Three Months

Truman has officially left the 'fourth trimester' in his life and is entering 'big boy-hood', according to me at least:) Three whole months have been packed full of growth, change, a ton of firsts, and a ridiculous amount of smiles. He's changed so much even in the past month and I've heard a lot of my friends say, 'He looks like a different baby now!' when they see him in person. Although change usually freaks me out and makes me anxious/sad, the changes that Truman is undergoing are exciting and fun---no sadness here. It seems like every day he gets more interactive and happy and I am SO looking forward to his next three months.

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Some of Truman's favorite things include, but are not limited to:
-Being in the great outdoors. Seriously, this boy loves to look at the trees and smell the fresh air so much that just by stepping foot outside, we can usually calm him down from a near meltdown. Just like his daddy he'll probably be an outdoorsman. :)

-The 'visualizer' option on I-Tunes. Specifically, the 'jelly' version. And more specifically, anything by Dave Matthews or Coldplay. I didn't catch the screaming fit going on before we asked Dave and Chris Martin to soothe our baby boy, but imagine him sobbing his eyes out and being totally inconsolable. Then as soon as we hit 'play' his eyes glaze over and he is immediately content. I kid you not, it's absolutely hilarious and crazy and awesome. Dave and Chris are my babysitters sometimes, for real.



-Recognizing his mommy and daddy and then flashing his gummy grin, which of course, makes our hearts melt. Loveitsomuch.

-Napping in his cosleeper, with his 'sleep blankie', like a big boy. No rocking or soothing needed.

-Bath time outdoors on our new front porch (did I mention that my father-in-law built an actual railing, so we can go out to our porch without fearing a catastrophic fall?) Awesome. And baby Truman loves to splash his naked bootie in his tub while watching the leaves move.

-His hands. They are still the bomb, apparently.

Also, we've stopped swaddling Truman and usually we don't even need a sleep sack at night anymore with this warm weather. I was SO nervous to ditch the swaddle but he's a champ and seems to enjoy sleeping with his arms freed. It didn't make a difference in how long he can sleep at all. It's still all over the place anyway:) Plus, he's accepting the pacifier more often now, especially after he's eaten and before a nap, which makes me happy to have another soothing method for mister T. It's still not his fave and most of the time he just spits it out but at least it helps some of the time.

My little Zoolander:
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The other day I was visiting Andrea and baby Eli (he is so stinking tiny and cute, by the way) and she had a baby scale, so I weighed Truman with clothes and diaper on. The boy is 16 pounds now which is insane to me. He's more than doubled his birth weight and is obviously still loving the boob and tolerates the bottle when he has to. Looking at baby Eli I can barely remember when Truman was 7 pounds. And looking at Erin's Henry, who is 7.5 months, I can barely imagine Truman being that big and mobile. And yet, it keeps happening with a blink of the eye.

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I got a nice little surprise this week when I got called off at work on Tuesday. We were overstaffed and I was up next to be canceled which meant that I had Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, and my regular Wednesday off with baby boy. I enjoyed the crap out of our time together and managed to snap approximately 700 pictures in those days. :) So my father-in-law was off the hook on his first babysitting day but Thursday will be his day to start watching Truman for the summer. And of course, Friday is our first day of daycare (eek! I'm kind of excited for some reason??). Nate also started his clinicals on Tuesday and I'm so proud of him for beginning this last leg of his graduate school journey. He's going to blow them away I'm sure.
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We've made a huge decision and are planning to make our first road trip down to St. Louis with Truman. I am totally freaking out over here, you guys. I mean, the logistics of having a three month old breastfeeder in the car for at least 6 hours is stressing me out. I'm sure the drive down and back will include multiple stops and hopefully not infinite amounts of crying (on my part at least:) ). But once we are down there, I'm worried that T will be ALL out of sorts and will refuse to sleep at all. No matter what, I want to go down there and see all of our friends and let them meet Truman so we are just going to suck it up and give it a go. But I'm trying to make a list of stuff to bring and it's a bit overwhelming. Like anything else, I'm sure it will be just fine once we just do it. And I can't wait for Truman to get his first taste of Missouri summers!

