7 Months Old

Remington turned 7 months old on Christmas Day. He wears size 3 diapers and size 5 shoes. He is in size 18-month clothes for the most part.


He can sit, crawl, pull up, and stand on his own. He loves to laugh and smiles often. He eats 3-4 containers of baby food a day.


He says "Mama Mama" a lot and has said "Dadada" a few times. When he needs some loving, he'll crawl up to me while saying my name and try to pull up on my legs.


He likes to chew on everything. He loves books.


He loves our cat Dracky. They sit together on Daddy's lap some nights while Dustin rocks in the recliner watching the news, and Remington strokes his fur.

Standing Up

That's right - Remington is standing up now! I hadn't even gotten a chance to post about him starting to pull himself up to his knees. That started about a week ago. Then a couple days ago, he pulled up to a leaning-forward position, not really standing upright. But tonight he is standing!!! I got this video the second time he did it.

Thank you, Grammy, for the very cool Dinosaur Train that captured his attention so much to encourage standing :)

Letter to Santa

We dropped by the post office a week or two ago to mail our Christmas cards. With the kids, I usually just go through the drive-thru to mail letters and order stamps online. But I had run out of stamps with about 20 cards left to stamp, and I wanted to mail them all at once. So we waited until Dustin was home and made a trip into town. With Daddy waiting in the car with the boys, I hopped out to buy the stamps and mail the cards. Inside the post office, I saw a cute little cardboard mailbox with a sign. It said "Letters to Santa - Please include your return address"

How fun! I didn't really know what to expect, but I ran back to the car to get a piece of paper. I told Southern about what I was doing, and asked him what he wanted from Santa. Then I wrote a short little note:

Dear Santa,
I am two years old, so Mommy is writing this for me. I would like a t-rex for Christmas. Thank you.
Love,
Southern

I dropped it into the "mailbox". A few days later, I had forgotten about it.

And then today we got a response!! There was a letter in our mail addressed to Southern. There was no return address, but it had a little picture of Santa on it with his name. After supper this evening, we helped Southern open his letter and read it to him. This is what the letter said:

Dear Southern,
I've checked my list and now the elves are checking it twice,
your name appears, not under naughty, it seems you are "NICE"!
I've enjoyed reading your letter and took it to heart.
I showed it to the elves who are now doing their part.
I won't make a promise, I won't spoil the surprise.
The elves have assured me that your present's especially nice.
I will soon be on my way to visit you, there are some things you still need to do...
Remember to hang your stocking with care,
try to be especially nice and fair.
Do your chores and help out around the house,
and on Christmas Eve I'll arrive, quiet as a mouse.
Love,
Santa
P.S. I believe a T-Rex is a great gift.

Love it!!! I was so excited, and Southern was too.

12 Years Ago

On this day, 12 years ago, Dustin asked me to be his girlfriend! Well, it actually went more like this...

Him - What would you say if I asked you to be my girlfriend?
Me - Umm, yes.
Him - You would?
Me - Yeah.
Him - So will you be my girlfriend?
Me - Yes!

And here we are about 2 weeks after that evening...



Eating with my family at Kloesel's Steakhosuse in Moulton for my grandma's birthday back in 1999



Getting Ready for Christmas

We are getting ready for Christmas in the Wyatt house. And what an exciting time it is! This is Remington's first Christmas, and it is the first year that Southern is old enough to "help" with the preparations.

So far, Southern has helped by bringing presents to me to wrap, selecting the wrapping paper to use, and putting them under the tree once wrapped. He got to hang many ornaments on the tree himself. He took that job very seriously. He "helped" Daddy unravel and hang up the lights outside.

Remington also is getting into the Christmas spirit. He has learned to crawl just in time to pull ornaments off of the tree! He likes to bat at them to make them sway, which I allow because all the ones at the bottom are the ones Southern put on so they're not breakable. But when he starts chewing on them, it's time to move him. He also likes to chew/grab the wrapped presents and ribbon. He has only done real damage to one of them. He ripped a big spot on the side of one (sorry Mikayla!). I'll need to re-wrap it... Dustin suggested just taping it up and writing "Remy rip" on it with an arrow - haha

Southern has also started to learn about Santa Claus. He doesn't really know all of the details, just the big picture - Santa is around at Christmas time, he's jolly, and he brings you a present. Whenever anyone asks him what he wants from Santa, he says "t-rex". I'm really excited to see his reaction this year with Santa (who comes to my grandparents house on Christmas Eve). Last year, he was a little nervous and just wanted to watch. The year before that, he didn't even really notice him. I'm hoping it'll be really fun for him this year.

Hit Me With Your Best Shot

Turn your speakers up!

(just not too high...)

6 Months Old

I know it's about a week and a half late, but on November 25th, our little Remington turned 6 months old.

Remington, at 6 months old, is such a big boy! He wears size 12-mo to 18-mo clothes. He is still in size 3 diapers but has outgrown his size 3 shoes. He enjoys playing with big brother Southern more and more. Southern likes to make Remington laugh and hold his hand. Remington is sitting, eating solids, scooting, and even crawling for a bit. He isn't consistant at it yet, but he can take 3-4 "steps" at a time on his hands and knees.

