Sick ... again

A few weeks ago Taylor had an ear infection so we went to the doctor and got some antibiotics. We followed the prescription and about a week later, he seemed to get much worse. One night I think he only slept about 2 hours total and he usually sleeps from 7pm to 5:30am straight. I took him to the doctor that day and the ear infection was back. Here's the kicker: the prescription was wrong. I'm not sure who messed up, the doctor or the pharmacy, but it was only written for 4 days instead of 10. So we are taking medicine again now. He has gotten a TON better about taking it without spitting it all over you but he doesn't like it. He now also has horrible diaper rash for the first time ever thanks to the side-effects of the medicine. It is getting better but it has been a battle just to get his diaper changed. I am not looking forward to giving him a bath in the morning.

Catch up ...

I have missed out on a few monumental occasions recently that need to be blogged about. First up ... Father's Day. We sent the morning at my parent's church so that I could see my dad and then we went to lunch with my grandparents. It was a nice day over all but Taylor was not in the best mood because he ran a fever all weekend long. I think that Bryan had a great day despite the circumstances. This picture is us trying to bring down his fever with a cool washcloth. Taylor was amused.

Second ... my 10-year high school reunion. It was a long day but I got to see several people that I haven't seen since graduation and catch up with a few old friends. We had a good time at the park and Taylor especially enjoyed swinging.

Third ... our first "pet". Some friends of ours have a field full of donkeys and needed to get rid of one. Bryan decided that we NEEDED this donkey so he spent an entire afternoon fixing fence and getting ready for him. He is a very cute miniature Sicilian donkey named Pedro but he is loud! He has woken me up every single night which is very unpleasant, especially since Taylor is sleeping through the night 75% of the time now. Bryan is really ready for Taylor to start riding Pedro but I'm hoping to put that off for as long as I possibly can.

Last but not least ... our 2nd anniversary. I honestly can't believe that we've only been married for 2 years. It seems like a lifetime that we have been together. When I think back about all that we have been through and accomplished in that time and it makes my head spin a little!

Right now Taylor is sick again. We spent the morning crying and not sleeping so after an unscheduled trip to the doctor we have an answer. He has a double ear infection which is apparently a result of the sickness he had a couple weeks ago. On Friday he will be 7 months old and he's still getting bigger and stronger. He's trying to pull up on things but hasn't really gotten the hang of it yet. He is crawling but not very fast or effectively. He STILL isn't eating anything other than his bottles. Several other people have tried to feed him with the exact same response so I'm not sure how long it will be until we can actually get some food in him.

Completely off topic, I have the cutest new nephew in the world. He is 3 weeks old today and just precious. Hopefully the boys will grow up to be great friends and confidants.

PICTURES!!

Yesterday we went to the Japanese Stroll Garden where Bryan and I took our engagement pictures a little over 2 years ago. It was HOT, a little over 90 degrees so I was surprised how well Taylor did. He also didn't have his normal nap so I was expecting a lot of crankiness but he wasn't too bad. Teresa might have a different opinion though. She has posted a few of the pictures on her blog today so go check it out and let me know what you think!

6 months!!

I honestly can't believe that Taylor is 6 months old. It just seems incredible to me that he's been in our lives for half a year. Last week was vacation Bible school at church so it was a busy and schedule crazy week. My new nephew will be here sometime Wednesday if all goes well and I can't wait to meet him. I hope that Taylor and Evan will grow up and be best friends.

Taylor is getting to a very fun age. He laughs and smiles all the time. He is sitting up own his own and playing by himself well. I think that he will be crawling pretty soon because he is really trying. However, he still doesn't want to eat anything. I did get him to eat a strawberry and a piece of pineapple the other day but that has yet to be repeated. The doctor isn't concerned because he's still growing really well. At his appointment on Wednesday he weighed in at a whopping 17 pounds, 5 oz. and 27.5 inches long.

We are having our family pictures and his 6 month pictures done tomorrow so check back for some fun previews a about a week. Until then, here are the pictures that I took of him from the last month.

Piano lessons from great-grandma. He did seem really interested and was pushing on the keys a little bit. I am sure that this will change as soon as he realizes that he can make the noise on his own.

He loves bath time and now that he's big enough to be out of his baby tub I think he's really going to enjoy it a lot more. So far, he doesn't seem to enjoy splashing but I expect that to change soon.

Mother's Day and 5 months

Taylor was 5 months old on Sunday and it was also my 1st Mother's day with him. It was a wonderful day full of special memories. Bryan had a corsage and a card for me when I woke up that Taylor attempted to sign but evidently would have rather just chewed on the pen. We went to church and took Taylor to Bible class. When I went to pick him up they had made cards with his tiny hands cut out and he had scribbled on it with a crayon. It moved me to tears.

