Babies and Puppies and Seniors, OH MY!

Yes, my baby sleeps in bed with me. It makes breast feeding in the middle of the night soooooo much easier, practical, and realistic. He's less than 5 months old--just a little tiny baby so please don't worry that we will be sleeping together when he is a teenager. I just had to say that because someone looked at me like I was cuuuuraaaazy for cosleeping. Obviously that person had never breast fed a baby before and has no idea what we are going through. They probably mean well, but I still find it challenging when I get the hairy eyeball over something that's been done for centuries. Mommies need to be close to their babies, and if the family bed is working for us, so be it.

On to other stuff, look at my boy! He loves doggies now! We went and took some pictures at the neighbor's house. Max just laughed and laughed over Bailey licking his face. Adorable.....

I'm on a Floridian vacation in a senior development. This sure is a change from my south beach days at the Delano. But once again, I'm glad to be here. This is a whole new adventure with my sweet baby Max!

Right now I'm watching Grandpa Newhaus patting Max's back and whispering in his ear, "good boy, good boy". He's hovered over his grandson with love and adoration. Sights like these are the best. XOXO

GONG Baby!

Max started this new thing yesterday that cracks me up. He clasps his hands and throws them out in front of him. And then he bends his arms while his hands are still together and hits himself in the face like it's a gong. He does this over and over again. Sometimes his hands bang into his cheek and other times they go into his nose. He was even doing this in the middle of the night during his 4am feeding. Yes, Max is a gong baby all the time now....even while breastfeeding.

Max got to meet his great grandmother Charlotte today. I really enjoy seeing the different generations together. It is very special that Max is blessed to have not one, but two great grandmothers that love him very much.

It's been a great day of swimming and watching baby Max meet lots of relatives. Everyone thinks he is the best baby because he never cries. They all love my little gong baby.

Swimmy Sleepy East Coast Beachy Baby Boy

I brought my water baby to Florida on Wed. He got in the pool and the ocean for the first time this week.

Max is a great sport and always willing to get in the water.

I love this boy. What can I tell you. I can barely talk about anything but Max. He is such an awesome, happy baby! I've officially become "that mom". Yeah, the one that wants to talk about her son all the time. We are so happy together!

Today we went to Deerfield Beach. I love the water there. It is so warm, and I could swim in it all day long. I must have burned tons of calories there because I've eaten about 5 meals today.

But I didn't think I got that much exercise between breast feeding, diapers, etc. I'm just hungry all the time. I wonder if that will level out once Max gets to start eating solid foods. Because I've been a bottomless pit for months now!

Grandpa Newhaus took us out for a nice dinner by the beach. I ate grilled snapper with veggies and mashed potatoes. Then I just came home and made a veggie burger with eggs and an english muffin. Oh, and a chocolate covered banana and some cookies. That may seem way over the top, but I feel great. Yes, I do have some fat reserves, but my milk supply is tremendous!

As you can see, all the boys are exhausted after a day at the beach. This picture captures 3 generations of tired Newhaus boys! Everyone is tired because we are staying so busy. Madeline thought of all these fun activities for us to do while Max and I are in Florida. She was worried I would get bored, but today I told her we could slow it down a little. I never have the opportunity to be bored at home. I would like more time to lounge by the pool, go for walks, and write my blog. Now that I'm not so sleep deprived, I just want to enjoy the moment. So that's my plan....xoxo

Thumbs up for the 4th!

Happy 4th of July!

Max got his 4th of July wish. He got fancy and made it to the Ritz like the high tone baby he is. He wore his "Baby's 1st 4th" outfit from his Aunt Sherrie. And he saw a firework show from the ocean. And I proved to myself that I can take this baby ANYWHERE because he is so go with the flow.

I'm not going to lie and say he enjoyed the fireworks. He slept through the first half. And he did whimper a bit during the second half. But we wrapped him up like a burrito and put our hands over his ears to protect him from the loud explosions in the sky and he was fine. He enjoyed the rocking motion of the boat for hours and hours. It was a baby's heaven to be rocked the whole entire day.

And to top it off he found his thumb! I wasn't sure if it was possibly a fluke that he was sucking his thumb on the boat. But he's sucked it every day since, so it's safe to say that he likes his newfound finger. It's only been 4 days since I first saw him sucking his thumb, and I can't help but think that is the cutest thing in the world. It probably sounds silly to moms with older kids because I know it can be very hard to get a kid to stop sucking their thumb. But for now I think it is absolutely precious.

