8!

happy 8 months to our little baby boy!!! he's bringing more and more happiness to our lives each day!




favorite thing he likes to do: i'm going to have to say EAT! this kid loves food. i have yet to make him anything that he doesn't 1.) like and 2.) cry and scream for wanting more. in between bites, he gets so upset waiting for the next spoon full. we've had to slow it down so he learns to chew what he has in his mouth before getting more. new foods he had this month include butternut squash, quiona, chicken, turkey, beef, cauliflower, grown up oatmeal, plums, parsnips, black eyed peas, puffs and yogurt bites. his favorites are probably avocado and bananas (but what do i know?!? its hard to tell cause he eats it all...)



he also loves to WALK! he still has to hold our hands to do this, but he much prefers this to crawling, sitting, or even being carried. i think we have an independent little boy on our hands.



we've noticed this month how much he really loves other kids. mommy gets no attention when there are other kids around!! he can definitely tell the difference and prefers the company of other little ones. we try to do lots of visits with his cousins and lots of play dates with friends.



favorite thing we like to do with him: we bought a running stroller and now david takes max out on his runs. they both love it (and so does mommy because i have the house all by myself for a few minutes a day!!). this is probably david's current favorite thing to do together.



mine is way more motherly---i love to just watch him play!! i love to see how he uses a toy, or discovers a new object. i love seeing him learn about the world.



firsts:


crawling: he's not too big on it though. like i mentioned, he much prefers walking. the problem is that he is too content to justify the effort of moving to get a toy. usually instead of crawling, if he can't reach one toy, he'll just pick another toy to play with that IS in reach. or he'll just sit there happily and stare into space.





time away from mommy: during MOPS, he goes to the nursery and stays with the workers there. they always comment that he is good. it's only for about 2 hours every other week, but it's good that he's getting exposed to other people as opposed to being home with me all day.

friend's birthday parties: wow, this starts early! this month, he went to 2 friend birthday parties. one was for his friend Myla, here in WV. she turned 2 and had a birthday party at the playground. (her mom is the talented photographer that took our family pics). he also went to one in louisville at gymboree (love that place!) for miss bella coleman. bella's dad went to med school with david and his wife and i became friends when they did their intern year here in morgantown. bella also turned 2. max likes the older ladies.

word??? we think he is saying "dada". However, i don't think he associates this with david. i think he just enjoys saying those syllables.



stand by himself: he did this today! so proud!



waving!



activities: MOPS started back up for the year, so we are really enjoying that and the play groups that go along with it. he's at the age now where he really "plays" with the other kids.



also, we discovered the children's discovery museum of west virginia and will probably be there all winter. we go to barnes and noble to read, but there is a train set there and he's mostly interested in that. boys and their choo choo trains!

we still try to meet david for lunch, but it is becoming increasingly more difficult as max's demand for finger foods grow. it's work to pack max a lunch, feed him outside of our own house, clean up the floor and highchair, etc, etc, but it's worth it for us to all enjoy a lunch together.

etc: we are just so blessed, and enjoying getting to know max's personality more each day. each day he is more animated than the one before. it seems like he really enjoys his days, and as his mother, that is my main desire for his life. he's just our happy, healthy, and sweet little boy. looking forward to the upcoming "first" holidays--Halloween, thanksgiving and christmas.

7 months!

7 months in...though it feels like 7 weeks in. time flies with this little guy around.

here is his 7 month info (hope to get this all in before nap time's over!!)

his favorite thing to do:

EXPLORE, EXPLORE, and EXPLORE some more!! he's crazy. has to touch, look, taste anything and everything. I'd worry it's A.D.D if he wasn't 7 months old and SUPPOSED to be in this exploratory stage. if only us adults had that kind of curiousity and passion for life!!

favorite thing we like to do with him:

david is trying to teach him to crawl. this is probably david's favorite. i just assume let him do it whenever he does it naturally, but david likes to get on all fours and try to encourage max to do the same. it's quite a site.

my favorite thing with him lately is getting him to giggle and smile. he's starting to be a little tickilish!!

