Memorial Day 2008

Pics are up from Memorial Day weekend. Check them out here. The set includes some pics of Uncle Noah's baseball, Jaxon's photoshoot with Mark, Gma & Papaw, and our family Memorial Day.

How big is this family?

Jaxon's going to learn quickly that this is a big family and he has a lot of folks that love him! This weekend his second set of Great-Grandparents came up (with Uncle Mark) to visit (Third set plan to visit in June). They live in Alabama & Mark lives in Tennessee so this is the first chance they've had to get up to see him. Today they all came out to our house to visit while Jack was at work. Grandma got a chance to give him a bottle since he was ready to eat right as they walked in the door. We also had Mark take a bunch of photos. Mark is a great photographer with a fancy camera (he did my maternity photography too). I did snap a few of the photos too, but his are the best.

Another outing

Jaxon had another outing today, he's getting to be quite the social butterfly :) One of his uncles needed a ride to pick up his car from the shop, so Jack had agreed to help out. Jaxon & I tagged along for the ride (plus I knew we were going past Babies R Us). After dropping off Uncle, we went to Olive Garden for dinner. This was his third time at a restaurant. Jaxon needed some dinner too, so we sat in the car to nurse before going in. That was kinda funny b/c I'm not too skilled without all my pillows from home just yet. Usually he'll go to sleep afterwards, but he decided to stay awake at the restaurant. He never screamed, but I did have to stop eating every 2 seconds to put his passy back in his mouth to stop his small cries. I think thats a fun game for him! We picked up a few things from Babies R Us and then were back on the road home.

I'm two weeks old

Jaxon is so much fun & we are loving having all three of us home together! It's hard to believe that it's already been two weeks today since he was born!! We had another lovely day today. Of course, the fact that he slept really well last night (and a good portion of that was in his bassinet!) helps us to have a better daytime. The beginning of the day was very laidback and we just did a few chores around the house during Jaxon's naps. Our maids came in the afternoon (something I have to give up soon) so the house is nice & clean now. Of course they loved seeing Jaxon & we swaped labor stories. Apparently that is something women feel the need to do (me included) whenever around a new baby or pregnant lady. Grammy, Great-grandpa & Great-grandma Walkup all stopped by for a quick visit too. Grammy got a chance to feed Jaxon a bottle (I'm now pumping breastmilk & he can have the occasional bottle. I'd like to keep it to a minimum until he & I get the hang of this nursing thing). They had to leave pretty quickly, so I think Grammy will be coming back soon, maybe tomorrow. After dinner, we went up to Porters Farm for some homemade ice cream. Like most outings, this was more for Mama & Daddy :)

Busy Day

Jaxon had a big day today.

We had his 2 week checkup at the pediatrician this morning. He weighed in at 8lbs 2oz today and everything else looked great. We had some general questions for the doc that he answered for us. So we found out that we can give him a supplemental bottle (I was worried about nipple confusion) starting this week, can take him to the pool this summer, and a few other minor things.

After that, Mama & Daddy picked up some fast food & we stopped by a great park in Garner on the way back home. We pushed JP around in the stroller & stopped to eat our lunch in the sun. It was a nice little outing.

Then while Daddy hung out at home, we trekked out to the mall in Raleigh to meet GiGi. I had the stroller, but GiGi carried him thru the mall, haha. After some shopping, we headed over to Mama's favorite Mexican restaurant to meet up with Aunt Sophie who was with her friend MS & her mother CS. He got a cute little outfit from them that I can't wait to see him wear. Then it was back to GiGi's to be shown off at all the neighbor's houses while waiting for Papi & Uncle Noah to get home from a baseball game. We finally headed back toward home around 10PM! What a day! Hopefully he'll sleep great tonight!!

Jaxon's Due Date

Today was Jaxon's original due date! He's already 13 days old though and we couldn't be happier to have him already here with us these last two weeks.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!

We celebrated our first mother's day with family. The first part of the day we spent at home & I had a very sweet card from Daddy. I almost started crying (almost) at what he wrote. Then we all spent the afternoon & evening at Aunt Joy & Uncle Jerry's. This was really our first true outing with Jaxon (other than to Target) and was a long one. They gave me a vase of 18 red roses, one for each year before Jaxon becomes an adult. It was so thoughtful and the roses were beautiful! We enjoyed spending the day with family & of course Jaxon was the star of the day even if it was Mothers Day :)

Help around the house

Jack's parents spent the day with us today & we had a great time along with getting a lot of work done around the house. They came over pretty early and while I fed Jaxon, they worked out in the yard with Jack. Our 'landscaping', using that term very loosely here, needed a lot of work as it had been quite neglected since infertility treatments & pregnancy. Thanks to their help, the bushes were shaped up, dead plants pulled up, weeds cut down & some of the trees were trimmed. The small shed also was reorganized & lots of unused/worn out items trashed. The yard looks a ton better already. There is still a lot to do but it is the more intensive stuff like reseeding the yard, etc. All the work that was done makes the yard look tons better and I don't think it would have gotten done any time soon if not for the help! I also got some work done in the house like cleaning my office & doing laundry, while Jack's mom held & entertained Jaxon. We topped off the day with a trip up to the Draft House for some fish & chips!!

Today was also our 5th wedding anniversary! Since Jaxon is only 11 days old, we did not make any plans to celebrate. We've known since the beginning of my pregnancy that we'd likely not have a chance to do much celebration this year. We'll have to make up for it another year!

Umbilical cord

Jaxon's umbilical cord stump fell off today! Kinda gross and we're glad it's off! Now his cute little belly button can heal up and he can have regular baths.

Mastitis

We figured out today that I do indeed have mastitis. The other day I had flu-like symptoms & then since then have had a slight reddish spot, almost a stripe, on my left breast. The spot was warm to the touch and slightly painful whenever pressure was applied. A call to my OBGYN confirmed our self-diagnosis and some antibiotics were prescribed. Hopefully I'll be feeling better soon. When the nipples are cracked & sore, bacteria (usually from baby's mouth) can enter the breast to cause the infection. Lovely.

We also had visitors today. Uncle Chris, Uncle Brinn & Gabi all stopped by to see Jaxon. Brinn & Gabi also brought their new puppy, Sky, who is a tiny little Jack Russell Terrier. Of course with the teeny puppy, we had to leave all our big dogs outside. Everyone took turns holding Jaxon which gave Jack & I time to do a few things (including playing with the puppy!).

First Doctor Visit

Jaxon had his first visit to the doctor this morning. We met Dr. Johnson and thought he was really nice & he spent a lot of extra time with us new parents. Jaxon had to be stripped down to be weighed, and he peed as the nurse carried him to the scale (way to go buddy). He weighed in at a whopping 7lbs 11oz!! That means since we were discharged from the hospital he put on almost a pound (thats in just 3 days)! The doctor guessed that I was not having any problems breastfeeding, lol.

Great-Grandparents

Great-grandpa & Great-grandma Walkup surprised us with a visit today. We were sitting around watching the NHL playoffs when we saw them pull up in the driveway! They had decided to come up from Fayetteville after church. They brought us some pretty blue tipped carnations which had been placed at church in honor of Jaxon's birth & the church bulletin (gotta save all this stuff for Jaxon's scrapbook!). We enjoyed visiting with them & Jaxon stayed asleep pretty much the whole time. He didn't mind being passed between the grandparents while Jack & I watched the game. (Penguins won 3-2 in overtime against the Rangers, sending them to the Eastern Conference Finals!!)