Sick

Well I knew the day would come when my little one got sick. On Saturday he got a fever and had tummy problems. 24 hours later h seemed just fine but then it was mommy's turn and 24 hours after that it was daddy's turn. Well last night Matthew just did not seem to be his same cheerful and chatty self so I took his temp and he was a little over a 100. Well by checking it by the tushy opened the flood gates. Today he has only had a low grade fever but I decided to keep him home rather than go to daycare and get exposed to more germs. Luckily there are only 2-3 other kids at daycare. However, when I called daycare this morning I was told that two of the kids were sick on Monday. Did Matthew give them the bug or is it a new one???? I am hoping it is the same bug so he is over it quickly and the domino effect does not occur . . .

Hot Dog

My son has fallen in love with the Mickey House Clubhouse. He is most interested in the intro and the ending. The ending is the Hot Dog Song. I have attached a link which plays his beloved song. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wePMYM4av6Q

When he is having a moment I just sing a line or two of the song and he is all smiles.

The Big Five

Matthew turned five on September 9th. I say it each time but how did he get another month older. He is now weighing in around 17 pounds and is 25.5 inches long. He is happy about going to daycare and seems to really like Shiva. Thank you Lisa for the great recommendation. Matthew is still a lover of anything sweet. His newest habit is begging to drink out of my glass. I will let him drink some water and he gets so excited. Lets hope he loves water when he is older.

Row, Row, Row Your Boat

We have very good and dear friends that own a house boat and a smaller boat. Bob, Matthew and I go often to spend time at the lake but I had yet to let Matthew be in a boat that was not docked. On September 6th I decided to not let my fears effected my child. I strapped on a baby lifejacket and took him for a boat ride around Lake Lewisville. He was a little timid about it since he just sucked on his pacifier and sat still in my lap which is very unlike my child. Overall it was a success and I am proud that Matthew was a good sport. As you can see he kind of looks like Sponge Bob in the picture!

High Chair

Matthew is in love with his high chair and starts giggling when I put him in his chair. Last night he got to experience sweet potatoes for the first time. He loved it just as much as the prunes. Today we are going to experiment with pears and see how his taste buds react. It is just so much fun to see him becoming a little boy that wants to absorb everything going on around him. He was very intent on watching me eat popcorn and his eyes would go from my hand going to the bowl all the way to my mouth. Now I just need to make sure he does not grab a piece and pop it into his mouth! :)

New Word

Yesterday while on the changing table Matthew uttered a new word clear as day. Poo Poo kept coming out of his mouth over and over again. We could not stop laughing when we heard him say it the first time. The only problem is he now says poo poo all the time and we cannot get him to stop! This morning after I changed his diaper it sound like he said go poo poo but he had not done anything. I only wish that his next word could have been dad or mom rather than poo poo. Oh well!

Prunes????

Yes, my son is in love with prunes. Yesterday he experienced his first fruit and it was love at first bite. He ate a whole package of Gerber 1st Food yesterday between two sittings. I think he loved the sweet taste of it because when he finished the prunes and was still a little hungry I gave him some rice cereal and got a funny face. I ended up putting the cereal in the prune container to get some the last bits mixed in so it was a little sweeter. He ate up the cereal with the fruit mixed in so I think rice cereal alone is a no go going forward.

Matthew in his saucer and hanging out with Mr. Bee.

4 Months Old

Matthew turned 4 months on August 9th and it was amazing to look back at the pictures of him the past few months and relish on how much he has grown and changed. Matthew now rolls from the back to the tummy and thinks it is the best thing in the whole wide world. The only problem is he has forgotten that he can roll back onto his back!!!! He will get angry and after listening to him cry for awhile mommy or daddy gives in and rolls him back. However, he will roll right back to the tummy seconds later!

He is also trying to move as much as possible. I swear he can wiggle into any spot. A couple of days ago I tried to pick him up on the front so he could try to crawl but instead he stood up. I think he would rather walk than crawl.

Matthew has two fav toys which are the saucer so he can stand up and a bee. The bee vibrates and he does not want to go any place without his bee. He has also started to enjoy Sesame Street and cartoons. He laughs and smiles while watching the shows.

Overall is brings more joy to us than we ever dreamed. We cannot wait to see what is in store in the next month.

Three Months and so much as happened . . .

Matthew turn three months a few days ago and I cannot believe how much he has grown and changed. He is now 2 feet tall and 13 pounds. He loves to play on the kick in crawl and makes sounds that sound like hi and oh.

