Comparison 1

Brixton at 9 days old...

Same outfit at almost 9 weeks.. the pants are preemie and are pretty short now.

Yuck!!

Warning... this is extremely distgusting!!
Brixton never pooped yesterday but has been acting like he needed to... Well, he really needed to apparently. His poop exploded everywhere!! See what I mean...

you should see the onesie he had on.. although the pants he had on don't have a drop of poop on them. There was so much it even got on his ear.

So, into the tub he went... All clean. He did pee on the bath towel so this picture is in the second towel. He's also been spitting up all day.. too much stuff coming out of this kid today!

I Don't Think I Ever Posted These...

The final product.... Brixton's nursery.


New carpet... new insulation... new dry wall.. new closet doors... and of course ORANGE curtains.

(The random little girl is my niece)

We Survived

What a busy few days... not only was it Brixton's first Christmas, but Nate's little sister got married over the weekend.

We were supposed to go to my parents on Christmas Eve, but the snow postponed that until Sunday. Christmas day Nate's family and his sisters new in-laws all ended up at our house (last minute decision) because it was the central meeting point between all the houses.. fortunately Nate's mom brought all the food and I didn't have to do anything except clean my house FAST!
(That's Nate's sister and her new husband Chris on the couch)

Brixton with Nate's mom (MeMaw)

Saturday was the wedding and yesterday we made it to my mom and dads.. whew.. glad that's over. In the midst of this we are trying to get B on a better sleep schedule.. not fun!

So tired....

We actually didn't get Brixton anything this year (well, I guess we got him an outfit). What does a two month old need? Besides we just had another shower for him the week before Christmas so we don't feel too bad. We figure we'll just tell him since he was up all night Santa didn't come, because Santa only comes to kids who sleep.

All this, and last week Nate and I both got sick Tuesday, went to the doctor Wednesday and our moms came over Wednesday to hang out with Brixton while we took a nap, went to the doctor and picked up our meds. Not to mention the snow. My car will not be leaving the garage until the 2-feet of snow blocking it melts.

The Best Christmas Present

Came 2 months ago today!!
Merry Christmas from the Isons!!! Hope you're staying warm with all this snow outside.

The Stockings Were Hung

by the chimney with care...

finally finished with just days to spare.. Yup.. I made these. Last year Nate was the only one with his name on one. I finished mine right after Christmas and then finally finished Brixton's on Monday. I learned to knit specifically so I could have stockings like this. I had one similar to these growing up that my aunt made so she taught me to make them a few years ago.

These are actually the second stockings for Nate and I. Our first ones were huge and did not have our names on them. Nate has now sewn Brownie's name on one of those.

In other news we are all a little sick this week. I have an upper respiratory infection and Nate has some viral stomach thing. I think Brixton's little tummy is hurting too. My grandma said we should try letting him suck on a peppermint.. thank goodness there are candy canes readily available right now. It does seem to help for a little while.

Sweet Revenge (Is That Wrong To Say In Reference To Your Baby?)

Since Brixton decided last week to keep us up WAY too late we are now reversing the tables on him.. trying to keep him up as long as we can in the evening so he will sleep really well. Here's Nate's effort at dinner last night.
This...

Resulted in this... (you have to watch the whole thing for the full effect).

See we aren't that mean... he enjoys it on some level... besides the past couple of nights I've been able to get almost 5 hours of sleep!!

Hopefully tonight's better...

Thanks to everyone for your comments on my earlier post... Hopefully we'll get a little more sleep soon.

In the meantime, here are some recent photos of Brixton.

Katie and Erin have posted this already... but now it's my turn. Four of five couples in our Bible study group were all pregnant at the same time.. here are the fruits of our "labor."

Olivia, Brixton, Liesel, and Hailey. I like that Liesel and Brixton are holding hands.. especially because her dad is the one who when we went to meet her told Brixton to stay away for the next 20 years..

I love these overalls.. from my new favorite kids store .. The Children's Place... they were on super sale.

To sleep or not to sleep that is the question. I love the hat... also from Children's Place.

Wednesday I took Brixton to Enid to meet his great grandma. It was fun, hopefully we can go again soon. This is my mom's mom. She is the only grandma Nate and I have left and we plan to keep her around for a long time!

I put Brixton in his swing this morning and this is how he ended up. I kept trying to sit him up but he kept falling over. After a few minutes I put him in his crib. When I picked him up he had a bunch of drool dripping down his face. I guess he was really tired after staying up all night.

Looks really uncomfortable, huh??

My Favorite.. Mandy's Contest

Mandy's having a contest. You're supposed to post your favorite black and white photo that you've taken. This is one of mine, it's of my friend Becky's two little boys... taken a couple years ago.

