Maternity Leave

It's my last week of my maternity leave, I don't want to think about going back, but I know I've got to face reality...soon. I've taken off 8 weeks from work, and it's been the best 8 weeks of my life. At this point, I don't want to think about the emotions of leaving him for the first time. Josh said I could stay home with him, but we would have to sell the house and totally change our lifestyle...not ready to do that yet:) Over the past 8 weeks, I've really learned a lot about raising a baby, it's a 24/7 job that's for sure. Everything revolves around him and his feeding schedule. Luckily I've had the best friends to share my maternity leave with, if it weren't for them I think I would have lost my mind!

Moms have always said what a wonderful experience it is to have a baby, but you really don't experience that joy until you have your own. So true! Having Colt was absolutely amazing, words cannot describe the feeling of bringing a small life into this world. It's so easy to forget about all the pain you go through during and after birth. It's been an awesome 8 weeks, I just can't imagine whats to come and I can't wait to experience it again...okay, I can wait a little longer.

Things that we've done during the past 8 weeks:

Feeding: Colt eats every 2 1/2 to 3 hours and boy does he eat. I was very lucky that he had no problem nursing, no problem at all!! He has a very good appetite, and an internal alarm clock too. If he takes a nap right before his next feeding, he's going to wake up at the 3 hour mark. He's a fairly patient eater too. He will cry of course when he's hungry, but I think he knows the routine now. We will change his diaper and then feed him. He doesn't carry on and cry/scream...he just patiently waits (for the most part). We introduced the bottle to him early on. Since I do have to go to work, he's got to be able to take a bottle, and he did! As long as there's food he's sucking!

Sleeping: Well, I suppose he sleeps like a normal baby, but I'm not sure what normal is?? He has days where he will sleep most of the day (not very often) and days where I feel like he hasn't slept at all! He tends to fall right to sleep during the day with no problem, but after 5, it apparently isn't cool to take naps. He really fights taking a nap in the evenings...he will cry/scream, wiggle, kick, grab at things, anything to keep him awake, but the body takes over and he eventually goes to sleep. At first it was very frustrating, but now since we know he's just fighting it, it's kind of funny:) With most babies (I feel) when they are asleep, they are dead to the world. With Colt, we really have to make sure he's out before we carry on with other activities. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE playing with him, but we cross our fingers for a nap when he starts getting fussy/yawning. He's such a noisy baby too...he grunts and carries on a lot, thankfully most of the time he'll fall right back to sleep. Night sleeping has definitely been a challenge! When I mentioned that he has an internal alarm clock, it was effective at night too. Up until 6 weeks, he was waking up every 3 hours to eat...just a hungry baby. Around 6 weeks, he began to fall asleep at the 7:30/8:00 feeding and we couldn't wake him up for another late night feeding when we went to bed. He would sleep until midnight/1:00/1:30, which was a long time, but then he'd wake again at 4:00, so I was getting up twice during the night:( Just lately (for the past couple of days), we've been able to wake him up for a late night feeding (9:30/10:00) and he will sleep until 3:30/4:00 (once a night feeding). Yeah! I think we're getting somewhere, finally! On 7/3/09, we fed him at 10:00 pm and he went straight to bed, he didn't wake up to feed until 5:00 am!! This is considered sleeping through the night!! I don't want to gynx us, but I had to mention it!! So, the sleeping thing is looking very hopeful...

Here's some pics of him sleeping and he can sleep anywhere!

Wake time: Colt has very good mornings. After he wakes up from his nighttime sleeping he's SO happy! Here is a video of him in the morning. He was probably around 3 weeks here:

I think he's going to be a big talker. He coo's, gurgles, squeals and just carries on for a good while. We have done so many things during wake time like sing, talk, play on the floor, swing, swim, play on the changing table,walk/run, have play dates with our friends, play with family, help cook dinner, watch tv :) and I'm sure many other things:

Here are some pics of Colt playing on the floor:

When I said play on the changing table, I meant it. In the first few days of Colt's life, getting a diaper change was no fun! He didn't like it at all, then one day he discovered that getting his diaper changed was awesome! And he LOVES the changing table and to look at the picture above it. Changing a diaper used to last about 1 minute, now, it last for up to 15 minutes (just b/c I get tired of standing there, not b/c he gets tired of it!). Here is a video of Colt on the changing table, this video lasts about 1.5 minutes, but I think we were there for about 15 minutes that day and I started recorded about half way through! (7 1/2 weeks)



Play dates: The day Colt was born he already had 3 friends: Luke Chavers (now 6 months), Canon Moss (now 4 months) and Ava Yates (now 3 months), what a lucky fella. We have tried to get together with all four as much as possible. Of course with babies, anything could come up so there were only a few times when we had all four! We would mostly just hang out at someone's house...at D's we hung out on her porch or went running with the babies, at Mandy's we would an fitness program called Crossfit (it will kick your butt) and the babies would watch and at our house we would go swimming. We have also made many lunch and dinner dates with the babies. To see the looks on peoples' faces when we walk in with four babies is priceless. I can't count how many people have asked us if we planned this, which we didn't. I'm so excited about all of them growing up together! Poor Ava, she is the only girl out of the group right now, but luckily Julia Blank is due to arrive in September (Wiil & Tuan's baby girl)! Here are some pictures of our play dates:

Luke & Colt (left) Colt & Canon (Right)

Colt, Canon & Luke (left) Ava, Colt & Canon (right)

Ava, Colt & Canon (left) Colt & Canon (right)

Here is a video of Ava, Colt and Canon:

Spending time with family:

K-K (left) and Nana (right)

Grandpa (left) and Pops (right)

My Grandma (Great-Grandma)

Swimming: Since we have a pool, Colt got introduced to the swimming pool at a very early age! He was 1 month old when he had his first dip. At first he didn't like it at all, but now he loves going swimming! I think he's going to be a little fish! Here are so me pics of his new adventures in the pool:

Since he likes swimming so much, bath time became a breeze...now he loves it!!

Oh! And did I mention how much he LOVES his mom and dad??

First time to Church at Covenant UMC.