Grandma + Jude = Love

Jude was very lucky to have his Grandma here this week...but his mommies were even luckier!  My mom was an amazing help when she was here, talking me off of the ledge several times (most importantly, during Jude's so-called "naps" which now consist of either 30 minutes of 2 hours and 25 minutes of sleep -- you never know which one you are going to get). 

Grandma got to see Jude's toothless grin many times, although she was never able to take pictures of the elusive event, as Jude is hypnotized by the camera!  Also, Grandma bought Jude his new favorite toy, a spinning light-up rattle and we discovered that he loves lights.  The best part of the toy was Grandma's uncanny ability to hypnotize Jude with it!  I see a Light Bright in his future. 

We also discovered a great new place in Minnetonka to get the famed pork tenderloin sandwhich, the Minnetonka Drive In.  I was amazing at my mom's ingenius skill to open the glove compartment to make a tray table.  Unfortunately, she laughed at me and told me that I obviously wasn't old enough to remember all of the drive-in tricks.  The pork tenderloin was great!! 

We already miss Grandma here in Plymouth, but we know that she is coming back in August, so we will keep our eyes on the prize!

Have a Nice Day

Jude's been working on his smile for a few weeks now, but I've had a hard time capturing it on camera. No matter how amusing he seems to find us, as soon as I bust out the camera, he becomes super confused with the weird black thing.

But I was successful! Just check out this little guy! How can you be frustrated when you see this looking up at you!

2 Month check up

Today was Jude's 2 month check up and here are his stats:

Weight: 12lbs, 3oz - 50th %ile
Length: 25 inches - 95th %ile (!!!!)
Head: 15 3/4 incehs - 50th %ile

Our little guy is getting so big!

I got my finger back!

One of the many things I've learned in the past few weeks is that the wisdom on pacifiers is constantly changing. Rather than try to keep up on it, I know I just have to do what works for us.

Jude likes to suck even when he's not eating and he clearly finds it soothing, especially to go to sleep. The problem, however, is that Jude didn't get the message that pacifiers can meet this need. Jude has discovered that our fingers taste oh-so-delicious and he doesn't need any stinking pacifier.

What's great about the finger is that I can decide when he gets it. But the problem is that it's attached to me and as much as I'm around the Judester, I can't ALWAYS be where he wants me to be when he feels the need to suck.

After trying two different kinds, I'd given up on pacifiers. But the gods of the internets convinced me to try just one more - the MAM pacifier. And guess what?? Jude liked it! Ok, so I know I may have created a monster, but YAY! My finger no longer needs to look like a prune!!!!!

1st Easter

With just the two of us and no family nearby, we don't normally make a big deal about Easter in our house. But now that a kid is involved we have easter egg hunts and pictures with the Easter Bunny to think about.

OK. He's 6 weeks old. We don't really have to think about all of those things quite yet, but Easter is no longer just a good excuse for brunch. We did take Jude to have his picture taken with the EB this year and overall, I'd call it a success. And by success I mean he screamed the whole time. Isn't that what he's supposed to do? I mean, how else are we supposed to look back on this time and laugh?

Of course, Easter is a big deal to grandmas no matter where they live and Jude's did not disappoint! Check out Jude's first Easter!

The Schedule

I love Excel spreadsheets. I know - that's SHOCKING to those of you who know me. "Liz is a listmaker?" you say? YES. I love lists and I love to be able to sort lists. I love to be able to look for patterns and routine. So when we first brought Jude home, we wanted to be able to keep track of all the new baby things we'd need to take care of like feeding and diapering. I was also pumping exclusively for a few days, and we needed to track that, too. Lindsay and I both use Excel extensively for work, so, of course, Lindsay whipped up a little something. (Feel free to use this, if you're into that kind of thing).

We're at a point now where we don't really need to track all this stuff back any further than the last diaper change or the last feeding. While I'd love to be able to use something like www.babybix.com, it's not quite feasible for a non-smartphone-owning fool like me. Instead, I rely quite heavily on one of my FAVORITE mom tools, the Itzbeen timer. We registered for this little timer gadget and the fabulous Deb Taylor purchased it for us (THANKS, Deb!). It's about the size of a cell phone and includes timers that count up from the last feeding, diaper, and sleep, plus a bonus timer that I use for tracking time between pumpings. It also has a clock and a nightlight/flashlight, which is FANTASTIC when I'm getting up in the middle of the night and padding into the nursery.

So there you have it... schedule essentials for a routine-obsessed mom. Maybe you know another new mom who loved a good schedule, or maybe you are one. Either way, I hope this offers some practical help!

The Ugly Cry

Now that we are six weeks out, I can admit that week one of being a mom was not good good for me. I know I posted about how tough things were, but I cried. A lot. And in the weeks since, I've cried other times. Not nearly as much as that first week, but it was more than I've probably cried in the last 10 years combined.

So far, being a mother is absolutely the hardest thing I've ever done. Everyone said that it would be, but there just isn't anything that can prepare you for how hard it is to be a parent. No book, no advice - nothing.

In the middle of one of my very ugly cries that first week, my mother encouraged me to sign up for a new moms group. I found one through Amma Maternity, the same place where we took our childbirth classes. I signed up right away and am so glad I did. We meet once a week for two hours. There are 6 of us and all our babies are within a few weeks of each other. Though I'm only halfway through the six week session, I can't express how valuable this has been for me. Having the opportunity to talk with other moms who are going through all the same things has been more valuable than I could have imagined.

So from the depths of the ugliest of ugly cries, I know that I'm on my way to amazing myself.

7.5

That's how many hours Jude went between feedings last night. That's right. I said 7.5. I let him fall asleep on my lap after eating at 9:00 and Lindsay performed the delicate task of moving him up to his crib (like a seasoned pro!). We went up to bed at about 10:30 and..... I wound up with 5.5 hours of sleep. ALL AT ONCE. I'm not getting my hopes up for tonight, but a girl can dream, right?

The Best Night EVAH!

Jude's been doing pretty well in the nighttime sleep department, but last night was AMAZING. Ok. I'm well aware that my standards for what constitutes a good night of sleep have been grossly lowered, but relatively speaking here, AMAZING.

Jude went for almost 6 hours between feedings (9:30pm - 3:15 am), ate, then went back down to sleep for another 3.5 hours. OH MY GOD. That means I got about 7 hours of sleep last night!!!

I feel like I'm ready to run a marathon! Instead we're headed out the door to walk the dog...

Neckersizes

Jude is working hard on holding up his neck lately... go, Jude, go!