Trip to New Mexico, Part 1

First off let's start with last week. I had to go to work on Tuesday so that I could get my conference paid for so Jason got to spend the day with Callie. They had a lot of fun hanging out and going to see people. They even came and took me to lunch which was fun. Then, I took Callie to my PA Conference Wednesday through Friday and she did very well. She had fun meeting all of my friends and classmates from PA school and did well just hanging out or sleeping during the lectures.


We found out that there's about 10 babies that had been born within the last 3 months from people in our class or expecting. It was a lot of fun sharing pictures and baby stories. Here's the best group shot we could get of the girls. Amber was in and out during the conference so I didn't catch her and Rachel S. didn't come so that's why she's missing.


Then, it was off to New Mexico to visit Pops and Nana. We flew out of Oklahoma City on Saturday and arrived in Albuquerque a little after lunch time. We grabbed a bite to eat and headed to Aztec. Callie did very well on the flight, sleeping the whole time and also did well in the car during the 3 hour drive to Aztec. She talked with Nana a lot and only got fussy when she was hungry but took the bottle in the car with barely warm milk that I had packed.

On the Plane


Driving to Aztec

When we got to my parent's, we met the Prater's, Smith's, and Nienhueser at Dad's Diner to partake in yummy green chili cheese fries and their famous chocolate cake. Here's dad with the cake - yum!


Sunday we went to church. It was fun being back at home with Carissa because we grew up together at that church. It was the first time we'd been back in Farmington together since we've both moved to Oklahoma - almost 10 years!


That afternoon, Pops and Nana had an open house for people to come meet Callie. We had a few visitors and I got to see my high school coach again. I didn't get any pictures with people, just of Callie all dolled up.


Monday we ran around with Pops and he went to show Callie off to some of his customers. Tuesday, Nana took half the day off and ran around with us - again to visit some of Pops' clients. That evening we went to watch Nienhueser coach basketball and it was Callie's first game. She had lots of things to look at and new sounds to hear!


As a side note - Callie's really been smiling at us a lot more the last week or so and starting to even giggle some so here's a picture of a smile I caught on Tuesday.

Then, Wednesday, we visited Nana's school so that she could show Callie off to some of her co-workers. I also got to see some of my teachers I had which was fun. Here's Callie in Nana's classroom


Tonight we will go to church and then tomorrow we're going to Colorado to visit some other family friends. Friday we don't have too much planned - we are eating dinner at Nienhueser's house but other than that, no plans. Then Saturday morning we'll head back to Albuquerque to fly back to Oklahoma. We'll give details of the second half of our trip once we get home. It's been fun so far and the time is going by fast!

Weekend at Home

We hung around the house this weekend which was fun! We watched the OSU game and had fun seeing the Pokes finally beat Tech in Lubbock.

Then we did some work outside on Jason's shed. Callie and I helped hand him stuff up on the ladder


Then we had our trial run with the bottle. I'm happy to report Callie was a champ and took it very well, ate it all, and didn't have any trouble nursing afterwards at her next feeding. I think dad had fun getting to feed her too.

Then I woke up to visitors at the house. Uncle Jeremy, Aunt Andrea, and Connor came in late on their way back from Tulsa to spend the night. We spent Sunday with them before they went home.

It was a fun weekend - can't wait to go home to see the family in New Mexico in 6 short days!

One Month Old

It's hard to believe it's been a month since our baby girl joined our family. We've had so much fun having her in our lives and I look forward to watching her grow. I'm sad because she is growing so fast! She is still little but I notice her chubbier cheeks, her legs filling out and her clothes getting a bit more snug. Here's some of the info on our one month old:

