What's Normal for weight gain?

I am pretty sure that every new mom is concerned about how much food their baby is getting and if it is "enough." It is hard to tell through breastfeeding how much food is actually getting in there and that just makes it harder. For Stephen, there are good days and there are not so good days at nursing. There are times when he just wants to suck the life out of me and then there are times that he just wants to hang out there and cries when I take him off, while I'm thinking to myself, "I need to take a shower." Thinking about it, the same thing happens with adults...there are times that I'm really hungry and days where I'm just not that hungry; there's no reason to think that the same thing doesn't happen with children.

Today, I went on the CDC website and looked at the growth chart for boys ages 0-36 months, and he is doing fine. At 3 weeks, 5 days, he was 8 pounds, 6 ounces, in the 25th percentile. Considering I have had challenges nursing for the first week at least, this is normal. It's good to reassure myself that he is not going to be undernourished and that he is just fine.

Stephen questions whether or not it is easy going green

This morning Stephen read the Wall Street Journal special section entitled, "Consumers Guide to Going Green"

Greening of America

How are you contributing to the Greening of America? Here's some of the ways that my family has contributed:

• This past week, my sister attended the Green Build conference in Chicago


• Mom and Dad both drive hybrid cars


• I am trying to remember to use reusable grocery bags when going to the grocery store


• I have added a signature to my emails: "Please think of the environment before printing this email"


• I recycle everything Dallas County allows


• David has only put 7,000 miles on his car in the past 2 years


• Sean and I have owned (although not currently) one car for a total of almost 2 years


• Sean and I get our electricity from a company that puts wind and hydroelectric power back into the grid for the electricity we use.

Boys Weekend with Stephen A.

This weekend, my brother David and my dad Stephen B. came to visit and take Stephen A. to his first Rice football game. Of course, mom and dad came along and we had a great time. Sean first showed us around the progress of 4144 Emerson project, which makes me quite proud that we had and have the guts to go through with the project. There is something about seeing the physical results of the project that is very satisfying. Now that it is November, we've been conceiving of this project and planning for about 11 months now, so it is rewarding to see the work continuing on. The Rice/SMU football game was very exciting and very well attended by Rice alumni. Rice won by a last second field goal after SMU thought that time had already expired from the previous play. Stephen was very good all through the game, although I think he may have been a little over stimulated by the noise and excitment, but he was a true champ. Sean and Dave grilled a fabulous meal of gorgeous steaks and shrimp from Central Market paired with a 2003 Katheryn Hall wine that we had saved from the Smith family trip to Napa during Christmas 2005. A perfect end to a great boys weekend (with me, as new mom attending). Today, the boys played golf and at least tried to watch the Redskins game before leaving.

First Trip to Houston

This weekend, we took Stephen for his first visit to Sean's parent's house in Katy, just west of Houston. Nanna Eidson, Aunt Summer, and family friend Millie Smaardyk had a baby viewing/shower, gathering 25 adoring women to look at Stephen. His adoring fans were just thrilled to get a look at him and he took it all in stride.

Ridiculously large haloween costume

If you can't tell, he is supposed to be a pea in the pod.

More Cute Photos

These were the best of today's pictures: