Milky Face!

Here is an update to my cute little boy. We have made it to 3 weeks!

The past 3 weeks have been the best 3 weeks of my life. It is amazing how I love this little boy more and more every day.

Here are some of things that have been going on with baby Wade!

Your Dad's favorite thing ever is when we visit him at work. You are usually asleep for it but it makes him so happy.

Your Dad has spent a lot of time and money making sure you are as close to a super hero as possible. He has invested in some friends for you to play with and we had the idea to give you your own super hero photo shoot. Auntie Shay took some great pictures of you, but here are some of the pre-shoot photos.


Grandma Shillig made you some pretty amazing presents. Ever since I found out you were a boy I have been waiting for this quilt. I love how it has your own personal design and I love how now we both have silkys to snuggle with.
Your Auntie Liz and Uncle Stephen also have quite a soft spot for you. Uncle Stephen still hasn't gotten the hang of holding you while you wiggle.

Some of your cousins came to visit you and they loved you so much! You also got to spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa along with your Auntie Kale and Shay. I don't think you will ever know how much everyone loves you. Not to mention how impressed they were with your strength!



We took you to see your first movie and you did great! No crying and it wasn't too loud or anything. It made your Dad so happy that your first movie was the Captain America movie.
Your jaundice has finally started going away. Thank goodness because I cried like a baby during your last blood test. In the 14 days you were alive your blood was drawn 7 times. On your last test your levels were at 13. They consider it a problem anytime the levels go over 13. The doctor said you didn't have to get your blood drawn for another week and boy was I grateful.
I don't sleep very well when you sleep in our room, but I am too scared to have you in another room at night. I will miss you too much. My sleep is constantly interrupted by your grunts and growls in the night. Most of the time it is just gas. Until last week I decided to stop swaddling you. No matter how tight I wrapped you, you would grunt and wiggle until your little hulk arms were free.
You have gotten pretty vocal lately. The way Dad and I work is during the night I do all the work then in the morning he takes care of you so I can sleep in. You always end up in bed snuggling next to me in the mornings and you just won't stop talking! You growl, grunt, moan, and "oooooaaaaahhhhh" all morning until I get up. Then when I get up, you fall asleep for your morning nap.
Tummy time is a breeze for you, mostly because you end it when you please. I put you on your tummy and you pull your arms up and get up on your elbows. Then you struggle just a little, kick your leg up and next thing I know you are happy as a clam on your back.
The picture below is pre-roll over, the picture above is post-roll over.
You hold your head up very well. We noticed this during the first week when both your Dad and I had a hard time supporting your neck. What you like to do is get up on your elbows while we are holding you over our shoulder. Once you are up on your elbows you like to look around. You turn your head back and forth. So far the longest I have seen you hold your head up is about a minute. You are very very strong
We can already tell you are going to be a trouble maker by the goofy antics you pull! "fake sleeping" while nursing, and the silly faces you make while nursing. My favorite is your "Mr. Snooty Milky Pants" face. That one is where you stick up your nose and purse your lips in the middle of nursing... As cute as this face is, it often makes both of us wet.

At your last doctors appointment you had finally gone past your birth weight at 8lbs and 14oz. You also grew a whole inch! You are now 21" tall! Your hands are still giant and so are your feet.

There are a couple of moments I haven't been able to capture on camera because they are so spontaneous. We love your little smile. Sometimes it is a smirk and sometimes it is a full on smile with dimples and all! (you get the dimples from your Dad) We both love your growing hair and can't wait to see what color it ends up in the next year.

Still my favorite part about you is how much of a mama's boy you are. The way you always want to hold my hand while you nurse, or how you scream and scream when your Dad holds you but quiet down when I hold you. Somehow being snuggled into my neck makes you so happy. When you are crying while we are driving you instantly quiet down when I hold your hand and make up songs about you.

I'm going to miss being a fat girl...

Jeremiah Wade Atwater - 7.10.11 - 5:20pm - 8lbs 8oz - 20"

I now have a birth story. So let me tell it!

