One Week Later

It has been one week since Xander entered into our lives, and what a week it has been. We spent all day Thursday shopping because who knew that I would deliver a baby under 8 pounds, so known of his clothes fit him. Xander, only being three days old, got a whole new wardrobe of newborn clothes. And even then we could still fit another baby into some of his outfits. We chose to stay in Flagstaff until Friday January 27th due to my health and Xander had his first appointment that day anyways. We went to his pediatrician who gave him his first exam and said that he was in perfect health. After Xander's appointment we headed to meet Emma at the airport because Tommy came out to Pinon for three weeks. We did a little shopping at Sam's Club and then started making the long drive home. We bundled Xander up and put him in his car seat.

For weeks Brent and I had been debating on how to drive home. The dirt roads have gotten really bad with all of the rain from the fall and Brent did not feel comfortable taking the roads with a new born baby. I wanted to take a dirt road home that has some bumps, but overall is pretty decent because it drives right past the mine and I figured that it would be the smoothest of them all. Brent won the first debate and I gave in to taking the six hour drive home. On our way home I started hurting from my stitches and Xander started getting restless. We decided to pull over at the Hopi Cultural Center for a bathroom break. I finally convinced Brent that if one of us sat in the backseat and held Xander's head we should be fine on the dirt roads. We took a dirt road home. Xander did really well on the dirt road and started to fuss the last five minutes because he was hungry. I knew he would be one tough baby (Brent, the wife is always right!)

During this past week Xander has defiantly captured our hearts and can get us to do whatever he wants when he wants it. Waking up at night has been rough, but both Brent and myself have established a baby routine making things so much easier. Xander has already grown so much, he is also very strong. After only one week he is trying to hold his head up and roll over. When he grips your finger he tightens his little fingers so hard that you have to pry them loose. We also find it very funny that our one week old son loves hand mittens, socks, and shoes. We put a frog outfit on him, shown in the picture, and then decided to put mittens on him. He left them on for about 12 hours and if you took them of her cried. 

On Sunday we went to church for the first time as a family. Everyone at church was amazed at how small he was. We were amazed at how well behaved he was. He did not cry once. When he started to fuss Brent scooted over immediately, rocked his car seat, and he stopped. I could feed him and burp him during sacrament without him crying once. Going to church as a family, and with my mom, was the happiest moment of the week for me. Brent was glowing with happiness and enjoyed showing off his new family. 

Brent had to go back to work on Monday, but was excited to show some of his pictures off to his students. I had to stop in to finish something up and the students were so excited to see me and pictures of the baby. After wrestling, Brent came immediately home, picked up Xander, and started reading a book to him. He told me that one of his goals is to come home after work everyday and have father son reading time. I am so impressed with Brent. He is an amazing father and Xander knows who he is my the sound of his voice. His eyes widen and he starts to smile when he hears Brent's voice. Brent is very supportive and caring. Xander and I are both so blessed to have such a wonderful person in our life. 

Xander Michael Paul Maynard

Well, this started out as Pam's personal blog, Halfway Around the World.  She used this blog and I had my own personal one called Out Here in Pinon.  We decided to start a family blog together.  It's only fitting therefore that our first blog together is about our first son, Xander.

Pam and I don't waste much time in life, a friend once said that we had crammed five years of life into a few months - that was back in 2010 before we were even married.  So you can imagine then how many years of life we've been living since then.  We were married on April 23rd 2011 and we have been living very happily together as man and wife.  Xander was born exactly nine months from our wedding date.

A lot has been going on in our lives.  We had a fantastic wedding and an incredible honeymoon.  Work as always has been a large part of our lives and perhaps the biggest stress factor in our lives.  Here are some snapshots of our family pre Xander.

On January 23rd at 5:15 pm Xander was born weighing in at 7 pounds 9 ounces and laying a whole 19 inches long.  His mother Pamela Maynard was induced that morning.  Things were progressing quickly.  So quickly that she was only in labor for four hours and wasn't given any pain meds, she did the birth completely naturally.  Pam has made it very clear that she will never ever do that again.  Everything happened so quickly that as far as I'm concerned they should just do the shot at the same time that they are inducing.

 Here he is only minutes after birth.  Not sure how he feels about the nurse quite yet from the look on his face.

 This is one of the first pictures of Pam's Mom holding dear Xander.  The two of them bonded instantly thanks to Xander's raspberries.  Xander has inherited his mother's tongue, much to Grandma Jane's delight.

 Emma Siddall was able to come and help out with the birth and was very good to have in our corner in our moment of need.  Thanks Emma.

 This picture is not of the first time I held Xander.  While people were helping Pam I was helping the Nurse with Xander.  This is however the first or one of the first pictures of me holding Xander.  This picture wasn't taken until a little later on the 23rd when things had calmed down a bit.

 Xander likes to be held but really isn't very picky of how.  He rested his head on my stomach while I read and played music for him on the kindle fire.  He was content.  I was content to be with my son and Pam got to sleep for awhile!

 Xander is a wonderful baby boy who likes to stick out his tongue and wiggle his fists.  He was extremely alert for most of the first few hours after being born.  He loves music.  Whenever Pam's classes were bad he would kick in the womb.  Now we play music for him and he makes it clear to us what he does and does not like.

Our burrito baby.  Because of his size and the way we've been wrapping him up that has become his nickname - Burrito Baby.  We love you Burrito Baby aka Xander.