21 February 2021

 It was a busy week as we prepared for Jude's baby blessing at the end of the week.  I did a fair amount of cleaning, planning the food, and sewing.  I'm ashamed to say that I hadn't worked on his blessing outfit since I originally cut out the pattern, like five months ago!  

 We had planned on doing the baby blessing at the church on Sunday with a luncheon to follow at the ranch.  Phil expected that his mom and his brother and sister and their families would attend, but almost all of his step-siblings said they wanted to come too, so we had to adjust our plan.  With more than sixty people planning to come we couldn't have the blessing at church during Sacrament meeting, so we decided to do the blessing at home.  Phil taught at Pima College on Thursday and Friday and then he also taught Fire Academy at the public safety building on Saturday.  I was able to finish the baby's blessing outfit on Friday evening and even though it was a little too big, I was happy with how it turned out.  I didn't have enough time to make the baby booties that I had planned to crochet, but at least his little jumper was done.

 Sunday morning we enjoyed Sacrament meeting from home and Phil's brother and sister-in-law came over early and helped us get things set up.  We had a yard-full of family and friends by one o'clock  which was wonderful.  The baby got lots of grandma cuddles.  The Bishop came and once everyone was there I got the baby dressed in his little outfit and he promptly decided he was going to be unhappy and started to cry.  Phil decided they'd do the baby blessing on the front porch since there wouldn't be enough room in the house for everyone.  Jude was surrounded by an amazing family as his daddy gave him a wonderful blessing...while he screamed through the whole thing.  Phil did amazing, he kept his composure and just spoke loudly and clearly and didn't allow the crying to rush him or throw him off.   

 

Here is the blessing Jude received:

"Heavenly Father, by the authority of the Holy Melchizedek priesthood which we hold and in the name of Jesus Christ, we take this infant in our arms and give him a name and a blessing.  The name by which he shall be known throughout this life and on the records of the church is Jude Edward Comaduran.  Jude we give you a blessing, your name means “praised” and we give praise to our Heavenly Father for the gospel of Jesus Christ and for the plan of salvation.   We give praise that you came down to be a part of our family; you have a great mission ahead of you in this life.  We bless you with health and strength that you will be able to dedicate your life to the service of our Heavenly Father.  We bless your mind that you will seek out truth both temporally and spiritually. We bless you that you will develop your talents.  Those talents you have not yet obtained, but desire in your heart, you will also receive for the betterment of those around you.  We bless your heart that you will be able to recognize the Spirit, to know the truth, and to follow the guidance of the Holy Ghost.  We bless you that as you continue to grow and learn that you will find joy in living the gospel of Jesus Christ and as you grow older you will be able to serve a mission and be married in the temple and to have a Celestial family.  You are loved by your family, your brothers and sisters, and we are all here to be a support to you because we love you, know that you can look to us.  These things we bless you with and anything else Heavenly Father sees fit to bless you with, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

Jude is a very blessed little boy.  Blessed to have such an amazing and faithful father who loves him and will raise him in love and righteousness and blessed to have a large family to love and support him.  We enjoyed lunch which included the soft serve ice cream machine we bought for our wedding reception and a soda bar.  Phil wrapped Jude up and wore him around for a good portion of the afternoon which was the only way to make him happy.  The weather was beautiful, not too hot or cold, nor was it windy.  I just hope nobody got sunburned!

14 February 2021

Happy Valentine's Day.  Our week was pretty full.  Jude had his one month check up with the pediatrician and she is happy with his progress and growth.  He's 10 pounds 0 ounces and 21.3 inches long which equates to 30th percentile for height and 48th percentile for weight.  I actually had a couple of questions for her at this visit, both of which she brought up before I could.  What I thought was a bruise between Jude's eyes and on his eyelids turns out isn't a bruise at all.  It is a nevus simplex, or more commonly, a "stork bite".  There are a series of dilated capillaries just under the skin that causes the splotchy red marks, which he also has on the back of his neck.  She said they will fade as his skin thickens and as he gets more fat under his skin, but that they will be more noticeable when he cries.  We were also noticing that his circumcision didn't quite look right.  She noticed that too and said that it may have healed a little funky and that we could wait and see what happened when he got a little older; here's to hoping we don't have to have that re-done.

