Jacob: 3 Months

Where has the time gone?! My baby boy, officially no longer a newborn! Here's a look at what month 3 has looked like...

Nicknames: Still gets buddy, baby boy, and sweet pea a lot so I think those are here to stay. I refer to him as nugget quite a bit, but don't think I actually call him that much when talking to him. I'm trying to make more of an effort to use his name so he gets used to hearing it.

Weight/Height: No doctors appointment this month, but we tried to measure both at home and think he's almost 16 pounds 13 ounces and somewhere near 25 inches. Pretty sure we're holding strong in the 90-95th percentiles for both. He's a big boy!

Things we can't live without: Pacifiers and white noise is still way up there on our list of favorite things. We've swaddled him when it's time to sleep this month and that's made a big difference in how well he sleeps too I think. 

Things he likes: To be held, this baby Einstein sea turtle he has that plays music, a mobile my mom got him for his crib (it always sounds like he talks to it!), to sit in your lap facing out. 

Things he dislikes: The drive home from daycare...almost every day it involves some crying. I think it's just because he's usually pretty tired at that point in the day. 

Favorite characteristics: The smiles! Those have been such a more common occurrence this month and I feel like we've got to be so close to getting a laugh out of him too! He's also a snuggler, especially when he's still a little bit sleepy after the morning nursing session before he starts his day. My lateness to work a few times can be fully blamed on my refusal to end that cuddling time. :)

Milestones: Adding this category this month! Baby boy now consistently sleeps through the night, going to bed no later than 7:30pm and waking up anywhere between 5 and 7am, although thankfully the 5am wake up is pretty rare. He's also rolled himself from his back to his side a few times...can't wait to see him do this even more!

  

Work Pajamas

blouse: thrifted 

cardigan: Old Navy

pants: Giant Eagle

boots: Target

Pants with knees that stretch out are the most annoying thing to me when you're trying to pair them with tall boots so ponte pants are pretty much now a must have item for me. I had a maternity pair that I didn't pack up right away because I figured it may take me a little while to let my weight bounce back but I'm happy to report that although there's some serious toning I would like to get around to, I've lost enough that they don't fit anymore. Thankfully I found this pair I really like and I found them at Giant Eagle of all places! You can't tell in the picture, but I think the seam down the front of the legs makes them look more like pants than leggings which is needed since they don't have back pockets. (Is that a big deal to anyone else, or just me?) Paired with a looser fit blouse and long cardigan, it's the closest I think I'll ever get to wearing pajamas to work!

"Capsule" Update

Here I am, a week behind on the link up to talk about how the winter capsule is going and to highlight the outfits I've been wearing most. I think Anne's kind comment on this post brought up a good point and it got me thinking...thriving is far different than surviving and surviving is what I'm managing right now. And I'm thankful for that! It's far better than the alternative of failing miserably at managing this new life of mine. :) But the fact is that every night there's a very small amount of time for baby snuggling and playing and after his bedtime I still have dinner to eat (that thankfully my husband usually cooks!), bottles to wash and prep for the next day, then my own food to prep because not only is lunches out not in my current budget, I feel bad fitting them into a work schedule that already includes about an hour and a half a day away from work tasks spent in the mothers room pumping. But I'm showing myself some grace because although it seems like my baby is growing up so incredibly fast, he's only 3 months old so this really is all still pretty new to us. 

So outfits lately haven't gotten as much attention as they used to. The outfit highlighted here was put together by grabbing a few of my most comfortable favorites - the jeans, tee, and scarf - then finished with items that only happened because of their proximity to the door when it was time to hurry up and get out the door so I could get my grocery shopping done and be home by the time Jacob woke up from his nap and was hungry. And it worked! This idea to filter your wardrobe is probably best for me in this stage of life so I'm happy this link up has encouraged me to do just that. I need easy basics that don't get in the way of baby holding and can handle some drool and spit up with easy layers that can be thrown on when we head out of the house, and this outfit is the perfect example of that. 

Finally linking up with Anne and Jacqueline...

Back to Work

blouse: Buffalo Exchange

sweater: Target

skirt: Walmart

tights: Walgreens

boots: Target

It's pretty bad that I'm now in my third week back to work and just now posting about it! But just about the only thing I was looking forward to about going back to work was having a reason to really put an outfit together again and for my first day back to work I embraced the whole look good, feel good concept. For me, this included an old favorite (my favorite blouse I bought a few years ago), comfort (hello elastic waistband and flat boots), and something a little unexpected (stripes with leopard print). Now my outfit didn't make or break my day by any means, but it made a slight difference. Either way, we're all surviving my return to work! It's been exhausting and required a level of organization I'm worried I'll be unable to maintain, but we're adjusting.

Dress Challenge

dress as a tunic: Target

sweater: Old Navy

gray pants: Target

shoes: Target

As usual I'm oh so late to a link up, but although I didn't have the energy to document it last week I did use Audrey's style challenge as an inspiration for one of my outfits. The challenge last week was to wear a dress. As I talked about in my winter "capsule" post, dresses are going to be challenging this year. Add to that the winter temperatures and I thought I was going to just sit this week out of the challenge.

But then I decided to put a little spin on it and wear this dress as a tunic, a little trick I appreciated  during my pregnancy. Now this dress was short on me, but a laundry mishap led to it shrinking to the point where there was no way it could work as a dress anymore. It was the dress I wore for our rehearsal dinner and I get a little emotionally attached to items so I couldn't stand to get rid of it. I'm glad I didn't, because it's a fit that has been forgiving in all the places I've needed forgiveness in lately! 

