Spring Excursions

We've been enjoying a gorgeous spring here in central Texas. Spring is by far my favorite season in Texas-- and we only get 6-8 weeks of it before the relentless summer heat sets in and I become an angry, bitter person who hates Austin-- make that the entire state of Texas-- most of the people in it, and the sun itself. I have the opposite of winter seasonal affective disorder. Or maybe I should call it seasonal angry disorder. But that is neither here nor there. We've still got a little bit of spring left, and we've really made the most of the past few weekends. I don't know if it's the fact that we're more cooped up during the week than we were pre-baby, but since Nicholas reached the two month mark we've really made an effort to get out and do fun activities once the weekend rolls around.

At the end of March we took him on his first wine tasting trip. Yes, we're starting him young. He slept through much of it, but Mom and Dad loved checking out some wineries and enjoying a picnic lunch in nearby Driftwood. In the past, we've driven all the way out to Fredericksburg to visit our favorite local winery, Pedernales Cellars. But, with Nicholas in tow, we decided to stay a little closer to home and visited Duchman Family Winery, Driftwood Estate Winery, and Bell Springs Winery for the first time. We enjoyed all three, and found a few bottles to bring home with us.

Our spring has been a wet one by Texas standards, meaning that we had a bumper crop of wildflowers. Bluebonnet photos are an annual must for Texan families, so we spent a couple weeks scoping out the perfect location to set up a little photo shoot for Nicholas. We found a shady patch of flowers along the road behind a nearby housing development, set out a blanket, and got a little trigger happy with the camera. He was a little unsure about the whole thing, but we got some cute photos to help us remember his first spring.

(And our personal favorite...)

And this past weekend, we made a little trek out to Boggy Creek Farms to check out their farmer's market. We showed up around 11:30am, but unfortunately all the good stuff was sold out. Since I'm not yet at the stage with a baby where I have the time or inclination to conjure up meals with, say, Brussels sprouts greens, we walked away empty handed. But, we did stroll around the farm a little bit, checking out the flower gardens and chicken coops. Afterward., we enjoyed a tasty lunch at East Austin's Hillside Farmacy.

The coming months will undoubtedly include a lot of time spent parked indoors, on the couch, in the AC, but I'm glad we enjoyed some quality family time outdoors this spring. Maybe when the 78th consecutive day over 100 degrees hits this summer, I can take a look at these photos and feel just a little bit better...

Naptime S.O.S.

I'm looking for some advice from my fellow moms out there. Nicholas has become a fantastic nighttime sleeper, going to bed around 7-8pm and sleeping for anywhere from 7-10 hours before waking up to eat. For a three month old, I realize that is pretty stellar. However, he is a terrible napper. He'll take 2-3 naps during the day, but they are never longer than about 45 minutes. Some are as short as 30 minutes. Often, he'll wake up screaming from his naps, and I can tell he's just exhausted and should be sleeping, but he fights it and rarely goes back to sleep. Based on the baby books, it sounds like he should be taking two 1.5-2 hour naps a day. I've read a little bit about the "45 minute intruder," which basically talks about how babies' sleep cycles are about 45 minutes during naps, and they often wake up in between cycles when they should continue to sleep for another 45 minutes or so.

Has anyone else experienced this? Any tips or advice on how to give the "45 minute intruder" the boot? My little guy is dying for some better quality daytime sleep... and Mommy is dying for some time to get things done around the house... or shower... or eat. You get the picture.

Help!

Three Months: A Letter

Dear Nicholas,

Today you turned three months old. It's hard to believe that a quarter of a year has already passed since you were born. It seems like just yesterday, and, yet, when I look at photos of you from just a few weeks ago, I can already see how much you've grown. This would make me sad if we weren't having so much fun watching you change and become more interactive everyday. Your little personality is starting to really show itself and we love it. You continue to give us lots of smiles (except when you're hungry-- then you're all business), and in the past couple weeks you've started to giggle a little bit-- or try to. It's a funny sound somewhere between a hiccup and a laugh, but it's always accompanied by that open mouth grin, so we'll take it. In fact, we'll do just about anything to elicit that funny little laugh from you. Your Dad runs you through a strenuous workout of boxing, pedaling you legs like Lance, and doing the backstroke with your arms, which you love. This gets a laugh about half the time. Today you also sort of giggled when I was singing along to a performance of "Livin' on a Prayer" on The Voice. This probably doesn't say much for my vocals, but I love doing anything that makes you smile!

Based on my highly scientific procedure of weighing myself while holding you, I am guessing you tip the scales at somewhere between 13-14 pounds. You are now wearing all 3 month clothing, some of which is already getting too short for you (particularly the footy pajamas) and some 3-6 month clothing. You are wearing size 1-2 diapers. We'll get your official growth stats at your next doctor's appointment when you turn four months.

As with the prior two months, this month brought more visitors and some additional firsts. You met your Great Aunt Mary and Great Uncle John ("great because they're awesome!"), and we showed them around Austin, including a trip to the Zilker Park Botanical Gardens. You also had your first non-family babysitter during their visit. We found a great girl who is a senior at UT to watch you while John and Mary took us out to a delicious dinner at Lambert's. I was a little nervous leaving you, but everything went great, and we've already booked her again for a night out in May.

