Growing

12 weeks ago I was lying in a hospital bed with my son, just an hour old.

Today I spent lunch with hub and son at the mall. Will sat on my hip and looked at everything, just soaking in all there was to see.  He smiled and cooed and, occasionally, lost neck control and plopped his head on my shoulder.

It's amazing how fast the time goes.

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A [Little] Person

Today at church, one of the church ladies came up to me to give me a homemade salve she had made from herbs from her garden for baby cuts, rashes, and general ailments.  I thanked her (because that's AWESOME).  She then looked at my little boy and said something that nearly brought me to tears. 

I have lots of people comment on how cute my baby boy is - and let's be honest, he's ridiculously cute.  :-) 

I mean, look at that face!

But this particular lady didn't comment on how adorable he is.  She looked into his eyes and smiled at him.  He looked at her and smiled back, his big, beautiful grin.  She continued to look into his eyes and said to me, "Wow, look at that.  Look at those eyes.  He's so smart.  He's learning right now - what a smart little boy.  You just wait, he's going to keep you on your toes being that smart."  At that, my heart grew tender.

I've been told by fellow moms how amazing it is to watch your baby grow into their personality.  I can already see in Will little pieces of that personality beginning to grow.  It was surprising to me how special the moment was when someone else, practically a stranger, looked into his eyes and saw that, too.  She saw Will.  She didn't just see the sweet blue eyes, or the chubby baby cheeks, or the toothless grin.  She saw a smart, engaged, happy little person. 

I hope there will be many people throughout his life who can look and SEE him.  And I hope that those teachers, friends, family, and church ladies will help him to achieve all of which he's capable. 

So, thank you, for the salve and for seeing my amazing little boy. 

He thinks I'm HILARIOUS

Okay, mom!

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Escape-ades

So, my life revolves slightly around an amazing 10-week-old boy, so a few other things have gone by the wayside as far as blogging goes.  I'll slowly catch you up on all the goodness, boy-related and otherwise.  For today, however, we're going to focus on a certain Schnauzer.

He may be the size of an elf, but he
can cause a whole lot of trouble.

Geoff, Will and I took a two week vacation from life to visit family over the holidays.  We spent a week in Utah with Geoff's side of the family followed by a week in California with my side.  Overall the trip was great (exhausting!) and we had a blast (more on that later).  It wasn't without a few snags. 

A couple days into the trip, we were out and about in Utah when my phone rang.  It was a number I didn't recognize, so I let it go to voicemail.  A few moments later I had a message.  "Hello," a strange man's voice said, "I believe I've got your dog."

Somehow, Romulus had gotten out of the yard.  Thankfully, this good neighbor had nabbed him.  Our dog sitter (AKA our hero) went and picked him up.  He then surveyed the yard and couldn't see how he had gotten out.  We figured it was a fluke and carried on. 

Three days later, I was lying in bed when my phone rang.  Again, I didn't recognize the number and didn't think much of it.  When I listened to the message?  "Hello," a strange women's voice said, "I believe I've got your dog."  This time is was 12:30am in Utah, which made it 1:30am at home...on a Thursday night.  I contacted my dog sitter and pretty much everyone else I knew in Fargo - no responses.  The lady graciously agreed to keep him 'til morning when a friend of ours (AKA our other hero) was able to pick him up and take him home. 

For the rest of our trip, he wasn't allowed outside without supervision. 

Upon our arrival home, our dog sitter had determined the area of the fence he had manage to squeeze underneath for his escape and placed wood down to block his exit.  Rom didn't see that as a problem and pushed it aside with his nose and disappeared just a couple days after we returned.  This resulted in Will and I driving around the block for nearly an hour before we found him. 

And there had been no other incidents, until Thursday.  I had let the dogs out to do their business.  As they were out, Will decided it was time for some attention, so I went to his aid.  Both dogs returned inside for dinner.  I fed them and then went to play with the boy.  I forgot the door was still open.  And, thus, Rom was gone. 

I, once again, loaded Will into the car and drove around the block repeatedly.  After 45 minutes, I decided the task was futile.  It was dark and cold and Will was getting cranky.  So, we came home and said a prayer that Rom would be safe and someone would find him. 

Someone did.  About another 45 minutes later I got a call from a sweet old lady.  "Hello," she said, "I believe I've got your dog."  I rushed to the address she gave me only to realize that my dog had crossed 6 lanes of a heavily trafficked road during rush hour.  And managed to make it to the other side alive. 

Needless to say, we went to Home Depot that night and purchased some bricks.  Our luck has been two good to risk yet another escape.  Crazy dog. 

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NINE

9 weeks.  It has been 9 amazing weeks since Will was born.  9 weeks ago at this time I was lying in my hospital bed, a sleeping baby in the bassinet beside me, a Diet Mountain Dew and Jimmy Johns sandwich in my belly for the first time in 9 months, marveling with Geoff over the miracle that had just occurred. 

I took him to the breastfeeding group I attend weekly (soon to be bi-monthly as I go back to work) and he weighed in at 11 pounds 1 ounce.  He's gained over 4 pounds since he came home from the hospital! 

