The beautiful days of our lives..

THREE MONTHS AGO…

Wow has the time ever flown by so quickly! To see the changes in you and how quickly you are developing into the charming little boy that will have our hearts, is something quite miraculous. You have brought a joy into our hearts and our lives that I would have never known until you were here. You have taught us so much about the pleasures of life and just how joyous a beautiful little boy can be. You are becoming “your own person” so quickly (sometimes making momma sad :( ) and you have been the biggest joy we could have asked for. I can’t believe that this morning at 8:33 three months ago we were sitting in our hospital room just having made it through the first night of you being with us on this earth.

We have learned a lot, and you have been very patient as we learned how to slip into this new role as a “parent”. In the beginning there was not a day that I wasn’t wondering a different question… still wonder runs my life, but you have helped give us the confidence that we will make the right decisions. We must be doing something right because you are just so wonderful, just as yourself and with your development. Just this morning you gave me a “blowing bubbles spitting noise” (I will have to think of a clever name for that) and I was just smiling like HOLY COW HE IS GROWING! You are really becoming a “boy” and enjoy even the manly activities of watching hockey with Daddy! You are absolutely fascinated with those little men moving around the screen! You have no interest at all in rolling over just yet but I can only assume that the day is on its way quicker than I am sure we wish it was :). Then you will be mobile and a whole new baby will come into play. I can’t believe how sweet your smile is and how it can make the worst of days become the best. You love to smile, however, the higher the voice that is talking to you the better :). You have began to talk and it can be a serious talk too.. I am not quite sure what you are saying just yet, but we will get to that day soon as well. You are beginning to understand the movement of your hands and arms.. Just last night you were in your bouncer and began to hit a baseball that was hanging for your playing pleasure. You batted at it over and over again, we were so proud! You can see the determination in your face as you get it into your head to do something. You really enjoy your bouncer…. You also love Gigi’s playmat with all of the wonderful jungle characters… You love Gigi’s bouncer with the glowing lights and characters of a rainforest.. You get your little limbs going so quickly you would think you are going to just run right out of that seat!

You have started laughing, and I can’t explain how wonderful that sound is.. granted, it has made your dad and I look like complete fools in our attempts to make you give us that beautiful sound! You love being independent! There are times that we are holding you that you give a little struggle and we have no idea why. Until we put you down… you just want to be freeeeeeeeee! I can tell that you will always be that free spirited and independent little man. Although don’t be too independent :)… you will never be too big for this momma to give you those baby smooches :)! At birth you were 6 lbs. 15 oz, At 2 months you were 13 LBS. 9 OZ.! You are growing like a weed and LOVE to eat… I think if you knew just how to make your tongue muscles work that you would lick the inside of the bottle :)! We are going to go buy a scale so that we can weigh ourselves holding you (although mommy really doesn’t want to weigh herself HAHAHA!) so we can see how you grow between doctor’s appts.! You are just so strong.. you have been holding that head since a few weeks old! It’s really amazing!

We noticed last night that it is almost time for us to take out the spongy part of your bathtub that we used for you when you were a newborn because you are fillin’ up the tub on your own. It’s funny how when you were little I just draped you over my arm to wash your back and your bootie… now you stand and bend over my arm…. Little things like that makes it insane how quickly you have changed. We always used to lay you on a cushiony folded up towel laid out on the kitchen counter to strip ya down right before your bath… last night we had to watch it because AS YOUR FEET HUNG OVER THE COUNTER, the top of your head was close to the backsplash of the wall! You are so very long!! You almost go the length of your changing table…. You have a rocking bouncer which you loved so very much to nap in when you were small… We had to fold a blanket to lay you on as it swallowed you when you were smaller like you were laying in a bowl… Now you look like the perfect size, NO BLANKET NEEDED THANKS.



