Grandpa Flint's Visit

Mason has his second visitor from our hometown, another grandparent to hold him and love on him. My dad arrived yesterday morning and when we went to pick him up from the airport they just couldn't wait to say hello. Thankfully the Spokane TSA isn't very stringent on how long you can have your car parked in the "loading and unloading only" zones. As soon as we got home we put Grandpa Flint to work in feeding his first grandchild.It's packing day today and after a leisurely morning Dad and I picked up the U-Haul trailer and have been hard at work filling it up. Tage likes to say that I am "spatially challenged" and have a difficult time perceiving if something will fit in a certain place or not. I can't deny this. Thankfully, if I am spatially challenged, my dad is a spacial savant. He has so far figured out how to fit two giant couches, countless boxes, lamps, a Christmas tree, and much more into the 6' x 12' trailer. And it's only half full.

Tage worked this morning and is making a Lowes run picking up supplies to fix odds and ends around the house. It's looking like my dad and I will head out of here tomorrow and possibly take two days to drive back to the city we grew up in. Tage is working Sunday morning and will then catch up. I can't believe it may be our last night in our home in Spokane! Amazing how quickly a year flies by.

P.S. Mason has been sleeping like an ANGEL in the living room through all of this. Trust me, I count my blessings every time I walk past and see his peaceful face.

1 Month

Mason is a month old today! We went in to see the doctor for his check up and he weighed in at a healthy 8 pounds and 9 ounces, which still only put him in the 15% percentile for his age. The first thing the nurse has us do when we come in is take all of his clothes off to get an accurate weight. As you can tell by the photo below, Mase is not a fan of having all of his clothes off. You'll notice toward the top left hand side of the picture that the tissue covering the seat is soaking wet. Our little man has quite the aim. Tage took the opportunity to snap a picture or two and say to me (as I am trying to remove Mason's clothes and leftover poop remnants), "He's peeing, he's peeing!" It was everywhere. Outfit. Blanket. Seat. Mom.
Mason's head measured 14 1/2 inches (25th percentile), 1 1/2 inches larger than at birth. Have I mentioned how thankful I am that he came early and was healthy? Everything else looked good and while the doctor warned us that he may be a little "behind" the normal time lines for developmental milestones because of his early arrival, Tage and I are convinced he's a genius and is already ahead of his time. We are settling into the parent rolls quite nicely if you ask me. :)

"Due" Date

I still can't believe yesterday was Mason's "due" date and yet he has been here for nearly a month now. Kim is due March 19th and we can't wait to meet her little girl. I had some serious belly envy of Kim. Isn't she the most adorable pregnant lady?
Mason and I are counting down the days before we can set him and the little Reitz cutie up on their first date! :)

Before and After: Excitement

Before: Getting to sleep in on Saturday and Sunday mornings was exciting.
After: Getting to sleep for 3 hours in a row is exciting.

Before: Tage coming home from being gone for 4 days made me excited for... um, Tage.
After: Tage coming home from being gone for 4 days makes me excited for... a bath. In solitude.

Before: Having a day with nothing scheduled was exciting.
After: Having a day with anything scheduled is exciting.

Before: Calling a girlfriend to share excitement over juicy gossip.
After: Calling a girlfriend to share excitement over a good latch.

Before: Being excited about going out to dinner.
After: Being excited about having time to make dinner.

All in just 4 short weeks. Makes me wonder about all that's to come...

Get your finger out of your eye!

Mason has a tendency to scratch himself in the face, mostly near his eyes. Tage and I have had some concerns about the red and slightly swollen appearance of his left eye a few times. I think I may have figured out the source of the agitation. Last night I happened to glance over at Mase, sitting next to me in the boppy, and there he was gazing contentedly back at me... with his finger in his eye. I don't mean touching his eye. I mean his finger was tucked INTO the lower eyelid and his eye was bright red and watering. He may not have minded, but I was completely disturbed.

Also disturbing? The blocked milk duct I seem to have acquired since this morning. Any suggestions?

Saturday Smile

Remember the teenie tiny booties Amanda knitted? They are about the only things that fit Mason right now! Oh, the look on his face? I made a comment about his hairline. I'm thinking he gets that expression from me...

Impressions

My assistant manager, Suzy, who has two beautiful and wildly intelligent daughters, gave me a gift certificate for "impressions" at a local pottery shop. The owner of Polka Dot Pottery, Kimberly Geiger, is also a customer of ours. Mason and I just got back from getting his little hand and foot prints taken. In 4-6 weeks we'll have an adorable ceramic tile to hang in the nursery. Looking at the clay in the picture can you believe those monster prints came from the tiny peanut in my arms?

