That was hard

Published on by Casey Category: Family, Work

Yesterday was my first day back at work after being on leave for 12-weeks!  Not only was it the beginning of a whole new routine, but the first time I was going to leave Logan with another person for more than just a couple of hours!  So yesterday morning was not without tears as I got Logan ready for the day, as I drove to his care provider’s house, and as I drove to work.  Knowing it was not going to be easy leaving Logan, Noah told his employer he was going to be late so he could come with me.  It was great that he was able to come (really, I didn’t give him a choice in the matter) and surprisingly I even made it to work on time!

It really is such a HUGE blessing that Logan is being cared for by friends I completely trust.  I truly believe that made it easier for me to leave him yesterday and spend a full day at work. I think it also helped that I had placed a picture of Logan on my desk.

I look at it all day long, and as soon as 4:00 comes around, you can bet I am out the door and headed to my car so I can go be with my little boy!

I probably had a better day yesterday than Logan did.  Logan is a very mellow baby, enjoyed playing with some new toys and Anabelle, but he wouldn’t eat.  Poor baby barely drank anything from his bottles.  He’s taken bottles before, but not as his primary food source and he just wasn’t into it.  His being at someone else’s home during the day is an adjustment for him too.   When I got to the house to pick him up I was able to be the one to take him from the crib when he woke up from a nap.  At first it seemed as if he was confused to see me, but then was really happy that I was the one taking him into my arms…and not just because he was hungry.  😉

It was not as hard for me to leave him today as it was yesterday, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t miss him any less.  Logan did about as well as he did yesterday, only today he ate less.  🙁  I hope he soon decides to eat more during the day and not just wait for me to show up around 4:30.  To help, I’m going to have Noah work with him in taking a bottle tonight.  It doesn’t do much good that he tolerates taking it from mom.  Hopefully tomorrow goes better.  Otherwise, it looks as if Logan has my stubborn streak. 😉   Regardless, I’m counting down the days to the weekend and upcoming holidays/breaks from work so I can spend more waking hours with Logan!

(By the way, clicking on the above picture will open up a new album of photos.)

The Hail You Say

Published on by Casey Category: Colorado, Weather

I’ve mentioned times before how the weather in Colorado is schizophrenic.  Wednesday was no exception.  While it was sunny at home, there were tornado warnings out by DIA; we ended up being under a tornado watch for about 7 hours.  The storm out by the airport produced 5 tornadoes and dumped so much hail it looked as if it had snowed.  People had to shovel ankle-deep hail out of driveways and sidewalks, while city and state plow trucks had to clear the streets.  Not to mention the damage done to homes and cars.  Here are some pictures submitted to a local news station.

Most of the day the weather at home was lovely, albeit humid — anything over 20% is humid for Colorado.  However, while we were at bible, study in a neighboring town, a storm went over Lafayette and dropped 1-inch diameter hail.  Although it would have been something to see hail that large, thankfully we weren’t home at the time.  Otherwise, my car, which would have been parked in the driveway, would have possibly been dented.  The only damage I did notice around the house were some tree branches had been stripped of their leaves.  When Noah came home from work yesterday I had him inspect our roof and his brother’s camper.  The only noticeable damage on the roof were some dents on the metal flashing around the sun lights.  However, the camper didn’t fare as well, but didn’t suffer too terribly either.  The plastic covers on the top of the camper were broken, but those can easily be replaced.

All the rain we have had lately has been nice, though, as we have not needed to yet turn on the sprinklers.  Today, the weather is supposed to be in the low-90s…how nice it would be if Logan was older and we could spend some quality time outside.  I’m picturing fun days where we can have picnics in the backyard in the shade of one of our many trees and then watch and laugh as he runs around in the sprinklers. 🙂

Two Months

Published on by Casey Category: Family

As Noah said, our two-month trial period is over and we’ve decided that Logan’s a keeper.  Well, we decided that he’s a keeper a long time ago, but it was funny nonetheless.  The fact that Logan is two month’s old now also means my maternity leave is quickly drawing to a close and that makes me sad.  I love my job, but I love my son more.  One day, hopefully, I can afford not to work full-time or not to work at all.  I’ve really enjoyed being a stay at home mom. 🙂

