Alder Jacob {4 Months}

This little fella makes me so incredibly happy. I just can't believe he has been a part of our family for 4 months (and counting). He continues to be such a sweet and chill baby. He is constantly smiling and giggling and I'm so proud to be his Mama. 

This month was a big one in the sleep department. We overcame the 4 month sleep regression (so terrible) and we moved Alder out of his Rock N Play. He started busting out of swaddles so we also transitioned him out of his swaddle and into the Baby Merlin magic sleep suit, which truly has been magical for both my boys. I also had to do a little sleep training and help Alder learn to self soothe so that he could fall back to sleep on his own and not require me to feed or rock him. That took some work, but has been totally worth it. Now we lay him down for a nap or put him down to bed so easily. He is also sleeping with this puppy because he loves to snuggle up with it. I mean is there anything cuter than a baby hugging a stuffed animal as they fall asleep?  

The biggest difference in Alder this month is his strength. We call him Hulk baby because of the way he was busting out of swaddles. He is constantly moving and wriggling around and he is now rolling over as well. He is always on the move and I feel like he will be an early crawler and walker because he just doesn't want to stay still anymore. He wants to be up playing with Aiden. This month we also added another zoo to Alder's list of zoos he's been to. 3 zoos in his 4 months of life and more to come.

Alder is his Daddy's mini me. My only claim to him is his blue eyes. The comments I most often hear about Alder are 1.) He's so smiley 2.) He has such long toes and 3.) He looks just like his Daddy. I'm a lucky lady. ;)

A few stats about Alder at four months: 

Weight: 15 pounds 15 ounces (Lets just call him 16 pounds shall we?) (61st percentile)

Height: 26.25 inches (83rd percentile)

Size clothes: 3-6 month clothes, but I am in the process of putting most of those away. 6 month clothes here we come. Another thing I have to mention about clothes...this kid goes through so many more outfits in a day than Aiden did. Somehow he manages to poop through at least one outfit per day.

Sleeping: After waking up every 2 hours for a stint I decided things weren't getting any worse so we just went for it and transitioned out of the swaddle and the Rock n Play. He is sleeping 6-7 hours now (usually from 7:30ish to 2:30ish) then he wakes up to eat and goes back to sleep for another few hours.

Random stuff only parents want to know:

Nicknames: Big hunny, Big baby, Hulk, Sweetie.

Likes: Laughing at his big brother, splashing in the bathtub, attempting to escape any position he is being held in (where does he think he is going?), sleeping in the Ergo360, being tickled, pooping through outfits (still), rolling over, smiling and grabbing his toes.

Dislikes: Not being able to roll over from back to front yet (he is trying so hard!), the siren on Aiden's toy ambulance (he instantly puckers up his lip and cries), waiting to be fed.

Here are a few of my favorite pictures of Alder from this month...

We love you Alder J.

Watch Alder Grow...

            One Month Update                        Two Month Update                       Three Month Update

See Aiden at FOUR months here!

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My First Baby You'll Always Be

You will always be my first baby. 

The one who made me a Mama.

You will always be the one who taught me how to give more of myself than I thought possible.
The one who pushed me to learn new things.
The one who first heard my heart from the inside and then completely stole it on the outside.
You are the one who renewed my sense of wonder in the every day moments.
Who showed me the miracle of growing a life.
Before you, I had never been happy changing a diaper or sucking boogers out of someone's nose.
Before you, I had never been so enamored with another human's toes.
Before you, I didn't know how it felt to be someone's everything.
You were the first one to call me Mama.
The first one to make me understand God's love for me, his child, in such a profound way.
And while there is another baby coming into my life very soon that will take up part of my heart,
You will always be my first baby.

First Trimester Rewind {The return of the bump}

Oh the first trimester. So much excitement and so many symptoms. When I was pregnant with Aiden, I honestly felt great in my first trimester. I was tired, but I was hardly nauseous at all and I slept really well right up to the very end (with a little help from my pregnancy pillow.) Don't hate me for that, because I've pretty much made up for it with this pregnancy. Nausea, insomnia, weight gain, oh my.  But I can't even be mad about it because every symptom means there's a baby that is growing inside of me and that fills me with so much joy.

So my first trimester included lots of eating (the only thing that made me feel less nauseous), taking naps with Aiden and reading in bed at 3AM when I couldn't sleep. There were doctors visits, our first ultrasound and the return of my bump, which has decided to pop out way earlier than last time. I personally am super excited about this (my pants are not so excited though so I got rid of them. Haha.) Here's my first trimester in pictures....

"So you're saying I am going to have to share you?!"

