Orchiopexy

I know I wrote about it before, but today was the big day.  James had orchiopexy surgery, which is just fancy talk saying he had his testicles brought down to where they should be.  And guess what?  He's now a fully operational boy!  And the boy took it like a champ.

We got a call last night changing the time of his surgery from 12:20 pm to 7:30 am.  Let me tell you, it's been confirmed that I am NOT a morning person.  But it ended up being better so James didn't have to wait hours and hours without eating.  He was getting cranky by the time they actually came to get him and bring him back to surgery.  Luckily, there was a pretty nurse named Sheri that he went willingly with.  He's kind of a huge flirt, my little man.

He was gone for about 2 hours.  And then they let me go into the recovery room.  Poor boy was just crying and crying.  He drank some apple juice, though the nipple was too small on the bottle and he got mad and chucked it.  We went back to his room and he just laid on me all tired like.  Poor kid was so tired.  They discharged us fairly quickly, which was great.  I can sit just as easily at home, and more comfortably.

So a couple hour nap and more cuddles took up the afternoon.  Monsters, Inc. was watched.  And eating started up again.  Kid wouldn't eat the pineapple!  I never thought he was refuse pineapple.  All he wanted to eat was cottage cheese?  Silly baby.  I might have to go buy more tomorrow.  But playing commenced, after being asleep all day, until bedtime.  And now we wait to see what tomorrow has in store for us.  Thankfully, Jameson is working from home tomorrow.  Poor kid.

But here are some photos of him looking ridiculously cute in his hospital outfit.  They were huge!  And adorable!  And I wish I had more of them.

First flurries

December 6th we had our first official flurries of the seasons. We have still yet to have an amazing snow fall though. The weather man said we already had like 5 inches by this time last year. I don't think we're getting our white Christmas this year. We got spoiled the last two years.

But flurries!

So I wrapped up my baby and went on our balcony to stare at the falling snow. He just stared and stared at it. Look, he's not even staring at the freeway in this one! It takes quite a bit for him to focus on anything but those magical head and tail lights zooming down the highway. They used to calm him down when he was a wee baby.

Not quite sure what to think of it.

He's so excited. And it looks like his eyes are officially blue. And that's pretty much all the genes he got from his father. Those cheeks, little nose and crooked mouth are all mine.

And look, you can almost see it on the roof of the garages! Real snow please, I want an excuse to sit and watch movies and drink copious amounts of hot chocolate with eggnog in it all day long.

Oh Mr. Toad, Oh Mr. Toad

A little taste of what Christmas is shaping up to be in our household.

Here is my tree, in all it's glorious whiteness. A white tree I tell you! For some people this would not seem like such a to-do, but for those of us who always grew up with a green tree, the same fake green tree in fact (until I hit college and it was decided a new tree was needed) their entire life, it was kind of big deal for me.

The first two years we were married we had live trees. And that was a whole new experience after growing up in our house. They were lovely trees and filled our apartment with pine goodness. The first year though, we left the tree up WAY too long. And dragging it through our sliding glass door and too the dumpster ended in a massive falling off of needles. And we tried to vacuum up, but which mostly just ended up clogging and breaking our vacuum. So after Christmas two year ago, we hit the after Christmas clearance and bought us a big ol' fake green tree. So last year we put up are tree and it was super awesome of course.

But this year. Oh this year. What a year.

This year needed a crazy wonderful tree for the crazy wonderful year we've had. College degrees earned, babies born, new jobs got, new aparments moved into and all the waiting finished.

We moved into this new apartment which is better in almost every way, except one. The living room is like half the size of our old apartment! Crazy annoying and inconvenient. Point is, our tree was way too large for this place. And since I still wanted a tree, but didn't want a duplicate, I went AWESOME. I've always kind of wanted one of those white trees. And I got one this year! Only next year, I'm going with a pink/green/red theme (too bad Jameson! I do what I want!). And isn't it amazing?

And each year I buy us all a new ornament to add to the tree. So in a few years we will have an amazingly tacky tree full of ornaments and memories and traditions and everything wonderful.

And here is the first present we put under our tree. Isn't it the best?

He always makes that face at the camera. Smiles off, concern and interest turned on.

And just because he's cute and I couldn't resist, here's a picture of my boy eating his first Banana. Amazing!

4 Month Dr. Visit & Formula

James had his 4 month doctor's appointment last week. Stupidly, we couldn't find the insurance card and will have to go back later to get his shots done (quit losing things Jamo!). But James did not enjoy his visit this time. Poor kid was crying almost the whole time, and he even lucked out on the shot thing. I think he was tired and the table was just too cold. But my little good is growing.

His height was at 26 inches, which is close to the 90th percentile.

His weight was 13 lbs 9 oz., which is in the 25th percentile.

