Seven weeks and loving life...well, most of the time!

Randy and I have had such fun watching Trey grow and become more and more alert.  He spends more time awake now and seems more engaged. 

Here is Trey happy with life...

and here not so much...

This is what life feels like right now at the Clark Household...Trey changes his facial expressions from moment to moment, and we just never know what to expect.  Keeps things interesting! 

But he sure is cute...and getting bigger by the day!

His wide open mouth means he is cooing and giggling at the toys hanging above his head.

On Sunday the three of us went down to the waterfront in Portland.  Trey and I walked along the Esplanade while Randy did some fishing in the nasty waters of the Willamette.  Don't worry...he did not bring anything home to eat. 

Here is a view of the beautiful city of Portland from the Esplanade.

I love this expression of Trey's...I think it's something like "Gee, Mom, you are so weird..."

Can you find the fisherman?

This coming week we are going on the Clark family campout in Prineville.  Be prepared for lots of family pictures and hopefully not too many stories of disaster at the campground!

Week Six: August Already??

 

This past week has been a lot of fun with daily lunches and walks with friends.  Trey has been able to meet some more of the important people in my life, and he has really been enjoying it.  On Monday we went to lunch with Barb and on Tuesday with Gregg.  Wednesday was extra special because Stacy had a get together at her house with some friends from Nellie Muir, the school I worked at for nine years in Woodburn.  Trey was extra cranky that day, so it was awesome to have him held by friends for the afternoon.  

Trey with my good friend Jeanne who was my mentor when I started at Nellie 

and is still someone I go to for advice

Trey being soothed by Ardis, the newly retired secretary from Nellie Muir.

Ardis is like a mother to me in many ways and I loved seeing Trey in her arms.

We were missing a few key people, but these are the dear friends from Nellie 

who I still see regularly despite being gone for three years.

On Thursday I went down to Lake Oswego and spent the morning with Beth while I waited for the piano movers to call.  We are still working on getting my dad's house in Lake Oswego ready to sell and hopefully this time will be successful.  Julie and Tim have been putting a ton of time and energy into some additional projects which should make the house appealing to a buyer.  Being back at the house was a little weird for me as I haven't been there in over two years.  Walking Trey through the different rooms and telling him what used to be there made me a little melancholy and really miss my mom.  Changing his diaper in my old bedroom and feeding him on the front porch was sort of a trip.

On Friday we went to Kris and John's house for a bbq and Trey got to meet some of Randy's friends from work. Trey does well in these social settings which makes us both really happy.

The baby bjorn combined with a pacifier leads to Trey's happy place

 Trey with Elinor

This week I also accomplished cleaning out the garden and pruning the tomatoes.  I attempted making raspberry jam for the first time, so we will see how that tastes.  Being at my old childhood home, working in the garden, and making jam really made me miss my mom this week.  I can't believe it's been almost five years that she has been gone.  Oh how I wish that she was here to be a grandma to Trey and to support me during motherhood.  

Randy had a great week of fishing and has been on a bit of a fish high this week.  He had a super fun evening out with Jason on Wednesday and then an afternoon alone on Saturday.  I think his experience this week has rejuvenated him a little bit.  

Week Five: Someone Actually Called Him Chubby! Yay!!

A few highlights from this week:

Trey finally started gaining weight and has allowed his mother to relax a little bit about his feedings.  He gained 10.5 ounces in a week!  Neurotic Mom might go weigh him again this week...we will see.  More good news is that I LOVE our new pediatrician. 

We spent the weekend at my dad and Sandy's which allowed Randy to do some fishing on Sunday at the Umpqua River, gave us an opportunity to have anywhere from 8-12 extra hands of help, and let Trey have some quality time with his grandpa.

Here are some pics from the weekend:

 This is where we found Randy about 10 minutes after arriving.

This is where Trey spent a good part of his weekend.

Trey with Kaity and Sandy

Randy hanging on the deck with his son

It almost looks like Trey is smiling!

Cheryl and Jim Lockard came out to Leaburg to visit us.  Jim and my dad have known each other since grade school, and Cheryl and my mom were good friends starting in junior high. 

Here are some pictures from last week.  Trey and I worked on finding different places for him to hang out during the day than my arms.  The Baby Bjorn appears to be his top choice. 

Trey on his new play mat being watched over by Tango

Trey giving a shout out to all of his fans

Some pictures of the cutest baby ever from his...ahem...first real bath.  It seemed intimidating until his Aunt Julie came over and used her mad skills to show us how it was done:

Things accomplished last week:
Thank you notes finally mailed which occurred after me forgetting to buy stamps at the store on THREE different occasions.
Taxes paid off (this task hung over my head for three weeks but of course only took 5 minutes to do)
First book finished in the past 8 weeks. Finally time to start something new!
Banana bread baked (while Trey was in the Baby Bjorn, of course)

Goals for this week:
Work in my sadly neglected garden

Cook dinner

Week Four: We Survived!

We just finished our first week with Randy back at work. It was not nearly as hard as I thought it would be although I will admit that I was very happy to have him come home early on Friday. Trey and I were able to get out of the house each day, and he seems to enjoy some of the same things I do (walks, lunch dates, coffee, good friends).

