Calling All Mamas (and Papas)--Sleep Questions

Just wondering about infants' sleep. I have read a couple of books, talked to my doctor, and scoured the Internet, but still have lots of unanswered questions regarding sleep. Samuel sleeps really well at night (like 10-13 hours; he does wake up once or twice to eat), but is not a good napper. He takes 30-45 minute naps, occasionally a bit longer. There are days when he hardly sleeps at all. I feel bad when I try to "force" him to sleep more, and bad when I give in and get him out of his crib after such short naps. Any kind of schedule I try to put him on is thrown off due to him not napping (and his reflux). Lately I have wanted to forget completely about any kind of schedule and just try to take his cues. I know most would say this would not be a good idea. But, I do not know what to do and I am curious about that option. So, I really am wondering about two different things here--no naps/lots of night sleep, and going off any kind of schedule. A few questions: 1. If he is sleeping about 12 hours at night, are the naps all that important? 2. Do/did any of you not follow a schedule, for whatever reason, and how does that work for you and your baby? 3. What time do/did your infant go to sleep at night and wake in the morning? I do not know if anyone will read this post, much less respond, but thought I would see.

The Kite Runner

Dave and I highly recommend this movie; the best either of us have seen in a long, long time. Very powerful, moving, and redemptive.
http://kiterunnermovie.com

Christmas Pictures

We stayed in STL this Christmas, mainly because the whole journey south seemed overwhelming to us with Samuel. Also, major news, I started back to work and the thought of spending my week off from teaching with Samuel and David in our little home was comforting to me, after the difficulty of leaving him everyday. More on that later...
We had a good time at the Barclay's for lunch and then came home. Dave and I had high hopes for doing a puzzle, but I felt like I had been run over by a freight train and went to bed too early to mention. Here are a few pics.

Cutie!

More Pictures

in the bath with cousin emma

Last night David, Samuel, and I drove home after spending five days with my sister and her family in Memphis. Ever since then, I have had to work really hard to get Samuel to sleep, in fact he maybe slept 30 minutes today. He has been inconsolable. I think he misses my family already. I feel the same. For five days we had people loving on us, and serving us left and right. It was great. It was also great just to have life around us. People laughing, doorbells ringing, a dog and a cat in the same room. Most days it is just Samuel and I. We have many neighbors who live together as an extended family. I know that situation has its downfalls, but lately it has looked very attractive, especially when the days here are so long, grey, and cold. We did not take many pictures, but here are a few. Oh, David's mom and cousin came up, as well as my mom, which was really good too.

Click on the link on the right of your screen to see our live action dance!

Tonight we took Samuel to get a tree. I felt like a bad mama for having my baby out in such cold weather and was happy when I saw another stroller with a cute, laid-back mom pushing it. We would have gone Thanksgiving night had David had his way. Not wanting to believe Christmas is just around the corner, I would have prefered to have waited three more weeks before getting one. But, I am tired of being the party pooper, thus this cute picture. We bought colored lights this year opposed to white ones. Neither of us have had these since we were young. We thought they would be cheery and that Samuel would like looking at them.

Samuel is a Month Old (11-8-07)

Weight: 11 pounds (85 percentile)
Heigth: still 22 inches (75 percentile)
Eye Color: Still blue
Nicknames: Buddy, Sugar Booger, Baby Eagle, Weasel (because of his efferts to be unswaddled)
Hobbies: Waving arms around slowly and whimsicly, staring at shadows and light
Dislikes: mom "cleaning" his eyes and putting in eyedrops, being swaddled
Accomplishments: Laying on his belly and lifting head 90 degrees, smiling, cutting down to about 17 diapers per day.
What mom likes best: his face (espcially when she goes to feed him in the middle of the night) and his smell
What dad likes best: his eyes, observing him observe what's going on around him
His first prayer requests: He wants you to pray for his reflux! He has some serious vomitting daily. He started taking Zantac today and we are hoping that helps him. He truly gets all anxious and stressed by it and looses his breath. Of course the whole thing makes mom anxious too. Pray the medicine would work and he would quickly outgrow this.

Three Weeks Old Today

We have not been taking as many pictures lately, but here are a few for now.
The top picture is from last Friday, when Apple started selling their new operating system, which became a family event for us. We stood in a long line for awhile and met a lot of interesting people. Samuel is obviously thrilled.
Bottom pic--the majority of his umbilical cord has fallen out. A sign of his maturity!

