Pictures!

In my last post, I talked about projects that Mike discovered took longer to do when watching an infant. One of those projects was our bathroom. Mike was laying linoleum (it looks like tile and looks AWESOME!) and this is where my toilet was for 2 days.

Mike did finish the project and my toilet is (thankfully) right back where it belongs. This is the finished product (now I just have to clean it, meaning the bathroom.)

I have to admit, with Mike home, my home is cleaner than it has been for a long time. All of our moving stuff is put away (please don't go upstairs) and the projects are getting done, if slowly but surely.

Last Saturday, we took E to see Santa Claus. E was less than impressed. He sat on Santa's lap just long for me to snap a picture, and looked a little bored. But, I am sure he had fun. (As the mom, I hereby declare that my little E-guy had fun sitting on Santa's lap.)

I hope you have enjoyed these pictures. I will have to take more of my new little home and post those. It is cute, and it is ours. Mike is most excited because I will let him plant rose bushes in the spring. I couldn't see paying to plant them in a rental, only to have to move and leave them. We did leave the Hibiscus...sadness. Have a most wonderful weekend!

New Things

A week ago, Mike got laid off from work. Yeah...how excited are we? Not. Since then, he has become Mr. Mom and I was luckily able to get more hours at work. While it is hard to be away from my little E-guy (Big E as Mike calls him) it is necessary right now. Mike also gets the experience of becoming the sole caretaker during the day of a 3 month old.

Mike has learned that projects take longer to do and sometimes don't get done until somebody else comes home. He now gets the frustration I had when he would call me 3 hours before I went to work and give me a list of things he wanted me to accomplish. He gets how time consuming it is to take care of our little guy.

I have learned that I have to look in the diaper bag for things I never thought I would find in the diaper bag. Not diapers, or burp cloths, or toys. Nope, I have to get into the diaper bag to find Mike's tools. This is a conversation we had tonight.

"Honey, can you get my tape measure?"
"Sure, where is it?"
"In the diaper bag."
"Did I hear you right? Did you say the diaper bag?"
"Yes, the diaper bag."

Mike is learning how much fun taking care of our little E-guy is. I miss all the time we got to spend together before and now you may find me even more possessive of my little guy then I was before.

We hope that everybody is preparing to have a most wonderful Christmas. I personally am so grateful for this time to really remember and focus on the reason for the season. Isn't it so wonderful to remember that our Savior came to this earth for us? He died so that we can return to our Heavenly Father. I can't even tell you how excited I am to be able to create traditions with my little family that hopefully, our little E-guy will cherish and remember. I want him to grow up knowing that Christ is the focus of this time of year, not the presents we can get.

For me, I have already received the best present this year. I have my little E-guy. What a tremendous responsibility my Heavenly Father has entrusted me with. Yet, it is a responsibility that is full of joy. I love my little family.

Update

I have been told that I need to seriously update my blog. Yes, I admit that I do. It has been a long time, but I have been BUSY! Don't ask me doing what, I have no idea. I know I spent the entire morning yesterday just watching my cute little guy sleeping until I had to get myself ready for work and E ready to go to the babysitter. While there was so much I needed to be doing, I felt that this was so much more important (and rewarding.)

So, I promised I would show a picture of E in his blessing outfit. Here it is! Isn't he cute? Although he is not loving the sun in his eyes. My mom buys little shoes for all her grand children's blessings. She was so worried that the 3-6 month shoes would be too large for E. She forgets that my little boy is huge and has his daddy's gynormous feet. They fit perfectly! The best memory about the blessing outfit? On the morning of the blessing, while I was getting ready for church, Mike decided to get E dressed. Mike spent 5 minutes trying to undo these little tiny buttons on the vest of the shirt. Poor Mike, it was a faux vest and didn't need to be unbuttoned to be put on!

So, when E was about a month old, we found this adorable little Sunday outfit in a 3-6 month size. Mike has been trying to get me to put E in it for awhile, but I have been stubborn and insisting that it was too big and that he keep wearing his little onsie with the tie that Aunt Amanda made for him. The onsie was getting to be quite the muscle shirt and was getting more and more difficult to put on, so I gave in and put this outfit on him, thinking it would be way to big. Wrong! I should have put him in it a long time ago. As it is, we cannot do up the top button (really we can but it is very uncomfortable for E ) which means that the cute little tie that came with the outfit doesn't look good. You can't really wear a tie with a shirt that isn't fully buttoned up now, can you? Here is a picture of E in this outfit. Notice how red his hair looks in this picture! I am sad to say that I will probably have to be extra diligent with the sunscreen the entire time E is growing up. I have a hard time being diligent for myself (which is why I look like a lobster at least once a year.)
This is one of the most recent pictures of my little guy. It was taken on Thanksgiving day. His daddy picked out this sweater for him. Mike does have good taste, doesn't he? But then, he married me! haha (Mike will say that is extremely cheesy.) How could you see this little guy and not fall in love? He is my little chunky monkey (nickname comes from the obvious fact that he is a good eater.)

