Approaching that 2nd Month thoughts

We are rounding out week 7 since Mason was born and I started to wonder how we made it this far? I know that this is literally just the beginning but it has been a crazy and awesome beginning that I'm still in awe as to how we actually survived it and not just survived, but learned a TON and adapted.

Our little pepe, Mason who we adoringly have nicknamed  a million things (little buddy, little man, little pez, pepe, chiquiturri) has been growing so fast is hard to believe. He is in the 14 pound range of weight at 2 months (not even) and the pediatrician says that his weight is awesome and that we should be proud. I am relieved; our measure of success in the beginning as parents is that he is alive and gaining weight- guess we got those two down.

We finally got used to being consistently sleep deprived, I actually look forward to my night time ramblings with our little bud because they're sweet and its just me and him and I know they will eventually end and I'll never have that moment again, when he's that small and needs me that much. Our bodies are amazing and they adapt to almost anything and incredibly enough, you don't need 8 hours, I got to the point where 4 is good and survivable and not at all that hard to accomplish. Once we got over the crankiness caused by lack of sleep we  I realized that all is as it should and that parenting is about putting that little babe in front of your needs and what better way to learn that quickly than by giving up some of those needs you once felt were so necessary and devote yourself to the little one who needs it most.

It has gotten exponentially better than say, week 1. We actually get some rest through the night and have officially moved out of his room and back to ours. We use the monitor through the night and come to his room when we hear him. Mason does not cry much, I mean that in the best way possible. He cries for a little bit if he really needs something and we cant quite figure it out; but his needs are met and he's happy. This makes our job as parents easier but no less nerve wrecking as we're still learning and we want to make sure he has all he needs at this point in his new life. 

We never imagined we could love someone so much. I usually leave work and run home to be able to see him before we put him to bed. My time with him when I get home is usually dedicated to reading him a quick story, bath time and a bottle. I want to establish a pattern for him and hopefully create a habit where he knows that daddy comes home and he's going to read me a story. I just want to take in all these little moments and stay in the present while still looking forward to the future and those sweet memories we'll be making as a family. I'm so proud of Tiff for the amazing mom that she has become and for being insanely crazy about making sure Mason is happy and wanting to protect him against the world. 

The best thing that has happened lately is Mason smiling at us and very purposefully too. Life is about these moments for us lately and I couldnt be happier. There is not a single thing in the world I'd rather be doing in this very moment. 

Cant believe he is almost 2 months old! 

Letters to Mason: One Month

I have been writing this post all month, trying to compile bits and pieces of Mason's first month and what has become of our life in the last month.

It's a funny thing what you hear prior to the birth of your first child. All the "get your sleep now's, your life is about to change, etc, etc" are actually true, but it's still annoying to hear it over and over again as if the more you hear it the more prepared you'll be. Nothing can prepare us for the first month of our son's life. Not countless hours of college induced "all nighters" or "busy season" at work.

Our first night back from the hospital was a mess, it was terrible, we had not slept in over 24 hours because the nurses at the hospital kept coming in all night  because Mason had an elevated bilirubin result which meant they were not only drawing his blood all night which broke our heart but also had to be put on phototherapy. I know this is fairly "common" when it comes to post birth treatments but I cant imagine what the parents of sick children go through. I digress- our first night, Mason started crying because he wanted food, naturally. Tiff was still recovering from everything including learning to nurse which meant she was not in any condition to feed Mason, plus her milk had not come in all the way to be able to pump. End of the day, Mason was screaming until 2am, there were many tears and finally the little man ate and fell asleep. Thanks to Nana, Tiff's mom, I got some much needed sleep and woke up around 4am refreshed.

The following weeks consisted of us learning our baby. Nothing could have prepared us for Mason but at the same time, we were as prepared as we could. I can honestly say that there were no emergency runs to baby r us EXCEPT for our bottling system. We had to completely switch over to Tommee Tippees because our previous bottling system sucked!

In the first month I returned to work, we survived the first week sans dad and I only missed my family about 100% of the time. On the upside though, we are working hard on getting Mason on a schedule and he's doing great. We are increasing his eating a bit and with this, his sleep is slowly but surely getting not only stronger but longer- we now moved from getting 2-3 hours to 3-4 and that is a great piece of success in our early parenting experience.


Mason continues to progress beyond the average milestones, he's already following objects, responding to us, smiling, and doing a million other things on a daily basis that reminds us of how little time we'll have with him in each stage of his life until he's already moving on to the next one. We are loving being parents and finally having Mason with us. We are excited for him to sleep through the night and to start interacting with us a little more. We started reading to Mason a few times a week, I bought finger puppet books which he's starting to look at and follow as I read along. Mason loves mirrors, the fan in the ceiling and the Disney Junior songs and channel. Did I also mention we love baths?