Little Changes

Yes there are big major changes in your life when you have a kid, but there are minor ones too....

I am so behind on blog reading it isn't funny. Before Griffin if you posted to your blog I would have prob read it within a few hours of your publishing. Now I am lucky to read it a week later.

I am not a consistent blogger. Before Griff, I posted almost five or six times a week. Now I go weeks without posting. And even longer between posting anything other than pictures of my adorable son.

I never read books. Before Griff, I was not the fastest reader, but I usually read a book a month. Now they sit and taunt me for not reading them!

I rarely cook. Before Griffdaddy, I cooked usually four meals a week. Mr.Pate grilled in the warmer months, but other than that it was all me. Now Mr.Pate cooks when we eat at home, and we eat out way more.

And finally....
I look like a slob. Before the cutie, I used to actually wear stylish clothing and put myself together each day. Now I strive to put on a clean, matching outfit. That is my only requirement.

Here's to change! ;-)

BAM

I was texting with a mom of a one week old today, and trying to encourage her as much as I can. She is totally in love with her new little guy, of course, but is just experiencing the new overwhelming world of motherhood. She used the phrase "life changing", and it is!

Motherhood turns your life upside down. We all know that. But I think the shocking thing is more so that it effects every tiny aspect of your life. We kinda expect that, but not fully.

For nine months the focus is on you- how your pregnancy is going and how you feel. Then BAM, that baby comes and now the focus is on them (and rightly so, right? They are so cute!). And you are suddenly bombarded with everyone else's opinions on how to mother this child, with feelings of inadequacy and anxiety over having no clue what you are doing, and the sudden realization that it will not be just you and your hubby again for a very long time.

Yes, you knew all of this was coming before, and everyone kept telling you. But suddenly the new reality is here and it hits you like a ton of bricks on one side, while sleep exhaustion hits you on the other. Add a crazy wave of hormones, and you have yourself one hard month or so - emotionally, mentally, physically, and relationally.

I do not really think telling preggos about this helps. What I do think helps is encouraging new moms in the thick of it that it's normal and they are doing great! You need to hear that 500 times a day when your newborn won't eat and only wants to scream his cute little head off. You are not the first mom to have no clue what they are doing. Other moms have suddenly mourned the loss of their life as young newlyweds without a care in the world. This does not mean you do not love this new gift from the Lord more than any words can express. It is just part of the process. What you will soon realize is you will be doing this mourning the past phase while being excited over the new phase over and over throughout this little ones life. I am so excited to see Griffin getting close to crawling, but I am so sad my tiny newborn is gone. We never get enough of most seasons of life.

So, if you are soon to enter this new phase of motherhood, I warn you that your life will never be the same. You already know that, right?

Maybe I will just come tell you once it happens... You'll understand then. It will hit you just like BAM.

The wave!

Griffin is waving now!!! A few weeks ago he kinda waved to some people in the church nursery, but it was questionable. Today, however, he has definitely caught the wave bug! He started waving and smiling at the ladies at the pharmacy (we are on an antibiotic now, let's hope it helps!) and then again at the chiropractor! He waves by waving his arm up and down first, then he starts opening and closing his little hand. Most of the time he faces his hand towards himself when he opens and closes it. It's so cute! Hopefully I can get a video of it soon.
What a cutie!

This Week in Review

- Monday we had "family" dinner night with Dustin over for the first time in a long time, and we all had a ball playing with our little guy!
- Tuesday, Griffin and I took dinner to daddy at work.
- Wednesday night we had church as always. Griffin cried the whole time he was in the nursery so I had to leave youth early. Poor thing was overtired and not used to the new nursery workers. Plus church is right in the middle of bedtime. Ugh.
- Thursday was a rainy gross mess. Griffin got a fever and became a snotty mess. He (and I) barely slept.
- Friday I took Griff with me to work so I could do some pressing things, and then we headed to the doctor. Stupid copays. He said Griff's fine and the congestion just has to come out. Goody!
- Saturday I cleaned like a crazy woman, then when Mr.Pate got home from work we all played for a bit. We went to lowes and then sushi! Yummo!
- Sunday we worshiped with our church family and I led girls small group. I love leading it again! Then we had lunch at the Graves' house. Mr. Pate had to work tonight, so me and Griffin went grocery shopping on our own and it was a success! He is loving sitting up in the shopping cart looking around. Then I cleaned more and stuffed diapers once the kiddo slept. Now I am headed to bed myself- I am worn out!! Whew.
- Did I mention Griffin was sick from Thursday night on? He has woken up with eyes so gunky that I am starting to see it as normal. Ugh.

