Upside Down World

When I first saw these 4 positive tests, little did I know that it would turn my world upside down. Upside down in many ways filled with more love than I could have ever imagined I could have for another human being, more happiness, more appreciation for the little things in life, more patience (which has been one of my worst virtues), and more meaning to everyday life; but this positively new, love-filled upside down world that I live in now, involves a great decrease in sleep, more stresses from striving everyday to ensure that my son is happy and well-taken care of when he is upset, crying, teething, uncomfortable, lonely, and tired but at the end of the day, I thank God for those 4 positive tests that I initially refused to believe but were in fact what I needed to fulfill one of my main purposes in life that I always dreamed of, whether or not it was what I dreamed of at that moment in time, but rather to God's timing for me; and that was to mother and nurture a baby...MY baby. I know some woman don't ever want to have children but early on, I knew that it was something that I hoped for in my adult future and with this surprise that came upon Dale and I last April, I didn't fathom just exactly how much it would change my world.

In the almost 5 months of Everett's life, motherhood has been rewarding and I have been grateful for a well-temperamental baby but today was the hardest day that I have experienced as a mother. I'm sure it has a lot to do with him currently teething but Everett cried more than I could ever imagine a baby could cry. And perhaps I never imagined it because up to this point, he rarely cried or fussed at all but for the first time since he was born, today is the day that I admit that motherhood is NOT an easy task. I wanted to cry for my son knowing that he was in such discomfort. He barely napped or fed today and had such a helpless look of sadness on his face that wrenched my heart. I would gladly take any sort of physical pain than to see and feel my child's pain. I'm quite sure that this is all due to him teething but I plan on making an appointment for him to see his pediatrician next week for a check up just to ensure that he's okay and isn't experiencing pain from another source unrelated to his teething. Being a first-time mom, I'm overly assertive when it comes to his health and taking him in will give me a peace of mind.

Nonetheless, our Friday night ended on a good note. My parents came over for dinner and my dad was actually able to get a few giggles out of Everett. That was heart-warming to see.





Everett went down for the night without a fight and is sound asleep in Dreamland. Tomorrow is a new day that I plan on embracing and I hope and pray that I will be able to better handle this new thing called Motherhood. I wouldn't want my upside down world in any other direction.

....And he's standing! All by himself!

Everett loved standing up ever since he was several weeks old but today, I thought I'd see if you could stand for a little bit unassisted...and he did!

(Gotta love his big, 'ol bald spot. That suckers hard to miss.)


Also, I think he was wondering who turned the lights off! Hilarious. I left the room for a second and came back to this...


On other news: My poor little man has been teething like crazy and spends much of his day crying which makes for a tired and stressed out Mommy. Dale got a little taste of Everett's screeching cries after he got home from work this evening and I thought he was gonna go a little crazy. Everett has always been consolable in a matter of a few seconds but lately, that hasn't been the case. I admit that I cannot wait for this teething phase to pass.

Teething

Today, I noticed a little white dot on Everett's lower gums. He's teething! How could I have not recognized this earlier? He had been teething and I didn't even know it. I kind of feel like a bad mom for not associating his extra drooling, gnawing on his bib and burp rags, grabbing his left ear, and his bouts of extra fussiness from time to time these past few weeks to the possibility of him teething. He hasn't been awfully fussy and I never did assume that he was at the age of teething already; it seemed a little early to be doing so but with him getting up so much in the middle of the night lately, I felt his gums earlier today to see if there was anyway possible that he had a tooth coming in and.... I felt and saw a tooth! He's such a calm, easy-going baby that I missed the signs but it's a relief to know that he's one of the lucky babies that doesn't experience such discomfort from teething. It seems that he was just born yesterday and like every other mom, I don't want him to grow up so fast!

Bouncer, bounce, bounce, bounce...!

I think it's time to get Everett a Jumperoo. He loves to stand and push up on his feet and every time we hold him up, he bounces up and down.

I like this one:
Fisher-Price Rainforest Jumperoo - Fisher-Price - Babies "R" Us

Bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce!

