he's here! he's here! he's finally here!

He's here! He's here! He's finally here!  Zachary Daniel made his grand entrance into the world on Thursday, July 24th at 10:08pm.  He weighed in at 5 lbs, 7.7 oz and I am completely and utterly in love.  Mama and baby are both happy, healthy and wonderful :)

With frozen meals, a breast pump and a bottle of wine in hand - Brandon, Natalie and I went to meet the little peanut on Saturday afternoon and he is so adorable.  I could not be more proud of Jordan.  I am beyond excited for Natalie and Zachary to grow up together!

When Jordan joined the Levy team two years ago, I had no idea that I would be gaining a best friend.  It's funny how God puts you in places for a reason.  I never imagined myself working in the medical field, but here I am.  Jordan loved labor and delivery but was ready for a change.  She was hired to be on a different physician's team, but she ended up on mine.  Our lives were meant to cross and I am so glad they did.  I would be absolutely lost without her.  She held my hand while I struggled to start my family and went through fertility treatment.  She was willing to hold my hair if I ever experienced morning sickness (which thankfully I did not).  She was my stand-in husband for very few appointments that Brandon could not attend.  She was my via text labor and delivery nurse. And since I became a mom, she has been one of my biggest cheerleaders.  I am so excited that I get to be the same for her! 

I always tell her - we were meant to be friends but more importantly, we were absolutely meant to raise babies together.  I am so over the moon happy for Jordan and John on the itty bitty addition to their family :) 

...almost makes me want another one. ALMOST.

New Mom Syndrome

When you're pregnant and you say something absurd - it's baby brain or placenta brain.  When you say something absurd in those first few days of post-pregnancy life, it's sleep deprivation or post baby brain.  What happens when your child is eight months old and you are still struggling to be the human being you once were?  You have, what I like to call, New Mom Syndrome.  It falls into the category of things I wish I had known before I had a baby.  With my work teammate, Jordan, scheduled for induction ONE WEEK from yesterday (woohoo Baby B!) - I decided to write seven things I think people should know before the baby arrives.  Some of these things I was given some warning about, some of these things I had to learn for myself.  Here goes...

1. Baby Brain is not relegated to pregnancy.  Throughout my pregnancy, I felt as though I had a pretty good handle on things.  I only left my cell phone at the grocery store once. (Thank God for the honest person who turned it in to the customer service station.) I remembered doctor's appointments. I remembered birthdays and anniversaries.  Like I said I had a good handle on things. After Natalie was born "thing" became the most frequent word used in my vocabulary.  Word retrieval was at all an time low.  I promise, it gets better. 

2. You can function on far less sleep than you realize.  There were days when I was home with Natalie, after Brandon had gone back to work, that I would take care of her, actually shower and shave my legs, clean the house and do laundry on approximately 2.5 hours of sleep. How?!  Before Natalie, I thought I knew what tired was.  Now... now I think I was previously a very whiny little girl. Sometimes when I would realize how much I had done on so little sleep, I would think "hot damn, I AM ALL THAT IS MOM". 

3. Do NOT feel selfish for needing some "me" time.  You are not a bad person for needing some time to regroup.  You have had another human being sucking the life out of you for almost a year.  That little human is going to sleep for at least an hour after a feeding - leave the little nugget with Daddy for some bonding time and go walk around Target or Lowe's or Home Goods.  I remember walking into Lowe's for the first time after having Natalie.  It was just me and a hot chocolate I had picked up at Wegmans.  It was glorious.  The holiday decorations were on display and I just walked the aisles and looked at them all.  It made me excited for Christmases with Natalie and Brandon. I was gone maybe 30-40 minutes, but afterwards I felt like a brand new woman. I was recharged and so excited about life with that little girl.

Confession: sometimes, when I am desperate to have time to myself, I tell Brandon I have to pee and I spend an absurd amount of time in the bathroom.  I catch up on blogs and read recipes. I just take a little mini-break.  The man probably thinks I am taking a ridiculous poop and that's totally ok with me.  He watched the doctor break my water, pretty sure the idea of me pooping is far less offensive to him than that!

4. Do NOT under my circumstances try on your pre-pregnancy clothes during the first two weeks months after you have that baby.  Unless you are a freak of nature, which you might be, there is a good chance they won't fit.  THAT IS NORMAL. It's best to try and avoid that meltdown.  You are doing a great job taking care of your baby and yourself.  Enjoy leggings, sweatpants and pj's while you can, friend.  You don't have to look like a fully functional human being while you are home with that sweet little bundle of joy. In fact, I wish I had taken more advantage of the leggings, oversized t-shirt, messy bun look.

4a.  Along that same vein, your body is going to change and there is a chance that your clothes just will not fit the same way.  As Shakira told us all in 2005, the hips don't lie.  I have lost the baby weight and then some and my clothes still don't fit right, and in some cases, they don't even button. Do not feel badly about it. You carried a human around inside your body and then violently pushed said human being out of your body.  And some of you had that human being surgically removed from your body.  Seriously.  We are warriors.  Honestly, it's a wonder more damage is not done to our bodies during pregnancy and delivery.  If wider hips are the price to pay, I would still do it again.

5. People are going to weird you out and drive you insane.  You thought the touching your belly when pregnant was weird - just wait.  Strangers are going to want to see your baby and they are going to give you unsolicited advice.  One of the first times I took Natalie out, I had a woman behind me in line at the grocery store pull Natalie's blanket up under her chin while scolding me for bringing a baby out in the cold like that.  I held it together in the store and as soon as we were in the car I cried for probably twenty minutes.  Recently, I had an elderly woman at Target scold me because Natalie did not have shoes on.  Seriously lady - mind your own dang business.  This time I did not cry, I just rolled my eyes.  When Brandon and I were down the shore, we had a woman outside of Walmart get out of her car and ask to see the baby.  Umm, what? Just roll with the punches but do not be afraid to have boundaries. 

