Happy Birthday, Aunt T!

First of all,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT T!

Second of all,

Mitchell is 11 weeks old!

 

How crazy is it that he’s 11 weeks old already?! I went a little picture crazy this week. It’s just so hard to believe that he’s so big already. I was walking around Target earlier and a lady remarked on how small he was. Turns out, she thought he was about 4 months old. When I told her he was about 2.5 months old, she couldn’t believe how big he was, riding on my hip “like a big boy”.

Mitchell has been taking showers with me for a while now, but the other night he took his first bath with me. It was adorable. I propped him up with my legs and let him float on the water. He loved it. He kicked and splashed and had a great time. If his skin wasn’t so prone to dryness right now, I’d take baths with him way more often.

Enjoy the pictures!

 

Happy Holidays!

Mitchell celebrated his first Thanksgiving by learning a new sound: the screech. It’s adorable! Whether in happiness or in anger, he spent all day today experimenting with this new sound. He’s even found a new way to say he’s hungry: a very high-pitched screech combined with an open-mouthed lunge for the chest of whoever is holding him. It’s pretty hilarious when Justin is holding him.

He got to join his grandpa, Aunt T and me for some Black Friday shopping. We got a really late start this year. I don’t think we left the house until like 8:30 or 9, but it was still fun. And Mitchell was so good during it. I was very impressed. He had such a busy day Thursday, Friday, and Saturday that I expected him to sleep all day today. Today was the very first day he spent the whole day in his pajamas! But instead he’s spent pretty much the whole day awake. I think he’s slept for all of an hour today. I can’t believe how wide awake he’s been. Even now, he’s smiling at me from his bouncer and trying to catch my attention (like it ever wavered).

Oh, and another fun thing he’s learned! Friday he discovered my phone. I had to get a new phone on Wednesday because I finally dropped mine at just the right angle to kill it. My new phone is huge and I set the home screen to a picture of Mitchell (of course). When the screen is locked and you touch it, it has a rippling effect and makes a dripping sound. Mitchell LOVES it. He likes looking at the picture and even loves the sound it makes when he touches it. Unfortunately he already tries to put it into his mouth, so I can tell this is going to be something I regret. But oh well, I’ve never made it two years with the same phone anyway.

And…pictures! Check out him with the book. He was trying to grab the pictures and really enjoying himself!

The Universal Truth That Isn’t Universal

There is a universal truth: babies are hard work. Therefore, all new mothers are approached by people assuming a subsequent universal truth: all new mothers are tired, stressed, and need a break. Except that not all new mothers fall prey to this universal truth. Some new mothers, myself included, are not tired, stressed, or in need of a break. Some even swing to another extreme, which is a fiercely protective attachment to their baby. I fall into this category. I am the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. Being with Mitchell is the most important thing in the world to me right now. It requires an act of sheer will to leave him in a separate room. Even if I’m not holding him, I want to be able to see him. Every expression he makes is the most amazing thing in the world to me. When he smiles at me, I lose track of anything else I’m doing and can only concentrate on him.

Trust me, I did not see this coming. When I was pregnant, I swore I wouldn’t become the type of mother who lives only for her children. I swore I would retain my independence. I would go out with the girls, Justin and I would go out on date nights, I would go for shopping trips, etc. Now my alone time is in the shower – if Mitchell doesn’t join me in there. I don’t think I’ve ruined him yet. He still prefers to fall asleep by himself and he’s absolutely fine entertaining himself.

The only thing that sometimes drags me down is others’ good intentions. As I said earlier, they assume that I need a break. They say things like, “Are you tired of holding Mitchell?” or “Do you need me to help you?” I have no idea why, but even to placate someone else, I can’t bring myself to say that I need someone to take Mitchell. Because I don’t. I don’t even want to give him to someone else. I feel completely empty when he isn’t in my arms or near me. Mitchell has been out of my sight only a handful of times, and the majority of those times is from well-meaning people trying to give me a break. Instead, they give me a slight panic attack. The first round of panic attack is because he isn’t near me. The second is because I then want to find him, but know how extremely crazy I would look. So then I just sit there, unable to think of anything else, until they decide to bring him back.

