Some old news

I started this last November...here you go

*wipes dust from ipad*
We'll hello...
Time for an update, no?

Our little Gator - 7 months. This was taken the first day of the season. He still loved screaming at that time. Haha! We're still working on learning the Gator chomp :) Started daycare after a summer home with Daddy. Not caring to eat much...but learning to hold his bottle on his own.  Sleeps through the night like a pro. Smiles all the time :)

Look at this kid! Sitting up like a champ, no crawling just yet. He's a sweet boy, alert, talking a lot. He says da-da, ba-ba but no ma-ma at all. So we're working on signing it. I'm hopeful. He laughs at me when I do it. Sigh. 20.5 lbs, 28 inches. Wearing size 9-12 months. Eating pretty much everything. 

4 months...ch-ch-ch-changes!

 My 4 month old prince!
What a ham he is...
Definitely the most fun month yet....
He's such a good baby, sitting quietly when we visit with others. The babysitter is so happy at how sweet he is, especially when she has to run errands and he goes along. He just sits and observes all that's going on, making only a few appropriate-for-baby peeps. Everyone is always very impressed. He's a happy baby who laughs and smiles alllll the time. He only cries when hungry, overtired, or wants to be picked up. He drools all the time too...maybe teething? But he's been drooling since we brought him home from the hospital so maybe not...



Height: 24.5"
Weight: 15 whopping lbs - you can still wear mostly 3 month clothes though

1st time in the bumbo (baby seat)

Sleeping: No more sleeping through the night...but you are spacing out to every 4-5 hours, which means waking up around 12 or 1am, and at 5 or 6am. This is do-able. Though I do have friends whose little ones are much younger and they are already sleeping through. We push on. My saving grace is your ability to always go back to sleep. We are grateful for these little things. You're mostly getting up to eat (at least I am getting up and feeding you) but I do wonder if you reeeeeally need to eat or just want to cuddle. Sometimes as soon as I pick you up you go RIGHT back to sleep on my shoulder. It's kinda sweet that you just need a snuggle, though tiring if you do this more than once in the night...which happened two or three times. Some say I should let you learn to put yourself back to sleep. I try this. Daddy does not like it when you cry. Plus it's harder when you're sleeping right next to us. I am confident that me picking you up and holding you til you go back to sleep will not scar you for life. You will not be doing this when you're 14.

Eating: ahh the 4th month...usually people start cereals and whatnot but I still see you as my little babe and cannot imagine you being big enough for food yet. You are noticing us eating however so maybe there is some interest on your part. You're growing just fine, so I'm content with just liquid food for now (still pumping though your getting more formula than milk from me. I am okay with this.)

New discoveries: 1)Everything! You're much more alert now. We went outside to walk Nate and you just starting at the trees blowing in the wind. I realize now just how fascinating it must be for you...to see these super tall things towering overhead, moving on their own. Everything is new. 2) your feet...we see you staring at them...I'm sure they'll make it to your mouth soon! 3) your voice. You like to scream. Just for the heck of it. Not mad-screaming but just yelling to hear yourself yell. It's...sometimes cute but you're getting pretty loud....How do you shush a 4 month old?

reading with Daddy

Accomplishments: Still no rolling over yet. But you hold your head up quite well and you're learning to transfer things from one hand to another. You're also learning sign language from me - so far we're working on milk, mommy and daddy. You seem to understand the milk sign though you haven't repeated it really yourself.

Places I went: no where out of state...or town for that matter. Just a busy month. Though you did make a few stops with the babysitter to gymnastic practices, girl scout promotions, 5th grade/8th grade/residency graduations. You're not so bad to travel with so far.

3 months...

Sooooo I wrote a really long post about how awesome he was at 3 months and I come back to find out it never posted...so this is a slightly abridged version of all of his 3 month awesomeness

Height: 23"
Weight: 13lbs 10 oz!
Sleeping patterns: you started out your 3rd month sleeping through the night. As in sleeping from 9pm-7am. I was ecstatic as I'd JUST started back to work and the next day you were sleeping through. Simply amazing. However! This must have just been a growth spurt thing because you went back to waking every 3-4 hours to eat a few days later. *sigh* But you've always gone right back to sleep so I didn't mind as much. Work in progress...

