Alabama Tracks

So last night was Ruthie’s first ball game. It was Employee Appreciation Day at the ball field to watch the Biscuits play against the Mississippi Braves. Dinner was served and everyone got free tickets to the game for a seat out on the side lawn. Having been given tickets to the company box seats over the past two years occassionally, I’ve grown to enjoy going to the games and I knew this one would be more interesting.

We got there around 6:15. I strapped Ruthie on in her new wrap (of which I didn’t get a picture of that night) and headed into the park. I knew it would cause a little bit of a stir as most people that I work with don’t know the side of me that is somewhat crunchy. We headed to to the food so we could meet up with Grandma Syd. Dinner was hamburgers, hotdogs, brats, the typical sides - beans, coleslaw, and potato salad and then we had some fabulous frosted brownies. Syd took Ruthie so I could eat. It was almost 90 degrees even at 6:30 and so very humid. Wearing Ruthie was great but it was still extra on my body.

From dinner we headed out to the “grassy knoll”. Ruthie was passed from Syd to Mama Faye while daddy went to get her what would be her first ball hat. She was completely fascinated by the park, the people, the lights, and the sounds. She only got fussy one time for about 5 minutes. The other times she was taking it all in. Mama Faye’s husband, John, played with her hat and put it in different configurations. Many styles, one hat.

We ended the night at the park at the bottom of sixth which still put us out at around 8:45. I thought for sure she would collapse in the car and fall asleep but she didn’t. She stayed awake until 9:45 when we finished with tubby time. Exhausted, she collapsed in my arms and didn’t wake until 2:30.

I definitely think we’ll do it again.

4 Generations

Big Bed

Grandma and Papa

Silly Papa

Lights Out

Dedication Family Pic

Service

Aunt Joanna

My Daddy and Me

Me

It’s a bit odd to realize that while you know where you’re going and that you know the people there, that the trip can still be wholly foreign to you is, well, disconcerting at best. I’ve known Ken and Chris for some 4.5 years and I’ve been to Florida many, many times but never to their new residence (as it exists now at any rate) and certainly not to stay there. In the mean time we’ve gone and stayed with Jan King and commuted to their property when we went and it’s been a good nine months since we last did so. That was Memorial Day, when Mike, Joy, Gigi and Larry came to visit and we sat in the sweltering heat in the land that Georgia forgot.

Since then? We’ve had a child, a building has been erected, paths have crossed and life has simply changed. Driving with a baby for some 6 hours who has barely been in the car for a few minutes at a stretch. I suppose I should have seen this next change comming. As I queried MapQuest for instructions to this strange place it suggested a different route. Not a little different, mind you. A lot. Normally we go through Florida for some 60% of our trip but this trip was some 70% in Georgia with less than 1% being in Florida itself. The route was foreign and yet I couldn’t ignore that the new route saved some 50 miles over our old route. Since our cheese was nowhere to be found I decided to take the new road. After all, what’s a bit more discomfort when you’re miles away from normal?

I have learned many things on this road

• Ruth will sleep pretty soundly as long as you’re moving
• There is a fair amount of farmland for sale in south Georgia
• This mirror is the most worthless baby product I’ve ever seen. If I were Eddie Bauer I’d sue for making such an awful product with his name on it. We had to buy a new one to replace it because it would fall down after 5 mins on the road
• Georgia has some interesting names for towns… Nashville, Enigma, Ty Ty to name a few
• The best laid plans of mice and men can often be detoured by two semis wrecking and killing the driver of one
• A minivan is in our future…

Eventually this new world will become familiar. More driving. More screaming. More 30 min feeding stops. But what a great road.

It’s hard for me to believe, but my peanut is 1 month old today. As I changed her clothes and diaper this morning, she even looked bigger to me. We had a rough night last night and so we got up later than usual. She ate a little and went back to bed only to get up about 30 minutes later to eat again. This time when she ate, she lost most of it. Following that nice present, she cuddled up to me for about 20 minutes not wanting to eat, but just enjoying being close to her mama and having some good wake time. It was so sweet and probably the first time that I could say that it appeared that she was just relishing in the moment with me. To cap it off, she smiled at me for the first time. I’ve been waiting for it to appear so when I saw it during that already sweet moment, it meant even more.

