Sunday, October 28, 2007

Blessed Baby


There have been many times in the past 10 weeks that I've felt completely overwhelmed by how loved this baby is. Not just by us, but by our entire family. I was reminded of this yet again on Saturday evening as he was baptized. Surrounded by family and friends, we spent a beautiful evening together celebrating this little boy as our very own gift from God.


St. Jude's has a heated baptismal font, and in our baptism-prep classes, they really encouraged us to consider full immersion into to the font. We figured he loves his bath so we'd give it a try. He did fuss a little while being dunked in the nude, but he really did well overall. Afterwards, he wore the gown that my mother, my aunts and uncles, cousins, and myself wore when we were baptized, and a darling bonnet that was a gift from his Godmother, Natalie. The bonnet becomes a hankercheif that will someday be given to his bride to carry on their wedding day. Inside the box that it came in said:


Preston's Godparents are my dear friend Natalie Pryor and Kevin's brother Christopher. They both serve such a special place in our lives and were our Matron of Honor and Best Man in our wedding, so it was fitting to have them play an important part in Preston's faith. He's such a lucky boy to have them as role models- what amazing people they both are!


After the ceremony, all 40 or so of us gathered at Grandma and Grandpa Erb's for a huge party. Preston was so exhausted, he slept a lot of the time, but when he was awake, he was happy and alert. He seems to adjust very well to being passed around which happens constantly to him in such a large family. I'm so glad that he likes being socialized and we think it's good for him to get used to big family events at such a young age. We had enough food for a small army and a darling cake as well. Grandma Judy was so kind to offer her beautiful home to host everyone! Here he is with great grandma Joan:



Preston of course recieved tons of baptismal gifts and special keepsakes, including this beautiful picture frame from Grandma and Grandpa Roberts:

The blue matches his room perfectly and the words bring tears to my eyes. It says, "You are the poem I dreamed of writing. The masterpiece I longed to paint. You are the shining star I reached for in my ever hopeful quest for life fulfilled. You are my child. Now with all things I am blessed."

Thank you to everyone who attended and for your prayers and loving thoughts towards Preston on this special night!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Smiles and Coos


Even as I type, I'm knocking on wood- but Preston has been doing unbelievably well! It seems we've turned a corner with his fussiness and things have been going very smoothly. He's now smiling and cooing non-stop and we are loving every second of it.



He really has a darling smile and sometimes he opens his mouth so wide it not only lights up his entire face, but also pops out his dimple on his left cheek. (Mommy has a left-cheek-only dimple, too!) His double chin is becoming a triple chin and his eyelashes are so long that they touch his face when his eyes are closed. When he was born, his lashes and brows were almost white- no pigment at all, but now the lashes are thick and dark black and his eyebrows are starting to get some color, too. It seems he's changing every single day!




He's moving right along in all his other development, too! He's tracking objects with his eyes, sleeping on a more regular schedule, and can spend a longer time focusing on one thing. His favorite being his Rainforest activity mat with lights, music, animals and tons of bright colors, or even a few minutes of certain books or toys. The biggest and most rewarding thing he's doing lately is cooing at us and interacting enough to "talk" in conversation. Sometimes he gets so incredibly excited when we are talking to him that he kicks and squirms and waves his arms hard enough that he hits himself in the face. Most self-respecting babies would be embarrassed by this, but not Preston- he's unabashed in expressing his happiness lately. We love that about him and while watching his little personality emerge, we keep asking ourselves cautiously, "What more could parents ask for?"

Saturday, October 13, 2007

"Don't it make my brown eye blue"

Kevin has blue eyes and I have green, so there were many times while I was pregnant that we would wonder which color Preston would get. They say all babies have blue eyes and then they change later, which was true for me, but when P was born, they were so dark blue, they were almost black. Over the next few weeks, as the blueish color developed, so did something else- half of his right eye is BROWN! We actually think it's pretty cool. You can make it out better in pictures than in person, partially because of the lighting and partially because he won't sit still long enough to let you get a good look. There are several pictures you can click on to enlarge in previous posts where you can tell, but I captured a few good ones this week, too. We've even joked that we could make some money off him by renting him out to the circus along side the bearded lady and the lobster claw girl. I can hear it now...."Step right up! See for yourself- the marvelous little freaky-eyed-wonder!"

In his bear-bunting from Aunt Heather:

Ready to go!

"Mom, don't show 'em my eye!"

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

poor little sickie

Well- it was bound to happen sometime... our poor little man has his first cold! I noticed him sneezing frequently over the past week along with some congestion. (Which allowed me to use the nasal syringe- weeee!) Last night, he was pretty fussy and felt warm, so we took his temperature- sure enough, he had a slight fever. I ran out and got infant's acetaminophen followed by a frantic, typical, first-time-mom phone call to the doctor today. They aren't too concerned, just want us to keep an eye on him to make sure it doesn't turn into an ear infection, and to alternate between infant's motrin and the acetaminophen every three hours to keep him comfortable and his fever down. Since I only got the tylenol last night, thankfully Grandma Judy came to the rescue and picked up some motrin for us today. He literally hasn't let me put him down for the past two days, so with the help of the vibrating papasan chair, swaddle blanket, hair dryer and the motrin, he's finally asleep and I'm able to post. Poor thing- it's breaking our heart, but we know that this is just the beginning... I read that on average, babies and kids catch a cold 6 times a year!

One of the reasons this was so disheartening is because he's been doing remarkably well since my last post! I'm nervous to say that we've turned a corner, but it certainly seems that way. At his last doctor's appointment, she switched his reflux medication which I believe is helping more than anything. He also weighs.... (drum roll please....) 10 and a half pounds! A gain of almost 5 lbs in just seven weeks! We are beyond happy that he's putting on weight so easily. Not to mention how cute the fat rolls are that he's been getting. His uncle Matthew even joked that his thighs reminded him of "uncooked bratworst." ha! ;)
Here's a bathtime glimpse of our little fatty:


He's sleeping better, too! Amazingly, one night last week we got a 5 hour stretch. (Of course I realize that could have been due to his little body being tired from fighting off this cold.) But nonetheless, he's been consistently giving us at least one 3-4 hour stretch each night.

Here he is in his ND jersey last weekend- (Kevin is convinced that Preston wearing it was their good luck charm, considering it's the first game they've won all season.)



Another great thing is that he's been all smiles lately- especially in the mornings when he's well-rested. We love nothing more than to sit and coo at him and watch him interact by smiling and following us with is eyes, kicking his fat little legs, reaching for objects, and talking back with gurgles and goos. Last week, Kevin took Friday off so that we could spend some family time together and enjoy a three day weekend... I took several pics of him enamored with his Daddy in bed on Friday morning:


P-Funk on the mic!


Even with as much work as parenthood has been so far, it's truly the most rewarding thing either Kevin or I have ever done!