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6:06 am and the gruntings I’ve been hearing for several minutes break into a full cry, which signals that it is time to start the day and feed Sawyer. I say start the day even though I feel like the last one never ended. We had just went back to sleep around 4:30 and I had really hoped he would sleep longer. So we nurse and he falls back to sleep. I hold him and rock him a few more minutes, then put him down so we can both sleep. He wakes up within 2 minutes, grunting, crying, kicking. Gas. Our enemy. I pick him up, we go to the living room so I can walk, bounce, pat, etc. He falls back asleep, so I put him in his bouncy seat and go to fix a bowl of cereal. The sink is full of dishes, including every bowl we own (thanks to all the cereal and soup I eat). I wash a bowl. The crying and screaming starts. Didn’t even get the cereal poured. Pick him up, bounce, pat, sooth, give him Mylicon, etc. Eventually he is calm and back to sleep. I am able to eat before he wakes again. He acts like he wants to nurse again, so we give it a try. His belly is clearly upset and a couple times I think he is going to puke all over me. I get a burp cloth in place. He gets the hiccups. So now we are battling gas and hiccups. I am helpless, but it has been nearly 2 hours since he had the Mylicon so I try the gripe water. He settles down and is just looking around the living room hiccuping.

Explosion! He pooped. Finally. He had clearly been working on it for a couple hours. Poor guy. Explosion! More poop. Explosion! The remaining poop. I wait a moment in case there is more. Sawyer starts crying and I feel something warm on my arm. Poop. It is all down his leg, covering his baby blue pants and getting on my arm. To the changing table we go. Oh my. He has never pooped like this before. I wanted to take pictures. It was amazing. The huge cloth diaper was completely full. The outside was covered on one side. It is everywhere. So I get him changed and clearly a bath is a good idea. I put him in a diaper in his crib while I wash out the clothes, wipes, diaper.

Bath time. This went great. He seemed to be enjoying it. Fantastic. I wrap him in a towel and take him from the kitchen sink to stand under the heater in the bathroom. Something wet hits my feet. Pee. He is peeing and it is running down my shirt and puddling on my foot and in the floor. I wipe my foot on the rug and take him to his room, where I strip & throw on my robe which is thankfully in there. I wipe him off, then do the lotion & get dressed routine. The socks I laid out were a darker blue than in his outfit, so I walk over to get baby blue socks. I step in something. Dog pee. A puddle a dog pee compliments of Stewie (Lucy never pees inside). I wipe my foot on my already peed on clothes that were piled in the floor as I scream at the dog. Sawyer is content, so I gather my clothes and then clean up both puddles of pee.

Now I need a bath. I sit Sawyer in his bouncy seat in the bathroom floor. He loves all the lights and the sound of the fan. I shower and get ready while he falls asleep.

10 am and we’re both fed, bathed, and he’s finally sleeping.

So if you ever arrive at my house and see a bathroom that looks like this, with wet rug, towels, baby clothes soaking on the sink, and a baby in the bathroom floor… well now you know why.

For the record, he came through all the mess pretty well. Look how adorable our little guy is

Thanks to Aunt Becca for the outfit. And let’s not talk about Sawyer’s balding, he is very sensitive about it. LOL>

Any other Moms, or Dads, have a gross or hilarious story you would like share? =)

I’ll probably do one of these later on too, but after gathering everyone’s opinions during my pregnancy I wanted to share my thoughts now that we’re using some things. Here is the list of things I thought we needed and my thoughts now:

Car Seat – LOVE LOVE LOVE our Graco Snugridge. So glad I asked opinions about this, because I hadn’t paid attention to the weight. Katherine pointed out not to get anything too heavy, and I’m glad we listened. The Snugride is light, super easy to get in and out of the car, and the Broadstreet color pattern is really cute.

Stroller – we haven’t used it yet, but have played around with the Graco Snugride Car Seat Stroller Frame and love it too. It is also very easy to use. Folding and unfolding is very easy. We’ve wheeled it around the house and it is easy to maneuver, turns easily, etc. I’m excited to pick out a bigger, jogging stroller when Sawyer outgrows this one.

Crib – we didn’t have good luck with the Graco Lauren crib, which splintered in a few places when we were installing screws. We ended up with the Emi Natural 4-in-1 Convertible Crib and we really love it.

Changing table/pad – those who said you never used your changing table, well I think you’re just crazy. LOL. Seriously though, I haven’t changed a single diaper anywhere else in the house. Why would I want to go gather up wipes, butt cream, trash bag, fresh diaper, etc to carry to where ever Sawyer is. I prefer to carry him there and have a quick routine of getting a new diaper on him. We do need more changing pad covers. I would recommend 3, but for now we’re using hospital receiving blankets when our 1 cover gets soaked in pee (which happens way too often).

