Holy cow! It's been a Loooooooong time, but with good reason.
Our son Evan was born at 2:02 pm on March 27th via the aforementioned c-section. I'll post his birth story and our general hospital experience another time- it was the most moving experience of my life, and deserves its own post.
I've had a bevy of major accomplishments over the past 2 months or so- the biggest of which was becoming a mother for the first time. My little guy is the best thing ever, and although he's great, this is the hardest job I've ever had. His smiles are fantastic, and he's such a chatty kid already- he'll let you know about anything and everything that's going on in his world! He rolls over regularly (belly to back only), and has just recently discovered his reflection- he doesn't quite know what to do with it yet. At his 2 month checkup, his doctor just kept saying how strong he was, and rightfully so. The kid pushes up on his arms when he's on his stomach, has been holding his head up very well since about 1 week old, and pushes down with his legs and "stands" when supported. In short: we're in trouble. The house is in NO WAY babyproofed, and I thought we'd have until October or so to worry about that, but at the rate he's going, he'll be creeping/crawling pretty soon.
I never understood why it took so long for babies to get "on a schedule", but I have a good idea now. Just in the past 3 weeks or so have we established a solid routine with E, and it's paying off. The downside to that is that it allows for very little deviation, and the time of day that people usually can visit with us or want us to be around them is the worst time of day for E. We don't allow him to nap after 6:30 so that when we put him down for bed he sleeps all night... which means we have a VERY hard time in the evenings. He fusses, screams, and fights us to try and sleep, but we just don't let him. Distracting him only goes so far, but if he can make it to bathtime without crashing, then we're in good shape. Since we've implemented this schedule, he gives us anywhere between 6 and 7 hours of sleep at night, therefore we're starting to feel human again.
I also celebrated my first mother's day with my family, and graduated from college (finally...) the same day. So, I have the tassel and the document... now I need employment. I would love to be able to stay at home with Evan, but in addition to needing the money, I'm just not sure I have the energy and proper attitude to be a stay at home mom. I know some fantastic people that do it, and I am forever amazed that they manage to make it through- I just don't know how I'd manage doing it any longer than through this summer. Economically speaking, we'd probably break even, with the cost of day care being so high, but there just isn't any other way. It would be so nice to have Scottie's mom around to babysit, but God had other plans for her. We'll make it, I know.
Not to dwell on it, but we also lost my grandfather at the end of April. Howard Jones finally went to be with his Mary- and it nearly broke us all when it happened. He was the best man I've ever known, and I'm just so glad that he got to hold Evan. He came to see us in the hospital, and the look on his face was priceless when we told him that we'd named the baby after him. I cried a little then, and was a blithering mess when my mom called to tell me that it had happened. I miss him a great deal, and hope that we can raise Evan to live up to the man that gave him his middle name.
I'll try to be better about posting. Not that people are following, but it makes ME feel better to write about life. I also have a plethora of pictures to post of my little one and his first two months of being a person. Back to the grind... albeit a cute blonde headed blue eyed grind with the best smile I've ever seen!
