Our little gerber baby...

Where does the time go! 2 weeks ago (already) Ricky turned 3 months old and I took him for his first photo shoot. I got a great deal splitting an hour session with my girlfriend who has a little boy 3 weeks older than Ricky. I am surprised the photographer even got these pictures, Ricky was LONG overdue for a nap and thankfully she was able to get some great pictures before his meltdown! Oh the joys of motherhood.

On another note we have our hands full with a not so happy baby lately, I am taking him to the doctors today at 4:40 because he has had a temp of 100.4 for 2 1/2 days. I think it may be an ear infection or else he has a little cold, poor baby. It is so hard to know he doesn't feel good and I feel so helpless. Then on top of that having to leave him to go to work is just heart breaking. Praying he gets better fast!

Here are some of the pictures, ENJOY!





And here are a couple Christmas pictures...I just love his little face!!!



Happy Holidays!!!

Silent Night.......

Yipee.....Ricky finally slept through the night. Friday night he ate at 8:00pm and went to sleep at 9:15pm and to my surprise I didn't see his smiling face until 6am. He did that again Saturday and Sunday too, so I am hoping this is a first of many restful nights in the Horch household. I was especially thankful he decided to wait until the weekend I had off to do this so we could both enjoy the much needed sleep.

Also last weekend my sister-in-law Katie took some pictures of Ricky, at the church's annual Affordable Picture Day, with his cousins for Christmas. Here are a few. You have to love the one with him screaming and the girls just wondering when he would stop LOL...Enjoy :-)





I am having his 3 month pictures done on friday so I will definetly share some of those when I get them.

12 weeks ALREADY

I can't believe Ricky is already 12 weeks old. Were did the time go? So much has happened since my last post that I don't know where to begin. Some of my favorite things are Ricky smiling and his coos. I love coming home from work everyday to a happy smiling baby. Although the first few weeks back to work I had to use a lot of vacation time because Ricky had a "I want Mommy" only issue. No joke he would scream bloody murder for everyone but me and the only way he stopped would be if I came home. Thank goodness we are finally over that stage! I just felt awful because my Dad and stepmother came to visit and they only got to hold a screaming baby :( Hopefully when they come next month things will be A LOT different.

As for some other fun stuff Ricky is growing like a weed. At his 2 month appointment he was 23 inches and 11 lb 15.5 oz. But I checked him again last week and he is already 12 lb 6 oz He is so long that I already have him in some 6 month clothes because the 3 month stuff look shorts on him. Guess Rick is happy he is taking after his height and not mine :)

Motherhood is great and I am really enjoying Ricky more each day that his personality is getting stronger. I just wish more than anything I could be a stay at home mom. I just miss him so much while I am at work.

His favorite things right now are....

1. Copying me when I stick my tongue out.
2. Anything with lights/music
3. Really loves the show Jungle Junction, I use that as my crutch when he is super fussy, he loves the songs and colors of the charcters.
4. Loves being sung too and rocked to sleep.
5. He thinks "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "skid-a-ma-rink a dink a dink" (not sure on that spelling) are the funniest songs and smiles like crazy when I sing those to him.

I am having his 3 month pictures taken next week so I can't wait to share those pictures. I promise I will update more and hopefully keep up with my posts from here on out.

He's Here!

WOW!!! Being a mommy has to be the most rewarding and tiring experience in the world. I never could have imagined how much love you can have for such a tiny person you have only known for 3 weeks.

So far things are going great. Ricky has for the most part been a great baby and is staying on a pretty regular sleeping schedule. He usually wakes every 3-4 hours to eat and stays up for about an hour. After that he is out like a light. Now that family has gone back home, which I must say is very sad :-( I am definitely going to try to start taking advantage of napping while he sleeps. Even a couple hours during the day seems to make the night time feeds a little less exhausting. Rick and I are adjusting to being new parents and I think we are doing a good job so far. Rick came down with a virus a few days after we got home from the hospital so he has been staying away from Ricky as much as possible. Last week I started having a sore throat and cough too!!! Thankfully my mother-in-law came to the rescue and slept over Sunday night. She took the night shift while I got 12 hours of much needed sleep!!! I am so thankful for my mom and mother in law who come to the rescue at the drop of a hat!

Having a baby in the house takes some getting use too but I wouldn't trade it for the world. We (including the dogs) love having Ricky in our lives.

38 weeks....I can't believe the big day is almost here!!!

