The Good Life

I got an email this morning that said "Can you believe your baby is almost 2 months old?" and the answer is "no". Colton is 8 weeks old today - and week 8 has been so much better to us than week 7 was. The Gentle Ease formula seems to be treating Colton's tummy well. He still has a short crying spell in the evenings around 5:30 or 6:00 but instead of it going through the night, it usually passes by 7:30 or 8:00. Yesterday, Colton didn't cry one single time all day long (is it bad that I thought something was wrong?) and I got not only smiles, but lots of giggles and "talking". Yesterday was a good day :-) My sweet baby is growing so fast and now that he's smiling a LOT, I'm thankful he's not able to talk and ask me for stuff yet because with that cute little grin, he would be eating cookies for breakfast if he wanted to. Of course I'm kidding, but that smile does just absolutely melt my heart. Colton's brain is busy growing

This is Matt's third week of working in Charlotte (only coming home on weekends) while I'm here in Tennessee with Colton, which means that life has been very different for all of us. I know that every baby is different - and since Colton is colicky, he is considered a "high-need" baby - but, it's not easy taking care of a baby 24/7 by yourself. For all you single Moms out there - I applaud you! I'm so thankful that I have the help of my parents when I need it, but Colton and I still miss Daddy's help a lot during the week. Matt has been looking at housing options for us in Charlotte and we're open to renting or buying as long as it's a good purchase and something that's going to benefit us in the long run. We found a cute little 3 bedroom, 2 bath house with a good size lot located in Iron Station, NC and made an offer on it last week. As we prayed about it, talked about it and thought about it, it just started feeling like the wrong move for

Colton turned 7 weeks old yesterday - and boy was week 7 a doozie. Poor little guy's colic hit full force this week and I'm praying that it's hit the peak and headed on the downhill side now. It's already a stressful time, getting adjusted to life with a newborn and learning to be a "Mom" and adjusting to life with Matt working out of town during the week, but it's such a completely helpless feeling, as a mommy, not being able to comfort my baby. I had begun to notice that the mylicon drops and gripe water were not having as much an effect on Colton as they had in previous days/weeks and his face was breaking out in "infant acne", which he never had before. On Monday, he was way more fussy than normal and cried off and on a majority of the day. I spent my entire day rocking him, massaging his belly, moving his legs, applying warm towels to his belly...the works. Nothing seemed to help ease his discomfort. Monday night, he slept a couple of ho

I know that their are MANY people who co-sleep with their babies, and I am not judging anyone, but I have a pretty firm stand against "co-sleeping" with my baby. Way before I was a parent myself, I had my mind made up that my baby would not sleep in my bed, and thankfully I married a man that has that same opinion. I have read so many stories and (when I worked in the Emergency department) have seen first hand the dangers of co-sleeping. Don't get me wrong, when Colton won't stop crying at 2AM and I know that putting him in bed with me will make him stop, it's VERY tempting to just slide him in my bed so that we can both get some sleep. But, I know the negative effects that it could have and my sleep is just not worth the risk. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), are saying that bed-sharing isn't safe because letting your baby sleep in their own crib can reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome  (SIDS), as co-sleeping ups the chances of accident

I had all sorts of ideas of what being a full-time mommy was going to be like. Out of all of those ideas, only a few of them are turning out to be reality. Since being a Mom is somewhat different than I imagined, I thought I would share 20 of my new-Mommy "Truths" (the list could go on forever...) 1. I have already lost 1 sock and 1 mitten in the washer (or dryer) 2. I want to apologize to friends and family members who had kids before me for not fully understanding why it was so difficult to visit and spend time together 3. I fantasize about what I would trade for 8 (even 7) hours of sleep 4. I laughed at Dr. Woods when she asked me what I planned on using for birth control 5. I am finally able to clip Colton's fingernails without freaking out 6. I want to throw the baby monitor out the window (or flush it down the toilet) 7. I wonder how other new moms manage to be so skinny, put-together and energetic 8. As much as I dread facing a crying baby for 2AM

