Joe Jr Meets Aunt Kristi

In January of 2012, my best friend since middle school got married and moved to Japan. I was about 26 weeks pregnant. She was there with me to find out we were having a boy and went shopping for clothes and just a great support system while I was pregnant. It was extremely hard not having her here for the birth of Joe Jr and having her to lean on during these last 12 weeks of Joe Jr's life. Thank God for Face Time because we have been able to see each other and she has been able to see Joe Jr a lot, but she came home to visit and got to meet him this week and it's been great! Joe Jr loves his Aunt Kristi and Aunt Kristi loves some Joe Jr!

 The next two pictures are of Joe Jr and Dylan. Dylan is Kristi's son. I was there for EVERYTHING when she was pregnant with Dylan, EXCEPT for his birth! I was in Alaska! haha!

Nap Time

Joe Jr sleeps all night long, so I am not complaining, but he refuses to take a good nap during the day! He goes to bed around 9PM and wakes up between 6 and 8! This is great because I get plenty of sleep, but during the day, he will take little naps on and off all day. As soon as we put him down be wakes up. If we hold him he will sleep for about 30 minutes at a time. I guess I can have a long nap and a full nights sleep! Oh well! I'd rather get a full nights sleep and hold him for his naps than have him wake up on and off in the middle of the night! But if anyone had any advice, I'm willing to listen and try!

Daddy's First Father's Day

Today we celebrate my husbands first Father's Day! I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it. We are so blessed to have our baby boy and my husband is such an amazing father and husband! He is always so supportive and helpful with our son and that's a blessing. Happy Fathers Day Joe Sr!! Joe Jr and I love you very much! Oh and we had our 2 month check up on Friday and our sweet baby had to get TWO shots! I'm not surenwho cried harder, Joe Jr or me! Thanks God Joe was there to keep us both calm.

Happy Baby

Joe Jr. is 10 weeks old now and he is changing so much and getting such a personality. He is picking his head up and smiling and he just melts my heart. He is also getting VERY long, so we are thinking he is going to be a tall kid but we shall see.


Here are some pictures of my little monkey :)


                                                                Daddy and Joe Jr

                                           Joe Jr in his Gamecock pajamas before I left for work

                                                                  Happy Baby

                                             Bonding With Mommy (He already gives me crazy looks)

                                                      I could just hug and kiss him all day

                                                                  Tummy Time

He is just the best thing since sliced bread :)

Busy Day

Today I went with a friend to take our kids to the state house for a children's authors book signing. This was super exciting. We got 2 free books, one of them was a Marc Brown book Arthur and we actually got his autograph!! How exciting is that? :) Down side is my son is nosey, so he didnt take a good nap today and it's 11PM and we just got him down for the night! Whew! This is one exhausted mom! I know we won't be doing much tomorrow because he is definitely getting his name tomorrow!

Sleepless Night

Last night Joe Jr went to sleep around 930, which is normal, but unfortunately he didn't sleep too long. Around 230 he started moaning and moving around and he was balled up like his tummy was hurting him. He had horrible gas, he was trying to toot as much as he could. This was the first night I didn't get much sleep since going back to work. I finally had to ask my husband to tend to him so that I could sleep. As stupid as it sounds, it's hard for me to let other people,even my husband, take care of him. I guess I feel like I need to do everything but last night I would have done anything to get some sleep. Tonight we seem to be back on schedule but we shall see.

A Few Reasons I Love Being a Mom

I love my son more than words can express but I thought I'd list a few reasons I love being his Mommy.... 1. He loves me unconditionally. 2. He's super cute. 3. He makes me smile. 4. He's brought so much joy to my parents. 5. He makes me want to be a better person. 6. He sleeps all night. 7. He looks just like his Daddy. 8. His smile melts my heart. 9. His crazy hair makes me smile. 10. He cuddles with me. 11. His beautiful eyes. 12. He has my long fingers. I could keep going on but it all boils down to the fact that I can't believe my husband and I made such a beautiful person! My mom use to always tell me that I would understand unconditional love when I had a child of my own and she was right! I would do anything for Joe Jr and I will spend the rest of my life showing him how loved he is!

Going Back to Work

I went back to work on May 14th, I cried the entire way to work. I called my best friend in Japan and she tried to consul me and it helped but I still missed my little monkey. I am a very luck girl because my mom comes over and keeps him so i dont have to worry about him being loved and taken care of, but it was still hard to leave him. When I got to work all my students were excited to see me, but I felt like I was in someone else's classroom. Talk about a weird feeling. The rest of the week was good. It was nice to get out the house and go to work but I was ready for 3:00 so I could rush home and see my sweet boy!!

