Milestone Madness

Our little Easton has really begun to figure out the world. Yesterday, he slept through the night (from 9 pm to 6 am!!), rolled over (front to back), AND started grabbing objects all before lunch. I half expected him to be walking and potty trained by the time I got home from work. I guess sometimes things just click. Here are some pictures and videos from this week:

He's getting so strong!
Playing in his gym

Loving up on momma
The rare photo of Easton after a bath and NOT crying because he had to get out of the warm water.
Our new favorite goofy photo
Playing with his toys...finally :)
Holding his own bottle like a big boy.


Sorry the videos are always so dark...hope you can even tell what's going on here.

Help the Howes!!

Hey Ladies! Recently, one of my closest friends, Julianne Howes, delivered her baby boy, Michael, 15 weeks prematurely. Baby Michael is a little miracle and he is doing incredibly well given his extraordinary circumstances. So far, their medical bills have reached 90,000 dollars and he is expected to be in the NICU until late July. So, when a friend is down, you reach out and help right? Here is what I can do: I am a Mary Kay consultant. I will donate 20% of my profits for the ENTIRE month of May to her family to help with costs. Here is where you can help: Book a skin care party any Saturday morning or Wednesday evening in May, get me a list of guests, and I'll do everything else! Wednesdays and Saturdays no good? Let me know a day that will work for you and I will try my very hardest to work it out for you. Don't want to hold a party? Then, just place an order with me!You get great skin care and make up products AND you'll help out this AMAZING family. You can message me here, email me at sticks_2006@hotmail.com, or call me anytime at 435-512-4274. Please, help!

Personality....

Hi! I'm Easton Maddux.......

I'm a little bit goofy..

I'm a great dresser.....

But, I prefer to be naked.

I enjoy long baths .........

And I HATE it when Mommy makes me get out....

I like spending time outside in the sunshine,

and eating my fingers,

I don't like to exercise.

People say I look just like my daddy-

Mommy says I act just like him too....


And, did I mention I look adorable in sandles? Because, I do.

Laughter fills our home...FINALLY!

Before news of Easton--- One of my best friends, Julianne, was life flighted to McKay Dee Hospital this week. She is dangerously close to delivering her baby boy about 16 weeks prematurely. Please keep her in your hearts and prayers as she, her husband, and baby fight this battle.
Okay....now....something more lighthearted...
Easton has learned to laugh! I have been dying for him to do it for the past week or so. He was so close! And then finally last night, out of nowhere, he laughed! I'm so glad that Kade and I were both there to hear his first giggle. It was priceless. He is such a happy little munchkin. He is feeling much better now. Formula is going smoothly. It was such a relief to have our happy guy back. He's getting to be very clever. He has pretty much no interest in his toys. He'd much rather stare at and study a face. He has even begun to imitate our facial expressions. His tongue is his new best friend. It's almost always sticking out, and if you show him yours, he'll try to mimic you. He's getting bigger by the minute. I'm so curious about what he must weigh now. He's really filling out. Here are some new photos and videos of our little dude. He's a real ham.Easton loves to watch his mobile go round and round.

Classic dad sleeping with the baby photo
Every now and then we get a little duck outside our house. Easton and I decided to feed them some old bread....
He wasn't sure about it.


This video is really dark, but hopefully you can at least hear the sweet sounds he's making.




Watch him closely. He starts to imitate what Kade is doing.

Don't give up!

Tonight Kade and I found ourselves lying on the floor chanting "Don't give up! Keep trying!!" while Easton kicked and strained and wobbled around on his belly. Our little man is inches away from rolling over. It seems he figured out what to do over night. Yesterday, during tummy time he was mostly rubbing his face into the carpet. But today was something else! He's gotten so much stronger. Formula feeding is still not going well. He was inconsolable most of the day from the tummy ache it gives him. So I decided to try a new formula. I'm pretty bugged considering I bought a 3 lb can of the other stuff. Stupid. If anyone uses Enfamil Gentlease...I'll make you a SCREAMING deal. Just get rid of the crap. Now we're trying Nestle Goodstart, and I already think it's working better. No crying! But he spent most the night in a coma because he was too busy screaming during the day to take his naps. So, cross your fingers that we've found the good stuff. For some reason, even though I can't wait to stop pumping, watching my milk dry up is very scary. I get so nervous as I am slowly filling the bottles less and less when I pump. I don't think I will feel good about my own milk going away until I have found a formula that doesn't make my little guy puke, scream, or unable to have a good poop. *SIGH* Here are some photos I took tonight of Easton on his tummy so the rest of you can see how good he's getting. These are my new favorite pictures of him. Doesn't he look ADORABLE!?!?!


