The rest of the story (who gets the reference?)

Ok, so this post will go from about Halloween to when I went back to work in December. This is for my own purposes so I know where to start and stop!!

Halloween came and we were about 2 weeks into our new found happiness of a baby that sleeps thanks to Mamie. He followed her schedule and slept like a champ from about 4 weeks old to 8 weeks. This schedule has him going down about 630-7 at night. Most nights this works great for us because we aren't doing anything anyways, but I will say that on the weekends and holidays when we're up and going a bit more, it is a little restrictive... but we'll figure it out. JJ's Halloween costume was a last minute, I was bored, kind of thing. I love the pictures though! 

For the most part Edward pretends JJ doesn't exist, but sometimes he wants to be friends

 Early in November JJ's 2nd cousin? First cousin once removed? Who knows; anyways, what we call his cousin, Sophie arrived! Nathan and Erica moved down to Phoenix in August and it's been fun having someone with a newborn so close in age. It gives me someone to talk to and bounce things off, etc. Sophie was a few weeks early and it was a c-section so when Erica asked if I'd come visit one day I was excited to go see her! She was so tiny! It was amazing the difference being that they are only 7 weeks apart. Sophie was about a pound smaller than JJ when she was born.

About this same time I was trying to nail down the daycare situation. Since the daycare we wanted was full in September when I checked I'd been looking into other options but hadn't found any I was thrilled about. I was really starting to panic. I checked with Laura the end of October to see if she might have any openings come up and she did! So we booked his spot as quick as possible. We met with Laura back in March when we first found out I was pregnant and John and I both really liked her and the setup she has. I felt a lot better knowing that he was going to be going to a daycare I felt comfortable with.

 We had JJ blessed the same weekend as BrookLynn's baptism. This way my parents could be here for both. We were really glad that Nathan and Erica came and brought Sophie since she was still so little. Also, Stephanie and Bart came and John's parents. We grabbed a few photos out front afterwards and then went to lunch at Cheddar's!

My dad blessed JJ with Nick, Nathan, Brad Hall and Brad Fulton in the circle.

There were about 6 people just outside the frame ready to grab a falling baby if necessary

 JJ hit the 2 month mark while my parents were here so they helped with his 2 month picture really quick one afternoon.

 At JJ's 2 month appointment he weighed 10 lbs 15 oz and was 23 inches long. He was in the 13th percentile for weight, 40th for height, and 50th for his head.

 We took my dad to Ipic while he was here to see the new Dumb and Dumber movie. The movie was ok, but Ipic is always fun.

I decided that I wanted to fly home with JJ while I was off on maternity so he could meet some of his family. I went back and forth a lot on if I dared take him. I finally decided to do it. It's pretty daunting to fly alone with a baby. It didn't help that the flight was delayed about 2 hours, so what was supposed to be perfect planning on the flight and getting him settled for the night turned out awful. My mom picked me up in Ogden and we spent the night at Aunt Patty's.

Getting his winter gear on

Hanging out at the airport

 It was so fun to stay in Utah and see Mark and Patty, Chad and Corinne and their kids, Jena and Rudy and their kids. I almost wanted to stay there the whole time and bag the drive to Pocatello! We did head home Saturday afternoon and there was a pretty ugly storm coming through.

 We made it to mom's house and it was good to see Chris, Jaden, and AshLynn but also Grandma Connie and Len came over and we went to dinner. JJ did really pretty good for me while we were there. He slept really well. We struggled a little with getting him down but once he was down he did pretty good.

It was about this time that we started to struggle with his schedule. I don't know what the change was but he'd been a champ for about 4-6 weeks and suddenly we weren't doing so well. This lasted for about 2 weeks and he got back on track right before I went back to work.

JJ and Linden. The two cutest kids ever!

I so love this picture.

Aberdeen was in the state championship (I think) so JJ got to go to the mini dome for a game while were there. It was fun to see grandparents, Aunt Misty and Dwight, Morgan and Nick, etc.

We came back to Arizona a few days before Thanksgiving. JJ was good for both of the flights. We flew back from Idaho Falls and it was pretty smooth except that he pooped before take off and I didn't get him changed the whole flight. I felt so bad for him having that poop on him so long and I was afraid it was smelling around us!

We had Thanksgiving at John's parents. It was all of us, Stephanie and Bart, Nick and his family, and Nathan and Erica with Annette and Russell! It was a pretty good crowd and a lot of fun.

This is how I grocery shop now

I love this picture too. That face!

 I decided that I wanted a glider so after Thanksgiving John and I went and found one. It was our Christmas present to each other.

I knew come Thanksgiving that time was going to fly because we had a trip to CA planned and it did! I made time one afternoon to take JJ to work to visit. 

 Originally the plan was to take JJ with us to Disneyland. As we got planning it just didn't make sense logistically. So we ended up leaving him with John's parents while we went. Since Stephanie was seated on a jury and didn't think she would be able to drive down when we originally planned it turned into everyone flying. This would have been great except that it was the one day that Phoenix got a heavy rain. So our flight was delayed. When we finally got there we had to take a shuttle to the hotel and we decided we don't like that a whole lot. We had Thursday evening until Sunday afternoon at the parks.

Even though it was December we decided to do the water rides. We tried to be proactive and protect ourselves. Everyone turned out ok for the most part except for me. There was a drain under my seat that the water came spraying out of and made it look like I peed myself. So I ended buying new pants to wear that day.

 We don't usually catch parades or shows, etc. but we wandered into the fireworks at the castle and since we were right up front we decided to stay. I'd heard a lot about the candlelight processional and we tried to figure out the best way to see that. We know better for next time to just plan for the 2nd show. We saw the processional and hung out in some of the stores and listened a little but we had dinner reservations to get to. We got to watch one of the parades while we were hanging out though.

