Cradle Cap and New Pics

Andrew has come down with a pretty yucky case of cradle cap. It's very common and is not painful or anything - just not very cute. The cradle cap is like dandruff but it sticks to his head and you have to pick at it to get it to come off. We have a special shampoo from the doctor to help treat it. We are lucky he has such a cute little head of hair because it hides most traces of it.

On a positive note, when the cradle cap came, the baby acne went away - almost completely. In my opinion, that's a great trade-off. We are still dealing with very dry skin and having to lotion his entire body 2 times a day. I keep waiting for him to enjoy that process. I know that I would love that kind of treatment. He will come around. But, for now, it's a scream fest.

Here are a few recent pictures of our fella. 

We took this picture right before we left to go watch the first Cowboys Playoff Game against the Eagles. He did not get to stay in this long because he had a small diaper explosion and we had to "retire" his jersey for the night. But don't worry, we had a back-up Cowboys outfit in case of such a problem. 

This picture is from the same night. Jeff and I are decked out in our Cowboys attire as well. We had a great time at Jennifer's house - even though Andrew slept the entire time...or maybe I should say BECAUSE Andrew slept the entire time.

 

The next few pictures are a glimpse in to our little morning ritual. Andrew plays with his Baby Gym while mommy washes bottles, shoves breakfast in her mouth and takes shooters of coffee while trying to pick up the house a little bit. He is such a cutie though, that I tend to spend a lot of time looking at him and taking video or pics.

 

This last picture is of Andrew trying out his Bumbo seat that Sharon gave to us. He seems to be a little young for it because he can't really hold up his head. But, we will keep trying. He really seems to like it - not as much as Jeff though - as you can see in the next picture. 

 

Jeff is King Bumbo.

Our little guy is 7 weeks old now - seems like time is flying by. I love every day with him and I'm getting better at knowing what to do and what he likes and does not like. I really hope that I can learn to manage Andrew, time with hubby, working, cleaning, tennis, friendships and getting back in to shape. Right now, I can pretty much just manage him. Yikes!

Christmas In Louisiana

We spent our first Christmas as a new family in Louisiana this year. It's actually the same as what we do every year. Jeff's family (Mike and Sybil) come to my parent's house and we all celebrate Christmas together. Jeff and I went in very early this year as a result of getting to attend the Cowboys game in New Orleans on December 19th. Our normal Christmas visit is about 4 days and we doubled that this year. It was not bad considering that it was double the amount of time that we had assistance with Andrew from grandmas, grandpa, Uncle Matt and Uncle Mike. However, when we finally made it back home, we practically raced to our room to give our own bed a big hug. It's great to be gone and even better when you get back home.

Although Jeff and I had a wonderful time catching up with family, eating great Louisiana food and escaping the demands of our own home, we did have some challenges with Andrew while we were at my parent's house. I'm not sure if it was because of the new surroundings or all the people handling him, but he became the fussiest baby in Louisiana. By about day 4, he cried almost any time that he was not eating or sleeping. Now, to his defense, he broke out in the worst rash/acne on his face and scalp. It looked so uncomfortable and I knew he had to be miserable. We were not sure if it was bothering him, but we assumed it was based on his ever-growing frustrations with each day that passed. His Christmas gift to mommy and daddy was to sleep long enough for us to open all the presents on Christmas morning and enjoy a big cup of coffee. Notice the bow on his head - all wrapped up in cute Christmas jammies and sleeping while I focused on unwrapping the goodies behind him.

Below is a picture of Andrew with his daddy on the second day that we were there - all sweet and quietly sleeping - no real sign of the rash that was on the way.  The bottom picture was full blown rash/acne. The picture really does not do it justice. The fact that people at the Christmas party we attended on Christmas Eve kept asking what was wrong with his face was a clue that it was not just me being a little concerned with a slight breakout. My cute baby boy had become a full blown pizza face.

Once we got home, things started to get much better. He was back in his element, the fussiness was gone and our sweet baby boy started smiling for us! His rash is getting better every day. The doctor has us treating it with a special lotion and he is almost completely back to his normal sweet baby face.

