Dear Quintin, Happy Birthday!

Dear sweet baby Quintin,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
I can hardly believe it's been an entire year since I held you in my arms for the first time. I looked at you and understood "love at first sight". You were perfect. Every little detail was perfect--little finger nails and ear lobes! I was exhausted, it took a lot of work to get you into this world. But all I could do was stare at you and silently pray to Heavenly Father thanking Him for such a wonderful blessing.
And now you are one year old. Some things have changed and others haven't! Now you are still perfect in every little detail. Even with that little scrape on the back of your arm, your tooth that is only half through the gums, and that horrible line in your hair from when I messed up cutting it last week. I look at you and see perfect.
Something that is changed is you can move!! Holy cow. Was I unprepared for a mover or what?! You've kindly shown me how un baby-proofed our house was over and over again. I feel like just yesterday I was snuggling you and doing my homework. I could leave you on the couch or the bed and you would stay right where you were!! Then slowly you started rolling, then rolling over and over, then scooting backwards, then army crawling, then crawling, then pulling up, then walking along furniture, and now so close to walking!
I am sad you've been sick the past few days but I'm not sad about all the extra snuggling we've had together. I think that's something not everyone can understand, not even daddy. I don't get tired of having you around, snuggled up in my arms. Sure you drive me crazy and we get tired of being cooped up at home. But then you give me one of your little smiles and everything is good again. No one else understands how I can be so fascinated by watching your little fingers pick up food and put in your mouth for hours on end. No one can understand the joy it brings to see you clap or shake your bum when music comes on. And NO ONE understands just how great it feels to hear you say ‘momma’ (Even if you do usually say daddy 1000 times to every 1 mommy).
So, here we are a year later. 100s of diapers, smiles, cries, late night feedings, messes, laughing fits later. And all I can think is how much I’ve learned and how much I love you. I thought I would be a pro at the mom thing. How hard could it be right? Oh how wrong I was!! Luckily, you are a good baby with a patient disposition. We’ve made it through a year of learning together. Thanks for letting me learn and thanks for teaching me so much this year.
I never thought I could love anything or anyone as much as I love you now. But then again one year ago, when you and I met for the first time, I never thought I could love you more than that minute. I am looking forward to an eternity of fun with you. I know soon enough it will not be cool to give kisses to your mom. And mom will not be nearly as funny as you think she is now. So in those more difficult times, I will have this sweet, perfect year to remember. Remember getting slobbery little kisses at just the right moment. Remember the look of surprise on your face when I cheered after you took your first steps. Remember the smiles, the tears, the giggles.
Thanks for choosing me to be your mom. Thanks for coming to our family. I knew we were missing something and that something was you! Quintin, you are my biggest blessing. I love you now and forever! Happy Birthday little man!
<3 Mommy

Repeat after me:

I love being a mom

I love being a mom

I love being a mom

(These don't even do it justice-it was up to his shoulder blades!)

I love being a mom

By the way...this happened at 12:25 AM.

February 1st- Rice Cereal

Well a few weeks ago, Quintin started a MAJOR growth spurt. I mean eating every hour or two. I was having a hard time keeping up with him so we decided it was time to introduce rice cereal. Well, he's not a big fan as it has ZERO flavor (seriously-have you ever tried it?!). But, it sustained him through the growth spurt. When we first started he only had it every couple of days. Now, I try to give it to him every other day at least! Here's some pictures!
Note: It wasn't St. patrick's day (obviously)...we only had one clean bib.

3 MONTHS

HOW THE HECK DID THIS HAPPEN? Wednesday, January 19th, 2011 My itty bitty tiny baby who used to sleep all the time is not so itty bitty any more (see thighs below).