Joel tried giving her another bottle on Sunday night while I was on the phone with a college roommate. He had great success. He gave her another bottle on Monday night without a problem as well. She still doesn’t want anything to do with the pacifier but that will be okay as she seems to really like her fingers. We probably won’t do a bottle every night but will do it consistently enough so she gets used to it.

We had another bath time on Monday night with much more success. Having a second pair of hands was crucial for me. She seems to really enjoy the water though following the bath we still had a crying session. I think it was more due to reflux than anything else though it very well could be that she was cold. Only time will tell.

Speaking of reflux, we wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if she really does have it. It runs in the family so I had it in the back of my mind that it would raise it’s ugly head somewhere. What I thought was gas related seems more to match what the websites say is reflux. We go to the doctor next week so maybe he will be able to help us. It may be wishful thinking as they may say its just colic (unexplained tummy pain) but hopefully not. It’s not consistent enough for colic based on what I’ve read. We also have our first signs of baby acne appearing as well. Thus far, I’ve not seen any sign of cradle cap though.

So as promised, here are pictures of the nursery and the art that Auntie did for Ruthie.

This one hangs above the dresser/changing table.

The one above is on the door of a night stand.

So there you have it. I don’t have much more time to write today. I hope to have more pictures soon - she didn’t want to cooperate today.

Last night we decided that it was time for Ruthie to have a bath. It would be her first as we didn’t allow the hospital to give her one seeing that I didn’t want her skin to dry out so quickly. Joel was talking to a friend on the phone and I had to make the most of the moment while she was awake so I prepared the tub and then my daughter.

I put the baby tub inside the big tub and filled it with warm water. I got out the diaper, the gown, the towel, and everything that I would need for her bath. Everything was ready for me to use. I then undressed her and headed to the tub. As I went to lay her in it, I noticed the water was gone. Frustrated and holding a naked, cold baby, I hollered for Joel (who wasn’t yet on the phone) for help. He filled the tub as Ruthie proceeded to pee on my hand in frustration. So we dumped the tub and started over. Then I needed pictures of her first bath. So he ran off to get the camera while I introduced her to the water. After a brief series of faces, she seemed to enjoy the feel of the water and made her self rather at ease. Joel came back, took pictures and left to place his phone call.

I thought I had it all planned out so I could do the bath without a problem but I was sadly mistaken. While holding her head and trying to keep her steady so she wouldn’t completely immerse under the water, I somehow had to get soap on the washcloth and then wash her slippery little body. Creases posed a big challenge to me throughout this whole process. I’m sure I missed a few.

Then came time for her hair to be washed. I hadn’t opened the shampoo so I used my teeth to open the bottle only to find the bottle had a foil security wrapper on it. While holding her head, I opened the foil with a very flimsy but long fingernail, and squirted just a drop on her head. Lathered, rinsed, and body rinsed, I pulled her out of the tub only to have the towel be my next obstacle. I wanted her head covered by the towel hood but doing things one handed wasn’t working very well. I ended up drying her off as best as I could and then put her on a blanket on the bed to fully get the towel on her properly so we could get the gown and diaper that I “made ready” earlier to the actual spot of dressing.
She enjoyed the actual bath but hated the aftermath and made sure she vocalized it for all to hear. An hour later, she stopped fussing and slept for an hour before waking again to be fed and deal with gas for another 2 1/2 hours.

On the sleep front, we did really well last night. I managed to get about 6 1/2 hours total. She’s done well today though this morning we seemed to nurse constantly and I think there was a bit of gas she was struggling with. Tia thinks she is going through a growth spurt which I think I would agree as preemie clothes fit differently now as well as newborn diapers. They still fit but I can tell they are getting a little smaller.

