Catching Up With The Ruckers

Well it has been a while since I have taken the time to write on the blog. Things have just been a little crazy. I don't even know where to begin. So we have invaded my parents house. We have been living here for the past 6 or 7 weeks now. (I know my parents are probably SO ready to get rid of us) But don't worry that will happen soon. We are in the middle of moving into our new house and we decided it would just be easier to stay here during the move. Last Saturday, all the Rucker family and Josh came over to help us paint the new house. It turned out great! All the rooms are done, except the upstairs bathroom. I know I will end up painting some more later on, but for those 2 rooms (Jesse's office and the play room) we haven't decided what we want to do exactly. Jesse has turned into SUPER husband and started moving all the furniture over and get everything set up. He isn't letting me do anything because of my back. We don't want to make it worse. We are hoping to have everything moved by the end of the week and then thats when I will come to help put everything where its suppose to go. Jesse knows better than to decorate without me. hehe! I'm VERY picky. I can't wait until everything is all set up and we are completely moved in! The house is so nice. The dogs LOVE their new backyard and Jesse loves the pool!

As for other news, the epidural I talked about in the last post seemed to help somewhat for my endometriosis pain. Its been alot better this month. But my back had seriously started hurting so bad. I had never been in so much pain in my life. My back hurt my whole pregnancy and they thought he was sitting on my sciatic nerve. We all thought it would go away when I had him but it didn't and it continued to get worse. The pain specialist did an MRI on my back and pelvis. They found that I still had endometriosis. Which means when I had my surgery a month ago. My doctor must not have gotten all of it or it grew back very quickly. So that sucks. They also found that I have 2 bulged discs in my lower back. My L4 and L5. The plan for that, is 1 epidural tomorrow, 1 next Tuesday (to numb and help with the pain) and then they will begin doing decompressions to try and get those discs back into the right place and not as bulged. So I have my first one tomorrow, I am REALLY hoping that it helps. My back kills all the time and I can't stand for a long period of time. I am not suppose to lift anything at all which doesn't work out to well when you have a kid...especially a chunker of kid. So I guess we will see tomorrow if I get any relief. Lets hope this works.

As for Braxton, he is now a little over 6 MONTHS OLD. I can't believe that he's 1/2 a year old. Man, does time fly.
His current stats:
Weight: 18 Lbs. 3 Oz.
Length: 26.5 In.
Head Size: 47.5 cm.
So Braxton sleeps ALL the time. I mean I swear he is barely awake. He will only stay up for maybe 1 1/2 hours and then he will go back to sleep. Its kinda hard to get him on a schedule when all he does is sleep. But even though he sleeps all day... he still sleeps through the whole night.(Now remember, even though he's the size of a regular 6 month old... he still does things by his corrected age which is 3 1/2 months old) He can now hold his head up by himself and he is loving tummy time more and more. He rolled over for the first time August 30th. He "talks" all the time and loves to laugh. He has 2 different laughs. His real laugh and a fake cough like laugh. Its so funny. He smiles all the time especially for GiGi (My Gram) Every time she comes into the house he just laughs and smiles and talks to her. He could be in the middle of screaming and he would stop just for her. He loves his Grandma GiGi. He has begun drooling... all the time, ALOT! So now he has to wear bibs constantly. I don't think he is getting teeth just yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened soon. Overall, Braxton is such a good baby. He gets cuter and cuter by the day! Andrew (my 6 yr old nephew) was over one day and he goes "Why is Braxton so cute?" and I said, "What do you mean?" and he goes "Why is Braxton so cute? He is so much cuter than all the other babies." Is that not the cutest thing ever??? I think he is starting to look a little different, maybe a little more like me! Yay! Some of Braxton's favorite things to do right now are: laugh, talk and smile at his "ceiling friends", chew on EVERYTHING, play with toys, watch TV (he LOVES tv...wonder who he gets that from), kick magazines and rip out the pages, tummy time, rolling over, taking baths, laying on his changing table and his new thing... sucking his thumb (yeah, not too happy about that one)
Braxton sleeps with his eyes open. Its kinda creepy actually, they're not even rolled back into his head so if you looked at him you would think he's awake. When he does wake up, he wakes up immediately and his eyes get so wide open he looks like a deer in the headlights. He is such a morning person. He never cries when he wakes up, around 6 I will just hear him moving in his bed and I look over and his eyes are wide open and he will give you a BIG smile! I'm kinda glad he's like that. It makes him too cute to get mad that you are being awakened early :-)

New Car...well actually, cars!!!!

So we caved in and decided to get a new car for me even though we had just bought one a year ago. Last year, we decided to get a small SUV because we knew we would be having kids soon (little did we know I would get pregnant the next month) We loved having the Equinox. It was the perfect size for me and everything, only problem it didn't have rear air. But the air was awesome you could feel it all the way in the trunk. But when we got Braxton home we quickly realized not only is his carseat rear facing but it sits up high and completely blocks the air from going back there. The poor kid would sweat every time we had to go somewhere in the heat here. So I didn't even go to look at the cars but Jesse came home with the one I really wanted, a new white Chevy Traverse. I love it! I'm still getting use to it because its a little bigger than my old car. but its perfect. It has 2 rows so we can fit our 6 kids in there. HAHA JUST KIDDING ( Jesse will kill me when he reads that) But there will be more room for the kids. Jesse (the haggler that he is) convinced them to give us a 2011 for the same price as a 2010, throw in an extended warranty for free and give us the auto start for free, which is your best friend if you live in Arizona.



