First Month Favorites!

Baby Michael is just about 6 weeks old now! I cannot believe how quickly time is going by, and how quickly he is growing. Having a baby is intense in so many ways, and there are a million products out there that are supposed to make your life easier with your new baby. I was lucky enough to have quite a few friends have babies before me (some just a few months before me), and I took advantage of their baby raising knowledge and advice!  Now that I am on the mommy side of the fence, and since I have some preg friends, I thought I would share some things that Rob and I have found to be especially useful!

Aden + Anais Swaddle Blankets- These are great! My favorite thing about these are that they are muslin, so if they happen to cover the baby's nose or mouth while sleeping, he can still breath through it! I tested it on myself, I could still breath while the blanket was wrapped around my face like a mummy wrapped in linen! The lightweight muslin is also nice because it keeps baby warm without overheating him. I like packing one of these in our diaper bag because they are very lightweight and don't take up a lot of room. Plus, they come in loads of cute patterns, and you have organic and bamboo options. 

Baby Magic Lotion- I love Baby Magic. My mom used it when both my brother and I were babies. The lotion smells great and is light and not greasy. Baby Michael gets baby massages everyday with this lotion, and he smells like new baby until his next bath. Incidentally, we use Baby Magic Hair and Body Wash during bath time- it smells equally baby-tastic.  (Mommy also loves this lotion on her dry hands after washing a breast pump accessories and bottles a hundred times a day).

Soothing Motions Glider- This is a great product to have outside the bedroom/nursery. The glider lives in our den, and Michael takes his naps in it during the afternoon. The hammock part can pivot around, so he can rock side to side, front to back, or diagonally. It also plays super obnoxious music, that feature is rarely used.  It does kind of have a big footprint, but it's totally worth it when I can nap on the couch and have him just a few feet away!

Grass Drying Rack- I love everything about this thing! It's super cute and it's actually a pretty great drying rack. Rob's sister, Shelly, got this for us as a gift, along with three flowers that you can pop onto the grass (we don't have the tree that's in the picture). I can cram so much stuff onto this thing it's mind blowing. The grass is great for bigger things like bottles, and the flowers are great for smaller breast pump accessories and nipples and collars. And it is also a perfect size for our small kitchen (there is a larger base, called Lawn, if you have more space), and really I love anything that is brightly colored!

Wipes Warmer- This was a product I didn't even consider registering for until a friend said she loved hers. We got ours as a shower gift and we love it too. Baby Michael would scream like we were stabbing him from day one with diaper changes, but low and behold- warm wipes did the trick. Huge reduction in screaming! In fact, we liked this warmer so much, we got the travel version too! The travel version comes with a car plug and a regular ac adapter- awesome. Travel warmer is going to come in handy since we will be in Arizona for 4 days over Thanksgiving!

In other baby related news Baby Michael will be making his first cross country trip this week. We fly to Arizona on Wednesday for Thanksgiving/Shelly's wedding. While I am looking forward to the festivities, I am still nervous about the FOUR HOUR flights. I will be armed with full bottles and plenty of pacifiers. I'm hoping he'll just sleep most of the time, but we shall see! Michael has some cute clothes to wear this week, so I update our picture website when we get back on Sunday. 

ps- I did not have time to proofread this cause baby was crying, so sorry for any typos or grammatical errors!

Conversations- Dad's have it rough

Here are two conversations Rob and I have had in the last seven days:

Scene- Around 10pm in the evening, after Baby Michael's dinner
Stephanie: Rob, can you please change the baby and put him to bed so I can pump and get ready for bed?
Rob: Ugh! I'm already in bed! I'm tired and trying to sleep.

I didn't respond, but only because I couldn't think of a response due to the blind rage I felt. Here is what I wish I had said to my darling husband, "Oh, I'm sorry, you're tired? That must be awful for you! I myself am also tired seeing as I haven't slept longer than 2.5 hours at once in over a month. My arms, back, and boobs could use a rest too! But you stay in bed and get some sleep, I'll stay up getting the baby changed and settled for bed, and once I'm done getting myself ready for bed, it'll be time to feed the baby again!"

