Sakura Bloom Sling Diaries: Love

Chocolate chips & Sakura Bloom

I ate chocolate chips this morning straight from the freezer. That's the kind of morning I'm having, in case you were wondering. Last night was rough. I think Phoenix is teething, which resulted in every-half-hour wake up cries. But so it goes. Most nights are not as restless. In moments of absolute delirium I have to remind myself that he needs me. This time is short lived and his needs are greater than sleep....and then I eat chocolate. Not even actual chocolate. Frozen chocolate chips. This is real life.

But all is not lost. We are waking up (kind of) today still basking in the glow of our fantastic weekend as well as on the cusp of a warm spring week. Lush.

On Friday, I went out for the first time sans baby and husband. Well, for the evening that is. I made plans to meet a girlfriend just down the street for a beer. We thought about a few other places but I thought it would be wise not to stray too far. It's a good thing I didn't because halfway through my beer husband called with a sad baby in the background. Turns out baby wanted more milk than I left at home. Bummer. So I booked it home the three blocks and nursed baby boy back to sleep. Poor little guy. He was so upset. Sweetly, husband decided to push us back out the door for another drink. So we popped around the corner to a neighborhood bar for one more beer. The whole night was much needed and so much fun. As much as I love my new life and little P, I do miss having to freedom to ocassionally pop out to meet a friend in the evening. This was nice.

The rest of the weekend was spent celebrating with my parents for my mom's birthday and finding treasures at the Brooklyn Flea market.

Last but certainly not least...I am so excited and honored to be a part of a new photo project from Sakura Bloom and organized by Leigh of Marvelous Kiddo. (Who just gave birth to a beautiful baby girl today. Congrats!) I've been reading Leigh's stories since she was pregnant with her second baby and have been inspired by her effortless style in baby wearing her two boys as well as her gentle approach to mothering. Her posts about home births were a great source of inspiration for having my own. Thank you for picking me! I am truly so inspired and grateful to be included. My first post goes up in just a few days. (In these photos I am wearing the Essential Silk Sling in Eggplant/Aubergine.)

(From Marvelous Kiddo)

WHAT ARE THE SLING DIARIES?

A photo-documentary chronicling the art of babywearing in the lives of thirteen families. Over the course of six months, contestants will compete by creating their own Sling Diary with a series of wordless entries interpreting a unique theme given to them each month.

WHO ARE THE SLING DIARISTS?

They are thirteen women with creative, unique voices, great style sense, and a passion for babywearing (plus thirteen of the cutest babies in blogdom!).

HOW, EXACTLY, DO THE DIARIES WORK?

The Sling Diaries will come to life with an emphasis on beautiful photography and creative interpretation of six different assigned themes. Contestants will create one blog post (diary entry) per month featuring photos of themselves wearing their Sakura Bloom sling. Each month, the curatorial team at Sakura Bloom will select photos from each diary entry and these images will come together on The Sling Diaries Pinterest page. When all entries are complete, our panel of three judges will select their favorite Sling Diary from the project and the winner will receive a $500 Sakura Bloom gift certificate.

WHERE CAN I KEEP UP WITH ALL THIS BABYWEARING AWESOMENESS?

The event will be hosted on the official Sling Diaries Pinterest page, with updates and giveaways happening right here on Marvelous Kiddo. And of course, you can also follow along by reading the blogs of our thirteen contestants! 

So that's it. Make sure you check out the Pinterest page as well as the other amazing participants' pages. Oh, and don't miss the giveaway on  Marvelous Kiddo!

5 months

photo via my pal Nicole

Guess who turned 5 months old yesterday? This little bunny. We don't have another well visit until he is 6 months but I'm guessing he is getting close to 20 lbs. Huge.

When P was only about 6 weeks old, we went to Thanksgiving dinner at my friend Lisa's. There was a sweet 6 month old baby there and he just seemed so big to me then. I couldn't imagine my little tater tot ever getting to that point. He was so teeny, just snoozing and getting passed around loving arms then.

Now he is an active little person. He constantly wants to be exploring, squealing, singing, laughing, and enjoying the amazing world around him. Music really moves him and you can see his little arms and legs bouncing around as soon as he hears the rhythm.

Currently, we are trying out some different solids. Exciting stuff. Once this guy had a taste of sweet potatoes, there was no denying that he loved food. He had been eyeing our forks for weeks but we got the go ahead from his pediatrician after his last check up so we went for it. Needless to say, he's a happy eater.

