Six Months Old

Orion went to his 6 month appointment last week. He is 27.5" tall and weighs 16.6 pounds. That puts him in the 85% for height! I'm so glad he's growing and happy. He's such an amazing little boy. If you haven't had a chance to meet him yet, you're definitely missing out. Over the weekend he started army crawling, which is so great to watch. He's too smart for his own good though and has even learned to us a piece of fabric to help himself slide easier. He loves to watch people and is fascinated by everything that is going on around him. I think one of his favorite things to do is to beat on my keyboard while I'm trying to do something productive. My goal for this week is to try to get some great pictures of Orion taken so that we can send them to all the grandparents,etc. for his 6 month update. I somehow believe that he has to be the smartest, most beautiful baby in the world and have to share all of his greatness with the world. I'm sorry if this seems to ramble today, but it's been so long and I really have a lot of stuff I wanted to throw out there.

5 Months OLD!

Orion is now 5 months old. I'm amazed by all the things he can do already! Last weekend he started rolling over from back to front. He loves this new trick and rolls over every chance he gets. The only problem with that is he then gets high centered on his belly, and is stuck like a turtle on their back, or a fish out of water. He wiggles and squawks but stays on his belly no matter how hard he tries to change it. He is able to spin in circles on his belly though, so he twists around to see toys, or the dogs. He is also loving "people" food...even in it's mushed up baby food form. He loves everything....except squash. His smile just keeps getting brighter and his giggle is so catching that you can't help but join in. Other than that he's pretty laid back kid. He's starting to have a little bit of the "stranger" awareness, and it rears it's ugly head when he's sleepy. He's thrown little fits now for 2 different people that tried to hold him, but calms back down immediately when I take him back. Could be scary!! So that's what's going on in our neck of the woods. What's up with you?? (Does anyone still even read this thing??)

Circle of Mom's Survey

1. How old were you when your first child was born?
24

2. What month and year was your youngest child born?
March 2009

3. How did you feel when you first found out you were pregnant?
I was completely shocked. Seth and I were supposed to begin fertility treatments, and took the test as a precaution before starting the meds. I couldn't believe my eyes!!

4. Who did you tell first?
Seth of course, then my mom. After the official test at the Dr. office we told the rest of our parents.

5. How many pounds did you gain during your first pregnancy?
I actually lost weight throughout the entire thing and ended up weighing 10 pounds less at 9 months pregnant than I did before I got pregnant. Weird huh?

6. What did you crave while you were pregnant?
Um...Chocolate milk. That's about it.

7. Did you find out the gender of your first child? Why or why not?
We tried to, but one ultrasound said girl and another said boy so we really had no clue at all.

8. Did you have any complications during your pregnancy?
They were concerned about my blood pressure, but it never actually caused any problems.

9. How much did your first child weigh?
8 lb 9 oz

10. Was your first child early, late, or on time?
He was one week early because of induction. Ended up with a c-section.

11. What is the most difficult challenge or health issue that any of your children have faced?
Orion had a cold that seemed to last forever, but that's the only thing we've really had to deal with.

12. What's your favorite part of being a mom?
I absolutely love my son's smile. I think that is the easiest way to put it. I will do anything I can to see that smile as often as it is possible. That's what my goal is every day...to see him smile and hear him laugh, even if it makes me look like a fool.

13. Do you think it's easier to be a mom or a dad?
I honestly believe it's easier to be a mom. Dad's may not have as high of expectations for them, and may not be under as much "pressure" to be the perfect dad....but at the same time, I feel like Orion and I have a special bond because of the time he spent in the womb with me. Maybe that's crazy, but how else can you explain the overwhelming amount of love I've had for this boy since the instant I saw him?? I think that alone makes being a mom easier.

14. What is the best piece of advice you could give to someone who is about to have their first child?
Relax...and I don't necessarily mean sleep. I am a huge planner and hate not having things done in a certain order at a specific time (OCD anyone??) but having my son has helped with that a lot. It's taken some time, but I'm beginning to realize that he doesn't care if his socks match, or if he has peaches for supper. All he cares about is the fact that you are there showing him love (well that, food, and a clean diaper, but you know what I mean). Take the time to relax and have fun with your baby, even if the dishes pile up or you are running around in your pajamas because you haven't done laundry in a week. RELAX and enjoy. They are moments you can never get back, and would be extremely sorry if you missed.

15. Did you always think you'd have kids?
Yes. I never thought it would take as long as it did though.

16. What's been the biggest surprise about motherhood?
The amount of love I have for my son. I knew that you loved your kids, but I guess I never could fathom the bond you have with them. I honestly don't think it is something you can understand until you have a child of your own (yes adoption counts as "having one of your own").

