10 weeks with Tot, 6.5 without Mister

We are truckin' towards that 3 month mark! I can see it as we creep ever so slowly closer and closer.......the day Tot is no longer a "newborn". He's already too long for most 0-3 clothes and he's only about a pound away from them being too tight. Poor guy has to either wear floods or swim in his clothes. He's 11 1/2 lbs now :) :) :) :) So combine his weight with his age and we should be sooooooooo close to waking only once a night to eat! He's done it a few times but for the most part, he's woken twice per night in the last 2 weeks. Til last night, that is. Last night he reverted to the nights of a 3 week old and woke up every hour and 40 minutes or less. I LOATHE NIGHT TIME FEEDINGS. I am a sleeper who cannot nap so being jarred awake by a hungry Tot 4 times a night makes for a pretty severe morning. I'm talking a morning like Rob Zombie makes movies about.

Tot seems to be developing right on schedule! He still hates tummy time, so in addition to TT I lay him on my chest and lean back on the couch to let him lift his head that way. It seems to bother him less. He also roots around in his sleep if he's laying on me that way, so I know he's got some neck control, he just refuses to show me during TT. He's so stingy with his skills. He's gotten a little more open with the smiles but I still know not to expect one when I want one, only when he decides I should have one. And when he decides I should have one, my heart just melts and all the work I've done to coax one out of him was totally worth it.
Love that "Elvis Lip"!

Today we took our first walk around the neighborhood with the Expedition Stroller. It doesn't steer as easily as his Graco, but it's got great off road tires and will really come in handy when I can start jogging with him in it. MAN am I out of shape! I worked out pretty consistently until about 7 months into my pregnancy when I developed gestational hypertension and the Midwife nixed excersing and prescribed couch sitting....which I did not like. For those of you who know me, you can imagine how peeved I was at the thought of going all soft for the next few months. I still did yoga sporadically, but that was really just to alleviate pressure in my hips. Since it's been about 5 months since I've worked out, I'm having to start slower than I want. Monday and Tuesday I did some yoga and crunches (ooooh holy back pain - had to hang out on the inversion table that evening) and today after both of those, a homemade smoothie for breakfast (thanks for the Magic, Mom!), and an e-mail from Mister saying he was going to miss our Skype Date, I loaded Tot into the Expedition and hoofed it around the neighborhood for 30 minutes. 30....when I was 6 mos prego I was walking for an hour 3xs a week. Like I said - SO out of shape. But I'm working on that.

Mister's been gone for 47 days now so somewhere between 229 and 318 to go. eesh. He's hating every second of it. He's not used to being a Fobbit while deployed. I'm loving it for him, though. SUCH a relief to not have him on the front lines this time. And get this --------- if I need to, I CAN CALL HIM! HOLY SHADOOBS! 509th gals, does that just blow your minds or what?!?!?! I still can't get over how often I get to hear from him. Last time I was lucky to get 3 phone calls in the same month for periods of it. Now I've never gone longer than 3 days so far. But keep him in your prayers, guys - he's not safe by being off the front lines, just safER.

Here are some pictures from the last few weeks:

Pretty fly for a white guy

RAAAAAAAAAAAAWR!

Smiling before church

He peed on the couch right after this....

bath time

Happy St Patty's Day!

LOOK EVERYONE! Christie fed a baby! And her shoes are on my couch.

Meeting his Papaw Frank

Shots. Ooooooooooh the shots. He made the most awful 'silent scream' face, held his breath, and turned beet red. I was so shocked that I just stared while the nurse, who was shocked as well, scooped him up off the table and kept apologizing to him. They were out of one of the vaccines so we had to go back in a week later and let him have his 3rd one. That time when he made The Face, I cried. I am now one of those mothers.

The start of his Uncle Daniel impression. One day I'll catch the whole thing on camera and post it here.

HopefulDonut of Misery: 17% done, 83% to go

Realistic Donut of Misery: 12% done, 88% to go

The most beautiful thing I've ever seen

2 months

Happy St Patty's Day!

