Welcome to the Club

Initiation.

I am now an official member of the mother club.

I got pooped on.

Gross.

The Furry Siblings

Well, Dylan's been home over a month now. He's still unaware of the furry siblings that surround him, but they are well aware of his presence. They are, shall we say, slowly adjusting to the new family member.

Oliver has made progress. Even though his usual night time spot is snuggling next to my head, he's been avoiding the room with the screaming baby. However, in the last week, he has thought about rejoining us in the night time hours. A couple of nights, he has ventured onto the bed, but not in his usual spot...that's far too close to the bassinet at my bedside where the screaming thing sleeps. He has slept on the bed right smack dab in the middle of Mike and me. Good progress. I think there was one quiet morning that he slipped into his usual snuggle spot next to me for about 5 minutes. I'll happily take any progress, though I do miss him being at my side. I also witnessed him sniffing Dylan's toes while he was in his bouncy chair sleeping yesterday!

As for Luci, well, she's working on accepting the baby. Before bringing Dylan home, she fled upstairs and hid under a bed whenever a child was in the house. Now, she will be in the same room with Dylan, even when he's crying! She won't go near him, but being in any kind of proximity is a big step up. Also, when Mike's nephews were over for dinner last weekend, she even let the youngest one pet her (while being bribed with treats). I was so proud of my little Luci!

Smokey, the chinchilla, has accepted the baby completely. She has no problem bouncing around the room with him in there. Normally, she bounds off of anything in her way but she's avoided jumping on baby...well, I think she jumped on his head once, but for her, that's behaving extremely well!

Oh, and a side note on chinchillas. Apparently the pads on their feet can work an iPhone. I was on the phone in the room with her jumping around one night and she jumped on the phone, which was sitting on the couch (I was using the headphones), and she hung up my call! Really weird.

I Get Lost In Your Eyes

I'm not sure I ever understood Debbie Gibson's song as much as I do now! When Dylan's awake, I stare into his beautiful eyes as much as possible. Who wouldn't get lost in these baby blues?

I wonder if this is the color I'll be staring at for many years to come or if they'll morph into some other beautiful hue? Only time will tell.

Scenes On a Lazy Sunday

Last Sunday, we did as we do most days, we spent time taking care of and hanging out with our baby boy. We took some cute pictures on that day that I thought I'd share.

Dylan Loves His Binky

Sacked Out on Dad's Arm

As also happens on a regular basis, we had a visitor. Mike's sister, Maureen, came by and visited for a while. In usual form, she stole my baby from us for the time she was here and showered him with snuggles and kisses.

Dylan with Auntie Maureen

Hiking on the Fells

Well, we're not taking on mountains just quite yet, but we are getting Dylan started on spending some time walking through the great outdoors! Last Saturday, we had a little outing over to Mike's parents house and took a hike in an area by their house called the Fells. Mike's Dad (and Dylan's middle name's sake), Mike and I headed out on the Fells for about an hour.

Dylan did very well in his carrier and I did pretty well carrying him in it, though it affects your balance a bit more than I expected. Also, it was a hot day and having a little hot baby shoved up against you made me feel the temperature a bit more, but all in all, it was a great little hike.

We ascended for a bit, checked out a waterfall (tried to stop for pictures but the mosquitoes quickly moved in so we moved on) then got to a rocky peak where we got a nice view of Boston in the distance one way and a nice view over the town Mike grew up in the other way. Dylan slept peacefully throughout the entire hike.

View of Boston (far distance), the Top of Dylan's Head and Me

A Bit of Dylan's Face

We had a nice time and are now trying to work out when we'll be making our first trip with the little guy to NH. It will be soon!

1 Month

Dylan is one month old today!

I know a few folks that measure their baby's growth (visually) by sitting them with a big stuffed animal. Well, I think it's a great idea and have now stolen it for my own!

It's been a very busy month getting to know him and learning how to take care of him. Whirlwind is definitely the only word I can think of to describe it! We've truly been blessed with this wonderful, good natured, adorable little boy and are enjoying every minute of parenthood. OK, maybe the getting up in the middle of the night's not ridiculously fun, but it's definitely not as awful as I thought it would be.

Happy 1 month birthday my sweet little boy!

(Note: I couldn't figure out a great way to get Dylan propped up beside it, but he'll be sitting beside it on his own in no time, I'm sure. Also, this is the outfit we brought him home from the hospital in. It was swimming on him then, but he's filling it out nicely now.)

Slowly Workin' (Out) Back Up to It

Several days after returning home from the hospital, I trekked 8 blocks to and from the parked car on a shopping trip. I had been feeling really good and took it slowly so thought it would be okay. That evening, I was incredibly uncomfortable! It was then that I realized I would definitely not be jumping back into my workout routine. I would be forced to take it slowly.

Since then, I started with walks around the block. Once I was sure my body was okay, I ventured out for longer, slow treks with Dylan in the stroller and sometimes joined by Mike. My distance and speed have gradually increased. Now, we're regularly taking family walks for about an hour several times a week. I'm ready for more!

Getting the pregnancy weight off is a top priority for me. I had been very happy with my physical fitness and body image pre-pregnancy and yearn to feel that way again. So, it's time to get serious and go for heavier workouts.

Yesterday, I made the big leap back to my weight lifting class at the gym. I hadn't been since early into my 8th month of pregnancy. I stuck with about the same weights I had been using then (a far cry from my pre-pregnancy amounts) and I made it through unharmed! Wahoo! I'm back!

Now that I'm confident my body is ready for more, I'm going to be setting a routine that I'll hopefully be able to stick to. Today, the family is going to go for a walk then play a little tennis. I also hope to fit in more weight lifting this week and possibly some yoga. Baby weight loss, here I come!