We're a family of 4

This journey through parenthood after loss is beyond confusing.  Through all the confusion, one thing I've learned for sure, is that no two parents grieve the same way.  I'm fairly certain that I manage my grief and fears different than most.

I generally don't overthink things or worry too much.  I couldn't control what happened to Millie and I had no control over changing her outcomes so I guess that plays out to the same mentality when it comes to Bodey.  Of course I do everything to keep him safe and heed to the instructions of his doctor but I don't get too stressed about things I can't control, maybe to a fault (I don't know).  So in some ways it seems to carry-over to having a pretty laid back baby.  I am very grateful to have a laid back baby but I know it's not just our parenting style, I know God specifically blessed us with a calm, happy, easy-going baby because I worry that I would not be able to function if he were any other way.  

After having cared for a terminally ill baby--when every parent's greatest fear is just looming around the corner--I could not function with constant worry over Bodey.  In the same way that I couldn't manage the stress of a challenging baby, I also can't manage to consider what life would be like if Millie were still here.  I obviously know the facts--that Millie is my first born, she made me a mother, she would be 22 months old, she is a big sister.  I do not spend more than a few moments at any given time considering what it would be like to have both babies here at the same time.  It's just too damn confusing and too damn painful.  I cannot give attention to friends, acquaintances, strangers that have children near Millie's age for fear that I might wonder what it would be like to have a daughter running around.  I guess it's further muddled by the fact that I don't know if I should envision a happy, healthy, perfect Millie or a disabled, mentally challenged, delayed Millie.  That part hurts so damn much that I just prefer to avoid it altogether.  So as a result, I pretty much think of my family as the 'before' and 'after'.  Our family of 4 that is 3 of us and then 3 of us to make up 4.   I never, ever deny her existence or place in our family but I also never look at a family of 4 and see myself. 

I have absolutely relished in all the ways Bodey looks, acts and reminds us of Millie.  He warms our hearts in all the right ways and brings us comfort in the way he fulfills our parenting rolls.  He does cause us to miss Millie but he also allows us to relive our moments with her again.   And then he allows us to enjoy things we never got to have with her.  I get to put him down in her crib and change his diaper where I changed hers.  I get to lay in my bed with him cradled in my arms in the same place where I laid with Millie cradled in the same nook and I get to lay Bodey on his dad's chest where Millie used to cuddle.  I get to dress him in clothes that she received and read him books that she received and play with toys that filled her toy chest first and put him in diapers that people wrote messages to us on at her shower.  It's always a special moment to watch him wear or play with something that we shared with her and it's always a painful moment when I realize he gets to use something she was never old enough or big enough to use.  

So when we went to visit Millie at the cemetery for my birthday I had this fleeting moment where I felt it--our family of 4--our family of 4 if we were all here together.  It was the most beautiful, special and yet painful moment.  

Every single day I say my prayers to God thanking Him for our beautiful children and thanking Him for blessing us with our easy-going, calm, bright eyed baby boy.  I ask Him to keep Bodey healthy and safe every single day.  I don't think this is much different than most parents but I find myself taking mental snapshots constantly.  Every single new thing that Bodey does, every single giant smile he gives me, every single moment I can make him giggle is cataloged and filed in the 'Thank you God' category.  Unlike most parents I still worry that there might not be a tomorrow so I try not to take this moment today for granted.  This might also be part of why I still don't sweat the small stuff--if this is it I don't want to have spent it stressing over things I can't control.  

As Bodey's first Christmas approaches it is again such a confusing time of year where everything is so bittersweet, where every opposing feeling co-exists.  This is the time of year where I start to relive my memories of Millie and lately I am noticing the many ways I can feel Millie sending me signs of her presence.  These signs, along with messages about the Random Acts of Christmas Kindness that family and friends have been doing in honor of Millie, bring me so much comfort in an otherwise painful time of year.

Merry Christmas from our family of 4--The Kings

4 months old

4 Months Old

Mr. Bodey is officially 4 months old and cute as ever!!!

See how smiley and cute I am!!!

He has this adorable way of frowning or scowling at you until you coo at him and then he breaks into this wildly huge smile like you see above!!

He loves to coo and babble away. Usually I wake up in the morning to him cooing in his crib peacefully.  It's so cute!!  He'll even respond in a sort of conversation way of chatting when you talk to him now!