It also happened that Logan’s two-month appointment actually fell on his two-month birthday.  Here are his updated stats:

Weight: 12-pounds, 5 ounces (67th percentile)
Height: 22 1/4-inches (26th percentile)
Head: 16-inches (67th percentile)

A little bit of comparison, at 2 weeks, Logan’s weight was only in the 4th percentile!  He’s catching-up and, in fact, weighs about the same, give or take a few ounces, as my friends’ full-term babies at the same age.

I’ve taken some recent pictures, of course, but have yet to upload them to the album here.  I have put some up on facebook, however.

Life Verses

Published on by Casey Category: Family

I’m taking all of this information from Noah’s mom.  She explained it to us and we thought it very interesting and wanted to share…

The Jews have a custom of assigning a portion of scripture to each week of the year and when a child is born, that portion of the Bible assigned to the week of the child’s birth, becomes “their” scripture.  The scripture will be read and even memorized by the child for his/her bar/bat mitzvah and the child will even give a discourse on that part of the scripture.  The weeks are assigned according to the Jewish calendar, and so, Logan’s birth date of March 25, 2010 becomes Nissan 10th, 5770.  His scripture portion is called “Tzav” (Give an order) Leviticus 6:8-8:36.

There is also assigned a portion related to that scripture, which comes from The Prophets.  In Logan’s case, it is Jeremiah 7:21-8:3 and Jeremiah 9:23-24.  The Messianic Jews (those who believe in Jesus) also assign a New Testament portion.  For Logan, those verses are Mark 12:28-34, Romans 12:1-2 and I Corinthians 10:14-23.

While reading over these verses, Noah’s mom was struck by the fact they are very much about “the law” and it occurred to her that Logan may be destined to be a lawyer or a judge.  Noah and I were both told, as children and adolescents, that we should go into law as we were good at arguing, although neither of us heeded that advice.  Perhaps the same will be true for our son…heaven help us if he is. 🙂  Regardless of his future career passions, it’s very insightful to learn how just by being born, the bible already has an impact on his life!

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Published on by Casey Category: Family, Photos

I’ve re-organized how Logan’s pictures are on the site.  Instead of having everything grouped together in one album, Logan now has his own category with several sub-albums.  You can access it by clicking on the photo below.

Joyeuse fête des mères!!!

Published on by Casey Category: Family

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, my mother-in-law, and all my friends that are moms or about to be moms!  Today is an extra special Mother’s Day too as it is my very first Mother’s Day!

 

And what better way to celebrate being a mom than to have my baby boy dedicated to the Lord this morning at church!  Not only that but Logan’s Grandparents, Great-Grandparents, Uncle Joe and Aunt Erika came to witness his dedication — Four Generations!

After church to continue the Mother’s Day celebration, we all headed over to Grandma Maryann’s for brunch.  With how schizophrenic the weather has been here lately, yesterday couldn’t have been more perfect!  Lots of sun and temperatures around 70* made it impossible not be to outside!  Logan did not give me a gift yesterday (he has an item in mind but hasn’t found what he wants yet and isn’t going to settle), however Noah did have a lovely bouquet of roses delivered to the house and my mother-in-law gave me a hanging basket of strawberries.  Yum!

It was a great day spent with wonderful people, and of course, my adorable baby boy!

Back on a computer again…

Published on by Casey Category: Family, Whatever

After a month without a decent computer you can bet I went through withdraws, but again, like in February, I am so thankful I have a smart phone!  Right after my family headed back to California my laptop went kaput.  We handed it off to an uber techy friend to diagnose and try to repair the brand new hard drive.  When he stated that he feared the worse, Noah and I decided to buy a new computer.  Homestead needs something reliable.  A computer that continued to fry hard drives – not so reliable.  Yesterday the new laptop arrived (YAY!) and this morning I got final word from my friend that the motherboard on my Dell is fried.  It would probably cost upwards of $600 to replace the motherboard, not worth it…especially since that’s more than the cost of a new computer! That being said, it’s a good thing we went ahead and purchased this new laptop.  Plus, it’s new, faster, and fancier!   All that being said, I’m sure my readers don’t care too much about my computer woes and is more interested in learning about, who else, Logan.