(a little gray here, but too lazy to edit)
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I'm finding that being a working mom and a blogger leaves little time for updates, witty posts, or anything other than tons of pictures of baby Truman. I still enjoy blogging and know that this is a great way for family and friends to see Truman's progress and for that reason I will likely continue to blog. But I can't help but feel like my blog has become watered down, boring, and rather stagnant at times and it does bother me a bit. If I'm only blogging for my friends and family, then wouldn't Flickr pictures and Facebook updates do the same thing that this blog does? I know how great it feels to get comments on posts but I'm not able to do the same for other bloggers out there like I used to do (sorry guys!), and thus I don't get as many comments in return. I mean, I'm not blogging solely to get comments and feedback but it is one of my favorite parts of the blog. I guess I just need to look at it differently, with me putting posts out there for myself, for friends and for family and any feedback from the public world out there is just a bonus. This blog has been alive for almost 3 years now and it's bound to evolve a bit over time, right? I guess I've just been asking myself the all-important question that every blogger must ask herself: Why do I blog publicly? I don't really know the answer to that question right now and I don't expect anyone to answer it for me. I guess I'm assuming that since I love to read about growing babies, and to see their pictures on other mommy blogs then my readers probably like it, too. Enough rambling and over-analyzing though, how about I just show you two million pictures of baby boy now?

I had an 'ah-ha' moment yesterday when I realized that I always use my kit lens for pics of Truman. I used to love my 50mm f/1.8 for pics of Henry but then with Truman I've gravitated to the kit so that I can zoom in and out easily. Well, the 1.8 is a much better lens than my kit and I decided to get some practice moving my body closer or farther away to zoom. I really like the results. :)

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and a little Photoshop time always helps, too! Such a luxury to have the time...
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And our photoshoot from today, in my favorite 'muscle shirt' outfit:

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43 comments:

  1. I personally love all things baby, especially little Truman. I don't mind not getting comments or frequent updates....keep on keepin on!

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  2. Hi Julia!

    When you mentioned that you love getting comments (don't we all, I am SO BAD at taking the time to write them though!) it reminded me to tell you something. I recently found out that I'm pregnant(another fiveblondes baby, ahh!) and going back and reading your detailed week-by-week pregnancy posts has been really interesting! I did read them at the time of posting but as I'm sure you can understand, they didn't mean even 1/100th as much as they do now. I'm am currently at the SUPER DUPER TIRED stage and very much looking forward to getting out of it asap. So it's nice to read that you were here too at one point and it passed!

    Truman is c-u-t-e and I'm sure reading about his milestones will be really helpful to me once my own bambino is born!

    I haven't posted my news on the blog yet but will in the next week or so. We'll see how long I can wait!

    Micaela - fiveblondes.com

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  3. As a member of non-blogging world (and a non-mother at that), I love reading your blog and have thoroughly enjoyed the posts since Truman was born. I love your honesty about what's going on - good, bad or indifferent. I, for one, would be very sad if you no longer posted - for what it's worth.

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  4. He looks like a baby model with that gorgeous face & dimples.
    I traveled with Bella when she was about 2 or 3 months to AR, which is a 7 hr drive from STL. We left in the afternoon I think around 4 and didn't make it there for about 8ish hrs BUT it wasn't terrible. She actually slept most of the trip. I was also worried that her sleep schedule would be off. She surprisingly slept through the night while we were there b/c of all the excitement during the day. HTH! Good Luck with the trip & I hope it goes smoothly.

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  5. I still love to read. It's totally understandable that you have less time to comment! And think how nice it will be to be able to look back at the blog and see Truman's progress with words. :)

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  6. please don't stop blogging---I still enjoy your posts regardless of if it's only baby stuff (makes me store away tidbits of info for the future :))

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  7. I too still love to read your blog even if it is only once a week. I hope you don't stop. On a side note I had asked a while back about your lens and I had purchased the 50 mm 1.8 well a couple weeks back I purchased a Tamro 2.8 17-50mm lens and I love it. You can still zoom and have the lovely blurred backgrounds that I get out of the 1.8. I found mine on ebay for right at $300- it's something to look into.

