Thursday, September 29, 2011

Baby Smarts

This is no exaggeration...I might have the smartest baby in the world, as well as the cutest (sorry all you other moms:)  Really, he's a freakin genius.  The look he gets on his face when he is projectile pooping as you change him is a look that says "I know what I'm doing and you're just going to have to deal with it.  Have fun cleaning it up, mom."  He could save that poop for a diaper but he thinks it's more fun watching it fly over the changing table.  Then there's the look he gives me when I sing the wrong words to his favorite songs.  He may only be 6.5 weeks old, but he knows that the driver on the bus does not say "I love you." I feel like sometimes I should research the words to the songs I sing him so that he doesn't give me that look out of the corner of  his eyes!  Karter also knows that if he keeps me up the night before then his Grammie will come over and watch him the next day so I can sleep (he loves Grammie time.)  At this rate, I should probably start checking out the advanced classes that are offered in Covington...

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Mommy-isms

Even though I've only been a mom for 6 weeks now, I'm already finding myself doing things I never dreamed I would do.  I blame these things on hormones and my overwhelming love for my little guy.  Since I love lists, I thought it would only be appropriate if I made a list concerning these mommy-isms.

You know you're a mom when...

-Instead of sizing up your car to someone else's, you now find yourself sizing up your stoller to another mom's (I have serious stroller lust.)
-For some reason, all words now have an "ies" added to the end.  For example, "did you go poopies?"  It's a sickness.
-The phrase "give him the finger" now means "put your finger in his mouth as soon as possible to stop the crying".  It no longer has an offensive connotation. 
-Your sleep is disrupted by worries of your 6 week old's marriage ending in divorce or not passing his driver's exam.
-You've lost the grossness factor.  I wouldn't pick my own nose, but I have no problem wiping snot out of Karter's nose or earwax out of his ears.
-You're willing to put up with all sorts of pain in order to not disturb the baby sleeping on your chest by moving to a more comfortable position. 
-Your showers are now no longer than 5 minutes because there is a little someone screaming on the other side of the curtain because they want to be held. 

These are just a few...feel free to add your own!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

No more "first"

Today was my six week post partum check up at the doctor (only 3 lbs away from pre-pregnancy weight now-can I get a hooray?!)  As I was sitting in the waiting room, not so patiently after 40 minutes, I was looking around at all the pregnant women around me.  Now believe me, towards the end of my pregnancy I was ready to be done with the whole pregnancy thing and just meet my little man, but looking at those pregnant women made me miss being pregnant.  I miss rubbing my belly, feeling that closeness to my little guy, and looking in the mirror and finally having an excuse for having a belly!  Not only did it make me a little sad that my pregnancy is over, it made me sad that my first pregnancy is over.  While I will be so joyous if Mark and I are blessed with more little ones (hopefully ones that come out of the womb sleeping!), I'll never get to be pregnant for the first time again.  When people ask me when I am pregnant again if this is my first, I'll have to reply 'no.'  It's always after an experience that I look back and wonder if I really took advantage of it or if I made sure to enjoy the experience for all it was worth.  Getting through my first pregnancy is kind of one of those major milestones that make me sad that it's over but leave me looking forward to the future.  I hope that I milked the whole first pregnancy thing for all it was worth!  While these past few weeks have been rough, I can't wait until I am one of those women again in the waiting room with a pregnant belly...even if it won't be my first!

Disclaimer-don't worry, there's no bun in the oven or will there be for awhile:)

Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Hospital Outtakes

If my life was a sitcom, which I often times imagine it is, there would definitely be an outtake reel.  As I was thinking back on my time at the hospital, I realized that there were several humorous things that happened that would end up on said reel.  I think it's time I shared them with you, and wrote them down so that Karter can chuckle at his mom one day.

