Three Months

So what if R is almost 4 months old by the time I actually get around to pressing publish? I'm gonna play the working mom card. It is so so difficult to find the balance. It's been impossible to sit down and actually put this post together. In fact, most of it has been written here and there on my phone. The only thing keeping me from publishing was that I wanted to put some pictures in it.

(Blurry action shot. It's getting more difficult to keep you still.)

At three months you:

- started sleeping through the night! The week you turned three months old you slept 9-12 hours straight every single night. It was amazing. 

- moved up to size 2 diapers

- are wearing true 3 month clothes

- love watching tv

- love watching anything with lights (Christmas trees and lights are awesome!)

- smile at everyone

- LAUGH! And it is the best thing I've ever heard. 

- talk a lot & experiment with your voice 

- started sticking out your tongue. It's pretty adorable. 

- discovered how to use your hands & are very adept at swiping at hanging toys. You also loved grabbing my long hair & putting it in your mouth. You've also noticed that you have feet, but can't do anything with them yet. 

- still don't like tummy time but you definitely don't hate it quite as much as you used to

- weigh somewhere around 13 pounds and you were 23 inches long at your last appointment

- got your 2 month vaccines and were just kind of pitiful all evening. All you wanted to do was cuddle. And I was more than happy to oblige. 

- had your first Thanksgiving

- experienced your first Alabama loss. It was a tough one for everyone involved. 

- are more loved than you will ever know.

Early Bird

This kid is an early riser. 

Like 5:00 am.

Sometimes 4:00. 

What's up with that?

We've kind of always had issues with getting him to go back to sleep after his early morning bottle. Last month, he settled into a groove of waking up around 4 (sometimes 2), eating, and going back to sleep. But this week? It's been crazy. He has been waking up in the early morning - usually around 4 or 5 - and just lying there. His typical routine is fussing/grunting/cooing/sighing/general-noise-making but not crying for a minute or two, then quiet for a few minutes then noisy for a few minutes, then quiet... This usually lasts either until he falls asleep a few hours later or until 8:30 when J gets him up for the day. Originally he had been waking up and crying and eating his hands, so we knew he was hungry, but now? Nothing like that. He just kind of plays in his crib. Since he wasn't acting hungry, we didn't feed him. But this morning, I thought maybe giving him a bottle would settle him and make him fall asleep quicker. WRONG. The boy sucked down his bottle and was ready to play. We are really trying to enforce a consistent start time for the day so he can be soothed by having a routine, so I just held him in the glider until around 6:30 when tried putting him back in his crib. He just played until he drifted off around 7. 

What's up mom? Ready to get this day started?

I'm not really complaining because he's such a good baby. He's content to just lie in his crib and look around... sometimes he "talks" but he doesn't cry or make us get up to get him out of the crib or anything like that. It's just kind of rough because I don't sleep well when he's awake in his crib. 

Mostly, I just want to make sure he gets enough sleep.

Two Months

I can't believe R is now two months old. Wasn't he just born like a week ago?


Here's what you've been up to during your second month:

- Graduated into size 1 diapers and outgrew your newborn outfits.

- Have a pretty noticeable flat spot on the right side of the back of his head. You also spend a lot of the time looking to the right, so we've spent the last few weeks focusing on tummy time and getting you to look to the left. (I was actually kind of worried you might have wry neck, but you've been looking to the left more often so I don't worry about it anymore.)

- LOVE bath time. At first, you weren't sure what to think, but now you squeal and splash and smile up a storm. It's exhausting for me, but I (or J) do it every night because you seem so happy in the bath. (We don't use soap every night.) You also love your activity mat and being held superhero/koala/sloth style. You usually calm down when I sing OCMS's Wagon Wheel.

- Hate tummy time. That's pretty much all there is to say about that. Although, for a baby who despises it as much as you do, you have a pretty strong neck.

- Had a play date with Eli, sleepovers at Mimsy & Pops and Grammy & Grandaddy, and took a trip to the pumpkin patch.

- Cry real tears, give social smiles, blow spit bubbles, are getting talkative and working on facial expressions. And every single one of those things is so stinking adorable.

- Keep your hands by your face when you eat (& sometimes knock your bottle out of your mouth), like to bury your face when you sleeps in someone's arms, spit out your paci & get mad about not having it, cry & fight being burped.

