Jacob's first Christmas

Warning: very long post!

Our Christmas lasted for about a week this year, but that was fine with us! We had so much fun spending time with both of our families and celebrating Jacob's first Christmas.

Last week, A's parents and sister came to spend a few days with us.  We had a relaxing visit, just spending time at home and I know Jacob enjoyed that.  They brought Gabby with them, so Oscar was excited too!  They took all three dogs for a nice walk around our neighborhood and took a really cute picture:  

A's mom started a really cute Nativity for us this year.  I love it and can't wait to add all the other pieces.

After their visit, we had a few days to relax at home.  We didn't get a picture of all three of us in front of our tree, but I did get a good one of Jacob and his daddy.

On the 23rd, we left to spend Christmas weekend in New Albany.  Jacob did really well on the trip; I was very impressed.  He was so cute, all bundled up in his Santa hat!

We had Christmas eve brunch at my grandparents house and Jacob got to meet two of his cousins, Kaylie and Caroline.  Caroline is only 2 months older than Jacob.  We tried to get a picture of all three, but I'm not sure Jacob or Caroline were happy about the photo op.

The most exciting part of Christmas, at least for me, was waking up on Christmas morning.  Not only was it Jacob's first Christmas, but it was a White Christmas!  It was absolutely beautiful and a first for all three of us!

The day after Christmas, we had yet another dinner with my mom's whole family.  Jacob got to meet a few more of his cousins, Marianna and Will.  This photo op was quite entertaining, to say the least!  They were both excited to get to hold Baby Jacob.

And on the 27th, we had the chance to see our friends, Rooster and Collins.  We hadn't seen them in quite a while and were so glad they got a chance to meet Jacob too.  I think he was a little tired of pictures by then, but we took some anyway.

Before heading back to Maumelle, I had one more celebration to attend, the first shower for Baby Sutton.  It was really nice to see Amanda and Lauren!

I got a chance to spend some time with some New Albany friends as well.  I will post those pics as soon as I get them. 

Overall, our holidays this year were filled with family, friends, and wonderful memories we will cherish for years to come.  We know we are very blessed.  And we finally got a picture of all three of us!



Two Months!

Wow, it's hard to believe Jacob is already 2 months old.  He is really growing now and loves his toys.  He has just outgrown most of his newborn clothes, which is a good thing because he got lots of cute 0-3 outfits for Christmas. We go for his two month check-up next Tuesday and we will find out all his stats then.  I think his biggest accomplishment lately has been sleeping through the night.  He doesn't make it quite as long every night,  but he sleeps until at least 5:30 and sometimes 7:30.  The later the better, but it's all better than 3 am!  I will post all about his first Christmas and all the pics soon, but until then here's our official two month photo.

7 week update

My apologies for the lack of blogging lately,  but we have been a little busy.  We had a wonderful visit last week with Amanda and Sterling.  We haven't seen them in quite a while and this was their first time meeting Jacob.  We really enjoyed their company and can't wait until the next time we get to see them.  Their little one will here before we know it and then our visits will be even more interesting!  We followed that with a weekend visit from my parents.  They hadn't seen Jacob (in person) since the week he was born.  They were excited to see him and Jacob enjoyed it too! We have had a few days to relax this week and A's parents are coming next week to celebrate Christmas with us a little early.  We are looking forward to their visit and the beginning of our Christmas celebrations for 2010. 

In Jacob news...
He is now 7 weeks old and finally gaining weight at a good rate.  According to our scales, he is about 9 1/2 pounds now!  He only eats about 6 times a day, or every 4 hours or so.  This also means he sleeps through the night, only waking up once to eat.  This has made me very happy :)  He is looking around so much more, and seems to really be taking in the world around him.  He still loves the Christmas tree and is starting to show interest in his toys too.  He is also smiling a lot.  I can't get a really good picture though.  Every time he has a great smile and I pick up my camera or phone, it goes away immediately.  This is the best I can get for now.

Happy Friday everyone!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We were so excited to get our tree up this year.  A and I have tried to collect ornaments as we have traveled over the years and it's always so much fun to look at them each time and remember all the wonderful places we have seen.  It always reminds us how lucky we have been to experience so much.
 

It was also fun to put up all FOUR stockings this year (yes, Oscar has a stocking too!).  I can't to see them all full of Christmas goodies!

 Jacob seems to love the tree!  He watched us decorate it and he loves to look at it everytime we pass by.  We are so excited to enjoy his first Christmas!   

Happy Friday!

1 month

I can't believe Jacob is already a month old!  His first month has gone by so quickly.  He is still doing very well and gaining more weight.  We will go back this week for another weight check, so I will post an update then.  He is still sleeping well and really loves his bath now.  This past week, Jacob took his first road trip and did fairly well.  After about 6 hours, he was ready to get out of his car seat, but who wouldn't be?!  He is also staying awake more everyday, so I should have cute new pictures to post quite often! 

