Theo is going to be 10 weeks on Tuesday!

Can you believe it?! 10 weeks!!

It feels as though we waited an eternity to hold him in our arms and now it feels that time is just slipping through our fingers.

But my goodness, I know we don't even need to tell you that we are loving and soaking up every moment with this little guy!

So many people have told us, "It gets better after the newborn stage" but I'm loving the newborn stage. Everyday is more exciting then the last, and I must confess I was so sad when he graduated from "newborn" size diapers (which was only a week ago).

Now sure, we're tired and we've certainly had our Noah moments and mini meltdowns but these have been some of the best 10 weeks of our lives! It's been quite the turn around from where we were last year with losing Noah. You know, it still feels like yesterday and we still miss him with our whole hearts! It makes me so sad to think that I wont be able to see my boys playing and growing together here on this earth; but praise God we'll see him again!

As many of you know, Theo's birth wasn't quite what we had expected. It's a very long story and I won't get into it all now but I'll give you the condensed version.

We had planned for as natural a c-section as possible. I wanted to do immediate skin to skin and have him with me in recovery to start breastfeeding but things didn't quite go as planned. Theo was having just a bit of trouble breathing and had to be taken to the nursery, but thankfully Theo was ok and the more he cried the better he was and Tim was able to stay with him the entire time to do skin to skin with him until I was out of recovery. 

Also during the c-section I had a brain bleed/stroke. I didn't really notice until a day later; I had very bad coordination with the right side of my body; I couldn't text, my thought to speech was all jumbled, I couldn't write and a few other things. But honestly the worst of it all was that I couldn't take my baby home because I had to be transferred to another hospital that had a neurology center.

For 9 months I waited to take my healthy baby boy home and at that moment that experience was stolen from me! I sobbed as they took me down to Intensive Care to await a transfer. Thankfully my mom, Tim and Theo were able to stay with me for the 4 and 1/2 days I was in the other hospital.

Friends I really must tell you, the enemy really does come to steal, kill, and destroy! But Praise God that Christ came so that we may have life and life abundantly!!!

Long story short after 4 days filled with cat scans, an angiogram, and an MRI that I had to be totally knocked out and have Tim hold my hand for the whole time to do (I hate MRI's, with a passion), none of the Doctors could tell me why exactly, it had happened, but of course they have their "theories" that it could have been the increase of blood during the pregnancy (though I never had high blood pressure), or dehydration, or a combination, but they never found any blood clots or any actual cause. 

During my own research I found that it could have been caused by the spinal given before the c-section because the anesthesiologist gave it to me twice! He gave me the first then said that he missed the right side of my body and had to give it to me again! Of course when I mentioned this to any doctor they immediately blew it off and said that couldn't happen, which I'm assuming is because they don't want a lawsuit but really, who knows. At this point I'm just trusting in God for my perfect healing; He is the Great Physician, the God who heals, so why rely on man when I have Him!

As of two weeks after Theo was born I have everything that I'd lost back. Occasionally I've had small headaches but I'm trusting in God for those to be gone too and for complete healing! 

The c-section has actually healed a lot better than with Noah. But my body is way more worn down and weak this time. I'm finding it harder to get my energy up to get moving and I've been having knee pain, which I've never had in my life. But i believe with time, proper nutrition, and exercise I'll be better then before my pregnancies with the boys!

I'm going to start with just walking exercises and eating nutritious meals and snacks an go from there. I'm hoping that will help me shed this baby weight too, cause it has no desire to leave.

I'll update everyone on my progress and how I'm reaching my goals. 

So, anyways enough of that and onto Theo!

He now weighs right around 10lbs which is quite a jump from his 6 pound 10 ounce birth weight!

When he was born they measured him at 17 and 1/2 inches but a couple days later he had his first pediatricians appointment and measured at 19 and 1/2 inches so unless he grew 2 inches in a couple of days, I'm assuming the hospital measured him wrong.

He's now at 21 1/2 inches!!

Routine: 

HA!

There's really no routine right now, we've just been trying to get enough sleep to function but now that he's a bit older we're going to start trying to get him on a good routine. I think it might be better for all of us. But who knows, we might just wind up throwing the whole routine idea out the window.

He loves his nighttime baths though too so that's probably going to help us get a nighttime routine going.

Do any of you have any advice on starting a good routine with a baby?

Sleeping:

We have been blessed with a great sleeper

Let me tell you, this boy LOVES to eat and sleep! Since about 5 weeks old He's been sleeping at least 5 hours a night in one stretch and thankfully since I'm staying home with him I can nap when he does during the day! My house on the other hand is a total disaster but we're all happy and healthy so really who cares =)

Eating/Feeding/Diapers:

As I said he LOVES to eat... all the time =)

I'm mostly breastfeeding but a couple times a week we'll give him pumped breast milk.

Breastfeeding is going great; totally worth the work in the beginning!

As far as diaper favorite disposables right now are the seventh generation chemical free! He has extremely sensitive skin so huggies and pampers give him rashes =(

We're also starting to use Gro-Via cloth diapers during the day, unless we're out and about, then we use disposables. We were going to use them from birth but he was too small for them, but they're actually really easy, Way less gross then I thought it would be and he does really well with them!

Sizes:

He's still mostly in newborn but we're noticing everyday another outfit is getting to small, mainly because he's so long!

He's still a bit too small for 3 months clothes but he's fitting into 0-3 month pretty well. 

On another note I am utterly astonished at the amount of laundry that someone so small can produce!

Really, please tell me how his whole outfit is soaked but his diaper is dry? It's baffling!

Milestones:

Theo's definitely starting to become more aware of his surroundings and his vision is getting stronger. He'll watch us as we move throughout a room and when he's playing in his little gym he'll watch one of the little birdies as they circle around and talk to it.

His personality is starting to shine through as well now. Let me tell you this little boy is a talker, his favorite times to converse are when we're changing his diaper and when he's in his gym and he certainly has a lot to say!

Oh and of course the first time he smiled was at his daddy and not his mommy who had been trying relentlessly for a week to get even a smirk; but oh my goodness what a smile it was!!

This little boy brings us so much joy!

We're going to try to do updates every 2 weeks so if there's anything you'd like us to include in the update just let us know =)