9 months

Getting to be a big boy. We haven't gone to his 9 month check up yet. His doctor just had her first baby and she's just coming back to the office. Soon though. Lately Hazen has been a crawling, pointing, eating machine. He loves noodles, fruits and yogurt. Along with everything else you put in front of him. He's just a happy growing boy.

And a couple more just for fun...

I also added a new family portrait session to my website. I love those Pantiers.... see them here.

8 months

And there went another. Time changes when you have kids.  First pic, then chat...

Hazen's latest and greatest...
Hazen is now sitting up like a pro. He's still isn't crawling. He will move his hands maybe 3 or 4 times, then decide he can get there way quicker if he just drags himself, and gives up. I think he could figure it out in about 10 minutes if he gave it a go. Over the weekend he finally got the hang of feeding himself. I saw him have the "AH HA!" moment when he realized if he opened his palm and moved it around, the food will likely fall into his mouth. So the past few days all he's wanted to do is eat. Practice make perfect! He loves all foods too. I have yet to find something he makes a funny face at. (other than the obvious lemons or something). I gave him a black olive the other day and it was no different than a graham cracker. Swallowed it down and wanted another. He's discovering he can make funny faces now too, which I'm loving. And he is also biting when he's not getting what he wants. Which I'm so not a fan of. He thinks its funny when you tell him no or move him away. Stinker. I've got to nip this one before it gets out of hand. Any suggestions?

On motherhood...
As much as I'd like to sit here and talk about all the wonders (good and challenging) of mothering a sweet little baby, which I had intended to do, I'm going to have to keep it short. As this new life moves forward, I always have so much on my mind and enjoy putting my thoughts down here for the few of you that take the time to read them. But I have to face something. This post has been sitting here for 3 days now with this section on motherhood waiting for me to return and sit for an hour and focus my thoughts. Here's what I have to accept. I am no longer the old me. I no longer have extra time. Blogging is no longer my hobby but rather a place to throw a couple of photos of my little pumpkin for family and friends to see. I am wearing so many hats right now that I'm for the first time in my life having a hard time balancing them. Full time mom. Full time employee. Wife. Freelance designer. Wanna be professional photographer. Crafter. Texter (which takes a fair amount of time). Blogger. Cook. Sleep. And then somehow fit in a shower and maybe some exercise. Oh and trying to put my house back together after moving from a small one bedroom duplex to a 3 bedroom house.

I have definitely am realizing right now that even as Hazen gets older, it doesn't mean that the old me is going to circle back around and have time for things, which I sort of kept waiting for to happen. People keep tell me that as he gets older, I will have a little more free time because he will start to entertain himself. Well my little boy, for the most part, likes to entertain himself, which you sitting on the floor watching. And, he's not much of a sleeper. So with all that said. I need to prioritize myself better. First to go, the thoughts of writing blog posts. At least for now. I'll still put up monthly pictures, but that will be about it. And the rest I need to sit down and decide what really matters the most right now and take off a few of those hats too. Because Hazen is only going to be this little nugget for so long. I need to enjoy him. So instead of using my (brief) free moments when he's napping to blog, I need to be more productive. Gah. Growing up.

Honestly. I'm not even going to proof read that, so pardon me for typos or sentences that don't quite make sense. If you want to seem more day to day pictures, follow me on instragram. brennawoody Now that I've said all that, I hope the stars align and the clouds part and I do end up with an extra hour here and there. But I doubt it.

And last, here are some recent photos I've been meaning to share.

Don't you just want to squeeze those ^ cheeks and forget all your worries. Until next time, dear friends. And time is a beautiful thing.

7 months

Better late than never. To be honest, I'm surprised I'm getting this pic up before he turns 8 months. Life is crazy for us right now. We are just finishing up moving to a bigger house in Spokane. I'll talk more about that hopefully on my 8 months post (if I manage to get that posted before he turns a year). So keeping this short for this month. No motherhood rambles. I'll save them up for next time. Here's the pic with a few Hazen updates to follow.

