December 15

On December 4th, Robby turned 4 months old!

At his 4 month appointment, he was:

 15 pounds 9 ounces (only 65th percentile now! before, he was 90th percentile)
His percentile for head size and height is in the 80s... I'll have to find those stats again. Anyway, he continues to grow, but it looks like he's been stretching out a bit. He appears to have lost a bit of that froggy belly.

Wow... I keep thinking he should still be a newborn... but he definitely is not! It is amazing how much he has changed even just in the past couple weeks!

On December 5, I put Robby on his belly for some tummy time.  He looked so cute like he was posing for a picture. I walked out of the room for like 30 seconds, thinking I should grab my camera, and when I looked back he was on his back! That was his first time rolling over and I missed it. :(

Over the next week or so he did it a couple more times, but each time... I missed it. Steve did see it a couple times. Then, today (December 16th) he rolled from his back to his belly! Now he keeps doing that over and over. Every time I set him down he flips over onto his belly! So I have finally seen him roll. He still doesn't  go from belly to back very often. But, he is getting quite good at the other way! My little boy is becoming mobile!

I walked in the front room and found Steve exercising. 

He is so innovative in his methods of getting a work out. 

I love it.

And so did Robby....

Thanksgiving: Continued...

Hooray for good friends. It was fun to get together with the Felts and the Hansens again for Thanksgiving.

However, for some reason it just didn't feel like Thanksgiving...

Was it because I did a lot of the cooking?

Or perhaps because there wasn't any snow on the ground yet?

Maybe it's because I didn't put a fancy table cloth on the table...

Actually, I think the main reason was because we weren't with our families.

I know we weren't with them last year for Thanksgiving either, but somehow last year felt more like Thanksgiving. I think the fact that the Felts hosted it last year and Keriann's mom was in town somehow made it feel more normal...something about having that motherly figure there.

Anyway, I really did enjoy spending time with our friends. And we had plenty of tasty food.

I am thankful for good friends out here in Toledo. They are like our little family our here.

Even the little boys seemed to enjoy themselves.

It is fun to see James and Robby start to "interact" more. James wants to crawl on Robby and play with him. For now Robby can't do much more than smile and laugh and maybe grab James' shirt. But, he is getting more and more interactive each day.

He has started using his hands a lot more and wants everything in his mouth! Steve likes covering his finger with a burp cloth and letting Robby chew on it.

I am thankful for....

...my boys!

Well, there is a lot to cover from the past couple weeks.
Where shall I begin......?

Lets back track to November 19th-- Steve's 28th birthday.
Steve decided that he wanted to have some friends from school over on his birthday. They had just finished their big final for their Immunology and Infection course earlier in the week. So, no body had much objection to leaving behind the books for the evening and coming over to our house for an ICE CREAM PARTY! Steve is not a huge fan of cake. So, we had ice cream with different toppings and brownies.

(If you look closely you can see the one candle glowing in the pan of brownies. We were singing to Steve in this picture).
Thats right folks.... there were 10 of us there.... and 7 different flavors of ice cream!
Quite the spread.
It was fun to get to know some of Steve's classmates a bit better.  I think Steve enjoyed having them over and showing off his little boy as well.


Speaking of the little boy...
Robby got his first bout of sickness shortly after Steve's birthday. That Saturday, he started coughing a little bit and Sunday he seemed like he just wanted to be held most of the time. Then, Sunday night, when he was already awake for the second time and it was only 3 am.... I knew I was in for a long night. I took his temperature and found that he had a slight fever around 101. Robby and I spent the next couple nights sleeping on the couch.  I wanted to be close to him, so I could keep tabs on him. Anyway, he only had the slight fever for 2 nights (only at night). Other than that, he's just had a sad little cough.  He was such a trooper through it all. Even on the days when I could tell he didn't feel well, I still got little smiles from him.

....such a little sweetie....

On Wednesday I woke up feeling that Robby had likely passed on his sickness to me... I delayed my Thanksgiving preparations that I had planned for the day and took a nap for a few hours. Luckily, Robby was still not feeling top notch either so he slept the whole time I did! Good boy.

