The Life of a Housewife Comes to an End...

Today is Ryder's 8 Week Birthday! This can only mean one thing... time for mommy to go back to work. Maternity leave is not what I expected. I expected lots of late sleeping, catching up on shows, shopping, getting out and about with Ryder, lots of strolls around the neighborhood, and most of all RELAXATION!!! I'm not sure any of these things happened. You just can't get out and about with a baby this age, no, not because of the germs, etc., but because you never know what the mood may be. When he was three weeks old, my mom rode with me to TJ Maxx so I could shop a bit. She offered to keep him and just let me go, but for some reason I have this weird thing with shopping by myself, but I only really like to shop with my sister (and mom) for some reason. I think I like shopping with Kayla so much because she will go anywhere and everywhere I want to go, at anytime of the day or week. And she'll always hold my stuff for me while I shop and push the buggie if we're at Target, TJ, Marshall's, or anywhere that has buggies. Anyway, back to the subject, my mom went with me and Ryder was doing so good the whole time. Then he started to get fussy and so I ran into the dressing room to change him. Well that didn't do the trick. So, my mom suggested I try to nurse him for a little while to soothe him. That was starting to work until the loud explosions came. I was SOOO embarrased. Mostly because no one knew I was in there with a baby, but the whole dang store was sure to hear these noises coming from my little baby's bottom in dressing room. Luckily, I was able to get out of the dressing room with no one waiting in line to see me, and for those who did see me, thank goodness they saw me with a baby.

Back to the maternity leave, here is what a normal day looks like for me: JM gets up for the first morning feeding which is usually between 5 & 6a.m. He tries to keep him up for about 30 min then puts him to sleep. Then, 3 hours later, around 9 am I am awakened by the cries and it's time to feed him (this child is like clockwork every 3 hours). I feed him for about 30 minutes, burp him, change him and we play on the activity gym for about 15 minutes or so. Then I'll carry him around the house while I do some picking up. Then after it's been an hour since I started feeding him, I usually put him down. Sometimes he falls right to sleep and others he cries it out for about 15 minutes. If it goes any longer than this I'll pick him up, but it usually never does. Then I do other things around the house, laundry, dishes, the usual cleaning things, then guess what? Yep, it's already 12 and time to eat again. Then I do it all over again. I am NOT complaining by any means, it's just not what I expected!

Here are a few pics of this big ole' boy. His shots are Thursday, I'm trying to prepare myself.

Just Beautiful

I was going through Emails and just found this one John Michael's cousin, Brooke, sent of pictures from the hospital. I had to add a couple, they are great! I know this is kind of weird, but looking back at these pictures kind of makes me miss being at the hospital just because I realized how fast this first month has gone by.

Lots of Surprise Visits!

Ryder got a surprise visit from his aunt Kayla on his 4 week old birthday! We were so surprised and excited to see her, we didn't want her to leave =(

We're so proud of him lifting his little head! He's been doing this for a couple of weeks now.

Here he is at one month or 4 weeks, whichever it is...

Ryder also got a visit from his new friend Leighton Butler, Katie's little girl and Kristen's neice. She is so precious and kept telling him she loved him and sang him "Jesus Loves You"

Ryder also got to visit his great grandmother, Meme, last week in Greenville, and on the way we gave a surprise visit to his Nanni in Yazoo City at her office. We are just full of surprises lately!

I just love this little bath pic... so sweet

Last night we were sitting in the bed and John Michael caught this smiley face...

must've been making a dirty...

Here is Ryder with his aunt Marlee and cousin Sellers, and aunt Courtney and cousin Walker. Ryder and Sellers are 3 months apart and he and Walker are a little over 2 years apart.

The First Month

It's so weird to even type the words "The First Month." How in the world has it already been a month? I'm so sad! I'll be back at work before I know it and I don't know what I'm going to do. I have enjoyed being home with Ryder so much, he really is a good baby, only cries when he's dirty or hungry, he very rarely just cries to cry. And let me just mention how darn CUTE he is! Oh he is just adorable!! Let me just show him off a little bit and post some pictures from over this past month.

Our Baby Boy is Here!

I cannot believe Ryder will be ONE MONTH TOMORROW!!!! And even more, I can't believe this is the first time I've posted about it. Actually, now that I have a baby, I don't know how people post as often as they do. Wish I could be better about it!

HOWEVER... here is the info on our sweet little angel. He was born Tuesday, September 8 at 2:34 p.m. He was 8 lb. and 21 inches. We had a great delivery and John Michael was the best coach ever! I was so proud of him because he is such an antsy person and a worry wart, and he held it together so well! The whole experience was so surreal, it was the best day of my life and the best experience of my life. I will never ever forget the feeling when they handed Ryder to me. I have heard a thousand times that it is something you cannot explain, but of course I didn't understand that until that very moment. Since we've been home, life has been a little tough just getting used to the whole thing, but it's been so much fun. I have had tons of help and that has made all the difference in the world. JM and I have gotten to get out a pretty good bit considering it's only been a month, so that's been nice.

A little more about Ryder, when we left the hospital, he was 7.8 lb which was fine. Then, when we took him for his 2 day outpatient checkup, he had dropped down to 7 lb...not fine. The doctor was pretty concerned so we started to add in an ounce of formula after each feeding, and we went back two days later and then two days after that, and he was back to 7.5 lb. Then, at his 2 week checkup at Children's Medical Group (which was about a week after he was 7.5 lb), he was up to a whopping 8.9 lb!!! So, needless to say, we didn't let that little boy starve for very long!!

Now for some pictures...

coming in to see Ryder for the first time

Ryder with his papa, becky & aunt kayla