January 30

Give Me Some Kisses
It was an early start today. I was in the shower by 7:15 a.m. Patrick was still sleeping, so I decided to get a hot shower. I'm feeling better and I just wanted to began the day. This morning, Patrick has so much fun playing with all his toys. He went from the swing, to his jumperoo, to his exersaucer, to the floor. We did a little tummy time, but we are focused on helping him sit up. He loves playing on his airplane blanket with his puppy dog toy. It plays music that isn't annoying (yet).

Wedding planning for Aunt Jamie continues. This time..az.food tasting at the Ritz Charles. Yummy. Patrick was so good. He sat patiently while we sampled some of the food, but towards the end, he was sleepy. A few drinks of milk and he was sleep. Whew! Aunt Jamie could relax and enjoy her moment. I hope Patrick is good during her wedding. This is one time , we don't want to have a shining moment and take away from the bride.

In the evening, Greg and I got a kick out of watching Mia make Patrick giggle. He has the sweetest laugh. All Mia was saying was "Give ME Some KISSES"! Patrick just laughed and laughed and laughed. Greg and I enjoyed watching him as as these weird noises were coming out of his mouth. When Patrick smiles, he grins from cheek to cheek and squints his eyes. Too Cute!

5 Months

Month five and Growing

Month five has come and gone. Where is the time going? Each day just goes by in a way that I didn't think was possible when all day is filled with rice cereal, diaper changes, little naps, and dangling toys.

Here is how the month went:

Nicknames we have used: BurgerButt, Little Man, Pork Chop, Budda Baby

Most persistent habit: Finger sucking, Fist chewing and Object grabbing. Apparently, he wants to eat the world or anything that comes along his way.

Chunky Monkey likes: eating rice cereal; sleeping at night but not during the day; laying n the floor and reaching for his toys; screeching and listening to his voice; going on car rides; people watching; and being nosy when anyone enters the room. He loves pulling mommy's hair and eating her face, cheeks and chin.

Lugnut dislike: teething; dirty diapers; cold weather, especially when the wind takes his breath away; stopping at stop signs while riding in the van; dogs barking at the mailman or dishwasher; and gets mad at "Chewy" (his chew toy) for hitting him in the head.

Favorite Book: Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss

Favorite Nursery Rhyme: This little piggie went to the market...

Places I went: Visit to see Grandma & Grandpa Rickman at the Lake; Uncle Mark's & Aunt Tammy's on Christmas Day; Little Rock, Iowa to visit Great Grandma B. and cousin Lauren

Favorite moment: Spending Christmas with family and watching Grandma B hold her great grandson. What a special memory. I can't wait to tell Patrick how much his family loves him. Everyone wanted to hold him as we celebrated his first Christmas on three occasions.

Mommy's favorite moment: Breastfeeding my baby as he holds my hand and snuggles next to me.

Highlight: And let's not forget The Smiles. Oh my goodness, the smiles. Patrick has the cutest dimples and will smile and giggle. But when momma enters the room, my heart melts when he flashes his big brown eyes at me. That rocks!

January 29

All Boy
Daddy is feeling better and headed back to work. Whew! It's rough when anyone is sick. I'll be glad with this weather passes and spring is here. There are too many days of having warm days and then a winter mix. This has definitely been an unusual winter. I try and keep Patrick out of the cold weather as much as possible. I'd rather stay home with him so that he doesn't get sick. Unfortunately I am feeling sick. I hope this passes quickly.

Patrick is All BOY! Today he decided to make fart noises on my arm. I had him in the football hold and he started sucking on my arm and made fart noises over and over and over. Oh great, he's already learned that fart noises are funny. He also puts up a fight when I try to clean his nose. Any time I wipe his face, he turns his head and screams. Where did this come from? It's like he knows it's happening and he immediately gets into position for the attack. I can't stand having his nose runny or full of "boogies". Thank goodness we have the burger sucker.

January 28

Move Over Thunder Thighs
Daddy's sick. Big Time! So, Greg decided to stay home and get some rest. Patrick and I decided to let him rest since we are feeling better, so we went to run errands. He's definitely likes to be a baby on the go; especially the car rides. Since he sits up high in the van, he loves to look out the windows. And he just looks everywhere. Boy does he enjoy his rides. It doesn't matter how short or long, as long as the van is moving. And speaking of the van, I love it. I know it's hard to admit, but I do. With the weather being so cold, I can put Patrick in his carseat, step inside and close the van to block off the cold air from hitting his chest and face. Usually, Mia goes with me and she sits in the backseat. He loves his Mia. She can calm in down in an instant. Having my mother so near is great. Especially being a new mother, I've learned from the best and I think I've done a fabulous job. Thanks Mia! You make it look so easy.