A Day in the Life...

I've always found these "day in the life" posts entertaining...maybe because deep down we're all a little bit nosy, aren't we? :) Anyway, this is how we spent the very last day of my maternity leave. In the interest of being honest, the majority of my leave looked incredibly different than this. It took me until about week 5 or 6 to consistently get dressed for the day and remember to brush my teeth before 4pm so I doubt anyone was really interested in those details! I'm now done with my first week back to work so things already look much different and I'm sure you'll hear all about that in a future post!

5:45am 

Wake up call! Back to sleep pretty easily after a quick feeding and little bit longer snuggle. (Psst...we did this same thing at 2am too!) No photo right now...it's still dark and I am not waking baby up with a flash. I'm now up for the day, but enjoying laying in bed watching some ESPN shows with my husband. Pardon the Interruption and Mike and Mike are both on and I actually enjoy those guys. 

7:15am

I get up, make myself breakfast and coffee to enjoy while pumping and watching some HGTV. Mornings with no work (so weekends before maternity leave) are always what I consider "me time". Today I eventually do a few sit-ups and walk in place for my really light version of a workout. This is a recent development for sure...I got a Jawbone Up24 for Christmas and it's made me a lot more aware of my activity level. I do my hair, practicing this easy technique on my day 2 hair. It looks better on freshly shampooed hair, but that's just not happening many days. :) I actually paint my toes too, something that hasn't happened in almost 3 months!

8:45am

Jacob wakes up so we talk a little bit, walk around the house a little bit, then he gets fed, a diaper change, and in his clothes for the day. Then we play!

9:50am

Fussiness kicks in, a sign it's already naptime. We head upstairs to cuddle and rock a bit and sure enough his eyelids start to droop. He fights it a bit so I quietly read him a book, then we turn on the white noise and just slowly rock some more.

10:30am

I put Jacob down in his rock n play and he stays asleep. I head downstairs with the baby monitor and make myself a smoothie...I'm starving! I'm currently hooked on one with a banana, a clementine, frozen raspberries, Greek yogurt with honey, and pomegranate juice. I decide to be responsible and take care of some bills before propping up my feet and catching up on some of my favorite blogs.

11:10am

Jacob is awake so I down what's left of my smoothie and go get him.  He's hungry again, then we play some more. Daddy comes home for lunch in the middle of tummy time and we hang out with him for awhile. He's extra attentive today...maybe he's feeling a tad bit sentimental that today is the end of getting to see his son every day at lunch? 

1:10pm

After nursing and some snuggling Jacob is back to sleep. I desperately want to just hold him while he sleeps, but I know that sleeping in his crib is good for him to get used to and is better sleep for him. Hoping I'll reap the rewards by having a happy baby to hang out with tonight. Plus I'm starving again! :) Lunchtime for me and I'm trying this smoked salmon sandwich from the Runner's World cookbook he ordered. Pretty good!

2:00pm

Jacob's awake and the hiccups I hear tell me that he's not putting himself back to sleep. I use that as an excuse to bring him downstairs and hold him the rest of the afternoon while I get hooked on a show about couples who agreed to participate in an experiment in which they were matched with someone based on compatibility and they get married at first sight. Crazy interesting to me and I am hooked!

6:50pm

After my husband gets done with his workout it's time for me to give up Jacob to let daddy take a turn at baby duty so I can make dinner. Friday night is pizza night - that's my specialty and I am long overdue on a turn to make dinner!

7:25pm

Time to start the going to bed process for Jacob. Lots of up and downstairs, an extra diaper change, and what feels like a lot of time feeding him but he finally falls soundly asleep at about 8:45.

9:15pm

I'm tired enough that I could go to sleep too but I think I earned myself a small glass of wine tonight. My husband and I talk about what we want to do this weekend - mostly stuff on our "to do" list, but we talk about what we want to cook and maybe venturing to our favorite bar tomorrow to watch a basketball game at noon. I get some stuff done for the blog, then the internet stops working. After two trips upstairs to try to reset I give up because I'm tired and just decide to focus on that glass of wine. :)

10:25pm

Time to crash. Baby boy doesn't care that it's the weekend so I'll be ready for the wake up call tomorrow morning!

Jacob: 2 Months

Jacob was 2 months last weekend so it's time for the next update!

Nicknames: He still gets called buddy and sweet pea a lot!

Weight/Height: 14 pounds 11 ounces and 24 inches in length. Still holding strong at 90-95th percentile for both! I'll be curious to see if that trend continues or if it slows down over the next few months. Since Christmas I've held two other babies, one very close in age and one 7 weeks younger than him and it already feels so strange to hold babies much smaller than him! 

Things we can't live without:  Pacifiers and white noise. He has his fussy times especially when he's fighting sleep, although thankfully nothing too intense, and those two things have helped calm him down.

Things he likes:  Eating, clearly. :) Being held facing out, kicking and waving his legs and arms around like crazy. It's pretty entertaining to watch those jerky movements!

Things he dislikes:  Baths still aren't his favorite, but at least now we don't get the freak out until he's out and getting dressed because I'm sure that's when the cold hits him. 

Favorite characteristics:  He really is a happy baby most of the time and the smiles he gives are my absolute favorite thing! I can't wait until we get the laughs to go along with them. He also still has blue eyes like his dad still and I'm hoping those stick around!