Last Thursday we celebrated Matthews 25th birthday! His first birthday as a father so of course Samuel had to be in the shot with him ;-) 

Matthew kept on telling me he was bummed about not getting a party, that he felt he did not have any friends around to hang out with, that his 25th birthday would just come and go. Challenge accepted! 
    I went and invited some dear friends of ours to a restaurant to celebrate Matthew's birthday. I told Matthew that my family wanted to treat him to a birthday dinner. Matthew kept on asking if we can invite people to the dinner, I finally told him I got the dinner thing covered and you are not allowed to ask again. Matthew never lets me surprise him, ha ha ha! So he was pleasantly "surprised" when 16 people (including us) joined us for dinner. It was wonderful! We all had a good time despite our waiter not being all there and some food went missing. I was running around taking care of Samuel that I forgot to take a picture of everyone. Dang! But I got one of Samuel all dressed up for the party! He he he. 

Matthew told me he had a GREAT birthday and that he won't forget this one too soon. Challenge complete! I should get wife points or something! But I gladly accepted a kiss and a hug from the birthday boy. 

It was really nice seeing all of our friends. We had not seen them since Samuel was about a month old! Hopefully we will get together more often.

Matthew's cake I gave to him on his birthday and his uncooked birthday dinner with just us three. I was sad that I forgot to take a picture of the chuck roast dinner actually done/cooked but it was super tasty! I was very impressed that I could get it done with Samuel wanting to be held all day.


Our little Samuel is growing up too fast! He now has amazing head control, he is always lifting it up with no problem. He has even been trying to sit up on his own!

He finally decided that nursing is his thing and so far (knock on wood) he is a nursing champ! He has been doing wonders to my milk supply! I use to only get maybe an ounce after he ate (pumping for 40 mins), now when I pump I can get anywhere from 2- 4 ounces in 20 mins! Sweet! Go Samuel! I am excited to see how much he weighs at his weight check up on the first of Nov. 


I am doing fine as well, super happy that my baby fat is finally falling off. I am hoping to get that fat off before the wedding in December! I would like to loose another 8 lbs, 12 lbs would be fantastic! I have been watching my diet and trying to get some exercise in, I am sure bouncing and rocking our little boy all day is a good workout! It is not easy carrying around a 13 pound-er! 

I had a talk with Matthew and he is going to start taking care of Samuel in the evening so I can go running again. I have not ran since Samuel was 2 months old... he is now 3 1/2 months. Running is such a stress relief and I need it on some days :) 

I cannot believe Halloween is next week already! And we still have yet to buy Samuel his costume. Uh-oh! Hopefully we find one that we all like. I did not think choosing one would be this hard!

Well, I better get back to cleaning the house while Samuel is still sleeping!
 
You know you want to finish the song!

Can you believe that the holidays are upon us? That 2012 is almost over? That soon we shall be celebrating the 25 days of Christmas? Am I getting ahead of myself? 

Since our little guy turn one month old, time seems to be speeding up! Last week I was like.... oh my goodness! Matthew's birthday is next week! And here it is, today is my dear husband's 25th birthday! 

I have seen Matthew's 21st, 22nd, 23rd, 24th and now his 25th birthday! It is crazy to think I have been to five birthday parties for Matthew. Of course we were not dating until his 22nd Birthday :) (yes I was a stalker of his for a year! ha ha ha.) We have a weird tradition where we go and eat at Red Robin for his birthday. The only birthday that we missed was his 23rd because he was deployed. 

We plan on celebrating his birthday this weekend because my hard working man does not come home till after 10 today. 

Matthew, you are an amazing father and husband, you are always looking out for your family and friends. I could not ask for a better best friend. Samuel and I love you so very much and we are so  happy to celebrate another year (first for Samuel of course) of life with you!

Happy Birthday my love! I hope it is a good one!   
 
I have been having dreams of my older brother. Not Jerome, but Andrew. I bet a lot of you did not realize I have two brothers eh? Andrew was born two years before Jerome came into this world. 

The day after I had this dream (the first dream) I asked Matthew if we could go visit Andrew and for Samuel to meet his other Uncle. It had been about six years since I been here. I am surprised that we found it without any help from anyone. Samuel was hungry so while Matthew went to find some help, Samuel and I walked the grounds while I fed him a bottle of breast milk. I found the baby part of the cemetery then Matthew helped us find Andrew's place. 