I love it that Marc and I are able to do fun things with the baby. Some people think having kids means your life is over. But really it is just the beginning. We are so enriched with Max in our lives and it was so much fun to celebrate July 4th with him.

It is also nice for Marc to see how much we can do that includes Max.

Days like this are completely wonderful. Marc had planned to go on a trip to India this year without the baby and me. But he is starting to see that it is a bonding experience when we have family outings like this. It makes us all want to do it more often!

Now he is talking about taking a family trip of some sort. He suggested that we go on a road trip somewhere. I love it when we all spend time together and am so happy that his thinking is evolving in this direction. I especially love it that I didn't even ask him to reconsider his travel plans, but he came to that conclusion all on his own. YAY!!! I look forward to a trip when the time comes. Wonder where it will be.....

Naptime!!!!!!

I know I shouldn't post this. It goes against everything I would ever advise any new mom. The last thing you should ever admit is how much your baby slept. Because if it doesn't happen again for six weeks, people might think you are rested that whole time and then you risk not getting any more help.

But alas, Max has naturally gotten on the most wonderful sleep schedule. And it was so fantastic that I absolutely HAVE to shout it for everyone to hear. Max took a 3 hour nap today. Yes, a full 3 hours!!! It was pure bliss. It's too bad you have no way of knowing in advance when they are going to give you an amazingly long stretch of sleep. Then, I could have been looking forward to it all week.

But because I didn't know he was even capable of napping for that length of time, I kept checking on him every 10 minutes. I would just look at him in awe as if I was about to get punk'd. It was such a fascinating rarity, that I was beside myself trying to figure out what was going on. I've heard of babies that are good nappers, but had never seen it from my baby before today.

It's working out very well for me that he went to bed around 10pm every single night this week. Except usually his daytime naps are no longer than 20 minutes. So the fact that he napped for 3 full hours has blown me away. I can't even believe that happened.

Maybe I'm going on and on about this, but I was also surprised that his nap was in the swing. I put the sound of the water on along with the vibrations and swinging on level 6. Maybe that is the key to a rockstar nap. Lots of movement and ambient noise. Oh, and the tv too. And the howling meow of the cat. And the phone ringing probably helped. Lots going on...

Max loves his sleep sheep that my parents gave him, and I rely on it quite heavily these days. When Max wakes up for his middle of the night feeding, I'm pushing the whale or ocean button as fast as I'm whipping out my boob. The speedy recovery of these necessities takes us back to a blissful slumber faster than ever. God bless the sheep sleep. Now I wish I also had the portable-sized one to take with us everywhere we go.

Oh yeah, except for when Max takes the biggest poops of his life. Seriously, why does my baby need to take such big dumps in the middle of the night. I dread that fffeeehhhhhhddddd sound rumbling in his diaper. It's not because it's gross or stinky that I hate it so much. It's because I actually have to get out of bed to hose him down. Yes, that is my schedule around 4 or 5 am. No, not the REM cycle, but a full on baby butt bath.

I don't understand how moms make their babies sleep through the night at this age. Do they just let their baby sit in a pile of #2 for the rest of the night? Or do their babies only pee in the night? I've heard of some babies that only poo every few days. We have NEVER had that problem. Constipation is not in Max's vocabulary. But neither was daytime sleepy before today.

It was a good day. And a good night. And we are ready for a good day again tomorrow for his first July 4th!

Baby Max asked me if we could start the day at the Ritz Carlton tomorrow. Like any reasonable mother, I said yes. He then told me that he would like to enjoy sunset on a boat. And like any reasonable mother, I said yes. And lastly he asked if we could time it so that he could watch the fireworks show from the Pacific Ocean. And like any reasonable mother, I said yes, of course!

So if we don't do all those things, it's because he changed his mind. We'll see what tomorrow brings. Goodnight! Happy 4th!

Mommies and Babies at My House!

This afternoon I invited the mommies and babies over to my house. It went really well and we all enjoyed hanging out together. Max and his friend Jackson are socializing on the play mat.

Max slept really well last night. He went to bed at 10:15 and stayed asleep until 4:45am for a feeding and diaper change. I was able to fall back asleep at 6:30am for a couple more hours sleep until Max woke us up again. That schedule works pretty well for me, and I am so pleased with how much easier things have gotten.

I barely have time to blog. He just woke up from his 20 minute catnap so my time here has expired.