Coldplay Concert

This past Monday Gordon and I went to the Coldplay concert!! I have always joked around and told Gordon I wanted him to take me to Paris to see Coldplay (they seem to play there often)....when I heard they were coming to Houston I was so excited. I was a little worried that William would be too young for us to be able to go so Gordon and I held off on getting tickets. Right after my birthday my mom surprised me with tickets to the concert AND offered to come into town to babysit William. Gordon and I had a great time at the concert. Coldplay was AMAZING...favorite concert ever! Nana and Papa enjoyed their time with William and mom and dad enjoyed a fun night out together.  If you have a chance to see Coldplay GO! I'm still hoping Gordon takes me to Paris to see them one day. :)
 

Fabulous seats! 
Chris Martin was 20 feet away!

Flashback Friday #2

Weeks 12 & 13 (November 27-December 10)
Mood- Hello 2nd trimester!  :)  I was feeling happy and festive!  We got all the Christmas decorations out and the Christmas tree up.  I was so tired and sore after all the decorating.  I remember thinking it will be so much harder to decorate next year when we have a 6 month old crawling around....but so much more fun!
How my body feels- Good!  I was only waking up once a night to use the restroom instead of 3 times!  (that didn't last long since I ended up carrying William so low)
Cravings- I was so hungry in the morning.  Some mornings I would have to get up at 4am and eat a cereal bar.  I was still carrying crackers around with me and hadn't gained any weight yet.   
Important things this week- I had the genetic testing done at week 12 (everything came back good).  During the ultrasound portion of the test Baby G was a wiggle worm.  The poor lady could barely get a picture of him with all the squirming he was doing.  This was the appointment the ultrasound tech thought I had 2 uteruses?!?!  Gordon and I drove to Austin for a couple of days so he could take 2 of his landscape tests.  While we were there the poor guy got food poisoning from the seafood enchiladas at our favorite restaurant, Z-Tejas.  After being up all night he still took the tests and PASSED them both.  While he took his tests I shopped, got a massage and shopped some more.  These two weeks were so busy with work Christmas parties, trying to catch up with friends over dinner, doctors appointments and just life in general.  I was one tired mama but loved getting to see our baby on the big screen during the genetic appointment!

Alison took this picture while we were at
work because she thought I looked so
 huge that day.  haha...still a tiny belly!

The Little Things

I can hardly believe I go back to work in 12 days! Oh how I will miss my precious baby. Until then I am just trying to enjoy all the little things like these precious little hands and lots of cuddle time!

Our AC broke yesterday afternoon. NOT fun. Luckily we were able to get someone out here to fix it but woke up last night to find it had stopped working again. It was 80 degrees in our house at 8am. The company came back out this morning and hopefully fixed it for good! So, $800 later we have a nice cool house again. :)     

Family photos by Alison

When William was 6 weeks old my best friend came over to take some family photos.  For those of you that know us you know that Gordon hates taking pictures.  He was a good sport and let us take pictures for about 15 minutes.  Alison did a wonderful job yet again! 

Beautiful blue eyes

The Gooding Family

Our crazy wonderful life!

9 weeks old

We've had a pretty laid back weekend.  Friday night we had some friends over for dinner (Mary Catherine, Zito, Grant and Emily) but other than that we've done a lot of laying around.  Gordon babysat yesterday while I laid by the pool for a couple of hours.  I was (and still am) in desperate need of some sun.  I've never been so pale!!  Gordon and I stayed up way too late last night watching The Girl With A Dragon Tatoo.  By the time the movie was done it was time for one of William's middle of the night feedings.  I think we finally made it to bed around 1:30.  We had breakfast in bed and now we are just waiting for my parents to get into town.  They have been in San Antonio all weekends with some of their friends and are now heading this way to visit us!  My sweet parents got us Coldplay tickets so they will be babysitting tomorrow night while Gordon and I have a little date night!!!
Here are some random pictures from the last few days.

