Top Ten.....

Top 10 Things You Learn As a New Mom......

10. How to do everything with one hand

9. 3 hours of sleep in a row is "doing pretty good"

8. You can love something more that you ever thought possible

7. Having a puppy REALLY is nothing like having a child

6. You are now on baby time and nothing else really matters

5. How to get a workout AND hold a baby at the same time

4. Major diaper blowout = immediate bath

3. Sleeping more than three hours in a row concerns you "should I check on the baby??"

2. How to take the fastest shower known to woman

1. Showering, changing your clothes, dishes and laundry are actually all luxuries. They don't HAVE to be done today!

7 Weeks already

Tomorrow marks 7 weeks since Jacob was born. Wow does time fly. Right now I am feeling extremely thankful that I work for a company that allows me to take six months to focus on nothing more than being a Mother and will hold my job until I return. Of course I'm not getting paid for it all (about half) but I'm very fortunate to have the opportunity.

Jacob has been sleeping a little more at night, but not every night. He usually goes to sleep around 9:30 or 10pm and wakes up again anywhere between midnight and 2am. One night he slept until 3:30! However once he has his "long" sleep it's typically only 2 hour blocks from there on out. So if he's up at midnight, it's a three-feeding-night.  But if he makes it to 3am, then we're only getting up twice that night. And that has happened about 3 times in the past month. Overall I think he's sleeping well at night. I think we'll keep him :)

As many people know, I was convinced Jacob would be at least 8lbs, if not 9lbs. Especially since I went a week over my due date and the smallest baby in the George family was 8lbs. I was so convinced, I didn't think he'd ever fit into newborn clothes. I bought a size 6 month fleece winter suit, assuming it would be just the right size. Well.... Jacob had other plans when he was born at 6lbs 12oz. He might be around 9lbs now and he's just shy of 2 months old :) The reason I bring this up, is that his Halloween outfit was size 3 months. There was NO way it would even remotely fit on Halloween (a week after he was born). So I finally put it on him. And it's still too big, but much closer to fitting.

Lately one of Jacob's new things is giving Mom and Dad a HUGE wide-mouth smile in the mornings. When I get him in the mornings to feed him he's so excited to see us! It started about 2 weeks ago when Daddy got him up and he wouldn't stop smiling. Daddy had to come into bed and show Mommy and he smiled for her too. It's the most adorable thing. 

Jacob has been going Christmas shopping with Mommy too. He's been a little angel. Fortunately he loves riding in the car (this picture was from the day home from the hospital) and he usually is asleep while in the store. He has been to Cabela's, Bed Bath and Beyond, WalMart, Kohls, Home Depot, Craft Mania, JoAnne's Fabrics and Big Lots. I think that's about it. He has also been to the farm 4 (maybe 5?) times. Most recently for Aunt Kim's birthday dinner while Daddy sent Mommy to get a manicure and massage with two of her friends. That was her "push present" from Daddy. 


On Christmas Day Jacob will be 2 months old! Christmas is so much more exciting with a Baby around, even if he can't interact very much and won't remember it. It just makes it so much more special. I'm sure each Christmas to come will get more and more special. 

Short on words....

But big on pictures!!  Photo update. Jacob is now one month old!!  Time just flies......

Jacob's 3rd Week!

Jacob had a very exciting 3rd week in life. i guess at this age, every week is pretty exciting :) Some of the things that we did this week included visits from Bob, Allie, Moose, Mike, Aunt Pam and Grammy came back too! 

Mommy got sick from an infection this week, but luckily caught it early and got some anti-biotics to clear it up. Daddy brought her a dozen white roses and cooked an awesome Beef Stew. That helped Mommy feel a lot better!

Jacob went out to dinner twice this week! Mommy, Daddy and Jacob went out to Mac's Grill with the neighbors, Tom and Terry on Monday. Jacob was a little angel, sleeping for the first half of dinner and then he woke because he was hungry. He got his bottle and went back to sleep. Then Jacob went out to dinner on Friday with Mommy, Daddy, Grammy and Grampa! We went to Cindy's Dockside. Jacob was really good there too, sleeping most of the time and waking up only to eat!

We also went on a visit to the farm this week. This was Jacob's second visit to the farm. Grumpa Bruce got to hold him for the first time and after we got home from the farm, Aunt Pam and Grammy were at the house! Grammy stayed until Sunday when Grampa came up with the long-awaited crib! 

Daddy also got Jacob's birth certificate this week and Mommy and Jacob went to a breastfeeding group in Auburn. It was a small group through La Leche League. Too bad there weren't more babies for Jacob to meet, there was only one other mom and she had a 2 year old. Thursday afternoon Grammy Sue came up and cooked everyone a Ham dinner. It was nice for Jacob to spend time with Both Grammies! 

For the most part, Jacob has been sleeping really well between feedings and at night. He usually is awake during the morning, but takes a few small snoozes and then take two longer (1-2 hour) naps in the afternoon/evening. Then he'll be up for 3 hours or so and then crash at night sleeping about 3 hours at a time until 6 or 7am. Most of the time he sleeps in the bassinet on the pack and play snuggled in with the blanked Great-Grammy Thelma made him. However on Thursday he was a little fussy and didn't want to sleep in the bassinet. It must be because he is growing!

On Friday the crib arrived with Grampa and he set it all up in the nursery. He also helped Mommy re-arrange the nursery for the 3rd time. Hopefully it's all set now that we have all the furniture in there.  

Jacob also got his second bath this week! He loves taking baths and feeling the warm water all over him. He didn't cry at all and really looked like he was enjoying it!

It was a busy 3rd week of life. So many people to meet and things to see!

Welcome Home Jacob Michael Richards!