When we came home from running errands, we found daddy playing on his computer. I guess he is feeling better, but he sounds horrible. I keep pushing the hot tea on him. But now, guess who is feeling sick. That's right, Mommy. Oh great, I can't be sick. If mama ain't happy, no one's happy. The evening seemed so long and Patrick wanted to play. He's been trying to roll over and I keep trying to help him. He gets his thunder thigh high in the sky and tried to kick it over but it always comes back down. I keep thinking he's going to do it, but I'll just have to be patient. When he was two months, he could roll over on his own, but now that he's added more weight, it's getting harder, but soon, he'll get there. Even without his mommy's help. :)

January 27

Smiles, Hats, Toys and Fingers
We had a family outing today. Shopping. It's been a while since we went to Babies R Us, so we decided to go to look at baby gates. Patrick will be crawling any time now. Unfortunately, we didn't find what we were looking for, but we did find a cute hat. It's a puppy hat and it looks adorable on him. While shopping, Patrick loved looking at the other babies. He was wide awake and just kept moving his head. Every cry, laugh or wimper from other babies had him moving his head. Mommy went to change his wet diaper in the nursing room and we saw another baby. She was tiny. The mother asked how old Munckin was because she knew he was smaller than he looked. She was amazed that he was only 5 months old.

So, with our new hat on, we headed out to Costco. Boy was the hat an attention getter. I could see all eyes on Patrick and then you'd hear "Awe", or "Oh, look how cute"...I just proudly pushed my baby in the stroller and gushed as the comments were coming in. Life is Great! I know I talk a lot about people making comments about our baby, but I'm a new mom and I can get away with it. On Friday, when I went to the bank, I was waiting in line. One of the bank tellers motioned for me to come to her line. Now, I don't know this lady and I never saw her before, but once she looked at my son, she wanted to squeeze his thunder thighs. Oh, she had so much fun with Patrick. It's great because my son is not shy. I hope this quality lasts.

Toys and Fingers. Patrick loves them. I have a basket filled with chew toys and I hand Patrick several, then pick them up off the floor. We go several rounds doing this. He is reaching for everything and grabbing the toys off of his exersaucer. And his fingers. They are constantly in his mouth. I keep plenty of wash clothes around to clean his hands and clean his toys. It's an everyday event.

January 26

Great News
Oh we just found out that our friend Muzzy is back in KC. Boy has it been a long time since we've seen him. It was such an honor to have him fly back for our wedding. He was one of the first friends to find out that we were having a baby. Actually, he was the first person to touch my tummy. So, now I can't wait to show him our beautiful son Patrick. It's great to have you so close Michael.

Other exciting news, my sister stopped by to show off her bling~bling. Wow! It's Gorgeous! Aunt Jamie ordered Patrick's tux for the wedding. I can't wait to see my little boy all dressed up. We love you Aunt James.

January 25

All Nighter
1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, 3 o'clock , 4 o'clock 5 o'clock. These are how often I saw the clock last night. Patrick is sick and we don't like it. He was so congested that I held him the entire night so that he could breathe. I pulled at the other humidifier that is warm to see if it would help. Perhaps it did. It's amazing how your body will become alert when your child is sick. I didn't sleep last night. I couldn't. Patrick needed his mommy. Greg was so great. He was trying to get up with me and always asked me, "What do you need baby"? I told him to go back to sleep. He had to work on Friday, so I pulled an all nighter.

I finally just went to his bedroom and put on his music to help him relax. He was awake. Wide Awake! So I looked at the suggestions that Aunt Susan sent for the Name Game. Aaarugh, how could I have missed some easy ones. Too many late nights or early mornings and this would be another one of those nights. So at 6 a.m., Mia wakes up and helps me out. She told me to go bed at 6:42 a.m. and I willing said, "YES". When Greg's alarm went off, he panicked because he couldn't see Patrick, but then realized Mia had him. He gets ready for work while I slept. In fact I didn't even hear him. I slept for a couple of hours and then I rushed down to help Mia with Patrick. It's amazing how 3 hours of sleep feels great.

During the day Patrick was getting better. He didn't sound congested and his nose wasn't runny. I played with Patrick in the afternoon, but then my energy was fading. After rocking Patrick for his afternoon nap, Mia told me to take a nap too. I agreed. After sleeping 1 hour, I woke up because Daddy came home. He was feeling tired and thought he was getting sick. So I put the boys in our bedroom and went downstairs. Mia was making us chicken noodle soup. Oh, I love my mother. She knows what to do to make us feel better.

