2 Months: Photomania!

Our Leif is now two months old!  For his birthday, he got to visit his new pediatrician only half a mile from our place.  It was a much better office/building than the last one-

The actual exam room.  Last place there were no decorations anywhere, even in the wait room-it looked sterilized.  This new wait room had a large aquarium!

Leif didn't make my drive to his appointment the best; he started crying half-way there, and I couldn't soothe him since I had to drive (hubby was at work).  But he did great at his appointment until he had his shots-I've never heard him cry like that before.  But he was a champ once I fed him and he immediately passed out in his car seat.  I was able to get him home without a fuss, and he slept in his seat while I finished the laundry once we got home.

The rest of the day he was awake and fussy, which the pediatrician said he would be due to his shots.  We decided to postpone his 2-month photo shoot until today when he would be a little more calm and collected.

We slept in until 11am-he didn't really fall asleep until 1:30am and woke up every two hours throughout the night.  It was neat to wake up to the sound of baby crying combined with heavy down-pour; I haven't seen/heard it rain like this in a long time and LA is going nuts over the mudslides.  Craziness.

Anyway, since Miles had a bath, we let him sleep with us.  He was pretty cute this morning.

Uh, rated PG-13/R due to the graphic nature...but he was just so comfy to lay out!

I could always use more sleep, but with a little coffee I'm not doing too bad today.  His photo shoot was a great success:

Super Leif!  These are just from my phone-hubby got much better photos with his camera

He had a lot of dirty diapers after this-taking photos is exhausting on a baby I guess :).  So he had two clothing changes today...

Sleepy Leif in the Moby Wrap-this wrap frees my hands to play games with the hubby

I really like my friend Barbie's suggestions of making lists relating to parenthood for the blog...I will definitely be doing that soon.  But I did have one of those clichè epiphanies that almost all parents get (I think)...since Leif has come into my life, I've been much more aware of the 'little' things that make me happy.  I try to really take in the silent moments I have with him, especially when I groggily wake up to feed him at 3am every night-it's just amazing to watch him fall asleep on a fully belly, and I just want to stare at him the whole time.  He is so precious!

Our friend Josh is flying in tonight to hang out for the weekend...wish we weren't having rain storms during his visit, but I bet hubby is super excited to have a third person to play board games with!  And I know he's really missed Josh a lot-I think we both miss having friends around all together.  But this weekend will be great!  Hope everyone else has a wonderful weekend!

Week 8: Halfway through maternity leave

Waa-waaaaa....I'm about halfway through maternity leave and it's a sad realization.  I don't want to leave this ever-changing baby boy!  Today Leif turns 8-weeks, and he's changed so much in just the last week.  He's smiling more often, can stay on his back for a lot longer without him crying to be picked up, he's grown out of almost all his newborn onesies (I think except for one!), and he's holding his head up for a longer time.

I love him so much!

As far as my body, I'm still losing weight very slowly which is good, but I still have a while to get back to my pre-pregnancy weight.  Still working out here and there; not eating the healthiest of food, but it's hard to stop when you see the scale slowly moving down (and I have breast-feeding to thank for that-burns approximately 500 calories/day!).  But I'm trying to eat better since I feel gross when I actually go on runs (which are few and not for very long) and most importantly, I don't want it to affect my milk.  And I don't think my stomach will ever return back to normal...it's discolored and the skin has lost a lot of its elasticity.  Let's just say I'll be wearing one-piece bathing suits from now on.  :(  At least my body will be ready for another baby down the road!

I'm trying to think of more ideas/topics for this blog as all I do is write about Leif and sometimes health issues.  I know things will change once I go back to work and Leif gets a little older, but for now life revolves around Leif and being at home.  If you still read this, thanks for being interested in my semi-boring life!  If anyone has questions, now is the time to ask, or feel free to suggest topics to write about!
Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend (although every day is my Saturday...I'm thankful for this!).

Week 7-8: Happy belated V-Day, Happy Birthday Hubby

Aaaaand I'm back!

Happy belated Valentine's Day!  We celebrated the night before since Nana was going to fly in Friday-hubby gave me my requested water bottle since my old one was, well, old; he also gave me flowers and kettle corn.  :)  I gave him a Reece's pieces heart and a dice game that he wanted.  All in all, a good Valentine's Day...I'm happiest with the best Valentine of all:

My Leif!

Nana arrived late Valentine's Day and Leif was able to cuddle a bit with her.

This weekend went fast, but here are some highlights:

First time Leif sucks his thumb!

Sitting up!  (with Nana's help)

Sleepy Leif

Leif dressed up for hubby's birthday, looking super cute

Saturday night Nana was sweet enough to babysit for us while we had our first date night since Leif's arrival.  What better way to celebrate date night than to see a....kid's movie?!  :D  Yup, we went and saw Lego Movie, which I highly recommend everyone to go see it!  It was really good!

Monday hubby and Nana went to the Getty Villa for his birthday, then I surprised him with balloons, presents and an ice cream cake from Baskin Robbins (and they brought back our fave Salsa and Beer for lunch).  Hubby was happy-all his presents from me were games.  :)

Today Nana is going back home which is sad-the weekend went so fast!  I'm writing this as we watch a documentary on Tanya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan...haha.  Nice way to send off Nana...but we're on an Olympic kick and hubby wanted to learn more about it.  Good times.

