Well Hello February!

I know it's been a while since I did a blog post. January just doesn't ever seem to be my month to want to write anything. Normally it's just cold, boring, and traditionally stressful because of work. I don't have that excuse this year, but taking care of the baby should count for something.

However January wasn't a total loss- I was semi-productive. I attend a few breast-feeding support group meetings, found a babysitter to take care of little man on the days that myself or my mom will not be watching him, and Sam and I did sneak away for a short getaway! 

A few months back (when I really was needing a break from the babe), Sam and I decided we would join a group of our friends who traditionally go to Galena, Illinois every winter. 

We had been on the trip once before with these friends; and it seemed like a great way to have some husband and wife time without a baby around. Also I knew Sam's parents would be very excited to get to spend the whole weekend with little man. So it was a win for everyone involved! 

 

Doesn't  he look excited for his weekend?!?

Sam and I got up to Galena Friday night, and we pretty much just had dinner and hung out- nothing too crazy. Then on Saturday we decided to walk the town and check out some of the wineries and shops. We also picked up some tasty treats while we were there!

However we decided to cut our trip short because we knew a big snowstorm was coming Saturday into Sunday. Before we had Sammy, we might have brave the drive, however I wanted to make sure we got back to little man safe and sound. Also, I didn't want to chance getting stuck three hours away from home, so we hit the road Saturday night and made it back before it got really ugly. 

I'm really glad we did, because this is what we woke up to yesterday morning- 

So as you can imagine our Super Bowl plans ended up being very exciting with just the three of us hanging out at home watching the game. However like Sam said it was "the best Super Bowl yet! 

Doesn't Dad look extremely happy?

Today is actually a snow day for my school. I guess it doesn't really matter being that I don't have to go back to work for another few days; however, because the school is closed it's one less day of sick/vacation time I have to actually use. Score!

I hope everyone's weekend was nice and you stayed safe if you are part of this crazy blizzard! Have a great week, and I promise I'll try to post more this month.

Sammy Jay Update: 2 Month Update



 

Today marks Sammy's 2-month birthday! This lil man has gotten huge in this last month. He went from our "little peanut" to our "chunky monkey". Also being that he is 2 months old, it meant we went to his 2 month doctors appointment today. This appointment was the first appointment of many in my future where my lil man is going to have to get shots.

That was ok. However, I made my mom hold him down because I didn't have the heart to do it. Also, at the appointment he weighed in at a hefty13 pounds 6 oz, and is now 23 3/4 inches long. He's getting so big so quickly. It's like "What the heck- where did my little baby go?"!  Besides going to the doctors- let also look at some of the other major changes/ happenings this past month.

 

Clothes- I have already put away his 0-3 month clothes about a week ago and he's in 3 month outfits. However for some of his pj's I had to get out his 3-6 month ones because the 3 month size is already almost too small. I hate that he's growing so fast that he might only wear something 1 or 2 times (and some things may not ever even make it on him). That makes me a little sad but I try to remind myself- if he has a brother in a few years then I'll get another chance to use those clothes. 

Movement- Not to much more has changed. He's holding head up really good on his own most of the time (until he gets lazy), and still can roll to his side like a champ but he now can stay there if he wants to.

Eating- He is still mostly nursing and getting pumped bottles. However, we have had him take formula when nursing or bring a pumped bottle just isn't an option. I learned he will not take formula from me (because momma has the real stuff), but he'll let other people feed him with the formula.

Sleeping- This has gotten a little more crazy this month. I think between the holiday craziness and him have a cold, he's sleep schedule is all kinds of backwards. He been napping a lot throughout the day (no matter how hard to your try to keep him up), and then he'll sleep a little bit from 9pm-12pm, and then he'll be up until 3-4am. Let me tell you late night TV is really lacking. The other night I found myself watching "The Girls Next Door" on E!. The show hasn't been on for about 5 years, but it was better than watching an infomercial for weight lose products or a kitchen gadget. However, last night we had a 2 month miracle- HE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! Can you tell how excited I am about this. Now I'm just hoping this becomes the norm and not the exception.

