It's a Garner Party!: February 2015

My, My, My. You are three months old already! Oh, how time flies (yup, I told you I’d probably say it in every post, and I’m holding true to my word). Your world has been rocked this month, Buddy Boy! You went from staying home with mama all day to early wake up times and being away from mama all day! We had you at a daycare in Lawrenceville – I loved them, and it was going to work out great when we thought I’d still be working in Atlanta. The daycare was right by your daddy’s shop, so he would drop you off and pick you up. After mama started working in Oakwood, I couldn’t stand the thought of you being so “far” away from me, so I found another daycare – you’re now only 2 miles down the road from my store! We get to play together some in the mornings now – well, we did play. Now I try to keep you asleep and snuggle with you until we leave at 6:15am – I’ll tell you more about your schedule later. Your daycare is awesome – they let me stop by and/or call whenever I want to check on you. I try not to be a pest because I know Ms. Brittany and Ms. Angel take good care of you. I think you have a little crush on Ms. Brittany – you can be giggling and smiling when I pick you up from daycare, but as soon as we walk out of that room and you lose sight of Ms. Brittany you start fussing. Already the ladies man, eh?

We haven’t done much this month except try to recover from the last two months of your life! Our first weekend home, we went to Mansfield to celebrate Uncle Cale's birthday. We went to church with Mema and Poppa who loved showing you off.

snuggles with uncle cale

your first bath in the sink...

...obviously you loved it.

napping in Mema's 4 foot bean bag. you look so tiny.

snuggles with Poppa at church

During the week, I pick you up from school around 3:00. We head home and snuggle for a bit, and then get ready for your next day at school. I was finding it nearly impossible to get anything done until after you went to bed at 7:00, including cooking supper. If I cleaned or did household chores, I felt guilty for not spending time with you. If I spent time snuggling with you, I felt guilty for not cleaning the house or cooking supper for your daddy and I. Going back to work was genuinely a struggle for me during those first few weeks.

This is how I got anything done around the house after we got home from work/school. The mommy guilt of not spending time with you was killing me, but my house was falling apart around me. SO. MUCH. LAUNDRY.

As the weeks have gone on, we’ve learned to roll with the punches a little more. I’ve adjusted your schedule, and you seem to be doing much better! You don’t go to bed until 8:30pm, but you take two naps from the time we leave daycare until you go to bed. So we get good play time, and I am able to get things done around the house while you sleep. It’s a win-win for both of us! Remember when I told you I was so stressed out about your schedule? I realized there are bigger issues in the world and it’s not quite the big deal I thought it was. I’m still trying to keep you on a schedule, but realizing that we don’t have to do it by the book – you aren’t a textbook baby, that’s for sure! We’re currently using a mix of BabyWise and Moms on Call. The schedule we’re on is from Mom’s on Call, but I’m still trying to utilize the Eat Wake Sleep cycle from Baby Wise. Your current schedule looks like this:

- 7:00am: Wake Up & Eat (this is proving to be somewhat difficult though, since I have to quietly move you from your bed to the car seat and get you to daycare without waking you up…no such luck yet. Luckily, you fall asleep on the way to school).

- 8:30am: Nap

- 10:30am: Eat

- 12:00pm: Nap

- 2:00pm: Eat

- 3:00pm: Nap – I usually let you nap in my arms for this nap. You don’t normally fall asleep until about 3:30. I know this time is fleeting and pretty soon you won’t want to snuggle with me. So I’m eating it up all that I can right now.

- 5:00pm: Eat

- 6:00pm: Nap

- 7:30pm: Feed

- 8:00pm: Bath

- 8:30pm: Bedtime

Until you started daycare, I was primarily nursing you and supplementing with formula as needed. Once you started school, we began using formula more and more, until we completely transitioned you to formula at 11 weeks old. Those tummy issues I told you about last month? Yeah, they are still happening (or were, until we changed your formula at 11 weeks). Your teacher mentioned a type of bottle she used with her baby, so I figured we’d give it a go as well. We changed your formula and bottles at the same time – You were previously on Enfamil, and now you’re on Gerber Soothe. Grant, it’s like you’re a whole different baby. On Enfamil, you would stay happy for about 10 minutes after eating, and then you were fussy until you fell asleep or until your next feeding. I just attributed it to you being a colicky baby (which was hard for me to admit…what? My baby? He’s perfect – there’s no way he’s colicky). After changing your formula, the change in your personality was immediate. You’re no longer wiggling and crying in pain, except for maybe once a week (and I can handle that). You are genuinely the happiest little baby until you get tired, which is about an hour and 15 minutes after you eat.