6. If you are a schedule oriented person, good luck keeping that up.  If you are the type of person who goes with the flow, get used to a schedule.  You are not in control.  That teeny tiny bundle of joy is going to be determining when you eat, sleep, pee and breathe.  S/He is in charge now. Not you. The sooner you stop trying to be in control, the better.  You will quickly learn that schedule that your little eat-sleep-poop machine likes to keep.  Every now and then, curve balls will be thrown that will make you think your small human is destined to be a major league pitcher.  It's just a matter of finding the right balance of going with the flow and keeping the schedule your small friend has set for you.  It gets easier.  I promise.

7. You're doing a much better job than you are giving yourself credit for.  I would beat myself up if I didn't get to everything I had planned for the day or when I didn't get everything on my grocery list because Natalie was only 10 days new and I didn't track her last feeding and she was howling in the store. I was a first time mom with a very tiny new human. I had no idea what I was doing. It gets better and it gets easier. You will get better at it and feel more confident with time.  You have that kid's whole life to screw him/her up, don't sweat the small stuff.  Honestly, give it a few months and you will barely remember the rough parts of those first few weeks but you will never forget that happiness and love you felt.

eight month favorites!

1. Natalie's 4th of July outfit!  This was the first 4th of July in four years that I have not worked.  I was excited to spend the day with my little family and even more excited that I would get to spend some of the afternoon with my parents.  I love Carter's 4th of July sparkle tee and the striped shorts.  Carter's really does have all the best holiday apparel for the small humans.  I always find just what I need there.  While this outfit did not last all day, it was adorable while it did!

2. Nancy Tillman books.  I love the stories that come with Nancy Tillman books - they all convey a very similar message: you are loved.  Wherever You Go was gifted to me by my friend Jessica when I was 24 weeks pregnant.  It marked the week of viability in my pregnancy which was a very exciting milestone.  Natalie and I read it every night.  The book starts out "I wanted you more than you will ever know, so I sent love to follow wherever you go."  A sentiment that could not be more fitting for my little girl.  Another Nancy Tillman book, The Crown on Your Head, made an appearance in Natalie's Easter basket.  

3. Baby Pool.  While this is not our exact pool (and we actually have two kiddie pools), it is quite similar.  Natalie is a total water baby and she loves to splash and play.  Now that we have the patio done and the deck gone, we can really use our backyard and we have been able to have her outside playing more often.  We got our little baby pool at Target for just $12.99 and it is a summer staple.  I love it.  At the end of last summer, we got a Cars themed baby pool for $7 at the Christmas Tree Shops.  We have ended up using that one too - it's more Hank friendly :) 

4. Yankees Rubber Ducky.  Natalie was recently gifted this little gem at her Jersey picnic.  I love it.  Brandon loves it because it's Yankees.  I love it because it makes a great bath time companion and teether - which is especially nice since those top teeth might be making an appearance sooner rather than later!  If she isn't splashing (or her newest move - trying to stand up in the baby tub), then she is gnawing on her rubber ducky. 

5. Baby Einstein Walker.  She is still trying to figure out just how it works on all flooring materials and in the interim it's a good place to stick her when I need to use the bathroom or run upstairs or do something that requires her to stay still.  She loves to scoot around our kitchen which isn't very big so she doesn't go far.  She loves that the walker allows her to be that much closer to Hank's face.  Once she really gets the hang of it, it will be fun to take her outside and let her go for a little walk on the sidewalk in front of our house. Just another way to tire out the little babe :)

eight months!

age: 8 months

weight: It will be another month before we will know for sure!  She still fits into some 9 months clothes but is mostly wearing 12 months stuff, even though it's a bit big on her.  So I am going to say she is somewhere between 19-22 lbs.  I cannot wait to find out just how big she has gotten though!

food: The little miss does not miss a meal.  She is such a good eater.  We have tried so many fruits and veggies and now proteins that it is hard to keep track of everything!  There is not much that she doesn't like and even then, she will still eat it... for the most part anyways.

milestones:  She is crawling like crazy now and trying so desperately to stand on her own.  It cracks me up when she pulls her self up on something, lets go, panics and then grabs onto it again real quick.  She is one seriously strong little girl. I have no doubt that she will be walking by the end of summer!  This past week she also started clapping.  It is adorable.  She even makes a noise that sounds quite similar to "Yay!"  I cannot get enough of it.

Natalie also made a big trip to Jersey to meet lots of family and friends on my husband's side.  It was a beautiful day for a picnic.  It was nice to get a picture with four generations of Wilkinsons :)  It was also really nice to get to see family that we had not gotten to see since our wedding!  Natalie really enjoyed herself, so much so that it was almost impossible to get her to go to bed.  She did not want to miss a thing!

Natalie was smitten with her great grandma :)

Chunk also celebrated her first 4th of July :) My parents stopped by on their way home from Indiana and it was nice to have them here for a night to celebrate.  While she did not stay awake long enough for the fireworks, I think she had a good day.  I am excited for next year and hopefully the little miss seeing the fireworks.  I think it is something she would really enjoy :)

favorites: Now that we are settling into a real bedtime routine, we have been doing quite a bit more reading at night.  The little girl loves story time.  It is adorable when she crawls over to her bookcase and pulls books off to read.  She absolutely adores bath time.  She is a water baby.  She loves to splash and play with her bath time duckies.  They double as great teethers. 

looking forward to: I am seriously looking forward to this nursery overhaul.  We have started looking at fabrics at JoAnn and online.  I am still not sure exactly how I want to do things, but I am gathering ideas and making lists and taking tons of notes.