At Remington's 6-mo doctor's appoitment, he weighed 19.25 lbs (83rd percentile), was 27.4" long (86th percentile), and had a 17" head circumference (35th percentile).

Remembering Southern at the same age - at Southern's 6-mo doctor appointment, he weighed 20 lbs (90th percentile) and was 27.5" long (87th percentile). So the boys are almost the same length, but Southern was a little less than a pound heavier.

Shots and Sickness

The Wyatt household is almost back to 100% after being sick over the long weekend. Southern came down with it first. He had a cough, runny nose, and fever on Friday. I'm guessing he caught it over Thanksgiving. He then passed it to Remington who had a low-grade fever part of Sunday. I also had a sore throat this weekend, though I didn't have a fever. It was poor little Remington's first time to get sick, but he got over it fairly quickly.

In fact, he got over his sickness just in time for shots! We went into his doctor's office today for his 6-month shots as well as his flu shot. Poor little guy cried the whole time the nurse was poking and pricking but stopped as soon as I picked him up. He was given a little rubber duckie for being so brave.

Scooting

Remington is officially scooting. Over the past couple weeks, he has been trying extra hard to move to reach some of brother's toys, Mommy's books, etc. He was slow, but he could get across a room if he had enough time and tried really hard. Then on Thanksgiving evening, on the living room floor in our home surrounded by family, he fixed his eye on something and took off.

He bends one arm and uses that forearm to pull while pushing with the toes of the opposite foot. And he's now fast! He's getting his hands (and mouth) on anything he can. And now that the Christmas tree is up, there are lots more fun and shiny things to get into. He likes to tap on the ornaments on the low branches and make them sway. He also has an eye for one present in particular. It has already been gummed a couple times. Southern is pretty good about policing him on what he should and shouldn't "eat" though. He'll block his path or call me when Remington's headed toward trouble. What a good big brother!

Sitting

Remington is mastering sitting unsupported! Over the past two weeks, I have been putting him on the ground in a sitting position. As soon as I let go, I put my hands on either side of him to catch him when he falls over. At first, he would topple right away. Then he got to where he could sit for a few seconds. Well, today, he sat on the ground on his own for a full minute! It was so long that I decided to leave him to grab the camera. But when I turned around with it in my hands, he was already on his tummy looking confused!

Introducing Remington to Food

Remington has been so ready for food. We started him a couple weeks earlier than we had planned, but I figured he would know when he's ready. I just happened to have leftover mashed sweet potatoes in the fridge. I added water to a couple spoonfuls of that in a blender. This is Remington's reaction -

Ugh, Mom! How could you do this to me?



Well, maybe it's not so bad...




Okay, this day just keeps getting weirder...




Mmm... I think I like this stuff!



Adventures with Great Granny E

My relationship with Dustin's grandparents has always been fairly close. They helped to raise him, and he looked to them as extra sets of parents growing up. It's been fun getting to know them as I became a part of the family. I think they each have/had very distinct personalities...

Poppy was the wise, thoughtful, socializing teacher. My grandpa called him The Politician because he would always "work the crowd" at restaurants, walking around shaking hands with everyone he knew. And it seemed he knew everyone!

His wife DeDe is a hoot. She says what she thinks and doesn't mince words. Conversations with her are fun!

Dustin's other grandfather, Paw-Paw, was very easy going. When I think of him, I picture him in his recliner or on his exercise bike watching sports on TV. I also vividly remember one trip back from San Antonio with them. He had the car's radio going on one football game, and his portable boom box going with another football game. Both at the same time. And both very loud as he kept turning one up to hear over the other! :)

And Dustin's granny... I could write paragraphs about memories with her! She sometimes reminds me of Raymond's mom on Everyone Loves Raymond as she goes through our mail, washes the few dishes I haven't gotten to yet, or tells me how/what to feed our son. Haha! But she has always been there for us and doesn't hesitate to help when needed. We love her dearly.



I'm so happy that our boys get to know her. Southern had an easy time saying DeDe. It was one of his first dozen words, I think. On the other hand, he's just now getting to where "geh-y e-her" is becoming distinguishable. But he enjoys her visits as much as we do.

And we had another adventure with her this past Saturday. She loves being involved, and she just jumps right in to any situation. This picture that Dustin took of her in his truck is a perfect example. I love it! She's so happy.

Update on the boys

These Wyatt boys are doing great. They're happy and healthy, and they're growing up so fast!

Remington is still trying to crawl. He can now get up on all fours in an upside down V shape.

Southern is still working on potty training. He has used the potty for #1, but it's not consistant. We're struggling with #2. He filled his diaper before and after his time on the potty this afternoon. Oh well, we'll get the hang of it sometime...

Remington has shown the same excitement with eating solids as with breastfeeding - he could munch all day. He has eaten wheat crackers and Baby Mum-Mums and loves them both. He has also had some homemade sweet potato baby food, and yesterday evening he had oatmeal baby cereal for the first time. He ate the whole bowl!

