One Month Old Already!!

I can't believe my baby is a month old today! Everyone always says that they grow up so fast... and they were right! It's amazing how much he's grown and changed in just the last few weeks! His 1 month check up is Monday and I'm curious to see how much the little milk monster weighs. I bet he's clocking in at around 11 pounds... wouldn't be surprised if it's closer to 11 1/2 by Monday! When I carry him around, he definitely doesn't feel like a newborn. He's slowly starting to get on a little schedule. He's been going to bed around 8 or 9 and then sleeps for a good 5 or 6 hours! I will then feed him and he'll go back to sleep and usually sleeps for around 4 more hours... so we are getting a decent amount of sleep at night! He also takes a good 3 hour nap in the morning - thank goodnes, or I would NEVER take a shower. He loves to take a bath in his "big boy" bathtub... it's really just one of those plastic toddler tubs, but I think he likes it because he gets to sit in the water and stay warm. He's started noticing things like his mobile and all the toys that hang from his play yard. He will also stick his tongue out when I stick mine out at him! He LOVES his swing... I sometimes feel guilty leaving him in it for long periods of time, but that's sometimes the only way he will sleep!

I also can't believe that in less than 2 weeks, I will be going back to work part time! I work out of the house, so I'll still be here with him. Hopefully he'll still be taking some good naps. I don't go back to work full-time until December 1st, so I've got a little more time before he's a big boy and starts daycare.

Anyways, here are some pictures I've taken in the last few days. Enjoy!

Check out his little outfit with the shoes! Looks like a little old man!

I Just Had to Share...

This cute little picture!

First Time for Everything!

Wow! I never realized how exhausting one little baby could be - hence why I haven't posted anything in over a week! I'll try to do better!

This week has been a week of "firsts"... starting off with Baby Clay's first trip out of town. We decided last minute to go to Atlanta over the weekend and visit family and friends. Mark had to be in ATL early Monday morning for work, so we decided Friday night to head over there on Saturday and spend some time at my parent's new place. We had plans to leave around 9 in the morning... but Clay had other plans for us. So about 12:00 we were finally pulling out of our driveway! The car was packed down... Mark is now threatening me with getting the "infamous mini-van" because we had no more room in the car. Clay did great on the car ride over there and back. He slept the whole time! Besides hanging out with the family, we went over to our friend's, Tony and Melissa, house to introduce them to Clay. Clay also got to meet his girlfriend, Caroline, although he slept through the introduction.

Another first that happened this week is Clay rolled over all by himself!! I couldn't believe it! We've been playing this little game where he lays on his stomach on my chest while I'm in the recliner and he can roll from side to side by himself, but I was curious to see if he could actually roll over while laying on the floor. So... while we were doing "tummy time" on his play mat, I showed him how to roll over a couple of times to his back - lo and behold... he did it all by himself! He's such a genius :)!

Clay also got to meet his first little friend last night! Our friends, Tony and Marsha, had their little boy a couple of days ago and we went to visit. He was a few weeks early and weighed a good 6 1/2 pounds. We put them side by side and took some pictures - Clay looks like a 3 month old next to his little friend! (Once I get those pics, I'll post them.) I'm so excited for little Clay to have a friend that will be so close in age (they are only 3 weeks apart!). We are also building a house right next door to their's, so they will be able to spend lots of time together!

Some other firsts we had this week are his first trip out to eat (he did so well, we've taken him out with us 4 times now!!), his first bottle (Woo Hoo!! Time for girl's night out!!), and the first REAL smile that he gave to his mommy (daddy actually got his very first real smile). It's amazing how much changes in such a short time!

As far as my recovery, it's going great! I'm still a little sore and I'm trying to not overdo things, but I am now able to walk my normal route around the neighborhood (with baby and dog in tow, of course). I weighed myself the other day - and WOO HOO!!! - I am 1/2 pound below my pre-pregnancy weight!!!! I still have that terrible saggy belly, which I hope goes away soon! On my next (and last) kid, I will request the doctor do a tummy tuck during the c-section :)!

Anyways... I can't believe my little baby is almost a month old!! It's amazing how time flies and how fast they change!

Below are some recent pictures...

First Road Trip - Sound Asleep

Soooo over the Road Trip!

