3 months and last week

Yet another month has passed since we have had Ezra in our lives! He is 3 months old today. Ezra continues to grow and develop. Here are a few of his new 3 month things:

-He is no longer swaddled when he takes his naps or sleeps at night. Swaddling is for babies; Ezra is a big boy (this is what he told us). He is actually sleeping better now than he was toward the end of the swaddling phase, because he can't wriggle out of anything. Also, he likes to sleep with both hands up by his face, so that couldn't have been too comfortable to be wrapped up tight like a burrito.
-On October 22 I heard Ezra laugh for the first time--an unmistakable laugh. Paul and Carolyn were visiting and Paul was just talking to him (Ezra loves his Papaw!) and he just let out the cutest laugh. Paul was able to get him to laugh a couple more times, and I have gotten a couple giggles out of him. I am still trying to capture it on video, but once I do, I'll post it, believe me!

This last week was a lot of fun. Paul and Carolyn got here on Wednesday afternoon, and I left Ezra in very capable hands and went shopping. Then Thursday I got to run some errands by myself, and then Thursday night Chad and I went on our first "real" date since Ezra was born...dinner, Starbucks and a movie. It was great! Then, Friday Ezra and I drove to my mom's house in Garner, just west of Weatherford. She just finished building her house and had only moved in on Tuesday. It is so nice. I can't wait to go back for Thanksgiving! Ezra did great in the car and slept most of the way there and most of the way back. Over the weekend I also went to my friend Larry's wedding in Granbury and got to hang out with Emily and her sweet baby girl Heidi, who is 6 months old.

-This last week Ezra has started to grasp things and now has much better control of his hands. He can grasp the toys that dangle from his play mat, a fabric ball, and even his bottle for a few seconds. He has also gotten more interested in books and Texas Monthly.

Weekly weigh-in

I lost 4.6 pounds this week. This puts me at over the halfway point toward my goal weight. It's nice to get over that little hump. I have no idea how I lost almost 5 pounds this week, but I am happy to report my wedding and engagement rings fit again. I was so excited! But I still have no clothes that fit. Oh well, luckily sweatshirt season is upon us.

I will blog later about the last few days. Paul and Carolyn came to town, then Ezra I went to mom's new house near Mineral Wells and stayed for a few days and I went to my good friend Larry's wedding this weekend in Granbury, which I almost missed because I got lost on the way and the wedding was about 15 minutes long. Also, stay tuned for a post coming up about Ezra turning 3 months old tomorrow. Yay, no shots!

12 weeks

Ezra is 12 weeks old today! I can't believe my baby is about to be 3 months old. I was uploading some pictures from our old camera today and he was sooo tiny when he was born.

At 12 weeks, Ezra:
-Still wakes up 1-2 times a night, meaning when I am already asleep. We put him down for bed around 7-8, and he usually wakes up once to eat before we go to sleep. Last night he woke up only at 1:30, and then again at 7. It's different every night. Oh, how I am ready for him to start sleeping through the night.
-Currently enjoys the ease of getting his food from a bottle rather than me. He will get very impatient and upset if you don't give him the food NOW if he is really hungry. We have had lots of talks about patience, which I am sure are getting completely through to him. :) We have our up days and our down days, and we're still working on this.
-Is still swaddled for naps and nighttime, but we have decided to drop the swaddle soon, since he is now strong enough to wriggle out of it at least a couple times a night, which wakes him up and that is the exact opposite of the point of swaddling a baby. He doesn't have super control over his hands yet though, so I'd like for him to stop hitting himself in the face before we get rid of the swaddle completely. If anyone has any suggestions for how to stop swaddling a baby and still getting them to sleep, I'd love to hear them.
-Smiles and talks when you talk to him. He has also started talking to his very hungry caterpillar toy that hangs from his carseat when we are on car rides. Chad and I much prefer this to the crying, which he doesn't really do anymore. Yay for phases passing!
-Speaking of hands...he is enamored with his. I took this picture because this is how I find him a lot of the day when he is playing...holding his fists up close to his face and just watching his hands.

