Well guess who went to Wal Mart with a two month old? ME! =)

I have been getting Daniel to get our groceries because I was so hesitant to take Gunner with me. Well it got to the point where we needed LOTS of things from the store and we didn't get to take advantage of getting them during the weekend...so I decided now was as good a time as any! I timed it perfectly. I changed his diaper, fed him, burped him, he dozed off a bit and I stuck him in the car seat! He did wonderful. He slept the whole time.

One thing I did to make it easier was to park near a cart corral. I was able to put his car seat in a cart and push it in instead of carrying him all the way from the car with the cold wind. Much easier!

It was super crowded today also. It's the week of Christmas, and I imagine tons of people have the week off. I still think going during the day was a much better decision than going after 5pm.

I've been able to also get some laundry done and some gifts wrapped! It's been a good day. I seem to do better if I get up before 8am. Speaking of, Gunner slept all night again last night! He went to sleep between 9 and 10pm and didn't wake up until nearly 8am! Such a good boy. =)

Mini Vacation

We took a two day trip to Branson with Mom and Dad! We needed to get away for a little while. It was really fun and Gunner did great. He had a bit of a tummy ache (I've really got to watch my diet...) but other than that, he loved it! We went down Friday afternoon, ate some dinner, got settled at the condo, and on Saturday we went shopping and to Silver Dollar City to see the lights! After that we went through the Trail of Lights and it was beautiful.

















Gunner stayed very warm all weekend. We had him bundled up very well at SDC in the stroller and he slept the whole time!

Naptime

So any time I start to think I've got this parenting thing down, some new challenge presents itself to prove me wrong. That's ok, I need that to happen! I need to learn my way through this. Apparently I am just not smart at all when it comes to this kid. In the beginning, I was up quite a bit with him during the night so any time he was asleep I would try to sleep as well. It slowly got into this schedule where he would go to sleep between 9pm and 11pm, wake up between 5am and 7am, then he would go right back to sleep (as would I) and we would sleep for another 1 to 3 hours. I was unable to get him to really take a nap during the day for longer than 10 minutes, and it would usually only be when I held him. I had to remedy this quickly or else we would be in a seriously bad habit and I would not get anything done during the day.



The other night I had a revelation: What if our morning "back to bed nap" was causing this problem!? EUREKA! That's got to be it! I am convinced. So, yesterday I did not put him back to bed after he woke up. He ended up falling asleep on his own so I stuck him in his crib and what happened? He actually napped in there! First time ever. I was so proud. He slept for an hour! We ended up going to my parents for lunch so I wasn't able to do the afternoon nap the same way, he just slept in the car.



This morning I did the same thing. It was a little different today though. He ended up getting up around 3 30am to nurse last night, so we were back in bed by 4 30, and he slept till nearly 8am. However, I did not put him back to bed after 8 this morning. He was happy and content in his bouncer and dozed off around 9 45. I stuck him in his crib and turned on the mobile, but he just laid there wide awake. Around 10 I swaddled him and he went right to sleep. I'm not going to make him stay in there for an hour, if he wakes up before then that's cool. My goal is really just to get him used to his crib since he sleeps in the bassinet beside our bed. Hopefully within a few weeks he will be in his crib full time. However, this transition may be harder on me than him! I am very anxious about him being in another room at the other end of the house. I'll be glued to the monitor for weeks I'm sure.



*As I was finishing this post, I heard him in his room...low and behold he was awake after only 30 minutes. He didn't cry though, just laid there laughing at his mobile! Sweet boy.

**After I came back to the computer to finish this post, he had fallen asleep again on his own! I am so proud.

No One Mentioned THAT In Their Description Of "Motherhood"...

Before Gunner was born, we got a TON of advice and information from people about being parents. However, since he was born I have quickly discovered a few things that no one told me about...

No one told me that after the delivery I would feel like I had just completed the Ironman without properly training while simultaneously being run over by an eighteen wheeler....

No one said I would lose sleep because I would worry that the baby stopped breathing. They only mentioned losing sleep over non stop crying.