firsts:

solid foods: at first, he was not so into this, which really surprised me. but now, he's loving food. after reading a lot about the store bought baby food, i decided to make max's food myself. it's actually really, really easy, and i'd argue it's just as convenient as the packaged kind. whatever we have around the house or whatever david and i eat for dinner, i just puree or chop up for max. so far he has had: bananas, avocado, sweet potatoe, peas, carrots, asparagus, apples, pears, oatmeal, and zucchini. he also likes to feed himself the "Mum-Mum" baby crackers which disolve in his mouth. it's cute, and he loves them, but i watch him like a hawk---they make me pretty nervous... but i guess he has to learn!

airplane: took our first flight to see max's cousins in nebraska. he was great for the plane. i defensively packed a diaper bag full of distractions, and didnt even need it. all he was interested in was looking at the window, touching the seatbelt or tray in front of us, looking around, and showing off to the flight attendants.

zoo: first visit to Omaha's zoo. he LOVED the aquariam exhibit. then he loved his nap in the stroller.

water park: went to a great water park in nebraska. though he was small, there was still some things for him to do in the kids' area. he loves water and the waves! he got over-splashed a couple times when he was with david though... david would let him venture a little further out than i would :)

activities: once again, traveling has been his main activity it seems. besides nebraska, we also made a trip to chicago. ethan and zoe loved playing with him. zoe even "let" max take some of her baby toys that she's too old to play with home with us to west virginia. and by "let" i mean that we put them in the car during her nap time so she wouldn't see!! also traveled to louisville and to nonna and grandads (where he spent more time splashing in the pool!)

schedule: his schedule is exactly where i've been trying to get it!! he is finally sleeping all the way through the night with no feeding. he goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up around 7:30 a.m. I'm loving it!

least favorite thing: this one's hard. usually i can find something to complain about, but with his schedule being so good we're feeling pretty well rested and happy these days. i guess my biggest hate right now is his change in diapers since the solid foods started... not so pretty. we've had a few blowouts that have required 2 adults to clean up!! totally gross.

etc: david and i are in the process of buying a new car. as much as i love to shop, this is one kind of shopping that i despise. i like my current car alot, but being in west virginia during the winter, we really need 4wd, so we are trading in. to make it even harder, david and i of course want different things and have different car priorities. we'll see how this goes!!

1/2 a year!

so i skipped the five month update. sigh! i have a feeling there will be more months like that in the future. but, here is the 6 month (big boy!) update!!

his favorite thing to do:

Play, play, play. this kids is so into toys now! before, toys were just a passive activity in his day. i'd put toys on a blanket and he would reach out for them every now and then, but now it's like... "mom! give me something to play with!!" he's into everything... noises, lights, textures. even things adults wouldn't consider a "toy" he is obsessed with touching, reviewing, then repeating. He likes fabric...like our pillows or sheets or blankets. also loves to rollover. again, and again, and again.

he also loves to be out in public. which is great for us, because we are constantly taking him out places. this weekend we took him to the farmer's market and to the winery. he doesn't care WHERE he is... everything is new to him. everything an adventure.

favorite thing we like to do with him:

we like "talking" with/to him. it's like he's an adult sometimes, the way he looks us in the eyes and has a babble conversation with us. he interupts alot though (perhaps he learned that from his daddy?! :) he makes these very high pitch noises that last a good 7 seconds a piece. i mean, they could pierce a person's eardrum, but he can pull it off as adorable.

firsts:

tooth! so cute. officially a big boy

pool! we went to nonna and grandad's to swim. the water was a little cold even for my taste, so we couldn't blame him when he cried (ok, screamed) for the first couple of minutes. but eventually, he really came to enjoy it and even took a little nap on the raft (mommy's kind of day at the pool!)

night alone with daddy! mommy went on a girls weekend to cincy with some friends and max stayed with david. they did wonderful together and im sure he missed me a lot less than i missed him!

activities:

we started going to story time and he loves it. mostly he loves the other little kids around. the lady reading the book is secondary to him. mommy loves the cookies they usually pass out and the attached starbucks.

schedule:

david's schedule is pretty wonderful right now. this is his research year. there is no call and no weekend work. it has been SO nice on all three of us. he is still working very hard, and still putting in 40+ hour weeks. but compared to 60+ hour weeks, it's relatively awesome!!! we've also been able to meet david for lunch sometimes at work, which is a great mid afternoon break to all of our long days. he'll probably start with the moonlighting soon, so things will pick up a bit.

least favorite thing:

not complaining, but my least favorite thing is that he still gets up once a night for a feeding. it's not bad, but i was hoping by 6 months he would be broken of this habit. he usually gets up around 5 or 6 am, feeds, and goes back to sleep. im sure this is something i will come to miss once he doesn't do it anymore :)

etc:

we are looking forward to our upcoming trips to see our cousins. we are traveling to louisville, chicago, nebraska and indy all within the next month!

