Nightmare on P Street

Week two of working is going great as I'm starting to not dread going to work. Originally, I was so sad to be going back to work and really considered staying at home. I'm glad I am sticking with work. I have a lot of respect for women that choose to stay at home. And who knows, I may end up staying home when he and far-off-future-Baby #2 are older but right now I feel like I appreciate my time with him more now. I also know that I am much more attentive to him. I think that if I stayed at home I would be more likely to have one of those kids that are screaming their heads off in Target because I would be so used to it that I could ignore it and therefore everyone else would be able to ignore it.

M has been a little grumpy this week. I'm pretty sure that he's going through a growth spurt. However, my co-worker and friend, Jason, informed me that that's what they say for everything and it really is the truth. Any time that M is fussy, I always say it's a "growth spurt." I guess it's because he's never really that fussy and when he is I have to blame it on something and not because he's being a complete nightmare to which I don't know how I'm going to get through the day. For example, here's how it went this morning:

Oh so cute happy baby!

A split second later Nightmare Mason is back! 

We have had a few "firsts" this week and it's only Wednesday. M is sitting in his Bumbo!! Let's not forget, this kid is ONLY 7.5 weeks old. I am so impressed! M has always been a little wiggle worm and great with his head and neck control. From Day 1 he's been able to pick up his head and sit it back down without jerking it around like they usually do. But sitting in his Bumbo already?? That's just amazing to me! I have been thinking that maybe we should try it but wasn't sure if he was too young. Then I got a pic from Ms. Dawn with him sitting in it like a big boy and she said that he did great! Here's our pic:

So of course I couldn't wait to try it when I got home for myself. It's true, he did it!!

I had a personal "first" this week. I have given up trying to put him in a routine. In talking to Ms. Dawn originally, I told her that I wanted to start putting him down in his crib around 10 or 11 am for a nap or at least for some "quiet time." We have come to the conclusion that a) it's too early to be doing routines and b) I may have a kid that doesn't take naps. Ms. Dawn said that she has been trying to lay him down but he just sits and talks to the monitor. Granted, she did say that she's never had a baby that self soothes like he does, especially in the crib but she thought that he was probably too young. After all, he may doze off for about 10 minutes but then he's back at it kicking and playing. He is seriously so active I won't be surprised if he doesn't take a nap at all when he's older. BUT he will have "quiet time" at least because I need to get things done or maybe take a quick nap ;-) Here's a video that Ms. Dawn sent of him hanging out in his crib talking into the monitor:

This last "first" is something that M has just now started doing. I was leaving work yesterday afternoon when I received a text from Josh saying, "will you please come home and make your son stop crying???" Now, let's just have a side note. Whenever M cries, Josh does not like it. Not saying that I like it, I just have a little more tolerance over it. So I called him to check in because I was freaking out. M had been crying for about 5 minutes straight so Josh had put him in his crib because he wasn't hungry and he did not have a dirty diaper so he couldn't figure out what was wrong. M is a really good baby. He usually never cries unless something is wrong so it was strange that he was doing this. And when I mean screaming, I mean he was wailing and crying so hard that he was coughing. Let's also mention that M was in his crib which is in his room with the door shut while Josh was talking to me in the living room and it sounded like M was right next to the phone screaming.

Here I go rushing home to see what is going on. I give Josh a fly-by kiss (who is on the couch looking like a deer in headlights) and go to pick M up from his crib and he immediately stops crying. I look at Josh who says, "wait for it..." M starting screaming again. So we try walking around the house which works for about 2 minutes... More screaming.. Finally I sit down and ask Josh to make a couple of ounces in a bottle for me. Now, M had just eaten about two hours ago so there was no way that he should have been hungry. Except that homeboy drank 5 more ounces and was perfectly fine. It was the WEIRDEST thing! He has never done that before!! So we escaped from this experience unharmed.. Mostly. Until today...