Here is another exchange between me and Rob from just yesterday:

Scene- Driving home after baby and mommy pick Rob up from school.
Rob- You smell really good.
Stephanie- Really? The baby threw up on me and I didn't bother changing my shirt before we picked you up.
Rob- You smell like fried food, what did you make?
Stephanie- I made hash browns for breakfast; do I smell like potatoes and onions?
Rob- What?! Why didn't you get up and make me hash browns before I left?!

Again, I had no response. Although, when you think about it, it was ridiculous that I didn't get up at 6:30 to make breakfast for Rob when I had woken up at 5am to feed the baby. Instead of going back to bed at 6am, I should have just gotten my bum in the kitchen and whipped up a big breakfast for Rob. I am so inconsiderate!

Being a dad must be really tough, I don't think I could handle all the work and pressure! Good thing I'm the mom and I'm lucky enough to do nothing all day at home with the baby!  I really should have the house spotless every day when Rob gets home and serve him a seven course meal each night. I am so lazy. (Stupid June Cleaver ruining it for every other mom on the planet! I hope you burn in hell!... the character, not the lovely lady who played her.)

At least I get to stay home all day with a baby as cute as this!

1 Month Birthday!

Hi! My name is Michael and today is my one month birthday! Look how cute I am with my 1 month onesie!

I plan on spending my birthday sleeping, eating, pooping, and watching UGA play football against silly Auburn University! Today my dad taught me something cool, it goes like this:

"GO DAWGS! SIC 'EM!!!!!"

Taking a pre-game nap AND showing school spirit! I'm only one month old and I can multi-task. You don't have to say it, I know I'm awesome :)

Happy Due Date Day Baby Michael

Today is my due date. Today my baby is four weeks old!  I have to admit, I'm glad he got here early, cause I totally love him. A LOT!  The past four weeks have flown by, I can't believe little Michael is growing so fast. He is still pretty tiny, but he is getting bigger and gaining weight every day. His little eyebrows are getting darker (they were so pale when he was born it looked like he had no eyebrows), he is finally filling out newborn sized clothing, and he is making all kinds of adorable faces and sounds. He has all his hair (people keep asking if it has fallen out), and it's still real dark. I know I'm bias, but he really is getting cuter everyday.

I still love being a mom, although it's not hard to love when you have an adorable baby! Michael is a really good baby so far; he isn't a big cryer (he's been fussy in the evenings lately, but it's not awful), and we're down to 2-3 regular overnight feedings. I usually (but not always) have to wake him up for the overnighters- I'm hopeful this means that he'll go right into sleeping through the night at 6 or 8 weeks old. Fingers crossed! He had his first bath this past week... yeah, he didn't love it. Rob said I didn't have the water hot enough and I was afraid if I made it hotter it would burn his little bum. When we got him out of the bath and wrapped him in his towel he started shivering- it was pathetically adorable. Next time I'll go warmer since Rob said I wasn't being a very good mommy.

Michael still can't see very well (according to baby books), but he has been looking at himself in the mirror during his diaper changes. It's pretty cool to watch him looking into the mirror. I have no idea what it looks like to him, and I don't know if he can recognize himself, but it keeps him from crying when we he's being changed. This is good cause I HATE when he cries! Not cause it's loud or annoying, cause it makes me sad. Today I tried out one of his cloth diapers, but only for about 3 seconds. Baby boy is still so small it looked like the diaper was trying to eat him. He needs to pack on some more weight and get a little bit longer. I can't wait to use them though- they are so cute! Also, the disposable diapers are SO wasteful- I cannot believe one little baby has gone through so many diapers already.

Who is that handsome devil in the mirror?