That evening, we couldn't believe this was the same baby that kept us up all night. Patrick was laughing, talking, and playing. He didn't have any signs of being sick. He must bounce back like his daddy. Thank goodness!

January 24

Music To My Ears
Grandma feed Patrick his rice cereal before heading out to Iowa. We'll see them in a couple of weeks when their friends from Europe stop by for a visit. Maybe Patrick will be rolling over or sitting up the next time they see him. He sure wants to do both and I keep thinking that maybe get his chunky leg high enough to roll over. We'll see.

Patrick has been having the sniffles lately. Then in the afternoon, I noticed his nose was running. Oh, this will be difficult to try and keep his nose clean. It's hard for me to see a baby with a snotty nose. There isn't much the doctor can do for him because he still is too young. So I pray that he won't get sick and it doesn't go into his chest.

In the evening, we went with Aunt Jamie to pick out flowers for her wedding. Rosemary made my flower arrangements beautiful for my wedding, so Jamie decided to use her services. I had a blast! Helping my sister plan her wedding has brought back wonderful memories of my wedding. Boy did we have a beautiful ceremony and a fabulous dance.

At the flower meeting, we walked into her office that had a million pictures of flowers and a piano arrangement was background music. The music was very relaxing, in fact I made a comment on how Patrick loves music. Rosemary told me I had a gorgeous son and that he was such a good baby. She noticed that he loved the CD of romance music. We heard the front door open and Rosemary scooped Patrick up from Aunt Jamie's arms because she just had to show her husband this cute baby. Patrick loved it! Before we left, she burned a copy of the beautiful music so that Patrick could listen to it any time. I was so pleased with Patrick's behavior. For being there an hour, he was such a good boy. He didn't cry or fuss. He just looked around the room and blew raspberries with mouth. He made his momma proud!

January 23

Isn't He Lovely
I love taking Patrick out for people to see him. Strangers stop me and tell me I have a cute baby. I gobble up the compliments. What mother wouldn't want to hear the wonderful things about their child. So we went out today and ran errands. We shopped at Kohl's to buy some of their bargain clothing. I am buying 18 month clothes for Patrick. Today I put a size 12 month shirt on my 5 month boy. Everyone tells me that he'll slow down his weight, but I haven't seen any signs of this yet. While shopping, Patrick sat in the shopping cart for the first time and looked like my big boy.

In the afternoon, we surprised daddy and picked him up for lunch. More people watching for Patrick. Our big boy sat in the high chair at the restaurant for the first time. He looks so big just sitting in the chair. This is great because he finally has a stable neck and since he's growing so fast, it was making it difficult to eat and hold Patrick.

This evening Grandma and Grandpa Rickman came into town. They saw Patrick's two teeth. They couldn't believe how much he changed in two weeks. He has more hair on his head. They also noticed a change in how he played with his toys. He definitely is more interactive.

January 22

Sleep Little Baby
Last night, we brought two new rugs for our wooden floors. Since Patrick will be crawling soon, we are trying to get the house prepared for this new adventure. Oh the fun we are having playing on the floor. We devoted one of our rooms as Patrick's playroom. He plays with his swing, exersaucer, jumperoo, and a toy box filled with his toys that makes all kinds of noises. After playing all morning, Patrick wore himself out and went down for a nap. It was a piece of cake putting him to sleep. A few rocks and he instantly fell asleep in my arms. The little guy played hard and had blast with his mommy.

At night, daddy had a special moment with his son. Patrick was tired after playing all day. Greg rocked him to sleep and again, Patrick went to sleep right away. Greg just held Patrick and said it reminded him of the hospital when he was born. Patrick would sleep in his daddy's arms. The difference is that he weighs more than when he was a newborn a now our arms get tired. But daddy continued to hold his son. It was a sweet moment.

January 21

Momma is NOT a Teether
If you don't want to read about my boobs, skip this post. :)

My breastfeeding challenges continue. Let me whine for just a moment. I promise it won't be long. So, I had a low supply of breast milk, yada, yada, yada. And I struggled with coming to terms that my baby wouldn't have the great benefits with breastmilk. How much would I really produce? But then, I was surprised that my baby weighs so much! I was breastfeeding Patrick about 80% of the time with my breast milk and only supplementing very little. And Patrick weighed in the 75-95 percentile. Wow, my boobies made my son grow and grow and grow.

