He-Man and Friend

From day one, my little boy has been very strong. Actually, from before day one, I felt his powerful legs and arms inside of me. Now, he's exercising those limbs outside. He loves to kick and tense his legs so that diaper changes are sometimes challenging for us. Yesterday, he showed us another level of his strength - he held a bottle all by himself!

He seemed a little unsatisfied after one of his feedings yesterday so Mike fed him a few ounces from a bottle. Now, he rarely gets a bottle (probably only a few times a week) so it's not like he has tons of experience with it. But Mike said Dylan stole it right out of his hands and held it solo! Wow! What a strong little man!

Another big event of yesterday, Lucienne seemed to want to start becoming friends with Dylan. Now, it was probably only because he was hanging out on his play mat, which she thinks is her toy, but this was the closest she had come to actually interacting with him. A big step towards what I'm sure will become a lifelong friendship between those two!

Big Days and Long Nights - Random Thoughts

We have had quite an eventful week. It all started last Friday when Dylan started sleeping through the night! Hallelujah! It appears as if this sleeping thing might stick. We had 4 nights in a row of him getting 6 and 7 hour stretches. And then, last night, he slept for 9 hours straight! Of course, when baby sleeps, so do the parents. Mike and I feel a world better this week and actually human again.

The really cool thing about him sleeping is that we're in a little less of a survival mode. Instead of just figuring out times during the day that we can catch some zzz's, we're actually working on some projects and getting out of the house more. It's amazing. Life is very different this week.

Yesterday, Wednesday, was an awesome mother and son day. It started with a walk to our yoga class. After boasting about how great he was last week, he was a mess this week. He got hungry just as class started so we spent most of the class fussing, then nursing then changing diapers. After that we went to my work and spent a very long time there visiting with all my coworkers I hadn't seen in months (weird...it really doesn't seem like it's been months). We went for another walk in the evening with a neighborhood friend and then Dylan and I played and read books while dad had soccer that night. He was such a good boy all day (being hungry during yoga class being the one fussy time exception) and we had such fun together. It was a really wonderful and perfect day with him. I enjoyed it immensely!

It's not going to be a very cohesive post, but I just wanted to share some other events and thoughts from the week.

Shoe shopping. I haven't bought shoes since I got pregnant, so I had some catching up to do. Plus, my shoe needs now are a little different than pre-pregnancy. So, we had a big shoe shopping trip. I'm a little horrified that I'm now drawn to the comfy looking shoes as opposed to the sleek and pretty high heels. Oh well, I guess practically just takes preference now. It's a good thing they've made strides in the comfy shoe category in the last several years and there are actually some cute choices. Anyway, I'm all caught up on shoe shopping now.

Last Saturday, we went out to dinner with Mike's sister's family. Dylan, of course, got fussy just as the food arrived. He seems to have a knack for that. It seems to be nightly that he'll be happy as a clam until I get my plate of dinner ready to eat and then he gets cranky. From what I understand, this is a super power all babies seem to have...breakdown just when the parents are trying to eat. What's up with that? Anyhow, he calmed with just being held by mom. So, his second restaurant outing went pretty well in the end.

Let's see, here are some notable developments with the little guy lately (other than sleep). He has discovered his hands and loves gnawing on them. It's great that they make him so happy. The downside...his face is now covered with slobber for much of the day and he has lost interest in his pacifier, which was always a nice calming tool for us to have. He has decided that he enjoys diaper changes (now smiles and kicks excitedly during them) and baths....those no longer cause screaming and crying. He also LOVES playing super baby! His neck is getting stronger daily with his flights around the house.

SUPER BABY!

Also, since he's been enjoying sucking on some fruits, I wanted him to also be introduced to vegetables. When I was chopping up a salad for myself the other day, Mike grabbed out a cucumber piece and let Dylan give that a try. He liked it!

Okay, I'm off to enjoy the day! Man, life is grand when you get sleep!

Boot Camp

Earlier this week, as I wrote about in an earlier post, Dylan and I took some work out classes together. Yesterday, I started another work out class at the community center that I'm taking sans son - boot camp.

