5 Months!!

I know I say this every month, but it really is hard to believe how fast our little dude is growing up! Carson is 5 months old today. October was quite the eventful month for us.  It started out with an awesome visit from Grandma and Grandpa Donat, followed by a quick two day visit by Opa (he was here on business and stayed with us), Carson weathered his first hurricane, and we capped the month off with Carson’s first Halloween! 
We had a great visit with Adam’s parents. We took Carson on the Metro for the first time and went into the city to walk around the National Mall. Carson LOVED the Metro. He just wanted to sit on my lap and look at all the awesome things taking place around him. Grandma and Grandpa were also kind enough to babysit one night so Adam and I could go out to dinner. 
We also dealt with Hurricane Sandy this month. The federal government shut down for a couple days because of the storm. I was so worried we would lose power, but the DC area was spared with there was very minimal impact. We were extremely fortunate. My biggest concern was power loss because our deep freeze in the basement stores loads of frozen breast milk. I was so worried that we would lose it all. During our hurricane weekend, our little family also celebrated my birthday. Daddy and Carson spoiled mommy this year with flowers, a vegan chocolate cake from Stinky Fingers (most amazing vegan bakery EVER), and a BEAUTIFUL necklace from Tiffany & Co. 
We ended the month with Halloween. Carson dressed up as a ferociously precious lion. His daycare held two Halloween parades with all the kids. Adam was able to go to both and I was able to attend the afternoon one. It really was adorable to see all the babies in their costumes. Carson couldn’t even keep his eyes open that night he was so exhausted. 
Carson also had his 4 ½ month pediatrician appointment this month. Little guy is growing like a weed! He gained ANOTHER pound and weighed in at 16lbs, 13oz! He is one big boy! The doctor was very happy with his growth. Carson is still solely on breast milk. It’s so neat to see how he is flourishing so well and to know all of his nutrients are coming from mommy. I can’t even describe how awesome that feels as a mother. He does seem to be getting hungrier, though, so I think in the next couple of weeks we are going to introduce solids. I was hoping to wait until 6 months, but I think 5 ½ will suffice. Boy’s gotta eat! I’m sure I will have some fun stories and pictures of eating adventures next month. 
Carson’s personality has really started to develop in the last month. He is almost always happy as a clam, he loves making raspberry noises at all times of the day, and his new favorite game is peek-a-boo! We also finally started getting baby giggles out of him this past month. He continues to be a rolling machine and is easily rolling from both front-to-back and back-to-front now.  Everything he touches goes straight to his mouth. He loves looking at the pictures when we read him books now, and he looooves playing in both his jumperoo and his new bumper jumper (a little jumper than hangs from the door frame).  Reaching for his feet has become one of his newest obsessions. I think his little tootsies will soon be in that mouth of his! 
We are all really looking forward to November. Oma and Opa will be out here next weekend and then we will head to Richmond for Thanksgiving to celebrate with Adam’s side of the family. It’s always special when the great-grandparents get a chance to see Carson. 
Happy Autumn! 

Carson loves sitting in his high chair while Mommy and Daddy eat! 

Carson learned how to feed himself his bottle at daycare with the help of his
toy giraffe!

Carson's new Jeep! Honk honk!!! 

Someone's gonna be trouble!!!! 

Hurricane? What hurricane? 

Our little lion. 

Someone is over this parade....

Lovin' his tootsies!!! 

4 Months Old!!!

Carson is four freakin’ months old today! WHAT!?! It seems each month flies by faster and faster. Carson has continued to grow like a weed and has gained over a pound in just a month. At his pediatrician appointment last week, C weighed in at 15lbs 12 oz and measured 25 ½ inches long! He is definitely a big boy. The doctor is very happy with his growth and said his proportions are great. Adam and I couldn’t be happier with our little man.

