Drake's First Road Trip!

We just got back from Drake's first road trip to my hometown! Traveling in the car went just as I thought it would - great! We left right after feeding him, he slept the entire trip in the car, and then we fed him when we got to our destination.

Meeting his cousin Nicole for the first time!

Grandma Williams

Grandpa WilliamsThis was one of the few quiet times at my sister's house.
Unfortunately, Drake was pretty fussy from 3:30 to 6:30pm!

The main reason for heading north was to celebrate my nephew Reid's first birthday.

The birthday boy with his mom and dad.

His first taste of the cake...just dive in! :-)

His last bites of the cake! (No, he didn't eat the whole thing, but he did get about 1/4 of it!)

Opening presents - doesn't he look thrilled? After this he was more interested in the tissue paper than the gifts.

We stayed at my parent's place and it went well. Drake was up at midnight, 3am, 5am, and 7am. I was just glad he didn't wake everyone up!

3 Weeks!

I can't believe Drake has been here for three weeks already! It seems like he was just born especially since I was watching A Baby Story yesterday on TLC. I can hardly remember what my days were like before he was here. Of course, I remember the full nights of sleep. :-)

Jason's Aunt Leta & Uncle Bill came by on Thursday to meet Drake!
On Friday, my girlfriend from college, Janell, and her son, Hudson, came to visit!

On Sunday, Mallory came to meet Drake!

I attempted "tummy time" with Drake on Tuesday afternoon...as you can see he didn't like it too much! I really thought he might like it because he LOVES laying on his stomach on our chests. oops! We'll keep working on it, and I'm sure he will like it sooner or later. :-)

And, here he is today! Three weeks old!!

Professional Photos

I can't believe it! We won a photography package!! Thank you so much to Barbie and Jill for nominating us!

Here's what was posted on Chanel's blog:

1st place winners- Jason and Amber Patterson who are expecting their first baby in a few weeks. They have been waiting a long time after many tries with invitro... they are finally expecting their miracle baby on February 9th, 2010!! (I look forward to meeting you!)

1- $950 Baby Steps
• 4 30-90 minute sessions with up to 3 outfits or bare skin
• 10% discount of all orders placed at the time of presentation
• Free unit with each session’s order
• $200 minimum order
• 50-5x7 postcard satin announcements and design
• 20-page 4x6 or 5x7 Captions Book Deluxe

On Thursday, February 11th, we had Drake's newborn and family pictures taken! Drake did a great job - he didn't cry once and we were done in 1.5 hours! Chanel said this was the best newborn session she has had in at least 6 months...way to go, Drake!

Click here to see the pictures. Password is apatterson.

2 Week Appointment

On Friday, Drake had his two week appointment with our pediatrician. We were all very happy with how he is doing!

Weight - 7lbs 14.5 ounces (23rd percentile)

Height - 21 inches (52nd percentile)

Head Circumference - 14 inches (32nd percentile)

Since he is back to his birth weight (actually past!), we get to stop supplementing with formula. She did recommend giving him Vitamin D, so we started that on Saturday morning.

Jason was holding Drake while we waited for him to get the first of his Hepatitis B shots. This was after he peed through his first outfit in the office! :-) Our next appointment is at two months unless his umbilical cord stump hasn't fallen off by four weeks.

2 Weeks! (Warning: Lots of pictures)

Drake has had a lot of visitors in the past week! We have been very blessed with food and gifts from many friends and family. Thank you to everyone!!

Jenny

Over the weekend, my brother, sister-in-law and nephew came to visit. Unfortunately, my niece, Nicole, had activities with her school and church and couldn't come. Thank you so much for coming to visit and the wonderful meals!

Chad

Kelly

Mitchell

The Clutts' family!

Kelly

Mollie

Emily

Grandma Williams came down to visit on her day off of work.

Tori

Sarah

Jean Ann

Melissa

Megan

I LOVE this onesie! Thank you, Tiffany!

Happy 2 week birthday, Drake!!

Drake's two week doctor's appointment is this Friday! I'm ready to see how much this little man has grown in the past week. We previewed the pictures from our photo session last week this morning. Now, we have the tough decision of picking which ones we'll order! Jason has gone back to work two days this week...easing himself back into a routine and preparing me for what it will be like to stay home all day by myself. Yesterday went great...we'll see how tomorrow goes!

