Baby J is Two Months Old :)

Dear Baby J,

You turned 2 months old on August 27! I can’t believe two months have passed since we were here.

Time is flying so quickly! I already have trouble remembering what our family was like without you in it. You are such a sweet little spirit and we thank God for you every single day.

You are smiling all the time in the mornings (our favorite time of the day!) and sometimes at night. You coo and "talk" to us a lot. You love to have us talk to you and read books to you as well. Your dad especially loves to "jibber jabber" with you :)

You’re a big boy, but still not as chubby as Mom would like. You weighed 11 pounds, 10 ounces at your 2 month appointment and were 24 inches long. You've been so distracted while nursing this past month that I'm afraid that you're not eating enough! There's just too much to see in this big world to focus on eating - right, Nugget? You're currently eating 6 to 7 times a day, usually for 30 to 40 minutes. You've also had some digestive troubles that have made eating not so fun. Gripe water was our best friend for awhile this month!

You have become such a good little sleeper in the past couple of weeks. You sleep 8 to 9 straight hours at night without being fed and then go back to sleep for 1 to 2 more hours before we start the day. Naps during the day are a different story, though! I've been trying to let you form your own nap schedule by observing when you like to sleep during the day and then just enforcing it, but you haven't been very consistent. And you often cry and refuse to go to sleep when I put you down for a nap. It's been a little trying at times, but I'm sure we'll figure out your daytime sleep together soon :)

You’re such an observant little guy. You especially love looking at lights and at yourself in the mirror. Your activity gym has been a hit so far!

Baby J, you’re getting more and more control over your head movement. You hated tummy time for most of the month, but recently you have been more OK with it. You’re still a little bobble head though! I love seeing your head bob and weave when you stand up on our laps or when we carry you around. 

After Dad goes to work, you and I read books, walk around the neighborhood or park, do tummy time, look at your mobile, or run errands.  We even enjoyed Story Time at the library for the first time this month!

You've been a very busy little nugget this month: traveling to DC and Annapolis.  And we take you to church every Sunday where you behave very well during the service (and pay serious attention to the sermon, of course!) You continue to be agreeably portable so long as the car is zipping along... much like your parents, you have no patience for stoplights and traffic jams that slow you down.  Both on your travels and at home, you've met many new friends and family... including your Aunt Sue, Uncle Chip, and Aunt Laurel. While normally so sleepy and snuggly at night, you are so social if there are guests over... Twice this month you've hung out with the grown-ups when company stayed late - content to be passed around or just chill out in your swing... you didn't want to miss out on any of the gossip or action!  

Look how much you’ve changed in one month!

Two Month Stats & Milestones

• Weight: 11 lbs 10 oz = 45th percentile
• Height: 24 inches = 85th percentile (a future NBA player for sure!)
• Diaper Size: 1
• Clothing Size: 0-3 month with some 3-6 month (especially in Kissy Kissy)
• Nicknames: Jacaroo (or just Roo), Rabbit, Munchkin, Lovebug (or just Bug), Nugget 
• Trip to Library of Congress: August 8
• Trip to Annapolis: August 9
• First Story Time at the Library: August 22
• First Trip to the Pool: August 31
• Visits: Nan and Aunt Sue (August 7-10); Uncle Chip and Aunt Laurel (August 15-17)
• Smiling and laughing regularly (with some "squawking" thrown in)
• Mini "push-ups"
• Bearing weight on legs
• Grasping for toys sometimes
• Tracking objects with eyes

Baby J, you continue to be the greatest joy... and just keep getting more and more fun as the days pass! We can't wait to see what next month brings!

To the moon and back, 

Mama

Baby J is 1 month old!

Dear J,

I cannot believe how quickly your first month has flown by. For most of the first two weeks we had our struggles with you being a “lazy eater” and losing too much weight. Now that we are more adept at breastfeeding, you are thriving.

Some days it seems like you spend all day sleeping and some days you are very very alert. You have the brightest eyes and seem to be just taking everything in.

For the most part, you’re really laid back. You manage to sleep through church services and loud noises like the fire alarm. You fall asleep on your own sometimes for naps and every bedtime. You don’t need to be rocked all of the time, but I still sneak in a couple of minutes of rocking before I put you in your bed for naps.

Right now, we feed you between 7:00 and 7:30 pm and put you to bed. We wake you up for a “dream feeding” at 10:00 and put you back to bed. You sleep until 3:00 or 4:00am, eat a little, and go back to sleep until 6:00 or 6:30. You take a morning nap until around 9:00.

You’re a good baby and have fit in so perfectly with our family. We just love you so much!

 I’m so excited to measure you up next to your Jelly Cats monkey every month to see how big you are!

We love you, Baby J!

Mommy

1 month stats:

Weight: 10 lbs
Height: 22 inches (estimate)
Eating: 8 times per day
Clothes: 0-3 month and some 3 month
Diaper: Size 1

Introducing ...