You used to fit so snuggily in your boppy and loved napping in that too as we would lay a blanket over it which made you sink just perfectly into the blanket… making you snug as a bug. (I need to upload a recent boppy picture)

Now you almost hang over it when laying you on your back! You loooove snuggling…. I love when I am holding you, cradling you as I rock you to sleep and you turn into me and pull all your arms and legs in “snuggle bugging” I call it. You are just so sweet… I hope we have lots of snuggling in our future… You also love to be swaddled… we worked on not swaddling you this weekend because your arms are so incredibly strong that you want to be swaddled but then you don’t (which usually wakes you up) and try with all your might to get out. Most of the time you do :)… but then you want to be reswaddled hahaha… It’s crazy how we want something so bad sometimes until we have it, and then we don’t want it anymore :)… That lesson will never be gone from our lives :)… You might be a big, strong boy… however, you still look so small in your bed..

You are a ROCKSTAR with sleeping in your bed! You have been consistently sleeping through the night since I think it was right about 7 weeks… I had a plan all lined out (you will learn that momma is ridiculous with her plans :)… you might have to remind me every once in a while to lay off and that there is no planning when having kiddo fun!). For the longest time you ate between 8-10 pm and then woke up again from 2-3 in the morning to top off your little belly… I was fully ready for you to continue this when I went back to work but you had different intentions… You, being your heavenly angelic self, didn’t wake momma up for your middle of the night feeding one night… Then the next night, same thing.. and next night, still sleeping. To this day… almost 7 weeks later you have continued to sleep from 9-10 pm until we head off to Gigi’s! You are just simply amazing and such a great baby… Seems as if we can figure out what is wrong then you are content although sometimes I think you are just a little overwhelmed with this world and it makes ya a little fussy at one point during the day… Nothing unmanageable though. We are so very lucky and feel so fortunate to have you as our wonderful son.

I can’t believe that 3 months ago we were learning each other so intensely, honestly, your Dad and I were just scared as can be that we wouldn’t be the parents we were supposed to be… you were trying to tell us what you needed while being so new into this gigantic world…. We would work so hard to make you feel loved and comforted, and content. We all work together well… We will always strive to have your love and adoration as your parents… All 3 of us have grown into the great people that we need to be to make our family be what we want it to be. You bring us a love that we didn’t realize was missing until you were here. There is not a day that goes by that my mind doesn’t race with ways to make your life perfect. You have every bit of your dad and I’s hearts.. and all of our desire to give you everything you need and want (there will be more limitations to the wanting as you get older hahaha!). To think of what is ahead of us is both exciting and scary (you growing up :)). I hope that you feel every bit of the love that we have for you every waking (and dreamy) minute. We have endured a lot together from being so tired I don’t realize that you have pooped on me when you were 2 weeks old until your daddy laughed at me for it :), to having laughs together and you becoming the little man that God has blessed us with. We love you so very much… Our cup overfloweth over and over again… We love you to the moon and back… and back again… and back again… infinity. There will never be another to love you the way that these two adoring parents have before you even showed us your beautiful face. You are everything in this life that is beautiful and good. I love you son… I can’t wait for what is to come and how wonderful you keep growing to be.

WA-LA!