5 Months Old

Little Remington, when did you get so old? You now talk and move around so much. You laugh and smile a lot. You are so ticklish. You want to crawl so badly. As you lay on your tummy, your arms and legs hover in the air, and you move those little legs like you are on a bicycle. Nothing is happening yet, but it will soon.

You still wear size 3 diapers and size 3 shoes. You wear mainly size 9-mo clothes but 12-mo and even some 18-mo clothes fit you nicely. You weigh a whopping 17.5 lbs!

You like to stand in your brother's old Jeep walker and tolerate being pushed around in it by Southern. You want to put everything in your mouth! You are sooo ready for big boy food. You stare at us while we eat and your mouth just waters. I broke down and gave you your first Baby Mum-Mum on Sunday. You were unsure at first but ate the whole thing. We'll have to start baby cereal soon.

Your big brother Southern loves to teach you and show you how to do things. Southern "defends" me sometimes by telling you "no eat Mommy dress". :) I love you both dearly.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

Our annual visit to the pumpkin patch in Seguin occured last week. It was still hot outside so Remington wasn't in his Smurf costume, but he was wearing a pumpkin shirt and candy corn socks. Southern was dressed in his dog costume and also had pumpkin socks. So cute!

Remember this time last year? http://lchahnwyatt.blogspot.com/2010/10/pumpkin-patch.html

Our first baby

A friend's status on Facebook today read this:

♥ ♥ ♥ A person that loses a partner is called a widow. A child who loses a parent is called an orphan. But there is no word to describe a parent that loses a child, because the loss is like no other. So will you put this as your status for just 1 hour?? Think of someone you know or love who has lost a baby or a child, and take a few minutes to remember & honor their beautiful angels. ♥ ♥ ♥

So I re-posted it as my status. I was just thinking about our first baby today actually...

We lost our little sweetie just a week and a half after learning I was pregnant in May of 2008. It was heartbreaking and painful - both emotionally and physically. We never even got to meet our little one. Maybe that makes the loss easier to bear? But knowing that our baby's paternal grandmother was waiting in heaven did make it easier.

And since then, we have lost two of our children's great grandfathers - one in October of 2008 and another in October of 2010 - so I like to think they have all found each other up there.

We've Got a Roller!

That's right! Our little butterbean is no longer content to just lay on his back. He's been working on trying to roll over for a couple weeks now. He succeded yesterday while I was cooking supper. I was totally bummed to have missed it. I felt bad too... I was there for his big brother's first roll. :(

I had put him on his back in his little jungle playmat. Southern was "helping" me cook supper, and the next thing I knew, he was on his tummy! And then this morning when I went to get him out of his crib, he was on his tummy again! He was just hanging out like it was no big deal.

So today I was ready with video camer in hand, and when he looked to be getting close, I started it up. Sure enough, he did it again! :) So proud of him.

(view the video on my blog)

Dustin's 29th

This September marked Dustin's 29th birthday. And in our little tradition started in 2009, we took a picture of him in front of the birthday banner I had made for him in 2005 or 2006 with his boys.

2011

2010

2009

4 Months Old

Dearest Remington,

At four months old you weigh ___ (we're going to the doctor tomorrow). You wear size 9-mo and 12-mo clothes, size 3 shoes, and size 3 diapers. You love to smile at yourself in the mirror. You are starting to try to roll over from back to tummy - that left arm gets in the way every time though. You still like to suck your thumb. You love to coo at Mommy and laugh with Daddy. You break into a big smile whenever you see your brother (or a picture of him). Your eyes light up when I sing to you. You enjoy it when Daddy bathes you. You are starting to notice your toys more and try to reach them and play. You can hang out on your tummy longer. You're still an easy-going baby for the most part. You still sleep through the night. You still haven't had a bottle. Let's hope those last three always stay true!

And you are still the light of my life (along with your brother) - and that's guaranteed to always stay true!

Love,
Mommy

These boys

Our two little boys are becoming best buds. I love to see them interact with each other. And as Remington grows older and more aware of his surroundings, he and Southern have started to "play" together.

Just last week, Dustin and I were running errands with the kids. We stopped at one store where Dustin only had one quick thing to buy so the boys and I waited in the car. I had been hearing them making noises and "playing" together in the backseat. Once we stopped and Dustin got out of the car, I turned around just in time to see little Remington's arm come out of his car seat and reach toward Southern. Southern immediately grabbed his hand and kept talking to him. :)

Remington has also started watching his big brother. Even while nursing, if Remy hears Southern's voice, his head immediately turns. Two days ago, I was sitting on the floor holding Remington in my lap. Southern was running around, and he started running back and forth in front of me and laughing. It took me a bit, but I soon realized why. Remington was watching him! He looked like he was at a tennis match with his little head turning left, then right, then left, etc. following his older brother's movements. And Southern just got a kick out of that! He would run to one side of the room, laugh, then run to the other side.

These boys...