It’s definitely been a crazy month. I’m finally getting into the swing of being back at work and Carson is loving his time at daycare! They have him painting with his feet, going on “buggy” rides outside, and even doing tummy time on mats outside when the weather’s nice. He’s eating and napping well and the two women that watch him say that he’s a joy and a really good baby. |

Carson also continues to be a GREAT sleeper. In the past few weeks he’s started falling asleep at 8:30 every night. I wake him up around 5:30 in the morning to get him fed and ready for the day. In the past couple of weeks Carson has become the roll over king! It’s so funny. As soon as you put him on his belly he looks around for a couple seconds and then rolls right over to his back. If you put him back on his belly he does the same thing again. What’s so cute, though, is when he gets to his back and if you leave him there he will just work with all his might to turn back to his belly. He hasn’t quite mastered this maneuver, but he will try for a good 20 minutes before he gets frustrated. Boy just wants to move! He just can’t decide if he wants to be on his back or his belly! Haha! We figure once he masters the back-to-belly roll he’s just going to be rolling all over the house to get from Point A to Point B. Carson tends to be happy most of the time now. He just wants to interact and hang out. His smile truly is infectious. I still have days where I look at him and am brought to happy tears. I am truly amazed by him and love him dearly.

Carson continues to be on a breast milk only diet. Pumping at work has gone extremely well! I am so thankful for that. Carson eats 16oz of milk a day at daycare and I’m pumping about 23-25 oz a day. Our freezer is filled to the top! I’m so happy my production is so good that I am able to stockpile, because I know as Carson gets older, my production will begin to decline. Having so much extra milk will be really helpful I’m sure.  Our doctor told me we can start introducing rice cereal if I’m having trouble keeping up with Carson’s demands, but fortunately I’m able to keep up just fine right now. The plan is to wait to introduce other foods until at least 6 months. Breastfeeding was such a struggle the first few weeks with Carson, so I am just beyond excited with how well he and I are doing with it now.

Carson will be having lots of visitors in the next month! Grandma and Grandpa will be visiting this weekend and Oma and Opa will be coming for a visit early November! Carson will LOVE all the extra snuggles and cheek kisses!

PICTURE TIME!!

3 1/2 Months postpartum! Mommy ran a 5k! 25 min, 26 seconds!

Cutie

Our big boy

Sleepy man

Back to Work and Florida Trip

So much has been going on in the last couple of weeks. I started back to work, we took a trip to Florida, and Carson turned 3 months old! I don’t even know where to start…

Starting back at work and sending Carson to daycare was easily one of the hardest things I have ever done and it is still hard two weeks later. I know in time it will get easier, so I just keep truckin’ along and savor every, single snuggle I can get with him. Carson is doing great at daycare. He’s eating and napping well and he tends to be in such a pleasant mood in the evenings when he gets home! We are all still trying to get into our new daily routine and hopefully we’ll have it down pat in a couple more weeks so I can get more sleep. Right now I wake up around 4:45am to shower and get ready for work (thankfully Carson falls asleep NLT 9pm, so I can normally fall asleep by 9:30). After I shower and do my hair and make-up, I head downstairs to feed the cats and prepare the bottles for the day (I just got more bottles in the mail, so next week I’ll start preparing them night before to cut out this step). Around 5:30 I wake up Carson. I still can’t believe I spent so long trying to get this kid to sleep through the night and now I’m the one waking him up! HA! After I give him a fresh diaper I nurse him for about 10 minutes. After that I set him in his bouncy chair and I pump excess breastmilk (which is quite a lot after 9 hours). This is my favorite time because he is in the best mood!  While I pump he just smiles, kicks, talks, etc. It’s really so much fun. After I finish pumping I nurse him for a few more minutes if he’s willing and then I normally have to change his diaper again (this kid is a bathroom-going machine), and I get him dressed in his clothes for the day. Once he’s all set I go ahead and put my clothes on and then we head downstairs where daddy is normally finishing up his breakfast. We gather everything we need and out the door we go at about 6:25. Adam and Carson drop me off at the metro and then they head on to daycare. Adam has been great taking on the role of daycare daddy! He also watches Carson for a bit each night before I get home and I’m very thankful for that and happy that Carson gets some one-on-one daddy time every day. I normally get to work around 7:15am and leave around 345pm. On Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays, I head to the gym right after work and Adam and Carson pick me up from the metro at 6pm. Tuesdays and Thursdays I come home directly after work and get home a little after 4:30. Once I get home I normally will nurse Carson right away. I’ve realized the thing I miss most when I’m at work in the closeness and bond I feel while nursing Carson. I cherish those moments now with him so, so much more. After our nursing session there are bottles to wash, dinner to cook/eat, playtime/snuggles to be had, etc. Before I know it it’s 8:15 and it’s time to get Carson cleaned up and ready for bed. It’s amazing how much my work weeks have changed and how little free time I have now during the week. As tired as I am in the morning, when I see that huge gummy grin staring back at me, I know it’s worth it and I know I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. To help with our new crazy schedule, Adam and I hired a housekeeper that will start this week. She will come and clean every other week. It will be so great knowing our weekends will be able to spent having fun and spending time together and not worrying about getting the house cleaned! 