Thursday, Logan turned 6-weeks old!  For those that don’t have facebook, I’ve uploaded pictures of Logan to the site.  Below is a sneak-peak (click on the picture below for more).  We can’t believe how fast our little boy is growing!  He has already out-grown the premie clothes and some newborn sizes.  He’s a bit in-between sizes right now.  Some newborn sizes are too small, some too big, and the same applies to 0-3 month outfits as well.  Last Sunday, at a friend’s house we weighed him both on their bathroom scale and one their Wii.  Both scales listed Logan as weighing upwards of 10-pounds!  I didn’t believe it.  I expected him to be more in the 7 to 8-pound range.  So, when I had my doctor appointment on Wednesday I took Logan across the hall to his pediatrician’s office to get an accurate weight.   Any guesses? Well, the Wii was pretty darn accurate.  At 6-weeks old (less a day) Logan weighs 10 pounds, 2.5oz!  I’m shocked!

I am excited to celebrate my first Mother’s Day!  What will make the day even more special is that tomorrow we are dedicating Logan to the Lord at church!  I managed to acquire a special outfit for him to wear (that half fits due to the aforementioned size issues), I have yet to figure out what to wear.  Noah’s grandparents and brother’s family, who all live locally, will be attending the dedication service and Noah’s parents have also flown out for the occasion.  It should prove to be a very special day!  Noah’s already arranged to have flowers delivered to me.  🙂 I’ll be sure to have someone take pictures of Logan’s dedication…hmm, I wonder if Noah has figured out what he’s going to say in the prayer.

In other news, softball season officially kicked-off last Tuesday.  Due to most of the women on the team becoming moms, this summer the team switched from co-ed to the men’s league.  Logan and I went to support the men at their first game, but left after the first inning and the gale-force winds made it pretty miserable weather!  We did get to see Noah hit a triple his first time at bat and missed the atrocity that followed (the team lost 24-1!).  I’ve set-up another page where you can follow the team’s scores.

And finally, I think, we have had several mornings in the past month where we have awaken to find white stuff on the ground.  I have no idea when such days were (except for yesterday), as I am not coherent enough to write it down at 3:00 in the morning. The most that was accumulated on any of the days was probably 3/4″, but it didn’t last long; melted by 10:00am in most cases.

Well, I think that’s it for now.  Just a few items from the past month. 🙂

Two Week Check-up

Published on by Casey Category: Family

Today was Logan’s two week doctor appointment.  We really liked the pediatrician we saw (thanks for the FYI Jessica!).  Since birth, Logan has grown a half-inch and gained 7oz!

Here are his updated stats:

Weight: 6-pounds, 6 ounces (4th percentile)
Height: 19-inches (5th percentile)
Head: 14-inches (21st percentile)

My little baby is growing fast!  Logan is also able to regulate his temperature, so he no longer needs to be swaddled 24/7. 🙂  And, since he had jaundice and was already having a heel prick done for blood work, the doctor decided to check his biliruben levels as a precaution.  The results on that test came back today and what was nice was the doctor herself called with the results – Logan’s biliruben levels are within the normal range.  Yay for no more jaundice!  Despite all of his strides, of which the doctor was very impressed, Logan still fits better in his premie clothes than newborn sizes.  Oh and funny, at the doctor’s office, the nurse put a clean diaper on him after he was weighed – it was a size 1 and GINORMOUS!  Good thing I have newborn diapers in the bag and was able to put him in something that fit.

And to top off this post, here’s a picture of our cutie from today:

Introducing Logan Jonathan!

