Birthday treats

For my 29th birthday, Truman treated his mama very well.

He posed for numerous pictures in his dressy outfit and flashed his killer smile over and over again. Then he slept for SEVEN HOURS STRAIGHT that night. The following night he slept for SIX in a row. Yes, this boy knows how to make his mommy happy. :)


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note the gut and baby man boobs:
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I love how he's basically an old business man, ready to pass out after a long day at the office:
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my new favorite pic ever, laughing at his crazy mommy with a camera:
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note the dimple
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and let's end with these...

he is so over it.

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three videos, three pictures (part two)

(just an average day, messing around with poor baby boy)



you know with two PT parents this boy gets his fair share of tummy time and I think he's starting to like it!



and his signature noises are always cute and entertaining (at least to me!)





And the pictures:
1. Love this facial expression
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2. So typically Truman
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3. Trying to get the rug in the background of this shot lead to a funky neck on baby boy. He didn't seem to mind:)
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two videos and two pictures (part one)

Random moments of Truman smiling take one:


And take two: please forgive me for being such an idiot when talking to my son. I just can't help it. And the deep laugh is truly frightening, but it works to get a smile every time!


And the pictures:
1. Little sink face
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2. Just too cute
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Eight weeks

My baby boy is 8 weeks old today and this is also my last day being 28 years old. Tomorrow is my big 2-9 and I'm planning on holding steady in my twenties for a few more years after that somehow:) I'm pretty sure having a baby has accelerated the aging process for me and I think I found a few gray hairs already and he's not even a teenager yet. Oy.

So baby Truman is a big boy now and SO mature it's sickening. One night I randomly thought out loud about when it would be appropriate to start using our play yard and Nate thought we should just try it out right then. Sure enough, Truman is OBSESSED with it. Like, he can stay under there for almost a full hour at his best and at least 20 minutes even when he's on the verge of a nap. It's so cute to see him staring up at his new animal friends and at that cute baby in the mirror. I swear this boy is getting happier by the day and I just love it.

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Also, this week I noticed that his hair is falling out in very odd spots. Like the top of his head and a strip on the side. I have a feeling we are going to have a bald baby on our hands soon with a few patches of long hair in the back like a mullet. Can't wait for his redneck side to emerge!

Little redneck had his first cold this week and it was much harder on me than him. He was all congested and had red watery eyes and poor baby could barely breathe through his thick boogies lodged in his nose. The doctor's office felt confident that it was just a cold since he didn't have a fever or any other symptoms, so they suggested saline drops in the nose with the booger-sucker. Let me just tell you that Mr. T is mortal enemies with anything shot into his nose. He HATED it but it worked and he's doing much better now. Poor thing--I hated to see him sick, and in fact I even came down with a sympathy cold myself. Fun times, I tell you!

(with the red, watery eyes...poor Truman!)
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He's smiling a ton now and I don't have to work quite as hard to produce that gummy grin I love so much. There is nothing like seeing his face light up with a huge smile. It makes my day every time and I can't wait for his giggle to appear next. Oh, what fun days we are in right now....I promise I'm not taking a second for granted and I'm still forcing myself to stop and breathe in the moment before it passes. Being present for each day is allowing my maternity leave to pass by at an acceptable pace instead of vanishing before my eyes and I'm not letting myself think too far ahead to the future when these magical days are done, and I return to work. Nope, not gonna think about that just yet (but it will be on May 21 if you are interested).
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As far as sleeping and a routine goes, well it's still all over the place. For every time that he puts himself to sleep without any help from me there is at least one time that I have to pull out the entire bag of tricks just to get the boy some shut-eye. For every awesome 2-3 hour daytime nap there is at least one time where he'll sleep for 10 minutes and wake up totally cranky. For every night when he goes an awesome stretch of 5 hours (5.5 is his record right now), there are the nights when he's up after 2 hours ready to rip. So basically, he's still just 8 weeks old and although we have a few general patterns we are nowhere near a solid routine. And honestly I'm totally fine with that right now and I'm enjoying figuring out what works and doesn't work for little man.

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I am considering the dreaded move into his crib, however. I mean, he's going to bed a little earlier than Nate and I lately---around 9 or so---and he's making it for at least 4 hours that first stretch of the night. It would be really nice to plop him into his crib in his room then have the first part of the night with it just being Nate and I before I wake up and feed him. We'll see how this week goes but I'm thinking about trialing it this upcoming weekend for at least the first half of the night. He really despises naps in his crib, though, so I'm worried he won't dig it one bit.

