My First True Mother's Day

My first Mother's Day has come and gone...and we all survived.  LOL.  You're probably asking yourself what the heck I'm talking about.  Well, I've been a total basket-case in the week leading up to Mother's Day...somewhat bi-polar-esque.  I went from crabby, to laughing, to bawling and...

NO, I'm not pregnant!  My emotions are sure reflective of it though.  I've been reflecting on this for a few days now, and I really can't explain my emotions.  This holiday has always been a bit emotional for me.  When I was younger, I hated having Mother's Day so close to my birthday.  When I grew older, I started to realize the meaning of Mother's Day and how lucky I was to have such strong female role models.  Then it became somewhat heartbreaking for me...a holiday that might never evolve for me as it does for other women...

until it did.  

Many of you know this, but many of you probably do not.  I've struggled with infertility issues for years.  I often wondered when I might blog about this, and it finally feels like the right time.  I also have spinal issues that I thought would complicate the pregnancy even more if I ever were to get pregnant.  So I set my sights on adoption early on.  When Chad and I were ready to add a tiny human to our family, we started researching adoption further.  For many reasons, some outside our control, it was clear that adoption wasn't the right option for us.  This was somewhat disappointing for me, as I had counted on it...planned a bit for it...at least in my head.  Now I had to reframe our future as parents.  It became even more uncertain.

After several consultations with different specialists, we decided to try and get pregnant. It took a bit over a year, lots of medication, a handful of acupuncture visits and a few IUI procedures, and we were blessed with our Gnocchi.  It was nothing short of our own little miracle.  I was lucky enough to have a fairly uneventful pregnancy and...

now I'm a mother.

Those are words that some days I never thought I would say.  I've thought about this so much recently.  I'm feel so blessed but also a bit guilty.  There are so many wonderful women struggling with infertility that deserve to have tiny humans in their lives.  It is for this reason...and my years of infertility...that I often choose not to wish someone - especially strangers - a Happy Mother's Day first.  You never know what's going on in someone else's life, so I've always been cautious. Those words can sting...but I've just now realized how wonderful they can be.

To those of you celebrating Mother's Day, I hope it was wonderful.

To those of you avoiding it, I hope you were able to spend it with someone you love...someone you can lean on for support during this emotional time.

Even though I'm now a mother, I'm finding it all still very emotional.

I'm so grateful for my little family!

Time Flies...Month 6

Total #momfail

Things got so hectic this month that I failed to post his 6 month pic until 2 days before he turns 7 months.  Talk about squeezing it in at the last minute!  So you'll get two posts full of cuteness this month.

Wasn't it just yesterday that I was laboring...or that we were bringing our Grey baby home?  Time sure does fly when you're having fun!

{17 lbs, 2 oz & 26.75 inches}

{Likes:  Solids, Mom's singing, playing peek-a-boo & kitties}

{Dislikes: getting dressed}

The most exciting this that happened in month six was the addition of solids to Grey's diet.  He has been working hard on being a supported sitter, so (along with the doc) felt that it was time.  He loves being a big boy and eating food from a spoon.  I made his first solid - sweet potatoes - from scratch.  It was quite a bit easier than I originally thought!  Since the above sweet potato massacre (pictured below), he's had avocados, carrots, peas & apples...and loved all of them!  I sure hope that he continues to be a good eater!

He's been hitting his milestones pretty regularly.  Grey is now a supported sitter, as previously mentioned, and can now roll from both tummy to back and back to tummy.  He's also such a happy boy!  We're such proud parents over the smallest of things!  Who would've thought?!

Enjoy some pics of Grey's 6th month...

Daycare Pics

Other favorites...

Grey's World: ...and then there's 5!

Another month has passed us by, and this little man is now 5 months old!  I can barely believe I have a 5 month old!!  

This month passed us by as we watched while quarantined in our house full of tiny human germs.  Both Grey and I have been quite sick since the end of January.  Grey has bronchiolitis manifesting itself as a cough & congestion.  It's flared up a time or two causing Grey to be quite under the weather.  The most recent bout was over his 5 month birthday weekend, which resulted in him being diagnosed with a double ear infection on top of the bronchiolitis.  I've been sick too off & on with both respiratory & GI symptoms.  t's been a bit rough not to be able to get out and do anything.  We're so looking forward to warmer weather & less germs!  Please come soon, Spring!!

Due to illness, we postponed the 5 month festivities until this past weekend.  Here's our favorite shot.

