Christmas Parties

Caleb and I got to attend many Christmas parties this year. I am so thankful to be involved in so many groups that allow us to make friends, get out of the house, and socialize. That was one of my concerns of being a stay at home mom, that I would be stuck inside constantly. Now that he is happier and not crying so much and his feeding times have stretched out a little, I am more confident in taking him more places. Like yesterday, we went to Barnes & Noble complete with a vanilla latte, browsed the store, drove to Walmart for some gifts and headed home and out to a party in the afternoon! It was the perfect day! He was so good, cooing in the car, falling asleep in the store. Watching me shop. This is what I hoped it would be. Busy, but good. My mom did share some advice with me that I need to remember, "Live for the moments." The good moments were few and far between the first four months of his life and I had to be happy with a moment of joy when he would smile or meet a milestone. Now there are more "moments" and I am sure there will be another challenging time with fewer moments.
Wow, I got side tracked. Back to the Christmas parties. Let's start with the Premier Army Lactation group. That party was the first one. This group was created by the lactation consultant I saw at the beginning of Caleb's life, Lori, as a support for breast feeding women. I love this group. They are so honest, friendly, and understand what you are going through. They all have children (most their first) under 1 year! We had 13 Moms at the party. Stephanie, the lead Mom, and Lori made the party such a success with handprint ornaments the babies made, a cookie exchange, a gift exchange for the babies, and baby handprints on a framed picture for Lori! It was a blast!
The next party we went to was put on by the Moms Club I am a part of. This is an international group ( I am part of the Northwest Colorado Springs section) of stay at home Moms who do many things (hiking, cooking, playgroups, fieldtrips, fundraisers,etc...). They did a wonderful job with a potluck of food, ornaments for toddlers to make, and even a visit from Santa.
The last party was yesterday. The lactation group (mentioned above) wanted to start a playgroup. So we go to the Air Force Academy and meet in a big room to do fun things with the babies. So far we have done baby sign language, baby massage, and sown "taggie" blankets (well, I didn't sew. A mom and one of the leaders sewed!). Yesterday we did an ornament exchange and let the babies play.
Christmas shopping is done. House needs to be cleaned, presents packed or wrapped, and Christmas cards mailed. Whew! I am excited to share Caleb's first Christmas here in Colorado. We have snow outside and are all cozy next to our fireplace! Here are some pictures from the parties!

Christmas Parties

Sneaky Sneaky

My friend Sarah wrote on her blog of how her daughter would roll over while her Mom turned her back for just a second. I thought this was hilarious to read and sure enough my little guy did the same thing. We have been working on rolling over from back to tummy for a while now and I have been waiting anxiously for the moment. Ted and I both have been so encouraging and anticipating the first time he does it without assistance. Apparently he needed his space to do it on his own! That is definitely MY kid... "I can do it myself" I can hear him saying! Whew, it's going to be a long (but adventurous and exciting) road this parenting thing.

I set him down on his activity mat on his back and went to eat my cereal and check my email. He did his usual grunting/working hard noises. I looked over and he was on his tummy! It's the weirdest thing. So I praised him and rolled him back over, walked to the kitchen to get my cereal and keep an eye on him to hopefully catch it this time, looked over and .... he was on his tummy!! Okay, I was going to beat him at his game. I went to get my camera/video camera and set it on the couch, turned him over to his back, pressed play and walked away. This time not taking my eye off of him. After a long almost 2 minutes.....He did it!!!!!! I praised him, turned him over and then got it on camera in 15 seconds. :0

The first video is long (the one where I walked away). The second video is only 15 seconds. If he could talk, I am sure he would say, "That was easy! Now how do I crawl once I am here?"

Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!

Wow, I can't believe it is already December!! Caleb has already been to his first Christmas party and I still have to post about Thanksgiving! Okay, here it goes.

So for Thanksgiving Ted's Mom, Stepdad, Dad, and my Mom came to visit. They all came last year along with Ted's Great Uncle and Ted's Brother and Sister in Law and her Mom. This year Rick and Lisa are celebrating Thanksgiving in their hometown of Phoenix with their new little bundle of joy, Riley! We missed them and missed meeting my first niece, but will see them around Christmas time. So we assembled all the troops and went shopping for food, which included 2 grocery stores, Costco, and a liquor store! Gotta love it! When we throw a feast, we throw a FEAST!!! Then we picked everyone up from shuttles and airports and settled in for a few days of family, food, and fun! Caleb was overjoyed to see all of his Grandparents.