Thanksgiving was quite fun for Mike and I. We were lucky to have two Thanksgiving dinners. We had one the Saturday before with the Proctors (I had my first taste of Kansas corn which I have heard about since Mike and I got married.) and then another dinner on Thanksgiving day with the Lewis'. It was fun to be able to spend time with both of our families. Mike and I tried the black Friday with E. He was so good he slept through the entire thing! We were bad though. Every year I have done black Friday, I have HATED the people who wait in their cars for the doors to open and then casually walk in past the people who stood in line freezing after the doors open. Well, this year, because we had E, Mike and I became those people. I have to admit, it was nice to sit in the car with the heater while we people watched all the people waiting in line. I did feel a little guilty as I heard people saying, "Hey, back of the line, we waited in the cold!" but I still kept going.

Mike and I are officially all moved into our new home. We are still trying to get the apartment rented, so if anyone knows of anyone looking to move, let us know. Now comes the fun of putting everything away. Yeah...our DI pile keeps getting bigger and bigger. It is a good time to clear everything out that we don't need or use. I have discovered that Mike and I have a lot of crap. I know, it isn't all crap, but man, we do have a lot of stuff! How much of it is really needed?

We hope that everybody enjoyed their Thanksgivings. We look forward to celebrating the Christmas season and remembering the sacrifice that our Savior made for us.

9 Weeks

Tomorrow, E is 9 weeks old. I cannot believe how fast time has flown by, and he just won't stop growing! My little guy is getting so big so fast. Friday, he had his 2 month checkup. Beyond getting his shots, which he did NOT enjoy, he got his new weight and height measurements. At 2 months, he is 25 inches long and 13 lbs 12 oz. He is right above the 100 percentile for his weight and completely off the charts for his height. Wow, so BIG!!Since E was born, he has grown 4 1/2 inches and gained 5 lbs 7 oz. That is so close to doubling his birth weight. It must be his goal to do that within 3 months, because that seems to be when it will happen. Everybody promises me that he will slow down, I just don't know when.

Here are some of the latest pictures that I have taken of him. Since I went back to work, it doesn't seem like I get as many pictures, which makes me sad. I need keep getting them, because E changes every single day.

Look, my hands are getting to be cute little pudgy baby hands!
You wanna know what I am thinking? Too bad!!
I LOVE to smile at Mommy!
This is Mommy's favorite picture of me, so far, at 9 weeks.
Gosh, I don't know what I would do without a tongue.

Picture This

Silly me. How could I possibly think that because most government agencies (and banks) had the day off yesterday for Vetran's Day, the garbage man would too? Was I correct? No! At 9 AM, I see the garbage man picking up green waste, so I knew that I had to kick my heiny into gear and get the garbage out on the street, not at 1 house, but 2!

Our old house was pretty easy. Grab it, roll it out to the street. I then went in, got E into the sling and headed over to our new house (across the street, I know, really far.) We have been putting in a new floor and for ease, Mike had moved the garbage can inside the house. OK, I just have to get it out. I looked at my options of the front door versus the back door. The heaviness of the garbage can made my decision. It was too heavy for me to get it over the threshold on my own by standing behind it (where it would have been easy to tip it back and slowly roll it down the stairs.) This meant that it needed to go out the back door, where I could manuver myself in front of it, and have a wall to help protect myself from having it knock me over. Trust me, there was a point where I was glad for this decision.

So that E wouldn't get squished between me and a heavy garbage can, I put him in his sling and got in front of the can on the stairs. I then proceeded to lift the can so that I could pull it over the threshold. The only thing that kept me from being splattered on the floor was the fact that I could push my back into the wall at the bottom of the stairs. Trust me, this garbage can was HEAVY! I will admit that I could just possibly be a wuss also...put the two together and it is not a pretty picture.

I get the garbage can to the bottom of the stairs and try to turn it so I can manuever it out the door. It turns, and then promptly stops. It is two stairs up from the bottom, wedged against the wall and refuses to move. I can't get up the stairs (remember, E is in the house) and I can't get the garbage can the rest of the way down the stairs. I should mention that I also don't have a key to the front door, Mike has that. So, I am stuck. I wrestle with this for about 5 minutes, and really roughed up the wall by the back door. Hopefully, a quick touchup will fix it.

I was at a loss. How can I get past this can that is now wedged in place? I can't get in the front door, and I can't just leave it, after all, my little baby is in the house! Shoot, what to do? I ended up running next door and my WONDERFUL neighbor, Gary, came to my rescue. I think he though I was crazy, but remember, it wasn't me who put the garbage can in the house. With a little maneuvering by both Gary and I, we were able to lift the can up so that we could get it all the way down the stairs and from there, it was very easy to get out the door. With Gary's help, it worked just like it had worked in my mind BEFORE the problems. The can got out on the street before the garbage man came, and I was able to get in the house to get my little guy. I am so glad he was patient and didn't cry during this process. That would have been miserable...for both of us.