During my pregnancy, a big concern I had was how the weight would come off after the kiddo was born. Every woman I spoke with regarding this reassured me over and over that the weight would just "melt off" with breastfeeding. Well, here I am 12 weeks post delivery and nothing - and I mean NOTHING - has melted. I realize that I wouldn't be pre-pregnancy weight at this point, but I at least expected to see some movement in the downward direction on the scale. Man oh man how I wanted to believe everyone that told me it would just come off. So much so that I forgot one very important fact I learned long ago - my body is a freak of nature and I have to work 2 - 3 times as hard as a normal person to lose weight.

So, it's time to get serious. My iPhone, which has become my lifeline, has a calorie tracking program that I'm religiously logging. I've definitely kicked up the exercise regime as well. And, to get a jump start on it, I figured I'd try out the boot camp craze that's sweeping the work out nation.

The concept is easy. It's 1 hour of high intensity exercises using only your body weight. So, theoretically, one could repeat the exercises at home since no equipment is required. The only catch to that is, even though you don't need fancy work out gear, what you do need is a drill sergeant to force you to inflict that kind of work out on yourself. No one exercise is that bad....it's just that an hour of them back to back with absolutely no break is really, really, really tough!

I will say this though. After completing that one hour, I felt fantastic....the kind of great you can only feel when you know you've pushed your body to the max and gotten through it. Today, I'm definitely feeling the effects of it but in a good way. Only when you have jello muscles and are sore are you assured that your work out did the job.

So, hopefully between calorie tracking, stroller fit, mom and baby yoga, running, weight lifting class and boot camp class I'll start seeing those pounds "just" disappear!

Magic Jammies

Last night, Dylan graduated to his 3 month size PJ's. His legs had gotten so long that they just couldn't straighten out in his newborn\0-3 month ones anymore. Mike and I had just gone on a shopping trip and found these super cute frog pajamas that we put on him. Little did we know they had secret magical powers!

Magic Jammies!

They helped Dylan sleep through the night! He slept for about 7 hours straight! Wahoo! Unfortunately we won't be able to test their magical powers again tonight due to an unfortunate pooping accident, but we're planning to get them washed and back on quickly to see if he can do it again.

Happy Friday

For those that work all week, Friday is a day to look forward to! Here's some Friday cuteness to add to your end of the week enjoyment.

Since every day of the week is about the same for us, we're happiest when we have a happy baby. As shown above, we've had a good morning with a smiley baby. Happy Friday everyone!

Startin' Him Early

It's been a good week thus far. I'm hoping not to jinx myself, but we've now had a couple of nights in a row of back to "normal" sleeping hours. For Dylan, that means sleeping for about 4 hours at the beginning of the night, waking for a feeding, then sleeping about 3 hours more. It feels like a TON of sleep for me in comparison to the last few weeks.

In addition to sleep, Dylan and I have also had some other new experiences this week. Not surprising news to most, I've become a bit of a work out fiend over the last several years. What started out as a necessity to shed the pounds turned into a habit that I just don't know how to stop (and frankly don't need to since it's a healthy habit to have). I was looking for ways to incorporate Dylan into that and have found a few.

1) Luckily Dylan loves his stroller. We've taken many a walk with him over the past couple of months and he's (mostly) enjoyed every one of them. Last week, I even started to run with him a bit.

2) Monday, Dylan and I tried out a Stroller Fit class. It incorporates working out with, well, your stroller (and of course the kid in the stroller). I found out about the class from a couple of friends of mine that did it and liked it. While I like the concept and got a great work out, I'm not sure whether or not we'll sign up for more classes. Mostly because I'm paying money for some other work out things and am not sure if I want to shell out more dough. Also, though, I'm not quite enough in the mommy world to feel comfortable singing kids songs in the park while working out....especially since my kid is too young to pay attention (in fact, he slept through the whole class). Very cool concept of a class though!

3) Yesterday, Dylan and I started a mommy and infant yoga class at our community center. It being only half an hour in length and incorporating a baby, I didn't expect it to be too challenging for me. It wasn't. Dylan seemed to enjoy it immensely though. Not to boast (okay, maybe to boast a little) but he was the only baby that didn't cry during class. It was really fun to learn some yoga moves that would help me get some stretching in AND interact with the little guy. Plus, the community center's on the other side of town, so coupling the class with a walk to the center and home gave a decent workout. I was running late yesterday so it was actually a run there!