    I hope the daycare goes well Friday and best of luck!

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  8. He is just too much, Julia!! Such a cutie :). And, Olivia hasn't been swaddled since she was about 6-8 weeks old and it's never made a difference in sleeping for her. I think she actually slept better when she could get to her hands. Ditto the little ones loving the outside and trying to figure out the whole blogging thing as a new mom. I have some of the same thoughts you do, but continue to do it when I can because I enjoy it.

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  9. I can't believe how much he looks like a baby now, and not a newborn! And 16 pounds? He's going to catch up to Isaac soon!! Glad things are going good!

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  10. i love the month by month comparisons of truman, too cute. i hope you continue to find the time and energy to blog! i always look forward to your updates. :)

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  11. yeah, J!!! can't wait to see you, nate and meet TRUMAN!!!

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  12. oh my goodness! 3 months is a good month for little truman! or big truman! :) he is absolutely adorable.

    i absolutely love the truman updates and would miss you if you stopped. it takes a while to find the balance again.

    oh...about traveling. just make sure you bring everything that truman normally needs to sleep. sound machines, whatever. just recreate his normal sleeping environment.

    love the updates!

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  13. It's funny, I would have sworn back when you posted his 2 month pics that he couldn't possibly get any cuter, and sure enough he did. :) I've made the drive from WI to MO too many times to count (relatives all over WI) and the good news is that it's an easy drive with tons of nice places to stop. Good luck!

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  14. He is so adorable! It's crazy to see the pictures from one, two and three months old together...he really does look like a different baby!

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  15. Oh my goodness, those last couple pictures in the muscle outfit are too much!!

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  16. I love reading your blog and as someday I'll be a working momma too, it's awesome to see how you've transitioned to that phase. Keep it up! :)

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  17. First off, love love love all the pictures. I can't tell you how much my FB and Blogger comments decreased once Noelle got here. I tell everyone I'm still reading and keeping track of what's going on in their lives, even if I'm bad at communicating it.
    Since I know you love lists as much as I do, start making one now for travel. As you go through your routines, write down the things you absolutely have to have. I just know everything will go smoothly!

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  18. Those dimples and chunky arms are too much. I dont know how you can handle the cuteness! Don't be so hard on yourself on the blogging and commenting...you're doing a great job with the updates and who would complain about seeing so many adorable (and great!) photos of Truman.

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  19. He definitely looks like a different baby now - and I think he's just getting cuter! Also - neither you, nor your friend, look like you gave birth to babies in the last 3 months - if ever!! You both look great!! :o)

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  20. You are so right, his looks have changed! I love the side by side shots from months 1-3 and the smiley faces at the end of the post!
    Keep the baby updates coming...and all the other news too!

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  21. Watching Truman grow in these short three months has been absolutely amazing! It's so unreal to see him transform from sleepy newborn to alert baby. Makes me so curious to see how Eli is going to change!

    I think it's wonderful that you're headed to St. Louis. I have a feeling Truman is going to be a trooper. That boy never fails to impress his mom and dad, right? Plus, it will be good for your soul to see all your friends.

    And, I don't know why, but those pictures of the three boys makes me laugh. Eli looks totally out of the loop and in his own world!

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  22. Wow- that baby is teeny! 7 lbs really is quite average, but he looks so small next to the other big boys:) Plus, Spence was 9.2 at birth, so I have no idea what "normal" looks like.

    Hope your day tomorrow goes well. I'm only 3 weeks into maternity leave, so I've still got time ahead of me, but I am dreading that first day back already. It just makes me sad to know I have to leave. But, like you, I need to go back at this point, so there's no use in stressing about it. Plus I love, love my job, so that'll make it easier.

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  23. So many baby pictures...which one will you use for his high school graduation? : )

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  24. I don't always comment b/c I have a 16 wk old and don't have as much time anymore, but he is such a cutie. I always enjoy looking at your pictures. I currently only have a point and shoot, so it's nice to look at good baby pics.

