Goodbye Summer

Fall is here - and we're bringing out all the decorations in our house. I love this time of year. Coats, boots, scarves and football. But it's hard to say goodbye to summer when the weather reads upper eighty's this weekend. I guess I'll enjoy it while I can. 

With summer ending, I am happy to say goodbye to everything that came with it. We had a record of eight weddings over the past few months. Most of which we had to travel out of town for. It's been an exhausting (and expensive) few months - but we enjoyed every minute of it.

Toronto, Canada | San Diego, CA | Monterey, CA | Boston, MA | Rutland, VT

Many memories were created since we took Jordan on most of these trips. I will admit that on two of the flights, I sat there and cried. Any parent that has flown with a child knows what I'm talking about. Especially when they learn how to walk. Attempting to sit on a plane with a child who wants to get down and walk everywhere is hard. And thirty minutes of screaming feels like three hours. Now that I look back, it doesn't seem that bad - but at the time I wanted to crawl under a rock. Needless to say, we are done traveling for a while. We put Jordan on a plane three times in two months. I don't blame him for screaming. 

Because I took way too many pictures over the course of our summer trips...I will leave you with a mini summer Instagram photo dump...

One Year

I was on my laptop the other night, putting together albums of pictures that don't have a home. I came across all the pictures and videos of Jordan's birth. I sat there and cried - realizing that my baby is now a toddler. A year old. How did this year go by so fast?

What an amazing little boy he is turning out to be. Such a wonderful personality and so full of love and life. It's fun to watch his eyes light up over the smallest thing; a water bottle, or a leaf. His curiosity is so interesting, yet funny at the same time. The kid can do laps around the living room like no other - over and over, and doesn't get bored. The 'Energizer Bunny' has nothing on my son.

One Year.
Jordan stands at 31 inches tall and weighing in at 20lbs. He has eight teeth (with molars coming in!) and is a running machine. I am excited to scream to the world that we are officially done with formula. Such an awful expense that I'm glad to be over with. Jordan surprisingly took to cows milk easily....now we just have to master switching him from a bottle to a sippy cup. So far, the bottle wins.

Jordan's first birthday was an event in the making. It felt like wedding planning; you plan to the extreme - leading up to this one day. And then it's over. As stressful as it was, the party was perfect. Sure, there were tons of people there, but it was great to celebrate with our friends and family. But in the words of my husband, "never again".

The best decision I made about the party? Hiring a friend-of-a-friend to capture his birthday memories. Money well spent. Tara is an amazing photographer and I'm so pleased with our pictures. Best part is, I got more than just pictures - a new friendship grew. Check out her blog here.

A few pictures to end with....

Life as a Mom

Good grief. I literally haven't blogged since I gave birth. I've obviously been so busy, but honestly haven't had the desire to write. I have about six post drafts (some with only a few sentences), but never finish them.

Since having Jordan, my life has been a whirlwind. I'm pretty sure I have perfected the ability to multitask and change my clothes with one hand and baby in the other. Meals are quick (and often cold) and the nights of getting at least four hours of straight sleep brings a moment of rejoice. Spit up, poop explosions and getting peed on are all things I'm used to now. But all of that doesn't compare to the perfection of this little boy we call our son.

I would be writing you a book if I sat here and caught you up on the past eight months. So I won't. I will however tell you that the past eight months have been the best months of my life. Being a mother is the most rewarding job I have, and will ever experience. It doesn't even begin to come close to what I thought it was like. I was born to be a mother. Don't get me wrong -- I have my days where I'm so tired I could fall asleep while standing up; or I'm so emotionally exhausted, I could cry. Funny thing is, this is just the beginning. I can't wait to look back on this day and think 'girl, you had no idea'.

Jordan is growing up fast. Too fast. He started crawling around six months and has lately proven that he's on a mission to walk. He's eight months old and is the most determined kid I've ever seen. I think he's trying to keep up with the other kids at daycare. Yep, he's in daycare...and it was hard for me to do. Luckily our lady came highly recommended, as she babysat my current and old boss's children. Both of which had nothing but nice things to say about her, which made things so much easier on me. Although it's never easy to leave your baby. picking him up every day makes my heart melt. Seeing his face light up when I walk in the door is the best part of my day.