Then a couple days later Jesse started considering trading in his truck for something else. Because he drives so far to work (basically to the airport everyday) and he will be driving even further once we move to Queen Creek next month, he thought why not get something with better gas mileage. So he began looking at cars, he first came home with a Chevy Malibu, which we both liked but it wasn't so roomy for the tall and bigger guys. So I said, why don't you get a Hyundai Sonata like Matt (my older brother) did. He's 6'8 and a big guy, so if he can fit in it and still have room then its a nice sized car. Only problem, Dave works at the Chapman Chevy dealership...We didn't think we would be able to get one, but then Jesse found out Chapman has a Hyundai dealership too. So Jesse traded in his truck and got a 2011 black Hyundai Sonata. Its a 4 door car with a HUGE trunk. He convinced them to basically throw in the navigation for super cheap. I told him he could keep his truck, I know how much he loved having a truck, but he says he wanted to to this and he wanted me to have the car I really wanted. Don't I have the best husband ever!



So yes, we both got new cars but actually our payments are going to be about the same as they were before if not cheaper, our insurance will go down and we will save SO MUCH money on gas. So much has been going on with us, but its mainly all good. New cars, we will be moving into our new house next month, Jesse's job is going great, I finally started going back to work more and plan to work my original schedule, I have started selling really cute hats that I order from this company in LA. I am still in the process of starting by custom baby accessory business. I can't wait to start doing that. For once, it seems like everything is going good for us, for once (knock on wood) Everything except my health. Ugh. That surgery I had 3 weeks ago did NOTHING. I am still in so much pain. I finally went to see a pain management doctor, who put me on some different medications to try and she is going to do a nerve block (kinda like an epidural but they don't go in as far)She said it will hopefully help with my back pain and she said with a lot of people it also helps with endometriosis pain and intersticial cystitis pain. This is basically my last option and I am PRAYING that it works. I have this procedure done this coming Thursday and I guess the put you under with the twilight sleep which isn't as strong as general anesthesia. So thats about it for us. Braxton is doing AWESOME! He's getting bigger and cuter by the day. I will write my blog post about him next!!!

5 MONTHS OLD

Braxton will be 5 months old tomorrow. 5 MONTHS can you believe it? Last time he was was measured was almost 2 weeks ago.
His stats:
16.3 lbs (50%tile for a 5 mo old)
25 in (25%tile )
45 cm head (above 95%tile)
He is off the charts for his corrected age of 2 1/2 months with all those stats
He is a completely different baby these days. He totally has a personality and he is in to EVERYTHING! He smiles ALL the time. He laughs constantly. He loves toys and kicking and chewing anything he can get his hands on. He likes looking at himself in the mirror and he already LOVES tv. (Gee, I wonder who he gets that from) It's crazy how quickly they grow up. We are working on getting him to lift that big noggin of his that's our big goal right now. (which they did the ultrasound on and everything is normal, they were a little concerned because of the size and the rate it was growing. I tried to tell them that me and Jesse have big heads) His stomach issues seem to be so much better since we started adding the rice cereal and upped his zantac. He sleeps from about 10:30pm-6:30am every night and then eats every 3-4 hrs during the day. He usually takes a long nap in the early morning and late afternoon but he does still sleep some between every feed. We are also working on getting him out of his carseat which seems to be the only place he us use to sleeping. He does like lying on his back more so when we go home (I'll explain that in a min) we will try making him sleep in his pack n play or crib. He learned to love the carseat because of his reflux.

So for the past week we have been living at my parent's house. I had surgery unexpectedly last friday, well it was unexpected, just a little sooner than I had imagined. I had my 4th laparoscopy for my endometriosis. My dr went in and lasered all my endometriosis out, cut out all my scar tissue he found and did a D&C because I had alot of internal bleeding. They are hopping this well help with all the problems and pain I have been having lately until we can get pregnant again. Looks like we will be having another kid a little sooner than we had planned but I'm hoping this helps with my pain until then. Ugh. Its been horrible. We have been staying here because I am not suppose lift Braxton for 2 weeks. I was doing ok for a couple days but now I am in pain again. So B has gotten A LOT of bonding time with Mimi and Papa especially Mimi. I don't know what I would have done with out her this week. She has basically taken care of him 24/7 and is going to have to help out a little longer than we expected. Looks like we will be staying here through the weekend for sure and maybe next week. I feel so bad for our dogs they have been neglected for like the past month. Jesse of course is doing well. Just working away and doing great at his job then comes home to take care of me and B. I don't know what I would do with out him. He is such an amazing husband! Anyways that's about it lately.

