Smiles!

Busy Week!

I had a very busy week! I thought I would be home all week, and actually home alone for three days of it, but that is not what happened at all.

Monday - My mom, sisters, Benjamin and I went to UMD (University of Minnesota Duluth). My older sis plays basketball there at noon almost every day that she is in town (her job travels). While she was doing that, the other four of us went on a walk all over UMD. Its a great place for walking because you can go forever without going outside - all the buildings are connected. After that we went out and enjoyed a good lunch, then I went to my sisters in-laws house so that her husband's grandma could meet baby. My family has been very blessed with ILs so far (pay attention younger siblings and keep the trend going! LOL). My sister's ILs have the general belief that the marriage between their son and my sister not only added her to their family, but all of us, and all of our in laws, creating one big network of happiness. I love it. So basically they very much feel Benjamin is part of their family.

Tuesday - We ran a bunch of shopping errands I had on my list and went for lunch with a family friend.

Wednesday - My sister called me in the morning and invited us (Benjamin and I), to spend the day with her. We ran errands with her in the morning in town, then went to my Dad's office at UMD and sat and ate lunch with him while she played basketball, and then went back and hung out at her house all afternoon and had dinner there (DH and my little sister joined us). Nice change of pace to spend time with her!

Thursday - My lazy day. As previously mentioned, Benjamin was a bit fussy and I was exhausted, we stayed home all day, my little sister helped with Bry Guy enough for me to get a shower in. The evening it was just my mom, benji and I as everyone else went to a big high school basketball game. We gave Ben a bath and watched "Persuasion" (its a movie based on the Jane Austen book of the same name). It was quiet and relaxing.

Friday - This was a crazy day of driving. Our cat Nox turned up with a goopie eye, so I needed to take her to the vet - a trip that involved me driving all the way to my sisters house (13 miles), then all the way back past my parents house to the vet, then all the day back to my sisters house again! The cat is fine, just inflammation of a chronic eye thing she has. She is on meds now for 10 days. After that I went into town and picked my sister up, we had lunch, and then I came home. In the evening DH and I went to the UMD hockey game, it was a lot of fun! UMD won 4-3 in OT. UMD will be going into the playoffs ranked #4. My parents babysat and apparently Benjamin was quite riled up.

Saturday - We spent the day at home, did a lot of cleaning, DH went to the gym. In the afternoon my mom and I ran to a fabric store to meet my sister. In the evening DH and I (and baby) went out to dinner with my sister and her husband. Yummy mexican!

Sunday - It was snowing and blowing, so everyone stayed in. We listened to the Prairie Home Companion that was taped in Duluth on Saturday, watched "pus in boots" and watched the oscars. I also took a tramp around the woods with  my lil sis and mom.

7 Weeks 1 Day

I cannot believe how fast time is moving, or how big Benjamin is getting. It seems like every other day I put on an outfit that was way to big for him a few days ago and now it fits, or is even bordering on small! As of Monday, Benjamin was 11lbs10oz and 23.5 inches long. Almost two feet tall!

On Saturday 2/18 he giggled for the first time. Cutest thing ever. He is definitely tracking with his eyes better and likes "Itsy Bitsy Spider", it makes me want to learn more songs with hand actions. He now rolls over the majority of the time you try to put him into tummy time. We got it on video several times. He also has looked SO CLOSE to rolling from back to front on his own twice in the past day. I don't know if its coming as fast as it looks, or if its just an illusion... It would be very earlier for him to actually do it, but he looks close enough that we will be being much more careful about where we leave him.

We have been using the swing now for over a week and it was a great purchase. Sometimes when he gets tierd he becomes quite distraught and is only calmed by constant motion, which the swing can provide much more consistently than a tired parent. I have solemnly vowed to myself not to use it as a babysitter. If he is in it for 5ish minutes and is not asleep, I take him out.

Feeding has been going OK. TMI, but it have been a bit painful this week and I think I may have a milk blister or something on the left nipple, not fun. He also just seems to be chomping more. He will occasionally go 3.5-4.5 hours without eating, though 2.5-3 hrs is much more normal. Its amazing how much longer 3 hrs is than the 2 we were doing. Unfortunately, this extended time has not lead to that great of nights. Monday night he decided that 1am-3am was an awesome time to be awake - I had him in his crib and was trying to sleep but he was very noisy and I was worried about him, then at 3 he was overtired and needed to be rocked to sleep. He went down at 3:30am, and then woke up at 4am to eat again. Fun. I am still sleep deprived from the combination of Monday and Tuesday night, despite the last two nights going OK. In general, his fussiness has changed in nature. He accelerates to full out screaming MUCH faster now.