The second week of July was getting pretty rough for me. So I started doing everything I could to get the baby out but nothing was working. He just wasn't ready. I tried castor oil, pineapple, bouncing, walking, raspberry leaf tea, sex, evening primrose oil, galloping, and finally labor cookies. The doctors appointment before Wade was born was very unsuccessful. I begged and begged for them to do something to get him out like strip my membranes but Kaiser said "No you are just a big fat baby get over it." When they checked me I hadn't dilated and hadn't effaced. My cervix was not havin it.... Friday the 8th rolled around and I made some labor cookies and ate a whole pineapple. By this time it was just my nightly routine. Saturday morning I woke up with some contractions and around 11am I started thinking about going to the hospital. I layed down on the couch and was able to fall asleep. When I woke up everything was gone and I felt fine. Talk about a disappointment. So I stuffed my face with more labor cookies and then went to bed Saturday night hopeless.

Sunday is when all the action started...

Around 4am I was woken by contractions. They were pretty bad but far enough apart to where I could nap for 10-15 minutes. Around 6am I got out of bed because they were too painful. I jumped in the bath to see if they would go away and sure enough they didn't. When I got out of the bath they were about 10-12 minutes apart. Our bath tub doesn't fill up all the way because of the extra drain so I got frustrated and jumped in the shower. When I got out of the shower they were 5-7 minutes apart. So I woke Vernon up and told him that we might need to go to the hospital in a little bit. To keep things going I decided to do my hair and make up. Mostly because if I was going into labor I didn't want to look like a crazy cave woman while doing so. As I was doing my makeup the contractions got really really bad so we decided to head over as soon as we could.

We got to Kaiser in Panorama City (fun fact- both Vernon and I were born at this hospital) at about 830am. I was checked in and the midwife came in to see how things were going. At 9am I was at 2cm. The contractions were bad but nothing was as bad as when she checked me. After she checked me I realized I wanted an epidural. There was no way I wanted to deal with that kind of pain my first time around. We had to wait a couple hours for the nurse anesthetist to do the epidural so they let me walk around for a while to labor. During then I lost my mucus plug and they hooked me up for some antibiotics that I needed. The nurse anesthetist kicked Vernon out and I got my epidural. 15 minutes later I was in heaven. I don't know why I ever thought I wanted to do a natural birth. I have quite a bit of respect for women who do. Those are the troopers.

I am holding up a 9 for "9cm" - sorry I look so loopy, I just woke up from a cat nap.
Me just hanging out with that awesome epidural. This is right before the practice pushes. See my nurse in the background? She was this incredible Jamaican woman who was the second best thing about the birth... 1st being the epidural...
Feelin good still!

So 11 or 12 I was drugged up and around 3pm my water broke. As I was having contractions it started to push more and more out until finally around 4pm I felt the membranes come out. When that happened they checked me and I was about 8cm. My amazing nurse started getting things ready and told me that when I felt like I needed to poop that I should give her a call. (FYI I had a pretty awesome bm when my mucus plug came out so there was no pooping on the table for me..) Around 430pm I started bugging her saying that it was hard to hold in whatever was coming out of me. I felt like it was coming out no matter what. So she propped up my leg and had Vernon hold the other one and we did a practice push. After 1 or 2 practice pushes she dropped my leg and went to get the midwife because he was coming out already. We decided to have Vernon's mom Silva in the room with us to take pictures. I wanted some pictures of the whole thing because it is a pretty once and a lifetime opportunity, but I didn't want Vernon to have to be busy with a camera while his son was born. Silva was really helpful with the camera but the nurses also put her to work. She held one leg while Vernon held the other. I kept pushing through contractions because I didn't know how close he was to coming out. My midwife came in and we did about 12 pushes and he was out. As I was pushing the midwife kept telling me to reach down to touch his head. She wanted me to see what kind of progress I was making but I kept telling her no. I just didn't want to touch the goo... it was gross to me. At the 2nd to last push she told me one more time to reach down so I did and sure enough there was a head. I kept pushing so she yelled "Slow down! Slow down! Easy!" while she suctioned him out then she had me grab his arms and pull the rest of him out. I never in a million years thought I would have been able to do that but sure enough I did and it was my favorite part of the entire pregnancy-labor-birth. I got to put him right on my chest and oggle him as he screamed his lungs out.