Grandma Ann made a WONDERFUL turkey, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pies, mashed potatoes. My Mom helped and also added green bean casserole and sweet potato casserole. YUM!! The men watched football and played with Caleb. :) The next day we took a drive up to Pikes Peak. It was gorgeous day, but at the top the wind was so bad, they closed the doors to the summit house on one side! It was sooooo cold. Caleb and I didn't even get out of the car. People were running to their cars it was so bitter cold. That night was the best! Ted and I went on our first date since Caleb was born!!! He took me to the Melting Pot and we left Caleb with all the Grandparents! We had such a great time! It was nice to still be so in love after a baby. :)

On Saturday we drove Mom and Ted's Dad to the airport and then hit the outlets at Castle Rock for a speedy shopping trip. And tai food for dinner.

What a great holiday! It is so nice to have family fill your home! And they spoil us rotten by paying for the food, cooking it, and buying Caleb tons of clothes!! Thank you Grandparents!

I will put a bunch of pics on picasa for you to look at. Just click on the picture below to see more.

Thanksgiving 2010

Teething

Yes, that's right, my almost 4 month old has what looks like teeth pushing through his gums! That might account for some of the screaming that was so unbearable. Probably nothing compared to the pain he might be feeling. :( Oh, and for the record, Iggy (my Mom) mentioned a few days ago that he might be teething! Good job Mom! These pictures look horrible, but they get the point across and show his teeth. He didn't seem to mind the photo shoot.

Caleb's First Snow

Caleb got to experience his first snow in Colorado today. Now my last post was about weather in the upper 60's (we even hit 70's) within the last week, and last night it started to snow. Gotta love Colorado weather. This morning I woke up to see snow out the window and bolted out of bed. I had a lot to do to get to that snow. I had to feed Caleb, change him, dress him, put him in a snowsuit (for the first time), take a picture with his Daddy before Ted left for work, take a shower, get dressed, bundle Caleb up again and finally take him outside in the snow. Whew! All before 7:30 in the morning! Let's just say I am not bored! The reason I wanted to get out there in the snow, was so I could get pictures before it possibly melted. Like I said, Colorado weather, you never know.

So all was accomplished and here are the photos.

The best snow angel I have ever made....Caleb!

Making a snow angel

Mom took away my hands, so I will eat the snow suit instead! I think his expression is hilarious!

Picture with Daddy before he heads to work.

View outside our front window. There are very few things that will happily get me out of my warm cozy bed in the morning and snow is one of them!

Hike with Grandma Ann

Ted's Mom came to visit last week since she had a conference in Denver and we decided to take a walk in the park next to our house. It was in the upper 60's and we were hot in our jeans. We took Coley and headed out. We took the upper ridge trail and soon found out our walk was going to be a hike! It was beautiful and we had so much fun! Caleb would sigh when the wind would blow by him and then he fell asleep as we walked. Coley went off leash and met lots of doggy friends along the way.

Happy Halloween

Happy Halloween! This year Caleb will be a.............monkey!! Is anyone surprised? Since his Dad is really into monkeys. :) Here are a few pictures of the little guy.

Updates

I will attempt to update the blog...FINALLY!! To make it easier for me and a little quicker for you to catch up, I will post photos and add captions. This will be a long post, but shouldn't be too bad because it will be mostly photos. SO much has happened in the last 2 months! Here we go...

2-3 Months

Laughing with Daddy

I am WAY behind on posting. I apologize. But for the time being here is a video of Caleb talking, looking, and laughing with his Daddy. The same video is also on you tube and facebook:)

Caleb rolling to the other side

Okay, I don't know what possessed him to roll over in the first place, but today he decided to roll to the right instead of the left! He did it several times so we were able to capture it on video. He is getting faster, so Mom better be ready for quite the little mover! Grandpa Ray is filming.

1 Month

Here is Caleb at 1 month. He didn't want to smile for the camera. It is hard to catch on camera. He does smile at Mom when she is laughing. He also does a cute little grin when he thinks no one is looking.

I took Caleb's picture with Curious George, Ted's favorite monkey, a scale to show how much Caleb is growing.

This is a shot of Caleb learning to suck on a pacifier. I thought it was so funny that the pacifier has a monkey attached to it. It is one that a friend had and because it was a monkey Ted wanted one. So my mom found one in Tulsa and brought it with her for Caleb.

Grandpa Ray came to visit from California this weekend. Here he is meeting Caleb for the first time.

Grandpa Ray giving Caleb a bottle.

Visitors

This is Caleb with some of the wonderful family and friends that came to see the wonderful little baby. :)

Grandma Ann feeding me dinner.

Daddy giving me a bottle. Can you see where I get my big fingers?

Mom's good friend Jenni that came by from Oklahoma. She just ran the incline!!! She is a superstar!! :)

Jenni looks like a pro. Wonder when she will have some kiddos for me to play with...

;)

Guess who picked out my outfit? Yes, my tummy is full. Mommy just fed me. :)

3 Week Checkup

Caleb had his 2 week checkup when he was 3 weeks old. They couldn't get him in any sooner. Here are some photos of the event. :)

Squirmy boy.

