Update on Sebastian

Chad took Sebastian to the vet on Monday and the vet ended up having to sedate him and cut his boil open since it was infected so bad. They had to let it drain and gave him quite a bit of pain medication. The vet said that it looked as if a dog had gotten ahold of Sebastian and bit him on his leg and Sebastian had his claws in the dog and when the dog was pulling back, it ripped Sebastian's skin on his thumb all the way back. So he didn't lose his thumb nail...the skin was just ripped back quite a ways. :( He looked so bad when Chad brought him home. I just wanted to cry. Chad ended up bringing Sebastian home to Texarkana since we have to give him anti-biotics twice a day. But Chad forgot his pain medication back at home in Little Rock. I sure hope Sebastian isn't in too much pain. He seems to be doing pretty good. He is walking on his leg again so he seems to be doing really good and healing well.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Sunday I went to Old Navy to buy Graham a few of these to send to daycare with him. For some CRAZY reason, Child Development Center is making the infants go outside for 20 - 30 minutes every day as long as it's above 40 degrees. I'm not the least bit happy about it and neither are the teachers. But what can I do about it? Nothing...so I'm just going to have to send a lot of winter stuff so they can bundle my baby up. If he catches pneumonia, I will not be a happy mommy. He sure does look as cute as can be in it though. :) He loved wearing it too!

Wednesday we are all leaving to go to Texarkana to be with my mom and step-dad for Thanksgiving. We cannot wait!! We are all so excited. Mom's dressing is the absolute best!! Graham and I are going to leave Wednesday afternoon so I won't have to drive in the dark with G in the car. Chad is going to drive down as soon as he gets off of work. He will have to drive back to Little Rock Friday evening cause he will have to work Saturday. We are very thankful that he has Thursday and Friday off though. Graham and I are going to stay until Sunday. :) Nanna (Chad's mom) is going to be here in LR watching after the furry children. She has to work on Friday so she didn't want to go to Texarkana with us. I wish my brother was going to be able to be with us for Thanksgiving and Christmas but he is still in Iraq. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers. I can't wait to see him in Feb. and for him to meet his nephew.

I'm so thankful to have all of you, my wonderful family and friends as a part of our lives.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Graham's First Cold...

Graham woke up Saturday morning with a terrible cold. He's been so snotty and has terrible chest congestion too. Every time he coughs I just want to cry. It just sounds terrible but there isn't anything we can do. Dr. told us to be prepared because with him starting daycare it was going to happen soon and she was right. I've been spraying saline solution in his nose and sucking everything out. We also have a humidifier in his room and also an air purifier. My friend Amy told me about Vicks Baby Rub too and thank you so much for that advice cause it's helped Graham so much. He doesn't have a fever so we are very thankful for that. Even though he has a cold, he is still our sweet, precious lil boy as happy as he can be.

OUR NEW CAMERA...

...is the most awesome thing in the WORLD!!! Well, not the most awesome but it's definitely great! The clarity of the pictures is just amazing!! It's mine and Chad's Xmas present from Mom and Greg and we got a great deal on it too!! Our friends, Amy and David Kelly, were able to help us get this camera through AAFES which is a military website and they sell ALL KINDS OF AWESOME STUFF (Mom and I used to shop there all of the time when her and Dad were married since Dad was in the Army). David is in the Airforce and ordered this camera for us (no shipping costs, no tax AND he was able to find a coupon for 90.00 off!! WOW!!) and it came in on Friday. So Amy, David and Caroline came over Saturday night to bring us our present! It's a Nikon D60. Forget about taking Graham to get his pictures made...mommy and daddy are going to be his personal photographers...following him every lil place he goes and taking pictures of every lil move he makes. :) I know he is just absolutely as excited as we are about it. Thank you so much Mom and Greg for our new toy!! And a big thank you to Amy and David as well! If it wasn't for you guys, we would have NEVER been able to find such a great deal!

