Running from the Law

Friday, December 7, 2012

Celebrating Baby's First Christmas

Well, if you're anything like me, you're SUPER excited about creating Christmas traditions with your little ones. I am so excited to be able to share some of my favorite parts of the holiday season with Mac as he gets older. I can't wait to see his face light up when he sees his presents from Santa under the tree on Christmas morning. I can't wait to hear him sing Christmas carols to me while we drive through the neighborhood looking at lights. I can't wait to bake gingerbread cookies with him, decorate the tree with him and watch It's a Wonderful Life together.

But all of those things come later. This year he's a baby. A baby that can't sing, can't bake and would rather play with a paper bag than any toys he gets from Santa. What am I supposed to do with a baby that can't do anything? Actually Parent's Magazine a great list of 17 ways to make baby's first Christmas special that I thought was really good. I especially liked the idea of hosting a "baby party" (since so many of my friends have little ones this year), putting some decorations in the baby's room and having a "Baby Day" with your little one.

In addition, there are a couple other things I want to do with Mac and a couple things I want to get/do/make to get our Christmas traditions started. Here's our list...

Stocking
Every kid needs a stocking, of course. Where else is Santa going to put all that tooth-rotting candy and those little crappy Target dollar-bin gifts that will fall apart immediately and end up in the trash by New Year? As a kid I used to LOVE hanging up my stocking every year on my own hook. My stocking had a giant Santa Claus face on it with a few sequins and my name. It meant the world to me.

I want Mac to feel that way about his stocking. Which makes me think...how am I ever going to pick out a stocking for him? Should I get a "pretty" stocking that I like or a gawdy and colorful one that a kid would love? How do you ever choose? Do I get something now that matches my Christmas decor that I like? Something classy with his name embroidered on it? Do I just wait and let him pick out his own stocking a few years from now? In that case, am I going to be ok with a Dora/Barney/Elmo/Thomas/SpongeBob (or whatever the cartoon du jour is at that time) stocking? I don't know...maybe we'll do two different stockings - a "decorative" one that I pick out and then a "kid" one that he picks out. Do I get matching stockings for the whole family? In that case, what do I do with the ones we already have? And what if we have another kid in a few years and I can't find another stocking? Does that mean I should make my own (like I really have time for that). FIRST WORLD PROBLEMS, I tell ya.

What are your thoughts on this? How did you choose your stockings? Here are couple of my favorites.

(source)

Ornament
Baby's first ornament is definitely an important purchase for me this year. He may not be getting many gifts, but he'll damn well have a dozen ornaments to celebrate his being alive. I went back and forth on what kind of ornament I wanted to get. I wanted something "classic" that wouldn't be dated thirty years from now, when he has his own kids and wants his first ornament for his tree. Something that wouldn't be super delicate that he might break when he's four and trying to put it on the tree (or that wouldn't shatter if the cat climbed the tree and knocked it over...again). Something personalized with his name and the year. However, I must say that I was a little underwhelmed by the "Baby's First Ornament" selection out there. So many of them are cheesy or tacky. Maybe I'm being too picky? I didn't go to many stores (I'm an online shopping kind of girl), maybe I'm missing out. However, here are a few of my favorites that I found:

(source)

This one says "Grandbaby"

Maybe a cute gift for the grandparents to add to their tree?

Where did you get your baby's first Christmas ornament?

Pajamas
I love the idea of gifting a set of Christmas pajamas every year and having the kid(s) wear matching pj's to open gifts on Christmas morning. I mean, is there anything cuter than babies in pajamas?! My kid still wears pajamas all day long every single day. My husband asked me a few days ago when we were going to start dressing him in real clothes...I have no answer to that. Never? Here are a few of my favorite Christmas jammies.

(source)

Christmas Photo
You know me, I'm a photo junkie so this one is MAJORLY important. I chose to have Mac's holiday photos done by a professional who was offering Christmas mini sessions, which was the perfect opportunity to get a couple cute shots for a Christmas card. But there are SO many adorable set-ups that you could very easily do yourself (I did some too!). Grab your camera, some twinkle lights, a baby and you've got yourself a photo shoot! Here are some of my very favorites from the web.

(source)

Holiday Card
The perfect place to use that adorable holiday photo you just took! Or if your baby's brand new and your haven't had a chance to send out a birth announcement, use your Christmas card to do both! There are some seriously gorgeous holiday cards out there these days. Here are a few of my favorites.