Attempt #2

Last night, we put Drake to sleep in his crib...and look how it went:


After our first night at home, I was nervous to try putting Drake in his crib to sleep. But, it went great this time! This picture was taken when I went in to get him at 7:30 this morning. :-)

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Love,
Jason, Amber & Drake Patterson

Our First Week as a Family of Three! - Part III

Monday, February 8th
We spent the whole day at home just hanging it out.
I had to put in a photo of this to show you how AWESOME Jason has been! He was great during the labor and delivery trying to keep me comfortable and hasn't stopped since we have been home. Jason had never changed a diaper until Drake was born and now he jumps right in. He has also been feeding Drake his bottle at each feeding (more on that in the 2/9 info). I love watching him want to spend time with Drake - holding him, talking to him, and caring for him. He is such a good daddy!!

One of our small group families came to meet Drake tonight:Rich & Mandee

Brett
Brooke
Mandee

Poor Kahlua hasn't been getting as much attention now that Drake is home, but she is super protective! She wants to be everywhere Drake is...including being right in his face! :-)

Then, we gave Drake his first "bath" at home! He wasn't too excited about being undressed, but he loved it when we washed his hair. He's like his momma...loves a good head massage!! :-)

Drake continued his awesome sleep schedule tonight! This momma and daddy are loving it!

Tuesday, February 9th - Happy Due Date!!
Today was a busy day for Drake. He had his weight & jaundice check as well as his circumcision today. His jaundice level looked great and the nurse said he did wonderful during the procedure...didn't even cry! His weight on the other hand was cause for a little concern. He was down to 6lbs 15oz for a loss of just over 11% of his birth weight. They don't like to see it over 10%, so we have to add a 1/2 ounce of formula to each feeding. I was a little sad about this, but will do whatever is best for this little guy! The nice part is that Jason has gotten to become really involved in the feedings now - he has made and given every bottle to Drake since we found out! I think he really enjoys this time with him.

We had a couple more visitors today.

My friend, Shauna, brought us pizza for dinner and came to meet little Drake! She has two boys of her own (age 3 & 1) and is expecting another baby in June!

Tiffany is a momma to BGGG quads and wonderful friend and neighbor! We originally met while working in the hotel industry and now live about four houses apart. She is a former patient of Dr. J's, too!

Drake's sleeping schedule seems to be getting a little better every day! I think he's getting really close to being on a 3-hour feeding schedule (6, 9, 12, and 3) which is wonderful for us!!

Wednesday, February 10th - You are one week old!!
I can't believe that one week ago, we were headed to the hospital and about to deliver this precious little boy! This past week has FLOWN by! Today was another quiet day at home.

Drake makes the funniest poses with his arms...this picture is just one example. :-)

Some of my neighborhood girlfriends came over tonight and brought dinner!

Heather

Sarie

I didn't get a picture of Becky or Tisha holding Drake...probably because Tisha wouldn't hold him. :-)

Our First Week as a Family of Three! - Part II

Saturday, February 6th
We spent the day hanging out at home waiting for Drake's Aunt Michelle, Uncle Jarrod, and cousin Reid to come visit!

Sleeping on daddy's chest!

Aunt Karen came for a visit. She saw Drake at the hospital but didn't hold him because she wasn't feeling the best. Today, she was able to hold and cuddle him!

Snoozing on the boppy for the first time! I LOVE this picture!!!

Tonight, we tried something different for sleeping. Our pack and play has a bassinet so we put that in our room and had Drake sleep there. He did pretty well - got up about every 1.5 hours to eat and then slept from 3:45-7:15am! I think there are a couple things that made this a better night - 1) my milk started to come in, 2) we tried keeping him up a little longer at his feedings during the day, and 3) we tried not talking to him during his night feedings. I was assuming that he just has his days/nights mixed up, and this seems to have worked!

Sunday, February 7th - Super Bowl Sunday!
After realizing that I didn't get any pictures of my sister and her family with Drake, I made sure to get one of Michelle with him today. (They have some on their camera, but I can't get to them to put them on Blogger.) I hope they enjoyed their visit...thanks for driving down to see us!!!

Aunt Michelle

Cousin Kali came by for some extra snuggle time with Drake!

After the visitors were gone, we all took a 2.5 hour nap! I find it amazing how 2 hours of sleep can make you feel like you have gotten 8 hours. :-) We watched the Super Bowl and just hung out the rest of the night.

Sleep-wise, tonight was almost identical to Saturday night. Yeah! :-)