Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!  We hope everyone enjoys this wonderful holiday, and don't forget the reason for the season!

A New Fave Blog

I just have to share this with anyone out there who actually looks at my blog.  I love to redo furniture, I'm just not that great at it (yet).  But this blog is AWESOME for doing a lot of step-by-step and great do-it-yourself insider tips.  ENJOY!!!

Happy Halloween!

And again, I am so far behind on this, it really is ridiculous. :)  Jensen is 9 months 2 weeks old...where has the time gone?!  He is crawling like a mad man, pulling up on everything, cruising everywhere, and even just standing around hanging out (without holding on to anything!!).  I feel it won't be much longer before he starts walking (and what little sanity I have left will be out the window!)

He currently has 3 bottom teeth and the top 2 front ones are starting to try to come through...you can see one right on the verge of breaking through and the other is very, very swollen and red.  He eats everything you put in front of him...and I mean everything!  He took all of my rutabaga's off of my plate the other day and chose to eat them over his cheeto-like snacks.  He is definitely my child! :)

Ryan is loving 2nd grade at his new school...I am so glad that we opted to move schools this year.  We have ended up with such a wonderful teacher and I thank God every day for her...she has been great, and Ryan really loves her too.  He wrote her a note over the weekend just to tell her she was "greatest teacher ever".  How sweet?!

Tonight is Halloween, and we went to our church for "Trunk-or-Treat".  We had several trunks to treat out of, grilled hot dogs, as well as a huge inflatable slide and sumo wrestling.  Ha!  Ryan had a blast and got loads of candy and Jensen just hung out in his stroller and watched everything that was going on.  Here are a few pics from tonight...Enjoy!

**Note** for some reason,Blogger is uploading my pictures sideways.  I'm sorry. :)

9-11 We Will Never Forget

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 

2 Chronicles 7:14

Let's Play Catch Up!

Wow!  I am seriously horrible at keeping up with this thing, aren't I?  Well, let's play a little catch up to let you all know what's going on in the Wooten house.

Jensen is 7 months 2 weeks old...I can't believe it!  It seems like I was just getting out of the hospital with him, and now here we are over half-way to his first birthday.  He has 2 teeth on the bottom, and I think he's working pretty hard at getting the top 2 as well...he sure is one grumpy baby sometimes!  He has been crawling since early July, so about 5.5-6 months old.  Now he pulls up on any and everything, and he's starting to walk along beside the couch, and he loves to hold someones hands and "walk" around...he really tip-toes :)He is working on his balance...he can stand about 2-3 seconds on his own before he plops down on his behind.

Monday was his first day of daycare.  He's doing really great, except he doesn't want to take their bottles.  The daycare I put him in will supply his formula and bottles which is great, but I'm going to have to send my own if he won't take theirs.  So, we're on day 3, and he's doing better, but still not loving it.  But he seems to be great other than that aspect.  He really is such a "people person" and he does great playing on his own too.  He's not one to really enjoy being tied down though...now that he has figured out his freedom in crawling/exploring, there's no stopping him!


Ryan started 2nd grade last week...I can't believe he is that old already!  We moved him to a different school this year since his regular school didn't meet AYP standards (although most in New Hanover Co didn't).  So far, it seems to be going great.  He's gotten S+'s every day, and if you know us, you know that's a big deal lately! :)  The new school requires uniforms; solid navy, blue, red or white polo with khaki or navy flat front pants/shorts.  I love it!  There is no longer the fight in the morning about what to wear...now its "what color shirt with what color pants" :)  Ryan's adjusting to it...he says it makes him feel like he's going to church every day.  Maybe I should just spruce up what he has to wear to church every Sunday (like a suit or something) and he'll appreciate those polos a little more! haha. 

I'll end with a couple of recent pics from Ryan's 7th birthday.  Enjoy!

Ryan's birthday present from my mom and Ronald...a pool!

Casey and I skating with Ryan at his birthday party at Scooter's

Ryan and Daddy cheesin' it

And, by far, the cutest pirate there!!!

Photo Book

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Quick Update, Mostly Pics

First time meeting big brother, Ryan

First time meeting Papa

One month

Two months, waiting for Mommy to get ready for church

Two months, Ryan loves to feed me

Two months, Ryan loves to snuggle and watch cartoons in Mommy & Daddy's bed

2.5 months, a little brotherly love

Just hanging out with my bro

Best buds already

Days away from 3 months, hanging out at one of Ryan's tball games

6 days shy of 3 months, first night I rolled over from tummy to back in my crib

3 months, 1 week.  First Easter!

Figuring out my "cat toy" ball that the Easter Bunny brought me!

3 months...I love bath time!!!

Wow!  I can't believe it's been 3 months already!  As of his 2 month appointment, Jensen weighed 12.5 lbs...I'm pretty sure he is well past that now!  We have just had to move him up to 3-6 month clothes, the 3 month stuff was getting way too tight!