And of course a few weekly bump pictures! 

I have already come to terms with the fact that this time around I will not do a bump picture each week. I'm sure you're all super disappointed. Ha.

So all you Mamas out there with multiple kiddos, what are some must haves for Baby #2?

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Because I'm not Superwoman

There are days when being a Mom is just plain exhausting. Who am I kidding...everyday as a Mom is exhausting. Rewarding and so wonderful, oh yes. But also exhausting. There are never enough hours in the day to do everything. I have my work to do list, then I have my home to do list. There are meals to be prepped, dishes to be washed, baby clothes to be folded, cats to be fed, a husband to encourage and love on, sippy cup parts to be cleaned, phone calls to return, bills to pay...the list goes on and on and no matter how hard I try, I can never get everything done.

I am also the queen of multitasking and love crossing things of my to-do list. So when I have my list ready to go and I cross off absolutely nothing all day, it could be very discouraging.

Wake up, try to get things done, FAIL miserably, repeat.

But you can't view every day like that. It's not healthy and I am not superwoman, I'm something else. Something better. I am Aiden's Mom.

"All of the sudden, what's valuable is not the multitasking, but the single task...being with him, only him, doing nothing else." -Shauna Niequist

So on the days when I start to feel bad about the piles of laundry I haven't done, or the meals I haven't cooked, I look at my son, who I managed to get out of his pajamas, feed and entertain and I have to remind myself, Good job Mama. You may not have done everything today, but you are taking care of your son and that's a big deal. You made him waffles for breakfast, played Peekaboo, sang to him, rocked him, read him all his favorite books, snuggled him, loved on him and that's enough for today.

That is the sunshine in my pocket...What I pull out when I'm discouraged.

So when you feel overwhelmed about all the things you aren't doing, simply stop, give yourself some grace and remind yourself of the things that you are doing. I promise you are doing more than you think.

Messy {Thoughts on handing over control}

Lately Aiden wants to do everything by himself. Part of me loves this and is so proud and the other (bigger) part of me is having a hard time handing over control to my toddler, especially when it means that meal time is always messy.

I was all about my 14 month old picking up his food with his hands and feeding himself. I oohed and ahhhed and clapped for him. All of the sudden though, he wanted to take control of the spoon. I knew handing over the spoon meant a huge mess for me, but he wouldn't give up. So I reluctantly handed over the spoon, found a plate to shield myself from the mashed potatoes that would surely be flung my direction and peeked over to see what he would do.

I watched his little tiny fingers grasp the spoon with delight and plunge it in to the mashed potatoes. The spoon was his, he now had "control." And then I had a revelation.

This must be how God feels.

God graciously allows us to take the spoon from Him even when we have no idea what we are doing with it. Then we do things OUR way and make a mess of things. But He doesn't leave us in our mess.

He loves us despite our mess.

So when Aiden wants to feed himself, I will do my best to guide his hand and to teach him how he should do it. I will be patient when my floor is covered in bananas and sweet potatoes and when bath time is required because he has syrup in his hair. When he makes a mess, I will be there to clean it up.

And as time goes on and he has watched me and practiced, he will eventually learn how to make a little less of a mess. This is what we should be doing too. Reading the Bible and learning from God's example how to live so that the messes we are bound to make can be a little easier to clean up.

I know that no matter how much of a mess Aiden makes with his food (or his life) I will still love him and want the best for him. And that my friends, is only a tiny smidgen of what God feels about us, His kids. Your mess is never too big for Him.

To the boy in fox suspenders

Shirt from Ezra + Eli

This shirt says it all, baby boy. I'm one thankful Mama. 

The End.

The importance of GIVING in a friendship

The older I get, the busier life gets and the more I truly appreciate other people's time. The time you give away is truly a gift. As a Mama, my time with my baby and my husband are precious. While my friendships remain very important to me, my time is divided differently now. While I still do my best to have girl's nights and celebrate the important events of my close friends lives, I will admit that I can't give away my time as freely as I once did and I have to choose to be okay with that.

All that being said, it is for these reasons that I truly appreciate when people sacrifice their time to be a part of my life. A few weeks ago my college roommate traveled from Indianapolis with her almost 4 year old and her 7 month old to spend the day with Aiden and I and that meant the world to me.

We ate a delicious lunch outside, walked and played at the park with our boys and then ate ice cream. It was such a sweet day and it made me realize just how much I value my friends and the time they give up to spend with me and my little family. If you have friends like this, treasure them. One way to make any of your Mama friends hearts grow 3 sizes bigger is to make time to get to know their kids and love on them!

How do you invest in the lives of your friends who are Mamas?