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.