Mini Road Trip

Mason and I met my Uncle Clay, his wife Jamie, and my cousins Cylie and Chase in Ritzville. The Mauldins live in Yakima and made the drive up toward Spokane this morning. We enjoyed lunch at Perkins while my uncle oogled Mason the whole time. It's hard not to though, he's a pretty cute kid. :)

Mason was very interested in what Cylie had to offer in the way of lunch. This was the first time I was truly thankful I am pumping. It was so much easier to whip out a bottle than to whip out a body part in the restaurant.

Tage had more than a mini road trip, headed down to our hometown with a full 4Runner. Mason and I are on our own until Sunday. We miss Daddy already!

Hanging with Dad

Happy Valentines Day!

Inspired by Heather and her adorable "HeartFELT" creations (featured on the blog 30 Days) I turned one of Mason's organic cotton onesie's into a Valentines Day surprise for Dad. I simply cut out the heart and peanut shapes from felt and stitched them on.You would think from seeing the first picture that the felt cut-out's are gigantic, when in fact as you can see from the picture above of the full onesie (size 0-3 months, might I add) it's just Mason who is so little! Hence the "Peanut" nickname. (Note to self: take pictures of the completed onesie before placing the onesie on the child. See "Murphy's Laws" for a reminder of when your child's diaper is guaranteed to leak.)

Last but not least... A Valentines Day surprise before Valentines Day! Tage came home with these beautiful flowers on Monday and I've enjoyed them during breakfast each morning this week. Awww :)

Saturday Smile

Okay so it isn't quite Saturday for the rest of the world but Tage is off today and working over the weekend so it's our Saturday here in Spokane. Here is a Mason smile for you in honor of our pseudo-Saturday...

Grandma Dee's Visit

Tage's mom, Deanne, arrived on Monday morning to meet her newest grandson. We picked her up at the airport and before her bags were barely inside the house Mason found his new favorite place in her arms.

It has been so nice having an extra set of arms around to hold Mason or to pet Astro (who Tage thinks I have forgotten about.) Tage is back to work this week but is home in the afternoons to enjoy naps with his little peanut.

Such an angel when he sleeps. Now if only he would sleep as well at night as he does in the daytime...

Penis Doctor

Suffice to say I don't have a vagina nor would I think to say that I would know anything really about them. I mean I know about them ( wink wink) but I don't know much about the plumbing. Nor even if I did know a lot about them would I say I know how it feels and or what could be felt pain joy etc and so on. One good point is there on the inside and the penis is on the outside. Wow I'm the smartest guy in the room. I'm pretty sure your not going to zip your vagina into your zipper or have a bee sting it. (I know a guy that this actually happened too) ouch! But I digress


Having a baby boy is wonderful. Not that there would be much difference right now if we had a girl because he eats and sleeps and poos most of the time. The only thing that IS different is his penis. Yes ladies and gentlemen I said it. And if I didn't know any better I would swear I was living with a penis doctor. I'm not sure where she got her credentials but one thing I know for sure and one thing I hear almost daily is. "It's not going to hurt him" or something of that ilk.

As a person with a penis and also a person who has had enough penis mishaps and or first hand knowledge of said device. It is very concerning to me to hear some one tell me what will hurt and what wont hurt it. Granted I don't remember anything of being a baby and or how it felt to be circumcised.... but I was in the room after he got circumcised and although Mason likes to fuss cry I had never seen him cry cry. Seeing a 10 day old child cry actual tears is enough to make any man feel physical pain. Or maybe lower pain who knows? My point is hey that's a penis you just cut open and theres raw exposed flesh... that going to hurt a lot.

Now I'm not saying the penis doctor didn't appreciate the pain he was in but as the days have passed it seems as if she thinks his penis has miraculous powers of healing and you can just flop it around with out any discord. While getting ready to take a bath, Masons first tonight, I was in the tub and I heard the familiar "it wont hurt" bird in the bathroom. My answer was um how do you know? You don't have a penis and your not about to submerge it for the first time in warm water. As a matter of fact I don't think you know what it would feel like for a little boy or middle aged man to submerge a scabbed very sensitive piece of flesh into any type of water. Just thinking about it right now kinda scares me.

I am truly blessed to have such a wonderful mother for our child. But she will never know what it feels like to get kicked in the balls and i will never know what it felt like to give birth. The difference is she gave birth on one day Mason will be walking around with his penis every day. So for all the trials and tribulations he will have growing up and going through his teen age years and dealing with all the fears and labeling and shame that can come with being a penis barer. I find it is my responsibility to look out for him now. To go that extra mile to remind mom that its probably the most sensitive thing on his body right now and assuming that it wont hurt doesn't mean it wont.

This is the team work that a family has to go through to raise a child and I wouldn't change it for the world. And if Tegan hadn't been crying laughing in the bathroom tonight I wouldn't have even thought to write this. Maybe I'm over sensitive to the whole thing but then again what father wouldn't be for his child?

Murphy's Laws of Parenting

#1 It does not fail that the moment you change his diaper, Mason will dirty it up again. He thinks it's funny!

