Second Month in Pictures

Here are some snapshots from Beckett's second month of life!

Over the Moon

This little boy is over the moon for his dad.

 And this dad is over the moon for his little boy.

These Days

What's going on around here these days?  Not much outside of watching this little guy grow and change.

A few weeks ago I started retiring his newborn size footed pj's (so sad!) and then a week later his 0-3 month ones started seeming too snug as well.  He is growing like a weed.  I don't want him to ever grow up, but he doesn't seem to be listening.

Although I have to say that I am loving the stage he has evolved into lately.  He gets really playful sometimes and if we lay him on his back he kicks and punches and coos and smiles like crazy.  It melts my heart every time.  He is really fun to interact with.  And that smile is so stinking cute I could die.  Right now he doesn't find us any more smile worthy than the fan or the Ian Kinsler baseball card on the wall above his changing table, but we are working on it.

His favorite thing is still to be held and snuggled and I can't possibly think of a better use of my time.

Speaking of time, I'm two-thirds of the way through my maternity leave and when I think about the day I have to go back to work it sucks the wind out of me.  But I'll be home with Beckett all but a couple days a week and that makes me so happy.  Plus I'm already looking forward to the summer when Kolby is off and we'll have so much time as a whole family.  We really rocked it that first month.

Beckett and I are getting into a pretty good routine that involves very little sleep, hilarious baths, precious play time, very audible diaper fills, lots of snuggling, and a whole lot less fussing than before.  I'm breastfeeding him and it is the most wonderful thing ever.  Sure it takes up about 9 hours of each day, but it's time with him that I really cherish.

When Kolby gets home I always think that'll be my chance to "do things"---namely cleaning up the huge mess I've made throughout the day---but inevitably Kolby lays Beckett on his lap and Beckett goes nuts for him and all I can do is join them on the couch and take in all of it.  It's just so sweet.  Our house may look like a bomb went off and I literally get nothing done ever, but all I can think about is the last line of that cliche poem:  babies don't keep.

We spend hours a day just staring at him and continuously saying to each other, "he's just so cute." I mean seriously:

We also spend more time than we should blowing through The West Wing on Netflix.  We're both declaring it the best show ever made.  When the weather warms up we'll go on evening walks and probably have more productive things to do, but right now, the three of us camping out in the living room watching tv together is just about perfect.

Our little guy has decided he just doesn't need much sleep.  For quite awhile he was sleeping really well at night but was pretty fussy, or at least high maintenance, during the day.  Now we have gotten into a good rhythm during the day but he only sleeps for a couple of 2-2.5 hour stretches at night.  Including a few power naps during the day, the two of us are functioning on about six hours of sleep a day.  Spirits are surprisingly high on both accounts, but when I read that infants typically average 16 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period I can't help but wonder how on earth he can be 10 hours short.  He's just so bright eyed and alert all the time, I guess he just doesn't want to miss anything!  I can't tell you how many times a day I figure he has to be so tired, so I swaddle him and rock/pat him only to be met with this face:

 Sleep is overrated.

Well that's about all that's going on around here these days.  Beckett turns two months old a week from today, if you can believe it.  I sure can't!

Newborn Pictures

It's been awhile since these were taken, but I want to share a few anyway.  Here are Beckett's newborn pictures, which were taken on his one week birthday.  In some ways he's changed a lot but in other ways he looks exactly the same to me!

More pictures can be found here.

One Month Old

 I’ll never be able to put into words what these first few weeks have been like.  Nevertheless, I feel like it's time for an update.  Without the energy to provide artful paragraphs, here's a rundown of all things Beckett:

What we did together this month:

-Listened to lots of Christmas music (mostly Mariah Carey, obviously)

-Laughed at Beckett's adorable facial expressions

-Stared at the Christmas tree with all the lights and ornaments

-Met lots of family and friends (Beckett is still working on matching names with faces)

-Napped

-Found ourselves covered in Beckett's various bodily fluids (sometimes all three of us at once)

-Had staring contests

-Spent a week at the ranch

-Kolby and Beckett hung out in their living room "man cave" between the hours of 12-6 a.m. several nights

-Watched The West Wing as a family while I fed Beckett

-Had a successful family errand to a mattress store and a less successful one to Target

-Went to church twice

-Spent uninterrupted time as a family, with the exception of 2.5 days that Kolby worked

Here are some of Beckett's favorite things in his first month of life:

-Motion

-Laying on his changing pad

-When we hold him and bounce on the exercise ball

-Baths

-Walks with his dad, in the carrier

-Looking at contrast (dark picture frames on a light wall, ceiling fans, people with dark glasses frames or dark facial hair, etc.)

-Sleeping on his stomach on our chests

-Being swaddled

-Riding in the car, as long as it’s moving

-Mom and Dad's voices

-Eating

-Peeing on us

Here are some of my favorite things about Beckett:

-His milk breath

-All of his facial expressions, especially when he makes his mouth into a tiny “O”

-How he sticks out his chest insanely far when he stretches

-His absolutely divine newborn hair

-The profile of his sweet face

-His inadvertent grins

-How when I burp him over my shoulder, he always gets in the sweetest poses with his hands up under his (double) chin

-His tiny long fingers
-How he sleeps with his mouth wide open

-His impossibly smooth baby skin

-How when I hold him over my shoulder when he's hungry, he turns his head to mine and starts sucking on my face.  It’s like he's a little starfish.  He's gotten a really good latch onto my cheeks, chin, and nose.

 It really is hard to believe this little man has been a part of our lives for a month already.  At the same time, he fits right into our happy little life together.  The days blur together because I find myself lost staring at his sweet little face.  Becoming parents is the greatest thing that's ever happened to Kolby and me--and this is only the beginning.  We can't wait to see what's in store next month and beyond!

A Month in Pictures

It turns out that having a newborn is quite time consuming :).  Particularly when your precious newborn doesn't care to sleep at all during the day, instead preferring to be held 100% of the time, and further preferring to continuously alternate between the over-the-shoulder pat, the cradled-in-forearms jiggle, and the hold-me-any-way-you-want-but-you-must-be-bouncing-on-the-big-exercise-ball.

I have no complaints about any of this---we hoped for a snuggler---I simply mean to explain why blogging is not yet on my radar screen!

If you can believe it, I haven't even been able get out my nice camera and capture decent pictures of this little guy, who is undoubtedly the most handsome baby of all time.  I plan to remedy that this week.

For now I at least want to put up some pictures from my phone.  Enjoy!