Cute things about Isaac

1. Even if he has just eaten, he will peck at my chest, moving around and over and up and down, as if he thinks if he just moves enough, he will eventually find that place that milk comes from.
2. If he falls asleep while eating and I put him up on my shoulder to burp him, he will wake up and look around with wide eyes like, “Who, me? Asleep?”
3. His little 50th percentile head on his 90th percentile body.
4. He’s so cuddly when he’s tired—he’ll just lean into me and fall asleep.
5. He crosses his eyes when he’s going to the bathroom.
6. He takes his (reflux) medicine so well! The nurse gave him an oral vaccine and was surprised when Isaac stopped crying when she gave it to him instead of starting to cry like most kids. He must like anything going down his throat...
7. If he’s crying in the car, the surefire way to calm him down is to play Coldplay’s Viva La Vida.
8. He looks like he’s getting dimples, making his big smile even cuter!
9. His coos.
10. If Blake talks next to Isaac’s head while he’s eating, Isaac will stop eating and his eyes will get wide and dart around, looking for Dad.
11. When we’re on a walk, Isaac will sleep through an ambulance but when we get home and I open the door, he wakes right up (dang...).
12. He always stretches after he eats. He will put his hands up in the air and stick his bum out and cross his legs Indian style. If you pick him up, mid-stretch, he will stay in this position, crossed legs and all. I call him baby Buddha.
13. He can wiggle his way into any position he desires, when I hold him and he is trying to find the perfect sleeping arrangement.

Last week, Isaac got 5 vaccines at his 2 month checkup. 4 of them were shots, so the pediatrician recommended that I give Isaac a dose of children’s Tylenol when I got home. I did so and it was awesome! He slept 5 hours straight that night. Which reminded me of going to Walmart one day with Isaac. One of the salesladies came up to me and started stroking Isaac, which made me nervous but that’s beside the point. She told me that she had a two-year old and the only way she could get him to sleep was by giving him children’s Tylenol! This is why my brother Chris and I decided you should have to take a test before you have children.

That’s ok because I could just hear the clucks of disapproval about my parenting skills this morning. Isaac and I went out for a morning walk, like we usually do. I, however, am used to Utah weather in which you can tell it’s going to rain hours before it actually does (if it really does come down at all). Anyway, we were a mile away from home when it started to rain. This was no sprinkle—it was an all out storm! Two good things: it only poured half the way home, and Isaac slept through the whole thing.

Whoops! If you can't tell, we are wet...

Moving and blessing

Wow, August has been good to us! We moved, hooray, to a two bedroom luxury apartment. Well, to us it is living high-- central air, washer and dryer, dishwasher, plus extra storage in the basement. We didn't think we'd ever upgrade so fast, especially when we're not making any money to pay for it...It’s a little ‘80s with brown countertops and forest green carpet, but we love it.

Blake’s parents were nice to come out and help us move. We felt bad that they worked so hard on their vacation but we couldn’t have done it without them. We also had help from Kevin, Nick, and Elliott from church. Thanks, guys!

And Isaac was finally blessed in church on August 3. He scared me to death the night before because I woke up and he had slept 5 ½ hours all on his own in his car seat! Maybe he’ll shock me again some day. We got to church 20 minutes early so that I could feed Isaac there. That was my plan so that he would be happy during his blessing. It worked like a charm! No crying whatsoever. Blake said he even cooed during the blessing. We were happy to have so many family members here for the baby blessing: Kent, Karen, Todd, Jeanette, and Bekah. We all partied the day before at the Missouri Botanical Gardens, the arch, the Soulard farmer’s market, and the Cathedral of the Basilica. Everyone left on Sunday except Bekah.

On Monday, Bekah and I had fun at the Science Museum, the St. Louis Bread Company, Union Station, and Crate and Barrel. It was fun but weird to not have her five kids around! Bekah brought me the cutest quilt ever for Isaac. It is called “Mama’s Boy” and there is a picture below. I don’t know where she ever found the time. I have the best family! I wish everyone could have come to visit.

Our new place

Bekah and Marie at the Botanical Gardens

"Mama's Boy" quilt, made by Bekah. It's so cute!

This is how good Isaac's second time in the stroller went...once we walked 3 blocks to Forest Park, he decided he wanted to be held so he could fall asleep!

Acid Reflux

Well, if we weren’t novices, we would have figured out a lot sooner that Isaac’s frequent crying, arching his back, spitting up, feeding frenzies, etc. all pointed to acid reflux. But we finally figured it out and started him on meds at his one month checkup.