 Now that I'm 5 weeks post-surgery and feeling myself again, it was time to consider tackling the huge amount of weight I gained during my pregnancy.  I don't know if you've seen me in person lately, but we are talking literally 80 pounds of pregnancy weight if you count from the day I found out I was pregnant to the day I gave birth.  As of Monday morning I still have 70 of that to deal with.  So I signed back up to do Weight Watchers again and my loving husband, who doesn't really need to lose weight, signed up with me so that I didn't have to work on it alone.   

 They reorganized the Young Women's classes at church recently and as such, Felicity was released from serving as a counselor in her class presidency.  She's not happy with her new class assignment, but that's just the way that goes sometimes.

 I had my follow up appointment with the obstetrician on Wednesday.   I could hear her approach the exam room and grab the chart off the door and cheerfully exclaim, "oh, Heather's here!".  She was happy to see me and we caught up briefly.  We talked about how I was dealing with my hysterectomy and how I was feeling as a new-again mother.  My exam went well, I'm almost completely healed and she said I could return to normal activity.  Before my appointment was over, I asked her how many times she had encountered a post-delivery hemorrhage she couldn't control requiring a hysterectomy and she said that I was only the third in her whole career.  I'm grateful Jude and I were in the hands of a skilled and competent surgeon.

 Phil and I had Arlo's parent-teacher conference on Thursday via Zoom.  His teacher had very positive things to say about Arlo and his school work.  He's doing very well both academically and socially which we are grateful for.  Phil went back to teaching on Friday.  He was teaching a paramedic class at Pima and I think he enjoyed being back in the classroom and feeling more normal again.  I left the baby for the first time with the girls in the morning and went to the nail salon for some "me-time".  It was nice to spend a couple of hours away from home.  

 Phil got up early on Saturday morning and said he needed to go to Phoenix to pick something up.  I spent some time getting chores done and hanging out with the baby.  When he got home he gave me a beautiful framed picture of the Tucson Temple to hang up in our home which he got for me for Valentine's day. 

(We are still struggling with colic and while there are lots of cute pictures...this is what we look like most of the time.)

 This week we started using both a baby swing to help calm Jude and a moby wrap.  He loves both and its helpful to us as he still has colic and cries quite a bit.  By quite a bit, I mean if he's not asleep or actively eating, hes crying.  I think that Phil has enjoyed being able to wear the baby around the house, the kids got a real kick out of it the first time they saw him wearing the baby.

 

07 February 2021

 

Where did January go?  I can't believe its been a month already since little Jude joined our family.  We are plugging along getting used to the new dynamic in our home.  Phil took all of January and February off from the fire station, so I get to still have him home which is nice.  He's been a big help managing the morning routine so that if the baby is still sleeping in the morning, I can too.

 We had the very pleasant surprise of getting to have dinner with Grandma Lo this week.  Phil got advanced notice that they would be doing COVID vaccines in Green Valley, so he passed the information along to my mom who was able to sign Grandma up.  They were in Green Valley on Wednesday getting Grandma her fist dose and so we met them for Mexican food when they were done.  Helen was at a Young Women's presidency meeting and we dropped Arlo off for his piano lesson and Phil and Jude and I met up with my mom and Grandma for dinner.  She finally got to meet her newest Great Grand baby.  It was so nice to see her and I look forward to getting to spend more time with her in the near future once restrictions are loosened a bit now that vaccines are rolling out.

 We were business as usual the rest of this week.  School for the girls on Monday and Wednesday, Arlo is still going Monday through Thursday, youth activities at the church on Tuesday evening, piano lessons on Wednesday and Thursday, and homework and spelling words, the whole nine yards.  On Friday after school the kids spent the afternoon outside with Dad cleaning out the horse stalls.  We have yet to convince the kids that they would be so much better off if they mucked the stalls for 10 minutes every day instead of having to do it for a couple of hours on their weekend.  Oh, well, at least they got cleaned.  

 One of the joys of living on the ranch is the opportunity the kids have to operate agricultural machinery.  Felicity loves to drive the side by side around the property, especially when it makes getting chores done easier.  Not only does it allow them early driving experiences, they also learn lessons without ruining an expensive car; case in point Felicity learned some physics on Saturday.  In the process of dumping horse manure on the compost pile she got the Rhino high centered on the poop pile and couldn't drive it back out...she tried, digging herself in further.  Phil hooked up a strap thinking he could just pull her out, but found that he needed an actual tow strap, she was sunk in that deep.  I videoed the first attempt and had a hearty laugh at Felicity's misfortune...and still laugh when I see it now.  Lets just say she had to strip in the laundry room and head straight for the shower because she had horse manure EVERYWHERE.  

