4 Weeks!

Oh how the time flies. Every Thursday I think, "WOW X weeks ago..." Then I think about what happened. He's really getting so big in our eyes. Especially when other people hold him. He's huge! But so sweet. He had a great 4th week :) Went and saw Santa! He asked for more chocolate-flavored milk, I asked for a bit more sleep :) All went great! He had his first photo shoot! I have only seen a few of the pictures but they are adorable from what she posted :) I can't wait to see all of them! I'll try and post some on here! Don't' worry you'll know which ones they are! Mine are not that good.

Jude has his one month doctors check-up Friday. I can't wait to see how he's grown! I'm thinking he's a bit over 8 pounds now :(

Favorites of this week: He loves me. I pick him up in the morning and talk to him and he just stares. I'll throw away his diaper in the closet and he'll move his head back to follow me. And I swear Wednesday morning while I was talking to him, he smiled at me. Well I guess that's believe-able but whether it was purposeful or not I'm unsure. I like to think he did that purposefully though :0 I've decided it's not gas (or anything else) but LOVE and purposeful! I have now walked in his room 3 different mornings to a big baby smile! He may not smile tomorrow morning though because I started crying. Ha. The sweetest thing. Sooo cute. It's mutual now, he loves me, I love him. Life is good.

Funnies of Week 4: I have realized just how awesome having a stroller is!!! Becky and I met at Chesterfield Mall, Jude's first of hundreds of mall trips with Becky and I, and man, that silly stroller is amazing. Not only does it carry your baby, but purses, papers, candy, drinks, bags, anything we received we just found a spot for it on the stroller. Everyone should have a stroller! And don't worry, Jude slept nearly the entire time so I had both shades up and he was pretty much non-existent in there! We went to see Santa early so no little kids would be there! It was great.

What we learned in Week 4: I'm learning something everyday about Jude. At night I thought he had a fussy time, but really I think now, I've learned that he's just over-stimulated and over tired. So now I know what to do! I've learned that he almost religiously eats every 2 hours during the day. He'll wake up from a dead sleep ready to eat. He must have an alarm clock set in there to tell him-"hey it's 11 (food), it's 1, it's 3..." But I don't blame him! I eat fantastic food that he must love :) Ha. I've also learned that I can give him a few more minutes in the middle of the night, and he may go back to sleep instead of getting up! This has only happened about 2-3 times but hey, worth a try! He can lift each eyebrow individually! I mean what a cool kid we have! I have most importantly learned to not think about each night and whether he'll give me 3 hours, 4 hours, be up early, etc. I do however, get excited when I get a 4 hour block of sleep :) I think have established a bed time around 10-10:30 also. Phew. I'd like it a bit earlier, but it's working for us for now! Granted we start winding down for bed around 7. Ha.

Photos!!! He's just so darn cute. It was really hard to only pick 5, so I picked more than 5 :)







Great hair isn't it! He got a bath today so it spikes up!

Ahh, wish this wasn't sideways, but him and cousin Joey just being boys.

Cousin Claire holding Jude, uninterested in touching him though :)


Uma loves Jude.

He's hoping to be big and strong...like mommy!

Happy baby!

Your Favorite Family of Four
J,K,Jude,Umadog

Jude Turns 3 Weeks!

Happy GOBBLE Day! Some pictures of what Jude's night looked like :)


Auntie Jess and Jude.

Great Grandma Rita and Jude.

Jude is decked out for the holiday!

Now, this means Jude is in his 4th week of life! Ha. Some house-keeping first. If you haven't noticed, the updates have moved to Thursday because this is the official day Jude turns another week. So sad. Each week he gets older and bigger. Too fast.

Jude had a busy last week. He had multiple meeting of new friends and various outings! Went to John Weldon to meet his adorable new friend baby Evan. Evan is about a month older than Jude and too cute! It was great seeing all the JW people. I miss them...but love my time home with baby. We keep busy as usual. Cleaning, laundry (I feel like we do this daily between sheets, our clothes, Jude's clothes, towels, etc.)and staring at the grass thinking about the pregnant grass cutting times. Sigh, those were the days! Ha! Jude surprises me everyday though. I put him in the boppy seat, turned on music, sat next to him (actually am right now) and worked on blog. He just sat there. Smirking and looking cute. He's so content. It's strange. My mom says he reminds her of John just easy going and laid back. I don't want to jinx it (but of course will right now) but got to thinking "yea, she's right he ONLY cries when he is starving." Not even hungry. When he's hungry he sort of just whines. Don't get me wrong, he has screamed bloody murder in the car once before because he was starving. But really, he's great! I am very lucky at night. Granted I did jinx the 2 week update. Jude doesn't sleep for 4 hours anymore :( That was just the honeymoon phase so I would keep him. He's on a 3 hour schedule now. BUT last night, Jude gave me 5 straight hours!!!!! This would have been amazing, if I would have gone to bed with him at 8:30...but I didn't :( But I now will nightly :)

