Stand up!

First off, can I just have a moment? My baby boy turns ONE next month. One year old. And he's already so much not a baby anymore. Of course he's my baby. When I rock him to sleep, and he curls up close to me. But when he's shoveling food on his mouth, pulling up on everything, and crawling like a mad man...more and more toddler showing through.

But over the last month his biggest accomplishment has been standing. He is now confident enough to pull up on anything and everything. Then look over his shoulder to grin at me - so proud of himself. And slowly starting to cruise. And attempt to climb. Yea, you read that right, climb. Because he is my child after all. Saturday morning he dumped his toy basket off the second shelf of cubes in his room, then tried to climb into the cube. As in nothing is safe. He will figure out climbing. I know he will. I just hope he figures out walking first. I think.

Let the adventures begin!!

Fall!

It's almost winter, so I should probably recap fall with our sweet boy before the seasons change. I can't believe in a couple of weeks I'll have 9 month old on my hands. Any minute he's going to start crawling and getting into everything. He's getting so big! And still the most precious baby boy :).

So here's what you've missed:

- Halloween! Sawyer was an adorable astronaut. We went to the fall festival and trick or treating. He did well, but I can't wait until next year when he can actually walk up and say "trick or treat".

- Sitting! Finally we have a sitter. Drew thought Sawyer would never sit, but within the last couple of weeks Sawyer proved him wrong. And with in the last week Sawyer figured out how to sit up on his own. He's so proud of himself every time he goes from lying on his stomach to sitting up.

- Eating! Slowly we are moving on from baby foods to "real food". Sure he's still eating baby food, but Sawyer is starting to master the whole chewing process. Green beans, bread, baked potato, cereal, small pieces of chicken...dinner time is becoming more and more fun!

- Thanksgiving! Sawyer made us his first art project of a foot/handprint turkey. So cute! It also gave me time to think about all I'm thankful for. We are so blessed with Sawyer. Even being born early and tiny, he has been healthy since day 1. Sure we've battled ear infections, but nothing compared to what I know others have gone through. He is such a happy easy going baby. Rarely does he cry, and when he does he's quickly soothed. Sawyer's smiles and laughs are infectious and can brighten any day. I'm totally smitten with my baby and can't wait to see what joy he continues to bring us.

Baby Must Haves (for me)

2 and half months in to this journey of being a mom, I've realized that babies don't need a whole lot, but there are plenty of things that make the job a whole lot easier.  Here are some of my personal baby must haves that Sawyer and I both enjoy:

Blankets for swaddling.  Sawyer loves being swaddled at bedtime.  As in won't sleep well without getting bundled up.  Now he prefers to have an arm (or both) out, but still loves a good swaddle.

Baby carrier.  I have both a wrap and a Beco Butterfly II.  Sawyer loves being in both.  It soothes him if he's being fussy and wants to be near me.  It allows me to get stuff done while keeping him happy.  Great for going shopping and not having to lug around the car seat/stroller.  I started using the wrap in the hospital since the nurses recommended holding him and keeping him close to my heart as much as possible.  I started being able to use the Beco once he hit 7 lbs.  Even Drew has worn Sawyer in the Beco.  So cute.

Activity mat.  Sawyer loves playing on his activity mat, whether it's swinging his arms at the toys or having some tummy time, the activity mat is a favorite!

Swing.  Great place to take a nap, hang out while mom cooks or is doing laundry, the swing was a great gift to receive!  Sawyer enjoys it and as taken many a nap in his.  Ours plays soothing music, and has a mobile with soothing lights.

Sure,  there are a lot of other things - bottles, pacifiers, diapers, etc that you need.  However these are somethings that aren't necessary for survival, but for sanity.

PS Sawyer is such a big boy - 9 lbs 10 oz at his last doctor's visit!  And he's outgrowing newborn clothes!  Whoa!

One Month Reflections

The last month has been amazing, and absolutely tiring!  My goal was to give weekly updates, but maybe that will happen in the future.  Sawyer is awesome!  Being a mom is awesome!

