4 Months and Growing

Today is Tyler's 4 month birthday!

Happy Birthday, my precious baby boy!!

He's grown so much and is becoming a little man with each passing week. Some milestones this month were:

• He now weights 15 lbs and is 25 in long (he goes in for his 4 month shots on Friday).
• He's quickly groing out of his 0-3 mth clothes.
• He's now sleeping in his crib every night. He sleeps through the night (and has been since about 2 mths). Depending on how early he goes to sleep and how early/late he has his last feeding, will determine what time he wakes up in the morning. Anywhere between 3 am and 5 am. He also dreams and makes noises in his sleep.
• Tyler now holds his head up by himself.
• He loves to laugh and smile alot.
• He has strength in his legs to stand up, with a little help. He's so wanting to walk already.
• He's now eating nearly 40 oz a day (8 oz per feeding, 5 feedings a day) and is closely getting ready for the transition to baby food.
• He gets mesmorized by the tv. Whether its Mythbusters (there's a story about this for another time), or any funny cartoon we have on for him, we watches intently. (I wonder where he gets that from?? Uh, maybe his two couch potato parents?? LOL) He's definately going to be a visual learner like me.
• He's not teething yet but he's very close. You can see the white caps almost close to coming through his gums and they are very sensitive. He's drooling alot more and loves to bite on a teething ring (or my finger).
• His hand/eye coordination is coming along slowly. We're also working on his ability (or should I say desire) to reach for things. He loves lights and sounds.
• He's still getting used to his tummy time but does pretty well at pulling himself up. He can roll himself over with a little help.

I'm so proud of my little baby boy. I can't wait to see what he learns in this next month!

Another University loss

Tragedy struck again on another university campus... this time it was Northern Illinois University. More lives lost at the hand of a very unhappy and disturbed person. I listened to updates yesterday on the developing story and was just saddened by the grief and shock of the students and faculty members on that campus.

This morning on my way to work, I was listening to KLOVE (as I always do) and after a news update about the tradgedy, they played "I Will Be Here" by Steven Curtis Chapman. Usually this is a great wedding song but today it hit me in a different way. The lyrics made me think of how precious life is and how we can be gone in a single second. We can face tragedy of all types, but we are to take comfort in the thought that God is always there with us every step of the way. He never leaves us, never forsakes us.

My heart and my prayers go out to those effected by the events at NIU. I just hope and pray that they can feel the love of God surround them and that they can draw near to God instead of push him away at this time.

Here are the lyrics to "I Will Be Here"
by Steven Curtis Chapman
Tomorrow morning if you wake up
and the sun does not appear
I will be here
If in the dark, we lose sight of love
Hold my hand, and have no fear
'Cause I will be here I will be here

When you feel like being quiet
When you need to speak your mind
I will listen
And I will be here

When the laughter turns to cryin'
Through the winning, losing and trying
We'll be together
I will be here

Tomorrow morning, if you wake up
And the future is unclear
I will be here
Just as sure as seasons were made for change
Our lifetimes were made for these years
So I will be here

I will be here
And you can cry on my shoulder
When the mirror tells us we're older
I will hold you
And I will be here
To watch you grow in beauty
And tell you all the things you are to me
I will be here

I will be true to the promise
I have made
To you and to the One who gave you to me

Tomorrow morning, if you wake up
And the sun does not appear
I will be here
Oh, I will be here

Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentine's Day to my dear friends!

Not only do I love you and hold you all dear in my hearts, be comforted that you are also

LOVED by our Heavenly Father - so much more then we can even imagine!



Happy Valentine's Day!

Be Blessed!!

3 Months

Today, my baby boy is 3 months old.
It's hard to believe that it's been 3 months - time has flown by. He's now weighing about 12 lbs, and eats like a little piggy. Grandmas tend to want to overfeed him (the poor thing is starving to death!) It's the grandma way. LOL Obviously since he's 12 lbs, he's not lacking in food.
He's been such a joy to our lives.
He's already sleeping through the night (has been for about a month), smiling alot, even giggles from time to time and he had his first over-night stay at grandma Judy and grandpa Jim's house. Troy and I went to go see the Blue Man Group (3 guys painted in blue that have an intersting musical show with strange instruments. it was very cool!!) so they watched him while we went. It was a bit strange not having him with us when we got home, and waking up the next morning without him there. Judy dropped him off back at my mom's house the next morning so I rushed over there at lunch to go see him.
I went 24 hours without seeing my little guy! OMG, I can't tell you how much I missed him.
:-)

His 3 month pictures to follow soon. We've been so bad and haven't taken any since Christmas!!

