Category: Lydia

Obviously I never got around to posting a 3 month update, but 14 weeks is close enough!

My how our little one has grown 🙂  I don’t have new height/weight stats since we don’t go back for her next check-up until 4 months, but she has outgrown most of her 0-3 month clothes and continues to have chubby little cheeks and legs.  So I think all the healthy growth indicators are present.  She eats very well and has been sleeping through the night consistenly for more than two weeks!  I still wake up every now and then and have to check on her, but I’m slowly getting used to her new sleep routine.  She is awake and alert, and HAPPY,  much of the day.  Lydia talks and laughs (and coos, chortles, gurgles, etc.) with great frequency.  She waves her arms and kicks with excitement.  She also holds her head up very well, when being held and when having tummy time.  Her biggest new thing is reaching out and grasping objects.  She’s been clasping and chewing on her hands, even occasionally singling out her thumb, but on Thursday she was  reaching for the dangling toys on her car seat handle.  And on Friday, she started reaching for the hanging  toys on the bar across her bouncy seat.  She has been grabbing and playing  with the mirrored star in the middle all weekend 🙂 (she already enjoyed her bouncy seat because it plays music and has colored lights that flash across the top of the bar…she’s been watching the show for several weeks now!)  I also added the lap tray to her swing the other day because it has two plastic animals that attach to either side,  She’s not big enough to twist the heads or make them rattle yet, but she stares and reaches.

 It’s amazing to watch her grow and change every day.  Mother’s Day was a wonderful experience and such an awesome reminder of the blessing, privilege, and challenge it is to be a parent.  God teaches us about Himself every day as we let go of our own wants and wishes to meet the needs of each other and of our daughter.  We could never do it alone…it is only through the Lord, His strength and guidance, that we can succeed in marriage and parenthood!! 

I just have to brag on our “big” girl.  She has one of those activity mat/gym things.  It has padded floor mat with two attached arches that criss-cross over her, and it came with some little link things and some toys to hang from them.  One of the toys is a little plush lion that plays a few little songs when you pull down on it.  She’s laying on her mat now, having a fine old time playing her favorite game “kick the lion” and today she started kicking hard enough to make her lion play music…and not just once, but repeatedly.  Yeah gross motor skills!!  And she’s laughing and cooing the whole time 🙂  I’m sure she knows exactly what she’s doing, but even if she doesn’t, it’s still the cutest thing ever…at least until the next cute thing!!!

I can’t believe our precious little one is already 10 weeks old!!  They’ve been the longest and the shortest, toughest and most rewarding, weeks of my life.  Motherhood is beyond challenging, but there are no words to describe how special and awesome it is. 

God has blessed us tremendously during these weeks.  Lydia continues to thrive and delights us daily with her sweet self.  Not this she doesn’t have her share of fussy moments, but she also smiles, laughs, coos, gurgles, and otherwise “plays” with us during much of her awake time.  She’s really become aware of people and objects in the last few weeks and it’s incredible to see her reacting to sights and sounds (faces and cheerful voices, especially).  She kicks with excitement, she follows her toys with her eyes when we move them around, and she’s discovering her hands and ears as objects of amusement.  One of her favorite games is to lay on the ottoman (glider) and push against us to make herself go.  We layed her on the ottoman at Great Grandpa’s house one morning and she started pushing against Grandma’s hands.  It was really neat to watch her smiling and doing it again…so we have continued at home and she still loves it! 

Lydia is gaining strength and greater motor control everyday.  She’s holding her head up more and she’s trying to roll over from time to time.  We’re giving her tummy time and she’s working on lifting and holding her head and upper body up.  She has even slept through the night a few times, although the last time was two weeks ago.  We were in WV for Matt’s Grandma’s funeral and our schedule (while never all that strict) got REALLY out of whack.  We’ve spent the last week and a half getting back on track.  Last night was her best night since our return and I’m confidant we’ll be back to normal shortly 🙂

One of the hardest things so far has been to give up dairy.  At her two-month visit, the dr. felt her ongoing rashy stuff was likely related to milk allergies, i.e. dairy in my diet.  So I’m on dairy restriction for a couple of weeks, then we’ll start introducing dairy items slowly and see what happens.  If she does react, I’m hoping it’s only to major stuff like milk and cheese.  It would be nice to still have access to chocolate, butter, ranch dressing, etc.  And even if she remains sensitive to even small amounts, I discovered that Oreos have absolutely no dairy, so I have options!!  

