Happy 4 Months, Waylon!

I can't believe my little Bean Sprout is already 4 months old!  Waylon is the most joyful baby, he smiles all the time and has the sweetest laugh ever.  He is happiest when listening to music, especially when you dance and sing with him.  Lately he's really been babbling up a storm.  I think we are going to have a little chattypants on our hands!  Check that out below.

I feel like he has been changing almost every day this past month, getting better muscle control when playing with his toys and holding his bottles.  Ever since Way was a tiny baby, he has preferred to be held upright instead of cradled and now his favorite thing to do is "sit-ups" where I hold his hands and he pulls himself up from laying down.  Best baby abs ever!  He is still a little wobbly if he's not propped up against something but I don't think we're far away from him sitting up by himself.  He's almost got the hang of rolling over but he just stays on his side instead of going all the way to his tummy.  He really hates being on his tummy.

I have been checking for teeth every day since someone said they thought he might be teething when we were in Phoenix, but so far I haven't seen anything.  This past week, Waylon finally got the hang of eating cereal and now face-dives at the spoon whenever I hold it up.  It's really cute and I tried to get some video of it but it's hard to feed a little boy and videotape at the same time.

He has his doctor's appointment on Friday so I will find out height and weight then but he grew out of my favorite jeans about a week ago so I know he's getting taller.  He just seems like such a big boy right now!  I look at photos of when we first brought him home and I can't believe what a tiny peanut he was.  He will be moving around on his own in no time so I am trying to enjoy the last few months of him being my little snugglebug.  *Sigh*

Waylon's First Phoenix Adventure

Last Thursday we flew down to Phoenix to attend a wedding and so Waylon could meet the Manos side of his family.  I have to tell you, baby boy did awesome.  He didn't fuss at all, not even during take off or landing, and passengers and flight attendants kept telling us what a good baby he was!  Hooray for having a little champion traveler!

It really was a whirlwind weekend, I felt like as soon as we got there it was already time to leave.  But man, it sure was nice to get out of the cold and snow for a couple of days!  I also felt like Waylon got to spend some quality time with a lot of important people which is so nice, considering that we live so far away from everyone.

On Thursday night there was a little party at Annabelle's that my parents were also invited to so that everyone could see the baby.  I wish he had been in a better mood but the traveling and messed up sleep schedule turned him into a little crankster.  Not his most charming moment.  The next morning he was pretty refreshed and got to hang out with his grandma.  She fed him and then they sang songs together.  Here is a cute photo of them deep in conversation.

On Friday night we had the rehearsal dinner.  Waylon did not start the night in a particularly lovely mood but after some walking around he went to sleep and we ended up having a really nice night.  Some of the fam has suggested that he might be teething but I don't know.  Isn't it kind of early?  And wouldn't he be in more consistently crappy moods?  Eh, what do I know?

Saturday was the wedding and my first night out since Waylon was born.  It was so nice to dress up in normal clothes again and abandon my baby with my parents for a night of adult fun.  I know my parents really enjoyed the time they got to spend with Grandson #2.  Look how nicely I clean up!  (Scott too)

Then all of sudden it was Sunday and time for us to head back to Connecticut.  We didn't get back to our house until almost 3 in the morning and I woke up yesterday feeling like I was dying.  Thanks, Germ King who sat behind us on the plane.  I really appreciate your inability to turn your head when you cough/sneeze/hack.  I hope the little boy doesn't get sick, but with both Scott and I under the weather, I don't know how he can avoid it.

Sorry this is lame entry, but I'm off to take 2000 milligrams of Vitamin C and snuggle under the covers.  I leave you with a pic of the little beast's reaction to avocados this morning.

The New Casa Manos

I was going to do this post over the weekend but then SNOWMAGEDDON 2013!  It was bad y'all.  We had about three feet of snow, couldn't open any of our doors, my dogs had to pee in the garage and my dear friend got stuck here for an extra two days.  Behold!

Friday morning, and I'm thinking "ugh, I can't believe these New Englanders are so panicky about snow!"

Aaaaaaand Saturday morning:

I guess they weren't overreacting.  This time.

Anyhoo, in the midst of SNOWMAGEDDON 2013, we closed on our new house!  Because things were getting a little slow there for a while, so we needed to add a big move to our lives.  I present the new Casa Manos:

True to form, the house isn't exactly turn-key.  I mean, it's 200 years old with a run down barn that has only three walls and it's friggin' PINK for the love of paint.  What can I say, I like projects.  I think it's from all those years of watching It's a Wonderful Life at Christmas and desperately wanting to fix up an old house a la Mary Bailey.   So I'll need to document all the Before pictures.  Join me for a tour, won't you?