Favorites of Week 3: Cord stump finally fell off! (2 weeks and 4 days later). We're so glad that is gone! We're also getting his pictures taken! This is already a favorite because he is just so cute! They will turn out awesome!

Funnies of Week 3: Every time I put him in our bed, either to brush my teeth or what not, he'll either pee through his diaper, poop through it, or spit up (that was this morning). So I have learned that I WILL NOT place him on our bed. I think I washed our sheets 3 times this week already. Geez!

What we have learned in Week 3: We're still debating whether he is actually cute or we think he is because he's ours. I suppose the more professional pictures will tell us. But we both agree he's adorable when he's sleeping. Ha. I mean how peaceful right!? I have also learned: Well...you know that teen acne that I complained the fetus gave me around like 14 weeks...well MUAH AH AH...I gave it back to Jude. Take that! Okay, no but he has baby acne :) And strangely, my face is beautiful :)

Well, here's the best part! The pictures of week 3! Enjoy!


Me-trying to take "professional" pictures. This was the best one :/

Sooo tired. Being a baby is hard work!

You love my face!

Wide awake around 11:30 P.M. UGHH

Peek-a-boo

I just love this one!

Cheers!
Your Favorite Family of Four
J,K,Uma, And Jude!

Our 2 Week Old Jude!

I can't believe my baby is 2 weeks old :( I'm so sad. He's going to get so big so fast. I'm still trying to figure this blog out. What to do? Weekly updates of Jude and family? Random updates of us? No updates of us? Ha. Forget the last one, I intend to keep this journal going until my fingers fall off! I mean it's not only highly entertaining, but umm educational and highly entertaining!

So our sweet baby boy is 2 weeks old! He makes me smile a hundred times a day. Whether its just staring at him, feeding him and listening to him leave me a present at the same time, listening to his soft hiccups (I don't miss feeling those), or hearing him burp! John may have some competition when he's older. He's just so perfect and cute for that matter.

Favorites of Week 2: He coos at me when I burp him and feed him. It's the sweetest thing! He loves me. My mom said the other day "Oh I just want to be with mommy all day long, I dream of mommy" I like to think this is true :) I also enjoy dressing him daily! Which really means a few times a day! We heard "Hey Jude" this week also. We all danced and sang. At first he didn't seem to like his song, but then changed his mind and coo-ed along.

Funnies of Week 2: Ha, was changing him one night and oops! He had to go! Poo ALL OVER the wall, changing pad, diaper cake, himself, etc. It was pretty funny. I mean, I knew this was coming but didn't expect it to be as bad as it was! Ewww it was stinky. Stinky cute :)

What have we learned in Week 2: I have learned that I am going to jinx myself right now....but a few times this week, Jude has slept for 4-5 hours consecutively! Of course, I go in and check on him because that is soooo long to me! It's perfect. I can totally do this and be productive during the day. It's truly amazing how you go from being pregnant and needing so much extra sleep to having a baby and being excited to get 4-5 hours at one time! Cause after that, I'll feed him, burp, change, then back to bed for 3-4 more hours! We are lucky...so far :) Keep up the good work my Jude!


Working the receding hairline already :)

Now he likes it!

Don't you want him!

John and I went 10 months without drinking! Yep! So John got antsy the other night so we broke out the year old beer and wine! Don't worry I only had 5-6 glasses...Ha, I had a SIP that was it. Don't worry! Not ready to drink yet but we wanted to take our first drinks together :)

Uma approves!

Sleepy baby boy.

Sleepy time with mommy! Never lasts as long as I want.

