Five Weeks and Counting

Man! Can you believe the five weeks I've had? These folks are STRANGE! :-)

Well, we can't believe five weeks has past already. It just doesn't seem possible. Little britches had a check up today. He looks great! He weighs 9 lbs. even. That is 1 lb. and 11 oz. in the last two weeks. Can't ask for much better than that.

Samuel is sleeping better, not great, but better. We manage about 4 to 5 uninterrupted hours most nights. (emphasis on most nights!) :-) We are managing that. He has a great disposition. He is such a sweet little snuggle bug. Carrie always wanted a snuggle bug, Zachary was a great baby, but not much of a snuggler. Samuel will snuggle for hours on end, she is eating it up! Of course, that is also creating quite the spoiled little monster! Dad and Bubba have had nothing to do with spoiling him, of course! :-) His temper continues to reach epic proportions. This kid can flat throw a tantrum. He doesn't do it often, only when you change him or you let him get unhappy for a little too long, like not feeding him. He'll give you warning, but then look out! :-)

Our routine continues to become a work in progress. Sometimes it is tough juggling phone calls for the business and a fussing little one. Carrie is a much better multi-tasker than I am. We have been keeping my 2 year old niece a couple of days a week and will start keeping her full-time during the day soon. We've been doing a lot of extra things to make ends meet, but God has been providing. We don't have a lot of options with my health spiraling as it has lately. We have no fear, God is faithful.

Here are a few more pictures. Look at the two with my Dad, Zachary and myself. The first one was taken last week at the Rangers / Astros game. The second one was taken of the three of us last year in June at the Rangers / Astros game. Other than the two strikingly handsome older gentlemen in the pictures, check out how much Zachary has grown in a year! Couldn't believe it when we put those pictures side by side! He is such a young man now, not a boy anymore, and a fine young man he is becoming.

My Dad, Zachary, and yours' truly May 2008

My Dad, Zachary, and Me again June 2007

The original Three Amigos at the ballgame.
(notice how much taller Zachary is than Carrie!) :-)
(Samuel stayed with my sister-in-law K.D. and his cousin Jaden for the evening)

This Granny lady is pretty great!

Daddy, why are you so soft?

Happy 4 Week Birthday!!

I love you bubba! or Man, what is in your ear? or Hey, he looks just like a big version of me!

It's hard to believe, but Samuel is 4 weeks old today! I can't believe this first month has gone by so fast. He is growing fast and plumping up nicely. We Mauldin's don't usually have any trouble plumping up! :-) His appetite has really picked up the last week or so. He is still breast feeding quite a bit, and we supplement him about four bottles of formula/pumped breast milk a day. Between the two, he is doing great!

It has been really neat for me to be home for Samuel's first month of life. I worked so much when Zachary was born, that much of it is a blur. I worked 70-100 hours a week in my secular job and pastored a church about half the size of Hickory Street. Needless to say, I wasn't home very much. This time, I've been here for everything, and it is really cool. As most of you know, we own our own business and work at home. With my health the way it is, I can't really do much else. I can't hold up to the rigors of pastoring or secular work outside the home anymore. As hard as the health struggles are, it has offered me a pretty unique opportunity. I plan on making the most of it! Of course, I also get to be here when Zachary goes to school, and be here when he gets home. That is pretty cool too!

My health also makes it pretty hard to travel, we haven't been home since Christmas. Between the fibromyalgia and the constant seizures, we don't much go anywhere. I say this, because quite a few of you have asked us about when we would be coming to Texarkana. I know many of you would love to see Carrie and the kiddos. I wish I could say when we will be in, but I'm not sure. We would love to see everyeone. I had an invitation to preach close to home, but had to pass that up as well. We'll come in when we can, probably some time early this summer. Carrie could come in without me, but she doesn't like to leave me alone very much with my seizures being as bad as they are. My Dad has bought a new home, and we haven't even seen it. My Mom still hasn't gotten to see the baby! She came in for the birth, but it took so long for little britches to get here, she had to go back home and open their business up the next day. So far, she has only seen pictures! (I know, bad son, bad son!) :-) We'll be in when we can.

If you think about us, continue to pray for Carrie, as she tries to juggle a newborn, a teenager, a very sick husband, and a home business. Oh yeah, we also keep a couple of kids on the side. Her plate is very full these days as you can imagine! Pray for Samuel that he will continue to grow and be healthy. Pray for Zachary that he will continue to grow into the fine young man he is becoming. Pray for me that I will be well enough to help provide for our family. I contribute to our business what I can, but it isn't much these days. I don't much care what happens to me, but I just can't bear to see Carrie having to bear so much of this load. I am having 3 to 4 seizures a day and the fibro is out of control. The pain is so bad most days, I can barely get moving. I work as much as I can, but usually wind up in bed with the seizures. They take hours to recover from. Carrie has entirely too much on her right now. Pray for her.