He's gonna hate me one of these days... {video}

Since changing Everett to Soy formula, he's been a little "backed up" lately and has to fight to get anything out. Caught it on video the other day and it just cracks me up. The end of the video is the best. His face gets all red and he definitely has that "I'm pushing out a big turd" look.

He's going to hate me one of these days knowing that I posted a video of him pooping for everyone to see!

What's New These Days {with Everett}

I've kind of gotten behind on my ramblings about Everett and have a mouthful at this time. He has reached so many developmental milestones this past week and I just love how intuitive he has become. He is so smiley and so giggly these days and last night, I heard the one word that made me feel as if I died and went to heaven. He said Mama! He said it while he was crying and I know it wasn't what he meant to say but it was so pronounced and it made my heart skip a beat. I love this little guy so much!



He has been sitting up so well now and even though he's not much of a fan of the Bumbo, I try to get him in it several times a day. The photo above was from today and he has improved from last week. I think he was more interested in sucking on his little fingers that he lost all concentration and energy put forth to holding himself up.



He has also gotten so buff that he can get out of his swaddle within seconds so Dale and I have not had much sleep these past handful of nights. He awakens once he gets his arms out and we have been getting up and down and up and down numerous times during the night to re-swaddle him. I think it's definitely time for us to wean him off the swaddle. We plan to start putting him to bed swaddled but with one arm out. That's a start there. I've become impressed at how well I can function on so little sleep. It's been a little exhausting getting up several times a night. And at the moment, this lack of sleep has weakened Dale's immune system and he's fightin' a cold. I think we will have several weeks of no sleep ahead of us now as we wean the swaddle off. Everett has also become mobile and I found him like this this morning:


The weather has been gorgeous and we've spent some time relaxing out on our patio and taking Everett out there to get some fresh air. He loves it. He stares at all the cars going by and tracks the Max with his eyes so closely when it hums past our building.


Look at that frown!


Mr. Smiley


Other Everett News includes:

-finding his feet/toes. He found them 2 days ago. He saw his foot move out of the corner of his eye and he froze and his eyes got huge and he just stared. It was entertaining watching him be so amused at his own foot. He moved it again and slowly reached for it and his eyes got even larger. Since then, he loves hanging onto his left foot.

-going to Soy formula. We changed Everett from Similac Sensitive to Similac Isomil (Soy). His eczema was only getting worse and in hope that one of the causes was due to a milk allergy, we went milk free. It has constipated him these past several days but I am hoping he will become more regular as his digestive system slowly befriends the Soy. Also, we upped his feed amount to 5 ounces and he drinks his bottles bone dry now. For the past month and a half, we have struggled to get this kid to eat and we just figured he hated eating but I advanced him to the next nipple flow and he goes to town now. I think he was just getting so frustrated at having to work so hard to get anything out with the Newborn flow nipples. Now I'm just waiting for him to chunk up! Ha.

-sucking on his fingers ALL THE TIME! If I'm not feeding him, he has his fingers in his mouth. He's become quite the drool head and when I take him out of his mouth, he gets SO mad at me. Does this mean he's starting to teeth?!?!?

-reaching and grabbing for things. He has the coordination to reach for things now and hold onto it. He will also grab at my hand and will pull it towards his mouth.

-not wanting to nap. We've been so spoiled these past 4.5 months. He went down for naps, no prob, but now, he screams and kicks his legs. He's at the point where he wants to stay up and play but to ensure that we have a happy baby, we don't let him win the fight and will endure all the screaming until he falls asleep. I think that's a problem that some parents make is not having the patience to fight their child's desire stay up and not nap but I think if we start this early to teach him to nap, it will save us a lot of work in napping him as he gets older.

I've taken several fun videos of him and will make sure to post them within the next several days!

Cirque du Soleil {Kooza}

Last night, Dale and I had a night out and went and saw Cirque du Soleil's Kooza. We left Everett with my parents and went down to the South Waterfront in Portland. It being the first time Dale and I going out without Everett, we were both nervous as we left and drove off. I wanted to cry but I held it together. Ha.

