Finally!

Anders rolled over this morning, for the very first time! Yes, he is 5.5 months old and lots of younger babies have been rolling over for a while, but I think each kiddo will hit his or her milestones when they are ready. Anders was just chilling on the floor on his belly while I was putting his clothing away this morning, and next thing I know he's on his side. This has happened a lot since he was about 3 months old-he gets to the side, chills there for a moment then rolls back to his belly. This morning he did his side roll, chilled for moment, and then flipped to his back. All the while with this look on his face like "Hey mom, I could have done this months ago, but I just didn't feel like it."

The only thing I can equate his look to is that of our dog, Bogey, who wouldn't "shake" at all, until one day about 2 months ago (yep, he was over a year at that point, and we have been working on this since day 1) when he just picked up his paw and was staring at S with this look of "I was born doing this, I just didn't feel like letting you in on in you measly human."

I wish I could say I am kidding, but I truly think our kid and dogs have a conspiracy to take over our house...they are just waiting for A to learn to walk.

Our Adorable Monster Baby

Here's a shot of A and I from this past weekend.

Can we just note how HUGE our little 3.5 month old is?! (Mind you, I'm 6', so the fact that he takes up a lot of my torso is nuts.)

I didn't quite realize how huge he was until I saw him in daycare with some other kiddos around who were quite a bit smaller and crawling and trying to walk. When I asked how old they were we found out they were 9 MONTHS! Anders outweighed them by only 2 lbs, but he was at least 3-4 inches longer.

Yep, he's a monster baby. I'm thinking 6'4"?

Oh yeah, and he's already in 6-9 month pants for the length, and 9 month rompers. It's pretty hilarious that you could fit two of him in them for the width, but they are just barely long enough.

Welcome to the world of highwater pants little guy.

Sleep!

We moved A down to his crib (which is on the first floor of our house, the master is on the second) at 6 weeks. Instantly, we started a sleep routine to get him used to his new room and schedule. Between 6:30-7:00 we go into his room and start our bedtime ritual: first he's changed into a new diaper and a sleep gown, then S settles into the rocker with A and feeds him his pre-dinner bottle (usually 3-4 oz) and I read-this week it's Alice in Wonderland. After the food is finished and Anders is burped he goes down in his crib while he is drowsy but awake and we head out of the room. Anders will typically talk to himself for about 10-15 minutes and then he is out for the night.

At first we had feedings around 1:30 and 4:30, then Anders would be up for the day at 7. As of Sunday, Anders has finally knocked himself down to one feeding a night! We put him down around 7:00 and he wakes up at 4:15 to eat. Sometimes he is waking up at 1:00, but when he does he just talks to himself for 10 minutes then falls back asleep. S has been taking the 4:15ish feedings, since that is when he typically gets up for work, and then Anders falls back asleep until 7:30.

After having 6 weeks of 3-5 feedings/night, and then 4 weeks of 2 LONG feedings/night, this 1 feeding thing is FABULOUS! S and I have not felt this rested in a very long time, and we finally have the energy to do more around the house. Admittedly, it means I finally have the energy to start a workout plan to lose the post-baby jiggle...but I would much rather be playing in the garden!

Anders Update

We just finished up 1.5 weeks of visitors, and it was fabulous! First, S's Mom was out for a visit and then my cousin, Judy, came out to see Anders for the first time. During the visits S and I got some much needed sleep and VERY much needed family time.

Anders has a few new tricks over the past 2 weeks, including:
-Smiling all the time, especially when S gets home from work and says "Hi Anders!"
-Giggling on occasion
-Discovering how to smack his toys with his fist. Which makes him giggle if they make noise when he does it.
-A newly developed hatred for his panda on his Bouncer
-The ability to go almost all day without a solid nap. Anders HATES to miss anything, therefore he never sleeps, ever.

And he is officially 2 Months old!

Anders also got Duck Feet from Judy

He is still unsure about them...

We also got a great shot of our poor forgotten pups, Cooper and Bogey, sharing the tiniest bed ever:

They are down to one bed since they have demolished their other 2 in the past month...

Anders Over the Weekend

First things first....we got our camera back!

Secondly, here's how Anders spent his weekend:

Friday he joined us for our Anniversary dinner in quite the dapper attire:

Polo Onesie: Gymboree

Star Hat: Target

Linen Pants: Janie and Jack

Saturday we joined our neighbors at their party and got to enjoy BEAUTIFUL 80ish weather, finally some weather similar to Vermont!!! Anders came along and rocked out in his Baby Bjorn.

Sunday we cleaned and then spent some fun time shopping. When we came home Anders got to enjoy some Tummy Time:

Anders likes to fly when he's on his belly. Yes, those leg can stay up for 10-15 minutes....I wish I had that muscle strength.

We spent some time with Mommy....

And Finally....

We slept. A lot

And that, my friends, was our weekend.

A great start to the morning...

