We'll Take You Up on That.

At over a month and a half now, I thought it was possibly time for a quick update from the trenches of motherhood.

He'll get better at posing... right?

We thought it would be fun if Daddy was in

the pictures for H's monthly shots.

We're actually doing well. Little Man has gotten himself into a bit of a routine that consists of: sleep, diaper change, eat, sleep, repeat. He's a great day time sleeper for the most part, and his sleep at night is getting better weekly. Just last night he slept from 12:30am - 6:30am! Of course, he is a newborn, so sleeping straight through the night is more like a welcome surprise than an expected occurrence. I'll take it though.'

I'm thankful that he and I were able to get into a good breastfeeding habit. I'm thankful that even though we had some tiny hiccups at first, everything seems to have worked itself out, and now we're both comfortable with each other. I'm thankful, also, that for the most part, every day I'm able to pump an extra bottle, so Husband can feed him for one feeding through the night, allowing me to sleep through it.

Milk drunk on Mommie's birthday

Our plan originally was to have Babykins sleep in the Pack'n'Play in our room for the first six months. You know what they say about plans... Anyways, he hates the Pack'n'Play with a fiery passion, and so Little Man has been sleeping in his crib nightly since he was about 2.5 weeks old. That being said, I'll go ahead and admit that our best purchase post-baby-birth has been a baby monitor. We registered for one and never received it, and then we decided not to bother getting one with our gift cards since he was going to be in our room. Well when he decided he wanted to be a Big Boy and sleep in his own room, Husband and I spent two weeks sleeping on the floor since we were unable to hear the cries from our room. I would take the first shift- including the task of getting him down for the night. My shift ended around 3am. Hubs' alarm clock would go off around 2:45, giving him time to pee and wake up a little before coming to wake me from my restless slumber on the floor so he could take over. Note that I, specifically, HAD to sleep on the floor since I couldn't lean back in the rocking chair in a way that would be comfortable with the broken tailbone.

And then enter the monitor. Since then, we've both been sleeping in our bed and, depending on the time of night, we each take turns getting up if Little Man wakes up. Lately, we've fallen into a routine where Hubs takes the first "shift" and gets H down for the night, and sometimes gives him the pumped bottle. Then I have been taking the later part (also known as "early morning") shift so Hubs can get up and get dressed for work.

My 27th birthday, and a baby who can't contain his excitement.

We've been getting better about understanding what Babykins wants when he's crying, and have a sort of mental list we go down. Hungry? No. Diaper? No. Cold? Try hat, then hat and socks, then just socks. Warm? Remove footed onesie and wrap in lightweight blanket. Of course, sometimes he's just overtired and fussy. We learned last night that packing him into the car seat and resting him on top of the dryer while it's running will calm him down. (Note: don't leave baby unattended on the dryer!) He did wake up when he was removed from the car seat/dryer situation, but he was calm, and therefore much more easily soothed to sleep with the 5 S's.

Speaking of the 5 S's (from Dr. Harvey Karp's book The Happiest Baby on the Block, which was given me us by a neighbor with a 9 month old baby boy), we tried it last week, and really haven't looked back.

1. Swaddle
2. Side/Stomach
3. Shush
4. Swing
5. Suck.

We've never actually needed to get to the fifth S. Usually Little Man is asleep by Swing. I recommend it. It doesn't always work, and those times (like last night before being calmed by the dryer) are extraordinarily frustrating.

I can really tell some days that I've really become a mom. I'm proud of things I never thought I'd be proud of: pooping, passing gas, burping, not crying through bath time. And things I never knew were a big deal, are suddenly a big deal. Like when my itty-bitty 6 lb 2 oz, 19'5" baby boy outgrows his Preemie-sized clothes and I have to muster up the strength to pack up his little train onesie and monster footie PJs. At last (rough) measure, Babykins is already about 23.5"-24" long. He seriously needs to stop. Is it too much to ask for him to stay tiny, but get potty-trained and sleep through the night? I don't think so.

Little Man had his first bath in the tub on July 7- his due date. His first restaurant outing was July 13 to PF Changs. The first time he rolled from tummy to back was at 6.5 weeks old on August 3rd.

Mommie and Daddy had their first night out without Babykins on August 1. I'm proud to say that even though a large portion of our conversations were about Little Man himself, I resisted the urge to respond to texts from his loving babysitters (his DiDi and Aunt Sarah). Though I did carefully inspect the photos I was sent. Husband and I had a lovely evening out that consisted of all-you-can-eat meat at Texas de Brazil, a nice stroll through Bridgestreet and Barnes and Noble, popsicles from Steel City Pops, and a drink at the Melting Pot. Around 9 we decided we were tired and headed home to a sweetly sleeping baby who then woke up and stayed up for several hours.

After his first bath in the tub!

I am proud to say that the lack of sleep being caused by having a new baby hasn't really been overly killing me yet. A month and a half of getting 1-2 hours of sleep per 24 hours due to the cholestasis really prepared for me for motherhood. I'm not going to say I'm thankful that I had the liver disorder, but I will say I'm thankful that I'm getting much more sleep now than I had been before H was born.

In other news, my mom, MiMi is moving here! The plan was for her to move here, live with us and watch H during the day when I went back to work until he had a spot at his day care. Long story short, everything about the plan changed (except for her living with us at first), and H's original day care told us they wouldn't have a spot for him until October at the earliest! Well that won't work because I go back to work on August 11! So we scrambled around and found him the absolute last spot that any day care had to offer, and it just happened to be a very nice, reputable, Christian day care that is close to both mine and Hubs' work. We are pleased.

We are slowly redefining our definition of "normalcy" and we're not unhappy with the results. Overall, Babykins is a joy to be around, and we're enjoying being his parents.

But if you feel like babysitting, we'll take you up on that.


Token puppy shot:

This is puppy from the other side of the door. Hubs

and I were trying to calm Babykins in the nursery

with the door closed, and poor Puppy wanted in to

see and play with Baby Brother sooooo bad!