11 weeks

 



L is 11 weeks old and seems to be changing each day. He really responds to voices, especially his papa's voice. He loves bath time and flails his little arms and legs as if to be saying to us "see, mama & papa, look what I can do". I adore it. He still has not been taking good naps during the day, so my hunch is that we will need to start working on this. We take daily walks and notice that he can see further now and respond to our faces from further distances. L loves talking with Grandma and Grandpa. It's such a blessing that he's able to bond with them in this special way. I'm excited to see what type of relationship he has with them as he gets older. Lennon has been more interested in the baby, and we now let him lick L's toes -- and then he just doesn't want to stop. I hope that these two are going to be best buds.

This week we switched cloth diaper brands, and are having a much better time with the new brand. I'll have a post about  diapering in the future as we figure out what works best for us -- and what disposables we use when we travel and are out and about. I'm also feeling more confident about heading back to work after reaching out to a few working mamas and reading some uplifting articles about working motherhood.

xoxo,

PJ

weeks 9 & 10

This post is a bit late, since L is now 11 weeks old, but since that post isn't ready yet -- here you go.

This little guy is such a joy. And he seems to be changing each day. Every morning, Hubby and I comment that his face looks bigger. Ha! He's making more sounds, and has been really enjoying playing on the floor with his "friends" -- this time they are the animals that hang above him. He's also crying louder and more dramatically {as in, kicking his legs when he's really worked up}.

He's smiling more and more each day. My heart just melts every time. I can't help it.

 

He's been on a "nap strike" for the past two weeks. Instead of taking a nice long afternoon nap like he did before, he's been sleeping in 30-45 minute increments throughout the day. And I can tell that he's so sleepy, he just keeps fighting it. Poor guy. In other sleep news, he has been sleeping consistently from about 8pm - 5:30am. He wakes crying, Hubby changes him, and then he smiles until he's nursing again. It's the sweetest thing. It pretty much started on the day that he turned 8 weeks and has continued since then, his shortest stretch since then has been 7.5 hours, which is still fine by me. It allows me some down time in the evenings after he's asleep, and a solid 5 hours of sleep / night.

We're still working on the schedule, especially since he's not been napping. I'm just being patient with myself and with him to figure out what works best for us.

xoxo,

PJ

 

thoughts on motherhood: part two

As my maternity leave comes to an end {I'm back to work full time two weeks from today}, I realized this week that I should probably start preparing myself for what will inevitably be a rather emotional transition. I never thought that I would want to be a full time stay-at-home-mama. Pretty much since we've been married, I have said that working part-time would be my ideal situation: I would get to spend quality time with our babes, and continue on my career path that I had spent so much time establishing. Funny how things change. If you ask me today, given the choice between returning to work and staying home with our babe, I would probably choose to stay home. As our pregnancy was a complete surprise, thus very little planning beyond the nine months, I will be returning to work full time {at least  until Hubby graduates in August and subsequently lands a job -- then my dreams of part time workery may become a reality}. Our child care is still up in the air due to Hubby's unknown clinical rotation schedule. Though I know that things always have a way of working themselves out, this only adds to the list of "things for which we cannot prepare".

I've turned into a bit of a hermit since birthing this boy, and I think that it's subconsciously because I know that I have to go back to work. I want to soak up all the time that I can with him. I want to spend my days cuddling with him, feeding him, putting him to bed, taking walks and watching him become more interactive every day -- because it feels like I'm going to miss out on so many of his days. This has really been a struggle for me -- the guilt of returning to work,  leaving this babe and the "well I'm the only one who knows how to {fill in the blank} for Levi". I'm slowly learning to accept that he will be fine; we will be fine. I know that some mamas aren't able to take much time off after giving birth, some mamas don't want to take an extended leave, and that other mamas know from the beginning that they will not return to work. The beauty is that there's a middle ground -- and this is where I've landed. This is my journey of motherhood: to figure out how to be a mother, work outside of our home, to find a balance between my career and my little family.



I've been reading a lot of "mommy blogs" lately for extra doses of encouragement and inspiration. Although a majority of them are home with their littles full time, a few of my favorites are: Love Taza, Jen Loves Kev, Dear Baby, and Nat the Fat Rat. I particularly love NTFR's posts on breastfeeding, and DB's posts discussing working motherhood.

...more to come, of this I am certain.

xoxo,

PJ

mother's day

today was my first mother's day. i remember last year celebrating this day with my mama and wondering if i was ever going to celebrate being a mother. life is silly like that, sometimes. fast forward to this mother's day and BAM i'm a mama. we celebrated by going to church with my parents, and both of my sisters {my middle sister who lives in michigan surprised us by coming for the weekend!!}. we celebrated with a little family nap after church and lunch -- though abbreviated by baby levi's current "nap strike". we took a few photos outside with my mama to end our little celebration.



hubby {& levi} got me a gift certificate for a massage and a beautiful mother's necklace that i fell in love with a few years ago {again, wondering when/if i would ever be a mama}. it was the perfect gift to celebrate this beautiful day and new adventure of motherhood.

i feel loved, blessed, and am so very grateful for this special day.

happy mother's day to the mamas, soon-to-be-mamas, and the hope-to-be-mamas.

xoxo,

PJ