Crawford's 1st Christmas

We ventured out Christmas Eve to run a couple of errands and Crawford was such an angel. He first watched with wide open eyes as we started out picking up the fried turkey and heading to Brad's parents house..then a couple minutes later the little man was out!

We had to have some Christmas fun with Crawford so we put him in his stocking. I hope one day he will think it's amazing that he once fit in his stocking!

Brad and I are so lucky to have received such a precious, sweet, and HEALTHY baby for Christmas!

I just love him more and more every day. I just stare at him in amazement!

Aunt Cat just loves her little buddy. She is seriously the baby whisperer. Sometimes I wonder what she is feeding him when I leave the room because he just sleeps so soundly for her...

Trying to get Crawford to stay awake a little in between feedings so that he doesn't stay up all night long! He is always either eating or sleeping and the only time he fusses is when he is hungry or when he poops or pees through his outfits (which happens a lot more than I expected!)

This is what I got to wake up to on Christmas morning. My sweet little baby boy. He has been nursing so well and I truly feel so blessed that I have sort of gotten the hang of breastfeeding..is it my favorite thing to do?..no probably not but I am constantly reading books and trying to keep a positive outlook on it and trying to feed Crawford just as much as I can!

I just love all of his Christmas outfits and can't believe that all of these adorable outfits I have been planning for him to wear are about to come to an end..Christmas is here and the time is going by so fast (well kind of ..doesn't feeel like it in the moment but saying he is 10 days old sounds crazy!!)

We packed up a ham that Cathleen made, hashbrown casserole, and all of the presents and headed to Brad's parents house . The cousins posed for a picture together.

So thankful for our first Christmas together with our new baby.

Grandpa opening his new laptop. Now he will be the one running Papa Doug's Daycare so it was only fitting that he have the internet within his fingertips. Now he will learn how to multitask...aka check golf scores and hold Crawford at the same time...from the couch!

Nana's house is about to be the party house...not only does she have the new minivan with 2 tvs and seat warmers in the back...she now has a Wii...so much for mom and dad being the cool ones!

Only fitting that Crawford receive a couple of useful gifts..considering even next year he will probably have NO idea what is going on...but thanks to Nana and Grandpa he can now be transported back and forth between vehicles easily!

Aunt Cat continued the spoil fest with more clothes for baby Crawford!

Aunt Cat also got him a monogrammed blanket and lovie with his date of birth on it..

Grandpa opening presents.

Crawford opening those eyes and trying to take to take in all the Christmas action!

More clothes for baby Crawford...I know it looks silly that I have my finger in his mouth...but it works like a charm to calm him down.

Grandpa spending some time with Crawford...I have a feeling that are going to be connected at the hip before long!

Hope and Crawford amongst all of the Christmas disaster...Everyone had such a great Christmas and I think I can speak for everyone that it was a wonderful day with the family!

Isn't she sweet...taking care of baby Crawford. Soon she's going to have her hands full with a new brother and a new cousin.

It's so nice to have family pictures taken...crazy to think 10 days ago he was that size but in my stomach! I love him so much!

Amy holding her new nephew.

It was the first White Christmas in Greenville since the 1960's I believe. We never made it back outside with him once the ground and streets were covered but we had to capture Crawford's first snow in camera!

Brad had a couple of surprises for me when we returned home on Christmas evening. He surprised me with 2 hot stone massages (he knows they are my favorite and I have missed them while I was pregnant.) I am hoping Brad will take me up on the offer and join me for the other one!

Since my 12 days of Christmas didn't go quite as planned for Brad he had 4 gifts to still open when Christmas rolled around...

Aunt Cat was busy taking care of Crawford while we indulged in some Christmas present opening!

Brad is the greatest person ever to get gifts for...I mean who gets excited about a cup...my husband is very sweet to humor me with his gratefulness!

I got him a new golf shirt and at least I know he is genuinely excited about this one..I am sure he is thinking great when are you going to let me out of the house to go golf!

We had some goodies for Aunt Cat as well..I was able to get her a ring that she had been eyeing and it really was stunning!

So after all the presents were done being unwrapped...Brad kept apologizing for not getting me anything....of course I reassured him that I didn't need anything other than a healthy baby and sweet supportive husband..he went and pulled out another gift and it was the David Yurman bracelet that matched the ring he gave me when Crawford was born. I was sooo shocked!

Of course it was perfect and I will always think of my new family when I wear both of them!

Just a couple snaps of the snow as it fell ALL night long on Christmas evening..it was truly the perfect ending to a great first Christmas with Crawford!

The next morning the ground was covered and it was just beautiful!

Hopefully the days and nights will become easier or I will become more patient and tolerant to this new lifestyle! I can't wait to ring in the New Year with Brad and Crawford!

