It's apparent

I will go ahead and just admit that I'm much better at blog reading than blog writing. To say that a ton has changed is an extreme understatement. I mean, Tommy Is now almost 2 years old and I have so so much catching up to do. I won't make any promises, but I will try my best to get this all caught up. I will hold off on the photo overload until I get this all written down, probably in month by month posts. Whew! I feel overwhelmed already. So here we go, starting with the end of August. Tommy attended his first birthday party on August 28th for a special little girl, Hayden Kate, who turned 3. My mom and Nonny went with me and we all took turns passing Tommy around. He was pretty content sleeping and watching everyone. That following Monday, I took T to see Dr. Robert because I had suspected that Tommy had reflux. And just as I thought, acid reflux it was. About 45 minutes after nursing him (and many spit ups later), he would act like he was hungry again. This became quite a challenge to keep up with nursing for a few reasons. I felt like I wasn't producing enough and I felt like that was all I ever did. Ever. Dr. Robert took Tommy's measurements when we got there and he weighed in at 12.1lbs, 21.6 inches long. At this point, Dr. Robert suggested we put him on reflux medicine and take him to the chiropractor. He mentioned that because of the position Tommy was in (in womb) that his digestive tract might be off a bit and that the chiropractor will help straighten things out. It always seemed to help that day, but it was something that we had to do a few days a week until he was "weaned" from it a few months later. This month we were definitely still getting adjusting to have a screaming baby and not a lot of sleep : )

So long newborn...

Tommy will be 6 weeks old tomorrow and he's already changed SO much! This week he's started wearing size 1 diapers. Just last week I put him in a size 1 and they were much too big. Today, they fit just like they should. He feels so solid now and getting more chunky every day. His once skinny legs are soon going to be thunder thighs! He is starting to smile at Daddy and I, other than for gas reasons, and it melts our hearts. He smiled at Daddy last night when he told him he loved him and I think John shed a tear. He is focusing more on things and loves playing on his mat. I always put the boppy pillow on it to prop him up and he sits there, listening to the music and staring at the hanging toys. I'm trying to move him from the bassinet to the crib so wish me luck! I was going to start it last night since we got the monitors in place but I was sad to. I will be letting him nap in there a few times then eventually keep him in there during the nights. He is almost too long for the bassinet anyway, so I have no choice. So many changes already. I'm excited to see him grow and learn new things but it's bittersweet. We love you past the sky Bug.

Where has the time gone?

Sorry I haven't posted anything in forever! Here's what has been going down in this household. Aunt Mel came in town on July 29th and we were so happy to have her here! Bug enjoyed being held all day every day and I enjoyed someone else holding him for a bit! We got lots of good pics taken and even a first family pic with John, Tommy and I. We didn't get out much when she was here for many reasons. It's still new for us, we mainly wanted to just catch up and visit, it's way too hot outside for anything and for whatever reason I was sick for 2 days. Not sure what it was but since I couldn't even keep water down I was glad it didn't affect Tommy. Well, directly. This brings me to our current issues. Hard to admit but I'm struggling at this breastfeeding thing. This was a must for me and I never really thought about other options but my supply has recently been slim to none. I noticed Tommy was going from eating every 2hrs or so to every hour, then for a few days it was ALL day. Seriously, hours at a time and he was never full and wasn't napping well. John and I were both really, really stressed and finally looked into more options. Bug also has reflux and the little milk he was getting gets spit up right after he stops eating. Thanks to my nurse friends we came up with a plan that seems to be working much, much better! My supply has increased, he's getting full and napping better AND I'm not nearly as stressed. I now feel like I can run to Target if I need/want or get out of the house without worrying about feeding him as soon as we get where we need to be. Or, taking him to Mimi and Pawpaw's so John and I can have some time on our own. So, we are still breastfeeding but supplementing with formula right after to fill his growing belly. By the way, Bug is getting chunky - It's too cute! His little belly was so full yesterday while Monica was holding him I just HAD to get a pic. I'd say he's close to 10 pounds if I had to guess. Gotta get to a scale and weigh him. So, since Mel has left, Tommy has had a few more visitors. His Aunt Robin, great Aunt Kari, Scott, Chary, Kayson and Cohen all came in town the weekend of August 6th. We all hung out at our house so the boys could swim (too bad we couldn't put Tommy in yet) and cooked out and enjoyed family time. I'm so glad Kari was able to make it down to see all the boys. We all miss The Stanley's and wish they lived a lot closer. We got lots of good pictures, including our first 4 generation picture that I will add to the 4 generations frame Aunt Robin got me for my birthday. Lorena, Angela, Terri, Mindy and Monica have all stopped by to check out Tommy and see how much he's changed. The first time Mindy came over with Jack, he and Tommy looked so much different in size but now Tommy looks much bigger! Nonny, Mimi and PawPaw have all stopped by a few times as well. It's nice to have them so close! Thanks to Mimi, I got an awesome new camcorder for my birthday so soon I will be able to add videos to my blog! Guess I should figure out how to add pics in certain places first. ha! Speaking of pictures...we got Tommy's first photo session under our belt and we LOVE the turn out. A coworker of mine takes amazing photos and was kind enough to take T's, even though he has a newborn that was born on my birthday ! We plan on using him whenever we'd like photos taken. Next session will be at the pumpkin patch in Flower Mound when the Shear's are in town. All of my mommy friends are bringing their kiddos out so we should have some awesome pics! I cannot wait!