{15 lbs 4 oz & 25 inches}

{Likes:  Mama's & Papa's play mat, car rides, being naked, & playing peek-a-boo}

{Dislikes:  NoseFrida & getting dressed}

There were a few good things that happened this month.  His cradle cap finally disappeared...on its own!  After all the work we did to get it to go away, it finally went away when we stopped treating it.  LOL!  Grey has also continued to make progress with tummy time, holding his bottle and even sitting for a few seconds on his own before he face plants into the ground.  :)

He still continues to be a bit of a hot mess when we get him home from daycare.  Most days he doesn't sleep well there still.  So he's a happy guy for about 30 min after he gets home and then melts down.  Luckily we can usually get him to nap quite easily until dinner time, and then he wakes up happy again.

Not a ton of updates this month given our illnesses.  Hope to have more for you next month.  We're quite excited about next month, since it means we get to start solids!  Yahoo!  I'll leave you with some of our favorite shots from Grey's 5th month.  

Daycare Pics

Other Fun Times!

Grey's World: The Big 4...

...4 months that is!  I know I say this every month, but I can barely believe that he's this old already.  Technically, since I'm late posting this again, he's into his second week of his 5th month.  We couldn't decide on one pic this month, so here's two!

{ 15lbs 4oz & 25 inches }

{ Faves: Mamas & Papas play mat, car rides & anything he can put in his mouth! }

{ Dislikes: Baths }

The 4th month has been a transition month for us.  I started back to work & Grey started daycare.  It actually hasn't been as bad as I had envisioned.  Staying home wasn't an option for us financially, so I just had to get myself in the right frame of mind.  The best thing about being back to work is "adult time".  Although it isn't the adult time I'd choose, it is really nice to have conversations that don't involve poop, formula, milestones, spit up, etc.  LOL.  The worst thing about being back to work is, of course, the lack of time with Grey.  I thought I would have time with him in the early evenings, but that doesn't work out well (see explanation below).  So I just truly cherish my weekend time with him.

Grey has done really well at daycare...except for his lack of naps, which may just be the new norm.  He loves his teachers, new "friends" and all the activities so much that he doesn't want to miss any of it.  Therefore, he naps about 90 min total (over 3 naps) on average while he's there.  Eek!  When we get him home, he's typically a tad fussy due to lack of sleep.  We swaddle him up right away and the rest of the evening goes a little like this...

• 5:00 PM: Down for a nap
• 6-6:30 PM:  Wake him up feeding
• 7 PM:  Down for a evening sleep
• 10:30 PM:  Wake him for feeding
• 11 PM:  Down for the night

So you can see how there is absolutely no time to connect with him in the evenings.  If he had a tad more sleep during the day, we may get a few extra minutes with him for a bath, but that's not very often.  I end up actually missing him by the time Friday rolls around and am ready to cuddle with him on the weekend!

Grey is doing well with milestones.  By the end of the 4th month, he had rolled over from tummy to back a few times but not consistently.  He's starting to use his hands & fingers more (without fists)...even holding onto toys at times.  He loves sitting up supported.  He also is getting much more comfortable with tummy time thanks to daycare.  They really work with him, and he's made significant progress towards milestones since he's been going there.  This is another reason why it's easier to leave him there.  He enjoys it and they really work with him!

He gets to watch himself & make faces in the mirror.

They read to him.

They work on milestones like tummy time.

They do fun projects.

Overall the 4th month has been good.  Grey is developing his own personality & really starting to babble.  Our family is normalizing to a routine.  Life is good - tired, but good.

Here's a few of our favorite pics from the past month...

Grey's World: Still More of Our Favorite Things

This is our last "Favorite Things" post for awhile...I promise!  I built my registry list from reading blog posts & reviews that I wanted to pay it forward.  You think I'd be done after 2 posts, but we just have so many things that help us out day-to-day or items that Grey loves!  This post includes random baby gear or items that we forgot to include in previous posts.  So here goes...

Baby Eucerin Cream

Our little guy has dry, sensitive skin.  We started out with Baby Aveeno, which was great for his sensitive skin, but it didn't quite take care of the dry patches he gets.  His pediatrician recommended Baby Eucerin, and it's worked wonderfully!!

Munchkin Waterproof Liners

These have been great to use on your changing pad, pack-n-play, bassinet, Mamaroo, car seat, etc.  You name it.  You can use these in it.  They're fabulous for protecting fabric covers and wash up great!

IKEA Raskog Utility Cart

We originally purchased this cart to use next to his changing pad/dresser in the nursery, but we ended up bringing it downstairs to hold items next to his pack-n-play/changing station.  

