Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas 2009

Photo done by Amelia Strauss



Merry Christmas to all!

Thursday, December 24, 2009

Santa Baby!



Well, it has been quite a different holiday season this year! Having James has made this season into a whole new world for us. We went to Jackson last Wednesday and hung out with most of the family until Saturday.



Saturday we went to Driftwood at Lake Enid which is where we do our big family Christmas celebration. Driftwood has been around for almost 50 years and has lasted, so far, for three Shelton generations. People who were there included:

Aunt Elsie Gillis
Grandmother Sarah Shelton
Aunt Jeanne and Uncle Shelton Gillis
Aunt Ree, Uncle Greg, Ann Claire and Hays Burton
Aunt Barbara and Uncle Joe Shelton
Doc and B Shelton (Walter and Beverly)
Aunt Marlyn, Uncle John and Camille Shelton
Kristen Shelton and Galen Collins
Ellen and Richard Thomas
Drew, Emmy, Shelton and Carline Carter Burton
Allison, Blake, and Aiden Jones
Melissa, Jim, and James Galbraith

I believe that is everyone! That's almost 30 people! May the family continue to grow!



We are back in Birmingham now for a home Christmas while Jim works at night. B and Doc are here and Kristen is coming today and then we will wake up to Santa's gifts under the tree. It's about to storm here.



To Aunt Ellen and Uncle Richard - we wish you were here in Bham for the actual day but I know the Thomas family will be home sweet home in Macon and loving the family time. James needs to see Macon this spring for sure! We loved spending time with you over this past week.

To my friends, it was fun seeing many of you this past Friday at Jennifer's house. I love spending time with you even if it is only for an hour or two! We will continue to do this forever, right? Hope so!



Notes to those with babys.. things to think about in case there is a sibling one day:
9 weeks - James rolled over for about 4 days straight at the end of the 6th week but he decided that that was enough for now. Sleep is okay. He wakes up about every 3-4 hours SOMETIMES 5 hours. I try to "dream feed" him at about 11pm so he'll last longer and it seems to work. I am trying to keep him on an Eat, Activity, Sleep pattern as the baby whisperer suggested and it seems to fit well with life :) (E.A.S.Y. as she calls it). He is smiling all of the time and starting to be more active in the day. We are looking forward to hearing giggling soon.. I can tell he wants to. I am still working on getting those last few pregnancy pounds off which isn't necessarily fun but it's okay. I've also learned that everyone has an opinion or comments on how one mothers but it is very important to filter what is right for you and healthy for your baby and family and what isn't.



Well, that is all for now I believe. I'm sad I am not in Memphis to spend some time with the study group girls but we will see each other soon, I hope!

Much love to everyone!

Melissa

For those of you who can't view the videos off of this page, I am going to download them to youtube and link them with the next couple of posts.. or maybe today if I have time...

Friday, December 11, 2009

Rolling Rolling Rolling

Hello everyone!

I was watching The Office where Scott was promising his "tots" college tuition and I had to turn it off. That was a little too awkward, even for me :) I thought it would be a better use of my time to update the blog and talk about how we have been doing.

James is now seven weeks old! He is a growing boy and so strong. He shocked me when he rolled over this past Monday as a 6 week old baby and he is able to hold his head at a 90 degree angle. He LOVES his mobile still and his daddy's silly songs and faces. As I look at him right now, he reminds me of such a little angel. Thirty more minutes until feeding time.


As of Monday, he was 11lb and 14oz. He is probably a little over 12lb now, then, which means he has gained 4 whopping pounds since he was born! I can't believe it. I thought we had moved into a better night schedule, but he had different plans. I am fine, though. I am not working right now and kind of see taking care of him as my full time job.

Some of the things I am looking forward to are: hearing him laugh, watching him grasp things and understand that he is grasping them, sleeping through the night (that may be months away...), and adapting to a eat, play, sleep schedule. We have so much to look forward to.

I graduate tomorrow. I will officially have my Masters of Nursing. I will start to study for the exam one the new year settles in and I sign up for taking the boards. Who knows what I will do with this degree as of now, but I hope to use it one day.

I hope you all are having a great December thus far and are getting ready for Christmas. God bless you all!


Melissa

"I am your Creator. You were in my care even before you were born" Isaiah 44:2

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Had to post this!

This happened yesterday three times but he wouldn't ever do it for the camera (or daddy for that matter). I got it on film this morning and was so excited :) He is 6 weeks and 5 days!



Look how long and big he is already!! If you scroll down and compare this to the picture of him scrunched up in the cars outfit, it's unbelievable!

Enjoy!
Melissa

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Baby's gonna sleep

Hello!

I've been needing to post. I missed a week on posting (the 5 week pics) but am hopefully going to catch up! James has been doing great. We had our first long road trip and he was a champ. We would stop and feed him and then he was ready to go back in the car seat. He loves the car seat and sleeps very well in it. Jackson was wonderful over the holidays and Jim got to go duck and deer hunting.

On Friday, Jim and my dad went out to deer hunt and Jim came back with a 12 point deer. This was probably Jim's third time on the deer stand. The deer was over 230 pound and scored a 157.5 (whatever that means). Jim is a huge animal lover but, after being told that deer this age usually starve to death or pass on diseases, the kill wasn't so hard. He gives his XBox credit for his great shot.



Kim and Kate were able to come over on Friday night to my parent's house and we had pizza and bathed James. It was really fun to hang out with the girls. Sadly, Claire had to miss because Richard Lewis had come down with a fever. Poor little fellow. He had fifths disease (which is a scary name for a virus that just passes with time.. but it's still no fun).

I am very happy about a major step: James has been sleeping through the night! For the third night straight, he slept from about 11pm to about 5am. No complaints from mama!!





Jim has started back on mixed days and night shifts and has had 7a-3p shifts the past two days. I LOVE it because there is a sense of normalcy to it. Again, no complaints from mama :)

James and I ate lunch with Charlene and Aidan today at CPK. It was nice to feel good about getting out. I kept James covered, of course, and we sat in a corner with very little people, but it was awesome.




James also discovered his reflection today. I haven't seen him smile for so long before. I think it went on for at least 15 minutes. He is, after all, a handsome little fellow! He also was able to lift his chest and move his head from one side to the other. I'm pretty sure that that is a milestone.




More to come~

Melissa