Six months ago today...

My world was forever changed.  My sweet precious Jack came into the world.  I cannot believe that 6 months have flown by already.  When I was pregnant 6 months felt like 6 years!  He has accomplished so many things in his time here already. 

I have a little boy who rolls everywhere, low crawls so fast I can barely keep up, laughs at his doggies, smiles the best smiles at Mommy and Daddy, eats solid foods in his high-chair, gives kisses and holds on tight for hugs, sleeps in his own crib, pets his animals, blows raspberries, plays his piano, tries to sit up, notices everything and is determined to get it, and fills our hearts with more love than we have ever felt.

I have written out Jack's birth story once, but it was so boring I wouldn't even try to read it again.  So I am gonna try again.  Hopefully, it will come out as beautiful as his birth was...

The morning of December 3, 2009 I woke up hurting.  I felt nauseas, crampy, and just not right.  I got up to use the bathroom and decided I was gonna camp out in bed that day.  Jack was already late, but for some reason I wasn't expecting to have a baby yet!  My mom was scheduled to arrive the next day, so he had to wait for Gramma right?  I called Bobby to tell him I didn't feel good and wasn't going to come decorate his Battalion for Christmas.  When I layed back down, the cramps got worse, so I called Bobby back and said maybe he should come home.  After 10 or so phone calls back and forth, we decided Bobby would come home for lunch, see how I felt and we'd take it from there.

By the time he arrived home, I was furiously cleaning the house.  All I could picture was coming home with a new baby to an unmade bed and dirty floors.  I was having what I thought were contractions because they were something I hadn't felt before.  We decided to try timing them.  To this day, I still cannot figure out Bobby's method of recording contractions, but it worked for him.  By the time I got out of the shower, my contractions we about 4 minutes apart.  When I called the birth center, I had two contractions on the phone so she said to come on in.  I thought I would have time to dry my hair from my shower, but about 2 minutes into the process, I quit. 

The 15 minute car ride seemed to take an hour.  My contractions had picked up quite a bit, so much that when we got to the birth center, they were about 10 seconds apart.  The midwife on call was exactly who I wanted to be there.  When she checked my cervix, I was 4 cm dilated.  She hooked me up to the monitor, but I was in so much pain I couldn't stay still for the readings.  Jack also was apparently sleeping.  She suggested I get in the tub to try to slow things down.  The tub didn't slow anything down.  During my pregnancy, I always asked Bobby if he would be in the tub with me when Jack was born.  He would make a face and say no way.  So I was surprised when he pulled out his bathing suit and helped me climb into the tub.  I was so glad to have him so close, especially when I needed to squeeze things.

My friend Rachel showed up just as I was about to get into the tub.  I talked with her for about 5 minutes before I needed to focus completely on laboring.  During the three hours I was in the tub, barely anyone spoke.  I needed the silence.  It helped me focus all my energy on the pain.  I guess I even shushed people, but I don't remember that!  Being in the water was amazing.  I felt weighless.  I was able to put pressure on my back when the contractions came.  I tried repositioning once, but the pain was worse.

When I was 8-9 cm dilated, I got out of the tub to have my water broken.  I had the most painful contraction after that and Bobby helped me back to the tub.  I could now feel Jack in my pelvis.  With each contraction, it felt like I pushed forever.  It felt so much better to push.  With every push, I felt Jack come further and further down.  My midwife kept telling me to reach down and feel his hair, but I knew he wasn't out very much.  Finally they convinced me to reach down and just as I thought, he was hardly out.  I was hoping like half of his head was out, at least that's what it felt like!  I remember looking at Bobby towards the end.  I will never forget his face.  It was this pride and awe I have never seen in a person before. 

Once Jack's head was out I had to stop pushing so my midwife could check the cord.  I wanted to push so bad then, I wanted to hold my baby.  I really don't remember pushing again.  He was just in my arms.  He was beautiful.  The water had washed him off, so his skin was a gorgeous pinky color.  You could tell he had blonde hair.  His little fingers grasped the air, looking for something to hold.  I took them and held him close.  He started to cry and for a moment it was all I heard.  It was like we were the only people in the room.  I looked down at my son, the little baby I grew inside me, and felt the world melt away.  The instant love you feel is better than you could imagine.

When I looked up at Bobby, he had tears in his eyes.  I probably did too.  After Jack got all his blood from the umbilical cord, Bobby seperated us.  It really felt like the moment I gave Jack life.  He was now his own little person.  The most wonderful part about the birth center was that Jack never left my sight.  While I was finishing up with the birth, Bobby held Jack skin to skin on his chest.  I loved watching my boys bond.  Then Jack was given back to me to nurse.  He latched right on.  It was amazing to look down and watch this minutes old baby know what to do.

