Zack, Zantac, and more...

Since it is the last day of the month ( & the little guy is taking a nap and the big guy is building cabinets for some friends) I thought I'd post a little update about what has been going on in our lives:

January 22,2008- Happy Birthday Zack!! Zack turned 30 on Thursday. Happy Birthday Rachel! Rachel turned 27 on Thursday as well.

We had so much fun celebrating that night. We turned off the TV, turned on Courtney & Scott's wedding CD (our favorite to cook/dance in the kitchen to), pulled out my Barefoot Contessa cookbook (also my FAVORITE!!!), opened a bottle of wine ( a nice bottle my Dad gave us while I was preggo that we had been waiting to drink), and cooked a delicious meal (Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic ( sounds overpowering, but when you cook the garlic for a long time it becomes sweet & delicious- who knew?!?), sauteed wild mushrooms, and sauteed baby spinach). We had so much fun we decided to make it a weekly thing to pick a delicious/complex meal to cook together each week.- we did it again this week and had so much fun. I love cooking with my husband. Well, I love doing anything with my husband...I am so blessed.

Saturday- Joe and Carl had some people over to celebrate Rachel & Lisa's birthday. When I walked in Rachel had all the girls in the den with ballots watching and judging the Miss America contest- classic!!( I love that girl). Also, I was so excited that Darcy & Taylor came down from Birmingham. I can't believe I didn't get a picture- but it was SO WONDERFUL to see them.

Sunday- I had 20+ people (our families) over for a 30th Birthday lunch for Zack. I cooked Shrimp and Feta casserole ( Jane, I found the recipe and will post it for you. I remembered you had asked for it when I went searching for it), Parmesan tomatoes, Kim's salad, and beef tenderloin (actually my sweet Mom made the beef tenderloin for me). We also had a massive dessert spread: banana pudding (Zack's mom made it- delicious), cherry dump cake (Mom made- also delicious), Chocolate ice cream dessert, and Better than sex cake (Uncle Brother ( Mom's brother) made- also delicious). We had so much fun- and were so glad to celebrate with Zack!!

James facts:

(1) James took his first bottle.

First things first...I started pumping- which is weird, but easy. Zack hooked up my breast pump (which is a double pump) and tried it out to make sure he had hooked all the tubes and suctions correctly- it was too funny- I cried I laughed so hard. He wouldn't let me take a picture and he also probably wouldn't let me post it on the blog if he was here (but he's not, and I don't think he reads it unless I hand him the computer to proofread ( I can't spell anything- a fact my brother told me is very concerning given that it is probably an important qualification for a pharmacist)...anyway as a result of the above mentioned facts you all get the pleasure of that mental image!!

Since I am starting back to work part-time the end of February, I knew I had to start pumping and making sure James would take a bottle. While I was out shopping for the birthday lunch food, Zack gave James his first bottle- and Zack said James took it like a pro. He has done very well with feeding from day one. After my 19 hours of labor and a C-section they brought James into nurse at midnight (note: I had no idea what to do)- and he took right to it- God was really looking out for me- he knew I couldn't take much more.

(2) James is laughing and smiling more and more

He started smiling very early. He was 3 weeks old in the picture I posted of him smiling a few posts ago. He thinks his Daddy is so funny when he pops the passy out of his mouth (see picture below...he also thinks it's funny if I do it, but Zack created the "game"). He also thinks the star on his Baby Einstein is funny and the mobile on his crib.

(3) James started and stopped taking Zantac

I started James on Zantac a few weeks ago due to his severe reflux. I don't think he was typical reflux- he had all of the symptoms, but sleeps well and he doesn't scream all the time- he usually opens his eyes very wide, turns bright red, squirms all around, and looks very distressed before he spits up. He had a very scary night a few weeks ago where he spit up 2 hours after he ate and started choking on it- (I will spare you all the details, but it scared me to death). Anywho...we started Zantac the next day. He HATES the Zantac- it felt like child abuse to give it to him. Well, he hasn't had any new choking spells, but it hasn't improved any of the other symptoms, so I stopped it 3 days ago. So we will see...

(4) I got his birth announcements in and spent all day Thursday updating my addresses and hope to get them printed on labels and out by Monday!! I got them printed on Shutterfly- my new obsession.

(5) Infant Massage

I rented a netflix video about infant massage...it is supposed to be good bonding, very relaxing to the baby, and can help babies with reflux and colic.T he video was super cheesy, but I decided to try it with James anyway. Well, he loves it. We do it in the morning after I give him a mini-bath. We sing and laugh, and it has become our favorite part of the day. He will also do his tummy time w/out crying for 15-20 minutes afterwards. My friend Karen said her son loved baby Yoga- so that may be next.

Well that's all I can think of for now!!