Lessons Learned - Roadtrip with an infant

We traveled to my parents house in Montana for Thanksgiving.  We couldn't find a dog sitter so we ended up driving with both the baby and the dog.  On the way there we broke it up into two trips - went to Spokane Monday night and then onto Great Falls the next day.  On the way back we marathoned it and did the whole trip in one day.  Here are a few things I learned from this experience:

- Traveling with an infant automatically adds another 3-4 hours on to your trip.

- You can hurt your back turning too many times to give a kid a pacifier (its a good thing I've taught my husband some of my PT tricks)

- Public restrooms with clean changing tables are important.  Even better, changing tables with a hook or shelf to set your diaper bag on so you don't have to set it on the dirty floor.  Buffalo Wild Wings had the nicest restroom and a shelf with hooks right next to it. Yet another reason to love BWW.

Sawyer got his first Buffalo Wild Wings experience in Missoula

- Most places don't have changing tables in the men's restroooms - it must be difficult for single dads or those travelling alone to get their kids' diapers changed.

- Most towns have a McDonalds - not all McDonalds are big enough to find a place to sit and breastfeed.  Case in point - Kellog, Idaho.  Stopped there but the 5 tables that were in the place were packed.  Ended up changing a diaper, ordering a cheeseburger, and listening to hungry screams for another 20 miles to Couer d'Aline.

-If all else fails, breast feed in the car.  Just make sure to have a jacket or other cover up as to not flash perfect strangers who park next to you.

- Don't forget the bouncy chair!  We forgot ours and its hard to find a good place to put your kid in a hotel or at the grandparents house (with three kids and two dogs) while you are eating dinner or can't hold him.  We ended up buying one at Target and will never forget it again.

Charlie made sure to guard Sawyer from all the commotion at Grandma and Grandpas house

All in all, we had a great trip.  The return trip took a total of 14 hours - stops to feed about every three hours.  Sawyer was a champ for the most part and we had minimal bouts of screaming and only one need for an outfit change.  Fortunately the blow out diaper in that case happened while I was carrying him and about to change him instead of in his carseat.   

Thanksgiving with my family was awesome.  My nephews and niece loved trying to get Sawyer to smile at them or grasp their fingers. My mom loved the snuggle time with all the grandkids.  We did some black friday shopping which is way better in Montana instead of Seattle (less people although still crowded).

Sawyer had his own little outfit for Thanksgiving and he was so cute!  I very thankful for my little boy and my amazing husband.

I love the turkey slippers

Grandma was playing peek a boo with him

My friend Amy made him this hand made onesie with a VT colored bow tie.  He wore it for about an hour before he pooped on it. 

2 Month Update

Sawyer is 2 months old!  Its hard to believe that it was only 2 months ago that he was still inside my belly.  My oh my how our lives have changed but I couldn't imagine life without my little boy. 

See how advanced he is?  He's holding up two fingers....or flashing a gang sign.  Hard to tell.

We had our two month well baby check with Dr. Irwin today that included several immunizations (1 oral and 2 shots).  I'm pretty sure it was harder on Mommy than it was on Sawyer.  He cried for about 30 seconds and was fine.  Dr. Irwin says he's doing great and she is very pleased with his growth.

Size:  12 lbs 7 oz (75th-90th %), 23.8 inches long (75th-90th %) and head 15.6 inches (50th %).  Still like his daddy.  He gained exactly 3 pounds since his one month visit.  We are well into size 1 diapers.  He is mostly out growing his 0-3 month clothes and fitting well into 3 month Carter's outfits but still has a little room.  He also fit into his first pair of jeans for church on Sunday - so cute!!!

Developmental Milestones:  Sawyer is showing much improved head control especially when upright.  He doesn't enjoy tummy time but is able to hold his head up and lift his chest especially when he is propped up on his arms.  He can track objects with his eyes and definitely focuses on Mommy.  Smiles and coos have been abundant especially in the last 2 weeks and it melts my heart.

 

Eating: Sawyer and I have hit our stride in the breast feeding department.  After struggling with lots of pain and discomfort the first 4 weeks, we've made a breakthrough.  I no longer need the shield to feed him comfortably and he has definitely gotten more efficient making those middle of the night feedings much quicker.

Sleeping:  You can read about our struggles here.  The last couple of weeks seem to have been more rough than his first 6 weeks of life.  He is able to sleep a 5 hour stretch occasionally but I think he gets gassy and some reflux in the middle of the night causing some fussiness and waking every hour or so.  If we bring him into bed with us he tends to sleep great but I don't want to get him in the habit of sleeping in our bed.  I'm hoping the sleeping 7-8 hours comes soon for my own sanity.

Likes/Dislikes:  He loves his Wubbanub, his fuzzy puppy blanket, and his swing.  He now likes being naked - getting dressed in the mornings on his changing pad are some of our happiest and smiliest times of the day.  He can get overstimulated very quickly leading to 5-10 minute periods of screaming so we try to be very careful.  He's also not a big fan of tummy time and occasionally doesn't like car rides.

