God's Country and Smiles

What an exciting entry; two great things to talk about!
Last week Will, Quint and I trekked out to Mississippi (God's Country as my husband calls it) to surprise mom and dad for their 30th wedding anniversary... What a great visit. I know God is omniscient, but for me there are a few places and times I can really feel God's presence and mom and dad's place in Mississippi has always been one of them... and still is. Before we arrived in Mississippi, I would be remiss if I did not mention the great visit we had at Ft. Benning with Austin and Jessica Miller, and Ryan and Christiana Fisher. We all fellowshipped and had dinner together and then Will was able to catch up with his old buddies and life long friends from West Point, Ranger school and OBC days.
While I had mastitis, it was still a wonderful time in MS and I was so grateful to mom for helping me through that painful ordeal. It was so refreshing to pull up on Saturday and greet dad at the door (who knew about the surprise, but not the surprise Anniversary Party Ashley had coordinated), but what was really fun was how we surprised mom. We decided to give Quint to dad, and had dad walk in and exclaimed, "hey, look what I found!" I proceeded to tear up a bit (secretly... darn hormones) when mom breathed, "is that Quint?!" and rushed over to cuddle him.Quint loves his Marmie and retuned the cuddle. What followed was a very joyful family reunion, a meeting of the cousins, (new) aunts and uncles and... a square dance? Yep, there's always something going on at the MacKenzie Castle and we happened upon the weekend that dad was hosting a square dance for his international student ministry. Needless to say it was my first square dance and Will and I were able to enjoy it, as mom was only too happy to babysit Quint for us. He had a great time reading and snuggling with his Marmie.
For the next couple days we just relaxed, nursed infants and infections, visited with family and just plain enjoyed each other's company. It was so fun to watch Annalee and Quint "play" together. While they weren't able to interact and entertain each other yet, it was still fun to put them next to one another and watch them bob their heads at eachother. Annalee reached out to him a couple of times and Quint just kind of had involuntary muscle spasms in her general direction. Hey, if that was fun for us to watch, I can't imagine how much better it is going to get! I was always very close to my cousins growing up, so nurturing Quint and Annalee's cousin bond is a high priority! Some of my favorite memories, stories and experiences are when all of the cousins got together on family holidays... I mean when else could you ruin a set of tools looking for treasure in rocks and put dog poop in your grandmothers bed and live to tell the tale?
Monday was the big day, and what a day it was! Ashley managed to pull off a huge surprise anniversary party for mom and dad, and they didn't have a clue. I think Bill and Crystal were the only people in Oxford that didn't know about this, which is quite a feat! Congratulations Ush on a job well done. She was even gracious enough to allow Will and I in on the plans. We took them out for an anniversary dinner so that she could set up the surprise. Then she let Will give the toast while she presented their gift, which was an amazing book filled with letters, toasts and words of thanks from many of the people who's lives they have touched and brought to Christ. I don't know how many different countries were represented or how many dozens of letters there were, but it was impressive and almost overwhelming to read, but not surprising considering the who Mom and Dad are!
Then, on Tuesday, I thought it would be a great idea to have a photo shoot with Quint and his cousin Annalee. While I stand by my idea and maintain that it was a good one, Quint would beg to differ with me. I foolishly thought I could move him from a sound sleep into several different contorsions for pictures while he remained asleep... WHAT WAS I THINKING?! He woke up as soon as I put him on the piano (first picture set). He then proceeded to poop and pee everywhere. And I mean everywhere. In my hand, on the hard wood floor, on my shirt, shorts, piano, sheet. Thank goodness we had such a wonderful and gracious photographer and friend who helped clean it up and let us take our time. Natalie Hamm, you are an even  more amazing person than you are artist and photographer! Thank you. Below are the pictures that resulted from this photo-shoot, so you can be the judge of whether this was a good idea or not :). You can't even tell the little guy was crying thanks to Natalie's expertise. Well, except for a few at the end when he had completely had it... but even those are adorable with his little cousin. I am not soliciting, but if you want to see more amazing photo's like these, go to nataliehamm.com, she does an AMAZING job!