Our Poor Sweet Kitty

Not sure if you can tell in this picture but Sebastian's front paw/leg is swollen and has a knot the size of a golf ball. We aren't too sure what happened...we do know that he got into a fight with another animal because he has scratches on his face and also what appears to be bite marks on the same swollen paw. Also on that paw, his thumb nail is completely gone...it looks like it's ripped to the bone. Chad took him to the vet this morning so hopefully it is something that can be fixed relatively easy. Chad and I have been so worried about him all weekend. He's been laying on the rug in Graham's room and has barely moved. He hasn't eaten, hasn't drank any water and hasn't gone outside to use the restroom either. Chad took him outside yesterday to try to get him to potty but he just wanted to lay down. :( He can't put any pressure on his paw and when he tries to walk, it's just absolutely pitiful. We have been constantly cleaning and wrapping it as much as we can. Please pray that our sweet lil kitty will have a great recovery. We will give you an update as soon as we hear back from the vet.

That smile....

Yep, I finally got it! That's because I was taking pictures NON-STOP and figured that SURELY I would be able to catch one since he has been constantly smiling all week. :)

Can you believe he is already wearing his 3-6 mo. clothes?!? WOW!

Chad and I are truly blessed...Graham is such a sweet and happy baby!! And he sleeps a good 7-9 hours EVERY NIGHT!!! How wonderful is THAT?!?!

I love this picture! Definitely one of my favorites!

Yep, that is spit up on his bottom and I have no idea how in the WORLD it got there.


That photo shoot wore him out!

"That" Moment Finally Arrived...

If you know me, you know that from the moment we found out that I was pregnant I got my hands on any and everything that I could possibly read. I also have my dear friend Lucy to thank as well because she gave me a TON of pregnancy books and believe me, Chad and I read EVERY SINGLE ONE. AND MORE! Chad even went out and bought him some Daddy books so he could know exactly what to expect and what he should do as a daddy to be. Dr. (my OB) always told me I was reading way too much because I was always in her office asking her about all kinds of things that I had read about. Well, the same thing goes for baby's first year and motherhood...yes, I am still reading a ton of books and magazines. I can never get enough...I must know it all. I want to know how Graham should be developing, how much he should weigh, things to look for, etc. I have a book "Baby's First Year: Week by Week" that I keep up with every week as Graham grows. When his 8th week came around, it said that at this time he should show excitement when he sees Chad and/or me. So I kept waiting for that...and nothing...he wasn't even smiling just a whole lot like the book said he should be doing. We would just get the occasional grin. Graham's 9th week came around and still....nothing...I was getting so sad and started to wonder if he just wasn't a happy baby even though he seemed to be or maybe he just didn't like mommy or daddy. Or maybe his personality is just calm and studious and not full of excitement. Or maybe he is autistic. Yes, seriously. I'm neurotic, I know.
When I went to Graham's daycare on Monday, he was in his crib and was starting to awaken from his nap. So I went over to his crib and leaned over and started talking to him. He opened his eyes and saw me and guess what did I got? THE BIGGEST SMILE I've ever seen and he lifted his arms up ready for mommy to pick him up and hold him. I seriously wanted to just break down and cry right there but I didn't want Ms. Tracey or Ms. Karen to think I was nuts. It took 10 weeks for it to finally happen but it made me realize something. I can't push Graham to develop any faster than he is ready. He will do things at his own accord. My mom keeps telling me to let him do things when he wants to and to not make him grow up so fast. She's right. I can't keep pushing him. Like Dr. (Graham's pediatrician) told me: children develop at different times and no one kid is alike. Graham might start walking before another child his age does, but that child may start talking before Graham.

Lesson learned. :)

Just some pics of Graham....

...watching TV with Daddy and Sebastian

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's....

Sweet lil Graham Neipling!!!