- Your doctor informed us that you had sebborheaic dermatitis at about 5 weeks. We started using lotrimin on your face everyday and it's cleared right up!

- Had a little growth spurt around 6.5-8 weeks.

- Started following some semblance of a sleeping schedule. You usually start the day around 8-9, take a morning-ish nap, an early afternoon nap, and an early evening nap. (The times vary, but we try to wake you up from your last nap by 7.) Then we do bedtime around 7:45-8:30. You usually wake up once during the night. Sometimes it's at 2:30 am, sometimes it's at 5:30 am. We just never know. You still want to fall asleep in someone's arms instead of by yourself. (But, somehow you're pretty good at self-soothing during the middle of the night.) We're going to start working on letting you fall asleep on by yourself soon in the next few months. I'm trying to determine the best least traumatic way to do this.

- Bumped up to a 6 ounce bottle. You usually eat every 3-4 hours. You just weren't satisfied after 4 ounces.

- Mommy started working. And it's been harder for me than it's been for you. You love spending time with daddy.



Ryker,
It's amazing to watch you grow and learn right before our eyes. Your daddy and I are constantly amazed by you. And you are certainly changing everything about me! For as long as I can remember I have always been impatient for the future. Always planning for the next part of my life. In school I couldn't wait to be in college. In college I couldn't wait to be married and working. When I was married and working, I couldn't wait to be a mom. For the first time in my life, I am so content living my day-to-day life. And boy, those days are flying by. I am doing my best to soak up every single second of being your mommy. Happy Two Months, Baby Boy! You couldn't be loved more. I thank God for you every single day.

What's Next: The New Year's Post (a few months early)

I have the same New Year's resolutions as every typical American. Every. Single. Year. 1)  Lose Weight; and 2) Get Out of Debt.

And I guess after a season dedicated to excess (Thanksgiving & Christmas) in modern America, it makes sense to use the new year to focus on scaling back.

But after spending the last few weeks in prayer and discussion with Josh, we decided to go ahead and get on that bandwagon early. And because this blog is not only about Baby R (although I love writing about and to him) and I am not only a mother, I'm going to document all aspects of life on Self Lane here. Most of the time, that life will be about my beautiful baby boy, but sometimes it will be about J & I fighting our way out of thousands of dollars of consumer debt and struggling to lose over 100 lbs.

We decided to start early because we thought the transition of my going back to work was really a good spring board. For the last year, we've been using our money to save for maternity leave and really put getting out of debt on hold. But, we didn't plan on having some of our financial surprises during my maternity leave. My car is completely undriveable (even after sinking almost $1,000 into it), we discovered breastfeeding is not an option for us, and there were a few gift card snafus. All of which contributed to my returning to work about a month earlier than we originally planned. Don't get me wrong, we've also been tremendously blessed during this period. I don't want to discount that. I just use this time to illustrate how unprepared we are. Also, personally I struggle with materialism big time. I have always wanted to keep up with the Joneses and worried what others thought. So, by getting a jump start on scaling back, I hope to fight the more/bigger is better urge during this holiday season.

Actually, I am pretty excited about our financial plan. J & I spent the weekend re-reading Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover and plan to use that as a basis for getting out of debt. We've agreed to meet once each month to discuss finances. This is something we've never done before. I cannot express how happy/relieved I am about our monthly meetings. Typically when we start trying to get out of debt (each January) we talk about it at the beginning and then I'm left to put our words into action. Eventually I get frustrated and resentful because I feel like I'm making all the financial decisions and I get tired of always being the bad guy who always has to say "no." And in J's defense, he doesn't really know what's going on in our bank account.  To him, he works a lot so he should be able to treat himself every once in awhile. And then I get angry because he spent bill money although he didn't know it was for that purpose (or I get angry for having to tell him no). So, to combat that we are meeting every month to discuss the following month and we are also starting the envelope system. 

As far as weight loss, we don't exactly have a strict plan in place yet. We are trying to do a few small things each month in the hope that they will build on each other and we will eventually just choose to eat healthy on our own. I am open to ideas, but because of our budget am limited on spending. For november, we chose to eliminate fried foods, sodas, and pre-made pizzas. For December we may focus on drinking more water or making our coffees a little less sugary healthier. 

We both really want to teach R about good nutrition and making wise financial choices especially because we struggle so much in those two specific areas. We also know that good health and being able to give back (financially) are ways to obey and honor the Lord. And that is always our most important goal of all.