Mr Hazen man is no longer the roll over champ. He is now the scooter king. He's also up on his knees and doing the pre-crawler rock! So cute. Really close to sitting up on his own too.  Hazen is eating just about everything we eat, and loving it. He is starting to loose interest in the pureed foods. He is basically wearing 18 month old clothes and I need to go buy him some 5+ T socks soon. But with summer coming, I might just hold off. Hazen loves dogs. Every time Dexter comes around he gets so excited, and when you ask him where Dex is, he looks around the room until he finds him. He hates the car and loves to play in the water. He has cut 4 teeth now. None are all the way in yet. This last Saturday he actually cut 3 in on day. He was so miserable, I felt so bad for the little guy. And thats about all I can think of and have time for at the moment. Hope everyone is enjoying the pre summer weather. Off to unpack, run to Costco, sew curtains, hang pictures, chat with my mom, kiss my husband and play with my ever changing baby. Love to all.

6 months?

How has 6 months passed already? But at the same time, has it only been 6 months? Its weird how time changes after you have a baby. First the pics, then I'll ramble on about something...

 

He was less than thrilled about laying on the floor this month and having his picture taken.  As you can clearly tell. He had his 6 month check up and shots the day before so I can't blame the guy. Here's where he's at:

weight: 20lbs 3oz

height: 28 1/2"

98% percentile

Pediatrician said he is the size and has the alertness of a 9 month old

Currently, Hazen is the roll over monster version of his former self. Changing his diaper is officially a game, usually ending up with a cute chubby butt in the air. 9834 points Hazen, 12 points momma. I have to admit its kinda funny at work when I causally tell my boss "great, theres balls on my desk again." She has a good sense of humor. He is understanding food quite a bit more lately. Fruit is awesome, veggies are ok. He is right between 9 and 12 month clothing right now. That giant supply of onsies and what not that we got from our baby showers is juuuust about gone. I thought it would have lasted a bit longer. I can tell you that when I decided that big men were my type, I sure wasn't thinking about my future giant babies. Hazen has been working on his crazy vocal sounds and has discovered that he has wrists. He is constantly holding one hand up and twirling it around. Hates the giant scary bath tub, loves the kitchen sink.  So yeah, normal baby stuff.

As for me, the mom of a 6 month old baby boy who is always looking for whatever he doesn't have even if he doesn't know what that is. I'm totally happy. I met my goal of breast feeding for 6 months. Not that I've stopped. Before he was born and I didn't know what to expect, I set myself a goal of 6 months, now that I met that, I'm just waiting for teeth and I'll see how I feel about it after that.

I never would have thought that 4 straight hours of sleep could feel so restful.  Seeing 1:45 on the clock and closing your eyes and opening them again and its light in the room and 6:00 makes me want to give Hazen a high five every time.

Lately I've been thinking about his birth and that day we spent in the hospital. And about those final weeks being pregnant. It's such a unique brief moment, that you can never relive or experience again. You can always revisit a place or eat some wonderful food again, but becoming a first time mom is beyond incredible. Now I understand why all those people asked if it was my first then told me how amazing the first one is. As crazy as giving birth is, especially drug free, I have no bad feelings or negative thoughts about it. Sure, it was the most exhausting experience of my life...but I would relive it over again if I could. Yes, you can and I will have another baby, but I think the unknown is what makes the first such a journey.

I'm so thankful I challenged myself to have him natural, I think for the rest of my life I will have this funny feeling of pride that I did it. That I can push myself that far.  Not in a sense that I won the game and I need a pat on the back and a congratulations, but just for me. I guess its part of what shapes us as women. No matter how you have your babies, just the process that makes you stronger. Can you imagine an unplanned c-section? Now thats got to take some time to process. Looking back on it, I'm really lucky I didn't have to go down that road. The cord was around Hazen's neck, it just never tightened up enough to drop his heart rate and put him into serious danger. But boy oh boy was I lucky!

Ok, I told you I was going to ramble. To end all this giving birth blabber, one thing I would recommend to anyone about to become a mommy for the first time or the sixth. Have someone photograph the experience. Not down in the nitty gritty finally, but the labor. The moments between a husband and wife. The raw emotion. My mom was with us at the hospital while I labored. She stepped out of the room while the messy stuff was going on, but she was right there with Kam and I during the whole thing. Leading up to B day, I asked her to photograph the labor at the hospital (I was 7cm when we got there). I set my camera up for her and told her to just take pictures whenever of whatever. And I'm so glad I did.  Where and when someday my memory fails me, I will always have those photos that captured those incredible moments. Nothing yucky or "private," just the good stuff.  I would love to photograph a labor if some brave momma would let me.