Jacob was born on Friday October 25th at 12:16am. He was 19.5" long and weighed 6lbs 12oz. Mom was surprised, yet grateful that he was such a little peanut! 

We have now survived the first week with Jacob and learned so much about how to care for an infant. We are trying to figure out our 'schedule' and I do use that term loosely, knowing everything is subject to change. But at least we are trying to figure out the best times to sleep and the best ways to split duty between Mom and Dad. Fortunately for us, we had both Grammy Sue and Grammy Gail here with us for most of the last week. That has been a HUGE relief. But soon, we'll be a family of 3 and we'll be doing it all on our own. 

Jacob's favorite things to do include: sleeping, pooping, peeing on people and the wall and EATING! He takes after his Mama and could eat allll day long! In fact he was back to his birth weight only 4 days after he was born. 

On Monday (day 4) we tried out the swing. That did not go over well. 7 minutes of crying was all we could take. However, we tried the swing again on Saturday and he really seemed to like it! We are making progress :)

The first 3 nights out of the hospital, Jacob would only sleep in someone's arms. We would put him in the Rock and play or the bassinet and within 20 minutes he was fussing and eventually crying. So we split time between both Grammy's and Mom and Dad to make it through the night. We continued to put him in the bassinet during the day (as much as we could bear to put him down, he's too cute not to snuggle!!) and he got used to it. The past two nights, he has slept in the nursery in the bassinet between all feedings! 

Right now he eats about every 2 - 2.5 hours for about 30 minutes. 75% of the time, he goes right to sleep after feeding and 25% of the time he takes a little bit of coaxing. Singing, rocking, snuggling and rubbing his feet seem to be the best ways to calm him down. 

We've had a lot of visitors the first week including Grammy Sue and Grumpa Bruce, Grammy Gail and Grampa Pete. Aunt Val & Uncle Brian, Aunt Kim, Great Aunt Maureen, Ma, Tracy & Marc, Tom & Terry, Joe, Mike, Bob & Allie and Eric. It's been a busy week but there are still lots more people to meet!

It was a long 41 weeks and we are SO excited that Jacob is finally here!!

4th Wedding Anniversary

Yesterday was mine and Chris's wedding anniversary. It's been 4 years since that bright and windy day. Definitely one of the happiest days of our lives together.....until Baby R comes, of course :-)  We had a nice anniversary, considering the circumstances. In the past 3 years of anniversaries we have gone to:

        



                Bar Harbor, Maine

 






 Yosemite (Napa & San Fran)

      



And Zurich and the Swiss Alps.









This year we are looking forward to the arrival of our little babe. Pretty hard to top that.

I was home all day....really understanding the concept of boredom. I can't wait for this little pooping and peeing bundle of joy to arrive. Otherwise I'll have to go back to work. Don't get me wrong, I love sitting around all day making cards, cleaning my house and tending to my whiny dog. But who am I kidding.....I can't just sit around all day! It's not in my DNA. 

So yesterday was a typical - waiting for baby - day. I woke up. I did yoga. I played with Lexie in the yard. I showered. I made cards. I took Lexie for a walk. I did laundry. I washed my windows....again (they were streaky) and then Chris came home early with flowers and a card in hand. Yay! We relaxed on the couch for a bit and then decided to go out to dinner at Fishbones, which was the nicest restaurant we could think of in the Lewiston-Auburn area. It's a nice place, very good food, the pickings are just slim in this twin city of merely 60,000 people. That's both cities combined.

Before dinner we stopped at our neighbor's house so she could snap a few shots of the two of us in the yard (thank you Terry!). It was such a gorgeous Fall day, I couldn't give up the opportunity for photos and I also knew it was my only chance at getting Chris to take some pregnancy photos with me. Smooth move, I thought. 

So we'll see what the weekend brings. Likely golf for Chris and I might go along for the ride. Maybe we'll have a baby by Monday? Wishful thinking.

39w1d

Any day now.....

I am due in 15 days. Which according to my midwife... can really be plus or minus two weeks. So, that means it could technically be any time now over the next 4 weeks. How do I feel about that? Well, in all honesty, I hope he goes to his due date, or even a little late. I don't think many 9 month pregnant women feel the same way, but I'm feeling really good so what's another 2-4 weeks after the last 9 months??? Plus, today is my last day of work until April! My disability plan allows for two weeks off prior to your due date and you can't exchange them for extra time after. I want to enjoy these two weeks off nesting and being productive. So, it's definitely selfish that I want him to wait until October 17th. Or the 18th, which is the day I guessed on the Baby R Birthday Pool. :)

I'm pretty proud to say that my biggest complaint this week is that I can't find a pair of comfortable jeans that fit properly. All of my maternity jeans fall down when I wear them. One pair is clearly getting too small, the others seem to be stretched out, and they just don't stay up. I can tell baby is getting ready for his grand entrance. Feeling more pressure on my pelvic bone and lower pelvic area. Nothing too painful, just slightly uncomfortable. 

My nursery is all set up now.....minus the all-important centerpiece of the nursery - the crib which is still MIA. I called again on Monday. Estimated delivery date of Mid-October. That was the best they could tell me. Sweet. Yet another reason for Baby R to come a little late, rather than a little early. I took a few photos of what I Have set up. 

I still need to figure out what to put on two of the walls. The wall behind the recliner and the wall behind the changing table. I think I will hang a large blown up newborn photo of the baby on one of those walls. I'd like to get a black and white somewhere around 20" or so.

The pack and play is set up in here as a place holder for the crib. It serves the purpose for now and will likely be where the baby sleeps until he's ready to go into the crib anyhow. 

My favorite new addition is the little turtle vinyl stickers above the changing table. I just love them :)  I am considering getting more to put near the crib, but I won't know if there is room for them until the crib is actually here. So.... I'll wait and see. 

37w6d