-So breastfeeding is kind of scary when you are a new mom.  I mean, how are you supposed to know if your baby gets enough to eat?  You can't see how much the baby is getting, so you just hope for the best.  Me, being the paranoid new mom that I was, kind of went overboard on the nursing, you could say.  The nurses would bring Karter back to me at night when he would start to fuss so I could feed him.  Well, on the second night, I fed him, and fed him, and fed him.  Eventually, I looked at the clock and realized he had been nursing for an hour and 40 minutes (which, is like an hour and 25 minutes longer than he normally eats!)  I called in the nurse to ask her if I should keep nursing or if he was done.  She kind of laughed and told me he was just sucking and not eating.  Looks like Karter played his momma for a fool! 

-There's a good chance that I had no idea what time he was born until a few days after he was actually born.  You see, I was pretty drugged up when they wheeled me back to my room, but I still felt it necessary to facebook post that Karter was here.  In doing so, I facebook posted the incorrect time he was born.  I wrote he was born at 10:55pm when really, he was born at 10:31pm.  I've considered getting it legally changed that he was born at 10:55pm because becoming facebook official kind of trumps everything else. 

-After the c-section, I wasn't allowed to shower until late the next day.  I was feeling pretty gross by Monday evening so I was eager to get in the shower.  Due to the amount of pain medicine I was on and what my body had undergone, the nurse wanted to make sure there was a nurse there with me while I showered.  Well I buzzed them and waited and waited and no one showed.  I was starting to get impatient so I started the process of getting ready to shower and figured Mark could just supervise me.  It was during this process that there was a knock on my door.  I figured it was finally the nurses responding to my calls.  I yelled "come in" and imagine my surprise when it was my uncle.  Needless to say, when you are mid-getting ready for a shower, you should always check who you are calling "come in" to.  Sorry about that, Uncle Steve!:)

I am sure there will be more outtakes to come in my journey as a mother, but this is what I've got so far!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Baby Items

I am still in some disbelief that BabysRUs exists.  Isn't it crazy that there is an entire store devoted to baby items?  I mean really, all Karter does is poop, eat and sleep...how could he possibly have a need for all those items in the store?  Well, as it turns out, I have decided that maybe he does need some of those items.  In fact, during this month I have come up with a list of additional baby items that need to be invented to make life with a newborn easier.

-A automatic back patter-Who hasn't sat their with their newborn patting their back wondering if their hand is going to fall off?  Karter's kind of high maintenance and likes to be on our chest while we pat his back in order to fall asleep.  There's been many a time when I thought my arm just didn't have another pat in it but I had to keep it up or he would wake up.  What I wouldn't give for an automatic hand that would pat him for me when my arms can't take it anymore.

-Baby hammock-So apparently it's a big SIDS risk for babies to sleep on their bellies.  It's unfortunate really, because Karter prefers to sleep on his belly, at least I think.  So I've thought that if he had a mesh like mattress, specifically a hammock with sides, he could sleep on his belly and still breath.

-A replica of a human chest- As I said above, Karter prefers to fall asleep on our chest, which is cute...for awhile.  But at 3 am when you just want to sleep and he will cry if he leaves your chest, you get kind of desperate for a spare chest.  Last night, he was in such an odd position on me but I couldn't move, and half of my body went numb.  Plus, it gets kind of sweaty when he lays his head on my chest...this boy has an abundance of hair that creates a lot of heat!

So if anyone from BabysRUs is reading this, please help a girl out and get to work on these things!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Tips for Making it Through the First Month

Tomorrow my baby boy turns one month (I wish I could justify getting a DQ ice cream cake for this occasion.)  I know eventually months don't really matter, but it feels like a small victory that we've made it through the first month.  So much about him has already changed.  His baby mullet is getting longer, his eyes have changed to a color other than black, his belly button has fallen off, and he is so much more alert now. 



Many moms have shared their knowledge with me to help me get through this so I thought I would share a few tips of my own.

