Project 365: Week 4

3 months, 25 days

01-23-12

Bubs is all ready to go to school. His new thing is to scream bloody murder the entire way there but, thankfully, today he was pretty chill for the 15 minute commute.

01-24-12

While we waited for Dad to get home from work, B played in his crib and I put away his clean clothes. He makes the weirdest faces!

01-25-12

Barrett got his first Scholastic Book order form from school today! Brings back memories. Unfortunately, he decided to throw up all over it so I'm gonna have to pick up another one. I think I'm gonna go with a couple "Llama, Llama" books to add to his library.

01-26-12

Tonight, we met my parents for dinner downtown and I completely forgot to get his picture. At the last minute, I interrupted Joe doing bedtime and needless to say I surprised B with the flash. Anything for the challenge!

01-27-12

We had a pretty sick baby on our hands early this morning which resulted in a sick day for momma so that he could get better. Mister spent most of the day napping or nursing except for about an hour where he was well enough to play some.

01-28-12
Picture taking did not happen today. I came down with the flu or food poisoning and was down for the count. I could barely get up off the bathroom floor, let alone manage a picture.

01-29-12

We're all still under the weather so a quick shot was all I managed tonight.

Project 365: Week 3

3 months, 18 days old

And I forgot to upload yesterdays picture last night so it looks like next week will just have an extra day. Oops!

01-17-12

Monkey boy got a new winter hat. And it actually fits!

01-18-12

Barrett is obsessed with chewing on his hands. I think we have a bit before teething begins but he sure is prepping for some teeth by gnawing on his fists.

01-19-12

We've busted out the famous Sophie because B wants to chew on something at all times. I think he likes!

01-20-12

Grandpa Bob was first to get his hands on B when we arrived in Pontiac for the weekend.

01-21-12

Bubs at his first ever wedding for cousin Kaitlin and Sean. He was pretty chill for most of the ceremony until Dad gave him a bottle and he passed out.

01-22-12

Barrett smiling at Dad while he played in his crib so I could put away his bag from the weekend. I love this kid.

Big boy!

Barrett is growing so fast these days, it's scary. I miss my itty bitty but I will admit that I fantasize about what it will be like when he's older. How fun it will be when he can sit on his own. Or roll around and play. Not walk though. I'm not ready for walking. He has started to master grabbing at things and grasping toys. I've mentioned it many times but he already has fantastic neck control. He's rolling and so many of his clothes have been stored away because he is too big. Here's Mr. Man showing he's a big boy in his bumbo.

Project 365: Week 2

3 months, 11 days old

01-10-12

As you can see, Barrett's cold is getting a bit worse. His poor nose and head are so congested but his spirits are still great. He still loves his bath.

01-11-12

Poor kid. He is going to hate us some day for torturing him.

01-12-12

Play time with daddy right before bath and bed time begins.

01-13-12

Barrett has started the mirror phase. We can hang out in front of the bathroom mirror for quite a long time while he checks himself out. He loves to make faces at himself. Bonus? We can run the hot water and stand under the steam to break up some of his congestion. It's a new daily activity.

01-14-12

The Bjorn is our third carrier for B. I may have a slight obsession with them. Today, monkey helped me put away the dishwasher, fold clothes and pick up around the house. We've gotta start him early!

01-15-12

Pontiac Wrestling Club had a tournament in Springfield today so we went to watch cousins Payton, Tyler and Landon. These boys are obsessed with their little cousin.

01-16-12

Aunt Rachel requested a picture of Barrett's little hairs. He lost quite a bit of hair after birth and is starting to regain some of it back. Poor guy still has a little bald spot in the back.

Christmas 2011 recap

3 months, 9 days old

I will admit that my picture taking this holiday was less than stellar. I had my camera everywhere, I just never brought it out. Add to that the excessive amount of presents I had to open, the camera just didn't get used much.

Our holiday began Christmas weekend with a party at Hayners on Christmas Eve Eve. This get together, with my mom's siblings & families, epitomizes Christmas to me. It has became a tradition as a pizza and beer party. It's very informal but it doesn't quite feel like Christmas until I can celebrate with these people.

Good looking bunch, huh? All my cousins and some husbands and fiances thrown into the mix.


After yummy Marios pizza and Joe's wings (amazing combo!), we spent hours opening gifts. See, we are that family that opens gifts one by one. It's my favorite tradition. Joe and I had to cut out early (10:30pm!) to get the munchkin to bed but it was a great start to our whirlwind holiday weekend. The party may have ended at 1am when all the drunkards left for bed. Party animals!

