Little update and a baby craft project

Well, alot has happened in the last few days.  My grandmother (dad's mom) passed away late Saturday night.  I know she was totally at peace and ready to go heaven.  That being said, I will miss her so much.  She always has the best attitude and nicknamed herself "Vivacious Viv."  Her name was Vivian and when I was a little girl we would have tea parties and she called the pretend cafe the "Do Drop-In." Lots of fun memories!

I'm going to Phoenix to support my family tomorrow and will be there for almost two weeks.  While there I will be going to my cousin's baby shower.  I didn't think I would be able to make it since I'm going again at the beginning of July for HOPEFULLY  the baby's birth.  I have been busy using the fabric dying method I talked about the other day for a simple and sweet gift.

I have a couple other surprise gifts for her and the little baby boy as well.  I love how these kimono shirts and onesies turned out.  These are going to look so adorable on a baby boy.  I am more of a bright color person rather than pastel...especially on babies.

~Megan

Seven Months Old

Everyone says that kids grow up fast, and before I had one I never really understood.  Now that I have a child I know that common phrase is 100% true.  Sullivan is such a happy boy.  He smiles and laughs most of the day.  He is so curious and fun to watch.  Everyday I think he looks bigger than the day before.  

Here are some of his firsts this month:

Crawling...it's the army crawl but it still counts and he gets faster and faster each day.  And he gets up on his hands and knees and rocks there.

Sleeping in the crib in his room.  As you know he co-slept with us because it made breastfeeding so easy.  It's been a whole week now that he has slept in the crib and it has been amazing for everyone.   I think Sully sleeps better and is more rested in the crib.  Plus the husband and I get more time together now that I'm not in bed at 7...haha!

He started saying baba.  Not sure what he means but its getting close to momma and papa.  And its adorable.

We've tried giving him some food for the first time this month(avocado and bananas) but he's not that interested in it.  We'll keep trying to introduce different foods as time goes on.

He fell asleep on Arty for the first time since he was a newborn.  It was so cute.  Sully mostly naps on me because I nurse him and he zonks out but this time he was so relaxed that when I handed him to Arty and checked a few minutes later he was asleep.

Stats:
He weighs 22.4 pounds and I am not sure how tall he is.

AHHH My husband and I are so in love with him!!

~Megan

Seven Months Old Today

Official post coming soon...

Play time

Play time today.

Face and hair grabbing are pretty normal around here.

Having fun!

Love his hands.

~Megan

The first nine days (Sullivan's)

I have been thinking about this post since Sullivan was born.  When I got pregnant I had visions of how I thought everything was going to go.  I had a perfect pregnancy.  All my appointments were great, even the delivery was great.  But in the moments after Sullivan was born and my family and friends entered the room to see me hold him for the very first time, he started blowing bubbles.  My husband grabbed the aspirator and tried to suction the bubbles out of his mouth but they kept coming.

One of our friends used to be a nurse in labor and delivery told the nurse that he was grunting and blowing bubbles.  She quickly took him to the nursery and my husband went with him.

I wasn't really alarmed yet because I was still kind of in the moment of having just given birth to the sweetest most beautiful baby I had ever seen.  It's hard to explain but once they moved me to our room it hit me that our baby should be with us, and he wasn't yet.  They said that he had fluid in his lungs and was having trouble getting it out, and breathing.  When I saw our baby boy next he was under a plastic hood.  I wanted to hold him so badly.  I wanted to put him on my chest and nurse him in those early hours.  I wanted to see my husband hold our son for the first time.  My expectations and hopes of how those next few days would go crumbled.  I began pumping within an hour of delivery, and I continued to pump every two to three hours all day and night. Initially the nurses and doctors thought he might be out of the hospital within two to three days.  They said I could "nest" in the hospital if needed, which meant that I could stay there until he was released but I wouldn't get meals or medicine.  However, Sullivan wasn't getting better so he was transferred to another hospital with a better equipped NICU.  I followed the transport to the hospital and was sobbing.  I remember walking up to the front desk of the labor and delivery floor and telling them that my son was just transferred there and I wanted to know if I could use their pump and find out if I could nest there so at least I would be there for him at all times.  The woman gave me a hard time and I lost it.  I was sobbing again in front of a bunch of nurses and finally a sweet nurse said she would get the lactation consultant who would bring me the pump.  They had no rooms for me to stay in because there were so many mom's giving birth.  When I went back to see Sullivan, he was surrounded by nurses and the doctor.  He was getting hooked up to all the machines and they had to put an umbilical line in.  It was physically painful to see him like that.  Since we couldn't stay there Arty and I were at the hospital every day from 7am till 9pm or later with a few breaks for meals.  I pumped and pumped for him.  When he started getting better I got to nurse him and that was an amazing instant connection.  We took him home on October 31st, nine long days after he was born.  That was one of the best days of my life!

