My baby is getting so big!

See the post below- I added to what Ross wrote. And I have no clue what the first part says- Ross was posting pictures so his mom could see them in the Philippines.

My baby is getting so big!

Ma, para sa imo kini. Dili mang mo magkita so pictures lang sa. Patiencia na lang. Mahal kaayo kamong duha. Ayo-ayo diha.


That was a message from Ross to his mom. Marcus is almost 3 months old! I feel like we went through a huge transition and finally I am feeling like I have things in control. And my body almost feels like normal again- just a couple sizes bigger... The first 3 months have been hard but I am loving being a mom. Marcus is smiling so much now- it makes the sleepless nights a lot more worth it. The little stinker can't make up his mind about sleeping at night. Some nights he will give me a wonderful 5 hours of sleep and then other nights- like last night- he is up every 1 1/2 - 2 hours. Maybe he just gets lonely and misses our company but I wish I could figure out how to get him to sleep well every night. Thank goodness he is taking one long nap everyday- although as I have learned, babies like to make you think that you have it all under control and then they change it up again.
We blessed him on Sunday. He looked so cute in his white suit. I'll have Ross post pictures later. It was wonderful to have my family there and also my second family- Susan, Sheree and Cherish. I love having company because I feel like I am just home by myself a lot. That freedom to do whatever I want whenever I want is gone.
Ross started school. I know it is hard for him to be away from Marcus for so long. Marcus really loves his daddy. The pictures below are from when Ross was changing Marcus' clothes and thought the onesie on his head was really cute.
We took Marcus swimming for the first time last week but it just happened to be a day when i ate a little dairy and it bothered his tummy- so now I know for sure that the dairy was what made him scream so much at the beginning- so he was already upset from not feeling good so he just cried. We are going to try again later this week since he loves bath time so much.
I don't have many updates about me. Mostly I am just at Marcus beck and call. I am missing out on the annual Rucker Lake camping trip which I am sad about. I have been trying to use what little free time I have to start baby proofing our house. I am headed over to my parents' house in a little while to hang out with Liz before she moves to Italy. Sounds fun huh? Anyways, we are surviving and doing well. I feel so proud for having made it through these first 3 months- shout out to all the other moms out there :)

Marcus' first laugh

Marcus has laughed for a while in his sleep but this video shows his first real laugh. Ross was tickling him and he was cracking up. He loves his dad! Still not getting much sleep around here but it is fun to watch him grow and develop his personality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DZyw-iWcRo

Surviving "Colic" (Wastebasket diagnosis MD's use when they don't know what is going on)

We have survived 10 weeks of new parenthood! Marcus is really breaking us in. He had a tough few weeks where he spent a lot of time screaming. I just thought to myself that I never knew babies cried this much. I slowly realized that his was not a normal amount of crying- especially when my mom and grandma told me that they each had 5 kids and they were not as bad as him. So I did some research and decided that he had many of the signs of acid reflux. All babies have "reflux" but for some reason he was in a lot of pain and could only let me know by screaming. Now that I have read way more information, it is obvious to me that he had many symptoms that are not normal but being a new mom, I just thought all babies were like that. So we started him on Zantac which didn't help right away but gradually seemed to help. And then I stopped eating dairy which helped even more. He no longer screams like he did. I am not sure if he has an intolerance to the milk proteins in dairy or if the dairy was contributing to his reflux. I wish babies were easier to figure out. But I am just happy that he seems content most of the time. He still doesn't nap for very long and has nights where he is up a lot. So I am waiting for that day when I get more sleep. But he smiles a lot and is making so many sounds. I am enjoying motherhood so much more now.

We haven't been up to much else. He isn't the easiest baby to take places. My family was all together the past few days so we spent a lot of time at my parent's house and went on a few short excursions. Tom and Monique were visiting from Nebraska and it was fun to see my new neice Ridley. And see how much Christian has grown. And Amanda was visiting from Utah. I miss having her close by but am excited for her as she starts grad school. Matthew just left for college this weekend and it is hard for me to see him move away. So I am getting used to the idea that my family is becoming more spread out. We had a fun few days hanging out and remembering old times.

Otherwise I have just been trying to figure out what does and doesn't work for Marcus. I still have 2 months before I go back to work and I really hope he sleeps more and is even more content to not be held all the time by then. It is amazing how the day just flies by and I feel like I didn't barely leave the house or get much done. So I haven't updated my blog because it doesn't feel like there is much to share.

Ross will post some pictures of Marcus. He is growing and seems to change all the time. Our world does revolve around him so sorry that he is going to be the focus of much of our updates.