Our First Trip Without Daddy

It's always hard being away from Isaac. When we got married, I knew it would be a big reality in our marriage, considering his pending 7 (which turned into 8) month deployment. But since he's been home, we haven't really been apart except for duty nights, which were once every 5th night until recently, where it's changed to every 4th. With that said, I'm kind of used to being away from Isaac, but any time away from him is hard. He's my husband, my love, my sanity when Curtis is screaming or waking up every hour or 2. He is the best Daddy I know, helping out so much with Curtis. He loves spending every second with him that he can and is so involved. So when he's gone, or we're gone, it's hard. We miss him, both Curtis and I and I know he misses us. But I am thankful for a husband who is ok with me taking our 5 month old to NC to celebrate his Great Grandma's 89th birthday. Because as hard as it is to be away from each other, it was very important that Curtis and I be able to celebrate my Grandma. She is a very special lady and even though Curtis will likely not remember her, she loves him so very much and he brings the biggest smile to her face every time she sees him. With that being said, our trip may have been hard, but it was wonderful. Mom throws Grandma a special lunch every year with her sisters, some of her nieces and grandchildren/great grandchildren. We got to eat good food, laugh, talk, take sweet pictures, enjoy all the kids in the family and celebrate 89 wonderful years of my Grandma's life. What a blessed day it was!

Other big highlights of our trip to NC:

Curtis and Prudence finally got to meet! Let me tell you alittle about these 2's special relationship. About a month after I told one of my very best friend's, Brenna, that I was pregnant, she texted me to tell me she was pregnant too. There is nothing better than going through pregnancy with one of your best friends. Pregnancy is not for the faint of heart, so if you can have a best friend to help you through it, it goes much more smoothly. When we found out we were having a boy and then the Perez's found out they were having a girl, we were even more excited. Brenna and I have joked all along that they were going to grow up friends and eventually marry. We know this may not happen, but I kind of hope it does, cause I know Prudence will be raised similarly to Curtis and they will be friends anyway, so why not? Well, Prudence ended up coming early, almost 4 months early, which was a shock, but she's a fighter so it's turned out ok so far. So, the day Curtis was born, Pru had been hooked to some form of O2, I can't remember if it was CPAP or the vent, but anyway, she pulled herself off of it and started breathing on her own. We like to think that all she needed was her love to come in to this world :) Anyway, it was wonderful for them to finally meet. When we brought them close to each other, Curtis reached for Pru, and they both smiled and laughed. It was wonderful to see!

Highlight number 2, I got to get coffee with my friend Courtney from back home. It was a wonderful time to hang out, get to know her better and have my heart encouraged by someone who's "been there" with this whole stay at home mom thing.

And highlight number 3, Taylor's t-ball game. It was fun to have our whole family (minus my love) there to watch Taylor win. I think she is really enjoying the game, and with some practice and age, I really think she'll make a good softball player.

The whole time was wonderful and I loved getting to spend time with my family. I love that they live close enough to go see and I love that they can be apart of Curtis' life. But, I am glad to be home with my husband, currently sitting on the couch with me, playing with our sweet baby :)

I love these 2 sweet girls!!

Grandma and Curtis, she was so happy to get to see him and hold him

My mom knows how to throw and tea party :)

Reegan playing peek-a-boo

Taylor giving Grandma her card

He did not want to be put down

Taylor hitting the ball

5 Months Old

Our Little Man is 5 months old today. It's so hard to believe how much he's changed in the last month. He is coming more and more into his own little, very opinionated personality. I'm learning very quickly that if he's not happy, for any reason, he will definitely let you know it by the shrillest scream I've ever heard from a baby. But, most of the time, he's pretty happy or just chill. Luckily, the only time he's incredibly fussy is if he's tired/hungry or just really bored with what's going on.

This past month has been full of changes for our little man. He moved into his own room about 2 weeks ago, which has been a huge adjustment. It was definitely much easier to get up in the middle of the night and just walk a few steps to get him and feed him rather than having to go down the hall, but it's nice to have our room back, and some nights, Isaac actually gets to sleep rather than being woken up every few hours. The thing about moving to a crib is, he now has all this space that he feels he has to explore. So we've gone back to waking up about every 2 hours, sometimes more. Also, because it's so new, he doesn't wake up crying, he wakes up talking. He actually talks a lot. I'm pretty sure when he gets older, we will never be able to get him to stop because it's kind of non stop when he's awake. And that's what I wake up to every few hours on the monitor, which is kind of nice cause I don't have to rush to get the screaming baby to stop screaming cause he's usually pretty happy.