Founding Fathers and Father's Day

being a busy mommy, im wrapping up two posts in one--our trip to washington dc and our 1st father's day.

david and i went on a weekend getaway to D.C. and left max with my parents. it was the first time i had left him for longer than 6 hours. D.C is three hours away from morgantown, so i felt comfortable with the distance. we stayed for 3 days/2 nights.

even though we really missed max, it was nice to get away just the two of us. it's something we hope to do more of even as max (and other kids) get older. the hardest part was the initial goodbye... but once we were on the highway, i only thought about him every other second (as opposed to every SINGLE second :)

D.C is an amazing city!! so beautiful and historic. we were so impressed with the city's layout and accessibility. We stayed by capitol hill and walked everywhere. we did most of the tourist stuff such as white house, museums, and monuments. WW2 memorial was my favorite, as I hadn't seen that yet. we also loved the museums. you could spend weeks discovering everything there is to offer.

every time we passed a kid in a stroller (which was a lot!) i'd remind david that i missed max. and one night at dinner, i think he was all we talked about. but other than that, we enjoyed our grown up time together. my parents were good about sending pictures and updates via text.

here is a pic of us near the white house.

the worst part of the trip was that i forgot my pump. i had to be creative and find other ways to take care of it... it was very national geographic... i'll leave it at that. but i didn't let it ruin the trip!

Father's Day:

For father's day David was on call. But he got off around 6 and max and i met him at a local Italian restaurant we'd been wanting to try. but they pulled a chic-fil-a on us and are apparently closed on sundays.

it was late, max was fussy, and david hadn't eaten all day, so we ended up at #1 Super China Buffet. Seriously. I felt bad that was our father's day meal, but david didn't mind. Why do guys get so excited about buffets??!

Max made daddy a stepping stone to put in our backyard. Max wanted to start a tradition and make one every year for daddy. He loved getting his feet all messy and was mesmerized by all the different color stones. Nonna was in town and helped. Here are some pics:

Mommy got daddy My Morning Jacket concert tickets. They are coming to Pittsburgh and WE.CAN'T.WAIT!

buh-bye intern year!!

these next few weeks will wrap up our first year here in morgantown. SO hard to believe! this year has been interesting to say the least for both me and for david, though in different ways for each of us.

when we first found out david matched in morgantown, i didn't even know where the city was! i had to mapquest it. tears came to my eyes as they scanned the computer screen, only to find a distance of over 6 hours from louisville. to me, it might as well have been china.

i knew morgantown was an option during the match process, but i never really let my mind go there. now not only was my mind going to morgantown, but so were my clothes, my furniture, and my UHaul. to say i was apprehensive about the move is a slight understatement. but i knew it was the best thing to do for our family. and david knew that too.

surprisingly, the adjustment to our new home was not nearly as difficult as i had imagined it to be. we quickly made friends, a routine, and a home away from "home". i thank God all the time for such a happy and easy transition... i'm giving him the credit, because i can't imagine another plausible explanation.

last night we attended a banquet in honor of the graduating residents. they are about to move on to exciting new jobs or fellowships. in speaking with some of their wives, they mention how "fast" the past few years have flown by. while it's hard to imagine, i know that will be us in the blink of an eye. (here is a pic from the event)

i won't speak for david, but for me, the notorious intern year was not as horrible as i pictured. this is not to take away from how extremely hard he has worked. over night calls, 30 + hour shifts, 80+ hour work weeks, studying, reading, etc. there were a lot of cold dinners waiting for him at home, and nights when me and max would already be in bed by the time he got home.

