Outgrowing the Newborn Clothes

Our little baby Bear has now officially outgrown his newborn clothes. I folded up and put away his little teeny tiny onesies and footie sleepers to be replaced by slightly bigger teeny tiny onesies and footie sleepers. And it made me sad! I am thrilled that our little baby is gaining weight - every ounce he gains and every inch he grows is a testament to my hard work and hours of sleep lost, so I'm thrilled he's growing and healthy.

But it makes me realize that my little baby will not be a little baby for long.

Before I know it he'll be one and running away from me in the park to go play, two and turning away from my kisses, four and shutting the door to his bedroom for privacy.

But for now, he's mine, all mine. I spend hours a day holding him and touching him, but it doesn't seem enough. I inhale his sweet baby scent and wish I could freeze these moments forever. I want to always be able to feel his tiny fingers gripping mine to his palm, to see his entire face light up with a gummy smile, to touch those soft chubby, dimpled cheeks, and to feel the slight weight of that little bottom resting on my forearm. He nuzzles his face into my neck as I hold him, and I close my eyes and wish time would freeze right then and there.

I'm incredibly excited to see him grow and watch him develop into a little boy, to watch him learn and experience new things, to hear the funny things he'll say and to see who he'll become. But I wish I could capture these moments now, to save a week, a day, an hour of this precious time and put them into a box to store away, so that when he loses that sweet baby scent and when he turns from my kisses and when he doesn't wear fuzzy sleepers anymore but wears jeans and tennis shoes and smells like a little boy, I can take out these moments and have them back again. Already, they are too brief and disappearing too fast...

7 weeks

Our little Bear turns 7 weeks old today. He's getting bigger and more fun every day. He smiles all the time and coos a lot. We're thinking he may start laughing before too long. He found his right fist yesterday and tries to suck it throughout the day now.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the last week:

Laughs on Mommy's lap




Up close and personal!




The two boys on the playmat with Daddy






Payton gearing up for the superbowl.


The boys chilling on the bed while the sheets were being washed. Barrett sucking on that fist.


All smiles - check out the dimple in his left cheek!

Everyone loves Pooh

I'm pretty sure Barrett misunderstood his onesie.


I think we'll be buying stock in Oxyclean...

Our Monday morning, by numbers

7 - hrs slept by me (a great night! even if it was divided up into 5+2)
5 - weeks from today until I go back to work. boo!
4 - outfits worn by Barrett. might be a new record for a 12 hour period!
3 - number of times Barrett has eaten
2 - calls made to the doctor
1 - call made to the gym, to find out that the childcare program doesn't start until children are 3 months, so we are still 1 1/2 months away
0 - pounds lost by me in the last few weeks, hence the call to the gym!

Worst parents in the world

"I HAVE THE WORST PARENTS IN THE WORLD!!!"


"Hmm, maybe they're not so bad..."


"Just kidding, I love my mom and dad!"

Things I've learned as a new mother

-That I would spend 12 of every 24 hours in some state of undress for the first few weeks

-That it IS possible to get tired of wearing sweats every day and to actually want to wear real clothes

-That my maternity clothes would hang off of me but my real clothes make me look eight months pregnant

-That I would want nothing more than for the baby to fall asleep but then anxiously wait for him to wake up so I could play with him again

-That breastfeeding would be one of the best and absolute worst experiences of my life

-How comical the suggested guideline of 8-10 dirty diapers a day is

-How much my baby's smiles and little coos would melt my heart

-That there's nothing more attractive than my husband holding our son

-That there's no better feeling in the world than rocking my beautiful baby to sleep

-That I could survive on such little sleep

-That motherhood is the hardest job I've ever loved

Which of us can cry louder?

It has been a challenging day. The last six weeks have been harder than the entire 9 months of pregnancy x 10 and I'm starting to wear out. We're still having tons of feeding problems that just aren't getting better and I'm really struggling with pain and frustration. To top that fun off, now we suspect that my c-section incision may be infected and have to make a trip to the doctor tomorrow. I'm running on way too little sleep and help.

Good thing he's so gosh-darn cute...