Ben's First Month

I can't believe it's been almost a month since Ben was born...and I haven't blogged once since my announcement post on the 14th! I figured since we're approaching the one month mark, I should write a little about how the first month has been. Let's see how much I can remember!

On March 13th, when Ben was a mere 3 days old, we went to my Mom's house for our big friends and family Shower/Party extravaganza! Technically, I wasn't supposed to leave the house (or even be out of bed) according to my midwife's orders, but we had a bunch of family in town to meet Ben, not to mention all the friends who were planning on attending the shower. So off we went! Here's Ben, dressed and ready to go:

The party was so much fun (if a little exhausting), and we were blessed with so many great gifts. And I finally finished the thank you notes today!

The first week and a half of Ben's life was all about...doctor's appointments! We started off a 1-day appt with the pediatrician (who we love - so glad we made a good choice there). Branden took Ben to that one alone. On Friday, March 12th, our midwife stopped by our loft for a home visit. Monday the 15th, Ben had another routine pedi appt (his one-week visit). He was looking pretty yellow at that point, so they did a blood test to check his bilirubin levels. Turns out, they were very high, so they sent over some phototherapy equipment to help his body break down the bilirubin.

Tuesday the 16th, a follow-up appt at the pedi's office...then over to Baylor to get a blood test done to see if the phototherapy was working (it was). Here's Branden and Ben, waiting to see the doctor...

Wednesday, another pedi appointment and another blood test at Baylor - the results there were great, he was basically in the clear at that point! But of course we weren't done with appointments yet, as we had a 10-day appointment at the Birth Center to go to still (which was actually an 8-day follow-up). That was an easy one - they just took his weight, asked how we were doing, and then put his footprints up on the wall (and in our baby book). I need to remember to get a picture of that when I go back for my 6-week check up!



Things went much more smoothly after that week. It took Ben a while to get his days and nights sorted out, but we're doing pretty well with that now. We were also fighting with getting him to sleep in the bassinet - he just wouldn't do it, no matter what we tried. So for a few nights, we were doing whatever we could just to get him to sleep at night - including one night when I slept in the recliner with him on my chest. I finally had an epiphany when I saw how well he took to swaddling during his newborn photo session. We had been given a SwaddleMe wrap as a gift, but I hadn't thought to use it on him at night. That turned out to be the key to getting him to sleep anywhere other than in our arms or next to us! He just needed to feel like he was being held.

The rest of the month has been filled with great visitors, a few trips to my mom's house, and many walks around downtown and trips to the grocery store. Ben absolutely loves being in the Baby Bjorn carrier, and he loves it best with Daddy.


On the 27th, we took a trip to downtown Fort Worth to have dinner with some friends and Branden's parents, who were in town for a dog show. We rode the TRE - here's Mommy and Ben, enjoying the ride:

Branden and I are starting to get the hang of this parenting thing. I know that many, many more challenges await us, and there will always be something new for us to figure out, so I don't want to sound overconfident. I'm merely pleased that things are going much more smoothly than they did those first couple of weeks!

I'll try to be a better blogger and update more frequently. But with an infant around, I make no promises! :)

It doesn't get any easier...

I'm really trying to stay positive...but today certainly didn't help.

Over the weekend, I got confirmation on my suspicions regarding Wayne. I suspected that once he was bedridden, that was the beginning of the end. I just know him and I know his spirit and I knew that he wouldn't want to live like that. On Friday, he told my mom and me that he was ready to go. That he didn't want to be a burden on anyone anymore, and he knew his time was coming.

Today, more news. Wayne's hospice nurse suspects the beginnings of pneumonia and a UTI. Because he doesn't wish to have any life-prolonging care or treatment, he won't receive antibiotics. So the nurse doubled his morphine and that was that. It's likely the infection could end his life sooner.

My mom has been great throughout this process. She has been there by his side every step of the way, learning everything she can to support him and help herself through each stage. She has been a wonderful advocate for him, as well as a caretaker and companion. I am so proud of her. I will not call her strong, because I learned from a recent widow from our Gilda's Club support group that they get tired of being called strong when they feel anything but. I will say that she has done everything she could for him, and more.

I really tried to soldier on through the day after hearing the latest news, and I was doing a pretty good job until I left work. I was in a rush to catch the bus and tried to take a shortcut over the grass berm in front of our building. Big Mistake! As soon as I hit the downhill slope, I felt my feet fall out from under me and I went crashing down on my rear end. Did I mention that said berm was quite muddy? So I sat there, covered in mud, and watched my bus drive right on by. Thank goodness for a kind coworker (and friend) who gave me a ride home, despite being covered in mud!