Well Matthew experienced going to El Paso via car. Let me tell you it was a long trip. It took about 12 hours and it was not stopping for too long. We left at night so it would not mess up Matthew's sleeping habits. The only problem was it effected ours!!! It was great that he got to meet the grandparents on the Barnett side. He was in love with Aunt Becky since she cuddled him and feed him his bottle. He also learned the trick from Grandpa Barnett to walk up him. It is too cute!

I went back to work three weeks ago and the week before Matthew started to get his sleep pattern down. He is now sleeping about 5 to 7 hours straight in the night and will g back down after a change and feeding. Going back to work was one of the hardest things I have ever done. Luckily Bob is home with Matthew for the summer. He brings him by for lunch about once a week so I can get my Matthew fix.

Bob is an amazing dad that loves to play with Matthew and watch cartoons together! Sometime I wonder who the kid is . . .

Matthew will be starting daycare in about a month. He is going to start in gradually doing it two days one week for about three hours, next week two days for seven, next week two days full time 8 to 5 and then the following week he will be there full time. This way he can get use to the daycare lady and the kids Plus she can figure out his routine. I swear he does not have one! If sleeps well in the night then there are no naps during the day. He has never been on track for sleeping from the get go. Luckily he is on track for weight and height!

Maybe now that things are getting into a routine I might be able to blog more often. We shall see!

Matthew is 7 weeks!

Sorry for the delay in blogging but there never seems to be enough time in the day.  Matthew is a handful when he is awake which is 90% of the time.  He has mastered the kick'n crawl and loves tp punch and kick the items in front of him.  After many attempts he finally likes the swing.  However, it needs to be at full blast or he will cry. . .  He is babbling, smiling, playing, and loves being held.  I love every moment I spend with him.  Now he has not been the best on sleeping.  For the past few days he reverted back to sleeping only an hour at a time!  Ugh!!!!!  Last night was wonderful since he slept at two hour intervals.  Scary since he should be more around three to four at this age but I will take two over one any day.

I am doing well and lost most of the baby weight thankfully do to breast feeding.  Even though I only have four to five pounds back to my pre pregnancy weight I still do not look or fit in my  clothes the same.  Last week I got the okay to start working out.  I always imagined once I got the okay it would happen ASAP but know reality has set in and there is barely any time when the baby needs you 24/7.

I am going back to work June 22nd.  I cannot believe June is only a few days away.  I already know it is going to be hard to go back to work even though Bob will be home with the baby.  Hopefully Bob will bring Matthew to work during my lunch break so I can spend some time with him.  

18 Days Old

The picture is about a week ago.  Matthew is 18 days old and he has changed a lot in this short amount of time.  He can smell me a mile away and cry for me to hold him.  He is an eating machine and luckily we have breast feeding down.  He gained 10 oz since being born.  We have our good days and bad days on sleeping through the night.  Last two days we have gone back to me not getting sleep unless I let him sleep in my arms.  I cannot really sleep since I am constantly worried about sleeping in this position.  Bob relives me as much as possible but he has to work so I try not to bug him too much.  Last night was one of the worst since our cat Cali got sick as well.  She threw up in two spots and popped in two places.  So I got to walk into vomit and poop while trying to calm Matthew.  Not fun at all.  

Right now my challenge is getting myself ready.  It is hard to do it when there was little sleep and you are afraid you are not safe enough to drive.  I have only left the house once by myself and that was since we both had doctor appointments last Thursday.  That was a challenge but we made it work.

Even without sleep I love motherhood.  Looking at my son and holding him makes me melt every time.  I figure sleep will come in time but our love is now and forever.

Baby Matthew has arrived

Sorry I have not written sooner but I just got home from the hospital on Monday afternoon.  Baby Matthew knew that 4/9 was his due date since I started contractions at 4 pm or earlier on 4/8.  I was like oh no my parents flight does not get in until 6:40 pm . . . Well they were not too close so we got them and went to dinner.  I have never been in so much pain through one of my favorite meals.  We got home and I was trying to go to sleep since I did not want to jump the gun and have the hospital turn me away.  Well at 11 pm I was having them about 3 minutes a part and Bob took us to the hospital.  My contractions slowed down but they kept me since they planned to induce in 8 hours.  Basically I did not start pushing until noon.  Two hours of hard core pushing and he was stuck.  They rushed me in for a c-section.   Matthew was born at 2:53 pm and weighed in at 7 lbs 1 oz and 20.5 inches.He is a very healthy boy and was ready to leave the hospital before me.  :)  I am feeling better c-section wise with pain meds but right now I am learning to run on four or less hours of sleep.  It is worth it since I cannot express the joy of becoming a mommy. Matthew looks more like daddy but he got my chin. :)  His hair is kind of medium brown but the eye lashes and brows are blonde . . . 