He is pretty laid back, easily soothed by cuddles and holding him close to your heart.
He loves to be swaddled and the woombie is my new friend.
Sawyer left the hospital at 4 lbs 2 oz, and although he hasn't been weighed by a doctor in a couple of weeks, he is a little over 6 lbs by our house method of Drew weighing himself then weighing himself while holding Sawyer.
Still eating every 2 hours, but over the past week we have transitioned from finger feeding to a bottle!  Success!
He also has bulked up enough to be out of preemie clothes, and into newborns!
He is slowly starting to give smiles in response our efforts, can't wait till they don't require so much effort!  Sawyer tracks things well, and is starting to give lots of eye contact.
He enjoys tummy time, and if you provide a hand for him to push off of, he will army crawl/scoot the length of a blanket.

Can't wait to see what the next month brings!

2 MONTHS!!!

Cannot believe that it is February already!  Which means 2 months until Sawyer makes his arrival!  Whoa!

The last week or so has been especially crazy.  Last week I think I had something every single day.  Which is nice, but I needed a day where  I could just sleep after work without having to worry about setting an alarm to get up and go.

Pregnancy is still going great, tired a lot, but other then that no complaints.  Went to a prenatal chiropractor yesterday because I have been experiencing some lower back/hip pain as my body continues to prepare for birth.  She came to our childbirth class and offered a free assessment, and I figured why not.  I go back next week to get the results of the assessment and see what she says.  Drew has raved about going to see a chiropractor since we met, and other women I've talked to who went while preggers have nothing but great things to say.  So, we'll see.

Tomorrow we have a doctors appointment and our second/last ultrasound.  It will be interesting to see how big Sawyer's gotten and what all the doctor has to say.  Love getting to hear the heartbeat, and am excited to get one more little peak before he gets here.

Monday, the staff at church threw a little baby shower/lunch for Drew and I.  My parents were able to come too, and it was a nice time.  Drew and I got some super cute/needed baby supplies, and now the nursery has become the baby stuff storage unit.  Haha.  Definitely need to get some furniture so we can get it set up and ready!  I keep telling myself I have time, but I really want to go get a crib and dresser so everything is just how I want it.


Finally, my good friend Amber had her baby, two weeks ago today!  Jackson is one stinkin cute little fella.  And he and Sawyer will be besties, it's decided.

Hello 2012! Hello 3rd Trimester!

2012 came in and I entered my third trimester.  90 days until Sawyer!  Woohoo!  The home stretch, but probably the longest as I wait to hold my sweet baby boy in my arms.  Pregnancy is still going great, I have developed a new symptom - leg cramps!  I figured they would come as I am prone to cramps.  In high school I would get the worst charlie horses during soccer season.  So I've upped my water intake even more; I feel like a fish!  Sawyer is still kicking here and there, unfortunately though for my mom and others who want to feel him move, it's still mainly late at night.  Stubborn little guy - don't you know you have adoring fans who want to feel a kick or two?

In other pregnancy news, we've completed the first step to getting the nursery ready.  Friday afternoon my dad, brother, and some youth came and moved all the guest room furniture to the spare room.  So now our guest room is empty and ready to be transformed into a nursery.  Next week while we are babymooning/anniversary tripping in San Antonio, the nursery will get painted.  Yay!!

I promised pictures, so here are some from Christmas.  We tried to get some shots that showed off the basketball I'm smuggling: 

Double Digits!

That's right the countdown to Sawyer is under 100 days!!  99 and counting til we see his sweet face.  Realizing how close us becoming a family of three is to being a reality is crazy.  Next Christmas we will have an almost 9 month old opening presents and crawling around and that is insane to think about.  Insane, but I can't wait!

Still been feeling good overall, but sleep is getting worse.  Sawyer is on my crazy work schedule which is great when I'm at work.  He will sleep most of the morning and then start his kicking and moving around at night.  Usually around 10:00.  Perfect when I am working nights.  This week though I took a couple of nights off for Christmas and Sawyer is still on the night work routine.  So Wednesday night, my first night off and just as I was getting asleep, he started up.  Kick, kick, flip, jab, etc.  Until about 2 something in the morning.  Then he relaxed for a bit and around 4:00 started back up.  It's hard to complain though when the reason you're not getting sleep is because there is a little miracle growing inside you.

Third trimester will be here before we know it!  We have picked out paint colors for the nursery and Drew bought an early Christmas gift for Sawyer (for me really!) to go in the nursery.  Once paint is on the walls, I'll have to take some pictures of the progress.  And yes, more pictures of the bump are coming!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Well Jack Frost brought December in with a cold blast. Maybe not cold to people living a little further north, but cold for this Florida girl! And December means we're that much closer to Sawyer time! Some friends have generously offered to paint the nursery while we are in San Antonio for a little "baby-moon" in January. So I have one month from now to move the guest bedroom furniture into the spare room. Which means I have to clear out the spare room since it has been a catch all for everything since we got married. A lot to do especially around Christmas!