Then and Now

Southern at 3 1/2 months old

Remington at 3 1/2 months old

Running with the Birds

You've heard of running with the bulls... well it's a little different in the Wyatt household. One of my oldest son's favorite pastimes is running up to birds to scare them into flying away. The two videos below show his love of running. We were at the Creekside Shopping Center here in New Braunfels on Monday night, and there was a field just full of Grackles... there must have been at least 200 of those guys. When Southern saw them, he asked me "run?" and I said "well you'll have to ask Daddy". So he asked Dustin, and thinking Southern just meant to run up ahead of the sidewalk we were on, said yes. Haha! So Southern took off into the field after those birds. And of course, they took off flying. He loved it!

It's kind of hard to see because he ran so far away, but he's that little blue dot out in the distance.

What a run! The field was nothing but loose dirt, and he ran a long way! You could tell he was getting tired, but he was proud of himself :)

3 Months Old

My dearest Remington, today you are three months old. Yet there are times, like when I gaze into your big beautiful eyes, that I feel as if I have known you my whole life. You are still very small yet such a big part of our family. Your daddy and I truly are blessed to call you and your brother our sons.

You currently wear size 6 month clothes, size 2 shoes, and size 3 diapers. You sleep in your crib in your room all night - some mornings you sleep in longer than your big brother! You like to look around. You still don't enjoy tummy time all that much and usually fuss a little, but you are, for the most part, an easy baby. You take things in stride. You have started to scoot a little when you are on your tummy - no crawling yet, but you can re-position yourself a bit. You just learned how to make music on your jungle mat yesterday by hitting the ball with your arm. You like to "talk" and blow bubbles and smile at me and Daddy. You still like your thumb but are starting to gnaw on he rest of your fingers and fist at times as well. And you still love napping in Daddy's arms while he rocks you in "the man chair" and watches the news at night.

13 Weeks Old

Here's a short video clip of the boys playing in Remington's room today.

12 Weeks Old

A quick update on the boys:

Remington is still growing strong. He's getting bigger and stronger daily. I put him in a 9-month outfit on Monday, and it fit!

Southern is starting to learn his ABCs. He's also been "reading" more books to me. It's so sweet to listen to him as he gives his version of the stories based on the pictures. He likes to say "bye book" on the last page and "the end" when he closes the book.

11 Weeks Old

We had Remington's 2-month doctor visit today. All went well. Remy weighed 15 lbs, 5 oz (96th percentile) and was 24.5 inches long (83rd percentile). He got his shots - DTap, Hib, Pnemococcal Conjugate, Hepatitis B, and Rotavirus. The first three were all in one shot so he had three pokes total. Poor guy. He took it well. He just cried a bit but quickly calmed down when we picked him up.

Big brother Southern was very supportive and was so excited that he got his heart and ears checked as well. He also wanted shots and was bummed when we told him he wouldn't get more until he was 4 years old - haha!

10 Weeks Old

Little Remington is now 10 weeks old.

Here's a preview of about 1/4 of the pictures from the photo shoot we had 3 weeks ago. Can't wait to get these pictures in and hung up on the wall!

9 Weeks Old

Remington turned 9 weeks old on Wednesday. And as I've said in previous posts, he's now "talking" and smiling. Here's a video clip of just that.

(For those of you getting this in an email, just visit my blog to see the video.)

2 Months Old

Remington, at two months old, you are already such a big boy!

- You have outgrown your size 1 diapers and most of your 3 month size clothes. At your weight check on Friday, you were 13 lbs, 9 oz.
- You sleep 4-7 hours at night at a time. You have slept in your big boy crib all alone in your room and are just fine.
- We still go through plenty of diapers with you each day.
- You are becoming more awake and aware.
- You can "talk"! :) You and Mommy had a 5-minute conversation last night. Your favorite noises to make are grunts and "haa".
- You can smile so big.
- You still enjoy your swing, and you are finding and sucking on your thumb more and more.
- You had your first outing without Mommy last night - a two hour car ride with Daddy - and you slept right through it.
- You have rolled from your tummy to your back.

I can't wait to see what the next month will bring!

Southern's first book

Southern just read a book aloud for the first time! I was reading to him before naptime today, and one of the books was this one:

It was given to him by the Daugherty's at his baby shower. They are our old neighbors from the house we rented after college on Greta St. They said their son loved this book and hoped ours would as well. And he does! Each page has a black and white photo of an animal with its name.

He picks out some books to read before naptime and before bedtime each day, and this was one of the books he picked today. As I was reading it to him, he was repeating each animal's name after I said it. So when I finished the book, I asked if he wanted to read it to me now. He said yes. I pointed to each page and he "read" the animal's name aloud. I would flip the pages for him, and he read the whole thing to me. So awesome!

8 Weeks Old

The Wyatts start young...

7 Weeks Old

Big brother Southern takes after his daddy in that he loves to teach. He also loves to share with baby brother Remy. Here he is sharing his pen and teaching him how to hold it.