My heart could just explode with joy looking at that sweet smile.

Even more guilt over formula

So to make matters worse, Easton doesn't tolerate formula well. I knew this already from the few times I had given him the little 2 oz. bottles of shelf stable formula they give at the hospital. He throws up everything for about 24 hours after he has it. No bueno. I talked to my pediatrician about it and he recommended that I try Enfamil Gentlease. I semi got over my guilt today and trekked off to Sam's Club tonight to get a HUGE can of formula. So I'm feeling experimental and I decide to give him just a few ounces tonight before bed to see how he does and see if formula fed babies really do sleep longer. I mixed a few ounces of breastmilk and a few ounces of formula to make a five ounce bottle. A few ounces in, he puked all over me. Great, huh? Serves me right? I'm hoping it was partially because he was too full because it wasn't time for a feeding yet. I was reading about it online and it seems that you need to give the baby atleast a week with each formula to really try it out before switching again-- even if they are puking all over the place. So now my poor little Easto has to vomit all day just so that I don't have to pump. Talk about a major guilt trip. I'm going to keep at it though and just really ease him into it with more breastmilk mixed with the formula. Poor little guy......

Guilty....

I love being a mom. I absolutely adore it. But some things that have come along with it are not so fun. The most unpleasant being the added measure of guilt I feel over EVERYTHING. If it's been a little too long since a diaper change: Guilty. If I let Easton fuss a little bit more than I "should": Guilty. If I don't pay constant attention to him while he's awake: Guilty. Holding him to put him to sleep: Guilty. And my newest guilt companion: Considering using formula. I have been pumping exclusively since Easton was about 2 weeks old. It is important to me that my son has the very best nutrition and naturally, that means giving him breast milk. However, nursing wasn't our strong point and I'm over the desire to overcome those hardships. So, I've been toting around my pump and giving it my all for 9 weeks now. I'll admit that at first this seemed like a workable solution. I set the goal to give him breastmilk for atleast six months. I'm almost halfway there. It may seem like a short time to someone else. Just a wrinkle in time, right? If you think pumping or nursing is not hard, you can come over and let me give you titty twisters constantly for atleast 15 minutes several times a day and then you would know what it's like to be me. Besides the discomfort, it's very inconvenient. When nursing, you can find somewhere to sit just about anywhere and do the deed. Not with pumping. I don't like planning my day around the need to pump or being forced to lug the machine around with me and pray that I'll be able to find a place to plug in. So, due to my growing hate of pumping, I'm considering putting Easton on formula. Ugh. Even writing it down floods me with guilt. I know that formula is very well made and is still very nutritious. But I think any mother who has breastfed will agree that there are benefits beyond measure that formula can never give. Not only is breast milk healthier-- it is also FREE. I can't believe I'm about to pay $25 bucks for a can of something that my body makes a better version of. I'm not going to go into a pro-milk rant here, because it's useless and will only make me feel more guilty. I'm on the fence. Is it so wrong for a mommy to be a little selfish with her body and time? Should I just live with my own discomfort to provide for Easton? Who knows? I feel like such a wimp when I read or hear about moms who pumped or nursed for a year (or for more than 11 weeks for that matter.) Why should one be expected to enjoy depending on a machine to provide the natural comforts of not having rock hard boobs and milk soaked shirts? I may as well change my name to Bessy and move to a dairy. I feel so sad for all those sweet dairy cows who have to put up with being milked for years and years, so that we can have a drink. Perhaps subconsciously this is why I've never drank milk. I always knew it was cruel deep down. I'm exaggerating of course, but still... Anyhow, none of this rambling solves my dilemma. To milk or not to milk? That IS the question.....I guess I'll figure it out later. I have to go pump now......