Brent and Katie

14 June 2012

Learning Curve

I am sure that everyone who has a new baby has dealt with the crazy schedules, the lack of sleep and the steep learning curve. Being a mom is definitely a new challenge for me. I have been in school since I was 5 and working jobs since I was 17. Suddenly I am home with an infant all day. It is the most rewarding thing I have ever done and also the most difficult.

Last week I was feeling frustrated at my messy house, disheveled hair and late utilities bill. I am usually much more organized than this. This weekend put things into perspective.

On Sunday morning I took Brent to the ER, he was having a lot of pain. Turns out it was a complication from a surgery he had as an infant. He was in the hospital for 2 days/1night. I ran back and forth between home and the hospital so I could feed Brooks and get updates on Brent. We were worried he would need surgery, but thankfully he was able to come home Monday night.

Brent tweeting from his hospital bed. I made sure not to give him his phone until after he was done taking morphine.

I am grateful for all of the friends and family who helped us out for those two days. I do not know how single moms do it. It was a crazy couple of days. Brent seems to have made a full recovery. He feels great.

Today we spent a perfect afternoon laying on the lawn. Brent studied for his MCAT, I did some work on my computer and Brooks napped. My house was still a mess, my hair was still disheveled, and the utilities bill was overdue... but we are loving life.

Thanks to my boss for this awesome umbrella, perfect for outside time.

Brent making faces at me

T-minus 1 week to the actual MCAT

This whole parenting thing is really great. We are loving it. And when I get frustrated I have found a new treat to help out :) love love love the chocolate.

Add caption

3.5 weeks

Brooks is almost one month old. I cannot believe how fast time has gone. I am planning on printing our blog off as a baby book for Brooks eventually, so I am going to be including lots of pictures and details about our little boy.

Brooks is a chill little guy. He really only fusses when he is hungry or gassy.

He loves to have his hands under his chin. Whenever he falls asleep he puts his arms up there (unless he is being swaddled). I think it is pretty adorable.

When Brooks cries he squeaks a lot. This is one of our middle of the night cry sessions. Once he eats he goes right back to sleep. Such a good baby.

Brooks hates when we start to swaddle him, but as soon as we pull it tight, he relaxes. He loves it. He usually dozes off right after we swaddle him. When he is swaddled we call him our little burrito.

As new parents one thing we are learning is that going places takes a whole lot longer. We have to feed him, change him and get him dressed. Usually part way through he gets his outfit messy and we start over. He does not like being put in the car seat, but once we give him the binky and monkey he doesn't mind.

Brooks is very strong. He holds his head up and looks around. He kicks incredibly hard (I think he cracked one of my ribs before he was born). He can already roll himself on to his side when we lay him down.

Brooks' favorite thing to do is snuggle with daddy. This is my favorite picture of him so far because it is easy to see how much he and Brent look alike.

Brooks takes a lot of naps everyday. We are using Babywise to get him on a good sleep/eating schedule. So far it is working well.

I can already tell Brooks has a fun personality. I cannot wait for him to learn to smile and talk and walk so we can see more of it.

26 May 2012

Brooks' First Week

We are a bit camera happy right now. We took hundreds of pictures of Brooks this week. Here are a few dozen of my favorites.

**Remember we are first time parents and we have a really cute baby, so don't judge.

Our first family portrait.

Daddy giving Brooks his first bath.

Admiring his squishy face.

Watching the Thunder-Lakers game with daddy.

I cannot get over how cute he is.

He did not like the car seat at first.

Once we got the blanket on him he didn't mind it anymore.

Brooks with his Granny Reeves

Brooks with Grandma and Grandpa Pickett

Brent showing Brooks off to our nephews, Corgan and Greyson. They were not allowed to come back, which made me very sad. Corgan said he thinks Brooks looks like a kitty.

Home Sweet Home. Brent gave Brooks the grand tour of the house.

His first bath at home. Brooks does not like baths, but he loves having his hair washed.

Brent's favorite part of being a dad is snuggling in the love sac.

Thank goodness for Skype! Corgan and Greyson skyped with us a couple of times this week. One day Corgan told his mom, Ashley, that Brooks wanted to see all of his animals. So he showed Brooks all of his animal toys over Skype. I am so glad Brooks has such great older cousins. I am excited for them to be good friends.

Granny Reeves got Brooks a little monkey rattle and he LOVES it!

and now for some close ups:

birth story

Over the past few months I have been obsessed with reading birth stories. At one point Brent had to forbid me from reading any more because I would panic after reading the difficult ones. While I appreciated those who posted the intimate details of their birthing experience, I want to tell our story in pictures.

I guess I should start by saying the whole experience was completely different from what I expected. I thought the day would be long and stressful. The whole day ended up being very relaxed and peaceful. It also went by very quickly.

Saturday Morning 7:00 am -- We checked into the hospital. I had contractions all night and was not feeling well.

This machine monitored the baby's heart beat all day.

Here I am waiting to see if they were going to keep me or send me home.

9:00 am -- The doctor came and decided to break my water. Our baby was on his way!

They kept my fluids up all day through my IV.

Our nurses were amazing. There were very few people around, so we got a lot of attention.

Brent held my hand through every contraction. He was incredibly sweet.

Here I am between contractions. We were both incredibly excited.

I was allowed to eat all of the Popsicles and ice chips that I wanted. At first this was fine, but by the end of the day I was starving. I may have shot Brent a couple of dirty looks when he came back from the snack room with bags of chips.