Thanksgiving

Back tracking a bit to add some pictures of Matthew on his first Thanksgiving.

This is pretty much what he thought about the 5 hour flight. Although they gave us the extra seat for his car seat, he didn't sit in it very long.

A tired baby after traveling all day.
He got a second wind to play with his toys that he clearly missed while he was away.

On a side note, Matthew is rolling over now!! He has been rolling tummy to back since he was about 2 months old, but we've been waiting for the other direction. He did it once while at my parents house, and it was only witnessed by my auntie jane. Today he has started consistently rolling over. He must have done it at least 15 times today. Show off.

Home sweet home.

Matthew and I had a great trip to Connecticut, but once again, it is so nice to be home. It was a long day of traveling back here, and I was pretty ready to rip my hair out by the end of the plane ride. The second flight was almost 5 hours long, which is just too long for a baby. He slept a little bit, cried a lot, and ate a lot. Mike was at the airport to pick us up and then into the car for our 3+ hour drive home we went. We didn't realize how hard it would be to find an open place to eat lunch on thanksgiving, but Burger King did the trick. Once home, Boss was so happy to see everyone, and Matthew seemed happy to be home as well. We decided not to go to the neighbors house, as we were home later than expected and Matthew and I had been up since before 4 am (which is 1 am our time). Exhaustion had set in for sure. Mike went out to walmart to buy food, but while he was gone, our sweet neighbors sent their daughters over with 2 plates of Thanksgiving food. All the good stuff. It was so sweet, and may I add, SO yummy. It was very nice to have some real Thanksgiving food for the holiday. We were definitely thankful to them for their thoughtfulness and generosity. Matthew was asleep by 6:30PM and I wasn't too far behind him at 8. Mike took night duty for me, and I slept better than I had since before Matthew was born. (until last night...he did night duty again and I got SO much uninterrupted sleep I felt like a new woman when I woke up...at 5 am...)

Black Friday. What. Is. That? Yikes. I decided to give it a go, since I've usually had to work that day, I was available to shop. Of course, I got a later start than expected (didn't leave the house until 5:15). I arrived at Sears at 6 and could barely get in the store. There were lines and people going haywire. I was able to just ask an employee, who told me the item I wanted was sold out, and I promptly left. While it did cross my mind to still try to hit up toys r us, target, and bed bath and beyond, as originally planned, I thought better of it and decided to call it a day. That's right. I got up at 4 to drive 40 minutes to go shopping, and all I ended up with was one very delicious Gingerbread latte. I will never do that again. ever. ever. ever. Later that day, I ordered a bunch of the stuff online, with free shipping, and realized I love the internet.

Today we will put up our tree and all our decorations. I love Christmas time. The house always looks so festive and fun! How fun that Matthew will be celebrating his very first Christmas this year! Hopefully it'll be slightly more exciting than his Thanksgiving, although we have absolutely nothing planned. We will simply enjoy our first Christmas as a family of 3...uh...I mean 4 (sorry Boss).

Red Sox fans

Good times in Connecticut

Matthew and I are having a good time in Connecticut. It's SO cold here, so we mostly stay inside. We have had lots of visitors stopping by to meet little Matthew. My friends Rose and Erika (from Baltimore, although they're Philly girls now), drove up on Wednesday and stayed until Thursday afternoon. Matthew enjoying playing and snuggling with his new girlfriends. Yesterday Uncle Dan and Aunt Tracy were here for a quick visit. It was nice that he finally got to meet them! Today my aunt (matante) will be here to meet the little man. He has been doing so well with all the new people. It is a great visit!

On Day SIX of our visit, my mom found this swing in the basement. Would have come in handy earlier, but Matthew got right to it napping in the new find!

Matthew and Buddy enjoy tummy time together.

Matthew poses for a picture with Uncle Dan, Aunt Tracy and cousin Buddy.

Getting lots of snuggles with Erika and her baby (in the belly folks!)

