Tripp :: One Month Old

 

Yay little buddy - today (Christmas day!) is your ONE month birthday! This month has been just a whirlwind... I can honestly say that I don't know where the time has gone. It seems like only a moment ago we were in the hospital with you, snuggling up and getting to know you... and yet at the same time, I feel like having you home is so familiar as if you have been here for much longer. You are an ABSOLUTE delight... the perfect addition to our little family and we love everything about you! I just cannot get enough of you - the newborn stage is just so fleeting and honestly, one of my favorites. You are so precious, so small, so sleepy... I guess having Eleanor and seeing the busy-body that she is makes me truly sentimental for the short time we have you as our "baby".... a few things I want to remember about your first month of life:

*We came home from the hospital when you were four days old... Dot-Dot had moved in to help us seeing as I am not supposed to lift anything heavier than you for six weeks; darn! What a help she has been... she spends Monday-Friday with us and keeps our house clean, organized, with food on the table and still has time to entertain Eleanor. What a blessing!

*Eleanor LOVES you... it took her about 3-4 days, but now she cannot get enough of you. She calls you "Tipp" and never wants to leave the room without kissing you. She is such a "helper" and loves to bring me your paci, blankets, burp rags, diapers.... she also always asks to hold you. So we let her sit down and pretend to hold you sometimes to make her day. You love her too... or you will, you are too sleepy now to know :).

*You purse your lips like a duck just like Daddy.. and Eleanor.

*When we left the hospital, you weighed 7lbs 3oz... at your week checkup you weighed 7lbs 11oz and at your two week checkup you weighted 8lbs 7oz... yay! You are a good little eater!

*You are an AMAZING sleeper.... it started almost immediately after birth, but the first night we had you home you gave us about 4.5 hours of straight sleep, the next night about 5 and because you are doing so great at gaining weight Dr. Neely said to let you sleep.... so a typical night you feed about 10pm then again at 6am... that is 8 hours, little guy... THANK YOU!

*For the first few weeks of your life, you slept on my chest... I did this with Eleanor too. I absolutely love nothing more than snuggling with you, sweet boy. Most nights, I would have you sleep with me after your mid-night feed... but seeing as you are such a great sleeper, you really don't start sleeping on my chest until about 6:30amish.

*During the day you eat about every 2-2.5 hours... love that you understand the concept of cluster feeding!

*Unfortunately, you have already had your first cold. YUCK. There has been nothing worse than seeing your sweet little self coughing and stopped-up.... it has made Momma and Daddy feel quite helpless. Eleanor got daddy sick, daddy got you sick, you got me sick and now hopefully I am making you better by feeding you... you haven't had a fever, but my word you have had quite the rough go.... we even had to do the baby heimlich maneuver on you a few times. Um... not fun, quite scary and sweet boy - I am so sorry!

*You have a full head of white blond hair - and kind of a mullet, if we are being honest. 

*We have only ventured out to church once since you were born... you were 2 weeks old and you slept like a snug bug the entire time.... but it has been rainy or freezing (or we were sick) the other weeks, so it just was not worth getting you out!

*You sleep in Momma and Daddy's room in your bassinet... but little boy, you SNORE. It took us about 2 weeks to get used to it... you were sleeping, we were not. We threatened to move you to the bathroom or the closet, but never did :).

*It has been quite the learning curve adjusting to a baby boy's diaper... mainly, the fact that at least once a day you pee all over us and all over yourself and your clothes, the wall, the bedding... you get the picture :).

 

 *You love to nap in the swing... and Eleanor loves to rock your swing, yikes!

*We have tried tummy time a couple of times and you are a fan - you will hang out on your tummy for about 5 minutes or so before you start "asking" to get up!

*You have great head control - whenever we are holding you up on our shoulder, you love to pick your head up and look around... sometimes you will look us directly in the face... hilarious!

*We took newborn pictures with you when you were about 9 days old... you peed on the photographer 3 times and pooped on Momma once. Lovely.

*You love bath time - you always give a shocked gasp when the water first hits you, but then you normally just sit and stare the rest of the time. When you are cold, your little bottom lip quivers and it is too cute.

*We have maybe heard you cry a total of 4 times. Literally. When you cry, you sound like a duck quacking... and you purse your little lips to make a frowny face and it will melt the hardest of hearts.

*We haven't heard a laugh yet, but you have cracked a smile or two a few times.... we aren't 100% sure if it was gas or a true smile, but the little dimple on your cheek is just about the sweetest thing you'll ever see.

