Whirlwind...

My life is passing by so fast right now- it is a complete whirlwind. I barely even know what day of the week it is at any given time.



UPDATE ON THE BOY:


Brooks went through his 6 week 'growth spurt'. This has pretty much been my week:


how pissed does he look there?? LOL

Poor Eric has to come home to not just a cranky baby, but a miserable overtired wife. The past few nights he has slept a 5-6 hr stretch, so I hope that means we are out of the spurt.

Updates: we had our 1 month well visit at the pediatrician. Brooks measurements
weight: 10lb 5oz (birth: 7lb 4oz)
length: 21.5" (birth: 21"- but the ped got him at 19" so somethings off, he is growing)
head circumfrence: 15.5" (birth: 14")
cute factor: more and more adorable (birth: adorable)

evidence of said growth and cute factor:






A Boy and His Dog.
Ming has been pretty good so far. She doesn't do much with him- sniffs, once licked his leg, and then walks away. We did find her paws up on the crib checking him out one day, she sleeps on the rug in his room, gets jealous if other dogs get near his stroller, has buried one of his blankets in the couch, and has been awesome about understanding which toys she can't have. I think they are going to be best friends.


Activities: One thing that is great, is that B gets knocked out by the stroller. This has allowed us to get out- and we want to take him out as much as possible so that as he gets older he is used to it and we can go places with him.

His first jeans- worn to dinner to say goodbye to good friends of ours who are moving out of the city:

Meeting Daddy for dinner after work on Friday:



Eric and I had our first night out- a good friend got married. I was very nervous leaving Brooks with the inlaws (I would have been nervous leaving him with anyone- it was just leaving him that was tough). I only made Eric call home twice (although we were only gone 5 hours). Apparently the little guy did pretty well (thank goodness he was out of the cranky spurt from the few days prior.

Here is Eric and I at the wedding:



Funny story- at the end of cocktail hour I brushed my dress with my arm and what do I feel?? the freaking security sensor. No joke- we had the valet get our car, drove about a mile to the nearest macys, I walked in setting off the alarms and looking ridiculous b/c I was dressed up, and they removed it while i was wearing the dress, eric had drove around city hall, picked me up, and we made it back just in time for them opening the reception. I think that was Eric's fave part of the wedding- he thought it was hysterical.

My baby is 1 month old!!!

Hello readers!

CUTEST.FACE.EVER

1 month old!

of course- as usual, I am a late in this :)

What did we do for our 1 month birthday? We all went out to dinner, and Eric gave Brooks his first bottle! Now as long as I pump in advance- I can leave the house for longer than a 2-3 hour stretch if need be. So exciting and Eric loved feeding him.


Everyone also tried to catch up on sleep :)


Here are pics from our one month photo shoot :) The idea is to recreate this shots on each monthly birthday so we can watch how he grows. He really liked the monkey I am going to use for size reference.






We also played with our new toy- the bumbo. Brooks is a bit small for it on his own, but he likes sitting up so much that we thought we could test it out.





apparently- it was exhausting :)

and some more random pics

"west siiide"



Eric bought this outfit the day after Brooks was born- it was way too big then, but our little man is in it now. He looks great in Daddy's outfit :) I love that Eric went out and bought him something- of course it is sports related- team Puppies!

and a video... the boy does this with his fist in his sleep All the time- so bizarre b/c it is in slow motion

Things I have learned

UPDATE THAT BLOG MORE MOMMY!!!!




Well, it has been a while since I posted- things are going pretty well. I am learning new things everyday both about being a mom, my baby, and baby stuff in general. Brooks started in his crib last night- it went well for both of us. We have the angelcare motion monitor and that made it bearable for me- otherwise I think I would have been neurotic.

Some tips I have for future mommies and things I have learned.

Lansinoh Lanolin cream is awesome- it has saved my nipples. It also STAINS! WTF!?!?!? I used shout and still nothing- why on earth with how advanced things are can they not come up with a soothing nipple cream that does not stain ( you know since we put it on our boobs then cover up). So be warned about that- always wear nursing pads when you put it on. I am pretty pissed about having ruined several things- including some new nursing shirts.

Soothies- the hospital's choice of pacifier. First I was not going to even use a paci- but then the boy would latch and unlatch, latch, unlatch, and scream- basically he was pissed he was getting milk and just needed to suck. So I used the soothie. I decided to stick with it b/c to me it looks more like a nipple than other pacis (although a little bit more National Geographic than mine). Anyway- if you buy soothies. MAKE SURE THE PACKAGE SAYS NEWBORN and not infant. Who knew there were two types, and when grabbing them who would have thought infant would be inappropriate. The newborn ones are soft rubber, the infant ones are about the consistency of a dog's Kong ball- completely hard and not flexible.

Stomach sleepers- Attention people who sleep on their stomach- if you think you can return to that once pregnancy is over, think again if you are BF'ing. I had a great pg, did not have much to complain about, but one thing I said I was looking forward to about not being pg was being comfy when I sleep. Well, my boobs won't have it- they are either too full, too sore, too something for me to lie on them, I have to arrange myself just right to even sort of be on my tum.

Leakage- When feeding the baby from one boob and you finish- you may think they leaked and wet themself. Not likely, it is more than likely it is your other boob spraying them.

Spraying- breastmilk is not just drip drip drip, it can actually shoot out

Babywearing- is the best. The baby loves it (and passes out most of the time) and it enables you to get lots done by being handsfree.


Simply things entertain babies- I swear the corner of our living room must hold some fantastic mystery with how Brooks zooms in on it
Who needs a fancy activity center when you can stare at your fist?

I will add more thoughts as I keep learning.

We are getting out and about more- Brooks went to his first beer garden on the 4th of July (it was so nice to have a drink in the gorgeous weather and then head home)


My baby is really growing- he was up to 8lb 12oz on Monday. Look at the difference

5 days old vs 21 days old




And here are some recent Brooks pics!











He seems to love bathtime!

You take the good, you take the bad

you take them both and there you have- the facts of life, the facts of life.

We have been having great days, and not so great days. Some days i am exhausted and cursing under my breath while bf'ing, others it seems like we have a bit of a routine and all fun. Regardless of the way the day is going- I cannot stop taking the time to stare at this little man and marvel that we made him. He is just so amazing and such miracle, and yes it is so very hard- but it is so very worth it. I love this little guy- he amazes me. He looks different every day, and each day is more and more alert- we have eye contact that lingers, more sounds, just everything.

Last weekend we had a photographer come to the house to do newborn shots. Well- no sneak peek on those yet (I am trying not to be impatient but am dying to see them). Brooks was a fusspot the whole time she was here. He was fine in our arms, but to put him down to get any alone shots, he just freaked out.

SOOO- I decided to try to recreate a photoshoot and take some "pro" shots of my own with my good camera. I think I did pretty damn good- check it out
Also- if you love the hat, hislovf made it and she sells them! (totally pimping you out lovfer b/c it is frigging adorable)














My favorite 3- I am definitely going to frame them in some sort of collage frame.