Jacob's first Thanksgiving

Jacob had an exciting first Thanksgiving!

  

He spent time with Mia...

and Teddy Bear...

and Annie.

He relaxed while watching the parade.

He met lots of new friends.

And played with Oscar.

He took a few family pictures.

And he watched the Bulldogs win the Egg Bowl!  

We have so many reasons to be thankful!



(almost) 4 weeks

Wow, its really hard to believe Jacob has been here for almost 4 weeks!  We went in for another weight check yesterday and he is finally back to birth weight! Yay! Now we just have to catch up a little more.  This also means I can start feeding him every four hours instead of two to three, another Yay!  I really miss sleeping. 

We are busy packing this morning to leave for Thanksgiving.  This will be Jacob's first road trip - wish us luck.  I will post more and lots of cute pictures when we get back next week.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A few more pictures and 3 week update

We went back for a 3 week weight check today and Jacob is back up to 7 lbs, 2 oz.  He is gaining, but not fast enough.  To try to speed him up, we are supplementing formula for the next week.  Hopefully this will help him put on weight quickly.  Our goal right now is to make it back to his birth weight.  Other than that, everything is still going extremely well!

These pictures are too cute!

Our first few weeks

Our first few weeks have been great.  I have to say, Jacob has been an easy-going baby so far.(its strange not calling him Baby T!)  At our first check-up, he had lost a little more weight than he should, so we have been on a fairly strict feeding schedule, every 2 to 3 hours, and he has been putting the weight back on quickly.  I usually have to wake him to feed him, and he sleeps well at night.  I really can't complain!

At 2 1/2 weeks, Jacob...
- is staying awake more and more everyday
- doesn't hate his bath quite as much as he did at first
- weighed 6 lbs 15 oz and was 20 1/2 inches at last week's weight check
- likes spending time on his tummy during the day
- is absolutely adorable! (see below!)

Shutterfly Holiday Cards

I am so excited about this promotion!  Shutterfly is offering 50 free holiday cards to bloggers!  We will definitely be sending out some cute cards this year, with our new addition to show off and Shutterfly has some of the cutest cards I've seen!  If you don't believe me, just look at all these choices! We are actually having a hard time deciding which one we like best.  I've narrowed it down to this one or that one. You'll just have to wait to see which one comes in the mail...

We will also be getting several of our Christmas gifts from Shutterfly this year.  I can't decide what would be better, a new mug with a picture of Jacob or a canvas of one of his first pictures! I'm sure anything we find on Shutterfly's site will be just great.  Shutterfly also has tons of other cute products and great prices on prints! I have already ordered tons of prints from Jacob's first few days! 

Use this link to sign up for your own free holiday cards!

Picture from our first week

Friends already!

My one and only attempt at getting a good picture for announcements.  Jacob doesn't really like pictures so much!

Deep thought...

Jacob is finally opening his eyes more and more everyday.  He's precious! 

Jacob's arrival

I know it's taken me a while to get around to blogging again, but I've had a lot going on!  I am slowly learning to survive on sleep that only comes in 2 hour intervals and still spend a decent amount of time awake each day.  That has been a challenge, but my mom has been here all week and she has helped SO MUCH!  I don't know if I could have made it without her.  She has cooked, cleaned, taken care of laundry, grocery shopped, and taken care of Jacob when he just wouldn't sleep at 3 AM.  I am a little nervous about trying to take care of all this by myself next week, but I'm sure I'll make it somehow (I hope!). 

Now for anyone who cares to know the details of Jacob's arrival...

I went to sleep last Tuesday night feeling tired and sore like every other night.  A and I actually had a short - we never know when this is going to happen - conversation before going to sleep.  I woke up early Wednesday morning (27th), about 3:15 with contractions, but they weren't too bad and about 10 minutes apart.  I watched the clock through a few of them and then tried to go back to sleep.  I had contractions like these the week before for about 2 hours and they had just gone away, so I wasn't very concerned.  I slept on and off until about 5:30 when they started to come about every 7 minutes and were a little more intense.  At this point, I woke A a little bit and told him what was going on.  He asked if we needed to go anywhere and I said no, so he went back to sleep. By then, I really wasn't sleeping but just kinda dozing in between.  By 9 AM, they were more painful than uncomfortable and closer to 5 minutes apart.  I knew my doctor's office was up and running, so I called and asked the nurse if I should do anything.  She said that if the contractions were gaining intensity, I should go in just to get checked out.  This got A moving!  I got dressed and packed a few last minute items while A moved faster than I've ever seen him move in the morning.  I did laugh at him a little in between contractions! 