A smile and some words

Remington smiled at me for the first time yesterday. And I mean, really smiled. He has smiled in his sleep before, has smiled while nursing, and has grinned a bit for no reason. But this time, it was the real deal. Daddy had just gotten home from work. Southern was still upstairs in his room napping. I was puttering around in the kitchen getting some food and had passed Remy onto Dustin. They were hanging out in the recliner looking at each other, and Dustin had been talking to him. They were just so cute I stopped what I was doing and went over to them and kneeled beside the chair. Remington started looking at me then so I said something to him and smiled - and he smiled right back at me while looking me in the eyes! So sweet :)

And speaking of another sweet little boy, our Southern sure has come a long way. He went from not talking very much at all one year ago to being a jabberjaw. (He got that from his daddy!) And it is great to be able to talk back and forth with him though it sometimes takes patience... like when we tell him we're going to Yoakum and then have to hear "Grammy? Josh? Grammy? Josh?" for a whole hour while we're driving! ;) But while he has mastered many words, he hasn't exactly mastered the correct pronunciation of them just yet. Here are a few of the cutest sounding ones:

Grammy = MeMe
Grandad = D Dad
Dracky = Rady
Mikayla = KK
Coltin = CoCo
Keleigh = K hee
lion = rodney
stairs = nehs
Muno = noon-a
giraffe = gira
tennis courts = nennis cocoat
yes = jes
kitty = keke
train tracks = choo choo tak

6 Weeks Old

Little Remy turned 6 weeks old yesterday. And he and big brother Southern gave Mommy a pretty good night last night! Southern got to bed around 11pm. Remington went down around midnight but then cried soon after for more milk. He finally got settled down for good at 1am, and he slept until 5am. I then fed him for about 25 mins and put him back in his bed, and he didn't wake up until 8:30am. I fed him and put him down again, and it wasn't long after that when I heard "Momma?". Southern jumped up in bed with me (with a stuffed horse and deer) to snuggle for a little while. Then it was "bar? milk?". He has been requesting cereal or oatmeal bars for breakfast lately. So that was it for sleeping, but I can't complain as it was an easier night/morning than most. I even had time to enjoy a bar myself, brush my teeth, and get dressed before Remington woke up again. :)

5 Weeks Old

Remy turned 5 weeks old this past Wednesday. What a cutie :)

One Month OId

Little Remington, at one month old, you still don't let Mommy sleep at night. (And big brother Southern doesn't let Mommy sleep during the day!) You're wearing 0-3 month clothes. You are in size 1 diapers and can go through a dozen on a good day. You love to eat and can happily munch off and on all day. You like riding around in the car, and you like to swing in indirect sunlight. Your hair is still dark and sometimes gets wavy (I hope you didn't inherit Mommy's hair genes!). And you are a joy to your parents and brother.

Southern likes to lay down next to you so Mommy can change both of your diapers at the same time. He likes to hold your hand and pat you on the head. And he loves holding you in his lap. He tells Mommy when you cry, when you are up, and when you are happy.

You are very loved, my second son.

Newsworthy

Two Sons

I am the proud mother of two sons :) And already they are so different. Remington isn't a Southern #2 (AKA Dustin #3) like I thought he would be. They don't look alike. He has a whole head of dark hair and doesn't have the sweet little chipmunk cheeks Southern had. He has thin legs and long narrow fingers and feet. I remember rolls on Southern's little thighs at this age. Southern also has Dustin's problem of some brands of shoes not being wide enough. It looks like Remy won't have to worry about that.

Remington also has already shown his own personality. He eats more than Southern did... like ALL the time... take yesterday for example: He started eating at 2:30pm and didn't want to stop until almost midnight. How did I not go insane, you ask? Around 4:30pm, I strapped him and Southern into the car and drove to the post office. We mailed Remington's baptism invitations and stopped by Sonic for some drinks before heading back home. That bought me a good half hour. Then I fed him while eating pizza and watching a movie. About halfway through the movie, I passed him to Dustin to rock. That bought me another 20 minutes. I then fed him off and on - only stopping to burp - until it was time to take my shower. He just had to wait in his swing downstairs with Daddy until I finished and got Southern into bed. I then fed him again until he feel asleep close to midnight. And I was practically giddy when I put him down and stretched out in my bed!

And speaking of feeding, he won't eat when he has a dirty diaper. I remember Southern not caring one way or the other. But both boys did scream bloody murder during diaper changes that this age. Thankfully Remington's cries are no where near the decibel level Southern's were. His cry is much quieter and lower pitched. He also hates bathtime. I remember Southern freaking out at first but then coming to love the water.

I'm so excited to see as they grow how else they will differ.

2 Weeks Old

At this time two weeks ago, I was holding a warm, squirmy bundle of joy only about 15 minutes old. Wow!

The day started off in usual Wyatt fashion. In our household, I am usually the one ready first and waiting on Dustin. This day was no different. I was by the door holding my bag when we realized the car we were going to take to the hospital at 6am had one headlight out. As we debated on the best course of action, it was getting later and later... and I was ready to get to the hospital to get this over with. So finally I told Dustin we'd just take the car and if we got pulled over, I'd talk to the cop!!

So off we went with only one headlight and 10 minutes late for our scheduled check-in time. In the end, it didn't even matter that we were "late" as the nurses' shift ends at 7am so no one was too fresh on the job. When we arrived at the hospital, they took my weight and lead me to a room where I was given a gown. Then it was mainly just a waiting game until the next shift arrived. Dustin filled out the paperwork for me as they started getting me hooked up to the monitors. Joy... I soon had so many wires and tubes coming out of me that I required the assistance of two people just to walk over to the bathroom.