Back at work

This week was my first week back at work after being off for 2 months with my baby boy. No tears have been shed, although I have found that I do miss him during the day.
Surprisingly, it hasn't been too tough, since my mom is watching him and she only lives 5 minutes away from campus. I go over to the house every day for lunch to see my little man. He's usually sleeping.
The days seem LONGER and I find myself spacing out a lot at my desk. I have a lot of distractions, including my adorable little pictures I have as my desktop wallpaper. This week was a bit quiet since classes are still on their winter break.
School starts back up this next week so the campus should get a lot more active and hopefully, the work day should start seeming shorter. This also means it will be harder to find a decent place to eat on campus without a long line.
New this semester is the opening of a Chick-fil-a on our campus. I still haven't been down there to taste the food but their reputation is for great Chicken! We'll see.
It's been a long, busy week. I'm pooped. I totally understand how new moms can suddenly change their mind and remain stay-at-home moms instead of returning to work. If it were financially possible and I could keep myself from staying in my PJ's all day every day, I might consider it.
I applaude all you SAH moms!! You're my hero!!

Here's some pics from Christmas:

A New Year - New Beginnings

The new year brings many new beginnings for us.
Not only are we new parents but I also am getting to experience the emptyness of going back to work and leaving my precious baby with a sitter.
In our case, the sitter is grandma (my mom) but being away from him all day when I've spent the last 2 1/2 months with him constantly is a bit rough. Today was my first day back at work after being on maternity leave.
I checked on him on my lunch break. He had been cranky that morning but was fine when I got there. He was fighting going to sleep so I rocked him to sleep before I left. He slept the whole afternoon until I went to go pick him up after work.
I thought I'd be a little more emotional but no tears were shed. I did miss my little man but knew he was in very good hands. My parents only live about 5 minutes away from work so I can run over there if there's a problem.
One good thing about going back to work today was that this week is a short week. Yah!! The campus was closed the week between Christmas and New Years so there are a lot of people still on vacation. Because many are still on vacation, the office was pretty quiet. I got caught up on emails and updated my system. I got a little work done this afternoon but it was hard to get motivated. Luckily, the afternoon went by fast.
Me being away from Tyler during the day makes having time with him at night extra special. I know its an adjustment and everything will be fine.

Happy New Year

This year is almost gone...

a new year is on its way,

Time to put the past behind us

and look forward to a promising year ahead!

My, has this been a crazy year for us. A huge prayer answered ending with our little blessing and early Christmas present! We had a lot to be thankful for this year. We look forward to an exciting future with our son!

May God bless you all with a promising new year!

Tyler's First Christmas

We survived Tyler's first Christmas.

We had so much to be thankful for this year - especially our special Christmas present. ;-)

The holidays started out with our traditional Christmas Eve with family from Troy's dad's side. It's a traditional going back 3 generations where we get together and have chilli and cornbread. We usually go to Trina's (Troy's sister) house but this year, it was at our house. That meant that I had to get all my Christmas decorations ou and put up the tree. We hadn't decorated for the last few years as we're hardly home because of Christmas rehearsals and such. We didn't have a big production this year, and we now have a reason to decorate.

Christmas day was a busy one, as most holidays are. In the afternoon, we went to my sister's house up in the mountains, and then came down and went to Troy's mom's (Judy's) house that evening. It was quite a day and Tyler was awake through most of it. He got a little cranky at Judy's house, I'm thinking because there was a lot of people there.

We had 3 different 'Baby's first Christmas' outfits that we put Tyler in for the holidays including a Santa hat that was unfortunately too big on him. He looked so cute in them. We found one onesey that said, "Who needs Santa when I have Grandma." That's especially true for Tyler since grandma Judy is already spoiling him. We saved that one for Christmas day so we could show the grandmas.

Among Tyler's gifts were clothes, toys, and a cute little overnight backpack with Mickey Mouse on it. It was way cute and I was tempted to keep it for myself. One special gift we gave to all the grandparents was a double picture frame. On one side, it had a cute picture of Tyler smiling. On the other, was his footprint imprinted in a clay-like substance that turned rubbery when dried. It was specifically designed to hold a footprint image on one side. It was quite a chore to get his footprint, but based on their reaction, it was worth it.

I took a few pictures, but not many. You would think I'd be going picture crazy since this was Tyler's first Christmas. It'll be more fun next year when he's able to open his gifts on his own. Tyler's is growing so quick. He turned 2 months old on December 18th. According to the last doctor's appointment he's now weighing 11 lbs, 5 oz. Believe it or not, that's just one ounce more then I weighed when I was born (I was a month overdue).

With the new year right around the corner, that means I'll be back at work soon too. I've gotten used to staying at home with him, but actually look forward to getting back into the swing of things. My mom will watch Tyler while I'm at work. They live close to campus so I can go check on Tyler during lunch and it's on my way to and from work.

