Weekend at Grammie's

Last week, we had our final meals from our Sunday School class. It has been such a blessing and has really helped out as we've gotten accustomed to having a little guy to take care of in the evenings. It's also give us a chance to show him to so many of our close friends. Kenneth & Kristy (despite a busy week) made us dinner Monday night, and Jeremy and Erin came over on Wednesday night. As the picture shows, Joshua was a little fussy toward the end of their visit. We also had another visit from my cousin, Rebecca, last week.


After a fun week, we headed to my Mom and Dad's for the weekend. Porter's Youth Group does a Disciple Now weekend every spring. (It's basically an "in-town" retreat where the different age groups stay at host homes.) Andy and I had been leaders last year, but given our more interesting last few weeks, we had to pass this year. But, we were still able to share our house. Five 10th grade boys and two adult leaders stayed at our house Friday and Saturday night. Andy slept there and got them settled in on Friday. Joshua and I stayed over at my mom and dad's house...his first sleepover at Grammie's :). Andy joined us for dinner and for part of the time Saturday afternoon.

Saturday night, we had my grandfathers and uncle Johnny over for dinner. It was nice to have a smaller gathering where each Grandfather could take a turn holding him. Dandy held Joshua for a good bit before dinner. After dinner, Grandpa took Joshua, who was getting a little fussy, sang to him and rocked him until he fell asleep. I asked Grandpa if he'd done that before, and he said that with me, they had to bounce on the bed as hard as they could to keep me from screaming. I guess Joshua didn't pose too much of a challenge compared to that.

We came back home Sunday afternoon and tried out the Baby Bjorn carrier. Joshua really liked it, so we can't wait until it's nice enough outside to take him for a walk outside. After this weekend, we've decided he's going to love playing outside. Every time he would begin to get fussy, Mom could take him outside, and he would relax and calm down. I even did it on the front porch Sunday. We couldn't really walk outside because of the rainy weather, but he still calmed down. I was really surprised.

Easter in Owensboro

We made our first real road trip last weekend when we traveled to Owensboro for the first time since Joshua's arrival. We were racing against the clock on our journey since it takes about 2 hours and 45 minutes to get from our house to Andy's parents...and Joshua eats about every 3 hours. We fed him, then raced to the car hoping he wouldn't throw a hungry fit before our arrival. Joshua did wonderfully and slept almost the entire way there and the entire way back. As you can see from this picture, the angle of a safe car seat is not so conducive to a newborn's head placement. This is how he slept the entire way to Owensboro. When I reached over to try to prop his head up a little, he fussed at me. So, I left him alone. It didn't look very comfortable to me, but I guess he was fine. About 30 minutes into our return trip, he figured it out and lifted his head into the infant head rest and kept it there for the rest of the way. We were so proud of his good travelling...and very relieved we did not have any elongated crying fits :).

When we arrived Friday night, both of his great-grandmothers were able to come over and meet him. Also, Andy's uncle Don and aunt Nancy had come in from Atlanta to visit with Mamaw as well as see Joshua for the first time.
Since they are on Central time, we tried to put him to bed around 8:30 their time, since that's close to when he'd start sleeping at home. But, that also meant that his first morning feeding came at about 4:30am. By 6:30, Joshua and I both were back asleep in the living room...where Andy caught us.

We spent lots of family time on Saturday. Andy and others watched Joshua while I did a little cooking and even got to go shopping for an hour or so. Here's a picture of Andy and Joshua watching the Masters on Saturday afternoon. With all the activity around the house, it seemed like Joshua just couldn't quite get a good nap. We went to visit Melody Brooks that afternoon, and she had a wonderful rocker...much like the one in our living room. Once he hit her arms in the rocker, he was out. And I was able to talk her into holding him there for almost an hour until his next feeding (it was a very hard sell :). Also, on our visit, we were able to meet Melody's new little puppy, Lilly, who was just too cute!

Easter morning, the family headed to church, and Joshua and I stayed at the house (since he's not supposed to go out in public until he's 6 weeks or so). Here's a picture of Mimi and Pops (Lee & Denny) with Joshua on Sunday morning before church. He is wearing the onesie that we wrapped up for Lee when we told her and Denny we were going to have a baby back in July. It says, "My heart belongs to Grandma."

Here are a few more pictures from Easter morning. By about 12:15, Joshua could not keep his eyes open, so he slept through Easter lunch with the family...which was actually pretty convenient for Andy and I. He's asleep in the Easter pictures, but we did have two shots with four generations, as well as some other good ones. He ate promptly after I finished lunch, and we raced back to the car for the trip home. We arrived just in time to feed him again and for all of us to watch the end of the Masters golf tournament.

Few More Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our last week or two of visitors. My cousins, Rebecca and Rachel were able to come and visit. Also, my mentor, Lisa Crawford, came by for a few hours one afternoon.

He has begun to enjoy his baths a little more now that he can actually sit in warm water (since his cord is completely off). He's not quite as cold...until we get him out of the water that is. Then he becomes thoroughly furious at us for subjecting him to such torture.