17. Are there things you miss about life before kids?
The movies. I miss being able to go to the theater any time I want to, and I'm sure I still could, but I refuse to be the mom with the screaming baby in the back of the theater. That's just rude. I also kind of miss sleeping in until 10am, but that smile almost makes it worth it.


18. How many children do you have?
Just 1

19. Do you plan to have any more children?
Eventually.
20. Who's the mom that you admire most?
Can I say me?? I'm awesome right?? I dunno, I think every mom has something that you can learn from, whether it be good or bad. I refuse to pick favorites!

Four months already

Last week Orion went for his four month appointment. He has grown so much I can't believe it. He now weighs 13.5 lbs and is 25.5 inches tall! Time is going by so fast I don't even know what to do to absorb it all! He has been sick lately, but the doctor thinks it is just the flu. Today he finally seems like he feels better, which is great. I really don't like seeing my little boy sick. They started him on cereal at school yesterday, and it seemed to go ok so they are going to continue to do that. We started on it a couple weeks ago, but since he was sick he wanted nothing to do with it. Um....other changes....I'm waiting on Orion to roll over. I know he has the strength to do it (he can stand up all by himself!!) but he's just being difficult. I have a feeling though once he figures out how to do it I may be in trouble. He's so full of personality and already an obnoxious little thing. We may have our hands full! The only other exciting thing is that my sister Ashley is picking up Orion every Monday from school since she gets off at noon. It's great that not only is Orion not spending all day in daycare, he's also getting to spend one-on-one time with Ashley, which will help them bond, but also make it easier for me to trust leaving him with her as a baby-sitter whenever the time comes. I hate leaving him still, but he seems to enjoy the girls at school, and they all seem to love him, so that helps some. Orion is getting very close to sleeping through the night at this point (last night was over 6 hours!) so that's also a great thing. I'm desperately trying not to rush him into anything because time is going so fast as it is, but I do want to see him grow into an amazing little toddler...eventually. I'm thrilled to say though that Orion does love books, including comic books, and is also a total flirt. He smiles and stares at every girl he sees. I can only imagine what that boy has in store for me!

2 months old

Ok, so I pretty much fail at keeping up with blogs...but here I am. Orion is almost 2 months old already. Yesterday he went in for his 2 month well child check and had his first set of shots. Seth took him on his own, so I didn't have the "joy" of seeing my poor little baby stabbed by some ruthless nurse. Actually the doctor and nurses are very nice and try very hard to be gentle...I just get a bit upset when someone hurts my child. Anyway, they also weighed and measured him and he is 23" long (50th percentile) 11.4 lbs (50th percentile) and has a 16" mellon (70th percentile). He is getting stronger and stronger every day. I have a feeling he'll be on the move before we know it.

I have just completed my 2nd week back at work. I enjoy my job and all that, but I still hate leaving Orion at child care. He seems happy and content, but I hate not knowing what he does all day...and hate wondering if he's ok and not being able to do much about it. Not to mention the fact that it has made breast feeding very difficult. Have you ever tried to find time to pump in the middle of the day?? Yeah, it pretty much sucks.

Orion does successfully hold his head up and can turn it to look around. He follows things and people around the room with his eyes and/or head all the time. He also has the greatest smile I have ever seen...and his noises can just melt my heart. He is getting closer to sleeping through the night...so hopefully that will happen before too long. The doctor said to just stick to my guns and it can happen in 3 days, but I feel bad leaving my baby in bed to cry. That's just mean.

So that's how things are going for us. I will really try not to wait a month before my next blog. Honestly, a lot of the problem was that I was getting huge bugs with the posting part of blogger, so I couldn't do the blogs from my computer at home. I was very frustrated. I hope everyone else is doing well. Drop me a line to let me know what's new with you. <3 <3

Almost a month

Well, Orion is now almost a month old. I already can't believe how much his face has changed. I love watching his facial expressions and seeing his personality blossom. I'm still in awe of how someone so small and special can affect me so greatly so quickly. I really don't have much productive to say, considering Orion is pretty young and doesn't do too much other than eat, poop, and sleep...but I just figured I would update and let you know that he is healthy and happy...he's gradually putting on weight like he should be and has finally outgrown the"newborn" sized clothing. We're finally getting into a schedule, but in just over 2 weeks I'll be going back to work....which I am definitely not looking forward to. I knew that I would not want to go back after he was born, but I didn't realize how hard it would be or how bad it would make me feel. I'm really nervous about leaving him in the care of others, but mostly I feel guilty that he will be spending so much time away from me and Seth...I hope to be able to remedy that someday soon, but at this point I know I don't have a choice.....ugh! Anyway, on a more positive note, Orion is sleeping a little more regularly, so hopefully before too long we'll be able to stretch out the feedings at night a little bit so I can actually get some sleep....it's been a month now since I've had a full night's sleep and I'm getting pretty tired....but at the same time I wouldn't give it up for anything in the whole wide world. I feel so loved and extremely blessed to have a beautiful son, and an amazing husband. I can only imagine what the future has in store for us.

