5/18/13
James eats food.
Our pediatrician told us that whenever James started reaching for food that we were eating, we could try offering him some solids to see how he does (she said all the literature written about the 6th month mark is so inconclusive, and so at this point it's better to go by baby's signs that he's ready. She's brilliant, and we trust her, so we are going by her recommendations). She advised against starting with cereals, but rather to go with fruits and veggies first. Prunes were a pretty obvious choice for his first real food since he's drinking 3oz of prune juice a day to stay regular (thanks, soy formula). He loved it! No gagging or any problems like that. He probably ate 1/2 Tbsp total, which is normal I think, and was still happy to nurse and take his bottle. So we'll see how it goes from here! Next up: avocado, sweet potato, peas, pears & oatmeal!
5/17/13
slumber party
James typically goes to bed around 7pm every night, at which point Stuart and I make dinner, eat together and clean up. By 8pm, we're often looking at each other, yawning, and deciding it's quite time for bed ourselves (does the exhaustion ever go away?). This means two things:
1. Nothing ever gets done around the house: Laundry piles up for days. The yard goes weeks without being mowed. Thank you notes are left unwritten. You know, all the things that tiny babies don't like for you to do before they go to bed.
2. The hubs and I spend z.e.r.o quality time together. This is complicated by his work schedule, of course, which takes up give-or-take 80 hours of his week, often over 6, if not 7, days of the week.
A few weeks ago, my dear mother asked when James was going to come spend the night at her house. This was something that Stuart and I had talked about, but weren't sure when would be a good or appropriate time to let someone else take care of James overnight (although he is sleeping through the night without feedings at this point - typically 7pm to 6am or so). Then, Stuart learned that he would have this entire weekend off (a very rare occurrence!) - so James could go spend one night away, we could have some quality time together and take care of some things around the house, and he would still have lots of time to spend with James the next day.
So, tonight is the night! And the daddy of the house is thrilled! But, this mama feels guilty. Is it too soon? Will he miss me? I will miss him! I know my mother is completely capable, and even knows James' routines quite well (she cares for him on the days that I work a 12-hour shift as a nurse). I know there are some mamas that wouldn't think twice about leaving their baby overnight, and other mamas that wouldn't do it unless absolutely necessary. I'm not sure where I fall, but I know that I am thrilled and excited, though feeling a bit anxious, sad and guilty.
After talking to my hubs, I realized that this is our family - Team Pierce - and we get to decide what is good, not only for our son, but for our marriage, and we need this. It will be so very good for James to spend time with his grandparents and be comfortable in their home (I am only sad that both sides of our family aren't close enough to spend lots of time with him!). And it will be so very good for Stuart and I to have time to remember what it's like to focus on each other and the Lord (these are our first priorities anyways, and so easily lost when a tiny babe needs you all the time).
So, James is headed to his first slumber party tonight at the Acrees' in Zebulon... staying up all night playing video games and eating cheetos (or whatever little boys do at slumber parties) with Mammaw and P/PAW (yes, that really is what we call my dad and that's exactly how he wants it spelled!).
1. Nothing ever gets done around the house: Laundry piles up for days. The yard goes weeks without being mowed. Thank you notes are left unwritten. You know, all the things that tiny babies don't like for you to do before they go to bed.
2. The hubs and I spend z.e.r.o quality time together. This is complicated by his work schedule, of course, which takes up give-or-take 80 hours of his week, often over 6, if not 7, days of the week.
A few weeks ago, my dear mother asked when James was going to come spend the night at her house. This was something that Stuart and I had talked about, but weren't sure when would be a good or appropriate time to let someone else take care of James overnight (although he is sleeping through the night without feedings at this point - typically 7pm to 6am or so). Then, Stuart learned that he would have this entire weekend off (a very rare occurrence!) - so James could go spend one night away, we could have some quality time together and take care of some things around the house, and he would still have lots of time to spend with James the next day.
So, tonight is the night! And the daddy of the house is thrilled! But, this mama feels guilty. Is it too soon? Will he miss me? I will miss him! I know my mother is completely capable, and even knows James' routines quite well (she cares for him on the days that I work a 12-hour shift as a nurse). I know there are some mamas that wouldn't think twice about leaving their baby overnight, and other mamas that wouldn't do it unless absolutely necessary. I'm not sure where I fall, but I know that I am thrilled and excited, though feeling a bit anxious, sad and guilty.
After talking to my hubs, I realized that this is our family - Team Pierce - and we get to decide what is good, not only for our son, but for our marriage, and we need this. It will be so very good for James to spend time with his grandparents and be comfortable in their home (I am only sad that both sides of our family aren't close enough to spend lots of time with him!). And it will be so very good for Stuart and I to have time to remember what it's like to focus on each other and the Lord (these are our first priorities anyways, and so easily lost when a tiny babe needs you all the time).
