nicknames

JT has acquired quite a few nicknames in his 2 weeks with us...

Hiccup. Because he has the hiccups a few times a day. He has since he was in the womb.
Little Baby Sunshine. Because I like to call him this.
Pumpkin. Among my girlfriends, we call everyone pumpkin.
Precious. Because his dad and I think he's just so precious.
Sweet-as-jam. I don't know if it's actually a nickname, but his dad always says, "Make me some toast. I am going to put the baby on it and eat him, because he's sweet as jam."

updated to add some I forgot...
Senor Poopy-Pants. He usually gets called this when he farts or gets his diaper changed.
Mr. Fussybutt. There is a song for this one. Wouldn't you know?!
Chief Milk Belly. Because Native Americans name their babies after they get to know their personality. Well, our little one loves his milk. And he runs our house now, so he must be chief. :-)

chillin' at home

JT's first photo shoot, originally uploaded by brungrrl.

We have been working on getting into a routine. Unfortunately, blogging is not much near the top of JT's list of fun things to do. Eating, pooping, and sleeping are really his favorites.

Stroller rides are another favorite (or at least an activity that leads to good napping). His mom is getting better and more able to take longer walks, so that really works in his favor.

More pics are posted at Flickr.

home, again

We are home from the hospital... again. We came home from the hospital on Wednesday. Wednesday night went pretty well. Thursday night took a turn for the worse though. JT got really upset at bedtime and ended up being completely inconsolable for hours. At 2am he had a temperature of 99.1 and within another hour it was 100.6. So off we went to the hospital.

By 7am he was admitted to Children's Hospital to figure out the source of the fever. We were just released today after the last of the blood culture results came back. Not sure what caused the fever... he was totally fine in the hospital. They did find he was a bit dehydrated and jaundiced. The jaundice is clearing up now. The dehydration was a combination of waiting for real breast milk to start and a mother who wasn't very skilled at how to feed him.

So it was really like being sent away to parenting boot camp. We got some training on breast feeding and spent two days tracking what he ate and weighing diapers. Poor little guy... his parents are better trained now though. The nurse weighed him this morning and came back to do it again because it "just didn't seem possible that he gained that much weight in that amount of time." Yahoo! He went from 6 lbs 13 oz at admission to 7.05 lbs at discharge.

This picture was taken this morning after he ate. He was wide awake and the sun was shining on him. Is he just the picture of sweetness or what?! (The yellow around his eyes was dye from a test they did looking for corneal scratches... just in case he had given himself an infection by scratching his eyes with his dagger-sharp fingernails!)

Ok, he's asleep and in bed now... so I must be also! Have a lovely week all.

he's here!

Gotta feed the baby... but here's a quick pic and some stats:

John Thomas... aka JT
born 7.9.07 at 9:18am
6 lbs 15 oz
20.25 inches long

summer weekends are the best

Oh, I love slow summer weekends! Today is just great - running some errands, doing some chores, and crafting a little... all on an as-I-feel-like-it basis. And it is so beautiful outside, even if it's warming up a bit much.

Blogging has fallen in priority the past week. But to catch you up, it's been kind of a busy week. Worked this week, had plans all day on 4th of July, got a haircut on Monday, goofed off Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings.

Oh, and in case you are wondering, I'm still pregnant. Still have the rash. Friday evening one pharmacy wouldn't fill my prescription for cream because it wasn't specific enough. They needed clarification from the doctor and the office was closed for the weekend. So I say ok, take my prescription with me and walk away. I had another thing to pick up at the store, so as I was walking around I was thinking, "2 more days with only over-the-counter treatments?" The more I thought about it the more it itched. And pretty soon I thought, "oh no, I'm going to cry over this... I need to get out of here." So I checked out and then boo-hooed all the way home over my lack of itch cream. I probably should have had the meltdown right at the pharmacy window. It probably would have saved me the second trip to urgent care to get another prescription. So that is my weekend, soaking in oatmeal baths and lathering on itch cream. Seriously, carrying the baby is nothing. Itching ALL OVER - awful. Just awful.

Oh, and my mom was here on Friday when I came home in that state of distress. I think I've had three hormone-induced meltdowns the whole pregnancy and she had to be here for one - gRReat.

Mom (or Nana, as JT knows her) came up on Thursday afternoon and we spent the evening doing some shopping and eating Chipotle. She helped me with painting some of those fun yard sale finds for JT's room. Friday she spent the day cleaning the whole house (it's so clean... I'm loving it) and making dinner for us. Watch for photos of the craft projects. I have some more details to work on this afternoon, but then I should be able to get stuff hung on the wall already!

And to top it off... Dad is coming from Wooster this afternoon with the crib! It's all coming together nicely. I'm so excited to see it all put together. It might actually be the only room in the house that is completely done and decorated!

In photos this week, there is another post forthcoming about the 4th of July. We had an awesome day and there are some wild and crazy photos to post. But for now, I will leave you with an in-car shot of me in a headband. (I had some issues angling the camera properly for a self-portrait.) What do you think, can I do headbands? I think I'm into them (if I can get some that stay on my small head and fine, slippery hair). I'm also thinking of growing my hair out some more, post-baby. Just for something to do... we'll see how it goes.

Gypsy chic, eh? :-)

39 weeks

Last thing I craved: I don't know about craving it, but I'm eating ice cream like it's my job.
Weight gained so far: 37 lbs. Ok, I surpassed my goal. Just going to make the next goal even harder - to lose those same pounds by December.
Baby's weight: 6.5 lbs.
Last time the baby moved: Going at it right now. He likes to get lodged in there sideways. He must pinch a vein or something when he does that because I get a weird, light-headed feeling.
Latest annoying pregnancy symptom: The belly rash. Oh, don't worry, they say it will go away about a week before delivery. Uh, hello, due in 7 days and still have the rash!
Progress on the nursery: 80%. Can you believe it? We made progress! We moved all our stuff out of the nursery and got all the baby stuff put away and organized. The crib is finished and should arrive soon. Mom and I are going to do some decorative painting this weekend. I have yard sale treasures of picture frames and shelves to paint for the room. It should be pretty cute!