 

Mid Week Confessions

Sorry for my exhausted, depressing post earlier this week about my lack of sleep.  Things have been better the last couple of days especially in the nap department (which has also allowed Mommy to nap here and there) and night sleeping is still variable.

But its Wednesday so time for mid week confessions!




- I got back into running this week.  Had to find a super supportive sports bra to contain the watermelons attached to the front of my body these days.  It's possible I strained my rotator cuff trying to get it hooked this morning.

- I am so out of shape.  I told myself I would try and maintain my endurance during pregnancy even with walking.  That didn't happen and I am paying the price.

-Someone at church subtly asked to hold Sawyer a couple weeks ago.  Its a lady who I sort of know but not well and wasn't even sure of her name.  I made up an excuse and said I would be right back and then avoided her until we had to leave.  A) I really don't want him exposed to a bunch of germs right now and B)you don't ask someone to hold their newborn baby.  If they offer the baby to you its one thing but never ask (especially a first time mommy). 

-I'm officially on the "Lose the Baby Weight" project.  It doesn't help that as I type I am eating graham crackers and frosting.  But I ran this morning so its all good right?

-I've been watching Greys Anatomy on netflix during the day when I'm nursing or Sawyer is napping.  I hope his first word isn't "McDreamy".

Sleep - a precious commodity

Its been a rough few days.  Sleep has been variable.  Just when I feel like we are getting into a good rhythm, there's a day when Sawyer decides he doesn't want to sleep.  Its been 8 weeks now since I've had more than 4 hours of sleep at a time and its catching up to me.  I'm an emotional mess.

We've had a couple nights of 4+ hour stretches of sleep - 11pm to 4 am.  I'm amazed at how much better I feel when I get 3-4 straight hours of sleep instead of 2.  And after a couple nights like that, I get lots of small stretches of sleep - he gets fussy in his sleep and needs to be comforted at 1:30 and then again at 2:15, and then he's up at 3:30 to eat and proceeds to throw up all over his swaddle and pajamas requiring a change of clothes, then once we are all bundled up again he poops and needs another diaper change and then its almost 5 before we get back to sleep and then is up again fussy at 6:30 where I bring him into bed with us where he sleeps peacefully next to me but of course I don't sleep because I don't want to roll on him.  Ahh, life with an infant.

That was my night last night.  And today he has decided that he doesn't want to nap.  His morning nap was minimal since we had to go grocery shopping (I decided yesterday to nap instead of shop).  He sort of slept in the carrier but woke up as soon as I put him in his car seat to go home.  I tried to put him in his crib to sleep after his lunch time feeding but he woke up after 30 minutes and would not go back to sleep so I had him downstairs with me as I talked with my mom and he fell asleep for about 40 minutes until he woke up to eat again.  He fell asleep on my shoulder after he ate at 2:30 but when I tried to swaddle him and put him in his crib he woke up again after 20 minutes.  I tried to give him his pacifier which kept him calm for another 10 minutes, then I picked him up and rocked him until he was asleep and put him down for another 15 minutes until he woke up again.  The kid was so tired and fighting sleep and fussing and crying.  He FINALLY went to sleep and has been down for a good 30 minutes now and seems to be out - hopefully for a good 2 hours. 

The ironic part?  As I was rocking/swaying/shushing him trying desperately to get him to sleep, I was in tears and on the verge of getting angry with him.  He was not fighting sleep and fussing because he was trying to get on my nerves - he's an overtired baby.  And I was mad at him. And I felt horribly guilty for being mad.  I almost had to put him down crying and walk away and then he finally went to sleep.  And now that he's sleeping in his crib, I miss him and wish I could be snuggling with him.  And I still feel guilty that I was mad at him.

Thats me.  An emotional, sleep-deprived mess.   I'm tired of being tired. I get emotional about being so emotional.

I need more of this!
 

I know this too shall pass but it could certainly pass a little quicker.

Baby Hokie

He's happiest wearing orange....

I love my little man!

Social gatherings

Things definitely change when you have kids.  Our friends Noah and Ali came over last night.  Their little guy Soren is 3 weeks younger than Sawyer (you may recall that Ali was my belly buddy during pregnancy).

We all hang out on a relatively regular basis for various events.  They are in our small group and we all go to the same church so we see them at least twice a week but we often get together on weekends for dinner or what not.

Prior to children, they would come to our house, we would have dinner, maybe a drink, listen to music, talk and laugh about lots of things and the party would shut down between 11 and midnight.  It was relaxing and chill and fun.

Boy how things have changed.

They came over last night around 7, discussion included poop, sleep schedules, boobs (in terms of breast feeding), baby swings, swaddling, and some conversation about ipad vs surface vs kindle.  I breast fed Sawyer, Ali breast fed Soren (with our nursing covers of course).  We did drink some wine and had home made apple crisp.  They headed out about 9:30 since they had gotten Soren to sleep which would make an easier car ride home.  Aren't we an exciting group of people?  I'm guessing this will be our social life for the next few months.