It's been 2 months now since I brought the Tot into world - and 2 months since I've slept. Me, in a word? "EXHAUSTED" He's still waking 3-5 times a night, sometimes to eat, sometimes just for a little reassurance from Mom that he's not been abandoned in his big scary crib. Little Stinker teased me Saturday night by sleeping 6.5 hours, waking to eat, then sleeping another 3. It was amazing! And apparently, a complete fluke never to be repeated. He's got a wonderful habit of showing me what the clock looks like for alteast 15 minutes of every single hour from about 3:00 til I just give up sometime between 6:30 and 8:30. Last night, for instance, he decided to eat a whopping 6oz bottle at 3:30 and absolutely refuse to go down until almost 5:00. Then he woke up at 6:15, 30, 40, 42, ....etc til I gave up trying to get any sleep at 7:15. The night before? We saw 3:30, 4:45. 5:30, 6:15, 7:15, 8:00, and gave up at 8:30. Like I said - exhausted. Damn it, I miss my husband. On top of the constant waking at night, he's decided naps out of my arms during the day are beneath him. I feel like we're in week 3 all over again. I have to keep using that stupid Moby Wrap just to give my arms a break and get things done. I have a care package for Mister that I meant to mail out by Monday that is still sitting open on the kitchen table bc my arms are too full of Tot to tape it shut. So if I don't have time/use of my arms to tape a package shut, how am I typing this blog you ask? ONE HANDED.

As tired and frusterated as I am, I am 1000xs more thankful and blessed. I have a healthy beautiful baby that I see my husband in, I have a whole pot of coffee to myself, I'm not in Alaska, and I got to "see" a smeary outline of a man who claims he was my Mister on Skype this morning. Yes, some of those are silly, but they are blessings nonetheless!

And one day...............far, far in the distant future..........Tot will remember how to sleep again, out of my arms, out of the car, out of the Moby Wrap....probably when he's 16 years old and late for school.

Hopeful Donut of Misery: 11% down, 89% to go

Realistic Donut of Misery: 9% down, 91% to go

6 weeks and finally gaining weight!

So my tiny little man is not so tiny anymore! We went in on his 6 week anniversary for a weight check and he's at 9lbs 5oz. That's 1oz shy of 2lbs over his birth weight! Docs are finally happy with his weight and we've been cleared of having to come in once a week for weight checks. YAY! 2 more weeks and we go see his new pediatrician and start his immunizations.

Andrew is learning how to smile! It's SO CUTE! (and really hard - it takes about 15 minutes of grinning yer butt off in his face before he'll do it back and you usually only get one). Hopefully that will become easier and more frequent as he finishes out his 2nd month. I can tell he's got more focus, too. He "discovers" new things every day. A few days ago he found the Sleep Sheep in his Pack-N-Play and studied it for 15 minutes. The ceiling fan is a thrill for him, too. Today he found the octopus that hangs from his Baby Einstien play mat and that had him hooked for about 10 minutes. He also knows what his bib means. He gets REALLY active and vocal (and impatient) when you velcro that around his neck.

In OEF news, Mister is at his temp. duty station and is already solving crimes like the little Investigator he is :) He is still getting set up, though so if you haven't heard from him, try to be patient! He will be out of touch for a few more days as he works on his newest case. I have his mailing address so if you want to send him anything, let me know and I'll get the APO to you. Can't believe he's been gone for 3 weeks - that's half of Andrew's life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :( :( :( :(

Here are this week's pictures:

Playing with Grandma

My little bear cub

worn out after lunch


working out his intestines........heeheeheeeeeeeeee

Playing with Grandma some more!

If you want to see our photo session from Daphne's Portrait Design, check out www.daphnesportraitdesign.com and click on Client Viewing. From there, go to page 3 and click Palmer Family, pw:Andrew. They're only up through the end of the month.

Donut of Misery: 7% Done, 93% To Go