Ten for August

10. This month, Calvin went on his first plane flight(s)!  This was also my first flights with a baby, I suppose.  While it's definitely easier flying alone, my awesome little man made it much, much easier than it could of been.  And, with a messy diaper on only 2 of the 8 flights, we were also doing pretty darn good!

9.  This month, I got to dress Calvin in his first sunglasses and swim suit.  I'd actually started comparison shopping quality sunglasses for babies before he was even born and eyeing many different swim suits back then, too.  So, it was fun to finally get to introduce him to the gear that screams "summer" before fall officially set in.

8.  We watched a lot of the Olympics this month.  I may not be able to play any sports to save my life, but I sure do love becoming an "armchair expert" while the Olympics are in session.  I became pretty absorbed in beach volleyball and swimming more than anything else.  And, it was pretty fun to text with my sister about them, too!

7.  This month we've had a return to eating out.  Granted, it's generally at an off peak time or a low key place, but Calvin has shown he's actually quite good and the restaurant scene.  While we'll probably never eat out as frequently as we've enjoyed in the past, it was pretty nice to get in a couple good celebration meals this month.

6.  I attended a zumba class with Calvin a couple weeks ago.  It's held at a local LDS meetinghouse once a week and is completely free.  It's something I hope to do a lot more now that we've gotten through the busy past couple weeks.

5.  This month Devin and I became pretty engrossed in documentaries.  It's now something we check regularly for updates in our Netflix.  It's been a fun way to use our brains in a new way.  Of course, we tend to be drawn towards medical and social issues more than anything else, but our horizons have definitely been broadened.

4.  Calvin and I visited Yellowstone!  This was actually Calvin's first National Park.  I guess we follow the "go big or go home" philosophy.  I had never been either, so it was pretty fun to explore.  Surprisingly, Old Faithful was (while not uninteresting) one of my least favorite parts.  We found some fascinating and beautiful places a little more removed from the biggest tourist spots.  And, we had my sister (a Yellowstone employee!) to act as a wonderful guide!

3.  The biggest reason behind all of this travel was to see my sister Kassie marry the love of her life.  This was the first time I've been in Idaho in a looooong time.  It was completely worth it.  I had a lot of fun spending the last day and night of her single life with her.  And, I loved seeing her so happy and in love on her special day!

2.  In conjunction with the trip up to Idaho, I had a chance to spend some extra time in Arizona with my parents after the wedding and before coming home.  We visited another national park, found a neat little place to eat, and did some Christmas shopping.  I also loved making cookies with my brother, seeing my sister and nephews, and watching my two brothers left at home with Calvin.

1.  One of the very best parts of this month was Devin taking his boards!  While he had to put in a lot of work to get ready for them, we at least had time with him during his study breaks.  And, after both sections were completed we got to celebrate!  Those were the last major tests of his medical school career, too!  I'm feeling pretty darn proud of him these days.  He's so close to being a doctor now...it's pretty crazy!

Two Months

So, I'm a few days behind (and actually wasn't even sure if I was going to do this post), but I suppose we'll go with the old "better late than never" adage.  Calvin is now over two months old...wow!!

The day after Calvin hit his one month milestone, he had his baby blessing at church.  This was pretty neat for Devin as it was his birthday, too!

It's pretty fun to look back at these pictures and see how much he has grown and changed over the month.  He's now completely in size 3-6 month clothes and size two diapers.  At the start of the month, he was wearing mostly 0-3 month clothes and size one diapers.  I've been a little nostalgic packing up the tiny baby items he's outgrown, but thankfully he's been showered with adorable clothes in his current size.  And, he's all grown out of the gender neutral clothes from his early days!

This past month we've been able to enjoy having Devin home a lot more, too. Granted, he is getting ready for his boards, but it's been nice for him to get to spend his study breaks with us.  He's solidifying his position as the fun parent as those gaps turn into playtime.  Also, he does some pretty awesome voices for all the washcloth puppets at bath time.

It's been pretty fun to watch the physical milestones over the past month.  Calvin has been sitting in his Bumbo seat for a couple weeks now quite well.  He pushes up on his arms during tummy time and loves to stand up as much as possible.  He gets so excited to be upright, too.  Also, he'll turn his head to try and find us or follow us out of the room.  He's also started chewing on his fists to self soothe and gets pretty excited if he manages to get his thumb.

And oh my goodness, Calvin is making so many more sounds!  He's constantly coos and "talks" to us.  Mostly, it's a lot of "ah-goo" and "ooo" and a little bit of "guk" going on.  He also seems to by trying really hard to laugh and making the most noise when he's excited.

