Thank you friends!

I was overwhelmed by all the e-mails and the comments about my crazy non-pregnancy. I wanted to let you all know that I am back to normal (Whatever that is, ha ha ha) and am doing great. Thank you for your stories and your suggestions. I love the blog community. I love that whatever I am going through, someone out there has gone through it and will gladly share their story with me.

I am so blessed! Thanks again ladies;)

Increasingly Domestic is on Facebook!

Hello friends!

I wanted to tell you all that Increasingly Domestic is now on Facebook! If that's your thing, I would looooooove it if you would "like" me;) The badge thing is on the sidebar.

If you know how to make it so that people don't have to go to facebook to "like", but can just click a button, please let me know. I'm new;)

As I was logging in to write this I saw some rather exciting news:
I have hit 200 followers!!!!!

Gah! Thank you so much to my readers...I love you all and appreciate all the sweet comments that you leave. I love responding back through e-mail to those of you who aren't "no-reply" and have enjoyed some wonderful conversations.

I have made some amazing friends and am in the process of making some new ones right now. This crazy world that we blog in is so full of loving and encouraging people and I am so blessed to be a part of it. You are what makes blogging so much fun.

Thank you friends!

I am kinda thinking that a giveaway may be in order soon;)

Baby Wise

When Travis was born, he had jaundice really bad and ended up being hospitalized twice. We spent 7 of his first 10 nights of life in the hospital where I would feed him, change him and then put him right back in his bassinet under the bililights.

When I got home all I wanted to do was to hold and snuggle him. That led to him only sleeping in my arms during the day, which I didn't mind because I just wanted him near me all the time. At bed time I tried to put him in the co sleeper and he would cry and cry and cry, and Jon and I would get no sleep. So I pulled him into bed with us, sleeping with him in the crook of my arm where he would nurse until he fell asleep.

These things combined to create a child who would only sleep in mommy's arms or the swing and wanted to snack all day instead of eating a full meal. Some days he would fall asleep eating and then he would wake up a few minutes later acting like he was starving. Basically he was never satisfied with food or sleep.

We stayed with my sister Angie last month when we were in town for our sister Fish's wedding. I told her that I really wanted to get Travis on a schedule and she lent me the book Baby Wise by Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam . When we got home I went to find the book and it was no longer in my bag...turns out that Jon thought our 1 1/2 year old niece had put it there when she was playing in out stuff, so he put it back on the bookshelf.

When we were there for Christmas Eve I made sure that the book made it into my bag so that it would make it home with me.

Saturday evening I sat down and read the whole book. I was so excited to try it that I almost started right then. I thought about it some more and decided to wait until the next morning.

Sunday morning I got up and started the routine. I decided to start with a three hour cycle. Feed, wake time and then nap time.
Rinse and repeat.

First nap time he screamed the whole time.

Second nap time he screamed for the first part and then slept for a bit.

Third nap time he screamed, slept and then screamed.

That continued all day.

His last scheduled feeding was at 10pm. I fed him, changed him and put him down in the co sleeper where he cried until 1:45am. Every 15 minutes or so I would reach over and give him his pacifier and tell him it was nigh-night time. At 1:45 I decided to feed him. Afterall, he was going to need to keep up his strength if he was going to continue to cry like that. I put him back down at about 2:15, he fussed for a few minutes and then slept soundly until 7 this morning when I woke him up to eat.

I am so tired, but I am seeing promising results with him already...

First nap today he turned his head to the side and went right to sleep! Victory!

Second nap today he cried then slept and is now crying again. **sigh**

I just have to stand firm and give him some time to adjust. I think he is going to do well once he gets the hang of it, and if not, I will find another method that works for him.

I am just so thankful for all the great mommy friends who talked me through last night....even though I knew I was doing the right thing it helped tremendously to have the support of other mommies who have gone and are going through this with their kids.

Thankful

I am thankful for:

• My husband Jon. I would not trade him for anything, except maybe coffee, but probably not.
• My daughter Brooklyn. She is hilarious! I laugh everyday with her around.
• My son Travis. When he smiles my heart explodes. That's a good thing.
• My huge family. They have made me the crazy person I am.
• My husbands family. They are amazing.
• Coffee! Without which nothing would get done.
• Digital Cameras. Without pictures I have no memories.
• Facebook and Blogs. Don't judge me, you are too!

...and so much more.

I am so blessed.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Oh Boy!

I had my "official" ultrasound yesterday afternoon. Jon was too busy to go, so I picked Brooklyn up from school early and off we went to see the baby again....two days in a row! Oh yeah!

The technician took the measurements of the head and leg bones, as well as tons of other pictures that I could not decipher. I told her that the doctor had said she thought it was a boy and asked if we could find out for sure. She started panning around and was able to say with certainty that the baby is in fact a boy....he was very proud of himself and kept turning to show it to us.

Here are some pictures of our baby boy:

Hurray for same day appointments!

AIM got approved and my insurance became effective last Saturday, the 23rd, but with it being a holiday weekend I had to wait until yesterday morning to even get to talk to someone about setting up my first doctors appointment. I took Brooklyn to school and then called to set up the appointment praying that they would be able to get me in sometime next week. They happened to have a cancellation that afternoon at 4! Sweet! Jon and Brooklyn got to go with me and we heard the heartbeat and saw our baby for the first time...it was amazing. The doctor asked us if we wanted to know the sex of the baby and when we told her yes she started searching. It was pretty obvious that it was a BOY! Oh man were we excited! She said that she couldn't guarantee anything but that it sure looked like a boy to her...she said we would know more when we had our "official" ultrasound appointment at the Imaging Lab.

The baby is healthy and Dr Rodgers is sticking with October 17th as our due date. She said the only thing that concerns her about me is the fact that Brooklyn was born premature, but other than that everything was great.

This morning at 7:30, I called to set up my "official" ultrasound at the lab fully expecting to wait a couple weeks and was told that they had a cancellation TODAY at 1:45! So excited!