 One other thing…  I thought I would share some things that I have found useful (and not so much) for Lydia and I.  Some things you only need so many of.  I received many, many towels and blankets from our dear friends and church family.  While I am very thankful, I must say that we returned many of these and we could/should have returned more.  You only have so much drawer space and even if you don’t do laundry that often, you just don’t need 10 towels or 15 blankets.  I have found cloth diapers to be very handy.  They make great burp cloths and have lots of other applications.  We also love Lydia’s “hippo” shower sprayer.  Our tub has a fixed shower head, so we have really enjoyed this easy on/off item…and she loves getting sprayed during bathtime!  Another item we are glad to have is a second car seat base.  It is so much easier to just “click” the seat into whichever vehicle and go…it was definitely worth the money.  There are plenty of other things we enjoy having for her, and some things that haven’t proved so useful, at least to date.  As time allows, I’ll share more.

God has been so good to us (although His goodness doesn’t change with less than ideal circumstances) and we have been incredibly blessed to be Lydia’s parents.   I am excited to see how He is going to grow Lydia and what He is going to do in the life of our family in the days and weeks ahead!!

I can't believe how quickly the first month has gone. I had good intentions of writing a post once a week, but once a month may be more realistic! Lydia has grown like a weed and we have been so blessed during these first precious weeks. She has eaten and slept very well during February and the pattern seems to be continuing into March. She is generally peaceful and content and usually lets Mommy get a shower and occasionally catch up on some chores 🙂 I thoroughly enjoy having people tell us how beautiful or sweet she is, but more than anything I treasure the blessing she is to our family. I healed very quickly and easily from my c-section…she has been happy and healthy…and Matt and I have relished bonding through our parental responsibilities even as we work very hard to take time for each other. More than anything, though, when I look at her and am overwhlemed with love, I recognize how insignificant that is compared to the Father's love for us!!
I am so excited about how God is going to grow our darling girl and what He is going to teach us through our experiences with her as this month unfolds!

It has been an exciting, amazing week in the Maxson household!  God has so blessed our little family!!
I was ready to go last Sunday in the wee hours of the morning when my water broke.  We certainly weren't expecting to hear that Lydia was breech and would need to arrive by C-section when Dr. Bendheim checked me around 8 am.  It was pretty disappointing, but he was very encouraging and, judging by how I have felt since the surgery, he did a GREAT job!  Words cannot describe how it felt to finally see her and hold her.  Including the time it took the Dr. to finish stitching me up, we had more than an hour to bond…so she got to nurse and be loved on by her adoring mommy and daddy.  Henrico Drs. provides excellent maternity care.  All the nurses were wonderful and took great care of Lydia and I.  Not that I didn't experience some pain and discomfort, but it was more than worth it every time they brought my precious daughter to me or I walked down the hall to get her. 

We enjoyed having a room to ourselves and having Matt with us every night.  And it was great to have some special friends and family stop by to visit.  But my favorite part was taking her home!  I'm not ashamed to say that it is a little intimidating to go from having a team of nurses taking care of us to being on our own, but it is awesome to be home.  Matt has been wonderful and it has been such a joy to spend time with him as we start the adventure of parenthood.  Lydia is such a good girl.  She eats and sleeps very well and is, of course, the most beautiful baby ever!  We've had our share of tired, cranky moments…both of us…but overall our first week has been incredible!!

We have even been out a few times to stretch our legs. We tackled Walmart and Babies R Us on Thursday to get a few necessities, though I'm not ready to take her back anytime soon as people have no sense of personal space when it comes to babies and I really don't enoy getting hassled by strangers who want to know all about Lydia and, what's worse, would have their hands all over her if I let them get close enough.  We went to the pediatrician early Friday morning and he was very pleased with how she was doing.  She had regained nearly 5 oz of her birth weight (between his final hosp. visit Wed. am and her Fri. appt.) and was exactly where she should be for five days old.  The rest of the day was spent at home, where Lydia got to meet her Clark grandparents.  They greatly enjoyed meeting their first grandchild, though they have apparently forgotten how to change a diaper 🙂  We even took an hour to walk around the mall with them on Sat. to stretch our legs a bit.  It was nice to get out, even if we were tired by the time we returned home.

