Tis the Season - part II - Christmas in Dixie

Immediately following Christmas at Aunt Colleen and Uncle Shawn's, we loaded up in the car(s) and headed for Memphis. This sounds like a terrible idea...I know! However, Chris and I had many discussions and decided that we did not want to miss Christmas in Memphis, even if it meant an 11 hour car ride with a 3 1/2 month old!! We left Muskegon around 3:45 pm and had two cars full of baby stuff (Grandma and Grandpa Johnson were along for the trip as well). Andrew was asleep before we got out of the driveway and slept until we stopped 3.5 hours later south of Chicago, we fed him and hit the road again and he slept until we got to the hotel around midnight. We were amazed that this trip was starting out so easy. We left the hotel the next morning after we waited for Andrew to have a BM. He had not pooped in two days, so I was starting to get worried, and once I saw the first sign of "poop face" I called a halt to all activities and said we are not getting in the car until we get a poop. It is amazing how much your life starts to revolve around your baby eating and pooping. Anyhow Andrew did his business and we hit the road. He was doing great on this stretch of the trip as well, mostly awake and just looking around. However, once we got about 10 minutes west of the Tennessee border, the little guy decided he was hungry and all hell broke loose in our car. Once I determined there was no pacifying him (and at this point we were entering Memphis and were in an area of town where I would not stop if my life depended on it) I told Chris to just drive and I would try to feed him in the car. I thought for sure I was asking for a major spit up, but he ate just fine in the car and we made it to my Dad's safe and sound (without killing each other).  All in all, it was a great road trip.

The first family event in Memphis was the evening we arrived. On Christmas Eve, my mom's side of the family celebrates at my grandfather's house. Andrew had not really had a good nap all day, so the writing was on the wall for a terrible evening, and sure enough, soon after we arrived he went into full meltdown mode. He did not get to enjoy much of the celebration as Grandma and Grandpa Johnson took him back to my Dad's house so he could go to bed (he slept for 12 hours that night...he was one tired little boy). The rest of us had a great evening, and we even had a visit from Santa (Uncle Rusty).  This is a picture of the cousins with "Santa" and Mikey photo-bombing in the background.

Christmas morning we open gifts with my Dad. Below is a picture of Andrew with his Granddaddy. He got some great gifts on Christmas morning (and so did mom and dad).

Christmas Day celebration is with my Dad's family and that is at Aunt Rita and Uncle Alvin's. My cousin's girls are the star of the show on Christmas Day, and as you can see below, it is because they are so stinking adorable!

Below is a picture of Andrew with my Grandmama. His great-grandmother. She was very excited to meet the little guy.

The day after Christmas my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins open all of their gifts. For the past few years, I have enjoyed being a part of their Christmas as it is so much fun to see the girls get their gifts. They receive some pretty awesome gifts from their Nona and Woozie, and it is a lot of fun to be a part of that celebration. Below is a picture of Edie, the newest addition to the Saenger clan and her rocking lamb. I think this gift was a hit with Edie.

 And here is a picture of Nona with Liza and Georgia. Nona put a lot of work into making sure this (and every other Christmas) is the perfect Christmas for these girls.

And the last picture of our Christmas festivities is Andrew with RiRi and Pappy.

We had a wonderful Christmas in Memphis, and other than Andrew's meltdown on the first night, he was a trooper throughout all of the activities. We headed back to Michigan on Thursday morning with the hopes of making the trip in one day but with full expectations of having to stop for the night around Chicago. We left Memphis at 6:30 (7:30 Michigan time). Long story short (because this whole story has been very long!), Andrew was a rockstar. We made it to Michigan at 8:30 after only 2 stops. He just watched the world go by (or slept) for most of the trip. He only fussed for about 20 minutes. Chris and I could not believe we made it home in one day. We didn't even talk to each other for the last 2 hours of the car ride for fear of waking Andrew up.

So that not-so-short story sums up our trip to Memphis. We had a great time, and it was wonderful to see all of the family that we do not get to see often enough. We miss them terribly and can't wait to see them again.