But at the same time, we were fortunate he could make it to many doctor appointments, that he had 2 weeks off when max was born and that he had the opportunity a handful of times for weekend trips or getaways. there were still nights when he made it home in time to lay on the couch with me, watch "The Office" and eat ice cream. it was not ALL work.

being in morgantown has, by default, increased our independence as a family. it has allowed us more quality time just the three of us than we might have experienced if we were in louisville or closer to family. for me, that has been the most positive aspect of our experience so far.

our families have also really helped in the past year by making such frequent visits. thankful to mom and dad, david's parents, john and laura, susan, julie, natalie and austin for all making the trip in the first year to see is. it has meant a lot!!

also the people we have met here have truly enhanced our experience. thankful to the other moms i've met that have provided me with support and to other residents and their significant others who are going through the same journey.

so here is to the first year down!! SO proud of david to see his hard, hard work paying off a little at a time. looking forward to his research year.....365 days with no overnight call!!! (ME LIKE!!!)

4 month update!

so...i'm not going to lie. as max gets older, things are getting a little harder! but...it is that much more rewarding too!!

here is some 4 month max-info:

favorite thing to do:

he LOVES books!! he reaches out for them when i read to him and he touches every page. and not just kids books. i joined a book club and read "water for the elephants." i read it while i was nursing him (yay for multitasking!) and he kept getting so distracted! he must really love books to turn away from FOOD to see them. he'd look up like, "hey....that's a book! read it outloud mommy!"

favorite thing we like to do with him:

giggles!! he doesn't give them away easily though. he makes us work for them. but when he giggles it is soooo sweet. the first time he laughed david and i were both there to witness it. he laughed, but mommy got teary eyed. it was the best noise i've ever heard.

firsts:

rolled over from belly to back!! he did it three times in a row. then i got out the video to record it and guess how many times he did it? ZERO! then daddy got home from work and guess how many times he did it? ZERO! then daddy went in the other room and he did it again! he's sneaky that one.

i had my first mother's day this month too. david was on call, but it was still a special day. we went out to eat as a family the night before, and max and i spent the day together sunday. we went to starbucks for breakfast, then church, bought myself some flowers :) and spent the rest of the day napping and snuggling.

activities:

he loves going to barnes and noble. mommy loves it too, but mostly for the starbucks. i pull out a few books to read to him and he gets so excited and loud. this week i'm going to join the library here and take him to story time. i think he'll love it.

schedule:

he's still a pretty scheduled little boy, but he'll throw me for a loop every now and then and cry and cry and cry or refuse to go to bed. he's a baby....it happens.

least favorite thing:

so of course my friend erica would be the one to ask, "what's your least favorite thing so far?" easy answer: him crying in the car when we aren't moving!! i know he doesn't understand, but it's a little frusturating! whenever the car is moving he's as happy as can be. but when i stop for those silly red lights or stop signs he starts screaming. he has no concept of the fact that our stop is only temporary or the fact that our stop is mandatory. i can't wait until he's old enough to understand the word "patient!!"

etc:

we made another trip to KY. papa gary and grandma cathy loved being with him and helped me out a lot. we celebrated david's 31st birthday while we were there. max's cousins autumn, eli and anora got to come play too. max LOVES autumn! he was straining his neck, trying to follow her voice. he's a lucky kid!!

and we are lucky parents!!

nebraska, red roses and stuffy noses

so, 98% of the time i am happy living in west virginia. this week falls into the other 2%.

during our two week trip to louisville, we got to spend lots of time with max's cousins, Jack and Reese (happy 1 year birthday reese cup!!) This week, they move to nebraska. even though it's my sister's family moving and not us, and even though we aren't in louisville to be around them every day anyway, I still can't help but feel sad about the distance between our family. for the first time ever, my sisters and i all live in a different state. and it feels weird.

max and i went to kroger today, to buy little nose drops... he has had a stuffy nose all week (the poor kid sounds like his father does when he's snoring!) while we were there, i saw red roses and almost teared up. completely pathetic, i know. they made me think of derby and what a great time of year this is for the city of louisville. this is the first time in years that neither david nor i will go to derby or oaks. also feels weird.

as we grow up and start our own families, change is inevitable. jobs, the economy, even personal preferences will separate us perhaps more than we'd like. while once upon a time it was just the six of us, it's now just the 14 of us....and growing..... Each of us have to do what is best for our own family and our own children. and even though it's sometimes hard, i'm proud to say that's what we are all doing.

so here is to lots of skype calls, status updates, and text message pictures of our neices and nephews being adorable. To visits, emails and to Kodak gallery. And here's to the beginning of fighting over...er... I mean compromising and scheduling considerately.... grandma cathy and papa gary's time and travel!! :)

3 month update

Motherhood has completely exceeded my expectations. I knew I'd love it, but I never imagined it would be THIS amazing. when i was a little girl, people would ask "What do you want to be when you grow up?" And I would always say two things: 1.) The President (yes, of the united states of America :) and 2.) A mother. Some kids grow up wanting to be teachers, or lawyers, or doctors. I just wanted to be a mom. The President thing, I realize, is probably not in my cards and I am completely content with the latter.

