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.

Max found his feet and I'm feeling constipated.

Max is cute all the time...even at the doctor. But maybe I'm the one who needs a checkup because I haven't been feeling as regular as usual. Maybe I need to drink more water. Breast feeding really dehydrates me. Aren't you glad to know that!
Max found his feet 2 Saturdays ago on June 19. He enjoys teething on them as you can see in this peanut shell. He's very accustomed to being in the sling. And I think it's great having him close to my heart!

I guess I'm going to have to get used to people giving their parenting advice. But once in a while it is ridiculous. I had a neighbor yesterday checking to see if I had turned the passenger airbag off in front of Max's carseat. Well, duuuhhhhh! Of course I did! What kind of an idiot mom do you think I am!

And I had a girl who smoked through her own pregnancy tell me that I should let Max cry it out and make him sleep through the night right now at 4 months old. WHAT! That is f'ing ridiculous! One day my hugs aren't going to cut it when my son needs me, and I plan on being there for him when he does. Plus he has a tiny tummy and for a little baby hunger is painful. Do you think I'm so insanely selfish that I would let my sweet, precious baby starve through the night without his number one crony. Heck, no! Not for ONE MINUTE! There's a reason mother nature made women a certain way, and trust me....there's no denying that. If I don't feed my baby when he cries than I may as well squirt an idiot with bad advice in the eye, because the milk is flowing out of my boobs regardless.

Oops, did I just go on a rant. Yes I did. But seriously, I'm on the crunchy end of attachment parenting and I wouldn't have it any other way. I subscribe to the beware of baby trainers beliefs. It pains me to think that someone could actually believe that my 4 month old baby is manipulating me rather than simply communicating with me. And that came from another mom! YUCK YUCK YUCK!

I better simmer down and go to bed. Sorry about the too much information at the beginning. I just had to vent. Goodnight!

Mom, you're CRAZY!

I forgot to include a few pictures of my trip to Dallas. Max had fun meeting his uncles. He's yet to learn exactly how much fun they are!


This is the classic look I get after the 100th kiss. I might just be crazy after all!

Baby and Me

Max is happy in this picture because he just sh*t on daddy. Oh boy that was a big one!

Max and I went to our first mommy and me yoga class on Mon. I was super excited to go meet some new mommies and get some exercise. But Max decided we needed to nurse for the first half of class. And during the interactive second half of class he fell into a milk coma and didn't participate. The doctor says to never wake a sleeping baby, so I did all the cute stuff by myself while Max slept peacefully. At least we made it to the yoga studio and saw that was an accomplishment in itself!

I'm joining all kinds of groups and trying to find some cool mommy friends. I've got breastfeeding support group, mom's group at the park on Thursdays, and starting a program called music together tomorrow. It's a little harder to find moms that want to be active and outdoors climbing up a mountain with their baby strapped to their chest. It's not easy if you're carrying the extra weight of the papoose and you're a little out of shape. And if you're sleep deprived, forget about it. Most moms are tired and want to go for coffee.

Max went to the doctor on Tues. and we found out he is almost 15 pounds and in the 75th percentile for weight gain. He's 25 1/2 inches long now, and that puts him into the 90th percentile for height. Wow, this boy is growing!

He's doing tons of adorable things. He's been holding his toys for several weeks now. His grip is so tight on anything he gets a hold of, including my hair. He's officially begun teething as of this week, and Sophie the giraffe is always close by to put in his mouth. Sophie makes some cute noises when he squeezes her, and the sounds aren't too obnoxious or bothersome. He almost always has a rattle or a little "lovey" in his hands.

He also likes to pull his blanket over his head. This is not ok with me. It makes me so nervous not to be able to see his head. I can't tell you how many times I've pulled the blanket down to check his breathing, and he is always fine. I decided not to worry about him anymore since it is a light baby blanket. He must like making the room extra dark by covering his eyes because he does this all the time.

I couldn't believe it a few days ago when he pulled his pacifier out of his mouth with his hand, and then put it back IN his mouth all by himself. I don't know if it's conscious or not, but he's also passing his toy from one hand to the other. It seems like his coordination is rapidly advancing on a daily basis.

My little dude has a funny personality. Sometimes he looks at me like I'm crazy. We laugh a lot and enjoy making silly noises with each other. He can't wait to talk and already expects that I understand what he is communicating with me. I love to talk with him and hear every little thing he has to say.

I only have 4 pounds left to lose, and I swear half of that is in my boobs. Even though this isn't the best picture, I think you can tell I'm getting back in shape. We took Marc's parents on a hike up temescal canyon. His mom got nervous and turned around early on, but his dad and the rest of us enjoyed the journey.

Baby Max is 3 Months Old

Baby Max is 3 months old...exactly 13 weeks today. Whew! I made it this far! It's amazing how fast you learn so much because you have no other choice. I love every minute of being a mommy except for when I don't think I can take it another second. Juuuuuust kidding! But postpartum hormones are still a pain!

