Happy Halloween :)

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Fall-ish

As I sit down to write this (very early on a Saturday morning) Jonah is squealing and bouncing in his jumperoo. That has been the best investment! At just a few weeks old Jonah LOVED to stand, so this allows him to stand all he wants, and I can get things done around the house without fear of a dog stepping on him or him falling out. Dustin got a great video of him in action. You just can't help but laugh while watching it.

It's definitely fall outside. I now have to bundle up the little guy to walk the dogs everyday, wondering what we'll do when it's well below freezing :-/ I love having my house all decorated with pumpkins and leaves. Note I did not say I enjoy the act of actually decorating it. I think I mostly like it because they match the color scheme of our living space... this is not the case when Christmas rolls around, but this year I'm really going to push past that. We haven't been home for Christmas since we moved to Minneapolis in 2009, so every year I typically just throw up a tree and a few lights and call it good- no sense decorating for no one to see. This year, however, we've decided to stay home for Christmas so we don't have to chose which parent to visit. With our moms in Maryland and Arizona and our dads on either side of Iowa it makes holiday travel a little tricky/impossible. Now whoever wants to spend the holiday with us is welcome to come to our home! Genius!

I (barely) survived my work trip to Chicago. I did have a great time mingling with the who's who of my company and enjoyed some alone time shopping and SLEEPING. I cried every time we FaceTimed and whenever I went to the bathroom to pump though. Thankfully I won't have to do that again for a few months.

The most depressing part of that trip was that I had to buy dress pants TWO sizes bigger :( I'm so ready to be back to my normal self. The more I read from other moms if you're not one of the lucky ones who loses the weight right away the time period of 3-6 months is something to look forward to. Supposedly this is when you get a big fat burn from breast feeding. Jonah is now four and a half months and I've been stuck at the same weight since my birthday in August with 13 pounds to lose.  I've also heard from several moms who didn't lose the last 5-15 lbs until they weaned. ~sigh~ The more I breastfeed Jonah the more addicted to it I become. It really does suck dragging my "mysterious black bag" everywhere I go, but having such a healthy little boy is all the encouragement I need, so I don't plan to wean any time soon. I count calories, but if I go too low my milk production plummets. I'm trying really REALLY hard to not let it get to me, but to say I wasn't nervous about being in social situations due to it would be a lie. I've learned the best thing to hear as a new mom is "you look great". Those three words can make my whole day. For some reason I've always been super insecure about my body/weight, so this is really messing with my psyche. Thankfully I have a beautiful baby who takes center stage ;)

Four months

Truth be told I'm writing this post later than dated. I was actually in Chicago for Jonah's 4 month birthday. Of course Felicia texted me adorable photos and I got to FaceTime with him after Dustin got home. Thank God for technology! At Jonah's 4 month check up he weighed just shy of 14 lbs which is actually the 10-25% even though his little cheeks make him look chubby. He's still wearing size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes fit perfect, although we can still get away with wearing 0-3 month pants.

As the pediatrician recommended we started cereal! And no that doesn't help him sleep through the night. He's still up some time between midnight and 2 am and again at 6. He does enjoy it, however, and picked up on opening his mouth for the spoon right away.  




He also recently found his feet :) It's so cute when he grabs them while I'm changing his diaper; it's like he's trying to help. All in all he's just absolutely adorable and we can't get enough of him. xx

My latest online project...

We have Facebook, we have YouTube... then there's blogging, and instagram, and I tried to make Picasa work for photo sharing but it just didn't. I've always loved Shutterfly, for no other reason than their website is pretty easy to navigate. I've had great luck with their prints and pretty good luck with their cards as well (unless I forget to chose glossy print) and they're so fun to make. So my next venture is this website from Shutterfly where you can view, download and purchase photos! I'm trying to help everyone feel as if they're super close. I think I'm doing an okay job :)

Anyway you should check it out... we had Jonah's 3 month photos taken and they are absolutely breathtaking. Just when I think no photo shoot can be any better she amazes me.  I love my Jenni O.

I don't really like blogging.

Is it supposed to take so long to write each entry?  I find I can spend over 30 minutes typing and editing and adding pictures.  Facebook is so much more appealing to me, but I always think about my blog like it's a friend of mine.  Random thoughts pop into my head and I want to record them. Things I don't really want my Facebook "friends" to see. My thoughts on religion. The crazy dreams about guns and snakes and really the end of the world I've been having that I attribute to my new found interest in politics. All the myths you hear about becoming a parent that I would like to debunk. How I'm supposed to be starting the Nurse Practitioner program at Georgetown November 1st and am choosing not to. Random thoughts that I don't take the time to write out.

So here's my happy thought of the day: I feel like I was made to be a Mom. My life really does have a purpose now that didn't exist before. I feel laser focused on every aspect of my life, and am able to accomplish SO much more now than I ever was before Jonah. Have you ever heard of the book "The Strengths Finder"? An old boss of mine (who I really couldn't stand but took this away from his existence) had all of his interviewees find their strengths. It's really a neat concept. You buy the book, take an online quiz and find out what your five top strengths are. Then rather than trying to improve your weaknesses you focus your time and energy using your strengths to accomplish your job or whatever it may be. I would love for my husband to do this quiz. I did get my best friend in Iowa to take it and was surprised at her results... it's like peeking into someones brain :) My strengths are: WOO (winning others over), Focus, Achiever, Communication and something to do with gathering information... Learner I think.

