Seriously has it been a whole month already? It feels like just yesterday I was bringing home that tiny little guy from the hospital. Okay, I guess it was practically yesterday but still… I can’t believe a whole 4 weeks has come and gone!

We we went from this…

to this….

(The hair is even longer and he just looks like all grown up).

Stats:

He weighed in on his birthday at 7 lbs 13 oz and we had a little trouble keeping the weight on the first week. After several visits from lactation consultants and a feeding schedule of every 2 hours the little guy happily weighs in now at 9lbs 14 oz.

I’m sad to say that I already had to put away his newborn clothes because he’s just growing so quickly. I also had to put him into size 1 diapers (even though his nb ones were supposed to work until 10lbs). I’m finding that we are having a lot less blow-outs by using the bigger diapers.

What he’s been up to this past month:

• The first hour that I was holding him in my arms he lifted his head up and turned it from one side to the other (kid has amazing neck strength and has continued to turn his head from side to side during tummy time since the day we brought him home).
• Check out this video that I have dubbed “Super Baby!”. He has some crazy strong leg and ab muscles.  This was taken at 1 week old — unbelievable that he can lift his entire body into the air!
• At two weeks he managed to flip himself entirely over from his tummy to his back.
• He has begun making cooing noises and has started to smile.
• He has started to track lights and sounds and is actually enjoying when we lay him on his back on his playmat.

Baby Jay Likes:

• To be bounced on the exercise ball when he’s upset
• Bath time in his Blooming Petal bathtub
• He especially loves when it’s feeding time (boy can gulp and it kind of freaks me out how loud he feeds!).
• Being snuggled close by his mama
• To look outside – every morning we put him in the swing next to the window and he just stares in utter amazement at the outside world.

How’s Mama doing? Well I get this question a lot so here goes!

My situation as most of you know is a bit different than most, as I’m currently living with my parent’s while my husband is deployed. I’m extremely lucky to have the support of my parent’s and they are a huge help!

We are still going strong in the breastfeeding department, though it’s still a daily challenge for me. It gets better each day, but I’m still trying to figure out what works and what doesn’t and unfortunately still having some soreness. I supplement 1 bottle (2.5-3oz) of breast milk roughly every other day as a way to give myself some relief and to let my parent’s help with a feeding every now and then.

Our sleep situation hasn’t been too bad. Lil Jay is a pretty good sleeper and he is just now starting to sleep for 2.5-4 hours at a time. I haven’t been very good at getting in my naps during the day, so I’m thankful for the chunks of sleep I get at night.

Emotionally it’s been hard at times sort of being on my own for a lot of this stuff. I desperately miss J. Alabama and try to keep him updated and in the loop with all lil J’s milestones, videos and pictures. I just keep reminding myself that we are over halfway through this time apart and very soon our little family will be together at last!

I was a little overwhelmed with emotions and the baby during the first two weeks, but now that we’ve gone through a whole month together I’m feeling really confident in myself, my mothering skills and just the act of getting out and about in pubic. We even ventured out of the house today to a new mother’s breastfeeding group (where I breastfed in pubic for the first time!).

It’s been such a myriad of emotions over the last few weeks, but overwhelmingly I feel happy and blessed! Jay has such a great personality that is starting to shine through more and more each day. I just giggle each morning when I unswaddle him and watch him stretch his little arms and legs and look up at me with those eyes.

It’s just so hard to believe how quickly time is flying by. I look at his newborn photos that were taken only 3 weeks ago and realize how much he has grown! It’s truly amazing.

There is no way to describe the feeling of being a mom, except for the fact that it’s truly amazing and wonderful.

Happy 1 month baby Jay!

***

I’m still working on J’s birth story – I know, I know! I haven’t quite figured out how to completely balance blogging and baby, so it will continue to be touch and go here for awhile.

Today marks one week since I brought little Jay home from the hospital. And I love him even more than I thought was possible…from his tiny (yet strong) little hands all the way down to his adorable feet.

The last 9 nine days of his life has flown by faster than I can even keep track of. So I probably won’t be doing a week by week update on him here on the blog, but I figured I would share a few things from our first week together including a few of my favorites photos.

I’ve already lost count of the number of times I’ve been peed and pooed on. LOL. But with every incident comes a spectacular little smile on his face that seems to absolutely light up my day.