So, James is headed to his first slumber party tonight at the Acrees' in Zebulon... staying up all night playing video games and eating cheetos (or whatever little boys do at slumber parties) with Mammaw and P/PAW (yes, that really is what we call my dad and that's exactly how he wants it spelled!).
(P.S. Don't judge - he rolls to his belly on his own every time we lay him down!)
5/16/13
James: 5 months
Loves: music & singing, reading books, all his friends (toys), going to Trader Joe's (really!), putting everything in his mouth, bath time, sleeping all night and waking early (5:30-6 is not uncommon), playing with his toes, looking at the sky, rolling to his belly, snuggling, playing outside
Hates: diaper changes, when I wait even just a moment too long to feed him, getting lotion rubbed on him, when dad runs the weed-eater (how terrifying!), being over-stimulated or over-tired (I think he may be slightly introverted, like his mama)
we're back (with a baby)!
In March 2012, Stuart was about to be finished with medical school, and we learned that he would be joining the fabulous OB/GYN residency program at UNC in Chapel Hill, NC (turns out, that was his first choice for several professional & personal reasons). At the end of March, we found out that we were going to have a tiny babe join our family (on Good Friday - I'll never forget spending the Easter weekend with family and friends and having to keep it a secret! I was about to burst!). In April we visited Durham, NC and bought our first house in anticipation of our move there from Little Rock for residency. May was full of graduation celebrations for Stuart, a surprise baby shower given by my darling co-workers at UAMS (who, now a year later, I still miss very, very much), lots of quality time spent with friends & family, and learning how to say good-bye to so many things that we love in Little Rock. June 2, we hopped in the car and drove to NC! June 4, we closed on our first home (what a great experience, with the help of our wonderful realtor). Late June, Stuart officially became an intern at UNC, and this would utterly consume him (it's ok though, because he LOVES it).
Fast forward a bit: Wednesday, December 12, 2012 our tiny little boy (surprise!) was delivered at UNC by our lovely midwife, Meg, at 5:58am after 12 hours of labor and 45 minutes of pushing. We named him James Younger Pierce, after his great-grandfathers, and he is the sweetest, silliest, smartest tiny boy. In March 2013, I started a per-diem RN position at UNC on a surgical oncology floor, and it is so good (challenging, fun, new & different - I'm learning a lot!).
Stay tuned!
10/3/11
6 months later!
so here's what we've been up to the last 6 months (since we last posted)...
in may: stuart and mandy visit STL to see andrew, kristan and their sweet kiddos. mandy gets a raise! she still loves her job. stuart is invited to join AOA and is in the middle of his surgery rotation and begins to have second thoughts about his love for ob-gyn, thinking maybe he'd rather be a surgeon full-time. this does not make mandy happy. also, we love spending time with our new niece abigail.
stuart with kara & anna in STL
kristan & mandy with alden, kara & anna
abigail, speaking the truth about her auntie :)
in june: stuart's dad has an ACOG at big cedar lodge near branson, mo. there's a small family reunion when all of stuart's siblings and their sweet kids all come together to hang out for the weekend, and stuart's love of ob-gyn is rekindled. this makes mandy happy. we also have our 1st wedding anniversary! we travel to mt. magazine state park in northern arkansas (think beautiful, rocky ozark mountains), and we then find out that mt. magazine lodge is mostly intended for geriatric patrons, and the buffet that is offered for each meal leaves us lacking. but the view from our room is worth it for sure. frozen groom's cake (the infamous A1 cake) was also enjoyed.
A1 cake
hiking mt. magazine
view from our balcony, so beautiful.
in july: we have lots of visitors! mom, dad and sister acree travel from nc to spend 4th of july in little rock. it was a busy trip, including an all-day kayak float on the buffalo river, a day to see the extended pierce family in pine bluff and shoot off fireworks in the courtyard, and a trip to the little rock zoo. solid QT time with the acrees, for sure. then, 2 days later wen and casey reagan come to arkansas! we enjoy some time at the farmer's market, a sip & shop/1st thursday on kavanaugh, and loafing around to different restaurants. stuart and mandy's minds are blown when wen and casey get to meet chris and jill (our worlds collide!). one of the happiest moments of our lives :) at the end of july, stuart takes the step 2 exam (2nd part to the MD licensure process) and he totally rocks it, just like we all knew he would.
dad A. at the LR zoo with pig sooie
stu and katie, sparklers in the PB courtyard
pierce and acree ladies in mom P's kitchen, PB
sisters, at the young pierce residence in LR
pirate dad A, father's day celebration kayak float on the buffalo river, AR
mom A & katie in the background, stu & mandy in the foreground
reagans meet merricks!
