1 Month (1/18/2015)

Happy 1 month birthday to my sweet little love!  It has been longer than I anticipated since I last blogged, but it is hard to type and snuggle at the same time.  Life has been so good over here.  I truly love being at home with my boys and they love it too.  (Well Ben at least tells me that he does!)  I'm going to do my best to write these monthly posts again!  I think I made it (almost) to 18 months with Ben so I have to be sure to do that this time around, to be fair, of course.

I had so much fun doing the 1 month photo shoot--- so many good ones to choose from!  Although I'm not really missing work at the moment, I'll use my work note format to write these monthly posts.  ;)

GENERAL: Josh, you are the sweetest little guy.  You are so content most of the time and even when you get upset, you calm pretty easily.  You prefer to be held, but you are typically happy for at least a little while when you're put down.  You love baths, being talked or sung to, and being with your big brother who, for the record, continues to ADORE you.  You had your 1 month check up today and you weigh 8# 5.3oz and you are 20.25 inches.  You've grown a lot in a month!  You are perfection!

SLEEP: Your sleep has been pretty good, but we are still struggling to find a good, safe place for you to sleep.  You love sleeping on your tummy, but this scares me because of the whole SIDS thing.  You also like to be in our bed, which again is a safe sleep no-no.  You also love to be held to sleep, and we try to prop you up at least a little bit.  You usually will sleep for about 3-4 hours at a time at night, sometimes a little longer.  When you wake up you will eat and then you usually go right back to sleep.  You have a fussier time around 4:00AM or so where you seem to want to be awake, but then you will fall asleep again.  You don't like to be swaddled so we have to figure out how you like to sleep that isn't on your tummy until you're able to roll!

EATING: You are a great eater!  You seemed to have slight reflux initially, but that is a lot better and now you rarely spit up.  You are currently nursing about every 2-3 hours around the clock, maybe a little less often at night.  You will eat for about 5 minutes on one side and then you're done.  I'd be a little concerned about the quantity but you're gaining weight so nicely that you must just be efficient!  You have yet to try a bottle but the pediatrician suggested that we start trying this, as it is a good time to introduce the bottle without too much resistance.  I have about 10 bags of milked stored up thus far, but I know I'll need a lot more when I go back to work!  I have to mention that it is approximately a million times easier to nurse than it is to pump and then bottle feed.  This helps so much with the sleep deprivation!

COMMUNICATION/COGNITION: You have become so much more alert!  The pediatrician was so impressed and loved how responsive and expressive you were.  You are cooing and it seems like you may even be smiling purposefully.  You are tracking and you love lights and windows.  You also LOVE your big brother, which is great because he loves you too.  This might be one of my favorite pictures of all time.  Melts my heart every time I look at it.

FINE/GROSS MOTOR:  You are such a strong little babe!  I am pretty sure you were born with head control.  I'd call it fair head control, by my scale. ;)  You like being on your tummy and can turn your head both ways and you are even starting to lift it up a little bit.  You definitely inch around when you are in our bed and there have been a few times where I was afraid you were going to roll over.  We have to keep our eyes on you!

I can't say it enough, we love you SO much!  You are the perfect addition to our little family and I love that I get to hang out with you 24/7.  I am so excited to watch you grow and become best buddies with Benji.  Thanks to you, he now likes to be photographed again, that little stinker. ;)

Happy New Year!

Happy 2015!  We rang in the new year with Andy making us a nice dinner before we went to bed around 10:00PM.  :)  It worked for me!  I could (and probably should) write a whole blog post about how awesome Andy has been!  I'm so sad he has to go back to work on Monday.  Can't we just all hang out and do fun things 24/7/365?!?

We had big plans to play board games on NYE but sleep was much more appealing.  Actually, we can't complain about lack of sleep.  Mr. Josh is a pretty great sleeper.  Additionally, nursing is surprisingly going MUCH better this time around.  With Ben, I was pumping every 2-3 hours around the clock.  By the time I would finish pumping, I would still have to feed him, and no sooner would I get in to bed to try and sleep and it would be time to do it all over again.  I did that for a solid 6 weeks straight and I was (we were) SO tired!  After that I was able to pump a little less, but it was still a ridiculous amount of time.  I think I added up the total amount of time I spent pumping that year and it was like weeks!  To say the least, it is amazing to just be able to nurse.