1.  You're going to feel like a failure...just accept it-  Before having Karter, I thought of myself as pretty good with kids.  I've always loved kids and have worked with them in some form for many years of my life. Naturally, I thought this would mean that I would automatically be a great mom and would have no trouble.  Wrong.  I may have worked with kids, but I have never been a mom before.  It's a whole different ball game.  There are days when I feel like I am failing as a mom.  I know I'm a good mom and that I love Karter with all of my being, but there are times when he cries and I don't know what to do.  It happens, and it's ok.

2.  Accept whatever help you can get- Don't think you won't need help, you will...unless you are a super mom, which in that case, just skip this step.  I don't know what I would have done without my mom, my brothers and my mother in law providing relief so I could nap.  It doesn't make me less of a mom because I need help.  It makes me a better mother because it gives me a time to myself and a time to sleep!

3.  Read "The Happiest Baby on the Block" before having your baby-  Thank you to Brandy for telling me about this book.  I wish that I would have read this book before Karter got here so I would have had an idea what to do when we first got home from the hospital.  Going along with this point, I would also recommend stocking up on swaddling blankets, lots of them.  I really enjoy the ones that come with the velcro already on them, since I suck at swaddling.

4.  Stock up on Kleenex-  At least for me, I was extremely emotional the first few weeks after having him.  I cried for no reason, or the reasons that I was crying for were not that big of a deal.  I would cry and feel better and go on with my day.  It's just a natural part of child birth, I mean your body has been through a lot.  Side note, let's all celebrate the fact that I haven't cried in like a week and a half!  Woo hoo!

5. Sleep as much as you can during your 40 weeks pre baby- Seriously, I know it's hard to sleep when you have to pee all the time and your body is uncomfortable, but do it.  Unless you have a magic baby that sleeps well from the beginning, you will soon come to the realization that sleep is an old friend you probably won't see for awhile.

That's all of my tips for now, as Karter is screaming for some food (another tip-if you are breast feeding, you will soon find that shirts are a thing of the past.  What's the point in putting on a shirt when you'll just have to take if off in an hour and half to feed again??)

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Check Engine Light

Wouldn't it be fantastic if babies came with a check engine light?  I mean, I guess crying is kind of a check engine light for babies, but a simple little light might be better.  At least when a check engine light goes off you can take it somewhere to diagnose the problem.  Unfortunately, when Karter's check engine light goes off, his crying goes from a simple fuss to pterodactyl like screaming in a matter of seconds, leaving me little to no time to diagnose what his issue may be. I just wish he could tell me what is wrong or what would make him happy.  I feel like I should know just the right thing to make him happy because I am his mom, but I'm still trying to figure things out too.  I suppose until his cries are a little more definable all I can do is love on him as much as possible until he is happy again!

Monday, September 5, 2011

Feelings of Guilt

Don't get me wrong, I love my baby boy.  I love the way he smiles in his sleep, the way his little fingers wrap around mine, and the way he bobs his head up and down when laying on my chest, among many other things.  But at 2am when he won't go to sleep and I am exhausted, it's hard for me to remember all those things.  I mean, I still rock him and kiss him and tell him I love him, but that doesn't mean I'm not frustrated.  Then the feelings of guilt take over...how could I get frustrated with this blessing that God has given me?

I feel obliged to love being a mother 24/7 because I wanted it so bad.  I didn't get pregnant on accident...it was due to lots of prayer and months of hard work (not so much on Mark's part:)  So I feel that since I really wanted to be a mother and desperately asked God for a baby that I should love it at all times and am not allowed those times of frustrations.  I don't want God to think that I am not grateful for the blessing he has given Mark and I, because I truly am.  I look at Karter's precious little face and I am constantly reminded of the miracle he is...but being a mom is exhausting, frustrating, wonderful, stressful, rewarding, and a joy all at the same time.  I'm sure that many other mom's feel these moments of frustration and me feeling guilty about it only makes it worse.  Sometimes I wonder if Mary ever got frustrated with Jesus when He was a baby.  Did Jesus ever keep Mary up all night long or cry for no real reason?

Hopefully, I'm not alone and you other moms out there can relate!