On The Verge Of Giving Up

This week has been so frustrating. I love this child; however, I do not like his sudden love for staying awake until all hours of the night! He used to go right to sleep, sleep for 4-5 hours, eat for 5-20 minutes and go right back to sleep. This week he suddenly wants to eat for at least 40 minutes and stay awake screaming until 1 a.m., or he'll go to sleep around 11 and wake around 2-3:30 eat and then stay awake for another hour and a half. He has spent a lot of time crying in his crib... so much for the baby monitor we got, we can hear every scream without it. Oh the joy of a small home.
Now, I'm also about to give up this whole breastfeeding thing. I really don't want to. I told myself I would do it at least until I go back to work. I'm all ready to keep going when I go back too, but this is one of those weeks that it's very tempting to pop open the free cans and jars of formula in the bottom drawer! To be honest, I don't even like breastfeeding, I'm only still doing it because I know it has health benefits for us both and it's saving a ton of money. I would totally be fine just pumping the milk and giving him a bottle or the idea of just pouring a bottle is really starting to appeal to me. It's just frustrating. He's gone from taking about 20 minutes to taking 40 minutes every time. A bottle takes 15 minutes tops.

I sure love this kid...

I really just needed to vent about this... thanks for listening!

Date Night

Saturday, Nate and I went on our first date since Brixton was born. We went to dinner (thanks to a gift card) and then to see the Blindside. This is us when we got home. Every picture I see of us these days looks like we are REALLY tired. I guess there's no hiding that we're new parents huh.
We had fun, but started to miss this little guy after a while. Nate said now I understand how he feels every day. Six weeks and I'll get it for sure (that's when I go back to work)

Brixton hung out with Nate's mom (MeMaw) while we enjoyed ourselves. The Blindside is a great movie. If you haven't seen it then I totally recommend it. It's based on a true story, and I must say the lady it's based on is incredible. If more of us were like her this would be a better world.

These next pictures are Brixton after church yesterday. Not his first church outfit, but it's a cute one. You have to love button up shirts on little babies. Everyone said he looked like a little man.

They're a little hard to see, but he has little shoes on too.. they're really cute.

So Fast...

It's hard for me to look at Brixton and see how much he's grown... that is until this week.
We went to see the Cornell's at the hospital.. little Haylie was born weighing just one ounce more than Brixton did but she was so light... and he looks so big next to her!
These pj's have been my favorite.. but they are probably too small to be worn anymore.. he's also finally outgrown the preemie pants I bought him the week he was born, and he can wear some of his 0-3 month clothes now.

Such a big boy... We were running out of Newborn diapers last week and so we went ahead and bought size 1... this week the last of the Newborns have been seeming a little small.

I just love this little guy... and those blue eyes...

Hard to believe almost 6 weeks ago we were waiting on this little guy to come.. and now we spend lots of time awake with him!

He just started crying.. waking from his nap... guess that's all for this blog post.

Some of my favorites...

Apparently some of the files are too big for blogger to handle so there are a few more favorites that aren't able to be posted... but you get the idea.
Again... these were taken by Randy Coleman
These are all taken at our house.. most of these in his bedroom.

I love this one!!

I must say I think this kid is pretty cute! If only he were this peaceful ALL the time (he really is a good baby though).

What a difference a month can make...

One month ago today this little guy made his way out of my tummy...

and into our arms...

What's even more amazing is that today was supposed to be my due date! I'm so grateful that I'm not still pregnant.. and so grateful that Brixton is here and healthy!

He's so amazing. I thank God for him everyday. I love watching him, even though he doesn't do much. He's trying to get the hang of holding his little head up with out it swinging out of control and he's more and more alert. I absolutely adore this kid. I have 8 more weeks at home with him, then it's back to work for and fun with Aunt G (Nate's sister) for B. He's still pretty skinny, newborn pants still swallow him (most pairs) but the preemie pants are starting to get snug. He's growing so much. So, with it being Thanksgiving this week I feel I have a lot to be thankful for!! But this guy and his very patient daddy are at the top of the list..

Vaccines & Tricks

We're considering doing a delayed vaccine schedule with Brixton and I'm wondering if anyone out there has done that or knows someone who has that could give us a little info...
I have nothing against vaccines, but would like to spread them out a little and maybe avoid a few (chicken pox never hurt me or my niece who's had them three times).

Brixton hates his car seat!! He cries everytime we put him in it and unlike what most people say it doesn't put him right to sleep, in fact he has no problem screaming the whole 15 minute drive from our house to church. Last night we were on our way home from a CR TEAM meeting and he was hungry.. therefore justified screaming.. I put a pacifier in his mouth and he kept screaming.. then I put my finger on the tip of his nose (when he nurses his nose always touches me so I thought I'd try just touching his nose for some reason). Well, it worked he calmed down and pretty much fell asleep! Very weird, but at least it worked...

