The Three Month Top Ten

What motherhood has taught me this month:

10. Colds are bad. Seeing your baby with a cold is so much worse.
9. For the first time in thirty years I did not have Spring Break, but every week in spring is great this year.
8. Pregnancy didn't really end three months ago. The spring/summer clothes still don't fit, and I might just be bald by summer at this rate.
7. Even three month olds enjoy time at home after a busy day.
6. Front porch swings are still popular gathering places.
5. Brennan sleeps most while we have guests, and will wake as soon as they leave.
4. A lot of projects can be accomplished during his afternoon nap.
3. A good nap can cure crankiness, even in Mommy and Daddy.
2. While dinners out are good, the boxed food is even better at home after wrestling a screaming baby for an hour in the restaurant.
1. Messy diapers can happen anytime, but most occur during dinner and just after I think the laundry is "done".

1, 2, 3,....Can You Believe?

Brennan is three months old! It has been another swift month, and the fun continues. He weighs about 14 lbs, and is about 24 inches long. One Sunday morning as I dressed him for church I was surprised to find that his Sunday shoes did not fit. He had worn them a week before, and now his foot wouldn't even go into them. I continue to be amazed at how fast he grows! Our best family time is first thing each morning. I'm finally learning to slow down in the mornings since I don't have to rush to work. When Brennan wakes up, Mike gets him and brings him to our bed. He is full of smiles and coos for us. We have a great time talking and laughing together. In the last week Brennan has also started to focus on Wells during that time. After Brennan comes in, Wells comes over to the bed and puts his head up by us. Brennan immediately turns his head and watches Wells. I think it's the beginning of a great relationship for a boy and his dog!

We have had several fun experiences this month. Brennan tagged along on a girls' trip to Cottontails in Birmingham. Mom, Mandy, Maeleigh, Brennan and I went for the day. He also was a trooper through a few consignment sales during the month. He has spent a few afternoons in the yard with me while I work on flower beds. He seems to enjoy hanging out, and especially sleeping, in his stroller out there. We had a play date with one of my childhood friends, Misty, and her three children this past week. He enjoys watching older children play. I bet he is storing up ideas for what he'll do one day! Every Sunday night he joins us for a small group gathering from church. There are around twenty children there, so he may have a lot of ideas by now! We have also made several visits to Nonna's antique store, Sweet Annie's. She is working to open it in April, so we check out her progress each week. Another highlight of the month was getting the web proofs of his newborn pictures. They really showed how fast he has grown and changed.

Our family has celebrated several birthdays this month. We went out to eat and suit shopping for his Uncle Ryan's birthday. Nonna's birthday dinner was at our house on the 18th, the same day we got a new dishwasher :). We had a great time celebrating Maeleigh's first birthday with his first children's birthday party on the 21st, and a family dinner on her birthday March 23rd. He dressed in green last weekend, and went to Evelyn's third annual St. Patrick's day party to celebrate his Irish heritage and name. Now we are preparing to celebrate Easter. He has a bright blue Easter bucket, and we took pictures in his Easter outfit last week.

Unfortunately, this weekend Brennan is battling his first cold. He is still all smiles and coos, though he sounds so pitiful with an icky cough and congestion. He has also begun to have moments that are not all smiles, and usually come at inopportune times! He went through a few days of wanting to eat every two hours, and sometimes more often. He would eat a whole bottle at each feeding. It took a little while for me to realize he must be going through a growth spurt, but he sure tried to tell me by screaming when he wanted to eat and I just wasn't getting it. Of course this mostly happened when we were out and about, like at those birthday parties and St. Pat's party. He has been so good at going places that I've become spoiled. Friday night reality set in. If you hear people around Hartselle talking about the screaming baby at the Freight House that night, it would be ours. We were out with friends, and he had been enjoying the experience. They were commenting on how laid back he was. Just after our food arrived he started to cry. It was bedtime, and much to my chagrin he has to cry first before he goes to sleep. I thought that was the problem so we got up to walk around. By the time I got to the restroom he was screaming. This continued for 30-45 minutes. People came to check on us, I had to send a waitress to our table to get the diaper bag, and finally he and I had to go to the car while Mike got a box for my food. We got home and he was all smiles again, ugh. I'm learning that as soon as I think I have things figured out, he will change them. Good thing I enjoy a challenge!

A few of his favorite things right now are: swinging with Mommy and neighbors on the front porch, playing in his room, singing the ABC song with Daddy, and talking and smiling at everyone. He doesn't like: having to go to sleep, having his nose cleaned, and having to wait to eat.

As you can see, the life of a three month old is SO busy!

I Love the Night Life!

Brennan is now 11 weeks old, and has settled into a good schedule most nights. While I look forward to the time he doesn't wake in the middle of the night at all, he only gets up once now for a feeding. He usually sleeps about five hours, wakes and eats, then sleeps another three to four hours. Every once in a while he likes to mix it up though, just to remind me how good he normally is I think. Last night he was a little mixed up. I put him down about 11:30 for what would normally be about five hours. Fifteen minutes later, while I'm enjoying a relaxing bath, Mike knocks on the door to say that B is screaming and he has already put his pacifier back in twice. I suggested he try and burp him. When I came out of the bath the picture above is what I found. So sweet, if it just hadn't been midnight! Brennan laid there for about twenty minutes staring at the book. Whereever Mike moved the book, B's eyes followed. I guess he just needed a goodnight story. He finally went to sleep, with a lot of comforting, about 1 a.m. I hope he didn't enjoy that experience too much. That won't be a habit.