Speaking of which, Calvin is probably one of the happiest babies ever.  He's spends soo much time smiling and just lights up to see a familiar face.  I love the times that I peek over the edge of his bassinet to see if he's awake and get greeted with smiles, coos, and excited kicks.  He's seriously a delicious ball of sunshine.

Calvin had his two month appointment at two months exactly.  He weighed in at the top of the growth chart for breastfed babies.  He's also near the top as far as length goes.  He received 6 vaccines total, but thanks to combo shots and one oral inoculation, he only received 3 shots.  He only cried a little with them, too.  However, he had some pretty gross diapers the next day and ran a low grade fever as well.

Two months old is a lot more fun than I ever expected it to be.  Mostly, I think I just didn't know what to expect.  I love that I get to spend so much time with my little man, and can't imagine life any other way.  If two months has surprised me this much, how awesome is each of the next months going to be?  I'm so excited to find out!

Ten for July

10.  This month has definitely been a month of phone calls.  With my family spread all over the country, it can be hard to actually find time to talk to them on the phone.  But, with me not at work during the day, it's opened up a lot more options.  I've appreciated being able to stay close to my family over the phone while they are so far away.  It's really made it feel like they've been part of Calvin's early life--and my early life as a mom.

9.  This month we started taking family walks.  The dogs have learned to be wary of the stroller but do really well walking with it.  Calvin seems to enjoy the outdoor experience, too, on pleasant evenings.  Unfortunately, there haven't been enough pleasant evenings as far as we're concerned.  We have substituted the family walk with hanging out on the porch swing during the rain while the dogs stay on the lookout for stray cats.  Thankfully, they are well behaved enough to stay on the porch even if one passes by us.

8.  My favorite errand of the week is still shopping at Publix.  It's probably become even more of an obsession now, though.  We usually make a point to go during the day when the store is a little calmer.  Calvin is always in his Moby Wrap and draws attention from the cute older women and couples shopping, too.  The butcher/fish man has come to recognize us, and has had conversations with us about the carrier.  I've also enjoyed the menu planning and list making leading up to the trip as it's pretty fun to eat without pregnancy restrictions anymore.

7.  Calvin and I survived having a cold this month.  While it absolutely broke my heart to see him with the sniffles (and made me almost cry every time I had to use a nasal bulb), it was actually a great learning experience for me.  I'm grateful that the first time he was "sick" was something pretty minor.  I also feel like I'll be much more able to handle it the next time he is sick.  Plus, I loved all the extra love and snuggles from my little man.

6.  I've had a lot of time to really fall in love with my Kindle this month.  Middle of the night feeding sessions, Devin's late nights at work, and all of Calvin's naps I held him through have given me plenty of reading time.  Devin gave it to me for mother's day for those very reasons, and it's been great!  So far, I haven't bought a single book but am loving all the free ones to which it has given me access.  I've read through quite a few this month, have two currently going, and have many more in the queue for later.

5.  While we prefer to do errands together as much as possible, I've become quite confident in managing and enjoying outings on my own with Calvin.  Devin had to work a couple Sundays, so I took Calvin to church by myself twice.  Also, we've done several shopping trips with just the two of us.  Depending on where we are shopping, I either use the Moby Wrap or the stroller, and it's gone pretty well.  So far, I've been able to hold off meltdowns from happening in the car, but a couple times he's been pretty unhappy for the last part of the drive home.

4.  We made some pretty amazing foods over the month of July.  Our short list of new foods include salmon quesadillas, homemade salsa, baked chicken & potatoes, breakfast burritos, (a better) banana bread, chocolate covered bacon, and cheesy bacon croquettes. We've thankfully been able to still find time to cook together, although much of the cooking still falls to Devin.  I have made a couple meals on my own, too.  Also, we've eaten a lot of sandwiches this month to make up for nine months without lunch meat.  It's been wonderful!

3.  This month was Devin's Emergency Medicine rotation.  This is the specialty he's declared and has wanted to do for years.  So, it was nice that he finally got to get in there and do it.  As we expected, he fell even more in love with it as the month went on.  Not all of it was glamorous (lancing hemorrhoids, anyone?), but he did pretty awesome with it all and made a pretty good impression on the residents and attendings.  He powered through some pretty crazy schedules and dealt with a lot of sleep deprivation like a rock star, too.  Now, it's on to board prep and multiple tests for the next month!

2.  I love that I'm no longer truly "postpartum."  It's kind of nice to feel like just myself again.  While I still have a couple pounds left I'd like to loose, I'm back to a normal pre-pregnancy weight for myself.  I've also packed away the maternity clothes and fit into most of my regular clothes again.  I'm able to exercise once more as well.  Of course, I'm still dealing with a healing tailbone, but that could take quite a while longer to be 100% normal.  For 6-ish weeks out, though, I'm feeling pretty darn good!