10/24/13

I decided to document two days in a row to show how vastly different our schedule is from day to day. This is October 24, 2013.

3:30 am- R wakes up for his middle of the night feeding. I feed him, change his diaper, rock him, & eventually he falls asleep in his crib (after a few false alarms).

5:00 am- My turn to get in the bed & I quickly fall asleep. 

6:00 am- R wakes up & fusses/plays/grunts in his crib for about 15 minutes. Right when I decide to get up and try to soothe him back to sleep he falls asleep on his own. So do I. 

6:50 am- R is up again. Since we typically start our day between 7-8 am, I go ahead & get up. He gets a bottle, burped, diaper change, and a clothes change. It's pretty chilly by Alabama standards & since R doesn't have many long sleeved onesies in his size I put him in some sleep & play pj's. (I plan to run a few errands in yoga pants today... If I can wear pj's all day so can he.)

7:25 am- R gets playtime on his activity mat. I pump, brush my teeth & hair, wash bottles, start menu planning & working on a grocery list, text my stepmother about the weekend (R is sleeping over -SCORE!) & scarf down my breakfast. While pumping I update our baby app, start this post & quickly skim Pinterest. 

8:15 am- R is tired of his playmat & gets fussy. I pick him up & we walk around the house talking. J wakes up around 8:30 & of course R is just ecstatic to see his Daddy. They talk for a few minutes. Then J gets ready for work R & I walk around some more. He starts drifting off. As soon as I put him in his rock & play he wakes up. 

8:45 am- I rock R & J leaves for work. R falls asleep & I turn on Netflix. While R sleeps, I read today's devotional, check Facebook, read blogs, update this post, work on today's to-do list, & work on a grocery list. 

9:50 am- R wakes up & gets a bottle & a diaper change. 

10:30 am- I put him on his play mat so I can get dressed & ready to run errands. 

10:40 am- We leave to run our errands. First we go to Target because I have a gift card from my Aunt & I need some pants to tide me over until I can fit (& not look sausage-y) in my pre-pregnancy clothes. Instead, I find cute clothes for R, & buy some quick groceries ice cream. While at Target, J texts to let me know he's working late at work tonight & won't get off until 8. Boo. :( R & I decide to buy him a little gift to say thanks. We also go to the credit union & bank. R slept pretty much the entire time. He only woke up to let me know I was standing still too long for his liking. 

12:35 - We're home. R stays asleep long enough for me to unload the car, put the frozen stuff away, & start microwaving my lunch (lean pocket). Once he wakes up, I feed him a bottle, burp him, & change his diaper. 

1:10 pm- R gets to play on his mat while I eat my lukewarm lunch. During lunch, I update our baby app and this post & check Facebook. 

1:20 pm- Lunch is over. I wash bottles from this morning & boil water for his next set of bottles. 

1:30 pm- R is over the play mat, so we play for a bit. I sneak in some tummy time & put lotrimin on his face. He gets pissed & cries himself to sleep. He was seriously screaming one second and asleep the next! I imagine he'll be awake again in a minute.

1:50 pm- R is asleep on my lap & I don't want to move (for fear of waking the monster), so I turn on Netflix & play on my phone because the remote & phone  are the only things within arms' reach. 

1:55 pm- R wakes up & finishes his crying. I carry him around superhero style & he falls right back to sleep. I put him in his r&p. He wakes up a few minutes later so I pick him up & grab a few things to work on while R sleeps on me. 

2:05 pm- We chill out in the recliner. R is asleep on my chest. Netflix is playing. I update this post, update the checkbook, eat some ice cream, and pay a few bills. 

3:15 pm- I decide to take a quick nap too so we both lie down in my bed. R is still fast asleep. I doze a bit while watching tv, it's just good to be able to rest in the bed a bit. 

3:55 pm- R wakes up and he is  hungry. He screams while I warm up his bottle. I feed him, burp him, & change his diaper. He's been pretty content with 4 oz bottles all day today, so I guess yesterday was just a fluke & he was extra hungry.  

4:30 pm- We have some playtime. He sits in his bumbo, we read books, play on his mat, walk around, do tummy time, and dance. 

