4 Months!

As you can see Augustus is 4 months now! My baby is starting to become independent. He spends about 30 min. of alone time trying to figure out his feet and hands. It's so funny to watch him, he's really confused when he's wearing socks or footy pajama's. Not only has my boy traveled to Illinois by car (week 1) but now has traveled by plane too! We're starting him early because Mommy and Daddy love to travel. He didn't cry once on the plane, and he got a lot of compliments from passengers. :)

After much debate with people about feeding Augustus solids, I've finally come to the decision to wait till 6 months. I've read so many articles about why it's important to wait, and honestly it's not going to kill him to wait. His growth and weight chart are outstanding at each visit off my milk alone. On November 4th he'll be 24 weeks and I've decided to wait till then rather than his 6 month appointment.

Milestones:

You put your hands together, grab toys, and chew on the constantly.

Went on your first plane ride to meet your great grandparents. 

you bare weight on your legs, and prefer standing rather than sitting...it tires Mom out having  to hold you up all the time.

You played in your exersaucer for the first time this month, and got the biggest smile when placed in it.

You still talk to Daddy and I in our bed every morning

You now wear 6-9 month clothes

You got your first sickness, bronchiolitis and you hate the breathing treatments that I have to give you.

You weigh 15lb 14oz and you're 27 inches long.

We love you Augustus, keep up the good work!



3 Months!

Augustus at 3 months

It's so hard to believe my baby is 3 months old. I looked back at his 2 month picture and I saw so many changes! He's gotten so big, and I chose this picture because you can see how curious he is. He's very interested in everything these days and trying to figure out how things work. He loved my camera because I have a Nikon D40 and it's huge so I'm sure he thought it was funny looking. This month Grandma Arakelian came to visit. She's our last visitor for a while.

We've reached a huge milestone this month, we're finally out of the newborn stage! The so called "4th trimester" is done. I called my lactation consultant (during week 3) and cried on the phone because I was tired, my hormones were crazy, and all my boy wanted to do was eat every hour. She promised me that it would get easier by 3 months. She was right! I'm so thankful that I had the support from my husband, and her to get me through those hour feedings and late nights. During the day Augustus normally eats every 3 hours, besides our cluster feeds before bed. Then, at night he sleeps between 5-7 hours before he needs to eat. It's wonderful! I actually wake up energized these days. You think that would motivate me to work out...

Milestones:

You smile like crazy now! You love meeting new people and smiling at them too.

You laughed for the first time at Grandma Arakelian, then to Daddy, and at Daddy again when i was in the room. You laugh at Daddy all the time now. (I still have not done something funny enough to make you laugh)

While on your stomach you can lift your head 90 degrees. you also push your chest up with your arms.

YOU CAN ROLL OVER! This is one of the most exciting things from this month. I was so proud of you when you first did this.

You have an impressive vocabulary. you love to use the word a-goo, and you like to use it in different ways (ex. a-goooooooo, a-goo-goo-goo, and in different pitches) you also like to squeal in delight, and see how loud you can make your voice.

You chomp on your hands all the time, I was told this was a sign of teething. We'll see.

you're wearing 3-6 months clothes (but I don't see you in them for much longer)

~Looking forward to 4 months!!!



2 months!

It's amazing to think that my little guy has only been here for 2 months. He's become apart of our daily lives so much that I couldn't think of a time without him. I'm so happy to have him, he's such a blessing to us. :) We've had a lot of visitors since Augustus has been born, I've been observing and taking every ones advice and it's really helped me while watching Augustus. Grandma Evans came for a week at the end of 1 month, then Grandma and Grandpa Clem came the last week of June. Also, John and Becca (Mommy and Daddy's friend from the military) came with their two daughters for a short visit. In the middle of July Zach and Amanda (Mommy and Daddy's friends from Illinois) and their two daughters came for a long weekend. It was their first family vacation, and they wanted to spend it meeting you. The last weekend of July Aunt Karen came for a visit, her visit was to spoil you. Finally, we're waiting for Grandma Arakelian to visit August 8th. She'll be here for a week, and will enjoy spoiling you like crazy!

Major events during Month 2:

 You're finally sleeping in your crib! You start out in your crib, then after your 3:00 am feeding you think it's play time so Mommy takes you to our bed and after a while you fall asleep.

 You wake up only once a night usually around 3-4 in the morning

 One of our favorite times with you is in the morning. We lay you in our bed and you talk to us. While talking you kick your feet and move your arms around. It's one of the best times of our day, even if we're super tired. (Sometimes Daddy calls Grandma A. and lets her listen too. ;) )

 You're up more during the day, usually that time you like to spend under your jungle mat, or looking at your mobile in your crib.

 You know who your Mommy and Daddy are. You smile at the sound of our voice and smile when Daddy comes home from work.