Anyway my point of all that is that I really feel out of balance if my Focus is off. Or sometimes I get focused on the wrong thing... which can be catastrophic to a relationship. My Focus is so on point right now. I'm focused on breastfeeding (I may just make it to his first birthday with my attitude), I'm focused on my job, on my home, on my workout routine... the list goes on. This is where I could go off on a tangent about how breast feeding does NOT make the baby weight fall off but I'll save that for another time.

Let's talk about Mr. Amazing! He has recently started to be interested in what everyone is eating. The babysitter said her mom was eating something today and he looked at her and gave her the sad lip b/c she wouldn't share! Dustin and I don't usually sit at the table for meals together, but we're going to need to start so little man can start to learn about those social skills. Some people start cereal as soon as now. Some say 4 months, some say 6. It's actually really confusing to figure out the "right" thing to do. All this thinking has had a positive affect on my relationship with food. I want to be the best role model possible! I've even thought about crazy things like the Paleo diet. After consulting my favorite nutritionist I agree that it's really not a sustainable way of life but it has made me think about my food choices a little differently. The controversy around feeding a baby cereal is a little confusing... is there a nutritional reason to do so? I'll let you know what I find out.

Well it's 9:25 already and I need to get bottles ready for tomorrow ("pack Jonah's lunch" as I like to say) and shower, etc, so I'm signing off without posting pics. Check out YouTube though; I posted a cute video of him in his new Jumparoo today :) xx

September 11

I remember my Grandfather referring to Pearl Harbor Day by its date: December 7th. It always seemed a little funny to me that he knew the exact day; I just didn't understand. That is until September 11th happened. This year I thought about what I would one day tell Jonah about this date in history; how everyone knows exactly where they were on that fateful day and the feelings around it. How there were lines to get gas, and lines to give blood... 

There's SO much I have to teach him. Having a baby really does change a person. For me it's not a complete 360; I still like my "me" time (happy hour!) and a lot of the time it still feels surreal that I am a mom and he is my baby.

It's the subtle changes, like my new found interest in politics and history. Or how I don't have any desire to get on my motorcycle anymore. There's just too much at stake.

More then ever before I realize every day is truly a gift... it's important not to sweat the small stuff and waste any of the precious time we have together. xx

Labor Day

Tummy time is still a source of frustration...

Wow, I now know exactly what it means when people say this time goes by so quickly.  August was a complete blur and here we are at the end of the summer already. Yesterday our little Jonah was three months old. THREE MONTHS!  He changes so quickly we don't always notice it. I was talking to my mom who heard him coo in the background... she said "oh my, that's new!" and I was like "um, no he's been doing that for a while..." That prompted me to go back and look at the youtube videos I posted and oh. my. goodness. how much he's changed! Just this weekend Jonah gave us the "sad lip" and made a little whimper.  Dustin said "oh great now you have a whine to go with the lip?!"  It's little things like that that change everyday. We're onto size 2 diapers and it won't be too much longer before he's in his 3-6 month outfits. And he likes his toys now! I was about ready to return his little play gym but now he loves it. He "yells" and squeals at the octopus that hangs from the middle, and his little arms and legs flail all over the place.

Dustin and I decided I would go on that 3 night work trip to Chicago at the end of the month. I'm excited and nervous about that. Jonah is a great baby but he definitely likes his mama. Not just anyone can stick a boob in his mouth to calm him down ;) A few days after making our decision it dawned on me I would get to sleep through the night during my time there! Yessssssssss!

GGma holding Gage, Madelyn, and Jonah

Jonah had his first trip to Iowa to visit his new cousin Gage, meet Papa Shaffer, his great grandma Anona, and have a baby shower hosted by his GREAT aunt Lila ;) My cousin Heidi was there from Kansas City with her 6 month old Mazzie, so our grandma got to hold her 3 newest great grandbabies at the same time! My mom even made the trip up from Phoneix to meet baby Gage and see our little Jonah again.

On August 26th Jonah was baptized at Calvary Lutheran Church in Golden Valley, MN. Again we were blessed by SO MANY family members making the journey to be with us on his special day. Jonah saw Gpa Jim, Gma Leslee and Aunt Megan again, met GGma Shipman, Uncle Wade and Aunt Shanne for the first time, and got to see Uncle Nick and family for the second weekend in a row! He was a champ during the baptism, not crying, puking or pooping ;) He also got me all excited by sleeping through the night two nights in a row after his baptism. I was convinced that he must be at peace or something but that was short lived. We still get up twice every night to eat. Someday...

To end the summer Jonah and I traveled to NW Iowa for Gage's baptism all. by. ourselves. We're really going to miss Uncle Nick and family from here on out after seeing them three weekends in a row! We came back north and spent the rest of the weekend with Daddy; going to the MN State Fair and out for brunch with Uncle Todd and Brad. No wonder August went by so quickly! I vow to take it easy and enjoy the beautiful fall weather here at home from here on out. 

Sorry for the long post... I had so much updating to do! I'm not ready for the long holiday weekend to be over just yet... I see a "staycation" day in my very near future...