I am having to work later on this evening and won't get home until around 9:30 pm. I text Josh around 3:00 pm to ask how he was doing. His response was "he hates me." He was screaming AGAIN! Josh knew that M couldn't be hungry because he had just fed him an hour earlier. Meanwhile, I am stuck at work hating my life because I can't go home to help calm him down. Fortunately, Ms. Dawn had told Josh that if it happened again to give M an ounce of water because it may just be that M likes the sucking sensation and water isn't bad for babies. SUCCESS IS OURS!!! I checked back in with Josh about 15 minutes later and his response was "how do you think he feels?" with this picture:

Hopefully, this nightmare screaming match will end soon. We're not quite sure why he has started doing this but we're hoping that the water trick will keep working. Otherwise, I'm pretty sure Josh might go insane ;-)

Here's some more cuteness pics that we got this week:

Stroller ride with Ms. Dawn

Don't let this smile fool you... Homeboy has some lungs!

Swinging at Ms. Dawn's

Oh and my last pic has nothing to do with M but about the awesome new den set up we got from Josh's parents. Likey? We do!!

Hope everyone has a fantastic rest of the week! We'll be back soon! 

Working Mommy

Originally, I was so sad to be going back to work in fear that I would miss out on everything. And it helps that M is such a good baby because he adjusted perfectly much to my disgust. I mean really, kid. At least pretend like you're going to miss me. After a week of working, I am glad that I did indeed go back to work. I have found myself appreciating the time that we have together and I'm also a lot more attentive to him when I get home. It also helps that we have the BEST person EVER keeping him. Ms. Dawn is so great for him. What's even better? She sends us a notebook home every day with notes telling us how their day went and what they did. What's better than that?? She sends us pics and videos which I LOVE! Here are some that we got:

This is the fabulous Ms. Dawn - LOVE her!

M was "talking" to the fish

Milk drunk and happy! 

Smiling for Ms. Jenna

Oi. He ALWAYS falls asleep on tummy time.

He's just growing up SOO fast! Having these pics helps me get through the days, I tell you!

M has always been a great baby. Lately he's starting to test his vocals and speak a lot more. Now he's starting to smile and laugh a LOT. I got the cutest pics and video of him the other day and just HAVE to share them:

Before we knew it, the weekend was upon us. Friday afternoon we had our second play date at my parents pool with this little cutie named Kiser. M was passed out the majority of the time but Kiser had SO much fun playing in the water (which was FREEZING):

That afternoon we decided to go visit Josh's parents in Hickory. I was getting my hair cut there the next day and we were also getting our new furniture and rug that Grandma Debbie (Josh's Mom) and Pop Pops (Josh's Dad) got us. I'll upload a pic later of our new furniture set up - it looks AWESOME! Here's Grandma Debbie playing with M outside:

On Sunday, we had every intention of doing work around the house but then my dad asked Josh if he wanted to play golf. So it gave me a great excuse to hang out by the pool. M was a little grumpy but once he got by the pool he passed out which Mommy was grateful for ;-) Here's a couple of pics of this cutie:

Isn't this little tent thing awesome?? Please excuse the beer, it was a long morning with Mr. Grump-a-lufficuss

Once he woke up he was MUCH better

Alright, almost done with the pics. He's just so cute! Here are a few of Daddy and M reading some bed time stories:

We do have a sleep update. Remember how the doctors informed us that the AAP passed new regulations stating NOT to swaddle with the arms in because it increases the risk of SIDS? Because his arms are out, M has been waking up every 3-4 hours in the middle of the night wanting to be fed. After a lot of discussion, we decided to give swaddling a try Saturday night. He slept 7 hours the first stretch and then 4 hours after that! Then we tried it again last night and he slept 7 hours again before waking up!! SUCCESS IS OURS!! Sorry docs, we have to agree with our friends on this one. We will be swaddling from now on! Here's a pic of our little nugget happy in his swaddle: 

Hope everyone has a great week next week! Happy Monday! 

First Day Back to Work

Today was the day I have been dreading ever since I had M. Today I had to go back to work. BOOOO!!! M has been the biggest blessing. I never really knew you could love someone so much and so quickly as I have loved Mason. I knew it would be hard for me but I didn't realize how hard it would be to leave my little man. My biggest fear has been that I’m going to miss all of his firsts. I don’t want to miss him rolling over. I don’t want to miss his first out-loud giggle. I don’t want to miss his first steps. I don’t want to miss him starting to crawl. I don’t want to miss his first words. I don’t want to miss anything! And I feel like going back to work I’m going to miss everything.