Last week we took Carson on his first plane ride to Florida! I was so nervous about being “those people” on the plane with a screaming baby, but Carson was an absolute angel both ways. On the trip there he fell asleep before takeoff and didn’t wake up until about 25 minutes or so before we landed. I just nursed him all the way down and he didn’t make a peep! On the way home, he once again fell asleep before takeoff. He woke up after an hour or so , though, but between me nursing him, him looking out the window, and Adam and I making silly faces at him, he didn’t cry at all. We were so, so thankful! I think all the people sitting around us were too! HA! 

Carson had a wonderful trip to Florida where he got to spend lots of time with Oma and Opa, meet all of his great grandparents, cousins, great aunts and uncles, etc. He was such a good baby the whole time too. He was great being passed around to person to person. He did have his first little cold while we were in Florida, but it didn’t get him down at all! He was quite the trooper. While we were there he also took his first tip to the beach. We got his feet in the water, but it was so hot and sunny we didn’t stay long. What we did do every day with him, though, was go in Oma and Opa’s pool. He LOVED the pool! It was so funny. We weren’t sure how he would take it since it was a little on the chilly side, but that boy just straight up chilled in it every day. We would get tired of the pool before he would. It was so sweet. I think we’re going to have a little pool baby on our hands! 

Carson turned 3 months old on Monday! I cannot even believe it. Time is just moving by so fast. I still remain in awe the changes and developments I see in him every day. 

I am one lucky lady. 

5 generations of Feaster blood

Baby feet! 

Carson's first trip to the beach

Cousins born 9 days apart

Our little family at the beach

Fun in the pool!

Mommy and Carson

Mommy and Oma with Carson

Carson and his Opa

This kiddo looooved the pool

Carson with his Great Grandma

Carson with his Great Granny and Mommy

Carson and Oma

Numbered Days...

Monday, August 27th...oy. That day is right around the corner and it makes my heart hurt. I'll be headed back to work and Carson will go to daycare. I am so fortunate that I was able to spend 12 weeks with him which is much more than many mommies get, but these 12 weeks went by way too quickly. I'll only be at work for three days next week, because on Thursday we're headed to Florida for a few days, but I know those three days will probably be three of the hardest days of my life. I get so much comfort knowing Adam will be so close, but it will still be hard. As hard as it will be to send him to daycare, I still know Adam and I are making the best decision for him. He will be at an amazing facility with great teachers and since Adam and I will both be working, we will be able to give Carson everything he needs now and in the future and that's a really special feeling. I know for a fact he's going to get sick and tired of the constant kisses and hugs he'll be getting every night/all night when I get home from work.  :)

This is where Carson has been napping all week

Carson had a doctor's appointment yesterday and boy, oh boy...he is one big baby! At 11 1/2 weeks old Carson weighed in at 14.4 lbs and 25 1/4 inches. He has more than doubled his weight since birth and has grown 4 1/2 inches. The doctor said he's definitely a big boy, but that his proportions are great and is happy that he's such a great eater. The first couple weeks of breastfeeding were so exhausting both physically and emotionally, but I stuck with it, and I'm so happy to now be part of a breastfeeding success story! I look forward to continuing to breastfeed for at least the next nine months.