my favorite ladies all together: me, casey & jill
in august: mandy's best childhood friend gets married! she travels to NC/WV for 2 weeks to make sure elizabeth jones gets married off appropriately, then travels to WV to visit her grandparents for the first time since graduating nursing school. it was a great time for the whole family, riding 4wheelers, shooting off fireworks and hanging out with cousins. mandy's pappa acree has lymphoma, and she was even able to go to a doctor's appointment with him, which she was thankful for. while in WV, matthew traveled up with his lady friend, meredith, to meet the family at a bed & breakfast for the grandparents' 50th anniversary celebration. the whole family likes meredith. a lot. stuart, meanwhile, is stuck in the hospital in little rock doing gyn-oncology. he likes it a lot and remembers that although he loves ob-gyn, he totally rocks at surgery. maybe he will do a fellowship after residency that would allow him to do more surgery than a general ob-gyn...
professional photo from EJ's wedding, i'm 2nd to the right of the groom!
[Runner Photography, 2011]
in september: it starts to feel like fall! we kick off the month with a grill-out by the arkansas river with jenna and colin. stuart submits his application(s) to residency programs across the country (ranging from san francisco to boston, and everywhere in between). the interviews start pouring in, and we are very proud of him. mandy submits her one-year portfolio at work (she has been a nurse for ONE YEAR!) and gets another raise! her co-workers start to hear rumors that stuart won't be in medical school forever, and that he might have to move to a different city, taking mandy with him. they immediately begin petitioning the ob-gyn residency director in little rock. mandy goes to visit her favorite-ever-friend, hannah morgan, in kansas city, mo. it's the most refreshing weekend, full of antique shopping, a trip to trader joe's, and meeting hannah's new man-friend, dan, who is well-liked and approved by mandy. stuart and mandy also begin a bible study on galatians in their home with some couples that live close by in their community. they are thankful for believers that live in their neighborhood and who are thirsty for biblical community, just like they are.
in may: stuart and mandy visit STL to see andrew, kristan and their sweet kiddos. mandy gets a raise! she still loves her job. stuart is invited to join AOA and is in the middle of his surgery rotation and begins to have second thoughts about his love for ob-gyn, thinking maybe he'd rather be a surgeon full-time. this does not make mandy happy. also, we love spending time with our new niece abigail.
stuart with kara & anna in STL
kristan & mandy with alden, kara & anna
abigail, speaking the truth about her auntie :)in june: stuart's dad has an ACOG at big cedar lodge near branson, mo. there's a small family reunion when all of stuart's siblings and their sweet kids all come together to hang out for the weekend, and stuart's love of ob-gyn is rekindled. this makes mandy happy. we also have our 1st wedding anniversary! we travel to mt. magazine state park in northern arkansas (think beautiful, rocky ozark mountains), and we then find out that mt. magazine lodge is mostly intended for geriatric patrons, and the buffet that is offered for each meal leaves us lacking. but the view from our room is worth it for sure. frozen groom's cake (the infamous A1 cake) was also enjoyed.
A1 cake
hiking mt. magazine
view from our balcony, so beautiful.
dad A. at the LR zoo with pig sooie
stu and katie, sparklers in the PB courtyard
pierce and acree ladies in mom P's kitchen, PB
sisters, at the young pierce residence in LR
pirate dad A, father's day celebration kayak float on the buffalo river, AR
mom A & katie in the background, stu & mandy in the foreground
reagans meet merricks!
my favorite ladies all together: me, casey & jill[mandy is very sad that she forgot the camera on her trip to NC and has ZERO photos from it]
professional photo from EJ's wedding, i'm 2nd to the right of the groom![Runner Photography, 2011]
[mandy also forgot to take her camera to visit hannah. big sad face.]
mandy & jenna, grilled corn and burgers
colin on the grill
stuart getting the coals just perfect
in october: mandy celebrates, because this is her favorite month! stuart doesn't mind it so much either, although he leans a little more toward november. the first weekend in october is spent in fayetteville with chris and jill merrick, seeing some sweet friends, kim and eddie mengarelli. there is also a wedding of one of stuart's closest friends in med school, and they danced the night away. the drive to and from fayetteville is much enjoyed, as the merricks and pierces together on a roadtrip is a beautiful thing. also, the leaves changing along the highways aren't bad, either. lots more is in store in october... trips to pumpkin patches, shopping trips to branson (girls only!) and some camping. also, hopefully stuart's first interview will fall somewhere toward the end of october. it's a very exciting year for us!