Crib Mattress – Sawyer doesn’t sleep in the crib yet, so not much to say. We have a mattress & it looks lovely

Crib Sheets – we have several, but again haven’t changed the sheets yet. Dan’s mom got us some soft knit sheets, so we ended up returning most of the cute Circa sheets because they weren’t as soft

Receiving Blankets – I returned several, but we still have about 15. Still thought that was too many, but I was wrong. I like to have a variety to match with his outfits, plus when diapers leak the blanket tends to get wet too.

Clothing including socks/booties, cap, mittens – socks don’t stay on, so I doubt mittens would either. I love sleepers that have mittens built in. I also LOVE the sleep sacks, but most we have our too big. I love them because it makes diaper changes during the night quick & easy… which means he doesn’t fully wake up and gets back to sleep quicker. That is good for a sleepy Mommy. Clothing was a battle because we had nothing to fit him, since he turned out to be so tiny. My Mom, actually Stephanie, found some cheap Premie sized stuff on sale at Walmart. Then he grew so much that he only wore that stuff for a little over a week. The next challenge is fitting stuff over the cloth diapers, which definitely are “fluffier” than a disposable.

Diapers (cloth) & Inserts – I could write and write and write about how much I love the cloth diapers. I’m super impressed with the bumGenius 3.0, both the all-in-ones and the pocket diapers. They fit great and we’ve had no leaks with the pocket diapers using hemp inserts with a small cotton doubler on top. The Fuzzi Bunz one-size pocket diapers are also great. Their lining is the softest of all the diapers. Again, I use the hemp inserts and this diaper doesn’t leak. I guess it is really the BabyKicks Joey-Bunz hemp inserts that I love so much. I don’t like the Fuzzi Bunz “Perfect Size” diaper as well as the one-size, because the small size seems huge and doesn’t fit around Sawyer’s legs well. Maybe as he gets chunkier thighs they will. I also don’t like fitted diapers that well because it seems that the whole diaper absorbs pee, so Sawyer has wetness against all skin covered by the diaper. Dan really likes the Thirsties All-In-Ones because they are super easy to use and the leg gussets are nice. As for disposables, we started off with Pampers from the hospital but had lots & lots of leaks. Huggies have seemed to work best for us, but I honestly hate them all. I hate seeing a Walmart bag (our diaper “pail” for disposables) fill up in a matter of hours. I can’t believe how many disposables we’ve used already.

Trash can/Diaper pail – I bought a plain trash can at Target which works great and 2 pail liners, both work great. I got a Planet Wise and a Swaddlebees/Blueberry pail liner. I probably prefer the Swaddlesbees because it seems a little better made and really holds a lot of wetness inside.

Wipes (disposable and some cloth) – I tried to be cool and we bought the chlorine free Seventh Generation wipes, only to discover that they suck. They are little dry smelly cloths. Not moist at all. We’ve been using Huggies Natural and of course, we LOVE them. Haha. We LOVE everything. The Huggies are really thick & moist, so it makes clean up great. Starting 2 days ago I have been using the cloth wipes and guess what? LOVE them too. I dumped the remaining Seventh Generation wipes out and using that container, I mixed up my own wipe solution (squirt of his California Baby body wash with water). Add the flannel wipes and there ya go. I feel like I’m giving his bum a mini-bath every time I use them. His bottom was really red from multiple explosive poos, and when I used the Huggies he screamed like it hurt. He doesn’t mind the cloth wipes on the irritated butt as much.

Wipe warmer (supposedly work great with cloth wipes) – we had one but didn’t open it and ended up returning it.

Ointment (has to be cloth diaper friendly) – we use the California Baby diaper rash cream. Works well and isn’t causing problems with the cloth diapers.

Wet Bag for diaper bag – I have a gorgeous Planet Wise bag that is doing great during our few trips out of the house

Diaper Sprayer – haven’t needed it so far so I’m glad we held off. I rinse the poop diapers in the bathroom sink. Eww

Bibs – the more the merrier, soured milk is gross so I found you can’t really use the same bib multiple times

Breastpump – I bought a used Medella Pump in Style with Backpack. It works great using one pump, but I think it goes too slow when I try to double pump. Probably because it was used.

Nursing Pillow/Boppy – we didn’t get one, but then Katherine let us borrow hers and OMG. Due to my fear of him choking on sipt up and his tendency to get hiccups every time he lays flat, Sawyer lives in the thing. He hangs out it when we’re sitting on the couches, sleeps in it, I use it for breastfeeding. We’re wearing the thing out. I honestly can’t imagine what we would’ve done without it.

Burp clothes – we go through these like crazy. I really should buy more. We use them to cover things up so we don’t get peed on during diaper changes, so they frequently get pee & poo on them

Bottles (BPA free or glass) & Nipples – we have Dr. Brown’s 4oz glass bottles. No complaints.

