Fleur de Aleta

Dear Son, We went shopping together the other day, just you and me.  It was a first, both to the grocery store and Home Depot.  We have been there before, but Daddy was with us.  I wanted him to look at your car seat.  I’m sure some people thought I didn’t feel comfortable with shopping with you yet, but that is an assumption on their part.  I just wanted your Daddy there to see if he could tell me how your car seat could safely be put on the front of the shopping cart. Your Daddy tried lots of different positions for the seat, but nothing was secure.  So, we both determined you will be in the middle of the shopping cart until you have neck muscle control.  After knowing what works best for you, I was happy to take you out.  I parked close to where I saw a cart, so I wouldn’t have to worry about the weight of the car seat and you (you’re growing so quickly!). When I hold you, my heart melts.  The other da...

My parents came over one day and I said, "Gregory has armitis." My dad looked at me with concern, "What is that?  What's wrong with him?" I smiled and said, "He wants to be held all the time in my arms." My dad had a look of relief and I continued, "But it could just be that I have armitis, because I love to hold him." How can I help it when he smiles at me like this?

Before when I thought of May, I focused on Memorial Day, because that was when Greg proposed and it made the month special... Of course, May is for Mother's Day, but before this year, it was bitter sweet...  sweet because I dearly love my Mom and I am happy to celebrate that with her. Bitter sweet... because of the miscarriage I had many years ago and with the thought that I'd never be able to get pregnant.  My sister-in-law, Madelyn, used to greet me on Mother's Day by saying, "Happy Potential Mother to be."  Again, a bitter sweet, sad feeling would well up in me. God had His plans and His timing.  This year, I get to celebrate a very special Mother's Day - my first as a mom. The other day, I had to call the pediatrician because our son had his first set of shots to be given and I wanted more information.  The receptionist took the message for me, asking the baby's name and my name.  When I gave her my name, the receptionist started calling me...

Dear Son, When you learn how to count to three, it should be an easy task.  You started responding to 1….2….3….. in the womb.  The only way I could get you to give the kick counts for the non-stress test when I was pregnant was when your Daddy would lean into my stomach and say, “One… Two… THREEEEEEEEE…” And you kicked up a storm in my womb. Now, when we count to three, you get a raspberry on your tummy or we tickle your toes.  When we start with “one” – your eyes get saucer wide!  Your Daddy loves that look on you. I love your smiles, of course, but I think your “Kisses” face is my favorite.  Last Sunday was the first time you went to church.  The minister talked about the Boston bombing and focused on how people were “at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and did the right thing” meaning the first responders, etc.   This was after The First Reading, Acts 9:36-43.  Rev. AJ followed it up by sayi...

Gregory is finding his voice.  He fusses loudly when we take the bottle away in order to burp him mid-way through the bottle.  He's making new noises daily, it seems... The other night, I was feeding Gregory at 2:30am.  It wasn't long into feeding that he made a sharp squeal sound while he was sucking on the bottle.  I moved the bottle away from him, thinking he might have swallowed the milk down wrong. Gregory gave me a huge grin and then..... he gave a VERY distinct GIGGLE.  He Giggled.. and then farted! So, I know that smile and giggle was due to a fart, but still, it was the first real giggle from him!  Tickled me pink and made me giggle too.  He smiles without farting now.  I can't wait for the future giggles to come!

Dear Son, You are your daddy’s boy.  Each morning, you greet me with a smile, even if it’s at 2:30am.  Just 9 weeks old today and you are already a morning person.  You definitely didn’t get that from mommy. Like father, like son.. after you eat, you want a nap.  And I love to hold and cuddle you.  I can’t express with words how sweet those moments are and I treasure them.  Everyone tells me the time will fly by, especially after 6 months old and to cherish each moment; every moment is a blessing. Maybe that is why I take so many pictures of you.  Your Daddy fusses that I take too many, but I know in time you will get tired of me taking your picture, so I do it now when you can’t complain and it leaves me with pictures to share with family and friends and captures these beautiful times together. You are adapting to the bedtime routine quickly too.  I love that it’s a family thing.  Your Daddy and I give you a bath, the...

My husband and I do the RPS (rocks, paper, scissors game) for plenty of things.  I think it's fun to see how many times we will tie or if we will try to figure out what the other person is going to do. The other day, we did RPS.... because.... someone..... had a stinky diaper to be changed... My husband said, "Best out of three."  He won the first one, I won the second.  Then Greg says before we do a show of hands, "I'm going to do paper."  We do the count and I did scissors.  Greg looked at me and said, "How did you know I would do what I said I would do!"  Lol.  Greg had to change the diaper!  Woo Hoo. That makes for a happy mommy :)

One of my cousins is taking an art class in college.  I love it when she shares the class assignments with me.  She asked for my thoughts on one particular project.  I don’t know the specifics on the professor’s guidelines, but the general idea was that she had to create a self-portrait via pictures. She had a group of pictures in mind already, which were great – picture of her children, picture of artwork that she likes, picture of tassel from college graduation, etc.  But she said it felt like she was missing something. I suggested that she turn the self-portrait into a story and not to focus just on the positives in life, because nobody’s life is just positive.  And in fact, my cousin’s life is incredibly stress filled at the moment.  My suggestion was that on the right side of the picture, to draw a spiral – sort of like a tornado shaped spiral and half it go off of the page.  In the spiral, put pictures of things that are ...

My husband and I are trying to create a nighttime routine with our baby Gregory. If we are lucky with timing the bottle feeding, then he will eat around 6pm.  Then around 8pm, we give Gregory a bath and lotion and warm bottle and he goes into his room, no lights on.  We're trying to readjust our baby's sense of day and night and to associate the bath as the "ok, time to go to sleep." We're also using lavender scented baby bath wash, which is very soothing for all of us :) So far, Gregory seems to like the bath.  One night we gave Gregory a bath, Greg took him out of the sink (it's a large deep sink and we use a sponge contour pad to put Gregory in).  Greg put the baby on a towel and turned around, facing away from the baby.  I was drying off Gregory when Greg heard me say, "OH MY GOD!"  Greg turned around, reaching out, his daddy instincts kicking in, thinking the baby was falling off the counter. Instead, he saw my stunned expression as Greg...

Holly, my cousin from Maryland, came to visit for a week.  She stayed with us and very generously offered to take the majority of the night shifts for taking care of our baby.  It was a relief and helped a great deal in recovering from sleep deprivation. Below is a picture of Holly holding Gregory. Holly has three children, two daughters in college and a son in high school.  She has a lot to be proud of as her children are amazing.  Her son, Michael, joined her on this trip to New Orleans.  I was impressed with how much of a gentleman Michael has turned into, holding open doors, being very considerate and thoughtful of his words and reactions. My cousin and I have been good friends ever since... well, we were babies :)  Our mothers were very close and Holly would come to spend the entire summers with us (summers lasted forever in a child's mind). It was good to catch up on life, though we typical cor...