he hates me...

As I sit here on the eve of Pete's 6 week birthday, I have a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach.

He hates me.

I feel like I'm just a pair of boobs to my little boy. But when he's not hungry, he has little use for me. And when he's crying, tired, and upset, fuggetaboutit. That's when he REALLY hates me. As of this week, I can't seem to get this kid to sleep for more than 30 minutes at a time during the day. And when he wakes up fussy and crying, nothing I do will soothe him. He just grunts and fusses and wails, and the only thing that will calm him is nursing, no matter if it's "time" or not.

I remember rocking with Emerson when she was in the first few months, desperately trying to get her to sleep, and thinking to myself "What will I do with this kid when I have another who needs to nap?!?!" I resolved that I'd cross that bridge when I came to it.

I believe we are there.

So now what do I do? I can't have a kid who takes 30 minutes to get to sleep (do you know the havoc Emerson can wreak in 30 minutes. And multiply that by 3 naps a day.) And since I'm the only adult here during the day on most days, he's stuck with little ol' me.

Help! I really mean it. HELP!!!!

prepare for cuteness...

An old friend of mine from high school is a professional photographer, and she snapped some shots of Pete when we was just a week old. She's amazing, and the pictures are fabulous...we'll treasure them always! If you're looking for a terrific photographer, check her out at www.janessabullen.com

And now, for your viewing pleasure, here's Pete at 8 days old.

catching you up

Howdy. I have a minute so I thought I'd catch you up on what's been going on here. In my last post, I mentioned that we've seen a bevy of doctors and whatnot over the last few weeks. For those of you who don't know, Pete was born with some serious orthopedic issues in his left arm. Long story short, he's missing a few bones in his arm and hand, and he does not have an elbow. We've now met with 2 different orthopedic specialists at 2 different hospitals, and they've both said basically the same thing...Pete's "thumb" as it exists now (which has only a teeny tiny bone that is not attached to any other bones) will be removed an one of his other digits, likely his index finger, will be moved to serve as a thumb. We're doing some exercises with his ring finger and pinkie to increase movement and dexterity there. He will have a fairly functional left hand. His elbow, on the other hand, did not bring such great news. Both doctors agree that he does not have the muscle/ligament/tendon structure to create a functional elbow. This has been hard to swallow in this modern age of knee replacements. But both doctors are in agreement that Pete will have few physical limitations. They're both adamant that he'll play sports, and be able to use his left arm with lots of success.

We're now going to bi-weekly physical and occupational therapy. The primary goal at this young age is to increase sensory awareness. You know, like, "Hey Pete, this is your arm. This is how it moves. You should try that sometime." As he grows, his therapy will change. And the doctors are confident that he'll reach his developmental milestones (rolling over, crawling, etc...) on time. It won't like like when you or I did it, but he'll make it work for him.

We're amazed at the resilience of this little boy, and I'm excited to see him blow my expectations out of the water. Thanks for all the prayers and kind thoughts during the last few weeks~

12

12. That's the number of doctor appointments, ER visits, lactation consultations, PT, and weight checks that we've had since coming home on the 21st. Did I mention that Pete is only 21 days only tomorrow.

Sheesh. And you wonder why I've been MIA from here. But all is well. Pete is snugged in his Papa's arms at the moment, and I'm on here for a minute before I need to feed him again.

But today was a great day. I finally felt like I was in some sort of control today. I have a smile on my face tonight.

Yippee!

more pics

Howdy all~

I don't have much time to chat but I wanted to post some pictures from the week. My cousin/quasi-sister came down for a visit with her daughter, so we had some free hands to take some pics of the kiddos.

Pete continues to sleep fairly well and eat well too. He's back up to 7 lbs as of today, so he's going in the right direction with his weight gain.

Have a very happy Easter and God Bless!