***Smiles caught on camera***

So yesterday we finally caught our little guy smiling on camera!  He is so cute.  At this point we can only get him to smile after he has gotten lots of sleep!  I can't believe that tomorrow he will be 7 weeks.  We really need to get to wal-mart and develop our pictures because our memory card is too full!  That is how many pictures we take!  Here are some adorable pictures.  (His smiling pictures are a little blurry because with the flash on we could barely see the picture and then without the flash I have to hold the camera still and that was hard to do b/c I was sooo excited!)  By the way, Tyson took his first bottle given by dad on Thursday.  I was at an Enrichment dinner.  It was bitter sweet for me because I was so proud of him but sad that I missed it.  I know that sounds kinda silly.  Also, Tyson was in the swing for like 30 minutes.  That is his new record.  He just doesn't seem to like it very much at all!

 

Ty playing under his gym.

 

4 generations!  This was at Grandma Ramona's 80th birthday party

    

 

                 

I end up taking a picture of him in every outfit that I put him in!

 

Tyson sleeping.  However I am having trouble keeping him asleep during his naps!  This picture looks so peaceful but it really only lasted 20 minutes!

 

Like father like son!  They matched but not on purpose.

Mother and son!

 

    

Insurance madness continues but at least I see smiles!!! : )

Oh boy!  So just when you think your insurance and all the claims are worked out crap hits the fan!  Geeze!  These last two days have been crazy with phone calls and trying to send faxes and everything.  Poor Tyson.  I feel like I have been neglecting him for two days!  I have had no other choice to put him in his crib and let him cry.  I couldn't hold him and talk on the phone at the same time (b/c I couldn't hear over his crying) and Tyson doesn't like the swing, the bouncy seat or anything else!  Despite the neglect I am pretty sure he still loves me. : )  I know this because this morning Tyson SMILED at me.  He always seems to be the happiest right after I feed him in the morning after his 6 to 7 hour stretch of sleep.  Yes that is right, for the last 5 days Tyson has been consistently sleeping from 6-7 hours straight at night.  Now I never know at what time at night this will start.  It has been anywhere between 10:30 pm to 12:00 am.  Tyson has smiled at Brian once or twice and once or twice to me.  I haven't captured it on camera yet because his smile lasts for 2 seconds but it is a smile and I am pretty sure it isn't gas.  : )  Sorry I have no new pictures to post right now.  But I just wanted to brag about Tyson beginning to smile and him sleeping through the night.  Tyson turned 6 weeks old yesterday!  We love him so much! 

5 weeks old!

I can't believe that Tyson is now 5 weeks old!  It is really starting to fly by.  Every day gets easier and easier.  He is really starting to be able to lay down and entertain himself for about 20-30 minutes.  Today though he was calm sitting on my lap or laying on the floor for about an hour and a half!  I was so shocked!  He is so adorable.  The other day I noticed that every time Tyson eats he crosses his cute little ankles.  SO adorable.  Tyson is beginning to make coo and ah noises.  I also think that he is getting close to cracking his first official smile.  I can't remember but I might have already said that...oh well.  Tonight we gave Tyson a bath and this was the first time that he didn't cry during it! 

Today I went to work and let them know that I wasn't coming back.  No one was mad like I thought they would be.  In fact they all said that they expected me to not come back.  I have been worried about how much time I would have to work again but they said I don't have to work at all again!  I will miss everyone that I worked with.  They are all such fun people.  I stayed at work for almost 2 hours and I pretty much laughed almost the whole time.  It really was good.  Everyone also said how much he looks like Brian.  It is true.  We looked at a baby picture of Brian when he was in the hospital and Tyson is seriously a spitting image of Bri.  He might have my nose but we can't really tell yet!

Brian and I will probably try to introduce a bottle within the next few days.  However, I am unsure about how much to feed him.  Since my pediatrician said to only feed him for like 10 minutes when I nurse I am unsure how that translates into ounces for a bottle.  Ida know but maybe Tyson is getting old enough to give me signs when he is done.  Does anyone have any suggestions to how much we should feed Tyson when we give him his first bottle?

Alright well here are some new photos from 4-5 weeks!

 

Tyson is beginning to TOLERATE the swing...

This is me trying to be artistic or whatever with the camera...

I think this picture is cool with his arms all blurry.  He never stops waving them around.

HI!

 

Big yawn!  He is also starting to like the binky!

 

Happy Mother's Day!  His shirt says "I love my mommy!"

  

And finally these two pictures are from today.  I had to dress him up all cute for our visit to Temkin International!  He looked like such a stud!!! 

Insurance madness

Well it is almost 11:00 pm and I am still awake.  My son is sleeping in the other room but he should be waking up any second to feed.  I say that but of course he will end up sleeping another hour or two.  I just hate going to bed and being woken up 15 minutes later.  I end up more tired then if I just stay up...

Anyway, the last few hours of my Friday night have been spent organizing medical bills and cleaning out our filing cabinet.  I decided that I needed to get the medical bills organized.  You see I had a very big scare today.  The hospital called me and told me that my insurance is refusing to pay for Tyson's medical bills because he wasn't added to the policy within 30 days.  I was so confused!  I was told by my work that I had to have the baby on insurance within 3o days but that I couldn't add him to my policy.  So I made sure that we got him on Select Health within 30 days.  Anyway, I was so upset and crying that my mother had to do a three way call between me and Regence health care.  I think we have everything worked out now but what a worry!  I HATE medical issues.  They just stress me out.  All I have to say is good thing for mothers!  Happy Mothers Day mom!