The other night I cried myself to sleep because I love him so much. And then the next night I cried myself to sleep because I felt like I couldn't do it anymore. But even being the overly-adoring, over-the-top gushing, madly in love mommy that I am, I get exhausted and loony. From what I hear after talking to other moms, that just makes me human.

On a bright, happy note, I've been getting more sleep than usual because we are in Dallas right now. Thanks for the extra help from Grandmom and Granddad! We've been in Dallas for almost 3 weeks and plan to go back to LA on Sat.

This has been a wonderful trip. It hasn't all been easy, but it's mostly been awesome. The first week I was here, we had a bit of a tough trip to Birmingham, AL where we introduced Max to his great grandmother Mama Ellen. That was such a special time, but I almost reached my breaking point. I was sleep deprived at the beginning of the trip, and after 10+ hours in the car, Max had a meltdown that night that kept any of us from sleeping. He's had gas pains a few times prior to this, but this was on a whole new level. He was screaming at the top of his lungs, and my mom described his cries as barking like a dog. We were only a step away from taking him to the ER until he finally just fell asleep.

It was just an unfortunately bad night that made it difficult to see straight the entire next day. It was a complete bummer for me because we had arranged professional photographs of Max with the whole family, but I looked like certifiable crap. I even started crying at the picture session. The only place I wanted to be was in a dark room with a bed. But somehow, I made it through that day. Mama Ellen loved seeing us and we loved seeing her and everyone else.

Last weekend, My dad and I took Max to meet some more relatives in Abilene. That trip was much easier and quite relaxing. Max didn't realize he had so many cousins until he finally met them. We had a nice lunch at my cousin Greg's house and that was another special time with family.

I think the kicker is when Max met his Uncle Ross and Uncle David. The first time Ross held Max, his diaper blew out onto Ross's clothes. The green, slimy poop that seeped out onto Ross's khakis made him completely gun shy about holding Max. You should have seen the look of disgust on his face. I would've sworn by that look that he would never want anything to do with his nephew ever again.

For some reason, my brother David wasn't scared after what happened to Ross. He generously offered to help me with a middle of the night feeding and diaper change. Keep in mind, one of his hands was recently mangled by a pit bull and he had never changed a diaper before--especially one-handed. Apparently he was having a difficult time getting the diaper on and Ross had to help him. In the hour that it took to change the diaper, they both got peed on. Not once, but TWICE! And don't think they got through that one by themselves. My dad had to come in and help them in the end. So yes, it took three men to change that one diaper. I bet Max laughed and laughed at his urine-infested uncles.

When my high school friend Amy was over a couple weeks ago, Max had a breakthrough day. It was the first day he became able to hold his head up for long periods of time. That was really cool to see her holding him with his head consistently staying still. She also took this picture of him laughing. It's the first picture that truly captures his big smile.

He had another huge breakthrough since we've been here. He rolls now! He always rolls to his right side. He is finally able to roll all the way to his tummy and sometimes he can even pull that right arm out from under his body. Once in a while that arm gets stuck under there and he has no idea what to do. But he seems to be figuring it out much better these days since he is able to lift his head and chest up during tummy time.

Another thing he does is make lots of noises. I talk to him constantly and he makes noises back to me. He loves the eye contact and attention. And he also loves watching the television. It's not that we let him watch tv, but if he sees it on in the room, his eyes are glued to the screen. Ah oh!

My dad keeps holding toys in front of Max to see which hand he reaches with. So far his left hand usually gets to his toy first. He also likes to hold his hands in a clasped, praying position. His left hand is usually on the outside of the right hand. And since he reaches with his left hand to roll over to the right, we are slightly betting that he will be a lefty. Actually my dad thinks he is more likely to be left-handed, but who really knows.

We also see a red tint in Max's hair these days. We always saw a little red in his hair when the sunlight hit it, but the red becomes more noticeable as his hair continues to grow. I never would have thought that Marc and I would have a red-head, but he definitely has some recessive genes in his composition with those blue eyes. I'm sure his hair will get darker as he gets older since Marc and I were both blondies when we were born.

I found out on Max's last pediatrician visit that he is in the 90th percentile for weight gain. Today he weighs 14 1/2 lbs. The pediatrician was impressed that he is a purely breastfed baby because my milk is so full of nutrients. Formula fed babies typically put on weight faster than breastfed babies because breast milk is more easily digested. So she made me feel good that my milk so chock full of nutrients. It's really encouraging to know that my efforts are paying off! Max has some little thunder thighs, but she said he'll work those off when he starts walking.

Normally I would proofread a blog before posting, but absolutely not anymore. It's more important that I get to sleep than concern myself with a grammatical error. Goodnight....at least for a few hours. Oh, that reminds me. Max slept for 7 hours one night. So I thought he was sleeping all night now! But then he's only been sleeping four. I think he's just in a little growth spurt and hoping he will consistently be sleeping longer soon! Ok, now good night for real!

Temescal Canyon

Today was my first hike post-op where I carried the baby in the moby wrap. We've been on other hikes where someone else carried Max, so it was a big deal that I conquered the canyon with all that extra weight. I went with my new mommy friend, Emme. Her baby Jackson is 6 months old and it was so much fun hanging out them today.