Daddy was flying Graham all over the house Sunday night and Graham just LOVED it!!! He was just a smilin' and droolin' like it was nobody's business! He was so in awe of everything that was around him being so high in the air...When Chad put him down, Graham was just watching his every move and was following him all over the room. Graham wanted MORE!! So Chad started making the "flying" noises and was walking towards Graham to pick him up to fly him around more and Graham's eyes got so wide with excitement! He was ready!! We had so much fun!

I kept trying to catch him smiling but my camera takes too long to FINALLY take the picture. I can't wait to get the Nikon D60 camera that Mimi and Poppi is buying us for Christmas!! We will no longer have that problem. :)

Sebatian loves our lil Graham

Tuesday I was off for Veteran's Day and Graham was out of day care as well so we got to sleep in! YAY!!! Around 9am, Graham woke up and was ready for his diaper change and feeding so I went into his room and what do I find?!?! A sweet lil Sebastian curled up on Graham's bouncy seat...How adorable is that?? Sebastian has really taken to Graham and Chad and I think it's the sweetest thing.

Just some random pictures of Graham playing...and mommy taking pictures! OF COURSE!!

Graham's first fever

Monday afternoon around 3pm I received a phone call from Graham's daycare that he had a 101.4 fever and I had to come and pick him up. No mother wants to get that phone call...especially when it's the first time. So after I get off of the phone with CDC, I am in a state of panic and am so scatterbrained wondering WHAT SHOULD I DO? So I immediately call his pediatrician and Dr. A was out of the office but Dr. O was in so I made an appt to bring Graham in. I like Dr. O too so I was glad that I was able to see another doctor that I had talked to before. Dr. O was the on call doctor when I had Graham at Baptist so he saw Graham his third and forth day in the hospital. He was also the dr. that we talked with about his jaundice and who put him on phototherapy. So I rush to the daycare and my poor baby just looked pitiful...Ms. Karen was feeding him when I got there and he just looked up at me with the saddest, most pitiful eyes.
:( Ms. Tracey told me that Graham also had diahrea 3 times throughout the day and that his booty irritation turned into a pretty bad diaper rash. Triple whammy. Poor Poor thing.

When we got called back into the doctor's room, they took Graham's temperature and it was 99.4 which Dr. O said they really didn't consider it a fever until it reaches 100 but he wanted me to give him Tylenol and keep a watch on his temp. About his diahrea, they took a stool sample from his diaper and tested it for Rotovirus. That came back negative, thank goodness. Dr. said he could have a slight stomach bug since it's been going around or it could be from something in my breastmilk from something that I ate. He just told me to keep an eye out on that too. Now finally about his diaper rash...Dr. said that he has seen MUCH MUCH worse (he could tell I was very upset about it and wanted the pain that Graham was feeling to GO AWAY NOW!!) and for me to just wash his bottom with warm water (no wipes at all) and to let it air dry and to use hydrocortizone cream and to also just let him lay around naked for a while. The more air and less moisture on his bottom, the better.

While we were at the Drs office and afterwards as well, Graham was smiling and playful with mommy and didn't act like he felt bad anymore. I think he was just acting that way at daycare so he could come home with mommy. My baby already knows how to play hooky! Sneaky Sneaky lil thing!

Texarkana Trip

Last Friday, I took the day off of work to get Graham and I packed up and ready to leave for Texarkana. I finally got everything loaded and we hit the road around noon. What an exhausting trip there. I thought Graham was going to do as well as he did the last time but boy was I wrong. This lil one LOVES his paci and when it falls out of his mouth, you would have thought he was in some severe pain that would make him scream so loudly. Yes, his paci fell out several times and I would wait 10 - 15 minutes to see if he would forget about it and fall asleep. Nope. Sooooo not the case. So mommy had to pull over and plug him back up several times. We FINALLY made it to Texarkana around 2:30pm and we went to Collom & Carney Clinic (Mimi's work) so all of the Drs. and Nurses could see this lil boy that they hear about every day. Afterwards we went to Sam's so I could buy him some diapers and wipes and then went to Sears for a lil bit of shopping and then to Red Lobster where we met Poppi for dinner. After dinner, we headed back to Mimi and Poppi's cause I think we were all worn out.

