David - you are FOUR months old!!!!

What are you up to these days????

* You have learned to grab - you are most interested in my hair, my clothes and daddy's watch. But you love to grab toys and hold on to them now.
* You smile when I talk to you and when I lay you on the bed and kiss your belly and neck you just laugh and laugh
* You turn to look at us when you hear our voices. Especially for your daddy. When he comes home for lunch or at night and you hear him - you always turn and look like "where did you come from daddy" and then you flash the biggest smile. You love him so much!
* You are getting so tall. You really aren't very chubby - you are just long!
* You are wearing 3-6 months size clothes and a size 2 diaper.
* You weigh 14 lbs and 4 oz.
* You still like to eat about every 2 to 3 hours - 24/7. You get up in the night and although I'm tired - I love that time with you. We sit in the living room with only a lamp on and I feed you and surf the internet or watch tv or pray. I'm pretty sure I'll miss it when you start sleeping through the night.
* You like to watch bigger kids. You do so good at play group or in the nursery because watching other kids fascinates you (and wears you out)!
* You like to ride in the car. You just look out the window and 95% of the time - you go to sleep.
* You really only cry now when you are really tired. For some reason - you like to sleep.
* You are constantly reaching for either mine, daddy's or your fingers to chew on them. We think you are teething but maybe you just like to chew.
* You still love your bath. You just chew your fingers and lay there like you could lay there forever. You are always so content at bath time.
* Every morning when I wake up for the last time......you are always laying in your bed just as happy as a lark. You are usually covered in poop because you seem to have an enormous blow out at 7 a.m. every day (even though I change your diaper all through the night). And you just coo and smile and giggle while you lay there until I get you all cleaned up. You are definitely a morning person.
* You still love your little blankets and you hold onto it hard when you are in your car seat.
* We checked on you in bed the other night and you had flipped over on your stomach. And just today - you rolled completely over from your back all the way back to on your back!
* In the last few days - you have found your voice and you are constantly making these loud screeching sounds now. You just smile and make noises - no coos any longer. You want to talk to us so bad!
* You are the Joy of mine and your daddy's lives!!!!!

Growing, Growing, Growing...........................

Dear David. Month Four

I’m at a total loss for words…. truly…. and this is quite unusual for your mama. However…. here I’ll go just telling you all that I’m thinking, whether it bores you or not. Perhaps when you’re old enough to read this letter…. you’ll be able to grasp, if even just a little, how important you are and how much you are loved.

It seems that with each day that passes, I love you more. You smile and my heart melts into tiny little crumbs of nothing…. I have trouble catching my breath almost with being so overwhelmed by sweet little you. This month, as with all the others, brought about exciting things, new achievements, more milestones, more smiles, more joy….. & everything else wonderful you could imagine. I was just telling a close friend today on the phone that I couldn’t imagine life without you in it. I was encouraging her to have children someday as Daddy & I have just come to realize that life with you compared to life before you are two entirely different things. We much prefer our lives now.
There are no bad days anymore because of you. When things get rough…. a smile or coo from you makes us forget about everything else. Life is simple now. It’s more charming & beautiful, more enjoyable and more fun.

You are inspirational. Your innocence & your purity are inspiring. You inspire me everyday to love more, do more, & try harder. I love life more in general because of you and I imagine that there are others who are the very same way. This world that we live in is full of hatred, violence, and every kind of impurity. People are mean, cruel, dishonest, and full of ignorance. All of these terrible things happen and you are totally unaware…. just trying to take in all of the beauty around you and soaking up all of the love you receive. I dream of what you’ll be like as you grow older and I imagine that you’ll be a beautiful, darling little boy and then a wonderful, caring young man. I pray that God will draw you near to Him and that you’ll have a passion for life. I am confident that our world will be a better place because of you. It already is.

You and Daddy are sleeping next to me on the couch. I look at the two of you and wish that there was some way for me to take a mental picture…. I wish I could capture the feelings that I have now so that years from today I could remember just what it felt like to sit here overwhelmed with love and thankfulness. I dread growing older…. time goes too quickly and we forget so easily sometimes the importance of living in the moment. Sometimes I gripe & complain about things, only to look back and say that I shouldn’t have. Life is too short for bickering & complaining. We need only to enjoy every little bit of what we have and every minute of time that we have left. Working in pharmacy has particularly shown me what significance there is in enjoying life each minute as it comes.

And documenting is so important….. I’ve already forgotten special thoughts and feelings that I experienced just yesterday….. I wouldn’t ever remember how it felt to be pregnant with you if I hadn’t kept record of it. Thank goodness for these journals and letters & for all of the photos and videos.

