It's almost Christmas! December is flying and Eston is growing! He got his 6 month shots yesterday, and was so tough. After 3 sticks he only cried for about 3 seconds. I picked him up to hold him and he stopped immediately. Even the nurse said that was a quick recovery. Maybe I'm just so comforting...ha! He wants to look around and is so observant. So he was checking out the nurses and what they are doing. It is very fun to watch him bend his neck to get a good view.

He also started a new daycare yesterday. We were sad to leave his teachers, but they were moving him up to the next room anyway. We weren't comfortable with the new teacher and thought it was time to change. The new place is within walking distance to my work. And one of his friends from his old class moved also. So there is a familiar face.

We attempted to take a Christmas picture this past weekend. Very hard to get two dogs and a 6 month old to look at the camera and sit still. I challenge anyone to try! By the end of it, Zoe was a nervous wreck, Eston was crying, Travis was grumpy and I was about in tears. Of course, Alli, the camera veteran, was totally content.

Merry Christmas to everyone!!

Eston's first Thanksgiving! Aunt Whitney and I were jumping up and down in front of him, and he thought that was hysterical. He was giggling away.
Looks like he's ready to go hunting, huh? Thanks Aunt Whitney and Uncle Corey for the cute camo!

Happy Thanksgiving! Eston is enjoying eating bananas and sweet potatoes. He still loves playing in his saucer, and is drooling like a faucet. If there are teeth trying to come in, I wish they'd hurry up! He doesn't look anything like his dad, does he... ;-)

But I think he may have my feet! :-)

King of the world!!!!

Here is Eston (aka Charlie Brown) at Halloween.

Here he is with our next door neighbor Amber.

Here he is with Angie Ellington. (Corey's sister in law.) She's pregnant and went as a speed bump!
Here's Charlie Brown with Sam Traxson. Sam was a monkey for Halloween but doesn't have his ears on for this picture.
Even though we didn't get to see some of our other friends on Halloween, I wanted to post the cute pictures. Here is Gillian Carter. I loved Strawberry Shortcake when I was little! I had several of the dolls.
Here is Dr. Gabriel Carter who just lost his first tooth!

And Tatum and Stratton Smith as a leopard and a firefighter. I love Halloween...fun!

5 months old -- Eston posing for a picture with Alli and Zoe. He's not sitting on his own, he's propped up in the crease of the couch! He's playing in his saucer in the second picture. He just started that about a week ago. It's so neat to see him playing and interacting. We also started food! He's eating cereal and bananas. And of course, loves it!

Eston's 4 month checkup went well. He's weighing in at 16 pounds. 25 inches. One of his daycare teachers keeps commenting on how "thick" he is. Nice way of saying how chubby he is. But it's cute! He loves to eat. Last weekend, we noticed he has thrush. The medicine the doc gave him for it is supposed to be bitter. It's a liquid gel and he eats it like it tastes just fine! He's not picky! Something tells me he's going to take after his dad and eat anything and alot of it. We'll see. He's been sleeping much longer (except for the past few days, which I think he hasn't been his normal self). Some nights it's from 8-9 pm until 5-6 am! Woohoo! We're so happy on those mornings.

I can't believe it's been so long since the last post. Seems like it was just last week. Time flies! Eston is doing great. He's gaining weight and chunky. He's wearing 6-9 month clothes mainly to get them to fit around the waist. The pants are too long, so we have to roll them up. He has slept through the night a couple of times. Mainly on the weekends when he doesn't nap as much as he does at daycare during the week. So, he's more tired. But normally he is still waking up at 2, 3, or 4 in the morning starving! He sucks down bottles like he's never been fed before. He's smiling so much more. And cooing more. It's fun to have a little interaction with him. He's keeping us busy! His 4 month dr appt is next Tues. Hopefully that will go well.

Here are a couple of pictures we took outside tonight. And look, Alli and Zoe made the pic! The last one is of him in another "big boy" outfit...real shorts and a shirt!

