Bathtub Rockstar and Mother-in-Law's Tongue

Last night, Connor took his first, fit-free bath! Maybe he's starting to like bath time.....we shall see! :) Justin snapped this shot at the perfect time! Check out our little Bathtub Rockstar! :)

Friday, Justin and I got out for a little date at the grocery store! (Hey, when you have a newborn, you'll take a date wherever you can get it! lol!) While walking the aisles at CV's, we ran across this:

Mother-in-Law's Tongue Pasta! We thought it looked like fun, so we decided to indulge ourselves with this $9 box of fun, colorful noodles! I served with with yummy homemade alfredo sauce (see recipe below....it's VERY easy and SUPER delicious!).

Homemade Alfredo Sauce:
1 stick of butter
1 block of cream cheese
3/4 cup of milk
3/4 cup of parmesan cheese
A splash of Chardonnay (optional)

Melt all ingredients together and whisk until smooth. If you'd like, you can add chicken, shrimp, veggies, or whatever your little heart desires. Or, you can leave it plain! It's just THAT good! :) Serve over any style of pasta and stay off the scale for a couple of days. :) ENJOY!

4 Weeks Already?!

I can't believe it's already been 4 weeks since I gave birth to our sweet (most of the time lol) little boy! Really?! Already?! EVERYONE (and I mean EVERYONE) says that time flies by even faster when you have a child of your own....boy were they EVER right! Connor's screaming fits have slowed down quite a bit. He spends more time awake and calm these days. Gosh, sometimes when he has those outrageous screaming outbursts, I just think, "Will this ever end?" I just remind myself that it's ONLY temporary, and that this too shall pass :) Last night, he slept from 10pm-11pm, woke up to eat, we rocked from 11:30-12:30 (at this point, he is in his real light sleep....put him down and it's OVER, he's screaming!), I laid him down at 12:30 thinking that it would never last, and he slept until 3am! When Justin got up with him at 3:00, they were only up from 3:00-4:00, and then Connor slept until 8:45. Needless to say, momma got some SERIOUS sleep last night! But so did daddy.....he got 2 extra hours since his shift USUALLY starts around 1am! I am so sorry that I ever took sleep for granted...lol.....I am thankful for those days (10 long years ago) that my parents let me sleep until 2pm! :) Keep your fingers crossed for another good night tonight!

Here is a picture of Connor from yesterday, Happy 4 weeks little one! :)

Newborn Picture Gallery!

The pictures of Connor are up! Just go to www.rayelawphotography.com, click on "ENTER SITE", then click on, "CLIENT PREVIEWS," and type in "scarlet" (all lower case) as the password. They are just PRECIOUS, and I don't know how we will be able to choose! We may just have to get them all! :)

Thanks, Raye, for doing such an awesome job!

CONGRATULATIONS FREEMAN'S!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR DEAR FRIENDS, MICHAEL AND CRYSTAL!

Baby Freeman is expected to arrive sometime around the beginning of November!

I couldn't be more thrilled that one of my very best friends is expecting her first child! It's so funny to hear her say, "Now I know what you meant about being so tired all the time!' Lol! Seeeee, I wasn't lying....I was EXHAUSTED! And now she knows EXACTLY how I felt. But I can't tell her enough how worth it all of the ups and downs of pregnancy are. As soon as you see that baby, your heart melts, and you forget about the exhaustion, nausea, weight gain, constant peeing, and swollen ankles...it's all gone, and then you're on to a new kind of exhaustion....lol! :)

When the girls and I found out that we had another baby on the way, we were thrilled! We gave Crystal a pregnancy survival kit equipped with all the pregnancy necessities. Cocoa butter lotion, a couple fun pregnancy books, a week-by-week pregnancy calendar, a little pack of onsies (I remember how excited I got when Justin brought home our first pack of onsies, and I wanted Crystal to feel that same awe and excitement), a rubber ducky, a couple pacifiers, a belly band and some rubber bands (to squeeze evvvvvvvery last wear out of her pre-pregnancy clothes), some chamomile tea, tums, hand sanitizer, extra strength Tylenol, a pregnancy magazine, some saltines, and her favorite Stride gum. I think that's everything, just in case you want to make a pregnancy survival kit someday :) I got the basket at Wal-Mart, and filled it with some pink, blue, and white basket filler. Then, I wrapped it in cellophane and tied it off with pink and blue tulle. It was really cute, fun to make, and Crystal absolutely loved it!

Stacey, me, and Steph with the happy, new, expectant mother!

