, mother in law and sister in law Rachel all came to stay. They helped feed me, clean up after the air was fixed, watch Silas in the middle of the night so I could sleep. You name it, they did it. Tyler's job was the hardest-- to keep me sane. And he really did a great job. (Or the best he could under the circumstances ha!)

I have to say, I feel like either most people forget how difficult the first few weeks are, or they just have much better experiences than me. I had one dear friend that kept it real, saying how rough the first few weeks were for her. She let me know all about the tough stuff she experienced, which really helped me. When I had moments of feeling all sorts of crazy, I knew I wasn't the only one to feel that way. 

And trust me... I was all sorts of crazy!

And not because of all the crazy stuff going on besides bringing home a new human. Because it would be really easy to blame it on all of that. Really and truly, it was simply having Silas to care for. Even though I never had these actual thoughts, in hindsight I'm pretty sure my mind was thinking along these lines...... Who is this stranger I now have to keep alive? Why won't he stop crying? Will he ever think of me as anything but his meal ticket? Holy mother I hurt. Like wow, I hurt a lot. What is REM sleep, bc I'm pretty sure I haven't had that in weeks.  

Personal recovery was ROUGH. And learning all about this new person attached to me a good part of the day was a huge learning curve. Baby blues is no joke.  But I'm just thankful I wasn't dealing with anything more serious. Plus, I think going to the beach with my family (blog post coming soon about that!) really brought me out of any blues I was still dealing with. 

Without further adieu, here are some pictures from our first week with Silas. 

My favorite way to burp him! 

Harry, GK and aunt Amanda all came to visit!

Mimi and Silas 

These girls brought some much needed comic relief!

His first doctor's appointment. 

Power finally came back on!