I understand that this is abnormal. I know I shouldn’t be this possessive. But I am, and that’s that. It’s very hard for me to even put this onto my blog because the only people who have gotten glimpses into my feelings have proceeded to make fun of me about it. A lot. As in, ridiculing me outright or through small sarcastic jabs. Over and over and over. It’s like they think they need to help me through this. But why? I can take Mitchell to work with me, so I don’t have to deal with separation for that reason, and I’m genuinely happy. I love him. So why do I have to get used to being without him? I’m sure that the older he gets, the more I’ll be okay with him being separated from me. In the meantime, it just points out that I’m not normal, and implies that I’m somehow less of a mother because I’m not willing to leave him. And I have to try to find nice ways to turn down babysitting offers or offers to help by taking Mitchell from me. And try to find ways to not get my feelings hurt when I’m teased about my parenting. And that’s not saying anything about the many, many criticisms of my parenting by loved ones and complete strangers.

Double Digits!

Mitchell is now ten weeks old! Double digits!

 

He’s an ace at grabbing things now. He especially loves a taggie blanket and a stuffed ladybug. He gets so excited when he sees them coming, he’ll start kicking out and reaching for them. It’s so cute!

He’s quite the talker these days. He talks to whoever he can get to listen to him. Since he’s discovered his reflection in the mirror, that includes himself. He’s also slowed down on the naps. There are days when he only sleeps for an hour or two during the day. But since he’s sleeping the whole night through, I certainly don’t mind! We’re slowly getting settled into a morning routine. I get up at 5 or 5:30, feed him, and he falls back to sleep. I get up and get myself ready, and at 7:00 I wake him up again and get him ready to go and feed him once more. Usually he isn’t ready to eat again yet, but that’s ok, because it gives me time to chat with him. He’s always in a great mood in the mornings! Having him around has definitely helped my morning mood, but I still don’t enjoy them. 5:00 is just so dang early. When you’re up before even the morning news, it’s too damn early.

Tomorrow is turkey day! I’m sure Mitchell is looking forward to it.

And…random pictures. Notice the baby butt, or, as I like to call it, the first picture we’ll show his girlfriend.

Did I Catch a Niner in There?

(Title is a Tommy Boy quote. If you don’t recognize it, you should watch the movie as many times as it takes for you to fully appreciate the genius of Chris Farley.)

Mitchell is nine weeks old today! His picture this week shows him doing his new favorite thing: chewing on something. Anything. Seriously, if he can get his hands on something, it’s going into his mouth. I thought we had another month or so before this became a thing.

Today was my second day back at work. So far, Mitchell is being awesome. He fusses when he’s hungry, but, as usual, that’s pretty much it. I just love this kid.

He’s shown the ability to reach out and grab something for three days now, and he’s already a pro at it. He’s rediscovered his playmat now that he can reach up and grab the toys. He gets a kick out of using the toy as leverage to try to roll to his side. Every once in awhile he succeeds.

Only two more pictures tonight. Sorry it’s not a long post, but I have to get to bed. I have to get up at 5:00 AM to be ready to leave by 7:45. Oi.

 

Two Months In…

Two big things happened today: Mitchell had his two-month appointment (and was declared a giant) and I went back to work.

First, the good.

Mitchell is 13 pounds 2 ounces, 25.5 inches long, and his head is 16 inches around. As compared to the other two-month-olds in America, he is in the 75th percentile for weight, 75th percentile for his head circumference, and OFF THE CHARTS in height. It’s official: only Justin’s genes got through. My egg was obviously empty. In terms of development, the doctor said he’s doing great. He was very impressed at how active and happy he was during the exam. Then he gave the order to crush all that happiness. The new rule in this house is that Justin stays in the room for Mitchell’s shots from now on. It was so terrible. I was reminded of the scene in Look Who’s Talking Too. Mitchell was so happy, chatting up a storm with the nurses, and then all of a sudden his face transformed into the most pathetic, sad, abused baby ever. The lower lip went out and he looked shocked, then the pain hit and he started crying so hard he was gasping. It was terrible. I was told that babies couldn’t have tylenol anymore, so I didn’t pre-dose him or even buy any to give him afterward. AND he dropped the pacifier in the waiting room, so he couldn’t even make himself feel better with the pacifier. Luckily he cried himself out pretty quickly. It was heartbreaking, though. I have to say, not half as bad as seeing him in the NICU, though, so I was able to keep a little perspective on the whole thing.

Work was…well…work. In my next life, I’m going to save up enough money to take the first year off work. Until then, I’ll continue to just be thankful I can take Mitchell to work with me.