PS this was written with one hand and the other holding my baby boy.  Also on 4 hours of sleep so please forgive any typos.

April 9th

Today is 4/8 and it is my first day on maternity leave.  Woohoo.  One day of leave before Matthew Thomas is born.   It was very challenging working up to the last minute and trying to get everything done.  I think the hardest aspect was I was not just going on leave but not coming back to that role.  I was promoted on 4/1 to an Account Manager.  Thus, I needed to make sure that things I do where easily accessible and understandable for a new person to handle.  They are going to interview my replacement while I am out.  We have a temp right now which I had to partially train while I was trying to close out.  Funny thing is today I slept until 8:30 and that felt like such a treasure.  The past month even on the weekends I have been going into work to get things handled.  I joke that all the work and lack of sleep is preparing me for Matthew.  I sure hope that he will be the baby that likes to sleep during the night . . .  He is active in my tummy at night hence me wishing really hard that is not an omen.  Here is a picture from last weekend.  I will try to post some new pics once I am back at home and have a moment.    

What a week

Monday - Working an extra hour since I have to dr. appointments this week and need to make up time.

Tuesday - work early since leaving at 215 pm for OB.  Bob had to take me since I got a flat.  We did not leave the office until 4:50pm so it was too late to work some more time.

Wednesday- worked early since leaving at 3 pm  for oncologist.  Found out I need to be on new shots and they do not have them in stock.  I will have to come back tomorrow to pick them up.  The office is about 50 minutes round trip from my office.  Plus I have to come back on Friday to get blood work at the same location!

Thursday- Got to work at 8 am.  Did not take a lunch so I could get my medication.  Got home close to 7 pm.  Learned the shots are not already packaged for you.  You have to change the needle and load them.  Ugh!!!!  (took me about a half an hour last night to figure it out but I now have the hang of it).

Friday- going in early again since I have no clue if there will be a wait time for the labs.  I will also need to stay beyond 5 pm to make up all the missed time.  On top of all this I have been trying to tie up loose ends and train the temp.     I cannot wait for this week to end.  However, next week might be just as jammed packed with appointments and working.  I already know of one appointment and lab and am sure something else will be thrown in the mix.  I am about ready to give up on making time but I hate lose one extra hour with Matthew once he is born.

If he comes on the scheduled induction date of 4/9 then I will be returning to work 6/8.  That was all the time I could take off without going without a salary and not keeping a whooping 3 sick and vacation days on the books.  8 weeks I will get to stay home and then it is Bob's turn to be stay at home dad until August.

2 to 3 more weeks to go . . .

Yesterday I hit week 36 and saw the oncologist. Amazingly I saw her with a wait time less than 30 minutes. Last time it was about an hour and a half. She was shocked that my OB had not scheduled a date for inducing me. The same thing my prenatal specialist said last week. She left the room to call the OB and found out she was out this week for Spring Break. In Texas everyone has Spring Break this week unlike the schools in Texas. She said that would like me induced by 38 to 38.5 weeks which is only about 2 weeks away. I was told that the date will be determined next week. I might have to change my shots if I am currently dilated. They can put me on other medication that leaves the body quicker so I will not bleed too much if I go into labor prior to the induction.

Bob and I are trying to get ready for the baby since it is truly around the corner. Bob painted Matthew’s room and it took a couple different color choices for us to agree. The bottom of the wall is a grayish blue, chair rail is navy and the top is a cream color. I am happy with the color choices. It is boy but does not scream I am a baby boy. I just could not do the ultra baby blue or bright blue.

Plus we have other things such as taxes to wrap up before our little man comes. I hope we can get most of my "to do list" done. Bob laughs that I make lists but it is the only way to keep things in control.

Erica's Belly at 35 Weeks

Well here I am at 35 weeks. I had no idea I was going to get this big when I signed up to have a baby. Silly me! He is slowing down on movement since he is getting so big. He is about 6 pounds now.

Wrong Timing

For the first time in my life I chose my family over my career. Now I have not had too many chances before since we have only been married about 2 ½ years. Last time there was a chance I went for the Account Manager job when we had only been married for 6 months tops. It was a job I always wanted and the opportunity arrived. I had the mentality of you better go for it now or it may never come again. It was not easy on our marriage since I had long hours and traveled while Bob went on the road a lot with the Air Force. Well last week we had an opening in our office which rarely happens since we are so small. About 10 of us work in Dallas compared to over 2,200 in my old corp. office. I thought I better jump on this ASAP. Then I started to realize I will go back to long hours and a little traveling while now having a son. Did I want to go after a new more stressful job and become a first time mommy? Bob now has a flexible job but do I want to be the mom that rarely sees her baby and consumed with work? After many conversations and tears I decided that this was just the wrong timing. If that spots opens up in the future I would jump on it in a heart beat but right now I need to make sure I get this mommy thing under control first.

