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Tuesday, January 11, 2011

11 weeks old...

Hey, here's an interesting fact -- Deacon is 11 weeks old today, on 1/11/11.  That's pretty cool, right?  Anyways, it's so hard to believe that this much time has passed...he's growing so much and really entertaining us.  :)

He smiles on demand now -- he will almost always smile at me or Jeff when we play with him or talk to him.  He really likes it when folks talk to him and will seemingly try to talk back.  His gurgling and cooing is SO.cute.

[7 weeks]

[8 weeks]

[9 weeks]

We get to see a lot of that laughing and "talking" in the morning -- he seems the happiest then.  Typically, I try to get him up by 7am to eat, if he's not already awake.  Then he spends some time with Daddy in our bed while I get a shower, have my coffee, start laundry, etc.  He generally eats every 3 hours after that with good awake time and naps in between. 

[happy guy in his crib, 9 weeks]

He LOVES the swing that we borrowed from our good friends, the Olds'.  That is our "go-to" -- if he's fussy, we can usually put him in that and he's good to go.  :)  He falls asleep in it most of the time and will sleep really good.

We also have a bouncy seat that he'll sit in for a little while -- after some time passes, he gets tired of that.  I do try to put him on his tummy for a little bit but he usually gets tired of that real quick.  If he's gonna be on his tummy, it has to be right after he's eaten.  If we wait too long, he's starting to fade into sleepiness and then he has NO patience for being on his tummy.

[9.5 weeks]

His 2 month check up at the pediatrician's office was Dec 30.  He weighed in at 11 lbs, 13 oz!  That's in the 63rd percentile for weight so he's pretty average.  His length measured at 22 1/4 inches which puts him in the 54th percentile.  Again, average.  I'm just fine with that.  :)

He had to have a couple of vaccines at this appt. *frowny face*  He got one stick and one oral vaccine and did fine with both.  He only cried for a couple of seconds after the stick in his leg and then was just fine.  Mommy had a harder time with it than Deacon did.  :)  Yeah, he didn't have any kind of side effects or anything for the rest of the day, either.  He's my tough little guy.

[my little guy's bandaid, 9 weeks]

I went back to work last week. *extreme frowny face*  My heart's desire since I was a little girl has been to stay home with my kids, just like my mom did for us.  I desperately wanted that to work out but it just isn't our reality right now.  However, God did the next best thing for me -- He worked it out so that 1) I'm able to work from home Thursdays & Fridays and 2) a good friend, who is a wonderful mommy to her 2 young boys, is able to keep Deacon for us in her home Mon-Wed while I'm in the office.

The transition back to work went SO much better than I could've ever hoped for!  I actually have not cried once since going back to work (though, I've gotten slightly emotional just once) and Deacon has done fantastically at Krystal's house.  I was so busy while at the office last week that I didn't have time to be sad (though I thought about Deacon a lot :) and then being home with him Thursday & Friday was great.  AND I was able to get everything done for work.  Best of both worlds!

We really couldn't ask for more from Krystal -- she used to teach before she made the decision to stay home with her boys so she's wonderful with kids, no matter their age.  And she says she's already grown to love Deacon just like one of her own.  :)  She gives us a "report card" each day when I pick up Deacon so we can see what he's been up to throughout the day.  What a sweet momento if I have to be away from him!

It's really just the perfect scenario -- I know that my God worked all that out.  It helps this Mommy's heart.

[10 weeks]

[10.5 weeks]

[11 weeks]

Saturday, January 8, 2011

Deacon's 1st Christmas...

We celebrated Deacon's first Christmas at my Mom & Dad's house in Lexington.  It was there that my brother, sister-in-law and niece finally got to meet him, as well as my grandparents, Deacon's great-grandparents.

Our 4-hour trip to my parents' house went well -- we stopped 2 hours in to feed the kid and change his diaper. He did good with that.  When we weren't stopped, he pretty much snoozed the whole way.

Deacon did great away from home -- my parents set up a pack-n-play in my Dad's office and he slept just fine in there at night.  For naps, he slept wherever we were.  My mom was stocked with diapers & wipes so we didn't have to bring any with us.  We packed enough clothes that we didn't have to do laundry so that was good.  I wasn't sure how I was going to do with the whole packing-for-a-baby thing but I guess it turned out okay.  :)

Even only 2 months in, Deacon seems to be a pretty laid back kid so he really just rolled with whatever came down the pike over the weekend.  So grateful for that -- he gets that from his Daddy and that's what I prayed & prayed for!  :)

It was a special weekend and the numerous photos that were taken tell the story pretty well:

[my jolly boy says, "Merry Christmas!"]

[Deacon & his Grammy, my mom]


[Deacon & his great-grandmother, my Gram]

[Deacon & his great-grandfather, my Buppa]

[Cora Beth meeting her cousin for the first time...]


[...and she loves him :) ]

[Deacon with his Aunt Brandi]

[helping Aunt Lindsay give out the presents]

[stopping to check on Deacon :) ]

[Cora Beth's fave gift -- a HANDMADE-by-my-Buppa rocking horse]

[all the kiddos]

[such a sweet little helper :) ]

[cousins]

[it was a white Christmas with 3-4 inches of snow!]

[my brother, his girl and their snowman :) ]

[2 months old]

**For more photos of our weekend, click here.**