Published on by Casey Category: Family, Pregnancy

Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 10:19am MT, we officially became a family of three with the birth of our son, Logan Jonathan!  At birth, Logan weighed 5lbs 14.9oz and measured 18.5″ in length.

It was, I’m sure, a much different experience than most mom-to-bes have when they arrive at the hospital to give birth.  I was calm and not in any pain.  We checked in at the hospital at 7:30am and spent the next couple hours in a labor & delivery room where I went through basic pre-surgery tests and had my final and 7th ultrasound with this pregnancy.  Around 10:00 I walked into the operating room.  I don’t think it hit me that I was about to have my baby until the anesthesiologist was giving me the spinal block.

Birth by cesarean delivery was an experience all in itself.  Mostly, probably, what I expected and a little that I had no clue what to expect.  But as soon as I heard my baby cry I felt tears move down my face.  Noah was allowed to pop-up and peek over the sheet and watch as Logan was pulled from me.  Noah was then able to cut (trim) the umbilical cord and take pictures of newborn baby Logan.  I was still immobile as there was a lot to do with the rest of my operation.  I would call for Noah and ask him questions like if Logan had hair, if he had free or attached ear lobes.  One time I called for him the anesthesiologist told me that Noah was cutting the cord.  Finally, Noah and a nurse came over and I was able to see and touch Logan for the first time.  That’s a moment I won’t ever forget!

 

It wasn’t long after that our family of three was moved to a postpartum room where we spent the rest of our 4-day hospital stay.  Due to Logan being born 3-weeks early (technically one-day late of being considered premature), and that he and I have different blood types, Logan was at an increased risk for jaundice.  He also had some difficulty in maintaining his body temperature.  As a result, Logan spent the majority of his time at the hospital wrapped like a burrito and had regular checks of his biliruben levels.

One nice thing that Kaiser does is provide a home visit once everyone is released from the hospital.  Logan, being the super wonderful baby he is, earned himself three home visits due to his jaundice.  His second home visit determined that he needed light therapy to help break down the biliruben.  So, for one day/night, our little boy got to work on his “tan” in a fancy bed (that essentially looked like a suitcase rigged with lights).  I was very happy that he didn’t need the light therapy any longer than that.

My family came to help us get settled and to meet their first grandson/nephew.  They have been such a blessing helping out around the house and with caring for Logan.  It was also nice that Noah was able to take a week off from work for his “Daddy Days”.  During his time off, Noah was also to make significant progress on completing Logan’s crib.  I’m very excited to have it finished and in Logan’s bedroom!  And, of course, we could not be more in love with our adorable baby boy!  Yes, I’m a bit biased in thinking my son is cuter than cute, but if you don’t believe me, check out the slew of pictures I’ve posted.

Friday we have Logan’s 2-week check-up (I can’t believe tomorrow my little boy is already going to be 2 weeks old!).  I’ll be sure to post details about his stats and always be sure to check back for more pictures (also on Facebook).

And Baby Makes Three

Published on by Casey Category: Pregnancy

Today I had my 36-week appointment, which was probably a lot different than your average 36-week appointment.  The main purpose of this appointment was not to check on swelling, test for strept B or that the baby is head down, but to determine whether or not the placenta has moved away from the cervix.  So I had my 6th ultrasound today, got to see my little baby, and you know what? In the past 4 months the placenta still has not moved.  Shocking!  That being said, we are now scheduled to have a baby on Thursday of this week!  Logan will be 37-weeks when he’s born (considered full-term).  Happy birthday, Logan!  Please pray that he does well, doesn’t need any fancy NICU services and that I don’t have any complications from the surgery.

Tomorrow, I will go to work then officially go on maternity leave Wednesday.  Wednesday night Lava will head over to her friend Maya’s house for an extended puppy play date.  Logan will be born on Thursday and sometime on Sunday my family will arrive from California.  That’s the plan.  We are very excited to have our baby boy this week!  As the hospital does have wifi, be prepared to be inundated with pictures soon. 🙂

Guess now I should finish packing my hospital bag.