- We estimate she's around 8 pounds. I was holding her and weighed both of us then handed her off to Jason and weighed again and it was about 8 pounds difference.
- She still wears newborn diapers...possibly getting close to wearing 1's. We haven't had any accidents with the newborns and the 1's look huge so maybe in a week or so she'll move up.
- She wears newborn clothes mainly. I've tried out some of the 0-3 month dress outfits for church (which are huge on her) but I make it work for a couple hours. She's long so the newborns are getting snug lengthwise. I've bought some 0-3 month winter clothes but may have to go get some smaller things if it gets cold soon because those are too big right now.
- On Saturday, October 2nd while Callie was doing tummy time, she rolled over from her tummy to her back. Nonie witnessed it also. Since then she hasn't done it again but get's close.
- She eats on a pretty regular 2.5-3 hour schedule and does pretty well with an eat/wake/sleep cycle. If we've been out and about, she sleeps a bit more and so the evening is more challenging because she doesn't want to fall asleep but once she gets asleep she does well. Most of the time she can go to sleep on her own. If she's fussy and tired, we'll use a pacifier to get her to sleep but she will spit it out once she's asleep.
- She sleeps well also. Depending on when we feed her at night she'll wake up in 4-5 hours but mostly I go to wake her up. My doctor said at 6 weeks I could stop waking her to eat. After that feeding, she'll wake up again about 3 hours later. She's good about eating and going back to sleep during the night so I don't loose much sleep. However, I'm looking forward to when I don't have to wake her to see how long she'll go.

We have a lot of things planned for her second month of life. Dad gets to keep Callie for a day next week while I go to work for a day. Therefore, this weekend we're going to work on feeding her with a bottle. Then, Callie is going to go with me to my CME conference in Norman. I think she'll do fine but if not, I have back up people to keep her. After my conference, Callie will go on her first airplane flight as we travel to New Mexico to visit Pops and Nana. We'll be there for a week spending time with them. Then, we will have fun with Callie's first Halloween. It'll be a busy month but very fun! Here's some pics from the last couple days!


Watching TV with Mom

Meeting up with Uncle Travis and Aunt Vena

Being a ham

Callie's form of Camo

Columbus Day

This weekend we had a lot of fun with more of Jason's family. His Uncle Randy and Aunt Diane came by but surprised us by bringing along Granny and Granddaddy. The boys worked on Jason's shed and make some good progress while the girls played with Callie all day. Granny brought Callie her baby blanket but she didn't get to keep it because she wanted to show it off to some people at home before we kept it. Unfortunately, I didn't get a picture on Saturday so we'll have to show everyone later. Saturday night, we went to eat with some family and friends for Jason's birthday. Sunday, mom didn't feel the greatest with a sore throat but we went to church and came home to nap before the afternoon service. Today, we've spent time at the house. Nonie and Papaw came today because Nonie has class tonight and Papaw is helping Jason with the shed (they were off due to Columbus day). As the boy's worked Callie napped and mom got to do laundry. Hope everyone else has had a good start to the week!



Making Progress!



Ready for Church!

Hanging with Daddy

Game Day!

Thanks for the advice from my previous post - I've been making some progress and hopefully will keep going in a positive direction. We've been hanging around the house mostly the last couple of days. We did get out yesterday to go to the grocery store and stop by the post office but otherwise, we've been homebodies. Tonight we get to cheer on the OSU Cowboys so we have our game day attire on. Tomorrow, Jason's aunt and uncle are coming over - Uncle Randy is going to help Jason with his shed and Aunt Diane is going to spend the day spoiling Callie. Here's a few pictures and video of Callie "talking" from the last couple of days. Go Pokes!!!

Three Weeks Old

We had a fun weekend with Jason's family. Miss Callie got to meet her Uncle Jeremy and see Aunt Andrea and Connor again.

Jeremy playing with Callie and Connor joining in!


Proud Cousin!

The boys helped Jason work on his shed he's building in the backyard and the girls went on a shopping trip! Callie did really well sleeping most of the time. She was the star at Metro Shoe Warehouse - it was funny how many people oohed and aahed over her. We even had a mom go get her daughter just to see Callie - it was funny.