He is still adorable. I am still totally in love with him. I did reach levels of previously unknown exhaustion and frustration this week. But, that is just parenting, isn't it? Just when I felt at the breaking point yesterday (after he was fussy and would not let me put him down from 7-11am) a good hot shower helped me out (with my little sister watching the baby). I am very grateful to my family for the help they have given me.

I have not been as good with record keeping as I may have hoped. I take a lot of pictures, but I have not done foot or handprints, and I  had some planned pictures that I have not started (that you are supposed to repeat every month or so as the kid grows up). I feel a little guilty about it, but ultimately I know that the fact we love him and take care of him is WAY more important than preserving every second for prosperity. When he is 12 years old and doing a project that involves baby pictures and information we will have plenty to show for it and only I will know there was stuff we wanted to do that we didn't.

Speaking of which... I promise I have pictures from this week. Including a couple f-adorable outfits, but I don't have the time or energy to post them right now. They will come in good time!

6 Weeks, 1 Day

Three things I meant to say yesterday but forgot about... can I blame mommy brain??

Benjamin likes his baths. He does not fuss at all, he is alert and happy.

We weighed him using a scale at my Dad's office that is more accurate than our bathroom scale. He is up to 11 lbs 3 oz.

His baby acne/skin issues on his face have significantly improved for now. Hope they stay away!

6 Weeks!

Time is flying, I can't believe Benjamin is already 6 weeks old. I have already realized there is something inherently tragic about motherhood - you either lose your baby to some horrible traumatic event or to the slow passage of time and the joys of childhood. Either way you can't hold onto your baby. I know I will love him as a child and as a man someday if I am given the opportunity, but I won't be able to wrap him up in my arms like I can now. And we mothers try to capture the feeling on paper and film, but ultimately we can't capture it. I guess I will just have to cherish every moment I do get and not rush time.

Not a ton has changed in the last five days. Bry guy has rolled over 3 times now from stomach to back. It depends a lot on how you set him down so I don't think we have a prodigy roller or anything. He continues to occasionally smile, occasionally coo. He has been fussy, and we purchased a swing to try and help with that (to give me a bit more free time during the day, or save my back from the neverending swaying I have been doing, or whatever). I don't have batteries for it yet, so we will test it tomorrow and see if it "takes". I sure hope it was worth the money.

Today I went and got my haircut and I went to my 6 week postpartum appointment. My hair is about shoulder length now so it won't interfere with breastfeeding anymore and he will hopefully pull less of it out. My new doctor cleared me for exercise, but I am not 100% healed and should take things slow and listen to my body. While I was out my mom babysat Ben and he was fussy the entire time for her. I get home, change his diaper, and he conks out cold. I guess he is a Momma's boy!

And now what you all really want - pictures!! 

Farewell Columbus!

We were in Columbus for five years, and they were five good years! Columbus is a good place to live, it just does not have the family, the natural beauty, and the real weather like Duluth has. There are definitely some things I will miss about Columbus, things that Duluth does not offer. So, I wanted to write a post remembering all the positive things about Columbus!

Food: Lets face it, the food options in Columbus are pretty awesome in many ways! First, there are chain restaurants that are available there that we don't have in Duluth, like Chipotle, Raising Cain, Mellow Mushroom, Red Robin, Ruby Tuesday, BJs, etc etc etc. Then there is local restaurants of Columbus, like The Blue Nile, Hound Dogs Pizza and Banana Leaf. Also there was always new restaurants to try, and all sorts of strange cuisines to try. I never did get around to trying the Indonesian place! Then there is the farmer's market - oh how I will miss thee! I am spoiled rotten by Worthington Farmers Market. I am sure I will be missing it like mad! All the fresh produce and delicious locally made yummies! Duluth has a farmers market and I will utilize it, but I don't expect nearly the selection or experience of Worthington.

Library: Columbus Libraries are consistently ranked 1st or 2nd in the country. You can get pretty much any book, they have good hours, lots of programming, and a number of beautiful buildings. Duluth has a public library with three locations, the main library was built in the 60s/70s and has not been renovated. The selection is limited and the hours are limited. We will adjust, and we have access to two university libraries as well (UMD and UWS), but I will miss the ease and beauty of the Columbus library system.

OSU Football: Of course we will miss the football craziness!! Duluth is not remotely football crazy. Hockey is much  bigger and we will enjoy it, but we will miss the OH...IO! We will miss the football parties with friends and occasionally going to games with 100K other screaming fans.