As tradition, we brought Andrew a toy. I wanted to bring plastic soldiers but we could not find any at Target so we thought that an angry birds Hot Wheels car would do. I found a really old toy we once brought last time we were here. 

After we said "hello" to Andrew, I walked about the other grave plots because I wanted Samuel to sleep before we put him back into the car seat, Samuel is not too fond of his car seat... Walking about helped rocked him to sleep plus the fresh air always did us good.
I wonder why some parents did not have headstones for their babies that died. Some places just had a piece of paper saying baby "John". I wonder if they could not afford a head stone or maybe they were so sadden by the death of their child that they could not buy a head stone...Maybe 

Some of the head stones had pictures of their precious baby. Some of them toddlers, some just tiny babies born too soon, some infants. I wonder what happened, what was their story. As I walked by them I would say a little prayer for their family. I could not imagine what they went through. 

I would have to say after visiting Andrew (and the other babies) I am going to treasure my sweet Samuel that much more and be so thankful that he is healthy and every day is truly a gift from God. I will remind myself of this when he is screaming and I am getting tired of holding a crying baby. I will be thankful that I have this precious screaming baby in my arms and I look forward to the many more times I get to hold this baby (screaming or not).

Sorry if this post creeped anyone out ;-) It took me a long time to be okay going to visit a cemetery, hope I did not offend anyone with this blog post. 

In loving memory of my brother, Andrew Anthony Lewis who would have been 25 this year.
 
Or in my case, having a baby around!

I was looking at my calendar today and had to take a step back. I know it is not already October? It cannot be! I thought we just started this year! Three more months and this year will be over and done with! Ahhhhhhh!

The weather has notice (finally) how late it is in the year and now it is starting to get cooler! Last two days I actually had to put on a jacket! It also has been raining on and off so our grass is green! Fall is my favorite season plus my favorite holiday is coming up! Thanksgiving!!! You thought I was going to say Christmas eh? :) 

    
Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday since I was very little. I love the smell of food baking in the kitchen, the wind blowing the golden leaves outside, my dad yelling at the TV because his sport team made a bad move. 

This year we get to share it with our sweet boy! He will still just get milk but I am sure he will enjoy the holiday as well! I am still planning on what he will wear that day!

So what have we been up to? Last Friday Matthew and I went on a date. I am discovering how annoying it is to try and eat out when you have to avoid a certain food or in my case a whole food group. 

On our date we ate out then went to the movies and saw Hotel Transylvania! We really did not expect that movie to be as funny as it was but Matthew and I were rolling in our seats the whole time!
Matthew and I were shocked at how many parents had their little ones at the movie theater at 11 o'clock at night! There was even a tiny baby in front of us! I know we would never have our babies out that late! 

Our parents watched Samuel for us, after him not sleeping all day and being cranky because of it, Samuel slept the whole five hours were were gone! He slept until we brought him home! I wished I knew that he would just sleep the whole time because then I would have not bothered to pack anything for him! It would have made leaving much easier and quicker!

Saturday Matthew and I went shopping all day and we got presents for Samuel's grandparents.

(Picture below is us at a deli on Saturday, see the blonde kid in the mirror? He got all excited about seeing a baby and then his parents were asking if he would like a baby too ;)   )
The presents are thank-you presents for watching him for us. We got them three pictures (the first picture of this blog is one of them and the others are below) with picture frames. I have to say the one of my Mom and Samuel made me laugh! They turned out pretty good I think!
On Monday (yesterday) my Mom took Samuel and I out for the day to go dress shopping for Cherilyn's and Ben's wedding! Samuel and I took a nice nap in the car while my Mom visited a daycare center for her job. Samuel was up and fed by the time she got back. 

Then we went to Denny's for lunch. All the waitresses were talking to Samuel telling him what a good baby he was. I love when other people brag about their kids! You can really see how much they love their kids and it is too cute!

After that we went dress shopping! I tried on 20 dresses and finally found the one! It looks amazing on me! I am excited to try it on again soon! I shall have to post a picture later! 

Since it took a long time to find the dress we drove home from Waco to our house where Matthew was waiting for us.. He cooked some really yummy steaks! And that was our Monday!

Today I am on a cleaning frenzy while Samuel is taking a nice long nap. I love cleaning! Love a clean house and love when Samuel takes long naps ha ha ha. 

Later tonight we are going running! I am excited, we have not ran in two weeks! I am trying to get back down to my goal weight so I am starting to eat healthier and hopefully exercise more! 

