Mother's Day Weekend

We had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend! Yesterday (Saturday), we went to Ethan and Erin's baseball and softball games. The weather was really beautiful. It was nice and sunny yet breezy and not too hot. We stuck an umbrella on Logan's stroller and set him down on a blanket in the grass. He absolutely loved just chilling out on the blanket and looking around at everyone. Of course, he kept rolling over from his back to his stomach. At one point, he was laying half on his stomach and half on his side, peeking out from a small space underneath his stroller at some boys throwing the ball, when one of Jeff's friends noticed him "spying" on the kids and popped his head down on the other side of the stroller, surprising Logan, who laughed out loud and gave a huge grin of delight. Maybe you had to be there to appreciate the humor, but it was a pretty priceless moment.

Then this morning, when Zack gave me Logan so I could nurse him, I noticed Logan was gripping something tightly in his left hand, something that looked suspiciously like a Brighton jewelry bag! It took several minutes for Logan to actually loosen his grip and decide to give it to me. That boy is strong! I was so excited to discover a beautiful "MOM" necklace, which I had actually seen in their catalogue and admired. Thank you Baby Logan! Today was so perfect. I love being his mommy so much! Soon after, Zack went to Douglasville to spend time with his mom, and Logan and I met my parents at the club for a super yummy brunch. Of course, Logan decided he was hungry too, and so I nursed him while I ate for most of the meal. The club gave all mothers cute little baggies filled with a bar of expensive looking scented soap inside. Afterwards, we took some pictures outside overlooking the golf course. While I waited for Zack to get home, Logan, Mom, Maddy and I sat outside in the driveway, in the shade, simply enjoying the amazingly beautiful day, and later on, Logan napped in his stroller while I went on a peaceful one hour walk around the neighborhood. Walking with Logan and Maddy is one of the highlights of my day. When Zack came home, he had a gorgeous bouquet of sunflowers for me (my favorite flower), and tonight, he gave me a sweet card from Logan and from himself. Logan actually wrote in his card himself, since Zack put the pen in Logan's hand and guided him by holding onto his arm. I will save the cards for the rest of my life! For dinner, Zack made me one of my favs- grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, simple yet delicious! Today was such a special day. Being a mommy to Logan is the best thing I have ever done and my most amazing accomplishment. I am so fortunate to have such a wonderful mom myself, and I hope I can as good a mom to Logan as she was and is to me. She taught me so much about the love between mother and child, and she has been a wonderful example for the kind of mother I want to be to Logan. My first Mother's Day was better than I could ever have imagined, and I am so lucky to have such a perfect little family! :)

Back to Tummy

April 28th was a very eventful day for Mr. Logan. Not only did he experience his very first bottle, but he also rolled over from his back onto his stomach for the first time. He is a very strong baby. When he was only four weeks old, he started randomly rolling over from his tummy onto his back, which I've been told is an exceptionally young age. Going from the back to tummy, however, uses different muscles and normally takes much longer to master. We always give Logan his required approximately 15-20 of daily tummy time, usually divided into five or so minute sessions. He likes it for a while, but then he is suddenly over it and lets us know immediately by wailing at an admirably loud volume! And he has to be in the mood for tummy time. Well, let me tell you, he is definitely NOT in the mood for it in the middle of the night. Starting on the 28th, and every night since then, he somehow keeps repeatedly rolling over onto his stomach in his sleep. Thank God it jars him awake almost immediately, because I have read so much about how babies who sleep on their tummies are at a higher risk for SIDS. It must scare him awake, but all of a sudden, we'll be awakened by his frantic screaming. Right now, he thinks of tummy time as exercise, where he always is using his muscles to keep his head up. I'll either put toys in front of him, put the portable DVD player down and pop in a Baby Einstein DVD, or even entertain him by dancing and singing like a crazy lady while he stares up at me and grins. In any event, he doesn't yet know how to relax during tummy time. So he keeps waking himself up, because his face will be smashed up against the sheet, and he'll have to use his neck and shoulder muscles to keep his head up to breath. For the first three nights, he woke me up about every 1-2 hours doing this, and sometimes every 10 minutes, and of course, the night before my first day back at work was one of them. Finally, on day number 4, he learned to turn his head either to the left or the right, so he can relax and sleep peacefully on his stomach, and he hasn't woken up for that reason since. The only problem is that I'm all worried about him sleeping on his stomach now, so I keep waking up to check on him. And almost every time, he's back on his tummy, and once again, I'll turn him back over onto his back. My books say that once a baby can turn over onto his stomach, there's nothing you can do about it, but I still can't help but worry. At least he now realizes how to turn his head so he can breathe, and I do feel confident that if he ever starts to feel suffocated, he'll be able to wail pretty quickly to let me know he's struggling. I guess this issue is something that every parent deals with at some point. Logan is such an exceptionally strong guy, that I know he'll be fine; however, as a mother, I just can't help but worry. Remember the saying, "worrying is what a mother does best?". Well, I actually understand that now! :)

On a side note, this past week he has really discovered and started playing with his feet. Also, yesterday and today he's begun to really raise his head when he's on his back, into almost like a half stomach crunch position. Zack and I feel it won't be long before he's sitting up all by himself. Finally, for the first time this evening, he took his paci out of his mouth all by himself, extended him arm out fully and looked at it for a few minutes, then slowly and quite awkwardly managed to put it back into his mouth. I was very proud of him! He is really starting to develop his eye hand coordination.