I’m in the process of getting announcements out in the mail this week. I hope to finish them off this weekend when we get more stamps. The pictures that we are sending out with them are not the greatest as we didn’t pay for “premium processing” due to shear quantity of pictures we had to purchase. As such, the coloring wasn’t corrected during the processing of the pictures. They aren’t bad but they definitely are not what I had hoped I would be mailing out to everyone. The money was spent though and seeing that we are spending a fortune on baby stuff these days, I had to give on it.

So. Thats what has been happening on our front in the past 24 - 48 hours. She is now 3 1/2 weeks old which completely blows my mind. We have Julie coming from Birmingham tomorrow to spend some time of which I thoroughly excited. I’m hoping to have a few pictures to share. We’ll see.

It is something that I’m not seeing much lately. I got more last night (5 1/2 hours) than I had the previous two nights (both 4 hours each) but even during the day I’ve not been able to get it, for one reason or another. I’m hoping a nap will be in my afternoon plans should things progress according to plan. We’ll see.

It’s cold here today. 42 degrees according to the thermometer. It’s a little overcast though the sun has peaked through a few times. We had pest control come today for our quarterly spraying so I had to open a few windows to help get the odor to dissipate. It wasn’t necessarily the best thing to have done now but we were due and I couldn’t have Joel come home for spraying when I’m home all day. Ruthie and I stayed at one end of the house while they sprayed and the area that we were in, they sprayed really lightly. It’s been an hour now and the odor has gone so the windows are closed and my baby is snug in her cradle with a belated morning nap.

I’m trying very hard to delight in these first days and nights when it is just she and I. I’m managing the days pretty well - better than I thought I would seeing that I’ve never just stayed home with little external contact before. The nights are another story. They get very lonely and can be very frustrating. I’ve determined that I’m hyper-lactating; which means my milk is letting down too fast for her mouth to handle. Basically, I’m flooding her out thus when she gurgles it down, she intakes air producing gas. I’m trying new nursing positions, pumping some off before I nurse, burping more often,and putting her at a 90 degree angle. Some of it helps, some doesn’t. Last night I started nursing and burping at 9:00 and at 11:30, I was finished and was able to put her to bed. Each night we have a long spell, we listen to music, rock, burn the carpet up, and lay on the couch together. One night this week, I slept with her on the couch until our next feeding session because I was so exhausted and couldn’t guarantee I’d stay awake in a rocking chair with her. Needless to say, each day and night is coming with it’s own challenges and blessings. I love the fact that she stops fussing in her cradle (if nothing more than for a brief moment) when I pick her up and tell her that “Mommy’s right here.” I try to sing to her but my emotions are such that I can’t finish a song without crying so most nights I let the cd do the work with me piping in here and there.

Here is a picture I took of her the Monday night while she was propped up on my knees. I was hoping to capture 2 of her expressions that are just adorable. The first one here, is nothing more than a grin while sleeping. I’ve yet to capture a smile that she “meant” to do. Hopefully, I’ll see it any day now.

This expression, I call “Popeye.” Her auntie labeled it as such when she first did it.

Well. I’ve gotta get something for lunch before she wakes up again. So I’m off….

Last night after talking with Tia, I decided we would try to attempt to give Ruthie a bottle. She will have to start taking them when I go back to work and Joel will be able to help me a little this way. I never in a million years thought it would be difficult. After all, most babies these days are bottle fed. I’ve never seen a breast fed baby transition to a bottle though and that is where my disillusionment started.

Our schedule was a bit off last night and I don’t quite understand why. I noticed that it was getting close to nursing time so I had Joel pull out a bottle, wash it, and start thawing the “oldest” milk. Ruthie was hungry and was ready to eat. Joel couldn’t make the milk thaw any quicker and I started to get antsy, which I’m sure didn’t help matters with Ruthie. He finally sat down to give her the bottle.

