"At Least We're Not The Slim Jim Parents" - Hudson At One Month

So technically as of today Hudson is 5 weeks, 1 day old. I had the best intentions to get this up while he was still one month old, however last week was pretty tough including switching Hudson's reflux medicine, a hunger strike and a majorly clogged milk duct so I did not have any computer time.

Leaving the hospital

Here we are, one month into parenthood and all I can say is "at least we're not the Slim Jim parents." (Keep reading for that to make sense)  Having a newborn is an experience that NOTHING can prepare you for. I had this grand idea of what my first month of motherhood was going to be like including; my baby will sleep all day long (wrong) I will just put my baby in hiss cozy little bassinet and he will be content (double wrong) my baby will just cry when he needs a diaper change or is hungry (TRIPLE WRONG)

First off, Hudson has acid reflux. It's pretty common for newborn babies and most babies are not bothered by it and eventually grow out it. This was not the case for Hudson. Even before we left the hospital Hudson would just scream and cry all night long. Todd and I could not figure out what was wrong with him. I would sit there in the room trying to calm him down and just imagine the nurses outside my door shaking their heads at my parenting. I just pictured them saying to each other "That poor baby, those people don't know what they are doing!"

Typical Hudson face

When we brought him home it didn't get any better. There were times when you just could not calm this baby down.  There were so many times I would look at Hudson, his face so red from screaming and I would just say "I am so sorry you stuck with the new parents who have no idea what their doing" It killed me to not be able to soothe what was hurting my baby.

 The only thing that would get him to stop crying was to nurse. Since his crying usually peaked in the evening, I spent most of 4-9 pm during the first two weeks nursing non-stop. Luckily Todd's mom came out to meet Hudson and right away said "it looks like he has reflux." Todd had it really badly as a baby so she had some experience with it. I made an appointment with the the pediatrician and we worked out treatment plan including Zantac for Hudson and me cutting all dairy out of my diet...the one thing I was hoping I would never have to do. It is still a work in progress and I wish I could say today we are 100% fine, but reflux deserves its own post.

Hudson enjoys the superbaby hold aka colic hold

 Hudson also refused to sleep in his bassinet for the first weeks of life. He would only sleep if I held him in my arms, including naps. During those first few couple weeks I was lucky to get 15 minutes hands free to take a quick shower. At night I would wrap myself up in my Snoogle maternity pillow so I wouldn't fall over on him during the night. I did not have any solid sleep because I was so paranoid I would smother my baby. Today he is sleeping in a bassinet next to our bed, but it was a very slow process. I scoured books, blogs and movies to find some advice on helping your baby sleep, also deserving of its own blog post.

These moments make it all worth the sleepless nights!

Even though they were an incredibly rough first four weeks, I can't imagine my life without my little man. There were moments that just melted my heart; rocking him to sleep while singing him a song, the way he puts one hand on my chest while he sleeps in my arms, the way he bunches his little hands up into fists when he first starts to nurse, his hiccups...he is my greatest accomplishment.

I have also learned I am not as incompetent of a parent as I feel. I have loved putting statuses on Facebook about what I think are parenting fails only to see so many of friends and family went through the exact same thing. During one midnight feeding where I was rocking to him to sleep and thinking how I am creating a sleep crutch that will mean Hudson will have to be rocked to sleep until he is in high school, I posted a status asking if anyone really does sleep training at night. I had so many comments saying "I still rock my baby" or "We love co-sleeping" or "My baby didn't still through the night until he was 1." It made me feel so much better about my own struggles between trying to do what the "experts" say and doing what I know works for my baby. I am constantly having to remind myself that when it comes to Hudson, I am the expert. I am the one who will know what works for him and even if it goes against the "rules" if it makes him happy and keeps him healthy, I am doing it!

Funny guy!

