And Then There Were 3

Zach is definitely mobile now!  He has started crawling on all fours very well, and he pulls up on anything that he can.  The bad part is that he is starting to get some bumps and bruises due to him falling and hitting things.  Yikes!  There is a Snapple commercial out where the guy walks outside and EVERYTHING is covered in bubble wrap.  I really want to do that inside my house!  That way, if poor Zach falls, at least the bubble wrap will cushion the fall.  Oh well, I guess it is all part of growing up.

I swear Zach waived good-bye at the daycare the other day!  He “waived” with his whole are at Miss Jewel at daycare.  It was really cute!  And, I’m pretty sure he meant to do it because he did it twice.  And this morning, he was practicing waiving with just his hand when I went to get him out of the car.  Except, instead of the hand facing out like you are supposed to, it was facing himself.  Oh, it was so cute!  Of course, I am a first time mother, and even if he sneezes, I think it is cute!

Well, it finally happened.  I gave Zach his first bottle of formula yesterday.  I was able to go almost 7 months without having to give him any formula at all!  He has solely been a breast-fed baby.  Working full time, it has been a real commitment to exclusively breast-feed.  It has meant pumping 3 times a day at work, every single day.  And, on some days, I have had to pump 2 extra times at home (5 times a day total) just to keep up with his demand.  He’s a hungry boy!  The past few weeks, I have really been struggling with my milk supply decreasing.  So, I have come to a decision.  I will still continue to breastfeed and pump the 3 times a day at work.  But beyond that, I may just continue to supplement with formula.

It is kind of sad in a way.  I really enjoyed being able to completely provide that for my child.  And I know my checkbook will not like the added cost of formula.  But, hopefully it will be a minimal cost, and hopefully I can still provide most of his nourishment through breast milk instead. 

I am still not ready to quick all together!  Zach’s daycare provider talked like I was weaning him off completely, and I about had a heart attack!  Even with the teeth, and the occasional biting (ouch!), I still enjoy the bond that it gives me and Zach.  I know I won’t breastfeed forever, but I will really miss it when I have to give it up entirely.

Here are some updates on what we have been doing:

Zach and I have been going for walks the past couple of weekends.  But, they make Zach really sleepy.  Here he is about to fall asleep in his stroller:

We celebrated Easter this past Sunday!  Zach got several Easter baskets and some toys too.  And he had a lot of fun playing with his cousing Haley.

 

 

Look at the wierd Easter Bunny that was there:

Zach has also started to get his teeth! He now has 2 bottom teeth.  They are very hard to take a picture of, but if I get one, I will definitely post it.

Zach and Belle the cat have also started becoming Best Buds.  I thought for sure that Belle would not want anything to do with Zach.  But, she loves him!  She will even let him pull her hair and her tail.  I’m not sure if she just likes him and that is why she is so tolerant of him, or if she is just starved for attention.  It is hard to tell.  However, one of her favorite pasttimes is licking his head:

 

Earlier this month, we went to Tori’s 2 year old birthday party!  It was a lot of fun, and there were babies and children everywhere!  Zach was a little overwhelmed with all the people, so he didn’t want to be put down much.  So, I only managed to take one pictures.  Here is Zach playing with Taryn:

And here is the present that I made for Tori:

I took some pictures of Zach this morning in his new Valentine’s Day outfit that my Aunt Lana got for him.  I might be a biased mother, but I think he is the cutest baby in the world!!  (No offense to anyone else’s child out there.)  At first, Zach would just kind of stare at the camera trying to figure out what it was.  So, I had to hold it out to the side while I was trying to get Zach to smile, and trying to make sure his face was still in the shot without being able to look at the camera itself.  It was kind of challenging!

Thank you Aunt Lana for the outfit!  Here are a couple of the pictures.  He definitely has his Daddy’s dimples!

Dear Zach,

You are now 5 whole months old!  You are getting so big so fast.  I keep telling everyone that you are growing like a weed, and it really is true.  I went to visit my friend Candy in the hospital this past month when she had her baby, and you looked like a giant compared to the newborn baby.

