3 Weeks Tomorrow

Jalen will be 3 weeks old tomorrow, time is just flying by! He is becoming more alert day by day and is also becoming more and more colicky too. We have had 3 or 4 nights in a row now that he doesn't fall asleep until after 1am which hasn't been too big of a deal since it was a long holiday weekend but Jason works tomorrow morning so now if he decides to be up all night this week, it's all on me to stay up with him. I have been trying really hard to nap whenever I feel like it because when bedtime comes around I always wish I slept more that day to be able to stay up more with him. I start my next class this week and am wondering how in the world I am going to be able to manage it! I can barely get through making my own breakfast or lunch or taking a shower with as busy as he keeps me with his feedings much less have to study and do work. Hopefully he will start getting better with his schedule and get his days and nights back on track and it won't be as hard as I imagine but we'll see.

We started decorating for Christmas this weekend, the tree is up and mostly decorated and I have most of my other decorations placed around the house so it is starting to feel more like the holidays but the sunny warm weather really makes it hard to believe that it is a winter wonderland in other places right now. Here are some pictures from the weekend of our growing little boy.

Playing in his little gym for the first time



Ali got a new brace to help keep her leg straight


Finally starting to fit into some of his clothes..mainly newborn size fits best right now.

Sleeping on mommy


Getting dried off after a nice warm bath

Starting to like his bathtime

Making funny faces while lying in bed one morning



Sleeping in mommy and daddy's bed while mommy takes pictures

Napping in mommy's arms

Happy Thanksgiving

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are thankful to have all of our friends and family in our lives, we are very lucky to have so many great people in our lives. Of course we are also very thankful for our baby Jalen and think we are the luckiest people in the world to have him.

We spent the day at Chris and Jim O'Neal's and were surprised to see Julie and Brian there when we arrived...a surprise visit from TN so they could be with family and meet their new nephew. The day went by so quickly but we had a wonderful time and of course ate very well.

Here are some pictures from the day...Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Photo shoot of Jalen enjoying his semi-tummy time




A present for Jalen from Julie & Brian from their recent trip to Amsterdam - Clog Slippers. They also got him an "I Love Paris" onesie that is very cute too.

The Kids and Grandkid (Joely, Jalen, Jason, Matt, Sarah, Brian & Julie)

Everyone at Thanksgiving

Nana and Jalen

Our Family

Brian and Julie with Jalen

Sarah & Dustin

Grandma and Grandpa O'Neal (Great Grandparents to Jalen)

Jalen's 1st Bath

Jalen's circumcision is healed and his umbilical cord off, so we got to give him his first bath last night. We video taped it but it is too long to put on here so we got a couple pictures of him afterwards instead. He did pretty well too, he cried and wasn't happy at all at first but I think he will grow to like it. He seemed to be pretty relaxed after it was all said and done and boy did he smell good- I love the Johnson's night time bath products!

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we will be at Chris & Jim's house for it. I am still trying to figure out what Jalen will wear since he is still a bit too small for all of his adorable 0-3 month clothes, but getting closer to fitting it them each day!

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days....




A big yawn, before our nap

Napping with mommy this morning


Our 3 children...Jalen, Ali & Laila


Getting dried off by mommy

Jalen seeming to throw up some gang signs...ha ha

He looks like such a chubby little boy...it's just the angle, he's still so little

2 Weeks Old Tonight

At 8:19pm tonight Jalen will be officially 2 weeks old and although it seems like just yesterday I was going to the hospital hoping to be induced, it also seems like we've had him forever. Jalen and I both had our 2 week check ups today and they both went very well.

A baby should gain their weight back by 14 days so we were hoping he would be back to 6lbs 3.9oz but we were pleasantly surprised when we laid him on the scale and it read 6lbs 12oz! The doctor thought he looked good all over and said his circumcision is healing nicely too. I warned the doctor that Jalen is a fan of peeing straight in the air when his diaper is removed but I don't think he really thought he would and just as he held him up in the air and turned him over, a stream shot out at the table. The doctor thought he spit up at first until he saw me grab for a burp cloth to cover him and stop the pee from going all over the place. The doctor laughed and said "well at least he didn't do it while facing me". Our next appt is in 2 weeks for his 1 month check up.

At my appt the doctor removed the steri strips which were holding my incision together and found where I was tied off internally and removed the knot in the stitch so it wouldn't pull so much anymore. It hurt a bit but I am still pretty numb, and could be for a while, where my incision is so I didn't feel the majority of it. I am also down to 130lbs now so only 13-15 more to go to get to my pre-pregnancy weight, although I can't say it is because of me doing anything considering I can't lift over Jalen's weight or exercise for at least another 4 weeks when I have my next appt, but I'm sure just getting up and down with Jalen and drinking tons of water and not eating as much isn't hurting.

I will post some more pictures soon because of course I have new ones everyday so keep checking back!

Over the weekend

This weekend Jalen's remains of his umbilical cord fell off and now we can see his cute little belly button. This is very exciting because it means we are closer to being able to give him a real bath, now just have to wait for his circumcision to fully heal. He and I both have our 2-week check-ups tomorrow morning. If all is well I should get the clearance to be able to drive again and hopefully Jalen's weight is back up to what he was at birth.

We are trying to get Jalen on a schedule and some days he does really well but others he seems to get his nights and days confused and sleeps all day to be up all night! Today Jalen got to meet some girls from school at a meet and greet brunch at Auntie Jen and Uncle Ryan's house. He slept most of the time as expected. Here are some pictures from this weekend. He is already changing so much and I finally got a good picture to show off his pretty blue eyes!

Napping on the couch...you can see his belly button

Wearing the comfy pants Erika got him (the matching onesie is still a bit too big though)


Jalen with Heidi


Jalen with Wendy

he looks so excited here, I love it!


One of my favorite pictures of him as of now


You can finally see his blue eyes

Napping with Daddy


Laila thinks this is her chair in the nursery now.