Then, he wouldn't sleep and after talking to his pediatrician, we realized he was still hungry. So, I had to increase the formula. This wasn't a hard thing for me to do because I want what is best for my child and if he is hungry, then I'm going to feed him what ever I can. But the hard part was knowing the benefits of breastfeed babies and I didn't want my son to be denied all the rich bennies. So what does a mother do?

After the shock of reality sets in, you just pull yourself up and thank God for having the breastfeeding experience and the beautiful bond associated with nursing. So, I continue to give Patrick what I can and I pump along the way. But this morning was definitely a unique experience. I began nursing Patrick when I felt these little *sharp* teeth. Ouch! What was that? Oh my gosh, my baby has teeth and it hurts. So mommy tells the little one to stop biting her. Now, maybe this would work on a one year old, but a 5 month old continues to play and then bites. OUCH! And then he looks at me and smiles. I think I also surprised him with I screamed. But it didn't phase him because he continued to bite. So, mommy had to put away the goods and thought to herself that this could be the last time that I attempt nursing. Thank goodness they invented the pump!

January 20

We Are Family
Uncle Mark and Aunt Tammy invited my family over for dinner so that we could help Aunt Jamie with more wedding plans. Since Tam and I are throwing the bridal showers, we were able to get things squared away for the upcoming months. I can't believe April 19th will be here in less than 3 months. Yikes!

The best part of the evening was watching my family pick up Patrick throughout the evening. Sometimes, his aunts weren't ready to let Uncle Mark hold the baby, but somehow, Uncle Mark always won. He had to hold his favorite "Lug".

January 19

Wedding Bells

We started our day by watching Andrew's basketball game. I talked to a lady that bought her daughter soft leather shoes at Target, so now I must go to find the cute soft shoes for half the price as the name brands. Patrick has a cute pair of soft leather shoes, but he needs more to keep his feet warm in this cold weather. As soon as we arrived at the game, Uncle Mike picked up Patrick. Then at half-time, Aunt Tammy wanted to squeeze the baby. After the game, Uncle Mark wanted to play with his favorite "Lugnut".

Needless-to-say, my family loves spending time with my son. After plenty of baby squeezes, we head over to Starbucks where they were having problems with their registers so the foo~foo lattes were on Starbucks. Jammin! We total scored on the over-priced "coffees". Then the headed out to do some wedding planning with Aunt Jamie. The fun part of the day was tasting wedding cakes. YUMMO! The cake was so moist and the buttercream frosting just melted in your mouth. Our free coffee tasted great with our free cake. Then we headed out to try on tuxedo's. Since Patrick is a ringbearer in the wedding, we'll need to go back in March to get him fitted. Oh the little tuxedo looks adorable. He will be so cute on the wedding day.

After a long day with family, Patrick's teething kicked in again. Wow, he is really drooling. It's amazing how teething can make an adorable baby so cranky. Thank goodness for Tylenol and Baby Orajel.

January 18

Showing Off Our Baby
Greg, Patrick, and I attended a happy hour tonight. My MBA classmates have been trying to get together for some cocktails, so we decided to join them since the brewery was a smoke-free restaurant. Only a few people stopped by, but I had the opportunity to show off my baby.

My friend Robert and I went to school together for my undergrad and graduate program. In fact, Patrick was born one year later than his daughter Gabby. It has been cool to see her development over the past year so that I can see her progress. I enjoy reading her mommy's blog. In fact, her blog inspired me to write a baby blog. So thanks Kaye, I'm enjoying writing about Patrick.

January 17

Count Dracula
Just when we thought we were overcoming teething with his first tooth, we discovered something growing. Greg was putting baby Orajel on his gums when he noticed he had another tooth. So I run over to look in his mouth and sure enough, there is another tooth trying to come in. Patrick's teeth process has been mild from some of the stories we hear from friends, but we still don't like our little boy being so miserable. Somehow, I think his parents will be fine once we get a little break from teething. :)

January 16

The Name Game
When you wake up early in the morning with your baby, you come up with things to do to help you stay awake. So, I came up with the name game after rocking Patrick to sleep early in the morning. We have his name on one of his walls, so as I stared around his bedroom, I tried to see how many words that I could spell using his letters in his name. Every once in a while, I stop by his bedroom to see if I can come up more words that I might have missed in the wee hours of the morning. My list is below, but if you come up with other words, let me know.