Leif turns 8 weeks this Friday!  He's holding his head up a lot, smiling more and able to see colors (apparently).  He's going to be able to crawl soon, holy cow!

Week 6-7: Smiling Happy People

Look at this adorable smiling baby!!!

I was really hoping Leif would start smiling soon, and my hopes came true a few days ago.  Hubby was playing around with Leif's hands and cheeks and he started responding!  Leif will now emote this huge, toothless grin randomly; but sometimes if you play with his cheeks or give him lots of kisses on his mouth he reacts.  He's growing up so fast!

Life is same old, same old.  Yesterday I was out of the house without Leif for the longest amount of time-I finally got my hair cut after about six months, bought groceries and ran a couple errands for Valentine's Day/hubby's birthday (next Monday!).

Bangs and a little shorter style, with sleepy Leif

Nana is coming to visit this weekend!!!  She flies in on Friday and stays for a while, yay!  I'm sure she's excited to see her grandbaby.  :)  I wish we could drive around as a family and do things, but Leif is still not happy in his car seat...after reading so many different forums and websites, I have a feeling Leif just doesn't like being alone still.  He gets really warm in the car seat, but we tried resolving that and he still gets fussy and cries.  This morning we tried to take a family walk and made it about half a mile away from the apartment until he started crying.  Sigh.

Lastly, hubby and I are starting to work out together again!  We've been using the Biggest Loser Bootcamp/Last Chance Workout DVDs, and they kick our butt.  It's still hard to workout when Leif doesn't like being put in his pack and play, but when he gets fussy I use him as my "weights", I still sweat and get out of breath!

Alright, off to work on our taxes...since hubby is self-employed, doing taxes is not fun.  Poop.

Week 5: Go Seahawks!!

Woo!  First huge victory for Seattle yesterday (since the 1970s for the Sonics)...Super Bowl champs!!!

Leif slept almost the whole game!

He doesn't like sleeping on you unless facing you usually...he was very sleepy yesterday!

So I'm back after only a couple days vs. a couple weeks-success!  Hubby is at work and Leif is asleep in my arms and on top of his breastfeeding pillow...typing this is definitely hard (he is on one arm and the keyboard is at a 90 degree angle on the pillow as well)...so this may take up a lot of my morning.  Not like I have to be any where else right now!

I figured I would write about some experiences with Leif so that I can look back and either say, "Aww" or "I'm glad we got through that quickly" or probably "I miss those times".

(and yay, my arm is free as Leif is passed out on his pillow in my lap, phew)

Leif's sleeping patterns are changing all the time now, which I've read is normal.  Nights are still rough-Leif just does not like sleeping alone, so putting him even in the co-sleeper which is right next to the bed is rough.  He also isn't a fan of his swaddle wraps, even though every doctor and mom on the web say it's supposed to soothe your baby!  I'll keep trying, but I have to admit he sleeps next to me in bed for a few hours a night/morning now.  I know, I know, most doctors say that is super bad since it increases his risk of SIDS...but so far we both get more sleep and any time he stirs I wake up right away.  There are articles out there that say co-sleeping is actually good for the baby and that cultures around the world sleep with their babies in bed, but I'd rather keep trying to get him to sleep on his own rather than in our bed.  It's comforting to find tons of moms out there on mom/baby blogs that have the same problem as I do and also to read how moms of now older children slept with their babies and they are all fine.

Leif in the morning after we got up a few days ago-see how the swaddle is around his chest and not his arms?!  He's a free spirit!

What else...we are now having difficulties with Leif in the car seat/car.  He is NOT a fan of that seat...and he used to love car rides!  I'm hoping he grows out of this sooner than later, we are excited to get out and hike with him once he's old enough and has had his shots (which is in a few weeks!).  But it's so heart breaking to hear/see him cry his eyes out in the carseat!  I ride in the back with him usually to try and soothe him, but nothing works until we park and are able to get him out of the seat.  After reading a lot of other mom's experiences and problems with car seats on the web, I feel like we just have to wait it out.  Some moms go through loud crying spells until their babies are one year old!  Please keep us in your thoughts and hope that he enjoys the car seat soon.

Those are my biggest worries right now...he did go through a couple days recently where he didn't poop and hubby was worried more than I was, but he finally went.  I have a feeling he has reflux as he spits up a lot in the morning and is super gassy (I've never heard a baby fart as much as Leif!).  Other than all that, everything is fine!   Leif is finally smiling more here and there, but we still have a couple weeks until he actually smiles as reactions/personality.  Oh, and I am still exhausted here and there which is expected, but at least I'm not working yet!  I'm still dreading that day, but I'll try not to think about it now.

To keep active we take family walks at least a few days a week.

Leif getting ready for his walk-bundled him up in his hoodie and then into my Moby wrap!

The NICEST thing happened to me yesterday...so you know how I said I tried signing up for the Disneyland 10K but it sold out?  Well, my friend Christina (I worked with her at CLU but she moved to San Diego last summer) is going to give me her bib and she's going to sign up through a charity!  GIVE me her bib.  She doesn't want $ for it, and it's an expensive run.  How awesome is that?!  So now I get to start training for that!  It's not until the end of August, but I'm super excited to start running again.  AND I'll get to run with her which was the plan all along!  Yay!

Okay, Leif is stirring now-probably time to feed (which anytime he is awake he's hungry!).  I'll be back to update on Week 6 of Leif's life soon!  :)