5:15 pm- We transition from playing to rocking/cuddling. He's been yawning & I'd like him to take a cat nap soon. In general, I try to keep him awake from 6:30 until his bedtime. But, I'll be the first to admit that it doesn't always work like that. R getting the appropriate amount of sleep is more important than my arbitrary scheduling rules. I sing him OCMS's Wagon Wheel (only song I could think of at the time) & he falls asleep around 5:35.

5:50 pm- I lay R down in the r&p & set up bedtime stuff. Then it's time to eat dinner really quickly before R wakes up. 

6:15 pm- R wakes up & is a little fussy but content to stay in the r&p as long as it's moving. He's grunting a lot, so I imagine a dirty diaper is in my future. I finish dinner & dessert while rocking R & watching some tv. 

6:30 pm- He's finished grunting so I change his poopy diaper. Then we go back to the living room to play for a minute. He's pretty hungry & I feel bad making him wait until after 8 to eat, so I give him his bedtime bottle. I only expected him to eat half, but he cried every time I took the bottle away to burp him. He eats all 6 oz. We play. 

7:30 pm- Bedtime routine. He's asleep by 8.

8:00 pm- I empty the tub & make his night time bottle. Since J is at work & R is asleep I use this time to get on our real computer & pay some bills, check facebook/blogs, update this entry, etc. I should be cleaning and/or taking a shower, but that can wait until tomorrow.
9:00 pm- J is home!!! Finally. We catch up real quick. He's hungry & I'm tired. Not very conducive to deep conversation.
9:15 pm - I get in the bed & watch tv until I fall asleep (usually around 10ish). J is eating dinner in the living room. As much as I'd like to stay awake and visit with him, I am dreading waking up at 4am(-ish).

10/23/13

I've seen other bloggers do "a day in the life" posts & thought it would be interesting to document a typical day for me. As I near the end of my maternity leave, each and every second is growing more and more precious. I figured this would be a fun way to look back and see what we did on October 23, 2013.

First, this was definitely not a typical day. Usually R is much more easygoing. And I usually spend more time holding & cuddling him (especially as we get closer to my return to work). Also, I don't think I ever get this much housework done on an average day, but I took advantage of J being off and put him on R duty a lot more than usual. And Josh is usually working. Even when he's off he's almost always in the office working on his website, making calls to clients, or editing photos (& sometimes playing on Facebook too).

I also had lots of plans for today. J&I talked about going on a walk or going to the library & I have a Target gift card from my Aunt that's burning a hole in my pocket. But, we didn't get to do any of those things. And that's ok. I'm realizing how little time I have left to just stay home & spend all day with Baby R... so I'm trying to soak up every minute I can.

I spend most of the day in my head, so I tried to document thought process as well. 

5:00 am- I hear R getting fussy over the monitor. Half asleep, I secretly hope he's just fussing in his sleep. Wrong. He gets worse. I get up before he makes it to full on crying & get his bottle to feed him.

5:30 am- R is finished with his bottle & I lay him in his crib. He's awake but drowsy, which is what I'm trying to incorporate this week. He needs to learn to put himself to sleep & we've been having some major issues with that so far. After he's in his crib, I get the crazy idea to start the day. I imagine taking a shower that lasts longer than 5 minutes, drinking coffee that's still warm, folding laundry, & doing dishes all before it's time for R to start the day. We typically start the day between 7-8 am; so if I move fast I can get all of this accomplished. 

5:35 am- Dishwasher is half loaded & R starts crying. I leave the dishes to replace his paci & try to soothe him back to sleep. He quickly informs me that we will be playing the how-long-can-I-fuss-before-mommy-gives-up-and-holds-me game. 

5:35-6:55 am- I spend this hour and a half trying to get him to fall back to sleep (& drinking cold coffee). But I tell myself that if he is still awake by 7, then we start the morning routine & I get to deal with a fussy baby today. Around 6:30 I give him another bottle because he might be hungry (he's usually fine with going straight to sleep after the one bottle). Turns out he is. R eats 3 more ounces & drifts off right before 7 am. I hate this because we try to start the day around this time (between 7 & 8 am), but decide to compromise & let him sleep until 8.

7:00 am- R is in his crib & I take a shower. Since he's asleep & J is off today, I decide not to rush the shower. It runs a little longer than I expected. 

7:30 am- Freshly showered & dressed, I decide to go ahead & pump. I start writing this entry instead of getting on Pinterest for my typical "pin & pump" session. (I started doing this when I realized how miserable pumping is. Now I play on Pinterest while pumping & only while pumping. It makes pumping just a little less terrible.)

