Saturday, February 25, 2012

Easton at 1 Month Old

Wow so is my little boy really 1 month old?!? (2/24/12) I cant believe this. I already feel like he's growing up too fast. =( On Tuesday (2/21/12) we went by the doctor's office. We didn't have an appointment, I just wanted to see how much he weighed. He was just so small when he was born. The last weight I had on him was 6 # 2ozs on 2/7/12 when he was 2 weeks old. In just 2 short weeks, this little piglet now weighs 7# 6ozs! Wow, he has gained almost a pound and a half in 2 weeks. This is what I like to hear! This is E with his elephant "Jala."





7 Pounds 6 ounces



21 inches long






*Sleeps 3-4 hours at night. Eats, then back to sleep for 3 hours. Sometimes he teases me and sleeps for 5 hours. But its only a fluke.



*Eats 2 1/2 - 3 ounces every 3 hours during the day.



*Still napping alot during the day



*Has had periods of being awake for up to 3 hours! =) But usually just an hour and a half.



*Pretty fussy in the evenings.



*Follows objects, if moving slowly, and will make eye contact and stare at faces.



*Smiles randomly. Not necessarily at certain times.
*He has recently started cooing alot! It is just about the most adorable thing! Melts my heart! Every time he does it, I do it back to him.


I LOVE this little dimple he has on the left cheek. He got that from his daddy.


At this point he was tired of me taking pictures.




LIKES:



*Being held



*Sitting up in his boppy or on your legs to look around



*Being talked to



*His paci



*Loud noises (Hair dryer, shower running, static on radio, etc.)



*Vibrations on his bouncy seat and bassinet (May have to phase those out so that he will sleep well when he transitions to his crib upstairs.)






DISLIKES:



*Being put in his car seat



*Being naked



*Pulling clothes on & off over his head






It is amazing to watch this little man grow and change right before our eyes. I am excited to see what the future holds and for him to be able to interact with us. But I certainly do not want to wish away these months because I know I will never have them back. We Love you Easton! I cant believe you are 1 month old!!

Tummy Time

Easton is doing pretty good with tummy time. He can hold his head up very well. Especially if he is over your shoulder. These are just a few pictures I snapped. As you can see it all went downhill. But then ended in sleep. Holding your head up is hard work.



Sleeping like babies




E was probably about a week and a half old in this picture. Its one of those classic pictures you have to take. =) Just had to share.

Monday, February 20, 2012

First Bath

On Saturday 2/4/12 E's umbilical cord came off. After that he could start having real baths instead of me just wiping him down with a wash cloth. On 2/8/12 he had his first bath! I was expecting him to hate it because he hates to be naked. But as soon as I put him in the tub he just relaxed. He didnt mind it at all.








Of course getting out of the tub is a different story. It obviously got cold. But all can be settled with a paci. =)

1 Week Old

ETC @ 1 week old:

E is doing pretty well adjusting at home. Right now he has his days and nights mixed up and is wide awake at 1am! He is a pretty good eater. Though when we went to the doctor a couple of days ago E had lost down to 5# 5ozs on the 27th. He was 5# 8oz when we left the hospital. So he suggested that I supplement with formula. After doing that for 3-4 days we went back to the doctor and he had gained up to 5# 12 oz! Wow almost a half of a pound in that short amount of time.



Sunday, February 19, 2012

Too Sweet for Words!



Gosh I love this little Miracle more than words can describe!!

E is Coming Home



NOT loving the car seat. But he fell asleep as soon as the car got moving. We came home on January 26th in the early afternoon. The weather was rainy and yucky, but we hardly noticed.




His newborn pants and onesie were HUGE on him. But it was too cute not to wear home. I also wasn't prepared for such a small baby, so this was all we had as an option. =)

The Most Wonderful Day of my Life- Labor & Delivery Story

This is the Labor and Delivery story about Easton. Some may not care about these details but I'm afraid I will forget, so this is really for my memory.

