Thursday, December 20, 2012

The New Crazy

Well, I've been waiting for life to get back to normal before posting.  Put let's face it, the new crazy IS the new normal!   We joyfully greeted Joshua Owen Wittleder into this world on September 12th.  He is already over 3 months old!  I have decided I must get his birth story posted and recorded before I completely forget it!  So that is on my to-do list before any other posts aside from this one.

Since his birth, my mom came out to help a few weeks after he was born, then my dad came to join her, Courtney a few weeks later, Dad & Mom Witt and Grandpa & Grandma J visited for Thanksgiving...and then less than a week later we headed to Pennsylvania where Nathan broke his leg and is now in a cast for the next 4 or so weeks.  So that's a brief summary of the last 3 months! Joshua has been experiencing fussiness through these first few months of life that the doctor has deemed "colic" and that keeps us from getting a lot of rest around here!  Although it does seem to be improving, it still is a factor at night.  So, we have had a busy, trying, yet still blessed last few months.  I, as a mother, am learning to rely on God more for my strength as I have come to the conclusion I just can't do it on my own.  It's a different battle every day and yet there are great victories experienced as well.  Matt has been wonderful in trying to help me as much as he can...sacrificing his own sleep and other things that he needs like working out!

We are glad to be home to re-charge and create some normalcy in our lives.  Of course, with Nathan in a cast, it won't be quite "normal".  I miss the gym as I'm sure he does as well!  But he has been doing incredibly well.  He started walking on his cast and has such determination.  I have so much to learn from him in the way he has accepted his state so graciously and even excitedly at times.  What's cooler than a new blue cast? :)  There are certain aspects of his personality that I myself wish I possessed.  Maybe he has his pappy's "go with the flow" attitude.  Of course, there are challenges to his personality as well as although he seems to love Josh like crazy, he out of nowhere will throw a leg, a head butt, or a swipe his way!  Not good.  Especially not with a cast on his leg!
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Josh is smiling and cooing and laughing now and it warms my heart.  Just in the middle of his crying and fussiness he slips that in and you can't be upset.  You just can't!  Just yesterday I was able to lay with him on the couch as we snoozed together and Nathan napped upstairs.  These are the moments I cherish.  It was easier to do with Nathan...and in the midst of always laying Josh down for naps I forgot to steal these moments of baby bliss.  I don't want to miss them...
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So that was a bit of a rambling catch up post.  I'm not crazy enough to think I will adequately be able to catch up 3 months of the blog.  That is why I posted pictures on Facebook in the meantime.  However, I do want to post Josh's birth before anything else so I will go back that far.  And honestly, I probably won't have the time to post like before, but I will attempt to get something up here on occasion.  I know I have family that doesn't have Facebook...and the blog also serves our family as a journal of the years as they fly by so quickly.  It's nice to have it recorded.

Love you all.  Thanks for your patience.  Hope to be back soon!

P.S. And now Nathan just woke up after a very short nap...there goes mine! The cast has been rubbing him on the thigh a bit and it appears from the monitor it is bothering him. This is my life. This is why I have no grand promises to make about the upkeep of this blog! Not to mention I have wash to do...

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Sneak Peek of the Nursery!

Why a sneak peek?  Why not the whole thing?  Well, because our baby boy's name is on the wall...and we can't let that cat out of the bag just yet!

Here's what you see from the doorway looking in.
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And here's the wall that does not reveal the name!  I love these prints from Etsy above the crib.
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Ok, so the pillow in the bed is not necessary.  It's just sitting there for now.

Mom, here's the bedskirt made from a sheet :) 
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So nice to feel organized and ready to go!  I love these shelves that my dad built for me.  It gives us so much more usable space!
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I really do love the dresser too. I will show you more of it when I can show you the name above it, but it has so much room in it. We have all of Nathan's newborn and 0-3 months clothes washed and put away for those first few months that go by so quickly!
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And I LOVE the elephant lamp you can see just a little of on the corner of the dresser! Quite the steal at TJMaxx for 20 bucks! I knew I wanted an elephant lamp and was thrilled when we snagged this one!

Our baby boy's room is simple and calming.  We love it.

Family Pictures Available to Upload

Matt and I uploaded all of the pictures from our family photo shoot onto the SkyDrive.  This way, anyone can upload the photos they want directly from there to save or print.  Just right click on the picture and select "download".  We will leave them up there for awhile to give family time to get what they want from there.  At some point, we probably will delete them because they are very large files taking up a lot of room on our account!

Mom Witt- hope this works for you!