PATRICK
At, Cat, Rat, Kat, Pat
Cap, Tap, Rap, Trap, Crap
Car, Par, Tar
Tip, Kip, Rip,
Trick, Pick, Tick, Rick
It, Pit, Cit, Kit,
Art, Part, Kart, Cart
Ark Park,
Rack, Track, Pack

January 15

Turn Around Bright Eyes
Aunt Jamie stopped by this evening to visit Patrick. She watched him eat his rice cereal with a messy face. Then she picked up her "Sugar" and gave him lots of kisses. Thank goodness she wasn't wearing lipstick!

Patrick continues to twirl his feet. He practices his "Jane Fonda" workout throughout the day. One night in the evening, I caught myself moving my ankles. I knew that I stretched them, but didn't realize that I moved them similar to what Patrick is doing to his feet. Go figure!

During the afternoon, I had to call Greg to let him know that Patrick turned 180 degrees in his crib. I went to make a bottle and when I came back up to his bedroom, he turned around. I couldn't believe it. He is changing so fast and finding new discoveries each day.

January 14

Sealed With A Kiss
Patrick has a new trick. He loves to *Smack* with his mouth. He gets his lips going and then gets his tongue moving and all you hear is *Smack*, *Smack*, *Smack*. He also lets out these little noises and then he gets a high shriek in his voice. When momma holds him, he likes to eat her cheek. Next thing you know, I hear him sucking on my cheek.

Playing in is playroom is keeping him busy. He gets frustrated with his exesaucer toys because he can't take off the toys and all he wants to do is put them in his mouth. His baby swing also keeps him occupied, although he will soon outgrown this soothing toy. This helps mommy get dinner ready or clean the house.

January 13

Elvis Is In The Building

We slept in today and it felt refreshing. Patrick's tooth broke through his gums. He still is a little cranky, but he slept for 10 hours and then another 3 hours. When we woke up, we felt like having waffles for breakfast, so Andrew decided he would cook breakfast. Mia helped him in the kitchen, but let him do all the measuring. There was flour all over the floor and countertop. Messy cooks are the best chefs and the waffles were delicious. Patrick just played in his jumperoo while we eat our breakfast.

After breakfast, Greg and Andrew went to Micro Center and then watched the San Diego Chargers football game. My nephew knows the rules of football and I was amazed that he knew so many names of the football players. He definitely is a sports nut. Andrew had fun with his uncle as they cheered for their team. I can't wait for Patrick to watch football with his daddy.

We all gathered in the minivan to take Andrew home. We get one block from our house and we see a yellow Labrador with a red collar and we immediately thought Elvis got loose. We couldn't remember if we left the garage door opened as we were all getting into the minivan. Two little girls were taking a walk, so I asked them if that was their dog and they said no. How could Elvis get out of the house without anyone seeing him? My heart immediately began to race. It's such a horrible feeling when you think something happened to your dog. The lab was roaming through the neighbor and we finally spotted the dog. Greg gets out and runs towards the dog and shouts "Elvis". The dog stops in his tracks, then looks at Greg and goes "Woof". Greg said, "Elvis"? Then a neighbor comes out of his house and realizes that his dog got loose. It wasn't our beloved Elvis after all. Boy did we have a good laugh once we got in the van and my heart beat began to beat normal.

January 12

Somebody's Watching Me

Cousin Andrew had a basketball game, so Patrick and I went to watch. Patrick loves to watch other people. At the basketball game, he kept looking at all the little boys and girls. Cousin Andrew went home with us and played with Patrick the entire afternoon. We decided to go to church in the evening since we wanted to sleep in on Sunday. While we were at church, Patrick was a little cranky, so mommy rocked him in the back of the church. One of the parishioners remembered Patrick as an infant from when we went to church right after he was born. She couldn't believe how much he had grown. My little boy is getting so big. He is wearing 9 month clothes and his pajamas are size 12 months. It's hard to imagine him getting any bigger.

January 11

Teething Sucks

That's right, Patrick is teething. This explains why he has been waking up so frequent in the middle of the night and why his momma has been dragging every morning. I noticed he was drooling, but it wasn't until Aunt Jamie come over for a visit on Thursday night and pointed out that his bottom tooth was coming in. Patrick has been whiny because his mouth hurts. He's been getting mad at his favorite chew toy, "Chewy", because he bites down on it and then clunks himself in the head. All day he just wanted momma to hold him. So, I would hold him, change his diaper, rock him and do anything a mother can do to console her son. He's hurting and there isn't much I can do to help him except love him. To ease some of his pain, I gave him a bath after a helpful snack of rice cereal. This definitely helped relax him. In the evening, we had to bring out the baby Tylenol and kept track of the dosages. Mommy & Daddy sure don't like the teething process. We don't like seeing our little boy get so upset and cry with real tears. It breaks our hearts. :(

January 10

Momma Needs Sleep

Well, Patrick continues to wake up in the middle of the night. I'm not complaining, I'm just not use to waking up every couple of hours. Even when Patrick was a newborn, he would sleep for hours at night, so his little wimpers throughout the night seem foreign to me. So, I just close my eyes and try to fall back to sleep. But today, we needed to get going early. Mia had a dentist appointment at 10:30 a.m. so we had to get things moving bright & early.