It started the night before, on the 23rd, all had been as normal as it had been with my pregnancy. I went to work Monday and worked my 8 hour shift with no problems. It was a normal night at home too. We ate dinner and watched some TV. I decided I would update my blog with some overdue belly posts and nursery pictures, while Kevin went to bed. While I was updating the blog I noticed that I was having some, more intense than normal, braxton hicks contractions. I had been having these for weeks now so I didn't think much of them. I finished up blogging with just my 38 week belly post left to do. I figured I would just take my picture the next day and post about it then. We had scheduled to take our tour of the new women's facility at Brookwood and I had my 39 week appointment the next day also.
I went downstairs to head to bed (about 9:30pm) but couldn't quit focusing on how intense these "braxton hicks" were. I laid in bed and tried to sleep but those "braxton hicks" were keeping me awake. I was always nervous that I wouldn't know when I was in labor. The good thing was that I knew braxton hicks are inconsistent and sporadic with their timing. So just to make sure I pulled up the contraction timing app from my phone and started to time them. It seemed like they just happened to be every 10-12 minutes. That's funny because braxton hicks have no rhythm. I was afraid to admit to myself that this might be actual labor. It was 10 days before my due date. I also didn't want to wake Kevin up for a false alarm. I wanted to be sure. So I called the doctors office (11 pm) and it just so happened that my doctor was on-call. I told her the situation and she told me to wait at home until they were every 5-7 minutes. So back to the bedroom I went. I continued to time them and realized that by now they were every 7 minutes. I decided, this must be it! So I proceeded to wake Kevin up. I would shake him and say his name and all I got out of him was, "OK, I'm up I'm up" (with a half asleep voice). I did this for several times until he FINALLY woke up. I said to him, "I really think you need to get up! We might need to go to the hospital." I don't think it quite clicked with him. He slowly got out of bed and went to the laundry room to look for his clothes. He thought I was waking him up because it was time for him to go to work. Once he realized what was going on he kicked into overdrive. He was running around the bedroom throwing last minute things into my bag and his. (oddly enough he had just packed his bag before he went to bed). We ran out of the house with the car seat in tow. Guess we were going to be taking our own tour of the new women's center.
On the way to the hospital Kevin informed me that he had been having trouble sleeping the past few nights and that he chose THAT night to take a sleeping pill! Ha! That's why I had so much trouble waking him up! To add to it, we were caught by a train on the way to the interstate. (by the way, why do the trains pick 11:30 pm to run through Pelham?! Or anytime I'm in a hurry to get somewhere) On top of that, after calling my parents to tell them, Kevin called his parents. It just so happened that his dad had to go down to the beach for business for 1 night only. (Kaye didn't go just in case E was born) He left his phone downstairs to charge and went upstairs to sleep. Also Kevin's mom had her phone charging next to her bed, but on the floor where she couldn't hear it. So needless to say we could NOT get in touch with either of them. Kevin called probably 30 times each! He left messages for them both and we continued to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital at about 12 am. We got checked into our L & D room. I was already 2-2 1/2 cm dilated from my doctor's appt on Jan. 17th. I was 3-4 cm when we arrived at the hospital. Once it was confirmed that I our boy was coming that day, I called the girls at work to say, "Im having a baby today and won't make it to work." haha!  We finally got in touch with Kaye and she couldnt believe that she had missed so many phone calls.  She came to the hospital and She, my mom and Kevin were with me during Labor.  Tommy, on the other hand, still wasnt answering.
I told the nurse that I didn't want to be a hero and have a drug free birth but that I wanted to see how far I could go before getting the epidural. She gave me Neubaine to take the edge off of the contractions. She told me it would feel like I had had a couple of margaritas. Well, it felt more like I had had a couple of pitchers of margaritas, and it didn't take the edge off. I was dizzy and nauseated! yuk! I was able to hold out until 6-7 cm dilated before getting the epidural. The contractions were just becoming so frequent and getting more intense. The needle for the epidural didn't bother me. I didn't even know he was poking me. The worst part was having to sit hunched over the bed while having contractions! Once the epidural was on board (and the Neubaine too) I began feeling very sedate. It was almost like I couldn't remember to breathe because I was so sedated. They had to put the O2 on me because they said my O2 stat was low, not the baby's. About an hour after giving me my epidural my water broke. Not long after that we started pushing. It only took about 5-6 pushes and our baby boy was born!! The little man who had been kicking me was finally out and on my chest! We did skin to skin for about 45 minutes. It was AMAZING! He was so alert and relaxed.  Once Easton was born, Kevin's dad still not there, Kevin sent him a text message with a picture of E that said, "Im here, Where are you??" lol!
Afterwards we headed up to our actual room where all of our family got to come and see our newest addition. Overall Pregnancy, Labor and Delivery were quick and easy for me. I hope I can say the same later in life for the second go around. =) What an AMAZING experience to say the least!! Definitely the most wonderful day of my life!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Easton is here!!!



At 6:44 am on January 24, 2012 my life changed in the most wonderful way! Kevin and I welcomed our first child, a son, into the world. This is our first (of many) family photos!

Easton Thomas Crooks

Date: January 24th, 2012

Born at: 6:44 am

Weight: 5# 13ozs

Length: 20 inches long



His First Bath


Wall Quote

Well this is the last piece of the puzzle. This is the last thing I had been waiting on for Easton's room. I was unsure, at first, about what I wanted over his bed. I liked the idea of putting his name but I also wanted to do something a little different than what you normally see. I decided to go with a quote. Once that was decided I had to pick one! Much harder than you would think. There are SO many precious baby quotes to choose from. After searching I picked this one. And I totally LOVE it!!



I wish I could say that I had the talent to paint this on the wall myself. But sadly I don't. I found a website that specializes in vinyl decals. They have everything from baby quotes to home decor quotes. Anything you can imagine, they have. You can even personalize them. It was very easy to put up too. Definitley my favorite thing in his room!

38 Weeks

Well as I'm sure you know our little miracle was about 10 days early. Because he came early I didn't get a chance to take a 38 week belly picture. I should have taken one in my hospital gown. Ha! But I wanted to complete the belly posts because I want to be able to print this out one day as a keepsake. Also I'm a little bit OCD and the thought of missing a week, especially the last one, drove me crazy. Ive been meaning to mention in one of my belly posts about how cute Kevin has been during this pregnancy. (This is mainly for me to remember) But every Tuesday, even though my "new" weeks started on Thursdays, Kevin would grab the iPad and watch a weekly pregnancy video. There is a lady called the "Pregnancy Health Guru" on Utube and she has illustream videos for people to watch. She tells you about what is going on with you and baby in your new pregnancy week. Sometimes we would watch them together, but mostly he beat me to them every time. My husband is more of an electronic gadget guy. So reading a book to get the same info wasn't as appealing. There isn't much more for me to write about in this the last week of my pregnancy. CRAZY! I cant believe this 9 1/2 month journey is over. No more belly kicks and hiccups to feel. This is a little sad to think about, but I know that the real journey is just getting started. I cant wait!






Your baby's the size of a pumpkin!
Baby is about 18.9 to 20.9 inches long and weighs about 6.2 to 9.2 pounds. His head is now about the same circumference as her abdomen.
He may have about an inch or so of hair already.
He's slowly shedding that white goo on his skin (called vernix caseosa) but you might see some of it at birth.