After exploring other peoples' blogs I have decided that I really need to be better about taking pictures of Tyson and telling stories about him.  I guess because I am now obsessed with getting a new camera I just don't want to use my crappy one anymore.  Well, I will at least say a few things about my son without a new picture.  I am just too lazy at this point (Give me a break, I had a really stressful day : ) ). 

Tyson is so cute when we give him a bath.  He screams when we put him in the bath and he keeps screaming when I scrub him down.  However, once I start washing his hair he just eats it up.  He LOVES it!  It calms him down right away.  So cute.  Another thing I love is how content he is after he eats.  He has those big beautiful eyes that just search and explore his surroundings.  I also love it when I lay him on the floor after he eats.  He just starts kicking away and throwing his arms about everywhere.  I just think it is so cute and innocent how he has no idea how to control his limbs.  Tyson is getting really strong in his neck.  Today he attacked me while I was burping him on my shoulder.  He lifted his head straight up and then leaned into me and used his face to hit mine.  I know he doesn't know what he is doing but I laughed really really hard.  Tyson keeps making this clicking noise when he eats.  The doctor told me that that is him losing his latch so I was told to un-latch him and try again.  Well sometimes my milk just keeps spraying everywhere and it hits him right in the face.  Today it got on his forehead in his hair and on his nose!   Brian got a little upset with me because I was laughing so hard and Tyson was just screaming!  I wanted to take a picture but Brian wanted me to clean up his face and finish feeding our son.  It was pretty funny though! 

Well it is now 11:10 and my son has woken up to feed.  I better end but later I will write about more things that I love about Tyson!

Tyson the last few weeks

Here are some pictures of Tyson.  Everyday gets better and better.  I am still pretty overwhelmed at times, especially at 4 am when I can't get Tyson to go back to sleep.  He loves to be held!  I don't know a baby that doesn't love to be held but Tyson is very specific.  He is so cute though.  Yesterday evening Jamie and Melanie came over to visit me and it was great.  I cried after they left.  I am still just an emotional roller coaster.  I laugh and cry at the drop of a dime.  It just amazes me!  My mother goes home tomorrow so that is sad.  It has been nice to have an extra set of hands around.  Anyway, I guess that is just a quick update.  I know everyone would rather see pictures so here they are...

This is most recent.  I took this this morning while I was getting ready for the day (which actually happened at 10am today, yay!)

 

Tyson's first official bath.

 

Tyson asleep in his car seat.  I think this pictures is funny b/c it looks like he is posing!

This is a picture of him a few days at home.  His shirt says "Already breaking hearts!"

Daddy admiring son.

We always try to wrap Tyson up tight.  I love this picture b/c he looks like a little burrito!!! So CUTE!

2 week check up

Yesterday we took Tyson to his 2 week check up.  It went pretty well.  Tyson is in the 75% for his height, 25% for his weight and head size.  I can't believe how much he has already grown.  The doctor told me last week to cut down on how much I feed Tyson.  I am only suppose to feed him now every 3-4 hours (but if he sleeps longer let him!) for 10 minutes max!  I am so glad he told me that.  I was feeding Tyson so much I felt like a cow!  At first I was a little worried that he wouldn't be getting enough to eat but he is still gaining weight great!  Having the doctor tell me how to feed him was such a blessing.  I can't even imagine how I would feel if he hadn't given me that advice!  I've read all these nursing books but they all say wake the baby up and feed from both sides and let them nurse whenever and for 45 minutes plus and so forth! It is nice to have such a good doctor for Tyson.  I am very happy with our choice.  He always answers all of my questions and puts my worries to rest.  I can't believe how much I worry now!!!  Anyway, we love Tyson so much.  We are still struggling on trying to figure out how to get more sleep but everyone is doing good.  I really need to shower and take a cat nap.  I am exhausted from last night.  I wanted to posted some pictures from his first "official" bath last night but I am just too tired to load them up.  I will some other time.  : )

A you're adorable...

Here are some recent photos that my sister in law took at our house.  I love these photos.

I also think I need to quickly explain about Tyson's delivery.  On Monday, April 7th at the fluid test (that I had been having twice a week) the doctors noticed that Tyson's heart rate was a little low.  The doctors discussed and since I was one day shy of 40 weeks they decided there was no reason to keep waiting because of his heart rate.  I went to the hospital at like 1:30 pm.  I had contractions every 3-5 minutes apart for about 2 hours and then my water broke at 10pm.  I got an epidural and they started the potocin to make the contractions stronger and closer together.  However Tyson's heart rate struggled as the contractions got more intense.  The doctor decided that since I was only dialated to 2 cm and I probably had at the least 8 hours ahead of me with contractions the doctor decided it was best to get Tyson out by C-section.  Tyson arrived at 1:11 am on April 8th.  When they pulled Tyson out they saw that the cord had been wrapped around his neck. This explains why his heart rate kept dropping. We are so blessed that he came when he did.  I got to briefly hold him while they sewed me up but they took him away fairly quickly.  Tyson had to be put on the C-pap machine that forced air into his lungs because he was working too hard to breathe and was grunting.  After two hours of the machine I was able to hold Tyson for a long time and look at his beautiful features.  We are so glad that he is a fighter and strong.  He has truly already blessed our lives and our marriage.  We love him so much and count our blessings everyday.  Tyson is feeding well.  He is starting to get into a "routine" of sleeping and eating.  I am recovering from the c-section but it has been rough.  Lots of pain especially when I laugh or cry : )  Tyson truly is adorable!

Tyson Neal Carlsen

April 8, 2008

1:11 am

7 lbs 7 oz

21 1/2 inches long