The Crew: There is not professional soccer in Duluth, not even in the state, or a state that MN touches. The closest team is in Chicago, 8 hrs away. We will miss professional soccer and we will continue to cheer for The Crew!

Five Weeks (2 Days)

Benjamin is starting to smile and coo and make all sort of funny faces. The smiles are not all that conscious yet, but its showing up. Also, today he rolled over from stomach to back the first time. None of us saw it. He was laying on a blanket (like the pic below), and I was on the laptop. I turned to play with him some, and he was on his back! I was so surprised. I am sure it was a fluke of sorts and he has no idea how he did it, but its still a cool milestone.  In general he has been more routine/predictable, which I appreciate. He eats, then is awake for a bit, and then gets fussy, eventually we coax him to sleep, then he sleeps until he wants to eat again. Most of the time this sleep is 30 - 45 minutes, but a few times in the past three days he has slept three hours, making it 4+ hours between feedings. Unfortunately that has all been during the day, never at night!! LOL. He still has very severe baby acne all over his face, and dry skin - possibly baby eczema. We put lotion on it today to see if that helps or hurts. I think its helping but it is too soon to tell. 

Also, DH and I went on a date last night! Actually the family pic below was when we were getting ready to leave. We went to a curling class and learned mainly that curling is WAY more physically challenging than it looks! I am not sure I would recommend doing it 5 weeks post partum.... so we left when I got sore and headed to Pizza Luce for deliciousness. It was a nice night out, though I may be that stereotypical parent who goes on date night and has nothing to talk about except the kid. I should work on that. Hopefully I will be able to revisit my new years resolutions soon and let you know how they are going! 

Plus and Minus

Five Things Annoying about living with my parents (in no particular order)
1. Slow Internet - the internet is not slow for little things, but it has a cut off point for streaming etc where it just pretty much stops working.
2. I don't get to "drive" the television - aka, pick what we watch. I have been watching a lot more Basketball and history channel and a lot less reality crap. LOL Though my father very graciously put up with 90 minutes of Teen Mom 2 on Tuesday...
3. I have to pay attention to how much clothes I have on and not walk around semi-nude
4.We can't have the cats with us, they are living in my sister's heated garage.
5.DH has a long commute and its a 15-30 minute drive to get to stores/run errands, etc


Five Things GREAT about living with my parents (in no particular order)
1. Companionship! We moved to Duluth to be close to family, so its great seeing my parents so much, and I don't spend every day all day alone with baby
2. Helping Hands - Having live-in baby sitters both for the "I need to run upstairs!!" and for the "we want to go out tonight!"
3. Meals - home cooked and hot even when baby has had a rough fussy day. I do plan to start helping with the cooking, but its great not being solely responsible
4. Getting to know my little sister - I have not lived with her since she was 8, and now she is 18. Its nice talking to her all the time.
5. Its beautiful in the country, and quiet. Our dog loves it.

One Month Old

Ok... so I know I posted the "four week old" thing so recently I don't really need to do a month update, but I forgot to mention two things and I did not post pics. First, Benjamin unfortunately has some serious baby acne. Such is life though. Second, he has taken to grabbing my hair if his hands get anywhere near it... I need to either start wearing it up or get it cut off, or some combination of the above.

Four Weeks Old!

Baby Benjamin is 4 weeks, 1 day old today!

He is doing well. I don't have updated growth stats because I don't know if there is somewhere here in Duluth to go measure him. I tried to schedule a 1-month well child, but the new pediatrician we are using here does not do 1-month appts, they do 2 month. So we will have to wait until March for that. My mom and I tried to measure his height and came up with 22 inches.

Benjamin has gotten a bit fussier in the past week. He cries more often for reasons unknown, but is generally consolable w/position changes, bouncing, and a pacifier. He is still eating pretty much every two hours, though it occasionally stretches to 3hrs if he is asleep, or 4 hrs if we are out and about (he sleeps so well in the car and in the Moby!) I have read that 6 weeks is the average peak of infant fussiness, so I expect it to get worse before it gets better.

He holds his head up for quite a lot time now when we put him in tummy time. He stretches his legs out and pushes off of things (mainly our hands), and can push himself across the table by doing this. He has no idea he is doing it whatsoever, but its adorable. He responds more now to loud noises and to sounds in general. He also is showing an affinity for Mommy - he tends to calm down for me better than others and my dad says it is "not the momma" syndrome.