First Food

Today, we tried giving Porter rice cereal. 

He wasn't too in love with it.

He actually did eat it really well . . . he just made some really funny faces during the process.

4 months

Our little baby is growing up . . . seriously GROWING up. I just took him to his 4-month check-up (& shot attack) and found out he now weighs 18.4 lbs and is 27 in long. The doctor didn't even give a percentile- he said Porter is off all the charts. Woa, Baby!

**Disclaimer for all the pictures: I promise I DO clip his fingernails! No matter what I do, I can't keep him from clawing his face. I think his eczema makes him itch so bad that he just has to scratch. And mittens won't stay on his hands anymore. Just disregard all the scratches and imagine how cute he is without them!

This month, Porter . . .

Rolled over 

. . . a couple times. He practiced and practiced and finally rolled! But once he mastered it, he seemed to lose interest & doesn't even try anymore!

Recognizes Mommy & Daddy

He'll look at us when he hears our voices and gets excited to see us (hooray!). When Brian calls, I usually put the phone up to Porter's ear so Daddy can talk to him for a minute. Once Porter hears his voice, his eyes get huge and he starts looking around the room for Daddy. Pretty funny.

Learned to Like Tummy Time!

We persisted, and, finally, Porter is able to hold his neck and head up while on his tummy. Now he can stay there for a few minutes without getting fussy at all!

Likes Music & Lullabies

Singing calms him down. And, often, he'll start cooing along with you when you sing. So cute!

Still Sleeps Through the Night

Every now and then, he'll surprise us with a 3 or 4 am wake-up call. But otherwise, he usually goes down around 8pm and sleeps until 6 or 7am.

Drools Like Mad

Seriously- I have no idea how a (relatively) little baby can produce so much drool. It's insane! He goes through several bibs and outfits each day. His new favorite thing is sticking his fists in his mouth, which makes him produce more drool. Yuck!

Makes Motor Noises

Porter's new favorite noise to make is by vibrating his lips (usually with spit flying out of his mouth!). He makes this sound mostly in the car. We love it!


We can't believe 4 months have gone by so quickly! We love our baby!

My Little Participant

Last night I attended a dinner for all of the teachers getting their ESL Endorsements. It was a nice celebration with good food and each of the advisors stood and honored the teachers they were over and said a little bit about each one. Since I hate being away from my baby more than I have to, I took Porter with me to this event. When they asked me to stand up, I went to the front with Porter. They presented us with these:

For ME-
     a certificate of completion
For PORTER-
     a Certificate of Participation in the ESL Endorsement program (while both in and out of the womb)
     and a bottle bank- filled with pennies and some pesos (to help him start his collection of international currency)

Pretty sure the certificate will be hanging in his room soon-- he'll look like the smartest 3-month old on the block!

"Me" Time

Although simplicity was my goal for the year, I feel like my life has become anything but simple. I get stressed out so easily and, unfortunately, my hubby's seen a few meltdowns from me this past week.

I get frustrated that I don't have more time with my baby. But then I also get frustrated that I don't have more time at school to plan. I get frustrated that I haven't made home-cooked meal in over 2 weeks. And when I don't make food, I get frustrated that we're adding the unnecessary expense of eating out so often. I get frustrated when the house is covered in dust, the laundry is teetering 3 feet above the top of the hamper, a nasty smell is coming from the sink, and a bag of trash is sitting outside our front door waiting to be taken to the dumpster (for 3 days!). I get frustrated when I'm late everywhere I go because I haven't yet figured in the appropriate amount of time for getting the baby fed & ready to go as well.

Needless to say, I've been a little ball of stress for the past few weeks and I'm sure I haven't been very fun to live with.  My goal is not to complain, however. This is just to set you up for how amazing my hubby is . . .

Usually, Brian works till 10 on weeknights. But last night, the doorbell rang at 6. When I answered it, Brian was standing there! He grabbed the baby and pushed me out the door, forcing me to take some "ME" time. I protested a bit at first, then I nearly sprinted to the car! I left for 2 hours and when I returned, I had beautifully manicured hands; 2 shirts found on clearance; some errands run to cross off my to-do list; and, most importantly, a refreshed outlook on life!

I'm so grateful for my hubby! I'm feeling much better now. =)

3 months

Last week, Porter turned 3 months old! We celebrated with another photo shoot. Poor kid. But I was lucky to have Brian home this time so he was able to make him smile while I shot some photos.

This month, Porter . . . 

Started Laughing

His first laugh was actually at the babysitter's. When Brian and I heard that, we spent that whole evening cooing, tickling, and making fools of ourselves . . . no laugh. But the next day, Porter gave use each a giggle. Now he giggles more and more everyday and we love it!