Tis the Season - part I

Prepare yourself, this may be the longest blog post EVER! So long that it requires two parts.

Our Christmas celebration started out in mid December with a Santa photo-op at the Thousand Oaks Christmas with Santa breakfast. We did not attend the breakfast but we crashed the party to get our picture taken with Santa. Andrew was relatively unfazed by the large man in the red suit and sat patiently to have his picture taken.

After pictures with Santa, we came home and had our first attempt at a Christmas photo shoot with our new camera. We tried to create the typical "baby with Christmas lights" picture, and I think it turned out pretty cute (maybe I am a bit biased)!

Chris and I had our share of Christmas parties during the week of December 17. Chris had four solid nights of "social events" as he referred to them. The BDO Christmas party kicked off our week on Tuesday night. Andrew spent the evening with RiRi and Pappy so that we could attend the shindig. I had a great time catching up with my co-workers whom I haven't seen in a few months. Wednesday night was the TOGC member party. Chris attended that solo, but I heard a good time was had by all. Thursday night was the TOGC golf shop staff party. Grandma and Grandpa Johnson watched Andrew so that Chris and I could enjoy a night out downtown. We got a room at the JW Marriott and had a wonderful evening! Friday night was the TOGC manager party, and again Chris attended solo but had a great time. Whew that was a busy week!

The first family Christmas celebration was on Sunday the 23rd. We went to Aunt Colleen's and Andrew got to meet his cousin Charlie who lives in Atlanta. Charlie is adorable, and he is about 7 months older than Andrew. We can't wait until next year when they are both running around causing a big ruckus.

The below picture is Andrew enjoying some floor time and "kicking it out" before we started our big road trip, which you can read about in Tis the Season - part II =)

Month 3

With the third month, along came sleeping through the night. I don't think I have been more excited about anything since I turned 21 and could drink legally (or maybe I should say since I passed the CPA exam as that sounds a bit more refined). We were so excited to get a full night of sleep, and Andrew would wake up well-rested and smiling. It was a win for all!
He is such a generally happy and smiling kiddo! Don't get me wrong, he still has screaming fits that make you want to curl up in the fetal position and just hope it ends soon, but overall he is a very happy child. We realize that we are quite lucky.

Once Andrew started sleeping through the night, his daytime naps disappeared. He was not interested in sleeping for more than 30 minutes during the day. He did not want to miss any of the action. This posed the biggest problem for me as I was running out of ways to entertain him during all of these "wake times." The books I read only prepared me for 60-90 minutes of wake time between feeds, they did not prepare me for full days of wake time! There is only so much Patty-Cake, play mat, tummy time, and exploring the house we can do in one day without going crazy. I call this the "how are you going to entertain me now?" look.

He also started to really love his baths during month 3. He screamed during baths for the first month. He tolerated them during the second month, but during the third month he really embraced bath time! I still often get peed on during bath time, but that aside, I enjoy baths too. Andrew likes to sit in the tub and check himself out in the mirror..."who is that good looking kid?"

 Below, Andrew had his first stare-off with Lola. She has been really good with him so far mostly ignoring him except when he is screaming. If he is screaming, she will track us down wherever we are in the house and sit at our feet while we are holding the screaming Andrew and she will proceed "yell" at us. She apparently thinks it is our fault that he is screaming and disrupting her pleasant day.

Month 3 was pretty amazing, and it is hard to believe our little guy is getting so big!

Month 2

In the second month, we were still exhausted but really started to see our little guy's personality. He gave us his first real grin (not from gas) on Nov 3. I was such a proud mom and quite possibly sent a picture to everyone I know. That first grin made all of the sleepless nights worth it!!

