Long Weekend Plans

My brother and his family are currently making their way here from GA, and I'm so excited I could pee my pants!! I can't wait to see them and to have them meet Andrew. It's a great time for them to come, because he's really alert most of the day and taking in so much. They should be here in a couple of hours. Andrew is already in bed, but he'll meet them tomorrow morning for sure. I also can't wait to see little Sami, their three year old daughter. She is such a joy!!

And just because I can't have a post without a picture, here's a picture George took of me and Andrew at the pizza buffet the other day. I realized I just don't have very many pictures of myself with him since I'm usually the one taking the pics, lol. I'll have to fix that issue or else I know I'll look back and regret not having more pics of the two of us! Have a great weekend everyone!

 

Andrew's Talking at 10 1/2 Weeks!

I know it doesn't seem possible, but I promise I'm not one of those Moms who just "thinks" her baby is saying words this young. Don't get me wrong, I don't think the little guy really knows what he's saying. He's just getting really good at repeating what we say.

It all started at around 8 weeks old when he started saying, "Hi!". George was the one who first got him to say it. Andrew still won't really say it when anyone else is around, but he says it to us a lot. Then, about a week ago, George decided to try to teach him to say his own name. I thought he was being crazy since there's no way a 10 week old baby could say a 2 syllable word.

But it turns out I was wrong


We took this video yesterday morning. Andrew very clearly says his own name! And he's so articulate! He also said it tonight during FaceTime with my parents. He is such a cool, smart little baby. It's really amazing stuff. Forgive the poor quality of the video and the very casual atmosphere (dress) as we were still in our pj's and George was recording on his nexus 7 tablet.

Next, we are trying to teach him to say 'eat' so that he might be able to tell us when he's hungry!!

Visit With Quinn

Today Andrew got to spend some time with two very special people. First, my therapist. Yes, I see a therapist. I honestly don't know how I would have worked through some of the craziness in my head if it wasn't for her. I haven't seen her in almost 2 months, so it was great to get to talk to her about how life has been since I had a baby. It was also great to show her just how much Andrew has grown since she last saw him at just 2 weeks old!

Also, I got to introduce Andrew to Quinn Takei. Without Quinn, I'm not sure Andrew would have come into our lives the way he did. I had been struggling to get pregnant for quite some time and had read that acupuncture can help, so I made an appointment with a guy recommended by my fertility clinic. Ick. I did NOT like him at all. He was very judgmental and not sensitive at all. I left his office in tears and never went back.

Still, I didn't want to give up on the acupuncture. When I mentioned this to my therapist, she suggested her friend Quinn at the Center. Let me tell you, he is amazing! He really treats the whole person and he definitely knows what he's doing!! After just a couple of months of treatments with Quinn, I was able to get pregnant without IVF or fertility treatments. It was such a miracle, and I truly believe that acupuncture, Chinese herbs, and an organic diet made all the difference.

A week or so ago, Quinn called to let me know that he and his daughter had picked out a special present for Andrew! Today, we finally got the chance to stop by his office and pick it up. It was such a special time, and it touched my heart to see Dr. Takei holding Andrew in his arms. Without him, I'm not sure how long it might have taken us to get pregnant. He helped to heal my body and keep me healthy throughout my pregnancy so that I could be a good Mommy to Andrew right from the start of his life.

It's so much fun to introduce Andrew to the special people in my life. I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving this year, when I can introduce him to all my Georgia family!!

Days to Remember

We had a wonderful weekend in the Bittmann household!

On Saturday, we had a very nice visit from George's Aunt Barbara, Uncle Bob and his cousin Theresa and her son. They were in town visiting George's dad and we were so happy they stopped by to see us! George's mom even came by to see them and the baby. It was such a nice visit, and I was so glad they got to meet Andrew. I wish they had been able to stay and visit longer!! Andrew really seemed to enjoy having them around.

