2 Months old & lots of tears

C turned 2 months old today and had his check-up. He also had his shots today and he's not been a happy camper this afternoon. Did he ever scream when he got those shots! He was M-A-D!



He's been sleeping alot and has a bit of fever, but hopefully he'll be better in the morning. I hope he continues sleeping tonight since he has slept all afternoon except during feeding time.



He weighed in at 9 lbs 12 oz!! That puts him in the 7th percentile for weight on the regular growth chart, not the preemie chart. So that means he's gained 4 pounds 11 oz since coming home.



He was 21 1/2 inches long. I think that was the 11 th percentile for height. He's grown 4 1/2 inches since he was born!



The doctor was happy with his progress.



We won't do another Monday appointment, though. She is normally good to spend lots of time with us, but today I felt rushed. Her main nurse took today off too, so it was really busy and hectic today.



Here's a picture of our little man, laying with Daddy on the couch. You can tell he doesn't feel too well.

P.S. C has been a little sick over the weekend and spent much of it just drinking Pedia-Lyte. So I'm sure he lost some weight. He may have been over 10 pounds if he had not gotten sick!

Wearin' Shoes!

C finally grew into his first pair of shoes!

ALL NIGHT LONG!!

Can you hear Lionel Richie singing? "All Night Long - all night, all night"

C slept ALL NIGHT LONG last night!! Woooo Hoooo!

Of course it may just be a fluke and it may not happen again for months, but it was wonderful and so shocking!

I've been working on getting him on a schedule and doing the eat, play, sleep thing. Which isn't working too well because he falls asleep eating so often. But he's pretty much got his schedule set. It was a tough day yesterday. I let him sleep one nap in his big crib for the first time ever and then he slept the night in his crib and I slept in the floor on a mattress. I figured he would cry alot in the night and I didn't want to wake the whole house, but lo and behold he slept all night and I pretty much did too. I'd hear him grunt and move every now and then but nary a cry!

Update: Jessy asked if I woke up scared when I realized he hadn't woken up in the night. No, because since I slept in his floor, I heard all his grunts, snorts and breathing so I knew he was ok.

I finally finished a roll of film and will take it to be developed today and get a CD so hopefully some of them are good! Oh how I wish my good camera was digital! Film - such an antiquated notion!!

P.S. Oh yeah! C turns 8 weeks old today!!

Wednesday morning Update: Well, I guess it was fluke-ish. He did sleep well last night, but only made it to 4:40. Then right back to sleep till 7. So, not too bad!

Happy Fall Y'all

Even though it's hot as blazes outside still, I'm sooooo excited that it is officially Fall. This is the beginning of my most favorite time of the year!

I am also very excited that I figured out how to make my blog cute. I have been trying for ages to figure it out and finally I did! Yay me!

Some new pictures

Not always all smiles!
I love the new version of Pack-n-Play with the changing station! D's didn't have this!

I haven't been taking as many pictures with the digital camera, it's kind of acting up. I've taken lots with the "real" camera so when I get that film developed I'll get a CD so I can post some. I just hope they've turned out. I sure wish I had the digital version of my big camera!

ELECTRICITY!!!!!!

Our power was just restored after about 75 hours with no electricity! It has been very trying. The first night was a fun advanture, until trying to feed and diaper a baby in the dark with only flashlights for light!

At least the weather grew cooler yesterday and today! It was stifling hot the first night and Sunday.

D and I did a huge happy electricity dance and ran outside to wave our thanks at the electricity man!!! Crews came from North Carolina to help our town.

We promise never to take electricity for granted - ever again!!

While I Sill Have Electricity

We're getting ready for Ike to hit us. It SHOULD just be a tropical storm by the time it gets up to us, but right now they're still calling our county for Inland Hurricane Warning.

I'm sure we'll lose power soon after it hits, we lose power easily, even in just a regular thunder storm. It is still eerily dark outside right now.

We are a good 4-5 hours up from Galveston, but we'll probably still see some storminess.

There was never ANY talk (from officials) of our area evacuating, matter of fact, Hubby just left a bit ago to go out to the camp to help get breakfast ready for the evacuees.

After Gustav's trickery, so many people didn't evacuate this time and it's a doozie.

Ok, gotta run. I'm going to bake up some stuff in case we're out of power a while.

THE VIEW FROM MY FRONT PORCH:

Update 6:50 a.m.: It is finally lightening up outside, but the clouds are a weird dusty pink color. Even the sidewalks appear pink - creepy!

6:56 a.m.! In just 5 minutes it changed to THIS! No, I didn't photo shop it, this is natural! Very strange and fast moving.

8:37 a.m. So far just windy, the local news says winds are now at about 30 mph gusts. The tops of the trees are rotating in a counter-clockwise manner, very odd. It looks like they're doing a dance. The clouds are just zooming by. We've had a few sprinkles but that's it so far. We've been changed from Inland Hurricane Warning to Tropical Storm Winds Warning and Flash Flood and Tornado Watch.

10:17 a.m. Hubby just called and the power is out at the camp now. So far we are still doing fine. Still just windy. A bit more forceful now, some pine boughs are down. Still dry.

COURT - Round One Accomplished

We went before the judge this morning at 9:30 for our first round of court. The bio-parent's rights are fully and officially revoked and we are fully guardians/conservetor's for baby C.

This was the most important round of hearings even though it isn't the final round. In a few months we will go once more for finalization at which time we can obtain the new birth certificate and social security and become officially C's parents.

C looked precious in his Sunday clothes, but he slept through the whole thing! Hubby and I were spiffed up too, and were by far the "dressiest" people in the courtroom besides the attorneys.