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Overall, T-man is still a happy little baby. He used to hate baths and diaper changes but he loves both now. He is content just staring out his favorite window in our family room or looking up at my photo gallery wall above the couch. Lots of times he'll just be talking to himself and smiling up a storm for no reason at all. And this boy likes to cuddle with mom in his Moby or Bjorn during the day so I'm soaking it in as much as I can:) Oh, and of course his favorite hobby is still nursing which continues to go well for us and it's even taking him less time to finish a session compared to his old ways of sucking for seriously an hour total. I'm really liking these 'quick' 30 minute sessions at night now and I'm told it continues to get more efficient and quick. We are very blessed with a relatively calm baby and I hope it all continues to go this well!

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Of course, I have a few worries despite how well things are going. For instance, whenever Truman is crying and we can't calm him down with our bag of tricks I always resort to nursing him which ALWAYS works (thank goodness). But I worry that when I return to work he's going to really miss nursing during the day and will be inconsolable. Nate watched T for 2 hours one morning while I visited with friends and I guess T was totally out of sorts and sobbed most of the time, which breaks my heart. Nate pulled out all the stops and nothing worked, not even a nice 3 ounce bottle. I really think T just wanted the comfort of nursing and I wasn't there so he freaked. I hope and pray he is able to hang for a whole day without his favorite boobies or else he might be screaming his head off more than he has in his entire life that first day. I guess only time will tell and maybe by then he will be more independent and perhaps he'll finally take a pacifier at that point, to help with the soothing. We shall see.

(cool new hat from Kim, straight out of South Korea! Our guy is so well traveled and worldly, isn't he?)
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(I love this face and his fatness here)
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(maybe my new favorite pic, even though it's out of focus. He was laughing at Nate here)

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So other than my birthday tomorrow and some dinner plans with hubby the whole week is pretty much wide open, prime for Truman and Mommy time. Just how I like it. Cannot believe he's almost two months old in some ways, and in others it was like a lifetime ago when I had him. What did we do with ourselves before this little dude was here? :)

Hold onto your daughters, ladies...

Because we have a lady killer on our hands. The smile is too much and will surely melt the hearts of any lovely baby girls out there in no time. It melts my heart and I'm way too old for him:)

I now present to you, Truman smiling for the camera (finally captured for the world to see!):

(he's just getting warmed up here, hence the lazy eye)
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And this is what he thinks of me taking so many pictures of him
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See? Isn't he too much?
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A comparison

Now that I'm embracing my new role as a new-mommy-who-tries-to-run-like-she-used-to-before-the-baby, I've had time to reflect on some things. And by 'some things' I mean a hilarious comparison that I had before I gave birth to Truman. You see, I always wondered how labor and delivery would compare to running a full marathon--in fact, Nate and I discussed it while I was pregnant deciding that it couldn't be THAT much harder to birth a child than run 26.2 miles. Endurance. Preparation. Pain. Achievement. You know, the same, right?

Allow me to pause a second to regain composure. I'm rolling on the ground laughing at that naive assumption on my part. Still laughing. Okay, I'm better now. Let's continue.

So anyway, now that I have officially experienced one hellified birth and one full marathon (and two halfs, but those don't even come close so they are nullified, and I trained for a second full marathon but said baby nixed that plan) I feel that I can provide a complete comparison for anyone else out there who wonders about these silly things. I vaguely remember looking to Nate while I was pushing Truman out of my bod and saying, 'This is way harder than running a marathon. Don't ever let me forget that, okay?'


Ways that giving birth is 1030201 times harder than a full marathon:

1. Um, in a marathon you can stop to walk, to catch your breath, to recollect your thoughts. Heck, if you really wanted to you can quit all together and pack it up for home. When you are in labor there's no stopping the baby train. Trust me, I begged my nurses to give me just a minute to catch my breath in between contractions but the Pitocin won and my sanity lost. True story.