 

Markers with stamsp on top, a notebook, pen and notepad

Saturday night we went to the mall. You know, the one with the Sanrio store? Omg, such happiness! It's funny how something that I used to do all the time now becomes this amazing treat, haha. It felt like heaven to actually get out of the house and go shopping for a while! I convinced George to go since I needed to go to Helzberg Diamonds and get my jewelry inspection done this month. So we stopped by the jewelry store, went by Yankee Candle to get a new tart burner since my dad knocked ours over on his last visit (ha!), and then to the Sanrio store for Hello Kitty stuff!

We also ate some dinner at the food court, which was noisy. Andrew rode in the Baby Bjorn with his daddy the whole time at the mall and totally missed the noise at the food court because he was fast asleep through the whole thing! I wish I had gotten a good picture of him sleeping against George's chest. So sweet!

Sunday was a lazier day and we just stayed home and hung out with the baby man. Even though we didn't really do a lot, I know that these are the days we'll remember. Lazy days just being together as a family. It's amazing how fast Andrew is growing up. He's such a little chatter box! And when he's not sleeping, he's extremely alert, wanting to see everything and take it all in.

Today, I got some really great pictures of Andrew, too, so I wanted to share them with you guys. I already posted them to facebook, but I want to spread them everywhere! They are just too cute to miss! It was rainy this morning when we went out to interview some ladies for the nanny position, and I got super excited that it was cool outside because I got to pull out Andrew's turtle hoodie and matching hat! He looked so amazingly adorable! Here's a quick turtle outfit photo bomb.

His serious look.

No pictures please!

Okay, one picture, but be sure you get my good side!

And ready for my close-up!

Doctor's Visit

I took Andrew to the doctor today for his 2 month well-child visit and he is doing great! She said he is ahead of the curve with things like motor skills and language skills. Yay Andrew! He weighs 12 pounds 8 ounces and is 24 inches long, both of which fall right at the 75th percentile on the growth chart. He's my big healthy boy!

I didn't take any pictures at the actual doctor, but I took some before we left and I just have to share. He looks so cute in his little man jeans, haha. He looks like a little boy instead of a baby.

I really don't think there's a cuter little boy in the world! I realize I'm biased here, but come on! He's a cutie, right??

Today I guess all babies are scheduled to receive something like 8 vaccines? Am I the only one who thinks this is a bit ridiculous? He's 2 months old! I declined the vaccines today. Polio doesn't even really exist anymore so we're not doing that one. Hepatitis B is considered a sexually transmitted disease. Seriously? Do they think my 2 month old is going to be sharing needles with the neighbors or something? So silly to me that it's a normal vaccine given so young. We also are going to skip the rotavirus vaccine since it's so new and isn't really thought to be that effective.

The ones my pediatrician said we really should not skip are the DTaP vaccine, the Hib, and the one for pneumonia. She told us that there's a local outbreak of Pertussis, so that's pretty scary. I declined any vaccines for today since I've been on these antibiotics for the infection I have. It's possible that since the antibiotics pass into the breastmilk, they are compromising his little immune system, so I don't want him to have a bad reaction to the vaccines. We'll go back for those three vaccines in a week or so, I guess. I just think it's ridiculous they pound babies' immune systems with so many toxins so early on. I know vaccines are important, but I think maybe they're taking it a bit too far.

I am so happy that Andrew is a healthy little boy. I'm grateful for his health and these beautiful happy smiles that we get to see every single day. God has truly blessed us!

Andrew is 2 Months Old!

I seriously can't believe it's already been two months. George and I spent some time last night going through all of our photos of Andrew so far, and it's amazing how much he's grown and changed since that first day we welcomed him into the world. I already miss how little he was way back then (2 months ago, haha), but I'm excited for how much he's learning! Today, he discovered that he has feet, lol. He was enthralled, staring at them and reaching down to figure out how to touch them. It was super cute!

And speaking of cute, here's a 2 month photo bomb:

Hi everyone!