You are learning so many things so fast, and it is so fun to watch you!  You are very good now at rolling over from your tummy to your back.  I knew that wouldn’t take you too long to figure out, because you have always hated being on your tummy.  Whenever we place you on your tummy, you used to grunt VERY loudly and whine.  And you would get louder and louder, and your face would get redder and redder until we picked you up.  I think the longest you have ever stayed on your tummy is a whole 5 minutes…oh the torture!  But, now when we put you on your tummy, you just roll right on over to your back.

But, the other day, you rolled from your back to your tummy, but no one was there to see.  I had put you in your crib to take a nap, and did not swaddle you to see if you would fall asleep that way.  You made your usual noises that you make when you are trying to fall asleep.  But, after a few minutes, I heard you making very loud grunting/whining noises, and when I went in to check on you, you had rolled over to your tummy all by yourself!  But, I think it surprised you because you didn’t quite realize that you could just roll over again to your back.  I’m sure it is only a matter of weeks or just days before you learn that part, though.

We still swaddle you for the most part at night.  I’ve heard from moms online that when you are ready to be unswaddled, you will try to fight it more.  Well, in just the past few days, you have been trying to fight it more, and getting your arms free at night.  But, instead of flailing them wildly and waking yourself up until you cry so hard your face turns purple, you have actually been going back to sleep!  I tried one night putting you to bed unswaddled, and that worked for about 2 hours.  But, then you started to cry and wanted your mommy again.  You are getting close, and I’m sure by next month you will be sleeping great UNswaddled.

I love to watch you play!  You will put just about EVERYTHING in your mouth!  And you are so curious about the world around you.  You will literally reach for and lunge towards anything that peaks your interest.  One of your favorite things is Daddy’s remote control.  I’m not sure if it is a male think or what, but you just can’t get enough of that thing!  And the other day, you were in your exersaucer, and you leaned all the way over so that you could see your face in the mirror that was sitting flat on the table part.  You already learn so fast and are so smart!  I am just amazed at how you can already use reasoning skills to learn the world around you.

You also LOVE to laugh and giggle!  Daddy is the best at making you laugh.  But we have our own game where I try to eat your hands, and you just laugh like it is the funniest thing on the planet!  I love your little toothless grin, and those wonderful dimples that you got from your Daddy.  One of my favorite and sweetest moments is when I am breastfeeding you, and you stop in the middle and just look up and me and flash me the biggest grin.  You are too cute for your own good!  But, I am sure that will come in handy later for you when you get in trouble and then you can just put on your cute face, and your Daddy and I will just melt.

You are without a doubt the sweetest, most cuddliest baby I have ever known.  I am crazy in love with you!  I have loved you since you were in my womb, and am amazed at how much my love for you grows every day.  On one hand, I want you to stay small forever.  But, on the other, I cannot wait to watch you grow up and learn!

Love,
Your Mommy

Zach and I went for his 2 week appointment last Monday.  Normally, the doctor says they just expect babies at this age to gain back their birthweight, especially for breastfed babies, because they usually don’t gain as much weight.  But, Zach gained back his birthweight plus a whole pound!!  He weighed 7lbs 8oz last Monday, which the doctor said is a very rare weight gain for breastfed babies!  So, he is doing fantastic!  Everything else checked out great as well.  They had to prick his heel to take more blood for testing, and he really didn’t like that.  But, the rest of the appointment went very good.

Zach is still a great baby!  He has some fussy moments, like most babies, but overall, he does great.  And he stilll doesn’t cry a whole lot (except when you change his diaper.  He really doesn’t like this!).  And lately he has started smiling a little bit!  I’ve noticed he will do it when he is really tired.  I’m not sure if he is dreaming or what.  But, you will be looking at him, and all of a sudden, his mouth will curl up into a smile for about a second or two.  It is so cute!  Because it happens so spontaneously, I haven’t been able to catch it on camera yet.  Babies are supposed to be able to social smile by 2 months, which means that you can get them to smile in response to what you are doing.  So far, he just smiles for the fun of it, and not really in response to anything.

He is also very strong!  One of my favorite moments with him is when I lie back at a 45 degree angle, and have him on his tummy against my chest.  I love to feel his tiny little body against mine, and I love to smell his sweet head, and give him lots of kisses.  It’s times like this I wish he could stay little forever. 