The Reality of Being a Mom

After bringing Joe Jr home, I realized that everything that matter before in life truly didn't matter as much as he did. He is everything to me. When we brought him home they told us that he had jaundice and not to be too concerned because almost all babies have it. So, we didn't worry. The next day we had to take him to the doctor. They poked my poor baby in heel and informed us that his jaundice level was going up. We had to get a billibed to put him in and come back the next day. We went back and his level went up again. It got so high that we were told if it didn't go down he was going to be put back in the hospital. Being a first time mom, this was the WORST news I could EVER hear. I cried all day long and had him on the billibed probably 20 out of the 24 hours that day. We went back to the doctor and THANK GOD, his levels had dropped dramtically. It was the best news to hear. Joe Jr was perfect and SPOILED! The days and nights were hard because my husband and I were use to it being just the two of us and the dogs. Now we were adjusting to having baby. After a week Joe went back to work (he works nights) it was just me and Joe Jr. This was one scared Mommy, but I survived. The weeks flew by and Joe Jr was growing and I was falling more and more inlove wit him!



These are pictures of Joe Jr.s 1st Easter and his 1st Professional Photo Shoot that he didn't cooperate at! :) Oh and his picture with his baby RayBans!!!!

 

 

 

 

Bringing home Joe Jr

This was probably the scariest day of my life. What was I going to do without the nurses to help me with my baby? We left the hospital around 2 and headed home. Joe Jr slept the entire way! When we got home we placed his carseat on the floor. My husband curled up beside him and they both slept. Later that day my mom and dad came over and fixed us dinner, fried chicken and mashed potatoes, a real southern meal! Joe Jr slept most of the day away. It wasn't as bad as I had expected! We survived!

This is Joe Jr in the car on the way home from the hospital! He was so tiny!!

Joe Jr and Daddy sleeping when we got home!

D-Day

Our due date was April 3rd and I just knew I'd be over due so I had no worries in the world and sure didn't expect the surprise I got on March 26th at about 12:15 AM. I woke up to go pee which was normal because I woke up every couple hours at night anyway. I went to the restroom and then got back in bed, while I was trying to get comfortable, I felt something twist and pop. I knew this wasn't right. I got out of bed and I felt water run down my legs and my night gown was soaked. Was I in labor? I called my mom and she said I'm going to get dressed and I'll be to your house in a few mins. I called labor and deliver they said I peed myself. I'm 27 years old, I think I'd know if I peed myself. I Face Timed my best friend in Japan and she helped me breathe through the contractions and my mom and husband hung some pictures in the baby's room and I labored at home till 5 and my contractions were 3 minutes apart. When I got to the hospital at 5:20ish, I was 3cm dilated. They gave me my epidural around 7 and by 8 I was 6cm. At about 10 I to,d the nurse I was feeling a lot of pressure, she checked me and I was 10cm and ready to push. Joseph Anthony Novak Jr made his arrival at 11:20AM. He was 7lbs 13oz, 20 inches long and perfect in my eyes. When he was born they placed him on my stomach and not too long after they took him from me. He wasn't breathing like they wanted so they gave him oxygen. He also had bruising on his left arm and on his chest. They were concerned and took him to the nursery. I was so upset and scared. They kept him over night in the nursery and it broke my heart. The next day they brought him back and said he was perfect. What a relief! This was just the beginning...

Being Pregnant

Everyone always ask, "How do you like being pregnant?" My answer wasn't always what everyone was expecting. I didn't like it at all in the beginning. I felt like an alien was taking over my body. Not a cool feelings. First trimester, I was sick almost every day and all I wanted to do was sleep. Second trimester I felt better but still wanted to sleep all the time. Third trimester was actually pretty nice until the last week I was pregnant. I enjoyed feeling Joe Jr move and kick and it was just an exciting time in my life.

We found out we were having a boy on November 18th. I just knew it was going to be a girl and as soon as the ultrasound tech touched me she asked if we wanted to know what we were having and of course we said yes and it was... "IT'S A BOY!!" My husband was the happiest man on earth. As much as I wanted a girl, when they said boy, my heart melted and I was instantly inlove :)

This is a picture of our very first ultrasound to make sure that everything was going smoothly. We have pictures of when we found out we were having a boy but I don't have any on my computer. If I find them, I will add them. :)

Deciding to Start a Family

Joe and I always knew that we wanted to have a family, but we didn't want to rush things. We were together 3 years before we got married on July 31, 2010. It was the best day of my life, or so I thought. In May of 2011 we decided that we wanted to start our family. We agreed to start trying in June, we knew it wasn't going to happen over night because in Jan. of 2009 I had two ovarian cyst removed and one was so large that they had to take my falopian tube. So, June comes around and we don't get pregnant and even though I knew it wouldn't happen fast, I was disappointed. Then July rolls around and it's our 1 year anniversary. We planned this great trip to Savannah, Ga. and we were both so excited to go and spend time together. Well, the entire time we are there, I just don't feel right. When we got home that Sunday, July 31,2011, we took a pregnancy test... We were pregnant! We found out on a our year anniversary! That was the best anniversary gift ever!