I spent the remainder of Wednesday preparing for Thanksgiving. This was my first year hosting Thanksgiving. And so, it was my first attempt at making a turkey! I was a bit nervous...what if it didn't turn out?!?! I would ruin Thanksgiving for everyone...hahaha.

But, of course, being ME... I have to make everything more complicated than it needs to be. So, did I just rub the turkey with oil and pop it in the oven? Of course not! I decided I was going to brine my turkey for a day before roasting it! It actually turned out to be a really good thing that I decided to do this.
Not only did the turkey turn out wonderful and moist... but, had I not decided on this method then we might not have had a turkey at all! 
Why?
Well.... you see, when I pulled the turkey out of the fridge on Wednesday to put it in the brine, I found that it was still ROCK SOLID FROZEN!!! It had been in the fridge for a few days.... I really thought it would have thawed by then! Can you imagine if I had pulled the turkey out on Thanksgiving and it was still frozen solid? I would have freaked out! Luckily, since it was only Wednesday, I had time to thaw the turkey in cold water in the sink. Due to this, I wasn't able to brine it as long as I'd hoped, but it still turned out great!
I was so happy.

THANKSGIVING:
TO BE CONTINUED.....

A Trip to DC

Looks like a new tradition might be in the making. Remember when I went to Nashville last year and saw my parents (my dad had a work conference there)? Well, this year they headed to Washington DC and I was able to join them again!

We stayed at the Gaylord National hotel. Not nearly as awesome as the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville last year. But, we did enjoy plenty of good times together and even saw a few sights.

I had planned on driving, but my parents said they'd feel better if I flew since I'd have Robby with me.

And so, Robby got to experience his first plane ride! Luckily, it was only a one and a half hour flight. And he did a lot better than I had feared.

It was fun for my parents to be able to see Little Robby! They came out to Toledo when he was born, but of course he has changed A TON since then!!!

He had fun chilling with Grandpa at the hotel...

(notice he is very interested in his hands and feet lately...)

....spending Grandpa's Birthday at Mt Vernon (George Washington's estate)....

(...how the heck did my finger get in that picture.... whoops... it was my dad's phone...I didn't know what I was doing...)

...spending Sunday visiting the Temple with Grandma...

...seeing a giant man sinking into the sand in National Harbor (near the hotel)...

...riding the metro...

...which was apparently a bit frightening....

...but worth it when we went to the zoo and saw the Giant Pandas!...

(These pandas have this HUGE outdoor habitat that is amazing. We walked all around the zoo looking for the pandas in their habitat. Finally, in the end, we found them indoors.... sitting on concrete.... crazy bears...)

It was sad to say goodbye to my parents, but, at least we know we'll see them again next month! We fly out to Utah on December 19th. I can't believe we are already heading into the holiday season! Robby's first holidays... Where has the time gone?

Hooray!

So, Robby's tummy time used to look something like this.

(yeah... he gets really red and sweaty when he cries)

He would make no attempt to lift his head. He'd just lay there and cry most of the time.

Ever since we got the rug, I have been trying to do tummy time more.

And on Monday, October 26th, Little Robby finally lifted his large noggin off of the ground.

It was funny to watch. I think he had been strong enough before, he just didn't think about trying to lift his head. So, when he finally did, it was like "Oh... hey.... this is much better than laying here with my face planted into the ground!" And then he just kept doing it over and over.

"Hey, Ma! Look what I can do!"

We sure love our jolly little guy. It is so fun to watch him develop and grow and gain a little personality.

Robby did a full out laugh for the first time on Wednesday, October 14th. And ever since then, it has become easier and easier to get him to laugh. The first times he burst into laughter I wasn't even sure what was so funny! But, he sure found something humorous! Now it is easier to trigger the laughter. It seems a lot of the times he laughs is when he's on his changing table and we are talking to him.

Here is a laughing outburst from yesterday.

Enjoy.

Rug

We purchased a rug last week.

We decided that since our home has no carpet in it, we should probably get a rug. I wanted to be able to put Robby on the ground so he can learn to roll over and crawl when it's time. The hardwood floors make it hard to do that, because even with a blanket on the ground, he would just slide all over when he'd move.

Anyway, here is our early Christmas present.

I think Robby likes it, too.

Oh, and on that collage, check out that hilarious smile he does sometimes.

