Babywise

Don't know how many moms out there are trying to implement Babywise, but I came across this blog and found it somewhat interesting and helpful...

http://babywisemom.blogspot.com/

Chunker

Are. you. kidding. me.??

Lee and I took Knox to the pediatrician for his 1 month check up today, and here are his stats:

Weight: 10 pounds 2 ounces = 70 %!!

height: 22 1/2 inches = 80%!!

head: 14 1/4 = 10 %

Did you notice the first 2? Let me just tell you that we are comparing everything to my extremely TALL husband's stats when he was a baby. Lee was also a quite a chunk himself when he was a wee babe...so chunky that he seriously couldn't fit his tongue into his mouth. This is no lie. I have several pics to back me up on this, thanks to Lolli. Anyways, at this point, Lee was only 9 pounds 6 ounces and 21 1/4 inches tall. Does this mean that I will have to break my neck to look at BOTH my husband AND my son when I am talking to them?? Lee was dancing around the doctors office when he saw how tall he was and how much he weighed. When I saw how quickly he has grown, my mouth dropped...

Our pediatrician is an elder at our church, and we LOVE him (we just found out that we are in his mentor group as well, so we are super pumped). While he was giving us all the info, he was practically laughing himself out of his chair when he said that Knox has gained 45 ounces in 30 days. My natural response was, "Is that normal?? Should I be concerned?" And he replied with, "Regan! It's great! Totally fine and healthy (as he continues to laugh)." I then ask what the norm was for most babies and he said, "Well...typically at this point they gain about 30 ounces in 30 days." WHAT?! Am I raising a sumo wrestler over here??? Sad thing is that my milk production is not quite keeping up with Knox by the late afternoon / nighttime so I am going to have to give him an ounce or 2 of formula after breast milk (I am hoping this explains some crankiness that he has had in the late afternoons). I now have visions of Knox as an adolescent teenager eating me out of house and home. Haha. Seriously, I am just glad he is healthy and I actually love the thought of raising a bunch of tall boys (hopefully we will have more sons built like daddy):). I know that we really can't tell just from these stats what his actual size will be, but I have always joked and said that I can see our future Christmas cards with Lee, Knox, and how ever many other sons we have towering over me (I feel like we will be an all boy family for some reason!). Now it looks like the joke just might become a reality!

Naturally, I have to run and go feed Knox, but here are some quick pics from over the last month...

Daddy and Knox:

Passed out:

On my 1 month bday:

sleeping through bath time :)

First time at church:

P.S... does the 10 % stat for the size of his head mean that he will have a pea head? Haha. I hope not!

Proof!

Just sorting through and organizing some pictures, and I came across this pic of the Miracle Blanket and WubbaNub (that I mentioned in the earlier post today). Thought it was great proof that I do actually own and LOVE these items!

Bare necessities...

As I am sure that you already know, my days are filled with taking care of my 3 and a half week old baby (and loving every minute of it!). However, I found it pretty necessary to take time out from my REST time (when he naps) to blog about something very important (you know it's important if I am giving up my rest time :)). Haha. It's probably not that important to many people, but for you expecting moms - or mother's of small babies - you might be interested.

Since Knox has joined the fam, I have had many pregnant people ask me what are some things that I found to be necessities in the early stages. Every single time I answer with the following 2 items (and my husband is quick to give these answers as well). First would be the MIRACLE BLANKET, and let me tell ya...this puppy has worked a miracle for us. Pretty much, it's a swaddle blanket...but one that works amazingly well for many people. It has extra compartments to fold arms, legs, etc. so that they are SURE not to come unswaddled. Knox slept for 6 hours at a time for the first 2 weeks (now it's a different story...more like 4 hours at a time. He's pretty much an eating machine, and no swaddle can fix that :)). Anyways, we are certain that his sleeping habits are largely due to this wonderful invention. I have had girls tell me that their swaddle blanket wasn't really that great, and then they ordered this beautiful item and fell in love. I know different things work for different babies, but if you are looking for a good blanket...I think you should give this a try!