Includes getting peed on. Not once, but twice. The last time I experienced projectile peeing like this was when we were in the hospital and Anders was 5 hours old.

And I am also on shirt #3 thanks to monster spit up baby.

Today is simply doomed to be a bodily fluids day. Fingers crossed this does not involve projectile poop too.

Feeding Anders

This is a post about breasts. Just putting it out there well in advance for any breastfeeding squeamish parties.

Our tale begins as such: Anders seemed like a champion feeder at the hospital, we were rocking out the latch, loving the skin-to-skin contact, and generally a very happy mom and baby duo. At 5 days old we had our first "uhoh" moment at the pediatrician's office that gave us the feeling something might be funky. Anders was down from a birth weight of 7lb 8 oz to 6lb 10oz. Our wonderful pedi mentioned a quick weight check for the next day and to try and pump a little since I was majorly engorged. At 6 days old we went back, and Anders was down to 6 lbs 8 oz and very unhappy with life. He would sleep for 20 minutes then wake up starving, eat for 20 minutes, sleep for another 20 and then wake up starving, rinse, repeat. So our pediatrician suggested pumping and feeding from a syringe or having an alternative person feed Anders to prevent nipple confusion, and a repeat weight check the next day. After nursing, then pumping, and having my mom feed him from a bottle we got a great weight gain up to 6 lb 11 oz the next day. Which was the same day everything imploded for me.

I had an infection. In the teeny tiny little scratch I had from delivery, I had a nasty infection. And after diagnosing this at the midwives and being put on breastfeeding friendly antibiotics and painkillers, I stopped producing milk. I went from getting 3 oz of milk in 7 minutes of pumping to getting 0.25 oz of milk (total from both breasts) in 20 minutes of pumping. This was later discovered to be caused by my body trying to handle the infection and "focus" on what was necessary-healing.

I fought and I fought to get milk, and finally broke down 1 week after delivery and fed Anders formula. And he slept. And I cried. Something as "simple" as breastfeeding seemed to come naturally to everyone else, heck, even Kourtney Kardashian can do it! and I couldn't. Thus began the uphill battle to "bring back the milk" as it was so lovingly called by S.

First, let me say that when someone is having issues breastfeeding boobs suddenly become public domain. My mom, my dad, my friends, all doctors and nurses, friends of the family, my inlaws, etc... all know about the boobs, and you know what, I'm okay with that. When my mom first sent out the "update on M's boobs" e-mail to family and friends I had a minor mental freak out, then in poured the sympathy and the "I had the same thing happen" stories. I never knew how many people I know had trouble breastfeeding. And knowing I am not alone was wonderful.

To try and get the milk to come back in the following regimen was started: Fenugreek supplements 3Xday (until I smelled like maple syrup 24/7, a glorious side effect), goat's rue tea 3Xday, mother's milk tea 3-4Xday, pumping for 20 minutes every two hours, eating oatmeal and oatmeal cookies laced with brewers milk 6 times/day, 2 cups of malt a day, doubling the protein and water intake, and, finally, renting a hospital grade pump to replace my pump in style. This went on for 2 weeks and my production went from 0.25 oz (mind you, these counts are a total per pumping session, ie: from both boobs) to 0.50 oz. Still, not enough. I kept pumping and trying to nurse, and pumping and trying to nurse, and again and again. And nothing. Insert reglan.

My midwife perscribed reglan as a last resort, and after 1 week I had noticed my production went from 0.50 oz/pump to 0.75...and with the introduction of cracked nipples, I said "I'm done" on Friday and settled in witha  bottle of wine to drink away my feeling of defeat. And I woke up Saturday morning to porn star boobs. And I started pumping when I felt full and still supplementing with formula because I was only getting 5 oz/day with occasional pumping, not enough to feed our growing boy, but still more than ever before!

What's the end verdict? 3 weeks after I said, "I'm done" I now pump 5-8 times/day and Anders gets about 60% of his meals as breastmilk, which is all I can get out of my body. We stopped nursing for many reasons, at least until this week. I started nursing again to get that great skin-to-skin feeling, and even though he really doesn't nurse well, it's time that I just love with Anders. And we finally stopped using a nipple shield....

And hello double mastitis. Today, I discovered that my breasts had been replaced by 2 hot packs, pumping makes me scream and a 102 degree fever is my new bff. Insert one almost crying phone call to my midwife, another round of antibiotics and ibuprofen. Will this stop the breastfeeding??? Absolutely not, at least not after all we have been through just to get some breastmilk into Anders' diet. We are doing the best thing for us, which includes formula, and breastmilk, and a close relationship to my pump, as well as reglan and fenugreek, and I am finally happy with it. It took almost 6 weeks, and I am happy, and we will overcome this new hurdle, and be stronger for it in the end!

Our Daily Schedule

Here's the daily baby "schedule" which is always open to lots and lots of change....