No one explained how amazing it would be to see your kid smile for the first time. It was like Gunner discovered a cure for all diseases or something. So very exciting.

No one told me what to do when your child starts crying in the car when it's just you and him. Talk about distracted driving.

No one said I would get over my fear of other people's feet and actually pick the gunk out from between this kid's toes.....somebody's gotta do it I guess.

No one told me what to do when I get sick. That's where I am today. I am not running a fever, but I feel horrible. Sore throat, runny nose, sneezing, coughing, all the while taking care of a baby who is going through the six week growth spurt/fussies. So he's not himself either. It's a sad situation here in the Babb home. He has also been having some bad reflux issues the past few days. Earlier he spit up so much I actually took off my tshirt to use it as a burp cloth...it was already 40% saturated in spit up anyway...glad I was home when it happened and not at Wal Mart. lol

Cloth Diapers: Day One

The first day of cloth diapers was interesting, to say the least. I was pretty tired and hadn't been getting much sleep the last couple of nights, so that didn't help. We ended up getting things pretty much figured out though so I feel better about it today. Here's a quick rundown of how the day went:

We woke up around 8am and put on the first diaper! I had never put a cloth diaper on any baby so I was kind of just winging it. The first was a prefold insert with a cute little cow print newborn cover. I was used to mostly changing his diapers before he ate, every three to four hours, but I quickly found out that might not be often enough. He fell asleep on me and when he woke up, pee had leaked out of every possible place and was all over both of us! I was distraught..but quickly decided I probably just put it on wrong. On the next two covers (I went through a total of 4 covers in one day...) I used the same type of prefold and still had leak problems, but once I changed to a different insert I decided I just hadn't washed the others enough. They're currently being washed and dried a couple more times. Hopefully that's the problem and it can be corrected with additional washes. By the time I had it figured out, it was bedtime! We used an overnight diaper last night with no problems! He actually slept for 8.5 hours last night (PRAISE THE LORD) so I call that a success.

I feel better about it after trying a few different inserts. I watched a couple of videos online of different ways to fold them too, so I might try some of them at some point. Currently, I am concerned with how bulky they look on him. It's almost comical! He's so small so I have to fold them over in the front, so they go down to his knees! The good thing about this is all his pants fit better now! Ha!

Here are some pictures of him in the diapers. These are just the first two of the four he wore yesterday.

One Month Old!

My little man is one month old today! I cannot believe it's already been a month. The first week seemed like one HUGE day, it went by so slowly I thought we'd never get to one month. Then, all of a sudden BAM! He's one month old!

He's doing great. It looks like he has acid reflux, and that's been a challenge but really he is doing quite well. I have taken him with me on errands a few times now and I finally feel comfortable driving with him and getting him in and out of the car seat. He really enjoys riding in the car. When we stop at a light, he gets mad! But once we start moving again, he's asleep. He likes the motion and noise of the car.

Tomorrow we are off to my in laws for Thanksgiving! I'm sure the trip will be interesting, but I'm really looking forward to seeing everyone and to getting out of the house for a few days! =)

Monday I start cloth diapers!!!! WOO! I am actually pretty excited. They're so dang cute! Daniel got the diaper sprayer hooked up to the toilet so we're ready to go. Although, I may not need the sprayer until his poops are more solid. Either way, it's ready! I'll do a post on how it goes!

Baby Milestone:

Since he has had reflux, he has been spitting up a lot, and not just right after eating. Once I figured out what the problem was though, I have taken measures to help him out by keeping him more upright as much as I can and it's really helped. We've even raised the head of his bassinet a few inches. Also, I gave him a bath the other day and he hardly cried! I took a little too long and he got irritated and cold, but he did very well! He's crying less and less when I change his diapers too. He mostly cries when he's hungry.

Mommy Milestone:

Traveling alone. I am totally confident now! It's pretty easy. I can get him in and out of the car seat with ease and carry him wherever we need to go. I've yet to go to Wal Mart strictly because of all the sick people we might encounter, but that will be another milestone I will post about soon, I'm sure.

This is a picture of him in his car seat before we went to the chiropractor! One month old! 11/23/10

Photos Of Gunner