Jensen seems to have always been a part of our family, yet it seems like he was just born...funny how life works out like that, huh?  He is absolutely such a happy baby.  The only time he isn't happy is when he has a tummy ache, which happens daily, but its only for a little while, then he's back to his smiley self again.  We just started putting rice cereal in his bottles this week...he's now up to 6 ounces of formula (sometimes with the rice cereal) every 3-4 hours.  He is pretty much sleeping through the night.  Sometimes we get up once to eat, depending on when the last bottle was before bed.  

His smile is infectious!  It's such a big smile...I haven't been able to catch a really great one yet in a pic, but I'm sure I will.  He talks non-stop and it's the cutest sound I've ever heard! :) He is already scooting all over the place, especially in his crib at night.  I can lay him down at one end of the crib, and by morning, he is at the other end, usually facing the opposite direction (or he has rolled over to his back and gets stuck there like a turtle).  I'm thinking that I'll start feeding him the rice cereal with a spoon within the next week or so.  That's about all of the update I have for now, thanks for checking in!!

Introducing Jensen Miles!

Jensen made his arrival on January 18th, 2011 at 7:57 am weighing in at 7 lbs and 20 inches long.  Surgery went pretty good.  I started throwing up at the very beginning...the spinal block meds made my BP drop and my pulse race, which in turn made me very nauseous.  That got straightened out and then Jensen was here! :)
The Dr said it was a good think I opted for the repeat c-section because his cord was wrapped twice around him and that could have been an issue if I had labored.  Good call! :)  After he was delivered, they gave me pitocin to help everything contract back down like its supposed to. The dosage is very high, and I had a hard time with it.  They said it was a normal response, but it made me sick again (vomiting) and I have a very good idea of what a heart attack feels like.  It seemed like there was an elephant sitting on my chest...I couldn't get a good breath in, but again, they said it was normal and just dropped the dosage a little bit.  Everything from there was kind of a blur.  I went to recovery for a while, then off to my room.  We had a lot of visitors, I don't really remember who all came that first day, I was still pretty sick and throwing up throughout the day, plus I also have the rare reaction to one of the meds from the spinal block that causes extreme itching.  I pretty much felt like I was going to scratch my face off, it was horrible.  That finally went away after the 2nd or 3rd day.  I attempted breast feeding while in the hospital, but very quickly gave up on it as soon as we came home.  He wasn't having a lot of trouble with it, but he wasn't latching just right, which was causing me a lot of pain and bruising, and I just couldn't stand the thought of doing it anymore.  He has done much better on the formula anyways, it seems he's getting more and is much happier because of it. :)  Then my milk never really came in either, so it all worked out for the best that I wimped out. :)

Now that we've been home, everything has gone pretty well.  I had a lot of discomfort from the surgery for the first 2 weeks, but that has all subsided.  I just had my 4 week post-partum check up and was given the all clear to return to a normal life (however normal it gets with 2 kids). haha.  I was very excited to see that I have lost 16 lbs since delivery, so that's all the weight I gained and then some...yay!!!  Casey and I are talking about trying p90x...I'm not certain I can do it, but I've got a lot of weight that I want to lose to get back to where I used to be and I know that, if I can stick it out with the program, it'll come off.  We shall see! :)

Currently, Jensen is a sick little boy.  I took him to the doctor on Wednesday afternoon for wheezing and a horrible cough, and he has RSV.  It seems likes he's on the mend, but I think it'll be a while before he's all better.  We're doing breathing treatments every 4 hours and that seems to be helping.  Today, Ryan has a fever, vomiting and diarrhea...it seems this whole house has been sick ever since the baby got here!  Casey had a stomach bug 2 weeks ago, and has had a cold throughout the whole thing too.  I'm the only one who has stayed healthy, so far.  I feel like I might just be biding my time. :(

Modern Baby Boy Birth Announcement

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Wow!!  I can't believe he's already a month old!!!!

Way Behind!

**NOTE:  This was a post that I started way back and never actually posted, so here it is **


Wow, I have gotten very, very behind on this!  I apologize for that, and I will go ahead and apologize in advance because I'm sure I'll be even further behind on updating once Jensen gets here.

Quick recap:
The pregnancy has gone great.  No major problems, concerns, etc.  No swelling, eclampsia, high blood pressure...nothing.  It has been by far a very uneventful pregnancy.  Not that I'm complaining :)

January 7th was my last day of work.  I opted to take an extra week so that I could finish up things around the nursery and just get myself physically and mentally prepared for what was coming.  Worked out great, since on January 10th, it snowed around here and schools ended up being closed the 10th-12th, so I would have been taking those days to be home with Ryan anyways.  I didn't get as much accomplished during those days home because, of course, we needed to play in the snow as much as possible.  :)