One year ago....

We found out that we were expecting our 1st baby. What joy and excitment we had, as well as some nervousness and fright at the thought of becoming parents.


It's hard to believe how much our lives have changed in that one short year! We went from 'just the 2 of us' to a family of 3. From no baby through 9 months of pregnancy and all the highs and lows of kicks and nausea, through the bonding experience of labor and the joy of finally holding our son and seeing him face to face for the 1st time. And now the thrill of watching him grow into a 'big boy'. I have loved it all (well execpt for the nausea and swelling ;-) ). I am so blessed to have this little guy in my life!

His feet are his new favorite thing to play with! :-) It's way too cute!

The speeding train...

That is what life is... it keeps coming and goes by so fast! And as I have had the joy of observing my little boy grow and change in these 3 1/2 short months I realize how fast it goes by and how much I need to treasure each and every second that we are given here on this earth. I realize that each minute that I have with my son is a precious gift that I am unbelievably thankful for. As I see parent's in the hospital struggling through the emotions of having children who are sick and dying where there is no cure and how they struggle with the love for their child and having to let go of one they love so fiercely I realize even more how thankful and how much I love my little guy and how much I take for granted that he is here in my life.

I also had just the smallest glimpse into what it must have been like for God to give up his only son to die for me. The thought of anything happening to my boy makes my heart want to stop or break and leaves me gasping for breath. (Twice when he was asleep I reached over into his bassinet to check on him and his face felt cold- I thought he had died- thankfully he moved within seconds of me touching him, but in those split seconds my heart plummeted to my feet. That is only a small taste, I am sure of what God felt sending his son to earth).

Remember to treasure every moment!!!

On a less philosophical note- Hoot learned to laugh this week!!! It's precious and he has also found his feet! So cute! :-)

Back 2 work

Ugh, what a not fun thing to say. I have loved and cherished every minute of being home these past 3 months. Now I have begun the transition of going back to work. I have come to learn that the days I am scheduled to work are ok but being called in when I am on-call is aweful! Thankfully I am only part time right now but that may have to change in the near future. Any of you mom's who have had to go back to work I'd appreciate whatever advice you've got (esp. you nurse moms- did you do days or nights or weekends?) At my work unless you are permanent weekends (work 6 weekends off 1 weekend) you still have to do on-call.

I love seeing my co-workers but I will admit that the day I got called in a shed some tears on my drive into work.

I envy you stay-at-home-moms!!

A blog buddy tagged me for a photo meme. Here's the one and the rules:1. Go to the the 4th folder where you keep your pictures on your computer.2. Post the 4th picture in the folder.3. Explain the photo.4. Tag 4 fellow bloggers to join in the fun! (or as many bloggers as you know if less than 4)
here's my picture:

This is for Sarah, (I only had 2 pics in my 4th folder so here is #4 from folder #5). This is a painting that was in the hotel room in Gettysburg where Dan and I went for our 1st Anniversary. We thought it was a really neat painting and decided to take a pic of it so that if we ever found one like it we could get it.

1st Vacation

While we have travled to PA for holidays and to NC for the youth retreat I am considering this trip to SC as Jackson's 1st official vacation. We spent 5 days in SC visiting my grandmother (now Great-Grandma Riley, she loves being a great-grandma!). It was nice to go down to her house, it's been 2 years since I was last there, and it was fun to introduce Jackson to his Great-Great Aunt Imogene and his Great-Great Aunt on Dan's side -Aunt Florence. We also had the chance to introduce him to the congregation at my grandmother's church, many of them have known me since I was a toddler so it was fun to show off my own little one!

Jackson did wonderful! We split the trip down to SC into 2 parts an spent the night in a hotel which meant only having to stop once on the second leg to feed Jackson... it would have worked out great had he not woken up 15 min away from my grandmother's SCREAMING because he was hungry. Well since I couldn't easily nurse him while we were driving and since we were so close I was scrambling to fix an ounce of formula just to tide him over till we got to her house.

Playtime for all...

Playing with Great-Grandma

Aunt Florence

Aunt Imogene

We had a wonderful time playing games and hanging out with my grandma, Rummycue (sp?) was the game of choice and even Jackson helped out (he actually turned out to be the luck charm because whomever was holding him usually won).

Helping Daddy win.

On the trip home we decided to drive straight through and to go a different route home to avoid inaguration traffic (one of the joys of living near DC is all the traffic :-P ). We got to drive through some snow covered mountains in TN which were beautiful! And again Jackson did well.... untill the 2nd stop and then he decided that 6 hrs in his carseat was plenty long enough and he did not want to go back in it. But after some games and distracting toys and then holding mommy's hand for awhile (a challenge to do from the front seat as his carseat was behind me) he finally fell asleep till we got home.

All in all a good vacation.... not too sure how easy it will be when he gets older though!

2 month check-up

Well that dreaded day has come and gone now (dreaded because of the shots). We learned that Jackson is now 11lb 5oz (5lbs more than his birth weight) and 23in long (2.25 in. taller than his birth height). I can't believe how much he is growing!! The nurse practitioner (whom I love! (not that I am biased as a nurse :) ) said that Jackson is doing great and was suprised at how big he is getting, during the 1st week after he was born we were watching his weight very carefully because he had lost so much weight.

Poor little guy also had to get 4 injections and an oral vaccine. He did pretty well with the shots but woke up from his nap very cranky and I am assuming pretty sore but after 1 dose of Tylenol he was fine for the rest of the day, praise the Lord. It was sad to see him in so much discomfort but I also loved being able to care for and snuggle my little guy.

2 months!

2 Months Old! (and the cutest smile ever!)

I can't believe how fast time has flown! It seems like just yesterday that I was in the hospital holding this little guy in my arms and now he has gotten so much bigger and more talkative! I love all of the smiles and coos that I get though. Next week is his 2 week check-up, I am looking forward to seeing how much he weighs and how tall he is but I am not looking forward to the 2 month shots that he's going to have to get :-P Hopefully all will go well with that!

"I can push myself up"

Way too cute for his own good!