Keep growing little man….. I know you will….. and you’ll continue to amaze us with every inch.

Thank you for making this life so worth living. God made you very special.
Love, Mommy

Dear David. Month 3

Okay.... so I am a few days late this month. This doesn't mean that I'm a bad mom already.... it simply means that I have two full time jobs now. ugh.

Oh David..... the joy that you bring us on a daily basis is truly immeasurable. Your daddy and I must look like monkeys sometimes just staring and picking at you like you're our favorite toy. Family members are no different. You're the life of the party now wherever we go and not a day goes by that we don't hear about your good looks. You're a beautiful little baby and we're so proud that you're our little boy. God is so good to us.
You're starting to squeal now.... not just happy sounds but loud squeals and the louder the sounds, the happier you are. It cracks us up when you try and talk to us. It takes your whole body to make those loud sounds that you make.... it's almost as if the sounds only come out when your legs and arms are flailing.

A typical day with you goes like this:
You wake up smiling.... ALWAYS. You're so happy in the mornings. You smile and kick around non-stop for nearly 30-45 minutes. When Daddy is home, we lift you over our heads in the bed and fly you around. We call you 'fearless fly baby' and make buzzing sounds. You love it. When it's just the two of us.... we lay in bed for awhile and play & sing until it's time for a diaper change and after that you lay in the floor and kick around. You love diaper changes now.... much more so than you did in that first month. You used to scream when we'd change your diaper and now you just kick and squeal.... and pee on us when you get the chance. Yesterday we made the mistake of changing you in the bed so you peed on mommy, daddy, the bed, and onto the floor. It was an enormous mess to say the least but we laughed the whole time you were peeing uncontrollably. I guess it was the first time you peed the bed..... and it was funny.

After your diaper change and your breakfast.... you'll usually watch Winnie the Pooh or Mickey Mouse while mommy cleans. You also chew your fists, kick your feet, and yell at the furniture and the TV. When it's not raining.... we always take walks. I put you in the Baby Bjorn carrier or Moby wrap and we head outside. I think this is my favorite time of day and probably yours too because you ALWAYS enjoy your walks. Usually you'll fall asleep on the way home and then it's naptime.

After naptime.... it's time to eat again and then we'll take pictures and play with your toys until Daddy comes home from work. In the evenings.... we all make dinner together (sometimes with you in the Baby Bjorn or Moby wrap) and then take another walk or enjoy some family time on the couch and in bed.

We had our first family trip at the Steamboat Springs. It was perfect.... I couldn't have asked for more.

Your well baby check-up this month revealed that you're 12 pounds, 2 ounces and 22 inches long! You're in the 90th percentile for height and in the 60th for weight.... so you're a long skinny thing.

Well.... We love you David. You're incredible. Thank you for everything you bring into our lives. As always.... we look forward to seeing what this next month has to bring.

Love, Mommy

so much to tell, so much to share..... so little time

here's David so far in week 10.... getting chubbier and more beautiful by the day.
As David has gotten older.... he takes fewer naps....

.... which leaves less time for mommy to get things done.

So~ this poor neglected blog has fewer posts.

He's TEN weeks already, going 11 weeks on Monday. Amazing. He's just recently found his hands and he loves to gobble them up in his mouth. We find him frequently with a nice puddle of drool on his tops, smiling away with half of a fist stuck in his mouth. He's so stinking adorable. I'm going to try to figure out how to get a video posted on here soon.....

I'll be back tomorrow with some good pictures of our little man. I have to start packing now for our Steamboat Springs Trip tomorrow. We'll be staying there for 10 days. It's a 4 hrs drive from us. I am really looking forward to this trip. Actually, this will be our first trip with our little one! Hopefully, he will be fine:)

Our Best Friend

If you lived with him.... he'd be your best friend too. ;)

September days are here again!!!

It just seemed like 2009 just started but it is more than halfway over!

Last night, I made Pampered Chef's California Club Pizza for dinner. It was actually very filling.

And for dessert, I made Snickers Pie. I have just been in the mood to cook more and more lately.

I love the month of September. It makes me anticipate Fall more and more!!! Yay for Fall!

Verse of the day:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven. Ecclesiasted 3:1

Love ya'll!

Dear David. Month 2

My gorgeous boy…. You amaze me. Every single little thing about you. You’re perfect in my eyes & in the eyes of so many others. God made you so wonderful.