We love our baby boy and can't believe he's already been with us a quarter of a year. I mean, this time last year I wasn't even pregnant yet. I remember thinking when I found out I was pregnant, "This time next year I will have a 3 month old!" Time flies.

Weekly weigh-in

I lost half a pound this week. Not much, but I didn't work out as much and ate pretty much whatever I wanted. No new recipes to report.

Random pictures and video

Here are some pictures from last week. Ezra has gotten pretty good at his head control and pushing himself up on his mat. He doesn't like being on his tummy though, but Erin gave me a mirror that I can put in front of him and he seems to be pretty interested in looking at his reflection.
The cloth diapers are great! No blowouts yet. After I wash and dry the diaper inserts, they can be hung out in the sun and any stains are bleached out. It's pretty cool.
This video isn't super interesting, but just shows more of how Ezra has started talking while he's playing. Mostly for the grandparents and anyone who's interested.

Playtime from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Pumpkin patch pictures

When you take a 2 1/2 month old to a pumpkin patch in the bright sun right after he's woken up from a nap, this is what you get:
The above photo was the best smile we could get out of about 40 pictures that I took. Oh well, we'll try again next year.

11 weeks

Superbaby!
I love to eat!
...as you can see:

Ezra was 11 weeks old yesterday. Time is flying by! Everytime I think I am really getting to know my baby, he throws me for a loop. Take yesterday for example. Lately, he has been wanting to go to sleep around 6:30 and will sleep for 5 or 6 hours before he wakes up. Yesterday he took a little catnap at around 5, then woke up. Chad and I decided to go to dinner at Roadhouse, so we fed Ezra right before we left and he was fussy to say the least. I almost suggested that we stay home, but Chad was adamant about getting me out of the house. So we went. As soon as I put Ezra in his carseat, he stopped crying. We drove to Roadhouse and waited about 10 minutes. He just stared at us the entire time through dinner. I really thought he would either fall asleep from tiredness and the loud roar in there, or fall apart--most likely the second one. He did great! As soon as we came home, he started crying, but who could blame him since it was after 8:00 at this point. He is still waking up about twice a night to eat, and last night it was at 11 and 4. And speaking of eating, he decided to go on a nursing strike the past couple days. He was just getting too impatient and was too hungry, so we just gave him bottles and I started to think that we were done with the nursing thing. Well, it seems like we are back as we were because he has nursed fine all day today. I really think he was going through a growth spurt because he was super fussy too, and today he is super happy. That little unpredictable kid.

I think the best lesson I have learned in the past 2 1/2 months is that everything changes constantly with a new baby. Now I have learned to tell myself "It's just a phase," and not get so down if something isn't going the way we would like for it to. Another thing I have learned is that the minute he yawns or his eyes start looking sleepy, put him down for a nap. This is usually around 55 minutes after he wakes up from his last nap. If I wait too long, he wakes up constantly or is awake after 45 minutes, then of course he is sleepy and cranky. If I put him down at the right time, he sleeps for 1.5-2 hours, and then of course he is hungrier when he wakes up so he eats better, and the cycle continues. The third lesson I have learned is to never, ever tell anyone with a newborn to enjoy every minute. Having a newborn is hard, and I would say that we even have a pretty easygoing baby. And even with a baby like Ezra, not every single minute is enjoyable. The vast majority of the time, yes, but all the time, no. I'm just sayin'.

This week's recipes and weekly weigh-in

Easy chicken cordon bleu...Chad made this. It was good, easy, and a great way to use up leftover croutons.
Chicken with balsamic bbq sauce...this was good and super easy.
Chicken tacos with mango-avocado salsa...I made this yesterday. It's a recipe from my Cooking Light magazine and it was really easy and Chad said it was good. I wish they had put a recipe with mangos and avocados in a summer issue instead of an October issue because it's not as easy to find good produce now and it's more expensive.
Herb-roasted pork tenderloin...this has become one of my favorite recipes. It is easy, I always have the ingredients, and it turns out good every time. It's in a previous week's post if you're interested.

