Sippy Cup and Head Shakes

Landrick's personality is really starting to show through... Here are a few of the funny things he's been doing lately.

If you put his sippy cup in the cup holder on the right side of his high chair he will promptly move it back to the cup holder on the left side.

He now will do things for praise... I clapped and said 'yay' when he took a drink from his cup and then set it nicely in the cup holder. So of course he did it again almost immediately. Then, he would just pick the cup up a few inches (not taking a drink) and set it right back down, looking and smiling at me the whole time. Too cute!

This morning when I went in to get him from his crib after I'd showered he decided to play his version of peek-a-boo with me by holding on to the crib rail and squatting down and springing back up quickly... he'd just laugh.... it was soo cute.

He likes to pull every single one of his board books off of the bottom shelf of his bookshelf/changing table. One by one, but in a methodical fashion. Then when he's done he'll find the one he wants to 'read' and pull it out.

Every morning when he's finished nursing he immediately turns around and points to his 'I love Pumpkins' book and wants me to read it to me. So I'll pick it up and begin reading... when I get a few pages in he'll point to his Corduroy Halloween book and want to read that one. So I put the pumpkin book back and grab the corduroy... then after a few pages he'll point to the pumpkins book again... and the cycle continues. :)

And, he does looooove, loooove, love pumpkins. He points to them whenever he sees one... I think he has a 'pumpkin' radar because he'll spot them before I even do.

Today I was offering him some water from the straw sticking out of my water jug. He leaned down, put the straw in his mouth and proceeded to blow bubbles. He did this every time I offered him the water. Too funny. He used to know how to drink from a straw....

He'll stick his legs/feet up in the air when we tell him it's time to put socks, shoes, or pants on... ;)

But, he doesn't like to really wear shoes or socks after a few minutes of having them on.

I give him things to play with while I change his diaper (trying to keep him occupied). As soon as he's had enough (or if I give him an uninteresting item) he'll immediately drop it over his left shoulder... which means it falls between the wall and the changing table. I think it's become a little game to him... that he always wins;)

Landrick Funnies

Landrick's first birthday and birthday party have come and gone... they weren't what I expected them to be, but were great regardless. Mom and Dad were not able to come to his party, but Landrick and I did go over to their house on Monday (Landrick's actual birthday) for a quick visit.

Here are a few funny things Landrick has recently done:

The other night I decided to let him take his own bites off of a banana (he LOVES bananas, btw). At first I held the banana and he did quite well scraping little bits off. Then he wanted to hold the banana and did so successfully after getting past the cold peel bumping against his hand. However, when he to take a bit off of the banana he treated it like a bottle and started sucking on the end of it. It was soooooooo funny!  I was worried that he would end up sucking a big chunk off and getting choked so I tried to help him a bit. But when he was ready for the next bite he did the same thing. Too funny.

Yesterday while I was changing his diaper he proceeded to grab my arm and give me raspberries on it. When I picked him up he pushed his face against my neck and gave me raspberries on my neck too!

Today he started sticking his tongue out and blowing... I don;t know how to describe it in words, but he kept doing it over and over while I was with him at the office.

On Sunday night when we showed him his new play room he was really excited, but eased into the room. He crawled in and just kind of looked around in awe. Then he got quite excited when he saw the fireflies and bear (he even went up and 'petted' the bear). We were trying to get him to crawl through his tunnel by throwing Woody from one side to the other, but rather than crawling through the tunnel he would peek in and then crawl as fast as he could around the outside toward the other end. We would repeat this and he would repeat his actions. Then finally he just crawled right in and through the tunnel! I guess he had to make sure it was 'safe' first.

Landricks 1st Birthday Party:

Landrick seemed to have a good time at his party... he took a nap right before it started, which probably was a very good thing. He wasn't very interested in his cake, mostly because he did not like touching the icing. Nik wasn't surprised since it took him a few weeks before he warmed up to the sand box (he may have a few sensory issues). He ate a few bites when I fed them to him, but otherwise did not get it all over him or 'dive right in' as I had anticipated:) He seemed to enjoy opening his gifts but was mostly interested in the tissue paper (which I expected). The whole experience was a bit surreal... now even three days later I can't believe that his birthday and birthday party are over.