William meets Dustin & Skye

William finally got to meet his aunt and uncle (my brother and his wife) when he was six weeks old!  Dustin has always been baby crazy so he was super excited to finally meet William.  Dustin and Skye drove to Houston with my dad on a Friday.  My mom was already here in Houston visiting us for the first time since William had been home for the hospital.  She was a great help with grocery shopping, cooking and getting me out of the house a little!  One of the nights she and I went out for dinner together and the next night she watched the baby while Gordon and I had date night.  She also watched baby boy while I went to my six week doctor checkup....which went well.  They are hopeful that my uterus is fixable!  Since Gordon and I aren't planning on trying to have another baby until William is two we are going to wait a year before we do anything about my uterus.
So, back to our fun filled family weekend....Dad, Dustin and Skye got into town Friday evening.  We grilled, went on a walk and just laid around with William. 

I love my nana!

On Saturday the boys and Skye went shooting and then we met at Memorial Park for lunch. That night everyone went to the Nickleback concert while William and I snuggled at home. 

We are always sad to see them go but luckily we got to see them the very next weekend in Dallas!

Mommy and Baby (7 weeks old)

Flashback Friday

When I started blogging back in January I was already nearly half way through my pregnancy....and since I'm using this blog as a scrapbook/journal I thought I'd start doing Flashback Friday about the beginning of my pregnancy with William! 

10 & 11 weeks (November 13-26)

Mood- I was feeling anxious about this weeks appointment since the last appointment at 7 weeks I was told I had a bicornuate uterus.  I remember sitting in the waiting room and saying to Gordon, "Do you think I'll feel this nervous before every appointment?"  Little did I know the answer was YES times 100...I was even more nervous at the end with all the challenges we faced with bedrest and growth restriction.
How my body feels-  The light cramping and spotting I had for the first 8 or 9 weeks was starting to get better but pregnancy acne had kicked in!  YUCK! I had a lot of right sided cramping around 6 weeks (I would soon find out that this was the side William would stay on my entire pregnancy).  I also had a lot of chest tenderness until I was in the 10th week.  Most nights I was in bed at 8pm and asleep no later than 9.  I didn't realize how tired I was the first trimester until it was over.  I was still working out 3 days a week.
Cravings-  Goldfish and cheetos!  I felt sick to my stomach every morning until after lunch but luckily never had any vomiting (I made sure to always carry crackers with me).  Turkey sounded SO gross! 
Important things this week-  Doctors appointment on Thursday the 17th.  Babies heartrate 174.  Daddy's 30th birthday and surprise party at Tony's.  Week 11 was Thanksgiving and the weekend we made the "official" announcement that I was pregnant. 

Here's a video of the little peanut!  It's kinda blurry but you can see him do a flip (around 19 seconds) and move his little arms and legs around.  We used to watch this video on repeat.  :)

About 10 weeks preggo

Thanksgiving Day

2 months old!!

.....HOW did this happen?  It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in William's room rocking in the glider (while on bed rest) daydreaming about his arrival.  I wondered when he'd make his arrival, if we'd be so lucky to bring a healthy baby home, what he'd be like....AND NOW he's here and 2 months old.  We love him more than we could have ever imagined.  It's official...I'm a crazy mom who LOVES, loves, loves her baby. 
So, what did we do on his 2 month birthday?  We started our day off really early since he had his 2 month well baby check up.  He had to get 3 shots today.  YIKES.  NOT fun.  Poor baby cried his eyes out and mommy nearly did too.  I did keep it together :) he's been through a lot worse but I sure did hate seeing him hurt.  After the doctor appointment we headed up to visit my work friends and then went home to eat lunch with daddy.  At 2:00 William woke up screaming!  I think his little legs were hurting and he felt warm.  I gave him some Tylenol and then we cuddled up together on the couch.  When he woke up to eat at 3:00 we were having a crazy loud thunder storm.  That night after his bath he was so tired that he only ate 20cc of his bottle.  I think the doctors office wore him out!