I am just happy to be feeling good these days!  I had a rough several days with a horrible rash.  I'll spare the details but I was absolutely MISERABLE!  I saw the doctor twice and also took a trip to the ER, but thankfully I finally was able to see my actual OB who thinks I had an allergic reaction to one of the medications I received in the OR.  We will probably never know which med it was, but after a course of oral steroids, I feel like a new girl.

I probably won't be writing weekend posts over my maternity leave since I imagine my weeks and weekends will run together, but I'm still going to try and post regularly to at least include some pictures.

I think I mentioned this in the last post, but based on recommendations from the pediatrician and our own common senses, we decided to keep Josh away from visitors for his first few weeks.  There is so much going around and it just wasn't worth risking him getting sick.  Besides, I was feeling pretty crummy too.  Although I was sad to not be able to hang out as a family, Ben and Andy were total party animals and went to 5 different celebrations!  Ben loved it.  He is seriously always up for a party!  On 12/23, they went to Andy's parents for the annual "Eve of the Eve" party.  On Christmas Eve, they went over to my mom's during the afternoon to see our cousins.  We did all hang out together on Christmas Eve in the evening and my mom and John came over to provide me with a little social interaction and FOOD! :)  Clearly we didn't dress up for the occasion.



Actually, Josh did dress up, but then he spit up all over himself about 3 minutes later.

Christmas morning was fun watching Ben open presents.  He loved everything and wanted to open and  play with every present immediately after he opened them.

After we did our family Christmas thing, Andy and Ben were off to my cousin's house for the next celebration.  Again, Ben was in heaven.  Especially since he had Hannah and Emmy to play with.   They ended their night at Andy's parents' house.  I'm pretty sure Ben got close to a million presents this Christmas.

Meanwhile, Josh and I had fun at home.  He was such a good sport about letting me dress him like a little doll.  

Although I don't have many pictures to prove it, Josh and I finally got to participate in a Christmas celebration!  On the Sunday after Christmas, we went to my mom's to do Christmas with her.  It was only my immediate family plus Auntie Gail, so I wasn't as concerned about germs. This was also the day I went to the ER so I wasn't feeling the greatest, but it was still nice to get out!

My mom's festiveness never disappoints!

We are all sad that Christmas is over.  I hate to say it, but it didn't really even feel like Christmas this year.  It finally snowed this weekend and I feel like we should put our Christmas music back on!  Instead, we spent the day taking down our Christmas decor.  (Much to Ben's disappointment and questioning, "why?") We have managed to take a few more outings, but mostly we are just trying to stay home and healthy!  Here is a little bit of what we've been up to:

Auntie Anna took Ben to the pool.  She is much more fun than me!  He had a blast!







And then the next day, it was snowman time!  He finally got to put all of his winter gear to good use!

I got in lots of quality time with this guy!  I cannot get enough of this sweet boy!

Ben is totally in love with his "baby bruver" and it is pretty much the sweetest thing ever.  He also loves when "daddy-o holds both boys."  He misses me carrying him around, but he totally understands that I have a "big owie" on my tummy and he will actually remind me that I can't carry/lift him just yet.  Sweetie pie.

We made it out for lunch on New Years Day!  For the record, Ben was blowing Andy and me away with everything he was eating, including a soft pretzel.  Ahh, the little things.

We HAD to take Josh to our favorite restaurant too since it wasn't opened on New Year's Day.  I'm pretty sure he loved it.

In between our outings, Ben has been busy breaking in each and every Christmas present.

He is also getting in lots of snuggles with his "bruver."  He has done so well with his transition to the big brother role.  It was probably harder for me than it was for him.  He gets a tad bit jealous here and there and he definitely seems to be trying to get more attention than usual, but he is still an angel 99% of the time.  He loves helping by getting diapers and letting me know when the baby cries, and then telling me he needs "mommy milk."  (Which he informed me Andy cannot provide because daddy-o does not have boobies…only nipples.  Hahah!)  I am just so proud of this big boy!

Last but not least, we had some of our first visitors today.  

Ben was showing off a bit, but he was one happy boy with his Hannah and Emmy!

Miraculously, both boys are sleeping at the moment so I am savoring some quiet time!  I am so excited to have the next 10 weeks to spend with my boys, but I'm also so scared for Andy to go back to work!  And with that, Ben is UP and ready to play.