Final days of Maternity leave

The serious face

Everyone always says these days go by so quickly, and I'm finding it to be true. This last week has been so fantastic and yet so hard to acknowledge that our little honeymoon period is over. I admit, I'm feeling a bit dramatic about the whole thing. I'm really excited to go back to work, because I love my job and I miss my whole work environment. But it will be so hard to leave him. I can't help but think he'll think I abandoned him, but my rational side knows we'll both be just fine.

I've had the best time this week taking him on outings to see a lot of my local friends. Many of them have little ones of their own, so we had different play dates of sorts. I'm getting better at packing up to cover all of the "what ifs" of the day, and Owen is definitely enjoying our adventures as well. He's so interested in all sorts of things. I talk to him a lot on our walks, and he humors me by giving me "The serious face." His favorite books are definitely the Dr. Seuss books--probably "One Fish, Two Fish." Maybe I read those with extra gusto, but I get a lot of smiles and thoughtful studies of the pictures in them.

We've gone to the park, taken a lot of walks, had 80's dance parties in the living room, and enjoyed playtime with the fun gifts from Gramma and Grampa. When I need to get something accomplished, I put him in the Baby Bjorn and off we go. Yesterday we made banana bread together. He's particularly fascinated when I'm doing dishes. I can't explain it, but I hope that lasts forever. 

Of course, it's not perfect, and I don't mean to paint a completely unrealistic picture of our time together, but right now in this phase of his life, he's been a pretty happy baby. And by this phase I mean the past 3 days or so? Yeah, probably 3 days of happy baby. I'll take it.

Nick has been really amazing, and I know he's enjoying this phase as well. We finally heard a real laugh just a few nights ago. It was really amazing, especially since we've been working so hard to make it happen! Owen thinks Daddy is much funnier than Mama, but he's probably right. I attempt funny, but it's just not the same. And by attempt I mean present every dance move I can manage, contort my face into various expressions, and try to make cool 'splosion sounds that only boys can do. And what do I get? I get "The serious face," Daddy gets the laughs.

And now I'm going to photo bomb the rest of this post. I have a lot of cute to share. And when crabby baby returns, I'm going to come back to this post and read it over and over.

Playmat from Mostek Grandparents: His favorite monkey!

Newton couldn't resist

How you doin'?

Will he take over the world? Stay tuned.

First restaurant outing-doing great!

Play date with Jes and Colin: new friend coming soon!

Jumper from Lamos Grandparents-gummer smiles all around

He's my buddy: wherever I go, he goes.

Owen: Three months

 

So handsome! We've "graduated" from the 0-3 months outfits and moved onto the 3-6 month stash. I wish I had made the switch sooner, because he already fits in most of these pretty well. There's a lot of cute stuff in this size batch! Hopefully I'll get at least one wear out of everything before he hits another growth spurt.

We don't have a checkup for weight until 4 months, but we estimate he's between 13-14 lbs. He's definitely tall, but starting to fill out with some nice baby fat. I admit, I am so proud of all the weight and height gain we've accomplished together so far; it takes a lot of work to keep up with his appetite! I've been determined to increase my production--pumping every 3 hours and taking herbal supplements--and I'm proud to say I've been able to keep up with his feedings for the past two months or so. I've battled a few bouts of mastitis which caused a big setback in the milk production, but we made it through. Whew! I'm not sure how my body will respond when I go back to work, but I'm going to try to keep up as well as I can.

We also had some goods news when meeting with the specialist about his inguinal hernia. It turns out he actually has what is called a hydrocele, which is essentially the same complication but much more mild and generally heals on its own. We have to meet with the specialist again when he's 6 months old to check whether he's healing properly, but I'm so grateful for the chance he won't have to have surgery.

Gramma and Grampa Lamos visit!

Gramma and Grampa Lamos came out for a short visit, and we really loved having them here. The weather was beautiful, so it gave all of us a chance to enjoy the weather (especially when the forecast for Iowa was major snow!) They were so wonderful and really wanted to do whatever they could to help while they were here. It gave Nick and I a chance to get out for a short date, and Dad even washed and waxed my car. This is a notable service since my car had recently been attacked by a swarm of berry-fed diarrhea birds, and well, I have to park under the tree that produces those berries. It was pretty epic. So thank you, Dad, for cleaning my car. It was getting embarrassing to drive around town.

So glad to see Gramma Lamos again!

Gramma gives the best "face tickles"

Grampa always goes after the toes.

Lovin' the sunshine! Let's get ice cream.

Owen considered napping on the way to Foster Freeze