Once we arrived at the dentist office, I decided to take Greg's Mei Tai to carry Patrick. I'm so amazed at the number of comments that I receive when I carry my baby. It's really not a "hippie" thing to do, it's a matter of convenience. And yes, I do encourage other mothers and even pregnant mothers to carry their babies. I share my story of Patrick being a big baby and having a C-Section as to how it helped me and then go into to the bonding and benefit spiel. So at the dentist office, a young mother's stops to comment on Patrick's beauty and then asks questions about the Mei Tai. Patrick listens to his mommy and then falls asleep since he is snuggling up to his momma.

We then head over to daddy's office to give him a birthday surprise by taking him a foo~foo latte. Greg needs my signature to complete the sell of our Subaru because the young couple that purchased our vehicle ran into problems with Kansas having electronic titles. Mental note: Never live in Kansas and sell your car to a couple that lives in Missouri. It confuses the banks with e-titles. Any whoo, Greg took care of the "paper" title and made the sale complete. Whew!

In the evening, Patrick and I took Greg out to Red Robin for his birthday. While we were there, we observed some interesting parenting skills. A little boy wanted to sit on the outside of the booth, but his parents yelled at him and grabbed him to put him in the booth. I said a quick prayer to God to give Greg and I patience when Patrick gets older so that we don't handle an innocent situation in this manner. Then along comes an "uncle" at the table and starts to complain about his drink order. He wanted a TALL drink with Kahlua and yelled at the waiter. The next thing that happened was the bartender explained that he would have to put 6 shots into the drink and it would cost $30. The guy decided he would settle for a coke.

Patrick and I sang happy birthday to Greg. We came home and ate the cake I made for Greg, double layered with pink frosting and sprinkles, just the way he likes it. What an interesting day filled with lots of people watching. :)

January 9

Entertainer of the Year

Every day I spend hours entertaining my son. I shake his rattle, hand him his favorite toy “Chewy” and read him books. Playing together every day is the best part; especially when I make up songs, make faces, wiggle my tongue and talk, and talk, and talk to my baby. Patrick’s playroom has all his favorite things. We switch between the jumperoo, his vibrating chair, the exersaucer, tummy time mat and of course mommies arms. I smooch, hug and give him kisses throughout the day while my son gives me unconditional love. My heart melts when I’m the only one that can comfort my son. When I pick him up, he’ll begin to complain a little and then let’s out this big sigh as if he is saying “Mommy what took you so long”. Then he just bats his gorgeous hazel eyes and just smiles showing off his one dimple.

Recently, my back is aching. Could it be because my son is growing? So, I decided to wear Greg’s Mei Tai (baby sling). Love it. I wore it out today when I took my mother to her lab. I always get comments whenever I carry my baby. The best comment was when a doctor said I was putting the baby in the toaster. Patrick loves to be carried in a sling. He stays so calm and just rests against his mommy.

Tonight, Patrick was playing in his jumperoo. Mia began to make him laugh, so I handed the digital camera to Greg. We had been filming and getting Patrick laughing and having a great time. Then I looked over at Greg and asked him if he was filming. When he looked at the camera, it had been on pause. So we fired up the camera again and tried to get Patrick to laugh. I think he had the last laugh.

Oh by the way, my fear of Patrick not sleeping came true last night. The little burger decided to let mommy get 3 hours of sleep and kept waking up. Finally at 6 a.m., I just got up and began our play date together. He went to sleep tonight at 9:30 p.m. and didn’t really take a nap today. Please, please, please, let him sleep tonight. Mommy needs some rest. It’s 11 p.m. and I’m going to bed. Good night!

January 8

Patrick loves to rotate his ankles. When he is sitting on my lap, he starts moving his feet in circles. I think it gets this from his mommy because I always stretch my ankles. He also loves to grasp his toys and then immediately they go into his mouth. Lately, he has been drooling and giving me raspberries.