Note to self, the outdoor garbage can doesn't go back in the house. Make sure that Mike knows, and if he puts it in, it is HIS responsibility to get out.

Happy Halloween!

This year, we debated whether or not to get E a costume, he was only 6 weeks old after all. We then found an adorable little pirate costume at Shopko for only $8! You can't beat that. So, Saturday, our little guy became a big tough pirate!

We had planned on going to grandparents houses and showing off his cute little costume, but things changed. On Wednesday night (really late,) Mike and I closed on a house. Trust me, we signed almost a ream of paper! It funded on Friday and starting Friday night, we started to paint the apartment in the basement. Yes, it has an apartment, so if anyone is looking for a place to live, we have a nice little two bedroom with fresh paint! Needless to say, we didn't make it to any grandparents houses. Mike's parents came over to see E, but my parents were quarantined from us as my mom had been diagnosed with H1N1 (sadness!)

Here is our cute little pirate. Enjoy!

Mobile Phone Pictures

These are some pictures that I took with my phone, that I loved, but have been unable to share until now. I haven't been able to connect to my computer via blue tooth (something about having to verify passwords or pins...) and so Mike hooked up his phone and transferred them. These pictures range from a couple of weeks to today.

While these pictures don't look as god as they do on the little screen of my phone, I love them. Some of the pictures showcase E's first smiles (and how could you not just love that little toothless grin?) You can also see the progression of his little cheeks filling out. He is just our adorable little man.

Just Chillen'
First smile! Captured on Camera!!
I am not going to smile! Even though you are trying to make me :)
This is the smile that let mom know everything is ok with the world
(isn't it adorable?)
Just chillen' (at a couple of weeks old.)

More Pictures

Here are more pictures of our cute little boy! I cannot believe how fast he is growing! He changes so much everyday.

Who do I look like?

When E was born, all the nurses thought he looked like me. As he has gotten a bit older, we hear more and more people say he looks like Mike. So, we are going to ask everyone what they think? (I think E was most unfortunate to inherit the Lewis nose, it is rather large...) While E does have my hair color (with the reddish highlights and all,) the amount, he definitely got the amount of hair from Mike.

Mike at 1 month
Becky around 1 month And E...E again...

So, who do you think E looks like? Or is he just a good mixture of both of us?

4 weeks!

I am 4 weeks old, can you believe how fast I am growing? It seems like just yesterday that I was born.

A weed?

Seriously, a weed. That is what I am starting to think I gave birth too. Yesterday, E had his 1 month appointment to make sure that he is a well baby, and oh, he so is a well baby. He is now measuring 23 inches (seriously? My little guy grew 2 1/2 inches in a month???) and 11.2 lbs. This may explain why I had to finally put aside the newborn pajamas and move up to the 3 month. Poor little E couldn't stretch out his legs in them.

The nurse gave me a little chart of where E is with his height and weight and his age group. He is 100%. His weight was right at the top and his length was actually off the chart. Seriously, he is growing way too fast! But, I am so glad that he is a healthy little baby boy.

On a side note, there was a little baby girl at the doctors who was born on the same day as E. She was 4 weeks early, so for her to be smaller is to be expected, but E was seriously twice her size! She was just barely weighing in at over 6 lbs. That is smaller than E when he was born! She looked so tiny and fragile next to him. I just slightly wished that he had been that size when he was born (is it easier if they are smaller?) but am so glad that he is healthy.

E has earned or received quite a few nicknames. Here are a few, and the reasons why he has them...

Little Duke (Mike's dad loves John Wayne and has taken to calling E Little Duke. I am hoping that this doesn't mean E looks like John Wayne, but Mike's dad has a special nickname for each of his grandkids. It makes it fun for them, both the grandkids and grandpa. These nicknames have a tendency to be picked up by the rest of the family and used.)
Squealer (E has a tendency sometimes to squeal. That tendency, I think, is slowly being outgrown.)
Little Squirt (hahaha, guess how he got this one. It happened when he got Mike.)
Little Man (he doesn't look like a baby, but a little man. :( Should I be sad about that?
Chunky Monkey (this one is because of how fast he is growing! He is also starting to get the adorable baby rolls, slowly but surely.)

He has more, I am just having momma brain right now and can't remember them. I just can't get over how much I love being with my little guy, and how cute he is. Gosh, I love being a mom!

Proctor Family Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our family photo shoot on Saturday. To see more, go here.

3 Week Photo Shoot

Here are some pictures from my 3 week photo shoot with E...gosh, he is getting so big so fast...

Progression

Today is my 3 week birthday. I just wanted to show some of the pictures chronicling my life so far. My mommy will probably be taking a lot of pictures since that is what she likes to do and all.

This is me just a few minutes after I was born.
This is me when I was 1 day old.
This is me when I was 2 days old (my doctor took this picture, cool, eh?)
This is me at 1 week old.

This is me around 2 weeks old.

This is me at 3 weeks old.