EWWWW!!

My EXTREMELY WEIRD 4 year old child did something this morning that left me completely speechless and disgusted. He was sitting on the floor watching cartoons this morning with his knees straight up in the air, and his feet flat on the floor. I looked up in time to see this incredible feat of flexibility as he bent his entire body around his knees, leaned down, and.......proceeded to LICK the top of his foot!!!!!!!!!!! EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! I'm not just talking about a "little" lick either! This kid had the ENTIRE top of his tongue running from the top of his ankle all the way to his toes! EWW!

Weirdo. I swear, he doesn't get it from me! lol

Nervous....

So, Dalton's dad tells me yesterday that he's moving to Houston by the 1st of August. I already knew he was planning on coming down here, and approved it since Dalton misses him so much. But I didn't expect it so quickly. I keep thinking that I shouldn't be nervous...that Brian has done his time, paid his fines, has done everything the judge has told him to do, and hasn't slipped or messed up yet...as far as I can tell anyways.

But it's hard to forget what happened. Few people know, because it's not something that I run around telling people about. Let's just say it was sufficiently bad enough to make me leave Ohio pretty much overnight with my VP's help. I don't think I've ever been so grateful to a person as I was to Chad and Maegan at that point in time! I'm just happy that Dalton was too young to remember anything. Brian really, really has cleaned up his act, and I'm comfortable with letting him be a dad again. And I really don't think that he'd ever repeat the mistake that he made again. But I can't help having the what-ifs.

Honestly, I think my main what-if is worrying about Dalton forgetting about me and wanting to be with his dad. He sees him so little, that every time he does, the two of them are inseparable. Brian kept Dalton the week Dean and I were on our honeymoon, and every time I called, Dalton didn't even want to talk to me. I chalked it up to him having so much fun that he was too busy, and it didn't really bother me. I was actually happy that he wasn't feeling abandoned. lol And it still doesn't bother me...but, what if it happens again when Brian is here permanently? I know that the first couple of weeks, Dalton will be attached to his hip...lol...but what if afterwards he'd rather be with Brian all the time?

I know I'm not the first mother to split time with their child's father, and I won't be the last, but I haven't had to deal with that. Period. Dalton is 4 and I've had sole (although not by a judge's rule) custody of him the whole time. I've never had to share. *sigh* I know I'm whining. I guess I'm just in a weird mood today.

4 weeks ALREADY!

Yep. As of today at 8:04 pm, my little one is a whole 4 weeks old! I can't believe how much time has gone by! Ryan is doing really great too. His doctor had switched him to a soy formula because he's lactose intolerant, and it seems to be helping immensely! He doesn't really spit up anymore, at least not any more than a normal baby, and he doesn't get gassy as much either. And thank GOD he doesn't stratch out and scream in pain anymore!!! That almost broke my heart not being able to help him. :-(

He's turned into a little chunky monkey too! He still has his chubby cheeks, of course, but now he's 9lbs, 4 oz to go along with them. lol He's also doing pretty well at holding his head up. It's still a little floppy, and he can't hold it up for too long at a time, but every day it gets better and better. :-) He's also starting to try to flip over. He can roll onto his side pretty easily...or at least when he's mad and flopping around, lol...but he hasn't really rolled completely onto his tummy yet. It probably won't be long!

He's also pretty dang smart! lol He HATES being on his stomach. Any time he has gas, I'll lay him on my knees or hold him upright against my shoulder, and he will throw his head towards my elbow, so that his whole body rolls and flops down into the crook of my arm. lol He's been doing that pretty much since birth, but now it's definitely a more calculated move on his part! Well, it's late, and I'm tired, so I'm going to stop for now. There's more to add later I'm sure, and I need to put a few pics up...maybe tomorrow. So check back later. :-)

2 week check-up

Yep! I can't believe he's already 18 days old! I realized I had forgotten to blog about his check-up the other day, so I figured it's better late than never! lol Both Ryan and I had our check-ups the same day, so it was a pretty long day anyways.

Ryan has grown almost a whole inch since he was born! He's now 20 1/2 inches and weighs 8lbs 7 oz. He's supposed to go into a growth spurt by the end of his 3rd week, so he may get even bigger! lol He still has his chipmunk cheeks and double chin, but the neck roll is disappearing a little bit. :-( It was so cute! lol His doctor thinks that he might be lactose intolerant since he spits up a lot and gets so gassy that he'll arch his back and scream for about 20 minutes at a time. She gave me a couple of soy formula samples to try, so we'll see if it helps.

I'm doing pretty good too! My feet aren't as swollen as they were, although they're not completely healed yet. My incision is healing pretty nicely and I'm starting to regain some of the feeling in the nerves that the surgeons cut through in my abdomen. It feels weird! I've lost 15 lbs so far! Yay! Only bad news is my blood pressure is high for some weird reason, and they want me to take blood pressure meds. I think I'm going to hold off on that until I lose all the baby weight and see if it comes down some! Best of all...I actually have some energy and can move around without hurting as much! And I no longer need help! lol

That's about all the news I have so far! lol More to come I'm sure...

Wow...what a crazy couple of weeks!

So, as you all know, Ryan Alexander is FINALLY here! He was born on May 31 at 8:04 pm, weighed a healthy 7lbs, 12oz, and was 19 and 3/4 inches. He wound up being about 2 weeks early, so if he had been born at 40 weeks, he would have been almost 9lbs!!