(Minted)

Photo with Santa
Every kid needs a picture with the local mall Santa Claus. Older kids love meeting Santa and getting the chance to tell him what they want for Christmas. But babies? Yeah, they can't talk...and they don't want anything. So, a photo of baby on Santa's lap is really for the parents. And maybe this makes me a bad mama, but I absolutely LOVE it when kids have a meltdown on Santa's lap. The bigger the tears, the better! And rightfully so - I can only imagine that meeting Santa is a freaking scary experience to a baby. Standing in line forever, hearing other babies scream and cry, all that white hair and beard, the bright clothes, the incessant jingle bells, the loud HO HO HOing. It'd scare the shit out of me. Secretly I think we all want that funny photo of the kid screaming so we can frame it and torture our children with the story year after year. Right?

(source)

Craft/Project
Ok, so this one is a bit of a stretch. Babies can't really "craft." They can't hold scissors or use glue or basically do anything. However, they can create some masterpieces with just their tiny little hands, feet, fingers, toes and maybe a little bit of finger paint. These also make great gifts for the grandparents! Here are some projects that Mac will be attempting this year.

(source)

So that's my "Baby's First Christmas" roundup.

Did I forget anything?

Will you be doing any of these things with your little one this year?

***Just for full disclosure (because I don't want you to think I'm that asshole mom that has it all figured out), I have yet to do any of these things, other than get Mac's pictures taken. No stockings hung, no ornaments made or purchased, no crafts done, no holiday cards shipped, no Santa visit scheduled. I am NOT on top of things at ALL. What have I done? Made a Pinterest board while pounding spiked eggnog and eating Christmas cookies. Cheers!

Thursday, December 6, 2012

New Mommy Confessions - Part 7

Can we get serious for a minute? When I asked my favorite new mom bloggers for material for this New Mommy Confessions series I was fully expecting to receive funny lighthearted confessions, but I was absolutely thrilled to get some serious ones too. Ones that really made me think and ones that really struck a chord with some deep emotions. This whole Mommy gig is tough. And it's hard sometimes being a blogger and putting it out there for the world to read - especially when people can be so cruel and judgmental. But being a blogger also means that we can share our experiences with others who are going through similar situations. I can't tell you how many times I've read something on a blog that made me break down in tears because I thought I was the only one going through that experience or dealing with those feelings - especially when we were trying desperately to get pregnant. Blogging is a way to connect, to share, to walk in someone else's footsteps. It's amazing.

That's why I am so happy so be able to share some slightly more serious confessions with you today. Because I know these ladies are not alone in their feelings/experiences. And if you're going through some of these things, I hope you reach out to them and share your story. I know full well how important it is to not feel alone in your struggles. I hope these confessions do just that.

Katie from I Used to Vacation

A few days ago, when I arrived at Avery's daycare to pick her up after work, I found her holding court with three baby boys. She was "screaming" at them and waving her arms up and down while they grinned goofily at her. And then, I had an out-of-body experience. Life fast-forwarded approximately sixteen years right before my very eyes, and I instantly saw teenager Avery (albeit a blushing, demure teenager Avery because that's what her mama pretends she will be instead of an outgoing, flirtatious teenager Avery) entertaining the advances of a bevy of boyfriends. For a few seconds, this new mama freaked. Freaked the heck out. And, then I came back to earth and realized my sweet baby girl is not even eight months old. We have a ways to go. I should stop being a crazy person.

The fact is, it's hard to be present, in the moment, when you have this little life rapidly evolving and advancing before your very eyes each and every day. It's easy to become enraptured with the future. Babies change so very quickly, you know? I often find myself wondering if her hair will be curly, or if she'll be left-handed. Will she take dance classes like her mommy, or will she play soccer like her daddy? Will she loves books as much as her parents do? And then... Where will she go to college? Will she study abroad?? Who will she marry??

My confession is this: I have to remind myself quite often to slow down and not wish it all away. So, when I feel like she's growing up too fast, I do something slightly insane like listen to her delicate, rhythmic breathing on the baby monitor. Or, I cry tears into her bathwater.

Thank God wine exists.

My husband said something quite profound to me immediately after I had Aves: "I've never felt so mortal in my life." These stupid decisions that we make, these feelings of invincibility...they are long gone. There's no more climbing on too-tall ladders, there's too much anxiety driving home in the wee hours of the morning. After becoming parents for the first time, we quickly realized that taking care of the babe is our number one priority, but taking care of ourselves is a quick second. Although I often battle with my proclivity to jump ahead to the future, this unknown expanse of time does demand a certain amount of attention. My mission is to stick around. To be here for Avery.

