Damage from the Tornado

I receieved an e-mail at work that shows the neighborhood that was affected the most by the tornado. The top is a before picture and the one below is after the tornado. Pretty devastating!

This neighborhood is near the hospital that I delivered Brody at. Before we bought this house, Ted and I lived in a townhouse across from the hospital and we actually looked at a house in the neighborhood affected. I am so glad we didn't buy that house...that's for sure. I guess everything happens for a reason. I still can't believe how much damage the tornado caused and how many people were affected. It broke my heart today to watch the news where they interviewed people who hadn't been back to their house since the storm and they had a man on the TV that went back and his house is condemned and the only belongings he could get were from his truck. He said he basically has a pair of sneakers...that's it! It really makes you appreciate everything you have and not to take things for granted! I am so grateful that no one I know was directly affected!

Almost 6 Weeks Old!

I was going to try and post some pictures of the damage, but I can't pull them off the internet...plus it is all over the news. It is a pretty big deal here since we don't EVER get tornadoes, especially one that causes as much damage as the one yesterday did. I feel sorry for the people who have lost everything from something so random in our area.

I guess the storm was pretty big and affected the east coast. Ted was supposed to leave here, go to Charlotte, then to Phoenix and then to California. He was supposed to get to California last night at 12:30 our time, but he got stuck in Charlotte overnight. He was scheduled to leave Charlotte this morning at 7:00 am. Hopefully, he will have a better trip today!

On a happier note, Brody will be 6 weeks old tomorrow. I can't believe how fast this has gone by and how much he is changing every day. He is becoming more and more alert and taking everything in. I am going to miss him so much when I go back to work, which is about 5 weeks away. The only good thing is that PopPop will be watching him. It will be a good experience for both! I am sure I will be calling often!

Other than that, not much else is going on here. I am going to try and take some more pictures this week.......

Today's Twister

As I post this, I am watching the news and they are showing the damage from today's tornado that came through our area. I was at my parent's house today and a tornado came through and demolished an area that is about 2 miles from my house. The tornado also caused damage to the hospital that I delivered Brody at. We NEVER get a tornado here....we normally have to worry about hurricanes being so close to the water. This is a serious issue for our area. I can't believe the amount of damage this tornado caused. The news has said that it was atleast a strong F3 or F4. Pretty crazy!!! I am going to see if I can get some pics to post of the damage. They have been showing it on the TV for 5 straight hours.

This Weekend

So...Missy and Brandon came into town this weekend to celebrate my mother's birthday (and Missy's) and to see Brody for the first time. We went out to dinner on Saturday night and I had my first beer since I found out I was pregnant. I figured my tolerance would be pretty low since it had been about 10 months since I had a drink. Well...not so much. I had 3 beers and didn't really feel anything. I guess my tolerance was higher than I thought! :)

I think we tired Brody out yesterday. I brought him over my parents house yesterday morning and Tabatha and I ran some errands. Brody was at my parents house and he didn't sleep too much. We fed him at 1:30 and he went to sleep around 3 on Ted. They fell asleep on my parents porch...it was so cute. Here is a picture.

Well...once he fell asleep, he slept all through dinner and woke up around 6:30. I fed him and then he took brief cat naps last night. I fed him around 10:00 and he went down at 11:00. He slept until 4 am and then went right back down at 5:00 and slept until 7:45 am. I couldn't believe it. This is twice now that he has slept for 5 hours at a time. I hope this means good things!

Today, Brandon asked me if he could hold Brody. He was so cute. I had to take a picture.


Ted leaves for California tomorrow for a business trip. He isn't schedule to be back until Saturday. Hopefully, Brody will be on his best behavior while Daddy is gone!

Ethan was in Little Rock this past weekend for his last Karate tournament. Unfortunately, he didn't place in anything. I know Ethan was upset, but atleast he tried. I think with all the points he has received thus far, he should still be State Champion in sparring. I don't think he received enough points to be State Champ in Weapons, but he will probably finish 2nd. Hopefully, we will get some pictures soon so I can post them. We should get him in the next couple of weekends and I am going to take him and Brody to get their pictures taken. It should be super cute...I can't wait!

Not Right about my Sleeping Theory

Okay..so I am not sure about my sleeping theory I posted a couple of days ago. The night before last, we put Brody down at 10:00 and he was up at 1:30 am. I fed him and he would not go back down in the crib and was fussy until I fed him again at 4:15 am and brought him into our room to sleep. He then slept until 7:15 am.