Here are some recent pictures, enjoy!

I love you Daddy!

I sleep with my mouth open just like my Daddy and Bubba!

Do you think you guys could do SOMETHING with my hair?

A beautiful Momma and a beautiful baby!

A very proud Granny B (Carrie's Mom) gets a visit from Samuel

Yeah, I'm cute! or Yep, just call me Joe Cool!

That was some GOOD supper!

Samuel's "Other Brother from another Mother"
Zachary's friend Blake, our "other son!"

Daddy being stupid!
(OK, this picture has absolutely no historical or family value, but Carrie didn't think I had the guts to post it!) :-) Love you all!

Two Days of the Doctor

Mom, it doesn't get much better than this!

The last two days have been so busy! We spent about half the day Wednesday at the pediatrician. It was his well baby checkup. Samuel's weight continues to fluctuate. He was down, then up, then down again. We spent quite a bit of time with the Dr. and the nutritionist. The nutritionist was extremely helpful, giving us a number of techniques to get his calorie intake up, while continuing to give him the breast milk, which is so much better for him. We already think he looks better today, but keep him in your prayers on that.

Today, Thursday, May 8th we took little britches to Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth. He had his circumcision performed there. He has slept almost the whole day and evening. He'll probably wake up VERY unhappy sometime tonight! So far today, he has only woken to eat. After the better part of two days with doctors, we are all pretty worn out. Mom and Dad are both going on about two hours sleep today.

Samuel continues to impress us with his strength. Since the day he was born, he has shown a lot of strength in his arms, legs, and neck. He will pick himself up off of the bed, it is kind of wild and wobbly, but still impressive for his age. He is going to be a strong little toot! He remains a pooping and tooting machine! Man can that kid fill a diaper! He still HATES having his diaper touched! You can change his clothes, hold him, feed him, all with scarcely a whimper. Touch that diaper, he'll make your ears pay! I have got to get a video of this and post it. It is hilarious! It is not so funny at four o'clock in the morning, but it is funny! I'm no prophet, but I foresee some well earned adjustments to his hind quarters when he is older! :-)

We want to thank all of you for your emails, posts on the blog, prayers, and support. We appreciate all of you. It has been a wonderful journey so far, unexpected, but wonderful! We are glad you all are going on it with us! Keep the posts and email coming!

Mom, lets take a break and get some zzzzz's ok?

Dad, can you make me look any smaller???
(amazing how small he looks, believe it or not, this was how big I was when I was born!)

Can you guess who dressed me today??
(for the picture above too!)

The Third Week of Life

I WILL SO PAY YOU BACK FOR THIS SOMEDAY!

As we enter Samuel's third week of life, we continue to be amazed, fatigued, excited, worn out, in love, frustrated, amused, etc.....etc.....etc... Little britches doesn't quite know what time is for sleep. One night he sleeps great, the next, well lets just say we are getting quite familiar with late night television!

He is about to get over his fever. He's been a little fussy and fatigued, and has had very little real restful sleep. He hasn't really acted very sick, other than the fever itself. He hasn't really cried a lot, just been generally fussy and uncontented. Tough to know with newborns I guess.

Poor Carrie has born the brunt of this unfortunately. My seizures have been really bad the last few days, with the nights seeming the worse time. I had two bad ones last night, and three more this morning. I think fatigue makes them worse. Carrie has done her best to take up the slack, but she hasn't gotten a lot of sleep in the meantime. I have been trying to get up when I can and tried to help more in the day. She still has had to pull the bulk of the load the last few days. If you think about it, pray for her. I think it is taking a bit of a physical toll. She is so deeply tired right now. With her breast feeding, I can only help for so long. Samuel "The ever-eating one", wants to eat every 1 1/2 -2 hours, which doesn't leave much time for sleep. Of course, I'm not much help with the breast feeding! :-)

Zachary continues to be a big help, though he has managed to avoid diaper duty up till now. His day will come! Here is a good picture of the two of them:

Someday Bubba, I'll be bigger than you!

Here are a few more of the lastest pictuers:

Boy Daddy, your lap sure is soft and comfortable!
(Please ignore the rotund belly, the kid was just too cute not to post!) :-)

You two better not expect much sleep tonight, cause your gonna pay for this!

You know, this warm bath thing ain't so bad after all!

Roscoe and Boscoe ready to roll!
(Roscoe is the dog, Boscoe is the kid)