Speaking of exciting, Sawyer started social smiling this week!  I've gotten several purposeful smiles at Mommy.  It melts my heart.  I managed to capture at least one on my iphone and look forward to getting LOTS more with the good camera in coming weeks/months/years.

Midweek Confessions

Its been a while huh?  E got back to her confessions today so I'm linking up to do the same.

- I love dressing up my kiddo.  Since I can't get my husband to dress trendy, I get to play dress up with Sawyer.  If I don't like the way something looks on him, I will change to a different outfit even if we aren't going anywhere that day.

- My poor dog has kind of been abandoned.  I promised myself that I wouldn't ignore the dog once the baby arrived but I have not done a good job.  He mostly gets yelled at for licking his paws, licking the baby, or just being in the way.  And when he gets to go for a walk, he's on a short leash and gets run over by the stroller half the time.

- Sometimes at 3 am, I slightly resent my husband for the fact that he gets to sleep for more than 3 hours in a row.

- I have multiple thank you cards to write.  Some people I know have given us gifts and for the life of me I can't remember who gave me what because I didn't write it down.

- I gained 45 pounds during pregnancy.  Everyone says breastfeeding ups your metabolism so you lose weight quicker.  Me?  I've only lost about 25 of those pounds and only 5 in the last 6 weeks.  Seriously?  I'm a breast feeding machine - why is this taking so long?  None of my clothes fit.

Have a great Wednesday friends!

Sneak Peek!

Sawyer had his first photo shoot a couple of weeks ago thanks to my good friend Ali from Kavod Photography.  I've created a birth announcement that we will be mailing to our friends - thought you might want to see it....

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these photos!  Can't wait to do more cool things with them - I'm definitely thinking of some canvas prints.  Thanks Ali!

Dr. Jekyll and Mrs. Hall

At times I feel like I have a split personality.  The last couple of days I feel that it has been worse and my poor husband gets the not so nice end of things.

I was warned that baby blues were common but should only last a few weeks.  I worried that I would end up with post partum depression (PPD) despite the fact that I have no personal or family history of depression.  My first few weeks home from the hospital I definitely had my moments of provoked (the dog running through the house uncontrollably, too much clutter on the coffee table, my husband going back to work) and unprovoked crying.  It has gotten much much better.

I read some books while pregnant all of whom warned that having a baby is stressful on your marraige and its important to communicate needs.  They tell you to divide the household duties and importantly for the mom to ask for help.  Me, being the classive over-achiever that I am, figured I can keep doing all the household stuff that I normally do (the laundry, dusting, cleaning the bathrooms, mopping floors, etc) and it won't be a problem.  I won't ask for need help.

And, I was wrong.

A lot if it has been an issue of bad timing.  Andrew is in a phase of his ship cycle at work where he has to work A LOT.  Its 10 hour days plus extra work at home.  He normally has these times once or twice a year and this current phase just happened to coincide with me being home with the baby after our help left us.  He has been working so much - usually doesn't get home until after 7 pm and often has to respond to emails or work for a couple hours once he is home.

During the day, I feel great.  Sawyer and I are getting into a routine (sort of ) and he naps for 2-3 hour stretches so I can do a few things around the house.  I don't seem to notice dirty dishes or clutter around the house.  I love holding him and snuggling and he usually isn't very fussy.  ButI swear the minute Andrew gets home, I feel a sudden need for a break from the baby and start to notice the dirty counters, the mail piled up on the table, the laundry baskets of clothes that need to be put away, the dog hair on the floor, and I start to freak out.  I feel so guilty asking Andrew to help since I know how hard he is working.  Also, I feel like what do I do all day?  Yes, take care of a baby but shouldn't I be able to get more stuff done than I do?

So, I just cry.  Because I know I can't get it all done on my own but I can't bring myself to ask for help.  I start questioning if I am really any good at this mom thing.  For the record, Andrew is totally willing to do whatever I need him to do.  He did help me clean last weekend (and noted all the little bottles and hair products I have on my side of the bathroom - hey, it takes a lot of product to be pretty) and did a great job.  If he doesn't have an early meeting, he takes Sawyer for an hour in the morning so I can get some extra sleep.  But I feel so terrible that he comes home and I am an exhausted, hormonal, crying person and not the happy mommy that I feel like during the day.  What is the deal?  Does this go away?  Its really frustrating.

So friends, part of this mom thing is learning that I need to ask for help from my husband AND give myself a break knowing its okay if I can't get everything done during the day.  Its totally against my nature but I'm hoping I will get better at it.

On a separate note, here are a few pictures from this week.  Sawyer has his first Halloween (he was a giraffe) and he went to his first party at our parent-baby class and "trick or treated" at Daddy's office.

Sawyer and his "date" Ellis.  He's going after older women (she's 12 weeks!) just like his Daddy.

All the babies in our class - I love the shark next to Sawyer

He slept through trick or treating at Microsoft.

And one last picture - we are starting to smile.  Usually when I feel like I'm getting some smiles because he loves his mommy, he ends up letting out a good poop.  Oh well.  Social smiles will be coming very soon.