Precious little bottom.

Love.

Moments after these were taken is when he pooped all over me.

Right in my hand and down my clothes.  

I love him so much!

Sniff sniff.

Yipes! I'm exposed!

Precious Boy

Such Kissable Cheeks! 

I love you!

Happy Easter, From Quint.

Hi Quint! Hi Annalee!

Annalee says, "What is going on here?"

Quint says, "I have no idea, but this is terrible and I want to go back to sleep!"

Annalee says, "Quint, it's okay, pictures are okay. We

will be friends forever and I will comfort you by patting your head"

Bye Annalee! We can't wait to see you again :)

The second part of the title and this entry, "Smiles," is yep, you guessed, that first smile. What a precious, very special moment for us new parents; a moment I was so grateful to share this with Will! The thing is, Quint had been smiling for a couple days, but they were always followed by some sort of gas expulsion. I never really felt like they were "at me." But, yesterday morning, April 26 2011, Quint undoubtedly smiled at Will and has been smiling at both of us intermittently ever since. What happened was Quint had had a bit of a rough early morning, which is kind of unusual for him. So daddy took him and swaddled him real tight and held him in his arms and kind of jiggled him a bit. Then, miraculously, he stopped crying, looked at Will and smiled. I was at the computer I think, but Will called me over and he did it again. His little mouth opened a bit at first, revealing that toothless gummy mouth, and then the corners of his mouth stretched from side to side in an unmistakeable smile... followed by the flailing of his hands. What a great day. I will try and post a picture of those precious smiles as soon as I can capture one! Unfortunately when he smiles we both still get pretty caught up in the moment and neither of us is really even thinking of grabbing the camera lest we miss one moment of these little early smiles! Long entry, but thanks for reading!

Special Times

This blog won't be too terribly long, but I just wanted to share a special moment and write a bit while Quint is asleep. Quint is getting more adorable with each passing day and developing more of a little personality that I am trying to capture to the best of my ability on camera and in writing. He is such a good little boy that it melts my heart every time I look at him, especially when he's sleeping. It is kind of hard for me to look at him sleeping soundly in his bassinet because I want to hold him so bad and I sometimes feel like he wants me to hold him too! Truth of the matter is, he probably doesn't care since he is in his deep sleep and it is probably good for him to get used to sleeping alone, but there are a few times when I just can't help myself and he sleeps on my chest or Will's chest... yes, even at night sometimes. Quint is also a tummy sleeper (gasp) and will NOT stay asleep on his back. I think being on his tummy helps with his gas. He is also easily soothed if you rub his back a little bit that way.
Quint loves bath time and actually fusses a bit when I take him out of the water! I think he could hang out in there forever, but I don't let him because he might turn into a prune ;). I finally got the water temperature thing down right too, poor little guy. The first few times I had it a bit too hot... and he definitely let me know. I felt terrible, but as soon as I took him out and held him close, he was fine and probably forgot the whole thing. I did use this amazing rubber duck that "munchkin" sells to help me regulate the temperature. It has a sensor on the bottom that lets you know if the water is too hot for infants. It was amazing and really helped me with what the right temperature of the water feels like so that I can do it sans duck. I still use it sometimes, just for peace of mind.
The other day I got so excited because I was holding Quint and we were looking straight at each other and he smiled real big and I TOTALLY thought he was smiling at me... I even teared up a bit! However,  immediately following the smile was a major gas release. Oh well, the smiles are still precious and amazing and will only get better when they are at Will and I! Precious Quint is also a bit of a snorter. At first it worried me, but moist, humidified air had no effect and it doesn't seem to bother him. He's at his snortiest in the mornings and it has gotten to where it is actually pretty cute to wake up to his little hunger snorts and him sucking on his fist.
The "special time" I referred to in the beginning is Quint's weekend morning time with daddy. We don't have many left, so I treasure the ones we have and the few we have left! Quint LOVES morning time with daddy. It is so cute. On the weekends when we can sleep in, Will puts Quint on his chest after his second morning feeding and he ALWAYS grabs Will's chest hair and pulls some out, bobs his little head up and down and just wiggles around and scratches on his chest. It is adorable. Well in these next few photos, Will got smart and put him on his back and Quint just stretched out real big and smiled... (then farted), but it was such a precious moment that I immediately jumped up and grabbed my camera to snap a few birds eye view photos. Anyhow enough rambling, here are the photos. I didn't make captions or narrate this sequence because I thought this set of pictures were better as stand alones :).

