So, I bought this dress approximately four seconds before I got pregnant.  I ordered it from an Australian website which takes a while to ship things to the United States, and by the time it arrived, I was four weeks pregnant, had already gained a few pounds (yup, seriously — I gained two pounds before I’d even taken a pregnancy test) and it. did. not. fit. 

I was bummed.  I couldn’t return the dress because shipping something back to Australia is mind-numbingly expensive — like, two or three times the cost of the dress in the first place.  So, I kept it.  I stuck it in the back of my closet, tried not to feel bitter, and figured I’d pull it in a year or so when I could fit into it again.

And, eleven or so months later… I did! 

Despite my long, long wait to finally wear this dress, I was super excited to finally pull it out.  Even a year later, it’s obviously what I fell in love with when I bought it — the bold splashes of color, the flattering cut (very flattering, LOL!), and the simple, sexy shape.  Just what this new mama needed!

And Rambo liked it too.  I couldn’t resist including this shot!

{things i’m loving this week: the sweetest seersucker monogrammed diaper cover for baby Bear…}

{… and comfy striped socks for lazy weekend mornings.}

I’ve been waiting for the right moment to do one of these little surveys, and I figure now is as good a time as any!  I’ll update this again in a few months and it’ll be fun to see how things have changed.

Bear has had a wonderful first three months — his biggest struggle is that he’s so excited to see the world that he has trouble falling asleep, and an overtired newborn is brutal for everyone.  When he’s taken a good, solid mid-day nap, he’s just a little angel.  Starting at about 9 weeks old, his personality has really started to come out, and it’s been so fun watching him develop.  I honestly had no idea what a blast it would be!

So, here are the big categories — lots to update!

Height/Weight: Somewhere around 13 pounds, maybe more.  Already a huge increase from his 7-pound birth weight — he’s grown a ton!  He was 20.5 inches long at birth and 23.5 inches long at his 2-month checkup.  I can’t wait to see how much he’s grown by month four!

Routine: We are just starting to find our way into one!  We wake up around 8 or 9 am, he eats, and we snuggle or read books for a little bit before his morning nap.  He takes one long mid-day nap that’s often 3 hours long, which is awesome.  (For a long time, his naps were terrible and essentially nonexistant, but they got a ton better right at the two-month mark.) Then he’s up all afternoon, for the most part, and we start his bedtime ritual at 7:30 pm or so.  He goes to sleep around 8 or 8:30 pm.

Being self-employed (as you all remember, I started my own law practice last fall) has been great and also challenging during these first few months.  I work from home during his naps for 3 hours a day, and also have child care a few afternoons a week.  I’m up to working about 20-25 hours a week at this point, and I’d like to keep that pace for another few months, and eventually ease back to full time.  I’m so grateful to have the flexibility to spend so much time with our son — balancing work and motherhood is easy for exactly no one, ever, but I’m lucky that it’s been reasonably smooth so far.

Sleeping: On a good night, he goes to bed around 8 pm, eats once during the night (around 4-5 a.m.), and then sleeps until between 8 and 9 am.  His nights are actually pretty terrific!  Most of the time he goes right back to sleep after eating, although I sometimes rock him for a few minutes anyways. 

Up until now, he split the night between his crib and our bedroom — we’d start him off in the crib for a few hours, and then move him into our bedroom once he woke up.  We have a bassinet in our bedroom for him (this one), which was crucial for those early weeks when he’d be up 3 or 4 times per night (also, the bassinet has lights/music/vibration, so he hangs out in there while I shower most days).  But he just recently did his first full night alone in his crib, so that might change soon! 

Eating: I’m breastfeeding exclusively and he eats five or six times a day, sometimes more.  I’ve had an easy time breastfeeding, for the most part, although those early weeks were very tough and painful.  It got better pretty quickly, but I feel like there’s so much pro-breastfeeding information out there that glosses over how hard it is, which doesn’t help anyone.  It really bothered me that the lactation consultants and nurses in the hospital refused to admit that breastfeeding is painful at first, even if you’re doing everything right.  I had a bit of a breakthrough finally during a visit with the pediatrician, who told me, completely honestly, that it sucks at first and gets a lot better after the first week or two, and she was totally right. 

Ultimately, though, I’m so happy I stuck with it.  At first, I was interested in breastfeeding because it was healthiest for him, and now I love it for many reasons — it sounds silly, but it’s incredibly empowering to know that my body is providing for our son! 

And despite the tough period at the beginning, I am a huge breastfeeding supporter and would recommend that anyone at least give it a try.  However, mothers struggle with it for many different reasons, and my overall view on it hasn’t changed: it’s worth trying, but if it doesn’t work out for whatever reason — no mom should ever feel guilty over that.  There are a million ways to bond with your child and let them know that you will always provide for them, and this is a wonderful one, but it is just one of them.  There were many days that I struggled with whether to give up, and if I had, I would love this little kiddo just as much as I do now, and I think our relationship would be just as strong.  So, there’s my ultimate breastfeeding advice: If you can, try.  And if it doesn’t work out, you are still just as wonderful and caring a mom as anyone else out there.  So don’t beat yourself up over it!

Sizes: He just outgrew his 0-3 month clothes, so we’re moving on to mostly 3-6 month sizes.  Newborn sizes lasted a few weeks and that was it!  It’s a little painful putting away his beautiful clothes, especially the ones that he only wore a handful of times — but I guess that’s good motivation to have another one!  (Kidding, don’t worry…)

Milestones: He is incredibly alert and loves to look around at the world.  He smiles, coos, “talks” back when you ask him questions and generally just hangs out like a champ.  He’s so good natured — I feel so lucky that his temperament is so sweet.  Physically, he can roll over back to front now (yikes, scary) and easily raises his head and looks around, even on his stomach.  He likes to be sitting up for about 90% of his awake time now!