2 months old

I am not sure what happened to the past two months. Jack weighs in at 12 pounds 13 ounces. He's 22 inches long, which has to be incorrect since he was 22.5 at one month. I wasn't exactly paying attention at his appointment. Sleep deprivation. He really is a great baby. He's going with the flow for the most part although I'm not sure he had a choice.

I got the crazy idea to go grocery shopping with both Cameron and Jack BY MYSELF. It wasn't just a "we need bread" grocery run either. It was we need everything from diapers to bread. As I sat in the parking lot, I contemplated turning around and going home. This is why they invented McDonald's, right? No diapers...hmmm. I sat for five minutes looking at my list and debating the necessary items. Only mandatory products allowed. Then the cart debate. Cameron loves to drive the car. I could put him in the car and then put the carrier in the basket. Where will the groceries go? I decided the Austin Powers mini me baby carrier was the way to go. How in the hell does this thing even work? A lady was in the car across from me staring me down as I tried to put the carrier thing on and then tried to wedge Jack in it. I didn't feel comfortable fully letting go of Jack with one hand so I shopped and pushed a basket with one hand. One lady stopped to mention Jack had lost a sock. My response, "Ma'am, if the only casualty of the day is a sock, we're doing pretty good." We survived and managed to find the sock waiting patiently for us by the car.

Christmas festivities

Christmas was what we expected...wild! Anytime you catch two days where kids are up late and without naps you just have to also expect to catch hell. It wasn't that bad though.

Jack is up waiting for Santa.

MeeMee and Pops gave Cameron a wagon, which he LOVES!!


Cameron didn't make it to cut the cake at Mumsie's house. He had one too many meltdowns which resulted in this. Brian is not drunk or sleeping. That's just his picture face.
Jack and Nanny

Christmas morning!!! Santa brought Cameron a slide.Christmas with a two-month old. He seemed interested. Yeah right. I'm not even sure he was awake at this point.


Notice who is the boss in the family.If only I could figure out how to photoshop my feet out of pictures.
Cameron got a ton of toys at MeMe and Paw Paw Jim's house. What does he play with? One of my cabbage patch dolls from when I was younger.
The boys: Kaleb, Alex, Cameron, Jack and Jacob

May your Christmas be filled with joy and happiness!

Brotherly Love

This is a huge accomplishment - both boys napping at the same time. In the rare event this does happen, I have absolutely no idea what to do with myself because there are so many possibilities.



Ah yes, back to reality. Jack is the one on the left covered in baby wipes. I don't know which one it's more important to watch. Do I focus my attention on the attacker, Cameron, or should I keep an eye on Jack in hopes of preventing an attack? The baby wipes incident was harmless, which is why I grabbed the camera. In another episode I came out of the bathroom to find one son missing. Odds are you're thinking it's the one who is mobile. Not so much. I see Cameron laying on the sofa, but I don't see Jack. And then I see a little hand stretching out from underneath his older brother. No pictures are available from that instance. I figured 30 pounds of pressure on an infant is not good.

Here is the brotherly love in action.

Thanksgiving Feast

My mom made costumes for her grandkids, and we all had a Thanksgiving feast one day for lunch. This is about the best we could get them to cooperate.

Playdates

Jack has had a few play dates recently. He was actually awake for his visit with my friend Meryn's son, Easton. Easton is about two weeks older than Jack.


This is how cousins play. The baby on the left is Maranda's son, Alex. Alex was born in August, and I just wish I could get the kind of nap he's getting in this picture.

What a difference a day makes

I tried to snap a one month photo of Jack, but he wouldn't stop crying long enough to let me. At his doctor's check up, I was waiting for him to make a liar out of me. Kids do that. They could be bleeding from the head for hours on end, and once the doctor walks in the bleeding stop and the cut magically heals itself. What blood? I fed Jack right before our visit in hopes that I could just hold him up and say, "You see? This is what I am dealing with. Fix it." Jack cried the entire time. I was hoping the doctor could see the pain in his face and the despair in mine. Instead, I get a prescription for some gas drops. Really? Of all the things you could write on that wonderful little tablet, you write me a prescription for gas drops. "Give it a week," she says.


