Hayden's Room!

Finally the nursery is complete. Check it out!

Week 10

I know I keep saying this, but Hayden is getting SO BIG! And look at how well he is holding up his head now:


This week was a very social week. Hayden is a party animal!

We celebrated my Uncle Don's 50th birthday:



and my nephew Ethan's 2nd birthday:



and had our last You and Your New Baby class:


(Hayden's a bit of a flirt!)

This week we have lunch dates and movie dates with other moms and babies, and we're starting PEPS, which is similar to our You and Your New Baby class, except it meets for 12 weeks and in people's homes.

BTW: Update on getting Hayden to take naps in his crib... Ummm... riiiiigghht. Not happening.

Week 9

Since I just did an entry about Hayden's 2-month mark, I'll keep this one brief.

My goal this week is to get Hayden to take naps in his crib without me having to get him to sleep in my arms first. The pediatrician said he is at the age to start learning to fall asleep on his own and self-soothe. Yikes. This means letting him cry a little — up to 10 minutes! Very hard for me to do. I've read that studies have shown infants who are attended to quickly when they cry do not turn out spoiled, but the opposite. They actually tend to cry less as toddlers. When parents regularly fail to respond to their baby's cry, the baby feels powerless and worthless and often ends up being more demanding and dependent as they get older. Of course this is one of those topics of great controversy and every parent has to do what they feel is right. So we'll see.

Plus, I'm also experimenting with whether or not to keep swaddling him when he sleeps. He seems to like sleeping with his arms up above is head, but when he startles, his arms fling around and he often smacks himself in the head and wakes himself up. But lately he seems to hate being swaddled and will grunt and wiggle out of it or start screaming until I release him. A bit of a dilemma.

2 Months Old - Happy Birthday Hayden!

Hayden had his 2-month well-baby checkup yesterday. He weighs 14 lbs, 2 oz and is 24.5 inches long! That's in the 95th percentile for both (50th percentile is "average")! He's a BIG BOY! He also had to get his first round of immunizations, so that wasn't so fun but he did great and other than being pretty sleepy today, he isn't having any major reactions.

We celebrated Hayden's 2-month birthday this evening at our Childbirth Class Reunion. It was fun to see all the babies and hear everyone else's birth experiences. Everyone's were so different.

Week 8

Well Hayden and I survived Phil being gone in New York last week. It actually wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. We had lots of help, and Hayden was really good. The hardest part for me was night-time. Because it was so hot, I'd leave the windows open downstairs and then the noises would make me a little scared and I had a hard time sleeping.

The heat this week has been unbearable. Record temps in Seattle (high 90s-100!) and we don't have air-conditioning. On Wednesday, the thermostat in our house said it was 89 degrees inside! Luckily, we got out to Bellevue Square to cool off.

Hayden is working on his vowel sounds: ooh, aah, eh, uugh and also makes an interesting clicking noise. He copies us when we stick out our tongue and also makes "whistle lips" when I whistle to him. He is holding up his head pretty well most of the time, but when he's tired, he can be unpredictable, so we still call him Bobblehead Hayden!

This week I've been trying to get Hayden to take naps without me holding him. He took a 40 minute nap in his crib, and is sleeping right now in a little sun-shade bassinet thing in our living room. Oops! Spoke to soon. Mommy duty calls...

Week 7

Hayden weighs 13 lbs now. He is already in the 3 month size clothes and size 2 diapers. It makes me sad to be packing away his cute little newborn outfits and returning them to my sister-in-law Katie already. Makes me SO grateful we didn't spend too much of our own money on clothes since most were gifts or borrowed from Auntie Katie. Also helps me remember not to be tempted to buy him a cute outfit that's not on sale and costs more than what I'd even buy for myself! Baby clothes prices can be ridiculous! There's a great baby & kids consignment shop in Issaquah called Me n' Moms that has all kinds of great clothes, gear, etc. so I'll be shopping there, or at the stores in the North Bend Outlet Mall, if he needs anything.

