5 months old

Mason has hit the 5 month mark and boy did that ever feel like a long time. I love being a mommy but it is funny that when you are flat out exhausted a lot of people's response is "enjoy them while you can because time flies."

Time has not flown by and I don't think I will ever enjoy a lack of sleep. 

What I do enjoy is how alert and active our little man is! He can smile and laugh at us, coo and hold our hands (or hair if you are mom), and he is discovering how to sit up and roll onto his tummy lots!

We can take him more places because he doesn't need to nap every hour and he can actually somewhat participate in things now. We just returned from a trip to California to visit my parents and I was super excited to introduce him to lots of my high school and college friends. Mason was able to meet many of his adopted "aunties" and I was able to get in some much needed friend time. 

Now we are back home and gearing up for winter, the nice warm sunny days of summer are slowly disappearing and now 55 and windy seems to be the norm, I am in no rush for winter but Pumpkin Spice Lattes and scarves make me one happy girl. I am super excited for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and CHRISTMAS! Let's be real here, I have already listened to a few Christmas songs. Don't judge. I love the season and feel like summer just doesn't have enough holidays. 

(Side note- I am pretty sure my posts are all out of order so he really is 5 months old on October 16th, not sure why they rearranged themselves. My computer skills rival that of a chipmunk) 

With so many family events coming up we are going to have to juggle our holiday schedule and Masons nap schedule - which honestly makes me a bit nervous but hopefully things will go smoothly! 

Never having to set an alarm - except for nap time

Now that I am thoroughly behind on these and Mason is almost 3 months old (!!!) I figure I better update everyone on being a new mommy.

As I re-read many of my previous posts it feels like forever ago that we were having so many new struggles and I was so so stressed out. I would start crying at the drop of a hat because of the hormonal changes and also because I knew that if Mason was not crying now he would be crying later. I realize that I had a constant sense of foreboding that lurked in my days and prevented me from actually enjoying my son.

Now I know that we are both so much happier and all of my hard work with sleep training paid off in a big way. Mason will still fuss before some naps but for the most part - I lay him down in his crib with his nook, he wiggles to get comfortable and shuts his eyes and goes to sleep. It. Is. Awesome.
AND bedtime and nights are so predictable! Jake and I have a bedtime routine - we wash Masons face, read to him from his bedtime prayer book, I sing a song to him, and off to dreamland he goes. He sleeps all night, usually only waking up once to eat and even if I put him back to bed wide awake he will close his little eyes and go back to sleep (sometimes he chats with himself for a minute, it's pretty cute).

I feel so much more rested and we are on such a good schedule that I never need to set an alarm anymore, Mason just knows when to wake up.

I still take a nap with Mason in the morning, and try to get as much done as possible during his other naps but I feel like I can relax and not worry about the impending possibility of a crying baby. If he cries we can work through it. Usually with a swaddle, a nook, and some sensory deprivation. Basically you wrap him up sung, give him something to suck on and cover his eyes and bam he is out, but I do have to rock him during this time - which I usually don't mind doing. This happens about once a week - otherwise his naps have been like clockwork.

In other news, Mason smiles and giggles! His little laugh is so adorable and sometimes he smiles so big that his little eyes basically close. Super heart melting.

He has a favorite toy that he smiles at and is slowly learning to hold things in his hands. Mostly because mommy opens his hand and puts them there, he has not quite mastered picking things up on his own yet.

He can roll over from his stomach to his back and we are working on getting him to roll the other way, because if by chance he rolls over during nap time he finds it hard to fall back asleep and mom has to come in and flip him back over (this rarely happens, knock on wood!).

Our little guy is growing fast and is almost 13 pounds! We have had to retire quite a few little outfits but it is always fun to pull out a new one - although it is a rare occasion when an outfit goes more than a few hours without being christened by spit up. or other substances. Still, new things are fun and we are in for a whole lot of new things in the next few months and years to come!

Mama Mia out!

1 Month Old

Mason is a month old! Everyone told me time would fly but honestly I felt like the chaos of having a newborn slowed things down a bit. A lot of it is still a sleep deprived blur but it does not feel like we brought home home from the hospital yesterday. Especially since I feel like I have not been more than 20 feet away from him since he was born - and if we are being real for the past ten months we have been attached. True that.

