What A Week!

Last week was pretty busy for us and it hasn't really slowed down this week.  Zack was out of town for training for a few days so Luke and I laid low for a couple days then drove to see him because we missed him.  It was quite a drive, not only was Zack 140 miles away, it decided to freaking dump snow on our way through the mountains, it was a really long drive, but Luke did great, he slept the whole time.  I was so thankful because all of the pullouts had about 6 inches of snow. 

The weather has been really crazy, it had been getting really nice and warm but all of a sudden, last week it started snowing every day!  BLA! I am so tired of snow...  We did get out and go for a walk, we were all going a little bit stir crazy, it was a little cold but nice to be out.

Luke has been going crazy with his new skills all of a sudden! He turns 4 months today and over the past couple weeks he has been reaching and grabbing his toys, his feet, and his daddy's beard.  He is getting really into his books, I have read to him pretty much every day since we brought him home, but you can really tell that he is interested and paying attention to me talking and to the pictures and colors in the books.  He also decided he was going to roll over yesterday!  He pretty much hates tummy time but when I put him on his tummy he was pretty calm and just flipped over and every time I put him on his tummy since then he automatically turns over.  I love watching his new skills, he is at such a fun age, I love watching him play and listening to him find his voice.  I am so grateful I am able to stay home with him.

I just love my little stud!

Month Three Favorites

Snotsucker / Yoga Ball / Crane Drop Humidifier /  Graco Jogging Stroller / Graco Swing

NoseFrida Snotsucker:

Ok, this snotsucker is amazing!  It is the Cadillac of nasal aspirators, so much better than the regular bulb syringes.  I don't know if it's just my kid or all babies, but Lucas has really sticky boogers, (sorry.. too much?)  but this thing works great clearing his little nose, I just put a couple drops of saline in each of his nostrils to loosen everything up and the snotsucker gets it all.  It took me a minute to get past the fact that I was sucking boogers out of my kid's nose with my mouth, but there is no way you will end up with your child's snot in your mouth, there is a filter to catch everything.

Yoga Ball:

We use our yoga ball all the time, it is our go-to solution if Luke is crying and fussy and we have tried everything else.  Zack or I will just bounce while holding Luke and it usually calms him right down.

Crane Drop Humidifier:

A humidifier is a necessity when you have a baby.  I have always used one in my bedroom because is it so damn dry in Alaska in the winter.  I bought this humidifier while I was still pregnant and it is the best one I have ever owned.  This humidifier puts out a ton of moisture so you and your baby don't wake up with super dry noses and throats.

Graco FastAction Fold Jogging Stroller:

It is spring-ish in Alaska and having a winter baby has made me super stir crazy so I am so excited that it started to warm up so I can get out and go for walks and runs.  I like this stroller because I can click Luke's car seat into it, he usually sleeps while we are out and about, Luke loves being outside, it soothes him.  This stroller is really nice, as long as you are on pavement.  I live on a dirt road and this stroller doesn't handle great on rough terrain but I can walk a short way and be on pavement and it is great.  It folds up with one hand and fits easily in the back of my SUV.

Graco DuetConnect LX Swing+Bouncer:

Ok, so I never wanted a swing, I'm all about small baby gear, thats why we got a mamaroo, but Luke started liking it less and less, he would still sit in it, it just didn't keep him entertained for very long.  One night Zack and I were visiting my mom and dad and Luke started to get really fussy.  Our go to solution when we don't have any of our baby gear is to strap him into his car seat and swing him back and forth and he always calms down.  My mom asked if we were going to buy a swing and I said no, we were going to use what we have, but my sweet parents bought one for us and Luke loves it.  This swing has turned into Luke's bed, he sleeps in it every night, he falls asleep so fast and sleeps comfy and sound.  The seat is nice and comfy and you can adjust the incline so baby can lay back or be sat up a little, the seat can also be removed and used as a bouncer, hooray for multipurpose baby products!  The swing has 6 speeds, 10 songs and 5 nature sounds, we always play the waves sound because it makes mommy think of the beach. 

Month Two Favorites

Rock N Play / Zippered Jammies / Honest Healing Balm / Comotomo Bottle / Gerber Soothe Colic Drops / Skip Hop Activity Gym

Fisher Price Rock N Play:

The Rock N Play is one of those baby products that everyone has and recommends but for some reason I never ended up buying.  Luckily one of my friends let us borrow hers and Luke liked it a lot.  I really like that it is light so you can move it around from room to room with you.  This was a necessity for me because for awhile there Luke would scream if I left his sight, fun times... 