You know which picture I'm talking about....

It's so funny because he pulls his chin back to his neck and puts his tongue up to the roof of his mouth. Hahaha.... Funny kid.

So, last Thursday night Robby slept 7 hours straight! I was so excited, but tried not to get my hopes up too high. Up until then he had been waking up usually just once a night to eat. There was the occasional night when he'd wake up twice, but most nights just once. So, that wasn't bad. But, hey, who wouldn't want a full night of uninterrupted sleep? So, of course, I was hopeful..

Anyway... he slept 7 hours straight Thursday night....

Unfortunately, since then, he has been waking 3 or 4 times a night!!!

Ahhh..... hopefully he's just going through another little growth spurt (haha... this kid is going to be a giant!) and he'll get over it soon.

But, until then... I'll probably be getting up several times a night...

Good thing he's so stinkin' cute.

How can you get upset at a face like this?

What? He hasn't grown a bit....

Okay, so that first picture isn't a very cute picture of him... but it's all I've got.

And it illustrates my point perfectly:

IT APPEARS I MAY BE MALNOURISHING MY CHILD...

HE JUST DOESN'T SEEM TO BE GROWING!

But, he sure is cute, nonetheless.

It's official....

We're going to keep him.

Gettin' Cozy

Ya know, I am not looking forward to the cold mornings that come with winter.

It makes it so hard to get out of bed....I just want to stay in there where it's nice and warm...Of course, with a baby, thats just not as doable anymore.

So, after Robby's first feeding the other morning, we cuddled up on the couch and bid farewell to poor dad who had to head out to school.

I am so grateful for a wonderful husband that works so hard to prepare a good future for our little family.

And, I am so blessed to have a little snuggle partner to keep me company every day.

Gordito

Definition:

Gor.di.to noun

chubby guy, roly-poly, dumpling

Gordito adjective

chubby, a little bit fat, pudgy, roly-poly, tubby, well-rounded, chuff, well-upholstered

And that, my friends, is the nickname I have adopted for

my 2 month old son.

GORDITO

Yesterday, Robby had his 2 month appointment.

He now weighs 13 pounds 8

ounces.

He is in the 90th percentile for his weight and 75th percentile for both height and head size.

Man we love our chubby little guy! It is funny how once you actually KNOW how much th

ey weigh, they suddenly feel so much heavier! Hahaha....

Here is the unsuspecting Gordito ready to head to the doctor's office. Little did he know he was getting shots....

And.... Here he is after getting stabbed in the leg twice.

It was sad to watch him go through that, but I am so grateful we have immunizations available to prevent things much worse than a little stab in the leg.

Anyway, he did quite well at the doctor's office. He just smiled up at the doctor while she looked him over. She said she was impressed with how social he is. And she was glad to see him thriving so well... all 13 and a half pounds of him.

I can't believe how fast this little dude is growing up. I put him in this outfit the other day...

...and Steve said he didn't like it because he looked all grown up and it made Steve feel like he'd missed Robby growing up.

I think he looks so adorable in his "big boy" clothes.

But, it is crazy how big he has gotten in just 2 months time.

FIVE POUNDS in 2 months.... that is over half of his birth weight!

Man.... I must be producing pure cream.....

Chatting with Dad

(At the end of that first video, that word Steve says is a French word meaning "been discovered" or "unmasked" or something.)

Growing

Robby met his first love this week....

....his right hand.

Robby won't take a pacifier. Most people tell me not to force it on him if he's not interested, because then I won't have to try to get him off of it when he's older.

It has made it hard for him to be soothed without contact from someone else (or the motion of the swing that the Dockter family let us borrow-- thanks!) But, over the past week he has discovered his hand and he goes to town sucking on it quite often now. Not his thumb, but his wrist, his knuckles, and sometimes the entire fist seems to miraculously fit into that big mouth of his.

Another new development....

Our little bald child is growing hair!

Look closely... he's got an even layer of fuzz growing on that noggin of his. It is so cute because it looks like I buzzed his head! hahaha.

Man I love this kid.

Rewind: Part 3

Soooo.... tired........

::::::::Am I dreaming... or are people really talking to me?...::::

:::::I don't know what they're saying... they sound so far away...::::::

My mind was foggy as the pungent smell of rubbing alcohol summoned me to open my eyes...slowly....

