Troy at Five Months

So do you think his face looks thinner here? Be honest - I think it might just be the blue, I don't know? Let's see, at 5 months, Troy is somewhere around 19 pounds, 4 ounces. Still wearing size 3 diapers and size Medium gdiapers. We are still using cloth diapers and it is not a big deal at all. I am planning on monogramming a couple of them, just for fun!

Troy is definitely rolling over from front to back. He still doesn't like to be on his stomach so he immediately rolls over. It's like a game to me but he eventually gets tired of me putting him on his stomach over and over. He's very, very close to sitting up independently. He can do it but for only a few seconds. His large belly seems to help hold him up well. His favorite toy is a Lamaze butterfly. It will entertain him for many minutes. The jumperoo and floor mat are also major favorites. He doesn't seem to want to do anything for more than 15-20 minutes at a time.

He is sleeping from 8 or 9 until 5 or 6 most days. We moved him to his bed this past week. Yep, we've had him in the pack n play for ALMOST 5 months!! We can honestly say he lived in the office for about 4 1/2 months of his life. The office is on the same side of the house as our room which is why we put him closer to us.

Oh and Troy is a flirt. Big. Time. He loves to stare people down until they look at him, at which time he throws out his huge, open mouth smile. He's just so darn happy - it's hard not to smile back at him. Laughing is a favorite, too. He's extremely ticklish and seems to love it. He gets so tickled he ends up with the hiccups - which is daily.

It snowed in Auburn (and pretty much the rest of Alabama) on the 12th of February. I was already off of work and Brian's work closed at noon. The snow was soft and fluffy. So much fun. Below are a few photos taken. We are grateful that we were actually in town for this snow!
At Samford Hall:
Our house covered in snow:

Troy in his rocking chair the day after it snowed (now those are some chubby cheeks):

Samford Hall - the students had some major snowball fights going on this day which was pretty cool!

You remember Auburn's coach the year before last? Tommy Tuberville. Well, his mom lives around the corner from us. Her house went on the market a couple of weeks ago, was under contract in less than a week. That contract fell through so it's on the market again. If you live in our area and are looking for a home, it is nice and the neighbors beside her home are great people. I think it's so sweet that she is moving to Texas to be near him. Well, she told a friend of ours (who looked at the house yesterday) that her "son" had already bought her a home there but she hasn't seen it yet. Awesome! I think that's pretty awesome. Of course she goes where he goes. There is a huge moving truck on the street today so she's moving today. I predict that the house will be under contract quickly again. Ours is a very kid-friendly neighborhood and tucked back a little so there isn't a lot of traffic.

We are having Troy Christened this weekend. So excited to dedicate and promise him that we will raise him in the church. We aren't actually raising him - God is. All we can do is perform what we feel He is guiding us to do. It's so hard to know what to do but we know God's perfect grace will lead us the way we should. All we can do is pray for that guidance. We're praying for safe travels for our family coming from out of town.

Finally, thank you for the emails, calls and prayers about my health. I'm so, so much better! While I have a teeny tiny amount of swelling in my knee, it feels much better. My back/hips are much better and my running shoes are seeing some action again. Hallelujah!

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Weekends

Since we're almost at the end of this week, I should post something about last weekend, right?
We hosted, with several other couples, a baby shower for dear friends of ours. Unfortunately I didn't take photos of everything. But, it was pretty for sure! It was very special, too. We had over 50 guests (5-0) in our house. I still cannot believe everyone fit and had room to move around! But, they did and needless to say (although I may), I was a bit concerned with the logistics. We have never had so many folks in our house at once. We had homemade lasagna, salads, desserts and dips before the real meal. It all fit, we used our kitchen to cook the lasagnas and I can't believe it was all done in time! I think it was marvelous.

Anyway, the shower was for a very, very special couple. This couple means more to me and Brian than we can say. I won't get into detail because I haven't asked their permission but I'll say that they have endured a lot over the past 14 months. They have overcome major obstacles and have remained strong in their faith. In fact, just from observing them, I'd have to say they are stronger in their love of Christ and they realize his undying grace more than I have been able to imagine. God is blessing them with a little girl, to be here on March 19th. We are so excited! And, it's a girl! YAY!

Below are a couple of photos, of the Mrs. guest of honor with her mother and of the hostesses. I don't really like the quality of the photos but hey, I'm still working on getting better at indoor light without a flash, right? I have SO much to learn but don't want to spend hours upon hours each day learning....what's a girl to do?!

