I'd buy him a Lexus

Jack is nestled up in his wrap right now taking a nap. I had to take my car in to get serviced today (it was WAY overdue) and realized that it's definitely a task to achieve something outside the house with Jackson. Of course the only appointment time the car place had open was during Jack's usual nap time...but I really needed my car to get serviced! So I took it and hoped for the best.

Jack screamed the whole car ride to the car place, most of the time we were at the car place, as well as the whole ride back. He was tired and hungry...a bad combination. Well he ate, but promptly started screaming bloody murder. It turns out babies do have different cries, but there is one that pretty much makes you want to jump off a bridge. Every parent knows it....the cry where the baby is about to make itself throw up it's crying so hard. I suppose I should just feel terribly for him when he's like that, and I do somewhere under the overwhelming feeling of helplessness and irritation. The irritation stems from the helplessness. Anyway. He started doing that...again.

Jordan and I took a trip off base last night around 11pm in search of Mylicon. It's supposedly some wonder treatment for gassy/colicky babies. We went to Walgreens first and when they were sold out (what?! are you kidding me?! You're sold out of the only medicine known to modern society to stop screaming infants? Are you nuts? A hair brained parent could kill you for that! lol) we decided that we'd just take turns running into stores until we found the stuff somewhere. Luckily, stop number two had it. When I got back to the car and mentioned the price of our purchase Jordan replied, "at this point I'd buy the kid a Lexus if it'd make him calm down."

After giving him a few drops so far today I suddenly realized...Jackson was awake and quiet!I hadn't really realized how MUCH he'd been crying until it finally stopped. We had a little tummy time followed by some snuggling and chit chatting. I again realized that we hadn't done those things in several days either. They say that if a baby is going to have colic, it starts showing up around 3 weeks old. Ding! That's Jackson. We'll see how things go the next few days but I have to say that I'm pretty certain his troubles are stomach related since Jack is back to himself since we've given him some Mylicon! (Don't I sound like a commercial?)

Bottles is happiness

Alright, little bit of back story on the title of this one. When I was deployed I saw my two favorite road signs of all time. Number two was "seatbelts is safety". Hence, Bottles is happiness! My number one favorite road sign of all time read "watch out for road surprises". You've got to wonder who those Arabs have as English translators over there. What a strange job that would be, now that I mention it. "Arabic to English road sign translator". Maybe that's what I need to get into...I digress.

Jackson has started taking bottles!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY! Trust me when I say there are angels singing in the background right now. It's not that I don't love feeding my son or enjoy the bond, but it starts to sort of bother a person when they realize they can't go ANYWHERE alone. You can't go to the gym and swim, or go get a massage, or go alone to the store, just in case he wakes up and decides he's hungry. I was starting to get really squirmy about that. A lactation consultant came to our home last week and observed Jackson eating as well as helped me with pumping, and she assured me that Jack is a champion eater and should have no problems or "confusion" with bottles. So this weekend, we tried it out. After finding him a little annoyed with a too cold bottle, we got all the variables right and he went to town! YES! Jordan also gave Jack his first middle of the night feeding so I could sleep for more than four hours. Double YES!

Now I'm enjoying a little glass of wine safe in the knowledge that if Jack uncharacteristically becomes hungry at this hour, there's a bottle in the fridge. :) Ahhh. Bottles is happiness.

Tieing up my child

I'm hoping everyone who reads this little blog is fluent in English and can understand sarcasm, otherwise I may be having a visit with child protective services soon after posting this. I'll just go ahead and state up front: I do not really tie my child up. Thank you, come again soon. :)

Jackson is taking a little nap in our sling right now so I have a chance to post something up. I really love the sling...I'm very careful to make sure he's not smooshed in there, but it's so nice to have him snugly up against my torso while I go about my stay at home mom chores. Speaking of chores I recently decided that being in the Air Force was easier than being a stay at home mom. Haha. It probably depends on the day in both cases...anyway. I'll get back on topic.

I am breast feeding Jackson and really enjoy it for the most part. Before I had him all the lactation consultants, Dr.'s and nurses go on and on about what a wonderful bonding experience it is. It IS a really wonderful thing, but they forgot to mention how it'll make you want to rip your hair out when your little child is squirming all over, pushing at his wonderful God given milk source while also trying to eat from it (which causes cuts like razors on mom thanks to those cute little fingernails), and intermittently screaming bloody murder at 2 a.m. Enter my blog title. The hospital gave us what is called a "sleep sack" when we left. I had thought they sounded neat while I was pregnant, but didn't end up buying one, so I was glad to have a free one! We didn't try it right away but good Lord hallelujah I fell in love with it when we finally did! It's a blanket-type jumpsuit with a piece that velcro's over baby's torso to stick their arms to their sides. I don't think I've ever pulled fabric so tight! I'm not a terrible mother, I just happen to have a future football player for a son that has WAY too much strength for his age. I put that little sack on around sun set, and he's lucky if its off for his first day time feeding session. I love the little booger, but I think arms should grow in at a later age or something. lol.

(For anyone wondering about pictures of Jackson, check out my Facebook. I feel more comfortable posting pictures there since I limit picture access to my friends. Here anyone can see em!)