The show was great and even though I've been to several Cirque du Soleiol's shows before, I enjoyed it more than ever. It had been Dale's first time and he was in awe and loved it!

I don't like clowns and was a little creeped out at first but the set of 3 clowns that were in a big chunk of the show were actually pretty funny. I found myself cracking up pretty hard several times. Thankfully, no dreams about any scary clowns last night.


Dale really enjoyed the Wheel of Death. I think it was the most dangerous act of the show and had our hearts beating fast and our hands sweaty. I was actually a little scared for them. The main thing that I didn't like about this act was that the two guys were dressed as Satan. That's even more creepier than the clowns.


I really enjoyed the contortionists and am still in awe the ways they bend their body, this way and that. During the show, I told Dale it just hurts me bending over and touching my toes. While waiting in line for a bag of popcorn during intermission, I heard the lady behind me tell her friend that the contortionists were probably not single. They were probably right. At one point, one of the girls had her head on the ground, chin down, and she literally ran around her head in a 360 degree angle. Just craziness.


We managed to get through the evening with one phone call to my parents during intermission. We avoided going out to a nice dinner after the show because we were both so anxious to get to my parent's to see Everett. Instead, we enjoyed a nice, romantic dinner through the McDonald's drive-thru. All in all, it was nice having some alone time out with Dale and we both really enjoyed it.

New Family Photos {by Devine Designs}

We recently had some family photos taken by a childhood friend of mine. I just love these photos! She is very talented and did an amazing job capturing Everett, Dale, and I.

Saturday Night Blog Blab

I'm so thankful to say that it's my Friday. TGIF! Work has been a little slow lately but this week creeped by slower than ever. I've had some things going on in my personal life that has left me emotionally drained but with a decision that was made today, I feel that it will all pass and myself and the rest of my family can breathe a sigh of relief.

My parents just returned from a 3 week vacation to Hawaii and I'm looking forward to spending some time with them for the remaining of this weekend. I enjoy them spending time with Everett and can't wait for them to see him and see the new developments that he has recently possessed. Including all the "talking" that he is doing now. Here's a little glimpse of his efforts to vocalize himself:



Also, Dale's stepbrother and his wife came into town from Idaho for several days so we spent some time hanging out at Dale's parents' house.

Meeting Uncle Dallas and Aunt Rena for the first time


Hanging out with Aunt Rena. It was so funny; at one point, Rena went to give Everett a kiss and he freaked out and bawled his eyes out. I guess he wasn't likin' that!


Everett and Mommy


Hope you all enjoy the rest of your weekend!

A First {Attitude}

I'm glad Everett's not at the age to talk back to me {yet} but I witnessed today for the first time.... his attitude. Yes indeed by golly, he has one. After he feeds, he has this thing with sucking on a corner of his burp rag. I took it out of his mouth and he. flipped. out! He started yelling, arched his tiny, little back and wailed his chubby arms around. He was MAD! It made me laugh and if he knew that his mother was laughing at him, I'm sure I would've seen more of that attitude of his; but I did say: "Listen here buddy, don't be giving your mom that kind of attitude." I stuck the rag back in his mouth and he was happy as a bee. Little turkey!

Needless to say, he's still adorable as ever and is my tongue-sticking-out-praying baby!

What I call lazy

Everett has been sitting up the past several days now and enjoys sittin' in his Bumbo for short periods of time but he gets to a point where I think he gets tired of holding himself up and will just hunch over to his left (yes, it's always to the left) and chill. It's not that he can't hold himself up but I think it's because he gets a little lazy. He looks so uncomfortable but he enjoys it and will sit hunched over like that for as long as I allow him to and just go at it, sucking on his left hand fingers.

Within these first handful of months of a baby's life, I have become amazed at how quickly they develop. One day, they can't do something and then the next, they're doing it. For example,  Everett was lying on his back and I looked over and he was pulling his head forward, looking like he was trying to get up. He's been doing that ever since now. The next day, I had him sitting up in my lap while supporting his back and I moved my hands and he was sitting up unassisted.  Another day, I woke up to him "ooooh oooh ooooh" ing and he's been talking so much since then. It seems like they wake up one morning and say "I'm gonna do this today!"