Well momma can be a magician as well is what I sleepily found out at 2:45 this morning! My darling Houdini son loves to “practice” escaping from his swaddle and has MANY A TIMES. I hate it because I want him to not be swaddled but those “Hallelujah” arms wake him up more than fighting with the swaddle. Most of the time during the night he lets out little grunts and noises here and there as any newborn does, but if he does a few of them in the same time period I usually go check on him as this probably means that his Houdini attempts have failed miserably only to cause him to have both of his fists stuck against his face from coming out of the top of the swaddle (good thing he is asleep and doesn’t know that! In his waking hours he LOVES TO EAT HIS HANDS, which at this time would have woke him up! Thank you my dear baby Jesus!). Not to get off track but little lovebug has returned to wonderful amounts of “muddy butt” and is no longer creating little anaconda size Stinky Sticks! We are giving him a teaspoon of prune juice in one bottle a day to assist him in getting back to being “regular”… Anyways so I go back in and find that Houdini has gotten the one lucky arm out and is giving his best “praise the lord” reach up with it. I go to reswaddle him (how annoying right… I know it has to be a ton of work to get out of the momma wrap job and then to get put back to where you started when I redo it…. Annoying! Lol) and move him back up on his incline, all the wigglin’ slides him down the mattress, a stale stinch comes up at me when I pick him up to adjust his position. Just my instinct told me that this was not an old toot that was released when I undid the swaddle… So I can let him sleep in a wet diaper since that is what babies do when they sleep overnight.. but POO, no thanks. So I unswaddled the bottom part where his legs go and snuck that mud out of there and put another on (wiped him with a wipie even :0)) and was out of there! NEVER DID HIS LITTLE EYES OPEN! Just call me momma magician :). This last weekend was an entertaining one! Little buggie gave us a full out laugh! We had a low key Valentine’s.. we bought Bug a new play mat thingy and a miracle mobile.. NOT KIDDING.. Gigi found this, and after it working like a genie in a bottle at her house.. we tried it and it worked at ours too! It is absolutely amazing and I can’t say enough good things about it.. I am going to pump this one up for Fisher Price, MY CHECK BETTER BE IN THE MAIL :). It is called the Precious Planets mobile- It is absolutely, fantastically, marvelously AMAZING! With this magical mobile, you can lay him down when he is showing signs of sleepy time coming and he will seriously watch this thing and FALL ASLEEP ON HIS OWN! It is just amazing, I can’t stop saying that and thinking it about this thing! Mom told me about it and how he would fall asleep to this mobile when she had him during the day. I told her that if we didn’t have the same results by God we were going to copy her bed and mattress too! Lol…To all my friends- GET IT! Sweet Gigi and Pappy had a beautiful surprise waiting for me when I picked up Bug on Friday.. he was in this outfit- IS THAT NOT THE MOST BEAUTIFUL CHEEKY SMILEY EVER :) I am not quite sure why when I say CHEESE my mouth goes crooked??? And don’t make fun of my ski slope bangs.. someone somewhere thinks they are neat :). Besides that and some coo’n Brady’s 12 week old birthday came and went and left us with tons of smiles with him! He is really becoming interested in toys and knows what he is supposed to do with them SHOVE EM ON THE GUMS! We think he might be starting to teeth… or I should say I am… it seems that I am always trying to nail a new reason on why he might fuss here and there lol. CAN’T A BABY JUST LET OUT A GOOD CRY without it being an illness, you ask? NO :)… I can’t believe it has already been 12 weeks. I am going to write Bug a letter on this blog for the first 12 weeks… Our cup o' love overfloweth! OH ANNNNNNND P.S. for your entertainment it is Tuesday and yesterday came and went without the beginning of working out starting LOL! What did I say about Tuesday???? LOL! DANGIT!

Routines Schmootines...

Am I the only the one in this world that day in and day out aims for being so organized only to fail endlessly? Let me explain… I do think that I am organized… and I think that I have some routines that I am putting in order quite well.. but some NOT SO MUCH. I have found myself frequently doing something and thinking to myself OK THIS WILL BE WHAT I DO ON THIS DAY EVERY WEEK.. only for it to turn into a single occurance on that day, never to happen on that day again… maybe not even in that month.

ROUTINE #1 CRASH AND BURN
My poor basset (AKA Dogson #1)… he has just gotten the stinky end of the deal since his brother joined our household with his physical self. Infact, you could probably say that before baby boo was even here that he was slidin’ further and further down the stink pole getting closer and closer to the end just because my French fry eating self wasn’t about to lay on the floor to cut his nails, or lift his 60 lb. self into a bathtub :). He didn’t smell THAT BAD, and his nails weren’t clicking THAT LOUD, YET! So Sunday, TWO WEEKS AGO (see how I didn’t carry my new weekly routine?), I put him in the shower with me (he has always gotten in the shower with me, I soap him down and he soaks while I shower- since he was a baby :)) gave him a good soapin’ and almost clogged the drains with all of the hair that came off of him since it had been so long (***shaking my head***) since he had been bathed! After our shower I gave him a good ear cleaning (I have kept up with this more frequently) and a nail cuttin’…. I say to him- Alright Boog (nickname) from now on Sundays are your day! We will clean ya up eeeevery Sunday. I am pretty sure that he rolled his eyes at me… and for good reason as his “mother” has failed miserably at juggling 2 “kids” :). So that was one that went out the window…..

