6 weeks

I mainly want to talk about what has been going on with Parker but I lured you in with a picture. Sneaky, huh?? I can not believe his is already 6 weeks old. I feel like I will forget what is happening if I don't write it down so here it goes.

Sleep: Some days are good, some days are bad. At best we can get 4 hours straight at night. If we are lucky sometime he will go back down for a few more hours but that is usually not the case. He naps several times a day. I bet he would sleep more at night if I could somehow manipulate his naps during the day but I am usually so relieved that he is sleeping and I don't have the heart to wake him up. Once he gets a little older we will start working on a schedule but for now we are on HIS schedule. This boy loves to be rocked to sleep. I have read all kinds of things about how that is teaching him bad habits for the future. Guess what experts...for now I love rocking my son to sleep. I enjoy watching him calm down and rest against me while his eyelids get heavier and heavier. He's cute. Deal with it. A good thing about his sleeping habits - he can sleep through just about anything. Loud restaurants, the tv, his parents yelling at the Braves baseball and Auburn football, and lights mean nothing to him.

Feeding: After all the "issues" in the beginning he is back on track with gaining weight. That is definitely a relief for this momma. We are mainly breastfeeding with a little bit of supplementing formula. Thankfully he has no trouble switching back and forth. I am feeding on demand for the most part. The exception is when he naps through a feeding during the day and I wake him up. Some days I feel like I feed him continuously all day long and other days are much more structured. I knew the right answer for how long and how many times he should be breastfed but WOW I didn't grasp how much of my day would be spent on feeding him. Especially since he takes him time and has to be encouraged to continue the entire time.

Activities: At 6 weeks he is VERY alert. When his eyes are open they are wide open and searching the room for new and fun things to look at. He does not like to be in one position for very long and lets you know by screaming. At least we know he has a great set of lungs. I should have known by all the activity during my pregnancy that he was not going to be laid back baby. He has extra strong legs and neck muscles. He is moving his arms and legs constantly. He likes to be held so that he can look over your shoulder. This way he can practice head-butting your shoulder and face. He is also very expressive. My personal favorite is the pout face. He can stick that lower lip out more than anyone I have ever seen. Looking forward to the stages in life where he does it on purpose... He grins all the time but I am not convinced I have seen a full smile. He does not appreciate being put on a blanket for tummy time but we do it anyways. He also will squeeze your finger harder than I was squeezing Ben's hand before I had the epidural. I can't wait to see how his personality and abilities develop as he gets older.

Thanks for being patient with all of my thoughts. Obviously I am in love with this little boy and I am so thankful to have such a gift in my life.

Blessed

Parker has 2 parents, 4 grandparents, 8 great-grandparents, and 2 great great-grandmothers.

He is blessed.

Last weekend we were able to visit Dickson, TN for my Grandma's birthday party (Parker's great great-grandmother). We drove up with my parents and spent the afternoon there and then had dinner in Nashville my my aunt, uncle and cousins. It was a fun day filled with family time. I would love to do it all over again on a day where I had more sleep ;)

Our family in front of my great grandparents house in Dickson, TN

Grandma and Parker.

4 out of 5 generations ( my Grandad was out of town)

I know we will treasure these pictures forever. Like I said...we are all blessed to be a part of this family.

Parker

Parker Thomas Calvert has made his arrival! He was born August 19th at 12:05 p.m. at Huntsville Hospital. He weighed 7 lbs 12 oz and was 20 inches long. He was exactly 2 weeks early, and I was READY for him.

For those of you who are interested in the details, here is a summary of how things happened. For the rest of you please skip to cute baby pictures below. Wednesday morning around 2:30 a.m. I woke up to go to the bathroom. This was not uncommon as I was getting up around 5 times a night (no exaggeration). This time was different, and I felt what I thought was an early contraction. Of course I was so excited I could not fall back asleep but I didn't want to wake Ben up because I knew it would be a long road ahead of us if this was the real deal. That morning I told Ben that I was pretty sure I was in early labor but not to worry and that he should go to work because who knew when this would actually happen. He very unwillingly went to work but was able to come home early. Besides I am sure he was not getting anything done sitting at work thinking about it ;) After dinner my contractions quickly went from 6 minutes apart to 2 minutes apart so we panicked, packed our last minute things, and drove to the hospital. By the time we were in the parking lot at the hospital my contractions were about 5 minutes apart. I was determined NOT to go in too early and be sent home so I made Ben drive around looking at houses in Blossomwood and the Downtown area. He was nervous, but I was even more stubborn. After a while of driving I was in much more pain than earlier so we headed back to the hospital. We walked into the hospital about 8:30 p.m. and I was admitted by 9:00. I was 3 cm dilated and IN SERIOUS PAIN. I waited and toughed it out for a while, but when they told me I was 5 cm I asked for the epidural. There was a HUGE difference between pre and post epidural Jess, just ask Ben. There was a small scare in the middle of the night. When my water broke, Parker's heart rate dropped significantly. All of the sudden there were 4 or 5 nurses and a doctor giving me meds through my IV, giving me shots in my arm, putting me on an oxygen mask and putting my bed at a very uncomfortable angle. Thankfully his heart rate returned to normal after a while but all the meds they gave me slowed my labor. NOT what a woman in labor wants to hear. After all the excitement Ben and I tried to rest for a little while. Around 11 a.m. I was ready to push and Parker was born at 12:05 p.m. Unfortunately the epidural drip had run out and I was REALLY feeling the pushing part. I can't even imagine how it would feel with absolutely no meds...kudos to you ladies who do it naturally. Once he arrived and they put him on my stomach the main emotion I had was relief. It was so wonderful to see him and know he was healthy. One of my first thoughts after seeing him: Where did all of that hair come from?? Once they took him to another part of the room I told Ben to go with him. I couldn't see Parker but the sweet look on Ben's face was priceless. He was enamored with his son from the beginning.