7:50 am- Finished pumping. Feel bad that my supply is so low. Contemplate giving up altogether. Is it really worth this misery to give R one ounce of breast milk each day? I know I could pump more often to increase my supply, but I plan to move to exclusive formula feeding in a bit so that seems like a waste of time/energy to me. R wakes up. Perfect timing.  I get him up & change his diaper & get him dressed for the day. He only gets a small bottle (1-2 ounces) this time since he ate almost an entire bottle an hour ago. While he eats I enter his wake up/diaper/bottle info into our baby app. 

8:05- We cuddle & I sneak in some tummy time by laying him on my chest. He isn't too happy. I think we're in for a rough day. 

8:12 am- He's still hungry so I give him the 1.5 ounces of milk I just pumped. (And enter that info into the baby app.) I update this entry & check Facebook. 

8:20 am- More cuddling, which is my favorite. He's fussy & gassy. 

8:35 am- R has playtime on his mat while I finish dishes, clean kitchen, start some laundry.  Decide to make 2nd cup of coffee since we're in for a long morning & I'm weaning myself off naps. 

9:05 am- R is unsurprisingly fussy, I quit cleaning the kitchen & we have a quick dance party & walk around the house looking at everything. J wakes up. 

9:20 am- Guess who's fussy again? Time to rock. 9-10ish is typically when I try to start his first nap. I finish my 2nd coffee. He's drifting off to sleep. I make notes for this entry. 

9:40 am- R is asleep & I put him in his rock & play (r&p). R wakes up when I put him down. J rocks the r&p. I finish cleaning kitchen & put away the laundry that J folded last night. 

9:50 am- J gives up rocking R (who will not go to sleep) & changes his diaper & takes him outside for a minute. Then R has playtime on the mat while J checks his phone. I'm still cleaning & doing today's laundry. 

10:15 am- R is fussy. J is doing his best & decides to try a bottle (which R eats pretty well). I try to sort through coupons to throw out the expired ones. 

10:30 am- Realizing how hungry I am, I eat breakfast (1 egg, 1 piece of toast, glass of milk). R drifts to sleep while J is burping him. J puts R in the rock & play & rocks him. R wakes up. Notice a pattern?

10:45 am- J takes R & the r&p to the nursery to try to get R to sleep. It doesn't work & a few minutes later R is with me. J goes to work/play on the computer. I check R's diaper (nothing), swaddle him, & we settle in the recliner for a nap. He fights sleep but eventually I win (right at 11am). 

11:00 am- After he's asleep I update this post, balance the checkbook, check Facebook again, catch up on reading some of my favorite blogs, message my Sisters-in-law to discuss Christmas, do a little Christmas  browsing for me & R while I watch some Netflix. (Current guilty pleasure = Hart of Dixie. I don't even know why I'm watching it, but I got sucked in. I really hate the stereotypes & all but I still don't want to stop.)

12:00 pm- Put R down in the r&p. Take chicken out to thaw, wash morning dishes, fluff clothes, make 2 bottles, make & eat lunch (leftover hot dogs).

12:45 pm- Lunch is finished. Decide to call customer service about a gift card we received that wasn't activated. (Boy that was a surprise when our check came.) Updating this entry while on hold. 

12:55 pm- Gift card issue resolved, had an excellent customer service experience. Fold clothes & put them away. 

1:15 pm- I join J who is eating lunch & watching tv. While watching tv I update R's baby book. 

1:30 pm- R's awake. J picks him up & feeds him while I finish a page in the baby book. 

1:50 pm- I take R.  J gets ready to go to a shoot. R & I read a book on the couch. He works some magic in his diaper. So I go to change him. He finishes pooping after I take off his diaper. It's terrible & I'm gagging. This diaper change quickly becomes a team effort with J doing most of the work. 

2:15 pm- J is off to an engagement shoot downtown. R & I have play time. We play on the mat & have tummy time. I also put lotrimin on his face (for his seborrheaic dermatitis)

2:50 pm- R is fussy & acts like he's starving even though he ate a whole 4 ounce bottle an hour ago. I feed him. Maybe he's going through a growth spurt?

3:15 pm- He's asleep on my chest & I start the next episode of Hart of Dixie & follow up on Christmas plans/shopping, Facebook, update this entry, & finish reading blogs from this morning. 

