Turkey Day Part 1

We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Robinsons on Friday. Since my family is celebrating this upcoming week, we spent Wednesday and Thursday with my parents helping decorate the Christmas tree. Here are some pictures from our adventures.




Dax also got to meet several people for the first time. Here's a picture of him and Uncle Dustin.


This was also the first time his great-grandma Adam got to meet him as well.


Last but not least, he met our Aunt Carol, Uncle Clyde, Cousin David, and Cousin Rachel (below). He also met his Uncle Dan for the first time, but I didn't get a picture of it...next time!


More pictures to come next week from the Winters' family celebration of Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Answer to prayer

Praise God! Derek and I have had a HUGE, and I mean HUGE answer to prayer today. The final details need to be reviewed, and a few teeny-tiny questions answered, but we have just had an enormous burden lifted off of our shoulders. The stress, anxiety, and tension that I have been carrying around since this summer has just lifted and has been replaced with a peace that can only come from God. I can't share just yet, but I just wanted to share how thankful I am this week and what an irony it is that God would answer this specific request the same week of Thanksgiving. More to come in the following weeks :)

1 month old ( a day late )

Dax turned 1 month old yesterday! The first month has been an adventure for Derek and I filled with lots of memories. Derek and I are quickly learning to function on a lot less sleep than normal, and are both thoroughly enjoying our new roles as mom and dad. Here's a look back on the past month.

Dax enjoying his lamb chair, this is a mid-sentence picture. He's become so much more vocal since he was born. He likes to grunt and squeel, and coo at me. He's especially noisy when he's trying to wake up - a process that takes him about an hour to do.

Dax about to roll over (he did this for the first time yesterday!) Tummy time is going really well, although he's been holding his head up really high since he was born, so it's a breeze for him!

Snoozin on daddy's lap, one of his favorite places to sleep. He hates having his arms confined, and no matter how we swaddle him, he manages to houdini his arms out of the blanket.

Wide-awake on mommy's pillow, there are some nights where little D likes to stay awake instead of going back to sleep after eating. I usually try to take over night shift when he's wide-awake, since Derek gets up for work in the morning. Derek has been a HUGE help with Dax at night when he does wake up for his 1 feeding.


Out like a light at the hospital. Such a little doll, it's hard to believe he's only been around for 1 month, it feels like he's been with us for so much longer than that. I am starting to forget what life was like before we had Dax, it just seems so natural having him a part of our lives.

His birthday! This was taken after he was all taken care of and swaddled up at the hospital.



And last but not least a video of a major milestone - Dax rolling over for the first time. He actually did this yesterday, but we took the video today to send to my mom for her birthday. He still hasn't done this in front of Derek yet, but we will keep trying!!

Post-pregnancy me

I hate how I look post-pregnancy, I'm sick of feeling fat, I spent 9 months feeling ginormous and now it just continues. I don't have anything that fits right now, I have maybe 4 tops that fit, and that's because I bought 2 of them, and the only pants that I can wear right now are my maternity pants. Can I just say that I'm sick of wearing elastic waist-banded pants?! They're too big on me, so my plumber's butt is constantly hanging out, and I always have to pull them up, but NONE of my pre-pregnancy pants fits. Not even my fat ones. I have one pair of pants that I can pull up, but I look like this in them:


I'm still not allowed to work out yet, hopefully when I see my mid-wife on the 30th I'll get the all clear to start some sort of work out regimen again. I've been trying to take 30 minute walks with Dax each day, but our lovely Michigan weather has made it pretty difficult for me to do. Most days I'd rather take a nap during "walk" time anyway, especially since I usually have a migraine thanks to the weather. Yes it's wonderful being a mom and having a son, but that does not eliminate my frustrations about my body right now or solve the fact that I'm chunking out and don't feel like I'm losing any weigh. Sigh.

Weight Gain

2 weeks ago at the pediatrician, Dax weighed in at 8lbs 14oz. His doctor was really happy with his weight gain. I know Dax has been getting big so on Sunday, we weighed him naked and much to our surprise our little chunky monkey came in at a whopping 11lbs 4oz! That's 38oz in 2 weeks, it just blows my mind how fast this little one is growing.