Nothing was in focus, but it seemed there were people standing around me....

:::::I just want to sleep.....::::

The voices and faces slowly became more clear

"Jenni. Jenni, stay with us. Good, stay with us. Jenni."

These were not the faces I expected to see when waking from a nap....

......... and why were they all right in front of my face?

They faded again.... blurring and seeming to dissipate into the foggy dream I couldn't quite figure out.

Sooo.... tired....

I tried to pull myself from the half asleep stupor I felt I was in-- like waking from a dream and not remembering where I'd fallen asleep.

Why were these people so insistent on waking me from this restful slumber....?

It felt good to sleep...

How long had I slept....?

"Jenni. Jenni, stay with us."

My eyes strained to focus on the faces floating around me.

Why was I asleep sitting up?

:::::Where am I?::::::

I tried to rake through the clouds that enveloped my thoughts.... tried to grasp the last thing I could remember-- trying to separate the dreams from reality.....

::::::Oh, that's right.... I had had a baby!..... I'd walked to the bathroom and sat down......::::

The haze started to clear.....

:::::I remember sitting down.....then saying I felt really dizzy.... but that's all I remember....::::

"Jenni."

The unfamiliar faces surrounding me took form once again. The alcohol smelled so strong..... I tried to make sense of it all....

"Jenni, stay with us. Can you hear me, Jenni?"

:::::Oh, I get it! I fainted! What a strange feeling....::::

I blinked over and over, trying to fight the urge to go back to "sleep." The voices sounded closer now. I didn't recognize them, but they were nurses, I figured.

"There you are. Can you hear me?"

I confirmed that I was aware now of what was going on.

They spoke to me, but I don't really remember what was said... because soon the voices started getting distant again.... and the faces melted into this mottled mix of dream and reality that I just couldn't control.

Sooo.... tired....

Man, it felt good to sleep. What a nice nap.... wonder how long I'd been asleep....

And what was that strong smell?

::::::::Am I dreaming... or are people really talking to me?...::::

:::::I don't know what they're saying... they sound so far away...::::::

This all felt eerily familiar....

What was going on...?

::::::::Oh yes, that's right... I was at the hospital, I fainted....::::

I grasped the reality a bit more quickly this time and strained to bring things into focus.

:::::::::::blink..blink.... blink::::::::::

There were more faces now.

"........go........ orange juice....."

I heard them talking through the haze that I couldn't push away.

:::::blink.....blink,blink:::::::

I jostled my head repeatedly, hoping that if I kept moving I would more easily be able to stay alert and aware.

"Stay with us, Jenni. Look at my face. Focus on my face."

I did focus for a bit. Good, maybe I was in control now. It's hard to say. I think I spoke to them.... saying something about how weird it felt... like I had just been napping.....

I continued blinking and shaking my head as the voices became less distinct and more distant. I was trying to hard to keep them close.....but I felt sooo..... tired.....

I don't really remember the exact series of events.... I remember at one point there was a cup of orange juice in front of me with a straw. They were telling me to drink it.

I drank and drank.

I blinked and blinked.

I faded in and out.....

Did I ever finish drinking that orange juice?

At times I felt like I was with it. They told me I looked better. I conversed with them....somewhat..... But, then suddenly I was waking to the smell of those smelling salts again.

Why couldn't I keep my eyes open? This was ridiculous! They said it was a good thing Steve had been there.... he was the reason I was still sitting up, and not collapsed on the floor. Its all such a blur....I had no sense of the time passing.

Sooo......tired......

There I was laying on a rolling bed as they hooked me up to a monitor. I blinked and shook my head.... over and over.... why? Oh yeah, because I wasn't supposed to fall asleep. But I was laying on this bed now.... it was so hard not to give in.....

Wait.... when did I get on this bed??? I thought I was in the bathroom....

I vaguely recalled them sending for a wheelchair.... but instead they had come with a... a rolling office chair? May be that was a dream....who knows. I must have gotten in the chair and been wheeled out of the bathroom .... but.... the only thing I remember was them rolling me away on a bed....who knows how I got on the bed... what a jumbled mess my memory was....

"You can go to sleep now. We've got monitors on you and you're laying down."

