Outakes

Two Months Old!

Look at the beer-belly milk-belly

Happy Two Month Birthday, John!  It seems that many of you are thinking “oh my god.  2 months already??” but it seems like it’s been 2 years to me.  Although it’s been a good 2 months, it’s been the longest two months of my life.  How is it possible that a mere 2 months ago Bud and I were having conversations like this…“Do you think he’ll be blonde or have dark hair?”

Sleep:
Things are still pretty good in the sleep department.  He’s been fighting his naps during the day, but is still a pretty good night sleeper.  Until recently he was still waking up a couple times per night (eating at midnight, 3:00, and 6:00 am).  However, the past week we started a bedtime routine to help him wind down and it seems to be working.  Around 8:00 or 9:00 we give him a bath, put lotion on him, and then I nurse him in his room with the lights dim or off.  If he’s awake I’ll sing to him (he’s the biggest fan of my singing), but he’s fallen asleep while eating the past few nights so I’ve stayed quiet.  After he’s done I’ll put him in his crib and I won’t hear from him for a while.  The past 3 nights he’s only woken up once (around 3:00).  Last night was his longest stretch ever…almost 7 hours!  Heavenly. 

I’m still swaddling him and putting on a white noise machine plus his ceiling fan and sleep sheep when he’s in his room.  Yes, it’s excessive, but it works for him.

I miss his long naps during the day.  He’s a much happier kid if he gets his naps.  Maybe one day I’ll figure out how to get him to sleep during the day too?

Eating:
John is still a champion eater although he’s also still a champion at spitting-up.  So gross.  The spit-up is always worst in the morning, but he’s pretty much locked and loaded at all times. 

During the day he continues to eat every 1.5 to 2.5 hours.  He has days when it’s more and days when it’s less, but generally that’s his schedule. 

Likes and dislikes:
His favorite things are still looking at himself in the mirror on his changing pad and eating, but this month we’ve added a few more things.

He finally likes his swing!  Almost every morning he falls asleep in it or sits happily in there while I eat breakfast or get other things done.

He also likes his little play mat.  It has a toy that plays music and lights up which will entertain him for a bit.  Nothing keeps his attention more than a few minutes.

Music, singing, and humming are also always welcome.  We have a ‘John’ playlist on the iPod and it gets plays at least twice per day.  Thankfully, it’s not kid songs…just quiet music that we like.  John loves it.  No Raffi in this house…yet.

John also likes being in his carseat…either for a car ride or a stroller ride around the neighborhood.  He LOVES sunshine, especially when it’s directly on his face.  Is this my kid?

He also has plenty of dislikes, but they are hard to pinpoint.  On any given day it can be anything.  Mostly he just dislikes sitting still and gets bored pretty quickly.

Size:
My big boy!  We haven’t been to the doctor this month so I don’t know exactly how much he weighs.  According to my scale he weighs 14.5 lbs.  It’s not exact, but it’s safe to say the kid is eating plenty.  He’s still in Size 1 diapers, but they are getting pretty snug.  I bet we’ll go up another size in a week or so.  His 0-3 clothes are also tight and are being phased out.  3-6 month clothes fit the best, but he wore a 6-9 month onesie just fine the other day.  I think the sizes are pretty inconsistent…no way does he actually fit a 6-9 month outfit, right?

Me:
I’m doing better and better.  John has good days and bad days, but I’m learning how to deal with both.  It’s still not a walk in the park, but Easter candy helps a lot.  Breastfeeding is also getting easier.  John is getting quicker, thank god.  We’re now up to 212 hours, 14 minutes of nursing this kid.  Whoa.

John started smiling this month which is better than I even imagined it’d be.  Not because of some bullshit “my child’s smile lights up the room and makes world peace seem possible.”  No, it’s just so nice to get a little something back from the kid…even just a little.  The first month was so hard because it’s all take-take-take from the baby and getting nothing back.  I treasure every smile because it lets me know that I’m doing ok.

I’m down 24 pounds since John was born (4 pounds less than before I was pregnant) which is great, but I still have a long way to go.  Now that I’ve gotten the green light from my doc to resume normal activities I would like to try to get in better shape.  I wasn’t in good shape before John was born so I can’t really blame him for ruining my six-pack, but my body does feel…uhhh…different.  Hard to explain, but it just feels blah and floppy and squishy and ewww.  I’m sure that’s how all women want to describe themselves.  Breastfeeding alone isn’t going to get me where I want to be so I need to come up with a plan.  For motivation, I told myself that I can get a new pair of jeans when I lose 15 lbs.  I’ve lost 1.5 since then so only 13.5 lbs left to go.  Maybe I should ease up on the aforementioned Easter candy?  Nah.

John’s highlight of the month:
Meeting Aunt Sarah and Aunt Allyson

John’s low-point of the month:
His first injury when June accidently wacked him on the top of his head.  At least I learned that he definitely has a different cry when he’s in pain.  His crying only lasted a minute, but it was pretty sad.  Please forgive Juno…she didn’t mean to.

Favorite Picture of the Month:

Finally a picture of the three of us.

6 weeks old

Others:

CHEEKS

Grandpa finally held me...7 weeks.  

I'm kind of obsessed with John's face in this picture.

