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Beach baby

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.2

Mother's Day

My first Mother's day was very special. I spend the morning teaching the newbies. James was dedicated at the start of the worship service which was great and then I went to my other babies to teach. We made painted hand prints for the other special mamas and enjoyed our Bible lesson for the day. After church we took Josh's mom out to lunch at River Burch Lodge. It was yummy and we even got to sit out on the patio and enjoy the nice weather. James must have been worn out because he slept from 10:30 until 2! He didn't even bother to wake up for mother's day pictures. After that we came home and lounged on the couch for awhile. I got myself ready to go back to work while Josh and baby J napped. Then we all climbed into bed, ordered a pizza and watched a movie. It was great and exactly what I wanted to do. Just spend the day with my boys and relax. I am so thankful for the motherly examples in my mother and mother-in-law. They offer such sage advice and love that I couldn't help but be a good mother to my own son. Thank you mom and Sandy for being wonderful examples!

Thank you to my wonderful husband for making motherhood a reality for me and thank you to my sweet baby J for making me a mommy. It is the best thing I have ever done.

Gigi looks like she is lecturing him (perhaps telling him he can't get any bigger)

My sweet boy

Lounging on the couch after church

Waiting to go eat

Finally a mommy and I love every bit of it!

1 month old!

Our boy is one month old (on 4/22) and I can't believe how fast it has gone by! People always tell you when you are pregnant to enjoy every moment because it goes so fast and it really does! My maternity leave has been really good and I am happy that I have one more week at home with him. I wish I could say that I have enjoyed every moment but I haven't. The first week you are in a whirlwind with tons of visitors and trying to adjust to life with a newborn. It is totally overwhelming. Plus add a slice of your hormones leveling back out and you go from happy to completely sobbing in two seconds. Truly it is insane how emotional you can be. Then for me add the frustrations with breast feeding and I was teetering on the edge of getting back to normal and postpartum depression I think. I took the quiz they send you home with and I scored in the possibly suffering from PPD range. I slept on it and took it the next day and scored better. Then I decided that breast feeding was stressing me out so much that I just simply couldn't ENJOY my new baby and that was enough for me. Josh and I talked it over and he was okay with whatever I decided. The amount of mommy guilt you can put on yourself is amazing! I struggled with the decision to quit for at least a week and often got a not so nice impression from some I spoke with about it. James is doing well on formula alone and I am SO MUCH HAPPIER and really do enjoy my time with him now. Getting my milk supply to dry up is another matter but we are working through it. He got 5 weeks of liquid gold from me and I believe that your children need you to be balanced and breast feeding was keeping me in a stressed state all the time.

Ah, enough of that.... On to the stats. He doesn't have a one month check up so these stats are home grown but we think they are pretty close.

Last weight check was 10 pounds 8 ounces and length was 21.75 inches. So he has put on just over 2 pounds and added an inch since birth. I think my boy is going to be tall and it is quite obvious that he can eat eat and eat! He is enjoying his naps (at least 2 to 3 a day) and sleeping anywhere from 4-6 hours at night. He eats about every 3 to 4 hours during the day and is taking 4 ounces per feeding. He is enjoying his play mat and slowly warming up to his swing. He enjoys getting in the stroller and taking a quick walk around the neighborhood. "We" got thrush so we had to both be treated for that. Not fun! Thankfully that is better. We are so in love with this little boy and couldn't be happier. Below are two pictures for your enjoyment!

Our first Sunday back to church which just happened to be Easter Sunday. It was sooooo good to get back!

One month old and still as handsome as ever!

First Bath

James got his first bath while Pop and Gigi were here to help and teach us what to do. Here are the pictures from his bath.

All clean!

He's Here!

James Nathaniel Sizemore made his debut to the world on March 22, 2011 at 1:52 pm. He was 7 pounds 13 ounces and was 20.75 inches long. Josh and I went to triage at labor and delivery on Monday the 21st after my blood pressure was staying borderline high. My OB decided that I should have labs and most likely be induced. After 7 ish hours in triage we were finally admitted for induction and I was moved to antepartum and put in a room. My official diagnosis was PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension). We decided to enroll in a double blind clinical trial that was testing a new induction drug. We were told that the whole process could take up to 36 hours. Twelve hours later he was here. We don't know for sure but we guess that I was given the test drug because of how fast my cervix ripened and dilated. I literally went from 2.5 cm to pushing in 90 minutes which left ZERO time for an epidural. It was not my intention to have this baby naturally but you know that saying that we make plans and God laughs. All in all he is here and healthy and we couldn't be more in love! Here are some pictures to enjoy!

New Dad

New Mom

7 pounds 13 ounces

Minutes old

James & Gigi

Josh, James and Nana

Papa Craig

Pop & James

James & Aunt Jenna