Santa pictures

My sister and her family came to visit during Thanksgiving week, so we used that opportunity to take pictures with Santa with all three kids. I highly recommend going sooner rather than later if you plan on taking pictures with Santa. We walked right up and didn't have to wait in line. It was great. Charlie did great and slept through the whole thing. He is wearing the outfit that Jeff wore for his first Christmas. Although Jeff was a lot bigger than Charlie when he was born (11 pounds compared to 6.9 pounds) it still fit. It was a little long, but you can't even tell. I think he looks super cute! Kirsten and Grayson did great with Santa as well. You never know at their age if they will be scared or not. Then we took a few of the 3 grandkids together.

Road Trip

The weekend of November 20 we went on our first road trip to Fredericksburg with Charlie and the 2 dogs. It was Jeff's dad's 60th birthday on Friday and Clayton was flying in, so we also had a baby shower for him (his wife, Kasuen couldn't fly in from California since she is too far along in her pregnancy) on Saturday. We survived the road trip just fine and only had to stop twice. It was a good practice run for Christmas and we fit everything in the Acadia and still had plenty of room. Here are the pictures from the events:

Random things

Just a little update on how we are doing and what's been going on around here. Last week I had my checkup with my surgeon which mainly consisted of an xray and looking at my incision. My incision is healing quite well and everything looked great on xray. Till the next day when I got a phone call that said there was a pocket of air in my lung and they weren't sure if it was a pneumothorax or not. :( So I had to go back this Tuesday for another xray to see if was resolving or not. Thanksfully, it was, so no treatment needed and I don't need to see him again unless I need surgery again. My next regular checkup is Dec 14 or 15 for an MRI of my leg and a ct scan.

Charlie is continuing to get bigger and cuter every day. He now weighs 11 pounds! We are getting a little more sleep at night and going a little longer between feedings. We are starting to see a few more smiles so I don't think it will be long before he will be smiling at us all the time. We are getting out a little more and getting more comfortable doing that. We went to NASA for an awards ceremony to watch Jeff receive an award for all his hard work during the last shuttle mission. (More to come on that later. Waiting for Jeff to write that post!).

Tomorrow we are going on our first road trip to Fredericksburg to visit Jeff's parents. I'm excited and nervous at the same time. Charlie finally gets to meet his Aunt Carrie and Uncle Clayton. But it's a 5 hour drive with a 7 week old baby and 2 dogs, so it will be interesting. Will let you know how it goes... :)

1 month checkup

We went to the doctor this morning for Charlie's 1 month checkup. Things have been going really well, so we didn't have many questions. The main thing we were wondering about was his weight. I know that he has been eating well and therefore growing, but had no idea how much weight he has gained. We figured he had gained about 2 pounds since birth, which would be around 8 pounds 7-8 ounces. Boy were we off! He weighs a whopping 9 pounds 10 ounces! That's over 3 pounds in a month! What a piggy! He was in the 10% for his weight and now he's in the 50th%. He's catching up. His length is 20.5 inches (18 1/2 at birth), still in the 10% there. Hopefully he won't stay short! We think he has a mild case of reflux, but nothing major and no need for meds at this point. We mainly keep him elevated when he sleeps and that seems to help him sleep for longer periods of time. (I REALLY like this, especially at night!). All in all, a good appointment. Next one is in 1 month.

1 Month Old

Charlie is 1 month old today. We can't believe it! Here is his picture from birth and today: