Baby bunting

It's still taking time to get used to being a mom. That, and with still recovering from surgery, the holidays coming, the fact that our dryer died last week and a new unit won't come until Friday and that Amy is coming Saturday (YAY) things are nonstop.

Tonight I ran errands without my boy. He stayed home with Daddy so I could go without worrying about him being upset. I went to Babies R Us and returned some items and came back with others. Then, I went next door to Modell's and got a new pair of sneakers. I am going to start walking soon, and my old Sketchers have really had it. Then, I went further next door (all in the same outdoor mall) and got the baby a hat and mittens and a fleece bunting at Old Navy. Finally, I headed to Target to finish up. There, I only ended up with a sugar dispenser and a gallon of milk, but anyway...

Baby J is doing well. We're all looking forward to his first Christmas, cuz his First Thanksgiving was really memorable. We went upstate and had dinner with my family, then spent 2 days with some friends of Michael's and on the way back home saw my family again. Aunt Sandy and Dawn were fantastic with Jensen and had a great time making faces at him. However, I don't really look forward to spending the night away from home with him again. He was great during the day, but the nights were really hard. He kinda freaked out and was up a LOT. We almost went home early, but decided to stick it out. I am glad we went, though. I've learned a lot about what I'll need to do next time....

Now that we're home and settled in again, I'm getting geared up to send holiday cards. We're going to get our photo taken soon, and then I'll send everything out. Can't wait for all of you to get to see more of Jensen!

Success?

Jensen is five weeks old as of as of Sunday. It is already hard to clearly remember a time when we weren't thinking about, talking about, or dealing with the baby.

He is now eating and sleeping a little more predictably. I wouldn't really say a schedule yet, but it's easier to tell about when he'll be hungry depending on when he was fed last. We've been putting him to bed around 11, because that's when he seemed most sleepy, but we're learning to manipulate some things. So, we've discovered that:

1. Babies can't tell time. They depend on what happens or how they feel to tell them what needs to happen when....like bedtime. We're working more consistently on actually having a routine and having that routine start and end at around the same time each night.

2. He loves, loves, loves baths. We put him in the whirlpool tub with Michael and a few capfuls of the Johnson's bedtime bath and they have a great time. He likes to float and to be bobbed up and down in the water. It is fantastic to watch.

3. A warm bottle does wonders. Usually during the day I only warm the bottle enough to take the chill off, as I'm sure that at some point we'll be somewhere that I can't make it really warm and I want him to eat anyway. But, at bedtime, I make it nice and warm and try to get him to eat an extra ounce, sometimes two, to tide him over until about 3 am.

4. Blankies retain heat. Conner taught me this one. To avoid the catastrophe of him being pretty passed out, only to have him wake up hysterical 2 cm from his mattress because he can no longer feel my body heat, I've started wrapping him in his blankie before the bottle. Then he can fall asleep from the comfort and when I put him down, he continues to consistently be warm.

Tonight we moved all of these things up by about 45 minutes, and, like magic, he was asleep by 10:15. Here's hoping he's still out until 3 or later.

New Life

Yesterday was kind of a realization day. We have a new life in our lives. I know, I know, it seems like a "duh" kind of statement, but yesterday I was quite struck by the responsibility I now have thrust upon me. How this kiddo turns out-successful, happy, kind, spiritual-or not-is largely the result of how I bring him up. So, I have been thinking about how I want to do that. So, I am understanding in a big way that I need to change some major things in my life.

First, I don't want him to grow up in clutter, like I did. Conner gave me a good start and a large amount of inspiration in that respect. I remember being so frustrated at never feeling like I could have my friends over. After we moved to Texas, I never had a birthday gathering at home, even though we actually had a really nice house and a great backyard. And I remember bring frustrated at continually being told to clean my room while the rest of the house was drowning in junk. And finally, I have been frustrated by trying to purge and sort that junk now that my parents are gone. I would much rather have Jensen have less toys and less clothes and more memories.

Second, I want him to be active. This probably won't be a problem with having a coach for a dad, but I want to be involved, too. I used to be really active, but I need to get back in the groove. I want Jensen to have healthy exercise habits, so much so that he considers it such an everyday part of life that he can't imagine not going out to play or run or just jump around. Building that into his life will not only keep him physically healthy, but as he gets older, help him find people who will have similar interests, have a positive way to relieve stress, teach him sportsmanship, and help him attact a woman who will also be more likely to be physically and mentally healthy.

Thirdly, going along with the above, I want to model and teach good eating habits. I don't want him to think that Mommy is continually "on a diet." I'd much rather just eat well, and with incorporating more exercise, get and stay trim.