Second...the WubbaNub. Yes, I said wubbaNub. Sounds crazy, but it's a pacifier. Let me just say that I know some people don't believe in or like pacifiers, but we are definitely a pacifying family over here and have found this to be fantastic. It all started years ago when my sister had her precious girls. I saw the crazy looking pacifier that they used and was like, "What in the world????" My sister then told me that they had researched and found the perfect paci (for them), and that I would thank her for it someday when I had my own children. Boy, was she right (she seems to be right about most baby related subjects :))! These WubbaNubs look a little crazy, but the animal that is attached helps to keep the pacifier in the baby's mouth, allowing them not to get frustrated or wake up like some do when a regular paci falls out. Knox LOVES his green froggy, and when he is awake during the day and has it in his mouth, he likes to hold the frog with his hands. It's really cute!

O.K., that's that. I definitely don't want to sound like I know what I am doing as a first time mom (just ask my sister, Cathie, or Danielle...they will vouch for me as I flood them with baby questions all day long), but I did want to share 2 things that have really been awesome for us, and I hope I can help some people out along the way, and possibly help them have a great experience like we have thus far!

Check out the following links below to see the items that I am raving about!

http://www.miracleblanket.com/index.htm

http://www.mom4life.com/catalog.php?item=750

So sorry for the leave of absence...

But can you blame me?? :) I have been spending the last 2 weeks loving on and getting to know the "new man" in my life! Put him together with my amazing husband, and I am the happiest woman in the world! Praise God from whom ALL blessing flow!

Who knew that 28 years later...

Little baby boys are still wearing the same thing!!! This weekend Lee's family in Montgomery threw me a baby shower, and it was a BLAST! Lee's mom, Mrs. Julie (Lolli), is the absolute master of creativity and "sentimentalism"- if that is such a word. In Knox's closet now hangs ALL of Lee's bubbles and Jon Jons and diaper shirts that he wore when he was a baby. I could NOT believe how cute they are...STILL (and how many she kept)! I had to take a pic to show you how not much has changed since then! The two outfits on the outside are Lee's when he was a baby and the one in the middle is the very first outfit that Lee and I bought baby Knox together. Almost identical! I love it. The funny thing is that when we found out that we were having a boy I think that some people were scared that I wouldn't like this kind of stuff, but I actually love it! I know that its not for everyone (my brother thinks I am CRAZY to put these clothes on my baby boy), but I have really come to love them (O.K...still trying to adjust to the day gown thing, but I definitly love bubbles and jon jons), so I am very thankful that Lolli saved these for me to have (and I am thankful that she has her own sewing room and computer system at her house and is pretty much a genius in the sewing department). She also made the day gowns for Knox to come home from the hospital in! She's amazing:

Not to mention that she completed and gave me Lee's baby book that is VERY detailed. I definitely teared up when I opened these sweet gifts and saw all the precious pictures of Lee growing up. I am really hoping Knox favors his daddy! :) Thanks Lolli! We hope you know how much we love and appreciate ALL that you do for us!
I am waaaay too tired to post the pics from the shower, but I will do so as soon as life gets back in order a little bit. Funny thing is that I thought I was ready for Knox to come (possibly 1 and a half to 2 weeks away), but after family visiting and bringing a house full of baby stuff, along with the baby shower, my perfectly clean, organized, and orderly nursery is CRAZY! I am so thankful my sister was here to take the lead and start the "organization intervention". She is the queen of cleanliness and organization. She has 3 little girls and at any time you could stop by her house and literally eat a meal off of her kitchen floor...it's THAT clean. She is on top of it to say the least, and I aspire to be like her one day. Who knew that there was so much to be "pre-washed" for a baby?? I definitely didn't, but sister did. We busted a move and got a TON of stuff done Saturday night, which made me feel a tad bit better. Robyn is a rock star. I love you, sister! Thank you so much for being the best big sister in the world!

My sweet mother (Ri-Ri) pretty much cleared out the rest of the registry and got us a ton of basic baby things...which is exactly what we needed since this is our first child. Thanks, Missy! It is very overwhelming to look into Knox's room right now with all this baby stuff everywhere. I have become a little weird about keeping things neat, clean, and orderly myself so sitting in here updating this blog is probably the LAST thing that I should be doing (but I had to take a break :) ).