Saturday Graham and I went to Payton's 3rd birthday party in Hope and Tab and Tal got Payton a bouncy house for all of the kids to play in. We had a good time but Graham was NOT in the best of moods...it was his nap time and we was sure to let us all know it. Tal's grandmother wanted to take Graham for a while and hold him. I thought that was so sweet of her and sure did appreciate getting to rest my arms for a bit. :) We didn't do much else for the rest of the day. Mom and I were supposed to go to Target but when I got back to the house, all she wanted to do was hold Graham.

Sunday we left Texarkana pretty early cause Graham didn't sleep well Saturday night...so that was our weekend in a nutshell...

This is the outfit Graham wore to Pay's birthday party...but mommy had to try it out on him first to make sure it fit. :)

"MIMI, STOP TAKING PICTURES!!! I WANT DOWN!!!"

Mimi combed Graham's hair to the side and he wasn't too crazy about it....the look at his face tells it all! What a handsome lil devil! :)

2 Month Stats

Yesterday, Chad and I took Graham to see Dr. A (who, by the way, is even more AWESOME than I remembered her to be in the hospital...I HIGHLY recommend her!) for his 2 month wellness checkup and also for 5 vaccinations.

Graham weighs 11lbs and 12 ozs and is 23 1/8 inches long. He is in the 60% percentile for his weight and length. His head circumference measures 38.9 and he's in the 25th percentile. G has a tiny head and I love it! :)

Graham received his DTaP (Diphtheria, Tetanus & Pertussis), Prevnar (Pneumococcal Conjugate), HiB (Haemophilus Influenzea Type b), EIPV (Polio) and Rotavirus Vaccinations. Sounds like a lot, huh? Thankfully 3 of them are combined into one shot so he only had 2 pokes (One in each leg) and the Rotavirus was administered as an oral (swallowed) vaccine and HE LOVED it...He cried when she took it out of his mouth...he wanted MORE! Graham loves it when I give him Mylicon for Gas...guess it's a welcome change from the regular ol' breastmilk and formula. He did really well with the shots too. He cried from the initial poke but shortly after, he was good to go. He forgot all about it. :) Dr. A said that Graham could get a fever and be super fussy but thankfully, neither happened! I've noticed that since Graham started daycare he has been a much happier and calmer baby. Makes for a happier and calmer mommy and daddy too. :) While we were home on maternity leave, he was probably getting extreme cabin fever like his momma.

Dr. A put Graham on Polyvisol which is a multivitamin for infants and toddlers. She said breastfed and formula babies may not get enough iron and Vitamin D so I should give him one dropper daily.

Afterwards, we ate lunch at Jason's Deli and then went to Target to get his multivitamin. Now, this Polyvisol stuff says that it has a fruit flavor but it smells GROSS. I was afraid that Graham wouldn't like it too much and yep, I was right. He swallows it like he is supposed to but his face tells a story of great distaste.

Tomorrow (Friday) we are leaving for Texarkana. Payton Rhodes is the daughter of my best friends, Tabatha and Tal Rhodes, and she is turning 3 years old tomorrow!!! Her birthday party is Saturday. I cannot believe Pay is already 3 years old. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was holding her tiny lil body in my arms. Makes me want to cry! I don't want Graham to grow up that fast! I cannot wait to see all of them. I don't get to see them as much as I used to and I miss them like crazy. Chad is so sad that he won't get to go with us because he misses them too...he will be working on Saturday, as always.

The Yummy vaccine

"NO NO!! I'M NOT DONE!!"

"So very very good...thank you!"

Hello Daycare!! Hello Department of Rural Services!!!

