Remembering the Birth

Today marks 7 months since Risden's birth.  In a moment of nostalgia, I am remembering his beautiful birth and want to share more pictures.  Judd and I told his birth story here and I included only a few photos.  My friend Laura Ramos at Fuse Photographic spent the entire night with us coaching me and photographing us.  At first I was not sure how I felt about birth photography, but am soooooo glad we had her there to capture these priceless moments.

 

Three Months!

Three months already!  We've made huge progress in the sleep department (I'll update soon) and now that Risden is officially out of the "Fourth Trimester" he is becoming so much fun!!  Not only does he smile all the time, he has started to giggle!!  Ahh it is the best thing in the entire world to make him laugh!  My goal is to do this at least once a day, forever.

 

Sleep, If Only

This parenting thing is no joke.  It's not easy either.  It's actually really frustrating at times.  I think I'm partly to blame for this - I think that if I research enough and try hard enough, I will have this perfect baby, that sleeps through the night and takes perfect naps.  Babies aren't like other things in life though that respond to all of our efforts.  They're just babies, and they don't always make sense.

There are two questions that I get asked often by well-intentioned people, but they drive me crazy:

1. Is your baby sleeping through the night?
2. When are you going back to work?

The sleep question drives me crazy.  Do babies actually sleep though the night?  I think this is an evil myth.  I imagine I will get a full night's rest again when Risden is in High School, or at least college.  I thought that if I read the right books and followed the ten steps, I would be well on my way to a sleep-trained baby by now (especially when numerous people tell me how their babies have been sleeping through the night since they were like...born).  The reality is though, as I am learning, babies cannot realistically be "sleep-trained" until 3-4 months at the earliest.  And the people who say their babies are sleeping through the night are probably lying, or exaggerating.  Judd just found this excerpt from a sleep article and I find immense comfort in knowing I am not a failure:

"An important fact for you to remember is that your baby's sleep habits are more a reflection of your baby's temperament rather than your style of nighttime parenting. And keep in mind that other parents usually exaggerate how long their baby sleeps, as if this were a badge of good parenting, which it isn't. It's not your fault baby wakes up." -8 Infant Sleep Facts

Right now Risden goes to sleep between 5-6pm, wakes around 10pm to eat and again at 2:30.  After 2:30 it's somewhat of a toss-up and recently he has been crying for food after an hour.  At this point I offer him the pacifier which sustains him for another hour or so when I feed him again.  We're lucky if we get a 3 hour stretch after 2:30am unfortunately.  I do think it is possible he is going through his 3-month growth-spurt right now and is especially hungry.  Although I do not expect to be sleeping through the night anytime soon, I am hopeful we will see some improvement over the next few weeks.  If you are reading this and are pregnant, seriously, get as much sleep now as you can.  If you are reading this and do not have kids, enjoy a full night of rest, for me.

Now to question number two.  Actually, I will get to that in another post.  This writing has contained enough ranting for now. Thank you for hearing me out.  And no, Risden is not sleeping through the night. :)

Christmas

This year has been the best Christmas of our lives for no reason other than getting to spend it with 

this little guy!  Turning two months on Christmas Eve, it's easy to say Risden was the life of the party while we celebrated with the Nutting's up in Winter Park.  He wasn't much of a party animal, however, considering he sleeps anywhere from 14-17 hours a day.  Too bad these hours are hardly ever in stretches longer than 2 hours.  Needless to say, Judd and I have not seen a full night of sleep, in, well, two months.  There has been an occasional 5 or 6 hour stretch and I am really hoping that this becomes more of the norm.  But with such a cute face, how can you blame the little guy!?

 

Other than adjusting to fragmented sleep, Judd and I have been getting the hang of this new life.  It really is true that everything changes when you have a child.  I imagined it all would, but knowing this in your head and really experiencing it seem to be very different things.  For starters, I feel like everything is much harder to do.  Risden hates, no I mean HATES the car seat, so getting out of the house is a commitment.  It doesn't matter if I am literally driving a mile to the grocery store, often times he is shaking in hysterics by the time I park.  The good part of this, though, is that once I get him all cozy in the Baby K'Tan carrier, he is ready to snooze.  Sometimes if he is asleep I will stay out, browsing stores much longer than I need to, just to feel independent again.

A recent accomplishment is that I made dinner for the first time since little man arrived! I'm not ready for anything complicated, but Judd and I can surely live off crock-pot dinners for awhile.  Having a newborn in the winter is the best, soups and stews are really all anyone wants anyway.  

Oh have a mentioned Risden started smiling around 6 weeks?  I cannot believe how amazing it is when he smiles.  I loooooove it.  I understand why nursery rhymes were invented - babies truly do love them.  I can almost always get a smile out of him when I sing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" or "The Itsy Bitsy Spider."  These are his favorites, maybe because they are the only two I remember. 

Well Risden is sleeping and I need to take advantage of this time and get a few other things done.  Until next time I get around to updating!

Holy Cow - Two Months!

Look whose growing like a weed!  Happy two months little guy, we love you!

 

 

 

 

One Month Already!

One month already!!  Our little man is growing and changing so much right in front of us!  Going into his 4-week check-up, Judd and I made a bet on how much he weighed.  I guessed 8lbs, 11oz or above and Judd guessed below. (He weighed 6lbs, 11oz at birth, and 7lbs, 11oz at two weeks).  The winner of our bet got to chose the next place we got take-out-from.  This little guy clocked in at a whopping 9lbs, 2oz, so Buddha Thai it was for dinner last night! 

Welcome Home Risden!

Risden William is already three weeks old!  I don't even know where to begin as far as how I can explain the last three weeks.  They have been the best, most life-changing two weeks of my life.   I have been trying to write this post over the last week, and get about one sentence written and am whisked away to feed, change or cuddle with my babe.  Life has changed so much its crazy.

I'm so thankful for a positive birth experience and think this played a big roll in our smooth transition back home.  After two nights in the hospital we were warmly welcomed home to decorations from a few of our close friends.  Judd's mom, who lives nearby helped us transition for the first two nights, feeding us awesome food and giving us short breaks from holding Risden.  Truth be told, the first week at least, all I wanted to do was hold him, constantly, so letting others hold him was much more difficult than I imagined!  Even three weeks out, I still have not tired from holding him, all day long. 

The first week we were home, Judd stayed home and other than a few friends stopping by and people bringing us food, it was just the three of us.  I will cherish the memories from this week forever. 

I still am in shock that after so many months of waiting, he is here!  Sorry this is such a short post, I need to resume cuddling and watching Gossip Girl :)

Here are a few recent pictures!