Carson has a great trip to Waynesboro and Richmond the other weekend, and now he's gearing up for his first flight next week. Thursday, our little family will head to Florida for about five days to visit with Oma and Opa and the rest of my family. Oma and Opa haven't seen Carson for about 9 weeks! I'm so excited for them to see how much he's grown and changed, and I'm super excited to introduce him to his great grandparents and all his aunts and uncles.

Carson has become quite the sleeper the last few weeks! We have our nightly routine that we start around 815. Adam gets Carson all cozy in his pjs and sleep sack, then with the lights dim and the Baby Einstein lullabyes on, I rock and nurse Carson to sleep (We give him a bath every other night). Without fail, he is asleep between 900 and 915. He has been sleeping a solid eight hours every night now (Last night he slept 9 hours!!). I'm so happy he's sleeping through the night. It will make going back to work next week much easier.

Carson continues to amaze me every day with his development. It's such a spectacular thing to watch him grow and change. He makes me happier than I ever knew possible. He's smiling every day, having "conversations" with us all the time, and has even already rolled over twice!! I'm anxiously waiting for the first giggles!

Carson had a practice half day at daycare. This is what he wore. :) 

Carson looking at his Grandpa make shadow puppets

Carson loved roadtrippin'!

They Grow Up So Fast

I honestly cannot believe it. Carson turned two months old on Friday. Where has the time gone!? He has grown and changed so much in a short amount of time. Carson continues to develop and form an awesome little personality before our very eyes. The changes I see on a daily basis continue to amaze me. 

Carson and I finally have a bit of a schedule down during the week while Adam's at work. Normally he's up and ready to go by 6am (even though the last two nights he has woken up at 5am, but that's okay because he slept for 8 hours before waking up!!!). After a little nursing session I put him in his outfit for the day (this outfit is normally just one of many since he tends to mess himself a few times a day). Once he's all changed we hang out with Daddy in the kitchen while he's eating breakfast. Once Daddy leaves for work Carson and I head down to the basement for another short nursing session. After that Carson has some tummy time and play time on his mat. He then takes a short cat nap. I use that opportunity for my breakfast. Around 9 or so, he's hungry again and nurses for quite some time. After this nursing session he goes down for his one long nap of the day. Normally between 930 and 1000 he will go down for a nap in his bouncy chair for 90 - 120 minutes. I use this time to do laundry, dishes, go for a run on the treadmill, and shower. These are my most productive two hours of the day. After his nap he's pretty hungry again, so he eats, we play, and then goes down for another cat nap which is perfect for me to grab a quick lunch. The rest of the afternoon is spent nursing, cuddling, and playing. By 3 or 4 pm Carson is pretty much done with naps and only wants to be held and walked around the house the rest of the night. Carson rarely likes to sit still when he's awake. He prefers to be walked around the house so he can look at things on the walls or look out the window. We can normally coax him into his bouncy chair while we eat dinner, though, which is nice. After dinner, if it's not too hot, we like to go on a family walk. Around 800pm, the bedtime process begins. It starts with bath time followed by putting him in his pjs and sleep sack. After that I get the lights nice and low in his nursery, turn on the Baby Einstein music, and nurse/rock him to sleep. He is normally asleep in my arms (or almost asleep) by 915 and I put him down in his crib. Hopefully this 8 hour a night thing we've experienced the last couple of nights will continue and I can also learn to sleep those 8 hours without checking on him constantly....

Carson and I only have three weeks left together until I head back to work. The thought of it brings tears to my eyes, but I feel a little better because we got word last week that a spot for Carson finally opened up at the daycare at the FDA. This means Adam will be minutes away from him every day and that gives me so much comfort. I know those first few days I'm back at work I will be sending Adam to the daycare at lunchtime for a quick Carson check. I plan to soak up as many snuggles as I can the next few weeks. I have a feeling all the daytime naps will be taken on my chest instead of the bouncy chair from this point forward. :)

Next weekend we're taking Carson on his first long road trip. We'll head down to visit Adam's parents and sister in Waynesboro, VA and then on Sunday detour down to Richmond to visit Adam's grandparents. Should be a fun trip. Hopefully Carson thinks 3 hours in the car is a good time to nap....