And last thing, if you've managed to read this far, I updated my website. Take a look if you have time...
brennawoody.com.

 I hope you're all having a wonderful weekend and spending time with someone you love. Me, I'm going to go plant a tree with my baby. Its earth day and we were given a tiny cedar tree and the grocery store this morning. And off I go...thanks for reading.

(I'll share my favorite picture of my labor with you, maybe to inspire another momma. I framed it and hung it in my bedroom. I catch myself staring at it all the time. I love this picture. I was about 8cm.)

Hope everybunny has a happy Easter!

5 months

Talk about a day late. I took this picture of him in the evening on March 14th and then the next morning at 4am woke up and took the 6 hour drive home to see lots of family and friends.  My dear sisterfriend Mandee Jo had her sweet baby girl and I was lucky enough to get to take her two week photos.  They came out absolutely perfect. I might just have to share one. So, here is my growing boy's 5 month picture and some info about him to follow...

 

 

So Mr Hazen is now getting solid foods. His favorite by far is apples. He is a roll over champ and in the past few days has finally figured out how to flip his cute little chubby butt back over. So not so much screeching anymore because he hates being on his tummy.  He still LOVES his Johnny Jump Up.  Oh thank you for the Johnny Jump Up.  It's just about the only things he loves to hang out in other than being packed around by his momma.  He loves dogs.  Dexter is constantly being screamed at and I seemed to be having to clean dog hair out of very damp little fingers more and more these days.  Last night I saw the first signs of a tooth. Top one, which I thought was weird.  But when we got up today, it went back into hiding. I'm sure he'll be returning very soon. That's all the important stuff I can thing of off the top of my head.  He's just a growing, smiley, hungry squawk box. And I love every inch of him.

My thoughts on being a mom? Sure. He's napping at the moment so I'd better fit in as much as I can into this post, because it might be another month before I get back here. There is definitely such as thing as biting off more than you can chew. Thinking I could work 40 hours a week and be a full time momma was a little ambitious. I'm getting it done, but poor Kam has to deal with a strung out wife by the end of the week. 

I'm slowly learning that it can't all be perfect. If I've got to let him watch that Baby Einstein and stare at the TV for 30 minutes so I can get some work done, than that's just what I have to do. It's better that he's with me than with a stranger 8 hours a day. (It's a funny thing for me because I used to be that stranger that took people's babies 8 hours a day. I look back on it and am blown away by it all. For those of you that don't know me too well, I worked from ages 16-20 in a home daycare). 

I'm learning that mom's need their time too. Most days I get about 20 minutes to myself about 9pm for a quick shower...and the whole time I can usually hear Hazen screaming for momma in the other room. I used to cook, blog almost every day, paint my nails and drink hot coffee too. All you mom's out there are probably chuckling at me right now and agreeing at the same time. But for all the things I used to do, I wouldn't trade Hazen for any of them.  He is the sweetest blue eyed bundle of love. But I do so appreciate that 20 minutes a day to let my mind be blank.

Breast feeding, pumping, working and being a full time mom is an insane but rewarding challenge. 

When I'm feeling overwhelmed, like I'm doing everything wrong and I'm losing touch with my own reality... to pause and take a breath and think of all the things that are so right. The fact that I get to work and be a momma full time. That Hazen is chubby and happy. That he doesn't have to be scared and cry all day because he is with a stranger and can't be held because they have 8 other children to care for. That I have just enough time to make all his food at home and how much more he loves that homemade food. That Kameron is an amazing husband to a new momma. That I am a mom.

Having a baby is the best thing I've done so far in my life. With a few close seconds.

And now that blue eyed love bug is squirming and staring at me so this post has officially come to and end. I hope it didn't sound like a rant. I just needed to get my thoughts out for a moment. Thank you for listening.

Ps. I love my mom.

Here is a pic of sweet baby Natalee and her beautiful momma... I hope you don't mind Jo.

 

Ok, maybe to. 5 months vs 2 weeks.