We still haven’t mastered sleeping in the crib. It’s like you know mommy and daddy are going to put you in your room, and you decide to get sick to get out of it. We started you in your room when mommy went back to work…that lasted for a week until you got sick. I can’t stand the thought of you coughing in another room at night, so back in your rock & play you went. I said I was going to keep you in our room until you were no longer congested…then I realized you’re in daycare and most likely will always be congested. So after 3 weeks, I decided to put you in your room on Valentine’s Day weekend. We were going to let you cry it out and get used to your bed. Well, that Friday, you decided to get even sicker. I took you to the pediatrician and you have your first ear infection, upper respiratory infection, and thrush, and you’ve somehow managed to lose your voice…although now that I think about it, this may be the best time to let you cry it out when I can’t hear you cry :D

I promise, as soon as you’re over whatever crud you have right now, you’re going into your room. Mommy would like a solid sleep and I can’t get that when I wake up at every little peep you make (p.s. you make a lot of peeps). Do you want to hear a funny story? I’ve heard so many people talk about the “Merlin’s Magic Sleep Suit” and how it helped their baby sleep like a champ. It’s supposed to muffle your movements, so you aren’t swaddled, but you aren’t constantly startling yourself awake. I finally broke down and bought one. You look like the biggest goofball, and I love it! You look like Randy from A Christmas Story.

P.s. it doesn’t work. I’m hoping it will work maybe when you get a little bit older. Hopefully it won’t be the biggest waste of money. Your favorite way to sleep is on your side. When we put you down for naps in your crib, we let you lay on your side on the boppy pillow. I know, I know – sleep prop, yadda yadda yadda. But you like it, and it helps you sleep. So we’ll continue doing it until you hate it or we feel it’s unsafe!

Helping mama cook supper - we don't know about that chicken....

We celebrated your first Valentine's Day when you were 12 weeks old! You looked stinking adorable in your "Major Flirt" outfit. Aunt Biz asked you to come stay with her for the day so mommy and daddy had a day-date. Actually, let's talk about Valentine's Day at school. They gave me a list of names in your class to do Valentine's. I assumed, since you're all under the age of 1, that paper valentines from Target would do. So I bought some cute little Toy Store ones. I dropped you off at school on Thursday, and a mom had brought valentines already. Grant, she went all out - you got a little book and stuffed animal AND a bath puppet glove thing. Your teachers gave you bubbles and mommy got gum. There was no way I was giving them our paper valentines. Your mama jumped on pinterest, found a cute idea I could quickly purchase from Etsy, and we made some cute little valentines Thursday night. Granted, you can't even eat teddy grahams, but they were cute, weren't they?!

You also made the cutest little artwork at school. It may or may not forever hang in our kitchen.

We’re now working on tummy time with you more frequently – you’re happy with it, as long as we don’t do it when you’re tired. If we do it when you’re tired, you get SUPER cranky. You can hold your head up like a boss, though. You aren’t quite ready to sit up on your own, but you do pretty well in the Bumbo. Your daddy and I play this game where we sit you up in our laps and try to see which way you’ll fall – it’s inevitable that you will fall (any of you reading this, there’s no need to call DCFACs – he doesn’t actually “fall”, just leans to one side and we catch him – it’s pretty cute and he loves it.)

This is why we don't do tummy time when you're tired.

Your face here cracks me up.

You still love bath time, as long as we do it at the right time. We tried giving you a bath at night and then feeding you – you HATE that. So we went back to what we were previously doing by feeding you, then giving you a bath. Speaking of baths…Like I mentioned before, you got pretty sick the weekend of Valentine’s Day. We gave you a bath Saturday morning, and attempted to give you another bath Sunday night, as part of our normal routine. You SCREAMED bloody murder during that bath time, so we just did a quick dip to rinse you off, then put you in your PJ’s. Monday night, we were planning on giving you a bath per usual, but the power went out and stayed out for about 3 hours during the ice storm. Your daddy and I just decided to skip that bath. I got home from work on Tuesday – baby Grant, there’s no way to put this nicely: You Stunk. Horribly. I didn’t know babies could have adult sized BO. But you did. There is NO more skipping bath time for you, buddy boy. Also, please don’t call DFACS on me. I swear I’m a (fairly) good mama, contrary to anything I’ve put in this blog!

Our first time in the Bumbo - success!

sacked out in our bouncy seat.

