Part 2 and Beyond!

I should have known that it would take me 3 months to post on my blog again! For some reason, I never have the discipline that is required to keep us with certain things in life, even things that I enjoy like journaling/blogging. Needless to say, the past 3 months have been AMAZING!! This is not to say that I haven't had my fair share of stressful and difficult times, but Jacob makes it all worth it :).

The second part of the birth story that I was going to write about is pretty short, especially since I'm sure I don't remember all the details 3 months later! We were treated very well during our stay in the hospital. The nurses were very helpful and some of my favorite times were doing "skin to skin" with Jacob. It was great bonding time and was so incredibly peaceful! On your last night in the hospital, you are served a Celebratory Dinner which is steak, lobster, sides, and a delicious chocolate cake. Sadly, while we were having our dinner, Jacob was getting circumcised :(. I am so glad that it was done in the nursery and that they gave him time to soothe before bringing him back to our room. Funny side story...right during the middle of our "date," the toilet in our bathroom started flushing on its own and going crazy, getting water everywhere! We had to call the desk and housekeeping/maintenance had to come in and interrupt our date to fix the problem. It made for a funny memory! We didn't get much sleep that night because Jacob was pretty fussy, waking up a lot. We were told that we needed to be completely ready by 11 am so that we could be discharged quickly. We were up and ready in plenty of time, but unfortunately, we had to wait for hours for a doctor to come discharge me! The worst part of it all was that Tim got very sick and spent most of the morning with his head over the toilet. I think he just got so worn down with lack of sleep that it made him a bit sick. It actually took him about 3 days to get better. The whole time we were waiting on a doctor for me, we were noticing that the weather was starting to get stormy. Steve and Karin flew in that morning and came by the hospital to meet Jacob before going to our house to wait on us. By the time the doctor came and discharged me, we were under a tornado warning and were starting to hear the sirens outside. My nurse was awesome! She knew how badly I was ready to get out of there and go home that she was practically running while pushing me in the wheelchair down the hall! She quickly got Jacob's security bands removed and got us to the front door. She told us that they were starting to take all patients to the OR to take cover and she wanted to help me get out if I could. Tim ran in the pouring down rain to get the car. Jacob and I got in the backseat and Tim got us home as quickly as he could. The sky was so dark and it was hard to see through all of the rain. Thankfully, we made it home safe and sound! Our first night home we celebrated my mom's birthday with a lasagne dinner and watched OU play football...a great evening!

Since that night, we have had so much fun with our little boy! He had a great first Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's Day (which I won't recount here)! I am so glad that I have been able to stay home with him these past 3 months. I have literally been just sick about going back to work. I just look at his sweet face and cry about being away from him all day. I was so depressed last week. I know he will be ok (and I will too eventually!), but it is even harder than I imagined. I desperately hope that I will be able to stay at home with him at some point. I don't know if I'm the only one to feel this way, but last week I had a few rough days with Jacob. I realized that I haven't had a "day off" since he was born and I was just tired and in need of some "me" time. I was feeling so guilty about feeling this way that I didn't even want to verbalize it. I didn't want anyone to think that I was saying that I want to go back to work or have time away from Jacob. I don't! I just realized that I also need to make time for me every now and then. Tim and I are planning on going on a date this coming weekend, our first since Jacob's birth. I think it will be good for us! I'm not only sad about being away from Jacob, but I'm overwhelmed with all that is required of me at work. Being a teacher is a hard job, especially if you care and want to be good at your job. I'm worried about how I will strike a balance between my home and work life. Obviously, Tim and Jacob come first, but I am such a perfectionist when it comes to my job. Tomorrow was supposed to be my first day back, but a huge ice storm hit the DFW area overnight last night and school was cancelled for today and tomorrow. Tim got to stay home today and he's off tomorrow too since he was scheduled to take care of Jacob. It's nice to spend time together these few days!

The latest with Jacob...he has really strong neck muscles and is doing a good job of holding his head up. He smiles a LOT and we've heard him giggle, although not consistently. He loves to kick his legs and move his arms, especially when he's in his bouncy seat or lying on his activity gym. He recently discovered his hands and he tries to eat them. He has been drooling a lot lately and also starting to "talk" to us with his little grunts. He can now grab onto some things and his favorite thing to grab is my shirt! He even tries to pull it down sometimes! Jacob absolutely LOVES bathtime! He gets so active in the bath. Sometimes I'm afraid he's going to hurt himself kicking so hard. He gets really upset with us when we take him out of the water, but soon after he is relaxed and ready for bed. He currently takes a 5 ounce bottle and eats about 30 ounces/day. He has gotten much better at sleeping, although he still does not nap for very long. Jacob usually stays awake for about 2 hours before he gets cranky and needs a nap, but his naps only last for about 30 minutes. He started sleeping in his crib right after the holidays and does a really good job when he is swaddled (although he hated to be swaddled in the beginning). He usually goes to bed between 9 and 11 and will sleep until sometime between 4 and 6. He takes a bottle and goes back to bed for a few hours before he's up for the day. I think he is doing great! At his 2 month appointment, he weighed 11.5 pounds and was 23.75 inches. We go in for his 4 month appointment on February 23rd and I'm anxious to see how much he has grown!

Well, that's all I'm going to write for now, but hopefully I will post more soon!