Life goes on, right? So I'm waiting for my dryer to beep so I can throw on some clothes and go get groceries. Such is life...

A Great Weekend

I have had a wonderful weekend! After the emotional mess that happened on Tuesday, it was very welcome.

Saturday started out with a trip to Arlington to spend some quality time with Wayne. This time around, there were no big surprises waiting for me when I arrived, and no unexpected trips to the hospital either. Just me and Wayne and lots and lots of great conversation. White I was there, I also got him food, helped him into the living room, cleaned up his room a little for the company he was to have that evening, and helped him into the bathroom so he could clean himself up a little before I left. The best part was just sitting in the recliner next to him and talking, about anything and everything. He was back to his old self, no traces of Tuesday's scare left, and I can't put into words how grateful I am for this. It was a wonderful visit!

From Arlington, I headed up to Wylie to visit with Jeana, her baby Taryn, and Lindsey. It's been months since I've seen Taryn, and she's grown so much! Here is Taryn, hanging out in the high chair at Taco Bell. She's almost 9 months old now:

After a great visit with the girls, I headed home and fell asleep on the couch while Branden played on the computer.

Today has been a great around-the-house day. We started out with a trip to Cafe Brazil in Deep Ellum for brunch. Since then, I've done laundry, played on the computer, watched Grey's Anatomy online. We got groceries this afternoon, and I made taco salad for dinner. Now we're re-watching An Inconvenient Truth at Branden's request.

So that's been my weekend! Hope yours has been good as well. :o)

I figured I should post

Since I haven't been keeping up very well lately.

What have I been doing? Obviously not blogging. I've been reading...and watching movies. Mostly those two things. I'm halfway through two different books right now. Normally I hate reading more than one at a time, but circumstances forced me to. I finished Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix a week early (according to the contest schedule - see "HP Revisited" in my sidebar for more info), so I thought I'd have time to sneak in another book before beginning the next Harry Potter. I was sadly mistaken. I was only halfway through Interview with the Vampire when it came time to begin Half-Blood Prince...so I put Interview on the back burner. And now, only a few days in, I'm already halfway through HBP! It's definitely a much faster read, and I'm just loving this re-reading journey I'm on!

What else have I been up to? Movies, of course! I'm just loving my Netflix subscription. It was absolutely the perfect gift from my wonderful husband. I've been taking advantage of the Watch Instantly feature to get into "The Office". Though the first season was kind of a slow start, I'm beyond hooked now, a few episodes in to the second season. I love that they're only 20ish minutes long, so I can fit an episode in here and there. And it's hilarious! I can't get over how obnoxious Dwight is, or how utterly full of himself - but in an oddly innocent way - Michael is. Can't wait to see how things develop!

Lessee...other news...Branden's recovery seems to be going well. He's still got a few months until he's back to full duty at work, but he's been going to physical therapy and doing his home exercises as well. The only setback has been him pulling his hamstring a couple of times - the first time while playing with the dogs, the second being last weekend, when he decided to be macho and race a couple of our friends in the pool. (He won, but definitely paid a price for it!)

I do have to brag on him a bit, though. Yesterday, I was having a bad day at work. To my great surprise, he met me at work to ride the bus home with me! It was such a sweet gesture, and it totally turned my day around! It's the little things that count the most sometimes, you know?

I think that's quite enough blabbering on from me today. I'll try to be a better blogger - but I've always been of the opinion that if I didn't have anything particularly interesting to say, it was better not to bother with blogging at all. However, I'm trying to balance that with the need to keep this here blog alive, so - I'll try to be better!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Worst part of the weekend: When it was over on Sunday night. :(

Best part of the weekend: Watching lots of movies! Saw 4 movies total:

Most random part of the weekend: When Branden came back from walking the dogs, and instead of starting dinner, told me to get dressed...then took me to Northpark to eat at the food court (I got Which Wich - yum!) and see "X-Men: Wolverine".

People I saw this weekend: Branden and a bunch of strangers at Northpark

Something I wished I did this weekend that I didn't get around to doing: My long-standing to-do item of printing out some wedding & honeymoon pictures for the frames we have sitting in the spare room.

Things that I am looking forward to this week: Quiet nights eating dinner w/Branden and reading "Interview with the Vampire". Hope to have it finished by the weekend. Then party Friday night, and dinner at a friend's house Saturday night.