He loves to lie against people’s chest, and he loves it even more when you rub his back!  It usually calms him down a lot, and is how I get him to go to sleep most times.  Now, when he is still awake, and lying on my chest, he has started picking up his head.  He will raise it up, and keep it up for a good 5 seconds!!  He really is so strong.

Will says that he is already spoiled because he fusses a lot sometimes until people hold him.  He loves to go to sleep in your arms.  Of course, who held him the most this weekend?  Yep, that was Will.  I don’t think he put him down much at all, despite him being “spoiled”.  He is such a good daddy, and loves him son so much!  I kept asking if Will wanted me to take him, and he kept saying No, that he wanted to hold him.  They are so cute together!  Besides, I don’t think you can spoil them at this age anyway. 

Zachary William Madsen has finally arrived!  He was born on Labor Day, September 3, 2007 at 5:29 pm.  He weighed 6lbs 8.9 oz, and was 19 1/4 inches long.  He is absolutely perfect!!  I think it is funny that he decided to come on his original due date!  I guess the doctor shouldn’t have changed it after all. 

I woke up on Labor Day at 6:21am with a very strong contraction.  That was still one of the stronger ones that I had, for some reason.  My contractions started at around 12 minutes apart.  My doctor had said that I could wait until they were 5 minutes apart to go to the hospital since this was my first baby.  I kept timing my contractions and around noon they got to 5 min apart, so I called my doctor, and we finally made it to the hospital around 2pm.  I was 3cm dilated at that time, and the contractions were starting to come much stronger and faster.  So, they gave me an epidural right away, and I started progressing pretty quickly.

The nurse checked me the last time, and I was at 9cm, and she said I was almost there.  Within a minute of her leaving the room, I had a very strong contraction that just would not go away.  It was starting to make Zach’s heartrate drop a whole lot.  So, the next thing I know, the doctor and several nurses are rushing into the room telling me they are going to have to get him out very soon.  I will spare everyone the details, but I was able to push him out in about 5-10 minutes, with the help of the doctor.  That was very fast for a first time mommy, but it had to be because Zach just did not like being inside me one minute longer!  He was very purple when he first came out, and it took them a minute to get him breathing.  But, as soon as he did, he was perfect!!  If anyone is interested, his apgar scores were 8/9, which is just about as close to perfect that you can get for a newborn!

We got to come home the following Wednesday.  I am recovering well, better than I expected.  And Zach is doing great!  He is such a happy baby.  He doesn’t cry much at all.  But, his facial expressions are so cute when he does cry.  His face all scruntches up, and he looks so pitiful.  He has gone 4 1/2 hours between feedings on one night!  LOL, not sure if that will continue or not.  He is just so content all the time, he loves to be awake and look around at his new surroundings, and he sleeps very well.  His daddy and I love him so much!

It is very true what they say that you can’t imagine loving something this much until they are here.  Sometimes when we are alone, I just look at him, and tears come to my eyes because of the overwhelming love that I feel for him.  I have already cried about when I will have to go back to work and leave him in the care of someone else.  Thankfully, I have a little over 6 more weeks with him at home!  And his daddy and him are so cute together.  He has definitely made our lives more complete and whole!  He truely is a blessing from God.

Ok, now here some pictures!  I have also added a bunch more to my Flicker account.  There is a link to that in the margin on the right hand side.  Email me if you want any originals!

 

 

Hi, this is me, Zach.  I am still inside my mommy’s tummy, and I am still not ready to come out yet.  Mommy went to the doctor on Tuesday, but they said that my mommy has not changed at all.  But, I am quite comfy in here!  I am starting to get bigger, so there isn’t as much room for either me or mommy anymore.  However, I still like to move around quite a bit.  I have been making mommy a little more tired lately, and I have also been making her have Braxton Hicks contractions.  But, she says they aren’t too painful yet.  And she says they are still not close enough together to get me to come out.  I think I will probably stay in here at least until my due date.  It’s warm.