Braxton's Blessing

The Rucker Family - Jesse, Braxton & Mallory

Braxton in his blessing outfit

Marci & Asher (still in belly due Jan 14th) Kallie & Easton Me & Braxton = BFF's

So Sunday July 25th, 2010, we were finally able to bless Braxton. Jesse gave him such a special blessing. I had tears in my eyes the whole time, but they were tears of joy. We blessed him in my parents ward because we feel more at home in that ward. (The bishop of that ward was the bishop who married us) It was so nice to have all our family and friends there to support us.. especially because it was at 8 AM!!!! So thanks to all of you guys that came! We also had a little get together at my parents house with Krispy Creme donuts and Debbie's homemade cinnamon rolls... so yummy! It was nice being able to catch up with family... especially all of Jesse's extended family side since we don't get to seem them as often. I just can't get over what a special day this was. It meant so much to me and Jesse that we were finally able to bless him. It has been difficult with him in the hospital so long and then he wasn't suppose to go out in public for a long time... we have been wanting to do this forever. So thanks again to all of those family and friends who came to support us.

Newport Beach 2010

Braxton ready in his beach gear

Check out his new kicks for the beach

The Rucker Family at Newport Beach

B all bundled up at the beach.... it was REALLY cold!

What I do best.... Facebook/texting

B wearing Emma's crown. I just had to see what it would look like on him (he doesn't look too happy and neither wad Daddy)

Jesse and I after Dinner at PF Changs! Mmmmm

B on the car ride home... he did so well in the car both there and back!

So our Newport Beach trip was definitely a little different this year for a couple reasons. 1. We stayed in a different house and little further down than we normally do (Probably because we decided at the LAST minute to go to Newport this year, we were suppose to go to Utah). 2. We went in July instead of the end of June, so for once we weren't there on Jesse's Birthday. (We were there on Emma's instead) 3. This was our first vacation with a baby. We quickly learned that vacations with babies aren't really vacations at all. It's your normal life just in a different state. Don't get me wrong, it was still nice to get away to California for a week and get out of the heat, but it just wasn't the same. I think we made it to the beach a total of 2 or 3 times partly because of him and partly because of the cold weather, so I didn't get the tan I was hoping for. Boo. We did still got to hit up our fav restaurants, the outlets, my fav nail place, Irvine Spectrum, and all our fav places.

This year the OC Swap Meet was closed, but we still met with "The Baby Guy" and got some stuff for Braxton. We also talked to him about selling his products here in AZ and I think we are going ahead with it. I am trying to get everything ready and waiting on the fabric swatches. I already have a business license and company name "Posh Baby", I am just trying to work out all the details. I am really excited about this. I hope it does well... and if it doesn't, oh well. We still have our other jobs. I just thought it would be fun to do from home. Plus his stuff is SO cute! So we would be selling: infant/toddler carseat covers, highchair covers, shopping cart covers, lovies/blankets, hooded towels, 3-hr bags, travel changing pads, diaper/wipe travel cases, toddler/infant bibs ALL OF WHICH ARE CUSTOM!!! So once I get everything up and going I will let you know. So spread the word! If you have friends with babies or you have babies. They are also great baby shower/birthday presents.

Lastly, the first day we got there I was able to drive to LA with Braxton to go and meet up with two of my best friends, Dominique and Tara and their daughters, Everleigh and Aubree, that I hadn't seen since middle school over 10 years ago. It was so much fun catching with each other. Its crazy how much has changed, we're old and have kids now! Crazy! It was also fun cuz I got to meet Dom's fiance, who is an actor. His name is Cam Gigadet but you might know him as James from Twilight or The OC, etc... It's neat to be able to say I met a famous person! Here is a picture of us girls: Me, Dominique, Tara

4 Month Check-Up

Well first off, Jesse is FINALLY home! I got to pick him up from the airport on Friday! I have never been so glad to see anyone in my life! So the whole 2 weeks he was gone we kept bragging about how good of a baby B was... yeah, he came home to devil child! I think it was him just getting readjusted to our house and Jesse. He is back to normal now.

Anyways so Braxton had his 4 month Check up today. His stats are:
Weight: 15 lbs 5 oz (which is like over a lb from last week)
Length: 24 in
Head size: 43 cm (which is a cm bigger than last week)

Our pediatrician couldn't be more happy with Braxton. She says he is doing everything a "normal" 4 month old should be doing and technically his corrected age is a little over a month. He now coos, smiles, laughs, rolls over. He plays with toys, watches tv, the fan, lights and he even follows me with his eyes. He is OFF the growth charts for his "corrected age" and he is actually in the normal range for his "actual age" except I think his head size is a little higher. That was her only concern because his head is growing so rapidly and is so big (but is actually in proportion to his weight and length) I tried to tell her he comes from big heads on both sides of the family!!! But she is still going to keep an eye on it. They are thinking of switching how we thicken his formula so he gets a better consistency and doesn't get the extra calories of the rice cereal. It seriously takes me both arms to lift him in his carseat now. How sad is that! He gets his monitor downloaded at the end of the month and then it should be GONE FOREVER! yay! He will also be working with a physical therapist (because he was a preemie they have this early intervention program that comes to your house to evaluate and work with your child... its pretty neat) We met with them once and they are just having us do neck stretches with him since he tends to lay his head to one side and they don't want it to end up flat and have to wear a helmet to correct it.