Pop Pop held me too...8 weeks!

First trip to Target

randoms

So I took this picture anticipating to talk about (1) our family's college choices (UNF and FSU, represent!), (2) the new bedtime routine I started with John, (3) the amazing rolls on John's thighs, or (4) how my 8 week old is wearing a 6-9 month onesie (ah!), but then I saw the picture and it's clear there's only one thing I can talk about....

LOOK AT MY FREAKSHOW OF A HAND.

Hahaha!  Now let's be clear, I have pretty small hands.  I will never palm a basketball and I have a hard time opening jars.  So why-oh-why does my hand look like it belongs to a WNBA player in this picture?  I guess John really is a small lil nugget still.  I think of him as so big, but his body is the length of my hand so I guess he's not that big after all.  

Bud took some hair styling tips from John over the weekend and I don't think they've ever looked cuter.  Twins, right?  John has been looking a lot like me lately (especially my baby pictures), but I think this picture shows pretty clearly that he's taking after his papa too.

He definitely got these from Bud:

no we haven't used Lattisse on him...those lashes are all Garro

And then he smiled.

omfg

I Love...

I’ve decided that I’m taking a day off from complaining about John’s newbornness and will dive head first into the deliciousness of it instead. 

I love…
his perpetual milk breath,
the way his butt sticks out when I burp him on my shoulder,
the way he’ll cuddle into me like I’m a pillow if he’s sleepy,
his sweet coos, ooh, and ahhs,
that he looks for me if I enter the room,
his chunky fat rolls on his arms and legs, 
how tiny he looks when Bud holds him,
the dimples on his butt,
how incredibly soft his hair is,
kissing his double chins,
his floppy little head,
and his big gummy smile.

it's hard being a baby

6 weeks old

crushing it at the gym

John's Celeb Doppelganger

Am I crazy or does John look a lot like the Lachey Baby?

Camden Lachey

John Garro

PS...Didn't take Nick too long to try to make money on being a father, did it? 

(Hypothetical) First Month Survival Kit

Now that I have a whopping 6 weeks of parenthood under my belt, I have put together a list of things that I would put into a First Month Survival Guide for a pregnant friend.  Not that I’m actually going to do this for anybody (sorry!), but if I did this is what would be in it.  Isn’t the hypothetical version of myself a sweetheart?

Some of these things I listed in the 1 Month recap so there’s really no need to gush about them again, but I can’t write this list without including them. 

1.  Sleep sheep:  You should have seen the panic on my face the first time the batteries ran out of that little guy.  Do yourself a favor and make sure you buy a tiny screwdriver when you buy this because apparently baby toys have the lock their batteries behind the tiniest screws you’ve ever seen.

2.  Rock n’ Play:  Can’t say enough good things about this thing.  I want to mouth kiss my friend who recommended this to me.  One day, you’ll want to kiss me on the mouth.  As I type this, John is in the Rock n’ Play listening to his Sleep Sheep.

3.  Baby Connect App:  I love/hate this app, but I honestly don’t know what I’d do without it.  I think I need to stop relying on it so much and start trusting myself and John, but I’m not ready for that yet.  Example:  Yesterday John didn’t eat quite as much as he usually does and I was worried about him and trying to force-feed him at 9:00 pm.  Bud reminded me though, that he was perfectly happy and had plenty of wet diapers so why was I letting an app stress me out?  It’s a good point.  Maybe the little guy is just getting more efficient at nursing?  Or maybe he’s gearing up for a MASSIVE growth spurt that’s going to kill me?  We shall see.

4.  iPhone:  How did people breastfeed before smart phones?  I’d be SO bored without mine.

5.  Nuk Pacifiers:  Before John was born I had registered for Soothie pacifiers because that’s what my friends use and was told that they are “the best.”  Well, I’m glad we didn’t get a ton of them because John strongly prefers Nuk pacifiers which is the kind he got in the hospital (during his circumcision and jaundice checks...ouch!).  He likes Soothies, but the kid loves a Nuk.  Lesson to be learned:  Don’t buy a ton of pacifiers or bottles until you know which kind your little weirdo likes.  If I were making this hypothetical Survival Kit, I’d put a variety of pacifies in there.

6.  Boppy Pillow:  Is it possible to survive without this?  Yes.  Should you?  No, crazy lady.  This little pillow makes my life so much easier.  The pillow lets me nurse John hands free so I can surf the internet on my phone (see #4).

7.  Keurig:  Oh, I love you.  It was a happy girl when I read that nursing mothers can drink up to 5 caffeinated beverages per day without affecting her baby.  Not that I’m drinking that much, but still…good to know.

8.  Cheap cloth diapers:  As I mentioned before, John is a binger and a purger.  The poor kid seems to spit-up after almost every meal.  I have a bunch of cute burp cloths, but learned pretty quickly that the best thing is a cloth diaper, hands-downs.  We go through a lot (sometimes 6 per day) so I’m glad they are cheap because we stocked up.

9.  Long sleeve onesies:  Because of the aforementioned spit-up situation, John also goes through a lot of wardrobe changes.  He’s like Beyonce.  I love these long sleeve oneies with the little mittens on the end because this kid also loves to scratch his cute little face.