He is absolutely PERFECT! He looks just like Dean! :-) He has brown hair of course, and the same hairline as Dean. It's actually kind of funny looking at them together! lol He also has Dean's blue eyes. :-) I'm hoping he'll keep the blue eyes, but if not, brown will be ok too. lol

His delivery was kind of nuts. On the morning of the 30th, I had an NST done at my doctor's office in Texas City. I was on the machine for almost 2 1/2 hours, and he wasn't reacting the way they wanted him to, so they sent me to the hospital for more monitoring. Of course, I got there, and he decided to wake up and kick everywhere. (figures) lol I thought they were going to send me home like every other time, but the ultrasound they did showed he wasn't as active as they thought, so they went ahead and induced me at 3:20 that afternoon.....

...28 hours later, I still wasn't dilated past a 3 (which I had been dilated to for WEEKS), and he wasn't reacting very well to the pitocin, so I had to have a C-section. That was actually the last thing I wanted, so I cried a little bit. But definitely not much! lol I was ready for him to come OUT! lol It was weird being strapped down to a table and having a doctor poke me with a pushpin every couple of minutes and asking if I could feel it. lol He had to keep upping the meds until I was numb enough. It's so weird that even though you're numb and you don't feel the pain, you feel every part of the surgery. It's a lot of pushing, pulling, and a kind of a pressure feel. I don't think I'll ever forget the moment that I felt this incredible pressure, then it went away and I heard two little cries. I didn't cry when Dalton was born...I was too exhausted. This time I did. Dean was with me the whole time, and when the doctors cleaned Ryan up a bit, they let Dean hold him. :-) As soon as I get the hospital pics back, I'll post them.

After the C-section, I went to a recovery room. I don't really remember it....They had me drugged up pretty good and I couldn't stop shaking. lol It was definitely NOT funny then, but looking back on it, I'm sure I looked crazy. lol I remember my mom brought a Sonic cup in, and I almost took her head off! Gimme a break...it was Saturday around 10:00 pm and I hadn't had ANYTHING to drink or eat since the day before around 7:00 am!!! I think everyone laughed, but I don't remember it...I think I fell asleep again. lol I didn't even get to hold Ryan until they moved me to a patient room around midnight!

My recovery in the hospital went pretty well. I hurt a lot of course, and I had some pretty WICKED swollen feet! (Omg! I've NEVER seen swelling so bad!!) The surgeon had bruised a nerve in my abdomen, so I couldn't really bend over at the waist for a week and a half, but that's a little better now too. As of right now we're all doing pretty well. :-) We're all exhausted though! I think the only person around here getting any sleep is Dalton! lol

A little update

I'm getting pretty lazy about this blog thing. lol Sometimes there's so much to say, but I don't feel like writing about it, so of course, the next time I blog, I have to backtrack days...sometimes weeks!

So..what's been going on lately??? Wellllllll.......of course, there was that 3rd trip to labor & delivery (I am SOOOO getting tired of that place! lol), but I think I blogged about that. Oh yeah, and now my doc says that because of the singular umbilical artery, they won't let me go past my due date at all! Yay! Dalton was 2 weeks late, and I really don't think I could handle that again! lol She said that most likely, at 39 weeks (if I haven't already delivered) that they'll set an inducement date. In a perfect world they wouldn't have to do that (Pitocin is the devil....literally), but at this point I could really care less! Give me drugs before you break my water, and I'm a happy person! lol

It feels like there's still so much to do. It's almost never ending! lol And before you ask........nooooooooooo we still haven't picked out a name *irritated sigh.* And no, it's not by MY choice that we can't decide. As it is, the name I WANT isn't going to happen, because Dean hates it, but I keep telling him that if I go into labor without his input on names, then it's tough shit. I'll pick a name, and he just has to deal with it! lol

We still need to do some baby shopping too. All the major, necessary stuff is taken care of, but I still want to get some more onesies and outfits. Rebecca and I are going to hit up some resale shops. :-) I totally LOVE resale shops! :-) :-)

Well, I think I'm about ready for breakfast, and it sounds like Dalton is destroying something, so I'll have to finish this later (I don't really think there's a whole lot more anyways. I seem to be a hermit lately. lol).

I HATE contractions :-(

I'm really, really, REALLY getting sick of being pregnant. Ughh. I went into pre-term labor again Sunday night...yeah...at least he waited until AFTER the baby shower. lol This time, I was having contractions so intense, I was having to breathe through them. Good news: The doctors say I'm far enough along that they're not going to stop the contractions. Bad news: They're not changing my cervix much, so they keep sending me home...with NO pain relief. Double bad news: Early labor can take anywhere from hours to weeks. So far, it's Wednesday, and I'm STILL having contractions. Ughh.

They're not 1 1/2 minutes apart anymore...they definitely slowed down a lot, and they're not QUITE so intense either, but having consistent contractions for so many days now makes it feel like I have a vise wrapped around my back and stomach from tailbone to shoulderblades in the back and from crotch to ribs in the front. It hurts to move, it hurts to breathe, and I can barely even turn over on my own. Uggh. I'll be so glad when this over and I can be happy (and medicated) again. lol