My Gift

I can’t believe that it is almsot Christmas! It will be my baby’s first Christmas. This year my Christmas gift is my baby boy, God couldn’t have given me anything more dear or special to me. Daniel is 7 months old, and is growing fast. His favorite thing to do right now is to shake his toys up and down, it is so cute. He is rolling over more, and is on the verge of sitting up. This holiday season has been really enojoyable to me. We took Daniel to visit his cousin Olivia in Nashville for his first out-of-town trip, and we also saw Harvey and Aunt Lynda. We took him to the Opryland Hotel, and dressed him in his santa suit and strolled him around, it was so cute. Thanksgiving was fun, we went to my mom’s on Thursday, and then to Matt’s mom’s on Sunday. Daniel even got to see his first snow on December 5th. I made him a snowman, and a snowball. The first time I made the snowman, I was putting the hat on it, and its head fell off of the porch and smashed into a million pieces. So, I had to make it another head. When we took Daniel out to see it, he ripped its head completley off! I am so glad that it snowed just a little for Daniel’s first holiday season! I am pretty happy that I have got a good portion of our Christmas shopping done. It is nice to have that out of the way! Most of all, this season I am thankful for Jesus’s birth, and for the chance to teach my son about him.

I will be missing my family this Christmas! Kim, Michael, Richie, and Pupper, will not be here this Christmas. It will be my first Christmas without my sister. I have gotten used to not having my brother for Christmas, but it will take some time getting used to not having Kim here. Maybe, we can go visit them in California next year some time.  I can’t wait for Daniel and Olivia to have a Christmas together, it should be really fun! I am also glad I will get to be present for Olivia’s birthday. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Cloudy, with a chance of spit-up!

I really need to set aside more time to blog, but it sure is hard with a 5 month old baby. Yes, I said 5 months old! I can’t believe he is almost a half a year old. Well, that being said I will update everyone on how Daniel is doing. At around 3 1/2 months I started to give Daniel some rice cereal, which he did not like, so we switched to oatmeal and he loves the oatmeal. When he turned 5 months old, I started him on some squash. He really loves squash! Now we are trying carrots, and so far so good. He opens his mouth like a little baby bird, and he tries to help mommy put the spoon in his mouth. He gets the food all-over himself, so I am trying not to put him in any of the outfits that I like for fear of staining it. He can’t sit in his high-chair yet, so we have been feeding him in his bouncy seat. I think Daniel is not going to be a picky eater. He will probably be like Matt when it comes to food, which means man, am I in for it!
Daniel has not been rolling over consistently, but he can do it. He has rolled over several times. He does coo and babble a lot, and he has started screaming, which he thinks is funny, and it is, it just really is an ear piercing scream. He especially thinks it is funny to scream in the morning.
He is still sleeping every 3-4 hours at night, and wants to be fed his bottle, so Matt and I have not had a full night of sleep in a long time. That is fine though, I am sure when Daniel gets older I will miss those late night feedings where I can hold him and rock him. We have debated on trying the cry-it-out method, it was suggested by Daniel’s pediatrician, I am pretty much against it because one: I tried it when I layed him down for a nap and he was so upset he was hyper-ventalating, and tears were running down his face. Two: I read a lot about the cry-it-out method in Dr. Sears baby sleep book, and after reading it I really don’t want to put Daniel through that. Matt on the other hand, I think wants to give it a try. We shall see.
Daniel still loves Baby Einstein, and he watches it everyday, at the most twice a day. Sometimes it is the only thing that will calm him down. He smiles and coos at the babies and puppets on Einstein. I would recommend Einstein to any mother.
He is wearing 6-9 month clothing and can wear some 12 month clothes. He is just so long. If he was not so long he probably would not be in those sizes just yet.
I am so excited about the holidays coming up. I have already got him a Halloween costume, a First Thanksgiving outfit, and a couple of Christmas outfits. Heck, I bought him his 1st birthday outfit last week! I am planning ahead.
I love my little Daniel so much, I didn’t know that you could love someone this much! I am trying to soak up every moment, and when I get fustrated, I just tell myself, he will not be this little forever so I need to enjoy every stage he is in and not wish away him being a baby. Although the milestones are pretty exciting and fun, and somedays I do think about, oh, I can’t wait until…but, I am really enjoying every moment with him, even the tough ones. Not that he is a terrible baby, he is wonderful, but I think the most difficult thing is putting him to sleep for the night. It takes about an hour sometimes two hours to get him to go to sleep. I also like to see the humour in situations. I was just talking to my Nana on the phone tonight and I was telling her how Daniel is having trouble going to sleep, and her words were: “Welcome to Motherhood!” I think every mother could write a book on the funny, fustrating, and wonderful things that it takes to be a mother. I love being a mother and staying home with him. It is my dream come true.

How time flies!

Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted anything so let me get everyone up to date on our Little Man. He had is 2 month checkup on June 30th and he weighed 11.5 lbs, he was 23 3/4 inches long, and his head circumference was 41cm. He got his first round of shots and he did well with the first 3, he was sucking on his paci, but when they gave him the other two, he spit out the paci and started crying. At that point, I had wished I could take the shots for him, his little cry was so pitiful. I am glad that Matt went with me. Daniel fell asleep in the car on the way home, so I just let him sleep in his car seat when we got to the house, and I took advantage of him sleeping and took a nap myslef. Daniel did really good for the rest of the day and night, he just wanted me to hold him a lot. His next set of shots will not be until he is 4 months old.

He is drinking 4oz about every 2-3hrs and he is in size one diapers now. He wakes up about 6:30-7:00a.m.. every morning and after I give him his morning bottle we have some playtime. Susan let us use a tummy time mat that later turns into a tunnel he can crawl through. The tummy time mat has hanging toys and Daniel smiles and coos at them. He is smiling a whole lot, and starting to get really good at lifting his head while he is on his stomach. I can’t believe he is almost 3 months old! He has also been trying to turn over, he gets on his side but so far can’t make it all the way over, but I know he will soon. I have been trying to get him to sleep in his crib ( he has been sleeping in his bassinet since he was born) but so far he will only sleep in the crib for about an hour at a time. I am trying to get him to take his naps in the crib, maybe he will get used to it a little at a time. We shall see!

Time sure does fly!

He is here! Daniel Edward Craigge

The wait is over…baby Daniel came to the world on Tuesday April 28. Here are the stats:
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Daniel Edward
7 pounds 2 ounces
20.5 Inches long
Full head of hair
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Woohoo! Richell’s water broke 4:00 Monday evening. She was in labor for 14 hours and pushed for two hours. I can not imagine what is going through the mind of a person who refuses an epidural. We were in the hospital for 3 days and are blessed with a bouncing baby boy.

We came home on Thursday and had our first night together. Thank goodness he is eating every 4 hours and sleeping in between.

Needless to say it feels like I am standing on top of the world right watching a baby boy hang the moon for me. Somehow I will have to find the time to write a bunch of thank you letters for all the wonderful things people have given us over the past several weeks.

Anyway…enough talk. Here is the baby

Baby Daniel

Eight Months…the final countdown

So, it is almost here, almost time for baby. I have to say that I am ready. Can my stomach actually stretch any further than it already has? Bleh! It is getting a little bit more uncomfortable being pregnant in these last few weeks. My hands and feet have been swelling some, and I have had some trouble sleeping. If I end up on my back at night I feel like a turtle trying to roll over. The nursery is pretty much ready, all the baby clothes and blankets are washed. I have just been basically resting lately. I will do a little around the house here and there, and then take a break, or a nap.

Matt surprised me with a new vehicle this past Friday. It is a 2003 Honda CR-V. It is black, and it has the latch system for baby car seat. It has a sunroof, which I have never had before. I had no idea that he was looking at it much less going to bring a new car home. It was a really nice surprise. It will be great for family vacations.

I think these last eight months have been the busiest Matt has been in a long time. He has done a lot of work to the house. He built me a pantry and painted the kitchen in December. He had to take off wall paper in the kitchen which he hates. He also made cournises/curtains for the nursery, and now he has totally stripped the wall paper off of our one and only bathroom. He plans on painting it tomorrow. Oh, and he has also been doing some minor repairs and adjustments to the CR-V. All while working his regular job. I on the other hand have not been as active as he has been. I have just been staying at home, doing housework here and there when I get a burst of energy.

I just lost my preggo partner in crime, Megan. We were suppose to hang out last Thursday, but her baby decided to come Wed. night. We got pregnant around the same time, so it was nice to have someone to go through it with. We would get together almost every week and go to Northgate Mall or Target. Our weakness was the American Cookie Company and Cadbury eggs. I have to catch up with her now so we can take the babies out together. I don’t know what I would have done without having Megan to go through the pregnancy with.

My Mom threw me a family baby shower on March 28th, and it turned out wonderful. We were blessed with so many wonderful baby gifts. It was the perfect shower. We are still eating off of some of the cake from that shower.

My next baby visit is 4-14-09, I will be 34 weeks by then. My midwife delivers at Erlanger downtown, Matt and I took a tour of the facilities around mid March and were very pleased with everything. My Nana is planning to come up from Florida, right when she hears that I am in labor and my sister Kim is coming out in June. I am just ready to meet our little man. I am really curious to find out how I am going to go into labor. Everyone has their own labor story. I am ready to have my own. I go to bed at night dreaming about how it is going to happen. I have the baby’s bag packed and mine is semi packed. It is just a matter of time and I can’t wait.

Two Down…Two to go

Kitchen was done last month
Baby room done this month
Bathroom next month
Paint the house whenever I have some spare time.