Well...last night, we gave him a bath and Ted started feeding him at 9:15. He is now eating about 4-5 oz at each feeding. Ted said he went right down because he was so tired around 9:45-10:00 pm. He woke up at 2:45 am. That is the longest he has ever slept at night! I did get up around 2:00 wondering what was going on because I hadn't heard him. I couldn't believe it! I got up and fed him and he seemed to be tired and ready to go back down. Well...not so much! I put him in the crib and came back to bed around 4:00. He started making some noises in the monitor but I thought he would settle down and go to sleep. He started crying and I thought he would cry himself to sleep. I must have dozed off for a little bit and when I woke up he was still crying. I am assuming he was crying the entire time, but I had turned the monitor down just a little. He continued to cry and I finally went and got him at 5:00 am. I again, brought him in to our room and he was fussy for about 10 minutes and then feel asleep and slept until 8:45 am! I am not sure what his deal is the past few nights, but he is not wanting to go down after he wakes up the first time. Hopefully, this is just the case for these couple of days and it will get better from here.

Ted and I were talking last night and he has given me the lecture about not picking him up when he is crying....he said I should let him cry for a little bit to see if he calms down. I am having a hard time doing that, but I am going to try and be a little better about it and see if that makes a difference. I don't want him to be the kind of child that cries just to be picked up, but then again, he is only 5 weeks old! He is pretty content in the swing right now.

The other night, I had him on his tummy on the play gym and he was holding his head up really well. Here is a picutre
Here is a picture that I took yesterday before we headed to my work and to have lunch with my girlfriend. I thought it was so cute! I put him on the couch like that so I could get his car seat ready and get my bag ready. He stayed like that so I had to take a picture!

Last night.....

Yesterday, after Brody's appointment, he slept for 3 hours and went about 5 hours between feedings. Last night, we gave him a bath and fed him around 9:00. He actually ate 5 oz. last night so I think he had a pretty full belly. He fell asleep somewhere between 9:30 and 10:00. I heard him crying around 1:30 so he went slept for almost 4 hours last night. I then went in and fed him and I was back in the room at 2:30. I must have turned the monitor down for some reason because I woke up at 5:30 at didn't hear anything. When I listened closely, I could hear him crying but the monitor was down so low, I didn't hear him through the monitor. I went in there and fed him and laid him back down around 6:00. He was wide awake when I laid him down and he was just looking around the room. I came back into the room and heard him grunting and making noise through the monitor but he never cried or anything so I fell asleep. I then heard him again around 8:15.

I think I figured out that if he gets a nice long nap during the day, he sleeps better at night. He slept for a little bit off and on this morning and he is now asleep right next to me in the swing. Hopefully, he will sleep for a little while this afternoon.

I am going to get my hair colored tonight. I got it cut the other day and cut it all off. I have been hemming and hawing about cutting it and decided to just go for it. My hair had gotten pretty long during my pregnancy and it has gotten much darker. I am going to go back blonde-blonde tonight. I can't wait!!

Here is a picture of Brody from the other day. He has been so alert and taking everything in! It is pretty cool!

One Month Check-Up

I took Brody to his one-month check up today. He weighs 13.6 lbs. I expected that he would weigh about 15 lbs., but I guess I estimated too high. They measured his length and his head circumference too. He is now 22 inches long and his head is 15 1/2 inches. When she plotted him on the growth chart, he is in the 97 percentile for his weight (haha!), 50th percent for his height, and 75 percentile for his head. Goodness! He got his Hepatitis B shot today too....I think it hurt me more than him. Other than that, he is all good! He goes back in another month and will get more shots. UGH!

So..yesterday, Ted got this idea that he wanted to take a picture of Brody as a sumo wrestler. So he got out the scissors and cut a diaper up (yes, he went that far) and put him in it. He was a good sport in the beginning, but then started to get a little fussy. I couldn't believe I was a part of this but I took a few pictures. The diaper didn't really work out that well because his goodies were hanging out. Last night when we were in bed, Ted said that he was going to try it again and cut the diaper a little differently. Poor Brody! The things we do to our kids. It was kind of funny, though. Here are a few pics.

Brody is 1 month old and Ethan got 1st place in his Karate Tournament!