At our one month appointment our pediatrician was going over the regular questions about Hudson health and he asked "no juice right?" I looked at him like he was crazy. Of course I am not giving my newborn baby juice! I told him "No, of course not. I didn't think were supposed to introduce anything like until like 6 months" He said "You would be surprised, I think the worst thing I saw was when I lived in North Carolina and some parents gave their 4 month old baby a Slim Jim to teethe on." So now when ever I feel like I am failing as a parent because I am not sleep training Hudson or that after I change his diaper in public I give him a little squirt of his Colic Calm because he likes the flavor so he won't scream when I walk out the bathroom or that I once nursed him for 2 hours so Todd and I could watch a movie in silence, I always tell myself "At least we're not the parents with the Slim Jim"

Hudson's One Month Stats:

-He weighs 7 pounds 13.5 ounces
-21 inches long
-Still wearing newborn clothes, I was so hesitant to buy any newborn stuff because I was told he would only wear it for a week. His 0-3 month clothes are so big one him! Poor guy has to rotate the same 7 rompers.
-Average stretch of sleep is 2 hours during the day and 3 hours at night

Hudson's One Month Highlights

-His first Christmas at Nana and Pop Pop's house. He loved sitting by the fire.

-Meeting his Grandma and Grandpa

-Meeting his Great Grandma McLarty

-Bath time! Hudson loves soaking in the warm water.

I just have so much love for this little guy!

-Mrs. J

We Are Moving...

blogs...that is. Gotcha!

Remember how I have been saying all along that Wordpress is where it is at because of the stats and all the goodies? Well I have been having major blogger's envy over how cute some blogs on the "New Blogger!" are. I had to jump ship and make my own cute little blog. So I packed up the old blog posts and copy/pasted those suckers right on over to Blogger.

So now that I have your attention I guess I should give you a little more material than the obvious fact that you are no longer on Wordpress reading this! I have a lot of things stewing in my mind I want to blog about. I seriously need to get my b-u-t-t in motion and write stuff down. I am also trying my hand at photo editing though, so I am working on editing the photos from this past week to put on the blog. I guess there are a couple things I have been writing about the blog that could use an update.

1) Our cat's butt

Tuesday will be our LAST day of the Giardia treatment for Scioscia and I am saying my prayers double time that God will bless our cat with a leak-free rear end. So far, everything is nice and dry. We are so ready to be done having to give her medicine. This poor kitty has pretty much been poked, prodded, pill-popped, snot sucked and liquid shot since we got her. Her first problem was this constant sneezing that came along with a stuffy nose. Two vet visits and one anitibiotic treatment later, we find out it is just seasonal allergies. Which apparently means the only season she won't be sneezy is Summer because as soon as fall came so did her allergies. Once the allergies cleared up, we noticed the leaky bum and as you know that has been a thorn in my side for a while now. Let me tell you this, if you want to know how your spouse is going to be as a parent, get a pet. When it comes to kitty health care I take a "grab em' and get it done" approach while Todd takes the "maybe if I talk to them nicely and follow them around for 10 minuets they will just open their mouths and let me put the medicine in." Scioscia has a little bit of a complex when it comes to medicines, so Todd's approach does not go very well. I love the man with the power of a million burning suns, but this is just one thing he can't do very well.

2) No Spend September

We are almost done with September and really it wasn't that bad. It went over so well that we might just have a No Spend October and November and December. (I will just take this time to say I hate property taxes and car registration.) I probably noticed the not-spending the most when it came to our eating out, which is probably ok because that brings me to...

3) Our Workout

Yeah, so about that. Summer is hot in Phoenix, you know? It is hard to want to workout when it is 115 outside. Todd made a deal with me, if I can workout 3 times a week at our community complex for 3 months, I can get a gym membership with my sister Katie! I am very excited about this because I don't really like working out at the complex. There are only 2 treadmills and about 15 people waiting to use them at 5 pm. Katie also is fun to hang out with, so that is another driving factor. I read in an interview that Christina Aguilera once said her weight gain when she got engaged/married was "love chub." Girl, I get it! I really want to just get healthy again. I know that in probably under 2 years Todd and I are going to start family and I figure if I can get my body into great shape now, it will be easier to get pregnant, go through labor and then get back in shape afterwards. This week is my starting off point. I have to make it 3 times a week for October, November and December then a gym membership is mine! Just in time for all those New Year's Resolutions, I might just get a killer deal on it and you know how I love me some deals!

Well I guess that is all I needed to update right now. I am going to start making myself blog a lot more. I started House of Jaramillo as sort of documentation of what our first years were like. I want to look back at this when I am 70 and laugh at what our life used to be like.

Thanks for helping us move,
-Mrs.J

No Spend September

Today is September first and this marks the start of a fiscal fast in House of Jaramillo.