All in all, our Christmas in Louisiana was great. It was so nice to get to celebrate Andrew's first Christmas  with our entire family. Not to mention, Cooper and Oscar absolutely love the amount of yard space that my parents have. They spent so much time checking things out and keeping everyone safe.

It turns out that while we were gone, Dallas had a White Christmas. It's a shame that we missed it, but I would not trade our Christmas tradition for a little snow. The time with the entire family together is priceless. We can't wait till next year!

Cowboys and Saints

Jeff and I had the pleasure of going to the Cowboys/Saints game in the Superdome over the Christmas break. Thanks to my wonderful friend Lauren and her dad for the tickets to the game. What a great Christmas present - 50 yard line seats about 30 rows up from the field on the Cowboys side! It was absolutely awesome! The Cowboys defeated the Saints - 24-17 - giving them their first loss of the season.

Now, while there were several hundred Cowboy fans in their Blue and Silver attire, Jeff and I chose to cheer for our team in disguise. We wore "street clothes" that would not make us stand out as Cowboy fans. I heard too many of my friends from home fussing at me about cheering for the Cowboys over the Saints -- Actually wearing Cowboys attire would only make things worse. In my defense, I was never a huge Saints fan growing up. Anyone who knew the Saints back in the 80's and 90's knew that it was not exactly the team that was expected to go very far. I never cheered against them, just never really got in to it.

And, just to be clear - I would LOVE for the Saints to win the Superbowl - As long as the Cowboys could not do it. And, I especially feel that way after going to the game. What an amazing and fantastic experience. The Saints fans are awesome. I think I actually lost some of my hearing in the 4th Quarter when they were coming back to an almost-victory against the Cowboys.

I thought I would post some pictures of our night in the New Orleans Superdome. Thanks to my mom and dad for watching Andrew and letting us get to do this. These pics will let you know how awesome our seats were! Go Cowboys! Congrats on a great win. And, Good Luck Saints!

 

 

This final picture is of our AWESOME Miles Austin. A true up and comer for the Cowboys.

 

"Push Gift"

When I was about 6 months pregnant Jeff was reading a pregnancy book for expecting fathers and stumbled upon a concept that I thought was BRILLIANT! This book said that you should give your wife a push gift after she has the baby. A 'push gift' is a gift that the husband gets the wife as a token of his appreciation for all that she went through to carry and deliver the baby. I'm sure you can use your imagination about why it's called a "push" gift.

Jeff and I actually talked about it and decided that something very small would be just fine. Nothing extravagent was necessary considering that we were pretty tight on funds as Jeff goes to school. In addition, he had already surprised me with what I lovingly called my "fat girl wedding ring". It was a larger ring than my normal wedding ring and designed to be worn in the later months of pregnancy when I was too swollen to fit in the original. I wore it for a few months and then it became too small. Towards the end of the pregnancy my fingers looked like bananas and putting jewelry on them was not even a consideration. In fact, I got Carpel Tunnel from the pregnancy because of the swelling in my arms and hands - one of the other side effects of pregnancy that I was not aware of going in to it.

Anyway, on Thursday night Jeff had a big dinner planned and had worked very hard  to make a special evening for us where he would present my Push Gift. I was oblivious to the entire thing and was extremely surprised and thrilled with the level of planning that went on behind the scenes. Unfortunately, Andrew had other plans. He was quite fussy and was not willing to allow us to have a nice dinner. So, we ended up eating Taco Bell and putting the steaks and wine to the side for another night. But, I did get my push gift. As I opened the bag, I saw a Dallas Cowboys shirt and I was quite pleased with that. I had wanted one that I could wear and it was perfect. As I took the shirt out of the bag, I noticed that there was a little box at the bottom of the bag. I quickly threw the shirt to the side and dove head first in to the bag to get my hands on that box.

To my complete surprise, my wonderful husband had met with our jeweler and bought me DIAMOND EARRINGS!! I was so shocked and completely surprised - I started crying and was very excited and emotional. What an amazing gift - they are beautiful and I'm so excited! I am wearing them all the time now.

I figured that if I can get this kind of stuff after a pregnancy, I can totally handle having at least one more kiddo!

Thanks to my wonderful hubby for the great gift. I feel very special and I love my new BLING!

Weight Loss - 35 and counting...

