Spit-up barf puke projectile VOMIT

Sam has had a tough time lately. He can't seem to keep his food down, throwing up approx. 2 oz. per feeding. We took him to the dr. this past Friday.They then sent us to get an ultrasound done. The technician was my least favorite person of the day. I'm mad that his hand made it into my picture. I won't go into details because I get too mad, but he was very rude. Here's Sam in action. Bibs beware.

Long story short, the ultrasound came back negative for whatever they were looking for. We went to the dr. again today. He prescribed Sam Zocam. So far, it actually seems to be helping!

being a mom is time consuming!

Hello everyone! It's been a while since my last post/Sam update. I never knew being a mom would take up so much time (most of it trying to catch up on sleep because Sam is a party animal at night). Sorry to everyone who has tried calling me and repeatedly getting my voicemail- It's not personal, I promise! And I do listen to my voicemails, but by the time I'm done listening I've already forgotten who left the message. Having a baby makes your brain more stupid, just so you know.

Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw left this past Friday after being here since Nov. 5. It was pretty cool having them here at the end of my pregnancy. They got to see Sam from the very beginning. They are 2 very important people in my life. I would always pray that they'd be alive long enough to see me get married and to meet my kids. I am so glad my Heavenly Father answered those prayers!

Here is sweet Paw-Paw cooking his famous french toast. He cooked every single meal for us. He said it was his way of paying rent. Unfortunately, he is from Georgia and cooks Southern-style, meaning butter-coated, fat-loaded, and extra wonderful. They have been gone 4 days and my baby weight has already dropped 2 more pounds (it was at a stand-still while they were here).

Here's dear Maw-Maw holding Sam. She begged me every night to wake her up in the middle of the night while Sam and I were awake. She wanted nothing more than to help out. I didn't have the heart to wake my sleeping grandmother at 4 in the morning, but her offers were sweet just the same.

My dearest, best friends are in town! I am already extra happy from hanging out with Amy, and I can't wait to see my love Selena. Then next week Jess gets here! I love Christmas.

We had the Barry family Christmas party last night. Man I love that family. Anya made an amazing slide show of all the happenings of the past year. We are so blessed! I am so happy that I love my in-laws, and that my family lives so close. I am so happy Sam will grow up with so many amazing people.
And here's my absolute BFF Sam. We hang out a lot.

Smiling Sam

The past 4 mornings, Sam has been smiling when I tickle his chest. It is the sweetest thing. It's hard to catch on camera because he moves so dang fast, so these pictures are kind of blurry...

Happy 1 Month Birthday Sam!

My little Sam is a month old today. His newbornhood is going by too fast. He is the sweetest little thing, and I just love how I already know his personality and his little quirks, like that he has the ability to pee on his own head.

Reese's Brownies- Don't Try This at Home

Maw-Maw and me wanted to make brownies in an extra special way. We decided to put half the batter in the pan, then put Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on top of that, then put the other half of the batter in the pan. Sounds incredible, right? Well, it wasn't as amazing as we'd hoped. It was a little too chocolatey. Oh well- we still had fun making them. I have always loved baking with Maw-Maw. When I would spend summers with Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw in Georgia, I would come home 10 lbs. heavier and with a greater knowledge of dessert-making.

Reese

My Good Pal Stacie Jo

Stacie Aho, despite being 28 weeks pregnant, brought dinner over for us on Friday night. It was a very good dinner- even covering all the major food groups!!! Good Job Stacie! M.J. was so cute- he hopped on into Sam's swing. It's good to know the swing can support his weight. haha. M.J. also hopped into Maw-Maw's lap. He's a friendly little guy!

GB Party

This past Thursday night wras the GB Christmas Party. Devin says John is always giddy at the company parties- kind of like Michael Scott at the Dundees. We brought Sam- he was good for the most part, then I had to warm up his bottle in the sink at the restaurant, but he still wasn't satisfied. Luckily Adam and Anya let me breastfeed him in their car out in the parking lot. Yeah- i'm still not a public breastfeeder.

Sam is the cutest!

I took pictures of Sam last week while he was on his changing table. He usually is screaming when he's getting changed, but this time he was rather jolly. I don't know what is going on with my pictures and why they're uploading sideways. sorry.

