:(

It happened.... I left the baby with the babysitter.  He had just woken up and watched me leave.  I know he has no idea what was happening, but I feel like he thought to himself... "Mom, where are you going?" :( I didn't cry.. but I teared up when I called The Hubs to tell him about the drop off.  But I am okay :)

Back to work :(

Tomorrow I start work again.  It is going to be a sad day for me and I think Parker too.  I have loved being off of work for 4 glorious months with my little guy.  I am really happy I chose to take an extra 4 weeks of unpaid time off so that I could enjoy my baby while he was smiley and interactive and laughing.  Parker will be staying with a gal who I grew up with, her mom was my babysitter so I know her whole family very well.  That does make it easier on my mind that he will be with someone that I trust... but not easier on my heart :( My logical side tells me that I will still be seeing him in the mornings, evenings, and weekends. It's not like I am giving him away forever. But this new emotional Mommy side tells me that I am not going to be the one to comfort him when he cries because he's tired. No one else knows exactly what position he likes to be in to fall asleep during the day, or what makes him laugh.  Back to my logical side- the babysitter will figure it out.  No one in my family is thrilled with him going to a babysitter, they are thankful about who it is... but not thrilled that it's not one of us.  My husband keeps asking if she is going to pick him up and hold him when he is being fussy and needs to be held all day... logical side tells him YES, we know what it's like to have a screaming child in the same room as you.. you try to make them not scream.  My Mommy side though... I don't know.  I don't know that she won't be too busy with her own kids and other day care kids.  At the same time I do know.  UGHH logical vs emotional arguments have been running through my head all day.  How will I not stare at this baby all day everyday.

Any working Moms out there have any words of advice for me?

Onto cuter topics... My Son!

He is getting so big!  We had to move him to size 2 diapers this week, and we still had a TON of size 1 diapers, luckily I know a few pregnant gals and will be sending those to them.

Parker now likes to "give kisses" but really just sucks on my cheek.  

We started putting him in his jumper and he loves it... when he's in the mood to be alone.  He also likes to watch TV... bad mom I know :( 

He has started smiling and laughing at himself when I turn my iPhone camera so he can see himself.  It's adorable to watch him interact with himself.  

Another milestone this week was putting him in his stroller like a big kid!! The weather on Saturday was BEAUTIFUL!! I had a ton of errands to run and Parker was amazing and slept through them all!  Then he ate and I wanted to go check out a few garage sales.  I knew he was wide awake and would fuss if I tried to put him in carseat.  So we just tried it out and I think he liked it.  He didn't cry, but I couldn't see his face (which I hated).  Every once in a while I would look at him and he would just be looking around so I think he enjoyed it.  

I am linking this up with Breanna @ Counting Blessings for her Mamarazzi Monday's so go check out her blog!

Horrible blogger!!! 15 weeks :)

Well Mr. Parker is now 15 weeks old!!! I have a lot to update on, but as of today Parker is still an amazingly awesome baby <3 p="">
Parker weighs 14.8 lbs, and was 23 3/4 in. at his 2 month appt.  He is great at tummy time, but will only stay on his tummy for a few seconds before he rolls over onto his back.  Yes he already rolls over! He is a chatty guy, making so many new noises.  He laughs, but not the actual giggles laugh yet.  He is close though! He is starting to hold onto things and bring them into his mouth... possibly teething?

We started putting him in his jumper with a pillow under his feet and he liked it at first... but after a few days he isn't as amused as he used to be.  He took his first trip to the cabin last weekend... where Mommy and Daddy failed to take ANY pictures to remember the trip.

He has moved up to size 2 nipples in his bottles, and 8oz bottles instead of 4oz. We did have to start formula for him :( Very hard day for me, to admit that I wasn't able to provide my child with what I am biologically made to give him.  I tried and tried but he would throw up so much every time he nursed.  So we decided to make the switch, and I immediately realized that meant I could eat spicy food, drink milk, and have as many drinks as I wanted!  The Hubs likes it too, because now he and Parker have a nightly routine and he is the one who gives Parker his bedtime bottle and puts him to bed every night :)

I am pretty impressed with the Hubs and I for getting into such a routine with Parker.  Starting 2 weeks ago in preparation of going back to work I started attempting to get out of the house showered, dressed, Parker fed and dressed by 8am.  I am now confident that I will be able to successfully adjust to the work morning schedule.  I have been making dinner almost every night, cleaning that dinner and the kitchen, give Parker and bath and into bed by 8:30pm.  It is exhausting and at 8:31 I feel like I could fall asleep, but I love the routine that we have.  Getting out of the house at 8 helps so much with getting things done around the house.  I forgot how much I love being an early bird :)

Parker is still sleeping (knock on wood) really good for us.  He falls asleep usually around 9pm, and wakes up around 6:45am.  Yea, I know, I am one lucky Mommy :) Naps though are another story.  He will not sleep for longer than 45 minutes, and that is stretching it.  I try to recreate the exact same atmosphere as night time but he still won't take a good long nap.  He also isn't putting himself to sleep during the day, whereas at night he does.  Weird kid.