4Moms Mamaroo

This high-tech contraption takes the place of a bouncer & swing.   It's crazy cool with it's multiple different movements and sounds.  To top it all off, it can all be controlled through an app on your smartphone.  Now I must admit that I haven't found a need to use the app...but it's still super cool.  I have heard of moms with more than one child using the app when their hands are tied with one of their other children.  Grey didn't initially care for this too much, but he does like it quite nicely now.  He loves car rides, and "car ride" is one of the movements you can choose.  Score! 

Skip Hop Chelsea Downtown Diaper Bag

Love that this diaper bag has lots and lots of pockets (interior & exterior) and a pull out changing pad...and it barely looks diaper bag-isa! 

Summer Infant Sharp Sight Video Monitor

We haven't used the monitor a ton in the first 3 months given that Grey still sleeps in our room.  We did use it while visiting family over Christmas, and it worked great!  It has a great color screen for daytime and a decent picture for nighttime too.  You can control the camera from the video screen, which is super convenient.  I'm sure we'll use this more in the coming months. 

UPPAbaby Cruz Travel System with Mesa Car Seat

This has been a fabulous travel system to date!  The Cruz base is so lightweight, easy to turn, and crazy simple to open/close.  The Mesa car seat has been great too - super sturdy.  The only bad thing I can report is that I wish the canopy had an extender, as the sun often gets in his eyes.

Total Baby App

We tried a few apps out in the beginning and decided upon this one.  It's very customizable via the settings option.  It tracks diapers, sleep, feedings, baths, meds, etc. It also graphs out, averages & totals most of the items that you can track.  This makes it super easy to identify trends or report out when you take the babe to the doctor.  It even tracks vaccines, milestones and random notes that you wish to document.  Seriously love this app!!

Hope this has been helpful!  I'll post some additional favorites as Grey continues to grow.

Cheers!

Blue Apron, How I Love Thee!

In my last post, I mentioned how Blue Apron saved us during our first week of daycare.  You're probably thinking that I'm nuts...and while I might be, let me explain what typically happens each week in our house.  On the weekends, Chad will ask me to decide upon some meals for the week.  This should be easy, right?  Maybe if I was a clone of Chad it would be.  He doesn't typically care what we eat each evening, but I, on the other hand, usually care very much.  He could have the same few meals every week, but not me.  I like VARIETY!  Unfortunately, this means coming up with the meals, which I despise.  I love to cook & look at recipes, but only when I want to.  I have HAVING to do so.  So needless to say, it's a struggle most weekends.  

I had been toying with the idea of a meal delivery service for sometime now but never took the plunge.  I have no idea why other than I just didn't.  I guess I was a bit apprehensive about spending the money and not liking it, but I'll typically try anything once.  So I ran across someone that had a week's free of meals to give away.  I couldn't turn it down.  Fate, right?!?!

The service has two options: the 2-Person Plan or the Family Plan.  We opted for the 2-Person plan which gives you 3 different meals for 2 persons every week.  You can cancel your subscription, skip weeks and/or change meals at any time without penalty.  Very cool if you only want deliveries less than weekly.  You just have to go in by Wednesday before the shipment and let them know if you want to skip a week or change a meal.  

So last Saturday our shipment arrived, and I couldn't have been more excited!  It just happened to coincide with the first week of daycare also.  I hadn't planned it that way, but boy did it work out in our favor.

It was so much fun to unpack the box with all the fresh ingredients...all labeled so nicely and measured to the perfect amount.

(Disclaimer...the picture above is from the 2nd shipment.  I failed to take this shot of the first shipment.  So you'll see different ingredients above than what our recipes called for in the first week.)

Each box also comes with a large, colored recipe card.  It's has a nice pic of the finished version on the front with several step-by-step pics on the back to guide you along the way.  Each recipe that we made last week was super easy and fast.  We didn't even have to think about dinner other than which of the 3 recipes to make.  This was soon helpful when you have an overtired, screaming infant!  If we didn't have Blue Apron last week, I'm quite sure it would have been take out most nights.  Yikes!

The first recipe was the Apple & Blue Cheese Panzanella Salad.  This was probably our least favorite of the 3, but it was still quite good and super easy to make.

The second recipe was the Seared Salmon & Salsa Verde...our favorite of the week.  The nice thing about this service is that you have this wonderful recipe card if you want to purchase the ingredients to make the recipe again.

The final recipe of the week was Cacciatore-Style Baked Eggs.  I totally failed to take a shot of the prepared meal, but it looks much like the recipe card.

We loved Blue Apron so much that we opted for another delivery this week.  Stay tuned!

Cheers!