The Geer Family
 
The Guilford County Smart Start nurse made her final visit to our house today.  I can't remember if I already blogged about this or not but Guilford County has this great program where they offer nursing support to all new mothers in Guilford County where they come to your home and weigh the baby, listen to the heart beat and belly and answer any questions you may have.  The program is completely free so I don't understand why anyone wouldn't take advantage of it.  The nurse stopped by today and weighed Deuce.  He now weighs 11lbs, 12oz!  Almost 12 pounds!!!  She commented on how alert he is, how aware he is of my voice, how well he holds his head up and how well I was doing with him.  She also commented on how long his eyelashes were, lol!
 
We took the family up to DC/Maryland for the Maryland Invitational (TJ's AAU tournament) this past weekend.  I was pretty excited to take Deuce (as Ed has affectionately named him) and a little anxious at the same time.  I didn't want to pack too much but I wanted to make sure that I had all that I needed.  I was curious about how he would do in the hotel and if he would be super loud and wake up TJ along with all of the other hotel sleepers.  But to my surprise, he did pretty well.  As with most babies, he slept pretty good in the car so he slept a little past his regular feeding time.  This allowed me to pump a full bottle at the normal feeding time while in the car.  When Deuce got hungry, we gave TJ the bottle and he fed the baby in the backseat so that we didn't have to stop.  We did this twice on the way up and the way back.  It was a very smooth ride.

The hotel we stayed at was amazing.  It was the Gaylord National and was right on the Potomac River looking out at DC.  You could see the Washington Monument and the Capital Building from our room which excited TJ because they had talked quite a bit about DC in school.  After he asked us if he could go meet President Obama, we decided that we should plan a trip back just so we could take him to see the sights.  (He also saw a road sign for Boston and asked us if we could go watch the Celtics and the Lakers play in the championship game - he was dead serious too).

Big Tigger from BET's Rap City hosted the 9th Annual Celebrity Classic to promote HIV prevention and awareness and several of the events took place at the Gaylord.  There was an allstar basketball game and several of the players were staying at our hotel including Vince Carter, Jameer Nelson, Kenyon Martin, Jayson Williams and others.  So we had a good time riding the elevators with the celebs, especially since we were there for the AAU tournament.  Several of the kids from older teams camped out in the lobby the whole weekend trying to get as close as they could to all of them.

Deuce didn't really like sleeping in his pack and play in the hotel so that was a struggle.  My dad and sister drove up for the tournament so it was nice to spend the weekend with them too.  This weekend we are off to the beach and the next we are off to Knoxville & Memphis for a week.  By that time, Deuce should be a pro at travelling...
 
Both of my mom's parents are from Greensboro and have a long history in the city working for Cone Mills.  Prior to moving to Greensboro with Ed, I have also had a pretty long history spending time in Greensboro.  My grandmother was one of 10 children and 2 of the sisters are still alive.  They both still live in Greensboro and live pretty close to us.  Our family used to celebrate Christmas in Greensboro every year, even before I moved to North Carolina.  We would get up Christmas morning and drive from Hampton, VA to Greensboro to see my mom's entire family.  When my grandparents were alive we would visit them and my grandaddy would take me and my sister to the mall where there was an indoor skating rink.  That mall has since been torn down and is now a Wal-Mart...one that Ed and I visit frequently as it's only a few miles from the house.

With all of that being said, all of the family members are buried in Greensboro at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.  When I first started coming to Greensboro to see Ed I tried and tried to figure out where the cemetary was.  I could envision the cemetary in my mind but I had never drive there so I wasn't sure how to find it.  Once I finally did, I discovered that it is only a few blocks from Ed's job.  I try to visit it as often as I can.

Last week after having lunch with Ed I decided to take Chris over there to talk to his great grandparents and introduce them.  Here are some shots from meeting his great grandparents as well as his great uncles and aunts...
 
I went back to the doctor last Thursday for my final appointment with Dr. Henley.  He released me to get back to normal activities and after a step on the scale, I have dropped 52.5lbs - in 6 weeks!  YES!  And to Mother Nature's invention of breastfeeding: I LOVE YOU!  I am now 15 lbs less than I was when I got pregnant...WAHOO!
 
Does anybody have any tips on how to hit the lottery big?  I am so enjoying staying at home with the little guy and I can't imagine ever going back to work.  At least not until he starts school.  I have decided that I am going to hit up the serious job search after we get back from Memphis on July 5th.  The one condition on a job that I have is that it has to pay me enough to cover daycare expenses, which can be up to $800/month for infants - on top of all of the other bills we have, and there are A LOT, AHHH!