*Weyland and Emily had baby Chapel and John and Tina had baby Caleb this past month.... Daddy and I can't wait to see you grow up with these kiddos... what a blessing!

I WILL sound like a broken record, but baby boy, you have literally added more joy and meaning to our days in just this short amount of time. Sometimes it is still hard for me to process that I have a son, but by golly it has been the greatest experience... having you here has only enhanced my love for daddy, Eleanor and the Lord... you have made my heart grow by leaps and bounds. Of course I want time to slow down because I know before I blink you will be crawling, running, talking... but I also can't wait to see the little man you will grow to be and I just could burst dreaming about the fun we will have. Little boy, we LOVE you. You bring us so much joy and having you in our family has only made us better - Tripper buddy, you are the best!

Dad's Xmas Gift

Word!

5 calls to the Peditrician
4 hours sleep (in a 24 hr. period)
3 gasping, chokings
2 sick babies
And a restless heart for the night...

I start you all off with this familiar song of the season to help contextualize our recent lives. My and Karen's anxiety and stress has risen greatly over the last few days due to Eleanor's double ear infection and sinus 'stuff' Tripp has come to have. We have argued, prayed, asked for help, resisted help, googled, argued, prayed... it's kinda like shampoo. Rinse and repeat.

One huge frustration of mine these last several days has been Eleanor's appetite, or lack there of. She lost 1.5 lbs since our last visit to the hospital, a couple weeks before Tripp was born. People, she only weighed 19 lbs to start, and she's 16 months old. In reality she runs around all day like a crazy woman, talks a lot and then crashes for a nap, wakes up, runs around the rest of the day... shampoo. But as she began to get sick she lost her appetite and started giving us the stiff arm to food, literally. Being her dad I heard the news of weight loss and thought, I'll fix this. I will take the responsibility completely of getting her to eat. How can a baby out-last, out-wit and out-maneuver her dad? I have a college degree. I can not get my daughter to drink 8 ozs. of chocolate milk. CHOCOLATE. Frustration is the tip of the iceberg. I actually got angry at my loss of control. My sin became real and apparent. I'm having a problem with the gospel.

I am dissatisfied with what is happening in my life right now. God is not receiving from me worship, but distant indifference. I am not wrong to want health for my kids. It is a fantastic prayer to ask for healing and remedy. But, if I ask to move out of any situation with out asking what am I supposed to learn about God I am missing the point of life. My kids are not sick because God is distant, vengeful or indifferent. They are sick to get me to experience a more full life with X. This time in our lives ordained by God is to have me at a computer contemplating how neglectful I've truly been of the lord the last weeks. And to then move me to change. On the extreme pendulum instant health or momentary death may be only a breath away. But in the practice of regular Xian living I am missing the mark. What has escaped my thoughts, prayers and beliefs until this very night are the words of Jesus when tempted by satan.

"Man shall not live by bread alone, but every word the proceeds from the mouth of God".

Eleanor will likely eat well again. Tripp will breathe easy and be free of snot. But I will never have this time back to be obedient to God. If God is who He says he is, believe Him. So be it.

Santa Babies...

This past week we loaded up the kiddos and headed to the Galleria with Mindy to take our annual pictures with Santa.... last year, Eleanor and Lucy were so young (Lucy was a content bean the whole time and Eleanor smiled like it was her job) so I was REALLY excited to see how Eleanor would respond this time. Is it bad that I was hoping for a picture of a mini-meltdown? I mean, those pictures are priceless. Well, Lucy did not disappoint - girlfriend is all kinds of scared of Mr. Bowl Full of Jelly - hilarious! Eleanor and Tripp, well, they aren't too impressed.... Santa neither excited nor scared Eleanor... she pretty much sat stoic on his lap without much expression while Tripp snored away. I mean, Santa looks more excited than either of my kids! Ridiculous!

 

The girl taking the "official" picture had a little noise maker to get Eleanor's attention... instead of smiling, though, Eleanor simply wished the woman would give it to her.

 

"How much longer, Momma? I am bored." E

"This pillow is so comfortable." T

 

.... enter Lucy! hahahaha!

Eleanor doesn't even care the her bff is in hysterics.

 

Prior to pictures, the girls were all over the Christmas decor... mainly, Lucy kept trying to take the ornaments off of the trees and Eleanor kept telling her "NO!"... now if only Eleanor would heed her own instruction when at home with our own tree :).