At three months, Quintin...
-Weighs 15 lbs (89%)
-is 24 inches long (67%)
-is 86% proportionate
-sleeping through the night almost consistently.
-will smile if being smiled at
-is starting to show interest in his toys
-will grip his toys if we put them in his hand
-has figured out how to make the musical toy from his activity mat play music
-can hold his head up pretty much unassisted for a significant amount of time.
-is wearing half 0-3 month clothes and half 3-6 months.
-has met all of both our extended family
-loves to look at lights
-loves to watch mommy and daddy play Just Dance 2 and kiss when daddy gets home
-is a total mommas boy but loves his daddy too
-LOVES bath time and has figured out how to splash
-LOVES licking dad's smoothies off his pacifier (ya we know we're bad parents)
-Has started reaching for things every once in awhile (like when helping mommy cook)
-melts my heart every single day

Quintin's First Flight

Dec 12- Quintin takes his first flight out of utero. It was just me and him and he did AMAZING! After we landed in AZ, all the people around us got up and said "I forgot you even had a baby! He didn't make any noise at all!" Considering what his dad is going to school for, I suppose it makes sense he did a good job!! Grandma & Grandpa Ferrell were waiting for us...ok Quintin...and the Christmas break adventures began!

2 months old!!

On Dec. 10, Quintin had his 2 month appointment.
Stats:
Weight: 12 lbs. 15 oz (89%)
Height: 23 inches(68%)

He also got shots. He cried, I cried, we both cried. Then we spent the afternoon snuggling and taking shots of Tylenol (ok just Quintin).

At two months, Quintin is

- SMILING!! All the time, not just in his sleep!! It's better than we ever expected!



-wearing 0-3 mos clothes and Size 1 diapers

-Even cuter than he was at birth :)

Here is the teddy bear picture from Dec. 19th (Actual 2 month birthday) Except I left the teddy bear in ND and we were in AZ, so I used Rudolph instead. You get the idea!

One Month Old!

Our precious boy is ONE MONTH OLD!! I can hardly believe it!
Things to know about our sweet baby boy this month with accompanying pictures:
-He grew out of newborn diapers at 3 weeks.
-He grew out of most newborn sized clothes at 4 weeks.

-He smiles at mommy and sometimes daddy. (Mommy got the first smile)


-He sleeps differently every single night. 3 hrs, 5 hrs, 7 hrs, 1.5 hrs. Depends on his mood.


-As of this morning he weighs 11 lbs+ which is 81%. He's chunking out.


-He likes to look around. Don't bother holding him facing you-he'd rather look at everything else. He will stay awake for hours if he is in a new place.


-He doesn't mind tummy time.

-Today he discovered his swing has a mirror thing hanging from it and spent the next 10 mins looking at himself and babbling.


-He likes to be cocooned in the car seat.


-He prefers to snuggle on mommy's chest when he sleeps.


-He likes bath time as soon as he adjusts to being in the water.


-He likes to be naked.
-He won't go asleep at night until he's listening to our wedding song (Everything by Michael Buble) and being rocked. I have no idea why that is and it's a recent development, but at least we figured it out. Also, when he sleeps in his bassinet, he has a sleep positioner. He doesn't like to sleep in it at the right spot so he wiggles himself down until his legs are all scrunched up at the bottom.

-If he's hungry, he'll let you know!

My cousin had this cool idea to take a picture of her baby next to a stuffed animal every month. That way you can see how baby grows every month compared to the animal that stays the same. So here you go:
One month old Baby Q with his bear on Nov. 19th.

Being A Mom

So, I was recently reading (ok ok blog-stalking) a friend's blog. She talked about how the blogs she read only ever talk about the good things in life. How they always make things seem like life is all sunshine and roses. In her words, "I don't buy it". And she's right. Life isn't always good things, sometimes it's bad or tough or overwhelming. After reading her blog, I decided that I should focus more on thoughts and feelings of our family rather than only the "only good things happen to us" and "we're always smiling" pictures.

The truth is life is hard.