It's hard to believe that I'm starting to think about the planning stages of my son's first birthday party. Um...how the heck did any of us plan party's before Pinterest!? If you're not obsessed with it, then you live under a rock. I find the best ideas on there and I only wish it were as popular as it is when I got married a few years ago.

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I went back to work full time in early December and it was such a huge adjustment. I was fortunate to have five months off of work for maternity leave...so going back wasn't easy. I was also still nursing -- so for all you working mom's, you know how much fun it is to pump at work. Totally kidding. First of all, I applaud those of you who were/are able to continue and stick with it. I unfortunately had a hard time keeping up with it. I only lasted for about two months before my supply had drastically decreased. When I first went back to work, I was able to pump 16-20oz in a day; but towards the end I was working hard to pump 4oz. I was sad and felt defeated, but I knew I was done. My ultimate goal was to nurse for six months...and I did just that. Once I got over it, I patted myself on the back and moved on.

I'm pretty used to my routine now and every day when I leave work, I go home to start my second job. And that "job" is the best job. Cooking dinner and having family time with my husband and son is what I look forward to. I am the happiest I have ever been.

And yes...a birth story is still in the works. I've been incredibly lazy with that...soon, I promise.

Without further ado, here are a couple updated pictures of my pride and joy....

(Baby in a Box!! Christmas 2012)

(Looking WAY too much like his daddy!)



(Happy 8 Months, little boy!)



Introducing...

Before I begin, I've literally sat down to write this post a million times. But as all you moms know...things come up. The baby cries; he's hungry; he spit up; poop explosions. You name it. I also have a birth story in the works. That too is taking me a while.

But to prove that I'm alive and that I'm not 47 weeks pregnant, I wanted to introduce my baby boy to you all.

After 14 hours of labor, 2 epidurals and 3 hours of pushing - Jordan was born on Wednesday, August 8th at 6:56am. Anything and everything that I went through was completely worth it once I looked into my baby's eyes.

Caught him smiling in his sleep!!

So far, motherhood is amazing. I'm enjoying every second with this little angel. Don't get me wrong, I have my moments where I'm so emotional that I end up crying over the smallest things; and days where I'm so incredibly exhausted and I can't even see straight. But it all goes away when my boy smiles at me. He melts my heart.

Jon has been INCREDIBLE. He's such an amazing father...and seeing him fall in love with his son makes me swoon. Since day one, Jon has helped with all the midnight wake up calls cries. He gets up with me and changes Jordan's diaper while I get ready to feed. He's been so great through everything.

Jordan is now almost 6 weeks old and I'm on a mission to get him on a good schedule. He's not sleeping through the night yet. In fact, he's still getting up every 2 1/2  hours during the night - which quite honestly, is exhausting. A good friend of mine had her baby 3 weeks before I had Jordan and her son is already on a good sleeping/feeding schedule. She owes it to the Baby Wise book. I bought it as soon as she told me about it and I'm determined to finish it and [hopefully] successfully get my child to sleep good as well.

Good luck to me!

Overdue

It's Wednesday...and we are impatiently awaiting for our son's arrival. If I go by our "original" due date of July 31st, he's only a day late. However, we've always gone by the due date the ultrasound technicians gave us; July 27th. Perhaps that was a bad idea. Either way, his due date(s) have come and gone and I am craving the sound of my son's first cry.

I'm not going to lie -- this past week has been really rough. I started to have mild contractions on Saturday. They were all about 10 minutes apart; which of course got me thinking that "this is it"...only to have them completely stop the next morning. That routine continued Sunday, but as of Monday there hasn't been any action. Last night I did however experience about 4 pretty painful contractions. Unfortunately they were all about an hour apart and then they stopped. The pressure of him being so low has been uncomfortable. I have good days and bad days and at times feel emotionally defeated. Yesterday was a good day. I got up early, showered, put on makeup and did my hair. And I didn't cry once!