40 Weeks!!!

Well, go easy on me! I just had a baby! I know, I'm a slacker but hey, being a mom is difficult stuff! I can't believe today was my due date! I'm soo thankful to have him and NOT be pregnant! It's soooo wonderful. My mind is everywhere. Not sure what the best way to update the birth is but here goes!



I knew it all along! I never had any doubts it was a boy! Okay, I did. A few here and there but my mom instincts were right on! And what a sweet boy he is!


Name: Jude Bryan Meyer

Story behind name: No, we did not have this planned the entire time! On Tues. November 2, John and I were at Brett and Jess's visiting Fran. Brett and Jess=brother and sister in law Fran=doggie/baby. So we got to talking and I mentioned that I still liked the name Jude...Everyone agreed. We swore Brett and Jess to not say anything that we were considering the name. To this day, they still haven't:) So then we talked about it Tuesday night and Wednesday and then on Thursday made the drastic decision! We still like the name Aloysius (lou) and Stella...potential other children's names.

Birthday: November 4, 2010 at 9:27 pm
Weight: 6 pounds 8 ounces of pure perfection :)

Length: 19 inches short, I mean long


Love at first sight!



The birth story: Hard to do this part, I suppose I'll try and make it as tasteful as I can! Ha. So John and I went for our 39 week appointment hoping to have some progress. Well did we. I explained what has been going on the last few days and immediately my doctor seemed worried. He did his check and said he thought my water had broke! WHAT? How did I not know this?! I am crazy!? Well my water breaking was NOT a gush like on TV...it was a slow, high leak. So now I know that's my water and not normal for the next baby. He flipped on the ultrasound machine and found my fluid level at a low 2. It was around 7 two weeks earlier. My first reaction was the flip out. I knew that I'd be induced and have a baby that day! John was thrilled knowing we'd have a baby. Ha. Talk about mixed feeling between us. So he said he could NOT release me to go home unless the level was at a 5. Off we went home first to grab bags and take one last photo of the pregnancy.



WOW, now that I look at that, I do not miss it. Lol. So we grabbed our bags and off we went. Registered and looked at our new room for the next two days. 2276. Big, spacious room. Nice room. I enjoyed it really. My nurse Peggy hooked up the IV and off I went. It was so odd to me. There is no holding back with having a baby. I was actually so surprised by how comfortable I was. I think I was more so nervous about having a baby and being on pitocin than anything. Got my one bag of fluid in me then was had the pitocin. I hate pitocin. But anyways, had a few visitors come in, chat while I could then BOOM. Nurse Peggy kept upping the pitocin. Ugh. Contractions were okay at first. I could totally handle that. Well I got bored of them and they did begin to get more painful so I had her check me. BIG MISTAKE. I think she said I was at 2 cm. How discouraging is that! After, I don't know, 30-40 minutes, I said "Screw it, I'm ready to enjoy this now." I gave John the code word then the next few hours were a blur to me. From what I recall, Brad, the hot anesthesiologist, came in, said his deal and was ready to start. I remember thinking "this is so stupid I'm not focusing on what he's telling me at all. How are you suppose to when you have to breathe and focus through contractions?" Ha. Regardless, he prepped and put it in. I flinched but it wasn't awful. Then we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited. I cried, tried to breathe, cried some more, repeat. It was never ending. He kept asking if I could feel a tingly in my toes, "Nope." Warming in my legs, "Nope." Nothing. So he'd watch me suffer through more contractions...haha...then agreed that the epidural was not working :( An hour and a half later (I claim the longest time of my life) I waited until the epidural worked. He had to take out the first one and redo another one. The second one was great. I didn't flinch at all and had no idea when he was done. But then I finally felt relief. On the left side. The epidural mostly took to the left side which resulted in a dead, heavy left leg. It was crazy. Couldn't move it, it was worthless. HA, the right leg I could wiggle toes and move the leg itself. Soooo after a few contractions I could feel them on the right side. Ugh. So we dealt with it. I mainly laid on my right side because the epidural works with gravity. That relieved a lot of the pain but I could see feel each contraction slightly on the right. We waited not much longer it felt like...and then she checked me again, 8 cm...then about 20ish minutes after that...10cm. In fact, I think if I would have been checked earlier, I would have been 10 then. The head was already there! John could see the black hair! Then it was a mad rush to get things moving. They called my doctor who drove there just for us :) and got all ready. Oh right, the entire labor I felt very nauseated...well my nurse kept telling me "right before you deliver you'll throw up..." well, she was right. I threw up about 4 different times which pushed Jude nearly completely out! Although it was highly gross, it was only bile and thank goodness for my amazing sister and taking that from me! Thanks Stacie! Sorry! I felt like there should have been more nurses in there...regardless, after that I grabbed my nurses arm and told her "that felt amazing" ... she laughed and said okay time to have a baby. I pushed for about 2 minutes (if that) and out popped Jude's head! I got to pull him out and place him on my tummy! That was the coolest thing ever! Doctor claimed, "It's a boy!" I was balling my eyes out! Have no idea what John looked like, I was too fixated in our son! He later said he did not cry. Ha. He had (still has) a full head of black hair which I LOVE and is just soooo sweet! I only got to hold him for a minute and they took him to check him out. He checked out perfectly and was back in my arms! What a sweet baby! I can not believe he was 6 pounds 8 ounces! I was just expecting this 5 pound baby and so to me that was huge! But he's perfect! Here's some pictures!