7:00ish: Anders wakes up
7:00-8:00: We watch the Today Show while A is changed and we both eat breakfast
8:00-9:30: A chills in his pack & play while I shower, then we rock the Moby and do laundry, the dishes, and play outside with the pups
9:30-10:00ish: Tummy time for A
10:00ish: Mid-morning snack for A
10:30: A naps, sometimes for 30 minutes, others for 3 hours
10:30-1:45: either chores and cleaning with a small nap, or errands with A while he snoozes
2:00: Lunch for A
2:30-4:00: Moby time and dinner prep/cleaning around the house and finishing up laundry
4:30: S gets home and takes over A, evening dinner for A
5:30-7: We eat dinner, play with pups and try and get some mature conversation in....hahaha
7:30: Bed, feed A his bedtime meal
8:30-Sleep and  get woken up 2-4 times w/A's cries for food/change/new socks/etc...

Rinse, repeat.

Anders First Photo Shoot

Since our camera is at the repair shop, we took Anders out for his first photo shoot this morning. We are calling it his one month shoot (even though he is technically 5 weeks old). We opted for the nice and inexpensive Sears Photo option, and boy we were glad we did that!

Anders started off with a major melt down, like crying screaming "Feed me, but I don't want to eat!" melt down. Thankfully, S calmed him down after 10 minutes of cooing and soothing, but every third photo was very sad looking. Oh well! $20 of semi-cute photos later here's what we came out with:

And that is his, "I'm so not sure about you two" look

Anders Visits the Wine Shop

Today we took Anders to some of our favorite stores: Carter's, Janie and Jack, and Brix (a local Wine/Beer/Liquor and all things fabulous shop).
At Janie and Jack we hit up some great things like this madras print shirt, this beautiful layette set, my favorite madras print jacket (to grow into), a straw hat, and this fabulous crab polo onesie.
Then S and I went to Brix for their all things chocolate fest, which was a fabulous way to spend our afternoon. We enjoyed chocolate wine, chocolate infused liquor and chocolate beer. S and I then went over to their new wine bar and got to enjoy tasting some more unique wines. That's also when Anders decided to wake up and let the world know he was unhappy until he got to nosh on his bottle. I think there is something wrong with feeding your child (from a bottle mind you) while you enjoy sipping on chardonnay, but I have yet to discover the downside. Little man got quite a few complements and ate them up like the ham he is.
And that was our day!

Things Anders Hates

Anders has already shown that he's not a big fan of certain thing. Such as:

-Pacifiers (he spits them out in about 3 sucks and wants nothing to do with them)
-Swaddlng (he breaks free in 2 minutes and screams like a demon child after)
-Socks (he can take them off in under one minute of having them put on)
-Mittens (he screamed hysterically at the L&D nurses who tried to put them on his hands, we have yet to repeat that incident)
-Mom's singing (yep, I get NASTY looks when I sing, but I do it anyway.

I'm 90% sure we gave birth to a grumpy and very critical 5 year old who is just trapped in a newborn's body.

Bad News

Our camera is injured.

The little button on top has broken off, which means taking pictures includes using the tip of a fingernail and waiting an extra long time.

It will be fixed tomorrow.

On other notes:
-Anders is 1 month old!
-We had our first day of no naps today, here's to hoping he sleeps well tonight!
-I truly miss our fabulous AC unit and duct work in Vermont. We have central air in Nebraska as well, but the duct work in our 1935 Tudor leaves something to be desired. I'm ready to move back home if only for the AC unit.
-Anders giggled at S the other day. Pretty cute!

And that's all from our house!

Anders First Concert

Anders First Concert was last night. We swung by the park a mile from our house with 80,000 other Nebraskans for a free concert from Kansas, Styx, and Foreigner. We made it through Kansas and half of Styx until S and I started to crash.

Anders was a trooper, and outside of one dinner break, here were his concert going poses:

Anders at 3 weeks

Here's Anders at 3 weeks old. We are pretty convinced that he's going to be the most serious and critical kid in his kindergarten class. I wonder where he gets that from...

The past year...

In a desperate attempt to keep up with all that has happened since last July we have decided to start a blog. Yes, M&S are entering into the modern world, finally! I'm going to say it all began with getting an IPod Touch and a Flip camera for Christmas. We were suddenly thrust into the world of touch screens and itty bitty screens, and now we have continued our exciting technological advancement with "smart" phones. While we may only be as up to date as 2008, we are getting there!

Here's the highlights of the past year:

We got married-07.25.09:

Bogey Joined our Family 08.27.09:

We got pregnant 09.19.09 (picture at 35 weeks):

We moved from Vermont to Nebraska 12.31.09:

Goodbye Vermont...

Hello Nebraska!

We Had a Baby, Anders Daniel L, 06.04.10:
And that's all of our big changes...for this week at least! On our docket for new things to do: some home remodeling (still!), more landscaping projects, and enjoying our son. S would love to get him into hockey skates this fall, but I think we may have to wait until he can stand on his own for that one!