New Sunday Fundays

Just a few of the many reasons why I love rainy Sunday mornings...
- a baby who slept in until 8am
- family pajama day
- lots of smiles and giggles from my little man
- family day in bed cuddling and watching cartoons/movies
- watching my two men together!

6 months

My baby's 6 months old!!!!!!!

I'll have a complete monthly update as soon as he has his doctor appt next week ....and as soon as I get it finished.

In the Moment

Far too often I find myself distracted by television, movies, social media, and being on the computer.  When I first started breastfeeding I downloaded an app on my phone to help keep track of all his feedings, which side he ate on, how long eat feeding was, when I pumped, how much I could pump, and how many ounces he ate when we fed him a bottle. It saved mysaving and sanity in those first 3 months through the newborn/new mom haze! Then I’d get on my phone to Facebook stalk to help pass time or to help keep me awake during those night-time feedings every 3 hours. Those nursing sessions use to be so long. On maternity leave I planted my butt down on the couch in front of the TV all day long while nursing and holding little man while he slept to help keep me occupied.

Once he started daycare and we got into more of a rhythm I stopped using the breastfeeding app but I still played on my phone while he nursed. Then during one of this nightly feedings when I was watching him he no longer looked like a newborn. In his dimly lit nursery I realized my new baby boy really wasn’t so little anymore. My growing 3 month old was filling out, starting to lose his baby hair, noticing the world around him, and acting more like a baby then a newborn every day! I decided to put away my phone, keep the TV off or just stay in his room away from distractions to pay more attention to him during those times.

After realizing what a difference it made to put away my phone just during that time I want to make sure I continue being in the moment, not only while nursing but in all other aspects. I've been thinking about it a lot for a while. Mainly while MJ is awake but I’d also like to have a conversation with my husband without having to say his name 3 times to get his attention or have his response to me be “huh?” after HE asks me a question. (Does anyone else have this problem?) 

I’ve realize we have the TV on far too much, Dave’s eyes are always glued to it from the moment he gets home from work or wakes up in the morning till after we go to bed. He "needs" the TV on to fall asleep. And our phones are always going off with notifications or text messages. I want us to me more in the moment this year. It’s going to be hard to break that habit, especially with Dave, but MJ is just growing up so fast, each month he gets more fun and every stage he gets more entertaining with his personally developing. I don’t want to look back and miss any of it. I don’t want Dave too either. It’s time to soak up everything we can about our little man because before we know it, he’s going to be a toddler (yikes! Let’s not think about that yet).

I guess I have another goal to add to my 2013 list. All blogging, computer time, and Facebooking with take place after MJ’s in bed, during nap times or while MJ has some independent play time. I will try not to immediately turn the TV on first thing in the morning or when I get home from work. And I will continue keeping all electronics away while nursing.

My Little Shrimp

Look who started swim lessons

 

I was introduced to the water at a fairly young age. My parents had started me in swimming lessons as far back as I can remember. I loved the water! I excelled very well throughout all my lessons and even became a pretty strong swimmer. I was never afraid of the water, the deep end, or jumping off the high dive. I grew up knowing about water safety and thankfully never had any bad incidences in the water. I attribute it to being a water baby and being around water early on.

As soon as MJ arrived I knew I wanted to do the same, I wanted to get him started as soon as possible. Luckily the YMCA has classes for babies as young as 6 months and they started last Saturday. He's just shy of 6 months but they let start anyways.

The first class they start out in their called Shrimp, for ages 6 months to 2 years old. They do water enrichment activities with 1-2 adults in the water with the child to promote fun, water adjustment, exercise and water safety. We sing songs and play games which are used to promote confidence and independence.

A couple of Madden's friends are in his class too,which makes it even more fun! He gets to play with Jackson, Luke, and Elliot (from daycare).

 

Daddy got in the pool with him this time while I took all the good pictures. He was the only daddy in the pool! We plan on alternating turns every week. We'll get one or two of the other dad's in there with him one of these times but either way they had a great time.   