Carter's Zippered Jammies:

I love these Zippered jammies!  I don't know who thought it was a good idea to put a freaking thousand snaps on baby jammies... obviously they never had to change a diaper at 3 in the morning while the baby screamed and kicked his legs, but it only took me a couple nights to figure out that I was never going to use those again.  So now I am on a never ending search for zippered pajamas, they are not that easy to find for the smaller sizes but Carter's usually has a few.  I always like the colors and patterns that they have, Luke wears these a lot.

Honest Company Organic Healing Balm.

This stuff is the best!  Whenever Luke has even the slightest bit of a diaper rash or chapped skin this stuff helps super quick.  I don't use this with every diaper change, you could, I just don't, but when I do use it, it improves his skin by the next day.  I would highly recommend this stuff, I even use it on my hands, Alaska winters really suck the moisture out of everything.

Comotomo Bottles:

Luke is exclusively breastfed for the most part but on occasion he takes a bottle of pumped milk if he stays with my mom or sister or if I want a glass of wine.  Luke had a hard time with bottles, pretty much everything we tried had way too fast of a flow, even the slow flow nipples went too fast and he would constantly gag on the milk because he was getting too much at once and have the hiccups every time we fed him with a bottle.  After a bunch of research, I found the Comotomo bottles, they are awesome and have a true slow flow nipple.  The bottle comes with the medium flow nipple, you have to buy the slow flow separate, but this is the best bottle.  No more gagging, no more hiccups.

Gerber Soothe Colic Drops:

I can't say that Luke has had colic, but I can say that he has been a very gassy and sometimes fussy baby.  When he has gas, you can tell that his little tummy hurts him, these drops really do seem to help if used every day.  They are probiotic drops, I like that it is not medicine.  Pretty much the only downside to these drops is that Luke does NOT like them, they taste pretty gross, (I'm one of those moms that try everything I give my baby) but other than that, they are great.

Skip Hop Activity Gym:

We use this activity gym every day for tummy time and to play with the cute hanging toys.  Luke is not a fan of tummy time, (what baby is?) but he loves hitting and kicking the toys.  I also really like that the colors on this gym aren't super bright and ugly, I am kind of a freak about baby stuff not being ugly, I hate basic primary colors, I think they are awful, so when I can find baby stuff in colors that look nice and semi match our decor, it's a win!

Month One Favorites

Boon Lawn  Drying Rack:

We use our Boon drying rack a ton!  The first week that we had Luke home, he wasn't able to breastfeed at all so I was stuck pumping every three hours.  With all of the pumping that was going on, I was constantly washing pump parts so it was nice to have a cute little drying rack, I also have a few of the cute little flower and branch accessories.

Solly Baby Wrap (not pictured):

Oh my goodness, I cannot say enough good things about the Solly Wrap! Luke spent so much time in this wrap when he was a tiny baby, he loves it, and I loved being able to snuggle with my new baby all day and still get stuff done around the house.  The Solly is really comfortable to wear and keeps baby's weight evenly distributed so you don't get tired shoulders and back. I have this wrap in Grey Stripe, Goldie, and Blue (I can't remember which blue);  They have so many amazing colors!  I always have one in my diaper bag and one upstairs and one downstairs in our house so there is always one close by.  Zack even uses the Solly wrap sometimes.

H&M Nursing Tank:

These nursing tanks are the best!  They come as a two pack, are well made and are a really good price.  They also come in quite a few colors, I live in these tanks.

mamaRoo:

We LOVE our mamaRoo!  I actually won one when I was pregnant with Luke (Thanks 4moms) and I was so excited!  Luke actually slept in his mamaRoo for about the first five weeks we had him home.  I love that it keeps him at a slight incline and you can turn the movements on at a really slow speed to lull babes to sleep.

Blue Blanket We Took From The Hospital:

Ok, so our hospital had the best blankets for the babies!  They are the thermal/waffle type material and they are so stretchy!  These blankets are the perfect swaddling blankets because you can get them really tight so those little arms can't break free (at least not as quick).

Boppy Pillow:
We love our boppy!  When I was able to start breastfeeding Luke, when he was about 12 days old, the boppy was so nice, it keeps him at the perfect hight and allows you to be slightly more hands free while breastfeeding.  We also used it to prop him up so he could look around.

