Casey is 1 Month Old...and other news!!

I've been trying to write this for 2 days but Casey has had other plans for me. Last night he was up from 3:30 pm to 12:30 am...that's 8 hours. I finally had to strip him down to just a diaper, wrap him in a fuzzy blanket, and rock him on a glider rocker on my front porch. I'm sure the neighbors loved hearing that, but I was desperate.

Thursday, Casey had his 1 month Dr. appointment. Here are his stats:

Weight 10 lbs 6.5 oz

Height 22 inches

It was a traumatic day for him (and me). At his appointment Casey got his second Hep B vaccination in his left thigh. He cried, but it was no big deal. Then the pediatrician had to push back the skin around his peeper. It bled a lot and Casey screamed a lot as you can imagine. The Dr. seemed surprised by this and I told him that Casey had also bled a lot during his circumcision. So, we had to go to Children's Hospital to have blood drawn to check for a clotting disorder, or for a vitamin deficiency. Well, you would have thought that the nurses at Children's would be great at taking blood, but they weren't the best. They rooted in his right arm for 5 minutes with the needle, then his left, then finally got the blood out of the top of his right foot. I didn't think all this would bother me, but having just finished two "visits" at the hospital and having 2 blown veins from IVs, I really felt for the little guy. To cap it all off, when the nurse was transferring the blood from the syringe to the vial, it squirted all over her face and glasses. She didn't seem phased by this, but Matt and I must have looked horrified. By the way, all the blood work came back normal!!

Other news:

Matt is starting a new job on Monday with the City of Cincinnati as a Parking Enforcement Officer. This is a lateral move for him, but it's great for us as a family. He will be working day shift Mon-Fri with an occasional Sat shift. The only real downfall is that we won't have medical insurance for 6 months. I am also losing all benefits at my job because I am only going back part time, so we are reviewing all our options now. Money might be tight for a while if we end up getting Cobra.

Matt's parents, Art and Pam, have purchased a house in Cincinnati. It's about 5 blocks from our house and we are psyched that they are coming. Art has been warned that he isn't allowed to drop in unannounced, but in reality we are so happy that they will be so close by. This will be especially handy for Casey and I if/when Matt gets deployed. Plus, neither Matt or I grew up in the same city as our grandparents, so we feel this will be a great opportunity for Casey.

On a similar note, Pam has agreed to watch Casey for me when I go back to work. As I told Pam last night, this is the best Mother's Day gift she could give me. I was really nervous about putting him in daycare, so this has lifted a huge burden off my shoulders.

I'm adding a few pictures of Casey. Check out his curly hair...I wonder where he gets that. Also, no matter how hard I tried, I could not get a straight on picture. He kept turning to the left as if to say, "my right side is my good side." Enjoy!