We're having a quiet day at home to celebrate her one-week birthday.  She's sleeping peacefully as of this writing, though I'm sure she'll be stirring shortly for her afternoon meal!  Lydia doesn't hesitate to let us know when she's hungry 🙂  It's such an awesome privilege to hold her and take care of her and we're very excited about what week two will bring!!

It's been quite a while since I've taken time to write. Pregnancy has been pretty fun and largely uneventful.  Everything has gone very well.  I feel good and Dr. Royal is very pleased with how we've done.  Matt and I have taken the labor/delivery classes and toured the hospital.  We're just waiting now…resting, reading baby books, making sure everything at home is ready, etc.   

She's not much of a kicker…her favorite activity is to stretch and push on mommy 🙂 Although, she's doing that less often these days as she has pretty much run out of space. While I am obviously in later pregnancy, I haven't grown out all that much, so she's really got to be feeling cramped! I'm not miserable or itching to be done with pregnancy, but I am definitely ready to hold her and share her with Matt (and the rest of our family and friends)!! We have been so blessed through this whole experience, how can we not recognize how fearfully and WONDERFULLY made by God we are??!!

As we wait for her to make her grand entrance, rest assured that we will post all the pertinent details and pictures when the time comes!!

We had an awesome morning! We went for the 20 week ultrasound and got to see lots of Little One.

The baby was wiggling around for us and we got to watch as the ultrasound tech measured…just about everything. We saw arms, legs, fingers, toes, nostrils, lips, stomach, heart, etc. The baby is growing right along (11 oz. and counting)…right on target for our Jan. 31 due date.

Seeing the heart was really neat! They took lots of pics and let us listen in.

After all that, it was time for the view everyone has been waiting for. At first, the baby had crossed legs and was a little uncooperative (I like to think it was modesty:^), but the tech jiggled my abdomen vigorously and the baby finally cooperated.

…it would appear that we are being blessed with a little girl! But please no pink!!!

We all know that this is not a guarantee, but we didn’t see anything that looked remotely like a little boy and given the way I’m carrying, I feel fairly confident that Coco is a nickname we can keep around a little longer. Almost everyone I’ve seen who had a boy carries a basketball-like bump to the front, while girls tend to cause more general rounding all around the middle (which is how I’m growing). Anyway, I guess we’ll know for sure in a few months.

We’re getting ready for our big trip to Europe. I’m a little stressed and generally exhausted by all the preparations, and not looking forward to the long trip, but I know it’ll be a great experience. We’re blessed to be able to go and I am looking forward to sharing about how Coco and I fared 🙂

Here is a link to all of the ultrasound pictures of the baby.

[Update 2012-12-26 13:51:55] Changed links to point to flickr

Little One and I had a good check-up on Tuesday.  The heartbeat was strong and Dr. Royal was pleased with "our" progress.  It was another short visit, just the basics.  I am REALLY looking forward to the big ultrasound, which is scheduled for Monday, September 11 (we leave the next day for our trip to Serbia).  I'll be just about 20 weeks and if Little One is cooperative, we should know whether or not to get the camo crib stuff from Cabela's :^)

On another note, I've been meaning to let everyone know about the unique nickname the baby has acquired.  I went along on a youth retreat a few weeks ago. We were talking about baby names in the van and Todd (the youth pastor) and Sheila (one of the youth workers) were "helping" with name suggestions.  After obscure bible names, they started looking to personal license plates and road signs for inspiration.  Coco came from a plate and Moomaw came from the name of a lake in Virginia, so Coco Moomaw…Coco for short…has become an unofficial  nickname.  It's kinda cute, though for Matt and my dad, the cuteness was short-lived. Oh well, if we find out Isaac is on the way, Coco can be forgotten:^)  Then again, if we're having a girl…

Today was another exciting day for Little One and I! We saw Dr. Royal this morning and everything seems to be going well. My bloodwork and stuff is all good and the little heartbeat was thumping away nicely!

Dr. Royal is super nice and easy to talk to, and she was really great about addressing my long list of questions…which is good since it's part of her job :^) My next appointment is the 29th, when I'll be about 18 weeks. If there's time between that appt. and Serbia, we may even get to do the "big" ultrasound to find out if Little One is Isaac or Rebekah/Lydia (there's some debate about the girl name). If not, that will be one of the first things to look forward to when we get back!