We’ve been giving it our all in the breastfeeding department. We’ve had our good days and bad ones. It seems that once we think we’ve got it figured out, something changes and I feel like giving up. Maybe it’s more the the soreness that is making it hard, as well as me still just learning his hunger cues. (It’s way less painful if I can feed him before he lets me know he’s hungry). But I’ve made it nine days and I feel like each day gets a little easier, so I’m going to keep with it.

The little guy and I made our first solo trip out of the house to his 1 week check-up. As well as went on our first walk around the block yesterday.

I’ve been feeling pretty good since the labor, but haven’t really had the chance to get out the house. It felt amazing to get outside yesterday and walk around. I’m mentally ready to get back to exercising! Until I can do anything more vigorous I see more walks and some post-natal yoga in my future.

Sweet Little Angel

Deep deep in thought…

All smiles…cuz my Daddy rocks!

Seriously with the hair?!

It’s definitely been a more emotional homecoming than I imagined. I guess I didn’t know quite what to expect, but thank goodness that my parent’s have been here to help. They are a godsend!

I find myself staring down at little Jay and will see a glimpse of something that reminds me of J. Alabama. That part has been hard for both of us –being a part from each other during this life changing time. It’s probably the hardest part emotionally right now, but we are both doing the best we can getting through each day as it’s one day closer until our little family is all together.

I’m embracing the challenges and awesomeness of motherhood. It’s been a crazy yet amazing 9 days so far! I’m just taking each day and enjoying all the little things with Baby Jay. Also I’m still working on writing out his birth story, so hopefully I can share that soon!

I’m so excited to announce the arrival of our new bundle of joy, born one day before his due date.

Jay Salvatore’ “Alabama”
Born Monday April 29th, 2013 at 3:03 p.m
7lbs 13oz, 20 3/4 inches long
Labor: 12 hours, birth story to come soon!!

I can’t even tell you how excited I was when I walked into my baby shower and saw all the brightly colored and dinosaur themed decorations. It had such a fun and happy vibe!

Our little guys Idaho nursery has a dino theme going on, so it was fun to see the theme tied through in his baby shower!

I felt so special and honored knowing that my family and friends came together and were a part of such a special day for me and the baby.

Oh and the food…there was such an amazing spread of food! Mmmmmmm!!

The fruit plate was out out of this world with all my favorite fresh fruits of kiwi, pomegranate seeds, strawberries, grapes and pineapple – YUM!!

There was also a potato dish, mini asparagus frittatas, bacon, homemade truffles, and lets not forget the mexican hot chocolate cupcakes with a vanilla bean frosting (homemade by my bestie Maria). Yum, yum & yum! (Wish I had snapped a photo of the cupcakes.)

And no baby shower is complete without the activities and games!

The first activity was a make-your-own onesie or bib! Each person was able to make their own iron-ons. It was so adorable to see how they all came out.

Next up was a hilarious game where each person had to draw my baby. The catch was they had to put a paper plate behind their heads, and couldn’t draw each body part until I told them to.

I made it a little difficult by picking the body parts in a random order. So we started with the head, then went with the right arm, left leg etc…

Once we were all done, I got to pick my favorite one. It was hilarious, one baby even had big muscles (as J. Alabama is really into crossfit).

After games it was time to get our “oohhh and awwweee on!” by opening gifts. I seriously felt so blessed to receive so many things that little guy needed.

We got several cute little outfits, his first pair of Nike running shoes (you can bet we are going to get some use out of those!), many homemade blankets and adorable gifts, many gift cards and lots of much needed items for the nursery. I cannot thank everyone enough for their kindness and thoughtfulness. It was definitely a task to get all the goods packed into the car!

And when I thought all the eating, games and fun had come to end they all surprised me with such an amazing and special gift that brought on some serious mama tears.

Each guest was asked to write a little piece of advice or happy note to Baby Jay on a colored circle. Then without my knowing any of this, they glued them onto this beautifully painted canvas as a gift for the baby to have for always.

The canvas was hand painted by my talented friend Christa.

I was simply blown away by this sweet gift. It has so much love put into it, I can’t wait to hang it in our nursery back in Texas. But in the meantime, it will displayed in the Boise nursery!

I seriously couldn’t have asked for a better day! It was so awesome to be showered with so much love by my family and friends. My baby and I are so very blessed! 🙂

We are in the homestretch my friends! There may or may not be another bump-date in the future, which I’m totally okay with. I’m not feeling like I neeeeeed to get this baby out, but more that I just really really want him here!