Let's start in the kitchen, which is also the way you enter the house.  Not much work to be done here immediately, except I truly hate the green cabinet knobs.

Don't you love this kitchen fireplace/bread oven?  I need a huge black cauldron to hang over the fire.  Anyone know of any discount witch stores?

Off the kitchen there's a full bathroom/laundry room which is truly abysmal...we need to lose the shower and just make this a real laundry room.  With actual full-sized machines.

Next up we have the dining room...that's a real wood-burning stove along that one wall.  Just a little freshening up and we're good to go in here.

Okay, so far not too bad right?  So here come the rooms that need real work.  Let's start with the living room:

That wallpaper!  That carpet!  And oh my god I hate ceiling fans (which are EVERYWHERE, btw).  There's potential in here and I'm excited to transform it.  Moving on to the library...

That's an amazing fireplace, right?  And how about all those shelves?  I have Ideas for this room.  I think it's going to be magnificent once I eradicate all that nasty greenness.  Yes, that is a hot tub outside the French door. No, I have no idea what condition it's in.  It could actually be home to a family of rabid possums (opossums?  what's up with that word?) at this point.  Moving on...

This probably going to be my little workout room.  Or maybe the dog's playroom.  Either way, the carpet's gotta go, the ceiling fan's gotta go, and it needs some fresh paint.

Here's where it starts to get really bad....Here is a room painted green, with purple curtains and trim.  And a stupid ugly ceiling fan that I've hit my head on like three times.

And here is the room across from it, purple with green curtains and trim.  Yikes.

Here is the front hallway/stairway.  I'm still waiting for inspiration to strike here but I think it could be really elegant.  And I don't totally hate the light fixture in here.

See the tiny little bell above the door on the right?  That's the doorbell.  The wire connected to it shakes when you push the front doorbell, ringing the bell.  Man, I love the things you find in old houses.

Let's head upstairs, shall we?

We can start in the master suite.  Here's the bedroom.  Paint, carpet, done.

This is the sitting room off the master suite.  The wallpaper and carpet are hideous, obvs.  And of course it has another gross ceiling fan.  But that closet is huge and there's a window seat!  My favorite thing ever.  I think we'll put another wood stove in here too and get rid of the fake fireplace.

Okay, it's about to get weird.  Because the master bathroom is majestic but unfinished.  And in no way does it match the style of the rest of the house.  I don't know what happened here, but I'll take that bathtub!

I'm not even sure what I would call this style.  I am confused but delighted.

To all my prospective visitors, pay special attention to this next area.  It's the guest suite.  This is the sitting room area...

...which walks out to a good sized porch.

This will be the guest bedroom.  That carpet is so painfully gross, but at least the room is a good size.

And at least the guest bathroom is large and luxurious!

Next up:  Waylon's room.  I think he might not love the color scheme and he definitely has the ugliest ceiling fan known to man, but I see potential here.

Other than that, there are two other bedrooms that need some updating/freshening up.

Yikes, that's a lot of pictures!  Going through them makes me realize just how much work we have ahead of us.  But I think it will be fun to see the transformation and I'm really excited to start checking things off the list and shopping for furniture.  I'll let you see After pictures as they come!

Getting in Shape

In October, 2011, after months of training, I ran the Chicago Marathon.  Then I sat around for the next 6 weeks and ate anything that looked delicious to me.  Then it was Christmas time.  Then we celebrated our engagement with family and friends by heading out every week for appetizers and cocktails.  And then I found out I was pregnant.

So, needless to say, I was not at my ideal weight when I got pregnant.  But what can you do?  Baby needs you to eat.  I tried to be as mindful of weight gain as possible and stayed pretty active but especially at the end, it just piled on like whoa.  All in all, I gained almost 40 pounds but I'm happy to say it was mostly in front.

In the first two months, I dropped about 30 by doing nothing before I hit a wall.  I was pretty much back to where I started but that's nothing to be too proud of.  So, about a month ago, I went on a pretty strict diet and exercise program and recruited Scott to join me.  It's going pretty well so far; I've lost 12 pounds and Scott has lost 21 (ugh!).  Ideally, I'd like to lose another 30, which would put me at my smallest adult weight ever but hey, let's aim for the stars.

Now is the time I should be posting photos of myself but I haven't taken any since my 38 week picture.  You'll just have to wait for the big reveal.  For now, enjoy some photos of the little man.