My first trip without Mason was to CVS, so exciting! But for real. Jake was giving Mason a bottle (woop woop!) and I was able to leave the house for the first time in a month without the baby in tow. It. Was. Awesome. and it was also 20 minutes. Granted the trip was short but it was still thrilling, I love Mason but every once in a while it was nice not to have to pack diapers, extra outfits, nooks, his rocker, and his car seat up.

In other news, Mason has started to sleep through the night more! Our schedule has paid off and naps and bed time are becoming more predictable - although he still has his little episodes of crying. I think I got a full 6 hours of sleep last night - I felt so rested today. We have also started to establish a bedtime routine - we read three bedtime prayer poems, sing a few songs, swaddle the little man and off to bed he goes! This will hopefully help him to understand that after this pattern happens it is time for sleeping (and not playing or crying), so far we have only done it twice so I do not think he is used to it quite yet, but it only takes a few days to establish a routine right? Good thing we have plenty of time.

And that is what I need to keep reminding myself. I have time and tomorrow is a new day. This is a constant struggle that I have been having - the feeling of being rushed, mostly with Mason. I have to keep reminding myself that I do not need to hurry or try to speed things up, he will only be this little for a very short time and while I am looking forward to him being able to sit up on his own, laugh with mommy and daddy, and eat solid foods, I do not want to forget the little faces he makes while sleeping or his first smile or the first time he took a bottle. All of the memories that I will store up from this stage will be just as precious as the memories I will store up from his next stage which is why there is no need to rush things.

Mama Mia out.

The Nap Cycle

Mason has been crying less and less during nap time and that is an amazing feeling because listening to my little man cry is not fun. But he still has his moments of tears, and so does mommy. So sometimes I just need to mow the lawn. 

It is not really mowing the lawn that calms me down but the distraction from a crying baby that helps. Jake stays inside to make sure Mason is okay and I head out to the back yard and just listen to music and the incredibly loud mower. Or I take a shower, which is good because realistically some new mommies do not get a chance to shower everyday. Or I run the not quite half full dishwasher and it is just loud enough to distract me and keep my kitchen clean at the same time. 

In the previous few days I have kept myself distracted by cleaning the kitchen, vacuuming the house (which actually put Mason to sleep), mowing part of our yard, and finding anything else that makes a good amount of noise. Feel free to make more suggestions! 

Mason is learning that nap time means sleep, and he needs his sleep. It is a vicious cycle if he doesn't get a good nap in - first he starts to fall asleep while eating and he doesn't get a full feeding in, next he gets crabby because he is tired, then we put him down for a nap and he wakes up early because he didn't get enough food he gets even more fussy but is so tired he falls asleep while eating. So if we get in a good feeding and a good nap that leads to another good feeding and an even better nap! But consistency is key as we have had a bit of trouble being consistent so far, we will be working on that over the next few days!

My next goal, besides getting Mason not to cry during nap time, is to find a way to fit some form of working out into my day. Mostly I am thinking I will try relearning all of the line dancing and two stepping I have forgotten and just distract myself with the music. It has to be something that I can do while in the house because Jake goes back to work tomorrow. Not cool. And let's be honest bringing a baby to the gym sounds like a bad stressful idea - No one wants to sit on an elliptical next to a crying mom and a crying baby. Especially the crying mom part, crying babies are more socially acceptable. 

Everyone says it only gets better and by week 6 we will be in more of a rhythm. For now we will trusting God, crying a bit, and praying every chance we get! 

Mama Mia out. 

The Human Vending Machine

Breastfeeding. Woah, I went there. For those of you who are not comfortable with this topic feel free to skip it!

Most moms I know are willing to talk about it, listen to me talk about it, AND talk with me while I am doing it - they even sit in the same room as me. Woohoo!

But as far as I can tell, these feelings are not shared with the rest of the population. So every three hours if we are out of our own home I end up in an upstairs room, isolated from everyone for about 35 minutes. It's super fun. Not. 

Truthfully, I am not going to feed my child in the middle of church or a restaurant, I am not exactly comfortable pulling out the girls in public, but even if I do end up in a back room somewhere - it is nice to have company. My husband has been great about coming upstairs and keeping me somewhat entertained but I can tell that he gets bored pretty quickly. Especially when he knows he is missing out on the conversation about the next camping trip or someone's new putter (it's a golf thing, so I do not partake in those conversations). 