ROUTINE #2 CRASH AND BURN
I am NOTORIOUS for being a “I will start on Monday” type of workout person… Then when Monday comes around and I of course am tired and would rather work out with a goblet of Merlot after I get home then work out! And getting up in the morning on a Monday??? You must be outta your mind thinking that I am working out when I do manage to drag up and out of bed at FIVE AM (which is exceptional in itself)! So then because I haven’t started at the “beginning” of the week I can’t start on a Tuesday! So then I say, OK SELF we will start tomorrow (Wednesday) and we will work out on Saturday and Sunday (I am a 5 day worker outer when I do work out) since we skipped Monday and Tuesday… so basically Wed. has now turned into Mon. (Confused yet?)…. Of course humpday brings “no wanna workout day” so then I surely can’t start on Thursday because even working out through the weekend I would NEVER get my five days in… FOUR DAYS would never be good enough- putting it off and working out NO DAYS until we start this vicious cycle NEXT MONDAY is really the way to go. SERIOUSLY MELODY!! Good night nurse… It is a redundant cycle that I generally do for months before I finally get grossed out enough to do something about my tummy that I can’t suck in enough to make it flat :), or my legs that the midget that has been throwing rocks at the back of my legs has now started chunking them at my entire leg and bootie… I carried Baby Boo in my back (swear to God I thought my stomach was going to go backwards and put a hump in my back with all the back chub I gained!) which stinks because back fat= eating better which I have no urge to do. I went to wipe something off of my arm “wing” area and even though I have been carrying this hunk of love around, I had to chase the spot on my arm that I was trying to wipe off when my “wings” started flapping! I have always loved working out and been a big “worker-outer” but I didn’t ever want to eat good, I mean that is why I work out! :)… So before this routine takes off on a long aimless tangent, I will end with I hope to start today, if not MONDAY IT IS! FOR REAL (please do not hold me to this). I have to focus on the time given to me to do this whether it is in the evening while he takes a nap, or in the mornings before work, I must make it a priority! I MUST I MUST I MUST!

ROUTINE #3 BUH BUH!
Cleaning (I can thank Mom for this one :), she has always kept her home (our home when we were younger :) ) beautiful and clean)….. Those of you that know me know that I LOVE, infact, I am infatuated with clean and presentable. I try to keep my home presentable, if someone just stops by, there is no embarrassment by any dust balls or dog hair… Before Baby Boo came into my world I made a List… This list had every little thing that I wanted done in each room broken out by room… anything from dusting the walls to cleaning the fans to cleaning dustboards to cleaning blinds to the normal dusting, vacuuming stuff.. every time, every week- cleaning a room every day… so that I wouldn’t have to waste my weekends cleaning all day. SOOOOOOO…. I STINK at doing this and it is driving me out of my mind. The bathrooms, the kitchen, and the floors are about the only thing that has been scrubbed since he got home besides the couple times a month or so dusting that I go through and do on the weekends when the boys are napping (where is my stinking nap!). Don’t get me wrong, I am the only one that would know this as I do keep it picked up all the time… and the floors of course being wood have to be done all the time with dust bunnies and bassets :). But it’s the fact that I KNOW that my “list” hasn’t been done because I am so busy once I get home, that is driving me crazy. I don’t think I am fully OCD but I swear I have the “makings”. If I was fully OCD I would be exhausted from making it happen and cleaning no matter what time, how late, or how tired I was. You can call me a wannabe :)! I have now decided that there is not going to be a weekly detail cleaning but better yet splitting it up and detail cleaning one half one week and one half the next and so forth… It would literally take me 12 hours to do it in one day… and I would waste too much time that I could be spending with baby boo if I were to clean that much in the evenings (this excludes bathrooms and floors, those are every week :))… So life is too short, as long as I keep it straightened up the detailing can be spread apart :)…. Sorry that got boring for a while, I think this blog is more for me to talk myself into things lol.