 We even waited in the huge line for It's a Small World. It was really pretty with all the Christmas decorations.

 We came back from CA on Sunday night and I had to turn around and go to work on Monday. I thought I had about 2 more days off but turned out I didn't. That was a bit hectic. It made it tough also that I'd been away from my baby since Thursday and had to go to work all day before I could see him. We had two holiday parties that weekend. It was the mini-bike and flag football and then Kirk's party that night. It was a lot to fit in and we were pretty tired by the end of it. It was so weird almost immediately when I started work he started sleeping through the night.... mostly. He would go from 630-7 till 5-6. Then the weekend would come and he would be up 2-3 times. I can't explain why he was doing that and I was just grateful that it was on the nights I didn't have to go to work the next morning.

Being back at work is almost like a break. It's much easier sitting at a desk for 8 hours than keeping up with a 3 month old. It's such a double edge sword. I enjoy the break but I miss him like crazy. I do enjoy the free hot chocolate at work though.

Trying to get his 3 month pictures right

 I had a hard time that first week back at work because I would pick him up from daycare and he'd be so tired he'd fall asleep on the way home and then I would get just a few minutes when he was awake between trying to feed him, get him down, and get dinner ready for us, etc. and then he would be asleep. So I was having a really hard time. Then one night John had a dentist appointment so I didn't worry about dinner and he was awake when we got home and I just played with him until he got tired and then put him to bed. The picture below was from that night and this smile made my life.

 Now that I'm back at work JJ and Sophie don't get to see each other a lot but I took a Friday off and ran some errands and stopped by to see her and Erica. I think this picture is so cute. Sophie with her tongue out and JJ's face...... so cute. I think this is their first partner in crime picture and hopefully there will be many more as they grow up.

Wow

Well the past almost 8 weeks have gone by so quickly (and now it's not even 8 weeks; it's 13). I have/had so many things I was going to post and I probably won't remember half of them. To say that life has changed would be the understatement of the year. Let's just get this out there first. The first 4 weeks of JJ's life were very hard for me. I don't think I would want to do them over again ever. That being said, I realize that he is a very good baby. He always has been and I am just weak and probably not very good at adapting to change. However, I now believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Let's go back though.

As I said the first 4 weeks were awful. I think he averaged 60-90 minutes of sleep at a time all day and night. So that meant that is all the possible sleep I was getting but I probably wasn't even getting that most days. I find it very hard to sleep when people came over. I felt that I had to 'entertain' and visit. Adding to that is the fact that I put a lot of pressure on myself to 'maintain the home' when I am home. So I felt that I needed to clean, cook, do laundry, grocery shop, etc. So about 4 weeks in I cracked. I was not doing well at all. No one had ever told me how extremely hard it is having a newborn. Several things happened about the 4 week mark that helped improve things. First, we went to Juan and Kerry's wedding. Juan had told me before that they had hired a sleep specialist with LJ and I think I probably mocked him. But I was able to talk to Kerry for a few minutes that night and she assured me it was worth every penny. So we got the info for our sleep specialist Mamie (more on her later). John and I also had a trip to Dr. Alperin. He was very forward in saying that I needed sleep and I needed a break from JJ. I think it helped me to hear it from someone. That it's ok to have a break. Not only is it ok but I NEED it. Next, Nick and Shar kept JJ for the night. This was a hard decision but I was so exhausted. It was honestly the first time in over 4 weeks that I slept through the night because before he was born I wasn't sleeping all night then either.

Juan, Kerry, and LJ. It was a beautiful, personal wedding

Ryan holding JJ. Ryan is a friend from work and while we've butt heads before he was a huge support for me during my pregnancy and even after. He was so excited for me to be having a baby and helped reassure me when they kept JJ in the hospital for jaundice.

Yep, I cut my hair off. How cliche is that? I was tired of it always being in the way, always feeling ugly, always being in a ponytail. I threatened to shave it. Still thinking about it.

This was the morning Nick and Shar had JJ. He was so happy just hanging out.

So this all took up to about 4 weeks. We set up a consult with Mamie. She came over and honestly, she didn't share any groundbreaking information, but just like with Dr. Alperin, it helps to hear it from someone else sometimes. She gave us a plan and a schedule to work towards. This helped us feel proactive instead of reactive. She helped us set up his room and give us some tips on helping him shut down at night. I feel like almost immediately we went from getting up every 60-90 minutes to getting up maybe twice a night. And this was taking him from going to bed at 10-11 to going to bed at 7. We were now putting him down at 7; getting up about 11 and then again around 2, and for the morning between 6-7 am. That is so much more doable than what it had been. This also gave me structure during the day on how to get him down, how to watch for his sleep signs, swaddling him, etc. Like a champ he was on that schedule amazingly for the next 4 weeks.

Isn't this just exciting? Chris Mann as the Phantom?! I'm seeing it in June.

This is JJ sleeping in his crib. We'd had him with us for the most part during the dark days. I was afraid we'd create a monster so I was super excited when he was sleeping in his crib. He's in a miracle blanket and it is aptly named! For those of us who can't swaddle like Cynthia Robbins this is a life saver. This kid was breaking all of our swaddles but this blanket put that almost to an end.

At the 6 week mark I got the ok to start exercising. We got out a few times for a jog/walk but I find exercising is a hard thing to fit in; especially now that I'm back at work. Someday/some way I'll figure it out again. It's not a lack of desire as a shift in priorities. Most the rest of these are just random pictures. They've probably all been posted on facebook, but I just love them.

That's really all I can think through about mid-October at least. I'll do another post to try and catch up a little farther, but this is all the photos I had ready for the blog at this time. Hey, it's a start!