People say parenthood is the hardest job in the world. but so far, it doesn't really seem like "work" to me. i don't mind getting up in the middle of the night to feed him cause he's just so darn cute. and innocent. and precious.

and if i go a whole day without a shower (happens more often than i'd like to admit) because i'm preoccupied with reading books and/or just staring at max all day, then so be it! nothing's work when you love what you do.

here are some stats on the 3rd month of my baby's life!!

Favorite thing to do: he loves kicking things! (flashback to when he was in utero) He enjoys lying down and kicking the musical piano, or toys on his jungle gym. he also loves when i read to him. he sits there like he's actually listening so attentively. it's pretty cute.

Favorite thing we like to do with him: He has started to interact with us, and i'd say that's my favorite thing currently because it's so rewarding. when i sing or talk to him he "sings" and "talks" back. And the smiles...my gosh, the smiles!!

Activities: This month the main activity has been traveling! We've made two trips to Kentucky. One was a short weekend trip with the whole family (me, david and max). We went to my parent's and max got to play with all of his cousins. it was the first time they were all together. ethan is a great big cousin. he would always pay attention to max and give him lots and lots of kisses. Zoe, Jack and Reese's interest in max grew slowly. Mostly they liked giving him his paci, or sharing a toy with him.

A few weeks later, me and max enjoyed two full weeks in Louisville. we had a blast! we took lots of walks, met lots of mommy's friends that hadn't gotten to meet max yet, and played more with his cousins. By the end of this month, all of the Peak cousins will live in different states. West Virginia, Illinois and Nebraska. The Hinshaws move to Lincoln this week. we are sad to see them go, but we are really proud of them. John has a great job, and they are excited to move into a new house that has plenty of room for toys (and visitors!)

max also made his first trip to the preschool where my sisters and granny work. i think he liked seeing all the bright colors and hearing all those crazy kids!! in a few years, that'll be him!

Firsts: this month max celebrated his first easter. it consisted of him buying his father an easter basket (backwards, I realize). my rule is that once max is old enough to receive candy, then daddy is TOO old.

he also had his first cold. and you could hardly tell because he still behaved so well!

he had his first tornado warning, which was more frightening for me than him. as a precaution, we slept in the basement with a charged cell phone, diapers, wipes, flashlights and a bottle of water (overkill? probably.)

Schedule: we got a little off schedule with the traveling, but that's to be expected. i figured while his sleep was "off" anyway, it would be a good time to ween him off the swaddle...which was a success. now if we could only get rid of that paci!!

daddy's schedule has not been as kind. for the month of april he was on night float... he went in around 5 or 6 pm and came home the next morning. we all hated it. he was generous enough to let me and max go to louisville since his schedule was so bad anyway. max "talked" to daddy via speakerphone every morning and we sent lots of pictures. we also met half way easter weekend so we could all be together. david's schedule can sometimes be demanding and difficult to plan around. but it is what it is. we are proud of him and thankful he works so hard for our family!!!

etc:

david and i set a wedding date--december 10th. we are just going to do an intimate and small wedding here in louisville. we're excited to "officially" become a family and to do that in front of the people we love most. grandma cathy has done most of the planning.

tomorrow mommy and max go back to morgantown! here's to a quick, quiet and easy six hour car ride home!!!!!!

2 month update!

So, for the first month update I was late, and for the 2nd month update I am early...but today I have time and tomorrow I may not (welcome to motherhood!)

I heard this quote and it pretty much sums up the last two months completely (and the next 100 years)

"A mother always has to think twice. Once for herself, and once for her child." -Sophia Loren

Luckily, most of this is intuitive. From the second he was born (well, more like since I found out I was pregnant) my brain is on overload, constantly thinking for two (add David in there and my brain is at full capacity!!) Anywhere we go, anything we do, I first think how it will impact or effect Max. Especially with breastfeeding him, his schedule has become a priority in the family. David and I still get to do lots of things we want, but we are constantly planning and making decisions for three.