This past month has flown by all that much quicker than the first. You’re growing so fast it’s as if we’re slipping Miracle Grow into your nightly bottle. This month brought about your first smile.... the open mouth no-tooth smile that completely melts my heart every time. You’re starting to smile more and more everyday, particularly in the mornings. You LOVE the mornings. You wake up, stretch for a good while, and then smile at mommy for at least 20-30 minutes before you’re ready to be changed and have a nice breakfast. After breakfast it’s playtime and a nap…. after which the cycle repeats itself again and again until the day is done. Such is the life of a 2 month old I guess. Must be rough.


This month your personality is starting to show through a bit and you’re developing more and more likes and dislikes. Some of your favorite things include walks outside with mommy & daddy in the afternoons, bath time, your Mortimer Moose toy, blowing spit bubbles, a clean diaper, the Winnie the Pooh movie from Aunt Margaret, Cindy Lou Who hair doos, and reading books in your rocking chair. Your dislikes: wet diapers, an empty belly, a nap cut too short and going for walks when it’s windy. You also hate when mommy is taking pictures of you, you got that from your dad.
We love you sweetheart…. more and more every single day. It’s still so hard for us to comprehend that you’re ours. We still look at you with just as much amazement as we did in those first minutes of your life. We look so forward to our future with you and we’re confident that this love that we have for you and our new little family will continue to grow. Thank you for making our lives so awesome and so full of joy. We can't wait to see what this next month brings about....

Week Seven

Our beautiful Little man has enjoyed a wonderful 7th week of life. His smiles grow brighter every day. He loves being held upright whenever he’s awake and is already holding his head up for long periods of time. Strong boy!

Day 38: So far, so good

Exhausted.
That's what I am.

And I have a new appreciation for single moms. Not that I didn't before.... but now it's at least twenty times what it was or ever has been. I think about single moms in the shower.... that's how much I love single moms.

David has his days. Somedays... I can look back at the day when it's nearing an end and think to myself, "What is so hard about having a newborn?" Somedays it truly does seem like a cake-walk.

.... and then there are days like today when I am struggling to keep my eyes open and dying for just a ten minute shower and one hour with no spit-up or wet diapers.

[ It's day 38. Shouldn't things be getting easier? ]

..... This was the thought that crossed my mind at about 4:30 this afternoon when I was putting David in outfit number 3. His schedule is still 'getting there'. He's by no means developed a regular routine, although somedays he tricks me and leads me to believe that we're getting much closer.

He's nursing every 2 1/2 hours. Like clockwork. And it takes about 30 minutes to nurse him, burp him, & change him. Getting him to take a nap is like pulling hair out on most days. He doesn't sleep like a typical newborn.... never has. He's very alert, to say the least. When he does fall asleep.... he likes to be cradled and held.

The advice that I got from EVERYONE: "Sleep when he sleeps." How is that possible when my mind is going 100 miles an hour and I have a task list 20 lines long. I still haven't completed the paperwork for his birth certificate that came in the mail 2 weeks ago. It would take 10 minutes tops and it still sits on the counter waiting.....

You are thinking.... he's "spoiled" but is that really possible? Is there such a thing as "spoiled" when you're talking about a baby who is only 38 days old? According to my lactation consultant.... I should chalk this up as typical mammal behavior and be grateful for these days that he wants to be cuddled by his mommy all day..... and I am so grateful, please don't get me wrong.

I love to hold him. In fact, he's curled up in a ball just now on my chest.... sleeping soundly. I could probably pass him off to Daddy.... but if I put him down on the couch.... his grunting would shortly turn into fussing.... and then as soon as he opened up those big eyes and realized that mommy wasn't there.... forget it.

I love all of this snuggling and adoring.... and I'm okay with not being dressed until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. And I'm incredibly grateful, more so than ever, for my husband. He's so involved, so helpful, SUCH a life-saver. I can deal with fitting myself in between feeding & playing & burping & bathing & housework & cooking.

This is all just proof of a very small baby in my world right now.... a very small baby that I love with every bit of my heart.

What did I ever do with all of my time before him?

4 weeks ago.... I had no idea what I was doing. Changing a diaper was an adventure and it was taking Cort and I both to do it. I wondered how God ever thought that I could be capable of taking care of a tiny creature. But David has taught me so much since then and he continues to teach me new things everyday.

Everyday is a new adventure with him.

It hasn't been perfect by any means, and yet, it IS perfect.

It's not necessarily getting any easier. I'm still exhausted. But my approach is getting to be slower and calmer. My expectations with each day are the same..... love them even more & get through the day with no serious issues.

So far, so good.