2 month stats:

Weight- 6lb 15oz (0.09%)  He's gained 3 pounds since he was born!! Such a big boy.
Height- 20.25 inches (0.14%)
Eating- 90-100 cc every 3 hours. 
            The past few days he's eaten at 9am, Noon, 3pm, 5pm, 7pm, 9pm, 1am, 5am
Development-  He's holding his head up for longer periods of time and even lifts his chest for a bit when he's doing tummy time.
"They" say he can now see about 12 inches away and prefers things that are colorful.  I'm hoping he starts to coo and smile soon!  I know he's going to be a little behind since he's a preemie....Dr. Spinner said to not get discouraged.  So, we'll just keep talking to this sweet boy until he talks back! :)
Things mommy loves- When Gordon leaves for work (or for anything else) he always says LOVE Y'ALL.  Two little words that melt my heart.  I just love that he says y'all now!!!  I obviously love giving William lots of kisses and will always remember and cherish bath time.  Gordon and I bathe him together and William absolutely loves every minute of bath time.  He always looks so peaceful and sweet!

Daddy Day

Happy Daddy's Day to all you Papas out there!  We had a nice little weekend here in the Gooding household.  Friday night we went out for a little Mexican food!  YUMMY!  Since I'm back to my pre pregnancy weight, breast feeding and always hungry (and thirsty) I really enjoyed myself and ordered way too much food!  I love me some queso.  I craved cheese my entire pregnancy.  It was probably the worst the first trimester.  I remember Gordon saying one day...."I feel like we've been eating a lot of queso lately..."  YEP, we have!  I ordered queso at Berryhill, Chili's, Tony's, El Tiempo, El Rey....the list goes on and on.  Even with all the crazy queso eating I had only gained 2 pounds at 16 weeks pregnant. 
Saturday morning we picked up breakfast burritos and donuts before heading to Home Depot to get a freezer for all the breast milk we've collected.  We figured it was worth the money since we will save tons of money on formula AND baby boy will get the good stuff with breast milk for his first year of life (hopefully).  Saturday night we grilled out with a few of our friends.  The Barteau's came over as well as the Holman's with their cute baby girl, Piper.  John Davis hates to talk about Piper and William being anything other than "brother and sister"....hehe....time will tell!
Baby boy woke up at 4am and only dozed off a little bit here and there until 9am.  When he finally fell asleep Gordon and I got up to cook breakfast.  G made his famous french toast, we cuddled with William once he was awake and then G headed to the gun range with Barteau for some boy time.  William and I are so lucky to have such a wonderful man in our life!!  HAPPY FIRST FATHER'S DAY HONEY!

 

Organizing the "liquid gold"!

Tummy Time

Well, we've now been home as long as we were in the NICU!  I can hardly believe William is 8 weeks old!  I am SO in love with this little man and I've only known him 2 months.  I look around our house some days at all the baby gear, the family picture and my sweet boy laying in my arms and I can hardly believe this is MY life.  How did we get so lucky?!?!?  All I can say is God is good. We are loving our life with William James!
William has been a little more alert and awake this week.  He's also been sleeping better at night!!  We feed him around 9:30pm, lay him down around 11:00, he wakes up to eat around 1:00am, back down around 3:00, and up again at 5:30ish.  During the day he eats much more frequently...from the beginning of one feeding to another 2-3 hours.  The past two days he's stayed awake from 9am until noon.  I'm hoping the night schedule stays this way when I go back to work! 
I got the playmat out yesterday and he seemed to like it better than just laying on a blanket!  Gotta love tummy time!

WHOA!!!  Who's that guy in the mirror???

It's ME!

Seeing his cute face for the first time

Thanks Anna for my cute outfit!! 

CUTEST. BABY. EVER. :)