Day 8-9

Well Crawford hardly ever gets put down but when and if he does we put him down in this bassinet that sits right off the ground. He hates his big bassinet (which is the one Brad slept in as a baby) so when and if he is not being spoiled he usually rests in here. I ordered this adorable pillow from Etsy for his nursery. I have put it on his glider and it matches his room perfectly. I have no idea how this lady was able to match his nursery so well.

Ashley was so nice and spent the day with me. Corinne left on Wednesday and Cathleen wasn't coming until Thursday night so it was great to have company while Brad was at work. I am still dreading the day when Cathleen leaves and I'm all alone and looking around like how am I supposed to do this alone? I am sure I will manage but I am sure going to miss everyone who has been soooo helpful the past week.

Brad and I ran a couple of errands this afternoon. It really is the highlight of my day. He'll say "You wanna take a ride" and then we bundle Crawford up and I sit in the back and keep him company. It makes me feel sane again to see the outside world. Lauren stopped by when we got home to visit with Crawford.

As he began to get fussy I figured it was time for a diaper change/feeding so I proceeded to change his diaper when his umbilaal cord fell off. Just like that I never thought it would be so soon or I guess I had stopped counting the days because yeah I guess it was about time for this little guy to fall off. I was so excited..it was the first moment I felt like wow my little baby is growing and the time is going to start flying by!

Here is his new little tummy. I can finally see his little belly button....so sweet!

Just admiring my little man....

The first week or really the first 4 days home were literally some of the most stressful, anxiety producing days of my life. I thought I was pretty good at handling stress and everyone said this whole mothering thing came so easily but man I have literally never been soo stressed in my life. I just felt like I had no control over anything and that mixed with little to no sleep left one emotional mamma. I just would look at Crawford with all of this love and then feel like I had no idea what I was doing. The feeding schedule was so difficult. I sometimes felt like I didn't even know how to hold him to get him to feed properly....these are things you are never taught and they just take practice. I finally feel so much more comfortable preparing for a feeding but I just felt so challenged those first 4 days and nights and I am so happy that after one full night of sleep thanks to my husband I feel refreshed and a LOT less stressed. Brad helped out one night after seeing me so ubelieveably drained and took it upon himself to take the monitor and the finger feeding system and make it through the night without making one peep. I felt soo very lucky! He did an amazing job and I woke up literally feeling like a whole new person. I can't wait to see how I feel after another week of being a mom.

1 Week Old!

Where has the first week gone? I cannot believe I had this beautiful baby 1 week ago!!! It was such a great day and I will cherish the day, the moment forever! I am so attached to little Crawford I just can't stand to leave his side. I like to be the one to feed him, comfort him, stay up with him...I just can't imagine missing a single moment in his life.

Crawford got to have an early Christmas from Aunt Corinne (by the way I can't wait to see what he calls her one day..not sure he will be able to make out Corinne!) Books...how fun it will be in a few short months to start reading to him

A santa outfit for next year..always great to have clothes for the future!

Tummy time crocodile!

So this was let's where as many Christmas outfits as we can because I like to pee through all of them..so outfit number 4 here you go buddy!

I had planned for daddy to have 12 days of Christmas..I started the 12 days of gifts for daddy the Monday you were born..I even brought a gift with us to the hospital..except that since you have been home I have completely not made this as special as I intended to. But since this afternoon was a little calmer I went and picked out what I thought would be daddy's favorite gift of the whole 12 days and you got to watch him open it..looks like daddy will just have more presents to open on Christmas!

Daddy is great at getting you to quiet down and then tries to lay you peacefully in the bassinet (the little bassinet downstairs you ok with it's the one upstairs that daddy slept in as a baby that you despise!) ...but needless to say you only stayed this peaceful for about 20 minutes...I think you might be the hungriest little baby ...when in doubt offer for Crawford to eat and it works like a charm..if you only wanted to sleep as much as you wanted to eat we would have a great situation going on. Since you are eating anywhere between 2-3 ounces in order to stay full for any long length of time..I normally try to just use breastmilk only during the day because it doesn't keep you full very long..during the night I supplement with some formula partially because you are soo lazy at night and will simply not latch and partially because I swear that formula sure let's you sleep a lot longer. Still trying to figure out how much I need to feed you each time but if you are up a lot during the day I am just fine with that!

I love your little baby gowns and how the swallow you up ( I think it's funny that I thought my 8 pound 7 ounce baby would not be able to wear newborn clothes..they somehow still seem to swallow you!) ...too bad this outfit lasted oh maybe 30 minutes..peed right up the back!

Well Crawford mommy and daddy survived the first week with you! You are healthy, beautiful, sweet and I could just cuddle with you if you were bigger..I am so overly grateful for you and as much as this lack of sleep and raging hormones has rattled me more than anything I have ever done before I really think the love I have for you trumps any challenge that this mommy task will bring. Can't wait for your first Christmas! What a great way to spend the holidays with my beautiful baby boy! Aunt Cat arrives tomorrow and we can't wait to see her again!