Being a mom is really hard. Now, don't get me wrong, I knew it wasn't going to be coos and giggles. I changed my fair share of diapers at KinderCare to know it wasn't always going to be easy. But, to be honest, it hasn't really been that bad. We've had a few long nights that extend into sleep-deprived days. I survived milk coming in, engorgement, and recovering from having the world's most inconvenient stitches. But, I handled it because I was expecting it. I took tons of classes, read even more books and blogs and heard lots of stories. And until today, I was handling being a mom just fine. So, I don't know if it's because Q didn't feel so good yesterday which led to a long morning and day for me yesterday which made today harder or what, but.
Today. Was. Hard.
I think I must have ate something Q didn't handle well. And Q is having a growth spurt, which made that worse. So between lots of dirty diapers and being spit up on quite a bit, I was still doing ok...because I was expecting that sort of thing. However, I wasn't expecting to have a baby that decided to be up for most of the day. That would be great if it was all giggles and smiles and happy things...but it was more like screaming the whole day. He was only happy if he was eating. He ate 3 times in 3 hours this morning. Then, dad came home and gave me a break for an hour in between classes. So I did laundry...which I had to because there were no more clean burp cloths, or sheets, etc. Then, Q ate again and was happy...for a little. We even got a 30 min. nap. Then, dad came home again a few hours later and took him. I started to make my lunch. Right when I was sitting down to eat, Q decided to scream and scream and scream. I know it's frustrating for Steven, just like it is for me. So, I took him and fed him (that's feeding #4). He ate for a few minutes and then was pretty much asleep. I got ready to pass him back to Steven so I could eat when he burped up all over my sleeve and my pants and himself. So he went back to Steven to get changed. In the process, he spit up on Steven. So, Steven took his shirt off and got some new clothes for Q. I changed and went downstairs to switch laundry. I came back up and found Steven without a shirt on and Q in his diaper...Q had spewed again. I finished eating and started folding laundry. A few minutes later, Steven brings me Q wrapped in a blanket (like a toga almost).

So 3 outfits and an entire family wardrobe change later, it couldn't get worse right? Wrong. Most of the afternoon continued like this, except Steven wasn't there. Q would eat for a few minutes, fall asleep (despite my best efforts to keep him awake) I would burp him, and try to lay him down, He'd be fine for a few minutes and then wake up screaming. Now, for a kid who doesn't normally scream unless he's in pain, it makes it hard for me to handle the screaming. Angry screaming. Finally, after the nursing, burping, sleeping, screaming cycle for 2 hours, we fell asleep at about 430. Steven came home at 510 and woke me up (not knowing the kind of day we had). Well, I jumped when he woke me up which moved Q and woke him up and commence screaming again. Finally, at my breaking point, I handed him to Steven. Steven took him realizing I was upset and went to hang out in the nursery while I folded laundry. Steven tried everything swaddling, changing, rocking, singing, pacifier, music...all the things Q normally either loves or tolerates. At about 545 Q was screaming so bad, Steven had to put him in his crib and walk out. So then we have both parents frazzled and a screaming angry child. I had finally composed myself and went to get him and calm him down. He immediately started "giving me kisses" and trying to suck on my nose. How this kid could be hungry, I have no idea. But I fed him...what else could I do? He calmed down and ate enough that I actually got to eat dinner. He sat in his chair and watched. Then, he got fussy again and had to eat on the other side. When he was done and burped, Steven told me he was going to take him on a car ride to take the redbox back and give me some time to relax and work on some homework (which was desperately needed). And he did just that...
When they got home, Q was quiet (he loves himself a good car ride bundled up in the cozy cover). Steven came in and said "come here I want to show you something" He grabbed my hand and led me to the living room where Q was sleeping. That was a good enough present for me! Then he said, "We got you something...open him up" So Hesitantly, I opened him up and found:



a 1 lb Reese's PB cup. (Mine was the holiday kind)
I had seen them last week and we were both astonished they came that big! Steven said, "This is for you, mommy, because we know you had a rough day". It was all I could do not to cry. A sleeping baby and a giant Reese's!!

So the moral of the story...being a mom is hard. It's harder when things happen that you aren't expecting or that you weren't anticipating(like having a screaming baby all day). But, when you have a wonderful husband who is up in the night to change the baby, works, goes to school full time, and then comes home to do whatever he can to make your life easy...
you know you found a keeper.