You love the jumperoo. We can't quite jump yet, but you're figuring out that the toys make noise when you hit them!

HEAVENS you are so stinkin' cute.

Your daddy and I LOVE your smile so much. We will do ANYTHING to get that smile out of you. It’s so stinkin’ adorable. You’ve gotten to where you just entertain yourself by talking and giggling to at yourself. When we’re in the car, I have to remember when you start making noise that you’re enjoying yourself. The last two months it’s been when I hear noise in the back seat, you’re ramping up to cry quite loudly. Now I love listening to you coo and giggle at your reflection in the mirror. Speaking of, you LOVE your reflection (you get that from your daddy). We don’t exactly have time for play dates right now, but you sure enjoy your mirror play dates in your bumbo :D You get the chance to play with a really cute kid who looks exactly like you!

mama, who's that good looking baby in the mirror?

Your current favorite thing to do is blow spit bubbles. It’s pretty cute, until you start drooling all over yourself. You drool so much now, I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like when you’re teething. Holy cow – we’re going to need SO many bibs!

Mama's current favorite thing to do is "Twinning Friday". It wasn't intentional the first two times it happened, however I'm thinking about making it a normal occurrence. Who says mamas can't match their baby boys? You have lots of stripes, I have lots of stripes. It only makes sense that we match, right?

You weren't a fan the first week...

...but learned to appreciate it by the second week.

We’ve introduced your lovey puppy dog to you and you seem to like him. You don’t know quite what to do with it (except chew on it), but I’ll randomly look at you and you have him stuffed under your arm.

you try to be so gangsta, but that puppy gives you away.

I promise I didn't place that lovey there. I gave it to you, but you snuggled him up against you all on your own.

You’re still not a huge fan of toys – it’s like your lovey – you still don’t know what to do with them. We put you in your bouncy seat, and you love playing with the toys that hang down above you. You also like looking at yourself in the mirror of your bouncy seat (surprise, surprise). You also are completely entranced by the ceiling fan. If it’s on, you’re staring at it!

Can't. Look. Away. From. Ceiling. Fan.

You had your first overnight stay away from your mama and daddy this weekend and Poppa and Mema's. Mama was with her middle school girls at Revolution Weekend at church, and your daddy is building wedding presents for some of our friends all weekend. Your Mema & Poppa have been counting down the days until you were able to come stay with them – Mema was asking your mama “how soon is too soon” before you were even born. I know you had a great time and they enjoyed their time with you. But heavens, I couldn't WAIT to pick you up. I think I annoyed them because I was constantly asking for picture updates. I didn't like being away from you! We got home on Sunday afternoon and snuggled and took a long nap on the couch.

At your two month appointment on January 30^th, you weighed 13 lbs, 9 oz. You’re 24.5 inches long, and your head is 16 inches around (you are a Davis baby, after all). At your most recent trip to the doctor on February 16^th, you weighed 15lbs, 9 oz. HOW DID YOU GAIN 2 POUNDS IN LESS THAN 4 WEEKS?!? And how come Mama doesn’t have the guns to show for carrying you around?!

Mama and Daddy entertained ourselves at the doctor's office by trying our sunglasses on you. you're definitely more of a Costas guy.

Also, that weight you're gaining is giving you some cute little dimples. You've got one that creeps up to the left of your nose, and you're starting to get one on your right cheek. I can't get enough!

People say “Oh I can’t even remember what life was like before I had my baby…” – that’s crap. I remember sleeping late, sleeping through the night, and the only schedule I had to plan my day around was mine. BUT I wouldn’t trade this life for the world. Buddy Boy, you continue to bring so much love and light into your daddy and I’s lives. We learn so much about you every single week. We also learn so much about each other. I loved your daddy before you were born. But I never knew how big my heart could grow until I saw him holding and loving you. He’s stepped up and cooked dinner & cleaned house more times than I can count, just so that I could snuggle with you a little bit longer. All of those bottles you eat and the diapers that get changed in the middle of the night? Your daddy mixes those bottles & changes those diapers so that I don’t have to get out of bed. He prays for you and I only a daily basis. He’s genuinely the best guy I could have asked for. You have such a wonderful role model in that man – if you become half the guy he is, you’ll be set for life. But I know him – he’ll push you to be the best version of you that you can be.

Your personality shines through a little more each week, and I can’t wait to see the little boy you become. I know the day is quickly approaching when I won’t be able to fix your every cry with a hug, snuggle, or rock. Until then, I’ll cherish every minute I have to snuggle with and love on you as best as I know how.