See how tired I look?
at 5:20pm we had our boy. I couldn't stop giggling and crying at the same time.

So after we got to do some skin to skin and bonding Vernon cut the cord and they took him to be cleaned off and weighed and such. The best part about Kaiser was not only the amazing staff but that we got to do everything in one room so Wade was just an arms reach away from me. My midwife stitched me up right there as I watched them take his measurements. Vernon got to be there with the baby for every second.

I passed the after birth and as my midwife was stitching me up we were chatting about it all. She was so informative and so personable. The whole experience really brought things together for me. I finally understood my pregnancy. After Wade was cleaned up they brought him back over for more skin to skin and to do some breast feeding. He was a natural. A natural barracuda. I was so happy that he did so well. I feel like I haven't had to do anything, Wade just teaches us what to do and how we are supposed to do it. He is also so patient with us. We got a little too lucky with this one.

We then had to stay at the hospital for the night but we left the next morning. I only needed a couple stitches and Wade passed all of his test and his circumcision went well. We were out of there by 1pm the next day and on our way home! Vernon and I were pretty hungry so we stopped to eat on the way home and had a great lunch. Then we came home unpacked our bags and cuddled with our little guy.

Vernon was able to get 2 weeks off of work to help the baby and I out and it has been heaven. Having my whole family together all day every day is really a dream come true. We really do love each other.

Here is what we have been doing the past week...

Taking short walks to get some vitamin K to get rid of that jaundice...
Hangin with Uncle Stephen
Loungin...
Cuddling in bed with Dad....
This was at the hospital right before we left. Notice both are wearing Captain America shirts? Yeah we are a little obsessed at our house...

Yes I probably kiss my baby a little bit too much but guess what? He is mine and I can kiss him however much I want.
Out to eat with friends (another Captain America shirt)
Uncle Matt and Uncle James came up to visit.
Wade peed on Uncle James' shirt... we thought it should be documented.

And playing video games with Dad.

1st bath! Wade hates taking baths.... there was a lot of crying.

Oh and we went to visit Grandma Silva at the police station where she works.

As you can tell we have been busy...

So far we have had lots of fun. Besides the doctor's visits every day for the Jaundice. I almost have the breastfeeding down and we almost have the diaper changing down. We have gotten peed on just about every day. I don't know why our brains forget to cover him up when we take his diaper off...

Here is to the first week down! I now have been a mother for 1 week and I now have a 1 week old! I've never felt better and our house has never been filled with more love. It is amazing how much this little boy has done for everyone around him already. I only hope that he can continue to bring this much love to everyone as he gets older.

A flooded bathroom and a cracked changing table...

We moved!

Finally.... I felt like it was taking for forever! Vernon's friends came by on a Tuesday and we picked up a truck. They were so amazing. They got just about everything done by 6pm. I spent the next week or so putting things together. It was hard because I was pregnant but mostly hard because I had no idea where I wanted to put things. Along with my nesting instinct and my small spurts on energy I was able to put everything together before the baby came. Of course with some help...

My awesome husband Vernon. (I just realized that wearing that shirt made me look like Veruka Salt from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.)

Vernon's mom Silva came by to help us put the nursery together.
Vernon's Dad came over to help put the crib and changer that Silva bought us together. He also got us a great glider that came in a couple days after baby Wade was born. We absolutely love our nursery. It makes me feel so happy that I have such a wonderful family to help is and an even more wonderful husband who works so hard to make everything happen.

Not much happened after we moved. I just slowly put our house together and complained about being pregnant. The last month started getting really bad. It was so hot out here (100 degrees everyday) and I was just so fat. I wasn't sleeping and I kept having braxton hicks contractions the week leading up to the birth. It was awful...

Oh and the week before Wade was born our air conditioner broke. It didn't break to where it would stop working but it stopped draining the water properly so our master closet/bathroom got flooded... 3 times... They never really fixed the problem, they just keep making sure it is still working and hoping that it doesn't flood again. The worst part about it, besides my drenched shoes, was that each time I had to completely clean out the closet. Cleaning up after a flood isn't very fun let alone when you are 9 months pregnant...

