The Transition

My baby is going to be 3 months old in 2 days! Say what now?!

He's getting so close to rolling over. He's also very close to full on laughing. Right now he makes these cute little happy noises, which I assume are his laughs right now. He did laugh a little in his sleep a few nights ago. It was too cute. Not to mention,  he's becoming quite the little chatterbox. He's a morning person for sure. Jacob had a long weekend and each morning when Daniel woke up we would bring him in bed with us for a little bit. He would just lay there and chatter away. It is seriously the cutest thing, but every time I try to record him he stops and just stares at the camera. Oh yeah...and he's becoming a rock star at tummy time!



Our newest adventure has been transitioning to crib sleeping. I wrote about him sleeping in our room in one of my posts called "Confessions of a New Mommy". I never planned to have my babies sleep in our room, but it's amazing how when you actually have a baby how your mind can be changed. While Jacob wasn't a fan of it, he tolerated it and for that I was thankful. He brought up the transition a few weeks ago, and I confess, I started bawling. I still wanted my baby next to me. I told him I wasn't ready yet, but I knew that the time was coming. Especially because he has almost outgrown the bassinet.

On Saturday night I put Daniel to sleep at 8:30 and he slept until 3:30 and then from 4-7. I told Jacob on Sunday morning that I thought I was ready to try out the crib. Sunday night I put him to sleep around 8:30 and laid him down in the crib. I turned on his sound machine and walked out, still doing okay. He slept for 20 minutes. I went in and rocked with him until he fell back to sleep. This time he slept for 45 minutes. By then I wondered just how much sleep I would actually be getting. We rocked again and I fed him to top him off. I laid him down and 10:30 and then Jacob and I headed to bed. He told me he was proud of me and I started sobbing. Yeah...his room is connected to ours by a bathroom and yet I felt like he was miles away. It took me an hour to fall asleep because I kept thinking he was going to wake up. He ended up sleeping until 1:30! I fed him and then let him sleep in our room for the rest of the night, but I felt good that he slept for that long.




Last night I felt far more confident. He fell asleep at 8:30 (this bedtime is WAAAAY better than those newborn days of 11-midnight!). I laid him down at 9:00 (because I was being lazy and watching TV before!) and he slept until 1:30! I went to bed around 10 with no tears. I fed him and laid him back in his crib at 2 and he slept for another 3.5 hours. Proud momma, here! Proud of him. Proud of me.

He even managed to wiggle almost to the end of his crib and over to the side. I'm still trying to decide what to do about the bumpers. They highly recommend you don't use them anymore, and if he's wiggling so much I don't want him to get his face smashed against them. We'll see.

Today I made a trip to the doctor, which I don't do very much. My left ear plugs up a lot at night when I sleep, but the last 2 days it had been constantly plugged (which to me is equally as bad as having a plugged nose). It actually really started hurting last night, so I sucked it up and called. They got me at 10:00 and I'm glad I went. They irrigated my ears and let me tell you, I have no clue how I wasn't considered legally deaf before. Haha!!! I apparently have really deep ear canals and had some major wax build up (it was highly disgusting) that had gotten lodged in there. It was kind of funny because once it was cleared out she asked how I felt now. I was like, "Wow! I can hear! But I can hear way better out of this ear now and not so great out of my right one!" She checked it and said it was full too. I had to have my ears irrigated 10 years ago when I had double swimmers ear. I guess they just need a good power wash every 10 years or so. Yay for hearing!

I've about rambled enough. We're just gonna hang out at home tomorrow and then Thursday I'm taking Daniel to get professional pictures taken. I hope it goes well. I can't decide what to put on him though. She said they can usually do 2 outfits. What to wear, what to wear? If he cooperates I kind want to get a few naked pics too. Love me some naked baby pics. They're too cute!

My Valentine

Yeah. So I failed at the February Photo Challenge. I got all mixed up on days and then decided that I just have way more fun taking pictures of this little cutie:



This weekend the 3 of us went out to eat for Valentine's Day. We went to Olive Garden. (Where else?). Of course, we picked the day of a state basketball tournament, and had to wait until 2:00 to get seated. Daniel was a good little boy waiting though. I can't believe the number of people who don't pay attention to things though. This lady almost tripped and fell on top of him. Let me tell you, I was prepared to shove her out of the way so she wouldn't land on him! No one hurts my baby!

I never knew how comfortable I would be about nursing a baby in public, but it's pretty easy and doesn't bother me really. I fed him in McDonalds on my way to Iowa and back and then I fed him at Olive Garden while we waited for our meals to come. I have a cover that I use, and no one has ever seemed to mind. Heck, even if they did, it's completely legal, so who cares?

Our food was delicious and I was stuffed afterward. Daniel just sat there and happily watched us eat. After that we went to Kohl's to get Jacob some new works shoes and then went to Wal-Mart so Jacob could spend the rest of his birthday money. All in all and fun and successful day.