We were finally settled in and my IV was going when I started thinking about my breakfast order. My nurse said I should only get things off of the "liquid diet" section of the menu - jello, broth, juice, etc. Not exactly what I had in mind. With Southern, I remember the nurse saying I could eat whatever I wanted and had sausage, eggs, and buscuits with no consequences. So I asked Dustin to casually mention this to her and ask again if she was sure I could only have a liquid diet. She caved in and said I could get regular food as long as I kept it light but warned me that I would probably throw it all up during labor. So I ordered a fruit and cottage cheese plate with a bagel and enjoyed myself :)  (And proved her wrong by not throwing anything up!)

By the time my breakfast had arrived, things were starting to get more painful. After 5 hours, things were REALLY painful. I called for an epidural. That was more painful than I remembered with Southern. But it soon lessened the pain from the contractions, so it was worth it. I felt so good at that point that I had a couple visitors. Southern even came in to cheer me on :) He laid in the bed with me for a little while. I was worried that he might be scared of all the cords coming out of me, but he was just curious. Soon I started to feel some pressure so I sent Southern out with Grammy to head back home to wait. Dustin offered to walk them out to the car. My dad was still in the room but the pressure was getting more intense so the nurse offered to check me. She estimated it would take another 3-5 hours as I was 5 cm at the last check, but she would check anyway. So we sent my dad back out to the waiting room, and she found out that I was 10 cm along!! Time to push!!

So I called Dustin on his cell phone and told him to head back inside ASAP. We're having a baby! Needless to say, he was a little shocked. This same thing happened when Southern was born. His granny had bought him some chicken fajitas, and he was outside getting them from her car when I called to tell him Southern was ready. He had just enough time to run in, drop the fajita plate on a table, and grab my leg. So, following tradition, he ran back in and got ready to hold my leg. This time, the pushing felt like it took a little longer than with Southern but Dustin thinks it went by quicker. I didn't have my eye on the clock, but at 3:15pm, little Remington was born! He wasn't starving right away like Southern was, but he started eating within the first hour.

He went off to take his first bath in the nursery, we got to see many visitors, and finally, around 8pm that night, I was able to eat, shower, and get ready for bed. We spent one night in the hospital and were able to go home the next day around 3pm.

He's here!

Welcome to the world, baby Remington!

Southern Jeffrey Wyatt is proud to announce the arrival of baby brother Remington Earl Wyatt. Remington was born to Dustin and Lindsey Wyatt of New Braunfels on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 3:15pm in New Braunfels at Christa Santa Rosa Hospital. He weighed 8 lbs., 9 oz. and measured 21.5 inches long.


Grandparents for the second time are Teresa Brashears, Jeff Hahn, the late Denise Wyatt, and Allan and Dori Wyatt, all of Yoakum. Great grandparents, all of Yoakum as well, are Tony and Eva Perez, William and Adele Hahn, Sandra Ehlers, the late Jack Ehlers, Darlene Wyatt, the late Earl Wyatt, Adelia Lippe, and the late Benno Lippe.

38 Weeks Along

So this is it... the last week of being pregnant! Remington's going to arrive the day after tomorrow.

For those of you wanting to visit us in the hospital, please feel free to do so. We'll have more time for company while we're there. Once we're at home, we'd like to catch up on sleep (when we can) and settle in with our new little family of four.

The maternity center is on the second floor of Christus Santa Rosa here in New Braunfels. It can only be reached by one elevator - the one located to your left just past the gift shop. Visiting hours are from 9am to 1pm. From 1pm to 3pm is quiet time for moms and babies so no visitors are allowed. Then visiting resumes at 3pm and lasts until 8pm. Also, no children under 14 are allowed to visit unless they are a sibling. Oh, and no visitors are allowed during the first hour of the baby's life. This is called the Golden Hour and is reserved for the first feeding and for the parents to bond with their new little one.

If anyone needs directions to the hospital, just let me know.

Above is a picture of me and Southern taken yesterday with our lime tree. Poppy and DeDe, Dustin's paternal grandparents, had given us this tree back in 2007. At the time it was just a tiny sprout only a few inches tall inside a small pot. It was taken from their lime tree in their front yard. It actually produces limes that are orange inside. Ours has yet to make it's first fruit, but it should in the next year or so.

And here I am in front of the same lime tree when I was pregnant with Southern. This was taken during the first week of March in 2009.

And speaking of pictures from the past, this one taken of Southern last week reminded me of the following photo:

Here I am with LD back in February of 2000. He was Dustin's first Valentine's gift to me, and Southern recently discovered him in my closet. Southern spent a fun afternoon playing with "Eh D".



37 Weeks Along

I had my last visit to my baby doctor today. Well, it's the last time I go back during this pregnancy. I will see her again soon for my 7 week postpartum visit. And of course, I will see her next week - though I won't be visiting too much then as I'll be pushing Remington out into her hands!

My induction date still stands. I will be going in to the hospital in one week and one day to have this little guy.