Sleep

Eston slept from 9 pm until 4 am Tuesday night and also Wednesday night! That's a long time! 7 hours! The first night, I thought was just a fluke. Travis did get up around 3 to check on him, because we were both a little worried. Daycare may be wearing him out! Although they say he takes good naps there. Hopefully this is a lasting trend.

The second day of school didn't go so well. We forgot his swaddle blanket that is necessary for naps. So, he hardly slept all day. He also didn't eat as much as he normally does, so that meant he was hungry and tired. He cried most of the day. However, the third day was so much better. He napped and ate well. He is doing well with this transition.

Here is a picture of him in shorts and a shirt...big boy clothes-not a onesie! He's getting chunky! Check out the round Charlie Brown face.

I just realized that most of the pictures I've posted have Eston sleeping. He really doesn't sleep all that much! That's just when we have a free second to grab the camera.

Today is Eston's first day at school and my first day back to work. I made Travis take him this morning so I didn't get too sad and arrive at work in tears. I've done well! Trav said Eston was happy this morning and he sat him in a swing. I stopped by at lunch and he was sleeping. Sounds like his morning went well!

Well, everyone at my mom's office said he's getting chunky. I guess she had told them all he was skinny. Not anymore! He's definitely filling out. What else is going on....He starts school Tuesday when I go back to work. He's been sleeping in his crib and in the car seat for naps and at night. He's started smiling at us a little bit when we talk to him. It's been so hot, we can't go outside much to sit on the deck or go for walks. The second picture is him sitting in his bumbo seat a few weeks ago.

He's growing! At the doctor yesterday he weighed 11 lbs 5 ounces. They didn't give me a percentile but said that was about average for his age. Next time I will ask. But I figured that was pretty good for being so early and for having stomach surgery. He has started to grab some things...my hair when I lay him on the changing pad. He's become so much more observant too. Loves to look around, especially outside. And he's smiling...kinda random, but it's a smile!! His new place to sleep is in his car seat. We've put him on the dryer with it running or anywhere else there is noise. The stove fan in the kitchen works well also!

Here are some photos we had taken when Eston was almost 3 weeks old.

Eston's Grandma Sandy and Grandpa Mike are here! They came in Sunday and will be staying with us all week. Eston's loving it because there are more people to hold him! He's constantly wanting to be held and gets very cranky when you let him down. In the first picture he's telling Grandma all about it!

He loves for me to wear him around in the the Baby Bjorn carrier that Sammie lent us. He usually falls asleep with all the movement as I walk and get some things done around the house.

Eston's doing good. He's eating good. We're sleeping 3-4 hours at a time during the night. He wakes up hungry and seems to have a very big appetite! Travis took the tape off of his incision without much fuss. And we are back to sponge bathing him for 2 weeks so the incision doesn't get too wet. He's got some junk in his throat that makes him sound like a little monster when he breathes sometimes. The Drs said it was from esophagus irritation...both acid and from tubes down it during surgery. They said it should be gone by last weekend but it's still there. Hopefully it will go away soon. I think it might bug him a little since he doesn't know how to clear his throat.

Hope everyone has a happy 4th of July!

Yesterday Eston was back to eating his normal amounts! He did so good! His appetite is back and he kept it down. Just a little spit up, but that was normal. He slept better last night and this morning. So, it looks like he is on the mend. His incision looks good. However, it has a large piece of clear tape on it. I am so dreading peeling that off! I may make Trav do that one! Ouch. Hopefully that piece of tape isn't the only thing holding his little tummy together. He's got a cough that they said was normal from the irritation of having things stuck down his throat and from all the vomiting. He was so well behaved during the whole hospital stay. He was calm when the nurses would poke on him. They tried six times to get an IV in and ended up putting it in his head. I may be wrong, but I think his personality is going to be pretty easy going and laid back from what I saw in the hospital. The only time he got upset was when we couldn't feed him for a day and a half. That would make me mad too! I know his dad gets irritated when he doesn't eat! Anyway, we go back to the surgeon next Thurs for a follow up appointment. Thank you to everyone that has called and e-mailed us.