Sleeps Like a Baby
Porter started sleeping 9 to 11 hours each night. Can you say heaven?! It's been so wonderful!

Moved to His Crib

We're so happy we finally get to use it! Although he's moved to the crib, the routine is still the same- we swaddle him and play vacuum sounds all night long.

 Hates Tummy Time

The doctor told us at our first appointment to make sure Porter got lots of tummy time. Unfortunately, we didn't really follow that order like we should have. Now when Porter gets put on his tummy, he cries and smothers his face in the floor. It's so sad. We don't leave him down for long, but we still try it several times a day. He gets a little better each time at lifting his neck-- but it's still miserable.

Eats Like Crazy

Porter loves to eat. If we had a gallon-sized bottle, I think he'd just go on chugging it till it was empty, then cry when it was all gone. But Brian and I love his little whimper, half-cry that he does whenever his bottle's gone. That lasts for about a minute, then he's as happy as can be!

Turned Into a Drool Machine

We go through several bibs a day-- or several outfits, if we forget to put a bib on him!

Lost Half His Hair

It's so sad to see his thick, dark hair falling out. But we can already see the new hair growing in. So I guess we'll be okay.

Became Aware of His Hands and Toys

He loves to eat his hands. Also, he loves swatting at his toys that hang on a mobile over his playard. One of them has a rattle inside- that's his favorite to hit.

Also, this month, Porter met all 3 of his great-grandparents, was blessed at church, and started attending church regularly.

In case I haven't said it enough on this blog . . . we love this baby!

Endorsed

I've had a crazy school year. Along with the whole baby thing, I decided to get my ESL Endorsement as well. This required that I go to 7 full-day classes throughout the year; one class every 1-2 months. One of the classes fell during maternity leave so I got to cart my 3-week old baby along with me to the 9 hour class. Between each class, I had about 15-20 hours worth of assignments to complete. I got a little behind when I had the baby, so I have been working my tail off for the past few weeks to catch up (mostly into the wee hours of the night while Porter was sleeping). While I was doing this, Brian was right in the middle of his finals. It's been crazy!

On Friday, I had my exit interview and I am officially done! Brian and I are enjoying our time together without our unfinished homework looming over us.

Now, if I could just finish up my reading endorsement . . .    =)

sacrifices

I could stare at this baby boy all day. And I think I'd still see visible growth happening right before my eyes! He is the cutest, most precious thing I've ever seen in this world. Brian and I simply adore him. We are constantly talking in happy, high-pitched voices around our house. It's pretty funny!

Since becoming a mommy, I've given up . . .
1. sleep
2. running quick errands to the store whenever I need/want anything
3. the nursery, formerly my own personal storage room
4. spending extra time at school past contract hours (which I actually do miss)
5. shopping for myself ( fitting rooms + strollers = drive me crazy! )
6. my weight- not quite back to my old size/shape . . . yet?
7. my wardrobe (see #6 . . . and #5)

But, oh my goodness, it is all so worth it! I would not take any of that stuff back. Porter is now our world.

 And what a wonderful world it is!

Baby Blessings

On Sunday, our sweet little baby was blessed. It was a great day! We were so lucky to have my family, Brian's family, and many good friends there to support us.

It's a very rare occurrence to have my entire side of the family all in one place. We are all spread out through Washington, Utah, Idaho, Arizona, and Texas. However, that just happened to be the weekend some of them were going to be in town already and everyone else decided to make an effort to come. My sister, who came with her family from Texas, decided to have her baby blessed that weekend as well. Olivia's blessing was on Saturday.

It was so fun to have everyone together! Porter even got to meet his great-grandma Sudweeks. She informed us that Porter is her 48th great-grandchild.

And while Porter's cousin Olivia was here (they're only 6 months apart), we made sure to start them off to being best friends. Translated- we made them pose together for pictures over and over, while each one could care less that another baby was sitting next to them!

It was a fun weekend and Sunday was definitely the icing on the cake. It was such as special day for us to have our baby blessed. What a wonderful life we have!

Easter

Hope you all had a happy Easter!

field trips

The first grade is going on a field trip tomorrow. In light of this, I was telling Brian yesterday about my field trips when I was little. The rest of the school year, I ate school food. But on field trip day, I got a special lunch. My mom would take me shopping the night before and I'd pick out a special drink, the kind of sandwich meat I wanted (unless I wanted a lunchable), a special treat, and usually some fruit snacks. I told Brian that I planned on doing this with our kids as well.

Well, when my cute husband came home tonight, this is what he brought me:

I feel like a kid again! So sweet!

And I really don't think I should end a post without giving you a peek at this handsome little man . . .