So when I woke up this morning I went and grabbed my little man out of his bed and just held him for about 30 minutes. After all, I’m not going to get to spend a lot of time with him today. As I looked over the edge of his crib I was met with the most beautiful smile I've ever seen. Seriously, kid. Try to make it easier on mommy! I did great all morning getting ready and when we finally went to Ms. Dawn’s I was telling myself over and over again that I was NOT going to cry. Because Ms. Dawn loves him so much and is great for him. She has been such a blessing and I know that she is going to adore him just as much as we do. We took a few minutes this morning to take our pics:

I was so proud of myself. I got him inside without crying. I left without crying. I got in the car and started driving without crying. I even talked to my mom on the way to work without crying. I got through my workday without crying. I got pictures at work without crying. I just wrote this blog and cried.  I got home from work and while sitting in the driveway about to walk in to see this:

My husband said that we had a surprise from Ms. Dawn in our bag. Isn't she SOO cute?! We are blessed to the max that M has such a wonderful lady taking care of him. We already love her so much!

I cried again.

They tell me every day that every day will get easier. I’m crossing my fingers on that one because I still don’t want to go back to work tomorrow!

On a happier note, I'm going to be a second aunt! To say I'm excited is a HUGE understatement! Here's a pic of my cute little Beaner telling the good news:

First Fam Trip to Raleigh

For a while now, Josh and I have been thinking about moving to Raleigh and I’m pretty sure that this weekend just sealed the deal. We have always wanted to be closer to my sister Sarah and brother-in-law Danny along with letting M and Lilly grow up together. This past weekend we had SO much fun and we stayed home for a majority of the time. It was just so nice!

Thursday night we loaded up in the car to meet my mom’s side of the family in Asheboro at Sir Pizza (YUMM) for Syd’s going away dinner. My little sister is all grown up and heading to college now! I know that she is going to have a BLAST!!

Then we went straight to Raleigh to spend the weekend with the Baums. Thursday night was really nice because we got to relax and hang out with Sarah and Danny. Friday morning Sarah was finishing up some work and then Stephanie came over with Hadley to play with us. The boys eventually went off to play golf and I got in a great nap!

That afternoon is what made me want to move more than anything. All because of this:

We were hanging outside with Lilly and M while cooking ribs and then one by one it became baby central. It was AWESOME. Only one of our friends that live close to us is pregnant. And as much as people say, “it doesn't matter” for you to be the only person with a child. It totally does. And because we’re the only one with a child, we don’t get out as much. And we could get out to do a lot more things but we’d want (or have) to bring Mason. And we want to spend as much time with him as we can, especially on weekends when we’re able to do that. The problem is, not everyone wants to be around kids. Especially our single friends or even couple friends. They would never say anything and we may just be paranoid about it but babies cramp your style if you’re not ready for them. Yes, going out without Mason every once in a while would be nice but we want most of our time spent with him. He is our life now. Unless you are ready for that lifestyle it can be really hard and we never want to be “those people” that always bring their kid places. It was just SO nice to be able to hang out with all the kids. My vote? Let’s move to Raleigh NOW!

That night the cousins had their first bath together and they were just too cute! Lilly is such a good helper with M!

Saturday started off with us going to the Museum of Natural Sciences. Another perk of Raleigh? It’s got so much kid friendly FUN things to do FOR FREE!! Here are a couple of photos from that:

L helping burp M

That afternoon once Lilly got up from her nap, we had a blast playing with her. Lilly is probably one of the smartest kids I know. Having that said, she just repeated her first curse word this week which was said by my sister. This week she said the word “damn it” as she threw something down on the ground. She had seemed to have gotten over it and hadn't repeated it lately until… Saturday she picked up the ball and threw it across the room as she yelled “DAMN IT!” My sister was trying to play it off and not draw attention to it but it was so clear and so hysterical!

Sunday morning we decided to take a trip to Pullen Park. I am so disappointed that Charlotte does not have something like this. This park has small boats for them to ride on, boats to ride on in the lake, an indoor carousel, a small train, you can feed the ducks and play on the many different playground options. Here are several pics from that:

All in all, we had so much fun in Raleigh and we are SO excited to start looking to make a move! Now I must get back to getting ready for my first day back to work tomorrow :’((((((