About a month ago, I felt a lump in my breast. I noticed it at work, right before my sophomores walked in after lunch. I couldn't get it together for our grammar lesson; a sea of overreactions washed over me. I had to leave my classroom. I couldn't breathe. I went into a restroom stall and broke down. The only thing I could think of was Avery. She's got to have her mama in her life.

I made an appointment with my doctor that very day. There's no more putting off odd symptoms or chronic aches and pains. I was able to get in to see him in a week. That same day, just to be sure, he sent me to have a mammogram and an ultrasound. My results were fine. And, just like that, my panic was remedied. It was probably a cyst.

I knew that I had let my imagination run away from me, but I wasn't ashamed.

After all, teenager Avery might need me after one of those grown-up baby boys breaks her heart, and I've got to be there to mend the pieces.

Jenn from Muzzily Muddled

My confession is that I almost hated being a mom for the first few weeks. I didn't actually hate it. But I was close to hating it. I loved my little boy. But I didn't love being a mom.

First, I was having serious culture shock. I felt like I lost my identity, that I was no longer myself. That feeling faded a little bit each day, and I know now that I am definitely still me, but better, because my son makes me better, and being a mom makes me better.

Second, I was struggling with a lot of guilt over that culture shock. As someone who spent over two years trying to get pregnant, including five IUI cycles and two IVF cycles, I felt like I should be thrilled down to my toes to be a mom. The fact that I wasn't thrilled lead me to be wracked with guilt. How could we possibly have gone through everything that we did and me be anything but giddy with glee? I know full well how many women out there would have traded places with me in a heartbeat. So I beat myself up over the feelings I was having, and that made the culture shock that much harder to cope with.

Finally, I was in pain. PAIN. But I refused to acknowledge how bad it was, mostly out of stubbornness. I was 100% on board with breastfeeding. But it hurt SO much every time little J wanted to nurse. Since he always wanted to nurse, it always hurt. After several visits with lactation consultants and a wonderful doctor, I learned that not only did J have tongue tie and lip tie, but I have a medical condition that causes severe pain at the nipple. No wonder I was sobbing most nights when all he wanted to do was nurse instead of go to bed! Thankfully, we got the care we needed and I was eventually able to nurse him without pain.

Looking back, I think it's no wonder I wasn't very happy as a new mom. But it got better every day. The culture shock faded, the guilt subsided, the pain mostly went away. Everything became sunshine and roses. Well, sunshine, roses, and poop. He is a baby, after all. But he's my baby, and I can finally say that I absolutely LOVE being a mom!!

JGT (friend of mine who wanted to share a confession)

My second child is HARD. On the good days, I love her so fiercely, I think because I know every smile is so hard-won. But on the bad days.... Deep down inside, I wish I had never had her. I know that's blasphemous, and I only admit it here because it's not my blog and she'll never read it nor will anyone else in her life. But I look at my shiny sweet two-year-old, and my screaming, impossible, perpetually awake six-month-old, and I think how much better life would be if we hadn't decided to have another child.

I know it will get better, and I do my absolute best to treat her with love and tenderness despite how I feel, and I admit there's probably a touch of post-partum depression mixed in there too. But I say this for anyone else who has felt this way. It's okay. You CAN feel this way and go on to have a wonderful, rich, loving, and fulfilling relationship with your child. People do it all the time - more frequently than you'd ever expect.

Catch up on the rest of the New Mommy Confessions series:

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

New Mommy Confessions - Part 6

More great confessions from a few of my favorite new moms! You guys rock. Thanks for your honesty and your awesomeness! Anyone else guilty of these things? Fess up!

Julie from The Girl in the Red Shoes

I consider a shirt "clean" if it has only one spit-up or breast milk stain. I don't even see the stains any more!

I use the "mommy brain" excuse for everything now: lost car keys, forgetting to brush my teeth, locking myself out of the house, feeding the dog dinner three times, not buying groceries for two weeks....you name it, I've done it. And I plan on using At excuse for as long as possible.

I'm frequently torn between wishing Hudson would get bigger so that he would sleep longer at night and wishing he would stay this little forever.