Checking out Hobby Lobby


Sleeping in Gordman's

Then, Sunday we had church and then potluck afterwards. We finally got our family squeeze picture since we were all together!


This week has been a little more challenging in regards to getting Callie to fall asleep. She would do well through the day but the evening and getting her to sleep at our bedtime has been more challenging. We've rocked her, tried the pacifier, walked with her and eventually she'd give it up and go to sleep. Today, after reviewing the information from my pediatrician, I decided to let her cry for a little bit. He says that it's ok to cry some especially if they have been fed, changed, burped, walked, etc. and that it's normal for babies to cry some so I let her go and within 5 minutes she put herself to sleep. Although 5 minutes seems like forever when your baby is crying, it was reassuring that she's ok and just a bit fussy. Her doctor also said that her fussiness would increase until about 6 weeks then come back down so that could be part of it also. She's still a really good baby and I'm sure we'll have more challenges come along that will make this seem silly. :)

Speaking of challenges, I have started trying to pump this week (well, today actually). I need to look up the best time to try and pump. I know that if Callie sleeps through a feeding at night that I can pump and most of what I've seen is to pump after she eats. I've tried that today but didn't get much and I'm wondering if it's just my supply needs to be demanded a little more for it to increase since I haven't pumped until now. Any advice would be great. If it doesn't get better I may try and go to the hospital to a class or call the lactation consultants for some help. I want to start building up a supply so that when I go back to work, I'll have some available along with what I'm able to pump at work.

Here's pictures from the last couple of days - just hanging around the house.

Hanging out with Daddy


When she decided to sleep today

Callie became official as we got her SS card and I went to go get some birth certificates. Not much planned for the rest of this week. Next week, I go back to my OB for my postpartum check and also to the Ear doctor to get my ear checked again. It hasn't really changed but he wanted to see me again to get an MRI to make sure everything is good so I want to get that done before the end of the year for my insurance deductable. We'll keep you updated on all of our activities!

Catching Up

We've had a busy 2 weeks since my last post. It's been full of visitors, errands around town, visits to the office and also a visit to western Oklahoma to see the great grandparents. Here's a brief recap - mainly with pictures - of what we've been up to.

We got home and had Nonie and Papaw around to help mom out. To our surprise, my Texas Grandma and Grandpa (the Lanes) paid me a visit and stayed for a couple of days. It was fun meeting them and I can't wait to go visit them and spend some time on their farm.




Then, my Pops and Nana came to see me and spent the week spoiling me. Uncle Tony came too for the weekend.





While they were here, we ran errands around town and went to mommy's office so that she could show me off to all of her co-workers. On Tuesday, we all headed off to the Oklahoma State Fair to eat some good food and see some of the exhibits.


Dad and Pops went to Amarillo one day to take Uncle Tony some furniture so Nana, Mom and I ran around town all day. We also went for my first check up at the pediatrician. I was 6 pounds 5 ounces and 20 inches long. My doctor said everything looked great and that he'd see us back when I'm 2 months old. I slept most of the day but it was fun to be out and about. At the end of the week, we went to Nonie and Papaw's house with Pops and Nana to finish the weekend before Pops and Nana had to go home. There we got to surprise Granny and Grand-daddy with a visit. They didn't know we were coming so they were surprised to see us.


Four Generations


We also went to see my great great aunt Lois and miss Dovie. They just loved spoiling me with their kisses.



This past week it's just been us three and it's been fun getting into our own routine. Mom and I went to the grocery store, to her office, and to visit one of her friends new babies this week. We also went with Daddy so he could show me off to some of his factory reps. Thursday night we watched the OSU football game where I did the wave with Daddy when we scored a touchdown. Tonight, Aunt Andrea, Uncle Jeremy, and Connor are coming to visit me. I haven't met Uncle Jeremy yet but I've sure heard some good things about him - can't wait to see them all!

Now that we're settling into a routine, hopefully I can post a bit more regularly. I'll get an update after this weekend's activities.