Lastly, I wanted to give a shout out to Aunt B and Jennifer for hosting the shower. All the decorations and preparation = AMAZING! I can't thank you enough for taking the time to plan this for me. I am so thankful to call you family. The Lord has really blessed me by placing you in my life...it has helped the transition to Montgomery tremendously!

On a serious note, before I get back to the craziness, I wanted to ask you for your prayers. I am very excited about having this baby and starting a family with Lee, but I am really struggling with being sad over the fact that my one on one time with my husband is about to be GONE! It has really started to hit me over the past few weeks that life will never be the same...for at least a good 20 something years! I love my time with Lee, and I am a little sad that there won't be much of it in the very near future. I am also very nervous about the transition at home when Knox comes a.k.a. breastfeeding, sleeping, not having any prior knowledge on how to raise a baby, being away from my family, etc. I think that my head knows that our awesome Father will provide for all of our needs for our family, but my heart is struggling with it a little bit. Does this make sense?? Please just pray for me that I would not be anxious or overwhelmed too badly, and that I would just lay my heart at the foot of the cross...and leave it there.

Bay house, Moving, and the Nursery!!!

What a crazy week it has been! I got to go down to Point Clear to my parent's bay house and visit with family for a few days before coming back and moving. This was my last visit down south for a while since Baby Knox is about to be here! It was so fun to spend time with my family... I love them so much. They are so laid back and relaxing. I definitely have mixed emotions about having my first baby without my mom and sister being close by, but I haven't given up hope on one day possibly being reunited!! I would follow Lee to the ends of the Earth, so as long as I am with him I know that everything will be just fine no matter where we are :).


Praise God that we are finally in a house! Most of you know the drama we have been through with trying to find a house with the space and time frame we needed. It has been very hard living out of boxes for the last month in an apartment where we could barely move (if you will...please resort back to the rat story with the first house. We definitely stayed packed up in boxes between then and now). BUT... it was totally worth it. The Lord really provided for us after the first house fell through. We have so much more space, a backyard, and most importantly (for me, at least :))...a NURSERY! Waiting 35 weeks to start putting the nursery together is NO FUN! But, like I said earlier, it was well worth the wait! I am so happy with the way everything turned out. Especially the colors with the artwork matching the walls and the bedding.

We started moving small stuff over on Friday, and the movers moved all the big stuff on Saturday. Can I please tell you how AWESOME Lee's Aunt B and Uncle Tom are (I guess they are my aunt and uncle, too)? They helped us Friday, brought us dinner for 2 nights...including a delicious casserole, breakfast for the weekend, and TONS of drinks. PLUS...they came over on Saturday - EARLY - and Uncle T helped Lee while Aunt B practically painted Knox's ENTIRE room! I am still practically speechless about it. I was able to get in there a little bit and help out, but she definitely did most of the work. She has so many little projects that she wants to start at her own house, and she took the time to come over and paint for us! What a blessing! Thank you thank you! SO...because of all the quick, hard work we now have a nursery ready. Well, almost ready. It's missing a few final touches, but for the most part it is done. Thanks to my sweet husband for putting all the furniture together. I literally fell asleep on the floor at 11:00 p.m. the other night while attempting to "help" him with it. He just let me sleep, and when it was finished he gently woke me up and said, "Hey babe. It's done. Lets get you in bed now." Oh how I love him...


I am terrible at posting pics on this thing. I simply cannot figure out how to do slide-shows like some of my fancy friends. Maybe someone can give me a lesson soon??? I only have a few, but i will put up what I have. More to come!!!

P.S...I am not exactly a whiz with the camera. Lighting is horrible in some of these. Sorry!


view from the bay house porch:


view from the wharf:


Sunset:


Sunset:


empty kitchen...still waiting on table!


Sweet Aunt B!:


living room...terrible lighting:


view from Knox's window. It lights up at night!:


Pavilions across the street from the house:


playground directly across the street:


Daddy assembling the crib:


seeing the bedding on the crib for the FIRST time (even thought I have had it for months)!


finished product:


crib with artwork:


part 2- before we fixed the crooked letters:


white shadow boxes to go on the wall soon:


book shelf: