My 1st St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Hal - we can't wait to celebrate with you today!

(Owen is 3 weeks old today!)

Music of my heart

Jeremy made an iTunes playlist for my labor and it was so appreciated. It provided some much needed background music and ambiance for a very special time in our life.

Now that we're home, I've been playing the songs during the afternoons when I'm spending time with Owen. There are a few songs on there that really touch me and remind me of what it means to be a woman, be in an amazingly loving marriage and be blessed with this precious son. It's funny how music can play a soundtrack for your life and each time you hear it - wonderful memories and feelings come flooding back.

The playlist was over 3 hrs long but here are my favorites. Enjoy!

This Woman's Work - Maxwell
Finally - Fergie
Knocked Up - Kings of Leon
Beautiful Boy - Ben Harper
Things We've Handed Down - Marc Cohn
Life in A Nutshell - Barenaked Ladies
Your Call - Secondhand Serenade
Look After You Live - The Fray

This is what my Monday afternoon looks like

Tiny footprints on my heart

Owen is breastfeeding like a champ - cluster feeding actually, every 1-1.5 hours during the day for the past few days. We have to wake him every 2-3 hrs at night, until he's established his weight gain. So Mamma hasn't slept more than 3 hours straight in over 16 days. But did I mention he's getting cheek chub?

At night he sleeps in the co sleeper (thanks E!) next to our bed. We swaddle him up nice and tight before bed and after feedings and there he sleeps still and quiet. Sometimes too still and too quiet. I find myself sleeping with one eye open to make sure he is still breathing. I always want to scoop him up and snuggle him close - but my sheer exhaustion coupled with enormous pillows/comforters and my fear of smothering my baby keeps him safely tucked away in his co sleeper. I'm thankful he's taken so kindly to sleeping there where I can see him.

We've had a hard week, Jeremy had to go back to working half days at the hospital and my mom had been living with us since I was on bed rest and his first week. She was helping us SO MUCH with laundry, grocery, dinners ect. Having our laundry magically clean and put away was AMAZINGLY helpful. She planned on coming back to help me this week - but she came down with a sinus infection so I've been on my own figuring out this new baby stuff.

Jeremy is so helpful with feedings - especially since he has to get up and go to work. Our dance goes a little like this:

Midnight: Mamma feeds; Daddy changes diapers, swaddles and puts Owen to sleep in the co sleeper usually around 1am.

3am: (Owen is usually crying, sometimes we have to wake him) Jeremy takes Owen and changes him, Mamma goes to the bathroom and gets settled on the couch to feed. Daddy brings Owen in and then gets Mamma a snack and a drink. He lays on the couch next to us and sleeps until we're done. When we're done (usually around 4-430) he changes/swaddles Owen and lays him back down in the co sleeper.

6am: see previous feeding.

9am: Mamma changes Owen, bring him out to the couch to feed and then lets him fall asleep on her chest for a nap.

Owen is the king of snuggling. He LOVES to snuggle himself to sleep on my bare chest (who wouldn't with cans this size? right?) but he will gladly settle for Daddy as well. On my chest he sleeps more soundly than any other time and I love to hear the sounds he makes as he dreams his baby dreams and breath in the smell of sleepy baby goodness. Everyday after our morning feeding, he falls asleep on my chest and we take a cat nap on the couch. When he wakes up and looks up at me with those big blue eyes, I sing him a good morning song and thank god for allowing me this amazing gift.

(little footprints on my belly)

Mister blue eyes

Sorry I've been slow with blog updates. The most I've had time for is a quick five minutes on the computer - just enough to upload adorable pictures of my child for you all to soak in, but not enough to think and write. Also, thinking and writing take brain power and mine is pretty much consumed by breast feeding, yellow poops, diaper blowouts, urine soaked carpet and Daddy, and loving on our little cub who somehow manages to change everyday despite our best efforts to keep him a tiny meatloaf forever.

Here are some vital stats on baby Owen:

Owen's eyes are turning a gorgeous light blue just like his Daddy's but we're pretty sure they're shaped like mine. When I used to dream about my baby, I always pictured him with his Daddy's eyes - it is so wonderful to see my dream looking up at me in real life.

Owen was born with LOTS of hair. One of the firs things Dr. K said when he checked my dilation in the hospital for the first time was, "Okay, so we're going with HAIR!" Neither Jeremy or I had hair as newborns - I had a tiny bit of red peach fuzz (which my mom insisted was blood and wanted the nurses to scrub off) and J had none but blossomed into a little butterball with blonde curls. Not our boy, he has soft, straight light brown hair and his Daddy's 30-year-old hairline. It's unreal actually how exact the hairlines are. Now it's starting to fill in with light blonde whisps and we both LOVE to brush it after bath time with his soft baby brush.

Owen also inherited his Daddy's enormous hands and feet - slender fingers and crazy long toes. He has long thin chicken legs - legs which I hope Mamma's milk will fatten up with rolls and chub.

Of all the wonderful things Owen has inherited from his Daddy - with the good comes the bad. And he wouldn't be his Daddy's son if he didn't inherit HIS GAS. During our first 24 hours in the hospital, one of the nurses said to me, "you have a VERY gassy baby, we don't usually see gas this early." I thanked her for the observation and told her he takes after his Daddy. My kid farts like bean-filled wind up toy. The sad part is, the gas is very painful for him. It will wake him up out of a dead sleep screaming in pain. At first we weren't sure what was hurting our boy, but one listen to his grumbly belly and we knew. We've been giving him Mylicon drops - which help a little, but we're still met with him writhing and screaming in pain 1-2 times a day.

I think Owen has my small-ish nose. My family teases me that mine slopes a little at the end like a ski jump. Owen has a little button nose, and I'm hoping it stays that way.

I'm so excited to learn more about this little wonder and see the amazing combinations of Jeremy and I as he grows!

100 more to come

This morning I realized that the birth of Owen was our 100th post on this blog!! How perfect!? I have so many things to write about on here his birth, bringing him home, breastfeeding successes and failures, his first week - there will be so many more posts to come. We're still adjusting to life at home and getting ready for his Bris and Naming tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll entertain you with sickeningly cute pictures of my child.

Having some awake time on Daddy's lap.

Where does the time go?

My sweet baby is one week old and he is changing already. I want to drink in every bit of him while he is still a little bundle. Eight days worth of moments have passed and I am more in love every day.

Daddy nap time

What makes you a man is not the ability to have a child but the courage to raise one.
- Barack Obama

Words are not enough

Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother
- Lin Yutang