Prayer Thursday

Hi Ladies! 

So, it's been forever since I've done a prayer Thursday!  I'm feeling more confident and getting our schedule down, so I'm ready to get back into the swing of things!
Thank you all so much for your prayers this past week!  If we can pray for you, please leave your prayer request in the comments below, or feel free to email me - michelle.ann.ellis@gmail.com

Could you please pray for our friend Jim?  His Dad has cancer and is currently undergoing treatment.  He is losing weight every day.  Please pray for his healing and his doctors.
Could you please pray for Kylie and her husband?  They are looking for guidance while making some big decisions in their lives.  Specifically a house remodel and a new car.  Please pray for God to speak to them and point them in the right direction.

Please pray for Christina.  She is my sweet coworkers cousin.  She is 23 years old and has been diagnosed with hodgins lympona and leukemia.  She is not doing well and her family is having a very hard time coping.  I can't imagine how hopeless and scared she must be feeling right now.  Please pray for her family and her doctors as well during this time.

Please pray for sweet Joanna and her husband, they are waiting for God to bless them with a baby!  They are the most adorable couple I have ever seen, truly!

Please pray for Sarah.  She is in the process of fundraising to bring little Silas home to his forever family!  Please pray that God will provide them the funds that they need to make this possible.

PRAISE for my friend Candice and her husband.  They are getting a baby!!!!!  God is so wonderful and works through us in ways we could have never imagined.  I couldn't be happier for them!  Please pray for the health of their little one - he or she is still cooking!

Could you please pray for my Grandparents?  They are living home alone right now with the help of nurses.  It is very, very difficult.  Please pray that they will let God guide them in their decisions for their futures and their care.  This is so hard on them and on my parents and it hurts to watch everyone go through this.  PRAISE - My Edaddy is able to drive again, and should be able to walk soon!  I am so proud of him and so thankful to God!

Please pray for sweet baby Bennett.  He was born oh-so-tiny, but has been getting bigger and stronger!  And, he's HOME!  You can read his little story here.

We have been praying for sweet Annika for awhile now, at the request of Kasey.  Please say a special prayer for her dear little body, that God will give her the strength to fight this disease.  Annika is 5 years old and was diagnosed with a rare form of acute lympocytic leukemia.  Please pray for her, her family and her doctors.  I can't imagine what her family is going through.  Isn't she beautiful?  Just look at that smile!



Please pray for sweet Sarah.  She is praying and waiting for God to bless her with a true Godly man that could be a wonderful influence to her young son to share their lives with.  Her testimony is so beautiful, I felt inspired just reading it.

Please say a quick prayer for all the women waiting for God to bless them with husbands or babies.

Thank you so very much for all of your prayers!  Please let me know if we can pray for you!

Jaxson's Birth Announcement

Introducing...

Jaxson's Birth Announcement!

I'm seriously in love!

The sweetest woman ever took these pictures for us.  If you are in the Houston area, I strongly recommend her!  She is so sweet, flexible, and truly loves what she does.  I'll post the other pictures soon!

http://www.naturalimagesbykaren.com/

We made it to 6 weeks!

We made it through our first 6 weeks!  We survived!  I kid, I kid...kind of.  The last 6 weeks have been the hardest and the most rewarding of my entire life.  I had no idea what they would be like, and in ways, it has been harder than I imagined, and in other ways much more amazing than I ever imagined.  Here are the highlights -

We are working on Babywise.
It's helping.  Having a schedule is a great thing.  As I type this I am exhausted, we had our first rough night since we started Babywise.  But, other than last night's adventure, it has been going really well!  Throughout the day, I am feeding him every 2 - 2.5 hours.  For those of you that don't know (because I sure didn't!), when you are breast feeding, you count the time between feedings from the time that you start the feeding, not end it.  Jaxson usually takes about 45 minutes to eat.  Then we change his diaper, play for a little while, and it's time for him to go down for a nap.  I swaddle him up, with the exception of his arms.  It makes him very angry when I swaddle his arms.  Then we read a story, and I put him in his crib for a nap.  Sometimes he falls right asleep, sometimes he soothes himself to sleep, and sometimes he cries and cries.  Letting him cry it out is the hardest thing!  Then I wake him up about an hour later and we start the cycle over again.  We usually have our last feeding sometime between 10:30 and 11PM.  He usually wakes up at 2:45 and 5:45 for feedings.  Last night, he was up every two hours, wanting to eat.  So, by the time I fed him and got him settled, that meant about 30 minutes of sleep between each feeding.  LONG NIGHT.

HE SMILED!!
A "social smile" as my baby book calls it.  The first time he smiled at me, I thought, Oh My Gosh, was that it?  My smile???  But I wasn't sure.  The next day, I was so sure.  It was such a sweet moment that I cried and cried.  And then I thought, hmm...this must be what it feels like to be a mom!  It was an amazing moment and I hope that I never forget it.