I've loved and really enjoyed being there to witness all of his first's and being able to capture the moment via video or photo. The main reason why I started this blog was so that I would be able to look back and know when his "first time" moments occurred and to see the progress of both his physical and mental developments. If it wasn't for Everett, I don't even know what I would blog about. It'd actually probably be a pretty boring blog that no one would enjoy reading. Well, at least I hope you all enjoy reading about Everett and seeing him grow and to see what the Connors family is up to these days.

A Day full of Easter Goodness

Our day today was full of such goodness, love, family, Easter eggs, lots of candy, and the celebration of Jesus' resurrection.

Much to our surprise, Mr. Easter Bunny hopped his way into Everett's room last night and left him a basket full of candy, eggs filled with chocolates, and some toys. Oddly, all the chocolates and candy that filled the basket were ones that Daddy loves the most. Everett agreed to give them all to him to enjoy but only with the promise that he would be able to eat his own candy next year when he's old enough.



He loved the music toys and was so in-tuned to them.




I don't know if Daddy was more excited with the goodies, or if Everett was.


Everett was all snazzed out for the church Easter service.



After the church service, we enjoyed a nice meal and time with family. Whenever I'm around my family, I'm always re-reminded of how blessed I am to have such a close-knit and caring group of people. It had been several months since they had all seen Everett and it was so nice to have him in his high spirits as he usually his.




It was a blessed day to be with Everett for his first Easter and I look forward to the many more.


I hope you all had a day full of such goodness as I did today!

One GREAT day!

Today is about over and I can say that it was one fabulous day! Everett turned 4 months old and we had a great time hanging out. He upped to a size 2 in diapers, we all 3 took a nap (Dale was off work today), did a little shopping and bought him some Easter goodies and an Easter outfit for this Sunday. He's enjoying standing up more than ever and prefers being up on his feet rather than sitting or laying down.


It was a pretty rainy day and the rain and wind storm from the coast finally hit our way. There was a short period of no rain and some sun and we bundled the little man up and went for a little walk.


We bought him a new pair of shoes to go with his Easter outfit and little did we know that they almost look like mine!


What a GREAT day today was!

4 Month Milestones

Everett will be 4 months tomorrow! He received his 4 month check-up and shots today. He is one tough little man. He received 2 shots today. He didn't even cry with the first shot but the 2nd one definitely got him crying. He cried that soundless cry that I hate. He never cries like that so I know he's pretty upset to do that. I was pretty proud of him though. No cry or fuss whatsoever afterwards.

He weighed in at 14 lbs and 3 oz putting him in the 35 percentile.

He measured in at 25 inches long putting him in the 63 percentile.

Head circumference was 16 and 1/4 inches.

I was so thankful to have Daddy along with us this time. We had to wait almost an hour and a half for him to get in to see the doctor though, which was a little upsetting considering our appointment was schedule for 9:45am and we did not get in til 11:15am. I know waiting is just something that should be expected in any doctor's office but I've never had to wait that long. I'm just thankful that everything went okay and he's a healthy baby boy.

All smiles shortly before getting his shots


Getting a good feed afterwards


At 4 months now, Everett:

-loves standing; which he has loved doing since he was 2 months old
-doesn't suck his thumb but rather loves trying to stick his whole fist in his mouth
-can sit up unassisted
-can hold his head up while on his tummy without the bobble-head
-hates laying down and fusses until he is sat up
-is sleeping up to 9 hours through the night
-smiles and laughs a lot
-feeds 3-5 oz every 2.5 to 4 hours. He's not much of an eater and I struggle to get him to eat most of the time
-coos and talks A LOT!
-naps every 1-2 hours after each feed and will go down with no fuss at all
-still sleeps very well in his crib which he has been doing since day 1

I feel so blessed to have such a happy, easy-going baby!