Currently, life at 5 months is pretty great. It feels like all at once we've crossed over from newborn-ish into real baby territory. Our days are becoming longer and so much funner. Our sleepy nugget has woken up and is ready to take on the world.

Waking Up

I read recently that after getting through the first few months with a newborn it's like pulling your head out from under the covers and waking up. I would say that's about right.

I have written several posts the past few weeks about this and that. Blah blah. Just because I felt I should. Obviously I didn't post them. None of them felt right. I love writing but these days I'm finding it such a challenge to balance wanting to write everything down to remember every moment versus living that moment. It seems like every little smile, milky breath, and sweet snuggle and going by me in a flash. All around me I keep hearing, "Enjoy this time, it goes so fast." And so I try to soak up as much squishy baby love as I can, every day and night.

In the beginning, when I was walking around in a cloud of sleepiness and anxiety, my sister in law told me, "The days are long but the years are so short." That struck such a chord in that moment. After she told me that, I try to always keep that in perspective. Sometimes my heart aches at the thought of sweet P being anything other than my little babe, but every day he is growing more into a little person.

These days we are truly coming into our own as a family of three. We wake up every (early) morning to sweet baby giggles and shrieks. Even the sleepiest of us (papa) doesn't mind opening his eyes to see baby boy rolling from side to side, chomping on his hand, and giggling at the light coming in. After Phoenix has his breakfast, we all shuffle to the living room where one of us plays with P while the other makes coffee. We usually have some breakfast together and then papa is off to work, down the hall. P and I are extremely lucky that Scott works from home. Even though he's super busy all day, it's so nice to be able to walk by his office to say hi or ask him to take a 10 minute break so I could shower/clean/eat. We don't take this for granted.

Usually at this point P and I have an outing. We are still getting to know our new neighborhood so we go exploring whenever we can. This also gives S some quiet time to work. Most days we have an errand but if not, we still  go walking. P loves it. For some reason he was never fond of his stroller until we moved to Brooklyn. Go figure. Mostly I wear him on me, but if we are grocery shopping or going for a really long walk, I change it up with the stroller.

After almost two weeks of living here we have been to story time at the library, which he loved, and dined together a few times. Usually I get a coffee and croissant while he people watches. Sometimes I make up stories about the people walking by. I tell him where they are going, who they are, their names. It's like improv story time.

In any case, I feel like I'm finally taking my head out from under the covers. The warm light is shining all over my face and I'm soaking it up. Phoenix has more or less created a schedule for himself. We never forced one on him or made him cry it out. When he was a newborn, he didn't go to "sleep" (ha!) until 11 or midnight, just to wake up in a few hours. Then, magically after a few weeks he was basically sleeping through the night! Oh sweet sleep, how I missed you. But, as it goes with these things, a few weeks ago he began waking up again once around 4. I can't say I mind too much as I know this is pretty good, all things considered. And as a bonus, he is down every night between 7 and 8 so we get a good amount of "adult time" in the evenings. But this said, his schedule definitely makes everyone happier. I've never been a scheduling person and for this reason didn't want to force one on him, but in the magical world of baby he managed to figure out what works best for him. And now we are all waking up together.

Room for Three

Time seems to be going at the speed of light lately. Phoenix is changing every day. Every day he giggles in a new way or I notice a different hand gesture. And just like that he's four months old. It feels like this first year is blowing past me. Like if I blink again, I will be at his first birthday party. It's such a constant struggle.
I remember when he was just a tiny six weeks old, a girlfriend told me that it's always so bittersweet wanting to be excited for your baby to reach a milestone and at the same time, hold onto that little newborn. It's something I find myself thinking everyday. It's almost impossible to take enough photos and video to capture how I feel in this moment. It's just been the sweetest and most heart achingly challenging four months I can imagine.
Remember when we were moving to Los Angeles? Well...we didn't.
A month after P was born, we gave up our tiny apartment in the East Village and temporarily moved in with my parents in New Jersey. We meant only to stay through the holidays and then move in January but it never happened. Christmas came and went, we were surrounded by all the faces of the people who love us most, who fell in love with our little boy, and we couldn't take him away from that.
We realized how difficult it would be for us having our parents so far from their sweet grandson and we wanted them to be a major part of his life. That would't happen with us being so far away.
So with heavy hearts, but a renewed sense of calm, we gave up California for now and decided to move back in with our girl New York. She's always there for us. And even when she gives us a hard time and  we walk away from her, she takes us back with open arms.
So the last few weeks were filled with searching across rivers, boroughs, and neighborhoods for a new home. This time for three. This means making sure there are no live wires sticking out of the walls P will be learning to walk against, no nails coming out of the floor he will be crawling on, and enough sunshine to wake up to with a giggling baby each morning. And then, miraculously, we found that and so much more. It's as if New York was just waiting for us to come back. She was holding on to the best of her for us.
Thanks old friend. We're happy to come home.