By the time we made it to the hospital, the contractions were about 3 minutes apart and pretty painful.  I couldn't walk during, so the trek into labor and delivery took a few minutes.  I got checked in and on the first check, I was only 2 cm dilated.  I was a little disappointed because I thought they would send us back home and I was terribly uncomfortable by this point.  The nurse sent us to walk the halls for an hour and said if I had any change, the doctor would tell me to stay.  We walked the halls and at the next check, I was 3 cm so we were staying.  It was about 12:00 and we called to let everyone know what was going on. 

The next five hours were tough.  I was trying to last as long as I could without an epidural, partly because I wanted to be able to move as much as I wanted and I knew an epidural would confine me to the bed and partly because I am simply terrified of needles, especially big ones in my back!  I walked, or stood mostly and leaned on A during contractions for a few hours.  This was painful, but better than just laying down.  I finally got in the tub around 3:30.  This helped so much! I could only stay for an hour and then I had to get back on the monitors for at least thirty minutes.  After I finally got out of the tub (tougher than you would think while in labor!) I knew I couldn't make it back in and out again, so I gave in.  By this point, I had been in labor for about 13 hours and was only at 5 cm.  I called for the epidural and tried not to have an anxiety attack between contractions while waiting.  I have to say, it was not as bad as I thought.  I did have one contraction during the procedure, which was tough, but other than that, it was okay.  After the epidural kicked in, I was a much happier person. 

My parents arrived about an hour later.  The doctor has asked for pitocin to be started, as I was progressing so slowly.  I had originally not wanted this at all, but with the epidural, I did not feel the effects at all.  I also knew things needed to speed up.  By 9:00 I was 7 cm and at 9:30, 9 1/2 cm.  The pitocin was definitely working for me.  By 10:00 PM, I was 10 cm and my nurse (Janice, who was amazing!) said it was time to push.  We thought Jacob would be arriving any minute.  Boy, were we wrong!  For the next 2 1/2 hours, I pushed.  Yes, 2 1/2 hours!  Jacob finally made his arrival at 12:29 AM on the 28th.  For anyone keeping count, that's about 21 hours of labor.  It was definitely a long night and we were all exhausted, but so glad Jacob had arrived healthy. 

A few pictures of his first few hours...

And of course, Daddy's first diaper change! 

I have MANY more pictures to come soon! 

Jacob Ambrose Tullos

So, my next post was going to be "One More Week," but he didn't want to wait one more week. 

Jacob Ambrose Tullos arrived October 28, 2010 at 12:29 AM weighing 7 lbs 10 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. 

I will post more details soon!

Two weeks to go...

I have been slacking again, but I have a good excuse.  I am now a little over 38 weeks pregnant.  I am tired.  I haven't been blogging consistently, but I haven't been cooking, cleaning, doing laundry, or sleeping consistently either.  Poor A, he really has been learning to do a lot more around the house this past week.  He has told me many times throughout the pregnancy, "I'll do whatever you need me to do for you,"  well now it's turned into whatever he needs to do for himself too because I probably didn't do it.  I feel bad about my recent laziness, but I have made it quite a long way into the pregnancy before it became an excuse for anything, so I guess I'm not that bad... I am also very grateful that I have made it this far before becoming 'uncomfortable' as I've always heard and read it.  I think that's just a really nice way to say that everything hurts and you'd really rather not move, except for the fact that it also hurts to stay in one position too long.  Until about a week ago, I was honestly in no hurry to have Baby T - not that I didn't want him to be here, I just wasn't impatient yet.  Now I am.  He has completely ran out of room; I think I can feel everything he does now and it's not all that pleasant.  I miss the cute little fluttery kicks, now I have the foot-lodged-in-my-ribs-and-still-kicking kicks. I am still terrified about bringing him into the world, but I guess this stage of pregnancy is designed to make me want to face that fear.  I know I sound a little pessimistic, and I don't mean to at all.  I am just finally living the reality of the last few weeks of pregnancy.  I always heard that it would be as bad as the first few weeks, and I believe it now.  But, it will be over before I know it and Baby T will be here, so I'm still pretty excited too!

One more week down, only 3 to go!

I went for my 37 week check-up this morning.  She said Baby T is still very active (I knew this part!) and everything was going well.  The best guess as to his size is about 6 to 6 1/2 pounds right now, but that's only a guess.  We'll have to wait a few more weeks to find out for sure!  As I was leaving, she said "I'll see you next week, if not before then!"  Wow, I guess we have made it to the 'any-day-now' part!  At 37 weeks, Baby T is now full term.  He could be born happy and healthy any time he wants :)

Here's the latest picture of me and Baby T, taken this past weekend, so about 36 1/2 weeks.  I don't think you can honestly call it a 'bump' anymore!