I also want to show him spirituality. Everyone is going to have to wander a bit to find their own way and figure out what they believe, but I want him to grow up within a group of spiritually strong adults so he has a firm basis to infuse the other ideas that he chooses to accept. Having a grounded faith will serve him both as a foundation when life is tough and be a reason for celebration when things are good.

Finally, (at least this is my "finally" for now) I want him to be gracious. I think this includes a lot of things, which is why I love that word. For me, my son being gracious includes respect - for elders, parents, authority figures, others in general, and himself. It also includes knowing how to speak in a kind manner and consequently, knowing when it is best to say nothing. It means knowing not only that it's important to treat a lady like a lady, but also how. I am determined to raise a gentleman, to the best of my ability.

I now understand that in order to accomplish this, I need to be as much of a model of this kind of life as I am able to be. I think I have a lot of this within me, but putting it all together
is going to take some thoughtful organizing on my part. So, one smaller goal at a time, I am looking forward to being the best example for my baby as possible.

Here's to Mommas everywhere that are all doing their best!

Productivity

Today was a busy day.

We went to church, where I got to spend an uninterrupted hour with Jensen in the nursery, since it was my day to "work." There is also another little boy who is 9 months old and a little girl who is probably about a year and a half. They are both very interested in the baby and come to peek at him through the mesh on the pack 'n play they bought just for the "little kids." (For the record, J is the only one little enough not to be out in the room playing, so it made us feel special that it was essentially gotten just for him.)

Then we went out to lunch with friends from the congregation. It was very comfortable and feels great to be out and about making our relationships with other couples stronger.

After that, we went home and I got my stuff together to run some errands. I went to the laundrymat, since our dryer died and won't be replaced until Wednesday. The baby needed clean clothes-boy, does that boy go through laundry-and I just didn't want it to get way out of control.

Finally, I went grocery shopping for the next couple of days, as we're going to my Aunt Sandy's for Thanksgiving, but had no food in the house. I also shopped for Michael's Dad and dropped that off before coming home just in time to put Jensen down for bed and put away the groceries. It is now very late, especially for those already sleep deprived, so I am going to bed!

1 month

Today Jensen is a month old. In a lot of ways, time has flown. I can't believe he's so big already! He's been to church, out shopping, and to a big birthday party for his grandpa in his 4 short weeks.

On the other hand, I still look at him and think that I am amazed that he was inside me, and I was carrying him around that way. It is especially mind-blowing after a long stretch of carrying him around now that he's on the outside.

Overall, he's a pretty laid-back kiddo. Sure, we have the time between about 6 and 10 where he's sorta fussy, and he'll cry "just cus," but mostly right now, he's asleep or he's awake and pretty happy.

And that makes Momma pretty happy.

Also having her friends around makes Momma happy. Conner came up for a few days and was an amazing help. She not only helped give me a fantastic start on organizing the house, but also modeled being a mom, and took most of my turns getting up the the middle of the night so I could sleep. I was lucky enough to have all that "at home" time with her, but we also got to go to Target for several hours, out to a lovely dinner with Janice, and spend an evening in Manhattan walking around to see Times Square and Rockefeller Center.

Being a new mom is definitely a challenge, but with friends like I have, I know I've got support to get through the tough parts successfully and share the joy of the good parts.

I'm really fortunate that Amy is coming in about 2 weeks to help also. I am so lucky to have such a great group of gal pals!

Still adjusting

Things are going well.

Jensen had his first big day out Sunday. We went to church, where he was dubbed the "prayed for baby." As it happens, Michael had been keeping our church family aware of the progress of my labor. Most knew I had gone in on Friday afternoon, so Sunday morning, they were expecting an announcement of the new arrival. When the pastor instead revealed that Jensen still hadn't come out yet, they said a prayer together. That was at 11:10 Sunday morning. One minute later in our hospital OR, Jensen was delivered. He was quite the hit at church, as many of the congregants feel like they were, in a special way, involved in his coming into the world.

After that we went for a quick shopping trip to get a gift for Michael's dad, who turned 90 this weekend. We stopped at home to regroup for a bit, then headed to the party, where Jensen again stole the show. He was quickly passed around from person to person, all of whom were newly introduced relatives. It was great to see how much they accepted the baby and there were lots of promises of keeping in touch and future visits.

Yesterday was kind of a bust. I think all of the excitement from the day before threw Jensen off, and he was fussy and didn't want to sleep most of the day. Last night at 10:30 I finally strapped him into his car seat (Michael had taken the car for work, so it wasn't possible to do this too much earlier) and took Jen for a ride around the neighborhood. We got home at around 11, and he slept soundly until 3 am.

Today it looks like things are closer to the "schedule" than before, and he's already taking what I hope will be the first of several naps.

Besides that, I am very excited that I'll be welcoming Conner to NYC this weekend. YAY!