Caught On Camera

Even though we caught Cooper's first smile on camera on April 11th, it was a blurry picture because it was unexpected and he was in his swing at the time so the movement made the picture come out blurry! So it wasn't worth posting or printing really. Since he turned six weeks on Tuesday of this week, Cooper must have had some switch in his body pressed that it is now time to smile and coo more because he has been doing it like crazy. It has been so cool for both Austin and me and Austin's parents when they come over to see it. However, as soon as the cameras came out, he stopped doing it, and I was bummed.

Today I triumphed and caught him on camera. So here are two pictures of smiley Cooper! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Oh and FYI, things got better after the medicine on Monday and now have gotten worse again so I had to call again today to get different medicine. Now we are going to try treatment for thrush and see if that works instead. I should know more on Monday when I get to try a different antibiotic if the thrush medicine doesn't work. Yippee!!! LOL

Oh the Joys!

Warning - this post may be TMI for some of you - if so, I apologize but it's my blog and I need to vent! :)

The good news: we caught it early! The bad news: I am in the early stages of mastitis in BOTH of my breasts. Oh the joys of breastfeeding! For the past weekend, I have been having some pretty intense pain every time I feed my little one and additionally afterwards. The pain is like someone taking my nipples, pulling them up and twisting them, and then scraping them with needles over and over. It's a lot of fun, let me tell you! LOL It even radiates into my back and kept me up this morning after his early morning feeding.

I called my doctor yesterday hoping to get some sort of relief, but the doctor on call said I couldn't get any medicine or do much until I saw the doctor today to see what I had really (I actually thought maybe it was thrush since I hadn't developed a fever and my breasts didn't have any red streaks or lumps). So this morning as soon as they opened at 8:30 I called and explained what was going on. Of course, I got sent to the nurse's voicemail. I waited until about 11:30 and called again. Again, I was put to the nurse's voicemail and no return call. Now, don't get me wrong - I ABSOLUTELY love my doctor and her nurses, but the head nurse for my doctor who is the one that returns the phone calls is a little less personable and not my favorite!

Finally, at 2 o'clock, Austin had had enough after he talked to me and knew how much pain I was in after having to feed him. So he called - got a hold of the nurse finally and after she made some excuses, she agreed to get me in today. She called me about five minutes after Austin talked to her and got me a 3 o'clock appointment to see my doctor's nurse practitioner. She gave me an antibiotic to take for 5 days, advised me how much Advil to take and how often, and told me to use ice for 10 minutes before I fed him and put cold cabbage leaves on after I fed him for about 15 minutes. That should help the engorgement I was having and the pain. She also asked me to also go get measured for a new bra that had more support and may be the right size. I actually am feeling better this evening and able to nurse him better which is great. I took my first antibiotic pill tonight so that should help prevent the worse symptoms of mastitis from taking hold.

So that was my fun adventure for the day - Cooper and I have had a rough day, but we survived. Tomorrow morning I have to go back to my doctor to have the IUD placed in and then go to get fitted for new bras. So that should be the last of the recommendations to finish up.

Hope you all had a better Monday than me! LOL

Some Laughs for Your Friday

I don't know what it is about this picture, but it makes me crack up laughing every time I see it so I thought I would share with you all too! I guess I must be scary when I take pictures - LOL!



Tonight, we are going to have another date - dinner and a movie - while Cooper spends some time with his GiGi and Pops. Since Austin is going hunting tomorrow with his dad and brother and will be gone all day Saturday, Saturday night, and come back on Sunday around noon, we figured we should get a little night out together since it's been a couple of weeks since we've gone out just the two of us and a REALLY long time since we've gone to the movies which is very weird for us since we used to go all the time. So we are looking forward to that. I'm a little sad because I am half way done with my maternity leave, but also happy because I still have another six weeks with my little man! Yippee! :) Hope you all have a great weekend, and here's another picture from Easter that is cute so you don't think Cooper always looks silly!

Happy Easter!

Bliss

There are so many wonderful things that I have to be thankful for and it is such an amazing time in my life right now. I'm just sad at how fast it seems to go by! Last Friday, we ended up taking Cooper to the pediatrician because he was having serious tummy pains in the middle of the night and we weren't sleeping and he wasn't sleeping, and we wanted to see if there was something we could do to help him. The pediatrician said he had a mild form of colic (if you don't know what that is, it basically means that the baby's stomach is not able to keep up with the gas collection because of immaturity of the system and it causes it to back up and cause a lot of pressure and pain and therefore make the baby cry). I also had this when I was a baby, and I think like 1 out of 4 babies get it.

