It sure has been a long time since I’ve sat down to blog. When I signed in today I noticed that I had started two other blogs at times, but never finished them. Shows how much life has changed. If it wasn’t for my mini and iPhone I’m not sure I’d even see the web…okay we all know that’s a lie. Though things are definitely different than the “life I used to live.”
We’re fast approaching the end of the “lost trimester,” also known as the first three months of a babies life. My oh my what a strange three months it has been, I barely remember most of it! We started out with this 7lb 12oz little man who was 12lb 12oz a few weeks ago. At the pace he eats, I’m sure he’s pushing a good 13lb by now! He’s no longer a boring bundle of cartilage, he’s way more fun!!. We have a lot of fun together and I find myself laughing at all his faces.
This little man has changed my life in more ways than one. To start, I had to go completely dairy free to keep nursing him. Try it for just one day and then we’ll talk. There’s dairy in EVERYTHING and my husband eats cheese by the brick. Totally unexpected, but it just shows what one would do for their children. It was one of the hardest transitions of motherhood, but I had a LOT of great support to help get me through. Not to mention our eating habits have changed for the better because of it. Two weeks ago I made the decision to quit nursing and transition Henry to formula. It was after a weekend away that I realized I hardly enjoyed myself because I was so worried about what I was eating. I know that by eating something wrong, Henry will end up with a nasty tummy ache and a case of the screams. Sometimes, I don’t find out that I ate something wrong until the screams, constant spit up and poops happens. With summer coming up and so many events invovling food, I just decided I couldn’t do that to my poor child anymore. I feel awful when he does get sick and it’s not fair to either one of us. I was going to wait until June to start the wean, but we’re going on vacation (yay!!) and I’d hate for him to have a reaction while we’re away from home. We started soy formula two weeks ago and the transition has been awesome. Now, I only nurse once a day and Henry takes formula the other times. As of Tuesday, he’ll be completely boob free and I’m having a bringing back dairy party! We’ve tried given him breastmilk in a bottle and he just doesn’t care for it as much. Part of that makes me happy while it makes me a little sad too. Knowing that I was going to “give up” nursing after I’d already made so many life changes was a really hard thing to wrap my head around. I feel that I’m really good at nursing and Henry seems to love it. Now that he’s loving formula, I don’t feel bad about it. After all formula isn’t McDonald’s. Since starting formula we also seem to be a little bit more scheduled and I don’t have any anxiety about leaving the house. He’s even started napping in his crib, but that might just be him growing up. It definitely is way more expensive than the boob, but it seems to have much such a bigger difference than dairy free that I don’t even care.
One of Henry’s loves include eating from a spoon. We introduced rice cereal at 2.5 months after our doctor told us it may help the spit up problem. She suggested doing it in the bottle and we did twice, but I nearly panicked both times. All I kept envisioning was him chocking in his sleep. I’m sure my mother will be rolling her eyes at reading that!! Well one day I just decided we’re going to give it to him on a spoon. Little boy loves the spoon and rice cereal. He’s such a ham!! We’ll wait a few more months to introduce other foods, but for now rice cereal is a hit.
Other things he loves and some firsts:
- Bath time is a major hit. We do it every night because he loves it so much
- Swinging is a must on a daily basis. It cures most crabbiness too
- Sofie the giraffe is perfect for him to hold and squeak
- Laughing, talking and cooing are constantly happening
- Looking in the mirror and smiling at himself is extra fun
- Kicky legs are always going
- Trying to roll over, but not quite getting it
- First haircut at 8 weeks to aide in the end of hair pulling…success
- We took our first road trip a few weeks ago and he did great
- Riding in the car and going for walks
- His hands finally opened up and he’s realized he can grab things with them
- He likes to stand on his legs and gets real proud of himself when doing it
- Watching TV (yikes!)
He’s managed to meet almost everyone in our lives at this point. Each moment has been extremely special and you can tell he’s super loved by all. There were two moments that meant the most to me. The first being when he met my Grandma Soetenga. Not only had he finally met ALL of his greatgrandparents, but my Grandma Soetenga is an extremely special woman to me. The second highlight is when he met Katherine. She just loves him and you could tell that he felt the same way about her. She’s just dying to babysit him and I can’t wait for that moment to come!!
Ben and I have managed to go on one date since Henry’s been born, but are bringing back our monthly date nights!! We’re even going to try out a high school babysitter come summer time as well. As a former nanny I know how important it is for kids to spend time with people other than family members.
Now that we’re three months in we’ve mastered pretty much all that you can at this point. I am awesome at doing things one handed. Ben’s a pro at changing a diaper at record pace. Eating while feeding him is no longer a chore. We finally know what his cries mean and since he only cries when he’s tired or hungry it’s not really that hard to figure out!!
Being a stay at home mom is exactly what I expected. If it wasn’t for mommy friends, play dates and warm weather I should have lost my mind by now. Some days I am dying to go back to work, but others I can’t imagine going back. The resume has been updated and I’ve started applying for jobs, but my mind isn’t 100% made up. The next few months will require lots of soul searching.
It’s hard to believe that almost a year ago I was sitting in my doctor’s office crying about how much I wanted to have a baby and be a mom. Now that I have one, I can’t imagine my life before him. I was meant to be a mommy and that is something I know for sure. The past year has really flown by. Sometimes I miss how things used to be. I miss coming and going as I please and running quick errands. I miss taking lots of vacations, but I can handle “giving” that up for now. I don’t miss sleep as much as I thought I would, though I do welcome it! I don’t miss going out or staying out late. I hate spit up with a passion and can’t wait for this phase to be over. I love my husband more than I ever thought I could and look forward to our dates. Bedtime now starts at 7:30 and we couldn’t be happier. It gives the two of us time to talk, laugh and just be who we know we are. I appreciate my own mother more and mothers in general.
Motherhood is the hardest most rewarding job, next to being a school teacher, and I wouldn’t have my life any other way!! This little man lights up my life and truly has made me a better person.
Henry is no stranger to social media, as I parade him around every avenue (Twitter, Facebook, Instragram, etc) so our family members can see him on a daily basis. I’ve considered getting him his own Twitter handle, email address and starting to hashtag him, but that may be over doing it a bit. So for now, I’ll leave you with our daily pic….
One Plus One Equals... 