Pregnancy has continued to be good to me. After a couple of weeks of questioning is that me or is that Sawyer moving around I have definitely identified his kicks. And these kicks are pretty strong now, it's like he said "ok Mom, you don't know who's moving? Feel this!". The last couple of days especially I've been really able to identify where he is and even feel his little kicks with my hand on my stomach. Drew felt one this morning! So yes, while not real hard, they are definitely noticeable. Which is amazing!

Other baby related things are coming together as well. I have picked out bedding, just need to get it ordered, and in so I can pick out some paint. We also registered for baby things. Babies R Us is slightly overwhelming and deciding what is actually needed for a baby is kind of crazy. But I think we might be set. We also registered for some cloth diapers at Sweet Bottoms Baby online. Yes, we have decided to cloth diaper. But that is another topic for another post. More bump shots next time!

Sawyer Knox Pilkenton

Yesterday was the big day! Could hardly wait to get to the doctor's office and get the ultrasound done! I mean this was big news that was about to be revealed, plus another chance to see my baby growing and getting big.

The big news is...IT'S A BOY!!! The ultrasound went great and everything looks healthy. We counted ten fingers and ten toes. Saw his heart beating, the umbilical cord, and his brain. The nurse then went in between the legs and asked what we thought we saw. Drew and I looked at each other and said "it's a boy, or something is really wrong if it's a girl!". The nurse laughed and confirmed that it was a boy. Now it's just a countdown until little Sawyer Knox makes his debut. Yay!!

It was amazing to be able to see him move around, move his little hands and feet, even turn around and stick his tiny little hiney in front of the camera. He is not camera shy, that's for sure! The nurse estimated he weighed about 9 ounces and was 10 inches long. Or about the weight of a good sized mango, and the length of banana.

We got to take home a strip of cute pictures and she burned us a DVD so we could watch it and take stills from the whole visit. She even made an arrow pointing to his little man parts.

Here are some pictures from the day:

He's all boy!

Sawyer's foot

Head down, sucking his thumb

Legs crossed

18 weeks baby!

18 weeks means exactly one week from right now we will know if baby peanut is a boy or girl.  I couldn't be more excited!  Seriously.  Hopefully within the week I will get some preggo pictures up, but right now I'll just give a little update.

I have broke down and purchased two maternity clothing items.  A Bella band to extend the life of some of my pants and some maternity jeans from Old Navy.  Not the full panel maternity jeans, but I am saying no to zippers, buttons, and belts.  Who needs those anyways?  And even though the Gators are causing undue stress in my life right now, I do have my eye on one of these:

Because let's face it, I love Drew, and love that he loves NC State, but baby Pilkenton will be a Gator!  :)

I've still been feeling pretty good.  Having a little indigestion here and there, but that's normal and I'm sure will only get worse over time.  Right now I'm just looking forward to finding out if it's a boy or girl and being able to feel some kicks!  And I'm sure those kicks I'm dying to feel now will be keeping me up at night (day), but for now I can't wait.  Each milestone around the corner is something to look forward to, and I'm trying to enjoy every moment of being pregnant.  

Avocado!

I love some avocado, probably my favorite "superfood".  Making guacamole one of my favorite dips.  So when I saw that this week little baby Pilkenton is about the size of a avocado this week, I must say I was excited.  And of course excited that baby was growing :).

Three weeks until we find out if little Pilkenton is a boy or girl, and I can't wait!  Over the weekend I went to Babies R Us for the first time since being pregnant to shop for my friend's baby shower.  I couldn't help but look around a little.  Granted Drew didn't especially enjoy being taken all over to "just look", but it was cool to get some ideas.  Can't wait till we are actually doing some shopping and registering for baby!

Everything pregnancy related is still going great.  Been feeling well, and slowly starting to get used to sleeping during the day after work.  Still haven't been able to find the most comfortable sleeping position, so buying some sort of pregnancy or body pillow is definitely in the immediate future.  Other then that though, getting more excited everyday.  Looked at the calender and Christmas Eve puts us at under 100 days!  Yay!

15 weeks!