We went on a little outing to take dinner to our friends, Steve & Rebecca, who welcomed their daughter, Kelsy Grace, about a week after Joshua was born. Here is a picture of Joshua & Kelsy. Also, Kelsy's big brother, Caleb, took a turn holding Joshua since he's become so good at holding Kelsy. He held Joshua for about a minute when he turned and asked me, "Do you want to hold him now?". I replied that I would love to :)

We also had another visit from Shannon and George. This time, we put the boys down for a tummy time. George, with his go-with-the-flow demeanor, layed there for a few minutes then fell asleep. When we put Joshua beside him, Joshua squirmed continually for several minutes, eventually positioning himself where he could kick a sleeping George...who just kept sleeping despite the inconvenience of our little guy. Hopefully, George won't remember the rude incident :)

Snow in April??

So, we've had a good few days since the last update. We finished up our visit with Mimi (Lee) on Saturday, when Pops (Denny) came and picked her up. It was good to see Denny again, even just for a little bit. We will look forward to seeing them, Grandmommy, Mamaw, Uncle Don & Aunt Nancy this weekend in Owensboro...along with I'm sure many friends. We will leave late Friday and be ready for visiting on Saturday and Sunday :)

We also finished our week with Mimi with several visitors. Kenneth, Kristy and Noah Bruce came to visit Thursday night. Noah had a long day, but Grammie was quick to step in as soon as she finished dinner, playing Noah's "guitar" and riding the blue horse for Noah. Noah definitely found a good playmate! Joshua, as he often does, slept through most all of their visit.

Friday morning, Mary Martha Reynolds made the trip to Nicholasville to visit with Lee and I and see Joshua. Friday night Brian, Amy & Caroline Cole came to visit (along with Uncle Eric & Aunt Joni Beth). Caroline loved the baby, though Joshua again slept through most of their visit. More than the baby, Caroline LOVED playing with Emma. She would run from Brian to Amy and back, letting Emma chase her in between. Both Caroline and Emma were a little worn out by the end. After Emma sort of surprised her from behind, Caroline held out her hand in proper traffic directing fashion and said, "Stop". Emma quickly backed up and sat down. It was too cute! Double thanks to Lee for cooking both nights for us and our guests.

Sunday Mark & Traci brought us lunch after church, so it was good to see them again. After Andy's deacon's meeting, we had a quiet evening just the three of us.

Monday we went to Grammie's house. Andy had dinner and FAITH visitation at church, so Joshua and I stayed for pizza with Mom and Uncle Chris, who held Joshua for the first time.

This (Tuesday) morning, we went back to the Pediatrician's office. Joshua had gained four more ounces, putting him up to 7 lbs. 5 oz. Dr. Gillespie as well as mom and Grammie were so proud of him. Everything else looked great, too, and the doctor thought he was so cute. I'm sure he says that to all the babies, but we couldn't help but agree :)

Even more interestingly, Joshua experienced his first snow today. While we drove home from the doctor's office, it was really coming down, and by noon, the ground was partially covered. It quickly melted, but who would have thought it was 76 degrees here on Sunday, and now, on April 7th, it's snowing. Joshua wore his fleece sleeper that says "Let It Snow" on the front (that we borrowed from Shannon and George) to the doctor's office.

One other change in the last week is how alert Joshua has been. He loves to look around the room or out the window, and his eyes are focusing much more intently. He's usually very content to lay on the floor or walk around the house and just look at things. He has also been smiling more and more. Sometimes it seems to be provoked by something, but we think it's still mostly random. We've continued to have some short nights, but he almost always sleeps for one four or five hour stretch each night and sometimes falls back to sleep again after being fed. We're certainly hoping the trend continues...and that we don't have any more crying fits late into the evening...though we never know exactly what each night may hold :)

Pictures from Our Week with Mimi

Here are a few pictures from our week with Mimi (Andy's mom, Lee). We started the week with a visit from Shannon and baby George on Monday. It was good to visit with them again, and we were able to go on a little walk, since the weather was so nice.

Tuesday, Lee and I took Joshua to the doctor's, and he "won the weigh in". He weighed 7 lbs. 1.5 oz, so we passed his birth weight. We don't have to go back to the pediatrician's office until his two month checkup on May 13th! That was definitely a relief, and we appreciate the encouragement and patience of the doctors in giving us a little extra time to get there. Then, we headed over to Mom's house for the afternoon. After much delay (mostly our fault :)), we celebrated my uncle Johnny's, Lee's, and Grandpa's birthdays. The actual birthdays were March 6th, 7th and 8th respectively. It was Joshua's first official family gathering (though there was certainly a family party in the waiting room at Central Baptist when he arrived). He slept through the entire party. That certainly made it easier on us, but he didn't get quite as much time with his great-grandfathers and other family members.

Wednesday, we mostly hung around the house with Grammie and Mimi. But, we also were able to take a walk with Kristen Talley and Kayla (who just turned 9 months old). It was wonderful to get to visit with Kristen and get some advice from a mom who's just been through many of the same things we're going through right now...especially trying to convince Joshua what is night and what is day :) We finished the day with a delicious meal from Sharyl Burns and Sharon Berry. It was great to see them and enjoy the food as well.

Today we're hanging around the house again and looking forward to seeing Kenneth and Kristy later tonight.

Most importantly, we have so much appreciated Mimi being willing to help out in so many ways this week, including taking some of the night shifts and handling all the cooking and much of the laundry and cleaning (except when my mom beats her to it :). Lee also seems to have the magic touch for getting Joshua calmed down and asleep...when he'd prefer to fight it. We will certainly miss her when she leaves on Saturday!