Deacon -- week 2...

Yep, still behind.  I have a feeling that will be the story of my life from here on out... :)

Just wanted to post the highlights of Deacon's 2nd week in our lives; again, it may be random:

We took Deacon on his first "outing" at 8 days old.  We went to Jacksonville to Target and to Mongolian BBQ for lunch.  Then Jeff dropped me & Deacon off at his office so I could feed him and Jeff and my mom & dad hit Babies R Us and Sam's.  Deacon did really well -- he slept through Target and lunch.

I mentioned my mom & dad -- we were blessed to have them here with us for 2 weeks, from just a couple of days before Deacon was born until he was 10 days old.  They were a HUGE help to me & Jeff, doing laundry, cooking meals, taking the trash out, cleaning off the porch, etc.  It was wonderful to have them here with us to help, but they also were able to enjoy some quality time with their brand new grandson, too, and I know they loved that.

[10 days old, with Grammy & Grandpa]

At 10 days old, Jeff and I left Deacon with some friends while we went out to eat.  We had read in a book that it was important to get out without our child sometime in the first 2 weeks for the sake of our marriage and staying connected  and it was surprisingly easy to do.  The book suggested we talk about anything BUT Deacon and we did pretty well with that.  Deacon did great at Chase & Hayley's -- incidentally, they are expecting their first child, a boy, mid-December so this was great practice for them.  And I think Deacon initiated Hayley right off the bat by peeing on her.  Welcome to my world.  :)

[10 days old, headed to Chase & Hayley's]

I gotta tell you, that dinner out with my husband did wonders for me.  I was really starting to feel disconnected from him, almost mourning the life we'd had and what our marriage had been like just a week and a half before.  Of course, all your attention is focused on this little one for awhile -- it's the way it has to be until you get the hang of it and get more comfortable at this parenting thing -- so I was starting to feel so far removed from the life that we'd had for the past 12 years.  Just sharing a meal with him and talking about other stuff was just what I needed.  And we plan to take advantage of all the others who've been saying, "Hey, anytime you guys need a sitter..."  It's the best thing we can do for our son...keeping our marriage strong.

[11 days old]

Deacon's cord stump came off at 11 days old.  Jeff changed his diaper and noticed that it was gone -- he looked around and found it in his onesie that morning.  Since that thing's gone and his circumcision is healed up (no more A&D ointment!), diaper changes are so much quicker & easier!  Which is a good thing cuz he HATES having his diaper changed...

We took Deacon to church for the first time at 12 days old.  His little outfit was the cutest thing -- one that Grammy had picked up for him a few days before at BRU.  Everyone at church just fell in love with him, of course.  And he did great as long as someone was holding him -- which everyone wanted to do.  :)

[12 days old, ready for church]

He took his first trip to Lowe's at 12 days old.  Jeff was so excited to show him around his fave store but he pretty much just slept right through it.  Oh, well.  One of these days, Deacon will be begging for Daddy to take him to Lowe's with him.  :)

After we hit Lowe's, we went down to our local mexican restaurant in Surf City.  Jeff and I both love us some mexican food so this kid is bound to like it, too.  He's at least going to eat it a lot.  :)

[12 days old, at Camino Real in Surf City]

[13 days old]

Our baby boy slept in his crib all night at 13 days old.  He obviously didn't sleep through the night -- we have a while before that starts happening -- but he slept in there the whole night between me getting him up to feed him a couple of times.  He's also sleeping in there for some naps, too.  Jeff is so thrilled that Deacon likes the crib Daddy made for him.  :)

[13 days old]

[14 days old]

do we HAVE everything?

I got an article in my inbox today entitled "Diaper-Bag Essentials" (from whattoexpect.com) and I thought it had some pretty good information in it.

That cute diaper bag you got at your baby shower (or bought yourself!) probably wasn’t meant to be stuffed until bursting at the seams. Well, the good news is that there’s no need to overpack and lug around a bag that weighs a ton. The following items are pretty much all you need when you’re out and about with your baby. Just be sure to restock when you get home, so you’re never without these diaper-bag essentials.

Diapers. Obvious, yes, but how many you pack depends on how long you’re going to be out, how old your baby is, and how he’s feeling. (if you’re heading to the doctor because your baby has diarrhea, for instance, pack several so you’re prepared for a maximum number of changes.) And don’t forget to follow the plus-one rule: Always pack one more diaper than you think you’ll need.

