The Tonight Show: Starring Preston and Andrea : February 2015

Here are the happenings since Carter's been home.
Leaving the hospital was kind of weird. We were so ready but also nervous, and it took forever. We put him in his carseat, which he looked like a tiny tiny little dwarf in, and we drove to my parents house.

tiiiiiny little baby

cute boys

getting ready to leave

out of the hospital for the first time!

His first bath was hilarious. look at all those hands. We're a bunch of amateurs.

First tummy time

When we got there, We set the baby down, looked at each other and said, "what the heck do we do now!" haha it was kind of an overwhelming feeling. I seriously didn't know what to do. Do I sit here and watch him? Do I take him out and put him somewhere? It sounds ridiculous, I know. Preston was also very emotional. He was happy that it was over, and nervous that we were on our own, and paranoid of letting anyone near the baby. What a funny little roller coaster that day was. We spent the week at my parents house. It was kinda fun and kinda weird. The nights were pretty rough, as he slept in our room and didn't sleep at all. thus, neither did we. I think it's safe to say, we've never had a good nights sleep since he's been born. Yes, the child has sleep deprived us.
We did go out a couple times while the grandmas would watch the baby. It was never for very long, but we missed him anyway! I guess we're new parents.
Alani's birthday and new years eve came and we celebrated by staying in my room all night while alani had a million friends over. It was quite the celebration... :) It was fun, nonetheless, having our first new years as a little family.
Soon we packed up a whole ton of stuff that we were sure wouldn't fit in the car. It didn't... thank goodness for Preston's mom who came to stay the weekend and help us with the apartment. Preston commented on the crazy amount of stuff we had and I told him, "hey look at it this way; a new person just moved into our house with all their stuff." It made a bit more sense then.
the drive actually went pretty well! He did a great job and pretty much slept the whole way. We fed him in Fillmore, then he started to get antsy at the very end. We actually stayed at Preston's uncle and aunt's house in Mapleton for the weekend while preston and his mom tried to warm up our freezing apartment of like 0 degrees. (ok maybe that's an exaggeration, but either way, it was no place for a new baby). They covered part of our huge windows to help keep the heat in, and we turned on a space heater. It actually really helped and sometimes it gets up to like 78 in here now! Needless to say, we're doing great with the warmth. Not to mention this crazy warm weather we're having for a february in Provo Utah. Utah weather is ridiculously bipolar.

At Kimbal and Gayle's house.

As for an update on the little guy, He's doing great! at this point in time, he's a little over 2 months old. His due date was Jan 11th, so he would actually be a few weeks old! It's pretty crazy. we track his milestones by his gestational age, and he's doing well with them so far. He's a pretty happy baby most of the time. By happy i mean, not crying. He seems pretty serious, but its probably because we haven't seen many smiles yet. He typically only cries when he's hungry, and when he cries when I'm sure he's not hungry, it's just a mystery..

My favorite time is in the morning. He's always really awake and cute and fun then, and we play together. We do tummy time and read books and do photo shoots. Ok, so it's fun for me.. he just doesn't have a choice. :) It's also the time he does the best with nursing.

Oh nursing... It's been quite the struggle. I'll try not to be too graphic, but let's face it, breasts and nipples are a big part of this whole new world of momhood.
So, in the beginning, was the word.. and that's not what we're talking about, but It came to be naturally when I started the sentence with, 'In the beginning'. Ok moving on.
In the beginning of nursing, I was told to use a nipple shield to help him latch better with his small mouth and lack of sucking muscles. To this day I use it and can't get him off of it. It actually makes me really frustrated that I have to rely on the darn thing. If it were to be lost, we would be doomed. (once it was left somewhere and in the middle of the night when the baby woke up he cried and cried while preston went to retrieve it. It was kind of a nightmare.) I think there;s hope for getting him off one day because recently he's tried without it for a few seconds! It's not that exciting but it's progress, folks. Also, he does this thing where he'll fall asleep eating, then I move him and he cries for more and falls asleep again and I end up feeding him for the whole dang evening. It seems to be getting better lately, so I'm hopeful.
He also struggles with latching sometimes still even with the nipple guard. He forgets to suck and he just battles with it and gets frustrated that it's not just coming out. That is getting better as well.

He can lift his head briefly and move it from side to side while on his tummy. He's getting a lot stronger! We're really impressed because It's hard o lift such a big noggin with such a tiny neck. :)

The first time we weighed him here he had lost a few oz. We started giving him a couple bottles a day with breastmilk and some fortifier to add extra calories to beef him up. It has worked because last time we checked he was 7 lbs 7 oz. I'm almost positive he's at least 8 lbs now. We joke about how chunky he is because he's getting great cheeks, and a little gut along with his leg and arm rolls. We realize that he's actually still very small, but every day I look at him and think, "holy cow you little chunk! You're getting so big!" It's weird to see him growing out of his preemie clothes now. We're so proud of the little chubbers! :)

He had his 2 month shots the other day which was soooo so sad. He was all comfy on the dr table and when they stuck him his face just showed pure shock and he screamed and did the no sound cry face. It was so sad! He was fine after a minute and we took him home and showered him with milk and kisses. He slept for a bit, then when he woke up he screamed and cried like I'd never heard before. It was the most heart breaking thing in the world because there was nothing I could do and I knew he was in pain. Ahh It's still so sad to think about. Preston came home early from work and brought tylenol. Now we know to give it to him earlier... Like I said, we're a bunch of amateurs.

He loves cuddling with his dad it's so cute. One of his favorite places to fall asleep is on Preston's chest. Hey I don't blame you, baby!

He's starting to sleep a little better the past few nights! Since the beginning it's been pretty rough. He's on a weird schedule and still needs to eat pretty frequently, and we usually end up sleeping for only a couple hours at night. for a couple nights we'd feed him, put him down and he sleeps for 3-4 hours, eat, then sleeps another 3-4 hours. It's really a lot better. I hope it continues!

He's started to smile a little! He mostly smiles while he's sleeping, but we've seen a few awake smiles and they're so adorable! We try our hardest to make him smile and most of the time he just looks at us thinking, 'please stop, you're embarrassing me.' :) We like to put words in his mouth.

He's also starting to make more sounds. It's so funny. one of my favorites is when he's nursing and waiting for the milk to come, he's sucking vigorously and makes his poor pitiful little sound of impatience. Oh man, I can't explain it but it makes me laugh. We joke about how he's a little dramatic. Wow we kind of sound like terrible parents..

He looks at us more and is tracking things a lot better.

His head seems to be fine and growing at a good rate! It's such a blessing. We started him in early intervention to make sure he's developing properly so we can catch if anything weird is happening. We're grateful to have programs like this that can help us feel more confident!

He started out with lots of hair but he's lost so much and now looks like a balding little man sometimes! A very very cute balding little man.

He's still on oxygen at night because he seems to have some sleep apnea. We tested it the other night and his saturation would drop and go back up. He does really well during the day though so we take his oxygen off so he doesn't pull on it. I can't wait to be done with it! They say it's something he'll grow out of soon. Until then, more pictures with stickers on his cheeks.

This is a very long update, but all in all, We just love him so much. We still can't believe we're parents and that he's our little baby. Sometimes I just stare and him and caress his sweet little cheeks and think to myself, what a beautiful little child of God. I can't believe He's entrusted me with the care of this special spirt! It seems like a daunting task sometimes, but It's sure a privilege. Also, I'm so grateful for Preston! He's seriously the best husband and father in the world. He does so much for us and loves us more than anything. We're indeed blessed to have him. I thank our Father in Heaven every day that we can be together eternally! It's such an amazing blessing because I don't know what I'd do without these guys. What an amazing joy the gospel is.

Well, here are tons more pictures! Believe me, you can be relieved that this is all I'm showing out of the plethora of pictures we've taken. It would make for a much much longer post.