A few other changes this month: he loves his cereal, I'm pretty sure starting him on solids will not be a problem at all. And I'm super excited to do that next month :) He loves to play peek-a-boo and if he's crying that can usually distract him for a little while, and he prefers to play sitting up on the couch instead of laying down, although sometimes he gets excited and falls over, which is cute :)

Here's a few more pictures from this past month:

We spent a morning babysitting our sweet god daughter so her mom could get some school work done. I just love hearing little fingers playing the piano

Isaac has learned that if he's desperate for Curtis to sleep, or calm down, and I'm not here, Curtis likes to be in any carrier (Moby, Ergo) and Isaac can handle the Ergo, so this is a familiar site in our house these days

Another familiar site: Curtis with this mouth open getting ready to stick something in it. He pretty much sticks every thing in there, toys, my hands, Isaac's hands, his own, his blankets, whatever he can find...

He has the cutest little sneezes ever

One of his favorite toys, Rubberneck Giraffe

Peaches was pretty curious one day so when we put Curtis on the floor, Peaches prepared herself to play with her. Little does she know, she'll probably be tortured once he can crawl and walk. She may be hiding under our bed a lot.

Weekend with the Grandparents

Last week, my mom was here helping me while I "recovered" from my procedure. I have that in quotes because, praise God, the recovery has been pretty easy and not at all as extensive as what the doctors made it out to be. It's always so nice to have mom here. Curtis just loves her. There were several times where I couldn't get Curtis to take a nap that mom just took him, told me to go somewhere else, and I'd come back a few minutes later and he would be asleep, all cuddled up on mom. It was such a sweet sight. With mom being here, of course that meant dad had to come back. He just can't stand mom getting to spend time with Curtis without him here, and who could blame him?, Curtis is a pretty awesome kid :) Mom and I had plans to go to a friend's house the night dad came up, so we left Curtis with Isaac and dad. I expected to come home to him fussy and cranky from not nursing before bedtime, but no, Papa (dad), had rocked him to sleep and he slept really well. It was the first time (other than after surgery) that I didn't nurse him to sleep, which was a little sad for me, but I'm glad dad was able to rock him to sleep, I know that is one of his greatest joys, rocking his grandbabies.

It was nice to have them both here. I love getting to spend time with them both and I love that they are getting a chance to know their Grandson a little bit.

Today was Curtis' 4 month appointment (2 weeks late). It went pretty well, I got to meet his new doctor who is very nice. He did pretty good for the first part of the appt, but then was done very quickly with different people poking and prodding. He's up to 15lbs 3ozs and almost 26inches, which is awesome. He's gonna be tall and lanky, just like his dad. When I think about how little he was when he was first born, he fit perfectly inside the carrier that I wore and could easily snuggle up on us, his whole body on us. Now, his arms and legs are flopping all over the place when I wear him in the Moby and it's harder for him to get his legs comfortable when we're snuggling cause they've grown so much. But, I love that he's growing, I love that he's healthy. We're so thankful for that. One thing about these appointments, though, that I hate are the shots. We get them, we believe in them. We both think immunizations are very necessary but it just breaks my mama's heart when those needles go in and he screams bloody murder. And then spends the rest of the day screaming. He just, finally laid down for a nap. I am hoping it lasts for a while because I know the best thing for him will be to sleep through the sore legs.

Here are a few pictures with of Curtis with Yaya and Papa from the last few weeks

Baby Dedication

This weekend has been a fun filled weekend with all our family visiting us.

I had some minor surgery on Friday to fix some complications from Curtis' delivery so mom and dad came up to visit and take care of Curtis for the day. We found out that Curtis really, REALLY doesn't like bottles. He took one or two while we were at the hospital reluctantly, but once I came home, he was done with that. It broke my heart because I wasn't suppose to nurse him until Saturday, so he screamed every time he got hungry. Finally, we decided to try some cereal. We definitely have a food loving baby. He was calm, and it filled his belly enough that he stayed asleep until the next morning, which we were very thankful for. 

We are also super thankful for mom and dad coming to take care of Curtis and help out some while I recovered. Thankfully, the recovery was much quicker than what the doctor's made it out to be and I feel much better than what I was feeling beforehand.

Yesterday, Jonathan and Melissa brought the girls up here for a quick visit for Curtis' dedication at church this morning. It was so fun to have all my family in one house. I loved the sound of so many little ones running around. I loved getting to hang out with Jonathan and Melissa and share a part of our lives with them.

This morning was Curtis' dedication. For those who may not know or understand what that is, it's something we consider very important. It's different than a christening, or baptism if that's what you were thinking. It is where we as parents are dedicating our lives to raising Curtis to know Christ and to follow Christ. It's where we come before our church, admitting that we can't do this parenting thing alone, that we need God's help and the help of our friends, church family and families. Parenting is something we take very seriously. I look at kids today and see parents who did not take that role very seriously. I know I have a lot to learn, and I know there are no guarantees. I know God has a plan for Curtis and it may take him no time to come to know God, or it may take him years to come and know Him, but our job as parents is to never stop preaching the Gospel to him, never stop pointing him towards the saving grace of Jesus. That's what today was about, dedicating our son to the Lord, and our lives to that job.