He LOVED the Maryland crab Rose brought for him to eat...I mean, play with.

Four Generations

My grandfather, my mom, me and my son.

Sweet.

Phew. We made it.

Wow. That trip wasn't for wimps, I'll tell you that. Managing a baby and all the "stuff" that is involved...let's just say, it was interesting. There are not enough good Samaritans at airports, but the few that did find it in their hearts to help a lady out, get some high praise from me!

Matthew did not do well on the 2 hour flight from Portland to Vegas. By "not do well", I mean, he screamed bloody murder and I was officially the lady with the loud kid. Yuck. Not one "what a good baby you have" on this trip. The FIVE hour flight from Vegas to CT- he redeemed himself big time. My little child slept 4+ hours in his car seat, which allowed mommy to have a MUCH needed glass of wine (on the house- I think the flight attendant felt bad for me). The flight landed and I got a lot of thumbs up and "way to go's" from the fellow passengers, who I'm quite sure were pretty worried when we boarded the plane and he screamed for the first 10 minutes. With the 3 hour time change and the 4 hour nap on the plane, last night was a bit tiring for me. I'm hoping I get more sleep tonight.

On our way!

Matthew and I leave tomorrow morning for our CT trip. I am excited about going to see my grandfather and my parents; nervous about the flights, once again. The day involves: a 2 hour flight to Vegas; 3 hour layover there; 5 hour flight to CT. We get into CT at midnight. All this, by myself, with the baby. Phew. It's going to be a LONG day!

Matthew swinging!

This was too cute not to show you. And maybe it was one of those "you had to be there moments", but it was so funny. Matthew was just talking and squealing away to his little fishy's while he was swinging. Daddy started recording it, and as soon as Matthew saw the camera he was quiet as can be. Too cute!

The Ugly Truth

Let's be real. This is a blog. I'm supposed to be able to say what I'm thinking (well, to some degree). Here are a few things on my mind.

Why oh why has my child's sleep patterns changed so dramatically?!? He was the baby of perfection, sleeping 10-12 hours a night. It was so joyous while it lasted. This past week he has changed it up. Some nights he'll sleep. Some nights he'll wake up 2 or 3 times. Most of the time he puts himself back to sleep and I don't have to get up. He has started eating once in the middle of the night again. One night, he was up for 2 1/2 hours. Just wide awake. If I put him in his crib he'd scream, but if I held him he'd be content as can be...but wide awake. Weird. Oh well. As I said, we so enjoyed the sleep while we had it, and I'm hoping it comes back to us quickly.

We still swaddle him. Yes, you read that right. We tried to stop, by leaving the arms out, and it was a miserable failure for all, most importantly, him. He screamed and just would not fall asleep. I put the arms in, and he was sound asleep in 2 minutes flat. Guess that's a clear sign that he's just not ready to give it up yet.

The world health organization recommends exclusively breastfeeding until your baby is 6 months old. There are various reasons for this, but one of the benefits listed in their position paper is that mom continues to lose weight. Ok, so here's where I tell you I call B.S. on that. It is so frustrating to be me. I eat healthy, (I tried counting "points", but it was decreasing my milk supply), so I just try my best to stick to healthy foods in smaller quantities. I walk when I can. Exercise has been difficult, because finding the time to do it with an infant who doesn't want me to, is hard. I breastfeed ALL THE TIME, or so it feels. When we went on vacation, I saw several friends who had babies at the same time as me. They all looked great- I looked like I was still pregnant. This was a real blow to my self-esteem. Everything I read says that breastfeeding just helps the pounds melt away, but I am finding that once again, this is not the case for me. I hate that I compare myself to others, but I can't help it. I do. I'm just trying to get to a point where I can at least feel comfortable in my own skin, and quite honestly, I'm not there yet.