2 Months Old!!

 

Daddy snuggles

 

Chillaxing

Mommy got a new hair do! 

My Little Chunker

Our little family has been super busy lately. We have had visitors the last few weekends and have been continuing to get our new house in order. It's all been great fun, though!

Carson is changing daily. I'm in awe every day of his developments. We are finally getting the most adorable smiles and they melt my heart every time. He is also so alert now and loves being held and walked around so he can see everything. He loves looking outside the best. I think we're going to have a little outdoorsman on our hands! He is still a pro at breastfeeding and is packing on the pounds. This morning I could hardly snap his 0-3 month size onesie, so our little man upgraded to the 3 month onesies at only 7 1/2 weeks old! My dad says Carson is his little third baseman, but Adam and I think he might be turning into a linebacker!

This past weekend Grandma and Grandpa Donat visited. Carson looooved being the center of attention and all the extra cuddles that he got. Adam and I loved the opportunity to eat breakfast together while they held him and we also were able to sneak out for a lunch date while Grandma and Grandpa babysat. We are looking forward to seeing them again in a few weeks when we venture down to their house in Waynesboro.
Yesterday, Adam's colleagues at the FDA threw Carson the greatest party! They were so generous and got Carson a new bouncer chair, a box of diapers (CLUTCH!!), so many adorable outfits (kid is going to be the most stylin' kid at daycare), and also a gift card to Babies-R-Us. It was such a great little party and Carson really turned on the charm for everyone. He loved being passed around and held by everyone. 

Here's your dose of baby spam!

Yeah, I'm cute

Chillin' out until Grandma and Grandpa get here

I woke Mommy up, but then decided I still wanted to sleep

My little chunker in his 3 month size onesie

All smiles!!! 

Mommy and Car

Blogging and a Newborn

***I have no idea why half this blog is highlighted in white and I am too lazy to figure out how to fix it...sorry.***

So, yeah...blogging with a newborn is not as easy as I had hoped it would be. I think what made it even more difficult was that two weeks after Carson was born, Adam and I closed on our first house, and moved less than two weeks later. Whew! I must have been crazy. Carson is now 5 1/2 weeks old (WHAT!?!) and we moved in last week, so life is starting to get a little calmer. 


Carson is awesome! To see the changes in him day after day is so amazing. He is so attentive now and loves to look around at everything. He loves looking at Adam and me and makes the funniest faces. In the past week he's also started to get some babbles out. I think we're going to have quite the jabberer on our hands one day. Carson is getting great at tummy time and has so much neck strength already. He's great at holding his head up for extended periods of time.  His sleep patterns are also getting a bit better. He goes down around 9pm at night and will sleep for four hours. After a diaper change and midnight snack, he goes back down for 2-3 hours. After another diaper change and snack, I can generally get him back to sleep for another hour. Hopefully in the next few weeks we'll be able to get a solid 6 hours of sleep in. 

Carson is quite the eater and is putting on weight like a champ. At his pediatrician appointment the other week he weighed 8lbs, 10oz. That was a two pound gain in about 3 weeks. We have an appointment tomorrow and I'm anxious to see how much more he has gained. He also starts his immunizations tomorrow. I'm not looking forward to that...poor little man. On Friday I go to the doctor for my 6 week postpartum check-up. That means Saturday begins "Operation Get Pre-Pregnancy Body Back." I have about 7 lbs to go and LOTS of tightening up to do. I'm so excited to start working out again. 


I promise to be better at this blog now and write more coherently in the future. Until then, here is loads of picture spam!!! 

June 19th - the day we closed on our house

Carson - 1 month old! 

Tummy Time

Carson not liking photo time (5 weeks old)

Carson realizing he's cuter when he doesn't cry

Daddy and Carson time...adorable!