Two days ago it was raining here a lot. As I mentioned in my last post, I've committed myself to taking a photo a day. I'm not saying I'll post a photo a day and I know I won't put them on this blog. They'll be going to my flickr account. So, back to my story about 2 days ago. Well, I didn't go outside that much but when I did I wore my crocs (are others still wearing these) and thinking that I should be wearing my rainboots. Well, yesterday my photo of the day was the one below. I have the cutest (in my opinion) rainboots. Their designer boots a friend gave me no less than 5 years ago. I love them but yesterday was the first time I've taken them outside. In. Five. Years. What is wrong with me? Anywho, I also have a photo of my running shoes. They haven't seen much action lately. I got the shoes for Christmas and by now I should have over 200 miles on them. I'd be surprised if they have 20 miles on them. I'm glad to say that I can at least run a 5k. I've signed up for a 5k leg of the Mercedes Marathon relay this weekend. I don't want to walk but if I have to, I will. A year ago, I was 11 weeks pregnant, feeling pretty good and running "slow" to finish in under 27 minutes for my 5k leg of the relay. I was taking it easy because I was pregnant (no one knew at this point besides Brian). I'm hoping I can finish in under 32 minutes. It's a hard reality for me for some reason.



The below photo is outside our house at sunrise this morning. I thought the sky was very pretty. I only stepped on our back porch to take this. I wonder if the strange colors means the snow prediction will come true....only time will tell!

On another hand, do any of you have like a million photo accounts? Seriously....a lot??? I have a smugmug account, a picasa account, an HP account, shutterfly, snapfish and now a flickr account. I might even have more out "there" in cyber land but I can't recall them right now. Why do I have so many? Can't make up my mind? Want to try out the print and storing capabilities, navigation capabilities? I don't know. My new flickr account is because I was conned by Greg and Penny.

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The Saints, a Photo a Day, stuff

My friends Greg and Penny asked if I wanted to be a part of taking a photo a day. While my secret New Year's resolution was to take my camera places with me, I wasn't going to commit to such a huge thing! But, as most other things, having an accountability partner (or two in this case), makes it easier somehow to get it done. When my husband reads this, it'll be the first time he's heard of it. Honey, it isn't personal, only Greg and Penny know (or they did anyway). Here is my link. Nothing exciting by any means but something to do, I guess.

A very, very good friend of mine saw a post I put on here yesterday. Within a few minutes (less than 5), I removed the post. Something happened yesterday and all I can do is pray. I strongly believe God wanted her to see that post. She's a strong Christian woman and is always telling me she loves me. How sweet is that? She's wonderful - thank you girl! No, I'm not ready (nor do I know if I will be) to give details on this blog about what happened.

Lastly, and on a more cheerful note, the SAINTS won the Super Bowl. It's been very interesting to me to see many people jump on the Saints bandwagon. My husband is a Dolphins fan and, growing up, I didn't care about the NFL. When we moved to Southeastern Louisiana, I instantly became a Saints fan. Their games were the first NFL games I attended. And, although they were horrible, I became a fan in 2000. Now, 10 years later, they have accomplished so much. Who DAT! I'm almost sick of hearing/seeing/reading about it but it is pretty exciting! Two years ago they still weren't any good. Our family of three (minus the cat) wore our Saints garb on Sunday. Man, I should have taken a picture! That may be one I'll have to pose soon! I made Troy (before he was born) a Saints bubble. While it's too cold to wear it, it fits now so he wears it anyway!



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Rollin' and Bouncin'

Someone just started rolling over - from front to back. He did it first on February 1st but I wanted to make sure it was the "real deal" before recording him. He's quite proud of himself, or confused, I don't know.
Here he is this morning doing his thing! I apparently didn't have much light on so sorry about the darkness!


This past weekend, he was taking a nap. At first, we didn't let him have a blanket. But, he was restless so we gave him his pacifier and his little monkey blanket (it's pretty small). Several minutes later, we checked on him and below is what we found. Look closely. It's dark (again) but this time because we turn the lights off when he's napping. But, the monkey is over his head, his pacifier is doing a balancing act on top of his nose and he's "fantom" sucking his pacifier. Hope you can see it!


Lastly, here he is in his jumperoo. He likes it, too.



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Agh....

I fell almost like Calgon has taken me away. Feeling much better today. UPS (woman) arrived on Friday about 2 p.m. Had a rough day and weekend but things are looking (and feeling) much better today. I'm so grateful that Brian stayed in town with us and missed the last weekend of hunting season. Nope, didn't ask him to; he decided it on his own. He later told me that I looked pretty pitiful and he felt convicted to stay home. Yay! How awesome is that?!?! Thanks hubby!

Thankfully Troy was pretty good this weekend. I didn't do much besides sit on my tail with my feet up. Nice!



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UPS???

