Novemeber to Remember

Okay, so I know that the saying is really a "December to Remember" but this November, for us, has been a month to remember.

Landon is getting more and more interactive and we love him more and more every day.  We are so blessed to have this sweet baby boy in our lives!

We started off the month with me recovering from a 36-hour stomach flu....man, that is not fun at all when you are taking care of an infant and trying to nurse him every 2-3 hours but we managed.  My dad (a.k.a. Pops) came into town Albuquerque to meet Landon that first weekend.  We had a blast going out to dinner, hanging at the house, going to an UNM basketball game, and playing golf.  Here's a couple of pics from that trip!

The second week was pretty low key and I think I realized that I did not step foot outside of our house from Sunday to Thursday....pathetic, I know.  Lee spent a day in Hobbs, NM and we had the UNM Foundation Board of Directors reception on Thursday night.  We brought Landon and, of course, he was the hit of the party and did wonderful being in public!  That Friday, our good friends Betsy and James Campbell came to visit us from Tucson.  We had a wonderful time showing off Landon to them and just hanging out at football and basketball games, church, shopping, and eating at Rudy's BBQ.  Here are our sweet friends on their trip to the Q!

The third week was also low key, which is a much needed lifestyle change for us since we have Landon now.  Landon had his two month checkup and got his first round of shots he weighs 10 pounds 2 ounces (25%), is 22 inches long (25%), and is in the 5% of head circumference.  Our little man has a little head!  We also went to the reception for the new football coach UNM hired and Lee went out of town for two nights to Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona.  It was my first nights with Landon by ourselves.  We managed but I sure was tired when Lee got back on Sunday morning!  What would I do without such a great and supportive husband who helps out with Landon so much?



Finally, it was Thanksgiving Week!  The fall is my favorite time of year and Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays.  Landon and I spent the week getting everything prepared and bought and my mom and Jason came into town on Wednesday night.  Mom and I cooked and baked on Thanksgiving morning and we ate our big Thanksgiving meal at lunch and then watched the Cowboys game followed by the Texas A&M vs. tu game.  Wish the Aggies game had turned out better though.  On Friday, Jason and Lee played golf while Mom and I hung out at the house with Landon and shopped a little.  Jason left on Saturday and on Sunday, mom, Lee, Landon and I went to church and then rode the tramway up to Sandia Peak.  It was a blast and then we came home and decorated the house for Christmas!  Mom left on Monday morning and we ended the month celebrating our niece's 5th birthday from afar and Lee went to the UNM basketball game while Landon and I stayed home.

Our November was definitely one to remember!  Hope yours was too.







October Fun

October was a fun filled month but it also brought along some challenges with a newborn baby.  We love our sweet son and it's so hard to imagine life without him now!

The first week of October started off with the rival (New Mexico State) football game.  Lee, Landon, and I enjoy going to the football games but they have been a little hard to watch this season since the Lobos have not won a game yet.  This week was also filled with lots of doctor's appointments for Landon as they tried to determine why he was projectile vomiting after every time he ate.  He had a stomach ultrasound and that came back with a great report so onto the next test -- a head ultrasound.  That, too, came back negative for the vomiting but they did find some cysts on the part of the brain that produces the spinal fluid.  The docs are going to watch those cysts but said that cysts can be normal and assured us it was nothing to worry about.  Whew!  Our friends, Emily and Annie, came over this week to help me out and play with Landon.  It is so nice to have a break and get a few things done.  That night, after the Clarks left, Landon was really lathargetic (sp?) and I couldn't get him to wake up from a nap.  He was breathing but not responding to anything I did, such as change his diaper, clothes, and splash water on his feet.  So, I called the doc and we decided it was time to take him to the Emergency Room.  I called Lee and got him to leave his football donor event early to meet us at the ER.  As soon as Landon saw his daddy, he woke up and was his usual self.  Everything ended up being okay and we were reassured that Landon was growing and gaining weight despite all the vomiting and spit up.  Finally, to end this week, we went to Balloon Fiesta's Night Glow.  It was great and Landon slept through it all.

The second week was less adventure-some than the first week.  The first part of the this week started off pretty slow and then got busier.  Landon ended up having to go back to the hospital for a third test -- an Upper GI, where he had to swallow berium and the docs watched him as he digested it.  That test concluded that Landon has really bad Acid Reflux Disease.....so that is why he vomits and spits up so much.  Needless to say, we got Landon on the correct medication and dosage and it works wonders for him as well as me changing my diet to consist of no caffeine, chocolate, milk, broccoli, and spicy food.  It's so hard but so worth it!  After his Upper GI test, we came back to the house and had a photographer take newborn pics of Landon.  He did great and slept through it all!  The next day, Mom and my aunt hired a house cleaner to come clean my house.  It's so nice to have it deep cleaned and it felt great!  That afternoon our friends, Alexis and Brandon, from Tucson came to visit us and meet Landon.  We shopped, ate, slept, lounged around the house, went to a basketball event, and had dinner at the top of Sandia Mountain here.  It was a great time and I'm so grateful for the Ingrams for coming to visit and helping us as much as they did!

The third week was a very memorable one.  My aunt, grandmother, and grandfather all drove into Albuquerque from the Dallas area.  We had a blast getting to see my grandparents (Landon's great grandparents) play and love on Landon.  My mom also came in on Friday and stayed with us through the weekend while Lee went to Ft. Worth with the Lobo football team.

The last week in October was so much fun.  We celebrated Lee's 30th birthday, a Lobo Club appreciation event, Lobo football game, and Halloween.  Landon was a Lion for Halloween, and I'm not too sure he liked his costume though.  Lee and I got to sneak away for a date night to dinner on top of the Sandia Resort and Casino.  He was a perfect way to end the week and celebrate Lee's amazing 30 years of life!