I lost 1.2 lbs this week. I am trying to take it a little easier with the exercising and eating, meaning I am exercising maybe 3 times a week now instead of 5 or 6 like I was at the beginning, and I am eating more calories. I weighed myself on Friday and I had already lost 2 lbs in 4 days, which is not good if I'm nursing. So I am trying to be a bit more moderate about it, and still hoping to lose around a pound a week. I am glad I'm blogging about it though, because it helps me to think that if I make bad choices I'll have to tell everyone who reads my blog that I gained weight.

Happy Thursday!

Ezra has perfected his "deer in the headlights" look:

10 weeks

Ezra is 10 weeks old today! So this picture isn't in focus, but I just love his big smile. It lights up his whole face, and we love our sweet little boy so much.

Some videos

Ezra's first road trip from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Cabin tour from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

Ezra in the morning from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.

The first video is of Ezra on our road trip, 4 1/2 hours into the trip. The second one is a tour of our cabin, for our family and friends who have not gotten a chance to see it in person yet. The third one is of Ezra when he first woke up one morning. He is really trying to tell me something. I love how good of a mood he is in when he first wakes up for the day...it makes all my tiredness worth it! On a sidenote, I hate it how I always tell Ezra to "say bye." Then I wait for him to say bye. Obviously, he can't. Why do I do that?

We've gone fluffy

We have officially started cloth diapering. I am using the Grobaby system, and did a trial run about a month ago, and I really like them a lot. Ezra has really just grown into using them, and as you can see they are still a little bulky because I have to snap them down to the smallest setting so there's some extra fabric, but I am anxious to get started. Doesn't Ezra look excited too? As you can see, the new cloth diapers out there are not your mom's piece of folded fabric and safety pins. Yes, those still exist, but I am going the more high-tech route. These have a snap-in system and are also one-size diapers, so they should fit him on the larger setting until he's ready to potty train. Even Chad said he is ready to start cloth diapering--he didn't like the "chemical" smell of the disposable diapers. So now that the husband is on board, I feel like it's a good time to start. Wish us luck!

Weekly weigh-in

This week I lost 2.2 lbs. I was surprised because I ate out three times, only did the shred once, and ran twice. I wasn't as good at keeping track of my points because we went to the cabin this weekend, but I was aware of it. Oh well, I'm not questioning it. This means I am over a third of the way to my goal weight. I am only 16 lbs away from my starting weight, and less than 20 toward the goal. It feels good to know that something I am doing is paying off...probably eating less and exercising more, whodathunkit. Since I went out to eat so much this week, I started looking up nutritional information for the restaurants. Most of them have their nutrition facts online and I have to say I was pretty surprised at how few healthy choices there are. My goal is to just find one or two healthy things at each restaurant I go to on a regular basis, and these days most restaurants are pretty good about having at least a couple healthy options. All I have to say is I can never eat a plain jane baked potato from Jason's Deli again.

We're home...in one piece!

We are back. The trip went great--as great as can be expected when traveling with a 2-month-old. We left as soon as Chad got off work on Friday morning. I drove, and Chad stayed in back to tend to Ezra's every need. Turns out he does pretty good when someone is back there with him all the time feeding him, putting him to sleep, sticking his pacifier in his mouth, etc. He actually slept a lot of the time there and almost the entire time home, except between Ft. Sumner and Clovis. I'll explain in a bit. We didn't bring any toys to the cabin with us, but Ezra was quite enthralled watching a slideshow of pictures of himself on the laptop. This is how Chad kept him entertained both mornings when the boys woke up earlier than I did. We took a couple hikes while we were there, just down the Blue Canyon, Rippling Falls trail, etc. It was chilly while we were there, and I thought Ezra looked so cute in his little fleece outfit. I will really miss the days when I can't decide what my child wears.
Family picture with self-timer--this was the best one we could get where Ezra wasn't completely covering his face. (I woke him up for this picture. Bad mom.)
We looooove fall in the mountains. This was the first trip to try out the Ergo carrier. Ezra hated being put in it--once again the claustrophobia thing I guess. But once he realized he wasn't getting out, he stopped putting up a fight and fell asleep quickly.
Hiking down Blue Canyon Road