The "C" Word

Not that of the 4-letter variety however. "Circumcision" was the "C" word of the day. Of all the poking and prodding our little 10 day old baby has endured, this was by far the worst. Despite his children's Tylenol and some local anesthetic, after the procedure was done and we were back in the doctor's office waiting to get blood drawn, he was wailing. I mean all-out yelling at the top of his lungs. Not even the silicone ear plugs Tage had the foresight to bring could help drown out Mason's cries.

To quite literally add insult to injury, he had his second round of PKU's (via blood drawn from his heel) after his procedure. I was in the room to hold Mason's hand (as well as the bottle of sugar water intended to distract him from what was going on) but Dad couldn't bear to watch. I have to admit, it was pretty bloody. Also in the room were the doctor and a nurse trainee who commented that they both had daughters and never had to make the decision of whether or not to circumcise. "Well how nice for you!" I thought to myself as my child was bleeding all over the table from a place no little boy should ever bleed from.

Don't worry, Mason is home recovering well. The trauma for him is over. The trauma for me, however, is going to occur each time I have to change his diaper and see the bloody thing as it heals over the next week. Wish me luck!

The "Breast" Advice

Two consultations, two counseling appointments, five lactation specialists and one nurse practitioner... and I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to do my own thing. It's working for me and Mason thus far with no adverse effects. Every medical professional has their own opinion, agenda, and advice and they are willing to hand it out unsolicited without fully knowing me, my baby, or my boobs. I'll spare you a picture to accompany this post (although I'd love to... I mean, I'm not going to have these babies forever...) but here are the rest of the gory details.

After leaving my second lactation appointment frustrated and concerned about head positioning, latching, volume of milk he's consuming, volume of milk I'm producing, herbal supplements, time between feedings, and some kind of condition that evidently makes my nipples turn purple for lack of circulation, I took a breath and considered the facts: Mason has gained an ounce a day since we've had him home and two ounces since yesterday, his jaundice has improved, he is eating and sleeping well, and I still have milk to feed him at each feeding.

Yes, I'm using a nipple shield. Yes, I'm pumping after letting Mason attempt to feed. He's so young that he hasn't quite gotten the hang of the "latch" and he tires out after just a few minutes of sucking. I can pump one side and feed him on the other, then give him a bottle to top off the meal. He doesn't have any "nipple confusion" and the bottom line is, it works for us. Mason's and my strategy may not fit the mold, but it fits us. He gets to eat, I don't have sore (or worse) nipples, and we're going to adjust as we need to.

I have a feeling that's going to be the key to this whole parenting thing. Taking advice as it's given, taking it into consideration, and taking from it what we will. Ultimately Tage and I have to learn to "roll with the punches" and be flexible. Here's to the beginning of week two!

Paved with Good Intentions

"Update the blog" has been at the top of my list for a week now. But that's the problem. It's on the top of my list. There is now a list belonging to someone else that takes priority over my own. Mason is a week old today and doing well. He is weighing in at 6 pounds and the jaundice has significantly improved. He is eating well and we are both sleeping at night in 2-2 1/2 hour intervals, which seems to be enough.

I am well aware of how fortunate I am to have such a breeze of a pregnancy and delivery. Having Mason at home has been just about as effortless. Don't get me wrong, there have been challenges (balancing Mason on one arm while nursing and pumping on the other side) but all in all he is a good sleeper and a pretty relaxed kid. He only cries when he needs something (or has something for us!)

Watching Tage with Mason is one of the most rewarding parts of having him here. He is one lucky kid to have two parents who enjoy being goofy and love to just love on him. We have so far only differed in opinion about what he should wear (I keep a beanie on him, Tage thinks Mason is overdressed.) I think we've both adjusted well to having a little guy in the house... then again it has only been a week. Tage is home with me this week and I've loved it. My kind of vacation, home with my boys. :)

Mason is my source of 24 hour entertainment. Much like his daddy, he has the most expressive facial expressions that literally have me cracking up. You just have to hang out with him to appreciate them, but I'll try to capture them on camera as best as I can.

Saturday afternoon in Spokane was beautiful but cold, so we took Mason and Astro out for a walk to the school so Tage and Astro could play. The jogger stroller performed excellently over the icy terrain and frozen tundra that is our neighborhood. Mason was bundled up tightly in a fleece onesie and covered in a blanket. He could not move his arms or legs, which of course I found hilarious. I think it might have been borderline child torture and reminded me of a time when I was young that my parents took us to the snow and made us wear plastic bags tied around our shoes. Borderline child torture, and yet I have a feeling my parents were both entertained by the sight.

We have our second lactation counseling appointment tomorrow and shots and circumcision on Thursday (poor guy) and that's the extent of it! You're caught up on the wonderful world of Mason JD Valone and family. :) Now, off to bed before the next feeding...