Todd and I are going to try to not spend any money for the month of September, not my idea but I was able to warm up to it.  Now when I say “no money” I really mean nothing that is not a necessity. Obviously we have to keep buying gas, groceries and paying our bills. This fast is really going to cut out the extra-fat-spending that we do during the month. When I go through the list of how we will change our habits, it probably won’t seem that drastic since for the most part we are a pretty frugal couple.
Todd proposed the idea to me as this, “I really want to try and not spend any money in September to see how much we can put into savings.” I replied, “No, because once you see how much we save we will never go shopping again and I can’t live that way,”  which is true. Where others may enjoy gambling, buying booze or getting pampered, nothing is as exciting to me as shopping. I don’t even have to spend large amounts of money, but knowing that I can get a get myself a little treat, makes me so happy. However, since I married Todd I am learning that there can also be joy in seeing money in your bank account, not just new clothes in your closet. So I agreed to try it this September.
So what will be cutting back on?
entertainment: Level of Difficulty 3-Easy money.

 We are not going to cancel our Netflix, we did streamline this month to 1 movie at a time unlimited but this was done before we made the choice to do No Spend September. We made this choice because with instant-streaming on the Wii and movies on TV, our two movies might sit there for a really long time before we got around to watching them. As far as going to the movies? That is not really something Todd and I do anyways. It is just another way to watch a huge chunk of change go down the drain.
Food: Level of Difficulty 4-What about the value menu?

 

As far as eating out goes, we really don’t eat out that much, it is a super easy way to blow 40 bucks.  However, on the weekends it is a little fun for us to spin through a drive through and grab something for dinner. If we do go out to eat, we usually have a coupon of some sort. Since we got married and moved in together, I have been packing lunches for Todd and myself every day. If you think about it, it would probably cost us 10$ a day for both us to eat, and I am saying cheapy fast-food, by the end of the week that is $50! Add up it for the month and you are looking at about $200 in over-processed, un-digestible food. While not buying lunch will be easy, not eating out during the weekend will be harder. It is a nice break from me having to cook and also a nice little treat of eating unhealthy but yummy food. As far as groceries go, Todd and I started only allowing ourselves to go shopping every other week. We make a list for what we need for two weeks and stick with it. It get hard on the last part of week throwing together dinners, but I find we are wasting less food and using up our pantry staples.
Shopping: Level of difficulty 9 Is extra money really worth my sanity?????

Here we come to the hardest topic, but the one I feel we will probably be saving the most money with. When I married Todd I knew my single-girl spending days were over. Now I had to pay for my own gas, groceries and take on other bills. Bank of Mom & Dad was closing up shop and spending whatever,whenever was now going to be budgeted down to the bare essentials. Somehow along the way I found a loophole in the system. A way to go shopping not only with the hubs, but have him happily hand over the cash. This was shopping for items in our house. A trip to Kohls for kitchen gadgets, a stop by Ross for wall hanging or a run through Target for kitty supplies can usually be supported by the husband. I got my thrill of shopping with none of backlash from Todd. I guess is this is part where I say “Hi, my name is Heidi and I am a shopaholic.” So now it is with a sad heart, I say goodbye to my easy shopping weekends for the month of September. I agreed to do the fiscal fast and I can’t back out now.
Even though I know it is going to be tough, I am really not that stressed out about it. There was a major shift in my spending habits when I married Todd and survived that. Really, how hard can this be? I am going to approach this month with an exciting treat at the end of some extra rainy-day cash in the bank and maybe break away a little more at my shopping addiction. Wish me luck.
-Heidi J.
PS- We just got the medicine for Scioscia’s bum but we are waiting to start it on Monday since it is 8 days of treatment, I will post about it soon!

For better or worse, in sickness and health….

I am really calling in the vows on that last part. If you are our Facebook friend, you recently have been lucky enough to be delighted to the imagery that is the olive oil burn…
About a week ago I was preparing what would have been a delightful dinner of fried rice. The carrots and celery were chopped, rice pre-cooked and the chicken marinated. All I needed to do was throw it all together in a pan. I started heating up some olive oil so I could cook the chicken before adding in the rest of ingredients. No big deal, this must have been the millionth time of cooking chicken this way. Somewhere between time 999,000 and 1,000,000 I must have lost it though because I ended up spilling hot oil all over my hand. The whole hand. From wrist to knuckle. Needless to say there was screaming, crying and I think I mildly went into shock. Wouldn’t you? Look at this?