Here's Way chilling on the Boppy.  His head and neck are getting strong!

Baby was constipated this week and completely miserable.  The only way to get him to calm down was to bicycle his legs and let him cuddle with his little monkey friend.

Found his thumb!

Happy 3 months, Waylon!

Happy Birthday to my Dad!

I can't believe it's been 3 months since my little love muffin was born!  It's been pretty exciting, to say the least.  I measured Waylon this morning and he weighs about 15.5 pounds which puts him between the 75th and 90th percentile, and is 26 inches long, which puts him between the 90th and 95th percentile.  I guess the little beast isn't so little!

We have been having a lot of fun the last couple of weeks.  Waylon loves to listen to music (Outkast, Motown, and Scott's olde timey country are favorites), play on his gym and give little pets to his dogs.  He has been babbling a lot lately and I think he gets the idea of conversation.  He laughs when I sing to him and when I read him stories.  Waylon has really preferred to be held upright since he was born (and before I guess, since he was breech) so I feel like his neck is pretty strong for a 3-month old.  Maybe sitting up is not far off?

I think we have finally got the whole "sleeping through the night" thing down.  A week ago, I started mixing cereal into his last bottle of the night and he hasn't woken up for a 4 a.m. feeding since.  So right now it's just formula and a little rice cereal, but I honestly can't wait to start giving him more real food!  I think he's going to like it and I know I will enjoy introducing him to new foods and figuring out his favorites.  A few days ago, Scott actually gave him a few bites of refried beans.  I did not enjoy that diaper.  But he understood right away how to eat off the spoon and I think he liked it.  He better, with the amount of Mexican food that gets eaten in this house!

We can't quite decide who Baby Way looks like.  He's much paler than either Scott or me and although the Brizzolaras think he looks like Scott, the Manos fam seems to think he looks more like me.  The only thing I can tell for sure is that he has Scott's chin and my mouth.  Well, and my temper.  That baby has the best angry face ever and is super loud when he gets impatient.  It's cute now, but I'm going to have to reign that in sooner rather than later.  Here's a pic of Waylon just out of the bath this morning.  He loves the bath but never actually remembers that he likes the bath, so he screams for about 10 seconds right when you put him in.

I never posted the 2 month photo, so here's both the 2 month and the 3 month....Little boy is really growing!

Misadventures in Breastfeeding. Or, How I Starved My Baby While Making Myself Miserable

*Disclaimer*  I am going to say some things that people are going to disagree with vehemently and possibly find offensive.  To those people I say, have we met?  Because "offensive" and "judgmental" are some of my best personality traits.  However, it is not my intent to offend here.  I just feel like I was not given realistic expectations/information about breastfeeding and it caused me (and my baby) pain and mental duress and I'm trying to do a good thing by giving more than one side of the story.  Stand down, lactivists!  *end disclaimer*

When I found out I was pregnant, I made the decision (guided by mountains of pamphlets from my doctor, at least 100 magazine articles, and the recommendation from other moms) to breastfeed the Sprout.  Actually, looking back, I don't know if it was really a decision so much as succumbing to the fear that my baby would have a deficient immune system, would not bond with me, and would be dumber and fatter if I gave him formula.  Also, I was promised rapid weight loss.  So, although I was a formula-fed baby from birth, I decided I could dedicate 6 months of my life to breastfeeding.

It was terrible right from the start.  It is PAINFUL.  Every time the baby latched on, it was like the most intense titty-twister of my life that caused me to curse (softly, lest the baby startle, pull off and need to latch on again), stomp my feet, and count down the days until his 6-month birthday.  And it was every 2 hours!  I used to silently wish Waylon would develop an allergy to breast milk so I could throw in the towel.

"If it hurt, he must not have been latched on correctly!"  Bullshit.  I know the difference between the feeling of an incorrect latch and a correct one and THEY BOTH HURT.

"But the bonding experience of breastfeeding can't be replicated by bottle feeding!"  Oh really?  You think I have these warm, loving, bonding feelings with a creature who is causing me excruciating pain 6-8 times a day?  A creature who looks at me, his mother, like nothing more than a feed bag?  Talking to him, playing little games with him, even changing his diapers were more rewarding to me.

Eventually, my nipples just lost feeling altogether, which made the whole experience more tolerable.  But, since I never had an overabundance of milk, I couldn't pump.  What I was making was just enough for Waylon to eat every couple of hours so I had to plan my whole day around when I needed to be at home to feed him.  It really stressed me out.  Going to my 3 hour Jeopardy tryout took 3 days of planning ahead and pumping tiny amounts after each feeding, just so Scott had something to give him on the off-chance he might get hungry while I was away.  There is no freedom in breastfeeding, people.