Doing a better job cooperating. :)

Mommy holding baby waiting for the doctor.

Oh no! Don't touch me! I just want to go to sleep!

Okay, not so bad. :)

Caleb rolling over

Here is a video of our strong baby rolling over. :) Grandma Ann was video taping. Please do not pay attention to the cheering mom in the background. :)

Caleb's Birth Story

***Beware*** This may have too much information for some readers!

It started on Monday night (the 12th). I was having these "tightening" pains and told Ted this baby is coming soon. I asked him if we should put something down in the bed incase my water breaks over night. He said, "No, it should be fine. Besides I don't think your water will break. Only 10-15% of women's water will break." Little did he know. :)

That night I had more trouble than usual sleeping and went downstairs to try to sleep on the couch. At 8:45 Tuesday morning (38 weeks exactly) I woke up from a few hours of sleep and went to the restroom. I stood up to wipe and my water broke on my hand! I had a pretty good feeling it was my water breaking, but called Ted to be sure. I called Ted and left a message (because he didn't have his phone on!) saying, "I have a question for you. Please call me." I then went upstairs to finish packing a few things and get ready to head to the hospital to check things out. As I went up the stairs, my water was leaking! It wouldn't stop!! By this time, Ted called me back and I told him what happened. He asked, "Are you sure its your water breaking or did you wet yourself." At this point I knew, so I told him it was my water. My thoughtful husband asked if I could drive myself (about 30 minutes) to the hospital! I said yes. He was working 5 minutes from the hospital. I rinsed off in the shower. I called my mom so she could change her flight. It was scheduled to arrive one day later! Ted called back in about 5 minutes to say he was driving home to take me to the hospital. Apparently I found out later that one of the nurses he works with told him to high tail it home to his wife and drive her to the hospital. I still have to thank that woman.

Ted got home and put the car seat in the jeep. (My car was in the shop because I was hit in a parking lot when I was 36 weeks pregnant! Another story) I put a towel down (still leaking) and we were off to the hospital. We stopped at Einsteins so I could get a breakfast bagel. I found out they don't feed you while you are in labor and decided I needed some energy to do this! I had 2 "tightening" pains on the way there. We got to the hospital at 10:25am on Tuesday and as soon as I got to labor and delivery with a towel around my legs and another one in between my legs, they gave me a room, hooked me up to monitors, put me in a gown (clothes soaked by this point), and started an IV. I was in labor! They told me those "tightening" pains were contractions.

By 3:45 I was dialated to 2 centimeters, 60% effaced, and at a -1 station. They put in an internal cathader. At 4:45 they started pitocin to help my contractions along. At 5:30 mom arrived after a very long journey from Tulsa. At 7:30 they checked me and I was at 3.5 centimeters, 60% effaced, and a -2 station. At 8:00 they gave me an epidural. I was much more comfortable. At 9:30 I was taken off pitocin since my body was kicking in and having contractions. I was at 5 centimeters and they put me on Oxygen and kept flipping me over left side to right side to keep baby's heart rate up. Nurses would run into the room and flip me with a very serious worried look on their faces every 10-20 minutes. At 10:30 I was at 6-7 centimeters. By 11:25 I was at 10 centimeters and they told me to labor down until 12:00 so I would have to push less and get baby down a little more. I was complete (10 centimeters), complete (100% effaced) and +2. The midwife came in and said I could start pushing. They kept turning me as I was pushing because they keep losing baby's heart rate.

Suddenly, they quickly flipped me on all fours (like a dog) and said push! Don't stop, PUSH! Baby's head came out and they kept yelling at me to push. Finally his shoulders and the rest of his body. The cord was wrapped around his neck. Then silence. Dead silence. No one said a word. I knew something was wrong. I was still on all fours and could see the reflection in the window, Caleb was all blue. I asked why he wasn't crying and no one spoke. Ted said, "He's fine. Don't look." I knew something was wrong. I kept asking what was wrong, why he wasn't crying. Mom said, "They need to clear out his lungs first." This was the scariest time of my life. My baby was not breathing. They picked me up and flipped me back onto my back and delivered the placenta in 3 minutes. By this time, Caleb started crying and turning pink. I was a little relieved, but knew we were not in clear because I saw Ted's face. They handed me Caleb and said I had 2 minutes. They then began stitching me up (I tore when they had to desperately get his shoulders out) and whisked Caleb out of the room to check on him some more. Most of the time at this hospital, they leave the baby with mom in the room.

I told Ted to go check on Caleb while they were stitching me up. Ted gave Caleb a bath and then came back with him about 2 hours later. His apgar scores were about 4 in the first minute of life and 7 in 5 minutes (not good, but he is doing well now). By 5:30am or so they took us to the Mother/Baby unit and left Caleb with us. I had a lactation consultant come in and try to help me get the hang of breast feeding within the first 10 hours. That didn't go so well. Caleb was tearing me up and I didn't know how to fix it. Ted and mom went to take the rental car back, get food, and go home to check on Coley. It was a little scary to be left "alone" with Caleb. I could barely get out of the bed to pick him up when he cried. We were both discharged by noon on Thursday making that about 50 hours total in the hospital.

