3D Ultrasound Comparison

During pregnancy, I couldn't wait until I was far enough along to get a good 3D ultrasound to get a sneak peak of our little guy! Now that he is here, let's look at the comparison to see how accurate the 3D image was. Here is a not so great picture of his whole face (his nose is squished), but it really shows his lips and chin, along with a current picture. I think the ultrasound image showed exactly what his mouth would look like!

Here are a couple of the other good pictures from the ultrasound, but I couldn't find the best 'same angle' pictures.... these will have to do...

All in all, I think the 3D was so worth getting a sneak peek at our guy!




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Swaddles and Swings: Mommy Lesson #1!

So, I have come to learn that when it comes to techniques to dealing with a crying baby, I am way to quick to give up on all of our baby goodies! The first couple of weeks, we had a routine, and Tim and I thought we had the easiest baby ever... little did I know that doctors refer to the first two weeks as the "Baby Honeymoon Period". As in, they DO mostly sleep and eat. We just thought we were lucky!


Well, week three hit and so did the infamous "3 Week Growth Spurt". Nothing seemed to work. The swing was a tool used to make him cry rather than lull him to sleep, and the swaddle was a torture device. Once we got him quiet and would try one of these tools to hopefully prolong the nap, he would scream until he was hoarse and mommy would pretty much be in tears because he seemed to be in pain.


I was really quick to write off these items as useful tools in our arsenal. Seriously, my mom asked me about his swing and would immediately say, "Nope, he hates his swing now... swaddle? No way." This past weekend, Tim was home and after I fed him one morning, I gave him Hunter and went to recharge my batteries in the shower. I came out and Hunter was almost asleep.... SWADDLED and IN his SWING! I was shocked! I knew that swaddling would help, but the time before the comfort set in he would fight that thing so much! 


Here he is all swaddled and in his pack and play:

Since then, he has been swaddled and in his swing for each nap and bedtime, and he has been giving us a few hour to hour and a half naps everyday, and for the past two nights he has slept in a four and a half hour chunk followed by a three to three and a half hour chunk. I am worried about the day when we want to transition him to his non-swinging crib, but I am sure that will be a different mommy lesson, haha!    


In the future, we will definitely be retrying things that previously were thought to be a bust!


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Hunter: 5 Weeks

Seriously? 5 Weeks? Time is flying by, which is good and bad. If it goes too quickly then I will have to start work sooner than I would like, and Hunter gets further and further away from being the tiny newborn he was when we brought him home. But- it also means that the cranky, sleepy, fussy, all day eating days will move past us and we will be in the more playful days! 

This week, I tried to take pictures of the things that I would want to include in the 5th week update, so that I could just post the pictures with little captions. 

Meeting the girls and their babies for lunch!

Still love his hair :)

Tex was trying to steal his toys

Had to move to the 0-3 month size :(

This swaddler shrunk, and he worked both of his hands out!

Snuggles with daddy on Father's Day

Tummy Time... he can last much longer with a pillow before crying!

We had Father's Day, and Hunter turned one month old

He started liking his froggy Wubbanub more.... sometimes!

He still loves snuggling on your shoulder

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Father's Day

This year was Tim's first Father's Day! We had two little celebrations, and I hate to say.... I dropped the ball on this one. Things have been pretty hectic with this newborn living in our house! 


For our early afternoon, we packed up and went across the street to my sister in law's house to eat and relax with Tim's family. Everyone loved seeing Hunter, but he had just eaten and so he was able to be held by Tim's dad until he fussed, then by Tim's mom for a while and fell asleep in her arms. Then he slept for almost the whole time we were there! I know people want to see him awake, but I really wanted him to keep his daily nap. I am really trying to get his schedule to stick!

After that, we came back home to let Hunter eat again. We also changed and got ready for an early dinner with my parents at Del Frisco's. Hunter fell asleep on the way there and slept through most of the dinner. When it became apparent that he was waking up again to eat, I asked the waiter for a mug of the hottest water he could bring me. He ended up bringing a pitcher of steaming water which warmed his bottle perfectly! They were so accommodating! 


