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]

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.  :)