Talking- Again, we are no where close to real words but he's getting down making those really cute "cooing" sounds. Also, he's learned to really use his lungs when he's no so happy- luckily for us that isn't that often. But after those shots, those lungs did get a bit of a workout- that was no fun for anyone.

Other highlights from this month-

Sammy's first road trip to Michigan.

 



Sammy did well on the road because he just slept the whole time. He did have a little trouble at night getting settled because he wasn't in his normal bed, so we didn't get the best night sleep ever but we survived.

Meeting the rest of his extended family.

This included my grandpa who he's named after and he even got to meet my work family!

Christmas, Christmas, and more Christmas parties!

Bath time. 

 

Don't get me wrong- I promise we gave him baths during his first month. However, this month he's become a big fan of bath time! Daddy does a great job of giving little man his bath, and I'm just there for support, for the final rinse off, and drying off the babe.

Lastly- a lot of people have asked me how Shamrock is doing with the baby.

 

Well he's pretty much always in the same room with Sammy. I'm not sure that is because we are in the room or because the baby is in the room, but Shamrock wants to make he's presents know. All and all, I really couldn't be happier on how well Shamrock has taken to our new family member, and I can only hope that Shamrock and Sammy become good "friends" once Sammy gets a little bigger.

This month has been great and I can't wait to see what this  next one will bring!

 

Holiday Recap 2014

Now that 2014 is coming to a close in just a few hours, I figure if I'm going to recap what has happen over the last few weeks- I better do it now!

So the weekend before Christmas was an exciting one because it was the first time we did a mini trip with Sammy Jay to visit my family in Michigan. And lucky for us he was a trooper and slept the whole car ride!

 

The trip consisted of two major events- Sherman's First Birthday party & my Aunt & Uncle's 25th Wedding Anniversary!

 

(How cute is that cake! And it's more awesome because it was homemade!)

 

Sherman's birthday was really nice. We got to see some extended family and got to eat a lot of cake and ice cream! This weekend we were pretty much on a sugar high the whole time!

 

 

After a short visit, we had to hit the road again so we could make my aunt and uncle's vow renewal ceremony.

 

 

The ceremony was fairly short but it was very sweet and full of love! And being that the ceremony was short, we didn't have to wait too long before the fun could get started at the reception!

 

 

Sammy Jay got to meet both of his great grandparents on my mom's side of the family!

 

 

(Grandpa Jay with Sammy Jay!)

 

And no reception with be complete without some dancing! Sammy Jay joined me on the dance floor for my favorite line dance- The Cupid Shuffle!

 

 

Now a Michigan trip wouldn't be complete unless I got to visit with my other grandma as well, so before we headed home on Sunday- we met up with my grandma, uncle Dave, and aunt Linda for lunch!

 

 

Even though we were very tired from all the festivities, I couldn't have asked for a better time/ way for Sammy Jay to meet the majority of my extended family!

 

For us, Christmas events were spread over the course of 4 days (24th-27th) so instead of recapping all the days- here are just some pictures of Christmas morning which we hosted at our house for my family!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



A Day in the Life with a 5 Week Old

Everyone talks about how you need a treasure these moments while your baby is little, even lack of sleep/ middle of the night feeding moments; so with that said I figured I would write down what a "typical day" (if there is such thing) in the life looks like with the five week old. So here is what my Tuesday, December 16th, 2014 looked like:

*On a side note- I would never been able to write this post if it wasn't for the "talk to text" feature on my phone, because there would have been no way I would have the time to type this all out!

12:50am- Sam brings the baby into our bedroom for the "Changing of the guard" (because I went to bed around 11pm even though I try to go to bed by 10pm if I'm lucky).