Thanksgiving VIsitors

When Selena and Russ were over to take Sam's pictures, we also took a few amateur ones. Selena looks very happy in this picture. I can't say the same for Sam.I told Selena I'm still not ready to smile for real in a picutre, so we made fatty faces. For some reason this picture is sideways, but this is Selena with Leigh Ann's sweet baby Chase. Sorry for the chest shot, Leigh Ann, but I wanted to show that you came for a visit also. Notice Sam isn't crying while he's in Leigh Ann's arms. Man, Selena. What is your problem?

I loved having Selena and Leigh Ann over. Sweet Maw-Maw made us brownies. What a good hostess!

I need Mom advice

I am having a real tough time feeding Sam these past few days. Every time I nurse him, he seems to spit up everything he's just eaten. If I pump and then put it in a bottle (this amazing "slow-flow" bottle I found at Target), he rarely spits up. The solution is that I should just pump and put it in the bottle, right? The problem with that is, when Sam wakes up and is hungry, it is so much faster to nurse him rather than to make him wait another 15-20 minutes while I pump. And I can't just pump before he's hungry because my milk isn't produced yet. The little guy is sucking me dry. And I don't seem to be producing as much as I was last week or even a few days ago. That's my pickle. Any knowledge or advice?

Here are more amazing pictures from Selena Reid, photographer extraordinairre.

3 Weeks Old

Little Samothy is 3 weeks old today. (Don't worry, his real name isn't Samothy, that's just his latest pet name around our house).

Selena took amazing pictures of Sam while she was here over Thanksgiving!!! I can't believe I only saw her 2 times while she was here. I miss seeing her on a regular basis so much. She is my love.

This past week has been kind of rough. I have been dealing with mastitis, but was doing much better until this weekend. My fever decided to get pretty high on Friday, just in time to miss Rich and Treslee's wedding festivities. Why do things like this always happen on the weekend? My symptoms got out of hand on Saturday night, so I went to urgent care. The doctor there must have graduated at the bottom of his class, because when I described my condition to him, he asked, "Is there any discharge coming from your breasts?" and I said, "Just milk..." and he replied with, "Wait, you're nursing?" YES!!! Hence the MASTITIS!!!!! Whatev. At least he prescribed me drugs and now I'm feeling much better.

One last thing...you know how it's always funny when people get startled by a sudden noise? Sam let out a huge diarrhea fart this morning during his 5 a.m. feeding. It was so loud and so powerful that Devin jumped in his sleep and said "AHHHH!" I laughed pretty hard for a good while.

The Latest

Sam got circumsized yesterday. Poor little guy. We weren't in the room, thank goodness, although I did have to hold him while they drew his blood. I did NOT like hearing his pain-cry. He is doing well, though- he doesn't seem to be in any pain when we change his diaper (we meaning me...Devin says seeing his new "weenie" gives him the heeby-jeebies).

Whitney and I saw Twilight on Saturday! I really liked it. I had a hard time concentrating though, because my boobs got so dang full of milk toward the end of the movie- they were killing!!! Sorry for the TMI.

Sam on the way to the doctor's office. Poor little fellow had no idea what was coming.

sam looks like such a clone of Devin in this picture.we were over at the Barry's last night. Brenda wanted so badly to hold Sam but felt a cold coming on. She was resourceful and used a blindfold as a mask! What a good Go-go!!!is this not the most handsome little dad you've ever seen?

Mr. Sam Man

I just love Sam Barry. He is the sweetest. Here is a picture of his sweet feet. It's also sort of a crotch-shot. Sorry, Sam.
My mom went home last night after staying with us for a week. I really miss her help and knowledge...Poor Sam is on his own with me and Maw-Maw for now...

I am missing the midnight premiere of Twilight tonight!!! I am pretty dissapointed about it, but it wouldn't be fair to ask Devin to be with Sam until the wee hours of the morning when he has to work tomorrow. Ugh. Why am I such an amazing wife??? Jk Jk. Plus, I can't even drive yet until next week. Whatev.

And here is a picture to make you jealous, Selena!

Parent Initiation

This past Friday Sam had his first pediatrician appointment. While we were in the waiting room (which made me very uncomfortable, by the way- I could just smell the germs), we heard poo rumbles coming from Sam's diaper. I whisked Sam off to the bathroom with just a clean diaper and some wipes. On my way to the bathroom, a nurse told me I could use an empty patient room to change him.

