3 months old

Ammon is 3 months old! (I'm a bit late on this post. Before we know it, he'll be 4 months!) I'd say 3 months was the turning point. It's like Ammon has matured over night! He sleeps longer through the nights, he doesn't cry (too much) when we put him in his car seat, and he's on a schedule. He's so alert in church and when we go on errands to the store. When he wakes up in the morning, he hangs out in his crib giggling and talking to himself. He's discovered his hands and loves to munch on them.

Ammon goes to bed between 10pm-midnight (we're a night owl family) and sleeps until about 7:30 am. Daddy will change his diaper, play with him, and then bring Ammon to bed where I feed him half asleep. Then Ammon sleeps until 11 or so. So, he's sort of on a 12 hour schedule....but it's a great schedule that works the best for our family.

We're so excited to see Ammon grow, but at the same time we're a little sad to see our little baby getting so dang big! We celebrate his growth and achievements every day and can't wait for him to sit up on his own and finally get crawling!

Nomming on his monkey hands. 12/2/2010

Hanging out with daddy. 12/1/2010

Getting so big! 12/8/2010

3 month growth picture

17 pounds!! 95% percentile

Compare with:

2 months old. 11/8/2010

15 pounds, 3 ounces

Footsies

Ammon was crying today, and Steven was trying to soothe him. I suggested, "Maybe he's sad because he has bear feet." Steven looked at me and said, "You have bare feet." This was true as I did have bare feet and so I laughed at the play on words thinking Steven was being clever. He wasn't and just looked at me and then it hit him that Ammon really did have bear feet. Silly mommy and baby had bear/bare feet!

Ammon's bear feet

12/12/2010

(I took a picture to show you my bare feet but it was too scary for the blog.)

Chubby baby

Steven "volunteered" (I signed him up without his knowledge) in the nursery Thursday night while I attended a Relief Society activity in the building. Before the activity started, I had fed Ammon, rocked him to sleep, and covered him up in his carrier. So, for an hour or so Ammon slept while Steven watched the other kids. When Ammon woke up Steven went to the carrier, lifted the blanket, and took Ammon out. This totally surprised this 8-year-old girl who proceeded to say....

"Your baby looks weird. What's wrong with his cheeks?"

......

And then she took her finger and poked Ammon's cheeks!

......

My poor baby....

Baby blessing weekend, Sunday

Sunday was such a special day. It was the day Ammon was blessed in church. My uncle Todd, Aunt Linda, and cousins Addi and Caiden were there along with Steven's uncle Nick and aunt Marcela. Steven's brother and sister with their spouses were also there along with his parents my parents. It was such a blessing to be surrounded by family on this day. I wonder if Ammon knows and feels how much he is loved by so many.

The little boy of honor.

Our family Christmas photo of the year.

'Lito and 'Lita with the cutest baby in the world

My parents with their favorite grandchild

"This is my jolly face."

"I don't know about this lady...."

"Just kidding! I love my grandma!"

Baby blessing weekend, Saturday

What an amazing weekend!

Steven's parents arrived late Friday night and immediately started taking pictures of Ammon. At first, I was worried how Ammon would take to all the attention but he just soaked it all up (is that good or bad?) and enjoyed playing with everyone.

On Saturday we traveled to James' and Analisa's baby shower (they too traveled from Utah.) It was fun seeing all the cool gifts (TONS of clothes and blankies) Ammon's little cousin received. During the party, Ammon pooped, peed, and threw up on Grandpa...that's my boy!

Auntie Analisa. Ammon's wearing the shirt she and James gave him when he was born.

Me with the most passionate baby ever.

Analisa, James, and a yummy fondant cake.

Our little family.

Ammon should be a model.

"Here I am! I'm all ready to be snuggled!"

Ammon surprised at all the attention he's receiving.

Christmas Baby

Oh, Christmas Baby, oh Christmas Baby

Thy chubby cheeks are are so unchanging...

Not only when you're clothed and fair,

but also when you're lit and bare

Oh, Christmas Baby, oh Christmas Baby

Thy chubby cheeks are so unchanging

Stranger Danger

It's okay, Ammon. It's only Grandma.

We're thankful for...