The Bottle

Well, we finally had no choice but to introduce the bottle to our little man, since I had to start work yesterday. Thankfully, however, I only have to work 3 days this week, as a way to slowly wean back into the work routine. We are also fortunate in that I am able to come home to nurse during lunch, so he will only have one bottle feeding in the afternoon. In any event, all books advise someone other than the mother to give the bottle. I have been pumping for about two months and storing it in the freezer, just in case I get sick and have to "pump and dump". On April 28th, Zack gave Logan his very first bottle, and we were able to capture it on video as well. I was afraid this process was going to take a very long time, since he has breastfed exclusively for 4 1/2 months. He actually took it pretty well! Call me overemotional, but I teared up a little as I watched him take the bottle. It might be difficult to explain to those who have never experienced the emotional bond formed over nursing your baby, and of course I wanted him to take the bottle, so he will be ok when I'm not there, but there was definitely a small, selfish part of me that wished he would refuse it. I absolutely love all those countless, precious moments spent with him, skin to skin, so close to each other, and I beyond doubt will miss them in the not so distant future when he becomes too big to nurse. I guess I got both my wishes. After about two minutes of sucking from the bottle, he did get a little fussy and decided he was done. Since that first time, either my mom or Zack has given him the bottle about four more times. I can't help but smile just a little when he gets visibly angry that he has to take "second best". His pattern so far is to take the bottle for a few seconds, swallow, then scream with his little beat red face, making sure to let us know that he's not very happy about the new arrangement, then he'll drink for a few more seconds, get angry some more, drink again and so on. I do appreciate the fact that he is also missing his bonding time with Mommy, and I also find it humorous that even when he's mad, Logan still manages to drink it all. He's not our chubby little dude for no reason! :) When I came home from work last night, he didn't even want to play with me. The second I held him he grabbed for my breast like his life depended on it, and he wanted to latch on for most of the remaining night. It made me feel good to know I was missed, although he made it very clear what part of me he missed the most. :)

Baptism

Well, the past week has been crazy hectic! Logan was baptized on Sunday, April 25th, 2010 at 12:00 noon. He looked absolutely precious in his little white baptism suit, cap and cross shoes. Although he didn't use it during the ceremony, since it was so hot inside, we did bring my white christening blanket, which created a very special touch. The ceremony was really special and intimate and took place in the Cathedral of Christ the King chapel. Father Kissel performed the sacrament, which was lovely considering he was also a co-officiant at our wedding. We chose one of my best friends and former bridesmaid Kelly Breymeier to be the godmother, and Richard Brandt, Zack's uncle and one of his former groomsmen, to be the godfather. I nursed Logan right up until the ceremony began, so he actually fell asleep for the entire thing! He was a perfect angel, and he didn't even wake up when Father Kissel poured water over his forehead (but he did twitch his face a little bit)! Almost all of Zack's mom's family attended, with the exception of Gina's family, and Zack's immediate family on his dad's side also came. I was really fortunate to have several family members fly down from New Jersey for the occasion- my first cousin once removed Tricia, my sister, niece and nephew, and my Nana. I was so happy that my Nana got to come down and meet her great-grandson. She has not been feeling well after her recent strokes, and I was so afraid that he might never get to meet her. I made sure to take lots of pictures, as well as some video, of the two of them together. After the ceremony, we had a wonderful party at my parent's house. There was all kinds of delicious food- smoked salmon dip, meatballs, spinach and artichoke dip, veggies and a greek taziki sauce, a cheese and ground turkey dip, a honey baked ham, turkey cranberry biscuits, delicious fresh strawberries, yummy brownies and of course, a cross baptism cake from Publix. Logan received all kinds of neat gifts, including the following personalized items: a bible, two picture frames, a photo album and a wooden cross. He also got tons of clothes, a stuffed animal, a digital picture frame, money for his college fund and several sweet cards (I saved them all). The little dude was so sweet the whole day, even though he missed his nap and is starting to teeth, and I'm sure his head was hurting from his terrible fall the afternoon before. We are so happy and proud of our little baptized baby boy!