2 months

Milestones: This month RBB has started smiling!  Talk about one of the best things ever for a parent. Watch me say that about tons of other milestones too.  Can you tell we are loving parenthood?  We also took Rhett to Arkansas for the first time this month to meet more family.  He did great in the car since he sleeps a lot! 

Weight & Length: 11 lbs and 14 oz on our two month appointment and measuring 24 inches long!

Clothes: Our broad chested baby boy moved up to 3 months clothes and jammies this month.  

Diaper size: Rhett is in size 1 diapers currently.

Bottle: Since I am going back to work, we have been pretty consistent about giving Rhett one bottle a day.  He doesn't love the bottles, but tolerates them when Brian gives him his probiotic in breast milk.

Sleep: Before Rhett was born, I prayed that he would be a good eater and a good sleeper.  My prayers have been answered with this boy.  We transitioned him to his crib at 4 weeks, and he does great!  He wakes up typically one time around 4-6 am to nurse and then goes back down.  I'm so thankful that he sleeps so I can sleep too :)

that cute st. paddy's day booty

  

We dedicated our baby to the Lord this month at our church. "Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from Him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior, are children born in one's youth."
(Psalm 127:3-4)  As ones who have lost a baby, we thank the Lord even more for this wonderful blessing and pray that Rhett will grow to love Jesus like we do.

We also celebrated Rhett's first St. Patrick's Day and Easter this month.  He is obviously a little young to remember it, but I sure loved pretending that he was excited about these holidays :)   

And just some more random photos from Rhett's second month of life.

when both your babies want to sit on your lap you let them

Here's to the moms!

Sunday will be my first time to celebrate Mother's Day as a mom, but honestly, I have mixed feelings about it. I'm torn between being so excited and wanting to post a sappy post about how much I love my little schmoo and this new mom life, but not wanting to do that because I know the pain some people feel on this day. Yes, they probably have a wonderful mother to celebrate, yet their heart is hurting because they are not yet mothers or they are mothers to children who will never walk on this earth.

Last year, I lost a baby and went through surgery to repair my Fallopian tube in January. You would think by Mother's Day in May, I would have been over it, but I wasn't. Mother's Day was even harder, because it seemed like the support I had at the time had forgotten that I lost my baby; that I was actually a mom too, but my baby was in heaven. Don't get me wrong, I did have a caring husband, family, and friends, but it was still hard for me.  Looking back, it's almost like I expected my friends and family to know the hurt I felt, but that was an unrealistic expectation for me to put on them.

Should they bring up my loss or will that make me an emotional basket case? Should I stand when they ask the moms to stand at church? Do I pretend like losing my baby was no big deal, and I'm completely fine now? Should I forget about my first child because he was only 7 weeks old when his heart stopped beating and 10 weeks old when he left my body? I don't want to forget the pain or the fact that I am a mom to two babies, but only one is with me on this earth.  

I wonder if God allowed me to walk that path so I would be sensitive to others who are hurting. These women, who have lost babies or are walking through infertility, are close to my heart. I pray for these women regularly that their babies would come soon. I pray especially that when they see a pregnancy announcement or sappy mom post on social media that they will take heart in knowing someone cares and is praying for them.

So here's to you: the mom in the making, the mom whose babies are in heaven, the mom who doesn't think she can make it through the toddler stage, and the mom who is sad because her babies have all left the nest.  I thank God that He is with us in the happy times and in the hard times.  I pray that on Mother's Day this year you would be sensitive to those around you and not take for granted the blessings you have been given.  Happy Mother's Day!

Special thanks to my mother who was there for me when I lost my first baby and when I brought my second baby into this world.  I truly couldn't have done it without her love and support. I love you mom, and appreciate you so much more than I ever did before Rhett joined our family.

1 month

So I have been a total slacker when it comes to this blog and decided to go back and document his month by month info in hopes that I can keep it up!

Rhett's first month was kind of a blur honestly.  With healing from a natural delivery to not sleeping a ton to traveling to Texas at two weeks, we were busy Beams! 

Personality: My little man is proving to take after his daddy and is such a chill baby.  He only cries when hungry or wet.  He does not like to be a "wet Rhett" as I call him.  Still not recognizing mom or dad at this point, but sure loves to be snuggled up on us.  

Weight: Rhett was 8 lbs 7 oz when he was born and 8 lbs 2 oz when he left the hospital.  We had his first doctors appointment at our house two days later and he was already back to 8 lbs 10 oz!  He is a good eater.

Clothes: This boy is long!  He was in newborn clothes for maybe two weeks and then unfortunately we had to go up to three months.  Talk about crazy tall!  We definitely have the three month clothes too though thanks to friends and a haul my sister found on a buy, sell, trade site.  Thank you Kate!

Diaper size: We were mostly able to use all the newborn diapers we had before switching him to size ones around 4 weeks.

Bottle: At the recommendation of a friend who is a L&D nurse, we gave Rhett a bottle at 2 weeks. She said anywhere from 2-4 weeks is when you should start.  He took the bottle fine but didn't love it. We also started him on baby probiotics in the bottle after a couple nights of bad gas.  Holy moly probiotics are the best for upset tummies!  And colic calm helps too.

Sleep: The first 2 weeks were kind of rough.  He would wake up and nurse about every 2-3 hours. I finally got to where I would start an old movie and watch it as we woke up to feed.  It made the nights seem less lonely as I was sleeping on the couch with him in the rock & play or swing.  After our Texas trip at 2 weeks, I moved back into our room and kept Rhett next to the bed in the rock & play.

It is still quite amazing to me to love someone as much as we love Rhett.  I guess I never fathomed loving him so much that I would do anything for that kid.  It really puts it into perspective of how much God loves us that he gave up His son to die for us.