I am sure that there are many many more updates but I am getting tired so I will leave you with some pictures of my little man.

Parker's poops have really started to smell, this is what The Hubs has to do just to change him!

Parker at his first birthday party!

Just my happy boy :)

He found his thumb!

He loves his wubbanub.

Parker and Daddy taking a nap <3 p="">

Happy boy!

Grumpy sleeper

But happy when he's awake :)

This is the onesie that I used to tell the Hubs we were having a baby <3 p="">

He loves bath time!

And his thumb

Getting good at tummy time.

With his thumb again, he looks like his Daddy here :)

Valentine's Day photo shoot with Mommy

He is such a hunk!

3 Month pictures

3 Month pictures

Little Hugh Hefner with his robe.

Mommy and Parker

Cutie Pie!

Parker in his jumper

And on his tummy time mat.

ADIOS!!!

Friday Letter's

I think this is a cute idea that I found from Breanna @ Countings Blessings.  I am linking this up with Ashley @ The Sweet Season.

Dear Parker, I am very happy that you have decided to take a nice LONG nap in your bouncer today, but I wish you would do this in your crib so that I don't have to tip toe around the house while you are asleep. Mommy has chores to do!

Dear Fog, Please lift so that The Hubs can come home quickly.  Parker and I have been waiting to see him for 5 days now!

Dear Inventor of the DVR. I LOVE YOU.  That is all :)

Dear Shoedazzle, I have had a pair of shoes that I need to return for 6 months... I am totally ashamed and hope to have them returned before Monday!

That is all for now :)

Here is a pic of me and my squishy face son!

2 Months!!!

This update is a little late, but Parker is 2 months old!!

The past 2 weeks have been tough, but are starting to improve.  Parker was diagnosed with acid reflux :( The symptoms he was showing were TONS of spitting up, screaming after spitting up, pulling away while eating and screaming, followed by vigorously eating again, burping and screaming, and just fussiness.  It was tolerable (for me) and then one day it was just awful and I put a call into the Dr. and they started Parker on Zantac.  It was a tiny dose and didn't really make a difference.  It seemed like he was just getting worse, then on Tuesday the 8th he PROJECTILE vomited all his food on me and screamed in pain :( :( It was awful.  I called his pediatrician again and she immediately ordered him an ultrasound to rule out Pyloric Stenosis and had to do bloodwork to make sure he wasn't dehydrated due to his throwing up.  All of this was happening when the Hubs was out of town for work too.  I wished he would have been there so much, it was scary without him. Luckily my parents rock and my Mom stayed the night with me watching Parker and my Dad came to the hospital with me for Parker's ultrasound. Luckily his ultrasound went great and everything looked good.  The Dr. did start him on rice cereal which has helped so much with his spitting up, and they also upped his dose of Zantac.  

Other than the medical stuff....

NAPS: His naps are amazing now, he usually has one LONG 3-4 hour nap a day and a couple 2 hour naps.  If he doesn't get those long naps now, he sleeps horribly too!  So no one is to wake my child, EVER! 

SLEEP: Parker is sleeping better through the night, since we made the switch to his OWN ROOM in his OWN CRIB! I stayed the night on the floor with him for a few nights and he is doing great! 

CHANGES/MILESTONES: He is still being a super happy smily baby, and is starting to reach out to grab for things.  I don't know if it is actually happening or I am just hearing this because I am so tired but it sounds like when he is crying there is actual vocal sounds and not just cries.  He is drooling like crazy!  I have to start putting bibs on him so he doesn't soak his tops.  His favorite things are looking at the brights lights and ceiling fans.  Also he LOVES white noise, and not quiet white noise, but LOUD white noise. He has started to enjoy diaper changes now, that's when we get the most smiles out of him :) He still hates tummy time, but tolerates being on his back.  He doesn't love his bumbo seat yet and does not enjoy when he is pulled from his food to be burped.  He has such a dramatic loud scream and literally throws himself back to the position where he gets fed again. He is just a little piggy!

UP NEXT: We had Parker's two month check up but didn't do his vaccines yet because his appt was an hour late and he was already upset so we are doing that later this week once Daddy is home.  I still have to get his daycare set up... I have no idea what I am going to do as far as daycare goes! We have a couple birthday parties to go to in the next few weeks and that will be Parker's first big public outing other than family!  But (knock on wood) he does great in public!  

So here are some pics of the past two weeks!

My happy boy!

Asleep in his crib.

Tummy time is not his favorite.

Mommy's bed for a few nights. 