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  25. Seriously . . . I don't think Truman can take a bad picture! Too cute!!

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  26. I still love reading your blog! Your updates on Truman, and your transition to working mom has been really interesting! I wouldn't worry about commenting on other peoples blogs...you have kind of a lot going on :)

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  27. Hi Julia,

    I am de-lurking to say please don't stop blogging!! I found your blog through Jenna's blog (That Wife) and I was pleased as punch to find out that you are in the Milwaukee area (me too! Third Ward!). I am about to be a newlywed and I have LOVED reading through your archives and reading all about your pregnancy...I for one LOVE the posts about Baby Truman and would hate for you to quit blogging! You have a real talent for writing and photography and I would definitely miss reading your posts if you didn't blog!

    Just thought you should know you have readers out there who love your blog but don't always comment. :)

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  28. Gosh, when you put him next to baby Eli, you realize how much he's changed in such a short amount of time. It's remarkable the growing and development that occurs in just those first three months of life.

    Good luck on the road trip to St. Louis. It will be an adventure, but you will be an old pro at traveling with a baby by the end of the trip. Keep up the blogging, even just pictures and a few words here and there. I enjoy reading and seeing Truman grow.

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  29. First, Truman is adorable. Also, we took a trip down to St. Louis with our 2 month old about a week ago and she was really good. I was super worried about the driving, but she was really content, and I just fed her when we stopped to eat, and then again as soon as we got there. The car seemed to be really soothing to her.

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  30. I read your blog faithfully. I hope that you keep it up!

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  31. I'm glad you're doing so well and Truman is the cutest baby ever. :)

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  32. I just found your blog today when I was googling something and I got sucked in and read every post starting from one week post partum up until this one. I am holding my 12 day old baby girl right now as I read/type. I was so glad to read your posts and find out that everything I'm going through is NORMAL (although you seemed way less emotional than me!) and I bawled mt eyes out when I read your letter to Truman about having to go back to work because that's my biggest fear right now! I can't even imagine leaving her and I get scared she will resent me or something. I was relieved to read that your transition went so well! Hopefully mine will too.

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  33. My little man is 7 weeks today and I have loved following your story. It's been encouraging to me as I'm right behind you on so many of these things! Thanks for sharing when you get the time!

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  34. I'm still here and I hope you stay! Not a mother but I love to see photos of your little man. I loved reading out Henry before, but now that we have a dog I've gone back to re-read your 'henry' posts...keep at it. You'll find your new voice. I love to come here for your beautiful pictures and honest thoughts, for what that's worth.

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  35. Oh my gosh! LOVE love LOVE the one of him with spit bubbles in his muscle shirt. I love baby spit bubbles. Is that weird? Whatever. I love checking your blog. I loved keeping up with your pregnancy and now watching Truman grow! I wish my friends with babies had a blog! I feel like I can kinda know a tiny bit more what to expect when the time comes for me and the hubby to have a baby. Please keep blogging! I love it!

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  36. Julia, please keep blogging! I have found your blog interesting and fun! You're very creative and I intend to do a primary color nursery (when we have a new house) inspired by you!

    Blogs inevitably turn to pregnancy/babies when you get to that stage. I have trouble remembering what the heck I wrote about before I got pregnant! It's okay if you're too busy. Read, write and comment when you can. The mamas understand being busy :)

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  37. Ah Truman is too cute to handle! And the pictures with your re-discovered lens look GREAT!

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  38. He's such a happy baby!!!! Great pics as usual!!

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  39. I don't think I've ever commented here - I just am lazy like that I suppose - but I just wanted you to know that your blog is one of my favorites. So... even if you're not getting as many comments... don't think people aren't reading and enjoying!

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  40. Oh that little man of you is just getting cuter and cuter by the day! I know how you feel about the blogging thing. I've felt the same way. You know I love reading, although I know that I am commenting less. I just don't have much to contribute on the baby front other than to say how cute Truman is!

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