Before a middle of the night feeding I have twice wondered why I kept hearing a dripping sound....only to discover that the dripping was my boob leaking breast milk on the floor.

Having my son fall asleep on my chest just might be the best feeling in the world.

I've asked the dog to entertain the baby on more than one occasion. He actually does a good job!

I never knew my heart could love something so little, so much.

Trish from Pink Preppy Lilly Lover

- I LOVED being pregnant. I still miss being big and round and SLEEPING.

- Postpartum Depression is NO JOKE. I had it pretty bad. YAY for happy pills.

- I hate the sound of my singing voice when singing lullabies. Thank God for Pandora on iPhone.

- Losing the baby weight is HARD. I finally caved and went back to Weight Watchers. I am positive that each and every one of my Flex Points for the week goes to alcohol.

- I don't regret my decision to go back to work. Daycare is a damn fortune but working helps me feel sane.

- I can't tell you how many paci's, rattles, bottle caps and random toys Jolie (our dog) has chewed up and destroyed. She even licks up spit up off of the floor before I have a chance to wipe it up. When Stella was about a week old, she got a hold of a blowout dirty diaper out of the trash can and LICKED IT CLEAN. OMG GROSS.

- I look like a HOT FREAKING MESS half the time I leave the house. But, hey, my kid looks cute! Look at the cute baby and ignore the exhausted mommy!

Julia from My Life in Transition

Confession: At 3 am, when my baby has already been up approximately 143 times, I am so freaking exhausted that I like to lay in bed and pretend that I didn't hear her crying on the monitor. I pray to God that she falls back to sleep on her own and he never, ever hears me. Ever. And I'm a second-time mom who vaguely remembers the sleep deprivation from number one, but none of that matters at 3 am.

IT WILL NEVER GET BETTER AND THE WORLD IS ENDING!

So when I stumble down our hallway towards the nursery, bouncing off the walls like a pinball machine, I'm muttering not very nice words under my breath. And then I stand over her crib and she will smile at me with the biggest grin, like, 'Oh hey, mom! Whatcha doin? Wanna hang? Fist pound.' And my heart melts at that little face and her annoyingly sweet smile. God really knew what he was doing when he made babies so freaking adorable. It's a payback for chronic bags under my eyes, I suppose. Her cute face makes me want to stab people who sleep all night a little less. Thanks, God!

Catch up on the rest of the New Mommy Confessions series:

Monday, December 3, 2012

Baby Mac - 6 Months

Dear Baby Mac,

You are now half a year old. Six whole months. Wow. I just don't know how this keeps happening? Time is passing us by in the blink of an eye. Every day you amaze me with a new trick, a new sound, a new laugh. You are the absolute happiest, funniest, goofiest baby ever and I cannot get enough of you. I've said it before, but THIS has been my absolute favorite month ever. Where is the pause button?

At your six month appointment you weighed 16 lbs 12 oz (30th %) and were 26 inches long (80th %), so you are still long and lean. You've been getting some delicious thigh rolls that are so incredibly tempting to chew on, it takes all my will power not to devour you daily. You've also finally started getting hair! Within the last few weeks it's gotten significantly thicker (and is still blonde!). Sometimes it's a total mess (which is adorable) and you now even wake up with bedhead (which is also adorable). You look like such a little man these days!

Baby-Led Weaning has been going great for us. You absolutely love food and I'm so proud of you for trying new things and being such a little foodie rock star. You are feeding yourself and your hand-eye coordination improves every single day. It's amazing to watch you deliberately grab a mango slice from your high chair tray and get it all the way up to your mouth, where a few weeks ago you were struggling to even get your hand close to the right part of your tray. Everyone that watches you eat is totally impressed with how good of an eater you are. We told your pediatrician that you were feeding yourself and even he was amazed! I bought a little travel high chair to take with us to friend's houses and restaurants so you can eat at the table with us - you love that. So far you've had cucumbers, bananas, mangoes, apples, pears, asparagus, green beans, noodles, french bread, chicken, pancakes, salmon, waffles, bison ribeye, peppers, broccoli, sweet potatoes, bison bacon, pasta, avocados, turkey, yogurt, carrots and even a bite of chocolate pudding and creme brulee! You love it all! I don't know how much you're actually swallowing (my guess is very little), but you are experimenting with all kinds of different tastes and textures, which is GREAT! You're still getting all/most of your calories/nutrition from breast milk and formula, so this food is just for fun. And FUN it is! We are big fans of BLW. (As are the dogs, who get to clean up the mess around your high-chair. They love it.)