I am really starting to look forward to the holidays. This past week our family friend, Elaine, bought Michael a really cute Thanksgiving outfit, and my dad bought him a "Baby's First Christmas" santa hat and stocking. My mother also ordered him a tiny tuxedo to wear to his Aunt Shelly's wedding over Thanksgiving weekend. I love holiday clothes!! Baby Michael is going to be stylin'! I plan to start looking for a super cute and sparkly holiday dress so we can take family photos this Christmas. I wonder if I can convince Rob to wear something sparkly too... I just love the holidays cause I love being with my family. I'm so glad that Rob, Michael, and I are our own little family this year too! I can't wait to fill his little Christmas stocking and buy him all kinds of fun presents. It's a shame he won't remember, but hey, I guess that's why cameras were invented. 

And of course, check out his new pictures on our website www.threeisntacrowd.shutterfly.com, and let me know if you still need the password!

Happy Halloween!

Baby Michael celebrated his 3 week birthday Wednesday with his first Halloween!  He dressed up as a little tiger (his costume was a gift from our friend Melissa M.), and he had a secondary pumpkin costume, but... well the hat with the pumpkin face was NOT Michael's cup of tea. So, he was only a pumpkin head for a few minutes- long enough to take some pictures! We drove up to my parents house (my family that came to visit last weekend are still here thanks to Hurricane Sandy). Michael spent the afternoon hanging out with his great-grandparents, great aunt, grandfather, and uncle. Then we drove back to Athens, picked Rob up from school and went to a Halloween cookout hosted by one of Rob's classmates. It was fun- burgers, dogs, s'mores- but we were only able to stay a couple of hours cause baby boy was tired. It was a big day for him.  I LOVE Halloween, so I am really looking forward to when little Michael can go trick or treating and rock some awesome costumes!

As I mentioned earlier, my grandparents and aunt came down to meet the new baby. I knew my grandparents were coming, but I had no idea that my aunt would be coming too! I was so excited when she walked in! Yay for surprises! I really love my family, and I am super happy that I get to share them with Michael! My grandmother is completely in love with him, she barely let anyone else hold him! She and my aunt were pretty much fighting over him the whole week. If I wasn't breastfeeding I wouldn't have been able to hold him at all. The best part of the weekend? My aunt likes changing dirty diapers... so yeah I took advantage of that while she was here! I'm sad that they will be leaving soon, but they are all visiting again (along with another aunt, three uncles, and two cousins) at Christmas. Baby Michael's first Christmas- YAY!   Of course before Christmas we have Thanksgiving and Shelly's (Rob's sister) wedding out in Arizona. Michael is excited for his first plane trip (I'm dreading it of course), so he can meet his aunt and his Seerley great grandparents, oh and of course attend his first wedding.

As for me? Mommy and baby have finally settled into a routine... for the most part anyway. Michael usually eats every 2.5-3 hours, so I have some time in between to feed and bathe myself plus do a few chores (usually baby related). The house is a total wreck but such is life with a new baby. I can't believe Michael is almost a month old already, it's amazing how fast things seem to be going. I'm torn, I am dying for him to sleep through the night, but I don't want my baby to grow up too fast either!

In other pregnancy news- one of my best friends just found out she is going to have twins AND one of my best friends growing up is pregnant with triplets! I have been thinking about these two ladies during my midnight, 2am, and 4 am feedings. I used to want twins and thought having multiples would be so much fun. Yeah... after waking up two or three times a night and changing a bazillion diapers in the last three weeks, I'm good with just the one baby right now! I'm not sure I could handle more than one at a time, even with Rob being as supportive as he has been. BUT! I know that these ladies have great family and friends to support and help them once their babies arrive, and I know that they will both be really amazing mothers. Especially since their mothers are such great role models.

I posted some new pictures on our website, threeisntacrowd.shutterfly.com (and as always, let me know if you need the password). Check out my cute Halloween tiger!  I realized today that I have about 0 pictures of me and the baby... I need to rectify that!