Eating: still nursing...now I'm pumping...There were grand plans to pump at work and nurse at home but gosh it's hard pumping and working as a resident of a small residency. It was just hard to keep up every 3 hours. So we started supplementing with formula toward the end of the month... You took this well, though I didn't as much. I refused to be the one feeding you a bottle of formula and nursed you as much as I could when at home.

New discoveries: your hands/especially your thumb...I think that was the source of those few nights of long sleep. You'd fuss a little then pop you thumb in your mouth and then ::silence::  =)

Accomplishments: reaching for things/holding toys

Places: You started staying with a babysitter this month. I was nervous about the whole thing...but even more nervous about daycare so we decided to have a sitter, at least until summer time.

New friends: your big cousins - Reed, Sanaa and Kam. Pastor Cowart - who came for a visit one day [one of the greatest feelings was having Pastor Coward pray for you the night before he left. It was a such a blessing to hear those words spoken over you. You are a much loved child]. Babysitter Cassandra and her kids Dylan and Courtney

Xavier's Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Turn your favorite photos into a photo book at Shutterfly.com.

Weeks 9-12 - first mail, first flight, first sleep though the night!

He's growing so so fast, we just can't keep up!
He's become so vocal, having "conversations" with us, usually in the morning or evening before bed. I'm sure he's gonna be a talker as soon as he get his words together.

After we got the birth announcements in, I sent one to the White House...and we got a card back! His first piece of mail! I heard about this from a college friend and it worked. It's gonna go in a book for him somewhere as a keepsake.

Xavier still doesn't care so much for Nate...sometimes he looks at him, most of the time he ignores him. And same goes for Nate. I'm okay with this relationship...

At 10 weeks I took him on his first plane ride with me to Alabama to visit the fam. I was kinda nervous flying with him. I didn't want to be one of "those" parents with the screeching infant. I read lots of websites and tried to be prepared...which meant I had enough diapers and clothes in case I got stranded somewhere random with him. As a result it was somewhat difficult loading up. Baby + full diaper bag + purse = full hands. I didn't want to carry a stroller so I just held him. I had the mei tai too which was fine for walking through the airport but I quickly learned it was not best for sitting on the plane. But gratefully he slept well on each flight  with few peeps. I did learn that next time I'm carrying the carseat...it was hard to hold him and sleep at the same time :P                                                    

12 weeks...what a cutie he is!
Great smile...still working on getting that laugh out though. He knows where his hands are and are alllllways sucking on them whether he's hungry or not.
I started back to work this week and he started with the sitter. I wasn't as upset about it as I thought I'd be, though the idea of being away from him for over 24 hours was a little overwhelming. But the day was busy and we all survived (Xavi at the sitter's, J overnight with him (1st time), and me at work without my family).
Shouting from the rooftop: 04/25/13 - he slept through the night! I woke up Friday morning and my emotions went from surprise, to disbelief that it actually happened (maybe I'd slept through a feeding, I thought), to surprise that you actually did it! He slept from 10:00-6:45 when I woke him up to eat before dropping him off. I was hesitant to share it with others, but hey, I figured what God has for us is for us, and nothing will "jinx" it. It happened again the next night...I'm hoping this is a new trend and not just a "for a time" thing.

8 weeks/ 2 months/ Easter

8 weeks/2 months
Xavier has really grown so much! It already feels that he's grown out of the newborn stage and is now full -on baby. He so happy first thing in the morning (especially after he eats) and will sit and "chat" with me for a few minutes before letting me know he wants to be picked up. Even his cry has changed from a nonspecific baby cry to one of different pitches depending on how he's feeling (frustrated vs tired vs hurt). Sometimes it's almost like he's yelling at me which at the moment I find amusing. He's overall more enjoyable, especially in the evenings. He's gone from being fussy for no reason to just chilling and chatting it up with us.
2 months also equals first set of shots but he did very well during and after.

Easter
We celebrated his first Easter last weekend. We got that little button down for him (no need for a suit, right?) He was ridiculously cute. J was out of town but I got brave and ventured to church with the babe.  My dilemma: go before nap time or during. (these are my new problems) I decided to go during, and though he didn't sleep, He was very well-behaved, sitting quietly through the service. and slept through lunch time (thanks baby!) No need for an Easter basket either right?

We still have him in the co-sleeper next to me (meaning he's not in his crib yet). He now wakes every  2.5-3 hours in the night to eat (but he thankfully goes right back to sleep), though he nurses every 2 hours during the day. Yup! Still nursing, which I'm grateful for but I'm hoping this spaces out soon and I can keep up with nursing/pumping when I go back to work!

