Nuggets of Widsom?

Here are a few things I've learned in my 2 weeks as a parent:

- Not only is pee a projectile but poop is, too.
- Having one's diaper changed is a form of baby torture. So is changing baby's clothes.
- Having multiple changing pad covers is an absolute necessity.
- It remains a mystery how I manage to peel myself out of bed in the wee hours of the morning to attend to Joseph - and with minimal complaining, no less!
- I will never get over gazing at Joseph (as long as I can keep my eyes open).
- It's amazing how many conversations one can have that revolve around bodily functions.
- I am amazed at how often I find myself debating whether eating or sleeping is the more urgent need. If only I could do both at the same time.
- Leaving the house is quite an ordeal nowadays and takes a good amount of planning. Generally we can get one errand accomplished a day.
- I never thought I would say this, but I wish my son liked his pacifier.
- I can't wait to sleep in intervals lasting longer than 2 hours - heck, I'd settle for several 2 hours blocks of sleep per day at this point.

And on that note I think I'm going to go lay down before we head to mass (and hope Joseph doesn't wake up in the mean time).

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 22)

7 Quick Takes - Cute Edition

1) I never want to put Joseph down. He's just so cute and cuddly I want to hold him all the time. I already don't want him to grow up.

2) I've already had quite a few ups and downs with nursing. Well, let's be honest - it's been more downs than ups. But I hear it gets better. At least Joseph didn't struggle too much with latching on. I'm waiting to hit that 2 week mark. I hear the first 2 weeks are the hardest then it starts to get better and by 6 weeks it's second nature (more or less).

3) We learned after our first night at home the importance of swaddling Joseph really tight before putting him to bed. He hardly slept at all our first night home. I would get him to sleep then put him in his bassinet and he would be awake within about 10-15 mins. It was super frustrating. It was around 6 or 7am that I figured out the swaddling thing - and not just to swaddle, but to swaddle really tight so he essentially couldn't move his arms.

4) Who knew how much of a mess one little baby could make? I mean, I've heard about these things but never truly experienced it. Joseph has already peed all over himself in the middle of being changed twice. And last night he managed to pee through his diaper onto both his onsie and blanket - 3 times in a row! I guess I can be assured that he isn't dehydrated :)

5) I'm learning how difficult it's going to be to keep a schedule with a baby in the house. I made an appointment yesterday for us to take Joseph to get some pictures taken today around noon. I figured that would give us plenty of time to get going in the morning before the pictures. Yea - I was wrong. All Joseph wanted to do last night was eat....and eat and eat. So, we didn't get to bed until around 7am. Needless to say, we had to cancel that appointment. Maybe we'll be able to make it Monday...

6) My husband has been amazing this week. He has basically taken over all household chores allowing me to focus on resting and taking care of Joseph. We have definitely hit a few rough spots this week with all the sleep deprivation, but I feel so blessed to have Will as my husband - and father of our adorable son!

7) I love watching Will with Joseph. He has very little experience with babies so pretty much everything is new for him, but he is trying to learn the ropes and is always willing to help me whenever I need help. I am especially grateful because Will generally doesn't deal well with change, but has been very patient this week. I think the cutest thing for me has been watching Will learn how to hold Joseph. I think it can be an awkward thing for anyone who hasn't held many babies, but especially for guys because they're so big and the babies are so small. Will is definitely getting better at and I think is much more comfortable holding Joseph. Yay for great husbands and cute babies :)

Thank Goodness for Punctuality

Our little Joseph is a punctual fellow! He came on his due date - July 10. He's as adorable as ever and is already back to his birth weight + 1 ounce. And my milk hasn't even come in yet! Holy moly! I guess I have a big eater on my hands. I'm finding it hard to ever not hold him even when I'm falling asleep in the chair with him. Eventually the need for sleep will prevail I am sure. Here are a couple photos of our little guy. I'm not sure how often I'll be posting in the next few weeks - it will all depend on my energy levels. But I will eventually tell you about the happenings of the past few days. Until then...

Joseph Polycarp
Born 7/10/11
8lbs 11oz
22 in long

Check me out - I can already lift my head a little! :)

Haiku's are Fun...Waiting for Babies Isn't (as much fun)

We're still waiting for baby Joseph to make his move. In the meantime I've been enjoying reading birth story haiku's over at Conversion Diary. They're pretty fun to read. Here is the haiku I contributed even though it's not technically a "birth story." I guess you could call it was "waiting for birth story." :)

Still waiting for him
Our precious bundle of joy
Any day now *sigh*

Hopefully I'll have a true "birth story haiku" to write soon. I'm ready to meet this kid!

7 Quick Takes Friday (Vol. 21)

1) I've had a pretty chill week. My to-do list was fairly minimal and most of the items on the list are things that I don't care when they get done. But, I did get through most of the items so that's good.

2) I got my hair cut this week. It's short. Very short. It's the shortest I've ever had, and I'm not sure how I feel about this. Walking out of the salon I felt pretty good - I liked the cut. Now? Well, I keep trying to run my fingers through it and there just isn't any hair for them to run through. And it'll be a while before I can have any semblance of a ponytail. If I tuck my hair behind my ears it looks....meh. Maybe I just need some time to adjust, but I have a feeling I won't ever be cutting my hair this short again.

3) All that hair I cut off? I donated it to Locks of Love, so at least it'll be going to a good cause! This is my fourth time donating, and they say it takes four "bunches" of hair (at least 10" long) to create one wig (on average). So, I guess I've officially donated one wig worth of hair in my life.

4) I have recently concluded that the best way to make sure produce doesn't go to waste is to cut it up as soon as you get home from the grocery store. This might seem obvious to some people, but I have let so much produce rot because I don't get around to using it. I find that I'm much more likely to use the produce if it's already cut up. This is particularly true for fruit in general. I'm much more likely to eat fruit that's already cut up and ready to eat rather than take the time to wash and prepare fruit every time I want some.

5) Five trees + one bush were cut down/removed this week, and my husband was ecstatic. It was actually pretty cute how happy he was. We had them cut down on Monday, and Will was working from home but didn't realize the trees were being taken down that day. He almost never comes out of his home "office" during the day except for lunch or to go to the bathroom, so I was a bit surprised when he found me and was like "did you see? they're cutting the trees down!" And he said it in the same voice you would expect from a 5 year old on Christmas morning saying "did you see? Santa brought me presents!!!" If I had known taking those trees down was going to make him so darn happy I would have done it a long time ago.

6) Two sets of curtains were hung this week. Woohoo! This was an accomplishment because I not only had to hang the curtains, but I had to install the curtain rods as well. Which took a little extra time and energy, but I'm glad I got it done.

A sneak peek at the baby's room :)

7) My favorite Facebook post of the week goes to Mary. As a fellow math major (and teacher) I got a kick out of this.
"Thank god this is a spoof. (eerily believeable though...)"

Miss USA 2011 — Should Math Be Taught In Schools?

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Watch the original Miss USA evolution video here:http://youtu.be/UkBmhM0R2A0 Video by @mackenzief, @kevgot, Leslie Collins, @gracehelbig, @lorrainecink, @je...