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.

Pool Party

Last week, during the brunt of the heat wave, a friend invited us over for a pool party. Our answer to the invitation was an enthusiastic yes! We shopped around for some "little swimmers" for Dylan to wear in the pool, but apparently the smallest size they make is for 16-25 pounds. Since Dylan's probably around 8.5, those were going to be just a wee bit too big. So, it was going to be a diaper swim for him.

We went over last Friday afternoon - Mike, Dylan and myself. There were other babies and parents there also so it was a new party dynamic for us to experience. It was a little strange to be one of the parents in a crowd, but it was a great crowd and we had a great time. And, of course, it was SO awesome to be able to cool off in the pool. This was Dylan's first time going for a swim, outside of the uterus, so we had to catch it on film!

First, we dipped his feet in for a test run:

He didn't start screaming so we took that as a good sign to put him all the way in. I'm still not sure whether he liked it or not because he made the following face the entire time I bobbed him around in the water:

However, he did not cry, so I think he was more confused as to what was going on more than anything....and maybe a bit cold! All in all, it was a pretty successful first swim.

Oh, and it was absolutely amazing at how big and heavy that diaper got in the pool! That thing must have quadrupled in the size and weighed about 5 pounds. You'd think with that capacity to expand and absorb we shouldn't be having any of these poo accidents we've been having. What's up with that?

Oh What A Beautiful Mornin'!

Wow! I just got 6.5 hours of sleep all at the same time! That hasn't happened since, well, probably pre-pregnancy. The medical definition of a baby sleeping through the night is 5 hours so we passed a HUGE milestone last night!

Since the night Dylan came home, he regularly gave us 3.5 to 4 hour stretches of sleep. Not bad for a newborn. However, that amount of time hadn't increased in the last 7 and a half weeks. In fact, earlier this week, Dylan had a growth spurt and we had two nights in a row where he was eating every 2 hours. That meant only 1.5 hours of sleep at a time for me. I know I'm spoiled with a good baby, because those 2 nights in a row of that kind of sleep were pretty rough!

So, imagine my shock when, after putting him to bed around 10:30 last night, I woke to a clock that said 5 o'clock this morning. I had no idea this sleeping through the night thing was going to happen so quickly. What was most surprising to me is that my initial reaction wasn't elation that I had gotten to sleep that long but pride that he had passed such a huge baby milestone. Perhaps that mothering instinct has truly kicked in full force.

Now, we just have to see if he'll do it again!

Some Like It Hot..

...but I'm not one of them. Mike's not a big fan, the cats don't seem to enjoy it and apparently Dylan's not into it either. Poor little guy. He just want to be snuggled and is too miserable being snuggled in the heat.

This heat wave that Boston has been having can go! Now, I know my Texan peeps will think me silly for having a hard time with a few days in the 90s, but let's just get the full picture here. I don't have central air conditioning in my house. The only rooms in my house that are being cooled are the lounge downstairs and our bedroom upstairs. The rest of it is not. The thermostat in my dining room, which is the next coolest room in the house since it's next to the lounge and the door to that A\C'd room always has to be cracked for the cats to get in and out, reads 85 degrees. That's 85 (minimum) in my house! Yuck!

So, all of us and the critters are doing are best to be as still as possible to stay as cool as possible. We do a lot of migrating back and forth from the two cool rooms but I'm really ready to be able to have free reign in the house again. I'm looking forward to the next front to come through and cool this town down!

First Play Date

Today, Dylan had his first "play date." Yeah, I realize that he's too young to do anything but sit in a stroller or in my lap, but this was our first time meeting up with friends at the park. So, I think it counts as a play date.

My good friend, Kari, and her son, Luke, live in our neighborhood. Due to circumstances and timing, Dylan and his "new best friend" (as I hope they are to become) had not yet met. Today was the big day. Dylan and I met them at the park and we hung out and talked for a bit. Luke seemed very interested in Dylan and wanted to "get" his little feet and hands. Very sweet, but Luke hasn't yet learned how to be gentle just yet so we had to be a little cautious with letting him get too close.

It was a hot day and we can't be out of the house too long between feedings, so it was a quick rendezvous, but I hope it's the first of many.