Luckily, he recommended this remedy called Baby's Bliss GripeWater. I was a little hesitant at first because it's basically an herbal supplement, and I'm sometimes wary of those, but it worked GREAT and it's not very expensive at all and has allowed us to get some sleep! :) Cooper and I have also learned that Cooper likes to sleep on his tummy while laying on his mommy, and I think the warmth helps the pressure and helps him to expel some pain. So we have figured out a system of things that seem to make life better for both of us! So for future reference, if your baby has colic, find Baby's Bliss GripeWater to make life better (they have it at drugstore.com or you can look up local stores on the Baby's Bliss website). They also make a morning sickness powder/drink which I wish I had known about before so I could have at least tried it. Oh well, maybe next time!

We had a good weekend although short as always. We got the entertainment center set up (although we may have to change some of it again), got a nice glider bench for the back porch, set up new lights Austin got for his birthday in the front yard, and had some good meals with family and friends. Monday, I went back to the doctor for my 4 week post-partum checkup. She said that everything looks good, I was cleared to drive (yippee!), and when I go back in about two weeks to get my IUD placed, she said she will clear me for regular activity so I can exercise (I can walk now which I'm doing but cardio and stuff like that).

Yesterday was Austin's birthday. Cooper and I took our first adventure on our own to visit Austin at work for lunch. We also spent the afternoon running errands to get the birthday gifts all in order, and everything went well, and I think he was really surprised and had a good day. We went to dinner at Pappadeaux last night which was YUMMY. I love being able to buy things and do special things for him - I need to do it more often!

Other than that, things are pretty much the same around here. Today and tomorrow, I need to work on the baby announcements and laundry. Friday, I'm going to bring Cooper to my work to meet everyone and to have my annual review. Of course, I will already know what my bonus and raise are before my review because they will direct deposit into my account on Friday, but that's okay! It will be nice to stop by and show off my little cutie! And it's Cooper's one month birthday on Friday too so we are doing to do a little dinner and I'm going to make cupcakes to celebrate! :) I can't believe he is already going to be one month old. It just doesn't seem possible. Last night, we were taking pictures of him because I had dressed him really cute to go see his daddy, and he smiled for the first time. A real smile - not a gas smile or in his sleep! He looked at his mommy and heard me talking to him and smiled....he did it several times actually and we even caught one on camera. It was so awesome!

I am so blessed that I was given off this much time from work and fully paid. However, I'm already starting to get anxious about having to go back to work even though it's 7.5 weeks away! I just love spending time with my little one, and even though I don't think I could just be a stay-at-home mom, it would be nice to just have to work part-time or work from home full-time. Oh well, I'm sure I will get back into the swing of things when the time comes. Just got to treasure every moment I have with him and look forward to the nights and weekends!

Hope you all are having a great week - tty soon! :)

Wonderful Weekend

I am the luckiest woman in the world because my husband is just so wonderful to me. Last week was a more difficult week for me since my mom left and I no longer had any help, and Cooper was experiencing a growth spurt which made him hungrier more often and fussier (luckily, I think we are out of the woods on that at least until 6 weeks when he is going to have another one!). So Austin, being the super sweet and wonderful husband that he is, arranged a special evening for us Saturday night to have some time to ourselves and something fun and happy to do. I had gotten my breastpump on Friday to use as necessary and then daily when I go back to work, so I pumped a bottle for his 8 o'clock feeding and after his 5 o'clock feeding we dropped Cooper off with Austin's mom and off we went to downtown Fort Worth.

One of our favorite restaurants in downtown Fort Worth is Riata's. We have gone there on several occasions alone and with family, but we have never gotten to sit upstairs. Austin made special arrangements to have our reservation for upstairs, and we got to sit in the glass dome and look out on downtown while we enjoyed our dinner. It was beautiful. After a yummy dinner of bacon-wrapped shrimp, grilled chicken with pan gravy, mashed potatoes, and green beans, and a vanilla and Grand Marnier custard, we walked around in the outside area of the restaurant and took some pictures. The view was great, the weather was beautiful, and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Austin had another surprise in store for me though before we headed back to our little one. We walked a block down the street to the hotel in downtown and were picked up by a beautiful white horse-drawn carriage. We spent the next thirty minutes being pulled along downtown, seeing all the people, enjoying the beautiful weather, and just enjoying being together. I have never been on a carriage ride like that, and it was such a great treat!!! Austin was just so sweet to plan everything, and it definitely gave us a much needed break and an enjoyable time. Yesterday (April 2nd) was our "1.5 year anniversary" of being married, so it was special that we got to celebrate it! We came home happy and relaxed, picked up our beautiful son, and relaxed the rest of the evening at home before heading to bed.

Other than that, Austin also did a TON of cleaning and unpacking this weekend which was great, and we went grocery shopping together yesterday morning as well. We had dinner last night with his parents and Joey followed by new episodes of Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy. It was a great weekend, and I feel so blessed to have Austin in my life to plan little surprises like that. It makes the lack of sleep and emotional adjustment so much easier to take. I only wish the weekend didn't have to end so quickly!!!!

Hope you all had a great weekend too - talk to you soon! :)