Christmas Eve morning was very chill. We slept in and then headed to DQ for an impromptu lunch get-together with our friends. (We missed you, Schultas!) Once again, B was spoiled with gifts and we had a good visit with some of our favorites. Our friends are just as much family to us as our family so we had to make time for a visit.

Christmas Eve night is spent with just my parents, sisters and our men. Funny story: We planned on going to mass before dinner (my parents were going to stay back and cook) so we get ready and drive into town. We pull into the parking lot (30 minutes before it started, mind you.) and see not a parking space in sight. Finally, we park blocks away and hightail it in. Allyson opens the door to find the church completely packed with the back vestibule standing room only. Cue us turning around and heading back home with plans to go to another service. No way were we dealing with that madness. It wasn't a total waste though since B slept for the whole ride. This was him when we got home.



Back to the night: My parents make dinner (Have I mentioned my dad is the best cook?) and then we get to gifts. Like the night prior, we circle around the living room and open one by one. My kid was here while I opened his gifts.



Again, we slept in Christmas morning before heading to my MILs. Can I just say that I love that my kid sleeps until 9. I hope that never changes. We didn't do Santa this year but I can imagine from here on out Barrett will not be so kind to his parents on Christmas morning. We spent the day hanging with Joe's immediate family before heading to the 86th annual Gschwedntner Christmas. I think we counted 96 people in attendence with B being the youngest. He's a lucky boy who gets to grow up with lots of family members. We wrapped up a very fun holiday weekend and headed back home the next morning.



New Years weekend, we celebrated the holidays with more of Joe's family. New Years Eve Day was spent at the Pullium's with Joe's maternal family. Bubba is so loved on by everyone especially his boy cousins. It's so crazy to see them playing with him especially since they were only 1-3 years old when I joined the family. It seems like yesterday and I know Barrett will be there before we know it.



New Years Day, we got together with Joe's paternal family for dinner but unfortunately had to drive home home that night so we didn't get to visit as much as we would like. It was a whirlwind year with lots of family time. I know to most it may seem exhausting but I honestly can't imagine it any different. This is what the holidays are like and I'm just greatful we have so many fantastic people to celebrate with.

I'd say B had quite the successful First Christmas!

Some firsts

3 months, 6 days old

Barrett is in the thick of his very first cold. Poor guy is so stuffed and congested. I was surprised that it took only 8 short days in daycare before he caught something. Unfortunately, it seems that I've got a bit of it as well. We are using the nasal aspirator, humidifier and steam showers like no other. His nose seems to be the most runny today so I'm hoping that just means he's improving. He's been a rockstar though and as happy as ever these last few days. His sleep is okay as well. I've even had to wake him to get ready for school when he's usually up and raring to go before I even get out of bed. This weekend we have very little planned so hopefully everyone will be 100% by the start of next week.

Another first for Barrett is snowfall! Today was our first snow of the season and it resulted in a few inches. If only we could get him out there to play in it!

This is a random "first" but I can't have a post with no pictures. So... Barrett's first set of camos! I surprised Joe with this little jacket around Thanksgiving time. I forsee many more sets in his future.

Project 365: Week 1.2

Wed 01-04-12

B is still having a tough time with sleeping at daycare. Without fail, he manages to fall asleep in the car on the way home. I can't get over how cute he looks with his huge stocking cap on.

Thurs 01-05-12

Barrett is in love with his hands! In the last few weeks, he's really started to get his thumb in his mouth instead of his entire fist. He favors his right hand but his left is always not far behind.

Fri 01-06-12

B getting swaddled for bed shortly after coming home from dinner at Bdubs with the Eastons. He holds his hands tight to his face for as long as he can before we wrap them tight for the night.

Sat 01-07-12

This morning Bubba was very talkative. He and Dad were having quite the conversation while playing on the floor after his morning nap.

Sun 01-08-12

This playmat is one of the few Christmas presents we've been able to enjoy so far. As you can see from the smiles, B is a fan. He doesn't always love being on his stomach but the pillow is just the right size for him.

Mon 01-09-12

This has been my view for 2 days. Monkey has his first cold (took only 8 days in daycare) so he's been extra snuggly. He pretty much only wants to comfort nurse and cuddle. Other than his poor nose, it's not so bad.