In Phillipians 4:6, we are told to not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
The last time I received treatment for my arthritis was 2 days before I ran the New York City Marathon in 2007. By the way, it IS okay to have arthritis and run! We were ready to have a child (or so we thought we were) and I didn't want to be on any meds. So, I gave myself that last injection, prayed for my health and patience and ran a marathon 2 days later. Troy was born in September 2009. As I've documented since I was pregnant and since his birth, I went through a wonderful, fantastic remission. About 6 weeks after he was born, it was back. Not the devil but the little thing that lives inside me and causes pain and inflammation. Dealing with it has been okay but a week ago today I went back to my rheumatologist. I told him that the steroid shot I had 2 weeks prior wore off after 3 days. Proof was in my knee - the fluid was back and the pain was in my back/hip again. I had not exercised and this in and of itself makes me a crabby person. We all need our exercise, right?

So, I came in with my new droid where my browser was opened to the latest studies about Enbrel (the medicine I took). My doctor is so funny to me. He's a bit harsh, isn't a softie AT ALL. He has a very interesting sense of humor. If you don't listen intently to his (Persian) accent, you'll miss whether he's joking or not. But, I love him. He tells me what I need to hear. Previously, he would ask me if I could stand the pain and although I didn't want to, I'd tell him that I could; he would withdraw some fluid (sorry, very yucky) and inject a steroid. I'd feel like a new woman! In fact, the day after the last shot, I payed for my plane ticket to go to Big Sur and run a 10 miler.
When I went to see him last week, I knew I'd need to be ready. Honestly I was throwing up the white flag. I checked with my lactation consultant who told me about the molecular weight of the medicine (150KDa). And I THOUGHT you'd never use chemistry again! I made sure I knew about the maximum size of a molecule which could be released into breastmilk, read all about Dr. Thomas Hale. His information was given to me by my lactation consultant. Learned about how a baby's digestive system enzymes dissolve certain medications. So, I walked in there with guns a blazing! While I thought he would ask me a bunch of questions, he simply asked, "What do you want to do?" I contemplated a moment and said, "Well, I don't want to stop nursing but I can't do this anymore. I want to take the Enbrel again." He said there aren't any studies showing it's safe. I asked if I can make the decision and he said I could. He consulted with the other rheumatologist in the clinic (mind you I've been going here since I was 19 except for the 3 1/2 years we lived in LA). So he tells the other doctor that I'm a documented AS patient for the past 12 years, have educated myself on the medicine (insert pat on the back here) and want to take Enbrel again. The other doctor said there aren't any studies (I mean were they TOLD to say this?). I said I understand but I feel comfortable enough to take it again. They both said OKAY.
Here I am, one week later, knee painfully swollen, back/hip throbbing and SO excited because the medicine is coming today.

Before I made my appointment, I asked God for guidance. He led me to the lacation consultant, then to many websites where I read others' stories. I'm not the only one, of course. I have prayed faithfully about this decision and I still feel confident about getting back on the medicine. I have faith that Troy is going to be fine. I'll be a better mother because I'll be able to care for him better (picking him up and carrying him around has been a hassle).

For your entertainment, here is my knee. Probably doesn't look so bad but I am SO excited about it going down and being able to exercise soon. I haven't been able to do ANYTHING in 13 days. Ugh.

So I'm wondering when the UPS man will come today. I'm not anxious but very excited.... AS It'll take a while to kick in but there's hope, right?!?!


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Four Month Checkup for Troy

Little...or should I say quickly growing Troy went to the doctor today. He had 4 shots, one viral, cried until his face was red, quit crying and started smiling.

Weight: 18 pounds, 4 oz (95%)

(the peds office and support group scales are a little different but does it make a difference - NO)

Height: 26.2 inches (90%)

Head: 16.6 inches (50%)

Well, everything is higher than normal except for the head. Hmmm. What does that mean? Maybe my head isn't large enough to understand :o) But, the doctor said he's perfect. Don't you just love that?!?!?

The lady at the checkup counter looked at his chart and said, "My, you're very happy to have just gotten four shots!" My, he was! He seems to still be okay. We prayed together (well, he did his baby talking) about him being strong, happy and healthy. God really made it easy for him...

This was taken just a few minutes ago (about 2 hours post shots):

I mean, can you tell I'm a proud ma-ma?

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Four Months

It's so cliche but he's growing very fast. I still cannot put my hands around the fact that I have a baby. Well, I can put my hands around him but you know what I mean. Every little stage is more and more fun. He found his feet a week before he was 4 months old. Now, when he's put on his back, his feet go straight up. Doesn't seem fun for me to do it but he enjoys it thoroughly!

Let's see, I've put in some of my favorite photos of him. While I was taking pictures of him in his new rocking chair (Cracker Barrel Kids Chair $44 at Angel's Antiques), he grabbed his feet for the first time. Not sure if I'll always see his few "firsts" but I'm content to see some of them now.

Weight: 18 pounds, 5 inches.

We'll find out the height and head circumference when he goes to the doctor next week.