When Daddy comes home from work you like to be held by him and then you lay your head on his shoulder, it's so cute!

 We have a wonderful bedtime routine. Daddy gives you a bath, changes your diaper, and puts on your pj's. Mommy feeds you, while Daddy reads you a bedtime story. 

 Since you've been born you've been to Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Washington D.C I have a feeling that you're either going to love traveling, or hate it because you'll be doing a lot of it with Mommy and Daddy.

Doctors visit: Augustus grew another inch! He's now 25 inches long and weighs 14.8lbs. He's in the 97th percentile for weight and 99th for height. My boy is a beast! He also received 2 shots and a type of vaccine that he drinks. He'll have to do the same thing at his 4 month visit too.
Looking forward to next month.... :)

1 Month!!!

Happy 1 month Augustus!!!

What an incredible month! I am finally learning how to balance my time with and without the baby. 2 weeks ago I thought that I had to sit and stare at him while he was sleeping. It took me a while to realize that I don't need to be by his side 24/7. I've been told by all the doctors that "you can't spoil a newborn" but I think I might have spoiled him a little bit. Right now Augustus co-sleeps with us. I can't get him to sleep in his crib, and so Mommy has sanity, and some sleep this is the only choice that I have. I'm hoping that by 6 weeks I can start crib training. (Keep your fingers crossed for me.)

Important events this month:

Week 1 you took your first road trip to Illinois

Week 1 and 2 you met all of your Grandparents, Aunts and Uncles, and family friends (still waiting to meet great grandparents and great great grandma)

Week 3 Mommy had her first week alone with you and it was challenging. I've learned that nursing is draining on a person, but worth it in the end.

Week 4 Grandma Evans came for a visit and taught Mommy some skills to calming you down. (It was a HUGE help!)

1 Month doctor appointment- weight 12lbs 3oz  your height was 24in long. You got your hep B shot and cried a little bit, but fell asleep afterwards. :)

39 weeks pregnant!



I can't tell you how excited I am that I am nearing the end of my pregnancy! I've heard from lots of people that they think their pregnancies go fast. I'm here to say "NOPE, that's a lie!" I feel like I've been pregnant for 2 years! It didn't help that I had everything ready by month 7 so all I had to do was sit an wait. Next time I'm preparing everything a month in advance.

So my baby is estimated to weigh somewhere in the 8 pound range. The doctors are only giving me till my due date to give birth naturally. If I don't go into labor by Thursday, I'll have to be induced. I chose to have this induction for personal reasons and the doctors agreed, because of his measurements and weight that they could do it. :)

Dennis and I spent a lot of time together this weekend knowing that it will be the last weekend of just the two of us. Honestly, we're ready for this. We've been together for 6 years and have wanted a baby for 2 years now. We like to plan way in advance, I always knew that we would wait till he got out of the military but it didn't mean that I couldn't think about having a baby or read up on babies. lol I'm so thankful that God has given us a healthy relationship and is going to bless us with a beautiful baby. I couldn't ask for anything more. :)

I'm not going to post again until I have the baby, I can't wait to post a picture of him on here. :) :) :)



Everythings ready....Wait what about my bag????

Hello Everyone,

I know i've been avoiding you. I must say that being a housewife is kind of boring, so there is not that much to talk about. I could write everyday about cleaning the house, cooking, or killing a billion stink bugs all day. I think that maybe, you'd appreciate actually news going on in my life. (By the way Dennis killed 7 stink bugs last night all during our dinner....GROSS!)

I am officially 38 weeks and 2 days pregnant. The doctor says that I can go anytime and that I should have my bags packed. The only problem is, that I'm a cheap skate and I only have a limited amount of clothes that fit so packing my bags is hard to do. lol I packed about 30 outfits for the baby, realizing i'll only be there for 2-3 days so of course he doesn't need that many. I'm just so worried, I don't want to pack to little for him and then look like a bad Mom. We're getting so excited for the big day. It's sort of unreal to us. I can't believe that between now and the next 3 weeks I could be a Mom. :)

Yesterday we had a doctors appointment. I'm measuring at 40 1/2 weeks, so the doctor wants to schedule me for an ultrasound to check the baby's weight. She suspects that he's already 8 pounds and could potentially be higher. So if he is they want to Induce next week! Things are going really fast, and it's hard for me to comprehend everything. I'm ready to be a Mom, but it's a lot of responsibility and you think 10 months is a long time to grasp that Idea.....well it's really not. I've been ready physically for the baby since month 7, now that the times coming i'm starting to get butterflies. I'm sure i'll do fine, but with Dennis and I living so far away from our families it scares me a bit. So Mom, Dad, Peg, Roe, Melissa, Audrey, and all my other friends that are Mom's prepare for late night phone calls when I'm freaking out and don't know how to calm Augustus down. lol