Last week was absolutely crazy, so I wasn't able to do a 14 week post, but I am slowly getting used to 3rd shift, so hopefully I can get on a better routine.
Yesterday I had one of my regular 4 week appointments and everything is great.  It is so neat to hear the heartbeat and know that is your child you're listening to.  About a week ago we were able to have a special sonogram done my a friend.  Amazing!  Words cannot describe how special it is!

My gender sonogram is scheduled for November and I can't wait to find out if peanut is a boy or girl.  I am also looking forward to feeling him/her move and Drew being able to feel it too.  I think all the "wow" parts of pregnancy are just around the corner.  Which makes it even more real - and the need to get the house ready more imminent.

Right now though, clothes are starting to feel a little snug.  Maternity shopping is definitely on the horizon.  I also need to figure out sleeping.  Up until now, sleeping on my stomach was still comfortable, but now it's starting to feel like I'm lying on a baseball.  Sleeping on my side is not the most comfortable.  I fee like I'm in a flamingo position with one leg curled up trying to get my hips and back to be as comfortable as possible.  Buying a pregnancy pillow is probably in the near future.

For the most part though; so far so good.  No weird cravings or aversions.  Just enjoying being pregnant.

12/13 Weeks

Sunday is my reference day to how far along I am in my pregnancy.  So I am right at 12 1/2 weeks along.  My plan is to update this about once a week, more so for me to be able to look back on then necessarily creating a great following of me being preggers.

So far I have been very blessed/fortunate.  I have been feeling pretty great, no morning sickness, just exhaustion and frequent trips to the bathroom.  I know many of my friends haven't been so lucky, so I definitely count my blessings.  Of course, everyone you talk to, no morning sickness means something...I've had just about equal ladies come up and tell me it's sign I'm having a boy as it is I'm having a girl.  Definitely having a baby, so we'll just wait until November when the doc gives the official word before we start painting the nursery blue or pink!  No real food aversions or cravings.  I did crave chocolate milk a couple of weeks ago, and for someone who probably hasn't had a glass of milk in 16+ years, that is definitely the baby!!

Other pregnancy news...it's been really great to be able to tell friends and people at the church the exciting news.  It's also been especially great to converse with my pregnant friends-swap stories and glean advise.  And the excitement of one of my best friends growing up, Ansley, having her little girl Monday made everything that much more real.  Like, oh my goodness, in 6 months, that's going to be me!!  Just the thought when I was holding little Emily made my heart swell.  The youth knowing has also made it special, the older girls I think are the most excited.  Most of them I have been working with in youth for 5 or 6 years!

Not much else pregnancy related.  Just getting adjusted to the  new job and slowly starting to clean the house and prepare for the baby.

Preggers - Finding out

It's facebook official so it must be true!  Drew and I are expecting our first baby April 1, give or take a couple of weeks.  Since I've had to be tight lipped for about a month and half, I figured I would write down the details of us finding out about the pregnancy, then I will try to keep regular updates about pregnancy and pregnancy related topics until I can turn this into a baby update blog.  I'll probably throw unrelated happenings in as well just to mix it up.

We officially found out via the good ole home pregnancy test on Wednesday July 27th.  The Sunday before I had a strong gut feeling that I was pregnant, but Drew refused to let me take the test.  Everyone is a day late every now and then he said.  By Monday morning I would say I was 95% positive I was pregnant, and by Tuesday I had raised that up to 99%.  So early (4 am) Wednesday morning I took the test and almost instantaneously it read pregnant.  I withheld from waking Drew up - wanted to tell wide-awake Drew not him half-asleep.  So I made it through eight hours at work, stopped by the bookstore on the way home and picked up a copy of Caveman's Guide to Pregnancy.

When I got home Drew was in the yard with the dogs.  I hid the book and test behind my back, made my way outside and gave him the best surprise.  He was excited.  I was excited.  We were excited.  Still excited. Then we kept our mouths shut until the weekend when we told our parents.  Who were excited.  Seems to be a theme...

Then we waited the longest month and a half of my life to spread the news to everyone else.  We heard the heart beat for the first time on Monday September 12th, then called a select group of friends, we still wanted it to be a surprise on Wednesday night when we announced it to the youth, and then finally made it facebook official.

It has been amazing to finally be able to talk about my pregnancy with family and friends in the open...especially since several of my friends are expecting as well.  By next April there will be a lot of little ones crawling around the church - which is awesome!

This pregnancy adventure has been amazing thus far, and I can't wait until the baby adventure begins!