Jude celebrated his first month of life on Saturday.  He now weighs 10 pounds and is 21.3 inches long.  He doesn't really have any new tricks, he's sleeping a little more at night 3-4 hours, which is certainly better than waking up every two hours.  He is still really cranky when he's awake, but he eats really well even though he's very gassy.  I'm sure he will grow out of it eventually.

 On Sunday we were invited to dinner at Brook and Kirby's house.  We went to church at noon, came home and changed clothes, and then went over there to spend time with them.  We had a very nice visit and the kids enjoyed themselves.  Everyone took turns holding the baby, he was really pretty good while we were there.  I wish I had taken some pictures.  I still feel a little awkward taking pictures of Phil's family for whatever reason; my family is used to me sticking a camera in their faces all time, but I don't know if other people appreciate it!   I feel bad for missed opportunities to take pictures though, the older cousins holding Jude was so adorable, I really just should have taken some!  We had dinner and left for home around seven ready to start another week!

31 January 2021

We had a really nice week.  I can't say enough how much I love having my husband home all the time, it has made this transition so much easier.  The kids were back to hybrid learning at school on Monday with everyone in class.  Felicity had seminary at 6:15 AM and then we got the other kids on the bus at 6:45 before heading back to the church to pick up Felicity and take her to school.  When I say "we" I mean my saint of a husband, I stayed home with the baby.  

 We had some unusual weather on Tuesday, we woke up to snow.  It wasn't sticking because it was too wet, but that didn't deter Arlo from begging to stay home.  We made him go to school anyway, where he got to play in the snow with his classmates.  We are back to "normal" as far as school, activities, piano and the like.  All three of the older kids had youth activities at the church on Tuesday evening and Phil had a meeting as well, so they all left me home with the baby after dinner.  Arlo really loves his weekday church activities, the kids have so missed being able to really interact with their friends this past year.  

 On Thursday I met my girlfriends for dinner in town and they got to meet the baby.  He was pretty good the whole time we were there, which was a while since they took forever to seat us and then we stayed for a long time chatting and catching up.  Everyone took turns snuggling the baby.  It was great to be out with my friends.

 I feel like I'm 100%, getting around well and pretty much healed up.  I have been able to keep up with the housework and cooking for the first time in months.  On Friday evening I was trying to get dinner made and Jude was wanting my attention.  I had the brilliant idea to kill two birds with one stone and I told Arlo to get a book and then handed Jude to Arlo and told Arlo to read to him.  Arlo was so sweet.  He very carefully read to the baby and kept him entertained while I wrapped up dinner.  It was so sweet.

 It was such a beautiful day on Saturday we wanted to get outside and do something fun.  The nice thing about me being home full time is that the house gets clean and the chores get done during the week so that we're free to do things on the weekend.  Phil took the kids to the lake for some fishing.  I decided that the baby would not appreciate the fresh air (and wind) and would rather stay home.  They had a fun time, caught some fish, and I got to have a little break from a house full of people.

 

 We enjoyed church from home on Sunday and went to visit my parents in the evening.   It was a lovely week and I feel so blessed, a little tired, but so blessed.

24 January 2021

 The kids were out of school on Monday for the Martin Luther King holiday.  I'd like to say we had fun plans, but we pretty much spent time together at home.  Jude had his follow up appointment with the pediatrician in the morning to check on his weight and she was satisfied with his progress.  He was at 7 pounds 9 ounces, so creeping back up towards his birth weight again.

 Before his appointment, Jude got his first at-home bath.  Dad did a great job and there was much less crying than his first bath in the hospital! 

 

I had my first follow up appointment at the OB's office. I saw the Physician's Assistant who checked my incision, which looks pretty good.  She suggested I be a little more aggressive with scrubbing it now that it was pretty well sealed to remove some dead skin and excess glue.    Otherwise she said everything was fine and that I could follow up with my doctor in a couple of weeks.  

Phil got his second COVID vaccination on Thursday morning and was feeling pretty cruddy by the evening.  He had a bit of a temperature and chills and just generally didn't feel very well.  He took some pain relief and went to bed early and was feeling find the following morning.  He should now be fully vaccinated.  I'm hopeful that my grandmother will be able to get her vaccine in the coming weeks, I pretty much haven't been able to see her all year!

