Tummy Time!

Colin has a love/hate relationship with tummy time.

 

Notice the drool on the Boppy pillow..

he would much rather lick whatever he is laying on

than practice using his muscles. :)

"Mom, I don't wanna do this anymore!"

Tummy time is hard work.

Look at my big boy (and those kissable cheeks)! Go Colin go!

Poor guy was worn out after about five minutes, as per usual.

That's okay, though - practice makes perfect!

Wordless Wednesday - Colin and his Aunt Callie!

2 Months!

On Thursday, Colin turned 2 months old!

We had an appointment with the pediatrician on Wednesday;

Here are the stats:

Colin weighed in at 12 lbs, 5 oz (a gain of 3 lbs, 1 oz!)

and measured 23 inches long (he grew 2 inches!).

I am in awe of how fast this boy is growing!

We talked to Dr. G about some of what's been going on

with our peanut.  Even though he's usually pretty content,

he had been waking up screaming from a dead sleep,

gagging and choking on seemingly nothing,

and getting the hiccups all the time.

When I told Dr. G that some online research

led me to believe Colin had silent reflux, she agreed

and prescribed him Zantac to see if it would help.

After the consultation with Dr. G (who we love!),

Nurse J came in to give our boy his shots.

I held down his arms and gave him kisses while he got his vaccines:

3 shots and 1 oral vaccine. My poor baby cried, of course,

but as soon as Mommy picked him up and loved on him, he was okay.

What a trooper he is!

He hasn't even been too fussy over the last couple days.

He mostly just slept a lot and wanted to be snuggled,

which was fine with me!

Here is a photo of my sweet Colin on St. Patty's Day, which also happened

to be his 2 month birthday. Isn't he just the most handsome thing?!

Things I'm loving right now: Mom edition (Part II)

One thing I didn't realize before becoming a mom is that newborns tend to be very congested.  I mean, it makes sense - they've been floating around in fluid for months!  As a result, babies sneeze a lot, and they make lots of boogers.  My poor little guy has had moments recently where he was so congested that he was gagging and choking on his mucus.  As a result, we did some research, and found the NoseFrida.  The concept seems gross - you stick one end in baby's nostril, and the other in your mouth, and you suck the boogies out.  But let me tell you: this thing really works!  You should see the size of the things I've sucked out of Colin's nose.  He breathes so much easier after we use the NoseFrida, and so do I.  And for those of you who think you wouldn't be able to get past the nasty factor, let me ease your mind. It's impossible to get anything in your mouth; there's a filter to prevent that from happening, and the snot usually doesn't even go that far into the little blue tube.  This thing blows the stupid little bulb thingie from the hospital out of the water.

 

Recently, we were in Target walking up and down the baby aisles, looking for some Mylicon (turns out, they keep it in one of the pharmacy aisles.. duh), and we stumbled upon the Boon "Grass" drying rack.  It's cute, it's functional, and it holds things of all shapes and sizes. Since we go through a lot of bottles and pacis every day, it's nice to have a quick place to plop them after hand washing everything.  I guess this is more of a mom thing than a baby thing, but hey - it makes my kitchen look cute, and it's useful, too!

 

For a while there, Colin was quite the spitter-upper. He still is, on occasion - maybe because we have done some formula shopping to try and find the right one (he seems to be doing great on Similac Sensitive so far, knock on wood), or maybe because he drinks down his bottle so dang fast most of the time. Either way, my cute little burp rags weren't quite cutting it, and I was having to wash them all the time. One day, it dawned on me: those receiving blankets we got from the hospital were made of a similar material, and they covered more surface area on your shoulder. Maybe if I used those, I wouldn't have a lovely splotch of spitup on every shirt I owned. Well, lo and behold, they work great! We use them as burp rags pretty much all the time now. Heck.. we have a ton of them, so there always seems to be one around.

 

When a friendly neighbor saw the big blue ribbon and the "It's a Boy!" balloons tied to our mailbox (thanks to Justin's sweet parents), she brought Colin a gift: the Cloud b Gentle Giraffe. It plays four different sounds, including an awesome white noise one that lulls our sweet baby to sleep every night. It has become a routine part of his bedtime, and he likes to "talk" to it during the day, too. It's so sweet, and it distracts him long enough that I can take a shower or get something done when he's awake and won't nap. We love love love this thing, and will definitely be using it (or one of the other awesome Cloud b products) with our future babies as well!

 

 More to come! :)

Wordless Wednesday - Big stretch!

On Love

Lately, I've been doing a lot of thinking;

Becoming a parent has made me very reflective.

This is going to sound so cliche, but it's true:

I never believed in love at first sight until I met my son.

Suddenly, my definition of love has changed completely.

So what is love?

To me, love is knowing that you would do anything for someone-

even give your life for theirs.

It is the willingness to surrender your sleep, your time,

and your figure.

Love is making the decision to bring a human life into the world,

and to give that new life everything you have.

It is accepting that your life and marriage will never be the same,

and embracing those changes wholeheartedly.

Love is the tiny whisper of your baby's breath on your neck,

the softness of his cheek against your fingertips,

the sweet flutter of eyelashes as he falls asleep.

To me, this is love.