Yesterday, Brody was officially one month old! I can't believe a month has gone by! And since it was his birthday, apparently he felt like he could act a fool when he went to bed! :) He didn't sleep real well last night. He only slept for about 2 1/2 hours at a time and decided at 4am this morning that he didn't want to go back to sleep in his crib. I think he is starting to want to eat more than 3-4 oz., but I am afraid to feed him more because the last couple times we did, he threw up. We brought him into our room at 5 this morning and he slept on our bed until 8, which was nice. Right now, he is laying with Ted and I am hoping he is going to doze off for a mid-morning nap!

Ted's parents are leaving today. It will be sad to see them go. Hopefully, they will be back soon, but one of the reasons I started this blog was to let them know how Brody and Ethan are doing, and to post some pictures. I am going to try and post some pictures at least a couple times a week so they can see how their Grandsons are doing.

Speaking of Ethan....he did awesome at his Karate tournament yesterday in Massachusetts. He placed first in weapons, sparring and forms!!!!! This means that he is going to be the 2008 State Champion in Sparring and he is getting closer to the 1st place spot for weapons. He is going to Little Rock next weekend for the final tournament of the season so hopefully he will kick some butt! Here are a few pictures from his tournament in Virginia Beach a couple weeks ago.

As an end note, I wanted to wish Missy a Happy Birthday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

I survived!

Okay...I survived my first outing without Brody but it was definitely a weird experience. I have to admit...I cried a little when talking to Ted about it and then I was fine until I was on my way to dinner. Ted and his parents, my parents, Ethan and Brody went to dinner last night and left before me. I called Ted when I was on my way to check to see how he was doing. At first, Ted joked with me and told me he was being real fussy and some lady at the restaurant asked him to step outside. Then he said he was doing just fine....sitting between his 2 Grandmas. I knew he was going to be fine, but it was weird being out and not having him with me. So...they fed him around 7:45 and I got home around 9:30 he was still not sleeping. He was being a bit fussy after he ate. Maybe it was just a coincidence or he just finally gave up, but I went in his room and rocked him for about 10 minutes and he was out and slept until 12:30 am. I would like to think he just needed me to go to sleep, but I am sure he was just really tired and ready to give up.

So I meant to post this the other day....it was hilarious. I was giving him a bath before bed and when I took him out of the bath, I wrapped him up in his towel and took him to his room to get him dressed. My parents were there and wanted to see him take a bath and they came into the room to say goodnight before leaving. When I was putting lotion on him, I noticed he had some white stuff around his peepee. I wasn't sure if it was soap, cream or dry skin so I went to get it off. My mom came over there and was taking pictures. Well...I guess when I touched it, it stirred up something because he just started peeing....all over my mom! It was hilarious! He definitely has a strong stream, that's for sure!

Here is a picture of him in the bath! Normally, he calms down when he is in the bath, but the other night I tried to give it to him when he was hungry so he wasn't really having it. I use the bedtime bath soap and lotion because it is supposed to calm them down and help them sleep better. Not sure if it really does that, but it definitely smells good!
I also wanted to post this picture of Chloe with Brody because I thought it was cute. We put him in his chair when we were eating so he could see us. He fell asleep in the chair and Chloe came over and laid down next to him like she was protecting him. It was so cute!

First Outing Without Brody!

Tonight I am going to have my first outing away from Brody. I am really nervous!! One of my co-workers is leaving the company and she is in town today and tomorrow so we are going to have a going away dinner for her tonight. It will be really weird because I have not been away from him since he was born! Since I am such a control freak, I am sure I am going to micro-manage Ted before I leave to make sure he does everything the way I want him too. It is like Ted has never cared for a baby before, which of course he has!!! I know it is wrong, but I already know that I am going to do it so I guess I should apologize to Ted ahead of time!

Today, my mother-in-law, Brody and I went shopping so Grandma could buy him some presents! We bought some really cute outfits that I can't wait to see him in. We then went by my mom's work and showed him off to her co-workers. The last time I went by there, he was asleep the entire time...and guess what....same thing this time. I had just fed him before we went and he fell asleep before we left the restaurant. He did open his eyes just a peep but closed them soon after so they didn't really get to see him awake. They all complimented on how good he was and I told them..."Trust me...he does cry!"