Our week went by fairly smoothly as we are all adjusting.  I have taken the baby out a couple of times now and he really likes to ride in the car.  He's still really gassy and fussy, I'm hoping as his digestion matures that will clear up.  Phil is enjoying his time off, he has even started growing a beard which is something he can't do when he works.  I think it's very handsome.  On Saturday we had someone come out to move our saguaros.  The only mature saguaros on our property were right where the shop is going, so we needed to relocate them.  They guys came out in the morning and had them dug up and moved in an hour or so, it was pretty neat to watch.  

Nana came over in the evening and took the older kids out for dinner, but not before getting some baby time.  The kids enjoyed going out with Nana.  We went to church in person on Sunday as Helen was speaking during Sacrament meeting.  She did a great job on her first opportunity to speak in front the of the congregation.  The baby did alright for the first half of the meeting, but started to cry right before the talks, so I ended up trying to feed him mid-meeting to get him to quiet.  It mostly worked!

17 January 2021

 On Monday we took Jude to the pediatrician for his first newborn check up.  He weighed in just below his birth weight at 7 pounds 3ounces and had grown a 1/4 of an inch.  She said he looked good and wanted to see him back in a week for a weight check to make sure he was gaining again.  Phil and I stopped for lunch on the way home, which was nice.

 I'm healing well, my mobility is still rather limited.  Its hard to get in and out of bed or to get myself comfortable once I'm lying down.  I hobble for a bit after getting up, but I'm making progress.  Monday afternoon Phil removed my lidocain pump.  During surgery they placed a long piece of tubing in the incision with tiny holes in it (like a garden soaker hose) which was attached to a pump which infused lidocain directly into the wound at set intervals.  This stayed in place after I left the hospital and meant that I didn't need any opioid drugs to manage pain, just Tylenol.  The pump had run out and it needed to come out.   The worse part was peeling all the tape off of my very thin belly skin, but he managed to do it without tearing any skin and the tubing for the pump pulled free fairly easily.  I was grateful to be able to shower without a purse around my neck!

My mom came over on Monday evening to visit and cuddle the baby.  My lovely mother in law headed home on Tuesday, we were so grateful for her help, it was nice to have her and the kids and I enjoyed getting to know her better. 

The baby is getting up every couple of hours in the night to eat and sometimes he goes back down, sometimes he doesn't.  We are managing alright, its nice that Phil doesn't have to work.  The kids are also back to school from home for the next few weeks, so its a relief to not have to be getting up early and get everyone to their various morning destinations.  A nice ease into parenthood with a newborn again.  Let me tell you, a new baby at forty is different than a new baby at twenty-five!

 The kids are enjoying their baby brother, although I think they expected it to be a more interactive experience.  They are also very quick to hand him back when he starts fussing, which is quite frequently.  He seems to be very gassy and collic-y and if he is not actively eating or asleep, he's crying.

Phil handled both taking Helen to piano on Thursday and Elder's Quorum visits which he's doing every Thursday evening.  I'm grateful for his willingness to serve.  On Friday a friend of mine who has a photography business came over to take Jude's newborn pictures.  I had never done that with the other kids and was looking forward to getting some sweet cuddly new baby pictures, hopefully something I could use to make a birth announcement.  Phil even brought his turn outs home so we could take some of the baby with his fire gear.  She came to our house and spent a good long time taking photos not only of the baby, but of the rest of the family too. I haven't gotten them all back yet, but the few that she has sent to me are darling.

 We took the kids to the movies on Saturday after chores.  We've been really wanting to get out to the movies (I love to go to the movies...but it also might be that I love movie theater popcorn).  We saw Wonder Woman 1984 and it was pretty entertaining.  The baby was good considering how loud it was in the theater.  When he got fussy I just fed him and that seemed to work well.  We had lunch when we were done and enjoyed our afternoon outing.

 

Our Sunday was quiet.  Helen had youth council in the morning and we worshiped from home, I love having the option to join church from home and have Phil be able to administer the Sacrament to our family.  We went to visit my parent's Sunday evening, which was nice.  The days kind of blur together since I'm at the baby's mercy, but we are enjoying little Jude and being all together.  I'm going to try and relish it while I can!