I'm thankful for entertainment that makes me all happy and giddy. This includes books like Harry Potter series, Twilight series (yes, I'm a Twilight fan. Insert your rolling eyes here,) and every book that keeps me reading for hours and I can't put it down until I finish it. I'm thankful for movie companies that do an amazing job of converting the story from book into movie like Masterpiece theater. I just absolutely love the British and their great work for adapting books into movies like Sense and Sensibility, Bleak House, Little Dorrit, Wives and Daughters, He Knew He Was Right, Emma, Wuthering Heights, etc. etc. The list goes on for a long time. And I'm thankful for technology that make it possible to create fantastic movies. Without technology, Harry Potter wouldn't be able to fly and fight the One Who Must Not Be Named; and, Leonardo DiCaprio wouldn't be able to plant an idea into Scarecrow's mind through inception (for those who understand this, you're so cool.) Life is full of hard work and I'm just so thankful I can have entertainment to relax to and be excited over.

For this year, Steven is thankful for medical technology. Without ultrasounds, the doctor wouldn't have been able to detect the problems I had during pregnancy. Ammon could have been still-born! In the hospital, Ammon's head was given a monitor to make sure he was okay during delivery. He is very thankful that Ammon and I pulled through and that we're healthy (and I'm thankful Steven is healthy!)

I'm going to guess this but I'm pretty sure Ammon is thankful for my milk. It seems that the breastaurant is the only thing that can make him stop crying. He is also thankful for his mommy and daddy who change his massive stinky diapers. And Steven and I are just so happy and thankful we have the cutest baby ever!

Babbling Ammon

Ammon has started talking to us! We're not quite sure what he's saying, but it's great that there's a little communication between us. Right now he's working on the "g" noises like "goo," "geh," "guh." And he makes a lot of noises from the back of his throat that sound "g"-ish. I haven't done any cleaning of my house this past week because, as I start to clean, I just stop and talk with Ammon. Ohhh, how we love him sooooo much!!!

Here's a cute little outfit I made Ammon for church. I was sad that he didn't have any nice church clothes. If he were a girl, I'd put him in a cute dress. Instead, he's a boy and now he has shirts with little ties to wear. I'll post more about the shirts later but here's a little something to hold you over until then.

I feel old when....

I go to bed at 10 pm on a Friday night. Or I just go to bed at 10 pm on any night. I remember way back when I was in high school and even starting college that 10 pm was way too early to go to bed. 10 pm was just the beginning of my evening and I would stay out with friends, watch tv, read books, or do whatever until 2 or 3 in the morning. Now 10 pm is something I look forward to every night.

This past week has been quite interesting health wise. I'm getting old and my body is pooping out on me. I went to the dermatologist to get this bump (3 cm round) on my head checked out. The doctor thought it could be a cyst so he opened it up to drain it and no fluid came out. He then took a biopsy of it and stitched up the wound with 6 stitches. I'll find out the results later in the next couple of days. I find it a common theme that my body doesn't retain much fluid (rewind three months ago and I have no amniotic fluid for the baby to float around in.) The doctor had to cut my hair off so I have a little bald patch, but the rest of my hair covers it up nicely. After the little surgery, I went to the store to get some medicine since I figured it was just a small bandage that no one could really see. I was completely wrong! It was just this big piece of gauze and it looked like I had a lobotomy...no wonder why people looked at me funny. Oh well! I'm not too worried about this bump on my head but I'll keep family and friends posted.

Once Upon an Ammon

Once upon a time, there lived the cutest baby in the world. His name was Ammon.

Ammon didn't want to go to sleep one night. He just laid in his crib smiling and continued being the cutest baby there ever was.

When Ammon was just one month old he weighed 11 pounds. His cute little body measured 22 inches. Mama thought he was such a big baby until one day....

...Ammon went to the doctor for his 2 month check-up. He weighed 15 pounds, 3 ounces!! He measured at 24 and a half inches. Now that is a big baby!! He was in the 99% for his weight and the 91% for his height. He's already wearing 6 month old clothes!

But Ammon didn't care that he was so big. He just cares if he's the cutest baby there ever was.

And so Ammon continues to live so happily being oh so cute. The end of this post.