I hope to set a good example for him and get him started early in life living an active healthy lifestyle.

Days End

Sunrise or sunset? Most people tend to have a preference for one or the other. Mike and I are sunset people. Why? 1) We think the colors are usually prettier than a sunrise and 2) we'd much rather be awake for the sunset than the sunrise.

We get a great view of the sunset from our front porch. Many a night we'll go out and enjoy a nice sunset. A couple of days ago, Mike got some nice shots of a particularly beautiful one.

Sunset (try to ignore the power lines)

Cool Reflection Of It Off Of The House

Baby in the Hood(ie)

Just wanted to share some Dylan cuteness. Who doesn't have love babies in hoodies?

Ah, The Elusive Sleep

I feel like I haven't slept in 2 months. Right, that would be because I haven't. When I asked friends advice about parenthood while I was pregnant an answer I got several times was "just get through the first few months and then it will get better." That phrase has stayed in my head and I've repeated it to myself many a time, normally in the middle of the night.

Now don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed this little bundle of joy immensely. Even when I feel so tired I don't think I can walk without the chance of falling on my face, Dylan can make me smile with something as minute as a cute kick or gurgle. Though the last 2 months have been some of the most wonderful in my life, in other ways, they have been 2 of the hardest in my life.

Not getting sleep makes basic functioning challenging at times. As y'all know, Mike and I have it "easy" in our situation with the both of us being at home. This has allowed us to sleep in shifts. While one of us is taking care of the kid, the other has the freedom to nap. Basically, this means that Mike is staying generally well rested. I, on the other hand am not. This is because of two main reasons.

1) Napping is difficult. I try, I really do. Even when I don't feel like I can fall asleep, I will go to bed and try when I have the chance. The world is against me in this effort. Usually, after about 15-30 minutes of laying down, I will start to doze off. It's usually around this time that a baby starts crying downstairs (and that darn motherly instinct makes it impossible to drown out even if he's being well taken care of by Dad), the neighbor's landscapers show up and start using leaf blowers or someone rings the doorbell.

2) Breastfeeding is hard....really hard. Now, that's something I was also told by several before giving birth. Regardless, I decided to be committed to the decision to do it. I'm not sure exactly what my interpretation of "hard" was, but it's definitely proving to be a different kind of difficult than I thought it would be. At first (up until just a few weeks ago), it was physically hard. We had lots of logistics problems with it that caused a lot of pain for me (I won't go further into it so as not to make anyone too uncomfortable). However, I had thought once those had gotten resolved, and they have, that it would be smooth sailing. What I've realized now, however, is that breastfeeding is emotionally hard.

Having a child is obviously a HUGE responsibility. But having two parents to care for the child makes it a little less scary. When breastfeeding is concerned though, I am solely responsible for the absolute biggest need for this child - his food. Babies eat a lot....a whole lot....and really often. What starts out as a huge physical responsibility turns into, very quickly, a very difficult emotional responsibility. Suddenly, the weight of taking care of this little being becomes overwhelming, scary, a burden and yes, even wonderful. It's a little crazy to try and take all of those emotions at once. Now, throw in the factor of no sleep (because of having to be up every 2-3 hours for feedings) and those emotions become almost unbearable. See, emotionally hard.

I know that someday I will be able to sleep for (gasp) 4 hours (or more!) at a time. Every night I cross my fingers and pray that "this will be the night." So far, other than that one fluke incident a few weeks ago, that has not happened. The day will come though...the day will come. And when it does, I'm going to be one happy girl!

Just Not Himself

Dylan had his 2 month check up yesterday. He "passed" with flying colors! He's in great health and growing like a weed. Though we're not sure, we think the growth spurt of last week is over.

After 6 nights of very little sleep because of him eating every two hours, we've had 2 nights that have been back to relatively normal - that being a 4 hour stretch and a 3 hour stretch in between feedings. Monday a week ago, I was in the hospital for an appointment for myself, so I took Dylan by to the pediatrician to get weighed (this being before the torture of ridiculous amounts of feedings last week). He was 10 pounds 1 oz. That's up from 7 lbs 14 oz at his one month check up about 3 weeks prior to that. Now, flash forward to the appointment on Tuesday, only 8 days after the 10 pound weighing and he measured in at 11 pounds! Wow! Almost an entire pound in a week. All that eating really paid off.