The wildflowers bloomed during your third month, and we took part in a grand Texas tradition: bluebonnet photos. They turned out cute, but I'm looking forward to next year when we'll be able to sit you upright in the flowers-- if we can get you to hold still long enough!

Over the course of the past month, you've become a fantastic night sleeper. We moved you into your own room at about 8 weeks, and you've continued to sleep longer and longer stretches before waking up. For the past few weeks, we've put you down between 7-8pm each night, and you typically haven't woken up until 3-4am for a quick snack before going back to bed until about 7am. Heaven! This morning, I woke up at 6:15am in a panic because I realized you hadn't been up at all. I frantically ran into your room to check on you, but you were snoozing peacefully, and had been for over 10 hours. We're hoping this isn't a fluke! On the other hand, you are not a great napper. You fight naps, and only sleep for a maximum of 45 minutes several times a day. By the evening, you are one cranky little guy and we sometimes struggle to keep you up until your 7pm bedtime. But maybe this is what makes for your great nighttime sleep? Time will tell.

You still love bath time, staring at the ceiling fans (on or off), and spending time outside. This month you also discovered your hands. You will hold one hand out at a slight distance and then slowly move it around as you carefully observe it from every angle. You seem to favor your left hand for both hand-staring and batting at the toys on your activity mat, so we're guessing you're a south paw like Daddy, Uncle Geoff, and both of your Great Grandmas. You've also really started trying to suck your thumb. You showed some thumb sucking tendencies early on, but you've really been working hard at it this month. Unfortunately, you can't quite figure out how to get just your thumb separated from the rest of your fist, and often you just jam as many fingers from either hand as you can fit in your mouth. You also do this when you're hungry, making loud smacking noises.

You are still not a big fan of tummy time, but you've gotten pretty consistent with your ability to roll from stomach to back, so you never have to endure time on your belly for long. Despite this, your neck strength is increasing quite a bit. While we burp you, you'll pull your head and upper body away from our chest and you are strong enough to hold your head up and peer around the room. Your head will bobble a little bit here and there until you get tired, and then you'll crash your head back down on our chest. We call this move the meerkat, because you look like the little desert animal peering out from its burrow. We love the meerkat and will miss it when you have complete control over your neck!

Nicholas, you are more and more fun each day, and you bring so much joy to our lives. I wish time would slow down, but I also can't wait to see what's next. I know it's only going to get better.

All my love,

Mommy

First Family Easter

Having a child really brings out the fun in celebrating holidays. We don't have any family in the area, so we haven't done much in the way of Easter celebrations over the past few years. This year, we enjoyed our first real holiday as a family of three.

We attended church service in the morning (and had fun dressing Nicholas up in his dapper sweater vest and linen pants.) Afterward we came home, napped, and then gave Nicholas his Easter basket. The Easter Bunny delivered swim trunks, a sun hat, a jumper, and some assorted candy. (OK, the candy was for mom and dad.)

It was a gorgeous 80 degree day-- and we only have another month of those before the weather turns scorching-- so we had to get out and enjoy it.

We worked up a good sweat around Town Lake and then came home and barbecued flank steak. A great first family holiday-- we're looking forward to many more!

Our New Normal

A lot of things have changed since Mr. Nicholas arrived on the scene, but none more so than the luxuries I used to take for granted...

Sleep: Whenever, wherever. I'll take it. Granted, it's gotten a little bit better in the past couple weeks, but there are still plenty of rough nights, and plenty of days where I would I do just about anything for a nap. This formerly super light sleeper can now pass out anywhere.

Date Night: One Friday night, a few weeks after we come home from the hospital, Jason and I were both dying to get out of the house. Our usual Friday night out at a restaurant just wasn't going to happen, so we ate dinner at home, but then optimistically strapped Nicholas into the car and thought we would head out for dessert. The first place we arrived at had a 45 minute wait. Nope, not going to happen. Strike one. The second place (a food trailer nonetheless) had no parking. Lugging the car seat carrier four blocks? No thanks. Strike two. At our wits' end, but unwilling to give up our quest for a few minutes of enjoyment outside of the house, we did the only thing we could think of. We went to Whole Foods and strolled through the store for 10 minutes, picked out some chocolate, and ate it in the food court. Date night indeed.

Weekends: Weekdays and weekends all kind of blur together. We're more apt to try to go out and do something fun on a Thursday night because there are fewer crowds and it's easier to bring along a baby, and we may spend a Friday or Saturday night cleaning the house or doing errands. Case in point: the Saturday after our wild date night to Whole Foods, we spent the evening doing our taxes. And we were both excited about it. These days, I will seize any opportunity to get something crossed off my to-do list. Even if it means spending Saturday night organizing W-2s.

Me Time: Perusing our online bank statement and updating our budget with one hand while I pump? Sure, I'll take it.

But I can live without these little luxuries for now. This guy makes it all worthwhile.