Wipes. Tuck them in a reclosable plastic bag or case to use during diaper changes. But don’t just relegate them to tushy cleanup. Wipes are handy for cleaning your own hands before and after diaper duty and can be used to remove spit-up and baby-food stains from clothes and furniture.

Diaper cream or ointment. It’s a good idea to carry around a tube of ointment or cream to use as a layer of protection to help prevent a diaper rash from developing — or to soothe your baby’s bottom in case one develops.

Changing pad. Most diaper bags come with a pad, so don’t leave home without it — especially if you’re going somewhere that doesn’t have a changing table (like Grandma’s house). If your bag doesn’t come with a pad, add your own, but choose one with a washable or wipe-off cover. In a pinch, you can always use a towel or cloth diaper, but be careful — they aren’t waterproof and won’t be able to adequately protect carpets or furniture.

Extras. Depending on how long you’re planning to be out, be sure to pack a bib, burping cloth, a ziplock bag for dirty diapers, and a bottle of formula if you’re not breastfeeding. Consider packing a replacement outfit for your baby if he’s prone to spitting up or tends to produce diaper blowouts (lucky you!). And don’t forget a bottle of water and snack for you. (And if the diaper bag’s doing double-duty as your purse, toss in a small bag where you can stash your cash, keys, and cell — that way you won’t be rooting around for your essentials when you need ’em.)

I do actually already have my diaper bag.  I registered for one at Babies R Us when we were there but wasn't "gung-ho" on it -- it was just there and I liked it the best of all that I saw in the store.  I knew I needed one so I zapped had Jeff zap it with the gun.

Since registering for that one at BRU, I was in a Walmart when we last visited my family and they had one that was PERFECT.  It was cute, not too big and most importantly, was the right color scheme.  :)  

Some of you know how I like to coordinate.

Due to that personality flaw trait, I snatched that bag right up (and removed the one from the BRU registry -- before anyone could buy it)!  This is what it looks like:

And if you will recall this post and this one, you will totally see why THAT is the perfect color scheme.

Ready to start filling it with all the stuff they said I need!

labor of love...

My wonderful husband has been "living" in the workshop recently, working tirelessly on our son's dresser.  It has been hard work and he's put in a lot of hours but I think he really enjoyed himself and is pleased with the finished result.  I know I am.  I couldn't be any more proud with out my heart just bursting right out of my chest (I think I may have said that a time or two about my husband and his talents. :)

I tried to document, in photos, the process of building this big, beautiful dresser -- I thought that would be kinda fun to look at, see how it evolved...

Is it not gorgeous??  Aside from our coffee table (my Christmas present 4 years ago), this is the biggest thing that Jeff has built for us so far.  He did an incredible job on this thing -- I mean, it looks like we picked it up from the store and put it together, it's so professional looking.

But no.  I take that back.  It looks WAY BETTER than the one in the store.  I know because I saw it the other night when we were at Babies R Us.  See, I found a crib & dresser set that I liked there and then Jeff took off with it, tweaking it and customizing it to make it into what I really wanted.  That's his specialty.  :)  The original had 3 drawers on the left and a cabinet with a shelf on the right.  We thought we might use the drawers more so we went with that.

Now, if you ask me, he started on this WAY too late.  But I think Jeff must work better under pressure.  To get ready, he took some photos, wrote down some dimensions, made some notes and then got to work.  A month and a half later, THIS is what we have:

This is just perfect.  It's exactly the color I wanted it to be and we have plenty of space in each drawer for Deacon's sweet, tiny little things.  :)  Jeff even built in 2 secret drawers above the top 2 drawers with pulls -- for a fun 5 year old to keep his baseball cards or GI Joes in.  Or whatever.  :)  Whatever boys like to keep in secret drawers.  As long as it's not frogs, snakes or bugs.  Nothing living.  Absolutely not.  :)

This photo of it was taken in the nursery.  On the left side is a sweet, soft, cuddly giraffe with a blanket that Jeff's youngest brother and his wife gave us at a shower.  Just love it.  The right side is the framed ultrasound that Jeff's sister-in-law made for us for the shower she threw us -- you can see that a little bit better here.

I don't think those will stay there once we figure out where "all this stuff" is going to go but for now, I like to look at them.  :)

**If you'd like to see more photos and a more detailed description of the dresser, you can check it out here, where Jeff has a profile and has uploaded a lot of the stuff he's built recently.  This is a place where his fellow wood-working peers can make comments and boy, have they been raving about his dresser.  And rightfully so.  :)**

baby registry: day 2

We are officially "registered at Target and Babies R Us".  This is kinda funny to me because this is always what I read on the baby shower invitations that we get in the mail, but this time it's for us!  I just think it's still a little surreal...

