3 Months...Not an Infant Anymore

My baby is 3 months old, I can't believe it!

This month was very different because I was back to work.  I only went back part time, my hours are 7:30-12:00, can't really complain!  Luckily Christain doesn't have school till 1 on Monday and Wednesday so he gets that time to spend with Parks and I think it's really good for them.  On Tuesday Jaycee watches him and Thursday my mom watches him.  Friday Christian doesn't have school so he watches him then as well.  I feel extremely blessed to still be able to work and not have to worry that my baby is at a day care.  I almost actually feel that that time away from him makes me appreciate him that much more.  And I only have about two months before summer break!

This month we also went to Arizona for Parks cousin Gwen's blessing.  It was so fun to see everyone and Gwen's blessing was beautiful!  Everything went great until I got really sick.  I seem to always get very sick when I am there!  I am convinced there is something in their backyard that bothers me??  It was also Easter weekend so we had Easter dinner and then headed out.  Parks did great on the drive again slept most the way!

3 Months

1. Sat in Bumbo for the first time

2. Still hates tummy time

3. Sleeping about 7-8 hours a night

4. Still cat naps 

5. Trying to hold things

6. Loves his binky

My New Favorite Job...

I have been a mom now for 2 months and it truly has become my new favorite job!  They are going to have to drag me back to work by my feet.  My morning routine is finally settling in and has probably actually become my favorite time of day.  Parks is so happy in the morning... After his bottle!  Me and Christian learned early on to never go get him from his crib until I am fully ready to nurse, guard on, Boppy in place, burp rag in sight.  Christian is great at going to get Parks and bring him to me in the middle of the night, he then would usually change him and take him back to his crib.  At about 5 weeks we put Parks in his own room, it was very hard for mom, I may have stared at the video monitor all night long??  But so much better in the end because I could not hear his every grunt, snort and moan.

One morning I was giving Parks a bath, I laid him on the bathroom counter like always to lotion up and get him dressed for the day when he let out the cutest little cough you have ever heard.  He was about 6 weeks old now, and a couple hours later I thought about it and realized I don't think I have ever heard an infant cough like that.  As the day went on I heard that little cough many more times.  That night it got pretty bad and I knew I needed to take him to the pediatrician the next morning.  I had heard of many children getting RSV during this time of year, and i had a hunch thats what my baby had.  I could not get into my pediatrician so I saw his PA.  She took a look at him and told me it was just allergies, and unfortunately it may develop into asthma later on in his life.  Not only that, I also needed to get rid of every detergent, lotion, oil, powder anything that had been on the babies body had to go, and I needed to buy all unscented/sensitive new items.  What a fiasco right?  Two days went by with all new products and he still was not getting any better, actually getting much worse.  Being a nervous new mom I took him right back into the pediatricians office 2 days later.  I walked in, told him his conditions and he immediately ran a RSV test.  Sure enough mothers intuition... POSITIVE!  My poor baby... I literally wanted to cry.  The pediatrician continued to tell us that because of his you age we need to keep a close watch on him, and if it gets worse immediately take him to the ER.  I hate the ER more than anything in the world.  They gave us a nebulizer, showed us how to work it and sent us on our way.  Lets say the next two weeks were awful, heart wrenching, and a real growing experience.  Every six hours Parks had to have a nebulizer treatment for 10 minutes...saddest thing i have ever seen.  In the end Parks did recover back to his happy self....thank goodness!

During his second month he also went on his first road trip!  He did amazing...almost slept the entire time there and back.  We drove to Utah with my whole family for spring break.  Oh forgot to mention my hilarious dad rented a 12 seater van for the trek...dream come true.

One of the best things that happened this month was Parks blessing.  We had it on March 3rd in our home ward in Las Vegas.  many family and friends came, and we finally got to see Parks cousin Gwen who was born 3 days after him.  Christian could not have done a better job!  He was absolutely fabulous, brought a tear to my eye.  Parks miraculously did not cry... Hallelujah!

Bits I got from the Blessing:

Recognize the Spirit.

