Class Reunion, Big Sleeps, Boring Video Clip, Etc.

So we had a semi childbirth class reunion on Sunday with three of the other babies from class...it was originally going to be more, but some people cancelled and then we were also running late and I think we lost some people since four of us didn't get there until over 30 minutes after we were supposed to be there. Oops.

It was super fun to see all the other babies. We had four boys there all together and when we put them down on a blanket for photo time it was pretty dang funny. Julian (second from left) punched Jackson (far left) in the face, Trayden (second from right) and Julian were doing some wrestling...I think Jack (far right) was the only one to avoid any instigation of physical contact. It was kind of cool watching them check each other out and all flail around together.

We have had an exciting week in the Lew household, as Jackson has forgotten to wake up at 3 am for six consecutive days now. We refuse to say that he has abandoned it completely as the second we get comfortable we are sure it will return, but it has made for epic sleeping for everyone, particularly me. Today Jackson had his longest stretch, sleeping from 1 am to 6:20 am. After having gone to bed before 10 pm, dad got to sleep about eight hours and mom made it eight between 1 am and 9 am this morning. We are refreshed parents!

Here's another thrilling movie of Jackson doing things that are only interesting to his parents and grandparents.

Cuteness

When the Cat is Away...

I received an email from Allie informing me that she was not the only one in our office that was missing me while I am out on maternity leave with Jackson. I was like, oh how nice, someone misses me that's so sweet.

Then I looked at the photos she attached to the email of who it was exactly that was missing me. And threw up a little. The photos feature my desk, my phone, my files, etc.

Milf Island

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What Lies Beneath

Jackson is in the cooing and smiling stage of his development, and the only word I can use to describe how cute it is when he gets in a chatty and happy mood is not PG rated and my mother would be disappointed in such language in this forum. But yeah, it's that f-----g cute.

However, sometimes when he has got some leftovers stashed at the back of his throat waiting to spew forth, he will be at his absolutely cutest and smiliest and cooingest, making ridiculously darling noises and faces that are so adorable it's impossible to put him in his crib for his nap. And then once I finally muster up the willpower to pick him up to put him in his crib for his nap (and giving him the best hug I'm allowed to give by law at the same time) out come the leftovers all over my shirt, neck, and this time, my hair.

It has happened three times today (a new record), and despite the disgusting nature of those spews (they are kind of chunky and oatmeally I guess is how I would describe them, but they aren't even that really...it's like moistened cornstarch) I will continue to pick him up again and again and again when he is at his pinnacle of cuteness despite knowing what potentially lies beneath. Perhaps I need to fine tune my burping to avoid them, but at this point I don't even care.

Untitled Sunday Night Blog

It's been a busy weekend for us all. Grammie and Papa and Aunt Jen and Cousin Marin have been in town since Friday and we have had a packed schedule.

I played golf, badly, on Friday afternoon to wish a work colleague well, while the family played with Jackson, went swimming and Jason played softball. During softball, Grammie and I gave Jackson a bath which was lots of fun. Clean babies are extra super cute.

Saturday we attended the Fourth Annual Vogelarosa party at Boulder Reservoir, which was fun as always and was made more so by Marin playing with pre-boiled crawfish and a frog that she and her new friend found.

Today was the return to indoor soccer. We got shelled, but I had way more fun than I did playing outdoor on Thursday. We are all pretty tired and are settling down to watch the Cubbies. The family leaves tomorrow to head back to Indiana.

Pregnancy and Childbirth 1, Lindsay 0

So that foolish attempt at playing soccer happened last night. Wow. My legs and body in general have completely forgotten how to function. Completely. The running wasn't so bad, it was just never going to be fast. Girls that I would have blown past a year ago were not only reeling me in from behind, they were accelerating past me like Flo Jo. Humiliating doesn't even begin to describe it. As for my pelvic floor muscles...they need some work and that's all I have to say on that subject. The good news: it can't get worse. The bad news: who knows how long it will take me to get any semblance of athletic ability back. At least my teammates were understanding and they too hopefully realize that it can only get better. And at least I had some decent touch on the ball. Jackson made it out to the game with Sally O'Malley looking after him and he did beautifully. Well I'm going to go stretch so I can walk for the rest of the day.

Six Week Checkup

For me, not Jackson. I had my six week check up with the Lovely Ladies of Boulder Women's Care today to make sure that all my parts are in working order after the traumatic exit of Jackson on May 2. All is well and I can resume all my pre-prego activities. It was great to see Dr. Shimoda again and to let her have the chance to see the wee lad again. She was the first person he saw in his short little life and I'm glad he got to see her again.