Things that I am not looking forward to this week: Working out. And working. Pretty much anything with "work" in it.

Branden Update

I want to start by saying thank you to everyone who has offered support over the last couple of weeks. They've been a bit rough, but I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Having friends who I can lean on, people who will bring us food - it all means the world to us both.

Branden had his follow-up appointment with his doctor on Friday. It was a very positive visit, and I think it really motivated Branden to work on his recovery. The doc told him the following:
1. He needs to start putting weight on the leg - effective immediately.
2. He should start working on keeping his leg straight.
3. He should wean off the crutches over the next two weeks.

And he goes back to work on Monday! He'll still be behind the desk for a while, but it's a start. ever since then, he's been doin exactly what the doc said. He's already able to hobble about, and this morning we walked all the way to the other end of downtown to go vote...albeit very slowly and with the aid of the crutches. This is great progress!

I'm excited to see him begin the recovery process, and even though we've still got many months until he's 100% again, I'm very encouraged so far.

The weekend is going well so far. Last night I went with my friends Lindsey and Christina to go see a performance of Crazy for You put on by the Music Theatre of Denton. Operawife played the role of Irene, and the show was absolutely fabulous! I was reminded of just how much I love musicals, and I hope to attend more as funds allow.

I also got to meet a fellow Knottie/Nestie, Rachel, who I've "known" online for quite a while now - since we were both planning our weddings and posting on the Knot message boards at the same time (she got married last November). I was excited to finally get to meet her in person, and she's just as sweet in person as she is online!

I'm currently watching Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone with Branden. I need to watch "Chambe of Secrets" tonight for the Harry Potter Revisited contest (see sidebar), but Branden wanted to start from the beginning, since he's never read the books or really paid attention to the movies - though he has seen one in the theater with me and my parents. I suppose I should go pay attention...I always notice new things each time I watch these movies.

An award? For me?

Yep, it's true...I got an award!

"This blog invests and believes in the PROXIMITY-nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement!

Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers!

Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award."

Cool, huh? Isn't it pretty? I received this award from TWO lovely bloggers - Mariah at Take a Walk With Me and Carie at Love, Life and Everything in Between.

Unfortunately, because the award has now circulated among the bloggers I know, I don't have anyone to share the love with. But I am extremely honored and I really appreciate the award!

Weekend Wrap-Up

Time for my weekend wrap-up!

Saturday night Branden and I went to a "Stock the Bar" shower for a friend of mine who is getting married on April 3. It was a really creative way to get the couple plenty of booze. The hostess mailed out a card with a drink recipe along with the invitation, and we were to buy supplies to make that drink. We lucked out getting the Cape Codder. It was super easy - vodka & cranberry juice. I found a cool gift set of Stoli vodka with two martini glasses, so I got that, plus the cranberry juice (Ocean Spray, of course!) and I even got a couple of limes for the garnish. (I'm always one for completeness).

The party itself was off the hook. (Am I too old to use that phrase?). Julia and Stuart have great friends - even a couple that I already knew from college (Stuart left A&M-Commerce right as I was getting there...and his best man's wife was in my music fraternity! Small world indeed.) Beyond the good company, there was yumm food and a nice hot tub. Branden and I were the only ones to take advantage of that, but I didn't mind that we had the hot tub to ourselves. We had to seize the opportunity since we don't have access to one where we live.

Sunday brought a nice, lazy morning. We had a late breakfast at Urban Market after sleeping in, and didn't do much until it was time to leave. A co-worker suggested to me a couple of weeks ago that we join her for a performance of "One Man Star Wars Trilogy" , which was playing at WaterTower Theatre's Out of the Loop festival. So the three of us (downtown residents all) made the trek up to Addison to check out the sci-fi nerdiness. The play consists of one man, dressed all in black, acting out the entire Star Wars Trilogy in about an hour. It was quite well done, but I'd say about 80% of it went completely over my head. Branden and Katie had a great time, though, so it was worth it. The three of us went out to dinner afterwards, and then Katie invited us up to see her (parents') fat pad at One Arts Plaza. It was AMAZING. They don't just have a view of downtown...they have THE view of downtown. You can see for miles from their huge balcony. We also had the pleasure of talking to her father for a while, which was really wonderful. He and Branden really hit it off. It just so happens that Katie's father has a degree in City Planning...which is what Branden is studying right now! It was the perfect end to a wonderful day. I leave you with a picture of the man behind One Man Star Wars. He also does One Man Lord of the Rings, which I would LOVE to see some day!