Last day of June

Charlie and I are excited for July.  We have many fun things planned starting with our visitors this weekend.  (I think his feet grew last night!)

A (current) Weekday in the Life of Mommy Stephanie

So, I'm not sure that this is an interesting post but I want this for a nice memory of these baby days and what maternity leave was like for me as it will all too soon be over and I'll be back to work.  Quite honestly, I barely remember what it was like when I was on the work schedule and since it will be drastically different when I go back as I will have to get Charlie ready and to daycare, it probably is better off that I don't remember.  :-) 

I definitely had some unrealistic expectations for my maternity leave.  I had thought of a lot of 'projects' for the summer that are just not going to happen.  But that's okay.  It's more important that I enjoy these days spending time with Mr. Charlie because as many people remind me, you don't get the time back.  These days, Charlie and I are starting to settle into a groove and will probably be fully transitioned about the time for maternity leave to end and we'll have a whole new transition to make. Although, I don't know that there is a 'typical' day because Charlie always seems to do it a little different just to keep me on my toes.  :-)

Charlie and I normally start a brand new day right around midnight where he wakes up to eat.  Most of the time, that feeding is pretty quick (30 minutes, give or take).  Charlie is pretty easy to get back to sleep and I normally fall right back to sleep too. 

Around 3-5, Charlie wakes up again.  If there is going to be a difficult night time feeding, this would be the one.  Charlie doesn't always want to go straight back to sleep so I rock him for a while.  Then, sometimes, I struggle to sleep right afterwards. 

**A recent update to this is that Charlie is starting to have a 5-6 hour stretch so this schedule is changing.  This is a welcomed change and I'm excited to get a longer stretch!!!  His stretch is normally from 7pm-12 or 1 am so if I fully want to utilize this time for me to sleep, I have to be in bed by 9.  We tried holding him out a little but it doesn't seem to work and since this is a step in the right direction, we'll continue to work with his schedule as the goal is to go all the way through the night.

Anywhere from 5:30-7 (depending on the last feed), Charlie is ready to get up.  Matt typically gets up with him and holds him until it is time to eat and then brings him in to our bedroom to me so I can get a few extra minutes of sleep.

Charlie is a morning person like his mommy and is typically the happiest in the morning.  After waking up, he takes his Zantac and then is ready to eat.  After eating, I spend a lot of time talking to Charlie and hanging out in our bed with him.

Sometimes, I sing fun children's songs to him.  We play a little and at some point I get ready while Charlie is in his bouncy seat, rock and play, or crib depending on the day.  He typically will nap at some point during this time.

I then try to pick up a little upstairs and make the bed and sometimes start laundry.  Charlie sometimes spends some time watching his mobile or whatever else if I need extra time.  After I finish doing all this and getting ready, I change Charlie for the day.  He is a pretty good sport about letting me place dress up with him.

We try to be ready by 10.  Obviously, we take our time.  About this time, Charlie is ready to eat.  He eats every 3 hours during the days.  We sometimes go run errands or we watch tv.  I like to watch Regis and Kelly, The View, and The Today show with Kathy and Hoda.  Matt can't believe I like those shows.

Around noon, we are typically home so we can eat lunch with Matt.  However, I take my friends up on lunch dates. On Mondays, I sometimes meet my friend Christie and her girls Olivia and Madeline.  On Fridays, we meet Ali and Wyatt.  And there have been other days where we meet Grammie and other friends who have days off or can take a break from work for lunch. 

The afternoons, we try to be home.  Charlie takes naps and I try to spend my time picking up the house, doing laundry, etc.  If Charlie isn't wanting to go down for a nap, he and I go out for an errand and normally the car does the trick and Charlie ends up asleep while we are out and about.

**Wednesdays, Charlie's Grammie comes over.  I am extremely fortunate to have such wonderful support from Matt's family and my family.  By having Grammie over, I get to do stuff like grocery shopping, bathing Wally, cleaning, laundry, etc.

After 4, I start cooking dinner. 

If Charlie is not awake, he helps me by supervising.  I just started cooking this week and so far, it's working out nicely.  As a side note, Matt tells me every night how good dinner is and it really means the world to me that he is so sweet to do that because it is a lot more effort to cook these days.)

Matt gets home around 5:15 or 5:30.  We typically eat shortly thereafter.  We eat a lot earlier these days which I know will change when I go back to work.  After dinner, we spend time with Charlie.  I love our family time. 

Charlie starts bedtime around 7.  By this time, he is tired.  He takes his Zantac and eats.  We then bathe him if needed.  He then gets swaddled, rocked, listens to Rockabye Baby and goes to sleep.

I spend my evenings either watching TV with Matt, doing a few chores, blogging, and I'm off to bed.  I'm in bed anywhere from 9-11 so that I can be ready for the day to start again.

Some firsts for Charlie and random other things...