1:00am- nurse and burp the baby

1:30am- nurse and burp the baby again

1:45am- diaper change

2:00am- baby still seems hungry so I go and warm up a bottle of pumped milk, and take him into his room for that feeding

2:30am-  he only drank 1 ounce of the bottle (that's annoying), burp him, and change his diaper again.

2:45am- get a big burp out of him and now he has room to finish his bottle.

3:00am- he finally falls asleep again, so both mama and baby go to bed.

3:30am- baby wakes up fussing (OMG), so I bring him back into his room.

3:35am- change his diaper and nurse him again! (he's very lucky that he's cute even at 3:30am)

4:00am- baby falls asleep again and mama's too lazy to get out of the La-Z-Boy, so we cuddle and sleep in his room.

6:30am- baby fusses and start waking up (Gross- cuddling the baby made my chest so sweaty, oh well it was worth it!)

6:45am- actually get up, change his diaper, and nurse.

7:10am- put him in his crib to sleep, and get my breast pump ready to pump the other side to relieve the pressure

7:15am- start pumping and pet the attention hungry cat. (He acts like no one ever pays attention to him- but he's just really attention whore!)

7:40am- finish pumping and head back to bed.

8:00am- baby wakes up, change very smelly diaper, and he wants to nurse again (REALLY!?!).

8:20am- losing hope that this baby is going to fall asleep again. Switch sides and use the "sideline position" to feed him.

9:00am- realized the "sideline position "worked because both mommy and baby dozed off.

11:00am- wake back up and realize I let the baby sleep in bed with me – whoops! (This is the first time that has happened and I'll have to keep in mind it's way too easy to fall asleep using that "sideline position". But at least I got him and myself to sleep!)

11:15am- baby is still sleeping but I "heard" it's time for a diaper change- gross! 

11:30am- Prepare another bottle for pumping, then feed baby and pump the other side. (This is one of the few multitasking things I can handle these days.)

11:45am- My mom is here! She takes the baby to burp him (he fell asleep while eating again) while I finish pumping.

12:00pm- final get to relax. My mom takes picture of the baby to send to my dad. 

12:25pm- get dressed, brush teeth, take vitiamin, and work on grocery list.

12:55pm- nurse baby again but he's a lot more awake this time (I want to make sure he's got a full belly before I go out shopping).

1:20pm- head out to go grocery shopping.

2:15pm- made it home and unloaded groceries. (Baby ate a bottle while I was gone and jut went down for a nap when I got home)

2:30pm- get random stuff done around the house while baby sleeps.

3:30pm- realize I haven't eaten much all day, so I made myself some peanut butter toast. 

4:00pm- wake baby up from nap. Hoping if I keep him up more today that he'll get to sleep tonight at a reasonable hour. However because he's awake, it's time to eat again. 

5:00pm- time for another diaper change, and some playtime

5:30pm- continue to entertain the baby and wonder where the hubby is

6:10pm- baby wants to eat again and still the hubby isn't home

6:20pm- daddy/ hubby is home! Pass off the baby so I can make dinner.

6:45pm- dinner time for the adults

7:30pm- leave baby with dad and head to the store to buy gifts for my coworkers who I'll see at our Christmas party tomorrow.

9:00pm- head back home

9:15 pm- finish thank you cards for coworkers and rap the gifts I got

10:00pm- feed baby again before trying to head to bed

10:45pm- momma goes to bed while daddy is on baby duty

On a side note, the plan to keep the baby awake didn't work at all because both Sam and I were up with the baby until almost 4am. The joys of parenthood with a newborn! I know this phase will pass but right now I really do miss a having a good night of sleep.

The Final Year of My 20's: B-Day Weekend Recap

Thursday was my 29th birthday and I felt very blessed by the amount of birthday calls, texts, and Facebook posted I received. I have some very great friends and family!