The dinner was delicious, and it was nice to sit down in a nice restaurant again, even if I was paranoid that the baby would start screaming any minute! The last time we went there was for Mother's Day right before we had Hunter, but I had been craving this chicken that they have ever since! 


It has been so awesome to see Tim as a daddy! He has never really been around any babies, so this is a totally new experience, but he is helping as much as he can and I know that once Hunter gets a little older they will be inseparable! I have been blessed to have an absolutely amazing father in my life! He is kind, loving, supportive, generous, and someone that I look up to very much!


Here are some pictures of our dinner:

Hunter is ONE month old!

I can't believe my baby is already a month old! You always hear people say, "I can't imagine my life without them!" and I would always wonder if that was true. It ids very true! It may be the lack of sleep talking, but I can't imagine Hunter not being here! 

Each month, I will take pictures of Hunter laying next to his marlin to get perspective on how long he is getting and next to his owl to get perspective on how he is looking in general. I am kicking myself for not getting a first week picture of him in these positions, especially the laying down one! I know he has grown so much!

This month Hunter has:

• gone through a few growth spurts
• gone up from 1 ounce per feeding to 3.5 to 4 per feeding
• gained at least 2 pounds!
• pretty much grown out of newborn diapers (size one swallows him up, but newborn is pretty tight!)
• Grown out of some newborn clothing
• Rolled over twice! Most likely a fluke, but he did it twice in a row, and mommy was quick to brag on him!
• Started tracking objects and people, if they move slowly :)
• Started responding to sounds and looking for them. 

I can't wait for two months so that I can see how he hones these skills!


Stats:

• Diaper size: Newborn (moved up to size 1 the next day)
• Clothing Size: Newborn (these fit better than the 0-3, but are definitely tight!)
• Eating: Every 2 hours, about 3-3.5 ounces each time
• Night: Waking every hour and a half to two hours, sometimes a random 3 hour stretch. He also likes to stay awake in the middle of the night, sometimes for 2-3 hours and we need to feed him again! Not cool.

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Things I Miss From Pre-Motherhood Days...

When I was pregnant, I had an ever-growing list of things that I miss about being not pregnant. Now that I am past that stage, I have an ever growing list of things that are just not the same now that I am a mother. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't go back to my pre-motherhood days if you paid me... but everything is different! I KNEW it would be different, but I didn't realize how even the smallest things have changed. 

• Running to the store.... or anywhere. Before having Hunter in tow, I could run up to the store, pop into the yogurt shop and grab a cup of my favorite frozen treat, take a sporadic nap, meet Tim for dinner.... you name it. I could get up and go. Now, I have to time things just right with Hunter's sleeping and eating habits, make sure I have a change of clothes, diaper change goodies, pre-pumped milk (I am terrible at breast feeding on the go...), burp rags, etc. I like to make sure the car has run for a few minutes, because in this terrible Texas heat, my car would be 1000 degrees if we were to just jump in and try to go. 
• The Pop-In: I mentioned above that I can't just pop in to the frozen yogurt shop. Really, you can't just pop in anywhere! You have to unload the baby, find a cart to put the car seat in, and hope that he is happy all the while. That being the case, you pretty much need to make sure that you really NEED to go up to Target. Just to buy that mascara? No thanks. I can go without until my Target shopping list is a little longer! 
• Being on time. I am either late or early, depending on how much running around the house I had to do prior to getting him in the car. Did he all of a sudden act starving right before I left the house? Then that means I either need to heat a bottle of precious pre-pumped milk, or just nurse him. That means at least 30 minutes until I can actually leave the house. Just today, I was 45 minutes early to lunch. He had just eaten and fallen asleep so rather than put him down somewhere to transport him to the car seat later, I strapped him in right then. That woke him up a little so we had to get into the car to lull him back to sleep before he fully woke up. If I would have waited, he would have screamed then not fallen back to sleep. Would I rather get to a place super early, or on time with a fussy baby? Yes, that meant if you saw a black Murano driving circles around the block or parking lot  trying to run over as many bumpy street reflectors as I could just so that I didn't walk in 45 minutes early... that was probably me.
• Sleep. People say, "Stock up on sleep before the baby comes!".... but, you can't really do that. I think what they mean is, "Enjoy sleeping while you can do it whenever you want". I have slept less that 6 hours each night since he has been home, and those hours are certainly not consecutive. What was that? Take a nap? Sure, just as long as Hunter is asleep as well. Then you look around the house and see laundry and cleaning that needs to be done and you have to make that decision. The other day, I got him to sleep, pumped, loaded one load of laundry, set another load on 'dewrinkle' for the 5th time that week, then laid down in bed. Five minutes later, he was awake.
• Wearing what I want. Now I have to make sure that it is nursing friendly. Can I take down one side at a time easily or will I have to yank the whole thing over my head and sit in my living room feeding him with just a bra on?
• Eating what I want. I thought pregnancy limited your options. That was nothing compared to being a nursing momma. Chocolate, citrus foods, spicy foods, dairy, soy, broccoli and onions (yuck), the list goes on and on for foods that will upset baby's tummy. 