We went Saturday to Target to register for some more stuff and I gotta tell you -- it was an eye opening experience for me.  More so than trying to act like I knew what I was doing at Babies R Us Thursday night.  Here's the reason:  Target has always been my preferred store of choice when purchasing items for any baby shower I'm attending (which are VERY numerous).  I think their registry is a lot easier to read and the items are easier to find, and also because the Wilmington BRU is PAH-thetic.  It's not even a real store -- it's just a tiny baby section inside a gigantic Toys R Us (hence the reason we went to Jacksonville to register at BRU -- they have their own store).

However, after going to Target to actually register, I was SO disappointed!  I guess I never noticed before that you really only get about 3 aisles of stuff, a few endcaps and then CLOTHES (good gracious, the clothes!).  **Note: we decided not to register for outfits -- we do have onesies & socks, etc. on the registry -- because we figured people will buy those anyway.  :) **

So, wow.  That didn't take long, except that I kept walking up and down those 3 aisles thinking, "Did we miss something?  This cannot be it!  Where is...?  We didn't see..."  The other thing about Target is that all the baby care stuff, like soap, lotion, diapers, wipes, etc. is all over on the OTHER side of the store.  Oh, yeah.  We got what we could find and I'm sure I'll be back online "tweaking" here and there but you can only do so much with so little, you know?

We ran back over to BRU for a brief minute since 1) we were right across the street, 2) we closed the store down on Thursday with not.very.much. on the list, and 3) I felt a wee bit more comfortable when looking at their stuff again.  We scanned a few more things, but again, with my OCD organized personality, I'm sure I'll be tweaking that one a little bit more, too.

Jeff keeps saying, "We're done!"  Um, yeah.  You're done, sweetie.  But IT is far from done.  :)  He really was a good sport through the whole thing (it was tough on both of us) and I can't say how much I appreciate him being willing to go with me to register.  I know a lot of fellas don't participate in that part, and I'm glad mine did.  At least for 2 days.  :)

baby registry: day 1

So we went to register last night.  Finally.  I'm sure folks are much more on the ball about this than we have been, but honestly...it's been hard to just find a night that we could both go to either Wilmington or Jacksonville to get this done.

We decided to go to Jacksonville because they have a true Babies R Us, not just a small section inside a Toys R Us.  They also have a Target in Jax, which is the other place we want to register, so we figured we'd just knock out in one place, in one night.

Wrong.

Because Jax is roughly 45 min to an hour (depending on where you need to go) from our house, we obviously didn't get started as early as we would've since we both worked.  So we already had that against us.  Not to mention the fact that we've never done this before and we felt COMPLETELY out of our element.  It just doesn't matter what kind of prep you put into figuring out what to get ahead of time -- nothing can prepare you for all.the.options.  I mean, I've bought countless baby shower gifts for other folks from both BRU and Target so you would think I would be somewhat familiar with what's in the baby section.  Well, I guess I've never looked at all of this stuff through THESE eyes.

The eyes of a future mom.

So we checked in at the registry desk at BRU and got our scan gun and checklist.  **Note: earlier on Facebook, Jeff had posted a poll question asking folks to list one thing they absolutely would register for, so I had that (very extensive) list, too.  And it was helpful -- thanks to everyone who chimed in!**  And then it seems like we just wandered aimlessly through the store.

I think we did make some pretty good choices last night but there are still so many things we didn't register for yet for various reasons -- need to think about it some more, can't remember what "so-n-so" said about that, have NO CLUE which one to get...

(excuse the quality -- it was taken with Jeff's iPhone)

We pretty much closed the place down and didn't even MAKE it over to Target.  By the time we left, I think we both had headaches and our feet were killing us!  But Jeff was such a good sport.  I think he did enjoy being there, but he was like me -- there was just SO MUCH to look at and think about.  And I'm such an organized person by nature, it was hard for me to make a decision on something without knowing how Target compared, or seeing if there were any more like that in the store, etc.  I kinda drove myself crazy.  And really, we were all over the store about 3 times.

I did get online today and "tweak" a couple of things so I feel better about that, but like I said, we have a long way to go before I feel like the registry will be complete.

Jeff said he "needs a break" tonight (which means he'll probably be out in the shop; not a true "break", just a break from registering :), so we may try to tackle Target on Saturday sometime.  I also feel like I need to make another trip to BRU after we go to Target.  I may feel more comfortable by then and maybe it won't take as long.

Maybe.  :)