She didn’t like it, would be putting it mildly. I sat by and watched and my husband tried to get her take it, teasing every part of her little mouth and then trying to get her to calm down. I called Tia to get a bit of advice. Try again later, was music to my ears and yet frustrating at the same time. I was somewhat glad that my baby didn’t want a substitute and yet frustrated because I know that ultimately she will need to take a bottle and I wanted Joel to be able bond with her during feeding time as well. We decided to stop and try another time. I calmed her down and nursed her to sleep.

Last night was a great night in the sleep department. I managed to get about 7 1/2 hours from 11 PM - 8:30AM. We got up only twice and the crying fits before bedtime didn’t happen. Today she stayed up from 8:30 until 12 noon so I’m hoping that tonight will be another good night. Trying to keep her awake wasn’t an issue today. Trying to get her to take a nap so I could get a bite to eat was.

These were taken this morning during said wake time. I love the faces she makes.

Well. I’ve got a few other things to get done before she wakes up again. More pics will hopefully be up soon.

This was taken last Friday during her nap time. I can’t decide if I will call her Sweet Pea or Peanut. Peanut comes more naturally so that will probably be it.

The day of her “due date,” Ruthie’s stump fell off.

There is another new post below for those who think I never blog twice in a day

Today was my actual due date. It’s weird for me to think that I could have been pregnant these past 13 days and not have Ruthie yet. Though it didn’t go according to my plan, I relinquished that as soon as my water broke and Joel and I prayed. Not much has gone according to how I thought it would since we’ve been home but I can tell you this much, we’ve had some really sweet moments that I wouldn’t trade for the world.

We’ve finally gotten on some sort of schedule. We nurse about every 2 1/2 hours to 3 and she sleeps in the cradle wonderfully. I’m trying to break us both of an afternoon nap where she sleeps on my chest but I think we’ll manage to do that this week.

Nursing started out to be really difficult but it is getting easier. My engorgement has passed and she is learning to latch on rather well. She still has a side preference but doesn’t ignore the other like she did. Joel is eager for me to start bottle feeding her so he can participate. I initially said that I would wait a full 2 weeks but seeing that she is just getting the hang of it, I think I may wait until 3 have passed. I would love the help and I know that he would benefit from the bonding time with her but I don’t want to risk any potential nipple confusion.

We’ve had wonderful friends bring meals by this week and Sunday School will continue it through the next two weeks. Meals have been a god send as trying to cook in between naps and my own weariness was interesting for a few days after family left and before a routine was established.

Each day I make the bed, get dressed in the only thing that fits right now, pull my hair back, and get a full face of make up on my face. This way my day is started on the right foot and I’m not ashamed of my house or myself should anyone stop by. I learned during my accident recovery that making yourself look nice each day really helps mentally. So thus, it is time well spent for me. I managed to wipe down the bathrooms today and I’ll most likely let Joel vacuum when he gets home.

Saturday, Joel’s mom stopped by and babysat so we could go out for lunch and run some errands. Getting outside the house felt really good though leaving my baby behind was difficult and we both found it weird. I knew she was in very capable hands, but she wasn’t in mine or within my reach for the first time in her life. No tears were shed but Joel and I both found it awkward and by the end of a few errands, I was antsy to return home. Next Saturday, Sunday School has a social planned at the bowling alley that we might go to if Joel’s mom can come back up again. We’ll see how it goes.

Her nursery is near completion now. We hung the curtains last night and the Monet that Auntie painted has been hung. Things that were sitting on the floor have found a home, if nothing more than temporary until we get the next piece of furniture. The tie back hook to the curtain still needs to be hung but other than that, it is complete. Ruthie and I rock at night in there and we try to do diaper duty and nursing as to not bother daddy too much. I’m very pleased with how the room has turned out. When it is all complete, I’ll try to get a picture posted.

Well, I know this has been all over the map. My mind doesn’t stay in one place for long these days. I think sleep deprivation does that to you. I’ll try to write more as things solidify a little more.