Testing out the bumbo

I think someone likes it...

Mama's a riot

Hearing Callan laugh always makes me laugh. I'm surprised I caught it on camera since he usually turns stoic when he sees it. This is an older video (from a couple weeks ago), but it always makes me happy...

Fun with Adelia

Someone isn't missing mama...

First day

Someone had a good first day! Hope he keeps it up. Now, if he'd drink more from the bottle, everything would be great. 

Dear Callan -the back to work edition.

Dear Callan-

You are now three months old! Yowsers, our time together has flown by. This last month has been particularly amazing because of all the developments you have made. You are now full of smiles and like to talk and laugh often. We just discovered that you love to bounce in your bouncy seat or on a lap and after a few bounces you crack a smile and then inevitably start laughing. You’re still figuring out noises and sometimes when you laugh or make a loud noise you startle yourself a bit and that is one of the cutest and funniest things to watch. Hearing you laugh always puts a smile on my face and makes me laugh too. You are still a bit camera shy and no matter how happy and smiley you are, if you catch a glimpse of the camera or the iphone, you stop. I think you’re just trying to figure out what it is. It’s funny because when you were in mama’s belly, the same thing would happen. I wanted to document your kicks and rolls in my belly and no matter how active you were, once I pulled out the camera you would stop. People comment on how serious you are, but once you’ve finished staring and assessing the situation, you’re prone to break out a smile, which melts everyone’s hearts.

This past month you’ve started sleeping through the night, which is glorious and amazing for a baby your age. You love to sleep with your arms up and we put you in a sleep sack to keep your legs warm. It’s funny to watch you get comfortable to fall asleep because your arms will go out to the side or over your head and you’ll kick your legs until you’ve gotten in the perfect position. You go to bed by 8:30 every night and sleep until 5 or 6 am. Sometimes, you hit 7 am and that’s amazing (like today). Getting you up in the morning is one of the most fun parts of the day. You are always full of smiles and in a great mood, no matter how hungry you are. We unzip you from your sleep sack and you give a great big smile and then stretch out your entire body. I could melt from your cuteness.

You haven’t quite rolled over and I can’t even say that you want to, but every now and then you’ll almost do it. Sometimes when you’re on your back, you’ll crane your neck and turn your head to one side, which twists your upper body. Your upper leg and hip rotate, but not all the way. The same thing happens when you’re on your stomach, so your upper body is ready, but your legs aren’t quite there. Although your legs are definitely strong as you love to kick and move your arms all the time. You are in constant motion when you’re playing and it makes me a little nervous to think of what is in store for us once you are mobile. You have started to reach for things and started to put things in your mouth to explore and you enjoy standing on people’s laps. You still love your activity mat and you are getting better and better with tummy time.

The passing of three months also means that mama’s maternity leave is over and will be returning to work. This has caused me a little bit of anxiety, as I have loved every minute of being home with you. Also, this was the month that you decided to refuse a bottle and hearing you cry breaks my heart.  Your dad and I figured since you had drunk exclusively from a bottle for 4 weeks, you would be an old pro and take a bottle. Unfortunately, we found out the hard way when we left you with Uncle Craig one night, that you had become mortal enemies with the bottle. We tried 10 different bottles and nipples and for 3 weeks worried about what you would do while I was at work. I think we finally found a bottle that you will tolerate and hopefully this means you won’t cry the entire time I’m at work. We also found you a great nanny, Adelia, and hope you and Luke enjoy spending time with her. She may not be a replacement for mama, but I think she’ll take good care of you while I’m working.

Three months seemed like a long time to have off from work, but I could use three more (and three more after that). Watching you grow has been amazing and seeing snippets of your personality come out has been so exciting. I’m sad to think of all the things I’m going to miss while I’m at work, but am excited to see you grow and develop.

Happy three months Callan, you’re a quarter of a year old!

Love,

Mama

Quarter of a year old -Yea!

Deep conversations

during tummy time (7.18.11)

So close...

to rolling over!

Ready for a day in the sun

Three Years

Three years ago I married the man I love and (to be super cliche) my best friend. What I didn't know then was how much my love would grow, especially seeing him as a father. I may be a very lucky girl having someone like Huge as a husband, but I feel even luckier knowing my kids will have a father like him. Happy Anniversary!