Holy Cow 38 weeks flew by!!! I can't believe in 5 days I will be a mom!! I have been thinking a lot about how calm our lives are and have been trying to imagine what our house will be like with a new baby in it and I can't! It all seems so surreal. I have so many emotions running through me lately and over all I am just very anxious and excited to meet Ricky. I wonder what he will look like, me or Rick or a combination of us both?? Mostly though I am just praying he is a healthy baby and likes to sleep a lot. Is that too much to ask for?? Besides that I am not really planning on anything. I am taking this new parenting thing as a more "its gonna be what its gonna be" approach. I know every baby is different so we will just go with the flow depending on his personality and let him lead the way at first.

I know this week will fly by especially with one of my best friends Maya and her son coming over Tuesday ( I haven't seen them in 2 years) along with all my other girlfriends, for Mom's birthday and to visit. Later Tuesday night my Dad, Kim and Amy will be arriving. Wednesday is our 3 year Anniversary (wow that flew by). I am thinking Thursday will be here before I know it!! I can't think of a better week filled with things to come and look forward too!!! In the mean time I will continue to sit on the couch, get some reading done and get as much sleep as possible. I think the bed rest has definitely helped out with how I have been feeling. Even though I still have terrible back aches, my hands are killing me and the headaches come and go, but hopefully this time next week the only thing I will be complaining about is Ricky keeping us up all night LOL

I look forward to sharing pictures of him with everyone and I truly can't wait to meet our precious son, wow that sounds weird!!! But I can get used to it!!

You name it and I have it!

So like everything else, if its out there I will get it! I am now known as a medical nightmare in my house!! I got the call Friday afternoon that I am preeclamptic!! I am happy that they caught it early and that bed rest should be enough to keep it under control. The doctor said any protein in your urine over 300 is considered preeclamptic and my numbers were at 370. The blood work normal is 2.5-7 and I was at 5, so normal but creeping on the higher side. Needless to say my weekend and all the things I was planning on doing didn't happen. So to say I was pretty sad all weekend is an understatement. But in the big scheme of things I am now seeing that it is the beginning of sacrificing things for your child.

I have come to the conclusion that having gestational diabetes, gestational carpal tunnel, being GBS positive and now having preeclampsia that me and pregnancy don't mix. Good thing is that none of these are guaranteed to happen in future pregnancies and will most likely go away shortly after this lil man arrives. All in all I wouldn't trade it for the world and hope that Rick can forget all these things when I am ready for baby number 2 :-)

2 weeks to go and stuck at home!

Well after the last few days of feeling AWFUL my doctor has taken me out of work and put me on "bed rest". I am not restricted to bed but just ordered to get lots of rest and relax. At first I thought it was the heat that was getting to me but Tuesday I had off of work and literally laid on the couch all day and still felt like crap. Yesterday I went into work and thought I was going to pass out an hour after arriving. I had a doctors appointment and NST scheduled already for Wednesday so I went to that. At the NST my blood pressure was measuring 142/80 and then 135/85 which is high compared to my normal 105/60. On top of my blood pressure being elevated I have been having trouble catching my breathe, headaches, dizziness and feeling faint. The doctor thinks it is just normal 3rd trimester pregnancy stuff but has me doing a 24hr urine collection along with blood work just to make sure I am not in the beginning stages of preeclampsia. Friday afternoon once all the tests come back I should know for sure. I have to go back to the doctors Monday to re-check my blood pressure (even though I am sure I will have my mom do it over the weekend too) The great perks of having a nurse for a mom :-) Today is day one of being stuck in the house...and believe me with the heat and humidity outside I don't mind at all. Rick is making sure I follow doctors orders...he is like a prison guard around here! On a good note, Ricky seemed to be doing fine and doesn't seem to be phased by me not feeling good.

As for this weekend I am happy and sad about it. I am extremely sad because I will be missing my cousin Ashley's wedding in NJ. I love my step moms family and try my hardest to never miss an opportunity when we all get together and I am sooooooooooo sad that everyone will be having a blast at her wedding EXCEPT for me! I know that this kiddo is worth it and that is the only reason I am OK with it, and I get to see most of them in a few weeks which helps.

On a happier note, being home allows me to see my cousin Karen, Brian, their girls, Aunt Jo, Uncle Mike along with all my Batavia Family at my cousin Ricky's Spinal Cord dinner Saturday night. Then we get to spend Sunday with Rick's family celebrating Courtney and Pappy (my father-in law) birthdays at the cottage. All these I am hoping to do but we will see if the weather is cool enough for me to wonder out of the house and that I am feeling up to it.

I will let everyone know what the test results show. Praying its not preeclampsia and a little R and R will fix me!