We are always thinking about Max. Is he eating enough, sleeping enough, too hot, too cold, having enough tummy time? etc, etc, etc.... I worry if he's crying, and I worry the same if he's "too" quiet. Sigh. We just love him so much and want to take care of him the best we can.

Anyway, here is some two month info:

Favorite thing to do: he LOVES music!! David came up with the idea to put on Disney Pandora and Max (and mommy!) love it. He will just be lying there quietly but once you turn on the music he kicks and moves like he's trying to dance. adorable.

Favorite thing we like to do with him: Umm, I kind of like to dress him up in cute outfits and take pictures. Also, I like taking him to Panera (we are here as I type). He's pretty popular here...everyone always stops to ooohhh and ahhh. We also like to skype his cousins and grandparents.

Activities: We are still doing our excercise class and yoga. He's also been to my mom's group with me a few times now, though he is still too young to play with the big kids. We've had a few play dates, but those mostly consist of mommy talking with her friends and Max sleeping in his car seat :)

Schedule: This kid is a clock. If he needs to eat at 9:00, he will wake up ready at 8:58. It never ceases to amaze me. It makes scheduling around his feedings pretty easy and predictable. The downside is we lose some flexibility because his feedings and sleep schedules are so structured. But overall, I prefer this!

My favorite things he does: SMILE!! He is starting to smile and of course it is so cute. He smiles when we sing to him or make funny noises.

Size: He is out of newborn clothes and on to the next size up. Everytime I pick him up he feels heavier.

Sleep: Oh my gosh, we are so lucky! Max is a great sleeper. People at David's work always ask him how much sleep he is losing at night. For the record, he looses NO SLEEP! And I don't miss that much either. We put Max down in his bed (no rocking, no crying) and within 20 minutes or so he's fast asleep. He will coo and make some noises, but he rarely cries. He'll sleep for 4-6 hours for the first part of the night, wake up for a feeding, and fall back asleep for another 2-3. Even naps during the day are pretty routine and predictable.

We are making our first trip to Kentucky this weekend!! We can't wait!!! We'll see how he does on the car ride.

One Month Update!

I am writing his one month update at 5.5 weeks. Apparently, motherhood doesn't leave much time for blogging :)

We are so busy! You wouldn't think one little baby (that actually behaves really well and sleeps alot) would be such a time committment...but he is! And I LOVE IT!!

He is the most perfect, best, adorable, fun, sweet person in the world. I am so lucky to get to see him change and grow every day. Each day he does something new and I feel like everything new he does is a milestone :)

Here are a few things about his first month:

Favorite thing to do: Come on, he's one month old. He likes to sleep, eat and poop. But seriously, he also loves bathtime, being read or sang to, and cuddling!

Favorite thing we like to do with him: Cuddle!

Activities: We started baby yoga and an excercise class called "Buggies and Babes." Buggies and Babes is a class that we both go to for excercise. Let me tell you...it is kicking my butt!! I thought it was just a bunch of ladies pushing strollers around, but it's tough. Feels good to start getting back in shape though.

Visitors: We have had lots of love in our household! Of course grandma cathy and papa gary have been to visit a few times, as well as Nonna and Grandad. But Max also got to meet his cousins Eli, Autumn and Anora and his aunt Laura and uncle John. It was adorable!! Anora kept saying, "Baby, Baby" and kept giving him toys (that he's obviously too young to play with.) Eli kept sniffing his hair, and Autumn loved to hold him. She said she could just hold him forever..... I'm with her on that one :)

We also had my friends Natalie and Austin come visit. Max loved it, but I think mommy enjoyed it most. Great girl time, which is what I needed. They loved on him all weekend and also helped me out a lot. They made David and I a great dinner one night and even let us take a date night to Wal Mart :) Max loved shopping with us... he was a trooper.

Schedule: He is on a great schedule thanks to the amazing read, BabyWise (recommend!) We are on the eat, play, sleep schedule. He eats, I keep him up awhile to play, and then he naps. Sometimes I get a quick nap in when he does, other days I'm not so lucky. At night he is sleeping 4-5 hours at a time. It's magical.

