Mother's Day

Every week I come on here and document another first. Just when I think the first couldn't be big enough, another first comes! It's just so much fun to see this tiny little human being grow and do new things. But this week, I had a first.....Mother's Day!

My men were so sweet to me on Mother's Day. Every day leading up to Mother's Day made me more excited than before. I was almost more excited for Mother's Day than I was my birthday - that's not hard to believe because celebrating birthdays after 30 years is not quite as fun as before. Jason surprised me with a box full of chocolate-covered strawberries the night before. We had a little date night watching a movie and eating the strawberries.

Seth and Jason wrote me the sweetest cards and gave me an awesome surprise: a spa massage! Woohoo! I need that after carrying and nursing my growing baby boy.

We met up for brunch with my parents, grandparents, Kyle, Jenni and Jenni's mom, grandma and brother. My parents gave me a corsage to wear. I don't know why, but I always wanted to wear one on Mother's Day. After stuffing our mouths with a nice brunch, we headed back to our home for dessert. I know. Why go on to the next place for dessert when you're stuffed? Do you need a reason to have dessert?

I was listening to a podcast in which Dee Brestin was encouraging mothers. She said something that I never want to forget as a mommy: when you think that all you do is wipe snot and change diapers, never forget that you are nurturing an eternal soul. I love that. My objective as a mommy is that I'm nurturing Seth, an eternal soul. All the boogies, all the blowouts, all the fussy moments pale in comparison to the larger picture of being a mom to Seth - that he is not mine, but God loaned him to me and Jason to nurture his soul. Big gulp.

Right now this is easy. Soothing words and cuddles when Seth's gums hurt. Singing "Jesus Loves Me" and rocking him before a nap. Praying for Seth before he goes to sleep for the night. Cleaning him after a blowout.

I get a little nervous thinking that it is going to get harder as Seth gets older. I'm so glad it's not just up to me.:) Seth has a loving daddy and I'm so blessed that he is my husband. We're in this together.

I felt so proud and blessed on my first mother's day: I have a beautiful baby boy and a loving husband. These are the days that I dreamed about for so long. Thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness and for all of these blessings in your timing!

Seth's Summary - 19 weeks

We had a lot of big activities this week. Saturday, May 1st, was my brother Jayson's surprise party in southern Minnesota. I took Seth on his first road trip to Jayson's home where the party was, while Jason went ahead of me in the morning with my parents to meet Jayson for a morning of golf. It was the perfect day for a road trip. Seth fell asleep within 20 minutes of driving, so he had a nice 1.5 hr nap. Score!

Seth was loved on by so many people at the party! He did really well, even though he protested an afternoon nap in the pack and play at Jayson and Jen's house. Seth is a resilient little boy and did just fine. He just took everything and everyone in. It was fun to see how he was just gobbled up by his two uncles.

What was Seth up to this week?
- Seth has started to sit up on his own. He's still practicing, but we prop his belly between his legs and he can sit up without our help for a few seconds!
- From laying on his back, we hold Seth's hands and pull him to a sitting position and then a standing position. Seth has the biggest surprised look on his face and he opens his mouth wide like he's going on a roller coaster ride! It's so cute....
- One afternoon I had Seth sitting with his back to my legs and he began arching back until he realized his foot was touching his toy snail. He stopped arching his back and starting playing with the snail using his foot! He did this for 5 minutes -using his foot to push the snail back and forth so it would make music. He's got good foot/eye coordination - future soccer hopeful!
- Seth added a new sound to his vocabulary. he loves to scream! He does these high-pitched screams
- Seth is still sleeping through the night!

Here are some pictures from this week:

Here we are with the birthday boy! Uncle Ray doesn't miss a photo op!

Jen's mom, Marcia, is so sweet. I've had so much fun getting to know her and spend time with her. And she loves babies! Seth was quite content being held by Marcia.

Seth and his uncle. Someday they're going to be throwing a football around, but we'll make sure Seth's uncles and Jason teach him how and NOT his mommy!