I'll post pictures soon, when I get them downloaded.

Until then, Happy New Year to everyone!

May God Bless each and every one of you for 2008!

A new adventure

A new adventure began today... our first service in our new building.
For the past 6 years, New Harvest Church has met and worshipped in a high school cafeteria. Four years ago, we purchased an old citrus packing plant and TODAY

WE HAD OUR FIRST SERVICE IN OUR NEW HOME!

We have done Christmas and Easter productions over there but it has never felt the way it felt today. Allbeit, there were a few first day hickups but overall, everything ran well and the music was awesome! Our pastor, Mitch, was nearly in tears talking about how much he's prayed for this day and thanked all of us who have helped to make it come true.

The 'plant', as we called it, has a lot more to come (a huge event/main worship center to seat 3,000 and a fully functional commercial kitchen for catering) to come in the next few years. In the next year or so, we will have a fully-staffed child care center on site for our members and open to the public.

One dream of mine will soon come true as well. Now that we've moved in to the 'plant', I can start marketing the facility for concerts and events. It has always been a desire of mine to bring more Christian talent to the Fresno area. Once the event center is complete, I plan on bringing some full-on concerts in. Until that's complete, I have our smaller worship center that seats an estimated 800 people.

I just have to continue to be patient and prayerful on what God wants me to do in our new building.

The Future is Looking Bright!

2 months

My baby is 8 weeks old today. In my eyes, it's been 2 months eventhough he doesn't technically turn 2 months until the 18th. Went to the doctor the other day and he is now weighing 11 lbs, 3.5 oz. Ironically, that is how much I weighed when I was born and I was a month late.

We are looking forward to Tyler's first Christmas. Eventhough he won't remember it, this Christmas will be very memorable because we thank God every day for our precious baby.
Grandma Judy has already went nuts on presents... and Troy and I have even gotten him a few things already. :-)

He's beginning to smile, which is so cute when we talk to him. We can see when he reacts to us now. He also is almost sleeping through the night. He's sleeping about 6 hours at night and taking short naps during the day. This makes us VERY happy!!!!

We can't help but say again that we are so blessed with this child!!! He is sooo good.
He hardly cries, he sleeps REALLY well, he is a healthy eater and can sit still and be content by just staring at the ceiling or looking at lights.

We love our precious one!!!

Our First Family pic

Here's our first family photo.

Just wish Tyler had his eyes open!

Here's some new pics of Tyler by himself. He's just so adorable, I love taking his picture. So sue me, I'm a proud mom! :-)

The boy LOVES to sleep!

Very Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving!!

This year, we have so much to be thankful for. Every year we are thankful for the many blessings God has bestowed upon us, for taking care of us and providing for our needs.

This year, we have a very special reason to be thankful. God has given us the wonderful opportunity and duty of raising a child.... HIS child! And a precious one his is too! I am incredible humbled everyday on how our faith, patience and trust in God's timing has brought us what we've been praying for for so long! A son!

We started the year still discouraged about not being able to conceive, and a few months later... I was carrying a precious bundle of joy. This will be Tyler's first Thanksgiving and we are very thankful that he is here with us.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Eat, Drink and Be Blessed!

One Month Today

One month today, my baby was born.
A lot has changed in one month!
Coming off a good pregnancy (except for the minor back pain the last few months) I had a good delivery. God bless epidurals!! :-)
Eventhough I had issues after the delivery, I have a precious baby boy to show for it now.
Even being a few week early, he was a good 7 pounds, 7 ounces.
He's grown so much already!
Can't wait til his personality starts to appear. Right now he just still eats, sleeps and poops. I can tell he's starting to get ticklish when I touch his feet and he smiles slightly (mostly from passing gas).
My little man is growing up!
New photos coming soon.

Happy Birthday Tyler!!

1st pediatric appt

Tyler had his first appointment with the pediatrician on Thursday. .. his 3 week birthday.

Everything checked out well. He's now weighing close to his birth weight - now at 7 lbs, 8 oz. (He had lost some weight being in the nursery for a week.) He's now an inch longer at 22 in. long and we can now feed him when he wakes up (provided it's not longer then every 4 hours). That means Troy and I (mostly ME!) get a little more sleep. He also now eating double the amount he was before. This child is a little piggy when he eats (more like inhales) his formula. :-)

The doctor has given us the ok to take him off all his prescription medication given by the hospital - 3 medicated creams for his rash, and 1 for his acid reflux. The acid reflux medicine was actually making Tyler spit up more then without it anyways. He's been doing much better without it. He also got his circumcision done. He slept right through that. This boy can sleep through anything.