Yesterday was 4 weeks since Brixton's birth. I can't believe it. The weirdest part is that I wasn't even due until later this week. I held him up by my stomach the other day and told him I'm glad he came when he did.. he's so much bigger now I don't want to imagine how huge I would have been! Speaking of huge... I gained exactly 30 pounds during pregnancy... I went to the doctor today for my post delivery check up and they weighed me (I haven't been weighed since I was pregnant. We don't own a scale.) and I'm only 6 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight!! I can't believe it! I'm sure the last 6 will be hard to loose, especially since the holidays are here... oh well. Bring on the turkey and pecan pie!!

Caution: Extreme Cuteness!!

We had Brixton's pictures taken when he was 9 days old... just thought I'd share a couple.

I love that he looks like he's flexing his tiny muscles. This is actually the face he makes when he sneezes.

This one is sweet.

There are more here....

Randy Coleman Photography

The password is ci1203

I couldn't get any more to copy... maybe i'll figure out how to post more later.

What To Post??

I really haven't been able to come up with anything to post lately.. odd since I have an adorable newborn eating, sleeping and laying around the house..

We did have a rough week last week, gas or an underdeveloped digestive system, but we're all a little better this week thanks to Dr. Adair (our pediatrician).

Anyway, here's a few pictures of Brixton over the past week or so.

They don't make OSU clothes small enough, so this is his iron on Go Pokes onesie we made.

Our friend Ricky, his wife Sudeepa and their son Justin came all the way from India to meet Brixton. Not really. They're missionaries in India and they just happened to be here so we got to see them. Brixton didn't cooperate for any pictures though.

This is Ricky, Justin, Nate and Brixton.

Sudeepa, Justin, Me and Brixton.

Sunday we gave Brixton his first bottle. Everyone had said it would take a while for him to get the hang of it, but he loved it. He gulped it down and acted like he was still hungry. we thought surely not, but gave him more and then he threw it all up all over me. Lesson learned.

This morning Brixton woke up at 4:45, ate, and then decided he just wanted to be awake for about the next hour and a half. Fortunately, he was very happy the whole time, except for when he was grunting (still a little digestive struggle). He loves the lights in our room, they're on a dimmer and we leave them on so I can see to feed him. Yes, he sleeps in our room, but in a bassinett (thanks Bialons). He does take naps in his crib, but won't sleep there until he can go a little longer in the night without eating.

Brixton's Birth-- No Drugs Needed

OK.. maybe needed is the wrong word...let's say used.

This is the whole story.. is you don't want to read about the pre-term labor skip down to the third paragraph...

Brixton’s story actually started about three weeks before he was born. On I Sunday,October 4, 2009, I started having frequent contractions. I had been having occassional contractions for a couple weeks, but these were different. Not painful at all, but there were a lot of them. Nate and I headed to church and in the short drive I had three. I had already called the doctor and when we got to church the on call called me back and said I should probably go get checked out. We went to Mercy for monitoring. Still no pain, but the nurses were very concerned because I was only at 32 weeks. They gave me a shot of Brethyne to stop contractions, and then gave me a steroid shot for Brixton’s lung development. After a couple hours they checked me and were surprised I was dialated to a three and 60-70 percent affaced. They went ahead and sent me home saying if I had any contractions that hurt to come back. The next morning I called my doctor and they had me go back because I had a few stronger contractions overnight. They checked me again and said I was at a four. They immediately admitted me and moved me up to labor and delivery where I would spend 7 hours on a drug they called Mag. I had to lay flat and could only get up to go to the bathroom. The nurse told me to be ready to “barf my brains out.” Fortunately, I never threw up. I was only extremely hot and nauseous. My doctor came in and said I could eat when they stopped the medicine but they wanted to keep me there for monitoring and I may have to go on bedrest. They also gave me a second steroid shot for Brixton’s lungs. I spent until Wednesday in the hospital. That morning my doctor wanted me up moving around to see how my body would react. My contractions seemed to have stopped so they said I could go home. The best part was my doctor said I could go ahead and go back to work as long as I took it easy. He knew I really wanted a natural birth and that laying around for the next few weeks wouldn’t help me as far as that was concerned.

I stayed on a couple of prescriptions to keep me from going into labor for the next week and a half. On Sunday, October 18, 2009, Dr. Goff said I could stop the medication and that if I went into labor he wouldn’t stop it again. Brixton had been measuring big in all my ultrasounds so he felt that combined with the fact I had already had the steroid shots for his lungs was enough to believe Brixton would survive without any serious problems if he came early. So, I stopped the medicine. For the next week I had contractions pretty much every 6-8 minutes. They were uncomfortable, but never so strong that I couldn’t talk or keep going through them. The doctor and nurses told me that once they started hurting I needed to get to the hospital because they didn’t want me to have the baby along the side of the highway. After all, I made it to four centimeters basically without even feeling anything except a little pressure.

