I've been infected

...with Momma-itis.

I think it'something you catch during pregnancy and childbirth that turns your world upside down.  The symptoms include:  the overwhelming urge to speak in a sing-song voice, constant conversations about poop and other gross things, hearing so keen you think you hear a baby crying all the time, unquenchable thirst for playtime with your baby and an insatiable yearning for toothless grins.

But the most recent symptom caught me completely off guard.  I wasn't quite sure what to do about it.  It struck suddenly upon waking this morning and has been nagging persistently since 6:30 am.  This may be the worst of all the Momma-itis symptoms... There are six garage sales on our street and I feel an overwhelming need to check them out to see if they have any great kids stuff.  Seriously.  I must have it bad.  Until April 13, 2012, I DETESTED garage sales.  Now I am seeking them out.

I think the diagnosis is stage (almost) three (months) Momma-itis.  Apparently it's incurable and only gets worse with time.  I can think of worse things to suffer from :-)   Happy Friday!

Baby Love

I wish I had taken is bib off first! 

Mommy does all the work.  Daddy has all the fun!

The rumors are true

Time really does fly when you have a baby.  I know that before I know it, Bryan will be asking for a cuppie of something while I think to myself, "jeeze, wasn't it just yesterday that you were drinking formula from a bottle?"

In two months time, we have gone from this:

Bryan on day 2

To this sparkling-eyed, toothless-grinning little nugget:

Bryan at 2 months

And today, he went to make friends for the first time.  It's official, Bryan is at daycare.  Or the babysitter, or whatever term we want to use.  Violy is a kind, nurturing, loving woman and I trust her to the nth degree.  There are three other children for Bryan to get to know.  One is only nine months old and is crawling everywhere!  I think Nugget will love that little boy!

While I know the socialization will be great for Bryan, it still breaks my heart a little (ok, who am I kidding, it was A LOT!!) to drop him off.  I know it was harder on me than on him.  Just thinking about it yesterday had me in tears.  And I was fine this morning until Violy said, "Oh, Bryan! We are going to have so much fun.  Say goodbye to Momma" which caused me to immediately burst into flooding tears.  I was tempted to grab Nugget from her loving arms and run back to the car as fast as I could and lock us in the house and play as a family forever and ever.  I will spare you of my list of a million reasons why I know that won't work and is a fairly terrible idea!  

This is really good for all of us.  I can't not-work right now and Bryan needs the exposure to other loving adults, and very fun children.  So, I will just sit here and think about him all day.  I get to pick Nugget up in 3 hours and 30 minutes.  Not that I am counting.  Ok, maybe I am.  A little.  (wink wink!)

Looking up...

Time is passing so quickly and Bryan is growing like a weed!  It's hard to believe he's two months old today.  Happy mini-birthday, Nugget!  In honor of Bryan being two whole months old, and a celebration of me no longer being pregnant, I thought I'd just post some pictures for you.

So, here's Bryan between six and eight weeks old.

Bryan loves light fixtures and ceiling fans...when he looks up like that, it's hard to not look too!
This is one of my favorite pictures of "Looking Up!"

Somewhere there is a picture of me with a much bigger bear...but we look like twins!

So deep in thought

Nugget LOVES his bath

After we wash his head, we cover it up so he doesn't get cold!

He already looks smart

Can't help but wonder what he's thinking

I think that's almost a smile!!

He really wants to suck his thumb but can't seem to find it!

thumb search and rescue, take 2!

Abby the Beagle HATES it when Nugget cries.

Two words:  Cutie. Pie!

is there anything sweeter than tiny hands?

Working out those neck muscles with a little tummy time!

Bigger Picture

I know the title is deceiving in that there's no picture in this post.  I will take one, I PROMISE!  But for now...

To all of you who live within a couple hour drive of your mothers and have children, I want you to fully appreciate how fortunate you really are.  Your Moms get to see your munchkins often.  Mine lives a couple thousand miles away.  And my dear friend Kim's Mom looks over her grandson, Liam, from Heaven.

I thought I was a pretty great Mommy until I saw my mom in action with Bryan.  It wasn't until then that I really appreciated how much I didn't know and how much I wasn't doing. Sure, I sing to him and read to him and rock him and love on him.  But not with the same UMPH and frequency (and volume!) that my Mom does.   And while I am not too fond of hearing all the silly songs for Bryan, I realized that he LOVES them and responds so well to them.  I need to step up my game!!

How lucky are we, that my mom was generous enough to be away from Dad for three weeks and away from home for two weeks (Dad was fishing for a week while Mom was still home)!!  Bryan can't start daycare until June 18 and rather than me trying to find the balance of caring for an 8 week old and working full time simultaneously, Mom flew out to care for Bryan.

And it wasn't until the second or third day that I realized this is about so much more than just solving a daycare conundrum.  This is time that Grandma gets to spend with her only grandbaby without having to share.  It was time that I get to spend with my mom without having to share. Life truly doesn't get much better than this.  I am totally having my cake and eating it too for TWO WEEKS!!

It's time to break out the camera.  I want Bryan to know how much his Grandma loves him and how much time she spent with him when he was brand new!  Hopefully this is the first of many times Grandma gets to care for our little Nugget.  There's so much we can all learn from her love.

Thanks, Mom.  I love you!