We went on our first grocery store trip!  It went great!  He stayed very alert and happy in his carseat in the buggy the entire time!  We've also been to Ross, TJ Maxx and Bed Bath and Beyond.  He was an angel!  I had a little trouble getting the stroller to fold down and go back into the car, but other than that our outings have been very successful!

Breastfeeding
I don't like it.  I do it though, because I know how good it is for him.  It still hurts, and I kind of dread it sometimes.  But, we are making it through!  At my appointment this week, my dr. informed me that I need to be consistently 10lbs heavier than my pre baby weight to effectively breast feed.  WHAT?  That was not in ANY of the books that I read.  And, I don't like it.  Not at all.  He said I can tone, but not try to lose any more weight, that I have lost too much already.  I'm not sure what I think about all that.  I have also had to change my diet.  Jaxson has acid reflux.  So, no caffine, dairy, eggs, green or gassy veggies or fruits.  Basically nothing good or even healthy!  So, I've been eating tons of carbs, chicken, and BBQ.  I don't really knkow what else to eat.  Hopefully this phase will pass and I can start reintroducing foods into our diet.  I ate a sandwhich with onions yesterday, and it caused a very upset little tummy.

An Evening Out
We spent our first evening with our friends!  We went to our dear friends couple's shower.  It was so much fun!  I didn't want to leave him for that long (5 hours!) and was very worried that he would wonder where I went (we've spent all day together since he was born) and that he would be confused.  Turns out, he was just fine with his Gamm-E, my mother in law.  They had a great time and he was happy as could be when we got home.  Hubby didn't really understand, he kept saying, "Babe, it's okay, he won't even remember that we left him."  haha - the difference between Moms and Dads I guess :)

Healing
I had my 6 week appointment, and am healing perfectly!  I was cleared for exercise (even though I'm not supposed to lose weight while I'm breastfeeding, which stinks), and we scheduled an appointment to put in an IUD for Wednesday.  I've heard this hurts, and they told me to take 600mg of advil prior to my appointment.  That makes me a little nervous, but I think it is the right solution for us.  Jaxson was our little surprise while I was on the pill, and we are a little scared that it could happen again, so we are going to go this route.  I'm still having steady bleeding, hopefully that will stop soon.  I made it through my entire pregnancy without a single stretch mark, and now I am getting them!  On the bottom of my breasts (gross!), and on one of my hips.  I so hope that they fade.  I'm using cream on them, and hoping that helps.  Do any of you have any advice on how to get rid of them?

So, all in all, we are doing very well.  I love this little person so much, he is the most adorable, sweetest little man I have ever seen.  Ever.  He steals my heart away a little more each day.  I can't believe my maternity leave is half way over, the thought of leaving him makes me so very sad.

I hope you are having a great week!!

Happy One Month Birthday Jaxson!

My baby is one month old!  I can't believe it has already been a month!  If this is any indication of how quickly the rest of our lives are going to go - I'm scared!

This month has been amazing, exhausting, and fast.  I love this little boy more than anything I've ever loved in this world.  There are times that I look at him and think, wow, I can't believe he's mine!  It's indescribable.

This was a wonderful, busy week! 

We started baths in the big tub!  He LOVES them.  I think he would stay in there all night if I would let him.  He loves when you run the water over him, and adores having his hair washed.  Hubby and I both love the water, we hope that he will too!

We ordered our birth announcements this week!  I can't wait to show you!  I love them.

We had our first nap in our big boy crib.  It did not go well at first, but it's getting better.

Jaxson can follow us with his eyes.  Who thought something so small would be oh so exciting!?

We started playing with our little gym.  He is liking it more and more!  Bandit REALLY likes it.  If you step on those flowers, it plays music.  Bandit discovered this while he was trying to sneak the purple elephant - it's his favorite.  I catch him over there a few times a day.

Hubby has been very helpful with Jaxson.  He loves him.  The cutest night this week was while I was taking a quick shower - I came into the kitchen, and hubby had Jaxson sitting on the kitchen counter in his little froggie footed pjs, and was dancing and singing to him with his iphone.  It was adorable.  He has since started calling Jaxson MC Froggie Pants.  They are so silly.

We went on our first walks this week!  Jaxson loves them!  He stays awake for the first 20 minutes or so, and then falls asleep until we get home.  Yesterday we came home and got Bandit for the last part of our walk, and we almost had a crash.  I don't think I'm ready for that yet, but I feel just awful leaving Bandit at home.

I am all healed.  Thank God.  My last tear took forever, but I finally feel normal in that regard.  I have 7 pounds left to lose to get back to my prepregnancy weight, so that is progressing nicely.  My body still looks VERY different though.  Hmm...we shall see how that turns out.

I won't lie to you - I'm tired.  Very, very tired.  I'm haven't gotten more than 3 hours of sleep in a month.  Sometimes it makes me grumpy and a little crazy feeling.  I think I am going to start him on Baby Wise next week.  Have any of you done it?

I hope all of you had a great week!