Belated 1 Month Birthday

Well yesterday was Quint's 1 month Birthday! I cannot believe it has already been a month and how much he has changed right before my eyes. He is starting to spit up a bit now, but it is manageable with our little exercise routine of bicycle kicks and 5 different burp positions we do after every feeding. He definitely wants to be held a LOT more. He used to be ok with being held and then placed in his bassinet once he fell asleep. Now he will wake up and fuss, and stop immediately once he is picked up. It's kind of funny and cute actually, but I can see it getting a bit tiresome. I even take him on the elliptical with me! I put him in my little body wrap and just ellipt away and he usually goes right to sleep. I am rapidly learning to multi task and complete household chores around the house one handed. He is alert enough now to do a few little activities for a while. We do tummy time now after every feeding and diaper change. He is starting to follow objects with his eyes for a little bit. His favorite color seems to be red and we do a little follow the object exercise on the changing table. It's so funny, he used to HATE diaper/clothes changes, now he can hang out perfectly happy, naked on the changing table for a good ten minutes. It's pretty cute and it gives him a chance to air everything out ;). Anyhow, I don't want this to be a terribly long entry as I was intending it to be more of a photo entry!

Quint hanging out with his Uncle Jack!

Playing with Aunti Karen

Chilling with dad, "watching" basketball.



Tolerating Abuelito and Abuelita. Kidding! This picture is
ironic because they were the best at soothing him and
giving me a rest :)

Nooo! Don't send me away to West Point! I don' want to go.

                     Don't worry lil Quint, you're not going anywhere yet :)
... Go Black Knights?

                                                       

Hmmm, I guess I will indulge mommy and daddy with these

silly pictures. Go Rebs!

                                                                                                                                 
I'm one month old today!!             

The Beginning

Our little family on St. Patty's Day! Quint is 1 week old :)

Well, I have decided to try my hand at blogging to stay connected with everyone and keep everyone connected with Quint! My 'quid pro quo' for all of the love and warmth our little boy has been showered with from so many since before his birth. It was almost overwhelming, and I thank God and all of you for how blessed already our little family is and feels. And in the tradition of quid pro quo, I hope all of you get a little something from the little something I will try to post with whatever routine I can manage at the different stages of his life! I can't promise a posting every day, but I will try for weekly or biweekly, with bonus milestone entries as he hits them.

I guess I should start from the beginning: on Quint's first birthday. Our precious William Allister MacKenzie V was born at Winn Army Hospital on March 10, 2011 at 1255am (0055 for you military types) and was a stocky 8lbs 9.1 oz 19.5 after 3.5 hours of labor, 2.5 of which was pushing! I'll spare you the details, but it was WELL worth the effort and I couldn't have done it without the love and support of my husband and wonderful mother in law, Crystal. I was so happy that Will IV got to spend the first hour with our precious baby boy for his initial skin to skin bonding experience.