Getting ready to leave for daycare

"Mom!!! You woke me up with the flash!!"

This is Graham with Ms. Elizabeth, Director of Admissions and Personnel

As many of you already know, yesterday was Graham's first day at Child Development Center and my first day back at work. I have been dreading this day for weeks now. Anxious, Nervous, Sad, Excited, Reluctant...I've been dealing with so many emotions. Every time I would think about him going to daycare and myself going back to work, I wanted to throw myself on the floor and kick my arms and legs and scream and cry like a 3 year old. That is how much I dreaded it.

This is how our day began: My alarm went off at 5am...I thought to myself, "I can't believe the alarm woke me up before Graham." Graham has been sleeping so well in his crib and we are so proud of him! So Chad gets up and awakens Graham , changes his diaper and puts him in bed with us so I can feed him. Graham falls asleep 20 minutes later and I leave him in bed with Chad. I get out of bed, get my workout clothes on and ride my bike for 20 minutes and throw in some squats and lunges. I get the bottles ready and get some other things together and jump in the shower at 6:15am. Chad gets out of bed around 6:30am and puts Graham back in his crib...I was so nervous cause I was so afraid that as soon as Chad got up, Graham would be up as well. Nope, my lil man happily surprises me by falling right back to sleep in his crib. I wake him up at 7:30am and change his diaper, feed him a lil bit more, change his clothes and we are out the door at 8am.

On the way there, I get pretty sad and my eyes start welling up a teeny lil bit. But by the time we get there, I'm doing really good...probably because I am so busy unloading all of his things that I really don't have time to be sad. So I get him in his class and meet his teacher Ms. Tracey who by the way is so absolutely sweet as can be. I really like her a lot and it really comforts me. I hung around there for about 30 minutes with Graham and took care of some paperwork. He did so great! I went by to see him around 1:30pm but he was so passed out asleep that I didn't even bother to wake him. Plus, they already had a few screaming crying babies and I didn't want to contribute to one more. I wish I would have taken a picture of him napping because it was the cutest thing. He was all sprawled out with his arms wide open like he was ready for a big hug. I wanted to give him one so bad too...and tons of kisses. But I just patted his belly a few times and went on my way. When I picked him up, he was in the lil bouncy seat just as happy as can be. Ms. Tracey said he did wonderful and the only time he was fussy was at naptime. Remember me telling you that he fights sleep because he doesn't want to miss a thing?

We were both so exhausted from our busy day and we both hit the sack around 9pm. Usually it takes Graham about 30 minutes to fall asleep cause he will fight it for a while and we have to start his Musical Seahorse over about 6 times but not last night. Noooo sireeeeee...As soon as we put him down, he was out. Same for mommy. :)

So our first day back and to daycare went off without a hitch! It couldn't have gone any better if you ask me!

Nothing has changed at work. It's the same ol, same ol. I spent the day getting my office back in order and that's about it.

I went by his daycare today to see him and they just sat down to feed him so I got to take over and while I was feeding him, he had the BIGGEST dirtiest diaper EVER. Oh my, it was bad! I think I used 10 wipes just to clean him all up. Poor thing had been holding that in for a few days! WHEW! I know he felt so much better after all of that! After the mess, I finished feeding him and played and rocked him for a bit...he was getting sleepy so I put him in his crib and he was just wide eyed and looking around and was calm so I left him before he started fighting sleep. I hope he just fell right to sleep and didn't start screaming.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) we go to his NEW pediatrician(she was the first pediatrician to see him in the hospital and Chad and I REALLY liked her a lot...she's real bubbly like me.) and Graham will get more shots. I think he will do pretty well with it. He will cry for a bit and then forget all about it. At least I hope it takes it as well this time as he did the last. Pray. Pray. Pray. I'm anxious to see how much he weighs now and how long he is. :)

Can you believe that he will be TWO MONTHS OLD TOMORROW?!?! It's gone by WAYYYY too fast!