To make a long story short, and to save from any more unsightly photos, let me just say for the last week I have been unable to do anything with my left hand. This is making me very unhappy. See, this whole time I have felt my contribution to our marriage right now is the cooking, cleaning and all that fun home stuff. Since I am working at finding a big-girl job, I haven’t been bringing anything to the table financially. Taking care of the house is my way of helping ease the stress on Todd. It has been really tough for the last week not being able to do as much as I want to and depending on Todd pick up the slack. He has been handling it like a champ though. On Tuesday he even had to wash my hair for me and he did it with love and compassion.

It is funny how when you get married and you say your vows you think they are really only for the huge things in life; finances, children, cancer. You forget about all the small every day things that you are committing to when you stand there and promise these things together.  It’s a promise to love each other even when your wife’s hand looks like something out of a horror movie and she can’t open a bottle or squeeze the jelly onto her toast. It’s the fact that you will turn off whatever TV show you were watching to come upstairs and help her wash her hair, even condition it to make sure all the tangles are out… and feel happy about doing it.

It is in these small times when we are able to really pull together as a team or when I am able to lean on Todd because I am a little weak that I know we will be able to make it through whatever life can throw at us. That is a pretty incredible feeling.
Hope I can heal soon,
-Heidi

Getting to Know You

So last night Todd and I both learned something new about each other. We have been a couple for five years and last night discovered that both of us have a love for Ginger Ale!


Now this may not seem like that big of a deal, but I thought I knew everything about him. I thought his favorite drink (which it is) was Pepsi and I though he probably would think Ginger Ale was gross so I never bought it when went shopping. Well this week I came down with an allergy induced cold and my sweet husband was nice enough to stop Walgreens and get some heavy duty decongestant for me.  I had only been drinking water and was craving something a little carbonated but not too sweet and Ginger Ale just sounded like it would hit the spot. When he got home with my meds and the soda, Todd took one out and told me how much he loved Ginger Ale. He just never got it because he didn’t think I liked it.
I know it probably is a silly little thing, but I was just so amazed that there were still things about him I am learning. I think when you get so far into a relationship, sometimes you forget to keep getting to know that person. I am going to really enjoy when we have been married for 20 years and I am still finding out little things about him.
What is something you found out about your significant other that you never knew that surprised you?

A Litte Hard Work...

I think it would be impossible for me to stress how blessed Todd and I are to have families who are willing to spend Mother’s Day helping us put in landscaping! Thank you Mamma J, thank you Mamma McLarty, Dad, Laura and Katie. You were all a LIFESAVERS!!!
So Todd and I decided to use our wedding money towards doing some landscaping. At first we had planned to just wait until we put in a pool, but after talking to a guy at the Nursery who told us we could landscape up to two years before doing a pool, we decided to finally put our large backyard to use.

We purchased the Bonanza package and ended up with; two 24 gallon Queen Palms, four 12 gallon Queen Palms, two Pygmy Palms, three Cape Honeysuckles, two Hibiscus , two Orange Jubilees and two Ruellias. We also purchased some grass seed separately.
The nursery came and planted all of tress, but to save money we took on the task of installing a drip system ourselves.

On Mother’s Day weekend Todd’s mom and my whole family came over and spent all day Saturday digging trenches and laying tubing. It was a long hot day, but we got it done and now Todd and I can actually enjoy spending time our in our backyard. We even ended up buying some patio furniture, just to really be able sit outside and enjoy it. I predict that most summer evenings are going to spent grilling and enjoying the Arizona summer. Even the girls like it!

Now we are really motivated to save money and get that pool put in…
We will keep you updated on how the grass grows!
The Mr. & Mrs.

Day 100

Todd and I broke the 100 day mark of marriage today and while I know we have still have a long road ahead of us and probably harder decisions, if the media can’t do a 100 day report on our President, I think I can do one on my marriage.