In many areas of my life I'm considered an "average" person. However, in other areas, I tend to go above and beyond the average person and really hit it out of the park. An example of this is when I got pregnant. The "average" person gains between 35 and 40 pounds during their pregnancy. I went ahead and gained that much by 7 months pregnant. By the time I was ready to deliver him, I had gained 53 pounds! I had hit a weight that I previously thought would make me jump off a bridge. But, there was nothing to do but laugh at it and hope that my child was going to weigh 25 pounds at birth.

Thank goodness Jeff had gained quite a bit of sympathy weight because if he had not, I would have weighed one pound more than he did at our wedding. I was, what I considered, a mix of the Michelin Man and a Goodyear Blimp. Weighing more than my 6'2" husband was not something I was going to take lightly - pregnant or not. So, as long as he weighed more than I did - I was able to laugh at the scale each time I got on it. Laugh/whimper a little bit - all the same thing.

So, when I left the hospital and looked like I was about 8 months pregnant, I got a little bit worried that the losing weight process was going to get the best of me. No one tells you that you are going to look very pregnant when you leave the hospital. No one tells you that your stomach will still poke out as if the baby is still there. No one tells you that the lady at Target will ask you when you are due as you push a stroller through the check-out line (really, lady, really?).

Luckily, it did start falling off. After 2 weeks, I've lost 35 of the 53 pounds. I think the final pounds are going to be much more difficult, but I have faith that they will come off too.

To make that happen, I'd like to say goodbye to the following foods:
1. Whataburger Taquito - I will miss you the most.
2. Snow Cones with extra Condensed Milk
3. Oreos, Fritos, Bean Dip
4. Most Mexican Food places within a 10 mile radius of my house.
5. Cookies, Ice Cream, Cake and Brownies

Once I lose all the "baby weight" - I need to address the 20 pounds of weight gained after our wedding. So, I have a loooonnng way to go, but I have faith that this will all work out great!

Now, I'm going to go eat some carrots.

Mastitis, Congestion and Finals...oh my!

The first 10 days of Andrew's life were great except anything related to breast feeding. I was having an extremely hard time with it and had talked with 3 lactation specialists to try to help me through the process. The problem began right when he was born. Andrew was born "tongue tied" - it's when the tongue is connected to the bottom of the mouth too close to the edge of the tongue. It's hereditary and I had it when I was a baby. It's an easy fix, but prevented him from sticking out his tongue, opening his mouth wide or latching on properly when it came time for feedings. He had a Frenectomy done when he was 2 days old to fix the issue. The process for fixing it is literally numbing it and cutting it. Very simple and it was done in about 20 seconds. However, those 2 days before it was fixed created a habit for both of us that was making it almost unbearable for me to feed him. Not to mention, my milk did not come in for over 5 days which made our poor guy lose almost a pound of his birth weight.

By the third lactation specialist, I had almost given up entirely and was going to pump exclusively. However, she met with me and gave me hope that we could make it all work. However, the very next day, I started feeling quite a bit of pain in my chest. Within a few hours, I was suffering from unbelievable chills, a fever of 102.1 and my left breast was tender and bright red. The next day, I was diagnosed at the emergency clinic with Mastitis and was told I was going to have to be admitted to the hospital for 48 hours to help me get better. I was a mess. My parents had left the day before and I was crying like a big baby. After getting in touch with my OB, I was told I did not have to be admitted and that I would need to start antibiotics immediately.

While this was going on, Jeff was taking up the slack for me being down for the count. He was up for ALL the feedings, changings, etc... Problem was - he had 3 finals within 2 days and was not getting any of his studying done. It was crucial that he make certain grades in these classes or he would be prevented from moving forward with his nursing school pre-requisites. He was stressed, I was sick and Andrew was getting a cold. AAAAGGGHHH. We got Jennifer to come out and stay for 2 nights with us and help me while Jeff studied. It all worked out great! Jeff took his finals, made the grades he needed and I am now back to normal. Thanks Jenn!

As far as Andrew's cold - it's just some congestion and yes, I did take him to the doctor. I'm definitely "that mom" who rushes her new child to the doctor at the first sign of something weird. What the heck do I know? The doctor's visit was totally worth it because they taught me how to use the bulb syringe to clean out the boogers from Andrew's nose. NOW - if you are in the mood to do something absolutely disgusting - suck some green boogers out of a kid's nose. SO GROSS and heart breaking because it makes him so miserable as you do it. Between my gags, his screaming and Jeff asking "is this normal" - we got it done. WHEW! Now we have a happy baby again.