Seth loves to reach for things that are dangled over him. I was explaining my Tiffany's bracelet to Seth and how it's important that every man with a girlfriend or wife knows the significance of the little blue box!

Choosing Seth

Kelly's Korner is one of my favorite blogs to read and today she has a "Show Us Your Life" tour about why you chose the name you did for your child. And, of course, I can't resist talking about Seth!

Jason and I have talked about our kids' names for years. In fact, we thought for sure that our son's name would be Hunter, only because one of our favorite Minnesota Twins' players (at the time) was Tori Hunter.... not to say we were going to name our son after a baseball player.:) We just liked the name Hunter.

But then when we were actually pregnant and found out we were having a boy. It was very important to us to name our son after Jason's dad, Roger, who passed away in 2008 from cancer. We had told Roger that we would name our son after him. So, Hunter Roger didn't really have a good ring to it...."er" and "er"....er.

I'm not exactly sure how "Seth" came on the radar. I think it was on my list.:) But, we liked that it was a name in the Bible (Seth was Adam and Eve's third son, after Cain and Abel). It also means "appointed by God", which means to us that God appointed our son to be born to us at this exact time.

I love thinking about names. Confession - I already think about our next child's name! But, I prefer to keep everyone in suspense, so my lips are sealed for our favorite girl names.:)

Seth's Summary - 20 weeks

We had quite a few firsts this week! Jason went to Door County to watch Dave graduate from Police Academy training, while Seth and I stayed behind to host a get-together with cousin Jamie, sister-in-law Jen, Jen's mom and my mom. Yes, it was just me and Seth for a few days!

By the second day, both of us were missing Jason so much! Seth didn't really seem like his normal chipper self. He really gets a charge out of Jason. But, he's been especially cuddly with me while Jason's been gone. This was the first time that one of us has been apart from our little family.

I stayed home with Seth all day Friday. It was so nice to have that extra day, because I just love staying home with my little buddy. We went to Seth's PT appt and I was so encouraged by what the PT had to say about Seth's progress with torticollis. He is doing so well and we'll only need to go to monthly PT appts.

Another first....my first Mother's Day! I have been so excited about this weekend since I was pregnant last year. I've wanted to be a mommy for a while and it's still so new that I love celebrating! :)

What was Seth up to this week?
- Seth's really started reaching out and grabbing things to touch them, make them move or play music. When sitting up and leaning forward, he uses his hands to touch toys in front of him to play music or move.
- Seth is easily engaged by adults who talk to him animatedly, make baby sounds to him or play with him.
- I have to work at making his nursing times free of distractions. He will stare off out the window or start playing when he should be finishing eating!
- It just seems that Seth is getting so big! His legs are getting thicker and he seems longer.
- Seth's head is so, so, so soft!! I love rubbing his head.
- I found out that Seth likes his arms being tickled, just like his mommy! He stops what he's doing and just holds his arm still while I tickle his arm.

- When is being held by another person and I walk up to him, he reaches out for me! Heart melter!

Seth's Summary: 16 weeks

I remember when Seth was only SIX weeks old. Now he is SIXTEEN weeks old...it's amazing how time flies by and everyone tells you that, but you just don't want to believe it.

Naps: For the last week, Seth's naps have gotten longer to about 1-2 hours each. He doesn't wake up every 45 minutes like he used to. He also only wimpers a little when you first put him down for a nap. Then, he finds his fingers and he's content. Sometimes you can hear him talking to himself for about 5 minutes before he's out. Is it too soon to say we've turned over a new leaf in the nap department?


Night sleeping: Knock on wood. That's all I'm going to say. But can I brag just a tad with how well Seth sleeps at night? I keep reading about the 4-month sleep regression that so many babies experience. So, I'm going to say here and now what a good sleeper Seth has been. He has slept through the night (8pm - 7am) consistently without waking up since 8 weeks old. And even before 8 weeks, I had to wake Seth up for middle-of-the-night feedings. Seth's 4th month may be the end of our glorious sleep, but I'm going to enjoy each night until something changes.


