Motherhood

My sister-in-law Ravelle included a cute note on one of my baby shower gifts that said something along the lines of "Motherhood: the world's greatest sorority with the world's worst hazing." Oh my gosh, was she right. Parts of pregnancy were awesome, but other parts were really hard for me. As a 36 week pregnant woman, I looked at the note from Ravelle and thought pregnancy was the hazing. I can assure you, nearly 2 months into motherhood that THIS is the hazing. In fact, I'm fairly certain that this hazing might continue for the next 18 years rest of my life. All that aside, motherhood really is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I am so thankful that I am able to be Samson's momma.

Perfect sweetness (1 day old) : What you expect  

Mr. Angry Face (2 days old) : What you (sometimes) get. Ah, the joys.

I know a lot of women who are lucky enough to be expecting little babies of their own for the first time and after being a mom for a month and a few weeks I already have some words of wisdom for you before your baby arrives and you get a crash course in motherhood.

• I won't tell you to sleep, Lord knows sleep can be hard to get when you are pregnant, but enjoy the peace and quiet while you still can. 
• Shower. Wash your hair AND dry it. If I'm honest, I normally go 3 days between washing my hair, but I haven't washed my hair for 4 days and I'm not sure it will happen until tomorrow. 
• Get out of your pajamas and put on real clothes and make-up. At least put on your nice yoga pants and a bra. 
• Make a meal and at it before it gets cold. Cereal doesn't count ;)
• Deep clean your house. Enjoy cleaning things yourself. Aaron has been picking up my slack for weeks, I don't even know where the vacuum is anymore...
• Date your husband. Dinner in or out, watch a whole movie without breaks, go out for coffee, walk around the mall, DO STUFF. Soon enough your time together will revolve around a very short window of time between feeding, diapers, and baby's good moods. 
• Stock pile food and basic necessities. You won't want to leave the house (unless it's for Starbucks) and when you do, you'll be surprised how little you can fit in a shopping cart with a car seat in it... or you might have a moment of panic when your baby spits out the only pacifier you brought on to the floor of Target and the whole store stares at you while your child screams bloody murder in the check out. Whatever.
• Have a hobby? Do it. You'll soon be enjoying a sabbatical from perusing the aisles of Marshalls in favor of snuggling your newborn on the couch because hauling around a carseat/stroller in below freezing temperatures with snow on the ground is no fun for anyone. 

Will you miss your sleep? Yes. Will you miss your solo Target trips on your days off? Yes. (Your husband & bank account will not). Will you miss wearing real clothes? Maybe. Will you gladly give it all up to watch your baby sleep peacefully in your arms or smiling up at you and your silly faces? Absolutely, momma.

Fact: Baby boys are sweeter with suspenders and bow-ties.

Samson: 1 Month

Time flies when you're having fun. Or haven't slept for a month. Whatever.

 I can't believe my baby is a month old already (plus a few days)! Looking at his weekly pictures makes me want to cry. He has changed so much in the past 4 weeks and I'm pretty sure he gets more cute every day! The first two weeks were so challenging, I often caught myself looking ahead to when I would feel better. I feel like I sort of wished away those precious first days, but once I recovered from the post-partum pain and we got used to the lack of sleep, we really started to come into our own as a family. However, Cash still isn't quite sure what to think when we get up in the middle of the night and don't feed him breakfast. 

Samson's personality is starting to really shine and it is SO fun getting to know this little man. Every day comes with more facial expressions, more awareness of the world around him, more noises, more coordinated movements, more spunk and more sweetness. It is a true joy to watch him change every day, I never knew my heart could be so full.

At 1 month, Samson's likes include: eating, sleeping, smiling, making loud noises in his sleep, hanging out in the Happy Baby Wrap, snuggling, listening to mom and dad imitate his every sound, country music Blake Shelton, and staring at lamps (we have a Ron Burgundy on our hands here guys). Dislikes include: dirty diapers, empty bottles, bath time, having his arms tucked in the swaddle and the attempts of big brother Cash to sit on him... the struggle is real.

Here are the stats:

Age : 1 month

Height : 21 3/4" (90th percentile)

Weight : 9 lbs 7 oz (45th percentile)

Clothes : Mostly newborn sizes still, some 0-3 month... if the above numbers tell you anything, it appears we're growing a string bean baby, tall & lean!

Diapers : Ran out of newborn diapers, so we went up to size 1 and they seem to be doing the job. No cloth diapers yet (I'm not ready for the laundry yet!)

Eating : Exclusively pumped breast milk for 1 month, started introducing formula Monday. Hoping to be on formula 100% before I'm done with maternity leave, but that's a whole separate blog post for another day. Maybe.

Sleeping : One 5-6 hour stretch at night, followed by one 4 hour stretch. Unless of course we forget that it's actually night time instead of party time. It happens sometimes... nobody's happy when it does.

Pacifiers : Yes! Moms-to-be, don't let them scare you with talk of "nipple confusion" and their judgey eyes in the hospital.. sign yourself up for a pacifier as soon as possible. We waited until the second we got home, but we haven't looked back since. Samson's favorite are the Avent Soothies, total lifesaver.

I wish I could capture all this sweetness and come back and live it all over again. I don't want to forget a single thing about this first month: how it felt to see him for the first time, how it felt to bring him home, what the top of his head smells like, how soft and kissable he is, how tiny his toes are and the tremendous love I feel when he wraps his fingers around mine and snuggles on my chest. I am so grateful that God chose us to be Samson's parents. He is such a blessing and we are in awe of the wonderful work of our creator.

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4