funny story

we gave the monk a bath the other night, and since he loves to be naked, when we were done we laid him down on a blanket and played with him for a little while. i was sitting cross-legged in front of him, so i made sure to request that he not pee on me. i figured since i am the mama and i provide the boob, that he would grant my request, but not so much. about 5 minutes after being naked a fountain of pee made it's way all over the crotch of my pants making it look like i was the one that had peed myself! the daddy and i just sat there watching it happen and neither of us made any effort to stop it until it was far too late. it not only soaked my pants, but my shirt, and undies as well! fun times.

today was a good day.

when i woke up this morning the first thing i thought was, "i HAVE to get out of this house today." our 2nd car broke down a few weeks ago and since we were planning on giving it to my parents when we moved anyway, we haven't bothered fixing it. this means that we are down to one car and i am stuck at home on the days monkey's daddy goes to work. it's not so bad for a day or two, or when my peeps come to visit me, but after a few days of just me and the monk, stuck in the house because it's too damn hot to go outside, i was about to lose my mind. even moreso when i realized that my better half (who am i kidding? i am TOTALLY the better half) took the car seat with him to work. i went to my parent's house to express my anguish over this unfortunate predicament and my dad, being the cool guy he is, went to his neighbor's house -whom he had never met before - introduced himself, and asked to borrow a car seat. not only did his nice neighbor say yes, he actually went and picked it up from another friend who had borrowed it and then told us to keep it as long as we needed. is that not the nicest thing ever???

needless to say, i have never been so happy to spend almost 2 hours in sam's club in my life. i happily traipsed around sampling a variety of tasty treats and purchasing clothes for the monk. why i am buying 12 and 18 month clothes already is beyond me, but i just can't help myself. especially not when i get an entire carter's outfit, pants and long-sleeved onesie, for under $7.00. in case you were unaware, it gets cooooooooold in north dakota.

speaking of which, as of monday, we only have 3 weeks left in this godforsaken desert and let me be the first to say, AMEN and HALLELUJAH!!! we walked to my parent's house (again, i know, but they only live a block away and they were feeding me...haha!) tonight and the wind was blowing. not the most pleasant feeling when it's 112 degrees outside and you feel like you're walking into a blow dryer. it may be cold in north dakota, but at least i can cuddle up on the couch with my boys, sip hot chocolate, and wear comfy pj's, whereas here it hardly gets cold enough to warrant putting the heat on. i am looking forward to having seasons again, and grass. green, green grass. woo hoo!

now i just need to finish packing...

whew

today has not been the greatest day. it started out with me giving the monkey a boo boo while taking him out of the stroller and ended with a lot of frustration and a pounding headache. being a mom is wonderful, but some days it's so hard. it doesn't help that along with trying to take care of the monkey, i am about to move cross-country and have ten million things to do before we go. i am so excited but even though everything seems to be in place at last (we do definitely have a place to live, thank goodness), i think it's impossible to move without getting stressed out. hopefully tonight i will get some rest and tomorrow i will feel like myself again. wish me luck.

month 2!

monk-a-monk,

i love you so much my sweet monkey. there are so many things that i wanted to write about this month, and i told myself i should write them down and never did. i will have to rectify that in the future.

you are smiling now, and cooing, and you even giggled once. your favorite time is right after you wake up for your morning feeding and right before your morning nap. you are so smiley and sweet that i just want to eat you up. i give your belly kisses and talk to you and you just light up. i'm not gonna lie, it makes my heart melt a little.

days with you have become more predictable, thank goodness. no more growth spurts that make me question my milk supply, or whether breastfeeding is going to work. it's working splendidly and i am even considering doing it for the first year instead of only the first six months. who'd have thought? we will see how you feel about that when the time comes.

there was a week or so when you decided your bedtime was going to get progressively later and i had to put an end to that. i didn't let you nap after 4pm, except for maybe 30 minutes, and finally got you to bed before 11. now you seem to do so by yourself and that's nice. things have been kind of crazy this past week because we had our wedding reception last weekend, but you've still gone to sleep at a reasonable hour even with all of the commotion.