And his head was about 16 inches, which is about the 50th percentile.

So we have one long and skinny baby with a normal sized head. The doctor said that his weight was ok, that it would go up and down. But I would have liked it to be more towards the average, especially since he is so long. So I've made the decision to start supplementing my breast feeding with some formula. I just feel like I can't keep up with his demands and growing self. And so once or twice a day I give him a bottle to make sure he's getting enough food. And I'm pretty sure he gets his taste buds from his father. The kid doesn't mind the formula. I was worried he'd hate it and not take it. But truth be told, it's harder for me than it is for him. But I can almost see his little thighs chunking up before mine eyes.

Between the forumla and the rice cereal, he's getting all sorts of different tastes. One day we'll add other things, but for now, I'm content with what we got going on. Although I will say, I miss that new baby smell he had before. He always smelt a little bit like sour milk or something from the breastmilk. I think the smell of him is what I miss the most. But I will say, it is nice to have a break from the endless breatfeeding sessions. I find I'm able to enjoy it more now that I have a choice and that's a beautiful thing. And now Jameson can help with the feeding and have some of that bonding time also. The kid gets to see me for hours and hours every day. But Jamo has to work and then we have to put him to bed a couple hours after he gets home. Hooray for the weekends!

James' Bathroom

Before James' was born I would head down to the Target off K. And browsing the bathroom aisle, I came across this wonderful shower curtain. And I fell in love with it. Silly, yes. Then I thought man, I need a second bathroom. And even more importantly, man, I need a baby! And now I have BOTH of those things! And now, the whale bathroom...

View of it from James' room. Isn't the orange a nice pop of color? Not in the shower curtain, but I love it with it.

Pictures I took of James and had mounted at my favorite website Artscow when they had a sale on stretched canvas. And my towels (for looking at only Jameson!).

The shower curtain that inspired it all. This is the view from the hallway. And if you were to come to our apartment, this would be the delightful room you get to use to do your business.

More up close view, yup.

B.A.T.H. Not much to explain here, just some frames and stuff I made.

And there you have it. And isn't it one amazingly fun bathroom?! I must say, that I love this little apartment. I love what it's becoming and all the memories that are filling it. It's actually starting to feel like home here.

James' Room

I've been meaning to post pictures of Jame's bedroom for quite a while now. I mean, he is 4 months old and stuff. And of the main reasons we moved to this apartment is so that he could have a room to call his own. And I think, all things considered, it turned out spectacularly. The walls are the color the apartment was painted when we moved in (no painting for us thank you very much). Good thing it was a decent color. And since we didn't paint I bought those wall decals to add a little something to the walls. And really, I heart circles, a lot. Anyway, here are lots of different view of my baby boy's room.

Here is what you see when you enter the room.

Here is his cube filled dresser shelf.

And of course, the crib. Don't you just love the crib set? I was in love.

And here are the elephant photos I made all hung up on the wall.

Here's the view from his bathroom.

His closet and little ottomans stuffed with blankets and toys.

And here is my rocking chair. It was ridiculous to find one in that color. Months of waiting.

And here's a picture of James' just sitting in his crib. One day he'll be able to do it all by himself.

And the little James' frames I made all up on the wall, yay!

And his changing table with all his supplies.

So that is his fantascilly cute room. And now that he's four months old, we're actually starting to use it, yay! Well, we've been using the changing pad for months, oh, and the dresser, but now the crib (more on that later).

James Tries His First Food

James is 4 months old today!
And a couple of days ago we tried giving him his first food. Rice cereal of course, cause that's what you do. And I have to say, that he quite enjoyed it. He liked it so much we had to make more because he would cry when we weren't feeding him. I think the spoon though is his favorite part. He grabs on and won't let go and tries to shove it in his mouth. And now some pictures of the adventure...

I will say it was a bit messy. And so we had to throw him in a tub to clean him off. Note to self, next time remember the bib sooner. I also, try not to get it in his eye... or ears... and up his nose.


Baby bath time! Which btw, is one of his FAVORITE times. He could be screaming bloody murder for an hour without anything calming him down, but as soon as you put him in that tub, he is solid gold.

Starfish!

And he loves to chew on the rags. I think because he can get a good grip on it and keep it in his mouth. He has a harder time keeping that starfish in.

And of course, after the bath, you get one amazing bundle of towel baby. And boy does James like that towel baby. He's finally in love with his own reflection. Loves to smile at that baby in the mirror.

James Goes to His 2 Month Check Up

So today we took James to his two month check up. He is of course, all sorts of amazing. Here are the stats of the day...