I could go on and on… but so that I do not have to gripe about not having a job I better get to work. Hope everyone has a great day!! XOXO!

Welcome back to the dreaded work week! HAPPY MONDAY! What a weekend it was!! We took our first road trip this weekend to San Antonio!! Even though it is only about 2 hours, it was still an anxiety filled trip not knowing if little bug would make it and how he would do!! OF COURSE the little angel did perfectly and looked at us like DUH, like I would even think to be bad! :) This weekend was a big learning weekend for us as well! Baby boo has MASTERED the pouty lip like NONE OTHER! I swear they can hear you talking and understand when they are in the womb cookin’. I have always said that I hope that he is not a sad crier with the pouty lips and all! I will have to take a picture as mean as I think that might look to take a pic of him when he is upset instead of loving on him :), you have got to see it. He will shut his eyes, push out that lip and get the chin dents before he even makes a sound so that you have plenty of time to take note of just how sad he is feeling. Then this horrible soft, but high pitch sound comes out that you just want to hug him so close and make the despair go away :). At first we thought that was a painful cry (we are still learning the art of figuring out which cry is which although “they” (society baby experts :) ) are right because there are definitely “just griping” cries, “I am lonely and need loving” cries, “I am going to starve if I don’t get a bottle” cries :), and “for the love of god- ROCK ME TO SLEEP” cries :), “I have an ouchie” cries, and many others :))… He is definitely becoming more familiar with the world around him! And with that being said, he is familiar with people getting all up in his grill coo’n and smilin’ at him. 90% of the time that brings a smile that will melt your heart, however, 2 times this weekend that attention brought the “heartbreak” cry and pouty lip. I am not sure why, or what the person has that makes him smile compared to the one that makes him scared lol… but it is really sad and kinda hard to explain to the person walking away from him quickly! I mean COME ON, we all hate when we come up to a baby thinking that we are going to look like a sweet hero and make them smile, AND THEY START SCREAMING! EMMMMMMMBARRASSING!! Well now that I am in the MOM’S HOT SEAT, I can say that it is just as embarrassing for the mother because you know how that person feels… but there is nothing that you can do. BRADY JAMES YOU STOP CRYING RIGHT NOW AND LOVE THIS PERSON! Lol… yeah I don’t think that would get us too far! Speaking of becoming familiar with this new world, he has started following you when you are walking around him… it is so sweet and cute.. This last week really “aged” him, and he has started doing so many things… The following you around the room has made him have a NOT SO SWEET toupee’ mullet look though with a ring of hair in the middle of the back of his head coming out I guess from rubbing off when he is moving his head from side to side hahaha!!