We went to lunch with all of the grandmothers/moms on Bryan's side of the family which was a good time. We also went to dinner with my mom and one of my grandmas on Friday so we got to see almost all of our family over the weekend.

Taylor is getting such a huge personality. Unless he is really tired or really hungry, he is always smiling. He laughs all the time and he gets so excited when Bryan or I walk into the room. He is rolling all over the place which is about to make things much more interesting once he figures out that he can get places now. He loves to stand up most of the time so he's getting really strong. He is able to sit up on his own for about 20-30 seconds before falling over.

He is definitely a mama's boy, much to Bryan's disappointment. Most nights he goes to sleep on his own when you put him in his crib but not always. He is still not sleeping through the night on a regular basis so that gets very overwhelming since I wake up at 3:00AM most days for work.

He is still working on cutting teeth so he does get cranky every once in a while but he's been pretty good about it.

The other kids at the babysitters seem to really like him and she says that he is a great baby. That makes me proud!

4 months

I know that I am a week late in writing this but I wanted to wait for his doctor's appointment so I would have all of his new information. He weighed in at 15 pounds, 2 ounces and is 25.5 inches long. He is generally a very happy baby but he does have his moments. Here are just a few of the things that he has been up to lately.

• He smiles and laughs all the time but mainly for Bryan and me.
• He loves bath time.
• He isn't a very good eater. Most of the time he doesn't finish his bottles and when he does, he is only getting 4oz, which is the same amount he was eating at 6 weeks. He does seem interested in our food while we are eating but refuses to eat his own food. He is still growing though so there isn't much to worry about right now.
• He is mesmerized by the speakerphone. He tries to grab the phone so he can figure out where the voice is coming from.
• He is a mover! We put him to sleep on his tummy and we never know where he will be when he wakes up. He is usually on his back and in the corner because he crawled/scooted there and then can't get back out on his own.
• Standing is his favorite position. He just loves to bounce and jump but since he can't do it on his own yet, it gets pretty exhausting after awhile.
• He is rolling over, but only front-to-back that I have witnessed. He tries to go back-to-front but he just can't seem to get the momentum that he needs.
• He enjoys being outside and seeing the neighbor's dogs and horses.

I feel so blessed to be a mother and I can't wait to see what the next several months bring. I love him more than I could have ever imagined and it is the best feeling in the world!

Who does he look like?

Several people have told me that they think Taylor looks like me. Here are some recently aquired photos of Bryan as a baby. Now can you see where he gets his handsome looks?

Laughing = the best sound in the world

My parents babysat last week so this video is of my dad blowing in Taylor's face and his hilarious reaction. He is still mesmerized by this video when he watches it. Pretty entertaining, enjoy!

3 months!

I honestly can't believe that it's been 3 months since the best day of our lives. The time has just flown by but in another sense, I can't really remember what life was like without him. I think that I love him more everyday but I don't know how that's possible. He is learning so many things and it's amazing to see the look on his face when things finally click. Just last night he was scratching his knee and he kept looking at his hand and then his knee and then it was just obvious when he realized that he was the one scratching his knee. He is soooo wonderful!

He just melts my heart when he smiles at me or laughs when he sees me. I am looking forward to the moment when I go to pick him up and he reaches his arms up for me. I wish that I could record every second of his life because I already feel like it's going by too fast and I don't want to miss anything or forget anything. Since I obviously can't do that, here are a few select pictures of him today!

Adorable

Lately when I've been changing Taylor's diaper I've noticed that he has been trying to blow bubbles like I do on his belly when I change him. Well he finally figured it out yesterday and now he can do it anytime that you encourage him by doing it first. I was so happy to catch it on video because he usually quits laughing and smiling as soon as he sees the camera.

Here are some new pictures as well.

Smiles and Teeth

Time has been flying by lately but everything is going well. Last week Bryan started a new job working with the city Public Works department. Right now everything seems to be going well and I am happiest about the fact that he has set hours every day!

Taylor has been going to his new daycare for 1 week now and seems to be doing really well. He is teething now which just blows my mind but according to my mom, I had 6 teeth by the time I was 4 months old. He is handling it pretty well but he does get pretty fussy about once or twice a day. He calms down pretty quick though. Here are his newest pictures. Enjoy!

Hanging out with my dad so that Bryan and I could go out for Valentine's Day

Holding up his head and rolling over

Sitting up in his Bumbo

2 Months!

I can't believe how quickly the last 2 months have flown by. We took Taylor to the doctor today for his check-up and everything went really well until he had to get his shots. He got 3 shots and a liquid that he mostly spit out. He cried really hard but he calmed down pretty quickly. He is now 11 lbs, 8 oz which puts him at about the 50th percentile for his age. They didn't measure him today but I measured him at 24 inches which puts him around the 75th percentile. The doctor said that everything looks good and he's advanced in some areas like holding his head up and his ability to roll from front to back.