On his actual 1st Birthday we took him for his check-up... he was longer than the tape measure they had! 30 3/4 inches long and weighed 20 lbs 9 ounces. He cried a bit after his shots but after a few minutes was fine. We went and painted his hand prints at the Mad Potter and he did so very well!!! The owner said they normally don't do prints for kids under 18 months, but Landrick was successful on the first try! I was actually quite surprised as he had just had shots, missed his nap and was hungry. We then went to eat at Rafferty's and Landrick had Roasted Sweet Potato Rice Pilaf and really liked it! :)

When we got home he took a quick nap and then he and I both took another little nap together:) I took him over to Meimaw and Poppy's to play and open his gifts from them and then went home and put him to bed.

Revisiting One Year Ago... Landrick's birthday!

A few days after Landrick was born I wrote down my labor/delivery experience so that I could remember it... and perhaps someday share it with Landrick. Here's a few parts of what I wrote...

November 7th 2009 –

I woke up on Saturday morning around 6:30 to get ready to work MSU’s open House. Sam dropped me off at ADUC around 8:30am and I spent the next two hours speaking to prospective students about MSU and financial aid resources. I did not feel very well that morning. Sam picked me up and took me home. When we got home I took a long (1.5 hrs) walk with Mom and Nikki. When we finished Sam picked me up at Nik’s house (I was watching the kids play in a leaf pile) and we went to Lowes. After going to lowes we stopped by Dairy Queen and got Chocolate Malts (something sweet to hopefully stimulate baby to move and break my water). I went home, drank the malt, ate lunch and sat on the birthing ball in the living room while working on homework and watching the UK football game.

That evening I decided to make a nice supper for Sam (homemade Chipolte style chicken burritos, a decision I almost immediately regretted once I went into labor.. hehe:). After supper I cleaned up the kitchen and went back into the living room to watch TV and hang out with Sam. Around 7:20pm I felt the first contraction and looked at Sam and said – I think I just had a contraction. I marked the time and then five minutes later I had another, another followed 5 minutes later and another 5 minutes after that. I called Mom and asked her how many contractions I should have five minutes apart before heading to the hospital. She said it would probably be a while, maybe a few hours and just to keep track of them. I got off the phone and a few minutes later Nik called and said that she was coming over. Once she got here she ‘watched’ me for a few minutes (10 or 15) (while I was still having contractions 5 min apart). I knew that these were the real thing because the ‘stopped me in my tracks’. (I was always secretly afraid that I wouldn't know when I had a contraction... that thought makes me laugh now!) Nik finally looked at me and said – yes, you need to go now. I decided to take a quick shower before we left. Once I got into the shower my contractions were 3 minutes apart and I knew it was definitely time to go. Sam was showing nikki the sound element on the pack and play and I finally had to tell him to put the stuff in the car (without freaking him out completely). Nikki then took some photos of me and my belly and Sam before we headed to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 9:30pm (after Sam was stressing about getting there in time and I was stressing about him driving too fast). When we arrived I’m not sure that the nurses or check in people really thought that I was in labor… they did not seem too concerned. When I got into my room the nurse told me to get my gown on and put my clothes in this clear bag (making sure not to leave it on the back of the bathroom door in case I forgot about it). I couldn’t get the gown on (even with Sam’s assistance) so the nurse had to help me.

She made me get in the bed and hooked me up to a fetal monitor and a toco monitor. She got my blood pressure and asked me a bunch of questions (while I’m having contractions – which was bizarre to me). She asked if I had a birth plan and I said no (still not thinking that I had to have one, but she seemed a little put-off that I did not). I told her that I was going to try to have the baby naturally and I did not want any statol (regardless). She asked if I’d had a natural child birthing class and I said no… just the class that was offered by Central Baptist. (I did not know that I should have had a natural childbirthing class). She then mentioned that someone would be back to give me an IV and I told her that Dr. O’Nan said I did not have to have one. She said it was hospital policy but did go and check. Another nurse came back and took my vitals and was going to give me an IV when the other nurse came in and said I did not have to have one (which I was happy about).