1.  The best part of this month has definitely been enjoying our Calvin.  He really is just about the best baby anyone could want.  He's gotten into much more of a routine these days and is growing in leaps and bounds both physically and personality wise.  Lately, my heart has been melting from his happy little smiles he saves for us.  Calvin also started making spit bubbles a couple days ago which has officially been labeled "one of the cutest things ever."  Eating, sleeping, and pooping are still going well making up 80% or more of every day.  It's amazing how much he is his own little person already, though.  I'm loving falling more and more in love with him every single day!

One Month

What a month this has been!  It's really, really hard to believe that Calvin is now 30 days old.  I feel like I blinked and his first month of life had ended.  If I don't record a few details now, I'm afraid I may forget them altogether.  So, this post is just as much for my sake as it is for anyone else.

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One month and a day ago, I started to feel a shift in my contractions around lunchtime. They were different from the prodromal contractions that had been going on for weeks. I'd had a couple things scheduled for that day that my midwife had flat out told me she didn't think I'd make it to unless I planned to take a baby with me. Thankfully, I got them all taken care of while trying to ignore my contractions. I slept somewhat fitfully for a couple hours that night, finally giving up around 3 am. I woke Devin up around 5 am with my contractions getting pretty intense. I insisted he go into work for the morning, though, as I felt things could move very slowly and didn't want to waste any of his time off.

Throughout the morning, my contractions intensified a great deal. I was just trying to make it until Devin would be done at noon. The doctor he was with, though, found out what was going on and insisted he leave immediately shortly after 11 am. I will be forever grateful to her. Devin arrived how to find me attempting to get ready to go to the hospital. He started timing my contractions to find out that they were about 3 minutes apart lasting for a minute and a half. Between them, he helped my get ready, loaded the car, and got the house ready to leave the dogs alone.

When we arrived at the hospital, I insisted on walking up to labor and delivery as the thought of sitting in a wheelchair seemed unbearable. So, no one quite took me seriously when I arrived. After being in a room for several minutes while a nurse was asking questions about my family history and putting off our pleas for someone to check me, I suddenly felt the need to push. This hurried things up exponentially. The nurse checked me and went running out of the room. She returned with two residents who also checked me and went running. When the attending came in, he gave me the option of breaking my water immediately or trying to hold off for fluids and medication although I was completely dilated and effaced. I chose option one. I surprised everyone getting him out within 4 contractions while keeping a pretty good sense of humor between them.  He was born only a little over an hour after the time we arrived at the hospital.

I will always remember hearing Devin tell me we had a boy as he was getting in there to cut the cord.  The first thing I noticed (besides his hair) was his size.  There are some pretty tall genes on my side of the family, but we had been expecting a baby around eight pounds.  Calvin was 9 lbs 5 oz and 21 inches long.  The time spent in the hospital with him was pretty wonderful.  We both received our wristbands at the same time as they hadn't even had time to admit me before he was born.  I also got to hold him for the first hour and a half of his life.  We had many visitors and lots of good food brought in.  Calvin barely slept that first night but was an awesome breast feeder from the start.  For that whole hospital stay as well as the first couple days home, Devin changed every single dirty diaper.

As wonderful as the hospital staff were, I was pretty ready to get home.  We were approved for discharge the day after he was born.  When we arrived home, Blue and Moose got the chance to meet him.  They were curious and a little apprehensive at first.  Now, they are nothing but wonderful.  Those first few days were great to get settle in, enjoy foods that had been banned, and venture out once to go to see the pediatrician and meet a few of our coworkers.

Over the past few weeks, we have settled in quite nicely as a family.  Calvin continues to be a "stay up late" kid like he was in the womb.  Predictably, he was super active around bedtime.  Now, he rarely is down for the night before midnight and almost never before 11.  But, he does sleep pretty well once he's down usually only waking up twice to top off his belly quickly.  He is sleeping in the bassinet next to our bed at night, but naps can happen just about anywhere.  Slowly, he has increased his amount of awake time during the day to where he typically has at least one awake period at least two hours long.

As far as eating goes, Calvin is definitely a champ.  Four days after birth, he had only lost less than 5% of his birth weight.  By two weeks and four days, he'd not only gain that all back but had gained a pound and a half above his birth weight!  Honestly, we have almost no schedule as far as eating goes.  His is pretty much completely an "on demand" nurser.  Usually, he eats every two hours although it can vary widely.  He tends to nurse a lot longer just before bed and shorter during the night reliably, though.  His dirty diapers have thankfully decreased over the past month.  We can almost predict when he'll have his dirtiest diapers and can count on his nighttime ones only being peed, which is great.