He seems to cry less and sleep better now. Lots of days are set backs but as a general trend, I think he’s getting better. It’s about time too—we were seriously doubting whether Isaac would have any siblings. And it’s hard to feel sorry for yourself and how you have to listen to all the crying when you know that your baby is crying because he is in pain. I should just feel sorry for him, right? But anyway, it’s been really hard but cross your fingers that he is just going to get better and better.

It also makes me sad that he has had reflux because he eats a lot to put out the fire in his throat, which has made him gain tons of weight! My little boy is already growing too fast! Look at how much bigger he is...

Some pictures

Our little contortionist...
Isaac looks like a bird when he’s ready to eat! (or like he’s smooching)


I love this picture! It was taken at about a week old. Hi-yah!

Don’t you love how newborns sleep? And sad, how a month later, Isaac fills out that onesie...

What's in a name?

We had a couple names but decided Isaac was it. Isaac means “he laugheth”. He is named after the biblical Isaac, the firstborn of Sarah who was promised to her after her long wait for children. I feel like Isaac was promised to me in the temple. Blake and I had differing opinions about when we should start having kids. We talked about it and finally compromised that we could start having kids after Blake’s first year of medical school. When I started working after graduating, I just felt wrong about going to work. I wanted to be at home, having babies! I had a really hard time with it and would get particularly stressed about it on Sunday nights when I knew the next day was Monday and I had 5 long days of work ahead of me. So I prayed a lot about if our decision was right. Blake and I decided when we went to the temple that we would make it the focus of our prayers. While I was there in the celestial room, I just had an overwhelming feeling that the right time for us to have kids was after Blake’s first year of medical school. I particularly felt like we would have our first baby in June 2008.

My dates were off when we went to the doctor for the first time—I could have been due as soon as May 2. But the doctor said I looked like I was due at the end of May and set us up for an ultrasound, which confirmed that the due date was June 1. I had an additional confirmation as the technician told us the due date that this was the right time and this baby was meant for us!

His middle name is Joseph, after his father Blake Joseph, his maternal grandfather John Joseph, and his paternal grandfather, Kent Joseph.

Nicknames: Ike, Sir Isaac (Poor guy is doomed to be teased whenever there is that lesson about the apple and gravity in science class... But I was at the pediatricians the other day and they said they had another patient with the exact same name. So we are not the only mean parents subjecting their kid to potential nerd-dom.), Is (pronounced eyes, after our little friend Jillian who can’t quite get the –aac in.)

We join the super cool blogging crowd...

We finally did it! We started a blog so we can keep in touch with all of our friends and family across the states. Well, it’s mostly to update everyone on our fast-growing little boy because that’s who everyone is interested in. Who cares about Blake and Marie? Nowadays it’s all about Isaac!

So here’s a quick summary so far:

The due date was June 1. Well, Blake and I did all the tricks you hear about but all in vain. The doc didn’t want to go more than a week overdue so we were induced on June 8. I was given pitocin and a sleeping pill at 10 PM. I just had the same old contractions I had felt for a month so they kept upping the dose. Finally at 10:30 AM my water broke. I felt a pop and a gush and saw some blood. Later when I saw Isaac there was a big old scab on his head so I think that when my water broke his head hit something. Anyway, after that I had strong contractions like 2 minutes apart for an hour and a half. Then at noon there were no breaks and they were really strong. I asked for an epidural and during the administration of it 15-30 minutes later I really felt like pushing. They checked me after the epidural and sure enough, I was dilated to 10 cm and ready to push. I had started last night at 2 cm, so I went really fast—2 to 10 in two hours! I started pushing at 1 PM and at 2 PM, he still hadn’t moved from a -2 station. I was starting to get really swollen and they thought that my tailbone was in the way of his head. The nurses called Dr. Hartman so he came in at 3 PM and said that we needed to do a C-section or he could try forceps. He couldn’t guarantee a healthy baby with forceps—there was a 20% chance that something would happen. We opted for a C-section. So he was born at 3:29 PM on June 9 by C-section. Talk about everything happening exactly the opposite way you had planned/wanted. But Blake and I are just happy that we have a healthy little boy.

He was 7 lbs 12 oz and 21 inches long. He was a long skinny guy.

We love Isaac so much! He is a beautiful baby. One of our blood tests showed that he was at a higher risk for Downs Syndrome, so we were a little apprehensive but he is perfect. We felt like he would be healthy because we had a family fast in January and we felt strongly that everything was ok. I believe in the power of fasting and prayer for a common cause—I know that Isaac was blessed by the faith of our families.

I know, I’m his mom, but I think he’s adorable!

I’ve never been so miserable than after that C-section! Hopefully I won’t have to do that again...

He looks just like his daddy!