But that doesn't matter now because he is here! Pregnancy forgotten!

Oh don't worry about them bones, you just make yourself comfortable little guy...

I know I complain a lot about being pregnant. It is really quite silly because I asked for this and I (along with my husband's sperm) made this happen on purpose. So it is kind of like those people who complain about being so rich they don't know what to do with their money. I'm a super brat, I know it.

It wasn't until Sunday that I really realized how lucky I am. This whole pregnancy has been very odd for me. I have seen so many women close to me be pregnant. My sister Shay has been pregnant right in front of my face. The part that is odd for me is the actual connection to a foreign object inside my body. I know it is part of me but it honestly doesn't feel like it is. I often feel like I am a house for an unknown parasite. I haven't ever felt connected to what was inside of me. The entire process won't make sense to me until I can see it come out of my own vaj. Even then I'm not sure how much I will get it. Yes, I know this all sounds kind of heartless and uneducated. Clearly this is a human being inside of me and it is obviously my own, it is just so hard to grasp the concept of another human, that will be so different then anyone else out there, is growing inside my body.

Saturday night Vernon and I went to his sister's wedding. We had lots of fun hanging out with close friends and dancing. I did SO MUCH DANCING! The past 7 months of exercising I should have been doing was all summed up in one night of dancing. I should add that I looked pretty cute in my heels and moo moo. It is so hard looking cute when you are 40lbs overweight... I can't wait to get back to my normal weight...

anyways, we did lots of dancing. At about 9pm I leaned over to Vernon while we were sitting and said "Wade has hiccups!". Vernon tried to feel them but of course he couldn't because they are very light. We partied, partied, partied then finally got home around midnight. I fell asleep pretty fast and slept very well through the night. I only got up about 2 times which isn't that much for me. I woke up pretty early in the morning and realized "No one was bugging me all night" Normally Wade is pretty active. He is always moving and it seems like he never takes a break. Often in the night I get woken up by big jumps, jabs, and swirls. (He still thinks he is the size of a 15 week old fetus) That night I only woke up because I was hot. That's it. Not because baby was moving, not because he was jumping on my bladder, not because he was kicking my ribs....

I started to panic. I didn't want to tell Vernon right away because I wasn't sure if it was that big of a deal yet. But I started thinking about it and realized that I hadn't felt him since he had those hiccups. So I grabbed a glass of orange juice and sat on the couch to wait for him to move. I felt one swirl 45 mins later and that was it. We went over to his Mother's house for breakfast and still nothing. Noon rolled around and Vernon said he thought he felt something while he had his hands on my belly. But I didn't feel it... Vernon went and golfed with the guys and I went home to rest. Nothing was really happening besides my food moving around which is clearly different then a baby kicking. Vernon got home around 5pm and I had only felt 2 kicks since noon (even those were unidentifiable). I was still scared to go into the hospital so we decided to get some food. While we were eating I felt another big kick. We got home and I was laying on the couch when a couple hours later he started practicing his karate moves like usual.

What a relief! I never realized how alive and human he really is until the possibility of him not being alive was present.

I know in my heart that if something was wrong I would have known. It might seem silly but I really think he was just taking it easy for a day to show me how much I really needed him.

So in honor of my last 2 months and so far a healthy baby here is my 7 month photo...

Feel honored you get to see this, not many get to see my ridiculously huge body these days.

Things are happening!

Alright, it has been a while so here is what has been going on! I'll be brief and insert funny jokes where appropriate...

My new favorite thing ever is to watch Phi dance. Come on isn't this picture pretty great?

Vernon found ear wax candles so we tried those out on him. It was a very weird experiment. I didn't take pictures of what you find in there afterward but it is all of the earwax that was in his ear so you can imagine how gross that is...

I got even more fat then I already was. Oh and I found out that Honey Bunches of Oats Raisin Medley is probably the best cereal out there. Yeah I said it.... best cereal.
I got to hang out with Phi for a weekend while baby Frejya was exiting Jillian. She has such a dancing impulse. Anytime she hears music she has to drop everything to bust a move.