I have to say my birthday itself was pretty good. I started off the day to a trip to work (I know that may not seem like a place you want to go on your birthday) so I could get lil man on my insurance and introduce him to my coworkers! After my work, we made a swing by Sam work to do the same thing there. I'm happy the Sammy only had one little melt down because he was still hungry (after I had just feed him not 20 minutes before) but my coworker was a champ and even feed him his bottle for me!

After the all our running around, we headed home. Sam's mom came over after she got out of work so we could actually go out to dinner. It was very nice of her to babysit but I pretty sure she loved every minute of it. Plus he just slept the whole time so she got off super easy this time.

Come Friday, I had made plans for our friends to come and hanging out. This was the first time we really had our friends over for a gathering since the baby was born. I know some people may think it's crazy to have a party with a five week old baby around, but we're such social people he'll just need to get used to people being around. When he wasn't demanding food or was having some gas pain, he was pretty well behaved.

Also, Sam was awesome when it came to helping get ready for the party. Within the hour and a half spend of time from when he got home, our living room went from looking like this-

To looking like this-

It was pretty awesome!

The party wasn't anything too crazy. Just consisted of our closest friends hanging out, eating, and playing some cards against humanity- so all and all a fairly low-key night.

The rest of the weekend was pretty laid back. Saturday- Sam worked on some house stuff and then we just hung out at home with lil man. And Sunday, we went to Sam's parents for dinner and were able to leave the baby there for a bit so we could sneak out and get some Christmas shopping done. I think Sam's dad has got this grandpa thing down and has proven to be a great babysitter!

All and all- it was a great way to start this final year I have left of my 20's! 

Sammy Jay Update: 1 Month Update

Yesterday marked Sammy Jay's "one-month birthday". In some ways this last month has seemed to fly by and in other ways it has seemed to go by fairly slowly. I think the combination of not working and feeling like a shut in- has made the month move slowly. On the other hand, being that he's a newborn means he needs attention pretty much 24/7, which has made the month fly by.

Additionally, being that I am home all the time, I figured I would have a lot more time to get things done around the house- that's a joke! So I do apologize for the people who still haven't gotten their thank you notes from my baby shower- I promise I'll get to them at some point. However, I know you didn't come here to hear about me, but to check in on lil man and what he's been up to! So let's look back at some of the milestones he's has hit so far...

Clothes- I have officially put away his newborn clothes already and he's wearing 0-3 month clothes. With 0-3 month clothing it all seems to really range in size. Some of the clothes fit great and some are still too big on him. Got to love that there is no consistent sizing when it comes to different brands of clothes.

(His first 0-3 month outfit!)

Movement- He is already starting to hold his head up on his own. We have really noticed a big change in him holding up his head in this last week or so. Also, he can roll from his back to his side. He is like this mom, and he likes to sleep on his side- so he's been able to roll on to his side from his back from almost the day he was born. However, he doesn't really have the balance to stay on his side- so once he gets to his side, he ends up back on his back pretty quickly.

Eating- He is still exclusively nursing. However, there were 2 or 3 times over the last month that we ended up feeding him some formula because I was either "tapped out" or Sam ran out of pumped milk while I've been out of the house.

Sleeping- He's a pretty good sleeper. However, he still will wake up every 2-3 hours because he's not going to miss a meal! Oh- you know that he's an Italian boy because food is his biggest priority in life.

 

Talking- We are no where close to having him speak his first words. However, he's starting to really make those cute baby sounds. Not just the crying and grunting that he did when he first was born.

Highlights from this month- There is a number of these for this month...

Being born! This only happens once in a life time and the whole experience was so special. If you didn't see the post about his birth story, you can find it here!

Meeting many of our friends and family. We have been so blessed to have such great people in our lives and I've exciting that my son is already loved by so many people.

Celebrated our his first holiday! That bib was a little big on him but it was so cute!

Those are the biggest highlights from this month. I hope to keep up with these monthly updates so that way I have these memories saved for a lifetime! Wish me luck with this project!

Have a great week!