Mitchell started reaching for and grabbing things on Saturday! He also started enjoying this little taggy blanket he has.

 

The Search for Mitchell’s Looks

It seems that everyone has a different opinion about who Mitchell looks like. I was getting pretty curious because I’d never seen pictures of Justin as a baby, so I really couldn’t know if Mitchell looked like him. So I nagged my way into some pictures of everyone and tried to match them up to pictures of Mitchell! Not only is it fun seeing facial features matching up, it’s really fun looking at the pictures and automatically knowing who’s who. So I’m going to post all the pictures and not list who’s who until the very end. (The size of the pictures has no bearing on who’s in the picture. That’s just the size of the picture I received.)

It goes: Buck (my grandpa), Jon (Justin’s dad), Joyce (my grandma), Justin, me, Mitch (my dad), and Shelly (my mom).

So who do you think Mitchell looks like? I really don’t know. I do know that he doesn’t look a whole lot like me, unfortunately. Bummer. And it looks like we found where he got his widow’s peak!

Crazy Eights!

Mitchell is eight weeks old today!

 

The only picture in which he’s smiling got photobombed by Laika, but I’m using it anyway. All the other pictures have his fists in his mouth. They must taste fabulous, because he’s constantly trying to eat them lately.

Other than eating his fists, he’s been passing his time by eating a whole lot and talking even more. People have stopped saying “He’s so tiny!” when we go out and started saying “Wow, he’s huge!” Including the Sonic carhops. I had to face reality on Saturday: I have an addiction to Sonic iced tea. When the carhop came to my car, she said she hadn’t seen me in awhile (because I’d been going in the afternoon instead of the morning) and then she started talking about how big Mitchell is getting and how fun it is to watch him grow.

Another reason today was special: Election Day! We voted as a family and Mitchell even got a sticker. I don’t know what these Constitution stickers are. I want my “I Voted” sticker! Quit mixing it up, Kansas!

 

I started tummy time at three weeks, but he was so mad about it that I took a time-out. I started it up again this week, but Mitchell came prepared this time. He simply laid there when he was straight on his tummy.

So I decided to prop him up with his Boppy. Unfortunately, he just wiggled his way down so he could rest his head on it.

 

I decided not to let him win, though. Later in the day, I tried again, and started to think he was going to finally enjoy his tummy time!

 

He was looking very interested in his frog toy, he was happy and gurgling; basically, all was well in the world. I was going to fulfill one of those dreaded mommy requirements easily. But then, in the blink of an eye, he decided he REALLY liked that frog toy. And wanted to meet Mr. Frog.

 

Boom. Well, not really a boom. He didn’t even get upset. Luckily that’s a pretty thick blanket. Notice that tuft of hair on the back of his head? It looks like a cross between a mullet and a rat tail. Trust me, I’ve come very close to cutting it to the length of the rest of his hair. It was supposed to fall off with the rest of his hair!

More pictures! Not all of these are from the last week. I cleared some pictures from my phone. The ones of him in his stroller are from his very first stroller ride!

 

The Cutest Darn Thing You’ve Seen All Day.

This is, without a doubt, the cutest darn thing you’ve seen all day. Possibly all month. Evoking Mitchell smiles is definitely my hobby right now.

Happy Halloween!

He’s a football player!…according to one parent.

He’s a basketball player!…according to the other parent. (Something about concussions. I think they’ll have super helmets by the time he’s playing for KSU, so he won’t have to worry about it!)

 

Wanna see the evolution of a smile?

“Geez, Mom, can’t you hurry this up? I’d really rather be staring at my play mat. You never know what those lights are going to do!”

“Heh. Ok, so you’re talking to me. That’s pretty funny. But I’m only smiling with half my face because I’d still rather be on my play mat. Plus, if this football thing doesn’t work out, I’m going to fall back on Elvis impersonations.”

“Oh my goodness. Are you dancing, Mom?! You’re dancing! That’s great! Oh, I hope you don’t think I’m laughing WITH you. I’m laughing AT you.”

That’s the evolution of a Mitchell smile. Once elusive, they are now common ’round these parts. They just need a little friendly coaxing, usually responding best to self-deprecating behavior.

And just for good measure, a few other pictures of Halloween and trick or treating. Unfortunately, he got NO candy. I mean, I know I just threw his costume together (not my fault, Amazon sent the wrong size of the Ghostbuster costume), but come on! CANDY! Mama’s deprived of sugar!