So, he's healthy and gaining weight great. Unfortunately, there was a downside to the appointment - vaccinations! Yes, I know they're necessary and great for him long term, but they can be hard on a mom. He got 3 vaccinations. One was oral. He took that one like a champ! I wish they could all be that way! The other two, however, were shots.

Two nurses came in so that they could administer them both, one in each thigh, at the same time. Mike stayed at the examination table with them while I, choosing not to look, initialed the forms for them. I'm not sure not seeing it made it any easier. As all parents out there are sure to understand, listening to your baby, whom you'll do anything to keep happy and safe, give a blood curdling cry of pain is just absolutely heartbreaking! Ugh! Mike scooped him up after the shots and started to administer to post shot comfort. I grabbed our stuff, we headed out of the office and Dylan, the brave boy he is, was calmed by the time we entered the hallway. It took me a little longer to recover. :-)

He's having some reactions to the vaccinations. Nothing serious, but he's definitely not been himself since the appointment yesterday. He's not been eating quite as much as he usual does in a feeding, he didn't enjoy his walk too much yesterday (and he ALWAYS loves being in his stroller) and he's been needing to be held non stop. Poor little guy just doesn't seem to be feeling great. We're doing all that we can to comfort him. Hopefully he'll be back to a happy, feel good baby in no time.

First Date

Last Friday was Mike and my first date post baby. Other than a quick dinner together the week after Dylan was born, while my parents were in town, this was our first time together sans baby in almost 9 weeks!

We went with the classic date route - dinner and a movie. We're both fans of Harry Potter, the books and the movies. The 6th movie in the series, Harry Potter And The Half Blood Prince, was out in theaters July 15th. Seeing as how we had a one week old baby then, opening night was not an option. Our goal was to see it before it left the theaters and we were thrilled to accomplish it!

To prepare for the movie, I reread the book. Obviously, you can't shove an entire 600 page book into a movie time frame, but for the most part, the movie did a great job of condensing the plot. There were only a couple of times when I didn't understand why they chose the literary license they took. We enjoyed the flick. More importantly, after 5 days of very little sleep, we both managed to stay awake all the way through it!

After the movie, we headed to get some dinner. Although we spend a lot of our days at home together, it's surprising how little time we have to chat about much other than baby care, house chores and life scheduling. It was really nice to be able to sit face to face and have a conversation about other topics and reconnect.

Mike's parents were gracious enough to offer to babysit while we took some time to ourselves. They seemed to enjoy getting to spend some time with their new grandson. Dylan, Nana and Bumpa all seemed happy when we arrived home so we considered the night a HUGE success!

Happy 2 Months!

Today is Dylan's 2 month birthday! Wow! This little guy is really growing up fast. We're on night #6 of this growth spurt and are still not getting much sleep. Normal functioning is at an all time low but we're surviving and watching this boy get longer and chubbier every moment. Even when we're grumpy because of getting zero shut eye, Dylan manages to make us ridiculously happy.

Let's see, what are some of the new things he's doing. Well, his smiles are starting to be more in reaction to what we're doing and less random. They're great to see. Here's one I took this morning of Mike giving Dylan a tickle.

Dylan's finding his hands more and able to keep them in his mouth, which makes him very happy. He's discovered the wonders of staring at the ceiling fan and is also starting to coo a bit more. Unfortunately, his hair is disappearing by the day but lucky for him he's still adorable with a bald head. His favorite activities are cuddling with mom and dad and, when feeling a bit more active, kicking around furiously.

Dylan and Giraffe

It's Ruff Being a Baby

Dylan has a cute little shirt that says that. He's wearing it in the picture below. I learned this week that when it's "ruff" being a baby, it's rough being a mommy.