Of course his handsomeness is still abundant, but that is just some funny stuff right there! He started coo’n and I know what he says is just so exciting but I have no idea what it is! He also started giggling! He was doing it as he was gargling his medicine (he seriously has a secret pocket in his mouth that he will give that medicine right back to you 5 minutes later after you think it is swallowed and getting to work to make him better haha) thinking that it was so funny… :). Then last night my mom was changing him and he gave her some giggles too! I can’t believe how fast his little self is changing! He is such a happy baby as long as he is feeling good (a given with anyone right?)! We moved up to #2 nipples this weekend and so far so good! Last time we tried this he ate way to fast and got a sore belly… That was a few weeks ago, so I think those few weeks helped him to develop a little more to maybe be able to handle it better? Who knows… I did, however, wonder HOW IN THE HECK DO YOU KNOW WHEN IT IS TIME to open up the flood gates and move from a newborn nipple to the next one. Well, at the end of last week I heard a popping when he was eating and realized that it was the nipple collapsing from him sucking too hard. I have read everywhere that they will get mad and pull off the nipple should they not be getting enough so I was always watching for that, but breaking off the nipple is wasted time where he could be eating so he never did that :). I decided when I heard the pop that that was “the sign”… so up in size he went. Well we normally burp him ever 1 ½ ounces so we continued that although starting last night he wouldn’t give me a burp no matter how long I patted and rubbed, patted and rubbed! I swore I was going to give him an Indian burn if we did it any longer haha! So my precious Daddy boo said, Well maybe with the 2 nipple he isn’t sucking as hard and not getting as much air. I was like I THINK YOU ARE RIGHT! So then I went back to feeding and then burped after that one and he was fine and fell asleep right away after he did burp… Like my mom said he will let you know, and he does… Brad and I laugh because lately he has been pulling off the nipple and we look down and it has been exactly 1 ½ ounces! Lovebug is so smart already ;)! He gets pretty fussy when he has a burp….whether he will give us his bubble or not is a mystery but I do think that I don’t need to be as anal with his burping. I am just so dang scared of him having pain and want to do whatever I can to prevent it! But enough is enough I guess :)…. So now we are doing every 2 ounces in a 6 ounce bottle :)…. Last but not least (I actually had tons of stuff to put in this blog but it will be infinity long if I do, so I will spread it out- Did I tell you I am getting very into this whole blogging deal and have started even nosing on people’s pages that I don’t know (Look at my new blog list! Some of the most funny, creative chicas you will find on the net!! I love their blogs!) and keeping notes of things that I think of to blog about!!)… Last Monday Brady started running a fever of 100.9 and was waking up every 15 minutes with a painful little outcry in his sleep and then stopping and sleeping soundly over and over…. so we hustled our way to the doctor. When we got there it read a temp. of 97, but bless her heart GiGi brought the thermometer with her so she could prove it was that high :). After giving him the “once over” the doctor said that he was fine but that the acid reflux was definitely the cause of the pain and therefore we threw him on some medicine! So far he has been such a happier baby as I think he feels so much better. The next day at Gigi’s he slept almost all day with breaks in napping every 3 hours to get the belly filled, and then on the last burp would go right back to sleep (how he knew it was the last burp is beyond me, it’s that whole “smart” thing :))! All he did last weekend was cat nap… and then Monday with it really bothering him, I think the medicine made him capable of comfortably catching some Z’s!! So far so good… Well I better get to work, sorry my blogs are so long! I get to rambling… I need to start blogging more then once a week I guess :). I am leaving you with a few pics. from last week... I know, I know... dressing baby boo in the skulls is probably not the best choice, but my goodness is it not so cute! Especially the SMILING skull shoes, compliments of Aunt Sidney!! So stinking cute! Oh and ignore the hairy chest... He would kill me if he knew I posted this... but beyond the hair is one cute fella sittin in Daddy Boo's lap!

ACID, POO, AND SLEEP!

Well what a night it was with the fancy light flashing outside and rolls of thunder on Thursday evening….. I take it that I will not be purchasing a nature CD for Brady in the near future since it appears that sweet love is not fond of the thunder rolling. 1:45 in the morning came awful early as he has so sweetly spoiled momma and hasn’t been getting up for that middle of the night feeding… He just needed a little lovin’ and rockin’ and was fast asleep in 15 minutes. Then it was up for the morning at 4:45, which I get up at 5 am anyways, but that 15 minutes of sleep that I lost has burdened my eyelids all day! However, I know how the sweet love feels with the thunder and lightning as I was not a fan of thunder and lightning ohhhhhh until what 6th grade, 7th grade.. ok 30! :) I started thinking last night as I watched that sweet little pacifier going up and down as everything in his mind was fine now that he was in my arms, I now have to be this super brave person! The fears that I have always been able to just kind of ignore, I now have to deal with should I be faced with them with Brady scared. I have to be tough! I mean here I am facing my 33rd birthday coming up and I can be honest with you that I will get a hop in my step if I am walking around in the house and it is thundering and a flash of lightning comes my way! It was weird though because last night I thought nothing of it as I comforted my son who needed us. Just yet another thing of wonder that comes along with parenting. Blows my mind the things that you just “do”… Well time went by a lot quicker then I thought… Here are a couple of things that I wanted to mention that were discovered this week….