Today we celebrated our 1st Valentine's Day with our baby. Jacob and I love each other very much, but we mutually agree that Daniel is the best Valentine.



He's growing so much and learning more each day. He's holding his head up even better now in the Bumbo seat and babbles quite a bit now too! Not to mention those heart melting smiles that he gives! I want to teach him some baby signs, so this week when it's time for a feeding I've started to sign "eat" at him. It will take awhile before he is able to sign it, but it's never too early to start!

Today we went to my eye appointment, to discover that I'm even more blind this year. I've always had to have a stronger lens for my right eye, but this year I have to get one for my left eye too. Of course, those contacts cost more...but at least I won't be squinting anymore. Yeah...I pretty much knew that I was going to need a new prescription.

Then this afternoon Aunt Ashley came for a visit. Daniel was happy to sit with her for awhile, and then decided to be a booger and had to come back to mom.
Tonight we had Pizza Hut for our Valentine dinner. My parent's sent us a gift card, so dinner was on them. Thanks mom and dad!

On Thursday, Daniel will get to meet his Great Grandma Karin, who is going to come from Indiana to visit us and meet the little guy. I'm pretty sure she's going to fall in love with him! Then the only great grandma that he'll still need to meet is Great Grandma Thatcher. I feel bad that she still hasn't met him. I'm thinking sometime soon, I might make the trek to Chariton for a visit. I told him that everyone loves Grandma T's house! Jacob said, "but watch out, she makes you do activities!" Daniel got the hugest grin on his face. Too cute.

Time to go hang with my boys and watch some TV!

Photo Challenge: Words

Day 2

A quote that I love. It's on the wall right above Daniel's crib. Sure, it's quoted by a fictional character, but it's so true!

Today Daniel and I went and met Jacob at McDonald's for lunch. His high schoolers had Area Festival today in Taylorville, so they got to meet the little guy. He was fine if he was in his car seat, but he kind of freaked out when we took him out.

Afterward we made a quick stop at Walgreen's. Daniel has been working on a special Birthday card for his daddy! Speaking of the Birthday Boy...I haven't bought him any gifts! We're trying to decide if we want to use all or part of the birthday money we would spend on each other this year to buy tickets to see a Cardinals game this summer. Jacob hasn't decided yet, so no gifts as of yet. He also requested Birthday muffins, instead of cake. Yummy! I'll be making those tomorrow!

I had a sleepy boy on my hands this afternoon. He snoozed away and I decided to start making a photo book on Shutterfly since I had a coupon code for a free 8x8 album. All I have to pay is shipping. I decided to do pictures leading up to Daniel's birth (an ultrasound pic, some belly shots, baby showers), I included the letter I wrote to Daniel on my blog before he was born, and then hospital pictures. I really like how it turned out, but I'm waiting to show Jacob so he can go through and fix all of my typos! Also...I am now in love with digital scrapbooking! I figured I'd just get a start on it, but I spent almost 3 hours on it!

I had planned to go on another walk and walk to the bank, but by the time I finished and Daniel woke up, it was getting too late. Oh well.

Time to go watch to Must See TV and hang with the boy! Jacob will be home later because of the Festival. He had to ride the bus and will have to go back to Moweaqua to get his car before driving back to Taylorville!

Feburary Photo Challenge and More

I decided that it was time for me to do another photo challenge. I enjoy taking pictures and I thought it seemed like fun. Here's the list if you want to join in.

I am going to change Day 4 for myself though. It will be "Birthday Boy", because Saturday is Jacob's birthday!

Day One:

A view from my day was taking Daniel on a walk. I wanted him in the stroller and the sidewalk to be in the shot.

I'm loving the weather this winter. Today it was almost 60 degrees, so I couldn't resist going out for a walk. We weren't alone. There were several people out walking, jogging and blaring music with their car windows down. I think Daniel enjoyed it, and I sure know that I did!

Daniel and I had a great trip to Iowa. We had fun visiting with Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Kendra, and even Aunt Rachel, who stopped by to visit since she was in Cedar Rapids!

Daniel is a good little traveler, and for that I am thankful. It was an easy drive and he barely fussed at all. I found my parent's new house just fine, thanks to the help on my GPS. It's funny because I thought it would be really weird not going to our old house, since that's where I spent a majority of my childhood. Surprisingly, it wasn't weird at all. In fact, I love the house and it felt like home. I guess it's true when they say, "Home is Where the Heart Is."

He was kind of cranky and tired after traveling all day though!





We did lots of stuff while we were there.

We:

*Visited Great Grandma and Grandpa Smith. Not the biggest fan of Grandpa though!





*Took naps with Grandma



*Had fun with Aunt Kendra!



*Arm wrestled Grandpa



*Bonded with each other



*Played with new toys



*Got a bath in the sink



*Had sister time...which included eating a CRAP TON of junk food together. We even ate pizza at the mall and then went home and ate supper!



*Visited Valley View!



*And then had to say goodbye, and head home to see Daddy!

One last pic with Grandma. Love this one!