I hope your October was just as fun as ours.  We LOVE fall around here and Happy Fall Ya'll!

September 2011....The Best Month of Our Lives!

As you can see by the title of this post that September was the absolute best month of our lives because our sweet baby boy was born!!!

The month started off as usual with doctor appointments for me, the Coaches Radio Show at Kelly's Brew Pub in ABQ, breastfeeding class, maternity pictures photo shoot, the first UNM Lobo football game, a date day with the Hubs, Labor Day, buying our "baby mobile" a 2012 Ford Explorer XLT, more doctor appointments, the UNM Fall Coaches' Luncheon at the Marriott, picking up my new car, lunch with the Hubs before he left to go out of town for the UNM vs. Arkansas football game.  Lee had a blast on his trip and I was glad that I didn't go into labor while he was gone.

The next week changed our lives forever, literally!  The week started off like any normal week.  I had a lazy day at the house on Monday and then on Tuesday, I had my 4th and final Baby Shower in Albuquerque at the St. James Tea Room with lots of ladies from the Athletics Department.  It was a great shower and a great turnout.  I am one blessed girl and Landon is already one loved little boy!

On Wednesday morning, September 14th, I woke up at 1:00 a.m. to my water breaking....not just a leak but a huge gush that kept coming.  I immediately woke Lee up and called my mom.  Then my contractions started at 1:15 a.m.  Wow, they came fast and furious and were at 6 minutes apart right away.  I proceeded to take a shower and dry my hair, stopping to breathe through contractions while Lee put the car seat in the car, packed a hospital bag, took a shower, checked the mail, washed our sheets, and cleaned up my water breaking mess.  I proceed to start throwing up and had no idea why since I never got sick during my pregnancy.  That scared me and we finally decide to leave for the hospital at 3:00 a.m.  We arrive at Presbyterian Hospital at 3:15 a.m. and I get sick all in the parking lot, then we walk to the front door, while I stop and hug a few trees to breathe through more contractions.  We make it and get to triage where I have my first pelvic exam to find that I'm already dilated to 8 cm....holy moly!  No time to change into a hospital gown and I get wheeled into my Labor & Delivery Room.  By this point it is 3:45 a.m. and I am fully dilated to 10 cm and asking for an epidural since I have such bad back labor.  I was told it was too late and that the anathielogist (sp?) was in a c-section.  I try to push at 4:30 a.m. but couldn't lay on my back so I waited until 6:15 a.m. to get an epidural.  I got the epidural and then rested until 7:45 a.m.  Around 7:00 a.m. my mom makes it to the hosptial from Dallas and I get to see her before I start pushing.  Then I pushed until 10:30 a.m. with no progress.  Landon's head kept slipping back up into the birth canal and wouldn't come down fully.  By the point, we get another doctor in the room and she does an ultrasound to make sure Landon was in the correct positon and he was.  Then she decides that he has been in the birth canal too long and that she needs to use the vacuum on him.  We go for it and the vacuum slipped off his head twice before she finally gets him to crown while I am pushing.  His head gets stuck in the crowning position for 30 minutes, of which I can feel all kinds of burning and pressure and myself tearing....truly awful feeling.  At this point about 15 other doctor and nurses start coming into the room and the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit team comes in.  Landon was finally born at 11:14 a.m. and he was NOT breathing.  (Keep in mind that I still don't have a hospital gown on, so in true Southern Texas style, I delivered my son in pearl earrings and a Texas A&M football t-shirt....whoop!)  The NICU team takes Landon right away while the doctor spends 45 minutes sewing me up.  No one says a word until Landon starts breathing and then I was told what was going on.  All the while, my epidural came out of my back and I could the doc sewing me up so she had to use a needle to deaden the area locally....talk about pain...OUCH!  All worth it in the end though!  Lee was a trooper and held me hand through it all.  I truly don't think I could have made it without him.  Finally, an hour after Landon was born, I was able to hold him for the first time.  He weighed 5lbs 15oz and was 18.5 inches long.  Such a sweet and healthy baby boy!

Lee's family came into town on Thursday and stayed through Sunday.  We got discharged on Thursday and headed to the house.  Then on Friday, we had our first pediatrician's appointment and all went well except for a little jaundice but thankfully we didn't have to go back to the hospital.

The following week was very low key and filled with more lab visits and pediatrician's appointments for jaundice, mom and I got pedicures, went to the photography place to pick out maternity pics (haha!), my 27th birthday was filled with lunch with Lee, mom, and Landon at Fudrucker's, shopping for Lobo clothes, roses from Lee, take out dinner from Rudy's, massage therapist came to the house to give Mom and me an hour long massage....best present ever!....and finally on Saturday we all went to the UNM homecoming football game.  Landon was 10 days old and did great and I was wearing my regular pre-pregnancy jeans, which felt awesome!  Mom left on Sunday morning and it was a sad day for us all.

Finally, the last week of September was filled with a lazy day with Landon all by myself on Monday and Tuesday and then Lee took off Wednesday - Friday to spend time with us.  It was wonderful having Lee around for 5 days to help and let me get out to run a few errands.  Lee had a few work functions to attend while he was off and we had Landon's two week pediatrician's appointment.  He now weighs 6 pounds 12 ounces and is 19.5 inches long and a growing little boy.  However, he does have acid reflux pretty badly though so he is on meds for that.  Hopefully, it starts working soon.  Over all, he is a happy, healthy two week old and we are praising God for our miracle every day!