On top of all that I have been working crazy hours with two doctor appointments this week. Along with doing the leg work and interviewing for the temp that will assist while I am on leave. Bob and I are heading to the doctor for an ultrasound at 2:00 pm CT. We are looking forward to seeing little Matthew today and hopefully he maintained or increased his percent tile in weight. I am gaining a lot so I hope the weight is being transferred to him. We will let you know what the doctor says after the visit and baby Bob will take another belly shot for all you fans.

Week 34 and Counting

34 weeks has been better than I expected it to be. No doctor appointments which is a true bonus. However, I am having two next week and one the following week. Another ultrasound will occur on 3/12 which I cannot wait. My dad is going to try to convert the VHS tape into a DVD so we can watch the ultrasounds in the future. I have not had a VHS recorder in long time.

My hips this week are not hurting as much. I must have slowed down on the stretching process. Plus I can still feel him moving but they are not as rapid and aggressive. He does make me cramp up from moving but it is smooth sailing compared to weeks 31 to 33.

I have started to nest if you consider washing baby clothes and hanging them up. We also are starting to figure out how we want the baby’s room decorated. We are looking at greens with a animal/Noah’s Ark theme. Since all the furniture is not coming from the same places we are going with white. It is too hard to match cherry, oak, and other types of wood.

Going back in time . . .

Do you ever have a day where you wish you were in the movie Click and had a remote control to rewind something you said or prevent another person from saying? Yesterday was a stressful day both at home and work. It seemed like everything I tried to do just did not work out as well as I envisioned it turning out in my mind. However, not sleeping regularly is not helping at all. I just feel raw and tired and want to take a day off. I am having a hard time keeping up with work and house hold items. But I do not want to take time off now and miss out on extra time after Matthew is born. I feel so torn.

Erica's Tummy

Just thought I would add a picture of my growing belly. This was taken 2/17/09. I am sure I am even bigger even though it has been a week!

33 Weeks and Counting

Yesterday I had my appointment with the regular OB. She said that the results from my ultrasound came back very good except for his weight percent title. I guess he went down this last time by about 5 percentage points. She said at this point you usually see an increase rather than a decrease. I have another ultra sound scheduled in two weeks. At that point they will determine if he is continuing to decline in weight. They want to keep an eye out for that since it might mean he is not getting the nutrients from the placenta. If that is the case Matthew might come even earlier than we were planning.

Bob and I are doing well and trying to get ready for the baby and enjoy some alone time. I want to go to the movies but I cannot justify paying for something I cannot sit through. Two hours will kill me and I will have to make at least one potty break and miss something. Plus I do not want to be the girl banging my stomach or tush into strangers while trying to make an escape to the bathroom. Right now DVDs are the way to go and it will be for some time after the birth.

Week 32

Matthew had his picture taken again at the doctor. He is weighing in little under 4 pounds and my doctor said he is right on track. She joked that he is a boring baby which is a good thing since it means everything is going perfectly with both of us. I was able to see how the four chambers of his heart are functioning, how well is his lungs are developed, along with the spin being just as it should be. All of his limbs are on track along with the brain. I took in a VHS tape and they recorded it for me. The only problem is we do not have a VHS player. Hopefully me dad can get it converted over to a CD so we can share his video.

On the mommy side I am exhausted almost all of the time. Just mopping the floors wore me out yesterday. I cannot wait to get my energy back but I know it is going to be a long time away.

Appointment 2/9/09

I saw a new OB in the practice since they want me to meet the other doctors just in case my doctor is not available for the delivery. I have to say I was not too happy with the services I got yesterday. I told her about my pain and her answer was getting a maternity belt. Then I told her about my cough and feeling terrible and she told me to take over the counter cough medicine. It just seemed like she had flip answers and did not want to take the time to talk with me or find out if maybe more needed to done. Her answers could be right but I am going to keep an eye on things and talk more in depth with my prenatal specialist next Monday. Oh and the cough medicine thing and my prenatal vitamins did not mix at all . . . I think that doctors do not put as much effort into patients that are not their normal patients. It is sad to say but from other experiences it seems like they just want to get you out the door.

I am feeling a little better today but the cold is going to be here for awhile.

What the heck is going on?