This post is way overdue, but life has been a little intense since Baby J arrived and it's been really difficult to find time to post (and when I did have time to post I preferred to sleep instead!).

Baby J arrived at 10:12 pm on June 27 after a long day of labor beginning at 5:20am. He weighed 8lbs 12 oz. He's a big boy :)

26 & 28 Weeks

26 Weeks

28 Weeks

Yes - I know that a 27 Week pic didn't make it into the line up :) I was counting on having some pictures from my baby shower to document that week, but those pictures didn't materialize for various reasons (Bummer!) so one week will be missing from the preggo progression. My little friend in the 26 Week picture is Baby Boy's "Junglie Monkey" from Jellycat. Peter and I have fallen in love with him :) Monkey will help me document baby's growth in his first year, and I hope that baby loves him as much as his mommy and daddy do!

Let me just say that at this point I'm in awe of all of the mamas-to-be who have their stuff together enough to do weekly postings from the second they find out they're pregnant. I totally struggle to find the time!

Musings on Weekly Photo:  Heinously unflattering. I'm blaming the bad lighting in our home :)

Weight Gain:  22 lbs. WELL, HELLO.  I'm blaming the shoes that I was wearing when I stepped on the scale at the doctor's office this past Tuesday (those clodhoppers had to weigh at least 5lbs each, right?). I'm also blaming the extremely large baby hanging out in my belly right now (he has to weigh at least 5lbs by now, right?) Oh, and I'm blaming ice cream. Definitely ice cream :)

Maternity Clothes:  I finally found a cute, colorful springtime dress at Old Navy Maternity a couple of weeks ago. I wore it for Easter but of course forgot to take any pictures of the Mr. and me in our dressy duds. I was SO excited to find a maternity dress that wasn't black or brown :) I also bought some jean capris for spring from Old Navy Maternity since the temps are warming up here in good ole MD. I would love a pair of white maternity jeans as well, but I refuse to pay $98 for them (ahem, Boden Maternity - I'm referring to you!) If anyone knows of any nice-looking, cheaper white maternity jeans, please let me know!

Fruit of the Week / Size of Baby: Eggplant last week {27} and eggplant this week {28}.  

Movement: Baby Boy is becoming quite the busy bee - he's much more active these past few weeks! He also seems to like his space - whenever I wear pants that aren't full-panel, he kicks right at the waistband. Smart boy. He still will not allow Peter to feel him move, though. Every time he's doing his little kickboxing routine in there, I'll tell Peter to put his hand on my stomach. And every time baby immediately turns as still as stone. I'm afraid that we might have a very stubborn child on our hands :)

Cravings: Anything Mexican. I made Bow Tie Fiesta the other night for dinner (thanks, Blue-Eyed Bride!) and it was SO good! I also have a hankering for Indian food too. A trip to our local Indian carry out might be in our near future :) And Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs!

Annoyances: Fatigue - I'm a little worried since this is only the start of the 3rd trimester and I'm already really tired.  I'm also running out of room in my rib cage; baby boy is enjoying sticking his hands and feet up there which is a really odd sensation.

Highlights of the Week:  Receiving Baby Boy's crib and dresser. Ordering his bedding. A great Easter with friends and looking forward to Easter next year when I'll have an adorable little boy to dress in a smocked outfit with little bunnies or lambs on it (or something equally as cute!).

Medical Updates:  I'm now going to my ob/gyn every two weeks. I had my glucose tolerance test last Friday so I'll get my results at my next doctor's appt. Crossing my fingers that I don't have to do the 3 hour glucose test!

24 & 25 Weeks

This photo and update will have to do for both my 24th and 25th weeks since I didn't take a picture last week (my 25th). And - yes-since I'm currently in my 26th week this post is a bit late :)

Marination Time: 25 weeks last Saturday

Weight Gain:  17 lbs at last appointment (almost a month ago) ... It should be "fun" to see the scale at my next ob/gyn appointment this Friday!

Maternity Clothes:  I'm rethinking my current maternity jeans. They'e the low-rise, demi-panel type and they're majorly cutting into my mid-section right now. I don't think Baby Boy likes them either because he tends to direct his kicks at the waistband :)

Fruit of the Week: Eggplant (The Bump) or Rutabega (BabyCenter)

Movement: Not as many to-the-belly japs and kicks this week, making me think he's found a new position he enjoys.  

Cravings: Not any specific cravings, but the Chipotle burrito bowl that I had for dinner on Friday night really hit the spot :)

Annoyances: Fellow passengers on an overcrowded train on the DC Metro who do not offer their seat to a very tired pregnant lady carrying too many bags and wearing really uncomfortable shoes!!!

Highlights of the Week:  Fatigue, pregnancy congestion, and hip pain during sleep aside, I can honestly say I'm really loving this part of pregnancy.  I'm actually looking the part, but the belly isn't huge enough to majorly get in the way, and I'm still feeling generally great.  