Cleaner/Sterilizer – don’t have, don’t need, not even sure what this is. What we do have is The First Years Spin Store Dry Rack Organizer. Another great item, which lets all the bottle parts air dry and stores them neatly.

Pacifiers – we got Avent ones, but haven’t used them. We don’t like how high they come up above his mouth (touching his nose), plus he doesn’t like them as well as the plain old Nuk from the hospital.
Washclothes & towels – we only do baths twice a week at this point, so we didn’t need very many

Soap – using California Baby Sensitive Skin Body Wash

Lotions – using both Aveno Baby and Cetaphil but nothing stops the peeling & flaking of his head

Baby monitor -we have the Sony 900MHz BabyCall Nursery Monitor and think they are awesome. I can hear Sawyer clearly when I’m in the back yard with the dogs

Thermometer – we have both the kind that can do oral, underarm, rectal and also a pacifier one. I like having the pacifier one to get an idea of what his temperature is without annoying him.

Nail Cliippers – haven’t touched his nails yet, even though they are like mini daggers. We have a vibrating nail file so I’ll have to see how it works

Nasal aspirator – as everyone recommended to us, we didn’t buy one and use the thing from the hospital. Currently not for his nose of course, but to suck stuff out of his mouth when he chokes. So scary! To “aspirate” the nose, Mommy use Q-tips to get those boogies

Laundry Detergent – Dreft of course for his clothes, and Charlie’s Soap for his diapers. Love the smell of Dreft, love that Charlie’s Soap leaves behind no smells

Sling/Carrier & Infant insert – The Ergo Carrier and Infant Insert are great. I put Sawyer in sometimes when I’m going outside with the dogs and we took a nice long family walk one day. Can’t wait for warmer weather to do that more often.

Diaper Bag – I haven’t used the one I bought yet because I use the cute sock monkey bag Stephanie got us. As we leave the house more I’m sure I’ll have to use the other one sometimes because it is bigger. Cloth diapers take up more space, plus I find that when I leave the house Sawyer usually manages to pee on everything so I need several changes of clothes.

Swing – The Fisher Price Little Lamb Cradle N’ Swing is great. My only complaint is that its hard to get him in and out without the animals of the mobile tickling across his face. Also the swing is really loud, but thankfully he likes & needs sounds to sleep

Sleep positioner (inclined wedge) – didn’t get after I read new reports that the flame resistant materials they are made of are toxic

So here are some things I didn’t know we needed or didn’t realize we needed ASAP…
Bouncer Seat – we have a swing, I thought that was enough. I didn’t know we needed both. The bouncy seat hasn’t been life changing or anything, but has been helpful because it is smaller & more mobile than the swing. So when I shower, Sawyer bounces & vibrates in the bathroom floor until I’m done.

Mobile – I knew I wanted one, and was planning to get or make one eventually. I didn’t expect Sawyer to be sleeping downstairs in his crib, but since I couldn’t walk up the stairs for over a week… well we both slept in his room and it seems crazy to switch him upstairs now. Since he doesn’t like his crib, we need a mobile to make him LOVE the crib

Play Gym – Another thing I planned to borrow but didn’t think about him arriving early and not having one, etc etc. He seems to have fun trying to grab toys already when he is “in” the gym. He also gets mad but in a funny way

Mirror for car – we had one, but didn’t like it so we returned it. We hadn’t found a good one and then suddenly we had a baby. I found the Sunshine Kids Easy View Back Seat Mirror and I think it is awesome. We don’t have a head rest in the center of the back seat, so the others didn’t work well. I can see him perfectly with this mirror.

Head Support – the car seat came with an infant head support, but it is too big. After realizing that stuffing blankets around his head wasn’t working well enough (I drove home one day with one hand holding his head steady while I drove with the other), we bought another product that had been suggested to us. Summer Infant Cradler Head Support. Life changing. I can drive safely again and his head doesn’t move.

Diaper Caddy – The SaraBear Diaper Caddy was a gift we didn’t know we needed. Turns out the thing holds all Sawyer’s “hygiene” stuff and sits nicely on the changing table. Without it I’m sure his “stuff” would be falling off all the time and of course looking like an unorganized mess. PLUS if we ever did have him sleeping upstairs with us or want to change him someplace else in the house or when giving him baths, we just take the whole caddy with us.