Daddy was a little worried because Patrick didn't poop yesterday. As I was feeding his rice cereal, his face got red and he began to grunt. I knew immediately because the same that came from below was smelly. Now that he is eating rice cereal, his poops have been formed and smelly. I wonder what is going to happen when he is eating more food. Maybe daddy can change his diapers more. :) I chatted with Greg to let him know that he could stop worrying about Patrick. Two hours later, I also let him know that Patrick had another surprise for me.

In the evening, I decided to try Greg's sling called the Mei Tai. Since Patrick is growing fast and becoming heavy, my back is hurting. I tried on the sling and it will work great for me. So, I'll be sporting a pirate baby sling. Arrr.

Patrick also played hard this afternoon and took a nap this evening. I sure hope he doesn't sleep too long and sleeps through the night.

Baby Fest

Oh Babies. So remember all the weddings that Greg and I went to over the course of 2 1/2 years, well...here are some of the babies. Our good friends, Tom & Dawn hosted a New Year's Eve "day" party. It began at noon and we had the best time.

We were also surprised with Dawn's new title, F.S.O. - Friends Social Organizer and she created a N.A.N.O. - Need a Night Out schedule. Since our friends are having babies, we are seeing less of each other. Now this group would get together spontaneously for happy hours, long nights singing karaoke, and celebrating special events in each other's lives. But now that we have babies, we don't see each other that often. So, our self-elected F.S.O., is making sure we see each other once a month. She creatively made a schedule where for the last Saturday of the month for social gatherings. It's in a rotating schedule where the guys get to go out while the mommies watch their babies and vice versa. And in the rotation, we get together as a couple with our babies. We love it Dawn! What an excellent idea!

January 7

Mia hurt her knee and had to have surgery today. She's been on crutches since December 21 and we all wanted her to be comfortable. The alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. and we began our early day. Daddy showered while mommy nursed Patrick. Then I looked at the clock and I had 15 minutes to get showered and dressed, so "SuperMom" puts her actions on high turbo and successfully accomplishes her goal. Out the door we went and headed to the hospital.

I checked in Mia and we immediately went back while Greg and Patrick waited in the waiting room. After about 45 minutes, the nurse asked if there was anyone in the waiting area and then she went out to get them. I told Patrick how much I missed him and then daddy said he missed mommy too. Wow! Recognition for being a mommy is wonderful. It's hard work and I enjoy every moment, but to have your husband realize the effort is very rewarding. Oh, and Patrick was a hit with all the doctors and nurses. I guess you can say he's an attention getter.

Shortly after being with Mia in the surgery prep area, my brother and his wife join us in the waiting area. Uncle Mark picked up Patrick and walked him around in the hospital. He helped take care of my son while I helped my mother after her surgery. Then, he watched Patrick while Greg and I went to the grocery store and dropped off Mia's prescription. When I got home I saw Patrick's chair turned towards the television. Yikes! I don't let my son watch television. What was my brother thinking! Then he said that he played with all his toys and put him in his chair because he needed a little break.

Tonight, Patrick and I helped Mia while Greg cooked dinner for us including fixing soup for Mia. It was great to see him taking care of his mother-in-law. I love my husband! :)

January 6

Good Night Moon. Sleep tight. Wow. Our family slept in after our "late" night at Aunt Susan's. Patrick woke up after coming home from the party and daddy had to rock him to sleep. Mommy still needed to pumped before going to bed. We all went to sleep at midnight. Then in the middle of the night, Patrick cried, but then went back to sleep on his own. I'm trying to let him go to sleep on his own, so I was very pleased that he kept his eyes closed and comforted himself until he dozed off. He did this twice. Mommy woke up at 9 a.m. and felt refreshed. I looked over at Patrick and he had one arm behind his head and then when I looked at Greg, he was in the same position. As I ran for my camera, Patrick changed positions. Like Father, Like Son.

January 5

Patrick had a busy morning. Mommy nursed him first thing in the morning. I just love to watch him play with my hand as he enjoys my breastmilk. It's like he's giving me high-five's. After we have our special bonding moment, it was time to try the rice cereal again. This time he made a mess and I let his face be messy. He would put the cereal in his mouth and let it swish down his throat. This time he gobbled down his food. I wonder if this is a sign for what is yet to come.

Then my messy son needed a bath. He fills his "little" bath tub and splishes & splashes while cooing. He loves his baths. Since he is so relaxed I nursed him again and he went down for a morning nap. He is beginning to take some naps during the day, but the compromise is he is waking up at night instead of sleeping for a straight stretch. He still goes to sleep after a bottle, so I'm pleased that he doesn't want to party with his mommy for a couple of hours.