Everyone keeps saying "walk, walk, WALK!". Um yea, I don't know what to tell you people...I have walked every day, sometimes three times a day! Up hills; down hills, you name it. I do daily squats and bounce on my exercise ball. I walk up and down the stairs. We've had sex. I drowned my food with chili pepper flakes. I promise you I have tried everything in the book -- the kid just doesn't want to come out. I'm now relying on the full moon tonight. We shall see...

How far along? 40wks, 5days OR 40wks, 1day

Due Date? 7/27/2012 (or 7/31/2012)

Total weight gain: Up 38lbs (161lbs total)

Sleep: Not much. With frequent bathroom breaks and the late night contractions, I don't sleep well

Movement? Still moving like crazy!!

Symptoms: A lot of pressure, on and off contractions, lower back pain and the sciatica nerve pain (OUCH!)

Hmm...August 1st. That seems like a great day for little boy to make his debut....please?!

38 Week Bumpdate

Ok, I'm a few days late -- but here is my 38 week baby bump. The picture was taken on Monday (38wks, 3days)

 

We had a doctor appointment yesterday with the midwife. I was hoping (praying) that they would tell me that I was at least dilated to 1cm...but no. Nada. My cervix is still closed. Damn! Good news is, the midwife assured me that he is super low and his head is "right there" and things could be moving along "pretty soon" - whatever that means. Until then, I've been doing all I can to move this process along; spicy foods, walking like a mother effer, walking up and down the stairs and bouncing on the exercise ball. Tomorrow I'm meeting up with a girlfriend of mine for lunch. We're headed to Skipolini's Pizza for their famous Preggo Pizza!! YES PLEASE!!!

I've come to terms with the fact that sleep is pretty much non-existent at this point. Whether it's getting up to pee at almost every hour, or it's the anxiety of knowing little boy could come at any time. I can literally lay in bed for hours and just think about the experience and all the what ifs. Either my husband sleeps through all my tossing and turning; or he just loves me enough to ignore me.

Although I barely got any sleep last night, I have a random urge to clean and make sure everything is 100% ready for Jordan's arrival. Hopefully all my moving around today will help the process along [fingers crossed!]

A Letter To My Sweet Baby Boy

Dearest Jordan,

The time has finally come - you're almost here! We went from counting down the months, to counting down the weeks; and now finally, counting down the days. Your Daddy and I cannot wait to meet you and we've been dreaming about what your precious little face will look like. I can't even begin to express to you the kinds of emotions I have been feeling over the past nine months. It's been a whirlwind of all kinds of happiness - the kind of happiness that gives you butterflies. It's amazing how much we have fallen in love with you, and we have yet to even meet each other.

Since we found out that we were having you, your Daddy has enjoyed talking to you. He kisses my tummy every morning when he wakes up, and every night before he goes to bed. He is such a proud father and he can't wait to hold you in his arms.

Son, I will tell you that the moment I found out I was pregnant with you, it was an instant connection. We've been together every step of the way. I'll never forget the first time I felt you move - such a strange but exciting feeling knowing that you were growing inside of me. Even better was the first time your Dad was able to feel you move. The expression on his face was priceless; and one that I had never seen before. It was his first "bonding" experience with you...and it absolutely melted my heart seeing him so happy.

The first five months seemed to go by very slow, but these last few have flown by. Now we're here. At the end. And the anticipation is killing me. Knowing that you could arrive any day now is enough to make me go crazy. Your clothes are washed, your bed is ready and I think I've organized everything a thousand times. All we need is you, little boy!

I can't wait to hold you in my arms; lock eyes with you and meet for the first time; touch your tiny toes; kiss your little face; and tell you how much I love you.

You are, and will be, our whole world. Our little prince. This is a crazy world kid, but we will do everything in our power to raise you the best way possible. We will make sure you grow up with everything you need, but also knowing the importance of being a hard worker.

We love you "Baby J" and we look forward to meeting you!!

Love always,

Mom and Dad