As for milestones, Calvin's cord fell off at day six--his original estimated due date.  He has his first tub bath two days later.  For my birthday, we went to Athens for the weekend.  This was his first time going out to eat.  He started grabbing things between two and three weeks old.  Between three and four weeks, his smiles started to become deliberate and he began following my face with his eyes.

At this point, Calvin is a pretty laid back kid.  He is not easily ruffled and is generally pretty pleasant.  He is happiest when being held, although he is liking his swing more and more.  He typically likes being in his car seat--especially if he's just eaten.  He is also very happy when being worn in his moby wrap.  The first couple weeks he liked his bouncy seat a good bit, although that's fading.  Calvin loves to rock in the rocking chair and generally likes when we sing to him.  He likes to sleep with his feet tucked up and his arms free and by his face, so we've been doing a half swaddle since leaving the hospital.  He can be calmed by the sound of a vacuum or hair dryer.  At first, he didn't like feeling wet dog noses although this is bothering him much less.

When I look back through all these pictures, I am amazed to see the changes that have happened.  I still see Calvin as such a small little guy, but I have to realize that he has gotten bigger and bigger.  The first time I realized he'd outgrown an article of clothing was bittersweet.  Now, I'm already having to pull items from his drawers almost daily.  I feel afraid to blink sometimes because he is changing so quick.  Every day he is cuter and more wonderful.  But, I am already a little nostalgic for the tiny(ish) baby he started as one month ago.  But, I'm also so very, very excited to keep watching the wonderful little person he is becoming every day!

Trading Spaces

These photos were taken about 15 minutes apart.

If you added button down shirts and some home improvement, it'd be just like the show...sort of...

5 + 5 = 1 Awesome 4th

We've had five years together.

There are now five of us.

I find that pretty awesome.

Happy Fourth of July!

Four Three Two One

p.s.  Happy Birthday Mom and Nicki!

Ten for June

10. Early in the month we got all the final details ready for a new baby.  The nursery was fully decorated, and we had all the shopping done for things that we didn't receive from the showers.  I did laundry for days getting everything freshly washed with baby safe soap.

9.  This month we've had some fun dinners with friends.  Devin loved having an excuse to make ribs on one of the occasions.

8.  Our house has never been cleaner than the first half of this month.  When I had everything else done for Calvin's arrival, I started filling my time vacuuming baseboards, scrubbing sinks, and cleaning the floors every few days.

7.  We made the most of our last few baby free weekends and weekdays with each other.  We were going on frequent walks, going out to eat at the last minute, and seeing movies.

6.  A fun part of having Calvin around has been watching our dogs' reactions to him.  Both have been very welcoming and loving with him.  They run to check on him when they first come back inside, alert me if they hear him make a noise while I'm not in the room, and oversee any visitors who hold him.  Blue has learned to run up and nudge him with his nose if we ask, "where is Calvin?"

5.  This past week Devin has been off of school.  We've had plenty of time to stay up late, sleep in, explore Netflix, and just enjoy relaxed time together.  Some time has been spent on walks or at the dog park, but we really didn't plan or schedule much so that we could make the most of our time as a new family.

4.  We have had a lot of good food this month.  After Calvin was born, we've had many people bring us meals.  Devin's also taken some time to cook some of our favorite dishes for me reacently as well.  During the past two weeks, we've also eaten sushi twice and sandwhiches or subs several more times.  I've been making up for nine months without either of those dishes.

3.  Thanks to Calvin, we have had a lot of time with family over this month.  My parents and one brother were able to visit on Father's Day.  Then, we've been able to see all of Devin's family except one sister over the rest of the month.  It's been fun to see so many people and watch them meet Calvin.

2.  Devin is done with his third year of medical school!  It's crazy to realize that he is now in the "easy" year of med school and will be done in just about ten months.  His last rotation this year was Family Medicine, which he liked way more than he expected.  The past year has gone pretty quick, but we are definitely ready to move forward with this whole process.

1.  By far, the best thing that's happened this month has been Calvin's arrival.  Labor with him was intense, but I was nearly ready to push by the time we went to the hospital.  At first, no one believed me, but the pace picked up when I declared that I needed to push.  We had a big rush of doctors, nurses, and techs join us in room 8, and the show got under way.  I was pretty determined to see my baby pretty quick, and I got Calvin out fast for sure.  Overall, his arrival was a pretty positive experience and the recovery has been definitely managable.  Since then, it's been wonderful to have him around.  We are in love with our little man and have adjusted to life with him like he was always supposed to be here.  Life doesn't feel like it could be much better than this!