~Megan

PS this is obviously a shorter version of what happened but if you have questions e-mail me!

Sleep update and some pictures

Sullivan slept great again in his crib last night on our third night of moving him from our bed to his crib.  I put him in his crib at 7:15ish, he fussed for a few minutes and was fast asleep.  He woke up at 10:30 and I fed him(on just one side) and put him back in the crib, then he woke up at 1:00am and I fed him (both sides) put him in his crib and he did fuss a little.  But the best part is that he slept until 5:30.  The past two nights he had been waking up at 3am and then again around 5:30, so he skipped the 3am wake up (yay!).   I did feed him and he slept for another hour when he woke up today.

And for the last two days he has only had two naps per day.  He usually has three so maybe he is so refreshed from sleeping in the crib that he doesn't need that third nap.  Who knows??

 Here are some sweet pictures from this morning.  

Happy boy!

Grabbing the feet.

This week he started doing a beginning version of the army crawl.  Soooo cute to watch.

~Megan

Fabric Dying FUN

What do you do with worn out, possibly stained, grungy shirts?  I dyed mine PINK.  I am in love with fabric dying because it gives my clothes a whole new life again.

Its super easy.  I took a package of RIT dye from Michael's dumped a little in a bucket of hot water outside and swirled it around.  Then I just drop the clothes in while wearing rubber gloves for 5-10 minutes.  Next I take it out and put it in the washing machine and its done. 

I have several other dying projects but thought I would take a picture of these.

~Megan

Co-sleeping to crib transition: Day 2

I was amazed last night that Sully fell asleep in his crib without crying once.  We did our bedtime routine, I placed him in the crib and went downstairs with the video monitor.  The husband and I just watched in awe as he rolled around for about ten minutes and fell asleep.  He woke up four times for quick feedings and each time went back to the crib without a problem.  Tonight, I put him in the crib and ten minutes later he was asleep.  Seriously, this is amazing for a baby that never napped or really slept in his crib for more than 20 minutes.  I don't mind waking up to feed him, especially since he stays sleepy and goes back in the crib without crying.  

~Megan

How it went

I am so impressed with how Sullivan slept in his crib.  He woke up 4 times, each time he wasn't fully awake because his eyes were still closed, he was just rolling around making noises.  Three of the times I nursed him for five minutes and put him back in the crib and he fell right back asleep without crying.  The other time I just held him for a few minutes and put him back in the crib and he stayed asleep.  I thought the night would be much worse and was pleasantly surprised!  Night one was a success.

~Megan

Co-sleeping to crib transition: Day 1

Sullivan has slept right next to me for the last six months and tonight we are trying out the crib.  It's 8:10 here and he is currently sleeping and has been for about 30 minutes.  It took him twenty minutes to fall asleep.  Our routine was bath time, book, I nursed him and kissed him and put him in his crib.  He cried for ten minutes and I went up and patted his belly and told him I love him (he stopped crying), but then started again for another ten minutes and has been asleep since.  I need to muster up all the strength I have to make this work because I love our cuddles but I know the older he gets the harder this transition will be for everyone.  Let's see how day one of sleep training goes.

~Megan

P.S. Any advice would be appreciated!

Second attempt at fishing

Day 2 of fishing we took a wrong turn and ended up at this lookout point up in the mountains.  We did get to the lake but we STILL didn't catch a single fish.  It's ok though we had a great time outside.

It was really pretty up there!

Ahh love these fishermen :)

~Megan

Beautiful places and beautiful faces

On Tuesday and Wednesday we went fishing for the first time as a family of three.  These pictures are from Tuesday and I'll do another post for Wednesday's adventure.  So, we went to a lake in this foresty area to try to catch fish.  Not very good in the fishing department, but great in the scenery department.  The trees were almost neon green, and very dense that it almost felt like we were under water with tons of tall seaweed around.

We had so much fun checking out this amazing spot.  It has been amazing having Arty around to do fun things with this week!

~Megan

P.S. I love the word, amazing ha!

1st Momma's Day with a baby in my arms

LOVELY Day!

~Megan

Happy Mother's day!

From left: My preggo cousin Kaysie, me, my mom

Dear Mom,

Thanks for all that you have done and continue to do for me!  When I was a little girl for mother's day  I would draw you a swirly picture or write a big I LOVE YOU with crayons on a piece of notebook paper, stuff it in a envelope, and proudly give it to you.  You loved my artwork and letters and treated them like treasures.  Now, this year as I hold my own son in my arms I finally understand why you loved those handmade gifts.  I am so excited to get notes and pictures from him one day.  I love you mom.  You have tought me so much and encouraged me as a new mom.  I am so thankful for you.

I love you always,

Megan

Visit to the park with my boys

Sully loves looking at his dad!

So cute!

What a fun day at the park!

~Megan