A New Chapter In Blogging

Once again, I have failed to keep up with the blog. Part of my delay is that I made a pact with myself about the blog. I decided I didn't want the blog to only be what it currently is....post some pictures of Braxton, brag about him a little, and then move on. I decided that's too superficial. Of course I will still do this to some extent cuz I love talking about my baby boy and showing him off to the world. But I want the blog to become more of a journal for me as well. I want to dig deep and really write about how I am feeling and what I am thinking. It just hasn't happened yet. I am finding that it is hard enough just to do life right now, let alone taking time to write about it on the computer. Being a full-time working mom is tough. I knew it wouldn't be easy, but it's still taking me quite a bit of effort and time to adjust to it all. And those of you that know me, know how much of a perfectionist i can be. I want to be the best mom, the best wife, the best homemaker, and the best employee all at the same time. And guess what...I'm none of those. But I am having to come to terms with the fact that that is ok. I think just being all of those roles at the same time, whether I am the best at them or not, is hard enough. And I should look at it as a great accomplishment that I am managing to do all of those to some extent or another without completely losing my head. Right? I may not keep my house as clean as I should these days. And I may not be accomplishing things at work quite as quickly as I used to. But I'm still doing it and getting it done eventually. And for that, I am proud! I have a much greater appreciation for all the working mothers in this world now, especially my own mother. It sure isn't as easy as most people think!

So there we go. It's a start to my personal pact to be more open and real and let my feelings spill out on "paper". Hopefully, I can keep it up. Now a quick peek at the "Little Man".

4 Months Old

16 pounds, 7 oz, 26 in. long, 17" head

(all about 90th percentile)

Braxton turned 4 months old on January 3rd. He is 1/3 of a year old already. I can't believe it. And he doesn't stop growing. He checked out great t his 4 month check-up and didn't cry quite as hard for his shots this time. That made mommy feel better! He is making new sounds every day and he loves to play and giggle. Tickling brings out the most precious laughs from him!

I wanted to post some pictures from his first Christmas, but the computer is not liking it right now. So maybe next time. Enough for today. Time to be lazy for the rest of the day before heading back to work tomorrow.

We've been ELF-ed

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

3 months and counting!

Why is it that the only time I ever "find" to update the blog (well actually it's time I "make") is while I am at work and therefore my posts are short. You all deserve more...that is the 3 of you who actually read this. Now I say all that only for this to be another short blog.

Braxton is doing great! He officially started sleeping through the night at 11 weeks! My tired body thanks him! There have been a few random nights when he doesn't make it the whole night (like when i screw with his schedule like i did over the weekend), but when he does wake, he doesn't need to be fed anymore which is great! We are now coming up on 14 weeks and he gets more and more fun every day. He smiles constantly and now when we play games with him, he full on giggles. It is so cute and sweet to hear a baby laugh. He always had little laughs he kinda did, but these are real "belly laughs". I love it!

Anyways, here is his 3 month pic...

3 months old and 15 pounds! (approx. 25 inches long by my home tape measurer so who knows how accurate my measurement really was).

Totally been MIA

Okay. So it has been forever and I apologize for being MIA. So much has happened that I can't really encompass it all in one post. SO I will summarize the past 3 months very quickly.

WE HAD A BABY!!!

Braxton Charles Shoults was born September 3, 2008 at 1:00pm via C-section. He was 20 inches long and weighed a whopping 9 pounds 3 ounces. He is a beautiful baby boy. Here is his first picture the moment after he was born.




Alot has happened in between his birth and now. I am back to work and he is now 11 weeks old. There are tons of pictures I could share, but they would be never ending on this blog. Instead, you can see a bunch on my or Chadwick's facebook page. And you can also see some at www.fuzzyshot.com/CUBuffskier (we update this one with new pics quite frequently).

We are plannin to take a picture of Braxton each month on his birthday of him sitting in the Luv Sac (bean bag chair) to show how much he is growing. Below are the ones from his first 2 months.

1 Month old. I forget how much he weighed here but it was around 11 pounds I think.

2+ months old. He weighed 13 pounds 9 ounces and was 22 inches long at his 2 month appointment.

OK. That's all you get for now. I will try to be better about posting now that ife is settling down and we are getting used to having a baby. We love him so much and he is a ton of fun. Look for more pictures and info to come.

video

More Pictures

We got more of our bedding pieces!! So we now have everything we NEED for our abby boy to come home. This week we got the curtains and the crib bumper. I haven't hung the curtains yet cuz I still need to get a rod, but the bumper is in place! See pictures below!

The inside of the crib with super soft fleecy fabric! I wish my bed looked that soft!

The finished product! I love having all the additional color in the room!

Another view of the crib! Can you find the hidden feline?

We also have another ultrasound tomrorow mornign at 8:30 to check the size of the baby one more time before he is due. Based on what this ultrasound shows, will effect the decisions we make as to what our "next steps" are. So hopefully we will have a "plan" in place early next week at my Doc appointment come Tuesday! Or perhaps, the holiday coming up will live up to it's name...."Labor Day". Who knows! But I am definitely ready to be done and to finally meet our new little man!

The Latest News

So, what's new?!?! Well, I'll start with the fact that we had an ultrasound done about 2 weeks ago and it confirmed that our baby boy is big! While the ultrasound is not always completely accurate, it still gives a good idea of what we can expect. It estimated our little boy to weigh about 8 pounds at 35 weeks! With the 90th percentile! Give or take a pound and we are almost certain that he is in the 7-9 pound range at that point. SO my doctor and I ahve been having discussions about what this will mean for me and my labor. We have run several extra tests, like the glucose screening, jsut to double check, and everything is checking out fine. It jsut looks liek Chadwick and are good at producing future College Linebackers! Now the debate will be CU or Michigan!

So right now we are playing it by ear each day as to what the next steps are. My doc won't do anything like induce until at least 39 weeks and even then there are other issues to consider. So we are having anohte ultrasound on Aug. 29th to check his size one more time and then we will make a decision from there. I'll try to keep everyone posted.

In the meantime, Chadwick keeps trying different methods of his own to induce labor. Some will go unmentioned, but he tries to convince me every day to drink castor oil or eat spicy food. Other days he tries to get me to go for 2 mile long walks where i waddle around the lake by our house. And he has now discovered the pressure point in my ankles that supposedly can induce labor....but hey, I get a foot rub out of it right?!?!

So for now, jsut one day at a time. I do have a few contractions here and there, but nothing consistent. And i definitely don't sleep well anymore. But I guess it's all jsut preparation for when our big "little" guy gets here. Ok, that's it for now. Enjoy a couple of pics below.

The bed skirt Grandma Kathie made. Pic doesn't do it jsutice, but it's super cute!

My use of existing wall decorations....plus some sports memorabilia!