24 hours later


When you read about these gas drops, this is some powerful stuff. It's used to treat patients with IBS and Parkinson's. It's also used to allow parents some much needed rest. My child went from sleeping about 8 hours total in a 24 hour time period to sleeping about 20 hours. We aren't going to keep him at his current dosage because I'd like to see his eyes at some point, but at least he is experiencing some relief. These are some gas drops!

At Jack's one month check up he weighs in at 11 pounds 1 ounce and is 22 1/2 inches long.

Jack and the Beanstalk

Thank God it's almost January.

Brian and I are in need of a "do over" on our parents of the year application so January can't come soon enough. When you ask parents who have children close together how they did it, you will get the response of "we survived." Survived. We thought we could handle having two 15 months apart, but we were slapped in the face by the hand of God and parenthood.

Naptime. This is the cause of so much of our demise as parents. I've actually looked through my hospital paperwork to see if I still had the receipt for Jack so I could give him back. I would have looked for Cameron's, but Lord knows I wouldn't have found where I buried that paperwork. Naptime is a battle that I am losing. Even when Brian and I are playing man-to-man defense, we SUCK at this. It never fails that the minute Cameron closes his eyes, Jack will inevitably start crying. Here's the point where I pick Jack up and ask, "Is this funny for you? We will return you." Doesn't usually phase him. The new low is flipping a coin for the crying kid. The loser takes the crying kid upstairs to suffer the punishment of thinking about all the fun stuff downstairs (a nap on the couch, a fridge, a laptop, etc). Trying to get a 16-month old to sleep is already a battle of wills. He's too young to bribe, to bore or to ignore. I have to stroll Cameron around in our house to get him to fall asleep. It usually ends with one arm pushing a 32-pound kid in a stroller and the other arm holding Jack. I've learned to tuck a bottle under my arm to feed Jack while pushing the stroller. It's not called multi-tasking. It's called a mother's desperation. A woman coined the term "multi-tasking" as a humorous alternative to her life with children.

Nighttime. This is the cause of our demise as human beings. Little kids are supposed to sleep something like 18-20 hours a day. Why does the six hours of open eyes have to be between the hours of 11pm and 5am? This is when children ruin your mental state. Must be cold. Blanket given. Must be hungry. Fed. Must have a dirty diaper. Diaper changed. Must be gassy. Burped. Still crying and the checklist has nothing else on it. What's worse is that we have a time limit to get Jack to quit crying. After 5 minutes, the wailing begins from Cameron in the room next door. Because I am breastfeeding I am the first line of attack. If I'm approaching 4 minutes, I just shove my boob in Jack's mouth regardless of the last feeding time. Probably not the best idea, but it's better than the 16 month old alternative. Brian and I feel the sleep deprivation. I tried to get back into bed one night only to have my husband push me out of the bed so he could search for Jack in the sheets. I was pissed. Do you know how hard it is to argue with someone who is asleep?

Mrs. Rodrigue...welcome to parenthood.

Newborn Pictures

We survived another set of newborn pictures!!! I don't know why pictures always make me nervous, but they do. A huge thank you to my cousin, Leslie, and the folks at Timeless Treasures in Gonzales. Leslie did an awesome job taking care of the four of us, and we have a huge selection of great pictures to choose from. Here are a few of them.

It looks like Cameron is being sweet, but he's really reaching for Jack's pacifier tucked under his neck.



This is my favorite!

2 weeks old

Our doctor's visit went well. The check up showed Jack had gained a pound and a half in 10 days bringing him up to 8 pounds 13 ounces. I was actually worried he was losing weight because I'm trying the whole breastfeeding thing. I say "trying" because I think I must have "nipple confusion." I wish my boobs were see through because it really bothers me to not know how much my child is drinking. There were a few days where Jack just became an extra appendage because he refused to stop nursing. After that I decided to try and pump. Oh my Lord. Jack inhaled 4 ounces of milk and then cried for a day and half because of the giant ball of gas. Men really can't lactate? Do we know this for sure or are all the male doctors just saying this to get out of night feedings?


Already he hates pictures.