I'm Dreaming of a Warm Spring!.....and a Fun Summer!

It's amazing how nice weather can boost your spirits and energize your body. Brennan and I spent about an hour today swinging on the front porch. It was so nice to see neighbors out and about, and trees and flowers about to bloom. While he napped, I worked a little in the backyard. I have several outside projects planned including painting, planting, and playing. Right now my biggest goal is eradicating weeds that had a chance to fester before we bought the house. Mike got a great start on this last fall, so my job is much easier now and I want to keep it that way. I met with a consultant yesterday to pick out paint colors for the house, which I'm very excited about. I'm going to do some painting myself I guess, though I don't look forward to that part. Some will have to be done by a pro I think. My favorite part of the work will be planting. I hope to start a perennial bed and maybe a couple of raised beds for herbs and vegetables. All of those are just plans though because the best part comes in late May when the pool is opened. While I can hardly stand to think about summer because it means my time at home with Brennan will be ending soon, I find a bright spot in thinking about the fun we will have. He already has a float, a swim shirt, and swim suits. Hopefully he will love the pool as much as he likes his bath. We're planning to have swim days every week, where we invite friends over for the day. Plan to come and join us pool side for some summer fun!

Let's Make A Deal!

Today was the mother of all consignment sales, Kids Market in Huntsville. I went one evening last fall, but that was nothing compared to today. Brennan and I arrived at 8:45 for a 9:00 start time. I was amazed when I pulled into a full parking lot at the old Linens and Things and jumped into a line that wrapped part way around the parking lot. There were at least 100 people already there. There were people with empty laundry baskets, empty strollers, empty bags, and empty shopping carts from other stores, all ready to snag a deal. I'm still a newbie to this, so I showed up with a baby in my stroller and a list of what I hoped to find.
I had learned the layout of the sale from the last time I was there, and when the doors opened the race was on. I had decided to hit the big items first and finish up with clothes. First I found an exersaucer for $10, several toys, a Johnny Jumper, a swim float, and clothes. The clothes ranged from practically perfect Polo shirts for a 1/3 the new price, to brand new with tags rompers, to shorts, shirts, and sleepers for $1 or less. I'm pretty picky about what I choose and everything has to look new, but that was no problem here. I have found at other sales that there is tons of little girl stuff, and a fraction of that for boys. While there was still a ton more for girls, the boys were well represented here as well. After five hours, a good part of that spent in the only down side-long lines, I came away feeling like I had found some great deals. I also learned a few things along the way. If you go:
1. Take a bag or basket if you plan to buy clothes. A lot of people had rolling laundry baskets or baskets with a belt attached for pulling.
2. Leave the kids at home if possible. Brennan was great, but it would have gone faster without a stroller and trying to maneuver everything was a challenge. Older kids seemed to have a lot of temptations also with so many fun things around.
3. If you want good deals on big ticket items, get there early. I got the exersaucer I wanted, but was amazed at what other people were finding also. There were high end cribs, strollers, highchairs, etc.
4. Look through other sizes too because things are sometimes stuck back in the wrong place.
5. It would be a great place for teachers to get books. There were bins and bins for $1 and less.
6. If you are expecting a first child it would be a great place to get the things that aren't used for long such as: a bath tub, Boppy, portable swing, bouncer, regular swing, bassinet, and maybe even bedding (there was new Pottery Barn Kids bedding still in the package). I know I wanted to register for a lot of these things, but I could have bought a few of them for very little and then registered for other things instead. It would also be a great way to finish out a registry after the showers if the timing was right, or to buy a 2nd for grandma's house.
7. Take a snack and dress comfy for this one. I thought I would be there a couple of hours at most, but it was so much fun and I was finding such good things that the time flew by.

If the Shoe Fits...

Have you ever found the perfect pair of shoes that you want to wear everyday, everywhere, with everything? The more you wear them the better they feel, and you only occasionally want to try on another pair. Motherhood is fitting like the perfect pair of shoes for me! I've always known that I wanted to be a mom, and practiced a lot with my dolls when I was little. There came a time when I was about 30 though that I questioned whether I would get to be a mom. I even considered giving up that desire for another person. The turns my life was taking did not match my plan. I was so scared that I would miss the chance to have a baby, but I chose to trust God that his timing was much better for me than I could ever imagine myself. In his time, and in his way, he blessed me beyond anything I could imagine. He brought a wonderful husband, the opportunity to live close to my family again, and now a precious baby boy. How could I ask for more! He's also shown me that becoming a mom at my age is perfect for me. I'm more patient and less absorbed in my own desires at this point. I feel more settled and confident in who I am. I find great joy in having to drag a stroller out every time I go shopping, planning when I will leave the house based on when Brennan has eaten, and spending most nights relaxing at home. It has been great to reconnect with childhood friends that are also moms. That mom connection has given us a renewed friendship as adults. There are the days when I want a break, and sometimes my mind wonders back to when I got plenty of sleep, got the laundry done, and running errands was a no brainer. But I'm also reminded of how much I miss B-man when we go to an event and he is held by other people even for an hour. I'm so thankful to have this opportunity, and pray I will never forget how blessed I am.