23 Weeks

Musings on the Weekly Photo: I kind of forgot about taking a photo this week until last night after I returned home from my Pregnancy Yoga class, hence the workout clothes :) And Peter was at his men's Bible study last night, hence the oh-so-professional self portrait :)

Marination Time: 23 weeks last Saturday

Weight Gain:  15-16 lbs total.  Yikes! I've never been this heavy in my life, and I'm pushing the boundary of what you are supposed to have gained at this point in pregnancy. When I went to my ob/gyn last Friday, I had gained 15 lbs. But then when I went to another doctor's appt. this Monday, I had apparently gained 1 more pound over the weekend. I'm totally into believing that it was my heavier shoes on Monday that made the difference and not the brownies that I made Sunday :)

Maternity Clothes:  Pregnancy yoga pants are the best! If I never had to leave the house, I would probably be in these all of the time. Side note about maternity clothes: Why is it so hard to find maternity wear in colors other than black, gray, brown, and navy? Has intensive marketing research found that pregnant women do not like bright, happy colors? I've been looking for some pretty spring dresses for my upcoming baby shower and Easter, and even though all of the colorful spring clothing for non-preggos is on the racks in stores, maternity shops still look like it's the dead of winter.

Fruit of the Week: Mango, according to Baby Center. Pomegranate, according to The Bump.

Name: Nope. Peter has to mull each possibility over for a few days before rejecting it. Baby Boy will probably still be called Baby Boy when he's 5 years old at this rate!

Movement: Pretty constant now.

Cravings: Pizza! Looking forward to partaking of some cheesy goodness this weekend ...

Annoyances: Frequent toe cramps and occasional leg cramps. I had a bad leg cramp last night which was not a fun thing to wake up to! Allergies are still bad :(

Highlights of the Week:  Wedding dress shopping with my recently-engaged friend, KJB :)

Guess who's preggers?

I thought that the first day of a new month was a good time to write my first post in forever (seriously - forever!) and how better to introduce a long-overdue post but with some big news :) I'm pregnant! 22 weeks to be exact. Which means that I'm way behind in weekly baby bump updates :) But I've really only had a baby bump for the past week. I'd thought about starting earlier but I really didn't look pregnant at all yet so I decided to wait. This past week when my belly just sort of popped out I knew that I needed to get on the ball so here's update #1.

Musings on the Weekly Photo: We are officially bumping :) This was taken in the evening so I look bigger; in the mornings I'm not as big for some reason. Does gravity make your belly bulge more as the day progresses? Or is Baby stretching out before bedtime? Not sure but it's kind of funny. My allergies have been horrible for the past two months (a lovely, not-well-known side effect of pregnancy!) and my energy levels have hit bottom so I've been rocking the disheveled ponytail a lot lately :)

Marination Time: 22 weeks last Saturday

Weight Gain:  I think 15 lbs, but I have a checkup with my ob/gyn tomorrow so I'll know for sure then.    

Maternity Clothes: Love this striped boatneck top from Gap Maternity! It was my first maternity clothing purchase and on sale to boot! I'm not loving my maternity jeans from Old Navy so much this week. The demi-panel bootcuts were supposed to last the entire pregnancy, but I see some oh-so-sexy full panel jeans in my very near future! The waistband is cutting into my stomach so I think a larger dose of stretchy material up front is needed :)

Fruit of the Week: The Bump says Papaya. Baby Center says Spaghetti Squash. Hmm ... peeps need to compare notes on these fruit choices.

Sex: BOY! We've known for 3 weeks and couldn't be more excited :)

Name: Not yet! We have some strong contenders, but nothing is finalized. And I'm impatient to get it finalized (ahem! - husband o' mine are you reading?) because I have my eye on many pieces of monogrammable baby loot.

Movement: Yesterday his kicks were strong enough to make my stomach move for the first time :) Last night I tried to watch for him to do it some more so that Peter could feel, but I never caught the right moment. Hopefully, this weekend Peter will be able to feel him move for the first time! 

Cravings: Nothing specific except junk food of any kind (i.e. corndogs, chips, candy, etc.) and any food that I'm not allowed to have while I'm pregnant (i.e. deli meat, alcohol, soft cheeses, etc.). Not a good craving combo :) I haven't eaten anything I'm not supposed to, and I'm being very cautious with the junk food. I wish that this baby like veggies and fruit more!

Annoyances: The aforementioned never-ending allergies. Hip soreness while sleeping on my side at night (a 5-foot long body pillow is now my best friend). Multiple doctor appointments in one week.

Highlights of the Week:  Seeing daffodills blooming this morning on my way to work :) Spring is almost here, and I couldn't be more excited about it!

PSA: Girl Scout Cookie Ice Cream. I have a deep, abiding appreciation for Edy's genius in thinking of adding Girl Scout cookies to already delicious ice cream. Limited edition so hurry and buy a few hundred gallons!

 

(image via Google)