He enjoys his jumperoo, the swing and bouncy seat for now. He's not too far away from the weight limit on the swing and bouncy seat so I'm thinking those will go soon. Troy is drooling like a fool and his gums seem to bother him. He puts everything in his mouth. Diapers: Pampers size 3 (just got into threes) or gdiapers size Medium.

We've made the leap into cloth diapers. Call me crazy but it's going pretty good so far. In fact, they will pay for themselves in just a few months (yes, including washing!). Goli doesn't work with cloth diapers so he'll still have the disposables when he goes to her. So if you go on the gdiapers site, you'll see that Julia Roberts recommends them. Hmmm, does she change diapers? :o) They're so darn cute, too!

Troy is super ticklish, loves to smile at people. He gets fussy when he's tired, hungry or needs to be change. Oh yeah, and when he's tired of whatever position he's in. He loves taking a bath. He has decided he doesn't like his baby bathtub so we now put him in the tub on his back with a washcloth behind his head. With 2 inches of water in the tub, he kicks and talks. Oh, and he loves to "talk". While at church, he seems to like to talk during the sermon...and we excuse ourselves.

He's still exclusively nursing. On the day he turned four months, we gave him cereal and he ate it up. But, I don't think I'm ready for him to have cereal. He's still sleeping good (minus last week) as long as he's swaddled and he weighs a lot! We'll start him on it next month or the next. We believe the main reason for the cereal is so that he'll get accustomed to regular food and to avoid food allergies. Plus, the AAP says they don't need to start foods until they're 6 months old.

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New Year 2010

So I find myself backtacking...again. As we are now 11 days into 2010, it is past time for an update. Our New Year's Eve celebration was relaxing but fun. We joined the Angleas and Petteys for dinner and a New Year's toast at Ariccia. It was delicious and included a four (or 5) course meal. I (being the good eater that I am) enjoyed each dish more than the prior. Our pallate cleanser was a frozen cucumber and ginger combination in a small glass. I was the only one who loved it (probably because it was so salty). We all danced once and felt "old" because we weren't on the dancefloor much. I'm such a horrible dancer anyway! What was fun was watching the older folks dance the night away. Some may have had a little much to drink.

KK and Papa were so sweet to come, spend the night and watch Troy. I think he went to sleep only an hour after they arrived but I think DHR would have been after us had we allowed the cat to be the babysitter.

Anyway, we had a great time. We talked about the last DECADE and how each of us graduated, got married, had jobs and children. Brian and I were married in 2000, moved 7 times, lived in 2 states, traveled a lot, had a baby and had a great time! The things that stick out in my head for me is that I have run 2 marathons, had 3 jobs, both grandfathers passed away and had a baby.

I'm happy to say that I've lost more than my pre-baby weight. This isn't necessarily a good thing - I'm not where I'd like to be. I'm not feeling quite up to par with exercising. The elasticity in my mid-section is still strange! Unfortunately the arthritis is still there, in my knees, back and now my upper right hip. Had to get another steroid injection the week of New Year's. While it makes me feel better, it's only temporary. The issue at hand is nursing Troy. Honestly I was hoping I'd be able to do so until he weaned himself. A huge reason is the cost, then right next to that is the nutritional value. I can control the nutrients he receives by what I eat. While I'm hoping he'll be as healthy of an eater I am, it will not be as easy to control. Nonetheless, my days of nursing are numbered based upon the way I feel. Caring for Troy is more important now. The risk of taking the medicine I need is unknown as to whether it will be given to Troy through the milk. So, for now, I'm not exercising like I'd like to be. Nursing has come so easy and I do have a good bit of milk stored so it will be okay to stop.

You may say that it isn't a big deal. But, to me, it is. I can run, do yoga, Wii fit, swim, etc. But, not how I could before. When pregnant, I was in remission and felt so wonderful. I wish remission came without pregnancy. Things are just more difficult now, as in harder. But, God has a plan for me and I truly know that. However, my human selfishness sometimes comes into play and it causes me to dwell on things I shouldn't. I'm praying for contentment and strength for now.

On another note, cheers to a New Year and contentment!!
My motivation:

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Chan Pie Gnon

This little fella deserves his own post. Our cousin said he would guess the name stands for "blue nipple". It actually means "blue mushroom". I guess they could be cousins. Nonetheless, it's hilariously weird looking, sounds like a dog toy (with the squeak it makes) and is very rubber-y. Apparently babies, including mine, loves the thing! Try it for your baby, not only will it receive strange comments from others, your child will love it!

Thanks for your comments and suggestions on my decor. I know the decor doesn't really matter but it's fun. So, I'm going to look for a nice nativity scene (we have a small one I didn't photo) and something fun (garland, lights, beads) for the mantle. I still could use any other suggestions, however!

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