Sleeping with Daddy

Somewhat of a smile

Pondering Life...

Playing on his play mat

Wow! He's a MONSTER!!!

So, we had Clay's 2 weeks doctor's appointment yesterday and I was all worried about his weight. I learned in my breastfeeding class that he should be up to his birth weight by his 2 week check up. Well... last week I received a call from one of the lactation consultants from the hospital checking up on me to see how breastfeeding was going. I told them it was going good! She then asked how many times I was feeding him a day and I said around 6 or 7 times. Clay is a hard sleeper and also has a tendency to fall asleep when feeding. Once that happens, it's almost impossible to wake him up! The lactation consultant then proceeded to tell me that 6 or 7 times is NOT enough and I should be feeding him at least 8 - 12 times a day... even if I have to wake him up every 2 - 3 hours. She said that babies do not know when they are hungry so we need to feed them regularly. She had me all freaked out! I thought I was a bad mom because I hadn't been feeding him enough. So I tried to feed him every 2 - 3 hours - that didn't go over very well! It took all my time and energy just trying to keep him awake!

Which leads me back to the doctor's appointment. I knew he must be putting on weight because his belly and cheeks were getting a little chubby. I was hoping he'd be back up to his birth weight of 8 lbs 7 oz. They weighed him... and little chub weighs 9 lbs 9 oz!!!!!!! Far surpassing his birth weight! I could not believe it (the doctor couldn't either)! We have now been given the go ahead to let him sleep and eat when he wants. The doctor said that if he wants to sleep for 12 hours straight... let him.

Everything else checked out great as well. We do have to vary his sleeping position because he favors his head turning to the right side and she said that it was looking a little "flat" (nothing out of the ordinary, though).

Well... the monster is getting restless in his swing (which, by the way is the BEST invention in the world) so I must go tend to him.

Two Weeks Old!!!

Wow! Two weeks has flown by! I can't believe it's been 2 weeks from today that I gave birth to my sweet little Clay. We've had our good and bad moments, but every single minute has been worth it. He's starting to develop his own cute little personality and is getting bigger and bigger every day. He's got his 2 week doctor's appointment tomorrow morning and I can't wait to see how much he weighs. I'm hoping he's surpassed his birth weight because his doctor said once that happens, I can let him sleep a little longer at night instead of waking him up to feed him.


Yesterday we had a friend of ours come up from Birmingham and take his newborn pictures. He did such a good job! I got them developed today and they turned out so CUTE!!! Mark just had to incorporate something "racing" into the pictures. He has this racing tire that is autographed by Kyle Petty... which is his prized possession. He had visions of getting pictures of Clay in the tire and our photographer made it work. I must admit... the racing tire pictures turned out really cute! Here are a few of my favorite pictures. I just have the black and white pictures, but should be getting the color pictures soon.

All the Details - First Week!

I've been trying to find time to write this post, but suprisingly... I have not found the time until now :). I want to make sure I remember everything that happened in the last week and blogging helps with my terrible memory loss! Bear with me... it's going to be a LONG post.

(For those who have short attention spans, here's a summary: C-section went well, stayed in the hospital for 2 nights, baby eats and sleeps a lot, Monte likes him, baby has peed on Mark a couple of times :), I think we'll keep him!)

Last Monday, Sept 8th, we went in for a scheduled c-section to deliver our beautiful little boy! I was extremely anxious about the surgery, but very excited to meet Clay. When we got to the hospital, they took us back to a prep room where they hooked me up to a fetal heart beat monitor and gave me my IV. I am not good at getting IV's!! The IV could possibly have been the worst part of the surgery! Next they wheeled me into the operating room - which was probably the coldest room I've ever been in my life! My doctor was in the middle of delivering another baby so they went ahead and gave me the spinal (which by the way was extremely painful - not to mention that you have to be VERY still through all the pain since there's a GIANT needle going into your spinal cord). Immediately my lower half went completely numb. My doctor finished up her delivery and came in to start my surgery. Mark was there with me and I kept threatening him so that he would not peek over the curtain to watch the surgery. He, of course, did not listen to me and pretty much watched the whole thing. I'm glad he did because his expressions when they were pulling Clayton out were priceless. The best thing about the whole surgery was when we heard our little boy cry for the first time. He has a good set of lungs! They checked him out and cleaned him up a little bit and brought him over to me to meet him for the first time. He was perfect! After that, Mark went with him to the nursery while they sewed me up. Then, I was wheeled off to recovery where I stayed for about an hour.