The stand off

In the two and a half months of Callan's existence, he has been a super easy baby and has made it really easy to transition to being a mom. It often makes me feel bad because I can't relate to friends who ask me about sleepless nights, frustrations or how I deal with crying inconsolable fits because as a whole, Callan hasn't been like that. I would like to take all the credit for this and point to my fabulous parenting skills, but in reality it's only partly that (ha, I had to give myself some credit!) and mostly just a whole lot of luck. From the start Callan has been an easy laid back baby -he sleeps pretty well, he's happy and content and really only cries when he's hungry or a bit over tired and even then, most of the time he'll just fuss. He's not prone to that baby wailing cry that you sometimes hear.

However, the one thing he is not happy about right now is taking a bottle. This is mind boggling to me as the kid likes to eat (as evidenced by the fact that one of the few times he's fussy is when he's hungry) and for almost half of his life he took a bottle exclusively. But, when we started nursing, we dropped the bottle to ensure we got into a good nursing rhythm and assumed that since he already had so much practice (and success) with a bottle that it would be easy to transition him back and forth. That has not been the case and we are now on day 13 of Operation Reintroduction to the bottle, and right now we are at a stand off (although, technically, I think Callan is winning). This is uber frustrating to me as we have not been able to go out to dinner alone together (unless we go after he's in bed) and have had to either cancel or turn down plans at night. Now I know some crazies (yes, I'm calling them that) are going to chastise me for complaining about wanting time away from my child and that this is just a small sacrafice to make for the health and well-being of my baby, and to be fair I'm not dying to get away from him at all -I would just like the freedom to be able to, if I want. It makes me wonder why I was pushing to get him to nurse in the first place. We had a good system going -I was pumping and Callan was happily drinking bottles offered by anyone and they were of breast milk so he was getting all the good things people tout about breast milk. I wonder if I succumbed to the peer pressure of the internet that told me nursing was the best way to bond with my child, to ensure he was getting everything he needed both nutritionally and emotionally and how nursing would give me the freedom to go wherever I wanted with him since food was always available via the boob. Now I wonder if that's true and if nursing really is any easier. At first when Callan was still waking up a few times a night, it was easier nursing than getting up to give him a bottle and pump (or even if Huge gave him a bottle I usually had to get up and pump) and it is nicer/easier not to have to wash so many bottle and pump parts every day. But not being able to leave him or having to whip out the boob at a restaurant or in public makes bottle feeding seem easier. I don't know... I guess there's no "right" answer to this and just proves once again that you do the best you can and to leave the opinions from the crazies on the internet!

At the end of the day, in the grand scheme of things, this time is just a drop in the bucket and whatever "sacrifices" I need to make are worth it, because honestly, look at this face... how can you be mad?

Tummy time

Listening to dad

He's pretty amusing. (7.5.11)

Little Giant

Today is Callan's 10 week birthday -wow, that has gone by fast. Now that we're in double digits, that means that the time for me to go back to work is quickly approaching. Ugh. If I just ignore it, do you think it'll go away? I wish it worked that way.

Things here with Callan have been great. He is still a real happy, content baby and has recently (i.e the last 2 nights) slept through the night. I know I'm jinxing myself by saying it, but hopefully this trend continues. He is full of smiles and loves talking to you, but we have yet to get consistent laughs out of him. A few nights ago when his Aunt Vanessa and Uncle Junior were visiting, we got him to give us lots of smiles and giggles (probably 5 minutes worth), but since then they've been sporadic. Hopefully in the next few days/weeks we'll work on laughing.

Yesterday was his 2 month doctor's appointment and it was confirmed that Callan is a little giant. He is 15 lbs 14 ounces (wowsers) and 26 inches long. At his 1 month appointment he was 10 lbs 14 ounces and 24 inches, so he is still growing like a weed. Yesterday he also had his shots, which he took like a champ. Cried a bit after the second shot, but calmed down pretty quickly and slept on the walk home. That evening he was a little extra fussy, but he still slept like a champ (although we did give him some baby tylenol so that might have helped). Today he's a little extra sleepy, but other than that he hasn't had any adverse effects from the immunizations.

So that's it. Callan is doing well and he is my little giant.

Happy Canada Day!