Welcome Home Andrew Grayson Walker!

Andrew Grayson Walker was born via C-Section at 1:33 pm on Wednesday, November 25th. He weighed 9 lbs, 4oz and was 20.5 inches long. He came out with a full head of blond hair! I wanted to share the details leading up to his arrival and a little information about his first week. So..here we go...

Delivery Eve - Tuesday, November 24th
I knew that I was on a short time frame considering that I was going to give birth on Wednesday. So, I recruited some help from my great friend Jennifer. I offered dinner and wine if she would help me get the house decorated for Christmas. Jeff had a big test in Anatomy & Physiology and was not available to help me except for dragging out our 10 foot tree and putting it together so that I could attempt to decorate it.

We decorated the front yard with lights, the windows, put out all the cute Christmas knick-knacks and then tackled the tree. I could not have done it without her. She reached all the stuff at the top from a ladder and I moved around the bottom hanging things and then watching them drop as my belly bumped in to them. But, we got it done in time for our homecoming. I knew that I was not going to be able to do it when I got home....especially not after the c-section.

Here is a picture of our tree with Jeff and I in front of it showing how much bigger my belly had become compared to his. I'm all about making other people feel skinny.... yep.
Delivery Day - Wednesday, November 25th

We arrived to the hospital at 11am and the C-Section was scheduled to begin at 1pm. They actually rolled me out to the operating room at 1:11pm. I was not very nervous or anything - pretty grateful that I was not having major contractions or being put through hours of labor. The most painful part of the entire process was getting the epidural. I was not a lucky recipient of either the IV or the Epidural - both had to be done twice. The Epidural was quite a bit more painful than I expected - mostly from a pinching nerve/extreme pressure perspective. When he told me he had to do it again, I thought he was kidding. Turns out he was not. But, really, there is no turning back at that point so nothing really mattered.

I was absolutely deadened from the chest down. They rolled me to the operating room and the entire c-section took about 15 minutes. Andrew was born at 1:33pm and I was back in the recovery room by 1:45. Now that's what I call an efficient process!



I was brought to my room and the stay at what I keep calling "the hotel" began. I was greeted with flowers, cookies, balloons and stuffed animals from the wonderful group of friends and family that I have. It was so nice and thoughtful and I can't express my appreciation enough. In addition, my mom decided to fly in early and surprise me in the hospital about an hour after Andrew was born. That meant so much to me and I was thrilled to have her there with me early. In addition to my mom, I want to thank everyone who came to visit and especially to my friend Danielle who brought my family an entire Thanksgiving Dinner to the hospital on Thanksgiving Day. I am so blessed to have such wonderful people in my life.

The First Week

I went home after 2 days in the hospital. The hospital wants you to stay for 3 and insurance pays for you to stay for 4 when you undergo a C-Section. I, on the other hand, was itching to go home when the last stitch was put in. I'm not one for being woken up 5 times in the night to "check vitals" and then several other times for meds, checking on Andrew, etc... Jeff stayed at the hospital with me both nights and was an absolute trooper during the entire process. I could not move much and he became the professional diaper changer.

We did not have a name for our baby boy until Friday so the entire maternity floor knew him as Baby Boy Walker. We were tossing around names that we liked and finally decided on our last day to name him Andrew Grayson Walker.

When we got home, we started the process of getting adjusted to our new bundle of joy being home with us. The late nights, the diaper changes, the sounds of a baby crying, spit up and the problems of breast feeding were challenging, but the rewards were much better! Watching Andrew open his big blue eyes and stare at us in wonder, watching him sleep and learning his little ways have been such a neat experience!

The first week seemed to fly by as I look back on it now. I think I was in a bit of a daze and am finally getting back to my normal self. Learning to live on less sleep is part of that adjusting process and I'm finally figuring it all out. I look like crap, but according to Andrew, I look great, have an amazing singing voice and am probably the most intriguing person in the entire world. So, hey - I'm good.



More to come!