As expected, I was extremly anxious during recovery to see my baby and hear how he was doing. They did let Mark come back there with me for the last 15 minutes and he showed me some pictures. They then took me to my room where I finally got to hold precious little Clay! That is the most amazing feeling in the world! Mark and I had some alone time with him and then everyone got to come in and be introduced.

I only had to stay in the hospital 2 nights and we were released Wednesday afternoon. Coming home for the first time was so exciting! I hadn't seen my little Monte in a couple of days, so I was excited to see him! He was not very interested in seeing me, though, since his girlfriend, Mimi was in town to visit. My parents stayed with us and helped out tremendously until Saturday.

The first week has been both easy and hard. He's a good nurser for the most part... and he's a good sleeper. The only bad thing about the sleeping part is that I have to wake him up to get him to nurse and then try to keep him awake while nursing. Other than that, he's been an absolute angel.

We had Clay's first doctor's appointment last Friday and he passed with flying colors :). He was even up from his hospital discharge weight... 7 lbs 13 oz to 8 lbs. They doctor was very pleased and said that was excellent!

Monte is doing very well with his new little brother. I was so worried he would be upset that he was no longer the "only child" but he has been very good with Clay. He even has resumed his spot in the bed with us and gives Clay kisses on his head while I'm nursing him.

Now we are trying to establish somewhat of a routine with nursing, feeding, and changing. Mark is doing a wonderful job with diaper duty and giving baths. He's a pro! He has been peed on a couple of times - gotta watch out for little boys! It's amazing how much distance they can get when it's out in the open :)!

Now for the fun part... here are some more pictures of our sweet little Clay!

Clay's favorite sleeping position
Yes, we finally broke down and gave him a pacifier!

Rare photo op with his eyes open

Milk Coma!

He finally found his thumb!

INTRODUCING... Baby Clay!!

Finally! I'm able to get a bit of time to do Clay's first official post!! Here goes...

Introducing - Baby Clayton Neal Marshall

Born: September 8th, 2008 at 12:51 PM

Weight: 8 pounds 7 ounces

Length: 20 inches

I wanted to go ahead and get the "official" announcement on my blog, but I will post all the details later! Clay is getting fussy, so duty calls! Thanks to all of your thoughts and prayers!!! They are greatly appreciated and we love you all!!!

Mid-Week Update - I'm Still Pregnant!

So, it looks like Baby Clay is still content to be inside - which is fine with me (until next Monday, of course)! I've pretty much accomplished everything on my multiple lists so now I get to relax until he gets here next Monday! It's so weird to think that this time next week, I'm going to have an actual, live human being to take care of! It hasn't really hit me yet, but I'm sure it will Monday.

I have finally finished the nursery - I got the window treatment up last night and it looks ADORABLE (pictures to come at the end of this post). My friend, Lea Anne, made it for me and it fits perfectly in the nursery! So everything is good and ready for Clay!

I'm feeling HUGE and sleep is starting to dwindle either due to being uncomfortable or nerves! Other than that, I feel great! My diabetes is doing just fine and my levels have actually been pretty low so I've been splurging a little bit. Only 5 more days of having to prick my finger and give myself injections!!!

Mark and I have a bet on Clay's birthweight and length. Mark thinks he's going to be 9 lbs 2 oz and 22 inches long. I think he's going to surprise us all and not be over the 9 lbs everyone thinks he is. I'm thinking more like 8 lbs 11 oz and 21 inches long. I'm curious as to what everyone else thinks! Let me know!!

Now for the picture part. This may be my last "pregnant" picture unless I take another one right before "the big day". If I don't post before next Monday, I'll try to get something up as soon as possible (pictures, of course!) to keep everyone in the loop!! I may have to teach Mark how to do all of this...

One week before delivery!!!

The gorgeous window valance Lea Anne made for the nursery!

How it looks in the room (sorry about the glare in the window - I'm photographically challenged)