Other news, we leave for Cali on Friday. I am excited and nervous at the same time. I have never traveled with a baby. I have no clue what it is going to be like. Is it even going to feel like vacation??? And 6 hrs in a car??? I pray he does well. At least he loves car rides. Maybe he will sleep the WHOLE way there. Ya, right! Anyways well I will post pics from Cali! Oh and his baby blessing is Sunday, July 25th,2010 at 8:00 AM. It is at the Page Ward which meets in the building off Guadalupe in between Higley and Recker. We will also be doing a little gathering with food at my parents house directly after! Call if you have questions 480-235-2227 or 602-284-7483

The Scorpion Queen

So I decided Saturday that I was going to take Braxton to church for the first time on Sunday to my parent's ward (since I am still staying with them) But after he slept in longer than normal (he's usually my alarm clock these days) I got him ready and partially fed... but 8:00 rolled around and he still wasn't done eating and I hadn't even gotten dressed let alone done my hair or make up. I just thought I would post a pic of him in his church outfit. He looks so cute!

So everyone is at church and I walk out of my "old" room and there is a scorpion in the hallway. I freaked. I mean I like get panic attacks, hyperventilate FREAK OUT. So let me give you a little background on me with bugs (of any kind)

1. When I lived on my own for the first time in Texas. I saw a spider... or maybe it was even a cricket. I was so scared I didn't know what to do, so I called my Dad ( who yes was living 3 states away in AZ) and asked him what I should do. His reply " I don't know, kill it with something" He goes there is nothing I can do about it. It took all I had to kill it.
2. At Junky Trunk, there was a huge cockroach in the backroom. I once again started freaking out and having a panic attack at the thought of getting close to it to kill it. So what do I do, put a trash can over it. Call Jesse and make him come all the way to the store to kill it. (keep in mind... this was only a couple months ago)
3. I was about to start some laundry and out of the corner of my eye I could see this huge black thing kinda floating right next to me, I knew it was a black widow (we get those at our house) I slammed the washer shut. Shut the laundry room door and prayed it was still in there until Jesse got home. Luckily it was, but even those scare him.
4. Any and ALL bugs inside or outside are killed my Jesse. I will NOT touch them and he is NOT allowed to kill them with anything belonging to me. Like my shoes, flip flops, notebooks etc... if he does, he gets yelled at.

So now you know the background... So there's a scorpion in the hallway about an inch long. I don't know what to do so I grab a plastic cup to cover it up with. The I just in vision in my head my parents cats batting at the cup and the scorpion going free. So then I grab my dad's sandal.. but then I keep thinking some how I will miss and it will get me. So I grab the kids stepping stool and smashed it wish it. picked up made sure it was smashed, left it there with a sticky note that said "Scorpion" I later found out it was still alive when my dad went to throw it away.

So hours later at 11:00 pm, Braxton is screaming cuz he's hungry. I get up to make him a bottle open my door and immediately feel a sharp pinch or stab to my foot. I thought I stepped on a nail or tack... so I look down, nothing there. I'm in so much pain so I look at my foot thinking it must be stuck in it, nothing there. I look directly in front of me and there is ANOTHER FREAKIN SCORPION! Same size and everything.( I bet it was out to get me for killing his friend.) I had never been in so much intense pain in my life. I couldn't even walk. I made it back to the bed grabbed my cell phone and called my parents (who were in their room across the house) I was beyond in pain I just kept grabbing on to my foot. It must have stung me either on the bottom or side of my pinky toe. I think my hysterical crying scared Braxton cuz he actually stopped crying. I took some benadryl just in case I was allergic and I happened to have some pain medicine anyways so took one of those and put a bag of frozen peas on it. My mom fed B for me so I could calm down. But my whole foot was tingling and numb, by 1:00am that sensation had gone all the way up to my mid thigh. I got scared so my parents called poison control. I guess they said that's normal. It can travel anywhere in your body through your blood stream. Even to the other side, your face, etc. anywhere. They said the initial pain should go away in a couple hours but the numbness and tingling could last a couple weeks. Sure enough I woke up this morning with it still numb and tingling. Its now only about up to my mid calf, so hopefully it keeps getting better. Its hard to walk though. It feels like I am stepping on pins and needles. So I try to stay off it, but that's hard with a baby. Luckily, my parents have been helping me. I now turn the lights on and look wherever I walk and wear flip flops constantly. I don't want to get stung again. I'm just glad we don't have scorpions at our house, but we do have black widows. I don't know which is worse. At least we have only found 1 black widow inside. My parents get scorpions all the time because of their citrus trees in the back yard. Ugh, and I guess the new house we are moving too gets some scorpions but not this bad.

Basically the moral of the story, go to church and maybe you won't get stung by a scorpion.