I’m being very patient in this last week to enjoy this pregnancy, and am trying not to rush the lil guy. There isn’t much longer before he’ll be here anyways, so whether it’s tomorrow, next week or even longer than that I’m excited.

Exercise this week:

It was such a busy week last week I found it hard to cram in more yoga sessions. I realize how important doing the stretching and mediating have been so I’m happy that at least I got two hours in.

From here on out I’m just taking things day by day. So if there is still a baby inside me and I have time and energy for yoga practice I’m gonna do it. I’m actually pretty impressed to still be able to do yoga at this point (considering how HUGE my belly is) as well as how hard it’s getting. The standing up and sitting down parts are the most uncomfortable, but I always feel refreshed and energized afterwards.

1. 1 hour prenatal yoga class
2. 1 hour prenatal yoga DVD

Cravings:

Omg, this week I all I wanted was CHEEEEEEESE!! I haven’t gotten many cravings, but this one was major.

How I’m feeling:

The pressure of the baby is still weighing down on me, making it hard to walk far or fast, as well as for very long. I am also still struggling with sleep and have so much pain trying to roll over or even just get out of bed.

Besides those few things, I still feel pretty good throughout the day. I’ve been taking it A LOT easier this past week. More chill days around the house, sneaking in naps, and just being home. I have a tendency to go-go-go and realize how important it is for me to save up my energy right now. So I’m taking full advantage.

Baby Update:

I just got back from my 39 week Doctor appointment and we are progressing right along! My cervix is thinning out and the Dr. thinks that my water should break on it’s own within the next week. I’m also 3 cm dilated, which is a great progression from last week.

Overall:

I’ve had many phone calls and emails from J. Alabama overseas since last week which has been the best part of all this. I don’t feel like he is so far away, and we have been in contact so much that he knows exactly what is going on with me and the little one.

My mom did a tarot card reading on me over the weekend which revealed the number 6 (I assumed six days from the day of the reading), which would put me at having the baby on Friday April 26th. That date also happens to be J. Alabama’s 30th birthday which would be even cooler! And in case you didn’t know, there is a FULL MOON on Thursday night…so anything could happen. I’m feeling like this week is the week!

Overall, I’m just really excited and ready for the next part!!

I’ll be honest with y’all…by the way I was feeling on Sunday morning I thought for sure that this week’s bump-date would be a baby-date instead.

Apparently our little guy is not quite ready to come out and meet the world yet. But he will have to make his appearance soon, which has me really excited!

Exercise this week:

Holy smokes, 4 sessions of yoga last week! I’m beyond amazed at the amount of yoga that is in my life these days. I will honestly tell you that the idea of getting down on my hands and knees or even sitting and standing up sounds utterly horrible right now. But afterwards…oh my goodness afterwards, I feel like a whole new person.

I have gotten to the point now that if I go a few days in a row without yoga or stretching I’m in a TON of pain. I can’t say enough about how prenatal yoga is helping me physically and mentally!

1. 1 hour prenatal yoga
2. 1 hour prenatal yoga
3. 1 hour prenatal yoga
4. 1 hour prenatal yoga

Weight gain:

LOL…This series of photos just makes me laugh.

Holy belly, that thing is just out there now! As of today I’ve actually dropped back to 38.5 pounds gained. So if you asking yourself isn’t that less than last week? Why yes, yes it is! Weird right? I seem to have lost half a pound since last week.

How I’m feeling:

As I mentioned in the opening line of the blog post, by the way I was feeling earlier this week I thought for sure this baby would be here by now. The only reason I thought that was because on Sunday I woke up in a great deal of pain down in my lady parts. It felt like a huge amount of pressure, like the baby’s head was just pressing down (I could barely walk, and it was painful to sit and stand). I had felt some braxton hicks contractions during the night as well, but that amount of pressure pain down there was something new and I thought for sure we were in the beginning stages of labor.

Silly me! Here I am three full days later and yes all these little signs and feelings are prepping me for labor but I guess I’m not quite there yet, as I’ve still had no real contractions. The pain was more than my normal ligament pain so it made me think something new was happening. But after two days of doing yoga, taking warm baths, and using a hot pack the pressure pains have diminished a lot.