Sleeping peacefully in Target. 

At his ultrasound looking at the TV screen

Bruises from his bloodwork :( 

Sleepy boy

Watching the 49ers game with Grandpa

Parker and Daddy getting ready for his two month pictures!

5-6 weeks....

Wow, a lot happened between week 5 and 6.  Starting on Dec 23rd we had Christmas festivities for 3 days straight.  Prior to those days I had a miraculous baby who slept 4 or 4.5 hour stretches at night.  He was having some trouble with spitting up a lot, but he was coming off of a growth spurt so that's to be expected.  Well starting on the 23rd his schedule was off, he still ate every 2.5-3.5 hours, and slept TONS, but when he slept, he was always in someones arms... FOR 3 DAYS!!! Therefore when he was at home and I tried to put him down, he screamed.  On top of that he was having some major gas problems :( I hated watching him grunt and then cry when nothing came out. Well after sleeping for a total of 5 hours over 2 nights I had enough.  I thought I was going crazy, I was delirious and he was so gassy, and the only thing that made him happy was eating more.  On Christmas he actually ate every hour from 2pm-10pm, and then it was 90 minutes after that.  Hello boobs that are going to fall off!!  So starting the day after Christmas I told everyone that I was locking myself up with the baby and not leaving until we were back on schedule.  It took 2 days to get back on a regular schedule, and those 2 days were AWFUL!!  We are however back to some sort of normalcy... if that is possible with a 6 week old.  So here is a little update on a few certain topics

NAPS:
Parker is taking on average 6 naps per day.  Those naps are anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours.  I am following very loosely the baby wise method of Eat Activity Sleep You (with an added Activity after sleep when he takes shorter naps).  I am hoping to get Mr. Parker sleeping through the night before I go back to work so we are slowly setting the stage for that right now.  When I put him down for a nap it is either in his bouncer, swing, or car seat if we are going somewhere.  I make sure he is fed and has had his diaper changed and then I place him in there when he is showing signs of being sleepy (yawning, subbing eyes, whimpering).  Then I brace myself to hear him cry :(  It is unfortunate but the first time I had to let him just cry it out was by mistake and it worked so well I went with it from there. I was in the shower and had put him in his bouncer after feeding him.  He started crying right when I was all soapy with shampoo, so he had to wait for me to rinse off... within 2 minutes he was asleep.  So I started timing it that day and usually within 5 minutes of him crying he is asleep.  It has been easier than I expected and it works for us.  I know a lot of people have different opinions about letting kids this young cry it out, but this is working for us so we are sticking with it.

SLEEP:
Once we got out of the holiday stage he was still waking up every 2 1/2 hours on average until we got his day times back on track.  Now he is at about 3 1/2 hour blocks. We started giving him gas drops before or after meals and that cut out one night feeding.  I then started giving Parker his pacifier when he woke up before automatically feeding him if he wasn't acting hungry.  That surprisingly worked for 2 more night feedings.  Which means that he can go 5 hours without wanting to eat, but is still waking up.  I am going to be tackling that these next 2 weeks and I will let you all know how that goes.

CHANGES/MILESTONES:
The biggest change we have seen with Parker is how happy he is.  He is a smiling machine!  I can pretty much get a smile out of him anytime I start talking baby talk to him. The first of the big smiles was on Christmas and it was the best gift I could get out of him after sleeping only 2 1/2 hours the night before.  We even get cooing and laughing to go along with the smiles :) It is adorable and melts my heart when he does it.

He is also growing too fast! I officially have taken all his newborn clothes out of his closet and dresser and boxed them up :( Only 2 onesies that weren't worn and that's not bad for a kid who had 2 drawers full of newborn onesies! The Hubs stepped on the scale with him on Christmas day and he weighed 11 lbs! That almost a 4 lb gain from his birth and almost 5 lbs from his lowest.  I feel like we will get scolded by his pediatrician at his next appt.

UP NEXT:
He is 7 weeks today and almost 2 months old. He has his 2 month check up on the 13th that will tell us officially how much he has gained and we are going to talk to the Dr. about his constipation issues and his CONSISTENT spitting up.

Here are pics from the past 2 weeks ENJOY and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

In his Jets uniform from Uncle Joe

One of Parker's many expressions

Sweet boy :)

Tummy time! Look at that belly :)

Peacefully swaddled up and asleep

This kid always has his pinkies out! 

Christmas Eve outfit :)

Christmas morning with Daddy

Christmas morning with a tired Mommy

Christmas night at Grandma's. 

Mommy and Parker

Using his telepathic powers to speak to us Lol

Happy boy!

Look at those chins!

I love baby wearing, it makes my chores so much easier, this was on New Years Eve as we looked at wedding venues for my sister who got engaged before Christmas. 

Watching TV with Daddy.