 

Our pic with Santa from last year.... I can't wait to see how these evolve over the years!

Here's to hoping that Santa freaks out Mr. Tripp next Christmas!

Tripp's First Bath

On day 5 of little Tripp's life, we decided it was time that Momma gave him his first bath at home... it just feels so cruel to take this warm, snuggle monkey...

And slowly prepare him for a warm, albeit stunning experience... I know they bath them in the hospital, but this first bath always makes me so nervous for our punkins! Look at that blond hair!

  

And here comes the water....!

 

Surprisingly, Tripp handled his bath much better than his big sister Eleanor did.... he definitely cried, but no screams and really more like little wimpers...

 

Look at that pouty lip, to. die. for.!

 

Since big sister Eleanor was napping during his bath, we decided to give him a paci to keep him from really wailing.... so our content little bug just let us finish while he sat back and relaxed!

 

All bundled in his warm towel and ready for his lotion massage!

 

And our clean little duckie... just too much!  First bath = success!

Tripp's Hospital Stay and Coming Home

Following Tripp's birth, we realized what a great blessing it was that he was born on a holiday weekend.... friends and family were able to come and visit, but it was a little more spread out than when we had Eleanor and everyone had to get their visit in on Sunday before the work week started. Seeing how tired we were, it was really nice to have a slow and steady pace of visitors throughout the weekend and not a mad rush! (I hate that I didn't get pictures of everyone.... thank you to the many more that came, we love you!!)....

 

Our swollen little bug the next morning....

 

Pamie came to visit her first grandson.....

 

Dot Dot and Grandpa Mike with their two Grandbabies....

Like Eleanor's pink poodle rocker, our amazing friend Junior brought this precious rocking horse and flower arrangement up to the hospital the night Tripp was born.... so darling!!

 

The Rives family.....

 We LOVE our hospital - seriously, I was looking forward to my stay just as much as giving birth... I just had the fondest memories of my time their with Eleanor and the second time around did NOT disappoint! We just had the BEST nurses for both Tripp and myself - and because it was a holiday weekend, again, there was just a different spirit around the halls... all the staff was truly so friendly and accommodating. There is just something about waking up in the hospital (post-partum) to your breakfast, your OBGYN, your pediatrician and nurses all making their rounds to check on you. Call me crazy, but I love it.

My best friend from high school, Julia, and her daughter Grace came to hold and love on Tripp!

My college besties (minus Gillean) were all in town for the weekend... such a special visit and time to catch up with these girls!!

 

Our small group (minus the Gamblins and Litzners) made the visit on Sunday evening... BJ loved this visit best because he had the opportunity to fulfill an apparent dream of his - smoking cigars with buddies outside in celebration!

Every night I would send Tripp to the nursery for the first stretch of sleep... so I sent him about 9:30pm until the nurses would bring him back to eat.... well, little pooper is a SLEEPER just like his sister! Every night we were there they would bring him back around midnight and he would refuse to wake up or eat... but would eat around 2am, instead. Once they brought him in though, Momma was hooked and he slept with me all snuggled on my chest... my very favorite thing in the entire world. Crazy fact I don't want to forget, Tripp slept from 2am - 9am his first night without ever waking up (although we tried to wake and feed him about every 2 hours)... the next night it was 2am - 7am... little boy loves his sleep, good boy!

Cari kept up the tradition and brought Tripp his very first fast food toy.... a Batman figurine. He loves it!

 

Aunt Katie and her roommate, Ashley came to love our little man too....

I was originally intending to stay at the hospital until Tuesday, but we have this little girl Eleanor who we missed like CRAZY - and because Tripp is such an amazing little baby and because I actually was doing better than expected, they let us go home on Monday afternoon! Never have I been so excited to pack up and head home to our new reality! 

 

Tripp looked absolutely precious in his going home outfit from Mindy, Josh, Lucy Kate and Raedean.... I just love "kissy kissy" and Eleanor has the same outfit in pink, so of course the sentimental me just loves it to pieces!

 

 

We got home around 2pm, just enough time for Eleanor to play with "bubba" until she went to nap. Again, she was still really excited about him at this point because she still hadn't figured out he was here to stay.... so we settled in, unpacked the car, squeezed our baby girl and welcomed Tripp HOME.

We LOVE having you here, buddy. Having you in our home only adds more joy and meaning to our days!