Grandma & Grandpa Rickman arrived in town for some baby squeezing time. That night we went to Aunt Susan's "30th" birthday party. Patrick loves to be around people. He had to party with all the big people. Everyone kept making comments about how cute he was and how big he is getting. Our friend Kara, from "The McTriplet's" enjoyed a night out and picked Patrick up and gave him squeezes. We finally left the party at 10:40 p.m. for our hour drive at home. Patrick was a little cranky but then daddy comforted him and he snoozed for the rest of the drive. It was a big and fun day.

January 4

Happy Birthday Aunt Susan! I'll be saving you a dance at your birthday party on Saturday night.

Friday afternoon we stopped by to visit our favorite photographer, Lea Murphy. She showed us a slideshow of our photo proofs and it brought tears to my eyes. My beautiful baby looked so gorgeous. I was so amazed at the picture that she captured of me holding Patrick. It's hard for me to get pictures of me holding my baby since I am the one that takes pictures. So when I saw the picture, tears just rolled down my face. I look forward to spending the year watching Lea photograph my precious son.

After our last visit with Dr. Blum, he suggested rice cereal for Patrick. With all the holiday festivities, we decided to wait before we started this messy endeavor. Boy were we happy to wait for this experience. Aunt Jamie happened to stop by visit and watched her godson have such a messy face. Now this is the aunt who would dress up our niece and nephew and then tell them "Don't get MESSY". As we put the first bite of rice in Patrick's mouth, he had a sour look on his face. He played with the food in his mouth and then played moved it around with his tongue before it dribbled out of his mouth. Aunt Jamie was right there with her washcloth wiping his mouth clean. He tried about half before he became frustrated and didn't know what to do with this new thing in his mouth. We decided to stop and clean "Messy Marvin's" face.

January 3

Patrick is a great sleeper at night, but doesn't take long naps for the day. When I talked to our pediatrician about his sleep patterns, he asked me how long he sleeps at night. I told him he sleeps on the average about 7 hours at night, then the doctor told me "That's the trade off". So I spend the days entertaining my son or shall I say he entertains me. But today, Patrick decided to take an 1 hour and 45 minutes nap. Wow! I was so pleased. I took advantage of he time and showered for the day, eat, washed his bottles, cleaned the kitchen, and washed some laundry. It's hard to get things done during the day, but the entire time he was sleeping, I was on my feet. Then when I sat down, I heard a little whimpering on the baby monitor. He was telling his mommy it was time to play again.

January 2

Today, Patrick played in his jumperoo. It was so great to see him discover new adventures. He laughs, plays, giggles and bounces as he goes up and down and at the same time has become very vocal. When we first tried to put Patrick in his jumperoo, he didn't know what to do. Now he realizes that he can jump and jump and jump.

Cousin Andrew is staying with us for a few days before he has to go back to school. Patrick loves Andrew playing with him. They played all day with Patrick's toys including his swing, exersaucer, bongos, and chew toys.

That evening, Patrick jumped in his jumperoo while we ate spaghetti and meatballs. We try to eat at the dinner table every night as a family. Sometimes, it's a challenge we Patrick wants to join the party, but he does well with playing in his toys during dinner.

January 1

Happy New Years!

After our day party with the babies, Daddy went out to have a fun night with the guys. Mommy stayed home with Patrick and enjoyed a quiet evening with Mia. Little did I know that I would be bringing in the New Year. Patrick fell asleep about 9 p.m. and I thought he would be out for the count, but he wanted to party with the guys. I tried laying him down for the evening and he woke up. So at 12:03 a.m., he was up and heard the fireworks go off, but at 12:15 a.m., he fell asleep in my arms.

That evening Grandma and Grandpa Rickman came into town to play with Patrick. It was very cold today, so I made Rosemary Chicken in my "Christmas" crockpot and we stayed in for the evening. Patrick played with Grandma and Grandpa until it was time to go to sleep.

December 31

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby...

After two years of filled with weddings, now comes the babies. All of our friends are having babies and so we end 2007 with a New Years Eve party that begins at noon. That's right folks, this is our new life with our baby. Parties during the day. No longer do we have happy hours, martini's, or a night of karaoke. Instead, we have playtime, diaper changes, bottle-feeding, and lots of laughs.

Patrick enjoyed the day playing with his best buds. He played with Chloe, Evan, Reagan, Jack, and Daniel. It was such a great time to see how well our friends are adjusting to parenthood. It was one big baby fest.