Height - 24 1/4 inches (90th Percentile)

Weight - 12 lbs (5oth Percentile)

Head - 15 1/2 inches (57th Percentile)

So are baby is growing pretty much right on track and is good and healthy.
Today though, was a day for shots. He had 3 shots and like 5 different vaccines I think (Hep B, DPT, and Rotavirus). One in one leg and two in the other. Poor baby. And poor mommy too. But we survived. And after we got him all calmed down, dressed and in his car seat, he slept for the next couple hours. Feeding time happened. And then he screamed and screamed. Nothing could console my poor beebeebee. So the children's Tylenol was given (they gave us a dosage chart at the doctors office today). And he promptly slept for the next few hours. It was a bit of a rough day for the poor guy. But he's sleeping it off like a champ.

(Buzz Light Year & Donkey (from Shrek) )

Also speaking of sleeping, he didn't wake up until 10 am today when I got him out of bed to feed him before the doctors appointment. Guess that's what happens when I don't put him to bed until 11 pm. And after properly wearing him out yesterday. We had a stake Relief Society meeting with the stake presidency. With treats afterward. And all the ladies had to look at my baby and hold him and love him.

Cause he makes the hipsters fall in love when he's got his diaper on and up.

And with that much attention and people loving on him, it just tired the poor kid out. I think it's what they call "over stimulation". But he survived and got a good night's sleep. I didn't even feed him until 7 am this morning. It was amazing.

Back to the doctors appointment!

Have you seen his belly button? If you've seen the videos of him in his diaper you might have noticed his belly button stick out a little. But it doesn't really look like an outie (thank goodness). But he does have a herniated umbilical stump, which makes it protrude (especially after he's eaten :) ). But the doc said they don't worry about it and it should fix itself at some point.

Also they're watching his testes. They're still really high in the tubes. Which means, if they don't drop on their own by 6 to 9 months then he has to have surgery to bring them down. And that's kind of sad thought. My poor baby. And the doc didn't seem very optimistic about one of them. But we'll just have to wait and see. But we do what we have to and get on with life. Even if it stinks to see the poor little guy in pain. I'll deal with it when the time comes if need be.

And because James (and me) did so well, I done took one of the stickers they had for the children at the doctor's office. I think we deserved it after that many shots. In case you're wondering, it's going in the baby book we got him. And oh how I love Patrick Star, got to raise my kid right and all :).


And now it's time for some sleep. So excited!

Dang It, Wrong Size.

Yesterday I went on the hunt for some new jeans. Mine seem to be a bit big for me now, with post baby weight loss. And I have some two sizes smaller, but not any in between. I must have wore those suckers out or something. So I end up at the Walsmart in the valley. And I brought in 6 pairs of jeans to try on. And then I put them in piles of yes, no, and maybe. Then James started crying and I got all distracted. So when I got home yesterday I had 2 pairs of jeans that didn't fit me.

So after having dinner with Jamo at A Better Burger (we got a groupon thing for it, yay!) we headed back out to the valley to exchange them. And I'm pretty sure I didn't get the same pair as I was going to. One of them was the same though. My brain sure does funny things now.

Also, Jamo got some a new shirt. Cause guess what?

JAMESON GOT A NEW JOB!

And isn't that just tremendously exciting? I mean, this is the type of job that could actually be a career or lead to a career. And were not complaining about the raise that's coming with it (stupid student loans). So he'll start that in a week and a half or so. And we're so happy he finally has a new job. As great as his current employer has been for the past 4 years, it will be nice for him to have an adult job where he doesn't have to work in a call center. So hooray for being grown ups!

Also, just a cute picture of my cute baby...

In which Sheri gives birth to a boy named James

So it all began 9 months ago when finally, FINALLY, we decided the time was right to have a kid. I'd been not so patiently waiting for about 2 years. I mean, come on, babies! We'd thought about it before and even tried a month or two... then I would kind of freak out and decide it wasn't really the time. But one of these attempts ended in an early miscarriage in March 2010. But 6 months later I was ready to try again and the timing was better. Jamo would be a college graduate and we'd have a more time, energy and resources to take care of this kid. So after one month of trying, we were pregnant. I think it was God not letting me have time to freak out and second guess this time. It just had to happen quick.


Fast forward 9 months (we've read all the in betweens). June 26th came on a Sunday. Did the usual, church, nap, dinner. But dang it, I was bound and determined this kid would come soon. I tried all the tricks... ball bouncing, walking, mexican food, and we even walked up and down our apartment stairs for while. And then we worked some more on the babies room, getting the clothes all in order and unpackaged. We went to bed. And then I had crazy dreams, cause I do that. And I thought I might have felt a few contractions during the night. That's nothing unusual as I've been having Braxton Hicks contractions since about 26 weeks. But in a half dream, half conscious state I had one and I thought the kid might have kicked me really hard too. And at 10:30 am I woke up, was going to change sleep position, and thought I pee'd myself. I ran to the bathroom and by the time I got there I decided I had just better stand in the tub. And a good thing I did. My water had officially broken. So I yelled for Jameson to wake up. I took a shower and we got ready to go.