6 Months Old!

6 Months Old

Griffin is 6 months old! That is half of a year! My oh my, where has the time gone? Time is such a funny thing. It feels like I was sitting right on this couch yesterday crying because I was home but my baby was in the NICU, and yet that also feels like a million years ago. Time marches on eh?

6 Month Stats:

• Griffin weighs 15 lbs 8 oz (10th percentile), is 26" long (50th percentile), and his head is 43 cm (20th percentile). 
• Clothing: He is barely squeezing in 3 month clothing, is comfortable in 3-6 month and 6 month clothing and wearing 6-9 clothing with a little extra length. His diapers are still on the 2nd rise setting. 
• We are still breastfeeding exclusively. Six months in, wow. I am so thankful for my boss & coworkers support in this. We never would have made it this far without their understanding and support so I can pump each day. Griffin usually only takes 10-15 minutes to nurse now. 
• Still spitting up, but it is definitely getting better. Just in the last two weeks, we have noticed it is happening less and less. So he still throws up after every feeding at some point, but not as much in amount as he used to. Hopefully we are growing out of it?! We did reflux meds for the last month, but we did not see any difference and decided not to continue them this month. I do not think his spitting up has caused him any burning in his throat (which is what the meds treat). Here is to hoping by 7 months he is over it!!! I cannot even imagine having a baby who doesnt spit up constantly. Cant even imagine. 
• Schedule: Griffin is still on a 4 hr schedule. He is still doing well with eating every four hours, but the sleep is not always happening anymore. Oh daycare! They really struggle to get him to nap there. I am still not sure what the problem is. At home he will take a 1 & 1/2 or 2 hour nap. But not there. Whatever. 
• Nighttime Sleep: We are doing SO.MUCH.BETTER! Griffin is putting himself to sleep each night in his crib usually. He started rolling onto his stomach to sleep and sleeps so much better on his stomach, so we now put him on his stomach to begin with (I know I know, they say dont do that!). He does so much better this way! He has only been waking about 2 times a night now, which is a great improvement. Woo Hoo!
• Milestones: He can now scoot himself backwards, and around in a circle. He is rocking back adn forth on his hands and feet and he even pulled up on something once this month! Crazy! 
• We started rice cereal last weekend. Our doctor has us do this for three weeks then we start yellow veggies. So far Griffin likes the spoon and the cereal, but he is still figuring out how to swallow with his tongue. 
• This month Griffin has fallen in love with Zoey, our cat. He loves to pull her hair or hit her (pat her). She is not his biggest fan, but she doesnt run away either. I mean, if it bugged her that much she would get up right? Ha!

Click here to see how Griffin has grown!

Goodnight Sweetheart...

If you havent been following along on our sleep journey with Griffin, you can catch up here. It has been an interesting 6 months of sleep, I must say. There was little sleep in the beginning because of pumping, then late night nursing sessions. But Griff got the hang of it and started sleeping long stretches at 6 weeks and just improved from there. Then around 4 months old, Griffin started waking several times a night, and everything went down hill from there.

I have no real clue what happened, but I do have some theories or ideas. I think that Griffin's reflux started acting up, then he got his 4 month shots and felt horrid for a few days, then Mr.Pate and I did not stay consistent but instead we started changing everything up. Griffin got confused and we sent him mixed signals. We stopped swaddling really suddenly and probably before he was ready. He moved him from his crib to the rock n play. We started holding him more. And he got used to it. The fact that he is a gassy reflux baby made things more difficult. We didnt want to just leave him crying because what if it was his stomach issues?? And sometimes it definitely was. But we got in the habit of feeding him a couple of times a night again, and I think that made his stomach stuff worse at night.

So fast forward to now. Is he sleeping? Not usually but sometimes. Here is what I have learned through this process:

• Babies sleep is a mystery. Some say more sleep brings more sleep. Some say really keep them up and exhaust them then they will sleep. Fill their tummies up with cereal and they will sleep.... etc. etc. We did these things to no avail. What I have learned is every baby is different.
• Consistency is of UTMOST importance. A bedtime routine is key to him getting drowsy and putting himself to sleep. Griff usually puts himself to sleep great. 
• People are really opinionated on the CIO thing. I dont care which way you believe, but it does annoy me how much non-CIO people harp on the damage even 5 minutes of crying can cause. Do their babies never cry for 5 minutes?? Because there are lots of times throughout our day where Griffin may cry for 5 minutes straight even though I am there tending to him (diaper change anyone? giving an infant medicine?). I have read so many articles that harped on how I am killing brain cells by letting him cry... newsflash- babies cry. Not just when they are trying to sleep either. 
• All the books are saying the same thing. Basically they give you a plan and want you to stick with it. Consistency. Thats the point. 
• The "No Cry" approaches really dont give you a plan or an approach. They basically tell you to comfort baby then put them back down, then do it again and again. Eventually your child will learn to sleep. Well thanks for that... I really thought he would do this till age 30! ha!
• I can function on very little sleep. 
• One day I will sleep again. 
• My son is soooo precious and most of the time I am taking the wee hours of the morning to truly savor him right now. I smell his hair and kiss his sweet cheek and listen to his cute breathing and thank my God for being so generous. For blessing me when I deserve a curse instead. Amazing Grace. 

