Bath Time

Reid loves bath time and it always puts him in a good mood. Anytime that he is a little bit grumpy or having a hard time we just give him a bath and he becomes the happy baby that we all love right away. He is so cute and just so much fun!

Reid is 2 months

Reid is 2 months! I can't believe that 2 months have already gone by. He is changing so much and seems to be getting bigger every day. He has been such a joy to have and is such a good baby. He is hitting all his milestones and is doing so well. He is getting more and more alert. He is so curious and loves to look around at everything around him. At 6 1/2 weeks he rolled over. I couldn't believe it since he is a bit early. He doesn't like tummy time very much but we get him to do it at least once a day and is getting so strong. He can hold his head up most of the time now but it does slump over a little bit when he gets tired. He is so expressive and loves to smile but I haven't been able to catch it on camera yet. He recognizes Wes and I more and more and follows our voices when we talk. We have been going out more now that he is a little bit older. He is sleeping so good now and is only waking up about once a night which is so much nicer. I know that we are just going to have more and more fun with him as he continues to grow and develop. We love to see him change and we enjoy his little personality.

He is the cutest thing that I have ever seen!
8 weeks

He loves his swing and sometimes I think he prefers it to us holding him. He always gets in the funniest positions so I fix him but he manages to slide back.

7 1/2 weeks

6 1/2 weeks

6 weeks

4 weeks and the first time he is doing tummy time

It is amazing how much he is grown and how fat he is getting!

Family and Newborn Pictures

We recently went and got some pictures taken because I really wanted newborn pictures taken of Reid and I blinked and he was a month old already. I finally made an appointment and we got them done. Reid was 5 1/2 weeks old at the time and he did great! He was alert the whole time and was so good. He only cried once and I think that he loved all the attention. It was really enjoyable and I was so happy with how they turned out.

Our first family picture and everytime I look at it I want to cry a little. I am seriously the luckiest girl alive. I could not be any happier!
He was holding his head up. I have no idea how he was doing it but it makes for the cutest picture!

These pics with his dad just melt my heart

Nursing

This whole nursing thing has probably been the hardest thing that I have ever done (besides giving birth). I didn't expect it to be nearly this difficult and frustrating. I thought it would be natural and the baby would know what to do. SO WRONG!! I know that I have already talked about Reid's problems with nursing but I just had to write about again because it has taken over my life and tha'ts pretty much all I think about now. Reid has had such a hard time latching on, mainly due to his being so early. We have been continuing to work with Terry (the lactation consultant) and after much fighting we got him to latch on a few days ago. I was so happy but also physically and emotionally exhausted from fighting with my 1 month old. Even though it was really hard and frustrating I kept trying and a few days later all my hard work paid off. He has been latching on with no problem now and I haven't had to use the nipple sheild once. I am so grateful that I kept going and didn't give up. He is so worth it and I could not be happier. Now what's next to worry about?!

4th of July

This 4th of July was a little different than previous ones because we have Reid with us now. Since he was only 4 weeks old we didn't want to go anywhere so we went over to my parents house to hang out with just the family. My sister and her kids came over and my mom was still in town. My mom made some dinner and we did some swimming. Later, we went up on my parents balcony and watched the fireworks. It was the perfect way to spend the holiday without having to go anywhere.

I actually got to go swimming for a little bit because my mom watched Reid for me.

We took Reid in the slightly warm spa but he didn't like it very much. I think that it was still a bit cold for him. He loves his baths so I think we will just stick with those for a while.

Wes can't wait for hime to get bigger and go swimming for real.