Baby Update:

I had my 38 week doctor appointment today and baby is measuring right on track! The Doctor said I am now 80-90% effaced and 1.5 cm dilated. So all that pressure I felt was probably the baby moving on down. He is well on his way!

Overall:

Baby boy and I are one day closer to meeting each other. I really don’t care when he decides to come…although I think I might be getting a little impatient. Ya think?!

I’ve got our bags packed ready for the hospital, and I even have J. Alabama on baby watch on the other side of the world. I send him an email daily now of my status so that way if I do start to go into labor he can get things set up for our first skype date! I’m crossing my fingers that our timing works out. It’s a bit harder to coordinate something like this when you are dealing with a 12 hour time difference and well you can’t just call the person and say it’s “Go Time!”. LOL.

Maybe…just maybe I will have a Mini Jay Alabama to show you by next week! 🙂

Can you believe it? We’ve made it to full term which is so totally awesome. Now I feel completely relieved that he should be okay to come whenever he wants from this point on.

These last few days have been pretty busy – so excuse the extra long post. Lots to update on I guess! 🙂

Exercise this week:

As you have probably noticed my only form of exercise these days is yoga. It’s so relaxing, seems to be helping with my ligament pain, and they say it may help when laboring –- I’m gonna stick with it until I physically can’t do it anymore.

1. 1 hour prenatal yoga
2. 1 hour regular yoga
3. 1 hour prenatal yoga

Baby/Mommy Updates:

Baby: It’s definitely been funny to watch my Dr. measure my belly each week. Baby boy started out measuring two full weeks ahead of normal several weeks ago, then slowly started to catch back up to measuring the same as me (so if I was 35 weeks he was measuring 35 weeks). But it seems that since last week he’s had another growth spurt and is now freaking me out by measuring in at 39 weeks! And by guestimation is weighing in at 6.5 pounds as of last thursday.

Mommy: As for me, I have started to recognize what a braxton hicks contraction is. Though I only seem to have them at night, they haven’t been too bad (just feels like someone is flicking my belly in my sleep).

Also the Doctor checked my cervix last thursday to get an idea of where I was at, and was surprised to see that I was already 60% effaced. She said she would be surprised if this baby came after his due date of April 30th..meaning he will be here sooner as opposed to later.

Weight gain:

Since I just told you how huge my baby is, I feel okay with letting you all know that I’m sitting at a 39 lb weight gain. It’s obviously more than I was striving for, but I’m not worrying about it at this point.

Best moment of last week:

My mother put together a special ceremony to honor my transition into motherhood. It was really awesome to be a part of (I promise to share more about it as well as my baby shower in a future post).

Part of the event involved doing henna on my belly. It’s one of those things I’ve been wanting to do since I found I was pregnant. I just love how it came out.

Baby’s Car seat:

I’m still just finishing up all those last minute to-do’s, with the big one being getting the car seat installed and checked by the hospital. I can’t even begin to tell you all how emotional that was for me. I thought it would be a two minute snap the car seat in and go. Boy was I wrong!

I learned so much from the car seat installation technician. She said that in her 12 years of installing car seats she has never seen one that was actually installed correctly. Eek!

I highly recommend getting yours checked before baby comes as I hadn’t realized how technical it was, and how having the seat installed could really make a difference in the life & death of the baby in the case of an accident.

You can use the website www.seatcheck.org to find a certified car seat check location near you or find out more information.

How I’m feeling:

I still can’t get over how itchy my belly has been. It’s been bothering me so bad that I can’t sleep at night because of the itching/burning. Though I am happy to report that by mixing baking soda and water (making a paste) and applying that on the itchy area the symptoms are relieved. This is the only thing that has worked so far.

Besides that, I’ve been feeling pretty good. I still get pretty tired by the end of the day and can’t move around very fast but overall I feel pretty good for how huge I am these days.

Overall:

Whew! I applaud you if you read this entire post –I didn’t realize I had so much to say.

I’m feeling a little emotional over the idea that I’m going to be in charge of a little person soon, but after last week I’m feeling confident in my abilities of being a mother.

So now we are seriously playing the waiting game. I told the little guy in my belly he is allowed to come whenever he wants now because I have all the major stuff taken care of!

Bump, bump, bump, bump, bump…ahhhh!! It’s taking over!

Yeah so I opted to put on the heels for this photo shoot, since it’s about the only time I can wear them now.