Jaxson - Week Three

We've had our little man for three weeks now!  I cannot believe how quickly time is passing by!

After a week on our new schedule, he gained more than enough weight!  He is at 9lbs 2.5oz.  Thank goodness!  Feeding him every two hours during the day and every three hours overnight was just what the doctor ordered! (literally!)  The only thing about the schedule that I hate is waking him up to eat.  We have to make him very angry to get him to wake up.  Making him cold, tickling his feet, his ribs, bouncing him around, cold wash clothes...anything mean you can think of!  It just breaks my heart.  When he eats milk that I have pumped from a bottle, he is eating 2 1/2 ounces.

I'm not going to lie to you, I'm tired.  Breastfeeding every two hours takes a toll on you!  It usually takes about 45 minutes to feed him, and then we have about an hour before it's time to start waking him up again.  Poor fella.  But, if it keeps him healthy - I'm all in!  I have a new found respect for Moms that have two or more children, I can't imagine doing this and keeping up with another little one.  Whew!

I adore this little man more than anything.  He is so very sweet and special.  My favorite times are when he naps with me and snuggles and wakes up and looks at me with those sweet little eyes.  There are no words to explain those sweet little moments.

We went on our first outing alone, to his Dr. appointment.  I was so nervous to go out with him alone, and drive him around, work the car seat, etc.  But, it went great!  We made it just fine.  And, he didn't even cry when the nurse weighed him.

He is still leaking through diapers.  We tried going up a size and using different brands.  No luck.  I guess that is something that just happens sometimes. 

I am almost all healed!  And, I've lost 36lbs, so I only have 10 more to go.  I have a feeling that these last 10 are going to take a little while!  I'm so ready to be able to exercise again!!  Just a few more weeks!

I can't thank you all enough for your kind words of support and your advice.  It means so much to me!

Jaxson - Week Two

Well, we have been parents for two whole weeks now!

Week 2 has been much harder than the first week.  I think it's because Jaxson isn't as tired anymore, and because my Mom isn't here.

Hubby's fiscal year ends this week, so I have been taking care of Jaxson pretty much all by myself because he is working long hours trying to qualify for conference.  I'm very, very tired.  I've been sleeping (ha!) on the couch and in the guest room with Jaxson so hubby can get some good rest for work.  I'm SO TIRED.  I haven't gotten more than three hours of sleep a night all week.  And for some reason, I have a really hard time sleeping during the day. 

Mommy and Jaxson having a much needed nap.

I'm healing much better this week.  I'm so thankful that part is becoming less painful.  And, my dr. put me on blood pressure medicine because my blood pressure was consistently higher than it was with my pre-eclampsia!  But, it seems to have it all under control now.  It's nice, because I'm usually hot all the time, but now I'm cold all the time!  I've been keeping the air at 78 during the day, which will save us a small fortune this summer, haha!

I love my swing!

Jaxson has started leaking out of his diapers.  It's oh so fun.  I had him in the bed with me this morning at 6AM (we had been awake since 2:45AM), and it leaked all over the sheets.  I cried.  I was so tired.  That was my weak moment of the week.  I don't think it's time to go up a size, so I'm not sure what to do.

I love car rides!

His umbilical cord fell off this week, but the center of it is still attached, so we still have to be careful with it.  His circumcision ring fell off too, and it healed perfectly!

He is still the cutest thing I have ever seen that has completely stolen my heart!

We had his two week dr. appointment, and he is just now back to his birth weight, which the dr. was not pleased with.  He should have gained about an ounce a day, which would have put him at almost 9 lbs.  He was only 8lbs 6oz.  So, we are on a new schedule.  I was demand feeding, and we would go anywhere from 1 - 4 hours between each feeding.  The dr. said this, and the fact that Jaxson has his days and nights mixed up, are why I am oh so tired.  So, now, I wake him up and feed him every two hours, no exceptions, feeding for 10 - 15 minutes on each side from the hours of 6AM - 12AM.  For the overnight hours, I feed him every three hours.  The first few days were very difficult, and made him very angry.  But, we are 5 days in and it is going well.  I actually had to set my alarm to wake him up for feedings last night! 

Future NASCAR driver?  Grandpa and Hubby spent Sunday looking up how to get kids started in go kart racing.  Turns out they can start when they are 5 years old and it's not too expensive to get started...here we go!

Jaxson's head grew an inch, and so did his little body!  Now we just need him to gain some weight!  He is in the 97% for his height, so we are hoping he will be a tall fella!

Meeting Aunt Lenti!

My parents spent Memorial Day weekend with us.  It was so wonderful!  Watching them with their Grandbaby is so incredibly special.  It warms my heart.  My Daddy is so sweet with him!  My Mom took the night shift both nights, and it was amazing to catch up on some sleep.  I was starting to feel like a crazy person!  I can't imagine not having my Mom to help me.  I am beyond grateful for her!

I adore my Grandpa.  And I think the feeling is mutual :)

Saying my little prayers