MIMI SIMMONS & UNCIE WORTH COME TO TOWN

Daddy's Study Buddy During Mid-Terms

It was a great thing to have Daddy home with us, on this gray Monday morning, playing me Bach while he holds me and learns about the Old Testament prophets.

Best Sister, Best Aunt

I could not have had this baby without the help of my sister. Which, should not come as much of a surprise after she managed to plan my entire wedding two and a half years ago. Similar to the wedding preparation, I called her daily with a question about this or that while pregnant. I am her elder by 11 months, but she knows all about this baby thing. She has just left from her second visit since Samuel was born which adds up to about twenty hours in the car coming from Memphis. While here she shopped, cooked, cleaned, consoled, laughed and cried with me, woke up with me, ran errands for and with me, and much more. At one point I had to tell her not to vacuum the dust bunnies that are hiding under my bed, nor sew up the hole that is already in one of Samuel's sheets. I do love that when she left my house was clean, laundry done, and my fridge full of goodies, but really it was just good to have her here. Thanks Nik.

First Bath, First Doctor Visit

So yes, I am a bit behind in the bathing area. My son went 8 days without a proper (sponge) bath and hair washing. I was waiting on Niki to arrive and help me. She is so good and confident with that kind of thing. He loved it and has had another since his first.

Today we went to the doctor, and, I am proud to say he has gained 1.2 pounds since leaving the hospital five days ago. He now weighs 8.14...a hair shy of 9 pounds. So much for me being concerned that he was not getting enough to eat. We are thankful that she had nothing but good things to say about him.

WELCOME HOME SAMUEL - SLIDE SHOW

Proud Papa and Other Ponderings

We began this blog thinking that I, Ashley, would be the main contributor to it. We were wrong. It turns out that David's desire to get back into photography and love of learning anything tech-related has teamed-up with his new love, our little man. He has taken great delight in photographing what seems like every moment and then doing all the posting. He has been working on Samuel's first motion picture, which will be coming soon to a computer near you sometime today, I believe. So, for those of you who can't get enough of little Samuel...especially to our families who live so far away, I give to you my inhibited self as David is snapping so many pictures, often with me in them, less than a week after delivery. I have to admit, I love that David has found such delight in all this. We hope you do to. I am also happy to say I have been so impressed with Daddy's keen sense of what the baby and I need. I did not anticipate this to the degree I have found. Nor did I anticipate that he would be more comfortable changing diapers and dressing Samuel than I am. Now if we can just get him to put Samuel down and open a book for school. He has four mid-terms in the next week and a half. Please pray for him.

We are doing well. Looking back, and being vulnerable to tell you, for most of the pregnancy I just could not imagine delivering a healthy son. I worried about him so much. Every day I would look at all the healthy, cute, bright students in my school and be reminded that healthy babies/children are far more common than not and that mine probably would be one of them. When I would see large crowds of people I would, again, use this as an encouragement to see that these people are all so normal and all were once carried by their mothers for nine months, only to be born healthily. It was a strange phonomenon. I think it goes back to my biggest struggle in life: I believe God is real and active in our lives, but how good is he really? Does he really love me and teach me through joy, or is it most often through pain? I know the answer to this question. He is very good. Often his goodness has shown itself to me through struggle, but so often through joyful things as well. As a pessimist, I tend to remember the pain. I have to stop, recall, and submit to both. And really, be thankful that I have experienced both as they have taught me so much.

So all that to say, the feelings that were rushing through my body as I looked over and saw the nurses cleaning off Samuel were unbelievable. Yes, tempered with tons and tons of drugs, but so full of praise. A very healthy, unbelievably adorable little person, now free from my body and with us. Of course we have no idea what is in his future. Sickness and hardships will accompany all his days, and as his mother I know this will be hard to see. However, by God's grace I will continue to go back to what is not only my biggest struggle, but my bedrock faith; his father in Heaven is caring for him far better than I ever can and loves him even more than me.

Okay, time to wake him. His days and nights are really mixed up right now. I think we will try a short walk.

First Day of Events

HOME SWEET HOME

prayers before bedtime

LET'S BLOW THIS JOINT

LAST NIGHT AT THE HOSPITAL