We want more we want more

He got this hat from one of J's coworkers. It'll be a minute before it fits but he's still got that swag (and he knows it!)

So my blogging here is sporadic, I know, but if you want more pics, check out the flickr account.  Literally all of my pics of Xavi go there.

www.flickr.com/mdwall

Tootle-loo!

From my Android phone on T-Mobile. The first nationwide 4G network.

Mama's boy?

              

I took this pic of Xavi last week. My mama said he looks like my pic from when I was about 4 months.

What do you think?

Happy 6 weeks to you today, baby boy :) Mama loves you to pieces.

From my Android phone on T-Mobile. The first nationwide 4G network.

1 month

Well we've survived our first month...and in my opinion not too much worse for wear.

-eats every 1-2 hours, but can go up to 4 hours between feeds. We're working on this... Prefers boob over bottle, go figure (and thank goodness)

-has slept up to 4 hours at night...but usually wakes every 2

- weighs 9 lbs now! Meaning you've gained over 2 pounds in 4 weeks...wow.

I look at him and my heart skips a beat. Beautiful brown eyes, perfect little lips, crazy man hair, sweet fingers and toes...I am completely in awe that God created and blessed us with such an amazing gift. We have such a huge task ahead of us, raising a son into a Godly man, but I know that He has given and will continue to give us everything that we need.

4 weeks

4 weeks old today!

Over the weekend he went 4 hours between feeds. I thought things were going great, finally making his own schedule. But then he reminded us it's his own schedule and the past 2 nights you're up every hour to eat.

Sigh...

I'm tired but at least I get this smiley face in the mornings...

Family

Chelle and Kam came up to visit after our first week home. I was great having the extra hands around, especially since J was back at work! Kam loved holding and helping whenever she could. She's gonna be a great big cousin. She's most excited about teaching him to walk...we told her it will be a while :)

My sis and I had a little photoshoot with Xavi in our bedroom (since we couldn't afford professional pics - money or time) and this one above is one of the keepers. Sweet sweet face with perfect little lips...how could you not love him!

I'll be posting more pics since I have the mobile option set up now...more to come!

The first 25 days...

It's been 25 days and he's rocked our world...

First name Xavier (pronounced zay'-vee-er),

middle name Leon.

We simply liked the first name and it stuck...But the middle name is after my dad.

Though I tried to be careful with these things, it turns out his initials are XL...Lord, I hope he stays skinny.

My very first night with him in the hospital, he slept like an angel...didn't really make a peep. I almost forgot that you had to be fed and changed...

But then you realized that we (read: I) had the food and you didn't forget it...

I nursed him from the beginning, adamant that I didn't want him having formula if possible. But by the time I got home from the hospital I had so much milk he couldn't latch on. And when he did it was torture. I didn't want to feed him! He cried for food, then I cried cause I was supposed to give it. I gave in and asked J to go get formula and a breast pump. I needed a break.

By the next evening I was able to breastfeed him again. I started googling about breastfeeding and latching and facebooking friends that I knew exclusively nursed. The internet is wonderful. So is lanolin. And still almost 4 weeks later, his latch isn't perfect but it's tolerable. He's getting milk and seems to be gaining weight well. I keep trying but I won't push it.

Clusterfeeding...someone look it up. It's basically when babies request to feed more often than usual for a few hours a day. Xavier started this a little over a week ago...cried for milk every hour. Usually in the evening. Sometimes in the day, sometimes in the middle of the night (I wanted to die). I started to think I wasn't making enough milk. But alas the internet is great and reassured me that the craziness is not due to lack of milk but probably a growth spurt. And I should appease him as he desired so that my body makes enough milk to keep up with his growth. It's hard. You just get him fed and quiet and pass him off to the husband and he cries, rooting away and sucking at air and clothes and fingers and husband asks, is it time for him to eat and you want to pull your hair out cause "I just fed him 45 minutes ago!" "It only last 3-4 days", says the internets, but my Xavier didn't read that part and this has gone on for now 8ish days. I believe the end is near...

And on that note, X is up from his nap...

Next post...just pics :)

Welcome!

Hello and welcome friends and family!

We're starting this blog to keep y'all updated on everything that's going on with our growing crew. I know most of you (if not all of you) are on Facebook and whatnot but we would like to keep our kid's life from being plastered for everyone to see. So stay tuned! The next post will be featuring our little guy... :)