I am sure there are many more, but I feel like I am painting that terrible picture of motherhood. It is NOT all bad stuff and sitting around missing your old life. There are so many things that are amazing and wonderful about motherhood. Sometimes, while I am looking at him I almost cry. He is just so perfect.... and I grew him. One night started a while chain of events in my belly, and 10 months later I have a fully functioning baby who is right on track with life. His eyes are gorgeous. I can see some of my family traits in him as well as some features of his daddy. He looks up at me while eating and I can just tell he loves me and needs me. And 10 months ago he didn't even exist. You know the song by George Strait, I Saw God Today? I know EXACTLY what he is singing about now. There is not one long nap, yogurt shop pop in, trip up to the Galleria that could ever make me think of going back to my old life. I may be tired, and in comfy pants all day, and seriously craving certain foods, but this is my new life, and I love it!


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Hunter: 3 Weeks and 4 weeks!

Aghhh! Late again! It is really hard to get extraneous things done on time when you are behind on sleep, laundry, dishes, grocery shopping,  cooking, and cleaning..... and the only thing you want to do is stare at your gorgeous baby!

During Hunter's third and fourth weeks of life, he decided to have a growth spurt. This meant fussy nights, fussy days, tons of eating, and little sleeping for a couple of those days. Luckily it was back on schedule after that, and mommy got some of her sanity back!


Hunter is starting to show some major likes and dislikes...


He loves bath time, but hates the getting out and dried off part!
He loves his bouncy seat for short naps, but needs to be sleeping in a vibrating pack and play for night sleeping.
He loves to eat, and hates to be kept waiting for food! It is a waste of time to make a bottle less than three ounces... unless I am supplementing a 3 ounce bottle and he needs more!
He loves to be awake from midnight until at least two, and although he hates to be swaddled, if I cuddle him long enough he quits fighting it and falls asleep for the longest stretch of the night.
He seems to love being outside. Although it is super hot right now, if we go out even just for a few minutes he will settle down and either sleep or look around. I think he likes the fresh air!
I *think* he loves the song "Springsteen", by Eric Church. Either that or he just loves swaying back and forth with mommy whenever the song comes on!


This week, daddy had to go to the hospital for a really bad staph infection. This made things really hard on mommy! In order for me to go to the hospital to visit Tim, I had to leave Hunter at home with a babysitter, and it is the most odd feeling! For over three weeks, I have been in very close vicinity to this little guy, and driving away from home without him felt odd and just wrong. My mom keeps telling me that when I am ready to go somewhere without him, then I will just know. I am NOT ready. I want to know that if he is fussy or inconsolable, that everything is being done to make him feel better. When the person taking care of him is me, then I know everything is being done. I know that I will not get so frustrated that I will walk away to let him cry. When I am not there, I just don't know that that is happening! That being said, when I had Kristin and April come over to watch him, I made sure that it was during times that he very much enjoys sleeping!


Hopefully from now on I can keep up the weekly updates, but here are his pictures for weeks 3 and 4!

I love his hair!