And here we are 6 months later.  I still love to watch Jack nurse.  He has changed so much in how he nurses.  He's at the point now where he looks around and things distract him.  I have to hold his hand so he doesn't try to fit his hand and my nipple in his mouth.  I can't wait to see what the next six months have to bring.  Then he can stop growing.  I want to keep my baby a baby forever...

I love you Jackson...

It worked!

 Jack naps!  And has been sleeping realllly well! Good, cause I was about to start pulling my hair out!  Bobby and I couldn't be happier parents right now!  I went back and forth over all the different "methods" of sleep solutions.  I can't believe how strong minded people can be about the different methods, especially when they haven't tried it! 

I knew the basics of the cry it out method.  I mean it sounds self-explanitory right?  But I hadn't really done much reading on it.  Like I said before, not much time for reading these days.  So after whining talking to my BFF about what the heck to do with this child, I decided to let him learn to fall asleep on his own.  And if that involved a little crying to get some sleep, we would try it.  She told me I might need to let him cry for up to an hour! How was I ever going to listen to my poor baby cry for an hour?

So the first night, we started our routine.  Eat dinner, playtime, bathtime, nurse in his quiet room, little lovey baby/mommy time, then Daddy put him in his crib.  He was good for a minute.  Then cried.  For 40 minutes.  I cried too.  I wanted so bad to go pick him up.  There was no way this was going to work.  Finally around 8:30pm, he stopped.  My first thought is "OMG is he still alive?"  After making Bobby check that he was still breathing, we got to relax.  Well for like three minutes before Bobby was asking to go to bed.  He's such an old man now that he gets up at 4:00am.  I guess I can't blame him.  Before we went to bed, I did something I should have done a long time ago.  I turned off the baby monitor.  See, our house isn't that big.  Jack's room is right next to ours.  I can hear him breathe practically.  I didn't need the monitor to hear him cry.  All it did was wake me up every time he squeaked.  I needed some sleep too...

At 4:00am the alarm goes off, I panic.  Jack had not woken up yet.  But I take a breath, relax, and realize he's probably fine.  I mean, the kid had not slept well for a least a week, he was probably exhausted.  I fell back asleep, but not very well since I kept thinking I heard him crying.  He ended up waking up at 5:00am! 

The next day we started our first naptime routine.  About 9:00am, we go into his room, read a book, nurse, and I put him down in his crib and turn his seahorse on.  This time he only fussy cried for like 15 minutes.  And napped for like an hour.  Much better than the 20 minutes he used to sleep huh?

And here we are now, almost a week in.  He naps three times a day, wakes up once during the night again, and falls asleep on his own!  Usually it's less than 5 minutes of fussiness, I really wouldn't call it crying!  He is so much happier too.  I am happier too in case you couldn't tell!

In the end, I learned that you just have to go with what works for your child.  Be open to everyone's advice and don't write it off until you've tried it.  Every child is different, so everyone's parenting technique will also be different.

On a different note, I'm getting the mirena put in on Wednesday.  Anyone have one?  I am not looking forward to pain in that area again.  I tried asking the NP all these questions like whats the pain like? how long does the procedure take? how long will I be down for, if at all?  But in typically military healthcare fashion, she told me to read the handout, "all the questions you could ever ask are answered in there."  Obviously not lady... 

Happy Memorial Day!

Bobby and I are off to a Purple Heart ceremony, then spending a wonderful 4-day weekend thinking of all our friends who are currently overseas and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice.  I thank God everyday for bringing my best friend home from Iraq almost two years ago.  Some day Jack will know about all the sacrifices we have made for our country and I'm sure he will be just as proud of his Daddy as I am.  Happy Memorial Day everyone, and THANK YOU for all your sacrifices!

Spreadin the Recipe Love

Well I am way late in this, but hey, I might as well join in right?  Better late than never?  So The Mrs over at Trying Our Best is hosting a recipe blog hop!  I love cooking, so I'm not quite sure why I never wanted to get in on this sooner.  This recipe is super simple. Carbonara always sounds like a way complicated dish, but lucky for you, it only tastes like it is!

Chicken Carbonara

1lb chicken breast cut into bite sized pieces
6 slices bacon
1 small red onion
2 cloves garlic
2 cups frozen green peas (fresh would always taste better)
1 cup chardonnay or chicken broth or mix of both
6 egg yolks
1/4 cup half and half
1/4 cup grated parmesean cheese
1lb spaghetti (or whatever pasta you love)
salt and pepper to taste


Saute the bacon in a pan until almost cripsy. Remove from pan. Pour off all but 2 or 3 tablespoons of the bacon fat

Boil a large pot of water for the pasta.