Cute shirt, huh? You can purchase one from The Strawberry Patch Boutique. There's a link on the side bar of my blog. (Shameless plug. Love ya, Lynda!)

Big brother

How's Cameron with Jack? That has to be the most common question I get asked these days. The truth? Cameron really couldn't care less. The main thing is the pacifier. Cameron still has his, but it's the unknown taste of Jack's pacifier that has him curious. He's getting good at being sneaky though. Cameron will lie on his belly and commando crawl up to Jack as if we can't see him. The pictures below are a little illustration of what happens.

There is a slight bit of big brother jealousy at times. I was nursing Jack, and Cameron decides he can fit in my lap. I have an 8 pound child in my lap trying to eat lunch and here comes a 31-pound booty lowering onto Jack. I wonder what Jack was thinking at that moment.

Happy Halloween

Cameron dressed as a tiger for Halloween. Are you surprised? He actually loved the costume and stayed in it all night with the hood and all. Brian pulled him down the street and he did rack up a bucket full of candy, and then they came home and passed out candy. I snuggled on the sofa with Jack. Thanks to Meme for making him a Halloween shirt. I don' t know how she knew he would be here in time.

More pics of Jack

Welcoming Jack Gerard

Thursday made me realize I do not possess the Jedi mind tricks needed to speed up the clock. Physically, I felt pretty bad so I started watching the clock. "Was that a contraction?" Start the timer .
4:05. 4:06. 4:07. 4:08.
"Was that a contraction or is my back finally giving out after lifting Cameron? Wait, what time was my last contraction?"
The minutes continued to pass by. I actually stopped trying to figure out if and when my last contraction occurred, and I just resorted to establish a time when Brian would get home.
5:15. 5:16. 5:17.
"Should I call him? Maybe I'm just being a wimp. Do I go upstairs and take a shower? I really need to wash my hair first. I'm sure we don't need to go in."
5:18.
"My water really needs to break so I know for sure. What do I do with Cameron? Am I packed?"
The pain is definitely getting very regular at this point.
5:31.
Brian walks in and I'm lying on the sofa. "You probably want to eat something quick and take a shower because we may be going to the hospital tonight." He says, "Okay," then picks up Cameron and starts playing.
5:33.
"No, like you need to take a shower right now." Panicked, he says, "Oh, okay. I'll just take a quick shower and pack my bag." You are kidding me, right? I'm almost 39 weeks pregnant, and he still hasn't packed a bag.

At around 7:00 we finally get to the hospital, and Brian had strict instructions not to remove a single bag until I was admitted. I was about 3 cm dilated and contractions were about every 2-3 minutes. At 8:10 we were officially admitted and they wheeled us up to a labor and delivery room. The doctor came in and asked if I was going to do this natural. "Not at all." "Well then let's get an epidural, break your water, get some pitossin and have this baby." I like this doctor very much. :-)

By 10:30 I had all the above and was at 4 cm. At 11:00 I had my hand on the Call Nurse button because of the pressure I was feeling. The nurse checks me and I'm fully dilated. Brian wakes up mid snore, and I'm sure my eyes are as big as his. I started doing a couple of practice pushes before the nurse tells me to stop because the doctor is in another delivery.

28 minutes. It was 28 minutes of my legs in the stirrups while Jack's head is trying to forcefully rip out of my vagina. All I heard was the nurse saying, "You're going to need a bag of ice after this." Great. Now I'm going to need reconstructive surgery to put all the pieces back together because everyone is refusing to catch my kid. 28 minutes and the doctor walks in. He empties my bladder and as he does that Jack's head comes out. Does "I told you so" fit right here?

All that being said at 11:56 we were so blessed to welcome Jack Gerard Rodrigue into our family. He was 8 pounds 2 ounces and 21 inches long. Thank you to everyone for all the prayers and support. We're taking him home on Sunday. You can resume the prayers. :-)

License to drive

We're having a hard time getting Cameron to point to parts of his face, but if you ask him to turn on the windshield wipers, he can! Meme lets Cameron sit in the driver's seat and press buttons. My child thinks this is the greatest toy anyone can have. He screams uncontrollably when you try to take him out of the car. It really is too cute to watch because he's so into it.