The first few days at the hospital were a bit of a blur, but I mostly remember just spending a lot of time sitting there and marveling at this wonderful life God knit together and entrusted to Will and I. I love everything about him; his high chubby cheeks (chipmunk-esque if you will), little button nose, blue-gray eyes, and yes, SHOCK of reddish-blonde hair just like daddy's. It was such a special time that I was so happy to share with my in-laws and my grandparents (who cut their vacation to Florida short to help take care of me 1 week before Quint was born since Will was gone) and of course, my husband Will who slept for 2 nights on an awful hospital chair to spend those precious first days with Quint and I. I must say, I was also very impressed and pleased with my experience at Winn and the very professional and helpful staff.
Quint's first week of life outside the womb was another blur, but I do remember all of the well wishes, texts, calls, meals delivered and visits from friends and family who were eager to share in this experience with me and I with them. It made the experience that much more joyful and wonderful to share his life with so many of people who already loved him so much! The prevailing activity for that first week, however, was learning how to nurse and I absolutely couldn't have done that without Crystal. Nobody told me how difficult breast feeding is initially! I mean sure you read about latching and know how important the right latch is, and sure you read about nursing every 2 hours for the first couple weeks. But until you try it, you don't know how tough it is to get a "good latch" that doesn't hurt, or just how fast 2 hours zip by before it's time to nurse again, especially when you want to sleep so badly... I will spare you the details, but with the CONSTANT help of my extremely patient and knowledgeable mother in law, I managed to finally get the hang of it and was able to nourish our little boy, which is an amazing and wonderful feeling even without the added bonus of bonding you feel and strengthen while nursing! And because of the graciousness of my husband and father in law, (Will III and Will IV :)) I was even able to get a little sleep as they all took turns holding, walking and consoling baby Quint. And thanks to my church family, we all (even little Quint!) ate VERY well :). He is a much loved and very blessed little boy and I thank God for providing for us in a way that enables us to create that environment for him!
Quint's next big visit was from my dad, Roxana, Karen, David and Jack-or Abuelo, Abuelito and his Aunt and Uncles! This visit was a bit more hectic, but very fun and good for little Quint. He even went to his first museum at the Sea Turtle Museum on Jekyll Island and his fist mini vacation to St. Augustine Florida! I think he really took it all in ;). And my lucky little sister got to share a hotel room with me, Quint and our 3 hour feeding schedule complete with puming and LOTS of crying and fussing at being in a completely new environment. It was one big, hormonal (for me... just ask my family ;)) exciting adventure and I am so glad Quint got to meet these important people in his life so early on!
Initially I tried to implement the Baby Wise methodology for little Quint. This is a pretty strict 3 hour feeding routine that starts after week one! You feed every three hours (beginning of feeding to beginning) and follow a feeding, activity and sleep cycle. This worked out pretty well for us since Quint was such a good boy! I tried not to bee too rigid, if Quint woke up at 2.5 hours rooting, I fed him, but I never really let him sleep more than 3 hourse because I didn't want him to become malnourished. I have adapted it since week two accoding to Quint's little rhythms. For instance, now I let him sleep 3.5 hours or sometimes even a bit longer if he is really sleeping well. Or if he really wants to nurse/suckle after his "activity" I let him for comfort and just let him sleep a little longer. So I guess it is a combination of on-demand/baby wise that I have fallen into. It seems to be working as he has been sleeping pretty soundly from about 2200 (1000pm)-0300 for the past 3 nights and I am able to nurse very quickly and put him right back down and he wakes up again at about 0600 or 0630 and goes down about 30 minutes after that feeding. Lately Quint has been very gassy after this feeding. If I am able to drift back to sleep, it is to the sounds of Quint's little Gas Symphony, which consists of variations of hiccup, burp, fart and grunt. His next feeding is roughly 0900-0930 where he has a lot of "quiet alert" time afterwards which I LOVE. He'll sit and look around, make faces, flail his arms, and move his legs. I have been trying to do these little infant stretches and exercises with him during that time, which I think he likes... at least it seems to be helping with the gas! Quint doesn't sleep much in the morning and is usually up from a quick 40 min nap at 1130 or 1200, where we nurse and he has more "quiet alert" time. He sometimes gets fussy here and I have to hold him for the entire nap. This is also the feeding where I finally get him dressed and get a shower in (sometimes). His 1830 feeding is usally more fussy time, and the 2130 or 2200 feeding is a touch and go as well. But I don't really mind and he eventually calms down and takes his little naps. It is good that he is expressing himself as my father in law says :).