Look! I'm sitting up!

Wait... Nope. Falling over again.

So much easier with Daddy's help!

Happy 2 months little guy :). You make my heart happy.

My Miracle

Getting pregnant wasn't easy. It took a little longer than we hoped. My pregnancy wasn't the easiest either between morning sickness, gestational diabetes and mean case of pregnancy brain. The delivery was not at all what I hoped it would be and ended in a C-section after 32 hours of labor. Now, even post-partum has been difficult. I have had mastitis twice (2 rounds of antibiotics to get rid of it) and now my c-section incision is infected too! What gives?? I want to just look to heaven and scream, "Lord, can you give a girl a break here??"

But then I look into my beautiful son's face and he gives me a big toothless grin and I know that those small things I mentioned above were nothing. Every single moment has been wrapped in joy because as much as my body has seemed to betray me, somehow it managed to grow and nurture this perfect, healthy, happy human being. I am so incredibly grateful. He's my sweet little miracle.

Happy Swing

When my sister was visiting just a week or so after Andrew was born, she bought us a swing. It's one of the really good ones with 6 speeds that also plays music and has a spinning mobile at the top of it. At first, Andrew would only stay in it for about 10 minutes at a time before he would start to cry. Now that he's matured a bit, though (haha), he loves his swing! After we get dressed and have some play time in the mornings, Andrew happily moves into his swing for a little while so that Mommy can have a little bit of time to answer emails and work on her book. :) Sometimes, like right now, he even dozes off for a short time. I wish I could get a good picture of him sleeping in the swing because he looks so peaceful and beautiful. Unfortunately, the swing moves too fast and all of my pictures come out super blurry!

I did, however, get a great picture just before I started the swing. Andrew is in a cute new outfit from my good friend Karen today. The shirt says "here comes trouble" which I love! I used to have a shirt that said Trouble-maker on it, too, which makes us practically twins.

Time Is Flying

I had such high hopes of chronicling Andrew's life from birth to forever, but man, time flies! How has it almost been 8 weeks already???? I've been trying to remember to take pictures as often as I can, but I just recently realized I wasn't taking any video. Yikes! I have already missed his super early baby days when it comes to video, which makes me sad. All I can do now is try to take lots of video moving forward! I just can't believe how fast time seems to fly by and how the days all run together. My little man is getting bigger!

Changes I've noticed:

• He's smiling A LOT! Mornings seem to be his happiest time. (Where he got this, I have no idea. It certainly wasn't from me!) He coos and smiles and is super alert when he wakes up in the morning. This is usually sometime around 6 am. I'd prefer it to be more like 8 am, but who am I kidding? LOL.
• As I mentioned there, he's making more coo'ing sounds and other just happy baby noises and vocalizations. It's super cute and just melts my heart.
• He can lift his head even more than before. He loves tummy time and has even started to sort of scoot forward with his feet. This is very suspiciously like early desire to crawl, and he's not even 2 months old yet! Scary!
• His coordination is getting better. When he is being fed with a bottle, he reaches for the bottle like he wants to take it. He just can't quite put two and two together yet, but soon!
• He's practically standing up. Often when we have him on our laps, he will push down with his feet and bring himself to a standing position while holding on to our hands/fingers. He's such a strong little guy! He just lacks balance at this point, but I think we will have an early walker on our hands.
• He's alert more often. Wide-eyed and learning about the world. He's such an awesome little guy.

I'll be curious to see how much he weighs on the 13th at his 2 month appointment. I am guessing he will be at least 12 1/2 - 13 pounds already. Such a big boy!! I am already having to order size 2 diapers for our next round of diapers (We have them delivered from honest.com), because I'm afraid he'll grow out of the size 1's in the next couple of weeks. How did this happen?? Before we know it, he'll be asking to borrow the car!

Here's a photo bomb of the most recent pics that are my faves:

 He's really the coolest kid ever! And I will try to do a better job of posting updates!