Colton will be 6 weeks old tomorrow - wow! It's amazing how fast these 6 weeks have gone by, considering how long the 6 weeks took prior to his arrival :-) According to "experts" the 6 week milestone is a baby's "recognition smile". At week 6, about half of all babies can recognize their parents and are usually so excited and happy that they greet Mommy and Daddy with a big grin. In fact, the smile is termed a "social smile" and it's one of the first signs that a baby is developing an ability to socialize. Even though we have been struggling through the colic phase, Colton is a very happy baby! He has been smiling at different times throughout the past 6 weeks, whether it's when he passes gas or poops or when his belly is full, he smiles at so many things. He has definitely reached this "social smile" milestone and has the sweetest grin when he hears my voice. Knowing that someone is so happy to see me or hear my voice is su

Before I became a Mom, I heard the term "colic" but I really had no idea what it was. Since I didn't have a baby of my own, I didn't have to worry about what it actually was and I just assumed it was a sickness babies got like chicken pox or the measles (seriously, I did think that). Now that I am a Mommy to a semi-colicky baby, I'm fully aware of what "colic" truly is. Baby Colic is a condition where an otherwise healthy baby cries or displays symptoms of distress frequently and for long periods of time for no "reason". How do you know if your baby has colic? If your baby is younger than 5 months old and cries for more than three hours in a row on three or more days a week for at least three weeks (phew!), chances are he's colicky. Well, that's Colton. Colic isn't a disease and won't cause him any long-term harm, but it's a tough thing to go through for him (and me at times). While babies normally cry when they're w

I make decisions every day, easy ones and hard ones. I decide what to wear, what to eat for breakfast, how (or if) I'm going to fix my hair, etc..., but there are some decisions to make in life that are just harder than others. Deciding to have a baby was a huge, life-changing decision. Along with that decision came other major decisions. Whether or not I am going to - be able to - stay home with our baby or go back to work? If I do work, which daycare will he go to or will he stay with family? If we decide to have another child, how long are we going to wait? Are we willing to re-locate? There are so many questions that I sort out in my head all day, every day - the last question is the one that is really weighing on my heart right now...are we willing to re-locate??? Matt and I both love living in East Tennessee. We love the weather, the mountains, the people and the small community feel. However, East Tennessee isn't exactly booming with job opportunities. Lack of opport

It's been almost a week since my last post and I swear I have no idea where the time went. I've gone from working a full time job to being a (for now) stay at home mommy and I feel like I don't even know what day it is anymore. Sometimes it's really nice not knowing what day of the week it is because I can just pretend like every day is Saturday, but sometimes it stinks because a week can fly by without me even realizing it. This week has had some ups and downs. Matt has accepted a job in Charlotte and will be starting on Monday so he spent a couple of days (and nights) in North Carolina this week looking for houses which means that Colton and I were on our own for the first time (for 2 days/nights in a row)! Colton is getting more used to being (more) awake during the day and is sleeping longer (his 3 hour stretches) at night. There were a couple of rough nights where we only got about an hour of sleep at a time but I feel like maybe he's figuring out that we w

Today is February 3rd and it's a big day!!! Sure, it's Superbowl Sunday but something much more important is happening in our little family - Colton is turning a month old today. It's hard to believe that a month has passed since I first laid eyes on my precious little man, but when I look at him I see just how much he has already changed. Over the past month, Colton has had lots and lots of visitors from lots of different states. He has had visitors from Tennessee, North Carolina, Indiana, Ohio, Texas and Kentucky. He has gotten to meet most of his aunts and uncles, all 4 of his grandparents and 5 out of 6 of his great-grandparents. Colton took his first "big trip" to Knoxville this month and we are thankful for how well he travels. We're looking forward to getting out and about on longer trips as our little guy grows. We are so thankful for a healthy first month - for Colton and me. We have only had to visit the doctor for scheduled check-ups and Colton