He seems to be growing like a weed but today we learned that his weight has dropped off a bit (down from 25% to 6%) so we will be trying medicine for reflux and adding some rice cereal to his bottle feeds to try and fatten him up some more!  In every other way, the doctor says he is perfect and so healthy!  She's even surprised that his ears were as clear as they were and pleased with all of his physical capabilities. 

He may be working on pushing some teeth through in the near future as he has become a bit more drooly and more fussy at times.  Plus he absolutely cannot keep his fingers out of his mouth.  He has no interest in a paci anymore, just his fingers to gnaw on.  Teething toys are not of much interest but he likes to chew on blankets, plush toys or lovie blankets.

While he loves having these items in his mouth, getting his toes in there tops the cake!!  He is always grabbing his toes and stuffing his foot in his mouth.  I can hardly get his diaper changed because he is locked in happy baby pose or he is rolling on his side to check out his environment.

 He has become very interested in the environment around him and he loves rolling to his side to reach around to his toys or patterns he can see. He really enjoys rolling over to find mom and dad. He even prefers to sleep on his side now!

He has tried sitting up in his bumbo but fatigues pretty quickly so he prefers engaging in his environment while mom or dad provide a little support.  He's also been loved on by many young ladies lately that like to help him sit up too!

  He has recently begun to notice Coalie.  He will track her movements around the room and he even reaches out to pet her.  Coalie has also become much more aware of Bodey and has actually been caught checking on him in the crib! 

This month we celebrated my birthday which was very special considering that last birthday I was desperately missing my firstborn baby and praying for another baby; yet unbeknown to me was actually growing a budding Bodey in my belly.  So this year we ran over to Alabama to visit Millie and then head back home to celebrate with a birthday dinner with our friends, Devin and Jamie

 We also celebrated Bodey's first Thanksgiving.  We spent Thanksgiving day in Montgomery, Alabama at Bodey's great-aunt Jane's house where his cousin Rhonda prepared a delicious meal.  Bodey's great-aunts, cousins and grandparents loved on him all day while we reminisced on memories of Heath's mawmaw and uncle Barney.  It was such special time spent together enjoying each others' company in gorgeous southern 80 degree weather!

While in Montgomery Heath's dad and cousin were going over genetic traits and connections they had through a genetic assessment they had performed.  During this discussion Renee pointed out to Jerry that he does not carry the genetic trait for sneezing caused by light.  I pointed this out as a very odd trait for a person to have!  Then that following week it dawned on me that Bodey DOES have this trait! Every morning when I get him up and turn on his lamp in his bedroom he sneezes at least 2-3 times once the light comes on!  When I mentioned this funny trait to Heath --before I told him that Bodey has this trait--Heath goes "oh yeah I have that".  So we learned at least 1 genetic trait that Bodey has inherited specifically from his dad!!  



Besides that this month has been spent enjoying as many snuggles with Bodey as we possibly can!

 

3 Months Old

3 Months Old

Mr. Bodey Boo is 3 months old now and so much has changed!!  Mommy and Bodey spent 3 weeks together alone when daddy went back to work.  It was challenging to manage housework, yard work, cooking, grocery shopping, the dog, diaper changes, feedings, playtime and exercise by myself.  We've been lucky enough to have a super easy baby and yet the daily to-dos were still really challenging to manage.  I totally get why the SAHM job is so tough.  But we had a wonderful time getting to spend so much time together and super lucky to have an awesome daddy that would come home and jump right in to taking care of the baby and helping prep him for bedtime.  

Then it was finally time for me to return to work too.  Bodey's first day in daycare was only a half day trial run while I prepped for a new pumping schedule, got my work schedule figured out and then spent my last afternoon off work chilling with our sweet baby.  He did great and we like his teacher, Sam.  Being back to work isn't too terrible because I do love what I do so my mind is always busy working at helping people get better.  Plus I have the added bonus of choosing to go nurse Bodey at lunch.  I love getting to spend a little chunk of time together in the middle of the day!  I've also adjusted my schedule so that I am only working four 8 hour days instead of 10 hour days.  It feels like a vacation being done with work at 4pm instead of 6pm.  Although our routine when we get home takes until about 6pm between unpacking bottles, nursing, getting a bath and taking care of Coalie and if I'm really lucky getting dinner started.