1- Last night he was a little fussy which now we never know if it is acid reflux or colic so we just baby him as if he had both… I am really trying to work with him on being content with us sitting as we are getting him to sleep as he likes you to walk and bounce. Bouncing can really make the reflux get bad which he doesn’t understand that.. to him he is screaming BOUNCE MEEEEEEEEEE! Which I figured out this- although I try hard not to ever lay him flat just for right now unless it has been a while and he is having play time… that doesn’t usually last long anyways, but back to what I figured out.. last night as he was not a happy camper! With his EYES CLOSED he was letting me know what he thought, so I knew he was tired. I decided I would try swaddling him in a blanket… since he showed by his love for the sling that he still loves to be snug as a bug against you. Well although he didn’t like me setting him down (I strongly disagree with every book that says babies can’t be spoiled :) either that or he is proving to be the miraculous baby that I know he is and go outside every way of every baby lol! But we are suppose to love them and spoil them is my opinion) on the blanket, I put his arms down and pulled that blanket tight around him, popped that paci in held him snug to my body and POOF here came night night time! Granted there was a little wrestling and this is never a sure thing since sometimes if he is mad, being restricted will just throw fuel on the fire!! But I say GIVE IT A SHOT! Also, if he still needs a little bouncin, I cradle him in my arms so that when I bounce he is laying “sideways” so should there be reflux I think that it would go side to side and not up and down irritating him. So far it seems as though my “hypothesis” is right :).

2- Strip em! Brad and Brady both are like walking heaters, well ok Brady just lays there but you get the jist of what I am saying… We are trying to really work with Brady and teach him that Daddy can console him too but sometimes he just gets so worked up that there needs to be an intervention for both of the boys sakes :)…. Just that is what had to happen Wed. night.. Little love got so worked up so I asked Brad if he wanted a break (I am careful to not step on toes as hard as it is to hear the fit, I know that he has to realize that Daddy is there to love him… I hate seeing fathers go through that after baby gets used to momma) and he did….. So I took Brady and immediately started stripping him as I was kissing his head which you could feel he was hot with a onesie and then some pants on, it was an easy fix. So I faced him forward and took those pants off and THEN IT HAPPENED, SILENCE! I swear just the smallest things make it better… Just putting him in a different position… letting him see what is going on in a different way… Or heck, taking off those pantalones and letting those thighs breathe :).

3- After a very long night of not being happy at all Friday night… Saturday morning little lovebug was still acting not too happy. He started doing his usual red as a tomato pushing with Brad trying to get the stanky poo out of his little bootie. Well… after this was done, Brad took him into change him (this is a huge deal as Brad+dirty diapers is a no go. Well I went in there as I was not expecting him to change him as he is always handed to momma to change). Not to be too descriptive but usually it is a huge pile of poo… soft…. No shape to it, kinda like clay, not runny soft. I have always been told by the pedi when I ask if his poo is ok like that, that that is fine poo. So as I am observing… all that pushing resulted in a baby carrot shaped poo coming out and that IS IT. Brady consistently poops every other day pretty much (can consistently and pretty much be in the same sentence haha), so it is usually a pretty good amount on “poo day” (it has been named :)), so that little bitty carrot led me to worry (Brad is now also taking credit for “changing a poo diaper” with that little carrot thing!! :) ). Of course my sleepy mind starts rolling through the hours before where there was nothing that I could do to console him… OH MY GOSH, HE IS STOPPED UP, THAT IS WHAT WAS BOTHERING HIM! So immediately I go to grab my thermometer as I decided I was going to try the good ol thermometer trick that I had heard and read everywhere about. I wanted to also make sure that he wasn’t running a temperature so as I (please excuse me if this gets graphic) put the thermometer in I hear this PFFFFFFFFT (airy toot impression :)) and feel pressure on thermometer…. THIS ANACONDA POO comes pouring out of his poor little bootie! Then it was followed by some soft stuff like he normally has. POOR SWEET BABY was trying to tell momma that the poo monster was hurting him AND I HAD NO CLUE as he has never had constipation like this. He seemed so relieved and gave me the smile that lights up my world and I felt so much better for him! So now, although I hope this doesn’t last long as I read they can actually become dependant of you helping them poo, I am keeping a close eye on the hardness of his belly and if he acts like he is in pain I am helping him….. Poor thing. I swear those little ones, although so tough, have to go through so much while their systems develop. It took a lot of reading for me to be talked into believing that the thermometer in noway invades their privacy, infact it doesn’t bother him at all… He gets really still and quiet, although the quietness was interrupted by grunting this weekend. Just for y’all that have not done this and wonder if it hurts them.. DON’T THINK TWICE ABOUT IT… they are fine, and so are you to do it. I have left a message with the pediatrician’s nurse to call me back to see if there is anything I can give him as of course I have read about giving him Karo syrup (then I read NOT to give Karo syrup for the same reasons as honey, botulism! How do you know what to believe? I am not willing to take a “gamble” with Brady! I want to hear from the doctor yes or no instead of killing myself worrying with the internet) and juice, but I am not sure what a 10 week old system can handle so before I try anything I want to see what the doctor says. Then I will see what I believe and probably keep worrying with yet another opinion (the doctors) :).