We all have hopes for our children. One of mine is that Trey is a reader and loves books. I have been reading aloud to him from a variety of sources – Farm City, a book about creating a garden in an urban plot; Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child – in high hopes that he absorbs some of the information; and Parade from the Sunday paper. I hope Trey didn’t judge me when I got teared up reading the interview with Angelina Jolie (who I don’t even like). However, I did like what she had to say: “The most important thing is our children. They’re our greatest responsibility. Our privilege is to raise them. It’s our job. That’s who we are. And when we pass away, that’s what we will have done with our lives.”

We had some fun this week with visitors and outings. Below are some pictures (I know those are your favorite part):

Kay, Tom and Alex Moreau brought us dinner on Sunday night. Julie and Tim were also able to join us. The Moreaus have been friends with my parents for years. Kay was a dear friend to my mom at the end of her life and was often there talking with my mom, soothing her, and caring for her during her last days. They are family to us.


Ted, Sara and Finley Hobbs brought us dinner on Randy's first day back to work. Thank goodness for great friends! Fin seemed to really like Trey which was fabulous news since he'll have a new sibling in about 5 months. Yes, Ted and Sara...5 months.

Here is a picture of the two boys in my life, each content with a bottle. Love these guys so much!


And I just think these two of Trey are hilarious because this is often the look he has on his face or with his hands up on his cheeks. I don't know what he's so scared of...he really does have the perfect life right now.

Finally, a picture of me with sweet Trey...and a delicious margarita thanks to Kris. If you have read this far, you must have some interest in our lives, so I will share a few of my thoughts on motherhood. First of all, I think the best kept secret of mothers is how freaking hard breastfeeding is. Every time someone asked me if I was going to breastfeed, I thought, "Of course, I will breastfeed. Who doesn't breastfeed?" Well...now I know. It's HARD. And my second thought is this: the worst advice people give you is "sleep when the baby sleeps". Who is able to drop their head to the pillow the second the baby falls asleep? And how is it possible to get a nap when the baby might sleep anywhere from 15 minutes to 2 hours? Seriously?

Things Trey likes right now:
Being held
Car rides
Noisy restaurants

Things Trey does NOT like:
Sleeping on his own/on his back
Sudden noises
Gas

Week Three: Trying to Beat the Heat

It feels like the last week has been filled with primarily three things: figuring out feeding (thank god for lactation specialists), trying to stay cool, and welcoming friends to meet our dear Trey. Randy and I have been more successful at getting out of the house this past week. Randy has done a little fishing and I have been going on walks with friends and to book club. It was definitely harder to get out of the house with the hot weather, so I am looking forward to this coming week with some cooler weather.

Visiting with Uncle Dave during one of Dave's brief passes through Portland (check out Trey's onesie). We also went out to Dave's mom's house this week and had a reunion with our Paralympic companions (Cathy, Patty, Tracy, and Terry).

Elinor and Orion came by and we went up to Good Neighbor for dinner. Elinor works with Randy at the primate center.



Nyree brought her girls over to meet Trey. Trey and Ashlyn, Nyree's oldest, share a birthday. Ashlyn has been telling her friends that her "cousin" Trey was born on her birthday. Above is also a picture of Madi, Nyree's youngest, holding Trey.

Yesterday we went to the Mississippi Street Fair with Julie and Tim. The place was like Saturday Market on crack. I was a little too overstimulated by everything going on...wish I could have been Trey protected by the canopy on the stroller. We did discover a fabulous new ice cream place called Ruby Jewel. (http://www.rubyjewel.net/) Their ice cream sandwiches were delish! We also ran into Kellie, Ethan and Jackson Jewett while we were there (Kellie was the one who gave us the tip about the ice cream.)

Next week will be interesting as Randy goes back to work. Stay tuned...

Some priceless photos

When the phone rang at the hospital and the lady said she was the "hospital photographer", I was a little skeptical. Thank God she came and took some pictures because look what we got! Could my husband and our baby be any cuter? This picture made me fall in love all over again!


This is Trey at two days old. Good thing Amy brought us a cute outfit or we would have had to dress him in the hospital logo onesie!

Week Two: It's time to nurse again??

This is pretty much what it has looked like around the Clark house this week...

My favorite part of this week has been the love and support we have received from our family and friends. Our fridge is stocked with food and we have had so many people come by with treats and well wishes. Randy and I are so lucky to have so many awesome people in our lives who are not only here to support us but are so excited to meet Trey.

Jen Whitten's visit with her daughter, Meghan. Jen always comes prepared.

Randy's mom, Carmen, came on Wednesday afternoon and will leave on Sunday night. She has been invaluable with her help over the past days. Not only is she helping Randy with some much needed yardwork, but she is always here to hold the baby, calm the baby, take the baby, change the baby...basically the only thing she can't do is feed the baby. She has also said that Trey looks like a Baby Randy. I think it is awesome to have Grandma Carmen look at our new baby and see the likeness of his father from 37 years ago.

Grandma Carmen with the baby

Randy's Aunt Bobbi came for a visit from Lincoln City.

My dad came up on Saturday for a visit. He sat, held the baby for a few hours, and then left. It was very sweet and very helpful.

I'll leave out the rest of the main details of the week which feel like they have revolved around feeding and sleeping. I know that is nothing new to anyone who has had a baby, but it has definitely rocked our world.