OTH

I love the show One Tree Hill. It started while I was in college, and Kristen and I made it our show. We were busy kids, but we always come back to our dorm room and made sure to watch oth together. We got busy and stopped watching our senior year of college though. Then, while I was working at the BCM Darks introduced me to the reruns on Soapnet. I was hooked!

Well this is the last season for the show. They have been on for nine years I think. Wow. They have had a good run.

I always hate when shows (or movies even) come to an end. It really bums me out. I get so attached to the characters. It's like losing some of your best friends, people who you know everything about you know?

Am I the only one that feels this way?

Blog To Do list

Things I really need to blog about:

• OTH
• Sleep/lack thereof/CIO/whatever
• 6 months old!
• Stumbling into Motherhood
• Update on the cloth diaper journey

Maybe now that I have a list it will happen?

Help A Family Out!

ATTENTION FRIENDS AND FAMILY MEMBERS:

My friend's the Yancey's are in the process of bringing a child home from the Congo to be theirs FOREVER! I dont know how much you know about adoption, but it is very very expensive. Which is so sad because there are children all over the world (including here) that need and long for a family but are delayed or denied that privilege because of the money and red tape! Ugh!

So let's help the Yancey Clan get their new baby home as soon as possible! Order a t-shirt! They need the orders by Thursday night, so get them fast! You can get all the details on her blog by clicking here. Please help them out!

Reverse! Reverse!

Who read that title and started singing the Cha Cha Slide? Haha!

Griffin has entered the trying to crawl phase! Oh where did my little baby go? So far he can move himself backwards and bounce or rock in place. Take a look:

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Perfect in my book

Today was perfect in my book. I woke up to my adorable son, who was in a fabulous mood. After he had breakfast, we played some and then he played on his own I his exersaucer long enough for me to dustmop, sweep, vacuum and wash diapers! Then my friend Elizabeth got here and we loaded our kiddos up and headed to Sonora. Several of us met up at my friend Melanie's house for some quality time. There were 2 two year olds, a one year old and 2 babies... So yes, someone was crying at all times! Ha! It was loud and chaotic, but a wonderful time.

Then we came home and played and played and played. Daddy made ranch burgers (soooo good) and then we played more. Griffin had a bath and went right to sleep for us, so Mommy and Daddy had some good quality time too.

The only thing that would make the day better? If we didn't have to get up and go to work tomorrow! Ha!



Gonna miss this sweet face!

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

One little note

Griffin twirls his hair, or mine, when he is sleepy or sleeping. So precious. I have got to get it on video so I can always look back and see this cute little guy. Love him.

What's Up Around Here

• Griffin is sleeping better, not great, but better... Post coming soon on that
• I got short full bangs right before Christmas and have decided that I didn't hate them, but they aren't for me. So I am already growing them out.
• I am finally working out again. Why did I wait so long?
• I love three day weekends :-)
• I got a new camera lens and Photoshop Elements with my bday and Xmas money. Yay!! I have been playing around with them and trying to learn the ropes.
• I am pretty sure we do laundry every.single.day.now. Fun...
• I am ready for Spring. Not Winter's fan at all.
• One Tree Hill just started its last season ever! Post coming soon...
• My son will be six months on Wednesday. Half a year. Seriously? In the words of my sister "I just don't even know what to say about that!"

Puppy Love

Everyone knows we love our pup Joey around here, but it is exciting to see Griffin falling in love with him too. Joey is doing an amazing job being patient and gentle so far also.















- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Well Hello Brody

Griff and I made a quick trip down to TN today to meet our little friend Brody. His mom, Cortney, and I grew up together and I am so glad we are going through this parenthood journey together too. Brody is 2 months old and has more hair than most grown men I know! Ha! It was so good to meet him and get to catch up with Cortney for a little while. Wish we lived closer!

Happy Birthday Ela!

Last weekend we took Griffin to his first birthday party! His friend from daycare, Ela, turned one and invited us to celebrate with her at Hopscotch Place. We had a great time. Griffin got to slide for the first time ever and "play" on some inflatables (Daddy helped him). Enjoy the pics!