Tommy's first restaurant experience

Since tomorrow is my birthday, we decided we would go out tonight for my birthday dinner! (Today is also Tommy's official "due date") We all love mexican food and since the first restaurant I ever went to was El Fenix, we decided to keep tradition with Tommy. It's fast, easy and close! I must admit I'm more nervous about how he reacts to the spicy mexican food than how he will act in public! I will keep my fingers crossed and the Mylicon close by. Tomorrow Aunt Melanie will be in town and I will be sure to take lots of pics!

BFF's forever

Today, Mindy (my BFF of almost 29 years) came over with her kiddos, Hayden and Jack. Since our parents took a picture of Mindy feeding me a bottle when I was a newborn, we decided we HAVE to get some pics of Jack with Tommy. They turned out really cute.I am so glad that we have babies the exact same age difference as Mindy and I. Almost to the date. While Hayden was here. she was saying that Tommy is her friend that he's cute. When T would cry, she would say that Tommy was sad. TOO CUTE!! We never would have thought that Jack would be bigger than Tommy!! Guess we'll see if T catches up to him. I hope they grow up to be BFF's as well! Mindy and I talk about how crazy it's going to be when they spend the night at each others houses and we hope and pray they don't do the things we did together. haha Now we must get a 4 generation, double family picture! How awesome is that?! Tonight, Mimi and PawPaw will be stopping by with Dee and Janet (PawPaw's sister and brother in law) and hopefully I can figure out how to post pics on this blog. This might take a while. HA!

July 12, 2010 - Happy Birthday Thomas Ryder!!

On July 12, 2010 at 4:45pm, Thomas Ryder Young made his debut into this world. We could not believe the 38 weeks flew by so fast. That morning I had my 38 week checkup with Dr. Walters and since my blood pressure was out of control, she wanted me to go to Baylor ASAP for delivery! Thankfully I had a bowl of Cheerios that morning and it bought us a few more hours for this to sink in. Both of us were very nervous and excited. We could not believe that shortly, we would be holding our baby boy. Everything was pretty fast and easy. They did my spinal to assure I was numb and went to town on getting him out. John didn't even pass out AND took some pretty awesome pics of the scene. Not too long after, they told us Tommy would have to be put in the NICU nursery until his breathing was better. Since he was a c-section baby, the fluid on his lungs didn't get pushed out like normal so they were waiting for that to naturally occur. SCARY!! I never imagined that our child would end up in the NICU. That entire night, John went back and forth to visit our little man as much as he could. He was in love. I, on the other hand, could not see him and felt horrible that I had a child I couldn't even hold yet. Luckily, the next day my nurse said it would be perfectly okay for John to wheel me down there as much as I wanted. The first time I saw him, I was in tears. He is so precious and looks so much like his Daddy. I was in love. After a nightmare of an extended hospital visit, we finally were released and we headed home! We both talked about how crazy it seemed that we are taking this baby home where he has his own room and it's now up to us to teach him about the world. Since things were a little chaotic at Baylor, we decided we wanted to lay low for a little bit and get adjusted to being at home. John had to work the next day so Mimi and Nonny came over to help me out with everything. Thanks a million!! That was also the first time Nonny actually got to hold Tommy since they have "holding times" in NICU. It's now been almost a week since we've been home and things are falling into place. Tommy definitely rules this house as of now. We do things on his time, whatever and whenever he wants.