It was family court day and we were most likely the happiest case the judge would hear today. Before we were called to the bench, there was one divorce granted to a tearful couple followed by the revocation of a father's rights after he had failed to provide support (both emotionally and financially). We went next. It took about 5 minutes and when we left the courtroom I felt a bit relieved to have that done, but really I have felt peace throughout this whole adoption.

Anyhow, glad to have this step checked off! I'll be able to remember the date. A MUCH happier 9/11 than we had 7 years ago - both personally and as a nation.

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An Incredible Hulk Day

The incredible Hulk
Originally uploaded by Carlos Arellano Macías

Yesterday was what I've named an "Incredible Hulk" day. C is growing so quickly that he literally pops out of his clothes like the Incredible Hulk! The intense screaming, grunting and groaning that is part of one of these days also tends to make him look like the character on this post - just not green!

It's nearly as if he is growing before our very eyes! It's amazing! He is now 5 weeks 2 days old.

We haven't taken him to be weighed since Aug. 20, but I'm guessing he's getting close to 8 pounds by now. I had him in one of his preemie footless outfits yesterday and it was like 3/4 sleeves and capris on him!! We don't have very many newborn outfits, they're hard to find. So I'm trying to just make due until he can more easily wear the 0-3 mos clothes. He has a couple 0-3 Gerber zip up sleepers (love the zip up!!) that fit pretty well right now, his feet just go for a swim in them.

His looks are changing quickly too. He'll go through 2 or 3 different looks in one day sometimes. From super round face, to longish face and back to round face by bedtime!

Having a newborn is a very new experience. One that I truly didn't think I'd ever have and I was ok with that, really. But I must admit, it's fun!

P.S. It's weird to see such a boyish character as the Hulk on MY blog. I've been living in girlie land for so long that it's going to take some getting used to!

C looks like he's winking at you in the picture, "Hey Baby!"

C and I just love the bouncy seat! It's really one of the best "accessories" we've gotten. He likes the swing ok, but doesn't stay in it long, and it's not portable like this! He liked the hum of the blow dryer and fell fast asleep!

Gustav is just a sprinkle

Well, I guess we dodged the Gustav bullet. Instead of heading right for our county and stalling out like they had predicted, he went more due north instead of northwest. So he stalled out over Shreveport and rained a bit on them. We've just had a steady drizzle all night and today.

We're thankful to not have gotten the flood that was predicted! We had a few branches on the ground this morning, but that's the worst of it.

Last night before we went to sleep, we carried D into our room and made a "pallet" for her in our floor. She didn't realize we'd moved her and when she woke up she wondered what on earth happened in the night! With her room on the complete other side of the house and some big trees over there, we were afraid if the storm got bad in the night a tree might fall in and squish her. Of course now she wants to sleep in the "pallet" again tonight, which is fine with me. I guess C doesn't bother her with his crying at night. She says her ears go off at night while she sleeps.

Some pictures of our ONE MONTH OLD baby boy

C turned one month old on Friday! It's been a long, long month in one way and in another, it still seems unreal that we have a newborn baby boy in our house!


Here are some pix:

Lovin' his vibrating bouncy seat (that Mommy put together all by herself!)

Hanging out with Daddy on Friday while mommy went to Target and spent gift cards on this, and this and this and this and this! We're going to have fun!

P.S According to C's bio-mom, as close as she could calculate, today is his actual due date.

Gearing up for Gustav

Wow, what an eventful few days it has been!

We are in the upper portion of where the flooding is predicted to begin come Tuesday or Wednesday. There have been reports of anywhere between 4-12 inches of rain anticipated. It is predicted to rain every day of this next week until Saturday. Hubby is right now mowing real quick because it will be a long time before he gets another chance and the grass will be out of control.

During hurricanes Katrina and Rita, our little city was a haven for evacuees and our Church is gearing up to minister again to the evacuees. Our denomination's national encampment is 10 minutes from the church, and that is the base of service for our church members. There are already 100+ evacuees at the camp. We will feed them one hot meal per day and sandwiches, etc the rest of the time. There is also the work of cleaning and maintenance. It is a huge job and our church members have shown themselves to be faithful to serve in the past and have already mobilized for this hurricane as well.

The National Guard is using our Activity Center as a place to shower and rest. It is looking to be a very busy, and wet week for us here in East Texas!

Not knowing what to expect, we have gathered our own personal supplies as much as we can. We do anticipate losing power from the winds. With Rita we had up to 75 mph winds. All we can do is hunker down and see what happens.

With having a newborn, I can't be out at the camp this time. But hubby has already been helping to organize things.

Our Senior Pastor's daughter just began Texas A&M at Galveston and they are still reporting that classes will meet on Monday and students are expected to be there! He is right now driving her down there. If things do get bad, they'll bus the students to the main A&M campus in central Texas.

So anyway, we're glued to The Weather Channel and Fox News watching and waiting.

Keep all the people in our region in your prayers!

C's FIRST (play)DATE

On Thursday our good friends Jessy, Randy, Marina and brand new baby Cara came to visit! It was great to see them after such a long time.

C and Cara had a blast hanging out and sleeping in their mommy's arms and had an afternoon snack with their Gerber bottles. Cara had a nice '08 frozen milk-bank breast milk and C had a lovely bottle of Similac Advance! Right before our friends had to leave, the two cuddled on the couch for a minute, but C wasn't too happy about it. I guess he still thinks girls have cooties! I can't believe he hasn't outgrown that phase yet!

Bathing Cutie