Bodey and I get up at about 4:45am in order to have him ready to leave the house with daddy by 6am and I leave about 15 minutes after that.  Bodey struggled with the new schedule the first week but has been adapting nicely.  Where he used to go to bed at 9:30 he now goes to sleep between 6:30 - 7:00p.  He continues to sleep through the night consistently.  Heath and I have actually been in bed between 8:30 to 10 pm every day this past week.  That is crazy early for us!  We are both fighting a bit of a sinus cold though so we have welcomed the early bed time!

Right before he started daycare I was worried that he wasn't taking in enough milk each day so I tried a bunch of remedies to increase my milk supply including extra pumpings, homemade lactation cookies, taking fenugreek and using geranium essential oil.  It seemed to work to increase my supply quite a bit and Bodey is taking more and more milk in his bottles at daycare.  Since we don't have a doctor's visit this month I decided to sneak him onto the dog's scale at the vet the other day and it said he was 13.0# which is a bit under weight but hopefully not too bad.  I guess we'll find out at his 4 month doctor's visit.

This past month Bodey has changed so incredibly much!  I do feel like he has grown a ton and he seems so long now!  He is a champ at tummy time thanks to daycare.  He works on seeing himself in the mirror at daycare.  He kicks his legs around so much, brings his hands and feet together and plays with the toys dangling over him.  He now picks up toys, passes them between hands and brings them to his mouth.  He loves sneaking his finger, thumb or whole fist into his mouth whenever he can.  He is super smiley, especially when I greet him with a very singsong "OH HI CUTE BABY!"  He has started giggling more lately too!  He also sings and coos tons which is my favorite sound!  He can roll to his side and often likes to stay on his side to play.  Over the past couple days he is so close to rolling all the way over.  

This month he got to go to his first Packer's game which was against the Falcons down at the Georgia dome.  My uncle Rick and cousins, Daniel and Joshua, came to spend the night while they were traveling back home to WI from Panama City.  We decided to go to the game so Bodey got to take his first MARTA train ride to downtown Atlanta.  I took him in the Boba carrier and he wore his noise cancelling ear phones and he was a perfect baby.  He slept through the entire game except for when he got hungry but nursing him was no big deal with my nursing cover.  I'm pretty sure every single person in the entire dome doted on how cute Bodey and his little Packer's booties were!  It was a very close game which was exciting to watch but unfortunately the Pack lost in the last minute.

This month also meant Bodey's first Halloween!  I enjoyed dressing Bodey up in cute little Halloween outfits all week that he had received from family and friends.  We took him trick-or-treating in our friend's, the Gunning's, neighborhood like how I tagged along last year.  Bodey was dressed up as an elephant but it was unexpectedly 85 degrees out so he didn't wear his complete outfit with Alabama jammies underneath and a bama elephant hat.  He was still pretty cute though and he was quite the trooper for the walk around the block.  Coalie got to come along with her butterfly wings to honor Millie.  It was pretty special.  

hiking Pine Mountain near Cartersville overlooking Lake Allatoona

Practicing my reading

I love looking at my toy. This one is special, it used to hang over my sister's NICU incubator

I'm a Bama baby just like my daddy

mini Heath

I'm cute when I sleep too

My very first day at daycare. Everyone did really well

My first ride on the MARTA train with my cousin Daniel too!

Me, Mommy and the Lindner boys cheering on the Pack

I loved meeting my great-uncle Rick and cousins Joshua and Daniel

I slept most of the game like my Grandpa Mark sometimes does :)

My first official Packer's game!!!

Can't blame a guy for getting hungry

My first Halloween. My angel sister.

Ele baby

Hiya!!  Bodey Bones

This is before I spit-up all over my costume

My first Halloween!  My puppy Coalie is super cute too! She makes a beautiful butterfly

my first trick-or-treating with my family

Tummy time at daycare, I'm getting so strong

Baths after daycare are a must

Me and daddy about 40 years apart in the same awesome alabama shirt

Celebrating my big sister Millie for Infant and Pregnancy loss awareness month

My cute dimples and adorable smile makes me very popular at daycare

2 weeks versus 3 months--growing like a weed :)