2. You are able to PRACTICE running before the big race. For months you train and run and there aren't too many surprises lurking with 26.2 miles, since you run at least 20 in a trial run before the race. There is absolutely no freaking way you can practice having real contractions to prepare yourself. And no, Braxton Hicks don't count. I falsely assumed that since I was having 'mild contractions' for weeks that my body was practicing for labor. Pretty sure my body had no freaking clue what it was up against and it's probably best that way:)

3. Recovering from a vaginal delivery makes recovering from a marathon seem like a day in the spa. In fact, if you are brave enough you can go to a spa after a marathon and get the kinks worked out of your sore muscles. After shooting out a human from your nether regions? No way is anyone coming near my aching limbs for quite some time. It hurts to walk up stairs after both events but the similarities stop there, my friends. And speaking of recovery, pretty sure you don't tear your lady bits in a marathon unless something has gone horribly wrong. I bet you won't leave trails of blood or pee on the floor after a race, either. If so, you must run a lot harder than I do, my friend:) Did I not mention the peeing on the floor before? Well I did that when I got home from the hospital. Probably my lowest moment but quite hilarious looking back.

4. While running a marathon, you know there is a finite amount of time (or actually, a specific distance) ahead of you. No matter what, you are running 26.2 miles and you can probably estimate how long that will take you within an hour or so. With labor? HA. You have no idea if you'll be in the trenches for a few hours or a few days. For me it was the latter and I don't do so well without control over situations so you can imagine I was a total peach during my induction.

Reasons why giving birth is 201040 times sweeter than running a marathon:

1. Dude, you get a baby as a reward not some stupid cheapy medal ( although I do cherish my medals so I shouldn't discount them so quickly).

2. The pinnacle moment of seeing your child for the first time trumps the magic of crossing the finish line after 26.2 for sure. Both are amazing, but birth wins this one.

3. Did I mention the baby? Yeah, a tangible baby that will be the center of your life for about 18 plus years is pretty sweet. Seeing your husband as a dad is even more indescribable. I'd say giving birth is more life-changing than running a marathon.


Ways that they are sorta kinda similar:

1. Cheerleaders and coaches. Whether it's random strangers on the sidelines of a race or nurses yelling encouragement while holding your leg behind your head and staring at your va-jay-jay you are going to have some outsider support during these feats. And ultimately, my husband was my star cheerleader both times---words can't express how wonderfully he filled that role.

2. Pain. Lots of pain. Enough said.

3. Mental anguish. Playing mind games with yourself is always fun.

4. Allowing your body to do things you never thought possible.

5. The feeling of accomplishment, the rush of endorphins, and the sudden urge to barf everywhere (I guess the last one doesn't always happen but it's possible).

6. People who haven't experienced these feats just won't totally understand what it's all about until they are there.



So let's look at some visual comparisons for funsies:

The BEFORE of a marathon. All happy, chipper, and a lot nervous.
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And the BEFORE of labor. Stylish hospital gowns and rockin' IV poles included with the giant baby belly (and swollen jowls):
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The WORST I looked during a marathon:
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And you cannot see a picture of me looking my worst during labor because there were no pictures of that nonsense. Only lingering memories of dripping sweat, screaming obscenities, and a similar facial expression as above plus about 40 pounds of anger directed at anyone who dared to talk to me:)

Me after the marathon, showing off my prize:
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And after birth. Although I look like a large Mack truck parked on my head for awhile, check out that 'medal' of sorts. WAY cooler, no? :)
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The aftermath of a marathon, all cleaned up and ready for a big dinner that night.
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PS-I kind of hate that girl up there considering her physical appearance. I guess running for hours each week is a lot different than housing a human for 9 months and packing on the el beezies, huh? Ah, the luxury of having time to run for hours each week...

And the aftermath of birth, the next day with my little medal of honor. Yeah, not quite as tan, thin, or put together but honestly more contented than I ever thought possible.
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What a difference a year and a half makes, huh? It's amazing that two major life experiences can be so vastly different and yet somewhat similar.

Of course, I want to do both again in the near future despite the pain---I've already forgotten how bad each hurt in the moment and am totally up for it again. Also, I am absolutely not making light of the accomplishment marathoners experience because running 26.2 is frickin hard as heck. Kudos to anyone who can rise to that challenge. But I just wanted to point out that I erroneously thought since I was a marathoner that labor wouldn't be too much more challenging. And I wanted to laugh at my former idiotic self for that thought.

So no, my friends. Running a full marathon is not comparable to giving birth---at least in my humble opinion, after my own personal experiences. But boy is it fun to compare:)
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