First Date

Saturday was my 36th birthday. Jeff got me a spa gift certificate for a massage (of which I had been longing for since Serif was born - he's taken a toll on the tension in my neck and shoulders!) and then set up and evening out to take me to the Omni Hut for dinner (our favorite place). So this was our first date since Serif and also Serif's first time left to babysitting. We left him with my sister and her husband and they had a great time. It was nice to get out, just us, but even in the short 2 hours we were gone, we couldn't help but think about him.

Here are a few photos of his first babysitting session. Can't you see how much he's loved? =)

The Day & the Life of Serif Godby (@ 3 weeks)

feeding time!

done feeding.

playtime.

nap time.

repeat. . .
repeat . . .
repeat . . .
um - yeah - repeat . . .


dad's home! tv time with dad.

playtime with dad before bed.

The Darnedest Thing

okay. so you're probably wondering what on earth am i doing with my baby on top of the dryer. no - actually i wasn't doing laundry but rather trying to sooth an upset tummy. yeah right weird huh?

Serif got fussy and i tried everything and nothing was working. he seemed to maybe have an upset stomach so i called my sister and asked her about this gas medicine and wondering if he was too young to be given this for an upset stomach. i hated the idea of medicine this early, but hey whatever works at this point right? she suggested not giving the medicine, but to put him on a blanket on top of the dryer and turn it on for about 10 minutes. apparently the sound, vibration and warmth of the dryer will help sooth the tummy. well . . . you see the result. immediate relief and a sleeping baby.

who knew. thanks sis!

Tummy Time

Venturing Out

So this was the big weekend that we all 3 got out of the house without it being for a doctor's appointment. Saturday was a big day. We went to Target and Babies R Us. Wow! 2 places! He did great. He started to fuss a little in Target when we first got there, but as long as he was being pushed, he was fine, then we never heard a winper after that. He went right to sleep. Babies R Us was quick because it was getting close to wake up time and feeding time so we wanted to make it home before pushing it too late.

Not to stop at the 2 shopping ventures, we then made it out to my sisters house for my neices (Serif's cousin - Lindsay) 20th birthday party in Smyrna. Yeah - I can't believe she's 20! It's taken her 20 years of life for us to decide we have this little fella. Weird. Anyways. He did great there as well. He didn't stay awake too long, but atleast a few people got to hold him and everyone got to see him. It actually felt god to get out and about and see people.

Today (Sunday), we went for a walk around the neighborhood. Now this we have done before, but he just looked so cute all bundled up in the hat that I had to post the photo. The sleeper was our latest purchase from Target and I think my favorite outfit yet. Why don't they make more cool clothes like this for boys? Anyways, that's a whole seperate post in itself. I won't go there now. I'll spare you.

All for now. He's waking up and will be hungry! We're doing great and enjoying every day with him. He's sure growing fast!

The First Bath

Yet another fully satisfied baby

So I guess we're doing something right when our baby shows all the signs from breastfeeding class. =) rock on!

2 week dr. visit

We just got back from Serif's 2 week appointment. He was late with his feeding so we just caught up and he's zonked out. Everything checked out well today. He's still 22" long and his weight has gone up to 8lb 7oz (was as 7lb 14oz at 1 week visit). The doctor also listened to his heart for a good length of time and could no longer hear the murmur - thank you Lord! We'll see how the cardiologist appointment goes in May to really get confirmation that it has healed up. We basically asked tons of questions at today's visit and it was nice to hear all is normal and we're doing well with everything. He goes back December 30th for his 2 month check up.

I miss you Dad!

This is Dad's first day back to work. I think he was ready to be back, but missing me a little.
-Serif

Daddy's arms

What's in a name?