Introducing Orion

Ok, so I'm really sorry it has been a while since I last updated my blog. Things have been very busy of course, but I have no excuse....oh....except for the birth of my beautiful son Orion Alexander!!! Orion was born on March 4 at 7:11pm. He weighed 8lbs 9oz and was 20 inches long (with a 15 inch head!). He is perfect in every way imagineable...or maybe I'm just a bit biased. The process seemed to be a long one, but the end result was definitely worth it. I suppose I can explain with my birthing story:

At my last Dr. appointment, they decided that induction should happen in order to prevent preeclampsia or anything like that from happening. I went into the hospital at 8pm on 3/3/09 to start the process. They started with a low doseage of a medicine that I can not remember the name of no matter how many times they tell me. They let the stuff go overnight with me strapped to a couple monitors, which meant nearly no sleep for me. Every time I would get comfortable the monitor for the baby's heartbeat would get moved and sound an alarm since no heartbeat was found. Between that and the nurses coming in pretty consistently I was up almost all night. After about 10 hours, no progress had been made and I was still only 1cm dialated so they decided to step it up a bit with pitocin. They started the pitocin, and the contractions picked up according to the monitor, but I still could feel nothing. The monitor looked like I was in labor, but I could barely feel the contractions or anything else. The doctor came in and checked me a few different times, with no changes at all...they even tried to break my water 4 times with no luck whatsoever. After another 10 hours of treatment with no changes, the doctor said we would do an ultrasound and that would give us one of three options....1. Go home and wait 5 days to try again (which I informed her was NOT an option. I had already been there for almost 24 hours and was not going home without a baby), 2. the baby would be head down and compliant so we'd start another round of the medicine for 24 hours and then do a c-section if there was no result or 3. The baby would be large or not in place and they would just do the c-section. The ultrasound tech came in and after 30 minutes of silent contemplation she left without a word, but not before I caught a glimpse of the paperwork she was carrying....which said my baby was 9lbs 15oz!!!! I was a bit frightened at that point, but still had to wait another 20 minutes for the official results from the Dr. When they came in, the word was that baby was a big ol guy and not actually dropped into the birth canal even though he was head down, so we went for a c-section. They dressed Seth up in a beautiful blue outfit, with his goatee hanging out of the bottom of his mask, and he kissed me and told me he loved me as they paraded me down the hallway to the sterile operating room where I would have to face the epidural all by myself. Honestly I was terrified of the epidural since I had decided I wasn't going to get one and had heard many bad things about them. However, the lady that did mine was great...I didn't feel hardly anything, and it kicked in almost immediately. They laid me out on the table and then brought Seth in at 7:09pm when they started the procedure. At 7:11p I heard "That's a big head...that's a big body....that's a big BOY!" The baby immediately started crying and his head peaked over the surgical curtain. I bawled like a baby and the look on Seth's face was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Seth was told he could go over and watch his son, so he scampered over, camera in hand so he could videotape all of the things that I was missing. They weighed and measured him, the entire time Orion cried up a storm. By 7:25pm I was completely stiched up and holding my newborn son in my arms. I have loved many people in my lifetime...and I loved my husband the moment I first saw him and love him more each and every day...but I never knew that you could love someone so much and so completely from the very second that you meet. Sometimes just watching him sleep it feels like time has stopped and my heart may explode. He is so beautiful and perfect that sometimes I find myself sitting here holding him and holding my breath, because I'm afraid that he'll blow away if I breath too loudly. I know it probably sounds insane, but I also know that I will do everything in my power to give him the best life I can. I am blessed with great friends and family who love and support us....but mostly I am blessed with the gift of being a mother. I know in my heart that this is the most important thing I have ever done or ever will do. I only hope that he will love me and his amazing father as much as we love him. Ok, so at this point I really feel like I am rambling...so sorry about that. I just had to get some things out there. I wish you all a blessed and fabulous day, and will continue to update as my son grows and changes. Believe me, this story has just begun.

Orion Alexander Doty