mommy's whole family came to the reception and you were a big hit. you met your great aunties, your great grandma, and a few cousins. when you were 5 weeks old we took you to north dakota and you met your other grandma and grandpa's, some cousins, your uncle, and great aunties as well. i started writing a post about our trip but i never got around to finishing it.

the trip to north dakota was great...you slept the whole flight and 4 hour drive there. the week was a little rough at some points, but you were a trooper for the most part. at one point we thought that your daddy wouldn't be able to work there after all, but thankfully he will be, and we leave in 4 and a half weeks. you also slept the whole 4 hour drive and flight back. go monkey!

you took so many road trips while we were in north dakota that you now hate the car. you scream like someone is torturing your poor monkey butt, and the only thing that calms you even slightly is to rock the car seat side to side. i'm hoping this ends soon for obvious reasons.

you are still a great eater, and at your 2 month check up you had doubled your weight since birth. you have the most delicious thighs. and cheeks. and toes and fingers and hands and feet and ears and elbows and knees. =)

you are such a good baby and i love having you in my life. keep up the good work, son. ;)

lots of love,
mama

not okay!

tori spelling also calls her son monkey.

month 1!

monkey monk,

you are 1 month old today and mommy can hardly believe it! today is also daddy's birthday so we had your 1 month checkup at the doc and then we went and had lunch. you weigh 10 lbs 14 oz, monk, that is 3 lbs more than you weighed at birth..you are such a good eater! you are 21 inches long now and you got your 2nd hepatitis b shot. you cried for a few seconds, but that was it. i think the bugs bunny band-aid made it all better. :)

i think daddy and i lucked out in the baby department. you are such a good boy and have only had 1 or 2 days where you were extremely fussy for any given period of time. last night was the worst and i didn't know what to do for you. we tried everything, and you just wouldn't relax. after a little while i gave you the boob again and all was well. go figure, the first time i don't try to stop your crying with the boob, is the one time you want the boob. silly mama!

you don't like your toys, and you don't like tummy time. but you sure do like to be carried around and have your back rubbed. and car rides, of course. we bought you a vibrating seat the other day, and i think you will like it. so far it has gotten the best response of all, but you still prefer lovin' from the mama and papa and that is okay by me!

i realized the other day that i hardly remember the last month. we've done so much, and so much has happened, but it's a big blur. this month i am going to try to savor every moment with you because i know you are only going to be little for so long. you are already so strong...you hold your head up and everyone comments what great neck strength you have. the lactation consultant calls you "the baby with a mind of his own" and i know that sooner than i think you will be all grown up and i will want these months back.

you are taking your first airplane trip on friday to go visit your grandma and auntie in north dakota. daddy is going to interview for a job and we are going to check out the town that we will hopefully be moving to in a few months. i'm a little nervous about taking you on an airplane, but i'm sure everything will be fine.

my sweet boy, you have peed on me, pooped on me, and spit up on me countless times now (well, really just the spitting up), and it doesn't even phase me. you light up our life, and it's amazing to me just how much love i have for you. it fills up my heart so much, that sometimes i think it might explode. i love you so, so much and i can't wait to continue to watch and you learn and grow. thank you for making our family complete. we love you.

love,
mama

boob juice

so no one told me that breastfeeding was not as easy as it sounds. or if they did, i did not hear them! although it's gotten easier since we brought the monkey home, it is most definitely one of the most difficult things i've ever done. i haven't threatened to give up, because i am bound and determined to make it work, but i have invested a lot of time and money in the past 16 days in order to do so. the good news is that the monk is latching properly now and after a 3 day hiatus due to a torn nipple (OUCH!!!), we're back at it and luckily he doesn't seem to have a preference. however, i think my pump and i have formed a closer bond than the monkey and my boob have!!! now i just need to figure out how to gauge whether he's done with one and ready for the other or done altogether. i think it would be easier if he wasn't such an oinker, but this little boy eats 5 oz at every feeding!!! what a piggy. =) wish us luck as we continue this wonderful adventure!!!