I think the first good thing is that these days really have flown by. It still surprises me that we have been Mr. & Mrs. for over 3 months now! It seems like just yesterday we got married, I still get calls for vendors trying to help me plan my wedding. But these 100 days have been great really getting to know each other in ways that you can’t get to know someone. From clogging toilets to sharing finances, nothing is hidden anymore and knowing that I have someone who loves me regardless of anything? That is such an incredible feeling.
Here are a few nuggets I have learned on being married, things that I think will continue to help us have a long and happy marriage.
-Todd and I have a “do it yourself” policy in regards to making things get done the way you like them. We never criticize the other person if they are doing something a way we don’t like it done, we just say “ok I am going to take this one on and be in charge of it.”
-Always go to Home Depot and look around even if you would rather stay home and watch MTV reruns. These moments show support and can be great memories.
-That 30$ necessary purchase at Target is not always as necessary to your husband.
-Rate it! Todd and I went to pre-martial counseling because we both knew our differences in communication and how we fight could potentially pose some problems in the future. We both wanted to be able to argue over things but be fair and feel like you were being heard. Our counselor gave me probably the best advice of my life. Apparently I am sensitive…who knew right! So whenever Todd would say something many times I would say “That hurt my feelings, you should apologize.” Now, that is not a bad thing telling someone when they hurt your feelings, but when it is happening all the time it can get tiring and Todd was becoming desensitized to when I really had my feelings hurt. Our counselor told me to rate things before I said anything. If it was lower on the scale, I should just let it go. No reason to get upset over small things that usually were just accidental anyways. We use this all the time whenever one of us gets upset, it really keeps us in check from arguing over every little thing.
-Always say “have a good day” first thing in the morning and “how was your day” first thing in the evening.
While I know I no expert on marriage by any means, I do think that Todd and I are going to have a long and happy marriage. We both above all love and care about the other person and are ready and prepared to put in the grunt work that married life can sometimes bring.
Even on the hardest of hard days, marrying Todd was the best decision I ever made. Here is to 100 days more!

Cheers!!!!
-Heidi

The Snuggler

So as long as I can remember I have just looooved sleeping with people. Something about having someone next to you at night or in the room with you is just so calming. Even up until the 8th grade I would still pull my sleeping bag into my parent’s room and crash on their floor. (Sorry about that mom and dad, guess I am needy)
Todd and I didn’t live together before we got married, so the idea to me of having someone who you get to sleep and snuggle with every single night for the rest of your life was like winning the lottery! I mean, I have someone to talk to right before I go to bed and someone to wrap a bear hug around int the middle of the night even when they are sleeping peacefully. SCORE!
However, it is taking some adjustments to get a good nights sleep…for Todd. I am just so excited that he is there I just close my eyes and blissfully fall into dreamland. Apparently my dreamland for Todd is more like a WWII battlefield. Here are few things that Todd has had to become accustomed.
1) The Cats

I guess they discovered that I don’t give them much attention when I am sleeping. I actually hide from them under the covers at night when they jump on the bed. I know better than to fall prey to their evil but adorable cat ways. Todd was so sweet and blinded by their ridiculously cute faces that he made the poor choice of waking up a little at night to pet them. Now this image is a nightly occurance…but with two cats.
2) The Alligator Death Roll

This what Todd calls it when I tightly tuck the covers under my arm and proceed to roll over and over and over until I am nice and cozy, blissfully mummified in the covers and he has a corner of sheet left.
3) The Shadow

If I have not death-rolled the covers away, it is probably because I have cornered Todd onto his side of the bed and he is trying with all his might to not fall off . I can’t help it. Sometimes my subconscious just remembers how much I like him and we have to get as close as possible to him at that very moment! He once said we should have purchased a king-size bed to keep this little issue from  happening. I told him it wouldn’t matter, we would have this huge mattress and I would have him corralled into a sleeping area the size of twin bed.
4) The Incenorator

If you know Todd, you know his internal body temperature runs at least 10 degrees hotter that any other human being. This means too many times me trying to snuggle him and sending him into a heat stroke because my leg is on him. Unfortunately for him there is no escaping my bear hug at night. I usually move away when begins to sweat profusely.
I have also committed the following sleeping sins: Waking up and yanking his pillow out from under his head, even though I already had two. Smacking his face in the middle of the night. Becoming congested, snoring, and then blaming it on him.
Isn’t co-sleeping fun?!?!?
Happy Friday everyone!
-Heidi