New Hair Curt: February 2012

Our little snuggle bug.

My favorite thing in life as of late is early morning snuggling with my two boys. Elliott has been sleeping from 10pm to 5am every night. [Hallelujah!] He wakes up at 5 for a diaper change and his breakfast, and then sleeps another 2-3 hours. On the weekends I've started nursing him in bed so I can get a little extra sleep. When he's full, he dozes back off and sleeps until 8 or 9 snuggled between Mom and Dad. I love waking up to his sweet little face. He looks so tiny sleeping in our bed, I want to remember these little moments forever!

I seriously think I'm the luckiest girl in the world. I thank God every day for blessing me with my sweet little family.

Alas, interaction!

The past 2 weeks have been fun weeks as parents. Elliott has finally started interacting with us through smiles, coos and eye contact. He has really begun to enjoy staring up at his animal friends while laying on his back on his play mat. We sit and talk to him and tell him what each animal is and what sound they make. He doesn't reach for them yet, but he does study them very hard.

We also make him do 5 to 10 minutes of "tummy time" each day. He doesn't enjoy this as much as being on his back, but Dr. Davis says it's important in developing his upper body strength, so he can learn to hold his head up, pull up, roll over and eventually crawl. When placed on his tummy he begins fussing immediately, but he does lift his head up, and we can tell he is getting stronger every day.

He has also started cooing and smiling at us when we lay him on his changing pad to change his diaper. We have an alphabet wall with all the letters from A to Z on the wall beside his changing table, and he loves to look at the letters and coo. I've found if he is upset, I can lay him on his changing table and he will calm down almost instantly.

The first time he smiled at me is a day I'll never forget. That little grin made all the hard work and sleepless nights all worth it. It's like he was saying "Hey Mom, I appreciate all you're doing for me." Melts my heart every time. I have a feeling that little grin is gonna get him out of a lot of trouble one day...

Life lately, according to my iPhone.

[1.] Tate comes to town! [2.] E's first Sunday at church.[3.] Sleepy eyes.

[4.] Hot tea on a Saturday morning.[5.] My last day of maternity leave.
[6.] Back to work. [7.] Walking with baby. [8.] At church in the Moby wrap.
[9.] Our little monkey.

My Birthday Weekend.

Sunday I celebrated my 27th birthday. We had a pretty low key weekend since Elliott is still pretty demanding, but my friends and family managed to make me feel special. On Friday, my Mom came and stayed with Elliott so I could go do some birthday shopping and redeem my Christmas present: a massage at Massage Envy. I hit up Target and Anthropologie for a new "post baby" wardrobe. It feels so good to be out of the same few maternity outfits, and back in normal clothes. We used this "Mother's day out" as a trail run for Mom and Elliott since I go back to work Wednesday and she'll be keeping him 3 days a week until April when he starts daycare. It was a success, he ate expressed breast milk from a bottle, and I practiced pumping in the car (since there will be no good place for me to do it when I'm at work). I feel confident that he'll be just fine without me come Wednesday.

Other birthday highlights include Tate coming in town from Texas to meet Elliott and celebrate with me, having pizza and Laura's homemade pumpkin chocolate chip pie with friends at our house on Friday night, and dinner and cupcakes with my family tonight. I got lots of calls, gifts, cards, facebook well wishes and Twitter shout outs. I am so very blessed!

Life lately, according to my iPhone.

[1.] Spending time with Dad after work.

[2.] Saturday morning. [3.] Surprise Valentine breakfast.

[4.] My Valentine from Elliott. [5.] My little Valentine.

[6.] Smirk. [7.] Play time. [8.] Sweet baby bum.

Our Big Weekend Out.

Elliott is just over 5 weeks old now, and he and I have hardly left the house this first 5 weeks. I feel like I have spent my entire maternity leave in my pajamas. So, this weekend we decided to venture out and get some fresh air.

This is a scary thing for the nursing mother. My pumped milk is like liquid gold, I try to preserve it for emergency use only, so I'll have enough when I go back to work. (It's hard to pump extra when you are nursing every two and a half hours.) So, when baby gets hungry or fussy in public, pulling a bottle out of the diaper bag to soothe him is just not an option, and I'm not too keen on nursing in public yet. This means we have to time our outings just right; nursing right before we walk out the door so we'll have a two hour time block before we need to be at a place where we can nurse again.

However, Elliott surprised me on our first big weekend out, keeping his fussiness to a minimum, and my stress level down. We managed to time everything just right, and had a nice time catching up with friends and family.

Bundled up for our outing.

Saturday we went to lunch with 7 of my fellow "Aqua Moms" and their new babies. (While I was pregnant I took a water aerobics class at Baptist Hospital, Aqua Moms.) It was quite a sight. We had a table for 16, with 8 women and 8 baby carriers holding babies from 3 weeks to 3 months old. Everyone in the restaurant had to get a peek at all the little ones.

It was so nice to see these girls and meet the babies from the bellies in class. The conversation with these fellow Mommies was much needed. We swapped stories and shared tips on everything from nursing to where to get the best deals on cute baby clothes.

After our lunch, we loaded up and headed to a baby shower for a friend from church. Melanie is expecting her first son, Bennett, in April. Elliott enjoyed being passed around the room, while I enjoyed some down time catching up with my church friends, some of whom I had not seen since before Christmas.

On Sunday morning, we loaded up the car again and headed to Arkadelphia so Elliott could meet his great grandparents on the Grant side. While we were there, Gary's Aunt and Uncle (Elliott's great Aunt and Uncle), who also live in Arkadelphia, stopped by to visit too. We had a good lunch and about a three hour visit, and we got some priceless pictures that I'm sure Elliott will cherish some day.

After our visit with "Meemaw and Pawpaw" we stopped by our Alma Mater, to visit my brother before heading home. This was Elliott's first time on Ouachita's campus, but we hope it will be the first of many.

With the Tiger at OBU.

I felt like my old self again, getting dressed and getting out. Elliott was such a good sport, that I now feel more confident going out with him. Things are slowly getting back to normal... our new normal that is. Elliott had such a big weekend, he slept though the night for the first time last night, 10:30pm to 6am. I guess that means we should do this more often!

Elliott's sweet little baby smile!

Elliott flashed us his first smile this week. We still have to really work to get one out of him, but I managed to catch him in the act yesterday. Hope it makes you smile too!