1 Month Old

It is amazing that Graham is now 1 month old.  It seems like it went by so fast but at the same time every day seems like an eternity due to the erratic sleep/eat habits of a new baby.  We have really enjoyed getting to know Graham.  We went in for our one month appointment on 1/11/13 and found out that our little guy is now 8.5 pounds and 21 1/2 inches long.  This means that he gained 2 whole pounds in just two weeks.  After so many feeding issues, this has been great reassurance.  So here are a few of our favorite things about Graham and some of the things he is enjoying.

 

Family Naps

 

Trent and Graham love to take family naps.  This seems to be a constant scene in our home - one that bring my heart great joy.  Trent will often cuddle with him and they will both go into a deep sleep.  In fact, for the first two weeks this is the only way that Graham would sleep.  We always said that we hoped for a cuddly baby.  Next time we will beware of what we ask for.  As you can see in the picture, Graham loves to have his hands by his face.  We call this the touchdown sleep position.  He also has a "high counsel" sleep position with his hands down on his lap with one folded over the other.

 

 

First Bath

 

Graham does not really enjoy his baths yet but he does enjoy when we wash his hair.  He will relax whenever we wash or brush his hair. 

 

 

Weighing In

 

Graham lost quite a bit of weight in the first few days of life - like 11 %.  This caused us to go to the doctors office for many weigh ins.  After two weeks he was back to his birth weight so we stopped going to the doctors office.  We wanted to make sure he was still gaining weight so we took our kitchen scale and put him in a baking dish. He no longer fits so this past time has stopped.

 

 

Picture Taking, Noises, and Nicknames

 

We love to take pictures of our little man and try to capture all the funny faces that he makes.  Some of our favorite faces is when he sleep grins and sleep giggles.  Those just melt our hearts.  Graham is quite the expressive guy.  Luckily he is not much of a crier but has found other ways to express his needs.  He has some plain funny sounds that includes grunts, whimpers, a chewbacka sound, and he often sounds like a horse.  When he eats, he sounds like a crazed animal.  Hilarious!

 

Trent and I have many nicknames for each other so it is not surprising that Graham has a great deal of names.  Some of our favorites have been:  Graham Bam, Teddy Graham, Miligraham, Grahambot, Fussbot, Horseybot (we love robots maybe?), and Good Sir Mr. Wigglebottom.

 

 

 

Spitting Up

 

We have a spitter ladies and gentlemen.  I was trying to capture some grunt sounds when we got this little bit of footage.

 



 

Floor Time

 

Graham has been practicing lifting his head. He does a great job of moving from side to side but does not always enjoy the process.   When he does floor time, he will move his knees up to his chest and try to scoot.  Slow down, little Bucko, we are not there yet.

 



Graham Conrad Bowen

The Birth Story

 

The last month before the little man came was full of surprises.  I had gone to a routine doctors appointment and he said that the baby was in position and all seemed well.  The next hour I had an appointment with our perinatal specialist where I was told that the Graham was still breech....and we had low fluid.  I was admitted to the hospital that night to see if it would go up with an IV and to see if he needed to be delivered a month early.  Luckily, the fluid went up and I was released. 

 

Drink up

 

I had wanted to do an all natural childbirth so I decided to have a procedure called a version.  Imagine a doctor putting all his force on your stomach to try to manually move a 6 lb. baby.  The whole experience was quite an event as the doctor whisked into the room and said "Okay, are we ready?"  It was then that I realized that Mr. Bean had come to do my version.  The doctor looked and spoke just like him.  It actually was great entertainment through the painful experience.  Alas, it did not work so I prepared for a c-section on the 21st - an apocalypse baby. 

 

The next few weeks I drank and drank and drank so much water.  However, just a few weeks later I was back in the hospital for low fluid levels but it was more complicated due to Graham having the umbilical cord wrapped twice around his neck.  The doctor was to see me the next day and see if I was going home or not.  The fluid levels did not go up and instead went down and the doctor announced "we are having a baby tomorrow."    My doctor then came into my room and gave me a high five. Game on.

 

The next day, 12/12/12, Graham was born at 2:36 PM.  He was 6 lbs 8 oz and 20 inches.  The mother anxiety came just as quick as he did.  It seemed like his first cry took forever to come. He was whisked away to do all the newborn procedures and then given to his dad. I was crying and crying and all I could say is "he is so small."

