Oh, baby!

To say that Oscar is the light of my life is an understatement. Before he was born, I could never have imagined how much I would love him. And now that he is here, I could never imagine my life without him. Granted, being a mom is the hardest, most demanding job I've ever had. But it is also the most rewarding. I read somewhere that the way you feel about your first child is like falling in love and that is exactly correct. It is beautiful, euphoric, and all consuming.

Little babies grow by leaps and bounds every week. My little bee grew by 20 percent in one month! That's astonishing! One minute they are pooping, eating machines that stay curled up in little balls and can barely keep their eyes open for 30 minutes. The next, they are smiling, giggling, and gazing at you with adoring eyes. And then they are graduating from high school and off to college (sniff, sniff.)

So, even on the days Oscar fusses constantly when we are at friends' house for dinner, or when he has a meltdown in the car and starts screeching like a Veloceraptor when Mommy is 30 minutes from home, he's still the most precious, perfect baby anyone could ask for.

Little piggies

It turns out baby toenails are even more difficult to trim than baby fingernails. Who knew?

On baby poop

As any new parent can tell you, poop takes on a whole new dimension when you have a baby. Every thing about it is important: the color, the consistency, the frequency, the amount. Many people told me this, but I did not truly understand until Oscar was actually here. The first BM, meconium, is a very exciting moment, because it means the bowels are working properly. This is the sticky, black, tar-like substance you've all heard of, and there are usually a few of them before the real stuff starts.

Once you've gotten the meconium, you are waiting for the "real" poop, especially if your baby is breastfed, because counting stools and wet diapers is how you know if your baby is getting enough milk. So that first mustardy yellow poop is also something to be celebrated (yay, he's eating!), and every poop after that has to be counted for the first two weeks, or until your baby is back up to birth weight. Parenthood is exciting stuff, I know.

When Oscar was a wee one (more wee than his is now) he used to poop every time he breastfed! That's a lot of dirty diapers. Now that he's well settled into his third month of life, he poops much less frequently, like maybe every 3 or 4 days. When Nelson gets home from work, one of the first things he ask is "Did Oscar poop today?" Like I said, exciting stuff.

Yesterday, I was trying to take a photo of Oscar in his very cute "My Grandma Loves Me" outfit to show his Gigi, and he started pooping! Baby really strain and grunt to get their poop out, so it is pretty obvious when it is happening. So, the first photo is Oscar in mid-poop and the second is just after he finished, which is always a particularly joyous moment for him. Yep, I'm really posting pictures of my baby pooping. Enjoy!

The nights are long...

And the days are long too! Now that our little guy spends many more hours up and alert, I have to find things to entertain us both. And babies have a short attention span.

Today we went to the National Aboretum with Katya and her six-week-old daugher, Kyra (she was a cutie). We met Katya and her husband Mike in our childbirth education class. I really enjoy spending time with other new parents. It makes me feel normal!

I wish I could say I took some photos (the herb and Bonsai gardens were beautiful!) but of course I forgot. And, until Nelson locates our camera cord, I can't upload any photos anyways. But, since I know the adoring world is just dying to see a photo of my beautiful boy, I've attached one of him from about a month ago, when he was first flexing his smile.

Speaking of nights, I don't want to jinx anything, but Oscar has slept through the night FOUR nights in a row now! Unfortunately, I'm not sleeping so soundly. I'm continuing to wake up every few hours to make sure he's okay. Silly Mommy!

Monica, we've arrived!

After much encouragement from our friend Monica, we've decided to start our own blog! I've no doubt that the vast majority of our content will be about our 9 week old son, Oscar Dominic. I mean, he is perfect and I just can't say enough good things about him.


Quick introduction: Nelson and I (Jenni) met almost 14 years ago and are high school sweet hearts (altogether now, "Awwwww!). We got married in January of 2005 (we didn't want to rush into anything) and our life together has been going at full speed ever since. In April of 2005 we bought our first home, a beautiful 1918 Victorian in historic Riverdale Park, MD. That spring, we adopted two dogs, Valentine and Nebo, who were grudgingly accepted by our cat, Audrey.


We decided to add to our family and began trying to have a baby in the fall of 2006. Wouldn't you know it, before we'd even gotten used to the idea of making a baby, I was pregnant. After just one month of trying! Ahhhh!

On June 14, 2007 at 9:33pm, Oscar made his world debut! He was born in a beautiful, unmediated, home birth (hence the title of our blog, which I'm not entirely sure about). He was 8lbs 6oz and 21 1/4 inches at birth, and has been growing at lightning speed (thank you, breast milk!).


So much for a quick intro, but there are very few stories I tell quickly. I'm sill figuring out this whole blog thing - I know, I'm like the last person the the planet - so bear (or is is bare?) with me.

-Jenni