I have been back to work for 3 weeks now so I'm finally getting caught up and back into the routine. However, due to the weather and the economy, Bryan is now unemployed. He had been working in the same job for almost 5 years so finding a new one that will pay him close to what he was making before is going to be pretty tough. Right now we are hoping and praying for a job with the city that opened up last week. Good thing we know the mayor really well! Hopefully we will know something about that by the end of the week. Until then, he is looking for temporary work anywhere he can find it.

Here are some recent pictures to keep everyone happy!!

Aunt Stephanie and soon-to-be cousin baby boy!!

Aunt Clarissa

Doctor's Update

At his appointment yesterday he weighed in at 8lbs, 11oz. In a month he's only gained a pound from his birth weight but he did have a little set back when he was congested and couldn't eat very well for about a week. The doctor said that he was looking great and that he's even a little ahead of schedule in some areas. He smiled at her and she just melted. It happens to me all the time!

1 month!

Taylor turned 1 month old on Saturday and it's so hard for me to believe that the time has flown by so fast. I have been able to enjoy this time with him so much and I'm really not looking forward to going back to work next week. This is what I've learned over the last several weeks:

• He is a pretty laid back baby and he only gets upset if he's really hungry or if he's in his car seat too long.
• Contrary to others beliefs, he does cry and sometimes even screams.
• He loves bath time!
• He is getting better about sleeping longer at night. Last night he slept for 6 hours straight!
• He will smile and sometimes even laugh.
• Being a mother is overwhelming and the most difficult thing I've ever done, but it is most definitely worth every bit of it to hold him and kiss his precious face!
• I am looking forward to every single day that we get to spend with him.

Today is his 1 month check-up with the doctor so hopefully it goes smoothly and he's been putting on more weight. I think that he's supposed to get at least 1 shot today so I'm trying to prepare myself for that. I'll update his stats later!

Photo Shoot

Christmas pictures coming soon!!

Pictures!

7 lbs, 11 ozs and 21 inches long

First photo with my sweet baby!

Father and son ... my two favorite boys in the world!

The trip home from the hospital

First time going to church!

He's Here!

Taylor finally made his entrance into the world last Wednesday morning at 3:23 am. It was a long process to get there so let me start from the beginning. I was scheduled to be induced at 7:00 Tuesday morning. At 4:45 I received a call from the hospital to say that they were full and not to come in but call back at 8:00. When I called back I was told they were still full and there was still one person ahead of me on the schedule and that they would call me back when they had an open room. Bryan and I decided to go get breakfast and run a few last minute errands to waste time. They finally called with an opening at 11:00 and we were there by 11:30. Once we got checked in and in our room they got me hooked up to a monitor and started my IV of pitocin at 1:00pm. They checked for dilation and I was not even 1cm so we had a long way to go. They decided to try and insert a balloon catheter to help me dilate faster, that did not work but the pain was intense. They were increasing my pitocin every 15 minutes so the contractions were getting stronger and much closer together but i still wasn't dilating fast enough. They encouraged me to go ahead and get the epidural so that I could relax and not fight the contractions as much. Getting the epidural placed properly turned out to be an adventure of its own but after 5 or 6 attempts I finally felt the relief!

From that point we just had a lot of time to lay there and wait. I could only lay on my right side because if I tried to move, he would lay on his cord and his heart rate would drop. About 6:30 when my doctor came to check on me I was dilated to about 5 cm. The next few hours were uneventful so I'll jump ahead. Around midnight they checked me again and I was at 9.5cm so they had me wait one more hour before we started pushing.

At 1:00am, 12 hours into labor, I officially started pushing. It was hard work but the first hour flew by and my wonderful and amazing nurse Jennifer said that I was doing really well and that he was moving pretty quickly. Some time around 2:30am a nurse came in the room to tell us that my doctor had gone to the ER for a case and that she would be back in about 15 min. I stopped pushing at this point to get a boost to my epidural which had started to wear off.

The dr came back to check my progress and let us know that she was going into surgery with the woman from the ER so I either had to hurry or wait. Waiting wasn't an option so I pushed really hard for the next 20 minutes or so while they were getting everything ready and then it happened.

He turned face up and got himself stuck. They tried to turn him over but it just wasn't going to happen so they told us the best option would be to use the vacuum extractor. I asked if they thought it would work and they said yes and that they would do the same thing if it were them. Once that decision was made we went from having just myself, Bryan and Jennifer in the room to having about 12 people running around like maniacs. I was trying to ignore everything and just focus on getting him here as quickly as possible so that the chaos didn't overwhelm me.