Fun Seth facts:

- Seth purposely focuses on a toy placed in front of him, aims for it with his hands and guides his hands to grabbing the toy. It is so fun to see him reach out and grab things, when before he would wave his arms and hands around the hanging toys, but not always purposely grab them.
-He's "grggle"-ing his thoughts to us all the time! He coos, who's and now "grgg"-les.
- He brings objects up to his mouth and "gums" on them. It's typically the green frog or soft soccer ball.
- He has good focusing ability. When Jason throws a ball up in the air and catches it, Seth watches Jason throw the ball up and holds his focus on Jason's hand until he catches the ball. Pretty soon he's going to be catching the ball if Jason tosses it at him, that's how advanced he is. ;) Ha!

-He smiles and coos back when people talk animatedly to him. If someone just talks at him, he doesn't always indulge you with a smile but he'll just study you and wait to see if you're going to entertain him with an animated voice. :)

- He's started to play little "games" with me when I'm nursing. If I start talking while nursing, Seth stops, leans back and watches me with a stoic expression. Then, I giggle. I stop giggling and he continues to nurse, but then I can't stop giggling. Seth stops, leans back, gives me a sly expression and then dives back to nurse. We go back and forth like this for at least five minutes.

Seth's Summary: 15 weeks

Jumpa-who? Jumparoo, that's who....or, I should say 'what'. Seth got a new toy this week - a jumparoo and, boy, does he love it! He sits in it, sucks his hands, and then flails his hands around and pushes his feet off the ground, sending him in a flurry of bounces.

"All hands on deck!" Seth constantly sticks his hands in his mouth and munches away. With the constantly drooling and hand munching, we know Seth is in for some pearly whites soon to come popping through his gums. We haven't seen anything come through yet, but I bet any day now Seth will get his first tooth.

Other fun Seth facts:
- Seth had his first....I mean, second official photo shoot with Jason's friend, Rich, who is a great photographer. Rich took newborn photos of Seth while we were still at the hospital and here we are 15 weeks later and Seth is over twice as big! Seth was a trooper, even though it was early evening and in the middle of his nap.
- We took our new stroller out for our first spin around Arbor Lakes. Seth was awake for the whole ride, except for our dinner at Potbelly.

My friend Talia's daughter, Vivian, turned 1 years old and here we are at her party.

Seth's first Easter Sunday! Here Seth is with my parents.

Our first family picture.

Seth's Summary: Week 14

We had a busy, busy week! We made it through the first full week of both mommy AND daddy at work during the days. Of course, it was probably harder on mommy than it was on Seth.;)

The weather has been getting so nice. Jason and I try to take Seth outside whenever we can. We walk around the perimeter of the house. We sit on the bench in the front and watch the cars go by. We hang out on the picnic blanket in the back and listen to birds chirp and the wind in the trees.

Seth puts his hands in his mouth and just looks, thinks and takes it all in. I stood with Seth in front of the neighbor's wind mill on a particularly windy day. Seth was so enthralled with the spinning wind mill that he took his hands out of his mouth and just stared for minutes on end!

Seth has so much fun with Jason. And vice versa! Jason picks Seth up, raises Seth in the air and he just squeals and giggles with excitement.

Awww....here is a particularly cuddly moment for Seth and Jason. Jason loves cuddling Seth.

I'm just trying to throw you off here with Seth's coordinating sleeper and blanket stripe theme.:)

One of the first times we really "hung out" on the picnic blanket. Also one of the first times Seth got to see his mommy freak out over a spider that came dangerously close to our blanket.

Jason's mom hosted a get together at her house for the Grant side of the family, so Seth was introduced to a very loving family! Seth was completely enthralled with the vents on family room basement ceiling. He kept cooing and chatting at the vents.

Here is Jason's cousin, Tim, and Seth.
Jason's aunt, Wilma. I have an Aunt Wilma too! They're the best!
Jason's aunt, Judy. Awww...they're matching.:)
Jason and I laughed at this sight when we pulled up to mom's house. Seth's hat fell over his eyes and he didn't give a holler....he just decided to sleep. Is that all it takes????

Had to get a shot of the cute little froggy bum.:)