Baby Emerson is Here!

My sister, Kelly, was expecting her 2nd son on February 7...but he decided that was too long to wait! About 4:30pm Friday afternoon, Kelly's water broke and she began the labor process. Great news right? Yeah, only except there was a HUGE snowstorm-a-brewin'! Like, coming down in sheets! Like, 7 inches in 3 hours! Like, "holy crap we could have this baby in the backseat if we get stuck". Whoa. Thankfully, Dusty, my brother-in-law, was able to 4-wheel-it to the hospital. The normally 30 minute drive took them about 2 hours but he did it! And praise God that Kelly was listening to her intuition (or quite possibly to the voice of God himself) because she had a "bad feeling" about taking Interstate 26 and insisted that they change routes at the last minute and go Hwy 25. Come to find out, a tractor trailer had jack-knifed on 26 and traffic WASN'T MOVING! Ahhh! That would have been a story to tell, huh?

Anyway, about 12:10 am early Saturday morning, our newest addition to the family arrived. Emerson Caldwell Stepp was 7 lbs 7oz and 20 inches long. He's perfect. Kelly says he looks just like Jackson, but with hair...and lot of it!

Praise God!

Not sure if I posted about my friend K earlier or not, but she's a God-send. I'm a big believer in God sending you the right people at the right time. When we first moved here I was 26 weeks pregnant and had to take my glucose test. I failed. I had to go get another test at this place call Quest Diagnostics. It just so happened that K was about 27 weeks pregnant and having the same re-test done. Since the test required us to be there for 3 hours, we had some time to chat. It turns out we had some things in common and she ended up leaving me with her phone number in case I needed anyone. I ended up calling her for recommendations about a hair stylist (priorities!) and a pediatrician. She gave me great people for both! We've been chatting ever since...and she's turned out to be a wonderful friend. I can't wait to see our boys grow up together. :)

Her son, M, was born exactly one month earlier than Landon. She lives about 10 minutes from me and about 3 minutes from a beautiful park. We get together frequently and hang out/talk/vent/laugh/cry together.

On her day off, we decided to take the three boys (she has another son who is 20 mos) there and walk around the lake and play on the playground. While the babies didn't do much playing, they did enjoy the walk. M eventually fell asleep, Landon...not so much. But we did snap some great pictures of them all!

Praise God for beautiful days...

Praise God for parks...

Praise God for baby boys...



Praise God for sending a friend with whom I can share all!

Got milk? I don't...

So, after about 10 days on the baby Zantac I thought that I would be noticing a big difference. While I have noticed some, I was still seeing some of the behaviors that worried me...like pulling on my nipples, crying during and after feedings and waking up in the middle of the night (when only weeks ago he was sleeping through for 9-10 hrs at a time). So...back to the doctor we went. And that's when I figured out the real problem.

When we put him on the scale he had only gained 1 oz in 10 days. Imagine my shock and surprise when I discovered this! I felt like the worst mother in the world. How could my baby not be gaining weight? I feed him regularly, I'm making milk, my breastmilk is supposed to give him everything that he needs, it's supposed to be pefect, it's supposed to be natural and easy. Apparently not so much. What the heck?

My doctor was very encouraging and reassuring. At least Landon isn't one of those babies that really needs to gain a lot of weight. He did start out on the large side. So...the plan? Feed him more, try to increase my milk supply, feed him in the middle of the night as much as he wants *hooray* and supplement with formula if I so desire. Yeah, well...I don't desire to give him formula, but I do desire to give him food and if I'm not making enough then I have to accept that. So I finally had a peace about the whole formula thing and would you believe that Landon REFUSES to take a bottle now?? I've heard this can be a problem with breastfed babies if they haven't been exposed to a bottle before...but he HAS. He took a bottle as recently as last Saturday morning! Why not now? I've tried several different brands of nipples and speeds of flow...to no avail. So, honestly, what do I do when he's emptied both my breasts and looks at me like he's still hungry? What do I do? *sigh* Mothering is the hardest job I have ever had...

Rolling Over!

So, I was trying to cook dinner while Landon was having Tummy Time on the mat in the floor. He wasn't happy about it but at some point he's going to have to learn that life just isn't always what we want it to be...right? So, I had to cook dinner and therefore he had to lay there for a few minutes by himself. After about 6 minutes or so of him lying there in protest, I look over and he has worked himself sideways off the mat. The next thing I know he topples himself right over onto his back...and onto the kitchen tile (ouch)! He bonked his head a little, which scared him I think, but he was fine in about 2 seconds after I picked him up. But...I think this means that lots more rolling over and off of things is in store! Better keep my eyes peeled, huh?

Acid Reflux? GERD?

Well...after a long weekend of yuckiness (more not sleeping, more crankiness, more waking up at night, etc.), I decided to call my pediatrician again and ask for more answers! She said she'd see me today thankfully!