Most people find a family name to give their child. Some look for baby name books and go with whatever is popular on the list for the season. Others find names from movies or books or just whatever seems to grab their attention over the years. For Jeff and I, we've had a girl name picked out since we were dating back in . . . 1990? The name was Evie. We heard the name on a Charmin toilet paper commercial and fell in love with it. In the commercial, this little girl was going to the bathroom when she decides to pull the entire roll off the bolt. Her mom comes in the room and finds her with oodles of toilet paper everywhere and says 'Oh - Evie!' For some reason that name has stuck with us over all these years and we always thought (if we ever did have kids) that we would have a girl. That name, Evie, didn't necessarily have special meaning other than we've just always liked the name. Nothing wrong with that. Throughout the pregnancy Jeff and I became much more aware of how popular the 'E' names were and started second guessing that name . . . thinking we'd really like something more unique and more . . . 'us'. Well, as everyone now knows, we have a boy and we were able to come up with a perfect name that fit us perfectly.

During my first trimester of pregnancy it dawned on us one day that we may not be having a girl. It very well could be a boy and we had zero names for that. Jeff and I rarely agree on names when it ever would come up so we decided we'd better start thinking of some names for the just in case. I guess it was within a few weeks that we were in the car and Jeff says to me, 'So I've been thinking about the boy name...Serif'. Now at first I thought hmmm...not sure. He then began explaining to me how he came up with the name. After hearing his explanation I thought it was genius and the more I thought about it the more I grew to absolutely LOVE it and thought, 'It's perfect!'.

So . . . here's the explanation:
As you all know, Jeff is a graphic designer. He loves type and it plays a major role in what he creates. In typography there are 2 basic classifications of letterforms, Serif and Sans Serif. a sans serif is when a letter is in it's simplest form with not a lot of fuss or additional features. A Serif is a creative little mark added to the letterforms. Notice the little details on the top and bottom of the "S" and the bottom of "rif"? Those are serifs.

In our relationship of 18 years (4 dating & 14 married) we have always been Sans Serif. This little guy, Serif, is now our little addition. He's the addition that adds that creative little flare to our family just as it does with letterforms. So that's the concept behind his name and why we enjoy it so much. It's just . . . us.

murmur update

serif is going to be fine. there is a small hole in between his left and right ventricles allowing blood to go through. it's not going to get bigger though and will most likely go away as he and his heart grows. there's no limit to his activity either as he gets older. the doctor wants to see him again in six months just as a follow up.

thanks for your prayers. the photos below are from the last day in the hospital

j m & s

murmur prayers

serif had a doctors appointment this morning, just as a follow up since we're newbies. he checked out really good except his little heart murmur is still there. the doctor wanted us to set up an appointment with a pediatric cardiologist which is happening tomorrow morning. they'll do an ultrasound on him to better find out what going on and if it's something to just monitor or treat.

prayers (for mom and dad too) are much appreciated.

more pics coming soon. i promise.

j m & s

pictures can be deceiving

so stinkin' cute here, huh? don't let the little chubby armed, hallmark moment fool you, friday night was crazy! all went well until early evening. Serif had been good all day, he "ate" in the late afternoon, evening came around and he seemed hungry again. he basically ended up using michelle as a pacifier, doing fine as long as he was attached but would let out horrific screams, almost like he was angry, when he/we would pull away. put him back he was fine. this went on for almost an hour and a half. he'd start to eat then fall asleep so we put him in the bassinet so we could get rest. the little guy would stay asleep for a few minutes and then get fussy. after a couple of hours of this the nursery came down and we decided to let them have a shot at it so we could rest. 4 hours later we were awaken by the nursery with a perfectly content, sound asleep little boy.

hopefully we're going home today but boy would it be nice to take one of those nursery gals home. they have some sort of magic touch.

turns out the magic touch was food. they fed him a little through a syringe and he went sound asleep. i guess he's not getting enough quite yet from mom. it'll come though. they assure us it'll come.

the picture above was taken in between screams. simply beautiful. i'm sure we'll remember these moments a lot more than the fussy ones.

j m & s