Guidance from Heavenly Father.

Discern from right and wrong.

Example to friends and family.

Protector to your family.

Receive Priesthood Blessings and exhort power.

Through the Power of the Priesthood be able to understand the Lords love for you.

Obey and love your parents and especially your mom.

Serve a full time mission. 

Learn attributes of Jesus Christ and learn from his patience.

Desire to be married and obey the covenants in the temple.

Be a servant to the Lord and a useful tool in our Heavenly Fathers plan.

 

2 Months:

1.Parks began smiling a lot this month...melted my heart. 

2.Became an excellent nurser.

  3.At his two month check up he weighed 10.8 lbs. being in the 50-75% overall. 

4. At 6 weeks he began his love of Bubble Guppies, literally obsessed and would

 smile every time the purple haired Molly came on the screen.

5. Still only waking up once at night to nurse.

6. Has multiple blow outs a week.

Nobody tells you about the 1st month...

Don't get me wrong, I was absolutely smitten by this new addition in my life.  I wanted to literally squeeze him till my mom would insist I let someone else hold him, not to mention he was the most beautiful baby I had ever laid eyes on (I may be a little bias).  But what I was in store for the next month was going to hit me like a ton of bricks!  Need to mention however I did have a c-section, which could have made my recovery a little more intense.  

I ended up staying in the hospital a total of 3 nights and 4 days, which for those of you that don't know that's kind of a long time and I was so ready to get out!  I don't think Christian would have slept on that little so called bed which was really a couch/bench one more night.  The first 12 hours after baby was born I still could not eat!  I was starving...like literally going to eat off my right arm if someone didn't bring me a huge Sonic diet coke with vanilla and "real" maraschino cherries, and a Cafe Rio pork salad.  Non the less I made it...barely.  I also was not aloud to walk for 24 hours, that wasn't so bad though, Hubs did everything!  They wrapped these awful things on my calves that shook all night long to make sure I didn't get blood clots because I was still numb from medication... But I'm pretty sure it was to make sure the elephantiasis did remain in my lower half!  People I looked like a huge amazon person, my feet were painful to look at!  One sharp object to them and they would have popped I'm sure.

Ps. Hospital food= cardboard doused in sauce.

                                    

                                             Finally on our way home from the hospital!

   

Parks was actually a pretty great sleeper right from the get go.  I would feed him around 11pm, he would sleep till about 4am then sleep till about 7:30...Not too shabby. 

Breast feeding was a whole other story.  I had previously told myself through my whole pregnancy that I was going to nurse.  This might have been the hardest part for me.  I absolutely loved the "bonding" time I got to spend with him, but the pain, diligence and discipline I had to go through was quite a learning experience.  I ended up getting a pretty bad breast infection, which ended in having to get a prescription to clear up.  My "Boppy" was a lifesaver, made the strain on my back much easier!  Something I would highly recommend, as well as Lanolin cream, breast pads, and a nursing bra.  The true must have for me however was the "nipple shield", I wouldn't have gotten through week 1 without it.

Another difficult task for me was not only getting one person ready and out the door, but now two!  How was I suppose to take a shower?  Who was going to do my laundry and fold it?  With out fail the moment I got in the shower or took out the laundry Mr. woke up.  A serious schedule was something that definitely helped me.  This was something I definitely had to get use to, but by the end if the first month I felt pretty good being able to get me and babes out the door at least not in our PJ's! 

Parks was the most alert infant.  His eyes were wide open when he was awake and even looked right at you as if he could tell you we're talking to him.  People would stop me in public just to tell me how alert he was at such a young age.  He was very bald except for a small patch of hair on the back of his head that almost looked red in the sunlight.  He was perfect in our eyes.  He had to be swaddled before he would ever go to sleep, Christian was a pro at wrapping him just right.  Friends and family called him a little burrito.  

After the first month I really felt like I was getting the hang of things and I still had one more month before I had to go back to school!

                       

                        

                        

                        

The amazing Heidi Lee took our newborn pictures, here are a few of my favs!