Our growing boy

I know it has been a while since my last post and I apologize. Life has been busy. Since last writing Josh has taken his first trip to Chicago to visit his Grandma and Grandpa, outgrown his newborn diapers and graduated to size 1, and gotten his first hair cut. Josh is also getting much better about staying awake during the day and sleeping at night (big yay!!!) and has been handling his tummy issues with much greater ease. There is so much to update I am not even going to attempt to do it all tonight. So tomorrow you will find the details, but tonight I give you pictures...enjoy and thanks for reading!

That's my baby...

Josh was a month old yesterday! Needless to say, this past week has been quite a trip. To celebrate surviving the week/weekend we called the nurses exchange and got Josh scheduled for an appointment with our fabulous pediatrician, Dr. Felkel. The man is hilarious, kind, and smart...perfect for sick baby Josh and stressed out Chris and Kate. After what seems like a 72 hour marathon of nonstop screaming and bottles of Maalox and Tiny Tummy's Gas Drops later we finally have a diagnosis for our baby's unhappiness. It seems that our "little boy" (Josh weighs in a healthy 9lbs. 7oz. as of today!) has what is commonly referred to as G.E.R.D.-a painful baby disease that combines acid reflux and increased acidity of the stomach. Simply put our baby has projectile burps and a belly full of bubbles. While neither of us would wish anything bad upon our baby, Chris and I were both mildly relieved to learn that our child's banshee screams weren't from the fact that he outright hated us...yes, a week of nonstop shrieking has given us a complex. The medicines are suppose to take 2 weeks to take full effect, so we are praying that Josh's bubbles stay in control until the prescriptions can fully occupy his system. In the mean time we are using some good old fashion home remedies to keep our kiddo comfy for the next few weeks (i.e. elevating his mattress, holding him upright for 20 min. after feedings, applying warm blankets to his tummy, and occasionally slipping hard alcohol into his milk-just kidding, we have our limits). All in all we are doing just fine. We have been sincerely trying to enjoy every day with our baby boy and remember that our little one won't be little for ever.

More pictures to come....we are having a few issues with our computer, but I promise some updated photos soon! xoxo

3 weeks old

Phew! Time flies when you are having fun (and not sleeping). Amazingly, Josh turned three weeks old on Sunday, Chris and I both don't know where these last three weeks went, our baby is getting so big so quickly! This week was an exciting one. Josh and I spent two days with my parents this week . Chris was working several nights in a row and my parents graciously allowed me to "move home" for a few days so that they could help me with Josh during the night. Nana Lowry, much like Grandma Sinnokrak, has a knack for getting baby Josh back to sleep during my 3-5 AM feedings when Josh only wants to scream at his Momma. Thank goodness for Grandmothers! Granddad Lowry also lent a hand during the day so that I could nap and get some laundry done. Grandparents are a wonderful thing (for babies and new mommies).
Sunday brought our trip to Springfield. Josh did very well in the car-sleeping almost the whole way-again, another blessing. We arrived into town around 3pm, got settled at the hotel for an hour and then headed off to spend time with Dana, Teresa, Angie, and Jeff (our Missouri State buddies). From there it was off to Qdoba for a baby reunion with our Sunday school class-4 babies within 3 weeks of each other makes for quite a reason to gather! Zack, Ellie, Maddux, and Josh were fast friends, and it was fun for me to have the other new mommies to share stories with for a few hours. Monday Josh and I took Chris to court and spent the morning with the new mommies and babies for some more play time. After picking Chris up around noon we all went over to Ozark North for a quick visit with the Kindergarten teachers (who just ate Josh up!). It was SO much fun to introduce Josh to my North friends who were so sweet to both of us during my pregnancy. I was also able to see a few of my former students in the hallway on their way to specials which was so fun. All my kiddos have gotten so tall. I forgot that happens over the summer! After leaving school we grabbed a quick dinner with Dana and Teresa and headed home-happy but exhausted.
Monday night we didn't sleep-Josh was ready to play and thankfully Nana Lowry was willing to humor him.
Tuesday night we bought gas drops-and all of us slept...ahhhh! Life is good.

This week's updates:

Josh weights 8lbs. 1oz.
Josh is working on holding his head up on his own
Josh has mastered three baby cries (the billy goat, the piglet, and the chipmunk)
Mom and Dad have been able to sleep up to 3 hours at a stretch