WE HAVE OUR OLD BABY BACK

So since seeing the GI doctor Friday. I feel like we have our old Braxton back. He doesn't really spit up anymore (except the time I forgot to put the rice cereal in his formula.... oops) He is not really fussy, its great! It seems like he has a schedule at night now. His really awake time is from 6-10pm and then he sleeps from 10:30-6am He is done that since Friday. Then he scarfs down 6 oz and most of the time goes back to sleep around 7:30 for another couple hours. Its great. Now I just need to get him on a schedule during the day. Have certain awake times and certain nap times. That's my next goal.

The Early Intervention people came to evaluate him yesterday. They are a state run program that come to your house and monitor his developmental skills. They said he was doing great. His only problem he loves his head to the left. That's how he lays, sleeps, sits in his car seat. If you try to move him to the other side he doesn't like it. I guess this isn't good cuz then their muscles get tight on the other side and there heads can become misshaped and if that happens he would have to wear one of those helmets to shape his head. So they gave us exercises to work with him. They also said we need to get him out of the habit of sleeping in his carseat. That is my goal when Jesse comes back cuz it is going to be hell. Although, his stomach has been better so he doesn't mind lying flat as much.

He saw his Apnea Mgmt doctor today. They weighed him... now keep in mind this doctor is at the same office as his GI doctor that he went to on Friday. They use the same exact scale. He know weighs 14 lbs. That means he gained 9 oz in less than a week. Holy Cow! Anyways well the GOOD NEWS s is he DIDN'T HAVE ONE SINGLE EPISODE the whole month of June! BAD NEWS because his more serious episode was at the end of May, they want to keep him on it 4 more weeks just to be safe. So looks like B will be hitting the beach wires and all. Hopefully, July will go just as good as June and then he will be machine free! Yay! Finally!!! As nice as it is going to be, its kinda scary at the same time. Since the day he was born he has NEVER once been without a monitor. So it will be a little nerve racking to know an alarm isn't going to sound if he stops breathing or his heart rate drops. But I guess if the rest of the normal world can do it, so can we.

I got his Bumbo chair today. He looks so cute in it! He's still a little to young to use it... he can't hold his head up the entire time sitting in it but he's getting close!


Jesse has now been gone for 5 WHOLE DAYS! I'm dying. Even though I am staying at my parents and they are helping me out, I still miss him SOOOOO much. I don't know how people have their husbands travel all the time. Like how did my Mom survive when my dad was traveling every other week basically. I couldn't do it. 1 more week until he is home. I can't wait. I send him pictures of Braxton every day and have him talk to him. We both just miss him so much and can't wait for him to come home but we know this is a great opportunity for him. So please let this week go by fast... then we will head to Cali in 2 weeks and get to spend some r&r as a family!!!!

So Much Going On.....

Let's see where should I begin... I guess in order and in case you don't want to read all of it. Here are Braxton's new stats
13 lbs 7 oz; 23.5 inches and his head is 43 cm.

So the past month or so Braxton has been the devil.... that's what we call him, our little devil. He has been so fussy, not sleeping at all, in pain, you name it. There were a couple days where I didn't even think I would survive it. No seriously, I mean I had mental breakdowns (and not just my normal ones hehe)But we made it through it.

Father's Day rolled around and we spent it down at the Rucker's so we could also celebrate Jesse's B-day. For father's day I got Jesse the Logitech Harmony Remote that he wanted. (everyone in my family has one... and we just bought one for his day for his birthday) It controls EVERYTHING! Its amazing. We love it! I can't believe we both got to celebrate our first Father's Day and Mother's Day this year. That's so crazy to me. We're getting old (ok I am getting old)

Next, I had my appointment with that new specialist in endometriosis. I really really liked him. I think I am going to keep going to him until its time to get prego again then I will have him recommend someone. He gave me all my different options. The best being just to have a hysterectomy and then I would have NO PAIN AT ALL... but that also means, I would have no more kids either. So not going down that route yet. I am going to try a couple different medicines while they give me meds to help with the pain. If those don't work my last options are surgery (again) or lupron (again). I actually prefer the surgery over the lupron. So hopefully something will start working and quick. My pain is getting worse day by day. I am beginning to not be able to handle it.

Then it was Jesse's Birthday. We actually went out the saturday before to celebrate because his b-day was on a week day. My parents babysat while we went to go see Robin Hood... such a good movie (from what I saw, I fell asleep. Not because it was bad but I was SO tired from the night before with B) Then we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner! Yumm. So on his actual birthday. I got him 2 cute shirts from Tilly's to hold him over until his real present gets here (its actually from me, my parents, his parents) He decided he wanted a really nice pair of eye glasses and found on good deal on these really cute Versace frames. We are just waiting for them to arrive.

I got Braxton in to see my sis-law's gastrointerologist that she loves. They were able to fit him in Friday. He didn't think anything was seriously wrong. So they upped his dosage of Zantac and now we give it to him 3 times a day. He's on the same formula but now we add rice cereal to make it thicker. It seems to be working. He was like a completely different baby this weekend. He slept for like EVER and was totally chill most of the time. It was awesome Umm the dr did call back because he was worried... a month ago his head was 38 cm and this time it was 43 cm. Which I guess is alot to grow in one month. They said either person could have measured it wrong or it could just be him catching up from being preemie, but he's having my pediatrician check on it. I guess I should have mentioned that both his father and I have HUGE noggins!

