4 weeks old!!!

Thomas' cute letters finally got hung.

Holt F. gets to try out his big brother muscles on Thomas Friday night. Excellent job Holt!

This picture looks so much like Nathan to me, but it is the quickly growing Thomas!

"playing w/ toys" - Can't you tell he loves it??

It is hard to believe that Thomas is 4 weeks old today. He is growing so fast I can't believe it. We are in #1 diapers and starting to fill out most of our 0-3 month clothes.

The last few nights have been frustrating for me and Roane. Roane has been feeding him around 11:30, and in theory, that should by me an additional 3 hrs of sleep, but for whatever reason, Thomas refuses to go to sleep for Roane. So Roane is left to either stay up way too late and be absolutely exhausted the next day, or put him in his bed and let him start crying 5-10 min after he (Roane goes to sleep). Then I have to get up and figure out how to get him to sleep - defeating the purpose of Roane feeding him in the first place! So, today, I decided to rework our entire routine. I have felt like I have been doing Babywise gymnastics to stay on the schedule I set two weeks ago, so I figure that I don't have a ton to lose to try something a little different. So far, today has been soooo nice! I feel like it has added at least an hour or two of functional time to my day so far, but I will let you know how the night goes. :-)

Today has been fairly productive compared to most of my days. I started by getting dressed after I fed Thomas at 6:00, so I was dressed and ready to take Nathan to school before 8:00 am! I got caught up on thank you notes, did a load of clothes, emptied the diaper genie, took a two hour nap, made a couple of phone calls I have been putting off, hung Thomas' letters over his bed, gave him a bath, put supper together, and I am updating the blog!!! Yay!

Three Weeks

Nathan loving on his little brother

Thomas hanging out with friend John Bradford Pepper (almost 3 months old).

Thomas giving a big grin.

Well, our man Thomas is three weeks old today! Here are some thoughts from this week.

I started Babywise this time last week, and since then our days and nights have gotten a good bit easier. Our days are fairly predictable, and our nights are beginning to resemble nights a lot more than hours filled with crying and me getting out of bed a thousand times. Thank goodness! This allowed us to enjoy a few social events over the weekend. We went out to eat Friday night (took Thomas with us) for Valentine's Day, and enjoyed the annual Valentine's Banquet at church Saturday night. Thomas & John Bradford hung out together a few feet away in the nursery.

I took Nathan for a checkup this week and they weighed Thomas again, and he weighed 8 lbs 2 oz!!! While we were there Dr. Bob asked Nathan if he wanted to trade Thomas for a baby that didn't cry or smell quite so much. Nathan answered with a resounding NO!

Quick Note

Just wanted to post that Thomas was a whopping 7.5 lbs at his 2 week check-up today! That means he has gained 12 oz since last Thursday! He is working hard to beat his big brother's pace! :-) Also, caught this great picture of him grinning today.

Pictures

More of Nathan's photography

Proof Nathan is still excited about being a big brother. He wanted to hold him, and then decided he would rather be the one taking pictures, so he asked me to "un-hold Thomas". :P

Two weeks!

It is hard to believe that two weeks have past already! I am thankful they are behind us, though. Ughh! Four not fun days in the hospital, four not fun days of jaundice/bili-light, one very un-fun night in the Bolivar ER w/ spiking blood pressure and a full-time farmer/part-time dr for a physician, one un-fun day driving to Jackson to a qualified doctor b/c of spiking blood pressure and trip to ER, and 12 out of 14 nights w/o more than three hours of consecutive sleep.

There are some happy things, though:
1. I get to start driving again today! I haven't driven a car in 5 weeks!
2. Thomas was back over birth weight last Thursday!
3. Nathan is still happy about being a big brother & happy that his little brother is Thomas. :-)
4. We have enjoyed some really great food provided by wonderful friends and people from our church. Definitely a major perk of having a baby and being a member of Covenant Pres! Thanks everyone.

All in all, you have to take the bad with the good, especially since Thomas is unbelievably sweet! Hopefully I will get some more pictures taken & uploaded soon.

Jaundice Update

How cute is that face???

Nathan tries on Daddy's doctor outfit.

Fresh from our first bath.

Nathan is quickly becoming an ace photographer.

Could Nathan smile any bigger???

We are just finishing our second full day on the bili-blanket, and his numbers have dropped from 18.5 to 14! Yeah! Dr. Bob wants us to give it one more night, so that is the plan. Hopefully by this time tomorrow, we will be able to send this contraption back to home health!

Mama has been here this week, and although we haven't had to suffer any sleepless nights, it has been great to have her here. It has been a while since we have had a few days together, so we have had lots of good conversation and lots of laughs.

We are Home!

We got home Friday afternoon around 3:00. Exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks that night! I went to sleep as soon as Nathan did & managed to get a cumulative 7 hrs of sleep from 8 pm-8am. Thank you, Thomas, for not screaming all night! :-) Yesterday, I caught a 2 hr nap after lunch and repeated my night routine last night. This morning, I am starting to feel like a semi-normal person instead of a zombie.

We took Thomas to check his bilirubin levels this morning, and it had gone up to 18.5, so Roane is on his way to Jackson to pick up a bili-blanket, so we don't have to take him to Bolivar Medical overnight. I really love living in the Delta, but I despise Delta health care! Dr. Bob is great, and was glad to know that someone in the universe could supply us with a blanket at home. He said he has been trying to find a supplier for over 6 months! We will go back to check levels again tomorrow, so I will keep you posted.

I still feel really fortunate that this is the only negative thing that has happened, since he was born 4 weeks early. Nathan had jaundice, too, and he was 39 weeks & weighed 9 lbs, 4 oz, so . . .

Here are a few more pictures for your enjoyment.