Videos!

3 months, 2 days old

We take video often and I finally got some uploaded to youtube. Here are a few favorites.

Vintage Barrett on our car ride home from the hospital


Sucking on those hands


He loves his playmat


Glee is another favorite. It combines his two favorites...tv & music.

Happy 3 months!

3 months old




Sleep: Barrett has made some strides in the sleep department since his 2 month update. The biggest milestone being that he is now in his crib! It's been a bit of an adjustment but overall not too bad of a process. I've found that he sleeps better when he is in there as opposed to our room. And I know I definitely sleep better! Prior to transitioning to his crib, we never swaddled him. We would try it every so often and it pretty much just pissed him off. He wanted his hands by his face. We ended up introducing it permanently when he moved to his crib and he's gradually gotten used to it. He's still not a big fan but I know he would wake himself up flailing his arms if we didn't do it.



He still hasn't mastered sleeping through the night but it's getting better. On average, he goes to bed at 8pm, will sleep until 12:30 or 1:00, then up again at 4:00 or 4:30. The 4:00 wake-up usually results in him wanting to party but thankfully Joe is up at that point so he takes over with getting him to go back to sleep. Then feed again at 7:00 and back down again for a quick nap. It's usually 9am before he's ready to start his day which is just fine with me! I'd much prefer to sleep in! Of course, he has his nights where he's up at the 3 oclock hour and 5 oclock hour on top of his normal wake ups but they are starting to decrease. While it may seem awful, I've pretty much gotten used to it. Pre-baby, I would have rather cut off my toes than wake up in the middle of the night but it's amazing how you can adapt. He is starting to form a routine somewhat so I know things will get better.



I think our biggest problem with finding a sleep pattern is the fact that we've been traveling quite frequently since he was born. In his 3 month lifespan, I think we've spent 4 weekends at home. That makes it hard to set a consistent schedule. Thankfully, we have three straight weeks this month that we will be staying home so I hope that will help improve things.

And I can't forget to say how much I love our video monitor. They, obviously, are not a necessity but I'd highly recommend them. It makes my nights a bit easier.



Moving on. (Can you tell I'm a bit obsessed with this whole sleep thing?)

Eating: Yeah. Bubba likes to eat. He's currently getting 4 oz bottles about every 2-2 1/2 hours while at daycare. He still nurses once in the mornings before we leave and generally twice at night before bedtime. Middle of the night feedings varies from 2-6 times but I plan to start weaning him off of those feeds here this month. I know he can go 5 hours at night without eating so we need to start striving for that. In related news, pumping is going very well, thankfully. I get enough while I'm at work to feed him for the next day and I also try to pump an extra time at night to add to my freezer stash. I hope to exclusively give him breastmilk until close to 6 months but we'll see what the ped says when we meet at his 4 month visit. He's obviously not lacking in food and I know it's much better for him than cereal. I'm just not in a hurry.



Milestones: His head control is still out of this world. He can hold it up well on his own but he likes to whip it around quite a bit so I don't let him much yet. We tried out his Bumbo seat for about a minute and he's just not ready for that. He's still a big hater of tummy time. He has rolled from stomach to back but he hasn't been able to figure out how to get his shoulder out of the way to do it consistently. He teeters on his side so much and gets really frustrated with himself. He's nowhere near rolling from back to front yet though. He is pretty obsessed with being on his back so I think it will take a while to get there. The last few days he's started to shift his hips to turn but it's mostly so he can face something that he likes.



Favorites: Munchkin is obsessed with the television. He cannot get enough of the bright colors and movement. If he is fussy, all we have to do is face him out and let him stare at the thing. It's hilarious, but I'm sure it will bite me in the butt later on.



Big boy: Although, his weight is a bit less than "average," he is really starting to become a big boy. We've had to remove all the head inserts in his swing and carseat because he's out grown them and we recently took out the infant seat in his bathtub. Yesterday, I was carrying him on my hip and I told Joe I was sad that he was getting so big. I miss my itty bitty boy but this is a really fun stage as well!



Stats: We don't visit the doctor this month so I don't have new stats for you but here are his past stats.

Birth: 7 pounds, 11 oz.
1 week: 7 pounds, 6 oz.
1 month: 8 pounds, 14 oz.
2 months: 11 pounds, 9 oz.
3 months: I'm gonna guess 13+ pounds

Time sure is flying!