So today Jesse left for Ohio for 2 WHOLE weeks... I already miss him. And I already felt like I was going crazy without his help! I am staying at my parents house while he's gone 1. Because I get scared sleeping at my house by myself, especially with a baby now 2. My mom already babysits him while I work anyways this will just make it easier 3. They said they would help me out more so I could catch up on some rest. Which I definitely need! It hasn't even been 24 hours and I hate not having Jesse here. This is totally gonna suck. Then he informed me that they are going to be sending him to Cleveland more often, yay (not). Oh well I am happy and excited for him and his promotion. But HURRY HOME!

So thats about it... oh yeah, my best friend Marci just found out she is 12 weeks pregnant! She was basically the only one out of our group who wasn't prego when we all were. So I am SOOOOOO excited (and so is she) We both think it is going to be a girl but she finds out for sure at the end of July!!!!

Braxton's Photoshoot- 3 Months

Photos by Lisa Marie Potter
www.potterazzi.net
www.potterazzi.blogspot.com

Thanks Aimee, for giving us such a wonderful gift! Your friend did such an amazing job and we LOVE LOVE LOVE the photos!!!!

3 Months

I feel like I have been blogging too much... so for those of you who read these and get bored. I'm sorry.

Braxton is 3 months old ... or 2 weeks(corrected) He now weighs 12 lbs 2 oz, 22 in long and his head is 41 cm. They just switched his formula to a hypoallergenic one in hopes to help alleviate his stomach pains. It seems to be working, only problem now its seems to be going RIGHT through him, if you know what I mean. So hopefully they can figure out which formula will be best for him. I feel so bad when his tummy hurts and there is nothing I can do to help it. His sleeping has been off lately... probably due to the fact he was in pain all the time. We are hoping he will get back on schedule soon and out of his carseat. That's like the only place he will sleep. Weird I know. We want to switch him into the cradle that Jesse's Dad made for us. It is amazing. I can't believe he did it all by hand. It is perfect.


Last Saturday we had our first pictures of Braxton taken. It was Aimee's gift to us. She had her friend Lisa Marie do them. Although, he cried and was fussy the first hour of the shoot, I think we got some really good pictures. I hope they are super cute. It was a little harder to do some of the "newborn" poses cuz he's so much older now. But once he finally calmed down, he let us put him in whatever positions and outfits we wanted. I can't wait to see what they look like. As soon as we get them we will post them.

So thats about it lately. I found a new doctor who specializes in endometriosis. I go to see him on the 22nd. I have been in so much pain lately, I can't stand it. It is so hard to take a care of a baby and be in that much pain 24/7. All I do is cry at night. I am really hoping that he will be able to help me out in some way. Last night was Glee's season finale. I really think I am going to go into a deep depression the next couple months until it starts back up again. Well, at least my fav show will be coming back on. Jesse's ended for good. No more 24. And yes, he still wants to name one of our kids Jack Bauer. Although, I can't say much cuz I want to name one Finn! hehe! Anyways well thats all... be checking back for the post of Braxton's baby pics!!!! Love you all

Our Lives in a Nutshell

So here is a little update on everyone....

JESSE
Jesse finished this semester in school with good grades! He is debating whether to take some online classes this summer or just start back up again next fall. He continues to work for Dish1Up selling/dealing with Direct TV, Hughes Net, etc. He was just recently promoted...twice. Instead of doing sales he is now in management. He is the training supervisor which means he trains all the new employees. With this job, he only has to work Monday-Friday and he will be getting an even better raise than the first one he received. Yay! They are actually sending him to Cleveland, OH June 27th-July 9th for training. Its exciting for him to go but at the same time I don't know what I am going to do with him gone.... probably go sleep at my parents! ha! Luckily, his older sister Kira and her family live in Ohio so he is going to try and meet up with them since we don't get to see them very often! I am so proud of my husband. He has been doing so well with school, work and helping me out at home! I truly have the best husband. *Side Note: Jesse has lost 25 lbs in the past couple weeks and continues to loose more!!!*

MALLORY
So my life hasn't been too exciting. I finally went back to work last week, even though I was suppose to go back like 2 weeks before but since Braxton wasn't sleeping to well. It didn't happen. So I work m/w/f at the office while my mom watching B and then I do the rest of my work from home. I love being a mom and I love having Braxton at home, but it has definitely been a little more work than I thought and a LOT LESS SLEEP! I am finally starting to feel back to normal and more rested. I must say I get a little bored and lonely being at home, but hopefully that changes when its easier to get him out of the house. I'm in pain all the time, but I think its my endometriosis so there isn't much you can do. Hopefully it gets better. Oh well. My goal for this month is to start going to the gym, taking B for walks and tanning! *Side Note: I have lost 25 lbs and I am shooting to loose 15 more to get to my ideal weight I haven't weighed, umm EVER!*