I was admitted directly. And a cervical check concluded that I was STILL sitting at 2 cm. So then we got to hang around the hospital while the contractions picked up. I sat, walked around, stuff like that. And after 5 hours there I was sitting at 3 cm (woo, one whole cm more). So they gave me the option to get potocin to speed the process along. And can I say that that stuff hurts! It sure does speed along and make the contractions crazy fun (hard and made me want to cry). So about an hour after that we had them start the epidural. At this point I am crying. K, I'm kind of weak sauce, but at least I know it. And then 10 minutes later I wasn't feeling a thing. It was kind of amazing. And then the waiting began, the slow waiting. No contractions to distract me anymore. The epi did have a few side effects I didn't realize, or maybe it was just me. Man was I cold. So I'm all cuddled in blankets during labor. And a wee bit shaky, cause of the coldness. But overall, I wouldn't change it, it was crazy smooth and I was awesome.


They told me I could start pushing at 10:30 pm. They lied. There was another person who had to have an emergency c-section right before me. So I got to wait until Midnight to start pushing. But once I got going, it took about 50 minutes. Jamo got to be more involved than he had planned on being. They had him hold on my legs when the contractions came and it was time to push. The interesting part is that I had been in the same laying position for quite a while there at the end of labor and my back starting to kill me. And then my bladder kind of hurt. And so when I was actually pushing I could tell when to when my bladder hurt extra bad on the left side. But man, I didn't feel anything else really, which was pretty awesome.

At 12:50 am, June 28th, James Rigby Pulley was born.

And boy was he the most amazing thing you could have ever seen in your life. And guess what? I MADE him. I grew that thing in me for 9 months and then all of a sudden, he was there! A real live person. And isn't that AMAZING?

And then they put him on me. And then they cleaned him. And checked him. And then gave him back again. And I got to hold him some more. And I cried. And it was awesome. And I had a baby boy. And you know what? He's pretty dang cute. And I'm not just saying that cause he's mine. But as far new borns go, mine was ridiculous cute. Not all swollen and puffy and blotchy. Just perfect. That's all.


And then the fun for me began. The part where they make you get up and go the bathroom. And they clean up while you're up. And holy moly do they need to clean up. I'm just glad that I was at the top end of all of this. But back to the bathroom. At this point I'm shaking like crazy. I don't know what exactly it was, I think it was maybe my body went into a bit of shock after delivering and maybe partly a fever I had going. But I could not stop shaking. And I couldn't pee. Do you know what happens then? Tmi? They catheter you. Drain you right out. Good stuff. And then if you've ever had a baby you know what kind of fun bathroom routine you get to enjoy for a while. And then they stood me up. And then I got really HOT, like burning up all over. And then everything was going black. And then I'm sitting back on the toilet, clothed and trying not to pass out. Meanwhile, the nurses are asking me all sorts of questions to which I just stare at them. Which leads them to ask, "Are you still with us?". In which I give a slight head nod in reply. I mean really, all my energy is being focused on not passing out, I don't have time for all your questions. And really, you're going to ask me if I can walk to the bed? When I can't even talk? Eventually I got enough strength to make it to the bed, while almost passing out again. A little bit later I was still freezing and shaking and they got me some more meds. The motrin finally kicked in at about 5 am and I was sweating like a beast for the next couple of hours. Baby was sent to the nursery during this. I couldn't hardly function. But after a few hours of sleep and my fever breaking, I got my baby back.


The next couple of days went by in a kind of blur. Medication every few hours. Family and friends coming to visit. Napping with my baby. I put on real clothes and just hung out. I was set to leave Thursday. And we would have gotten out earlier in the day, but around 10 am I started getting killer pains in my bladder, like stabbing, making me cry they hurt so bad, kind of pains. After convincing them it wasn't just my uterus contracting, they decided to once again, catheter me. I didn't think I had been fully draining my bladder. And you know what? I was right. They said that normal people have about 150 mL of pee left in them after going. They drained 400 mL out of me. That's pretty much a full bladder people. Needless to say, I felt a bit better after that (and when the pain meds kicked in). And the tested and I had a UTI, no big surprise considering my history. So they sent for meds and then I waited around for them to discharge us. And so at about 5 pm we were finally freed.

And then we had a baby with us. We sure didn't come to the hospital with one of those. But we sure were leaving with one. W-E-I-R-D.

But we're home now and enjoying every stinkin' minute we have with this little guy. And it still doesn't feel real. But we love him.

PS - I'll bombard my blog with pictures of baby for all to drool over soon.