Charlie is 7 weeks old today and it feels like time is flying by.  It won't be long until I will be doing his 2 month post but before then, there have been several firsts over the last couple of weeks that are worth blogging.  Plus, the grandparents need to see some pictures!  :-)

Charlie had his first 'real' smile.  We aren't exactly sure when the first 'real' smile happened as we were getting many involuntary smiles for some time.  But there is no mistaken that Charlie is smiling at his mommy and daddy pretty regularly and it is probably one of the sweetest things that I have ever experienced to have my baby smile at me from ear to ear.  For the purposes of his baby book, I'm going to say his first voluntary smile was June 23rd.

Here is Charlie smiling at his Daddy after Matt got home from work:

Not only has Charlie perfected his smile but he has also perfected the cutest pouty face that I have ever seen.  (I have tried to get a picture but haven't succeeded but will keep trying.)  He knows how to stick that bottom lip out.  He typically doesn't scream or even fuss when he pouts but he definitely pouts when I'm taking too long to get my clothes adjusted to feed him.  This boy likes to eat! 

Normally, Charlie and I have lunch with Wyatt and Ali on Fridays but our schedules are not going to work out for the next few weeks so Charlie and I had lunch at home this past Friday.  Charlie and I did manage to make it out to Macy's to do a quick errand.  I had something that I needed to exchange for a bigger size for Charlie.  I was pretty tired on Friday afternoon, but decided that Charlie and I could both benefit from getting out of the house.  I regretted going though.  I forgot to put on deodorant which was worth going back in for then I realized I forgot Charlie's pacifier which meant I had to go back.  So, after 2 trips of trying to make it out, the latch on the back gate came off.  It was super hot (thank goodness I went back for the deodorant because I had worked up a good sweat at this point).  While standing in line for the sales associate, a little girl was looking a Charlie.  She told me he was a cute baby and I thanked her.  She then says, "Is he your grandchild?"  Oh my!  I couldn't believe it.  So, I came straight home and dyed my roots (just kidding). 

Charlie is now sleeping in his cribs for naps and bedtime.Charlie slept in his crib for the first time on Friday night for bedtime and it was an adjustment for him.  (He did a few naps in his crib last week.)  He did wake up a few more times than normal.  Matt helped me by taking on the non-feeding times to tend to Charlie.  We made it work but were both pretty tired on Saturday morning, but Charlie and I decided we would let Daddy and his brother sleep in.  Future nights have been much more successful...more on that to come!

Charlie is now switching to 3-6 month clothes.  According to the scales, my big boy is weighing 14 pounds.  This weekend, I washed Charlie's 3-6 month clothes and put him in an outfit which fit perfectly.  I can't believe how big he is getting. 

Saturday night, Matt's sister, Courtney, came over a babysat and Matt and I enjoyed a date.  The last date we had was a few weeks ago for the wedding in Roanoke.  We had such a nice dinner out without our lovely baby.  I love Charlie but I also enjoy getting some quality time with Matt.  It was really nice!  Thanks Courtney!!!

Charlie slept great on Saturday night so Matt and I decided we should try to take him to church.  We had planned this for last weekend but Charlie had a bad night and we just couldn't get it together.  Matt and I have some fond memories of our youth programs at our churches.  We are fortunate to have both established life-long friends that we met at church.  We hope that one day, Charlie will say the same.  Anyways, this past Sunday didn't go so well.  Charlie was asleep when we got there but woke up during the first song. (Our church is contemporary and has drums and base which may have been a little much for him.)  Anyways, he fussed the rest of the way through it.  We actually ended up having to leave a little early.  I think that Charlie may have to go to the nursery until he gets a little older. 

So, I had the cutest little outfit on Charlie and wanted to get a picture for his baby book but it didn't work out.  I fed him right before we left which left no time for pictures other than the one above so the plan was to get one afterwards.  However, Charlie had a blow out which was probably one of the worst we have seen.  It was definitely a 2 man job to get him cleaned up.

Charlie got an activity mat that belonged to his friends, Parker and Brooklyn.  He is really enjoying his time playing on it.  He is starting to learn what his arms are all about.  I'm continuing to work with him on grabbing things but I definitely am seeing some progress.

We are also working on holding that head up.  He is pretty strong and is practicing great control which means he can face outwards in the Baby Bjorn and also use his Bumbo.  I'm not sure he loves the Baby Bjorn partly because it is such a production to get the thing on (esp. when I'm home by myself).  Anyways, he is getting used to it.  He didn't seem too overly impressed with the Bumbo either.  I think he's a little young to care if he is sitting up.

Charlie is still enjoying watching his mobile and the fans.  I catch him staring up at the ceiling all the time.

Despite my lack of blogging, as you can see we have been very busy and have a lot planned in the next few days.

I love these 3 boys!

Red Sox Fan

Week 5 Recap

The weather cooled down and was nice a few days so we enjoyed our walks.

We went to lunch with Grammie.

Charlie took time to stare at the fan

and relax with big brother

and of course just be cute.

We played with Charlie's mobile.

Charlie was successful with tummy time.

We went shopping with Ali and Wyatt.

Charlie wore his flip flops.

Matt celebrated his first Fathers Day with Charlie.  We (Wally included) enjoyed a delicious dinner over at Grandpa and Grammie's house with Aunt Courtney too.