Oh, good.... I could sleep now.....no more fighting.....

(Later my mom told me that she thinks about 30 minutes passed from the time I had gone into the bathroom to the time they felt I was stable enough to transfer me to the recovery room. She said she thought I had fainted 5 times, maybe more while I was in the bathroom! I remember one of the nurses saying that in the 7 (?) years she had been doing this, she had NEVER seen a case of fainting as bad as mine!)

The next distinct thing I remember was when it was time for them to take me to my recovery room. I felt so much better at this point. They handed me Robby before we headed out to the hall. Oh yeah! Robby! I had almost forgotten about the baby in the midst of all the chaos..... the baby, which was the whole reason I was even at the hospital in the first place. Anyway, I held tight to my precious little one as I lay in that bed and they pushed me down the hall.... or maybe I wasn't holding him...... okay so, maybe I don't remember so "distinctly." I actually wasn't quite as "with it" as I thought I was at the time. I do remember us passing a pregnant girl that was out walking the halls. The nurse said that girl was in labor out in the hall because they didn't have enough delivery rooms open yet! Whoops.... busy morning for everyone.... poor girl.

We reached my room and they carefully transfered me to the bed there. After getting me situated, my new nurse told me that I needed to empty my bladder within 6 hours of delivery (so, I guess I hadn't even done so the first time....). So, that gave me until 10:30 to do so. She made it very clear that I was not to get up on my own. I needed to have her in there to help me so I needed to page her when I was ready.

There was no way I was going just yet. I was going to put it off as long as possible.

Right now, it was time to rest.

Sleep was greatly desired at this point.

And so, I slept.

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:::::::Sleep is good....

........but why do I have to dream about that awful fainting experience.......

........that smell pulling me from my unconscious state.......those distant voices again, faces floating in front of me.....

"Don't look down. Jenni. Focus on my face."

::::::::....coming into focus.........

But wait, those aren't the same faces..... different nurses... weird.....:::::::

Then I realized.....

:::::::Oh.... my goodness..... this isn't a dream! It's happening again!::::::

The fog cleared more quickly this time.I remembered now, I had called the nurse in at 10:15. I had waited as long as they would let me before trying to use the restroom. The nurse had come with another nurse as backup....ready with smelling salts..... just in case.

I couldn't believe it had happened again.... at least this time I was able to stable myself more quickly. I only fainted once that time. Better. Hopefully next time, I could make a trip to the restroom without all this excitement.

(There I am after the second episode. My mom said I looked a lot worse the first time... I had no color, I was so pale. But, she said it was all to freaky to be taking pictures that first time.)

Gratefully, that was my last fainting episode. They did take my blood to see if they could tell what the problem was... if my blood sugar was low or if I'd lost too much blood or something. I don't know. But they didn't find anything. They figured I must have just been so exhausted and my body just couldn't quite handle it.

What a weird experience.

At least I have some great stories to tell Little Robby when he gets older about the day he was born.

Apple Pickin'

Monday night we headed out to MacQueens Orchard for a ward Family Night!

It was fun to be there with friends and pick apples off those awesome apple trees.

Seriously.... those trees' branches hung all the way to the ground!

Robby enjoyed hanging out (literally) in the Snugli for the first time.

Somehow I ended up not picking many apples myself.......

I think I may have been too distracted by this face staring up at me.......

But, Steve and Jon and Keriann (whom we split a half bushel with) picked plenty.

Now.... time to put all those apples to good use!

(Too bad I had just made a huge apple crisp the night before.... hmmm..... I sense some of these apples are begging to be dipped in caramel and coated in other delicousness....)

Rewind: Part 2

"....please.... please.......please"

I couldn't see the baby very well from where I was. The doctor was stitching me up and was blocking my view(or perhaps I just didn't want to see....). I could see the team of people gathered around him and hooking him up to monitors and who knows what else. Mostly I just listened....

"Come on.... give us a cry..."

......and continued my pleading......

"...please....please...."

The nurses asked the doctor if he came out with his cord around his neck. She said no, but that the cord came out with him or by him or something. She didn't sound like that should have caused any problems.