Day of Grandpas

Today was our first road trip and will be our first weekend away from home! While Derek is out hunting Bambi or Bambi's mom, Dax and I headed down to my mom and dad's house for the weekend. I'm not ready to spend the night alone with little D yet!!

Since we were in town, we headed over to Dax's great-grandpa's place for his first visit and a photo shoot. Needless to say, my Grandpa Bill was so happy to see his newest great-grandchild.

Dax really was in a good mood during this picture, we just caught him mid-stretch. He had been sleeping up until I took him out of his carseat, he woke up long enough to get a few pictures with his great-grandpa McKinley, and then promptly fell back asleep after the short visit was over.


My dad was also thrilled to see Dax today. Dax loves his Grandpa Winters and even was able to get a bottle from him tonight. I think they both enjoyed the bonding time, this picture shows it all - Dax looking up at my dad.

I am enjoying being off of diaper duty while I'm here, although I will be back on it tonight while everyone is sleeping, but I've had a nice break so far. Speaking of diapers, I cannot be happier with our decision to use cloth diapers. They are working out so well and we are saving so much money by using them. I don't mind the extra load of laundry every 2 days. So far we had more leaks and accidents when we were using the disposable diapers we received from the hospital than we have had with our Bum Genius diapers.

3-6 Month Size

Today Dax has officially started wearing his 3-6 month size clothing, I am still amazed at how big he is getting. I was in denial for a couple of days about him needing to move into the bigger size...all of his 0-3 month size onesies were way too small, the neck would come about halfway down his chest because we were stretching them to fit. I suppose he should start wearing his 3-6 month size pants too, I don't know if I'm ready for that yet!


This was taken after his tummy time for today. His neck is getting so strong, the only pictures I managed to take of it were not very good ones. I'll try again next time.

Look at how big I'm getting!!

Grandpa Robinson

On Sunday, Derek's parents and sister, Bethany, came up for a visit. My father-in-law hadn't seen Dax since he was born. We were able to get a couple of shots of them together.


Dax has been growing so big lately, we think he has inherited Grandpa R's height genes!!

Thumbs and Walks

Dax has HUGE thumbs, in general I think he has pretty big hands for a newborn. He's going to be a thumb war champion!! Up until now, he's managed to suck on his fist. He somehow manages to get most of his fist into his mouth and then proceeds to suck it while I get ready to feed him. Yesterday, as I was getting set up to nurse him, his fist started to creep up towards his face, and at the last minute, he opened his hand, and managed to find his thumb, and started sucking on his thumb. I cannot believe he's sucking his thumb already, I shed a few tears. I know this is just the first of many milestones to come, but I just can't believe my baby is almost 3 weeks old already!!! I don't have a picture of him sucking his thumb yet, but here's a picture of his sweet little hands and thumbs : )


I know as his mom, I am biased, but seriously how adorable is my son?!


And here is his massive thumb :) I'm sure it will come to good use one of these days!

Today we also went for a walk. We went around the apartment complex and it felt great to get some fresh air. We have a snowsuit type of outfit for Dax, and he looks like a little bear with it on! It's a little big, but he is just too cute when we put him in it, and then put him in his carseat. I was able to get a good picture of it today.

Big Boy Bath

Since Dax lost his umbilical cord on Saturday, Derek and I were able to give him his first "big boy" bath on Sunday! The only part he didn't like was getting out of the tub because it was a little chilly, otherwise he enjoyed every minute of bath time.



Things have been going really well. Derek and I are adjusting to having our beautiful son around all of the time. I think each day we fall even more in love with him - if that's even possible. We went to the pediatrician yesterday for a 2 week check up and little Dax put on 1lb 4.5oz in 10 days!!! He is now up to 8lbs 14.5oz. His doctor was very impressed with his weight gain and said that it means he is extremely healthy. Apparently babies tend to put on 1-1.5oz/day, and with him putting on 2oz/day, she was thrilled. All of the nurses at the doctor's office are in love with little D, they love his blond hair and have all commented on how beautiful he is for being a newborn! We're slightly biased, but Derek and I both think we made a great looking kid : )