What I can only hope is a result of a growth spurt and not a new habit, Dylan has been an eating fool this week - meals every 2 hours! That means I'm now going on 5 nights straight with not more than 1.5 hours of sleep at a time. It's been a hard week, to say the least. I'm not feeling too human. After 4 nights of it, I called the doctor to make sure this could still be a growth spurt, confirming his health, and hopefully to give me some sort of light at the end of the tunnel. They confirmed that it definitely could be a growth spurt and it could last up to 2 weeks! I certainly hope those 2 nights last week in NH can be counted in that amount of time because I'm honestly not sure how much longer I can function this way!

So, it hasn't been the most productive week for us as Mike and I have have basically been sleeping in shifts. I honestly don't know how I could have gotten through it if both of us hadn't been home full time. I know there are mothers out there that have had to get through these kinds of weeks solo and I give a HUGE tip of my hat to them!

We did manage one outing yesterday. As a result of Dylan's growth spurt, he now can wear some of the adorable shorts he's had hanging in his closet. Before this week, his little belly wasn't quite wide enough to fill in those waistbands and keep them up. So, on our errand yesterday, he sported a pair. His little feet have also gotten big enough to keep on the too ridonkulously adorable flip flops we got for him.

Summer Stud!

It's sights like this that just fill my heart and keep me going despite the lack of sleep! He's just too cute and fills our hearts with a whole lotta joy. Now, let's just get a close up on those flip flops!

Can You Stand It?!?!?!

An Introduction to the Mountains

At almost 7 weeks of age, we decided it was about time for a change of scenery and an intro trip to our second home in the white mountains. So, the Saturday before last, we packed up the car (and I mean packed to the brim) and headed to NH. But, not before a little visit from some relatives.....

In converting our guest room to the nursery, we found that we no longer had room for a piece of family furniture that my parents had brought up to me when I bought my first condo 7 years ago. The piece had originally belonged to my father's grandparents. So, in the effort of keeping it in the family, he sent an email to some of his cousins in May to see if they would be interested in taking the chifferobe. As luck would have it, they were excited to take it and announced they would be driving up in August to get it. Some things (very few) just work out easy....man it's cool when that happens!

So, early that Saturday afternoon, my Dad's cousins, Shirley and Jerry Anne (as well as their husbands Bobby and Vic) arrived from driving up from Dallas and Missouri (wow!) to get their "Mammaw's" chifferobe. In the short time they were here, they met Dylan, quickly proceeded to help spoil him, took a tour of the house, had a nice visit and loaded up the furniture piece and left. It was pretty cool to have relatives "drop by"...that rarely happens since 99.9% of my kinfolk live about 2000 plus miles away!

After they left, we headed off for NH. It's about 2 hours from our house and this would be the longest car trip Dylan had been on. It was a bad omen when he started screaming just before getting on the highway, but a few moments with the binky in his mouth, he fell asleep and stayed that way until after we had gotten the car unpacked at our condo.

That night, Mike fed Dylan his first bottle! I was a bit surprised at the mixed emotions I felt over this little act. Until that moment, I had been solely responsible for his food. While I thought that I felt a wee bit imprisoned by that, I didn't really like to not have the control when he drank from the bottle. Strange the things that affect me now that I'm a mom. I never would have thought drinking from a bottle would be a big deal!

Daddy Feeding Dylan His First Bottle

Apparently, babies can make their preferences pretty early on and "they" recommend having them try a bottle no later than 3-4 weeks or the baby might prefer not to take it. We long missed our window on that. However, Dylan didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, he took the bottle a little TOO well! It was like pouring water down a drain...my baby sucked it down! The next day, we took a little trip to Walmart in the next town over to buy a slower flow bottle.

Dylan Sucking It Down

With our car packed to the brim with tons of baby crap, you would think we had everything we could have possibly needed. Of course, though, we forgot the carrier that would have allowed us to take him on a little hike. Ugh! So, Mike came up with a plan B of taking Dylan in his stroller on the bike trail they have through Franconia Notch. We started out at The Basin and walked up to the Lafayette Campground and back. As you can see from the pics below, Dylan thoroughly enjoyed it by sleeping peacefully for the entire walk.

Other than our walk through Franconia Notch, we spent our days there as we normally do at home, taking care of and hanging out with Dylan, and also squeezed in a couple of rounds of tennis. It was a great first trip there and the first of many for our little baby.