Saturday, October 24, 2009, I was having stronger contractions than I had the previous days. Nate and I went ahead and went to our “Baby Bootcamp” class (learning to care for a newborn).

This was our practice baby.

This is the last pregnant picture of me taken at home.

They continued to get stronger. We went for a walk around our neighborhood to see if anything would change. That afternoon we took a nap. When we woke up they felt a lot stronger and it was getting harder to keep walking around. After some debate, and a few contractions at three minutes apart, we decided to go back to the hospital. They monitored me and were probably going to let me leave because I was still a four, but they checked and I was at 90 percent (I was at 80 when we got there). They had me walk around some and then checked again and I was at 100 percent. They admitted me and we moved upstairs at about 9:30 Saturday night. We had planned for a natural birth so made sure the nursing staff new. We were so blessed to have the nurses we had. Our first LD nurse was Jessica. She was so excited that we were wanting to do natural. We spent the rest of the night in an hourly routine. They had to monitor me for 15 minutes each hour. So, each hour started with the monitoring. I did some exercises on the birthing ball for about 15 minutes. Then we would walk the halls of the hospital for 15-20 minutes. And then we would do some other exercises that Nate had printed off the Internet. Around two Sunday morning they gave me a pill that would lessen the contractions pain so I could sleep for a little while. The pill wore off pretty quickly, I maybe got 20 minutes of sleep. I ended up stalling at a seven. They had offered hours earlier to break my water but we refused. We decided that would be ok now, but they checked me and when they did Brixton’s head would float up. I had extra amnionic fluid through the whole pregnancy which Dr. Goff and Jessica said would make breaking my water risky. If they broke it and he floated up his cord could float our which would mean instant C-section. So we waited. They had me pump to stimulate stronger more frequent contractions. It really seemed to work. However, I just couldn’t get past a seven.

At 9:00 on Sunday, Dr. Goff came in and said what they could do is poke a hole in my water bag, that would help plant Brixton’s head on my cervix and then it may break the rest of the way on its own. However, when he checked he said Brixton’s head was down enough they could break it without any problem. So they did at 9:30. The change was immediate. The next contraction was so much stronger than any of the others I had had so far. With in two contractions I was at an eight. I found it incredibly hard to focus for the next couple of hours. It seemed everything I had done to prepare went out the window. They told me to tell them when I was ready to push and as soon as they asked I said I was. By this time we had a new nurse, Heather. Heather helped Nate out by telling him different things he could do to help me. I ended up pushing for about 30-45 minutes. Dr. Goff was in there for almost the whole time after breaking my water. Between him, Heather and Nate I made it through. Nate said at about 11:30 Dr. Goff looked at Heather and said I had a good 30 or 45 minutes of pushing left.

Then at 11:41 a.m., on Sunday, October 25, 2009, Brixton was born.

They considered him 5 weeks early. They layed him on my tummy and I don’t remember much except thinking he was very purple. They asked Nate if he wanted to cut the cord. He had always said he didn’t want to, but when they asked he said he wanted to. They took Brixton to the other side of the room to clean him up.

This is my doctor with Brixton.

I tore in what Dr. Goff described as a “Y.” So, while Brixton was cleaned up I was sewed up. They gave me a shot of local anesthesia but I’m pretty sure I still felt most of the stitching. They had a NICU team on hand because he was early. Once I was cleaned up they let me hold him and let our family come look at him.

They then took him away because his body temperature was too low and his breathing was accelerated. Eventually, they did bring him back. His temperature had regulated and so had his breathing. The pediatrician later told us that based on all the checks she does he appears to have been a 37 week baby not at almost 35 week baby. He weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 19 inces long.

After he was born I ended up passing out the first three times out of bed. Poor Nate had to catch me everytime. The first time I made it to the bathroom and then told the nurse I was going to pass out. I woke up in bed with an oxygen mask on and several nurses all around me. The next time, I made it to the bathroom, used the bathroom and then passed out. And then Monday morning, I made it to the bathroom, used the bathroom and made it almost all the way back to my bed and then passed out. By Monday morning, after breakfast, I was doing a little better and finally made it to the bathroom and back to my bed without passing out.

We stayed at the hospital through Wednesday and then went home.

I wouldn’t change a thing. Sure, it hurt but that’s ok. I believe God made my body capable of carrying and delivering a baby. I spent a lot of time in prayer leading up to Brixton's birth simply asking God for the strength to have him without an epidural. Even though in the heat of the moment I doubted my decision I know God gave me the strength to make it through.. and that He helped my body to slowly progress a good portion of the way without me feeling any pain.

Now, after it was all over Nate said the other two girls in the hall that day likely asked for an epidural once they heard me screaming. Oh well.