We all know the famous book "What to Expect When You're Expecting", but what about when you're NOT expecting. We weren't expecting to have a hard time starting our family or to have 3 miscarriages over a 12 month period. And we definitely weren't expecting...after all the disappointment....to have a smooth 4th pregnancy and welcome a baby boy to our family in 2008 and a 2nd in 2010. But those are a change in expectations that we are finally happy with.
I hadn't full grasped how long it had been since I blogged until Katie commented wondering where I was and if I was alright. (Thanks Katie...I feel loved :-) ) I can't believe my last post was November 13th. Bad, bad blogger. I've thought about posting many times, but just haven't gotten around to it. I read all of yours, but just have been silent on my end.
So here's an update.
Grayson will be 8 months at the end of this week. Wow! I seriously can't believe this. The other thing I cannot believe is that I'm still holding on to almost 10 pounds of baby weight. They have always said the whole "9 months on, 9 months off" thing, but I never believed it would be me. Now at this point, it looks like I won't even hit that. Very frustrating, but also totally all my fault at this point. I'm just not trying hard enough. I'm back in all my clothes, and pre preggers size, but it all fits totally different. Sigh. I really need to get crackin on some body changes.
Grayson is my little peanut. He stays under the 10th percentile is everything pretty consistently. But he's so precious! I love playing with him and everything about him. I am still breastfeeding, an accomplishment I never thought I would achieve back at the beginning when I thought my nipples were going to fall off and I felt like I had a baby permanently attached to my boob. There came a point where it just got so easy, and simpler than the bottle though and I pushed through. Now it's a breeze, and as long as he doesn't give me up, I dont' see us having too much of a problem with getting through the whole year which was my original goal.
Luckily he does switch well between bottle and boob though. I even just this week left him for the first time and went to san diego with the husband for 4 nights and 5 days. I had been working like a mad woman over the past few months to pump up a storm and have enough milk in the freezer for him to have while I was away. I rose to the challenge and had more than was needed for my mom while I was away. He had a great time and didn't even realize I was gone. Me....well, I partied like a rock star and was in heaven for 2 days. Then....oh how it sucked and I missed him so bad! I still had a good time but it was ridiculous how much I missed him and kissing his sweet little cheeks.
I could go on and on about Grayson and what he's up to, but for now I'll just close this post, and promise to be better and post more often. This video was taken about 2 weeks ago when he was laughing up a storm at my mom. It's just way too cute, and i must admit I watched it like 20 times a day while I was away. So enjoy. :)
My husband got off work early today and surprised me by putting up the Christmas tree. Yeah! I wanted to do it this past weekend, but he wanted to at least wait until November was in the double digits. I'm so excited to decorate the tree! But I left my ipod at work and I definitely can't trim the tree without playing the Carpenters Christmas Portrait (a tradition....mom always did it too).
Christmas is just a little over a month away and I'm excited to watch all my fav Christmas movies. Along with the standards like "Christmas Story", "National Lampoons Christmas Vacation", "Charlie Brown Christmas" and more, I have a set of what I like to call new Christmas Classics that have become part of my holiday routine. The list consists of:
Love Actually The Holiday The Family Stone Just Friends
Some make me laugh, some make me cry, but that all get me in the Christmas spirit.
I posted this last tuesday but for some reason it didn't come through....grrr
Grayson had his 4 month check up today. He'll be 5 months on Friday, so I'm a little late, but right at 4 months we were doing all his eye stuff so I'm a little behind. He is doing great and is healthy, but when I call him my little man, he is just that. He's in the 10th percentile on weight, and the 3rd percentile on height, and his head is in the 50th percentile. So basically I have a short, skinny kid with a big ole noggin. Ha!
Today I remember. I remember the loss of our first pregnancy....the baby who's due date was today. I remember the loss of our second pregnancy....the bleeding started on this this same day. I remember the worst date ever when both these horrible things converged into one big sesspool of a day.
I also remember that, although the road that brought me here sucked hard core, I am so blessed because of my little man Gray.
I remember all the little ones that those close to me have lost, and shed some tears for them today as well.
I remember also to be thankful for a great friend who remembers with me, who feels my pain again with me each time this date rolls around, and never forgets.
And I could never forget to remember to be thankful for my fabulous mom who remembers without me having to remind...and shows up at work today with flowers, a blueberry cake donut and some dunkin donuts coffee. Seriously...you may think your mom rocks. But mine kicks her tail in every way. :-)
We were on the infertility road for over 2 years. It had it's share of false starts as we had 3 pregnancies and 3 losses. We went into pregnancy #4 without high hopes, but were overjoyed when we made it past the 1st, 2nd, then 3rd trimester and welcomed GRAYSON in May of 2008. We knew we wanted to try again, and expected more loss was in our path. We were very pleasantly surprised and eternally grateful to get pregnant with #5 without issues welcomed Sawyer on July 12, 2010. Email me at whattoexpectwhennot@gmail.com