This next week mom will be here to help with Curtis. We're looking forward to lots of fun, giggles, and probably some screaming, but that's ok :) I love that he is getting a chance to know his Yaya

His first time eating cereal

Hanging out with Papa

Curtis' first time in the excersaucer

And his first time in the bumbo

Curtis just loves his Aunt Melissa!

Everyone eating lunch, Curtis just chillin

Love the sound of little girls playing

4 Months

Our baby is 4 months old today! 

As I write this, he is taking his first good nap of the day. He is finally starting to take good naps most days. Every now and then, he'll have a day (usually on Isaac's duty day) where he will only sleep in his crib for 15 or 20 mins. Either I go in and he's fully awake, or he just really wants to be held so he goes right back to sleep as soon as we're sitting down in our chair. As difficult as those days are because I can't get anything done, I love those days. I love the naps where he is completely content laying on my chest, snoring quietly, lifting up his little head while he dreams. Those days are the best and I will miss them very much when he is too big to sleep in my arms. 

But days like today, days that he will take a good nap in his crib, I do enjoy those days as well. I never realized how productive I could be until I started working against the clock of a nap time. I can clean the kitchen, the bathrooms, sweep the floor and sometimes even do laundry in the 30 mins to an hour that he will stay down. Those are good days too. Those days help our house to not be a complete and total mess.

At 4 months, Curtis is really starting to interact with every one and every thing around him. A friend held him at church and every way she held him, he just kept turning in the other direction because he was afraid he would miss something on the other side. He wants to see and know everything that's going on. If I'm in a new place with him, there is no nap to be taken. He wants to look all around and will fight sleep for as long as possible so he can see all that he needs to. He's starting to enjoying tummy time more. I took the advice of my friend Brenna, and let him have his "screen time" for tummy time. I can now get him to lay on a boppy, watching our Kindle for about 5ish minutes before he completely breaks down, which is a huge improvement over the 30 secs he was doing. He's also beginning to sleep just a little longer most nights, which is wonderful. A lot of mornings he will sleep until 6:30, which means most nights I am back to sleeping about 8ish hours which I am so thankful for. About once a week, he still wakes up around 1 or 2 but other than that, the sleep is a huge gift. 

We have his 4 month appt in 2 weeks, so I'll find out then how much he weighs and how much he's grown, but I feel like he's grown a lot. He just seems so incredibly big when I look at him, he's almost completely outgrown his bassinet, so hopefully we'll have his room ready before that.

His "evil plan" face :)

Snow Adventures and Lazy Sunday Afternoons

This Winter has been great for snow. I've always really loved snow and used to wish I lived in a place where there was snow all winter. Sometimes I still wish that, but for now, I am happy if I get to see one good snow a year. This year we've had several snows and it's been wonderful. Isaac gets snow days when he's not essential personnel, and so we get to hang out by the fire, him, me and Curtis, all day. I love it. It's been the perfect winter with our little family.

I've also come to realize how blessed we are when Isaac gets a whole weekend off. This past weekend, was a 3 day weekend for him, Sat, Sun and Mon off. So Sunday afternoon, after church, was another perfect day for us. We all 3 cuddled up on the couch while Curtis snoozed on Isaac, watched tv and just rested all afternoon. That rarely happens but it's such a gift when it does :)

Here's a few snow day pictures

These in the red shirt are from our Sunday afternoon. Isaac went to go get pizza, so Curtis and I had a little mini photo session

And this is what happens when he's tired of pictures

Peaches was the only one who'd come out and play, and even she did not like it very much

3 Months

Happy 3 months to our sweet baby boy!

He is such a joy and brings so much happiness to Isaac and me. All his little squeals, coos, squeaks and even screams just make us so happy :) 

This past month he's started being entertained by toys. His favorite toy is an elephant named Peanut, and he really likes putting his giraffe in his mouth, something about the natural rubber is suppose to taste good to infants. He's still nursing well, which makes me super excited, although he has re-learned to take a bottle if need be, which is good for me because I started back at the CPC a few weeks ago. Isaac likes his daddy/son time until Curtis gets tired of the bottle and won't stop screaming. 

Curtis has started sleeping about 5-7 hrs, most nights, although we still have the occasional night where he's up every 3 hrs, those can be a little rough, but luckily they are few and far between.

These past 3 months, while being crazy, exhausting and sometimes very frustrating, have been some of the best of our lives. I am so thankful for the sweet blessing God has given us :)