3:50 pm- My bladder is making it clear that I'm going to have to get up soon. I put R down, use the restroom, eat a snack, check the mail, & sweep the living room. I'll vacuum later. Just don't want to risk waking the baby. 

4:20 pm- While I'm making the marinade for tonight's chicken dinner, R wakes up crying. He's showing hunger cues, so I go ahead and give him a full 4 ounce bottle. Maybe it's time to go ahead and graduate to a 5 ounce bottle at his feedings? That seems like a lot for a 1.5 month old. I research typical bottle sizes for this age while R eats. (And update this entry, obviously.)

4:40 pm- R gets a diaper change & I put him in his swing. I finish the marinade & wash the dishes from lunch & prep.

4:55 pm- R is content in the swing (for now). I sit to sort & read the mail & try to read some of the devotional my MIL gave me. It doesn't work out too well. 

5:00 pm- R gets fussy. I hold him. He's still fussy & moves from fussing to scream crying. So I put him on the play mat for a minute. He's immediately happy & begins playing. I take a minute to relax in the recliner (& start looking at the new Publix ad to start meal planning for the next week). J comes home!

5:20 pm- I decide to start cooking. J watches R on the mat. He includes tummy time too. J makes R tough it out for awhile. It breaks my heart listening to R cry, but sometimes ya gotta let the dad be the dad. Plus, I was dealing with raw chicken at the time, so I couldn't exactly do much about it. 

6:00 pm- Dinner is on the table. J puts R in his swing. R quickly passes out. We eat & clean the kitchen while R is asleep. 

6:40 pm- Kitchen is clean & dishwasher is going. R wakes up, but is content in his swing. J & I talk about the day & tomorrow's plans & R. 

6:55 pm- J starts editing pictures in the office. 

7:00 pm- I start setting everything up for our bedtime routine. It's much smoother if I take 10 minutes before bedtime to go ahead & put everything right where I need it. So I turn on the electric blanket to warm his bed (this comes off before I put him in it, but it helps to ease the transition from his warm momma to the cold, hard bed); set up his diaper, pj's, & swaddle blanket next to the changing table; turn the radio static on; get his bath tub out; & make his bottle & put it next to the glider so I can reach it easily. Once that's set up, I wake up R & we play & talk for a few minutes. I sneak in some more tummy time. 

7:25 pm- R is getting fussy, so I start the bedtime routine a little early: bath (tonight is a rinse off only night, but the boy loves playing in his bath tub), pj's & swaddle, a 6 ounce bottle (we usually only do 4 at the most, but I'm experimenting), singing & prayers while rocking in the glider, and once he's asleep I put him in his crib & play his musical seahorse. We keep radio static going all night for some white noise. 

8:15 pm- R is asleep & I give J the monitor. He usually listens out for R until he comes to bed. J is almost always awake in the office editing photos or catching up on emails/Facebook/nerd stuff until about midnight. Since he's up anyways, he gets to handle R if he should wake up. R almost always sleeps through the night until around 4 am. I make R's next bottle & turn off everything in the living room. I decide to finish packing away the last of my maternity clothes (Farewell good friends. I will miss your forgiving elastic waist bands.)

8:35 pm- I crawl into bed & edit this post.  Then it's another check of Facebook/blogs/texts. Netflix is playing in the background & I usually watch it until I fall asleep around 10pm. 

Disclaimer: I'm not sure what's up with the different fonts, and I don't really care enough to try to fix it. My guess is that they're different because I typed this entry from my phone & my computer.

Pumpkin Patch

Last week, we took our first family trip to the Pumpkin Patch. R slept the entire time. I guess he wasn't too impressed. J took these pictures (obviously).

Morning nap. (His skeleton sleeper is from Buy Buy Baby).

Pumpkins!!!

R slept in his carrier most of the time.

This picture cracks me up.

Not sure what J said, but I must not have liked it.

Birth Photos

We were so lucky to have our good friend Terry from Fotowerks spend the day (and pretty much the entire night) with us to capture the big event.

I'm only going to put up a few, but suffice it to say that she is AMAZING! This is their facebook page.

A million thanks to the amazing Terry for all of your hard work doing this for us. We appreciate it so much!