I also weighed myself for the first time since the little man arrived. So I have my jumping off point. I've already lost 23 pounds just walking, going up and down stairs with Jackson all day and giving birth. I have a few more to go to get back to pre-baby weight and still more after that to get back to playing weight in time for Uncle Eric's wedding. Exercise is my new free time activity...oh wait, I don't have any free time! Anyone interested in coming to my house to watch him so that I can go for runs during the day can be my guest. And anyone wanting to share data on the Nike+ system, my screenname there is leabuff.

To get things started on the exercise front, I'm foolishly playing soccer on Thursday night. That should be a riot. If I can get up and back even once then that's a moral victory. Let's just be clear about one thing...I will not playing any midfield.

This weekend we have some visitors as Grammie, Papa, Aunt Jen and Cousin Marin are coming into town. That should be lots of fun and hopefully we have nice weather while they are here.

Developmental Milestones, Blah Blah Blah

Everyone has different interpretations of what their kid is supposed to be able to do at certain ages. And each book or website or press release or pamphlet make allowances for lack of tummy time or whatever random reason your kid is behind the rest of the class, so really who knows what really he should be doing at this age.

Jackson is six weeks and three days old today, and developmentally it was a thrilling weekend I suppose. While laying on his back, he "batted" at the cat holding the ball on his "gym" on Friday. It was unintentional, and he made the thing play it's little ditty while I was in the kitchen. Then today he was staring at the cat again, and this time he took a swing at it, made contact and it played the song. He looked at it, took another swing and hit it again and it played the song, and then did it again. I think that maybe he meant to do it. He also turns his head from side to side too often to count when he's on his tummy, and now we try and get him to lift it more and look forward but he does what he wants.

Today was a big personal mommy milestone, as we were playing, I smiled at him and he totally smiled back. It was a total payoff...every new mom I know says just wait, just wait until he smiles at you it makes all the puke and poop and hell worth it. Um, yeah it does. When they look at you and grin with that goofy toothless mouth of theirs and their eyes get all smiley and all that, I won't lie, it makes every single second worth it. The other night at 3 am feeding I was getting situated and I looked down at him to get going and he was grinning at me and that was adorable. He was smiling a lot yesterday at Grandma and Grandpa's house when they were playing with him, but today was the first time he looked at my smile and smiled back. Cool!

I Couldn't Help But Wonder: Why Did We Ever Stop Drinking These?

Answer: Because we were pregnant. Tonight seven of the ladies from our childbirth class got together for some drinks, dinner and Sex and the City. For many of us, it was the longest we had left our baby daddies at home with our babies...ever.

It was a joy to see how everyone is doing, trade stories and horrors from childbirth and mommyhood, and also, to have a cocktail. We also got to see two of our progeny, as Trayden and Miller joined us for dinner at Islands. It was so fun to see two more of the class kids as I've already gotten to meet Jack, Colby and Julian. We took a poll and it sounds as though we have five boys and three girls that we know of with two once-expectant parents unpolled.

The movie was good. It was semi-predictable but it was still good to see the four gals again. One thing about Sex and the City that I will never get is the couture. I am such a Colorado girl...give me a pair of shorts and a tee shirt or a sweatshirt and a pair of flip flops and I'm good to go. I would get eaten alive in New York. Carrie was prepared to walk down the aisle to marry Big with a bird in her hair. A bird...some form of blue/turquoise peacock. I don't get that. I will stick with my tiara thank you very little. But I still love the show and I really enjoyed the movie and the company of the girls from class. It will be fun to get all the wee ones together later this summer.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Jason did a bang up job with Jackson...of course. As if Jason knew any other way than awesome. I'm looking forward to his first Father's Day this Sunday and letting him know what a great dad Jackson and I think he is.

Major Faux Pas

Growth spurt equals eating like a madman, and today one of my friends paid the consequences. This morning, Mr. Jackson ate 3.5 oz with Jason at 6 a.m. (it would have been more but he was focused on the other end) then woke up at 8 a.m. demanding more food. And more food he got, downing 5.5 oz for me at 8:30 a.m. Since I was unsure as to what his schedule would be like for the day, I decided to take him out for a spin up to campus. We visited the stadium and then went to Dal Ward, where at 11:30 a.m. he wanted another go. So he ate 5 oz again and had a diaper change in BuffVision.

So I headed upstairs to academics to visit our friends there, and Kris Livingston was the only one there! He was asleep in his car seat for awhile, but then woke up and wanted out. It had been over an hour since he ate, and he had gotten a few burps in, so I figured we were out of the window for the vomitron and offered Kris the chance to hold him, assuring her that "he won't throw up on you...well he probably won't throw up...I don't think he will throw up...it'll be fine!"

She walked him around the office and showed him the AMAZING view out of her window, and I took a picture of them. Not 30 seconds later, we got a solid projectile vomit on Kris, her carpet and all over Jackson. In the middle of the work day. She started laughing (thank GOD Kris you have a sense of humor), I started laughing and I grabbed him and tried to get the vom off of her. I'm still horrified. Talk about a faux pas...sure, hold my kid, he won't throw up...BLARGH! Vomitron. I will never be able to apologize enough.

In other news, we had a massive tummy time effort this evening. Jackson turned his head NINE TIMES in 10 minutes for a new JCL record. We are so proud. Hopefully that makes him sleep a bunch.

Weekend Update With Jackson Lew

Happy Sunday...we have had a fun weekend. Friday was a new level of patheticness for the Lew family. We didn't really have any food for dinner, and we were too tired to go the store, so we had Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli and canned corn. I have to say...the ravs were nasty. I don't think I'll be repeating that meal. We had that dining excitement after Jackson visited Jason at work. We stupidly took no photos of that.

Saturday was a trip to Grandma and Grandpas house for fajitas and for him to meet some more of the family friends. Jackson was once again the star of the show and was very well behaved. He did take a photo with grandma and grandpa...seen at left. He also got some more time with Buffy the dog, and she again opted to not lick his hands with her poo mouth. Thanks Buff.

Today we decided that our son is in the midst of a growth spurt. He's not been much of a screamer...until now. Now the child screams for food like someone is assaulting a member of his family, and then proceeds to drink half a can of Coke's worth of food. And keeps it down. Then if we pause to burp him, the screaming resumes. It's screaming unlike anything we have experienced before.

But at least he then is awake for quality tummy time and play times with his toys. He is much more aware of what's around him and today actually took swings at the dangling animals on his "gym" in our family room. We got lots of big blue eye photos today. Remember, the top link at right on this page IS a constantly updated Jackson photo album, so check out the highlights there.

Reflections of the Way Life Used to Be

Believe it or not, I occasionally get requests for blog content. And I got one for a subject that I have totally not shared to date in this space...how was labor and delivery? I'm kind of surprised that I haven't ever written about it, but I've talked about it so many times that I guess I figured that subject had been covered but I was wrong.

So Labor and Delivery. It started for me at approximately 1:18 a.m. on May 2nd. I woke up in the guest room (between the snoring and my inability to fall asleep in a reasonable timeframe I slept in there a LOT the last trimester) with some crampage. I thought to myself...now that's a new feeling. I made a note of the time and laid there a bit. Then I felt it again 10 minutes later, then again seven minutes after that, then again five minutes after that. After the seven minute one, I took a peek at my Blackberry and started to keep track of the time. By 2:15 a.m. these strange cramps were every five minutes or so. So I waited an hour, they were still every five minutes, so then it was time to wake up Jason. That took a few minutes and once I did, I told him I just wanted to lay in our bed in our house just the two of us one last time before I called the doctor. So we did that for about 10 minutes, and then we called Dr. L of LLBWC and she told me to come and get checked out. So Jason took a shower, I changed clothes and we headed to BCH.

We got checked in, and I got checked for dilation. The Nurse called Dr. L and Dr. L told her that I could stay, so I was admitted at 6 a.m. Then the fun really began. I reached active labor, which is 4 cm, at about 7:30 a.m. and then requested the wonderful and amazing epidural. Amy the nurse and Dr. Mako "Yoda" Shimoda said feel free and I got it at 8 a.m., then proceeded to have a hypotensive episode (yay) which required more drugs, oxygen and Jason holding a barf bucket. I didn't barf, but when I wretched, my water broke (HA!). Then the waiting began.

Allie brought Jason some bagels and we watched Caddyshack (that would be Caddyshack on TV in the photo at right). Allie brought Jason some Wendy's and we were watching, ugh, A Very Brady Sequel. I got an epidural "boost" at 12 p.m., followed by another episode that required me to get on my hands and knees in bed (seriously) then by about 3:30 p.m, I had the sensation that Amy was asking me about that made me think that yeah, I was ready to start pushing.

Pushing is hard. Mainly because you don't really know what you are doing. It was also semi-entertaining when Amy said, okay Jason, come and grab a leg. We were not AT ALL prepared for a scenario in which Jason would be responsible for anything other than cutting the cord...let alone holding a LEG, but he was a total trooper and unfortunately had a total front row seat to the entire process. So I pushed for probably an hour, and then my dream team decided I needed to get back on oxygen, which was a bummer because I couldn't talk too clearly to Jason or anyone else really...it was just waiting for each contraction and then getting my push on. So then Dr. Yoda was like, "Oh one more big push and he'll be here." That was at like 5:10 p.m. (the clock was right in my sight line). At 5:30 I took off my mask when she said that for like the seventh time and said, "Okay you have said that seven times when will it be true?" Then she asked me for my hand, and she put it in the lady business and there was the top of Jackson's little head! It was an excellent motivation tactic. She also mentioned that an episiotomy would make it go easier...which wasn't really enough information for me to make an informed decision. Had she said, "Linds, you're gonna tear anyways, so how about an episiotomy?" I would have said yes, Dr. Yoda, cut me. But she didn't, so I didn't. Let me also say that the epidural at this point was doing absolutely nothing for the contractions. I didn't feel the hoohah tear, but I felt the contractions and in a word, they SUCKED. That's as G rated as I can keep it. It SUCKED in a really really horrible way.