Whew! What a story. Caleb is okay now, but he gave us quite the scare when he came into this world. We thank God that our little boy is growing and happy now. :)

After being admitted to the hospital.

When they had me on my side and breathing oxygen.

Right after he was born and they got him hooked up. You can see he still is a little blue.

My 2 minutes with Caleb.

First photo of the Stefani Family. Please disregard my triple chin. They wouldn't let me sit up and this was taken at a weird angle.

3 Weeks Old

Caleb turned 3 weeks old on Wednesday and is doing so well. He had his 2 week check up yesterday (they couldn't get us in any earlier). His stats are listed below. He only cried when the doctor put the instrument in his ear and also when he tried to open Caleb's eyes. He was very happy to "sleep" through the appointment. :) I was very proud of him.

Breast feeding was off to a rough start. He eats ferociously. I asked for a lactation consultant to come by within the first 10 hours while we were in the hospital. I had taken the class offered, read the books out there, and thought, "this should be easy, painful, but easy." Boy was I wrong!!He would latch on and I would cry in pain. He ripped me to shreds! I made an appointment to see the lactation consultant at the clinic when he was 6 days old. I went in with my mom and the wonderful lady gave me some medication for my nipples, great advice on positioning, and weighed Caleb to find out how much he was transferring. Caleb was eating well despite my pain. Thank goodness! She even recommended I try pumping instead, while I healed. She couldn't believe how torn up I was and still feeding. My response, "He needs to eat." Well, long story longer...3 weeks in and I am almost completely healed (yipee) and Caleb has gained a pound since birth. :) He is getting plenty to eat. Breast feeding is so much better! Needless to say, I was a wreck the first 2 weeks, hoping and praying he was okay and going to make it. I think that comes from when he was first born. ( Oh, that reminds me I need to post the birth story soon.)

All is well now. I have had tremendous help from my mom and Ted's mom. I could not have done this without them!! I don't know how moms do it by themselves or with other little ones!! I have to remember, God gives us what we can handle. The mom's cleaned house, made meals, did shopping, and helped me take care of baby!! I have gotten a shower every day!! I am so spoiled!!

Caleb can now hold his head up for a little while and roll to his side. He smiles, which I LOVE!!! It is probably gas, but man his little grin melts my heart!! He also can sleep up to 4 hours at night with another 3 hour stretch!! He cries when something is wrong, mostly just when he is hungry. During his 2nd week, he cried for no reason (maybe colic?) for about 2 hours every night. He goes on outings everyday (restaurants, shops, appointments). He is such a good baby. I am so blessed.

3 weeks stats:

21.5 inches

9 lbs 7.8 oz

36cm head circumference

Look how big I am at 3 weeks!

I am so strong!

This is the blankie Grammy made me

I am working on holding my head up with Grammy.

Grammy's turn to give me a bath. I love the warm water.

Welcome Caleb Ryan Stefani

We are so happy to welcome our little boy to our family. He was born July 14, 2010 at 1:39am. He was 8 lbs 7.2 oz and 21 inches long. I will have to type up the "birth story" a little later. Right now I just want to get his picture on the blog. We have had him home for 2 1/2 weeks now and he is doing very well. He likes to move and make noises. He can lift his head and turn his head during tummy time, only for a little while. His grandmas came out to welcome him to the world. He loves when his Daddy talks to him and sings to him. He is a sweet little boy. The video is a little long, but shows how he is working on his tummy time. :)

Caleb right after he was born

Proud Mommy taking Caleb home from the hospital

Our little bundle of joy

Daddy and baby

37 Weeks

Life is getting increasingly more and more uncomfortable as the pregnancy gets closer and closer to term. Here are some pics of the belly at 37 Weeks.

Headstart

I went in for my 36 week appointment today and everything went well. Baby's heartbeat was 160 beats per minute (in teacher terms that means he is very enthusiastic or active). They also took two ultrasound pictures to see if he was in a "head down" position, and he was. Looks like he is ready to go. Hope I am!!! :)

This is the better one of the two, you can see his head and hand.

The nurse printed this one first and it showed his head (what they wanted), but I asked her to print another one because she saw his hand too. He he he :)

36 Weeks

Here are some pics of me at 36 weeks. Still working on my Masters. Only 2 weeks of class left. :) Most everything is ready for Baby Caleb. Feeling a little uncomfortable especially in the evenings and tossing and turning at night.

Sorry, this one is out of focus

Hospital bag is mostly packed and ready to go behind me

36 Weeks today!