Medela Pump in Style Advanced:
When we brought Luke home from the hospital he was not able to breastfeed for about the first 12 days so I was stuck exclusively pumping.  My heart goes out to the mamas that exclusively pump full time because I hated it.  Even though I really don't like pumping, this breast pump is awesome and the model I got came with a bunch of bottles and a little cooler with cold packs for travel.  This pump really is the best, they are on the spendy side but totally worth it!  I was lucky enough to get mine at my baby shower from my friends at work.

Welcome To The World Lucas Eli!

Zack and I welcomed our son, Lucas Eli, into the world on December 30th 2014 at 12:07 pm.  Lucas weighed 6 pounds 5 ounces and was 19.5 inches long.

During my pregnancy, from about 19 weeks on, Lucas was breech.  In the beginning my Dr. was not worried about it because the majority of babies will turn on their own before the 38th week but as the weeks went on it became pretty apparent that Lucas was happy just the way he was, his whole body squished on the right side of my belly with his head in my ribs.  My Dr. showed me a couple exercises to do to try and make him turn but said that if he didn't turn naturally that I would need to have a consultation with another Dr. to see if I was a candidate for external version (they turn the baby from the outside) and if I wasn't then we would need to talk about a C-Section.  So I did the exercises and I talked to Zack about it and I prayed about it, but I just had a gut feeling that he was not going to turn, and I just knew that there was a reason that he wasn't turning and I was weirdly fine with it. So my 38 week Dr. appointment rolled around and baby boy still had not turned, so I went to the external version consultation and found out that with the way the baby's spine was positioned, I was not a candidate.  I was not at all surprised, and I was honestly relieved.  I never thought I would have to have a C-Section, but it kind of took the anxiety out of everything, up until this point I was on edge waiting for baby to turn and I could finally stop worrying about it.  We scheduled our C-Section that day for December 30th at 11 am.  

The morning of our C-Section we had to be at the hospital at 9 am.  We got there, got checked into a room and they hooked me up to monitors and started my IV fluids.  Zack and I just hung out and talked and watched the monitors, I actually had quite a few contractions, they were very small but it was cool to see them on the monitor.  At a little after 11 am my Dr. came in to check on us and let us know that we were going to get started.  They gave Zack his paper scrubs to put on and took me back to OR to get my spinal placed and get everything ready to go. 

 A lot of people told me that getting the spinal was pretty painful but I really didn't think so, my anesthesiologist was amazing and described how it would feel and and talked to me while she placed it.  A few minutes later they let Zack come back and I just started talking because I was so nervous.  I could hear the Dr talking so I knew they had started, and before I even had a chance to think about what was going on they had Lucas out.  The nurses called Zack over to take pictures and trim the cord, I asked Zack what he looked like and he said he had red hair looked like his grandpa.  A few minutes later they brought him over to me and let me hold him on my chest while they finished closing me up.   He was absolutely perfect and healthy!  He was so cute and just snuggled right in, I held him all through recovery and kept him as they rolled me into our room.  The hospital staff was so wonderful about not taking him away to the nursery, that was one of the only things I requested, that he stay with me the whole time as long as he was healthy and didn't need any medical help.

Throughout the rest of the day we had family and friends come and visit and we snuggled in bed and enjoyed our new little Lucas.  I really had a wonderful C-Section experience, everything went so smoothly and I was up and walking that night.  Zack and I were so happy to finally have him here, it didn't even feel real, we could not stop staring at him, our Lucas was perfect.

Getting ready to go home!  He looks so tiny in his car seat!

A couple weeks after Luke was born we took him in to Narrow Road Productions to get his newborn pictures taken.  It is so fun to watch the photographers pose tiny babies,  Luke slept through the majority of the shoot.

 Taken by Jaden at Narrow Road Productions.

 Taken by Jaden at Narrow Road Productions.
I love these little jeans and his tiny smile in this picture!

Taken by Jaden at Narrow Road Productions.
My sister made this wood bowl out of a giant burl, it turned out being an amazing prop for pictures.

Maternity Pictures

Before I got pregnant I knew that I wanted belly pictures taken.  I procrastinated, forgot about it, and procrastinated some more until about halfway through my 37th week, then I panicked.  Luckily our photographers, Narrow Road Productions, are amazing and fit us in for a mini belly session!  These pictures were taken less than a week before baby boy was born, we are so happy with how they turned out and so thankful that Narrow Road Productions worked with us.

Our photographer, Shawna, is so much fun to work with!  She is so full of energy and has tons of fun ideas.

All photographs taken by Shawna at Narrow Road Productions.