"If you're not making enough, you need to keep him on the breast as much as possible!"  Oh fuck right off!  I sat with him on one breast for 45 minutes, followed by the other breast, followed by a 45 minute break before starting over for an entire WEEK and the supply never increased.  But, I did end up watching the entire series of Breaking Bad so that wasn't a total loss.  (Jesse Pinkman!  I just want to give you a hug.)

Around 6 weeks old, Waylon started to get really fussy.  Like, he had to be held and bounced all the time, he'd never just chill out.  I thought I just had one of those babies who was a fussy pants.  Nope!  We found out at his 2-month check up that he'd dropped from the 40th percentile in weight to the 16th.  Baby was starving!  The doctor suggested I start supplementing with formula.  Honestly, it was the biggest relief of my life.  That's why he was crying all the time!  Someone else will be able to feed him now!  I can go to the store or make lunch or take a friggin' shower because I won't have to be a slave to breastfeeding!  Hooray!

I kept breastfeeding for another week or so after seeing the doctor before eventually giving it up for good.  It just wasn't worth the time involved based on what I was getting out.  Now I have a happy, chubby (not fat!) healthy, smart little baby who I've bonded with just fine, thank you.  And I'm a better mama.

My point in sharing this tale?  No one ever told me that breastfeeding was going to be as painful as it is.  Or as demanding.  I was promised blissful, peaceful moments of bonding.  I was made to feel that women who formula feed are ignorant, lazy, or unloving.  It's all nonsense.  Women talk about "choice" all the time, but we're so quick to judge each other's choices when it comes to feeding our babies.  Why?  My boobies, my baby, my business.

Gratuitous pic:

Programming Note

Well hey, y'all.  I've been MIA for a while  for a couple of reasons.  The first is, I lost my camera.  I am constantly forgetting where I put electronics.  Somewhere in this house is an ipod that I haven't used or seen in 3 years.  But mostly, I didn't know how I wanted to continue the blog after Waylon was born.  Should it be a place to update everyone about him every so often?  Should it be a place where I discussed my experiences as a new mom?  Maybe a little of both?  Is that boring?  Doesn't every other mom do the same thing?

So yeah, this blog is in no way a unique idea but I miss doing it and I have Things to Say.  Let's start with the most interesting/pertinent:  Baby Way!

My little boy will be 3 months old this weekend!  My, how the time has flown.  I will give you all the stats on Saturday but let me tell you what we've been up to the last few weeks.  The little guy took his first road trip to Baltimore in December.  He did great, no incidents whatsoever on a 6 hour drive and it was a good warm up for our trip to Chicago a few weeks later.  Mama did great as well at her Jeopardy tryout, now I'm just waiting for the call telling me to come to L.A. for filming.  I'll keep you posted!

Celebrating Christmas as newlyweds with a brand new baby was pretty special too.  He was way too little to understand what was happening and Scott totally made fun of me for wrapping his presents.  It was still fun to sing Christmas songs to him (John Denver and the Muppets is the best!)  and dress him up.  Doesn't he look handsome in his Christmas outfit?

Way got to spend Christmas Eve with his brother and sister too.  How cute is this?

A few days after Christmas, we had Waylon's 2 month check up.  It was kind of a disaster.  See, the little boy had been really fussy for a couple of weeks.  It was next to impossible to calm him down and I had been getting pretty frustrated.  Well, it turns out he hadn't been getting enough to eat.  The poor little Sprout was hungry all the time!  I'd have been crying too.  I want to go into more detail about this in another post, so stay tuned for my thoughts on feeding.  He is a totally different baby.  He's really quite pleasant when he's not starving.

Right after his checkup, we headed to Chicago to celebrate Christmas with my family.  Waylon got to meet his great-grandparents, my aunts and uncles, a couple of close friends, and even a couple potential lady-friends.  I have to say, the kid knows when to turn on the charm.  He seems to save his best smiles for meeting new people.  I like your style, Way.

So now it's a New Year and I've been focused on getting in shape (separate post!) and trying to find activities that Waylon and I can do together so we can both meet some new people.  He really is a delightful child.  He smiles all the time all the time and even laughed at me yesterday.  It made me totally forget the days he projectile poops all over me.  He used to look just like Scott, but lately people say that he is starting to look more like me.  I just hope his eyes stay the pretty blue color they are now.  They're to die for people.

Here is sleepy Way:

And here is one from this morning.

More coming soon!