4- On a better note as things sure haven’t been allllll bad things :), is it possible for me to have slept TOO LONG? Hahaha! Sweet little “bug” (just to let you know this is his said nickname, short for LOVE BUG hahaha….. I have been waiting for that perfect little name to come about AND THERE IT IS :). I figured with Brad taking on the ghetto nickname of Boo (at first it was funny, but now it is stuck :)) and Clyde carrying “Boog” (don’t ask, different nicknames evolved into Boog, in which he answers to as well lol. I couldn’t even tell you where it came from lol), Bug just rolls off the tongue :). I wanted to do “monkey” or something like that like Tori and Dean :0) but too many people do that nickname… :). Most of the time though he is called LOVE :)) has done ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS with sleeping through the night. He has taken on to having a feeding at around 7 or 7:30 and then again at 9:30 or 10 which changed from him feeding at 8 or 9 and getting up at 2 or 3 before I went back to work. However, I have started adjusting as well to going to bed at around 11(I can’t tell you the last time I went to bed at 11 regularly in my life’s daily run) and getting up at 5 for my 6 hours of sleep and I love it as it is a huge difference getting that 6 hours of sleep consistently compared to split up to amount to 6 as it was with his middle of the night feeding. KEEP FAITH NEW MOMS READING THIS, the sleeping gets so much better! Or I should say, your bodies get so much better living off the sleep your baby presents to you :). Last night I put him in bed at 10:30 (he fell asleep in my arms about 10:10- I usually rock and love on him for about 20 minutes after he falls asleep, then put him in his bed. I know that we will have to work on him falling asleep on his own here pretty soon!) and this morning I ended up taking him to moms STILL ASLEEP! I was going to wake him up at 6 as I am scared that one day if I try this he will have a meltdown and I will be delivering a veeerrry crabby, wet diapered (from his night time diaper as you don’t change a sleeping baby!! Lol), hungry little guy. But at the same time if we want him to learn to sleep longer periods at night then I don’t want to wake him at 6 if he isn’t awake on his own! You know what I mean?? So far the gamble has been ok the two times I have tried it, although I always have a bottle made and ready to hand to mom :)). I also don’t mind chunkin’ those dice for the gamble since she is only 10 minutes from the house! Anyways, so he is going great! Most of the time though he is going down around 10-11 and getting up at 5-6! I wish I could give him a high five for that :)!

Soooo, as you can see the Connell Curiosities continue running like a marathon through my mind :). I swear it seems just as you have one thing figured out (in this case us nailing down acid reflux) his little body gives us something else to work on (the cause of constipation). I will post again letting you know what the doctor says and what I try and what seems to work or not work. This blog went infinity long so I am going to cut myself off :). Hope everyone has a great week!!