Last night, he fell asleep around 9:45 and slept until 1:15 and then fell back asleep around 2:30 and slept until 5:45. I fed him in our room and laid him down in the boppy in our bed to take another nap. He slept from 6:15 until 8:45. He seems to not want to lay back down in the crib at the last feeding in the middle of the night. Not sure if he is done with the crib or what. He is on more of schedule now, which is such a relief!

Tonight, Ethan is going to spend the night and we are dropping him back off at his mother's tomorrow morning so they can go to the Karate tournament in Massachusetts tomorrow. I am going to try and get some pictures of Ted, Ethan and Brody together. I am going to post them tomorrow!

5 oz. is too much!!

So...this morning has been interesting. Last night, we gave Brody a bath and fed him about 3-4 oz. around 8:00 ish and he went down around 9:00 pm. He woke up at midnight and Ted fed him about 2 1/2 oz. and he was down by 12:45. I heard him around 3:45 am and fed him 4 oz. He ate all 4 oz. and was still fussy and was eating his hand. I tried to calm him down and he wouldn't let me so I figured he was still hungry. Ted got another 2 oz. and he ate about an oz and stopped but was still fussy. I finally laid him down in the bed with me (Ted went turkey hunting) about 5:45 and he slept until 7:45. I fed him and he ate 4 oz. and was still fussy. I figured today was just going to be a fussy day for him. I tried to hold him off for 3 hours and when we finally fed him, he ate 5 oz. Well.....5 oz. is apparently too much. He threw up all over Ted's mom and then went to sleep. The other night we fed him 5 oz. and he threw up all over himself in the crib. Luckily, Ted went in there and saw him because he didn't make a peep.

So....the conclusion I have come to is that 5 oz. is too much for him. He may want it but he can't handle it. His pediatrician told me that I could feed him 5-6 oz. at each feeding, but I am going to stick to no more than 4 oz. We go to the pediatrician on Monday and I am sure he has gained atleast another pound, if not 2. While I don't want him to gain too much, his doctor has told me over and over again not to worry about how much he gains at this point. Personally, I think chunky babies are much cuter than skinny babies. The more rolls the better! :)

My First Post

Hi all! I needed to find something to do with my time while my little man is asleep during the day so I have decided that I am going to become part of the blogging world! I thought it would be nice to start this blog so my in-laws could see how their grandsons are doing and see pictures! Also, I thought it would somewhat therapuetic for me to be able to write down what is going on throughout my day since I am out of work! My cousin started her blog while she was pregnant and it was nice to be able to see what was going on with her throughout the week and to see how my little cousin is growing! Thanks for turning me on to this Sarah! :)

So....Brody Crumb will be 4 weeks tomorrow! I can not believe it! It is crazy to imagine that my son has been on this earth for 4 weeks. He will officially be a month old on Saturday.

Last night, he slept really well. I have officially switched to formula now rather than breast milk because he didn't seem to be getting satisfied after feeding of my milk. He has been on formula for two days and has been so much more content after feeding. He eats about 3 oz. at each feeding, which has been every 3-4 hours. Last night, we fed him starting around 8:30 and he went down around 10:00pm. When I heard him cry, I looked at the clock and it was 1:00 am. I fed him another 3 oz. and I laid him down and came back to be at 2:00. He then woke up at 5:00 am. Once I fed him, he had a harder time going back to sleep, but finally went down around 6:00 and slept until about 7:15-7:30. I fed him and he slept in the crib for about an hour. He then woke up and was fussy on an off until we fed him again around 10:00 (that was Ted's decision, not mine...I try to hold him off for 3 hours). We then ran some errands with my in-laws and he slept the entire time. I finally had to wake him up at 2:00 to eat and now he is asleep in the swing. Hopefully, he will sleep tonight!

He was not sleeping that long at night when he was feeding on my breast milk, that's for sure! Here is a picture of him sleeping in the crib this morning!

He has his one month check up appointment on Monday so I will be able to tell how he is progressing!

As for Ethan, he is going to a Karate tournament in Massachusetts this weekend. He went to one in New Jersey this past weekend and got 2nd in Weapons and 3rd in Sparring. He is doing so good with Karate. Currently, he is 1st in the State of Virginia for sparring and 2nd for weapons. Next weekend, he is going to Little Rock. After these two tournaments, he should stay in 1st for sparring and be the State Champion. That is awesome! :)

Well...this was my first post! This blogging thing is fun! :)