Reid is 1 month

Reid is 1 month old today! I can't believe it has already been a month. It is weird because it feels like it has been the longest and shortest month of my life. It is hard to even remember life without him but it also feels like yesterday when we brought him home. He has been such a joy to have. He is such a good baby that only cries when he is hungry. We had a bit of a hard time after we brought him home. He was jaundice and it peaked around day 7. At that time he stopped eating. It was really scary and I didn't know what to do. I called Terry, the lactation consultant that I met in the hospital, in a panic. She told me to feed him with a dropper and then to just go with a bottle. I had to start pumping around the clock and try to get as much milk in him as possible. He wouldn't really eat a lot so we had to try and feed him every 1 to 2 hours. The doctor was pretty concerned because he wasn't gaining weight and lost 11 oz from when he was born. We continued to do our best and met with both the doctor and Terry a few times a week. Eventually he gained .5 oz and I was thrilled. After a few more days he started gaining weight and hasn't stopped. He is now 8lbs 2oz. I could not be a happier mom!

He is starting to be way more active and alert. He loves to look around and just stares at us when we are holding him. He actually fixes his gaze on us and follows our face when we move around.
He loves to sleep with his hands in his face.

He is so cute!!!!!

Reid is still working on nursing. I am trying to nurse him as much as possible but he still gets frustrated and will only nurse with the nipple sheild. We see Terry at least a few times a week still to work on him but I see improvement everyday. I'm hoping that he will be nursing exclusively by the time he is 3 months. I am very grateful that I have tons of milk so that I haven't had to give him any formula. Wes has been home the past few weeks so it has really helped. I actually get some sleep because he takes over a few times during the night. I am so blessed and so happy.

Reid Wesley Llewellyn

Early on Monday, June 7th, at 1:00 am my water broke. I was having some back pain earlier that day but nothing that I even remotely thought would be labor. I was laying on the couch and got up to go to bed so I was brushing my teeth when there was a big gush. Thankfully Wes was not working that night and he was there to help. It shocked me because my due date was not until July 2nd. Contractions started right after that and Wes timed them and they were about a minute apart. Knowing that we started to move faster and since I had not packed for the hospital yet we ran through the house and threw stuff in a bag. Wes grabbed the car seat and then we went to the hospital. We got there about 2:00 am and they told me I was dialated to 3 cm. They moved me into labor and delivery where I waited a couple of miserable hours in lots of pain and then they gave me the epidural. It was AMAZING!!! I was so happy to get that and then they also told me that I was now dialated to 4 cm. After that I got a little bit of rest and then they came back in a couple more hours and they told me I was now dialated to 10 cm. I progressed really fast. We were then taken to the delivery room and had me push. After about an hour and a half of pushing he came! It was 10:46 am and I was so excited that he was finally here. I could not believe how amazing he was and that he was mine. Also another big surprise was that he had red hair. I love red heads and was so excited to see that he had it.

Right after delivery and they measured him at 6 lbs, 11 oz, and 20 in. Pretty big for being 4 weeks early. He also had no trouble breathing which was a big worry for me when we went to the hospital so I was thrilled when he let off a big strong cry.

I couldn't take my eyes off him.

He looks just like his dad.

The most precious picture ever!!! After he was born we went to recovery where we had to stay for 48 hours because he was early and he was having trouble regulating his blood sugar. That was a little bit scary because all he wanted to do was sleep and eating was not something he was even remotely interested in. We had to use an eye dropper to get some food into him and force him to eat. Finally after a few times of doing this his blood sugar regulated. The rest of the time he still had trouble latching on but right before we were discharged he kind of got the hang of it and my milk came in which made it a little easier. It is something we are still working on but he gets better every day.

We finally got to come home!!!!! He was so cute in his car seat. The outfit that I brought for him was so big but he's still so cute.

The next day we had a doctor's appointment right away because he was early and because he was a little bit jaundice. The hospital told me to get an appt. right away to have it checked out. It turned out that he was fine and it is starting to flush out.

After the doctor's appointment we decided to go on a walk with him so he could get a little sun to help that jaundice. He loved it and it is now a daily ritual to get out of the house for a little bit. Wes and I could not be any happier with our little boy. He is truly amazing and I am stunned that he is mine! We have been enjoying every minute with him. I can't wait to a lifetime of him and watching him grow.