THE APGAR SCORES

Okay, so, I think it is helpful at this point in the story to lay out some data. It helps illustrate the extent of the situation. I didn't know any of this information at the time, but knowing this stuff now gives me a better idea of what was going on while I was laying there unable to focus on much more than praying that my child was going to live.

Here is the info I got from research online:

"The APGAR scoring is a simple and repeatable method to quickly and summarily assess the health of newborn children immediately after childbirth.

The Apgar score is determined by evaluating the newborn baby on five simple criteria on a scale from zero to two, then summing up the five values thus obtained. The resulting Apgar score ranges from zero to 10. The five criteria (Appearance, Pulse, Grimace, Activity, Respiration) are used as amnemonic learning aid.

The test is generally done at one and five minutes after birth, and may be repeated later if the score is and remains low.

Scores 3 and below are generally regarded as critically low,

4 to 6 fairly low,

and 7 to 10 generally normal.

If your baby scores between 4 and 6, he may need some help breathing. This could mean something as simple as suctioning his nostrils or massaging him, or it could mean giving him oxygen. If your baby scores 3 or less, he may need immediate lifesaving measures, such as resuscitation. Keep in mind, though, that a low score at one minute doesn't mean that your baby won't eventually be just fine, particularly if there is an improvement by the stage of the five-minute test."

The question on your minds I am sure......

"SO WHAT WERE ROBBY'S APGAR SCORES???"

At one minute: 3

Five minutes: 6

Ten minutes: 6

I don't know how long it had been when he finally let out a short little cry. I think a couple minutes. I felt a slight relief at that sound, but it didn't quite ease my worries. He didn't keep crying. Just made a sound and then stopped again. They continued doing... whatever it was they were doing. They needed him to cry more.

I remember at one point seeing that they were sticking tubes down his nose and sucking stuff out. Eventually he cried again. He was definitely progressing, but they still weren't satisfied.

I was relieved when Steve came back to my bed side and was actually smiling. Steve said he was fine. At least at that point I was convinced my baby was going to live.

I think the point when I felt the most relief was when this special doctor (which they had urgently called for in the beginning) finally showed up and all he did was pretty much laugh and then leave. Right before he got there Robby had improved a ton. So, by the time he arrived he was almost like "Why the heck did you guys call me here?? This kid is fine!" The nurses explained to him what the situation had been and he just told me congrats and then left.

Apparently things must be fine if this doctor didn't even feel like he needed to

be in the room for more than 30 seconds.

As my doctor finished stitching me up, she said that she thought he had just been in shock from the transition. She said that his heart rate was perfectly fine the whole time I was pushing and everything, so it's not like anything was wrong before he was out. She said he might have sucked in a bunch of fluid right at the end as well.

Who knows what caused it... the important thing was he was alive and finally breathing.

Once they had him breathing the room air on his own for a while (without helping him with that little contraption) and made sure he was stable, his APGAR was finally a 9. They measured him (8 lbs 8 1/2 ounces and 21 inches long) and then finally brought him over to me.

It was almost unreal to actually have this baby in my arms-- my baby.

After the heart ache of 3 miscarriages....

....fearing at times that I would never give birth to a child....

....and now having endured the terror that he wasn't even going to live to take his first breath....

I was finally a mother.

He didn't have to go to the NICU or anything, gratefully.

I nursed him for the first time and he latched on right away, no problems there.

I held him for a while and admired him.

ANOTHER SCARE

What a long night....

I should have been exhausted, but I think I was too happy and relieved to feel it.

The nurse brought me some food, even though I didn't really feel hungry. I gave Robby to Steve while I started eating a little bit.

It was some time before 7 a.m. and the nurse was going to be getting off her shift soon, so she decided to try to have me empty my bladder. (Come to find out later, she probably wasn't really supposed to have me get up and walk yet, but she was trying to finish things off before her shift ended). She asked if I could move my legs well enough to stand. I felt just fine. I swear I could move my legs right after giving birth. I think I had let my epidural wear off to much at the end....

So, they carefully helped me get up and walk over to the bathroom. I felt pretty stable as I slowly walked in and sat down. Steve was by my side, helping to hold me up. At the time I didn't really think I needed it. But, it was a good thing he was there..... because I did not at all expect the crazy events that followed.....

TO BE CONTINUED.....