One Month

Health: R is somewhere in the range of 8.5-9lbs. He is a pretty good eater & can usually down a 4 ounce bottle at his feedings. Sometimes he likes to snack & will only eat 2 ounces which just makes him hungry again sooner. So... I'm not a huge fan of his snacking, but I'm certainly not going to force him to eat more than he wants/needs.

The sensitive formula really seems to be working! He is much less fussy & gassy. His new formula has definitely changed his poop habits though. He's averaging 1-2 super smelly dirty diapers each day. He also really enjoys peeing on me, himself, the changing table, the floor, the wall, & whatever else happens to be in range. 

He does have a pretty bad case of baby acne. J & I tell him that it's just a preview of what his teen years will be like. (J & I both had pretty bad acne as teens.) and, I think mayyyybe he's starting to get cradle cap? But I hope not. 

Sleep: R still sleeps great at night & only wakes up once or twice each night. His day naps are still sporadic, but he averages about 15-16 hours of sleep each day. I'm debating on starting to implement a schedule now that he's a month old. This is the last month I'll be home with him, so I either need to start doing sleep training or just let him dictate his sleep schedule to anyone who takes care of him. (Time to sh!t or get off the pot...) If I do start sleep training, I'll probably use some aspects of Babywise, but I don't love the cry it out aspect of that method. We've spent the first month trying to follow the sleep/eat/wake cycle as best we can, but haven't adhered to any sort of daily schedule (except trying to put him to bed at 7-8). So, I guess we'll see if sleep training actually happens....

Activities: We're doing pretty much the same things we've been doing in the last few posts... He likes to be held & talked to. In the last few days, though, the boy has really developed a love for his playmat! He'll lie there and swat at all of his hanging toys. He's really developing some serious hand/eye coordination! Baby R doesn't love tummy time, but he's going to have to suffer through it just like all the other babies. I try to give him a variety of tummy time by putting him on my chest or carrying him super-hero style to help him strengthen his neck muscles without being miserable.

We've started venturing out a bit more too. We went to J's parents church for a missions conference last weekend & Baby R was my date to a wedding yesterday. And, of course, Baby R loves visiting his Mimsy & Pops. Other than that, we tend to be homebodies. Between his eating/napping  schedule (which varies every single day), my pumping schedule, and the 2+ hours it takes for is to get out the door it's just easier to stay home.

Gear: Baby Mat, Dr. Brown's Bottles, Aden + Anais Swaddle Blankets, Baby Gowns, Rock n Play Sleeper

Mom & Dad: J continues to blow me away being such a great daddy. I can really tell how much Baby R is starting to bond with him. In fact, today J walked past us & Baby R actually followed him with his eyes. I've never seen him do that before! J is definitely pulling more than his fair share of work around here (which honestly I sometimes feel a little guilty about that). He's now our only source of income (not including the little bit of money we've been able to put aside for this) plus he has been taking at least one night time feeding, & helps me around the house too! Baby R & I are so lucky to have such a great husband & daddy. 

I'm doing a million times better than the first few weeks. Baby Blues are only a memory. In fact, I'm so much less stressed now than I was before Baby R got here. Sometimes it takes effort to actively not worry about money, but honestly it's truly been (& will continue to be) a season of trusting The Lord. Now, when I start to feel anxious about money or the baby I just have to remind myself that The Lord has always provided & protected before & He is more than deserving of my trust. It's difficult for this control freak to surrender control, but that's something I really need to learn to do. So I'm trying. It's not easy, but I'm trying. Not having to fight the post partum hormones definitely helps though. :)

I'm still pumping & made it to my first goal of one month of being able to feed Baby R. Granted, he's eating way more formula than breast milk... But I'm able to produce at least 1 big bottle (or 2-3 snack size bottles) for him each day. And some breast milk is better than none, amiright? I have noticed that my supply has taken a nose dive now that I'm pumping less often, but that's to be expected. Honestly, I don't know that I'll be able to pump too much once I return to work. (They will provide me with a space & they have no problem letting me slip away for 15-20 minutes every so often to pump, but I don't know how often I'll actually be able to do that because my job can be kind of time consuming.) 

Thoughts: I am so in love! And so, so thankful that I get to be Baby R's mom. Seriously, each day is the best day ever! I'm so sad that my leave is halfway over now. Baby R has grown so much in the part month, I almost don't recognize the baby in the pictures from the hospital. He's seriously a dream come true & the answer to a million prayers! I love him so much that sometimes my heart feels like it's going to burst!