Whew! Baby isn’t even here yet and I am already tired….

Update

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been so long since we have posted anything. Everything is going well, Matt and I have been through childbirthing classes already. My last appointment was last Tuesday, and I was measuring 22.5 cm. They said the goal at that time was 23cm, but I am not to far off. The baby’s heartbeat was 140bpm, which is good. My blood pressure was fine, and weight gain was fine. They did tell me I have an extra placenta lobe, which they could not tell me really why it happens but they said it was nothing to worry about. I have looked on the internet some and there is not much info on it. They just have to make sure that it all gets out when I deliver. February 24th I go for another ultrasound because they could not see all of the baby’s spine on the last ultrasound and they also want to check on the other placetna lobe. On that same day I also go for the sugar test, so I will be at the Dr.’s office for a while that day. I have been feeling lots more movement lately, so that has been pretty neat. I do have to say thought that I am ready for the baby to be here, and I am kind of tired of being pregnant. It is getting more difficult to move around to just to regular cleaning. The unknown of not knowing when the baby is going to exactly be born or if I will have a natural birth or c-section sort of bugs me. I also can’t wait to wear my own clothes again. I have really been a big baby about that. Anyway, sorry for doing a little whining. I will try to get a picture of the nursery up soon. It is still not completely finished yet, I still have to do curtains and get a rug and a rocker. I do have my crib and my crib bedding, so I will try to post that soon.

What do I do with my spare time? (Alternate title: Why I don’t watch T.V.)

People take vacations to relax…not me.  I am not obsessive-compulsive or any other stupid “ailment” that armchair doctors like to throw around, but rather just a busy person who would rather live than sit around and waste time.  I make lists of  “to do” items and hold myself to them.  This, coupled with no fear of screwing things up, allows me to get a lot done when compared to the average joe…Counted my “to do” bullets and came in with a little more than 200 activities that I have been putting off until now while I have the time off from work.  Stuff like selling items on ebay, donating old clothes, attend director meetings at the Rifle club, replace timing belts on cars, rotate tires, take our loose change to the bank, finish landscaping the back yard, read a couple of books, host a couple of dinner parties, paint a couple of walls, finish wiring the alarm system, and on, and on…

The one that I am most proud of is the minor remodel of our kitchen involving a paint job and a full size, floor to ceiling, pantry.  The materials list was$195.  It took 18 hours to bust out the wall, cut the floor, rewire, re plumb, frame, finish, and paint the thing. It added a LOT of value to our house.  This will be the last real stretch of time I will have before the baby arrives.

Here is the before picture with the refrigerator slid over and the wallpaper removed (I HATE wallpaper)

Before

Here is the after picture with the shelves loaded…this cleared up 3/4 of the cabinets in our kitchen.  The only problem I have now is what to do with all that empty space.

After

This week I intend to finish all the painting, remove christmas stuff, organize the baby room, and begin working on the bathroom.  It was a mixed blessing that most of our Christmas activities happened at other people’s houses this year in that I can do stuff like this to our kitchen with little bother.  The downside is the thin, while layer of dust that is now covering everything in our house.

Sometimes a “Blue” Christmas Isn’t So Bad

Well we just went in for our 19 week ultrasound.  We have a healthy baby and Richell is doing very well in her pregnancy.  We are over HALF way there!!!!  The most exciting part of the visit was that we found out that we are going to have a little boy.  I was impartial at first, but after visiting the toy section at Wal-Mart the other day I am beginning to be a little relieved with the news that there will not be any pink dolls in the house for at least another couple of years.  The bad thing is that we will not be able to use much of Olivia’s leftover wardrobe.

So now we can finally start picking colors for the room, furniture, registries, and most importantly…names.  This will be a lot of fun and I am extremely blessed and thankful that all is going well.

With that being said I believe that I will go back to doing laundry, painting, making phone calls, and generally straitening up the house until I have to go back to work on Friday.  Have been off for 3 weeks.  Does not take very long on my own time to figure out how much better I am at carpentry, painting, cooking, auto mechanics, teaching, and landscaping than I am at cost accounting…Having that much time off more than makes up for it.

16 week appointment

Yesterday, Matt and I went to the doctor and I measured at 16 weeks and 3 days.  We got to hear the baby’s heartbeat, it was in the 140’s and the doctor said that was really good. We also got to hear the baby moving around, and the doctor said the baby was very active! Everything looked really good, so my next appointment is on December 29th and we will have an ultrasound at that appointment, and hopefully find out what the baby is…boy or girl. We do not care either way, just as long as the baby is healthy. Once we find out what it is, then we can start getting ideas for how to decorate the nursery. Fun stuff. Right now, I am making a red velvet cake, with some buttercream icing, and I am going to sprinkle Christmas colored Nerds on the top…I am going to call it a Nerd cake. I am bringing it to a get together tonight, so hopefully it will be tasty. It sure does smell good!