Our poor families. We decided that we wanted to have just a bit of bonding time before we brought the family in. We nursed, and just sat there and stared at him a good 30ish minutes. I let John pick the name at this point. We STILL hadn't decided! I said, "Well what does he look like to you?" And John said, "I think the second name (which was Jude)." So that's how we decided! Jude Bryan. John and Jude have the same initials, which is cute. JBM. John was so anxious to invite the family in afterwards. It was cute and funny. He kept saying okay now, okay now! Lol. It was cute to see how excited he was :) So the family came in and never really left. They are still around today! But it's nice. We get dinners, baby holders, etc. Ha. I think Jude's enjoying it too. I couldn't be happier with his name. He really looks like a Jude now that he is ONE WEEK OLD! Two days later, we took our son home on Saturday. He enjoyed the car-ride :)

And here we are now. He is one week, had his first doctors appointment, has gained 7 ounces (born 6lbs 8oz, weighed 6lbs 3 oz when we brought him home, and is now 6lbs 10 oz), and gave mommy a break last night by giving me a 4 hour span between feedings!! Ahh, it was so nice. Of course, I still got up to check on him :) We are loving life and enjoying every minute of Jude. I dress him up daily sometimes multiple times a day and can not stare long enough at him. He's perfect. Everything I ever dreamed of (and more). Ha, John always asks that! Okay, well really, I could go on and on about how perfect and cute he is. But I'll saw you that essay and post some more pictures. I'm still debating what to do with my weekly updates. Obviously I will keep them up. I can't imagine now tracking his milestones! Okay pictures!


Jude and I hanging out. Not quite one day old yet :)

Sucking on that lip...doesn't do this anymore.

Getting ready to go home!

Daddys first diaper change! Two days old...I think I waited to long...

Taking our sweet baby home!!

See you baby bump! I will not miss you because I have the real thing now!!!

Well cheers! Off to feed, change, stare, repeat x3094. Ha
Your favorite family of four!
J, K, Uma, JUDE

Oh and Uma loves Jude. No worries! :)



Forgot this one! Jude 5 days old!

39 Weeks! 7 days!

7 days! Or sooner. I was really debating what to do with this update. Or rather to do it or not.

It all started Nov 2. I had light cramping with my braxton hicks. Nothing consistent but defiantly more painful. I only had a few also. Well this morning Nov 3rd at 2 a.m. I woke up to stronger contractions. They started about 8-9 minutes apart and kept me up! I peed every half hour which I think helped make them stronger. Then they got to 7-8 minutes apart, then 6-5, then 5-6. It was crazy. Some were extremely painful where I actually did my breathing techniques LOL...and others not so bad. BUT, because I didn't sleep from about 2-7 a.m., I got up around 8 when they sorta trailed off :( I know! What is going on! So then I tried to relax and slept on the couch for a few hours. I still have some but they are NOT as strong as they were last night or consistent :( I will keep you posted but you get the picture. Soon? Later? I have no idea. I'm such a first timer it's sad. Still have a doctor's appointment tomorrow at 8 a.m. so if we make it until then, maybe he will say "Well, wow you are in active labor, you must be great at handling pain..." HA yea right huh? Or he'll say "Yea, no, no change you are the same, those were minor, no baby soon" Ha. I will keep you informed followers! As for now, just dealing with minor contractions and resting :)