As my dr is applying the vacuum to his head for the first time she tells us that it's hospital policy that if he doesn't come out in 3 pushes with the vacuum it's an immediate c-section. Then I started to panic. I knew that I was exhausted physically and mentally so I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do it. At this point I had no energy left so Bryan had to help me with these pushes. He did such a wonderful job all day but at this point he really kicked into gear. The first attempt failed because it slipped off his head and he has the scrapes to prove it. The second attempt got him close but still not out. I had one last attempt or I was off to have surgery. At this point at least 2 of the nurses left the room in a frenzy to prep the Operating room. I'm not at all sure where I found the energy or the strength for the next push but according to Bryan, I pushed for almost 45 seconds without breathing and he finally came out. I remember the nurse and my dr saying that they couldn't believe it and that they really didn't think he was going to come out that time either. I remember pushing a couple more times to get his shoulders out and then when they finally lifted him up for me to see I was shocked and relieved.

Due to using the vacuum, his head was extremely distorted so I got worried and started panicking. At this point I have been found to be running a fever and so was Taylor so we were told that we couldn't keep him with us, they were taking him straight to the nursery. They did let Bryan take a few pictures and bring him over to me so that I could see him and hold him briefly. Bryan and I were in recovery for about 2 hours before we were moved to our room. It was almost 6:00am before they brought him back to us for the first time. I was overwhelmed with love for this beautiful and amazing little person that we fought so hard to get here.

He spent most of his first day in and out of the nursery but the second day he was in the room with us the entire day. We came home on Friday and have been adjusting ever since.

Here's his stats!
at birth: 7lbs, 11ozs, 21 inches long
at discharge: 7lbs, 3.5ozs
at yesterday's checkup: 7lbs, 8ozs

Past due!

Taylor was supposed to be here last Thursday but he is being stubborn. At my appointment last Monday he hadn't made much progress at all so the doctor helped me along to get things moving. Unless he comes this weekend, I am scheduled to be induced on Tuesday. I'm relieved to finally have an end in sight and know that I won't have to wait much longer but every day is agonizing at this point. Most of my swelling has subsided with the bed rest but I still feel sore all over and just completely physically exhausted. I've been able to work from home some this week so that has been helpful to keep my mind occupied.

I'm going to work on getting the house clean today and catching up on laundry so that I don't have to worry about that later. It should be a nice lazy Saturday.

God bless and look for pictures of baby Taylor next week sometime!

Update

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday that was full of surprises. I knew that I wasn't going to get to go to church so I slept in and right before Bryan left he handed me my birthday card which I honestly didn't think that he had even gotten yet. He brought home lunch after church and then my parents came over for a short visit. Bryan left to go run errands in the afternoon and then went back to church. When he came back he immediately told me we were leaving for a surprise and that I had to close my eyes until we got there. I protested slightly because I was still frustrated that I couldn't go to church but I could go on this trip. Anyway, he took me to dinner where we met a bunch of friends to celebrate. We had a good time and then when I got home I had a present! He bought me a BEAUTIFUL necklace for my birthday and for having Taylor. Since we weren't supposed to do presents this year he said that he just combined a couple so it wouldn't be soooo bad. I guess I'll have to forgive him! ;)

I went back to the doctor this morning and she was absolutely amazed at how much better I was doing after 5 days of bed rest. My blood pressure was back to normal and I lost 4 pounds of swelling. You can actually tell that my feet have bones and ligaments in them now. Kinda makes me wish I had taken a before picture just to see the difference a few days would make. I am still not dilated at all so she said that Taylor probably won't be making his appearance this week either.

However, since I had made such an improvement I asked her if I could go back to work. She was still hesitant so we agreed on working from home as long as I keep my feet up. That's good with me, I just don't want to waste any more of my vacation time unless I absolutely have to.

Thanks for all your prayers and keep them coming!

Birthday ... hopefully BIRTH day!

Today is my birthday and the day that I have been praying for since March. I really want Taylor to be born today because I think that would be the best birthday gift ever. Also, it would ensure that we are out of the hospital in time for Thanksgiving and that some of my family from out of the area would be able to see him before next year.

I am currently 39 weeks and 3 days so we are completely full term. Especially since I'm certain that my due date has been wrong all along. When I was at the doctor on Tuesday I was measuring at 40 weeks already so I'm convinced that now he's just hanging out in there because he has no idea how good he will have it out here in the real world!

I've been trying my best to coax him out for days now but today is crunch time!! Say lots of prayers and keep your fingers crossed!