Sawyer was one month old yesterday. It really is amazing because it feels like just a matter of days. He has really grown a lot so I took him to get weighed at his doctor’s office. He had gained 3 pounds since his last appointment 3 weeks ago. Yay! He weighs 10lbs 4oz now. So super healthy and eating good. We’re working on sleeping and not being held all the time AND fighting gas, but overall he’s doing really well. I’ve had a few break downs after a night of little sleep or when I’ve spent nearly an entire day trying to put him down & get stuff done. Regardless of the times when it is stressful he’s so stinking wonderful that I generally get over those stressed out moments quickly. He makes so many hilarious faces, passes the loudest manliest farts, and is so so adorable. He’s changing so quickly. Just little things, like how he holds his head and sits in the Boppy. He has started “talking” back with the cutest little cues and squeals. Yesterday his play gym arrived (I’m picky and hated the ones in stores so I ordered one), and he grabbed one of the toys. That was a first. I’ve held toys over him many times, hung them off his car seat handle, etc but he’s never tried to grab them. AND as I type this he just went to sleep without me holding him for the 2nd time in a week. That gives me hope. He’s in his swing and I had the water/nature sound turned up loud. He tried to fight it, but both times he began fussing I went over to rub his head and reassure him that Mommy is near. And it worked! Another thing, he’s grown enough to fit into some larger size cloth diapers which means we can use cloth almost exclusively now. I’m having so much fun with the cloth diapers. It is silly. I love doing the laundry with the diapers, hanging them to dry, stuffing the pocket diapers with absorbent inserts, trying different inserts to find the best options with the different diapers, matching colors to his outfits, etc. The only draw back is that sometimes the larger diapers make his clothes not fit. If it is pants, then I can usually just put him in a size larger but one piece outfits don’t always work with the cloth.

I think that is all the updating I’m going to do, because this Mommy is going to get some stuff done while he’s actually sleeping out of my arms

I’m writing this during the middle of the day, which is shocking to me. I try to remind myself that Sawyer is only 3 weeks old and just an infant, but most of the time I worry that we’re spoiling him badly. It really became evident this week with Dan going back to work. Without someone else to help, I’ve found myself unable to get anything done. It takes me about 3 hours to get ready and out of the house because Sawyer does not like it when he isn’t being held. He isn’t content swinging for more than about 10 minutes. He won’t stay in his crib really at all. There are only so many options for places to put him where he will be safe while I shower. The carrier is helpful for things like walking the dog, but not showering. Then there is the nursing. My gosh. He must be in a growth spurt because he wants to nurse once an hour or at most every 3 hours. What happened to my good little baby who would sleep for 4-5 hours?

…and the irony. I had to save a draft of this post, because as I was about to blog about how today was better, he spent some time NOT being held but hanging out in his swing, Boppy, etc AND that he was currently sleeping in his room…. Umm, you guessed it. He woke up, tried to get him back to sleep, etc etc. He nursed AGAIN. Never brag or even think of bragging about your children. They’ll make a liar of you every time.

Anyway, he currently is in his.. dare I even say it… C-R-I-B. Maybe spelling it will keep him from knowing what I’m “talking” (typing) about. My current approach is that I have laundry going (washer & dryer sit directly under his crib in the basement), which is making some noise plus I sat a clock by his head. That’s right. Fake heart beat. Getting desperate up in here. It really isn’t that things are so bad right now, but I’m really concerned that we’re making major problems for ourselves in the future. Considering that I go back to work in 2.5 weeks, I’m talking about the very near future.

And there is crying. That (him in crib) lasted about 7 minutes.

Here is one of the rare moments of him chilling out by himself today

And the crying stopped. Oh wait, no there it is again.

Sawyer is definitely getting longer and fatter. He is too long for one piece newborn clothes, like sleepers with feet. I took this picture today to compare how he fits in his car seat. He was 3 days old in the first picture and 3 weeks & 1 day in the 2nd. I’m excited to have him weighed at 4 weeks old.

This weekend was kind of busy for the Grunau family. Well, busy in comparison to our usual days of doing nothing. Grandma Grunau came for a visit Thursday evening & most of Friday. Since Dan picked her up & drove her home, Aunt Becca came to keep me & Sawyer company and help out while Dan was gone on Thursday. On Saturday, I left the house for a little Mommy time… which meant shopping & a haircut. Wild times I picked up a head support thing called The Cuddler for Sawyer’s carseat and our mirror arrived so we can see him in the back seat while driving. Great great purchases which we tested out on Sunday when visiting Mamaw & Papaw Osburn’s house. I was so so thrilled to be able to see Sawyer in the back seat and to see that his head was where it should be instead of slumped over to one side. Sunday was a busy day for Sawyer, who got to meet some more of his family. See…

Aunt Tamara, Cousins Jamie & John, and the other “new” member of the family, future cousin-in-law Iyanu came to visit. Mamaw Ernie was there too, but Sawyer had met her before

Oh, and even though Mommy doesn’t matter much anymore here is the new do:

As part of my baby obsession and cloth diaper obsession, I like to coordinate Sawyer’s clothes with his blanket & bib. AND if possible, the icing on the cake is also color coordinating his cloth diaper to match. Like this fashion statement he made for bedtime last night…