You are teething like a mad-man these days. Everything in the house is covered with a layer of baby drool. You go through a couple outfit changes a day because your necklines get sopping wet. My face and shoulders are perpetually slobbery, anything close to you (including the dogs) gets covered and your hands haven't been dry in months. Last week I noticed that your gums were swollen and you couldn't go a minute without gnawing on something. And just like that, a couple days after turning six months old (see, there's a benefit to being late with these update posts) you got YOUR FIRST TOOTH! Oh my goodness, I almost died when I felt it. Of course I started crying. Mainly because I am so happy and proud of you for getting a tooth and also because this really means that you're not going to be a baby forever. Man, that's hard to handle. I wasn't quite expecting that so soon.

And speaking of growing up, you are SO close to being mobile. You can sit in a tripod now and are getting pretty good at keeping your balance. Every now and then you get distracted by something behind you and when you turn to look for it you fall over. We yell TIMBER! and you laugh. You can't quite get yourself into a sitting position yet, but you're close. You're also really close to crawling. You get up on all fours, you rock, you move your legs, you push, but it's not all working together just yet. When you want something just out of reach you do a combination crawl/roll to get there. You're a rolling machine. I have a feeling you'll be crawling by Christmas though. Again, I am NOT ready and also so incredibly proud of you. Your dad and I have to get our acts together and get the house baby-proofed asap. I have a feeling that once you start moving, you're going to be hard to stop and leave a serious path of destruction in your wake.

You've also started doing some incredibly cute things. You love to squeal and scream, which you think is hilarious and then you start cracking up. You've started saying "daadadadadadada" at the top of your lungs. No sign of "mammamamama" yet though. Sometimes you close your eyes and shake your head back and forth repeatedly and laugh. It's hilarious! And you now smile for the camera! I don't know how you learned to do that, but every time I pull out the camera, you cheese it up! Honestly, I couldn't be any prouder at that trick than anything else you do. It's amazing! You're also ticklish under your arms and on the bottom of your feet. Your dad and I terrorize you as the tickle-monster and you laugh and squeal and squirm! It's seriously the best thing ever. And your newest thing is whining/crying when I leave for work in the morning. This one isn't quite so cute or awesome. I think the separation anxiety is starting. I know you love your nanny (and you get over me being gone within 2 seconds), but it kills me to see you crying for me when I leave for work in the morning. Hopefully this won't last too much longer or get much worse or my little heart will break. However, I know you're in good hands and you have so much fun all day long with the nanny. I have a feeling that within a few weeks you'll be crying at the end of the day when she leaves instead.

You've really turned a corner on bath time this month too. You now love it! You can't get enough. Your dad and I have started taking baths with you because there's no way you'll sit in that little baby bathtub anymore, you're too active. Getting you to sit or lie still is impossible. You jump and wiggle and launch yourself into the water with incredible gusto! You are so incredibly slick and squirmy and wild - bathing you is like wrestling a greased pig! You definitely get your love of water from your daddy. I think you'll be a swimmer, too!

I'm also happy to say that your sleeping has gotten DRAMATICALLY better. The doctor gave us the ok at your 6 month appointment to do sleep training with you. We started that night. Of course we didn't exactly know what we were doing and we (I) was not ok with letting you cry it out, so we did a modified version of the no-tears, Happiest Baby on the Block sleep training. Basically we give you a "dream feed" bottle before we go to bed (around 10:30) and we cut out that 4 a.m. bottle and pushed it back to 7 a.m., when you wake up for the day. The first night was awful and I ended up rocking and bouncing you for hours and hours. The second night was much better and you only woke up once, then put yourself back to sleep within 10 minutes. The third night you slept through the night! WHAT?! We couldn't believe it. Maybe it's a fluke, but we've now had a couple nights in a row where you sleep from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. with one dream feed. My goodness, I can't believe what a difference this makes! We're like entirely new people now that we're sleeping! I can't believe you adapted so quickly. You are seriously the most amazing child ever.

Oh Macaroon, I am just over the moon in love with you. I asked your dad last night if it was normal to love something so much and to be this happy. I wonder if every single mom out there feels this way about their baby? If so, how does everyone not have 10+ kids? I want so much more of you! I want to clone you and have an entire house full of Macs. You are just the most incredible thing in the world. I am so lucky to be your mama.