This is why I am super excited for two things in the future. Number 1: I have a few mommy friends who are also breastfeeding so when we get together we can sit and feed our little ones together! No awkward questions like "where are you going" or "why are you taking the baby away?" Just some mommies feeding their little ones chatting about onesies, spit up, and babies. 

And number 2: when I finally build up a good milk supply, we can introduce Mason to a bottle! I am currently trying to pump about twice a day to store up milk for the future which makes me feel like a human vending machine. Once I have a bit stored up not only will mommy be able to stay in the same room as everyone else but daddy, grandma, or basically anyone else can feed him instead of me. Super pumped about that. Pun intended.  

But until those days arrive I will just be sitting here. Feeding Mason. All by myself. And of course my iPhone, which I write basically all of these posts on. 

Mama Mia out. 

When Mom cries it out.

Having a baby is hard. It really is the most difficult thing I have ever done in my entire life. Seriously. Labor was a tea party compared to the first few weeks of sleepless frustrating messy unpredictable days and nights. And while it is slowly getting better, I feel like relief is never going to arrive. 

Don't get me wrong, I am so excited to have a child. I often find myself wondering what his first words will be, who will be his first crush (not until he is 40), what sports or instruments he will play, and where he will go to college. BUT those moments seem like eternity away and way to close all at the same time. 

For now we are still working on getting Mason to fall asleep on his own and let me tell you. Ugh. I never knew one baby had that much of an ability to cry. And that I had the ability to cry this much either. I am seriously surprised we have not flooded the house yet, or at least the nursery. 

Baby-Wise is the system that we are following and so far it has been great to get Mason on a feeding schedule, that way I can tell when he is hungry or if he is crying for another reason. Now we are onto establishing a good sleep routine and teaching the little guy to be able to fall asleep on his own, very important if mommy and daddy ever want to get a good night sleep again. The downside is listening to him cry. And cry. And cry. 

We check on him about every ten minutes to make sure he is not too hot or cold, is still in a clean diaper, and to make sure he is not hungry (he gets hungrier when going through a growth spurt). Basically he calms down when we walk in the room and as soon as we leave he cries like there is no tomorrow. And then I cry like there is no tomorrow. And Jake sits with me until I am no longer in tears. 

This is supposedly only supposed to last a few days until he grasps the habit of falling asleep on his own but a few days?! This mommy is not sure she can handle that. Thank goodness for my husband who reassures me about every 4 minutes that I am not a bad mother and crying just for the sake of crying is not harming our little one. 

I have found that one amazing side affect of this stage of life is that my prayer life has improved immensely. I find myself unable to plan or control 98% of the things going on - which I am fairly used to doing - but now I have to rely on not only my husband more but we together have to rely on God. I probably pray about 20 times a day just asking for the ability to just make it through the day. 

My favorite part is that at the end of the day, the last thing Jake and I do is pray over our son. We crawl into bed, after putting Mason to sleep at 10 (a time which he does not cry, hooray), and we hold hands and pray for our little boy. It has been one of the most encouraging parts of my day and I would not give that up for the world. 

With all of our friends, our family, and God, Jake and I know we have an amazing support system in raising Mason to be a young man of God. But - it is always nice to have a few extra prayers thrown our way so keep us in your thoughts (keep all new parents in your thoughts), we would really appreciate any help we can get - especially the prayer kind! 

Mama Mia out.

The Triple Threat

I am no stranger to changing diapers, working at a daycare in college and babysitting prepared me to be able to change a diaper in about 20 seconds flat. My husband on the other hand is pretty new at this skill but he has stepped up to the plate and has changed just as many diapers as I have. I'm so proud.

 

One thing that he was not expecting though was the triple threat. Mason had recently eaten and needed to be changed so he was passed off to Jake in order to be burped and receive a new diaper. While Jake was mid diaper change Mason started to spit up, then he started to pee, and to top it all off he apparently was not quite done filling his diaper as Jake discovered. 

Jake let out a frantic little "hunny!" and I could not stop laughing. I made my way into Masons room to find my two boys in a bit of a flurry so I grabbed a new diaper, wiped the baby down and tried not to laugh to much. 

Now whenever Jake hears Mason fill his diaper he waits a few minutes to make sure that there will be no surprises mid-nude-baby. We have still both been peed on and being covered in spit up is no rare occasion but I am happy to report that no more poo has made its way out of the diaper and onto either of us. Lets hope it stays that way for a while. Or forever, I'm not picky.