See how blue my son's eyes are?! I hope they stay blue! They are the same color as his Papaw's, my dad's, eye color.

So that is what happened last week and yesterday. 

How is Samuel doing with his reflex and breast milk? Reflex wise he is still throwing up a lot. I forgot to give him his meds in the morning and he was throwing up a lot. Last night he soaked us while we watched TV! But screaming wise he is still has not done his pain crying! Whoot!

He is still trying to figure out this whole breast feeding but he is nursing half the time and the other half he is taking a bottle. I am hoping a visit from the lactation consultant will help us to only nurse!  


He he he, my son is doing the "duh!" face! Or Face palm.... he looks cute ha ha ha!

Well, I better get back to cleaning before my little guy wakes up! Hopefully Matthew will post soon! I keep on bugging him to post but he keeps on forgetting ;)

 
(Saturday, September 29th 2012.)

The title says it all! Our little boy went off of formula yesterday evening and he has had about 15 ounces of just breast milk! So far, so good. Only thing different we have notice is he has been more awake.... which is a good thing and a bad thing. It is always good to see your sweet baby smiling, even if it means waking up at 3am and staying up (bad for our sleep). 



*Update* 

Well, my baby woke up and I forgot to finish this blog entry! I call my forgetfulness my "Mommy moments". 

So Samuel has been on breast milk for 4 whole days now and so far he is doing fantastic! He has been more awake and more clingy to Matthew and I.
 I try putting him down and he cries but as soon as we pick him back up he is a happy camper.


A couple of people have commented that he looks like me her.e 
I think he at least looks like we are related to each other ; )

 On Sunday we went to Austin to shop at Costco. I have not been to a Costco in forever (since I lived in Washington State over 7 years ago). To say that it is confusing shopping place is an understatement! I had no idea where anything was and I could not tell what they had to offer because it seemed that you were on a manhunt the whole time! They did not have their aisles labeled other than it being aisle 1,2,3 ext.

I did notice that their prices were cheaper than our local food market and I like the fact that we could buy in bulk. We spent more than I wanted to but I think we saved some money. I had Samuel dressed as a pirate (see two photos up) and we got a ton of comments on his "I've got a loaded booty" saying on his butt. 

While we were there a little girl saw Samuel and scream "Baby, baby, baby!" and ran up to Samuel ( we were sitting down at the time) and gave him a hug. I thought it was rather cute and almost laughed when the father told her not to hug stranger's babies! Samuel seemed to enjoy the hug as well :)

Then we went to eat at a taco place. Samuel was giggling the whole time we were there. I know he will be labeled as the loud baby soon! Ha ha ha! We swear he can already say "mum" and "oh?". 

After that, we went to David's Bridal to look at dresses for Ben's and Cherilyn's wedding that is coming up soon! I found a dress that was pretty but it was not the one. I am trying to find a black dress with no bling on it (because it is Cherilyn's day to shine!), which is hard to do, I am finding out. Matthew said we shall try again in a couple of weeks without Samuel (gives me more time to loose weight!). We were the only people in the store because it was 10 mins till closing and the ladies were making pirate jokes because of Samuel. 
Our pirate fell asleep while waiting for us to finish up (Don't worry, his straps are loose because he is not in the car and we wanted him comfy for a moment) 

Over all our trip was very fun and I think it wore Samuel out because he went to bed at ten and stayed asleep till 7! Which I was so thankful for because I stayed up till 1 am. I was behind on my work and needed to catch up. I hope that him sleeping till 7 am stays a trend! Matthew and I need the extra sleep when we can get it!

Now onto today.... (this is what happens when you get stopped mid-blogged)


Samuel has been nursing for two days now! Ahhhhh! I am so happy! All I have to do is nurse him! No bottles, no pumps, no heating up milk or formula, no measuring, no crying baby while I am getting food ready. I just sat down and gave him straight from the tap! 

(Thought to show everyone that yes, we still have a dog and we still do care about our "first born".)



One benefit of nursing is that Samuel falls asleep after he is done so I don't have to pick him up and bounce him till he falls asleep or keep on sticking a paci in his mouth. I am looking forward to being glued to the couch for many days to come!

So, over all, I am super happy with where we are right now. Samuel is a much happier baby, he is crying for maybe an hour a day total, he is sleeping so much better and Mommy and Daddy are finally able to relax! 

If we just had to cut out dairy and watch what I eat to have a happy Samuel, then that is what we shall do! A baby who barely cries, cutting out dairy is a simple thing to do.