We're home

Eston had surgery Tuesday around 1 pm. It went fine and he has recovered well. We had to feed him small amounts every 2 hours through the night, and after keeping feedings down, they let us go home tonight around 7 pm. Yea! It is great to be home!

Surgery

Eston's had a rough couple of days. Started Fri night. He began vomiting the milk we gave him. He continued this through Sun so we took him to the ER Sun night. We were admitted to the hospital about midnight that night. He has pyloric stenosis, which is where the bottom of the stomach narrows/swells extremely as it goes to the small intestine (in my layman's terms). Hardly anything is getting through and the rest is thrown up. He was hooked up to an IV (in his head) Monday afternoon. We are scheduled for surgery today (Tues), hopefully around noon. I had this same surgery when I was 6 weeks old. It appears in white first born males and is hereditary. The drs said he should be back to eating normal in 2-3 days.

Family

I didn't realize it had been so long since I last posted. Time is flying. My days fly by. Let's see what have we done since the last post...eat, poop, sleep, cry, eat, poop, sleep, etc!

Uncle Corey stopped by on his way through town on business, long enough to feed Eston a bottle, but somehow got out the door before the diaper got changed! Hmmm, we'll have to be quicker next time.

On Father's day we ventured out on our first out of town trip! We went to Marshall to see Eston's great grandpa (Troy). He also got to meet his great-great aunt (Jesse)and great-great uncle (Bob). He did great on the trip. Slept on the car ride there and back and as you can see he was held the whole time he was there. Needless to say he slept NONE that night! Oh well, he's only little once! Here's also a picture of him with Travis on Trav's first father's day.

Bouncy Seat Pics

He really doesn't look all that happy does he? He does like the bouncy seat especially with the toy bar on there. When the camera flashes he doesn't like the bright light, so maybe that's what's making him look like I'm torturing him! :-) Look at those long skinny legs!

ZZzzzzz...

The week has flown! It's amazing how fast the day goes by when you are up for most of it. And showers in the morning are a thing of the past! My mom leaves to go home today. I'm exhausted from being up during the nights and that was with her taking a night shift also. What are we going to do when there is one less person? Travis had a great quote the other night...It takes a village to raise a child! So true at this house the past week or so! It has taken all of us together to keep Eston fed, diapered, bathed, and cuddled.

Very Busy Week

Wow! Where do I start? Last Friday, the 18th, I had a wonderful shower at work. We got so many nice things from everyone I work with. Then, on Saturday, Aunt Whitney, Uncle Corey, my sorority sister Heather and her husband Martin, our friends Mike and Tina, and friends Mitzi and Tim hosted a BBQ shower for us at M&T's house. We had a great time seeing so many of our friends and hanging out. I'll post my last picture of me pregnant that was taken at the shower. I was at 35 weeks. (Supposedly!) Now on to Tuesday morning....

I got up and was ready to leave for work when at 7:30, my water broke. Travis had just walked out the door and I rushed out to see if I could still catch him in the drive. He was backing out and hit the garage door button to go down. Standing in the doorway, I hit it to go back up and was waving at him frantically trying to get his attention. Well, he hit the button to go down. I hit it to go up. Again this happened. Finally, I decided it was no use, and ran in to find my phone to call him. He got out of the truck and went to see if something was in the way of the door from closing. Then stumped got back in the truck to try again!


So, after getting his attention and scrambling around to pack some things together for the hospital, we took off. Of course, we were not prepared for this and didn't even have the car seat in the car. I started having contractions, that were getting very close together. By the time we arrived, I could barely walk. I was already dilated to 5-6. Anesthesiologist no where in site. After getting to a 9, and screaming my head off, the OB Dr felt sorry for me I guess, and attempted the epidural himself. Bless him. But it didn't work right. :-( Then, the anesthesiologist arrived and took it out and gave me a spinal block. After 2 hours of pushing, and some forecep assistance, Eston was born at 2:19 pm.



18.5 inches long, 6 lbs, 12 oz. OB Dr and pediatrician said he's more like a 37 week baby. Everything checked out fine. I stayed in the hospital until Thursday evening. We're all exhausted, but doing good. He goes to the Dr tomorrow for his one week checkup.