A few minutes later she checked me and I was 7-8 cm dilated (which I think surprised her even though I told her I had been 5 cm dilated the previous Tuesday). Then we just kind of labored – Sam went and moved the car. The nurse got a birthing ball (I asked if I could walk around and she said no) and tried to find a rocking chair (which she could not locate). I was in the bed for a little while and then moved to the ball with Sam behind my back. I got back into the bed at some point and sat on my hands and knees (which really didn’t do anything for me, except make me feel a bit exposed;).  At one point (rather early on) I did look at Sam and say – I’m not sure I can do this – and he looked at me and said –yes you can. That was the only lapse of confidence during the laboring process that I had.
I then started having pressure in my bottom and feeling the urge to push. My water still had not broken and I was 10 cm dilated but had not thinned out completely. Stacy came in and checked me and said that I still needed to thin out a bit before I began officially pushing. A few minutes later I was fully thinned out so she told me that I could push and it would hopefully break my water. I pushed a bit and my water still did not break. Sam held my right leg and the nurse held my left. (Sam was awesome the entire time – very supportive and did exactly what I needed him to do).Stacy then decided that she would break my water herself to help me progress a bit. I had been pushing and the water bag was bulging but she had to break it because it would not break on its own. (Sam said that was kind of gross to him – but rather interesting too.) Once my water broke I was able to feel like I was making a bit more progress.
Pushing was hard (yes the contractions hurt but I had the hardest time with pushing). I felt like I was going to pass out due to having to hold my breath to push. The nurse started counting and I definitely needed that to keep me focused on how long I needed to push. She wanted me to get 4 pushes in per contraction but Sam said my first two were the only ones that really ‘worked’. I watched a little progress at first but then had to keep my eyes closes between contractions to keep me posted. It took about a ½ hour for me to get baby’s head out 1/3 of the way and another 30 minutes to push him out completely. I felt rather discouraged and kept apologizing for not being able to push better. It was also odd because my contractions were not regular once I began pushing – sometimes I had 4 or 5 minutes in between, which I thought was weird.) I also had severely chapped lips! I was thirsty but had a hard time with the ice chips because I worried that I would be eating one when a contraction came and would choke. Sam was so very encouraging and so was Stacy. She kept telling me that I was doing so well and said that I could teach a natural child birth class. She could not believe that I had never had any classes or anything. (Of course, that is exactly what I needed for encouragement, as I love to be the best at anything I try to do haha!)

I kept telling myself that the baby would come within the next 3 contractions… I could make it through three contractions. At one point I do think that I temporarily blacked out (or did go to another place almost like a dream) because when I ‘woke up’ and opened my eyes it took me a minute to realize that I was having a baby. Finally after about an hour of pushing we delivered Landrick at 2:00am. They placed him on my chest and it was awesome. I did not cry but it was the most amazing thing ever. I was super tired, but so very happy. They took him to clean him up and weigh him and Sam went with him while Stacy tended to me. Once I pushed him out it was instant relief. I did not have any more contractions. I did have a second degree tear and a bit of a bleeding problem so they had to give me two shots of pitocin and then another shot of something else (in the butt) a while later.

I had done it without any pain medication beyond a local shot before Stacy began stitching me up after Landrick was born. While in the hospital I had two motrin the entire time. One around 4:00am and another the night before we left to come home.

I was able to feed Landrick for the first time within an hour of giving birth and he latched on immediately. I fed him for 15 min on each side and then we brought the family back to meet him (about 3:30am). We then moved to the Mommy/Baby area around 4:30am.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Thinking back a year later there are only a few things that I would do differently next time...
 
#1 - I regret not having someone in the room to take photos as soon as Landrick was born.
#2 - I wish I would have brought something for the nurses to put Landrick's foot print on that I could take home with me to frame.
#3 - Next time, I would like to go into labor during the day... so I'm not so tired! haha. Although I have NO control over this one I just thought I'd throw it in there anyway! hehe
#4 - I wish that Sam had personally gone to the waiting room to share the news that we had a baby boy... and perhaps video tape the response:)
#5 - I would not have eaten chicken burritos if I knew I was going to go into labor.
#6 - Next time I will bring CHAPSTICK!!!
#7 - I wish I would have had professional newborn photos taken of Landrick... although we have LOTs that we took (and some are super awesome), I wish we would have had some with all three of us in them.
 
What I have learned in the last year... well just a few major things because I could write books on everything that I've learned... :)
 
- Just because you have a child does not make you an expert on parenting... before I had Landrick I thought that every Mom was an instant parenting expert.... I've learned that you'll always have lots to learn.
 
- You have to do whatever it takes to make it through and don't beat yourself up over it... as long as baby is safe, it's okay if you don't do 'what the books tell you' to do.
 
- Life takes on a totally different perspective and you suddenly can relate to what other parents have told you or talked about in the past.
 
- Priorities instantly change... for the better.
 
- As a parent you are in a constant emotional struggle between being so very excited for your child's next milestone, but at the same time so sad that they are growing so quickly.
 
- You can be having the worst day in the world, but just thinking about your child makes that day better in an instant.
 
I love being a mom.... it's the best thing that has ever happened to me.