The weather was so nice today that Chris and I went and had lunch with Ed and then we headed to Country Park here in Greensboro for some exercise.  There is a drive/track that runs around the pond/park and it's 1.6 miles.  So I put Chris in the sling and we got moving.  I was sweating hard and I equate it to carrying two 5lb hand weights with me the entire time.  I felt great afterwards and think I will make this a regular routine for us!  He slept the entire time and right now he loves being outdoors.  Anytime he is crying, I take him outside and he just stops!
 
My best friend Leigh Anne and her fiance Kevin brought their baby boy Weston all the way from Youngsville to Greensboro on Saturday to see Chris.  Weston was born in January and seems so much bigger than Chris (even though he's not).  It is so hard for me to imagine that Chris will be that big soon...Really soon since Weston is only 3 months older!
 
I took Chris to Urban Fringe (the hair salon my good friends Amanda and Emily own in Chapel Hill.)  I had been working there prior to Chris' arrival for some extra cash since I am unemployed.  There are several clients that come in every week that I had gotten to know pretty well and Patrice also had an appointment so I thought it would be a good day to go visit.  Several friends stopped by to see Chris for the first time.  Amanda is 36 weeks pregnant and due on June 26th with a boy.  Props to her for being on her feet all of the time doing others hair.  It was great for her to see Chris since she saw me almost every day during my last 3 months.

After we left Urban Fringe, we headed to Grandma & Grandpa's house (Ed's parents) for a visit.  Then we headed to Efland to see Nana & Grandpa Bob (my parents).  Both Grandma and Nana were so excited to see Chris.  He was awake almost the entire time we were out so I was convinced that he would sleep well through the night.  He had been having good nights and then bad so I decided to put together the pack and play and put it in the bedroom.  He has slept all through the night since Friday with the exception of waking every 3 hours to nurse.  Then he goes right back to sleep in the pack and play.  I am excited about this because we will be out of town for the next 4 weekends so he will be good and used to it while we are away from home.  I have slept in the bed every night since Thursday!!!  YEA!!!!!! 
 
I decided that I would do a mini photo shoot at the house last week.  Chris was really good.  He was either asleep or not crying.  The whole thing lasted about 10 minutes because it was so hot outside that I wanted to get both of us back in.  I think they came out pretty well, I just wish I had one of those billion dollar camera's that has all of the art lenses...maybe after we win that lottery.
 
Ed and I worked concessions at an AAU basketball tournament a few weekends ago to raise money for TJ's team.  We were there for several hours so I had to nurse Chris and change him a couple of times at a sports complex.  There was no changing table in the bathroom and thre was only a bench the width of my thigh for me to sit on to nurse him.  I could of gone to the car but it was so darn hot that I didn't want to sit out there.  Then it started raining so running to the car in the rain with a baby was an unpleasant thought.

While I was in the bathroom nursing, I decided that I needed to go to the bathroom.  Ed was at the other end of the complex and up some stairs so I didn't want to take the baby up to him and then walk all the way back (call me lazy, I know).  So I improvised...Chris is still small enough to fit in the diaper bag so there he laid until I was done.  He didn't seem to mind so much...
 
I am long overdue for a post so I have  a couple to catch up on.  Chris had his 1 month well visit on Tuesday May 25th.  He was 1 month and 3 days old.  Everything was great!  He weighed a whopping 9lbs, 7.5 ounces (up 2 lbs, 6.5 ounces from birth), he was 22 1/4 inches long and his head circumference was 37cm.  They told me the percentiles but I can't remember that stuff.  Next time I'll have to right it all down.  I had a huge list of questions for Dr. Davis.  Those I did write down because I didn't want to forget any of them.  They ranged from "how long can I let him nurse on each side?" to "make the baby acne go away!" to "how long do you suggest I let him'cry it out' before I go check on him?"  I felt much better after getting all of the answers because I don't think they were far off from my own instincts.  Chris does have an umbilical hernia which makes his belly button stick out, especially when he is crying.  Dr. Davis assured me this can be a common thing in newborns and it usually goes away when they begin to crawl & walk through the development and strengthening of his stomach muscles.  We still don't like it.  After meeting with Dr. Davis the nurse came in to give Chris his second dose of the hepatitis shot.  He had the first dose in the hospital in the nursery so I didn't have to witness it.  He had his heel pricked several times when he had the jaundice and he did okay with that.  I had tried to prepare myself as best I could for the dreaded shot and I told myself that I wasn't going to look at him.  The nurse had me hold his arms down over his head while she stuck him in the thigh.  I myself could care less about getting a shot or needles or any of that.  It has never bothered me.  HOWEVER, I could never prepare myself enough for the look on my baby's face when he got that shot.  It was a delayed reaction of course so I looked down at him and he was looking right at me like "mommy, how could you let that mean lady do that?"  Then the flood gates opened, for both of us!  The nurse must be so accustomed to it that she didn't even acknowledge that either one of us was crying and she said, "all done!"  She left the room, I got myself together and we were out of there....

That is one thing I am NOT looking forward to in the next several years of doctor visits!