My favorite things he does: I LOVE when he first wakes up and stretches. It is my favorite thing he does. It is so dramatic and he uses every inch of his body and face. Hilarious.

David: Daddy is back at work and says he misses us all day. My favorite is when he first gets home and sees Max. David gets the biggest smile on his face the moment he sees him. He plays with him for awhile and takes care of him while I take a little break. David likes reading to him and taking him out with us to places (this kid has been everywhere already-- airports, restaurants, malls, etc.)

Size: He is growing as expected. He grew out of newborn diapers and I pretty much teared up when that happened. I love that he is growing up and changing, but it can also be a tiny bit sad.

Pictures on facebook... it's too hard to post them both here and there.

We are enjoying our time with him. More updates to come!!

Maxwell is born!

Having a baby is exhausting...but the BEST kind of exhausting EVER!!

On Sunday, January 30, 2011, Maxwell Dean McConda was born at 6:01 a.m. at Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, WV. We were so blessed to have a healthy baby!! As promised, I will leave out "the gross stuff" and give you only the basic synopsis.

Hospital Test Run #2:

On Friday morning, I began having light contractions. Mom and I were shopping for a baby book, and I shopped right through the uncomfortableness. Later that night David and I went to dinner and a movie... Only I didn't make it to the movie. At dinner my contractions began to get worse, and I went straight home and to bed. Only I didn't sleep... starting at 10:00 that night, my contractions began to be more regular and more intense. David stayed up and kept me company. At 6:00 a.m.. we decided to pack our bags and head to the hospital.

Only...I didn't stay at the hospital for long. The doctor said that while I was having contractions, they weren't being very effective. I was not dilated enough to really constitute staying in the hospital. He said it could be hours or even days until I was ready. The doc said to go home and come back "when I'm ready." This was so vague to me! He said I would "just know" when it hurt bad enough to return.

Frustrated and crying I tell him "I'm in pain now! I thought this time was it. How much worse does the pain need to be to come back?"

So we went home where I labored until I couldn't take it anymore. My mom, dad and sisters came in town and they were a huge help!! They were a great distraction to the pain.

Ok, Seriously, this time!!

By the time we got back to the hospital, it was around 7:00 that night. The only person I wanted to see was the anesthesiologist. At this point, contractions were 2-3 minutes apart, lasting about a minute. I had never been in so much pain my entire life. I just couldn't handle it. I decided to get an epidural, and I ended up being very happy with that decision. Before the epidural, all I could focus on was the pain. I wasn't even aware or concentrating on the fact that our baby was about to appear in the world!! Once the pain was relieved, it became an enjoyable experience where I could focus on the present and enjoy the moment that my son was born. As I told david after I received the epidural, "I love you again!"

At 6:01 he arrived!! There were about 12-15 nurses, doctors and assistants in the room. It was crazy, but I actually felt comfort in knowing there were so many set of hands. David was a GREAT help!! All anyone kept talking about during delivery was the baby's hair!!

When he was born I just couldn't stop saying "awww." I think that's all I said for the first fifteen minutes. I will never forget the first time I held him. Also the first time I fed him was just as special.

The hospital stay was not what I expected. The staff was amazing...especially the nurses. But we got absolutely zero rest. Between morning rounds, nurses, visitors, people checking my vitals, someone asking questions for the birth certificate, etc, etc, it seemed there was constantly someone in the room that needed something from me, the baby, or david. No one ever talked about or prepared me for that...it's one thing I wish I would have known to expect.

Home sweet home:

Once we got home, we began to catch up on some rest (thank you grandma cathy!!) Over the next few days, we started feeling like, "hey, we can do this!" and grandma cathy left. we were so fortunate that David got an extended period of time off work. It was really nice spending some time just the three of us. we want to thank our families though for all their help!! especially my mom... we couldn't have done it without her!

Ever since:

We have the best baby!! It's not that David and I know what we are doing...it's that Max does! He makes mommy look good :) He eats like a champ, and has since day 1. I haven't had any problems breastfeeding and it's all because of him. He's a great sleeper too. Of course we are tired, getting up for feedings every 2-3 hours, but I'm grateful that he eats well and falls back to sleep (eventually.) That's all we can ask for!

