We love the Swaddle Blanket!

Wednesday May 11, 2011

And so does Hampton. That wonderful baby blue micro-fleece with Velcro tabs; this blanket has been our friend for 15 weeks.  Hampton has been sleeping in the swaddle position since he was hours old. As a new mom the act of swaddling was way too complex for me. Luckily Aunt Amie (the mother of 3) had demoed the Swaddle Blanket, and suggested this godsend. This blanket can be easily assembled no matter what time it is and with Velcro that hold the swaddle in position all night!

 But as all good things come to an end – so does the swaddling.  Hampton is learning a new trick; he is trying to roll from his back to his belly. As all parents know back sleeping is the pediatrician preferred sleep position. Swaddling keeps the arms and hands at the baby’s side so when he rolls over in the swaddle it could become a SIDS risk factor. We decided it is time to retire our good old friend, the Swaddle Blanket.  As the final days of swaddling are drawing near, we decided to start “weaning” Hampton off of the tight little burrito that lulls him to sleep every night.

We thought the sleep sack, which is like a sleeping bag with arm holes, would be similar to the swaddle but allow more arm and leg movements would make the transition easier for him and us. The sack worked the first night and we thought “that was easy”.   Night 2 not so much, Nick and I were up every hour. Hampton, Nick and I had no sleep and very grumpy. Nick and I had to work the next day which did not make for a great day.

So… hello old friend-we love the swaddle blanket-

Night 3 we broke down and used the swaddle blanket. Sure enough Hampton slept thru the night. We have not kicked the swaddle habit yet- that will have to wait for the weekend-

Happy Mother’s Day!

Sunday May 8, 2011

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers but especially us first timers-.  I always thought that I knew what motherhood would entail, boy was I wrong. It is hard to comprehend how much you will love someone that you have only known for 15 weeks.  You really do not what your life will be like during the 10 months you carry that new little person but afterwards you cannot remember what your life was like before.

Even at 3:30 AM (like today) you stumble out of bed so tired you can barely make it to the crib, mumbling under your breath, complaining about being exhausted. Then you looking down and the crying stops and he smiles at you; as if to let you know he missed you.  Somewhere in that smile you forget that you are exhausted, and your body probably will never look the same, your life is so reverently changed you do not care about the bags under your eyes and the pooch under your belly button.

My first Mother’s day was very nice we had lunch at my sisters with my Mother and Grandmother, and then off to my brother-in-law’s for dinner with Nick’s mother. Needless to say Hampton was exhausted by his duties and when to bed at 7 PM (too bad he did not sleep thru the night)

Nick and Hampton bought me a very nice top from a really “trendy” expensive store in Wilmington. It was a very sweet and lovely gesture; I loved the top. Unfortunately as I have recently had a baby and still nursing the large flowing SIZE 6 just does not quite cut it.  Nick nicely explained to the sales women my wife just had a baby (this is very important) and she is still breast feeding (the second important note) all of which were pointed out to the size 0 sales woman girl. I guess to the world of size 0 and size 6 seems gigantic.  Did I mention I was a size 6 before the pregnancy and I never thought a 6 was large?

I gained 50 pounds with Hampton and I only have 8 pounds before I am at my pre-pregnancy weight. But as all moms know certain parts of my body are no-where near the size “they” were before the baby. Actually they may be confused with celestial bodies and generate their own gravity.

It was a great day and I am just happy to have spent the day with my family! Which after all is what Mother’s Day is about in the first place and this gift comes in one size fits all-

What did we do before?

We are so lucky that our baby is healthy and happy. Our new little family is very blessed and when I am exhausted from work (all 3 jobs: mommie, job and wife) I try to remember that. I do wonder what Nick and I did with all out time… we must have been really, really bored.

Napping

Ever wonder where sleeping like a baby comes from? Well because the first 8 weeks of Hampton’s life did not involve sleeping… at all. But, now this little guy loves a good nap and so does our Jack Russell Snoopy. 



Sound sleeping



The “first” children in our lives Snoopy and Max are adapting well to having a new family member.

Both boys catching some zz's

Snoopy does not mind the baby foot

Did you see my last post?

Friday May 6, 2011

About how great the weather and weekend was going to be…. Pay attention “was going to be” key word WAS.  As fate would have it I was very sick starting Friday night- hence the creation of Parenthood Rule 2.

Parenthood Rule Number 2:

Rule 2: Whatever minor sickness your child has developed (i.e. ear infection) which usually occurs on the weekend(s) and/or holiday- will somehow in their cute adorable baby bodies be incubated into a biological warfare grade illness.  So when you (i.e. parent) contract this newly created illness (again on a weekend) the symptoms will be 1 step below the bubonic plague.

I contracted Hampton’s illness or in my case a sinus infection- So now after my doctor’s visit  (so a grand total of 3 doctor visits in 1 week)Hampton and I are both on Amoxicillin-  Hampton was almost  100% better 3 days after he started his meds; I am a completely different story. It’s been about 10 days now and I still sound terrible- like the worst case of Laryngitis ever.  I am starting to feel better though-

The things we do that torture our children…

This weekend we “pretended” it was Easter. I dressed Hampton in his adorable Easter outfit with his Easter basket and off we went to Airlie Garden. Most of the azalea blooms were gone but it was still beautiful. To get the full “Easter” effect I put Hampton in his basket. I do not think Hampton enjoyed sitting in his Easter basket.  Plus, the new mommie that I am I took about 1000 pictures- which lead into

Parenthood Rule #3-

PARENT RULE #3- Your normal smiley baby, who smiles at anything WILL NOT smile once there is a camera, pointed in his direction.

Well we still enjoyed walking around the garden; I would definitely recommend visiting Airlie any time of year. It is hard to believe some place that beautiful is right in our backyard and we had never visited.



Looks really happy about this



Friday Friday Friday!!

Happy Friday!

Wow, are we glad this week is over.  This weekend is the weather is going to be perfect! So we plan on enjoying the outdoors.  Most importantly I plan on “pretending” it’s Easter. Poor Hampton felt so bad on Easter Sunday we did not dress him up in his little Easter outfit. So we are having a late Easter.