A small breeze

Ok I apologize in advance for writing another entry about bathroom functions, but this just cracked me up. Every once in a while I'm upstairs changing our little guys diaper and Jordan will here my laughing downstairs. This was one of those moments.

I noticed about a day ago that Jackson's little behind is getting a tiny red...I assume its from all the vigorous wiping I do! ;) Well I took pity on the guy and thought I'd led the area get some fresh air for a while. So AFTER covering his little man parts with one of those red plastic cups typically reserved for 20-something house parties (Jordan's solution), we goo-ed and gaa-ed at each other for a few minutes while he was diaperless. I really didn't feel like I wanted to sit up there all day like this, however, so I thought I'd speed the process by blowing a little bit on the sore area. I had just gotten my face good and close, given a little blow when Jackson let out a little blow of his own! My child farted in my face. Oooooh man did I laugh. I think Jordan and he discuss these plans in advance...

Jack is still doing well and actually slept a LOT last night! Thank you God!

Boys are different

I've been waiting to write this little entry for a while now but somehow there's never enough time. Lucky for me, Jackson decided he'd like to stay up late tonight so I've got a few minutes.

I have so much to share about how things went with Jackson's birth and our first days home (pretty much none of it was how I'd imagined), but for now I just want to say that boys are different in so many ways! I grew up in a family dominated by women and have had very little exposure to little boys. Especially infants. Jordan's family, on the other hand, is full of em! They kept warning me about a special talent of little boys in diapers...peeing all over the place as soon as you remove their diaper. It's not that I didn't believe them, I just didn't quite grasp the idea. The first time Jack's fountain performance debuted, I happened to have my hand in a lucky spot, and was able to shield the stream. Even though I'd been warned, I caught myself thinking, "what?! what is going on?! Where is all of this liquid coming from?! Oh yea...it's pee." The second time Jack was a little more crafty and waited until I thought I was in the clear to begin spraying everywhere. And I mean everywhere. He got pee several feet behind him, off the changing table, onto the wall and carpet. Not to mention all over his own face! It still took me several seconds to process what was happening. I mean...you just don't expect urine to fill the air at any given moment.

So yea...boys are different.

Stories of death and destruction

Ok, maybe not death and destruction, but at least pain and agony. Let me explain.

Women love to talk. We all know that. Well it turns out women especially love to talk about the birth of their children and experiences while pregnant. Hey, bring it on I say. BUT could we keep it to happy, smiling stories? I don't even care if we have to make them up at this point but please can we just end the sharing of stories centering around pain and agony?! Nearly every person I meet asks me when I'm due, which is totally fine. I tell them, and at least half of the people insist on following that up with a story about their third cousin on their husbands side who was not only 2 weeks late, but also was in labor for 8 days or some ridiculous amount of time. Why? Why do you feel the need to share this particularly grisly story with me? I'm a happy first timer here, purposely ignoring negative possibilities.

Starting yesterday I started to feel sort of like I had the flu. Just nauseous and sort of weak and tired and overall yucky. Since I routinely get asked by strangers how I'm feeling (presumably since I look like a swallowed a basketball....or maybe a beach ball is more accurate), I've decided I may as well be honest. So yesterday everyone that asked got the answer, pretty nauseous and sick. ...Ugh. You guessed it. "Oh that's nothing. My ex sister in law threw up everything she ate two weeks before her due date until she collapsed in the middle of a Walmart one day and her baby almost died. You should just go to the hospital now." Really? Why? Why do you say these things to me?

So if anyone has a happy story about how their late great aunt was sick for a couple days and then BAM!, went into labor, I'd love to hear it. Either way I think I'll just pretend it's a sign that labor will be starting soon and remain in my happy little bubble. :)

Patience

I've never been the most patient person in the world. Ok, scratch that. I've probably always been one of the least patient people in the world! I was so nervous after I went to the hospital a few weeks ago that I honestly stayed in bed until Jordan got home. Some voice in my head was sure that if I even walked Baxter around the block I'd SURELY go into labor minutes later. That voice clearly was overly emotional and hormonal, because here I am several weeks later having walked around many blocks, through many stores and even having worked out and NOTHING! I've gone from feeling quite sure Jackson would be arriving early to wondering if he'll ever come out. (Yes, yes, I realize it's inevitable.)

Overall I think pregnancy has been a really fun time. Admittedly I was sick for quite a bit of my first trimester, and Jordan was gone for quite a bit of my second, but otherwise I've enjoyed it. Before I got pregnant and heard all the moaning and complaining from pregnant women I always sort of thought, "oh pish posh. It can't be all that bad. Suck it up, woman!" Humph. Turns out I was just a little bit hasty in my judgment. Morning (scratch that, all day) sickness, extreme fatigue, inability to get out of a lying position any way other than rolling out and landing on my hands and knees as well as feeling like this child inside me must be around 15 pounds at this point are significant enough points in favor of whiny pregnant women.

I've also got to say that I've realized Jordan and I had very little idea of what we were getting ourselves into! Don't get me wrong, I'm still very content with our decision to start a family, but it's going to be one wild ride I think! And probably somewhat similar to those rides that make you want to giggle in glee sometimes because you feel like you're flying but that also make you want to throw up or pass out at others.

I started this happy little blog with the intent of posting about my new experiences in motherhood, under the assumption that they would begin pretty soon after my last post....obviously not so much. I'm still incubating.