We are absolutely in love with little Max. Everything he does is adorable. He is already changing, and every day he seems a little older and wiser :) Basically we just sit and hold him and stare at him! And kiss him!

David went back to work, so it's just mommy and max now. We are getting the hang of it, but we miss daddy a lot!!

We are so thankful for a healthy, happy family!!!

our little hospital test run

we will call it a test run to the hospital, because it has a more positive connotation than calling it a motherly over reaction or paranoia.

on saturday i started getting a little concerned that i wasn't feeling the baby move as much as he normally does. it seemed like throughout the week he was decreasing in how often he moved around. the doctor told me weeks ago that the protocol is usually "10 and 2"--10 fetal kicks in two hours. i have never had a problem feeling the baby that much! in fact, at first i thought she meant ten times in two minutes :) that's how active he is!!

so when i felt like he wasn't acting normal, i did the 10 and 2 test. i laid down on the couch for two hours and counted movements. i got to about six... which isn't bad. we were on the fence about whether to call in or not, but my motherly genes have started to kick in. i much preferred playing it safe.

so david called in to the hospital and the labor and delivery nurses suggested that i come and be monitored... they said this is very standard procedure for a mother feeling decrease fetal movement.

david had a shift in the ER about this time anyway, so it worked out wonderfully. he took me to the ER, then to labor and delivery, at which point they monitored me for an hour. the baby's heart rate looked great, so we were relieved. david then went to work, and my mom came in the room to stay with me (we were grateful she was in town early!) they did an ultrasound, monitored me for another four hours (mom and i sat through parent trap and mean girls) and around 11 pm i was discharged, with the docs saying that our baby looked good.

its very possible he wasn't moving around a lot because there is simply not much more room in there for him!! i'm small, he's big... you can do the math. also the doc said babies have sleep cycles of 20-30 minutes and he was sleeping for most of the ultrasound. perhaps he just didn't want to be bothered!

we are glad we went in for the reassurance it gave me. and also, it was a nice practice run of what the real thing might be like. they had me in a hospital gown, in the hospital bed, etc, so i quickly discovered what being a patient will feel like.

the resident on call that worked with us was so nice and the nurses were amazing. i was grateful for that and it makes me less nervous about my upcoming visit. we didn't want to over react or be "those parents" but we were happy in the end that we were reassured everything was fine. after five hours of monitoring, our baby looked great, healthy, and very cozy in there!!

now just waiting on him to make his first apperance!!

engagement

As if we didn't have quite enough going on this month, david and i added to the excitement by getting engaged! we are so excited!

we've wanted our focus the past few months to be on all the crazy changes---including moving to wv, david starting his residency, and most importantly, preparing for the baby. but we are glad to have added one more important life changing event to the table. we have no idea about a wedding date (everyone's first question!!) because we still want to focus on the baby for now... he will be here sooooo soon!!

our engagement night was very special. we drove up to pittsburgh and had dinner at a nice restaurant downtown... the kind of restaurant that has nicer toilet paper in their bathrooms than we do at home (sad, but true :) it was special, as we very rarely treat ourselves to that kind of place.

after dinner, we decided to take a ride up the pittsburgh incline. it was very neat! we rode up an enclosed cable car and when we got to the top, we had a great view of the city skyline.

ride up the incline....



of course i needed to use the restroom, so atop the incline we stopped at the first restaurant we saw, called the georgetowne inn.

we just planned on using the restroom, but the atmosphere in there was so nice we decided to get a table and have drinks (him) and dessert (me). the inn was soooo nice and cozy. since it was a sunday night there was hardly anyone there. the waitress sat us right against the window and we had the best and most private view of pittsburgh (see below). it was nice.

i enjoyed the best strawberry shortcake i think i have ever had. then, i went to the restroom (yes, again). when i came back, the waitress brought us both champagne flutes. i was just excited to see champagne, as i haven't had any alcohol in the past nine months!! i took a sip and mine was ginger ale :( but the good news was what was in it.... a beautiful ring!!

then david took it out of the flute, got on one knee and proposed. it was so perfect. we stayed there for awhile and talked, just enjoying the privacy of the room and such an amazing view.

we treasured the peace and quiet, realizing this could very well be our last "date night" with eachother for awhile!! soon, everything will change!! but we can't wait!