And just for the record…it’s getting harder and harder for me to get all glammed up for these weekly bump date photos. I usually just try to make sure there is another activity later in the day forcing me out my yoga pants so I have a reason to put on real clothes and make-up. LOL.

Exercise this week:

Funny how last week I could barely move (let alone workout) due to all the ligament pain, and this week I was kicking ass and taking names when it came to my workouts. Since I was feeling so much better this week I obviously took advantage of the opportunity to squeeze in some extra workouts.

1. 2 hours prenatal yoga (2 classes back to back)
2. 1 hour walk on green belt
3. 30 minutes yoga
4. 1 hour prenatal yoga

Baby Stuff:

It’s been Pack n’ Play central up in here!

We have been super busy putting together 2 play yards & a swing this past week. It’s kind of exciting to see it all ready to go.

I mentioned that since I’m temporarily living with my parent’s that I didn’t want to buy a crib for the short time I’m here, so we ended up with two play yards. One for downstairs during the daytime, and one for upstairs (in my room) for the nighttime.

We ordered these two [Ingenuity Deluxe Washable Play yard & Graco Hamilton Pack ‘N Play] and couldn’t be happier with the quality so far.

Cravings:

OMG–I saw the Straw-ber-rita at the store yesterday and started to do a little happy dance. I am absolutely in love with the original Lime-a-rita, so I can only imagine that the strawberry is just as refreshing. Yeah, so needless to say I’m craving Mexican food and margaritas now.

How I’m feeling:

I’m feeling TONS better than last week! Though, this week has brought on a new pregnancy symptom of itchy belly. I thought I was going crazy because my skin was itching so bad even though I was using lotions and my belly cream. Well I looked it up and it’s a true symptom for the 37th week. It totally makes sense since my skin is being stretched to the max right now.

Overall:

I’m surprisingly a lot more relaxed about what’s to come than I would have imagined I would be. Especially considering my to do list still seems to be a mile long. I just try to accomplish one or two baby related things a day and hope that I get it all done by the time he comes.

I’m noticing myself being a lot more tired too, but have been able to just take it easy during the day even trying to sneak some naps here and there. Gotta get them in now, right?

It’s starting to feel real up in here!

To think I am about 5 weeks from such a life changing event is pretty freaking crazy! I’m beyond excited, yet a bit terrified sometimes thinking I haven’t quite finished reading all my baby books, or learned how to tie the moby wrap, or even figured out what parts go to what in my breast pump. Eek!

I know I still have time and some of these things will just come post baby, but still…I feel ready yet I don’t.

Exercise this week:

Not feeling it this week at all. Even doing yoga was a stretch because all the positions seemed so hard and were even a bit painful. So I’m listening to my body and not pushing it by any means.

1. 45 mins of yoga

Baby Stuff:

I’m not a big one for buying things online since I feel like pictures can be deceiving sometimes, but when I saw this diaper bag reviewed on the Project Nursery blog awhile back I knew it had to be mine.

The J.J Cole Caprice diaper bag arrived yesterday and I couldn’t be more excited to sport this darling thing around. It’s like a big new fancy purse and besides all the great reviews it has a great amount of storage space, seemed really affordable at $69 and bonus..is super cute too!

How I’m feeling:

Holy ligament pain! This week has been the worst yet for the ligament pain and it’s kind of freaking me out. I wanted to cry so bad yesterday because it felt like my pubic bone and the muscles around it were on fire/being pulled so tight. Ugh! The only thing that makes it bearable these days is to take a warm bath.

None of the other silly pains that have come and gone throughout the week can compare to my discomfort with the ligament pain. I know it’s technically growing pains from my pelvis, so I don’t foresee it getting much better over the next few weeks.

What’s still to do:

• I have an appointment with the hospital on April 8th to get my car seat installed and checked out, so hopefully baby boy waits until after that date to make his appearance.
• I also have to assemble our pack n’ play (since I’m temporarily living with my parent’s I opted not to buy a crib here and just use the play yard for a few months for him to sleep in).
• I’m signed up for breastfeeding class and class called “Happiest Baby on the Block” in April which should be interesting

Overall:

Even though there are few things I’m unsure about, I’m still pretty excited for the future. It’s weird to think I’m going to be a mama soon!

It’s getting harder and harder for me to look down at my belly since it’s growing so big!