Noah's First Easter

We had a wonderful first Easter with Noah this year. We woke up at 8:30 am to give us 3 hours to make it to church on time.  Parents...you know this is a necessity!  Michael's mom Betty was visiting, and, we made a big breakfast and took turns getting ourselves and Noah ready and actually made it to church a few minutes early!

This was also Noah's first time to go to church.  Michael and I were both nervous because Noah does really well on a routine, and he likes to be home most of the time.  We found three seats on the back row, which helped our anxiety a little.  Noah made it through the songs, but as soon as we sat down and Pastor Chris started preaching, Noah started crying.  Don't take it personally P Chris.  I made my way to the Mother's Room and remained with four or five other mothers for the rest of the service.  On a side note, I would like to give a shout out to Church of the Highlands for providing such a nice Mother's Room for us.  I didn't mind going to church in that room at all!  After church, we went back home and relaxed and made Easter lunch.

The Easter Bunny came for Noah a few times, and he got an awesome seersucker suit from his Uncle Sean and Aunt Caroline, and he got lots of toys and fun things from his Gimmie and Pops.  Mommy and Daddy...well, not so much.  I had his Easter all planned out, and I even got a basket cover with his name on it.  It's the cutest thing ever.  However, it's hard to use a basket cover if you don't have a basket!  I admit, I was being cheap and didn't want to buy the Pottery Barn basket that fit the cover and waited too long and discovered no one had the basket I needed except PB, and they were all sold out when I went back online.  I also had plans to get Noah his first Bible with his name embossed on it, but Saturday night before Easter, I realized I had forgotten.  I can count 3-4 times I set out to get that Bible and ended up not having enough time or sincerely forgetting while I was out.  I definitely had a mom fail with this holiday.  I'm just glad he won't know...unless he reads this. Ha!

After it was all said and done, we had a wonderful first Easter!

Happy Three Month Birthday Noah Sean!

Dear Noah,
Ok, so you are a few weeks past your three month birthday, but give your mommy some slack.  You require a lot of attention, and blogging is not very high on your list of things for me to do.  You are napping now, so I thought I would try to post as quickly as I can.  At three months old, your personality is shining.  Shining is putting a positive spin on it because son, you sure do know how to scream these days!  You can go from happy to mad in a split second.  You like your routine for sure, and you may be a little (or a lot) on the sensitive and touchy side.  You get that from me.  But I think that means you are going to be a very passionate young man who knows what he wants!

You kick your legs constantly.  You love kicking the covers off, and we make it a game every day.  You have learned to enjoy tummy time so much more now that you can support yourself. In our pursuit of tummy time together, I learned that you get very mad if you can't master a skill.  But as soon as you accomplish the task you set out to do, you are as good as gold.  You get bored very easily, and you like to be entertained and moved from one place to another.  You have learned to swipe at your toys hanging from your activity gym, and you get so mad when the music stops playing.  You whine until mommy winds the music back up.  

You are gaining weight really well.  Let's be honest...you don't miss a meal.  I'm not so sure you are growing in length at the same rate.  You are a petite little one.  I hope there is a long lost tall gene in our family, but you may just be small like mommy and daddy.

We are enjoying you so much.  We love you!  Even Scarlett thinks you are pretty cool these days as long as you let her lick your face once in a while.

Do All Moms Go Through This?

We are 12 weeks and 2 days into being parents.   It doesn't seem real.  It feels like ages have come and gone since we found out we were expecting.  Honestly, it's almost too much for me sometimes.  I love being a mom, but all this change is harder than advertised.  I've cried a lot in the past year, thinking over and over "what have we gotten ourselves into?" I wonder if this is normal and if all moms go through this.

Is it normal to be this stupid?  I have literally lost millions of brain cells...I'm sure of it.  I must have delivered them along with Noah the day he was born because they are gone.  I forget everything.  I never used to write anything down, but these days I need to tape notes to my forehead.  I think God designed it this way, or we would all be only children.

Let's talk about body odor.  I'm just going to put it out there.  For weeks, I smelled like Taco Bell.  The combination of hormones, sweat, and baby puke that covered me daily (and still does) made me crazy.  The first thing I want to do every morning is take a shower, but then I wake up to the reality that a shower isn't possible til Noah has been fed, burped, played with, changed then rocked back to sleep.  But by that time I'm starving, so I drink half of my luke warm cup of coffee, slam some hard boiled eggs down my throat, get ready to jump in the shower, get naked, and he starts crying again.  Stinky clothes get put back on, and we start the whole process again.  Showers are a luxury.  I get it now.

Breastfeeding makes me feel like I'm starving to death all the time.  But these days, the only person who gets a world class meal around here is Noah...6 to 8 times a day.  Enough said.

I love that we all measure how good our babies are by the number of hours they sleep.  Every day someone asks me, "Are you getting any sleep? or How's Noah sleeping? or Is Noah sleeping through the night yet?"  Sleep deprivation is the hardest part of this journey for me, and I hate that question.  Though I must confess, I ask it myself because deep down I want other mothers to be suffering with me.  Isn't that terrible?!

Before I became a mom, I made fun of other moms who complained about getting out of the house with a baby.  Don't worry, I get it now.  Most days I prefer to be trapped at home if it means I don't have to get myself ready, get Noah dressed, pack his diaper bag and go over and over the items I may need, load the car, and put him in his car seat just to go to the store.  It is ridiculous!  I also have a fear of him screaming in public, and I can't get him to stop.  I need to get over that because it's going to happen.  But I don't like it.  I'd rather stay home :)

We cannot plan anything with friends.  We are at Noah's mercy, and we will see you when we get there.  We may be two hours late, but I'm not waking up my sleeping baby.  I didn't get this when we weren't parents either.  And forget about making plans for anything in the morning.  It takes me hours to get to where I'm going most days if Noah is in tow.

A few more things...
I will never look at my body or my boobs the same way again
I cannot get over the amount of laundry one little human creates
I lose it if Scarlett or Michael make a peep while Noah is asleep
The fascination with poop may never end
The constant comparison and mommy guilt is real, and it sucks
I may sadly be considering a one-piece this summer
A night alone with Michael is so far away
The responsibility of making decisions on behalf of a human being I love is scary

But...
When I hold Noah in my arms, and he looks up at me with his gummy grin, I would do it all over again.  These moments of pure joy keep me going, and I know the hard times shall pass.