Before I had Matthew, people would say things like "you'll never feel love like the love for your child", and all sorts of variations of that. It sounded so cliche. BUT. It's true. I hold him, look at him, listen to him talk, laugh, squeal...and I realize he has filled my heart up so full. I love to squeeze him. I love to look at his little face when I'm holding him and he's sound asleep and so still. I love to watch my husband with him. I love trying to make him laugh. I love showing off pictures of him (obviously...). Whatever all my internal struggles are, he is worth every itty little bit.

Picture day!

Today we went to get our family picture, and some pictures of Matthew. This was our first "professional" portraits since he was born. Matthew actually cooperated pretty well, and we were able to get some cute pictures. This is one of my favorites for Christmas.

4 months old!

Wow! Time just flies on by. Matthew turned 4 months on Saturday. Mommy and Daddy are so obsessed with the teddy bear pictures that we had to do them on Sunday when we got home from our trip. He did not enjoy himself this time, so we got what we could.

Four month stats- He had his well-child appointment yesterday, which consisted of 4 shots and one oral vaccination. We have to take him to the health department for one that he is behind on because there is a national shortage and the pediatrician doesn't have it. He did very well with the shots. Cried while the needles went in, but was recovered in about a minute. He was very cranky last night and woke up several times. Not sure if it's from the shots or if he's getting sick, since Mike and I both came home from Texas with miserable colds.

Matthew now weighs 12 pounds 9 ounces (this is between the 10th and 25th percentile) and is 24 1/2 inches long (25th percentile- yay! he's getting taller). The pediatrician says he's looking great and has no concerns. She is keeping him on the Zantac for now, but we'll probably try taking him off after his 6 month appointment.

Matthew is a good little sleeper. In general, he will sleep 10-12 hours at night. There are always nights that are different (ahem...like after shots), but it seems travelling didn't mess him up too much. His naps are another story. I still can't figure them out.

He is now interested in reaching for and grabbing toys! The big turn around with this- a stuffed candy corn that talks that a friend gave to him for Halloween (thanks Linda!). He loves this toy. I mean, he smiles as soon as we squeeze its belly to talk and then he grabs it and shoves it in his mouth. I sign of true interest. He is now playing with other toys at home as well. He is starting to like his little floor gym and kicks and swats at the toys. He missed his swing a LOT while we were gone. He laughs! I mean, there is nothing in this world cuter than a little baby laugh. I would stand on my head all day long if it meant he would keep laughing. Sometimes the laughs are random and I try to get him to do it again and fail. Other times he laughs at the way I say something or if I tickle him. Oh he's so sweet and cute. While we were in Texas he started taking to his paci a bit more. Just when the books say we should be weaning him from it, our boy shows an interest. He hasn't taken it very much at home though, so perhaps it's a travelling buddy. He is still in love with his burp clothes and cuddles them to his face and chews on them.

That's Matthew at 4 months in a nutshell. Yup. Still madly in love with this boy.

P.S. Yesterday marked the day, one year ago, that I thought I was coming down with the flu and ended up peeing on 5 sticks. All said the same thing: pregnant. Shock and disbelief, led to excitement, led to a very long 9 months....led to here. We cannot imagine our life any other way now. I am so lucky to have this family of mine.

Please pray.

For my grandfather (dziadzieu, as we Polish people call him). Pray for no pain and pray that he goes quietly in his sleep. He was started on hospice a few weeks ago. He has lived a very full 96 years and has 4 beautiful daughters, 11 grand children, and 15 great grandchildren. He has meant so much to me through the years. Matthew and I are going home in 2 weeks for a visit, and while I always thought it was so important for Matthew to meet him, my dear husband pointed out that he will be able to see and hear him so much better from heaven. So, just pray that he goes when it is his time to go.

Pray for my mom also, who has spent the better part of the last 6 years visiting him and caring and loving him. I know it is hard for her to see him like this, but he's lucky to have her as his daughter.

Thank you.

Our trip to Texas

Trying to do laundry, get over a cold, keep the baby happy, and watch football....will blog later about the trip. For now, enjoy the slideshow! (As always, if you click on the slideshow, you can see the pictures much bigger.)