 

MJ and Daddy practicing "jumping" in the pool!

{new things}

Aside from recently finding his tongue and the loads of pictures I have from MJ sticking it out at me...

Madden has started doing a ton of new things in just the past 2 weeks!!

He's realized he has feet...

 and that he can grab them....

 and swing them up in front of his face....

he hasn't got them any closer than that (like his mouth just yet),but he stares at them all the time.

He hasn't started rolling from his back to his belly yet but with finding his feet, he has learned to move a lot more, he rolls to his sides then gets stuck. He hasn't figured out just yet how to move that dang arm that's in the way, but he gets closer and closer to figuring it our.  

He has put his fingers in his mouth for a very long time but now he decided start sucking his thumb!

Sleeping with a little blankie for his naps and puts it over his head.

And he's making new faces!

This isn't the best picture of it, but he puffs up his checks and constantly makes a "Mmmmmmmm" sounds over and over.  I think it's he's practicing saying "mama" ;)

And my favorite new face...

I don't know why he does it but we think it's pretty hilarious!

Toofer!!

Someone just cut their first tooth!!

It seriously popped through overnight. I really didn't believe other mothers who said that before by they are not lying!


Saturday I noticed he loved chewing on just about everything more so than normal and he was more tired than usual, wanting to nap sooner and longer. So that evening I took a look at his gums, there was only a small white dot. I could hardly tell if it really was anything at all or if I was just seeing spots.

Sunday afternoon I checked with my finger and definitely felt the rough edges of a tooth already! I opened up his mouth and sure enough, a little white toofer poking through.

That thing sure is fast!!

So far he's been in a pretty good mood, still a very happy baby during the day. At night, he sleeps well but will wake a few more times than normal. Usually if giving him his paci doesn't do the trick I just pick him up to settle him, rock him for a minute or two then lay him back down and he's good until either his nightly feeding or until it's time to get up.

Welcome 2-0-1-3

Well Hello 2013!!

You sure came fast...guess that's not surprising since we couldn't wait for the first half of 2012 to be over so we could finally meet our handsome little man, then the next 3 months were a complete and utter blur with a newborn and dealing with mommy brain, and then the holiday's hit which of course always fly by.
 So, yep that would explain it!

So here we are, the start of a new year.
2012 was a pretty damn great year, it's going to be hard to top with becoming new parents, the birth of our son, becoming an aunt again to a beautiful niece, and the arrival of all our friends' little miracle babies.
But I'm not gonna lie, I'm 99.5% sure this new year will give last year a run for its money! I so look forward to watching my little man learn, grow and develop each and every day. This year is going to be the year of a lot of firsts for all of us and I can't wait to witness it all. Life just keeps getting better with him!!

I'm not really one for New Year's Resolutions. I don't stick to them. Usually they are just too vague to actually measure your success and too easy to fall of the wagon. Instead of making a resolution this year I decided I wanted to make goals to complete over the entire year. Things I want to do for myself... physically, mentally, personally. Things I want to do for my son and with him. And a few things for my family.

Goals for Myself:

Lose last 10 lbs of baby weight

Lose an additional 10 lbs

Finish master’s degree

Complete the Couch to 5k program

Participate in a 5k race

Seasonal house cleaning – March, June, September, December

Make at least 4 things on my Baking Bucket List

Complete at least 1 Random Act of Kindness each month

Goals for MJ:

Get him Baptized
Take him to our local zoo

Sign up for baby swim classes

Make the majority of his baby food

Plan his 1st birthday party

Breastfeed till he's 1 year

(Start and) Complete his Baby book of his 1st year
Take him to the Children's Museum

Goals for My Family:

Make a Will

Decrease Dave’s student loan balance by half 

Plan a family vacation/trip for 2013

Save a minimum of 10% of our income a month

Landscape the front yard
Go on family walks together weather permitting

Discuss baby 2.0

Happy New Year!! 

I hope this year finds you all happy, healthy, wealthy, and full of many blessings!!