Getting back to normal

I'd say our little family is getting back to normal with a schedule. I stay at home with Ammon while Steven works. We have family come over on Saturday to watch Ammon so Steven and I can catch up on yard work and house chores. We've been to church three times now, and Ammon sleeps through all three hours. I thought by October it'd be snowing since it always does but we haven't had any snow yet! We've had such great weather that I bought a stroller last week and have gone a few walks with the baby. It's great getting out of the house--Ammon and I both get pretty antsy and grumbley if we're inside all day. Right now life is wonderful and it feels great to be almost back to normal.

Ammon is growing up so fast! At 7 weeks, he weighs 13 pounds and 8 ounces. I've had to put away so many of his baby clothes. It makes me sad to see such cute outfits be put away but at least I can say that he wore every outfit! He started smiling last week and it just melts our hearts. For Halloween he was the cutest Tootsie Roll and everyone wanted to gobble him right up. He just gets cuter and cuter every day!

Life with Baby

I wish I could sit down and really blog what life is like with a new baby, but there's never any time. Ammon is the cutest baby ever...and the hungriest. He eats about every 2 hours. On bad days, he eats every hour. Some days we don't even get out of our pajamas; we just eat and sleep all day long. I'm so tired right now I have no idea what to write so I'll just post pictures of his growth.

At his one month appointment Ammon weighed 11 pounds (81%) and his height was 22 inches (68%.)

One week old: 7 pounds

Two weeks old: 7 pounds, 4 ounces.

Two weeks old: 8 pounds, 10 ounces.

4 weeks old: 9 pounds, 7 ounces.

Who does Ammon look like?

Does Ammon look like Mommy or Daddy?

He looks a little more like Mommy with those lips but he has Daddy's chin.

Our little Ammonal

Our little nickname for Ammon is Ammonal switching the m and n in "animal." He isn't ravenous yet...just eats, sleeps, cries, and poops--all in that order.

Survival

This past weekend has been one of the most stressful I have ever experienced. Ammon and I were having a difficult time nursing. Since he wasn't getting food, he was getting sleepy. And since he was sleepy, he wouldn't wake up to eat. This resulted in a trip to the ER at 2 in the morning--no wet diaper in 24 hours, no food in 10 hours. Plus, he has jaundice and it his bilirubin levels were growing. Eventually, we had to feed him something in some way so we gave him a few bottles of formula while my milk was arriving. Once my milk came in and I got the hang of pumping, we fed him the breast milk through a little medicine dropper. It was like feeding a little birdy. A medical in-home service came over and dropped off this...thing (I don't know what to call it) that Ammon would have to be strapped to to get his bilirubin levels down. Our schedule went put Ammon in his bouncy seat which had the "thing" for three hours; wake up Ammon up and feed him with the dropper (Steven would do this while I pumped for the next feeding); burp and change Ammon; rock Ammon back to sleep; strap Ammon back into his bouncy bilirubin thingy. It was frustrating that we couldn't hold him or play with him. But it all paid off. Today was his first doctor's appointment: his levels are down. No more "thing" to be strapped onto. And I went to the breast feeding clinic at the hospital and they taught me how to nurse him. We have had two successful nursing sessions. No more pump! Today has been just a great day. We are so very happy and blessed today.

Our glowing little baby. Ammon in strapped to his "thing."

Another ailment of the weekend was my spinal headache. Since they punctured me several times for over 90 minutes to get my epidural going, this resulted in a spinal headache. Read this for information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinal_headache. Before I left the hospital on Friday, I had a blood patch done and the pain went away. Then on Sunday, after lifting Ammon's baby carrier, I felt the patch go and the pain start up again. I had to spend Sunday laying on my back watching Lifetime for the pain to go away. If I raised my head, the pain would come back and I couldn't function but I had to so I could pump and take care of my baby. It's been tough and there's not much I can do but wait it out. My doctor has prescribed me to drink caffeinated soda so Pepsi and water are the only beverages I've had in the past 24 hours. The headache is getting better, which makes this day even better. For those who have ever had a spinal headache, my heart goes out to you.

My dear family and friends, I am so sorry how weepy and stressed out I have been these past few days. A few of you have called to talk and I just ended up sobbing my guts out. Thank you so much for the calls and prayers. Now that we are doing better I promise that you can come over and visit now. And for those family members on Skype, we would love to chat now! We can't wait for Ammon to meet all our cool family members and friends.