Long overdue

All right, I admit it, I've been a terrible blogger. I deeply apologize. My one excuse is that lately now I find that it takes careful effort and planning to even get in a shower!

Since my annoucement is long overdue, I gave birth to my beautiful boy on April 13th at 12:10pm. He weighed in at 6 lbs 13 oz 19 inches long and is PERFECT. We'll call him my little GT, like the car, haha.

The first couple weeks of parenting were not at all what I expected. I did expect it to be hard, but since I clearly had no previous experience caring for a newborn, I had no idea what I was in for. The breastfeeding issues, the sleepless nights, a crying baby, and total hormone overload really got to me. I am so happy to say that most of that has passed. Not the sleepless nights, but my breakdown crying reactions to them. And while formula feeding was never what I wanted to do, I have come to accept it and repeatedly remind myself that my baby is still going to be healthy even if he didn't get a lot of breastmilk. Afterall, I was formula fed and clearly I'm fine. Pretty sure they've improved on formula since the early 80s as well.

Last night was the first night that I got GT to sleep in his bassinet for two 2 1/2 hour stretches at a time. It was hard for me to let him fuss at first, but once he got that out of his system he fell asleep and I was able to as well. It was very nice to sleep in my own bed instead of on the couch.

I have all the shades open right now and it is a BEAUTIFUL day, I think I'd like to go for a walk later and am going to try to get ahold of mammagriffith and see if she'd like to go with me. I still have about 30+ lbs to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.

Well it looks like GT is currently working on a poop, so I better be off...I'll try to update this again soon, and hopefully I'll have a much more interesting blog!

Blessed

That is exactly how I feel today. I had another shower yesterday and needless to say, it was a success. Nearly everyone who was invited came, and the gifts were more than generous. I am so thankful. I had such a great time with family and friends, especially friends I haven't seen in quite a long time. The games were typical shower games, but everyone got a lot of enjoyment out of them, especially the one where they all had to cut a string exactly how long they guessed my belly was around. Some people maybe had a little too much fun with that.

Some pictures for you all:

Bassinet

After church and lunch today, I got back home and decided to tackle the bassinet that I'd started yesterday, only to leave in pieces all over the nursery floor. Turns out, I did need help. I'm apparently not coordinated enough to put it together myself. With some help from the CG, we got it together in about twenty minutes. It's beautiful, I absolutely love it.

A restful night

I've discovered that I absolutley cannot underestimate the rewards of a good night sleep. Last night was the first night in quite a awhile where I slept soundly. Yes, I still got up twice to pee but that's nothing compared to normal. I don't remember waking up once to find a more comfortable position. I was awoken about 20 minutes early to the feel of my baby attacking my sides, which sounds uncomfortable, but was really nice since he's spent the last few days being fairly inactive. I layed in bed until it was time to get ready for work, just enjoying the quiet time with me and my baby. By the time I was ready to get out of bed, I was fully awake and in a great mood. I don't even mind that I'm at work and actually have the motivation to get things done today. Yes City Girl, I did just say that. Of course, I'm on here blogging instead of doing any work, but I'm going to start as soon as I publish this, lol. If this lasts all day, I'm going to go home and put together my bassinet and glider.

3 day weekend

The absolute best thing about working in the banking industry is that they give you just about every holiday imaginable off. Which equals out to a lot of 3 day weekends, and since yesterday was President's Day I got to enjoy yet another one. On Saturday I went out to dinner with the CG, and we had a great time at the restaurant, even though we had to wait an hour (it was the Wine Walk in Cannon Beach). A very nice Valentine's Day. After church on Sunday I drove out to visit my best friend, and we had a lot of fun together. First we went to Outback (it is our tradition) and then wandered around Gresham browsing shops. I even bought a new book (Inkheart). So far it's pretty good. I stayed overnight at my parent's place and on Monday went to Babies R Us with my mom. The first thing I noticed was that quite a bit of what I registered for is not actually IN the store. A bit frustrating, I wish BRU would mention that online...but I went online later in the evening and changed a few things to items that were in the store. I also carried around the Graco Safeseat and the Chicco Keyfit for a bit. I like the Chicco more, but I still can't justify spending that much on it. Ah well. While we were there, my mom came across a beautiful bassinet and she bought it for me. I couldn't be happier, I love it! It is much better than the co-sleeper I was registered for, and for the same price. I also bought my glider while I was there, after spending 20 minutes just rocking in it. It was so comfortable, I can't wait to put the one I bought together so I can rock in it at home.

The only negative thing from the weekend is that my baby has moved even lower, something I would have swore was impossible. Walking is becoming so painful, it feels like my pelvis is going to break. I know I'm a wimp when it comes to pain...but is this normal?? Work today was very hard, and I keep wondering how I am going to make it 8 1/2 more weeks.

Ears

For the past 2 days I have had this constant rushing sound in my ears that is starting to drive me nuts. I can't hear very well either. They don't feel plugged and they don't hurt, it's just like a constant background noise of something similar to running water - but not quite. I honestly don't know what to do. A coworker is insistant that she thinks I have an ear infection, but don't ear infections hurt? I don't want to go to the clinic and pay a co-pay for them to just tell me I'm fine. That seems a bit ridiculious. But if this doesn't go away soon, I'm going to go offically crazy.

Naps

There is something so glorious about taking a nap in the middle of the day. It's so refreshing. I never sleep nearly as well at night as I do when taking a nap. I got one of those naps today. It felt amazing. I'm going pay for it tonight, but I don't care. It was worth it.