The simple joys in life

I have the wonderful pleasure of waking up to this almost every morning. Dennis and I have noticed that we always seem to get about 7 deer walk through our backyard. I think it's the same ones over and over again and all they do is walk around in circles. My favorite part about this is that they usually stay in our backyard while we enjoy breakfast. It's so wonderful and before we eat we add just how much we appreciate the simple things in life to our prayers. I also thank God for moments like these because my baby will have such an interesting life ahead of him. I tell him now (in my belly) about the deer and how much he's going to love seeing them. :)

Saturday night we invited one of new friends over for dinner. We love to entertain, and have parties. (Not crazy parties, more like dinner parties, or wine and cheese parties) It's been hard for us to do that here because we moved here knowing no one. Ashley works with Dennis and we decided to invite her over for dinner. I was so excited to get back into cooking. Dennis really brags about my food at work so I had to make an impression. With that being said, I made a feast for her. Dinner included Chicken Cordon Bleu, Scalloped potato gratin, Roasted tomatoes with pesto, and Creme Brulee. It was fantastic! Of course I forgot to take pictures of everything but I did get photos of the potatoes and the tomatoes. I make the chicken cordon bleu a lot so I'll take pictures the next time.

Homemade scalloped potatoes

Roasted Tomatoes with Pesto

I'll post the recipes later but for now I'd like to get this post up so everyone can read it. :)

Enjoy!

Julie and Julia

I've had several people ask me for recipes since I love to cook. So with that being said I've decided to follow in the foot steps of the movie Julie and Julia and create a blog about food. I'll still let you know what's going on with my life but I'll just include the recipe for my dinner. I'll basically be making a virtual cookbook. :)

I have been sifting through recipes all day today and dinner still has not come to me. I do know we're going to have something with chicken. I will let you know what we had last night though that way you have a recipe to steal if you like. ;)

Spicy oven-fried chicken:

4 (6oz) skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbl (divided) extra spicy seasoning (Mrs. Dash)
1/3C yellow Cornmeal
1/2C nonfat buttermilk
1C crushed cornflake crumbs
your favorite hot sauce for taste.

Preheat oven 400 degrees

Place chicken breast halves between 2 sheets of  plastic wrap; pound chicken to an even thickness using a mallet Sprinkle chicken evenly with salt and 2tsp of seasoning.

Combine cornmeal and 1 tbl seasoning in a shallow dish. Combine buttermilk, 1 tsp of seasoning, and couple dashes of hot sauce to taste in a shallow dish. Dredge chicken in cornmeal mixture, then buttermilk mixture, and finally cornflake crumbs covering the whole chicken. Place chicken on a wire rack coated with cooking spray, place rack on a pan and in the oven.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 min or until done.

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as Dennis and I did. :)

Magnifiicent King of the Flamingo People

Hmmmm I know you are wondering why I chose this as my title for my blog. Yes it does sound strange, but this is my baby's name. Yesterday at 2:00 pm we had our doctor appointment to find out the sex of our baby. We were surprised, and so happy to hear the results from the doctor.

Yesterday was a great day. I was so happy that Dennis was able to come to the appointment because he has not seen the baby since he looked like a little potato around 9 weeks. I got on the ultrasound table and she put the goo on me. (Which despite what movies tell you, it's actually warm and feels good) She moved around a bit and Dennis and I actually saw our babies goods before the doctor confirmed. She wasn't saying anything so finally I said "Doctor is that a Thingy?" She responded with "Yes, you are having a baby Boy" I can't tell you how much Den's eyes lit up. I think it was the happiest day of his life. I of course was excited too, I can't believe it....what a surprise!

Now to the name part.....

First of all Augustus (meaning "Magnificent") has always been the name for the baby. I'm almost positive Dennis would have called off the engagement if I didn't like it. lol. After Dennis proposed to me (5 years ago) we got in the car and he looked at me all serious, and said "So now that we're getting married, are those names I picked out ok for our kids." I of course wanted to get married so I said yes, thinking one day I could change his mind. It wasn't till we went to Italy that I truly understood why he wanted that name. The amount of respect Augustus still gets is amazing. People still lay flowers next to his statue, it's beautiful to see how much people still love him to this day! That's the day I decided that no matter what we'll have that name for our child.

Ryan (meaning "King") is a family name. It's Den's middle name, and his Mom's maiden name.

Arakelian (meaning "the Flamingo people") Odd I know but when Dennis was in Iraq he met a lady who knew a little bit about Armenian history. She told Dennis that the meaning of our name meant "The Flamingo people" We laughed it off thinking it was funny, but now I think it's super cute with the other meanings of our son's name.

So, Augustus Ryan Arakelian....If you ever read this when your older you are my magnificent King of the flamingo people. :)