Fortunately, Landon had gained 4 oz in three days (a far cry better than the 3 ounces he'd gained in 8 days time). She was pleased with his progress in that department and that kind of ruled out feeding/milk supply questions for me. Then she went on to ask more about his behaviors and came to the "GERD" (Gastroesophogeal Reflux Disorder) or Acid Reflux conclusion. I'm not a huge fan of chemicals-especially ones that I directly put into my child's body...but medicinal treatment for Acid Reflux has been studied and tested heavily in infants and children, so I feel better about it. The doc gave us a scrip for Zantac and we'll try it for a month. If he does have AR then it will help pretty soon and if he doesn't get better, then we'll back up and try again. Here's hoping!

Ugh. 13 weeks wasn't fun.

So, I thought that 12 weeks was the magical age where things in the digestive department started to get better. Imagine my surprise when suddenly things got worse! We went from sleeping for 1 to 1 1/2 hours for naps three times a day to waking up from naps after only 30-45 minutes...and sometimes skipping the nap altogether! We also went from sleeping through the night from 8ish until 6ish to waking up two or three times each night with horrible pains and fussiness! We also went from nursing like a champ (great latch, strong suck, 20-30 minutes) to nursing like a weenie (popping off, barely sucking, 10-15 minutes). We also went from being a pretty happy baby to being downright cranky all day! What the HECK is going on??




I decided to visit my pediatrician on Friday because I was so OVER this weird thing that was happening...and she said, "Well...let's wait another week. It's likely to get worse if its something we can treat. If it gets better, then we'll know it was just a little phase." Ugh.



At 13 weeks I decided to do a quick little photo shoot outside of our house. It was a beautiful day and perfect lighting...but did we get many perfect shots? Nope. Turns out, cranky babies don't like doing awesome photo shoots. Here's some pictures anyway. Click on the one above to be taken to my web album.

12 weeks!

Landon is 12 weeks old today! I can't believe it! How quickly time goes by when you aren't thinking about it...and how slowly it creeps when you are!

At 12 weeks Landon is:
-holding his head up well on his own
-laughing
-smiling
-flirting
-talking up a storm of words like: gaaa, garrrr, cooo, glaa, aaah, gleeeh, etc.
-"singing" with me
-burping better
-nursing faster
-following objects with his eyes
-turning his head from left to right when on his belly
-sleeping long stretches at night (hooray!)
-chewing on hands and objects
-weighing about 14 lbs
-measuring 26 in tall
-wearing 6 mo clothing
-stealing my heart...

Here's a recent video of him enjoying a current hobby...

Holiday Roadtrip 2009! Hendersonville, NC

Stop #1: Hendersonville, NC

Emily Anne's Hometown

On December 10, 2009 Landon took his first trip on an airplane! He and I flew from St. Petersburg to Greenville/Spartanburg, SC on Allegiant Air where my dad, "Grumps", and his friend Jane picked us up and drove us 45 minutes to my hometown of Hendersonville. My sister Kelly lovingly let us borrow her infant carseat so I didn't have to travel with one. It was hard enough with two suitcases packed for three weeks, a diaper bag, a purse and an 8 week old baby!

When we arrived in Hendersonville, we met up with Kelly and Jackson for lunch at "The Living Room" downtown. My body was a bit in shock because when I left Tampa it was 80 degrees and when I arrived in Hendersonville it was 30. Whoa. Thankfully Kelly brought a coat for me to wear!
Shortly after lunch, Kelly took Landon and I to her house where my mom picked us up. "Nana" was soooooo excited to see Landon! Jackson was really cute and not quite sure why Nana was holding Landon and not him. He kept pointing to Landon and saying, "this, down". Too cute.

Once at Nana's house we were able to get settled in. She had set up a very nice suite for us upstairs, complete with crib and table for changing! Her house looked so good all decorated for Christmas. That was a nice change for me since I hadn't put up the first bit of decoration...I figured, what was the point?

While we were there we spent many hours visiting with friends and family. Everyone was smitten with our little boy...the center of attention for sure (I made sure to take over while he was sleeping though). :)

Josh was planning on driving up from Florida on Friday the 18th after he finished a work conference in Orlando. However, Friday morning it was predicted to snow...and snow it did! We got over 13" of the most beautiful snow I had seen in a long time! Josh finally made it in that night at about 1 in the morning...thanks to Jerry's Jeep and chain-covered tires! What a wonderland it was!

The snow put a damper on plans to get out of the house though...we were pretty much homebound for about 3 days. Not fun--but tolerable! My high school girlfriends and I finally got together for a mini-reunion. I don't think we'd all been in the same room at the same time in years. Angela, Hilary, and Amanda were all excited to meet Landon and to catch up with each other for a bit.

On the 23rd, we met up with Kelly, Dusty and Jackson as well as Grumps and Jane. The snow made it impossible to get up to Grumps' house, so we changed our plan and let PF Chang to the cooking instead...delicious! After lunch, we met back at Kelly's house to exchange gifts. So much fun!

Christmas Eve morning was our day to open gifts with all of my family. Mom made a delicious breakfast caserole and "monkey bread" (if you don't know what it is then you should!). We opened gifts and shared precious moments together with Jackson and Landon...how did we make it out of there without a family picture? We are so blessed to have each other...and to have the ability to share wonderful gifts and time together.

Around lunchtime we packed up our "sled" and headed off to stop #2 on our trip: Winston-Salem, or Mimi and Pop's house. Here's a picture of Landon in the carseat ready to ride!