BRAXTON
He is almost 3 months old... yet his due date was just 5 days ago. Crazy. He now weighs about 10.5 lbs and is roughly 22 in. long. Man, is he getting big! He can already fit into some 3-6 mo clothes. For the past week or so, he hasn't been sleeping that well and been a little more fussy. We think its because his tummy hurts :-( They put him on Zantac and we have been giving him gas medicine as well. It seems to be helping some what but we are beginning to wonder if he is allergic to his formula. (Me, my bro and all his kids are allergic to it, so its a possibility) Other than that, he is doing fantastic and getting cuter and cuter by the day! The dr said he needs to be on his apnea machine 1 more month. They typically don't take babies younger than 43 weeks off of it. So hopefully next month it will be GONE! It seems like he can see things better and things farther away. He is smiling a lot more. It is adorable. You get to see those dimples he has (which we have no clue who he got them from) We are hoping to have some little pictures taken of him in the next 2 weeks! And then in a couple months, we are going to do some family pictures. Hopefully when we are all skinny! hehe!

All in all, things have been going really really well for us. We seriously feel blessed! We are still working on getting church our #1 priority so we can FINALLY go to the temple. We are also trying to figure out when we are going to bless Braxton, probably sometime soon so my brother Matt and his family can attend since they are moving to Texas in July :-( We will keep everyone posted on when the blessing is. We also just found out that we WILL be going to Newport Beach again this summer like we do every year. I am so BEYOND excited! I can't wait to take B on his first trip.... I just hope he lets me have some time to relax on the beach and get my tan on! Also if everything goes as planned, we are still planning on moving sometime after August! We couldn't be more excited...except for the fact we both hate packing and moving stuff and then there is the stress of decorating. Ugh! But anyways that's basically out lives in a nutshell! Nothing too exciting! We love you all!

HOLY GLEEK!

So for those of you who don't know, I am OBSESSED with the TV show Glee and have been since day 1. I made Jesse start watching it with me and luckily he likes it almost as much as I do. When I found out that Phoenix was going to be 1 of their 4 stops on the tour, I knew I just HAD to go! My dad surprised me with tickets the second they went on sale. Originally, I had thought I would be going to the concert a million years pregnant since it was so close to my due date but luckily that didn't happen! So this past Saturday night was the concert and our first time leaving Braxton at home :-( The concert was seriously AMAZING, besides the fact we were squeezed next to the LARGEST lesbian couple EVER but whatever! It was probably one of the best concerts I have ever been too and Jesse agreed. The whole cast was there minus Mr. Schuester, Sue Sylvester and Jesse St. James. They sang all their hits from the show. (Yes, I have ALL the songs memorized... plus it has been the only music playing in my car for the past year. I'm surprised Braxton didn't come out of the womb singing Glee songs!) I think Brittany was the funniest part of the show. She has such classic one liners. I'm not sure what my favorite song was... Maybe Don't Stop Believin' and Somebody to Love. The Lady GaGa song "Bad Romance" was pretty funny to watch! All the girls and Kurt were dressed in crazy Lady Gaga outfits. Kurt looked hilarious in his silver platforms! Anyways, so the concert was soooo good. After it was over, I just knew I had to go again. Jesse thought I was crazy but I convinced my mom to go with me! It was just as good the second time, if not better! We just happened to get floor seats which if that wasn't good enough... I realized from seeing the show the night before that the cast comes down the aisles right where we were sitting and I just happened to have an aisle seat. So I got high fived by Finn, Puck, Kurt and the rest of the guys from the show. That seriously made my day! I text Jesse as soon as it happened... he just made fun of me! I kinda felt like I shouldn't wash that hand or something...but I'm not that much of a stalker/fan! My mom enjoyed the show as much as I did! I am so glad that she decided (was forced) to go with me! I seriously hope that they do a concert again because it was that much fun! So for those of you who don't know... Glee is on Tuesdays at 8:00! Watch it, you'll love it!

2 Month Check-Up

Braxton is a little over 2 months old. He now weighs 9 lbs and is 20 1/2 in long.He is already on the growth chart for height, weight and head size. He got his shots today (4 of them) but he took them like a man! While at the dr's office he decided to show off and lift his head and roll over for the dr. She kept calling him an over achiever. LOL. We both began to wonder if he was really the age they said he was! He hasn't had any episodes on his apnea machine so we are hoping that he won't have to be on it much longer. So overall, he is doing great and has no health concerns.

Motherhood and Mother's Day

So 2 weeks ago (tomorrow) we were FINALLY able to take Braxton home from the hospital. It has definitely been more "real" having him home with us. Everything has been going better than I could have imagined, maybe that's because he was already kinda on a schedule or maybe he's just a good baby!!! He sleeps for 4 hrs, then wakes up to to eat and have his diaper changed then goes back to sleep. The nights haven't been too rough. Jesse has been working and finishing up school, so I have been doing the nights solo. It's the days that are tough for me. I just get so bored at home all day by myself. I have been having my mom come over during the day to help me (but really I just have her come over to hang out with me and keep my company) The weekends have been nice with Jesse home all day. He totally takes care of Braxton so I can take a nap or get some stuff done around the house. Tomorrow will be my first day back to work in 2 weeks. My mom has offered to watch Braxton while I work a couple days a week. So, we will see how that goes. I'm kinda sad to leave him all day long.