Connor's First Easter Weekend

Saturday was an absolutely GORGEOUS day, so we decided to take the little guy out for a stroll. It certainly didn't hurt mom and dad to get out and get some fresh air as well! We planned on going to Creekmore Park, but as we rounded the corner, we saw a huge local radio station banner and saw HUNDREDS of people! They were having a citywide Easter Egg Hunt. We decided to pass on ol' Creekmore. Too many cooties out there! Lol! We wanted a nice, easy, peaceful walk, so we decided to go to Carol Ann Cross Park instead. Here are a few pics of Connor before leaving the house and out on our walk. Notice the hat didn't stay on for very long...but it was cute while it lasted :)

Easter Sunday was terribly rainy! I just saw on the News that we got 1.6 inches of rain! YUK! We spent most of the day just hanging out inside, taking it easy. Connor sleeps a lot during the day, so Justin and I had a chance to relax a little during feedings and diapers. We went to my parents house for dinner, which was delicious I might add! We had leg of lamb, cheesy hashbrown casserole, magic green beans (The name of the casserole is actually "delicious green beans," but the first couple times Justin had it, he forgot the name of it and called it "magic green beans." It kinda stuck, I like it!) Connor spent his first Easter with his Grandparents, Great-Grandmother, Uncle Drew, and Uncle Drew's sweet girlfriend, Melissa. He spent most of the time asleep (as usual) but managed to wake up juuuuuuuuust in time for dinner. I swear, that kid smells food and knows EXACTLY when we sit down to eat! Lol! Justin got up and took him while I ate (or should I say, inhaled) dinner, and then we switched. We do that alot these days, but it seems to work out well. Justin is SUCH a great daddy, and helpful husband. He puts in 110% when it comes to helping out with Connor. I am so blessed.....WE are so blessed. Mommy and Daddy each took a picture with the little guy to document his excitement over Easter...lol. Justin also took lots of video! He is really loving that camera! I hope you all had a great Easter as well! God Bless!

A few pics

I am trying SO HARD to stay updated, but my gosh....NO TIME! LOL! Here I am the night we went in to have Connor....wow, I can't believe how big my belly was!! Lol! Here are a couple pics from Connor's first bath. He was so thrilled...



This one was taken after his bath last night....you only THINK he looks happy. We caught him in between screams...lol

We have already had to take him out so many times between Dr's visits, lab visits (for the Jaundice he had in the beginning) and newborn pics that I can't quite remember where we were going when I took this....but here he is all bundled up in his car seat :)


Proud daddy after working his "burping" magic.....I SWEAR I can't get that child to burp, but hand him over to his daddy, and voila! Justin's got him belching like a little man in a matter of a few short minutes!

Content (for once lol) in his swing.....I wish they made a swing like that for adults. It's SO SOFT!

Handsome little man hanging out in his bouncer. Oh how he LOVES the bouncer...buuuuut only if mommy is sitting on the floor bouncing it for him...lol.

Connor's 2 Week Appointment and Other Random Things

Wednesday we went for Connor's 2 week check up with Dr. John. All is well, he weighed exactly 7lbs, and left the Dr's office with a clean bill of health. We are going back next week for a weight check to make sure he is gaining enough weight for his age.

Can you believe he will be 3 weeks old on Saturday?! Wow! It's already flying by.....

He has been pretty fussy at night, screaming uncontrollably for a few hours. Yes, it's hard and extremely frustrating not knowing what to do to make him feel better, but it's just a part of having a baby, and we are completely fine with that :) He is still the most precious thing we have ever seen. I usually take the 9pm-1am shift, Justin takes the 1am-4am, and I get back up with him at 6 or 7. Tonight has been very, VERY quiet (keep your fingers crossed)! We got some gripe water for his little gassy belly and hope that is making a difference.

Yesterday his little belly button thingy came off....gross....thank God! We were ready for that thing to go!

Bath time is always a joy around here....I will post a few pics soon. Lol! He's not quite a fan of bath time yet, but I am sure we will get there. Our child HAS to love the water. It's just a given :) It's really cute when we take him out of the little tub, wrap him up, and he quivers his little lips because he's cold. I just want to hold him real tight and make him warm REAL fast!

We have had tremendous help from our parents and our friends. I can't tell you how thankful we are to have such wonderful people in our lives. The dinners, lunches, company, and baby sittings have truly been a blessing. It's nice to get out from time to time. I am not one to like to stay at home, but it just comes with the territory for now. I know it's not permanent :) Who knew that 20 minutes to yourself in the shower, or an hour alone at the grocery store could be so refreshing! What in the WORLD did we do with all of our free time before Connor came? My goodness!

This post was just random thoughts that came to me as I sit here and watch the Sex and the City movie (for the millionth time) while holding a sleeping little baby boy. My shift is almost up, so I am going to wrap this up. Goodnight all!

Newborn Pics

Tuesday, we went for Connor's newborn photo shoot. The pics should be ready in a couple of weeks, but for a sneak peek, check out:

www.rayelawphotography.com/blog

Her April 3rd entry, "Long and Curly" is our sweet son. Enjoy!