mandy & jenna, grilled corn and burgers
colin on the grill
stuart getting the coals just perfect4/17/11
saturday 4-16-11
this weekend was the first in several weeks that stuart and i had almost a whole saturday to spend together. and it was lovely.
stuart's day started at 4am, as he rises this early every day to go into the hospital for his surgery rotation (and despite the earlier-than-ought-to-be-legal hours, he LOVES it). i slept in until the ridiculously late hour of 6:45am. i was sitting at our table enjoying my coffee when the door opened, at stuart walked in. his day was over before 8am. stuart thought this meant he would get to nap all day long, but i knew that this meant we would have a day full of fun!
i quickly got dressed and put my shoes on, demonstrating that we were not about to laze about. we went to the local farmer's market and spent obscene amounts of money on locally grown broccoli and strawberries, freshly-picked-that-morning spinach and some arkansas-grown shiitake mushrooms (yum). on the way home, we couldn't pass up all the signs for yard sales that were going on in our community, so we stopped at a handful of those. it's just fun to go through other folks' old junk. and sometimes you discover treasures. but, not today. most interesting yard sale find of the day: a used bedside commode and PEG tube feeding system. we were tempted, but decide we couldn't afford them after our splurge at the farmer's market. after our shopping spree, i dropped stuart off at home, encouraging him to take the nap he continued to express his dying need for, while i went to the gym to get my heart-health on.
upon returning from the gym, i find stuart watching the news on hulu, which he had been doing for the past hour since arriving home. i guess that's as good as a nap, because i quickly swooped him up and off we went to get his oil changed and have a yummy lunch at senior tequila. nothing like americanized mexican food to enjoy our quality time together. it was delicioso!
after the oil change and yummy mexican, i convinced stuart it was a lovely day for the zoo. and because he loves me, he gave in to my unyielding desire to see the new penguin exhibit (i was just so curious how in the world those zoo keepers thought penguins would survive the arkansan summer!) so, off to the zoo we went. and it was fun! we took lots of photos (will post later...) and had a great time. and got a little sunburn. (turns out there are tropical penguins, so they will, in fact, love the summer in arkansas.)
finally, after the zoo, stuart got his nap. but alas, i let him sleep too long, because before we knew it, we were running late to go babysit our newest niece, abigail! we spent saturday evening with her to give her mama and daddy much-needed quality time (and an opportunity to go out and eat sushi) (also, we were glad to just get to snuggle with the abster for a while!) then, we got home and immediately fell asleep.
a perfect saturday :)
stuart's day started at 4am, as he rises this early every day to go into the hospital for his surgery rotation (and despite the earlier-than-ought-to-be-legal hours, he LOVES it). i slept in until the ridiculously late hour of 6:45am. i was sitting at our table enjoying my coffee when the door opened, at stuart walked in. his day was over before 8am. stuart thought this meant he would get to nap all day long, but i knew that this meant we would have a day full of fun!
i quickly got dressed and put my shoes on, demonstrating that we were not about to laze about. we went to the local farmer's market and spent obscene amounts of money on locally grown broccoli and strawberries, freshly-picked-that-morning spinach and some arkansas-grown shiitake mushrooms (yum). on the way home, we couldn't pass up all the signs for yard sales that were going on in our community, so we stopped at a handful of those. it's just fun to go through other folks' old junk. and sometimes you discover treasures. but, not today. most interesting yard sale find of the day: a used bedside commode and PEG tube feeding system. we were tempted, but decide we couldn't afford them after our splurge at the farmer's market. after our shopping spree, i dropped stuart off at home, encouraging him to take the nap he continued to express his dying need for, while i went to the gym to get my heart-health on.
upon returning from the gym, i find stuart watching the news on hulu, which he had been doing for the past hour since arriving home. i guess that's as good as a nap, because i quickly swooped him up and off we went to get his oil changed and have a yummy lunch at senior tequila. nothing like americanized mexican food to enjoy our quality time together. it was delicioso!
after the oil change and yummy mexican, i convinced stuart it was a lovely day for the zoo. and because he loves me, he gave in to my unyielding desire to see the new penguin exhibit (i was just so curious how in the world those zoo keepers thought penguins would survive the arkansan summer!) so, off to the zoo we went. and it was fun! we took lots of photos (will post later...) and had a great time. and got a little sunburn. (turns out there are tropical penguins, so they will, in fact, love the summer in arkansas.)
finally, after the zoo, stuart got his nap. but alas, i let him sleep too long, because before we knew it, we were running late to go babysit our newest niece, abigail! we spent saturday evening with her to give her mama and daddy much-needed quality time (and an opportunity to go out and eat sushi) (also, we were glad to just get to snuggle with the abster for a while!) then, we got home and immediately fell asleep.
a perfect saturday :)
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