View of the cabin and the new deck railing that Chad, Talin and David built a few weeks ago
When we first got to the cabin it was COLD inside...glad we brought those heavy-duty space heaters that kept us comfortable the rest of the weekend. I bundled Ezra up and he was all too happy to take a nap in his pack-n-play after being in his carseat for 6 hours. And what would a trip through Ft. Sumner, NM, be if you didn't stop at the Billy the Kid Museum? Don't answer that. Anyway, I thought it would be a good idea to let Ezra out of the carseat for a little bit to give his bottom a break. In hindsight, I wish we had just kept going. He was fussy for the next hour and a half.
Not the best picture of our little one, but funny nonetheless. So, overall the trip went well. It took us an extra hour either way just for stops and to get Ezra out of his carseat, change his diapers, etc. He did well at the cabin except he woke up more often, and so did we since we were all sleeping in the same room. I think he had a bit of a time adjusting to the altitude. He was a little bit fussier than usual all weekend...I'm sure from lack of sleep during the night and with the car rides. Last night we got home about 9:00 and I brought Ezra in his room, changed his diaper, and laid him in his crib and he went to sleep immediately--it's like he knew he was back home in his own room. And now I'm awake blogging after his one and only feeding of the night--he slept for a 7 hour stretch. Tired boy. Anyway, we are glad we got to go up there one last time before next season, and we are glad to be home. One thing this trip taught me is that I am so glad I will not have a tiny baby at camp next year.

Weekly weigh-in later today. I don't have such a good feeling about this one.

Dr.'s appointment and fair

Ezra went and saw his doctor today for his 2 month well check. He now weighs 11 lbs. (30th percentile, he was 6#14oz and in the 10th %ile at birth) and is 23 inches long (50th %ile, he was 18" at birth) and is in the 50th %ile for head circumference. His doctor says he is doing great. Poor little baby had to get 3 shots while we were there and he didn't like that one bit, and neither did I, but we both did great. Ezra only cried while he was getting the shots and as soon as I was able to pick him up, he calmed down. After the doctor's appointment we went to the fair, you know, to reward Ezra for being so good at the doctor. As you can see from the picture of us at the fair, he was very impressed. I was just glad that he was happy to get back into his carseat and take a long nap. He slept the entire time we were at the fair and woke up to eat while we were driving home.

Overall it's been a good day, and I am hoping we don't have to get any more shots for a while.

2 months

Look! We have hair!





Ezra is two months old today. It doesn't feel like it's been two months since we brought him home from the hospital--it really does seem like the time has flown by. Although, in those first few weeks when he was waking up every two hours day and night to eat, I wondered how I was going to make it through with such little sleep. I guess that is what God gives us adrenaline for. Here are a few things about our baby boy that mark his two month birthday:

-He is pushing up really well when he's on his stomach and has very strong legs and neck muscles. He is almost ready to hold his neck up on his own.
-He has been sleeping in his own crib for about a month now. He seems to sleep best when he is in a dark room, swaddled up, with some white noise. Most of the time we lay him down awake and he is so tired that he sacks out. It is getting harder and harder to put him to sleep when we are at church or out at all really because he is too interested in what is going on, so Wednesday nights are especially hard when he would like to be at home asleep for the night. We are working on getting him to be a little bit more flexible. :)
-He loves to play in his swing and on his play mat. He is starting to enjoy the bumbo more.
-He has discovered how to bat at things with his hands and becomes pretty amused when he actually hits his target. He has also discovered his hands and loves to stick them in his mouth.
-He smiles with his whole face...his eyes squint up, he cocks his head back, and his mouth is wide open. It is the cutest thing.
-He loves to talk to anyone who will listen, or better yet, talk to him in return. He has discovered how to fake cough.
-He loooooooves Chad. Chad can usually calm him down when I can't. I love watching them play together and watching how Ezra looks at his daddy.
-He is getting better and better at sleeping at night, not waking up so much, and not eating so often. This makes me extremely happy. I thought I was going to go crazy for a while there. Maybe he picked up on that and didn't want a crazy mom.

The past couple of days have really been a turning point for Ezra. It's like has turned into a baby and not a newborn anymore, if that makes sense. Anyway, we are enjoying it, and I love the interaction we have now that he is becoming more aware of things. We just love having Ezra in our lives and know that he will continue to be such a special part of our little family.