In a bowl whisk together egg yolks, half and half, cheese.

Saute the garlic and onion in the fat. Once the onion is soft, add the chicken. Crumble the bacon pieces back into the saute pan. Add the wine/broth and reduce heat to simmer until chicken is done. Add peas.

When pasta is al dente, drain and return to pot. Add the chicken mixture from saute pan to pasta. Stir in the egg mixture.

Since the hot pasta will cook the eggs, there is no need for additional cooking!

Happy eating!

Can You Believe This?

 I am very pro breastfeeding.  Besides all the obvious like its WAY better for the baby and FREE, it's NATURAL!!  Now I completely understand those Mamas who cannot for whatever good reason, but I can't stand those who don't try.  Why wouldn't you give your baby the best of everything??  I have exclusively breastfed Jack for going on 6 months, and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.  So when I read a post Chanda over at The Eco-Cheap Mom put up, I couldn't believe it.  How will breastfeeding ever be seen as the most normal, natural thing it is if people write this crap about it...

Read the post, you'll see what I mean.  :Jumping down off my soapbox:


EDIT: I just wanted to add that I always use my nursing cover in public, I do agree that most people don't want to see that.  I do it more for me than them though, I don't need anyone but the hubs looking at my lady lumps...

The No Sleep Kid

Jack has lost his ability to sleep.  He won't nap.  He doesn't sleep through the night anymore.  He's cranky.  A lot.  I am also cranky.

I'm hoping all this sleeplessness is due to the crazy changes Jack has been having lately.  First, his crib was recalled so he sleeps in his pack n' play in his room.  Then we started him on solids on Mother's Day.  I was just so excited to feed him real food!  We also took his first flight and he really wasn't feeling that too much.

I can't seem to get Jack on a schedule.  I have things to do some days.  So he gets packed up into the car and hauled all around town.  Now, he sleeps in the car, but I can't drive around multiple times a day just for naps.  And I sure don't have time to read all those wonderful books that will magically make your child sleep if you read them.  And of course follow their principles, duh.  I called my BFF the other day, almost at my witts end with Jack screeching in the background, for any advice she had.  She has two boys, who nap.  She must know things.  She told me I need to get him on a routine.  I know I do, but hoooowwwww???

Night-time is pretty much a nightmare too.  Since Jack doesn't nap, he's super sleepy come 6:30pm.  Right when we are trying to make and eat dinner.  Last night we had to juggle Jack while putting food on the table, then inhale it as he cried in his high-chair.  Putting Jack to bed at 6:30pm sounds great huh?  Well no, it's not.  Not when he wakes back up at 12:00am.  And then again at 3:00am.  And then again at 5:00am.  We are back to month one with this kid!  Remember when he usd to go down at 8:00pm and sleep till 4:00am?  That was wonderful...

So Jack eats food.  And he has real poop.  Maybe this has something to do with the sleeping?  His tummy is all like what the heck?  I hope it gets used to the stuff cause we ain't stoppin' now! 

I really hope the replacement crib parts come today.  I need this boy back to normal.  And Mama and Daddy need some sleep...

Welcome to the Household of God

 That's what the cake the church made for Jack (and the other little girl Christened) said.  And it was so yummy.  That's because it was a Wegman's cake.

The Christening was beautiful.  Jack wore the same gown that my dad, his brother and sister, me, my sister, and all my cousins wore. 

During the service, Jack was getting a little fussy, so I took him out to feed him before the baptism.  After he ate, he passed out.  He slept through all of the ceremony until Father Bill took him to pour the water on his head.  Then he cried.  But you probably would too if you were sound asleep and wake up to some stranger pouring water on your head!  He was fine when it was over.  And since he had his little power nap, he smiled at everyone who would look at him. 

Jack's godparents are my sister Abbe, and Bobby's brothers Andrew and Jon.  Unfortunately, Jon was not able to make the Christening since he had to work.  He's an airline pilot and getting time off is tricky.

The weather was beautiful in NY.  We really enjoyed our time home.  I love that everyone gets to see Jack in person and snuggle him.  He gives the best snuggles.  And one more picture of all of us.  Of course there were a lot of paparazzi there, Jack's slightly famous.  In case you are curious about the shoes, my mom goes to China for work and she got these at an ancient Chinese village.  They were made by an 85 year old woman and by wearing them he will have a long life.