My tummy measured 43 cm today, and the baby's heartbeat was 143. Southern went in with me, and he got to hear the baby. He's becoming an old pro at doctors visits.


On another note, as for the question of how we found/decided on Remington's name:

I found it in a baby book. It was the same one I used to find Southern's name. I checked it out from the library. As some of you know, I had a girl's name already lined up but had a harder time picking boys names this time around. We had one we liked, but I didn't really like the ring of it with Wyatt or with Southern's name. So when I found Remington, I was excited.

Dustin was unsure at first because he thought that everyone would automatically think of the gun. I hadn't even thought of that. And you know, the gun was named after a person in the first place... (BTW, it's also a brand of typewriter and men's shaver as well as the name of the main character in the popular 80's sitcom starring Pierce Brosnan, "Remington Steele") But we liked the name, and the more we said it and wrote it out, the more we fell in love with it. We already heard all the jokes with Southern's name ("Oh, so where's Northern?") so we figured oh well. If someone wants to make fun of an infant, that's their deal.

The only other "drawback" of the name Remington that we could think of was that his name might be a bit too long for such a little guy. Well, he's going to grow up in no time, so I didn't find that a big problem. Plus, I've always liked long first names (especially matched with a shorter last name). But to solve that, beside the name Remington in the baby book was a nickname - Remy. I had never heard of this name before and at first didn't like it that much. Dustin did though, and it has grown on me. So when he's little, this will be a cute way of shorting his name. And the funny thing is that not long after we settled on this nickname, I started seeing it pop up.

Here's a sticker that Southern received after a doctor's visit.

And this was in a book I have on planning children's birthday parties.

36 Weeks Along

Another doctor's visit today! All was well for both me and baby. We confirmed my induction date. It is set for Wednesday, May 25th. We also checked his heartbeat (149) and measured my tummy (40 cm). I am 2 cm dilated and 65% thinned.

We talked about the baby's size again. At the last visit, we had a sonogram that gave us Remington's weight. It was 7 lbs, 8 oz. Going by the average, he should be gaining about an ounce a day. That would put him around 8 lbs, 4 oz. today. That also means he should weigh about 9 lbs, 3 oz, when he's born in 2 weeks. That's less than Southern did when he was born, but it's also two weeks earlier.

I looked back on my posts with Southern around this time, and at 33 weeks along, my tummy measured 35.5. With Remington at 34 weeks, my tummy was already 39. Wow! So these Wyatt boys are just big guys. My doctor mentioned today that usually the second child is bigger than the first, the third is bigger than both the first and second, and that the fourth can go either way.

I'm going back in to see her in a week. I'm sure it will go by quickly.

So mark your calendars, everyone. Remington Earl Wyatt is going to be here in two weeks! (Or less if he decides to come on his own!!)

Movie Room Redo

As some of you may remember, we bought a small white couch at Ikea in Houston back in August of '06. Why some of you may remember that is because of this picture...

We drove that couch all the way back from Houston like this. Needless to say, we hadn't gone to Houston to furniture shop. We had gone to visit a friend. And it happened to be the weekend or two before my birthday so my dad had given me my birthday money early. While in Houston (luckily on the last day of our trip), we decided to stop at Ikea. How often do you get to shop there, and they have so much cute stuff, so why not walk around? Well.... then we found this couch. It was a cute little $300 couch on clearance for $200. And at the time, we were living in Seguin in an apartment while attending TLU with only a futon and recliner in our living room. So we were super excited to get it. And Dustin, being Dustin, of course had a Yakima rack on his car and was ready for the adventure.

So we've had said couch for quite a few years. It moved with us to our rent house in New Braunfels upon my graduation from TLU. Then it moved with us here to our current home. It had since been delegated to the movie room as we bought "grown up" furniture for our living room with my some of my graduation money. But for the last year or so, I've been itching for a sleeper sofa. That itch got stronger when some of the springs began popping down from our poor little Ikea couch, and if you sat in one particular spot, you got a seatful of metal... not a nice feeling. Well, Dustin said he could fix those springs (and he did), but I still wanted that sleeper sofa.

I was dreaming of a day when I didn't have to lug out the Aero bed, sheets, pillow cases, pillows, blanket, and comforter, and then bend over and strain my back while making the darn bed with all those items. And now my dream has been realized! :)

Thanks to DeDe, my husband's grandmother, we now had the extra money to get not only a new nice sleeper sofa, but a new recliner as well. Dustin finally has his "man chair" that he's been wanting.

And again, Dustin was up to the delivery challenge, though this time he was more prepared...

So thank you, DeDe, for our new and improved (and very comfortable) movie room!