Here are some pictures of mommy and me inside mommy’s tummy the other day when mommy went to the doctor:

  

And here is another picture of Mommy & me, Aunt Ashley, Nonnie, and Grammit.  They all went to the doctor to see my latest ultrasound picture:

And here are the pictures the doctor took of me with the ultrasound machine:

  This is my side view.

  Labeled, in case you can’t tell what everything is.

  This is my front view.

 Here is where everything is.

Aren’t I cute?

Less than 30 days to go!!   

Here’s my most recent picture:

I am ready to not be pregnant anymore!  And I am getting tired of people telling me exactly how HUGE I am and that I look like I am ready to POP!  Yes, I am well aware.  Thank you. 

I am 35 weeks pregnant now!  I had a doctor’s appointment ealier this week, and they did an ultrasound.  They said Zach is approximately 5.5lbs now, and could be 7.5-8lbs at birth!  Oh boy!  He’s basically fully developed now, just getting “fatter” the last month, and his lungs are maturing more.  And they said that babies tend to put on 1/2 pound each week in the last month before birth!  At my next doctor’s appointment starting next week, I will get checked to see if I am dilated at all.  That will be exciting, but still probably won’t mean much.  Some women stay dilated for weeks, where others don’t dilate until they are in labor.

As I am getting near the end of my pregnancy, I am starting to get a little more anxious.  I wake up in the middle of the night thinking of all the stuff I have to do or might want to do before the baby comes.  And I have all kinds of fears that like to pop in my head at that particular time of night and prevent me from sleeping.  Everything from some freak accident that will prevent Will from being at the birth to am I going to be a good parent to will I love my baby enough?  yes, logically I know these are fears that almost every new mom-to-be has.  But, it still doesn’t stop the thoughts from entering my head!  Although, I do know that no matter what, God is in control.  He knows what is going to happen before I do, and He already has a plan!

On that note, I was looking back at what a journey it has been the past year or so.  It was just over a year ago that I decided I was ready to have a baby!  We had prayed about it, and just felt that this was the right time.  Well, directly after that, Will wasn’t getting any work coming in, and wasn’t finding any full time jobs either.  Then he had to move his storage sheds, which took him quite some time, and also helped hinder his job/work situation.  Then in January, at the beginning of this year, we found out we had become pregnant!  Well, I turned in my Short Term Disability paperwork too late, and was denied.  So, that means that I won’t have any paid maternity leave, other than what I have for vacation time saved up.  Will got a couple of side jobs here and there, but we were still mostly living on my income alone.  Then we had all the problems with the apartment, and ended up not moving because we couldn’t afford anything bigger at the time, and moving to another apartment the same size (or only moderately bigger) just wasn’t really worth it.

But, thankfully, the contractors were able to get the bulk of the work done while I was out of town, and I didn’t even have to deal with all the construction.  (Unfortunately my poor husband did!  But, he is a trooper!)  After that, Will’s old truck died.  All the engine oil poured out at once, and the engine locked up.  To those who don’t know much about cars, that is NOT a good thing and means you need a new engine.  So, Will was giving me rides to work a lot and borrowing my Trooper until we could come up with another solution.  And then the air conditioner went out in my Trooper!

But a huge blessing came when we were able to get a new Truck for Will in June.  We bought it totally on faith, because we knew Will was going to have to find a job in order for us to afford the payments.  But, just a short couple of weeks after we bought the truck, Will found his new job!  He is actually getting a salary, which is pretty unheard of in his line of work (most people work on contract).  After that, the engine in my Trooper decided it wanted to die as well!  So, I had to borrow a car to get by.

But, just recently, I got a new vehicle!  I was able to get a 1998 Jeep Cherokee that is in excellent condition for its age!  And, Will was able to get a side job in order to earn the money to completely pay cash for the Jeep.  So, we won’t have to have 2 car payments after all! 

In the midst of all these financial issues, I had my baby shower.  And I was so blessed to receive so many wonderful gifts and baby items!  Will and I hardly had to buy anything at all because of the generosity of all our friends and family.  There have been a lot of obstacles to overcome in the past year.  But, for everything we have faced, we have received an answer.  God has definitely provided.  It may not be exactly in the way we had imagined, but looking back, I don’t think I can deny that God had a hand in it all.  We definitely feel blessed!