We've started taking him out more, and he made his grand appearance at church last Sunday. He slept through the whole worship set. Like I said, this boy can sleep! Many people at church were thrilled to see us up & around, and also loved to see how well Tyler was doing. We had a lot of people praying for us and for him during my pregnancy and his time in the nursery.

Every day, he grows and every day he becomes more precious!!
I thank God every day for my precious baby boy!!
He is truely a miracle and blessing from God!

He's Home!

Our sweet baby is finally home. He's one week and 5 days old.
After waiting all day, we were able to finally take Tyler home yesterday. It was a bit surreal having him home, and I didn't get much sleep last night being overly cautious about his every sound.

I did hate to wake him up for his feedings, he seemed to be sleeping so peacefully.
He is quite an eater and gets a little acid reflux from the formula. At the moment, I'm combining breast milk and the formula because he doesn't seem to get enough just with my milk alone.

I'm sure we'll get into a routine after he's home for awhile.

New pictures

We should be able to bring Tyler home soon, provided his next round of tests come out good.

Here's some new pics.

daddy feeding tyler. he tends to fall asleep alot while feeding. poor guy gets exhausted by all the nurses proding prior to his feedings.

me holding my precious baby boy! he's actually awake.

closer picture of tyler. he likes to look around aloot when he's awake. they call that a reflective personality. both troy and i are that way.

OH, SO CUTE

YOU ARE!!

Tyler is Here!

Sorry for the delay in posting our son's blessed arrival. It's been quite an interesting few days.

Tyler Steven Root

born Thursday, October 18, 2007

at 6:52 am

Weight: 7 lb, 7 oz

Height: 20 1/2 in. long

The inducement period was LONG, and delivery went somewhat smoothly. Was given the epidural (thank you God for drugs!!) but had to have an episiotamy to help get Tyler out. I'm doing much better now and I was discharged from the hospital yesterday. I suffered from a minor headache which is a side effect of the epidural but am doing better now.

Tyler remains in the nursery, although he's just fine. He still had a bit of fluid in his lungs and was having problems breathing on his own with he first came out. He was also suffering from a bit of jaundas. He was on oxygen and was being fed introveniously for the first couple days but is now now eating a small bit of formula and is breathing on his own.

Troy has contstantly looked in on him and given me updates, as I have only been able to see him a few times due to my issues. Now that I'm feeling better, I can go try to see him tomorrow.

He is growing stronger day by day and we pray that we can bring him home soon!
Please pray for his continued strength and that we can hold him in our arms ASAP!


He is in good hands withthe nurses in the nursery and we both know God is caring for this little blessing every step of the way!

28 days turning into 7 days

Because of the pain in my back, my 28 days is now turning into 7 days.
There is NO way I could make a whole month with dealing with this pain in my back. As of Sunday, Tyler is full term so we scheduled to induce labor on Wednesday, Oct 17.

He's still very healthy and active so delivery early shouldn't be a problem for him... and hopefully relieve the pressure in my back.

Troy is rushing about getting last minute things for Tyler's room and he's getting a bit nervous as it coming closer. That's a new dad for you. :-)

Pray for us on Wednesday, as I'm sure it will be grueling experience (although the epidural will help tremendously). Stay tuned!

At 36 weeks - Now on Maternity Leave

I'm officially at 36 weeks - about 28 days to go until my due date.

I am officially on maternity leave, 2 weeks earlier then expected thanks to a pinched sciatic nerve in my back that the baby is pressing against.

I had an overnight stay in the birthing center at Kaiser and they took great care of me. The baby is doing well, I was just in severe pain. I'm doing better now and the pain is more like a stretch muscle. It will make the next few weeks very painful and uncomfortable.

Along with some other issues (I won't go into due to TMI) I actually hope little Tyler comes earlier, eventhough I did say I didn't way an Oct. baby.God is in control and he knows just the right time for him to come.

Please keep me, Troy and Tyler in your prayers as we get closer to the birth. School will be tremendously difficult as the time goes on as I still need to try to get my assignments done through all this.
I'll keep you updated as I can.

Blessings,
Sheryl

Baby Shower pictures

The shower was quite an event. The theme was classic Disney characters. The table centerpieces was each of the 5 main characters on Ryder wagons. The favors were little stuffed characters with a candied apple attached.

I had quite a bit of gifts to open since there were nearly 90 people there. We broke up the opening with games every dozen gifts or so. You can get an idea of how many gifts I have from these pictures.

Surprisingly, I didn't get any pictures showing off how big my belly is getting (my niece took the pictures) but you might be able to tell from these. The last picture is of me and my cousin, Lisa. We were always told we looked like twins.

33 weeks down and I'm so ready! It's getting harder to move, sleep and work. I going to try to work up until the end of October, if I can last that long.