**There will be more pictures on my facebook page later today, for those of you who are friends with me. :)

Weekly weigh-in

I lost 1.6 lbs this week.

The only new recipe I tried was the cottage cheese chicken enchiladas. I know it sounds weird and kind of gross, but it was actually really good. The link is a few posts down if you're interested. I made the potato bacon torte again and the salmon cakes and changed some things up in both of the recipes to make them healthier.

Maybe there's hope! (Mom, you can read this)

More carseat talk...skip this post if you really don't care about this. Weigh-in tomorrow.

Is this the same baby I was just talking about in my last post? I took the picture below around 7:15 this evening, after we came home from our small group. Ezra was being quite fussy at small group because it was his bedtime and his tummy was hurting. So I decided it was time to leave, and put him in his seat, thinking it was going to be a long 15 minutes home. Well, I put him in his seat, we got in the car, and he didn't make a peep. I looked at him in the little mirror we have in front of his seat, and he had dozed off. WHAT?! When we got home, I went to get my camera, he was awake, and he even gave me some smiles! Maybe I should back up...this morning before Bible class a few of us were brainstorming what else I could do to help this situation. One of my friends suggested I take off the little newborn head rest thing that goes around his head. I had thought of that, but thought he still needed it so his head wouldn't flop around. But I tried it. Then I realized, the kid can pretty much hold his head up, so no, it was not flopping all over the place, and apparently he didn't like that cushiony semi-circle around his head. Claustrophobic maybe? Couldn't see the world around him enough? You guys actually did pray for me? I don't know, but I'm just hoping that was the problem and that it's fixed and not another fluke. This might also be why he took a 3-hour nap this afternoon when I didn't swaddle him up, as opposed to his usual 1 to 1 1/2 hour nap that he takes when he's swaddled up. It never ceases to amaze me how babies develop opinions and preferences so early in their lives. This next picture is for Paul and Carolyn. Ezra wore his John Deere boots for the first time tonight, and he got so many compliments on them! He did look pretty cute if I do say so myself.
That's all for now.

Anybody have some advice?

So. We are about to embark on our first road trip with little Ezra, 5 hours one way to be exact (well, 5 hours was before children, so add on the appropriate amount of time here). Here's the deal: Ezra still hates being in the car. It has gotten significantly better if I roll down the windows and put "Blessed be your name" from my Encore's greatest hits CD on repeat (I'm not kidding: if we let it go to the next song he starts crying), but most of the time he will still start crying within 10-15 minutes of being in the carseat, most of the time sooner. I'm not talking about whimpering and fussing, I'm talking about screaming inconsolably, to the point where when we get him out of the carseat he is all sweaty from crying so hard. I'm not sure what the deal is. We have tried singing, mirror in front of him, shade on the window, carseat shade down, carseat shade up, sitting back there with him (worked for a little bit), and I'm sure some other stuff. One of the main problems is Ezra won't fall asleep in his carseat. Yeah, I know this works for every other kid that ever existed, in fact I've heard of people doing this when their kids are fussy at night to GET them to go to sleep. Also, he loves both of his strollers. He falls asleep almost immediately when we take him in the jogging stroller around the neighborhood, and we use the stroller that came with the carseat to go shopping. We get him out of the carseat, put him in the stroller, and he falls asleep. He just doesn't like sitting so upright, I guess.

A few years ago when we first moved to Lubbock, we visited churches. One Sunday morning in a Bible class we were visiting where most of the attendees had young children (not the class we are currently in, in case any of you are reading this :), they were taking prayer requests and one lady raised her hand and requested prayers for herself and her husband because they were taking a trip and her son hated her carseat. I am pretty sure I rolled my eyes. If I didn't roll my eyes, I thought about it. To me it was ridiculous that someone would request prayers because their child didn't like his carseat. Oh silly, naive me. Of COURSE I got a child that hates his carseat.

Help me. Better yet, pray for me. Seriously though, if anyone has any suggestions, I will gladly take them.

Here's a video for your Friday enjoyment. Yesterday we discovered that when we blow air in Ezra's face he tries to suck it through his nose. Chad and I were obviously amused.

Fresh air from Lesley Montandon on Vimeo.