Starting to have some fun

As you can see, we are smiling now!!! The first one came about a week ago, and I have been desperately trying to capture the toothless grin on camera ever since. Just today I was successful. And that grin makes it all worth it - the sleepless nights, the fussy afternoons, the unbelievably poopy diapers, the spit-up, everything. We've even started to get a few "laughs" here and there. It's kind of hard to tell what's truly a "laugh" and what's the beginning of an all-out breakdown, as the sounds are pretty similar. But we think we're getting the hang of it. When we get Tyler on the floor and play with him, his face lights up and he just has the best time. It's amazing how this just kind of developed overnight. And we're loving every minute. And we think Tyler is too!

We've hit another mile marker as well. Tyler is 6 weeks old (well, 7 weeks tomorrow.....I'm a little late on this). And we think he's hit a bit of a growth spurt. We were getting about 3 to 3 1/2 hours between feedings during the day, and getting about a 5 hour stretch at night between feedings. All of a sudden, that changed. This past weekend, our little man decided that he couldn't stand to go more than about 2 1/2 hours without some milk and wasn't going to go more than 3 hours at night. We seriously felt like we had just brought him home from the hospital. But he's gotta grow!!! Luckily it seems as if his growth spurt is slowing (lucky for me, that is!). However, according to all of the books and websites and doctors, we're in for another spurt here in a few weeks. I'm trying to prepare myself now!

Oh, and on the 6 week mark, I had my post-pardem appointment last week. All is well with me. My incision is healing very nicely, and the doctor says that it won't be too long before I won't notice it at all. Also, my blood pressure has FINALLY stabilized. I am now off of the meds that I've been taking since February 6 (when I started bedrest). I left my appointment feeling pretty happy and "recovered".

And on a sad note, a date has been set for me to return to work. May 14th will be "doom day". I am not looking forward to this, but unfortunately those lotto tickets haven't paid off (probably because we haven't bought any). Tyler will be going to a daycare center less than 5 miles away from the house. We looked at several centers and this one was by far our favorite - not to mention the most convenient. We struggle with the idea that he will be in the care of other people for 9 - 10 hours a day, 5 days a week, but you do what you have to do. And we feel very good about the facility that we have chosen. The owners and instructors all seem very dedicated and we had a positive experience when we visited there. And he'll be able to interact with other children, which will be good. Not to mention the germs. Everyone always talks about how great it is to expose your kid to all the crud that goes around a daycare. (We'll see how true that is.....) But it still doesn't make the idea any easier. If we could, I would stay home with Tyler, at least for the few couple of years. Who knows.....maybe I'll really play the lottery one night and we'll win.

One last note: Our thoughts and prayers go out to the entire community of Virginia Tech. It's very unnerving to know that this tragedy took place at all, let alone in our great state, or at one of our best universities. We pray for the students, faculty, staff, families, and friends to heal from this horrific event.