You also can go there in case you want to see all of them...I think there are 72 files.  Go to this link to view & upload!
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Saturday, September 8, 2012

38 Weeks

At my 38 Week appointment on Friday...I was still at 2cm dilated!  So no progress there :)   I do feel like I have dropped some this week, but who knows?  My physical therapist, Kristina, thought so too.  She said she gives me a week! (This was on Tuesday) Yikes!  Here's your pics:
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Oh yeah, I think they weighed me in at 165 at the doctors.  They didn't tell me, but I think that's what I saw.  Already at 30 lbs!  And I thought I could stick to 25 this time.  Oh well.

I'm definitely feeling more ready and better about everything.  The hospital bag is mostly packed.  We have an air mattress, sheets, pillows out in case someone has to come stay with Nathan in the middle of the night if we go to the hospital then.  This weekend has been glorious because Matt is OFF and we are just enjoying our family time and tying up some loose ends...and watching football :)  It has been just what we all needed.
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ALSO, on  Thursday night our baby seems to have moved off my sciatic nerve a little bit...or is just hitting it differently!  I still have some pain and aggravation but it is much more manageable than before!  I even went to Target with Nathan and Matt today.  That might not have been the smartest thing to do...but it felt good to get out, nonetheless.  I certainly slowed down the process, but it was good!  Matt wanted me to drive the scooter, but I assured him that my body needed some activity and blood flow.  I'm afraid I'm going to be so out of shape by the time I go into labor with all of this sitting still stuff!

This cutie told me he wanted to be in the picture :)  How could I resist this adorable little Eagles fan?
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So I'm feeling good.  Ready for our family to expand and welcome our baby boy.  Nathan's going to be such a good big brother.  The baby's carseat is all ready to go in the car for our trek to the hospital (The 4 minute trek. I love how close the hospital is!)

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And that's your 38 Week update!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Grilling Out

Matt bought a new grill with his birthday money this year!  Thank you to all who contributed :)
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So as it was opening night for football, Matt fired up the grill and we had burgers!
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We love the extra burner on the side.  We made our rice side on it!
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The grill master.
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Nathan loved a night with both of us...being outside, having burgers, he was a happy little boy :)
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On his daddy's lap.
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Oh, sure I'll have a toasted bun!
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Kissing his brother in mommy's belly :)
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"Mommy's baby"
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Awww....
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The Eagles plates are still alive! (thanks a lot, mom!) :)
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Hey, someone keeps stealing my chips!
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Yep, that's me! :)
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I ate your chip.
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Eating a burger.
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Cutest burger-eater I've ever seen!
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So...he dropped his plate off of his lap and it dumped on the ground.  So we tried a different seating arrangement.  He liked it!
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Back to business!
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Helping daddy clean up the spilled rice.
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Well, kind of.  He actually re-dumped the rice on the ground 3 times after daddy cleaned it up!

Showing us how he jumps!
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Check out this video of him jumping for us.

Peek!! (to daddy)
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Peek again!
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Tickling daddy's toes!
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This is how he shows daddy his muscles.
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Love this smile.
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Are you SURE I can't have another chip?
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We went in to watch the opening NFL game and mommy decided to makes some brownies!  I gave Nathan a taste of the batter...
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He was a fan.
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A boy after his mom's own heart.


You can watch the video of this here.  It's really cute.  Matt got him to say "I DO ike it!" on camera :)

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Brittney & Andrew

Brittney & Andrew are in our small group and are expecting Baby Jonah (their first!) on October 2nd!  Just a week and a half after our baby's due date!  They asked me to take a few picture of the two of them together to document this time. They took us out to a road where Andrew runs.  We had sun and rain and clouds and a rainbow in the time we were there.  It was crazy!  Nathan was happy as a clam hanging out with his daddy while mommy tried to take as many pictures as possible without walking around too much!

Here's a link to a slideshow of our time together.  So excited for them!  If you try to go full screen, the photos will be really pixelated...I had to make the file a lot smaller to upload the slideshow.  Nathan loves watching this slideshow.  He really likes the music and he loves to look at pictures and videos  He keeps saying "Agin, Agin!"  And he gets quite upset if we don't do it "agin"! :)  Brittney has watched him several times in the last few weeks when I have therapy appointments so he is quite familiar with "Brittney's baby".  They live just a few minutes away from us so it is really convenient.  Plus, she loves Nathan...in fact, she loves kids in general and has been waiting most of her life to be a mom!  She's going to be great and she is so close now!

Here's a few of my favorites from our time together if you want the condensed version :)
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It is raining while the sun is shining in this one!  It was nuts, but that's how Colorado is!
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As you can see, they were unfazed by the rain!
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Such a beautiful couple! Can't wait to meet baby Jonah soon!