Heart=Melting

Just because. Have a great weekend!

image via

Monster Baby

Time seems to be slipping away. My little tiny newborn is turing into a real baby day by day. It feels like every time he wakes up from a nap or from the night, he is a little but smarter and a whole lot heavier! We've crossed the three month marker and life is becoming pretty seamless, with the days going by faster than we can keep up. I find myself constantly in flux between wanting time to speed up to reach all new exciting milestones and fighting to slow down every second and hold on to each little giggle and squeal.

These days Phoenix is weighing in at a hefty 15.5 lbs. That's right. He's a monster baby. Between his two and three month check up he gained three pounds. Which puts him in the 98th percentile for height and weight. When Scott asked me what that meant, I told him, "It means only 2% of babies his age are larger than him." "Wait....only 2%?!!" hahaha

Other than weeding through his clothes week by week (we are now in 6-9), P is as strong as can be. Although, he has been since birth. He's constantly pulling himself up as soon as he manages to wrap his pudgy hands around anything solid. He's sitting up all on his own in his bumbo seat and looks like he will be a fast crawler. Oh this boy of ours...he sure does keep us on our toes.

Every day there is a new noise, a new giggle, and funny expression for us to experience. And waking up at seven isn't so bad when there is a sweet cooing boy snuggling up next to you and batting his long eye lashes at your sleepy face. Heart melts.

Before you become a parent, a lot of people tell you that the first six weeks are the most difficult or that once you hit three months it's so easy. Others say the first year is really challenging. I'm not really sure that the challenges ever really end. (Correct me if I'm wrong parents!) But I feel like the challenges change. It's the way you approach them that really makes some "harder" than others. As with anything in life, if you approach a situation thinking that you will fail, most likely you will. I never had any doubt in my mind that I would love being a mother, but I had no idea how crazy in love I would be with my son and how much more I would love my husband when he became a father. And how much more I would appreciate my parents the moment I felt what they felt all these years. All those cliches...they are true. You really don't know, until you are there.

And so once again, Phoenix is waking up from his nap. I know once I peek in and watch him playing for a second before he sees me, I will wonder what he's thinking about. I will wonder what new things he is learning today. I think about whether or not he can truly feel all the love that is around him morning and night. I watch in amazement as he discovers this whole beautiful world with such fresh eyes and a pure heart.

These are the thoughts going through my mind at any given time. Slowing down. Always wanting another moment. Another hour with this sweet babe.

Currently

                      by james mcneill whistler | via texturism


“And once the storm is over you won’t remember how you made it through, how you managed to survive. You won’t even be sure, in fact, whether the storm is really over. But one thing is certain. When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in.”

- Haruki Murakami

Sick Baby

Source: google.com via Katy on Pinterest

Sometimes babies are a mystery. Today, Phoenix is sick and it is both heart breaking and exhausting. Not that much of parenting is a walk in the park, but having a sick baby has to be one of the hardest challenges. My normally happy little guy is so irritable and upset. Poor thing.

The mystery is: I'm not sure what he needs. I mean, other than food, clean diapers, and extra snuggles. He's never cried for "no reason" before. He's not fussy at all. And all of a sudden he is needing me more than ever. But that's just fine with me. We've just been nursing, nursing, nursing until he gets better.

I never thought I would be so excited about suctioning out a really huge booger but here I am, middle of the night, pulling that nasty thing out so my baby can breathe and sleep. That's the thing about being mom, you're always on call. For the rest of your life. It seems like such a daunting task. But nothing feels better than getting that little nose unstuffed and seeing your little one slip back into precious sleep.

And with that, I am handed another huge dose of perspective. It seems like every time I am faced with a parenting challenge, I am reminded to be thankful that I have a healthy boy. That his little body is strong enough to fight this terrible cold. And that I am able to be here for him day and night to help him get through it.

In the mean time, any advice for a sick three month old? Tried and true remedies?