Friday was not a fun day for me. During work I started to feel some pain in my left pelvic area. The pain was so bad that it made me want to double over at times. It did not seem to matter whether I was walking, sitting or laying down the pain just increased. I was stressing out at first since I was not feeling the baby move since I was so focused on the pain. After awhile I was able to determine the baby was moving in other spots that were not related to the pain point. I barley slept on Friday night and when I did Bob said I was tossing, turning and moaning in pain. Luckily the pain ceased on Saturday. However, my left hip is still very achy. I am chalking it up to the getting ready for the delivery which is about 7 to 8 weeks away. I am seeing the OB today at 4 so I will let her know about the pain just in case.

Matthew is very active during the afternoon to night. Last night I was taking my shot and my stomach was making the oddest shapes. I could not even try to make those movements if I wanted to. I had to wait until he calmed down a bit since it is hard to inject when you stomach is bouncing around.

On good thing over the weekend is my friend recommended a baby consignment shop. My goodness these are brand new, name brand clothes and items that are very reduced costs. I bought him a onesie and 3 pairs of shorts for ten bucks. I was hoping they were going to have a pack’n play since my daycare lady wants us to bring one over so we need two. They had just sold their last one but put me on their waiting list if one comes in. Bargain shopping here I come. Plus we are off to get our Costco membership later this month to buy diapers, formula, and wipes in bulk.

Happy February!

I am so excited this week since I do not have a doctor appointment. The following three weeks are booked up seeing one of my many doctors. At least I have a reprieve this week!

Bob and I happily turned in our keys to the old apartment in Lewisville, TX. Just in case you need an update we did not end our lease until 1/31/09. The complex was going to charge us over $4,500 to get out of our lease early. However, it was only about 2,800 to stay in the lease. Does that make any sense? I asked if we could come to some middle ground and they said no so we kept the lease and have not lived there for about three months. I thought it was silly they would not try to bargain since they could have gotten someone else into the place and charged higher rent . . . When we bought the house from Lennar they agreed to buy out the lease so they cut us a check for the rent so we have not been paying double payments thank goodness. But it has been a pain to have two locations for various reasons.

Super Bowl Sunday we spent with some good friends. I did not last the entire night. I was tired from the day. Bob and I took a long walk around our neighborhood and picked up the house. My feet were killing me by the end of the day. Plus I had to get home and take a shot. I have to say sports were better in my opinion when I lived on the West Coast. You finished the games much earlier so you did not have to stay up late to watch it or run into a good TV program.

Quick Update

Sorry to be so slow on blogging but it never seems like there is enough time to sit down and write it all out. I hit 29 weeks and the baby and I are doing well. I had an ultrasound on1 1/19/09 and Matthew is still a he! They are guess that he is the 41st percentile for weight at his age. The doctor cannot calculate the length at this stage. Everything is progressing properly and I will go back for another ultrasound on March 16th. I saw my regular OB on Monday and she also gave the thumbs up.

Bob and I had a surprise visitor last week. Bob’s brother decided to come and visit us in Dallas. He and Bob went to Arkansas over the weekend to see the Barnett side since Rick had not made the previous trips with us. It is always nice to have family come over.

Work is work. My goal is still to work until the day before Matthew is born. I only have about 9 to 11 weeks depending on when they decide to induce labor.

To answer one question we get a lot . . no we have not started on the nursery. Right now his room consists of a rocking chair that was my mom’s, stuffed animals, some clothes, a stroller and a car seat. We might inherit some hammy down furniture so I am waiting on that before going on a major shopping spree.

Ringing in 2009

I was happy to say goodbye to 2008. There were a lot of great moments like our friends and family’s weddings, conceiving Matthew, and buying a house to name a few. But there was just too much going on 2008 that it was nice to say out with the old and in with the new.

2009 brought me much cheer right away since my parents came in from California on 1/1/09. It was their first time to Dallas and it was amazing to see them since it had been over 5 months. Luckily the weather was in the 70’s most of the time they visited. You would have thought they were in Southern California weather but the lack of mountains and beaches brought you back to reality.

Bob started back teaching on 1/6/09 and he is trying to get back in the grind. It is crazy to hear the presents his junior high kids have gotten for Christmas such as the iphone and itouch. I cannot think of my parents allowing me to own something that expensive at that age. Plus I would have lost it or broken it before I got my money’s worth. . .

I am now going to the regular OB every two weeks until I hit 32 weeks. I am hoping that my specialist does not put me on that schedule as well since it is hard to have multiple appointments on the same day or even work. I have to come in early or stay late to make-up the time. This week is my first free week of appointments in the past 4 or 5 weeks! There is nothing wrong but they are just getting more cautious throughout the pregnancy. I am going to the specialist on Monday so I will be sharing ultrasound pics later that week. Maybe he will pose better this next time around.