Since being home, Braxton hasn't had any health issues. His monitor hasn't gone off once, which is such a relief. He has been eating ALOT and growing like crazy. According to the scale the nurse brought over today (he gets checked at home 2 times a week)he weighs 8 lbs 10 oz. We will see if that is correct when we go to the pediatrician this week. All I have to say is if he had actually been born on his due date... he would have been HUGE! I swear part of me wonders if he is older than we think... he can already pick his own head up and almost roll over! But anyways, he is getting cuter and cuter everyday and everyone who sees him says he looks just like his daddy (and he totally does) I will post new pictures as soon as I take some!

This past weekend was Mother's Day. This was my first year actually getting to celebrate this holiday. It kinda made me feel old! Jesse was so sweet. He took care of B all morning so I could sleep. He also got me flowers and my fav cookies (Which I'm kinda mad about cuz I ate so many and gained back 2 lbs I'd lost) My real present he gave to me early, it was a new laptop since mine was on its last life. I still can't believe I'm a mom. Sometimes it still doesn't feel real, but now I can't imagine my life without Braxton in it! Thanks to everyone for the Happy Mother's Day wishes. I hope all you Moms had a wonderful day!!

BRAXTON'S ROOM (so far)

So Braxton's room is almost done... here are some pics of what is done so far. We didn't paint in this house but we will in the next. And I am still missing some little accessories here and there. The only thing really missing is the rest of the bedding (bumper, blanket, pillow, etc) Which should be done shortly.

Welcome Home Braxton

So Braxton finally got discharged from the hospital today after being in the NICU for 7 weeks. He made such tremendous progress over the past 7 weeks that he didn't have to stay as long as they thought he would. He was sent home on an apnea machine because of his little "episode" he had last Friday (when he was originally suppose to come home) They don't think that he will really have any more since that was kinda a one time thing, but they just wanted to take precautions just in case. So we're not sure how long he will need to stay on it. Hopefully, not long cuz that thing is FREAKIN loud!!! Having him home has been great... besides the fact he peed on me already, the dogs keep trying to lick him and I have to lug that machine from room to room but other than that, we couldn't be happier to finally have our little one with us. My mom was here to help me with him today and she even let me take a nap since I got no sleep last night being at the hospital. I have a feeling it is going to be an interesting first couple weeks trying to adjust to this whole new lifestyle, but it's worth it. Once again, we just want to thank everyone who kept us in your prayers. I know that is part of the reason he is doing so well.

Braxton McKay
Born: 3/7/10
Weight: 3 lbs 3 oz
Length: 16 1/4 in.

Released from Hospital : 4/27/10
Weight: 6 lbs 14 oz.
Length: 19 in

Oh, one of my best friends Kallie finally had her baby today, Easton Henry Brown. He is so cute! Yay! Braxton has a little friend now!!!

Month Summary

So here's a little summary of the past month or so, or weeks, or I don't know I have lost all track of time these days!

Jesse held Braxton for the very first time. It was the most special momment for me. I loved seeing Braxton with his daddy! I can't wait for both of my boys to be at home with me 24/7! I love them more than words can describe!

My best friend,Michelle,came to visit and brought her son Colt (I forgot to take a pic with him, I'm retarded) She was suppose to be coming for the shower, but oops Braxton was already here! Michelle is like my other half. So I couldn't wait for her to meet my little one and I couldn't wait to meet hers. Colt is Braxton's "Wingman" and we know they are going to be BFF's!! He is such a good baby! (Seriously, I'm not just saying that!), although he did teach Braxton how to flip people off. haha! JK. Michelle got me hooked on Young and the Restless... and she is obsessed with her Faith Newman toy for Colt, long story.. see Michelle's blog for explanation. Hopefully, her whole little family will be able to come out here when we go through the temple... Hopefully sometime soon!

Braxton loves his Auntie Buchelle!!!

Braxton got his oxygen off and feeding tube out. He looks so cute now that he is wire free!

He is taking all his feeds by bottle! He now eats a little over 1.5oz, well he's suppose to. He does so well at night but only takes 3/4 during the day most times. (I'm hoping thats not a sign that he has his days/nights mixed up!!!) But he is doing so well. We have both gotten to feed him!

My other best friend Tiffany came to visit this month as well, with her husband Jared, and new baby Brighton! We love when they come to stay at "Hotel Rucker"! Brighton is soooooo stinkin cute and she too, is such a GOOD baby! I like to say that Brighton is Braxton's little girlfriend. I think they could be the next power couple! It has been so much fun having Tif here. It really makes me sad that my bestest girl friends live in other states.(Tif, I'm still working on getting Jesse to move to GA, but I don't know if it will happen.)

So here is the latest pic of Braxton (and Me) He is now 6 lbs and 19 in long! He is doing so good that they think he will come home either this week or next! I can't believe it is almost time for him to come home. I am so excited and nervous! So we are going to be crazy busy this week getting everything ready! I will most likely have a breakdown like everyday trying to get his room all put together. So, I appologize in advance to anyone who might suffer my craziness! But seriously, we can't wait to be with our little one all the time.
Oh, and a little note we are working on going to the temple!!!!