 

People had told me to expect a hormone shift but seriously, seriously.  What the heck happened to me?  For the next week and a half I was a mess.  I was sure that Graham would disintegrate due to lack of food and I was not able to sleep due to the anxiety of it all.  I remember at one point telling Trent "I can't sleep.  There is too much to learn."  I had even read all the books beforehand.  Plus, I did not like the hospital.  Fifty million people come in and out of your room all day and night - how is someone supposed to sleep.  Trent was a champion.  He seriously is the greatest man in the world.  He was supportive without letting me know that I was acting crazy.  Luckily, I had some great friends that talked me through it all and I am doing much better.  Still sleep deprived but happily sleep deprived.

 

 

 

 

 

Three days later we were home.  Yay!

 

We are so happy to have our little guy and I still sometimes freak out about when some new situation comes up.  We are doing well and we are happy!

Maternity Pictures and Nursery

Brace yourself - here comes a blog post dump.  I never got around to sharing our maternity or nursery pics but still wanted to do so. 

Our good friends, the Empeys, asked if we would take some family pictures of them at the same time when she took maternity pictures of us.  We got the greater deal as she is a professional and I am quite the novice.  We loved the pictures and are so grateful for good friends.

By the way,  I loved being pregnant.  I loved that no matter what I ate my pants always fit and my stomach was always hard.  Plus, people love pregnant women.

Okay, so I planned the nursery for a long time.  Truly before we even knew for sure that he was a boy.  My mother flew into town, as a surprise, and we got all the painting and decorating accomplished in a weeks time.  Thank you mom! 

I made quite a bit of the items in the nursery - otherwise known as our old walk-in closet.  The blanket, crib sheets, mobile, bookends, lamp cover, and we even turned the chair into a rocking chair.  I loved all of the nursery projects and love how it all came together.

 

 We bought this car for Graham when we were in France

 

France Part 2: Pont du Gard and Carcassonne

We woke up early in the morning to have one last breakfast in Provence.  We packed our suitcases and gave one last look to the lovely bed and breakfast.  Seriously, isn't beautiful?  Luckily we were going from one beautiful view to another.

Our french doors looking out over the country side

Pont du Gard

This was one of the highlights for us in choosing to go to Provence.  Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge that was built in the 1st century. It is the highest of all Roman aqueduct bridges and just slightly shorter than the Coliseum.  We started out in the museum. Trent loves museums and before you know it we had spent 1 1/2 hours there without even seeing the actual bridge.  The bridge is absolutely amazing to behold.  We walked along side it and was able to get in the water and wade around.  There are some parts of the bridge that are now gone after some monks took some of the stones off to build something else.  

Trent wading in after me.  I went fort he perfect shot and he went in after me.
 

 Carcassonne

We love board games and when we found out that we would be nearby Carcassonne (the name of a board game we play together) we had to make a stop over for the night.  I am so glad that we did.  We were warned that it was touristy.  It is touristy because it is an amazing castle.  We did not feel like the shops took away from the beauty of the castle.  We arrived in the afternoon and checked into our bed and breakfast with one of the best views in the world.  Just look at that castle outside of our window.

We started our tour by walking in between the walls and Trent yelled out to the world "You English Kniggits" in rememberance of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. We looked at all the defenses of the castle adn then made our way to the church. We walked inside and found a beautiful cathederal with stained glass windows and a quartet singing a mass. Their voices rang off the walls and it was perfect.  Outside of the church were some gargoyles that we enjoyed looking at. 

 

Next we went through a very posh hotel to get to their gardens. It had the loveliest view of the castle and this was where we decided to take a picture that a game nerd would only appreciate.

Nerdy game boarders picture

Close by is also where Trent made his mad dash up the stairs in order to storm the castle.  Nearby was a toy store that had the most perfect castle blocks.  Trent  and I both wanted to buy them for our little boy (yes we know that he would not be able to use them for a long time.)  We deliberated about getting them at the time and decided to wait and see if we could find them on the internet.  We could not and so we went back in the morning to get them.  We waited for the shop to open....it never did...even though were told the day before that it would open at 10.  We went away being very mad at the toy lady.

 We went back into the city for dinner.  It was romantic to walk around the light flooded walls. At dinner, Trent ordered a chocolate sphere.  The waiter poured hot chocolate sauce on top of the sphere in order to melt the chocolate ball.  Trent loved it.