Two Months (11 days late)

I'm pretty sure that it's an unwritten rule that mothers of small children are always late.  I use to really pride myself on my punctuality but that has gone right out the window these last few months since it takes me approximately 8,342 hours to get myself and Declan ready to go.  Add Garrett and Mike to the mix and I mind as well just stay home!  So this is my "two month" post a bit late.  I've thrown in the towel on the one month post.

It's hard to believe Declan is two months already (10 weeks to be exact).  He is really started to show his personality.  He is still a bit stingy with his smiles but you can always count on some big gummy grins right after he eats.  We had a baby shower for his soon to be cousin on Sunday and Declan was flashing smiles at the whole family. He has also started babbling a lot in the evenings and I managed to get a little video of him talking back to use one day last week. 

He LOVES pat-a-cake and when I pretend to eat his toes. He was a trooper for his shots, only letting out one big scream befire deciding he was okay.  He is eating about 7 times in a 24 hour period, giving us one good stretch at night between feedings, usually somewhere between 4 and 6 hours. Last week he went 6 hours 45 minutes and I seriously felt like a new person. He naps pretty well during the day but I have to watch for signs he is tired because he can be fussy if he gets overly tired. We are following the eat, wake, sleep pattern which gives us both some consistency without having a rigid schedule. In general, he's a pretty happy baby and we love him to pieces.

It's hard to believe that I am headed back to work in a little under two weeks.  The idea is still a bit terrifying but I'm sure after a few weeks it will just be the new norm.  I will be leaving earlier in the mornings and leaving Mike to get Garrett off to the school bus which I am a little nervous about since the two of them do not seem to see eye to eye in the morning.  Part of me things this will be a good exercise for them, learning to sort out their differences without me around to jump in.  I'm also concerned with what our evenings will look like with me back to work.  I've always spent a decent amount of time when I get home from work preparing and cooking dinner while Garrett works on his homework.  So I'm working on some ideas for shortening the amount of time I spend prepping and cooking in the evenings.  First on the list is to pick simpler recipes and save the fun stuff for weekends.  I'm also going to dedicate some time on Sundays to cutting and prepping as much as I can for dinner and lunches during the week.

Summer Swap

When Amanda decided to host another craft swap in July, I knew I should hold off for the next one.  I was 9 months pregnant and starting to get really tired of the whole being pregnant situation.  But I rationalized that I would be on maternity leave and have plenty of time for crafting.  Did I mention it had been 9 years since I had a newborn?  Clearly my memory had gone a little foggy on me and I wasn't factoring in how much busier my life is now than when I had Garrett.  So I signed up.

By the time the end of July was rolling around, I hadn't lifted a finger towards a project other than to pick up some yarn for a project I hadn't even decided on yet.  Mike was home so we were spending time together with the baby and I was napping whenever possible.  Then we went to the beach the first week in August and I came home to realize the deadline was Monday!  

I had been wanting to make a holder for all of the grocery store plastic bags we accumulate.  Even though we use reusable bags we still manage to end up with quite a collection and I think most people run into that problem.  So I whipped one up for my swap recipient Amanda.  I felt like a slacker by sending her the yarn I picked out rather than an actual craft but I figured since she is a knitter, she could put it to good use.  My package including a bag organizer, the yarn and some edible treats.

My package came from Marianna and included lots of goodies.  She sent some granola, vanilla sugar and some awesome energy bars.  She also sent along some note cards, a pair of booties for Declan and a neat little soccer notebook that Garrett promptly took upstairs to his desk which he's decided he will use for homework this year.  The energy bars were really a great treat.  Sometimes energy/granola bars can be too sweet but these had a really nice balance.  I even caught Mike sneaking a few on his way out the door for work in the morning because at that point I was still sleeping in whenever possible.

I really enjoyed participating again this time and hopefully I can devote a little more time if Amanda decides to host again!

Growing

I keep trying to make time to post since there is a lot going on these days that I'd like to document but the fact is that there is a lot pulling me away from the computer right now.

The time is flying by, like I knew it would.  Mike has been back to work since we got back from the beach (more about that next week) and Garrett is back in school.  The fact that my maternity leave will be up in 4 short weeks is lingering over my head like a black cloud.  I keep trying not to think about it but the idea of dropping Declan off to go back to work gives me a giant knot in my stomach. I enjoy my job.  I'm good at it and I get a lot of satisfaction from being good at what I do.  It also provides a healthy dose of stress that keeps my Type A personality at bay.  But I know the first few weeks away from my little guy are going to be incredibly hard and stressful and I'm not looking forward to it in the least.  So for now I will try not to think about it and concentrate on making the most of the one month and one day that I have left.

I still can't really wrap by head around the fact that he is 8 weeks tomorrow.  The benefit of Garrett and Declan being so far apart is that I've seen first hand how quickly time flies by. It feels like yesterday and a lifetime ago that Garrett was a tiny baby and I'm trying to really savor each stage with Declan rather than gearing up for what comes next.

He is starting to smile back at us.  He's stingy with his smiles at this point but I think that makes them that much more special when he decides to bestow one on you.  Just this past week he started sleeping for longer stretches at night.  He usually eats sometime between 7 and 9 and has slept through to 1:30.  I really can't complain about the amount of sleep I'm getting at this point.  When he lays back down after the feeding he is doing a lot of grunting and sometimes even spitting up.  We think he has a mild case of reflux but since it doesn't seem to be really causing him pain, we'd prefer to ride it out and not give him medication at this point.  It's not an issue during the day because he is upright after his daytime feedings.  He's been a busy baby the past 8 weeks and we have a trip to Hershey Park planned for tomorrow, weather permitting.