34 Weeks Along

Yesterday, Dustin and I went to see my baby doctor. I've been very curious to hear her comments on Remington's size. With Southern, I was induced on my due date because my doctor was worried that he'd be close to 9 lbs. Well, he came out at 9 lbs, 7 oz. Yikes! So I was especially interested to learn what she envisioned for me with this pregnancy.
The first order of business at the appointment... baby pictures :)

 He looks just like Southern did at this age! Such a sweet little guy. We got to see him moving his arms. He had one wrist in his mouth for a little while. We also got to see his mouth opening and his tounge moving. It looks like he's got Daddy's nose, Mommy's mouth, and Southern's chubby cheeks :)

After the 15-20 minutes of oohing and ahhing, we headed back to the waiting room to wait to see the doctor. Dustin didn't even have time to sit down before we were called back once again. They took my weight and blood pressure. Then the doctor came in to give us her interpretation of the sonogram results and to measure my tummy (39 cm). Basically, it's another big Wyatt boy. And based on Southern's weight, she wants me to give birth to Remington 2 weeks early. So that means in 4 weeks or less, our newest little boy will be here. If I go into labor anytime between now and then, she said they won't stop me. But, if 4 weeks from now, I'm still no where close, she will induce me.

I'm going back in a little less than 2 weeks, and after she checks me out then, we will talk more seriously about induction dates if necessary. So Remington will be a May baby for sure!

The Next Spurs Player

Talent scouts will soon flock to our house to catch a glimpse of the next Spurs superstar basketball player...

2 Year Check-up

We had Southern's 2 year doctor appointment on Monday. This time it was in the train-themed room! :)

Everything went well. The doctor was happy with Southern's progress. He weighed 30 pounds and measured 35.5 inches tall. That's almost 3 feet! Dustin couldn't believe a 2 year old was half his height - haha

He checked out Southern's eyes, ears, nose, mouth, and reflexes. Southern just calmly sat on the examing table the whole time and let him look. He even turned his head when the doctor switched ears.

Southern also got one shot and a finger prick to take blood for an iron count. He was strong through it all and didn't cry or make a fuss.

It's hard to believe that we won't be back for a check-up for a year... his next one is when he turns 3. And he won't need anymore shots until his 4 year check-up. But I guess we'll be back in there so often with Remington that we won't miss Dr Statler too much.

31 Weeks Along

Here is Southern proudly showing off a couple toys found in the waiting room at my doctor's office. We had an appointment this morning for a quick "tummy check" as my doctor calls it. They weighed me, took a urine sample, took my blood pressure, and I got to talk to my doc. She went over the routine questions - any problems, pain, contractions, etc. And then I hopped onto the exam table so she could measure my tummy - 33cm - and listen to Remy's heartbeat - 148. Everything was great. My results from the diabetes test last time came back negative. Yay! Southern was well behaved, and all the nurses loved seeing and talking to him. Now we go back in 3 weeks for another sonogram to see just how much this Wyatt boy has grown. Can't wait!

Southern's 2nd Birthday Cake

This year, to go along with Southern's train-themed birthday party, I made him a train cake. I found a recipe in a cookbook at the library for a Christmas Train Cake made with 5 mini-loaf pans. I didn't have mini loaf pans, so I improvised with regular loaf pans and just made 3.

I cut one in half to make the engine and used the last one as the train car. This worked out nicely because I had an extra half loaf of birthday cake that I could send home with my dad for my Hahn grandparents who are home-bound and couldn't attend the party.

Then I iced the cake. I had originally wanted it to be red and blue, but I had a slight problem as I was mixing up the red icing. I used my new (found on clearance) food coloring. I grabbed the red bottle with red lid and started putting drops into the white icing. I stired. It came out pink. So I added more drops... and more drops... and more until that darn red bottle was almost empty. All the while stirring furiously. The icing just kept getting more and more pink until it was a shocking bright pink! So I then leaned over to read the food coloring box and find out that the colors it came with were blue, yellow, green, and pink. No red. Great. No wonder it was on clearance! I could just imagine Dustin's reaction to a pink and blue train cake for our son. Luckily, I had bought two jars of icing. Whew. The pink went into the trash and now I mixed up a nice light shade of yellow.

I then piped on blue icing to finish out the train details. I added Oreo's for wheels, a small piece of black licorice to connect the car to the engine, an ice cream cone smoke stack, and some cotton candy "steam". I also spelled out "Happy Birthday Southern" with candy letters. I think it turned out nicely for a kid's birthday cake, if I do say so myself. Definitely home-made, but made with love :)

Happy 2nd Birthday, Southern!

My little man is growing up so quickly...

Here he is at 2 weeks old

And now at 2 years old

Projects

Just a couple of projects I've been working on in the past week...

Proud Mama

I'm used to getting funny looks for taking pictures of/in non-typical things and places... or I guess I should say of typical things and places. Most people don't need a camera at the dentist's for example. But my son's name was on the No Cavity Board, gosh darn it, and I needed a picture of that! haha You should have seen the receptionist's face when I asked if she minded if I took a picture of it as I dug around in my purse for my camera.

But there he is - Southern Wyatt - cavity free :)

 And I've had my camera out at every haircut since the beginning. This time, I was getting a haircut as well so I asked Dustin if he wanted my camera before we went inside. He said no, that we already had plenty of hair-cutting pictures. I said okay. I was getting my hair cut when they called Southern's name, so off he and Daddy went into the kid's room for a trim. When I was finished, they were still in there. She was finished cutting his hair, but Dustin was waiting for me to get done so I could hand him my camera! haha

 A little Southern Monster with a fresh haircut is hard to resist :)

 *note to self: never squat for a picture when pregnant