While changing him on the paper-covered table, Sam's man-part sprayed pee ALL over the walls, making the poo in his diaper fly across the room. There was poo on the walls, chairs, floor, on him, on his clothes...yeah.

Since I didn't bring another outfit and definitely needed help (still can't bend over thanks to the C-section), I grabbed the pee/poo covered naked Sam, waddled back to the full waiting room, and yelled, "Devin! I need you and the diaper bag!!!" Devin came running back there to help me clean up. As we were cleaning up, little Sam peed yet again all over the paper table.

The worst part about the whole experience was that it was so dang funny- I can't tell you how bad it hurts to laugh when you have a 6-inch cut on your stomach.

Anyway, that's the story. How about more pictures of my boy???

The above picture is all of the spit-up Sam did on Devin's shirt from the dr.'s office. You kind of have to look hard for the stains, but they're there.

Baby Barry is HERE!!!!

and he has a name! Devin named him Sam William Barry. Sam is not short for anything (popular question).

My Paw-Paw looked at me on Sunday night and said he thought the baby would come that night (for all you Arizona people a Paw-Paw is a grandpa. He and my grandma are staying with us while they visit from Georgia). He said I had "the look." He said my Maw-Maw always got the look before she had her babies. Sure enough, my water broke about 8 hours later, on my due date.

I had just been on one of my bathroom trips at around 4:55 in the morning. I went to lay back down on our bed, felt a little pain, and then starting wetting the bed uncontrollably!!! Here's the conversation that followed:

me: "Hey Dev?"

Devin: "Yeah?"

me: "My water just broke."

Devin: "LET'S DO THIS!!!"

We proceeded to the hospital where I continued to leak more water (had no idea my body could hold that much fluid). I was still only dilated a 1, so after being put in the labor and delivery room, they started me on Pitocin (spelling?). The doctor came in to check on me about 12:30 p.m., only to find out that little Sam had turned and was BREECH! We didn't waste any time and headed to the operating room. Sam arrived at 1:09 p.m. weighing 8 lbs. 13 oz.

I'll write much more later, including the experience at the pediatrician that initiated Devin and me as parents. It involves lots of projectile poop and nudity.

This whole baby experience has made me appreciate all the amazing people in my life even more. I am so in love with my sweet husband who is such a wonderful father and amazing husband. He has been doing so much for Sam and for me. I would be pulling my hair out and cussing if I were him.

Michelle Boam has been an amazing help. She kept us company those long days at the hospital. She helped me while I was struggling to feed Sam and Devin was sleeping. She is a wonderful girl and selfless giver of service.

My sisters-in-law are amazing. They have comforted me so much when I have had questions (believe me, there have been a lot so far). They give me advice and tell me I'm doing a good job. I married into such a wonderful family. Thank you John and Brenda for raising such an amazing son.

39 week update

Well, there really is no news to share after my 39-week checkup. I am now 1 cm dilated (compared to the 1/2 cm I was at 36 weeks), which is NOTHING! My doctor discussed induction with me, but I really see no point since I'm not miserable and there is no medical reason for it. Anyway, that's it. Baby Barry is in no rush.

funny pictures

Devin was out hours before I was ready for bed last night, so I was looking through old pictures. I found some pretty funny ones.

This was sometime in 2006, I think, long before Devin and I were an item (well, an official item at least). Selena and I went to visit him in the ER (I can't count how many times we've been there for Devin- poor guy).

This was from my and Selena's apartment in Flagstaff. We were doing a recreation of "Come What May" from Moulin Rouge. I was the girl and Selena was the boy.

This is when Selena got a bad bang trim. Oh man this picture just gets me everytime.

I am going to the doctor this afternoon for my 39 week appointment. Hopefully there is some action going on. I will update if anything exciting is happening!

Belly Buddy

My dear Stacie came over to pay me a visit today! She came bearing gifts of HOMEMADE salsa, chips, and wonderful donuts. We were going to make a music video about pregnancy ( Stacie is 22 weeks along), but I lost my motivation when it came down to it. We took pictures together instead.

22 weeks along vs. 38 weeks along.

Above view: In a sumo wrestling match I would tear her apart.

I tried to teach Stacie my pregnant picture pose. Not bad.