His bedtime routine seems to be working out well.  In fact, he's decided he likes to go to bed earlier than I planned for him.  He's been in bed tonight since 8pm.  He's also been practicing sucking his thumb.  At first I really wanted to prevent this, but since he's still probably months away from really being able to put his own pacifier in his mouth, I'd love it if he could soothe himself with his thumb.  Especially because it seems unavoidable at this point that he'll be a thumb sucker. 

He's a happy little guy nearly all the time.  He cries, as babies do, but typically it's short lived and because he's hungry or sleepy or wet.  He loves to play and smile and if it were possible, he'd love to be able to sit on his own.  He hates to be lying down or stuck in a position where he can't see what's going on.  He's just too curious. 

He's not a good napper.  He napped today, but just because I was out and about and he fell asleep in the car seat.  If we're home all day, he has a hard time just closing his eyes - I guess nap time will be a task for daddy to tackle!

I love that he's getting big enough to wear some of his 3 month clothes because he's got so much cute stuff and I enjoy putting together outfits for him.  I think his legs must be skinny, though, because all of the pants are quite baggy on him as of yet. 

Anyway, enjoy some pictures and have a wonderful evening.  I'll be blogging about my posters tomorrow, hopefully. 

Holding tight onto his daddy's fingers.

Enjoying his bedtime bath.

So happy during playtime in his "gym."

Getting sooo good at lifting up his head.

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Sleep Tight

So, as I teased at the end of my last blog post, step 2 in my mission to gain some control over my life before I go back to work is getting Will into a proper bedtime routine (and, hopefully, along with that a more regular sleep schedule and duration). 
The planned routine goes as follows:

1) Tummy Time while Mommy draws a bath.
2) Bathtime
3) Infant Massage (I took a class at my hospital - I wish I got a massage every night)
Note: The massage is done in the bedroom with only his nightlight and the hall light on.  After bathtime, only minimal light is used. 
4) Pajamas and Swaddled
5) Nurse/Feed
6) Story/Scriptures/Prayer/Song
7) Sound Machine On
8) Baby in crib

Day 1 of the full routine on Monday started out like this:

Things didn't improve from there.  I woke him up for the bath and he cried...make that screamed...the whole time.  The massage was amended to just a few strokes since he was so mad.  The feeding and scripture time went as planned.  I laid him down to bed around 8:45pm. 

A few minutes later he was full out crying (I'll let him make some noise before I'll come to the rescue).  So, I rocked him and tried again...and again.  Eventually he went to sleep for good around 9:50pm.  Not too bad for the first night. 

Day 2 (tonight) started out like this:

A better omen.  He loved his bath and his massage went really well.  Up until the very end he was enjoying it very much.  I swaddled him up and fed him and he fell asleep during the song and prayer.  I rocked him a bit longer - mostly because I was enjoying it so much.  And I layed him down in the crib around 9pm.  So far he has stirred a couple times, but giving him his pacifier and waiting for a few minutes has sent him back to dream land.  We'll see what time he actually falls asleep.  And how long he stays asleep. 

But, so far, so good.  Now, I just have to be consistent! 

I'll tell you this, though, I'm going to look forward to this Mommy-Will time every single night!

Step 2: Bedtime Routine - in progress. 

Step 3: Routine and Milestone Charts!

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New Year? New Everything.

A lot of people have been posting this week about their New Year's Resolutions.  I'm typically a big "resolutioner" and have a list of things to do (almost always including a weight loss or exercise goal).  This year, I'm just putting "survive" at the top of my list. 

With my first day back at work looming just a week away, I think I've re-entered the nesting phase.  I want, so desperately, to get everything organized and routine before I go back to work so I can spend my time at home with the boy and avoid all the distraction that life can bring. 

First order of business - cooking.  I took my plan out for a test run today, and things went surprisingly smoothly.  I made a menu for the week of items that can be made ahead and frozen until it is time to eat.  This consisted of crock pot chicken, shepherd's pie, eggplant casserole, stuffed peppers, and beef stew.  Will spent some time watching (and learning) from his bouncer and some time strapped to me with the carrier.  It took two feeding breaks and 4 hours - but all the dinners are prepared for the week.  I will be doing this on the weekends so that Geoff and I won't have to think about cooking during the week (this should help to save money, time, and our waistlines). 

Along for the cooking ride.

Watching from the bouncer, learning about
potatoes and carrots and pineapple.

I'm exhausted and hopeful that Will will go to bed before 11pm tonight, but it was good to see that I can get it all done in a relatively short period of time. 

Going back to work just means I have to get really organized.  Our lives are about to get pretty crazy with Geoff switching to night shifts and watching the baby and going to school during the days, with me returning to work full time and baby duty in the evenings.  We are certainly going to make it work, because we are awesome, but it won't be without its challenges.  Especially since I'm going to miss that boy so much each day. 

But, step one: Food is under control. 

Next up, step two: bedtime ritual for baby. 

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