Also in the second month Andrew was diagnosed with acid reflux. He had been very fussy during his feedings and would scream during and for 30 minutes after each feeding. It sounded like you were cutting off his leg, and it was horrible for us to try to comfort him when he was in so much pain. After a few conversations with the doctor, we decided to try Zantac and he was a different baby within 48 hours. He didn't cry when he ate, it was amazing!
We were really enjoying cuddling with our little guy and watching him grow into a little boy. He was starting to become a lot more alert. He was able to focus on us and would track us when we would walk by him if he was in his bouncer or swing. He also started batting at his toys on his playmat, and we were convinced he was the smartest 2 month old!!
During the second month we started to develop a bedtime routine and since he was often falling asleep during the 8pm feeding and would not wake up for the 10:30, we decided to put him to bed after the 8pm feeding and see what happened. He started to stretch out his sleep for 6 or so hours at night, which to us seemed like a full night of rest. He would wake up around 3 then got back down until 7 or so. It was wonderful to get some rest!!

Month 1

The first month was quite the adjustment for us. We thought we were prepared for parenthood, but we were not prepared for the utter exhaustion that new parents face. Our little guy was a pretty good baby; however, my ideas that he would sleep through the night from day 1 were quickly squashed! Chris and I have always been big sleepers. We were typically in bed by 10-11 and really enjoyed our full night of rest. Little Andrew rocked our world.
For the first week, I was recovering from the surgery and had a difficult time getting around; therefore, I was utterly useless. My husband was amazing in stepping up and doing the dirty work (literally). We were also very lucky our moms were around a lot to help us out. We could not have done it without them.
Andrew had his first photo shoot when he was about two weeks old. Erin Alies Photography did an amazing job. Andrew was not the most cooperative as he did not want to fall asleep and miss any of the fun, but she got some great pictures while he was awake and when he finally did fall asleep, Erin was able to pose him and get some additional great shots.

We also had a visit from Aunt Rita, Aunt Lizzie, and cousins Edie & Liza. We had a great time with them and also had a few "firsts" for Andrew. He went on his first shopping trip as well as his first lunch out. He did great and slept most of the day! Aunt Lizzie is a lifesaver as I think I called her everyday the entire month (when she wasn't in town) asking her questions..."is this normal?", "what should I do when this happens...", etc. Here is a picture of Andrew and cousin Edie

Most of our first month comprised of getting peed on, pooped on, and spit-up on!! All joking aside, we had a good first month and we were enjoying being first-time parents.

How It All Started

Chris and I discovered we were expecting on January 13, 2012. Our bundle of joy was due September 18, 2012. We were beyond excited but pretty quickly realized that our life was about to change drastically, and those changes would start with our living arrangements. We were currently living in our swanky downtown condo which had been home sweet home for the past five years. We loved downtown living; however, our condo was not very conducive to raising a child. Therefore, we quickly started looking at other options, and in April we moved into our new house in Rockford. We have loved every minute of suburban living and have never looked back, (except maybe when we are having the discussion of who is going to drive home after a night out downtown...Chris generally loses that battle due to my 9 months of sobriety).
The first trimester crawled by due to many factors: 1) we could not wait to tell our friends and family about our bun in the oven; 2) I was sick each and every afternoon for weeks and the only thing I wanted to eat was macaroni and cheese everyday; 3) I was incredibly bone-numbing tired all day long, and it was my busy season at work so sleep was scarce. The highlight of the first trimester was hearing our little peanut's heartbeat. I think that is when it really sunk in for both of us!
During the second trimester, I felt like a million bucks, with the exception of the weight I was rapidly gaining. We had our first ultrasound and found out our little peanut was going to be a HE. Chris thought it was a girl all along, and we had only discussed girl names so far, so we had to go back to the drawing board.

With the third trimester, the exhaustion came back with gusto. Otherwise I felt pretty good for being roughly the size of an SUV. I had four amazing baby showers, and we were blessed to get wonderful gifts and we were ready for our guy's arrival. We kept his name a secret from everyone, much to our parents dismay. They tried to trick us many times into disclosing the name, but we stood firm. At my 39 week appointment, my doctor ordered an ultrasound because she thought our little guy might not be so little. At 7:45 the next morning we went in for an ultrasound and found out that "Boy" (as we had been referring to him) was going to arrive at 5:30 that evening via C-section. And at 6:15 on September 14, 2012, our life changed forever!