Anyways, after the motivational touching of my son's head, I got down to business and gave it my best effort. In childbirth class, they said once the head was out, that we would probably have to stop pushing so they could then deliver the shoulders and then the little guy would squirt on out. Well Jackson's huge melon did the dirty work and there was no need to stop pushing...he just flew out once that melon was clear.

They put a blanket on my chest and then put this bright red screaming little nugget on the blanket and then covered him with another blanket and started rubbing all the junk around and off and in and what have you. I looked down, sobbing for two reasons: 1. It was over. The worst pain ever was over. 2. Holy crap there really was a baby in there! I told Jason it was a little version of him. And he took his little right hand and reached up and grabbed my sports bra and held on until they took him to be weighed and measured. It's a cool thing people. Very cool.

So I have come to this conclusion. People keep saying to me that I would forget what being pregnant was like and I would forget what labor and delivery were like and therefore would be inclined to do it again. I have said all along that I would not forget, and I won't. So my conclusion is this. People don't forget...they just choose to do it again anyways. I'm not saying that we've made that choice, not by a long shot. Jackson is only 4 weeks and six days old we haven't even begun to get this thing figured out. But if we do make the choice to do this again, it won't be because we forgot, it will be because we chose to do it in spite of everything. And I must say, I'm damn glad to not be pregnant anymore :)

One Month Old....

I know, I can't believe it either. Jackson is a month old! It's crazy...it has flown by. It's been the most ridiculous 31 days of my life. I had lunch today with Kelly and Kristen from work and to even attempt to describe what this is like is just stupid to do. It's inexplicable.

We took Jackson to the pediatrician today for his one month checkup. He has gained almost two pounds in three weeks, up to a whopping 9 pounds, 13 ounces. He is now 22 inches long and his head is 15 inches around. He's basically in the 50th percentile across the board, which I guess is good...I'm not sure how I feel about that. I think Jason is in the 10th percentile for his weight so we'll see how Jackson turns out. Just kidding honey...love you.

Thanks to W, we used our economic stimulus (which we have not yet received, thank you very little, W) to purchase some electronics to document the life of our son. We got a video camera. And a hard drive to store all our wonderful memories of him on. So look forward to some amazing and scintillating video of Jackson laying around...feeding....burping.



That's all he does, mainly because we are sucky parents and haven't done enough "tummy time" so he just lays there. We are so cautious about his tendency to vomitron that we have shorted him on the intense Olympic-style training that needs to take place on his belly in order for him to do things like....sit. So we'll need to step that up. We did some tonight and he lifted his head to turn and look from me to Jason and we cheered so loud you would have thought he just won the Stanley Cup or something. The bar is pretty low right now as far as what it takes to get cheers out of us for Jackson. If he poops anytime in the next 12 hours we'll cheer...it's been over two days. Neither of us wants to change that diaper alone.

I have an important shout out today...my friend Kristen Payne and her fiance Ed Lynam welcomed their son today...Harrison Payne Lynam. Kristen is my only local friend who has been enduring the whole pregnancy thing for the first time at the same time as me so we're super excited.

All Quiet on the Longtucky Front

I'm checking in out of obligation. There's not much Jackson news to report. He now loves baths now that we got the rubber ducky that says HOT when the water is too hot...therefore we can get the water far warmer than we were initially and he goes into a tub now as opposed to the sponge bath. That has come in handy after some of the bombs he has dropped in his shorts of late.

We have Skype set up for both of us now so we can show off Jackson in real time to whomsoever feels like seeing him when maybe we are feeding him or doing whatever. He's really only awake for food and some tummy time these days, but the boy is starting to be aware of things around him which can be entertaining for everyone. Holler at us if you want our Skype names so you can revel in the cuteness of our kid.

Jackson and I went to see the soccer team again and to Target. I also set foot in a Babies R Us for the first time in my life this morning. I was pleasantly surprised by Babies R Us. It is actually not the cluster f*&% I had envisioned it to be...it is a well-organized store that had a decent number of options for anything I would happen to be looking for. I was hoping they carried the California Baby line of shampoo and stuff but they don't. Who knew there were 35 different types of Johnson's Baby whatever? It was like Sephora for infants.

Tuesday we have our one month appointment with the pediatrician. I'm taking bets as to how much my pig son will weigh. To make it fair, he was 7 pounds, 15 ounces at his last appointment which was on May 10. He eats 8 times a day, anywhere from 3-4 ounces at a time. So you do the math. I say he will weigh at least 9 pounds unless we have another spectacular day of spitting up between now and then.