Here is Parker right after he was born.

Ben was a natural and wanted to hold him all the time.

This picture was taken right after I delivered him, so please excuse my tired and swollen face.

This is still his favorite sleeping position. He looks so relaxed with his hands up like that. What a cutie.

This is our "celebration dinner" that we got from the hospital. I was a little concerned about ordering salmon from a hospital kitchen but my dinner was great! The sparkling cider was a nice touch as well. I love that stuff!

We got a picture of Ben and Parker right before we left to go home. Thanks for the cute outfit, C!

These next 2 pictures were taken by the hospital photographer. We fully intended to not buy the pictures that they took at the hospital but we ended up doing it anyways. It's a pretty sneaky business...you are hormonal and excited about having a baby so of course you will buy the pictures. We admit it, we were suckers. But I like to think of it as proud parents instead.

I just want to add one more thing. I was very proud of Ben during the whole experience. He was so sweet, supportive and helpful. Most importantly, he didn't faint. He even cut the umbilical cord. I was shocked! More on our experiences since we have been home at a later time.

2 Year Anniversary

August has always been a big month for us.

We started dating August 2006.

Engaged August 2007

Married August 2008

First Anniversary August 2009

And who knows...maybe we will have Parker August 2010!?!! Happy Anniversary Ben. I am proud to be your wife and I love you. And you are SUPER cute.

37 Week Checkup

And the news is...........

.....there is no news. Apparently Parker is loving it in there and has no intention of arriving any time soon. That's just fine because he is still growing and developing. When he is born, if he acts anything like he does now then we will have a very active boy on our hands. This is just another reason I think we will be having a mini-Ben. If he was just like me, he would be chilling in there being calm until it's time to come out.

estimated weight: 6.5 lbs
estimated length: 20 inches
estimated mother's mood: changes hourly; ask at your own risk ;)

Severe Heat Advisory

It's hot outside. I mean, really hot. I am hot natured anyways so combine that with this summer's heat and being *almost* 37 weeks pregnant and you get misery. I keep on checking the weather online and it has said constantly over the last few weeks ALERT: Severe Heat Advisory. Yikes. Granted I am not sure who gets to determine that a certain region should be on alert due to high temperature, but it must mean something!

To help get through the rest of the summer I decided to share a few pictures of my absolute favorite place on earth. It's a place with cooler weather, beautiful scenery and did I mention cooler weather?

Mountains and snow. What a beautiful sight!

Knee deep in snow. I would pay good money to be able to do that at this very moment.

Camp 4 Coffee: our favorite breakfast spot or mid-day treat. We needed the warm coffee because it was so COLD. What a concept!

It was so cold that it felt good to be near fires. Now it just feels like I am near a fire when I get into my black car with black interior.

Am I just complaining? Yes. I will also take any excuse to pretend I am back in Crested Butte. As I type this it is starting to rain...hoping it will bring down the temp! Unfortunately Maggie is now frolicking around the backyard trying to lick the raindrops from the sky. I should try to go chase her and bring her in but maybe I will just wait 15 minutes until Ben gets home from work. She loves him more anyways :)

Weddings

Ben was in Orlando this past weekend to be in a friend's wedding. Unfortunately I could not join him, but I was so glad he was able to be a part of Pat and Amy's wedding weekend. I know it makes him happy to spend time with all of his close friends from Florida, and that it's not easy to be away from them all the time. Even though I was so glad he got to be there I am relieved he is back in town...I just knew Parker was going to try to make an early appearance while Ben was a plane ride away. He was not able to take a camera so I have no pictures to share but I just wanted to say: Congratulations Pat and Amy!

Ben being away at the wedding reminded me, I never blogged about a special wedding from earlier this summer! Our friend Will and his beautiful bride Samantha got married July 10th (a good day to get married-just ask my parents!) and we were honored to be there for it. Ben met Will when he first moved to Orlando and they have been close friends since. Ben and Will lived together all 4 years they attended Auburn. I met Will my sophomore year at Auburn, a little under a year before I ever met Ben. I actually hung out with Will and their other roommate Kurt at their duplex when they lived with Ben and I never met him! I just knew Ben was the son of the pastor of the new church in Huntsville and that he had a Braves trashcan in his room. PCA and a Braves fan = marriage material. Anyways, back to Will and Samantha. So much of my time in Auburn was spent with Will and he is more like a brother than just a friend. Will introduced us to Samantha pretty soon after they started dating and it took no time at all to find a wonderful friend in her as well. She is so sweet, encouraging, and just fun to be around.

The wedding was in Birmingham. The rehearsal dinner was at the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame and we had Dreamland BBQ. That's our kind of rehearsal dinner! It was fun to eat and then be able to walk around and look at the displays.

Here are the boys standing where they are told during the rehearsal.

Loved the bibs that came with the ribs, they looked hilarious with all the nice clothes! Here the bride and groom are displaying the proper way to keep your clothes clean.

Groomsmen from Florida

Me and Shug. No explanation necessary.

Childhood idol...Mia Hamm.

Will, Samantha, Me, Ben

Repeat picture at the wedding reception. The wedding was beautiful and the reception was lots of fun, with lots of good food.

Will, Ben and Joe: roommates for 2 years.

One of my best friends Meredith lives in Birmingham and was able to make it to the wedding. It was great to spend time with her. I miss her terribly!

This is just one of my favorite pictures from the wedding. Ben took this outside of the church right before they were about to take off for the honeymoon. It was good timing too, because as they drove away it started POURING!

Watching our friends get married is a very special time for us...especially when they have a mashed potato bar ;) Looking forward to the next one!