So Phil left for New York Saturday morning. It was a teary good-bye. The past couple nights all on my own have been ok, though. Hayden is sleeping really well. I think the time will fly by and Daddy will be home before we know it. I'm so thankful for the help I'll be getting from Katie, my mother-in-law Doris, and my sister Nicki over the next couple days. I don't know what I'd do if I didn't live close by to such amazing, loving family.

Sunday we went to visit my Aunt Teri & Uncle Joe and cousin Nicole at their mini-farm in Black Diamond and also saw my Grandparents there for a little while. I'm looking forward to the time when Hayden is old enough to get excited about all the animals on her farm: chickens, goats, horses, dogs, cats... I remember really loving spending time at my great-grandparent's farm when I was growing up.

Last night Katie helped me give Hayden a bath and gave me some tips on how to do it on my own if I need to again. Bath time is a special time with Phil and Hayden, so I hope I don't have to do it on my own very often, but it's nice to know I can do it if I have to.

At my Postpartum check-up last week my doctor discovered a lump in my right thyroid gland. She is referring me to a specialist but wasn't too concerned and said as many as 10% of women have thyroid problems after childbirth. I'm trying not to worry, but it's never fun to hear "lump" and "potential biopsy" in a Doctor's visit. Your prayers are appreciated.

4th of July

We spent our 4th of July at the stunning Lake Sammamish waterfront home of Allen and Sandy, a couple from our church. There were tons of people, food, watersports, a bounce house and festivities! Hayden did great and we had a lot of fun. Here are some photos and more are on Flickr here.

Week 6

I... am... exhausted...

Phil went back to work this week. Being a Stay-At-Home-Mom is a lot of work! I made it a goal to get out of the house every day. On Monday I went on a walk with my sister-in-law Katie and her 2 kids Jude, and Ethan. On Tuesday we had our "You and Your New Baby" class. On Wednesday we went shopping at U Village with my friend Jen and her 5-month old Jonas, and then went to Phil's mom's birthday dinner in West Seattle. On Thursday we went to a movie (Ocean's 13) with a couple of moms and babies from our Baby class (Lincoln Square does a special 10am showing for Moms and Babies! Hayden had his first date!!) and also went to Costco. And on Friday, we met Phil at his office and showed Hayden off to all his co-workers, went to Red Robin, and then grocery shopping. On top of all that, I've been primarily doing the entire nighttime feeding routine so Phil can sleep, and Hayden decided this week he wasn't going to be such a good sleeper, so I spent hours each night changing him, feeding him, and bouncing him back to sleep.

Every day, the challenge is getting myself ready while taking care of Hayden. I take my shower at night when Phil's home so in the morning I just have to fix my hair, get dressed, put on some make-up and eat breakfast. Easier said than done!! Hayden decided he likes to be held all the time, so the minute I'd try to lay him down after he'd fall asleep, he'd wake up crying. I ended up mostly keeping Hayden in the Moby so I could at least have my hands free. By Friday, we started getting the hang of things. I hope this week will be better.

The highlight of each day has been Hayden's adorable smiles. We finally caught it on camera!
Phil is pretty overwhelmed with going back to work, too. He had over 1200 emails when he got back, one of his employees had resigned and they replaced that woman with someone new, and some of the things Phil had hoped would have been taken care of while he was gone, weren't. He's pretty stressed out!

Phil has to go to New York for work next Saturday through Wednesday the 11th. Phil's mom Doris and my sister-in-law Katie have generously offered to come over to give me some relief for a little while during that time, and I really appreciate it! I know it's going to be a very difficult time. I will miss Phil so much and I know he will miss us.

We enjoyed this weekend at the Issaquah Highlands 4th of July festival!
Have I mentioned how big he's getting? He must be over 12 lbs now! Check out the latest batch of photos on flickr here.