A Day in the Life of Beckett: 3 Months

I imagine to most people who read this, A Day in the Life of Beckett will be fairly boring. However, the main purpose of this here blog is to chronicle our little story and one day have a chance to look back at it. I imagine if Brian gets his way and we have FIVE children, one day I will look back and roll my eyes at the simplicity of life with 3 month old Beckett. But for now, here's what a day looks like in the life of Beckett (and a new Stay at Home Mommy).

2am - Wakes Up to eat. Mom is way too tired to deal with trying to sit in the nursery while feeding so Beckett gets to come into Mommy & Daddy's room for the rest of the night. On my good days, Beckett stays in his room til morning.
6am - Wakes up to eat again. We play for a little while and doze back off around 6:30
8am - Wakes to eat again, then laze around in bed. Mommy dozes in and out while Beckett chats to and entertains himself. At this point, we're not in any hurry to get out of bed in the mornings. As you can see, he wakes up A LOT to eat sometimes. Other days he only wakes up ONCE in the middle of the night. We're still figuring out how to combat that situation.
9am - Mommy & Beckett Playtime! Right now, mornings are my favorite time with Beckett. He is just all smiles and chatting. We talk back and forth, have tummy time, and just enjoy his smiles!

This morning seems to have discovered his sleeves. He played like this for quite a while. This outfit is a 9 month outfit so the sleeves are a little long, but we just HAD to make sure we got the most of these adorable pajamas! :) 

9:25am - Make a pot if Coffee for mommy, then start Beckett's morning get ready routine: New diaper, lotioned down, and getting dressed. Yesterday I read an article about the importance of infant massages so I decided to YouTube them and see about implementing that. Beckett looked at me like I was crazy and I looked at massage lady like she was crazy. This will be our last time pretending to implement daily infant massages. 

The blue gloves are my signature household necessity. I don't like my hands feeling gross and right now the doctor has us lubing him up with Vaseline or Hydrocortisone every day, so I use gloves. Don't judge. :) 

Beckett's "Mom, Stop Reading things on the Internet" look.

9:44 - As soon as I start dressing him, Beckett enters meltdown mode. I laugh because he's wearing his "little DJ" shirt… just like his uncle. :) 

It's almost nap time… 

9:48 - Full blown meltdown. I give up on applying hydrocortisone and feed him to stop the chaos. This is also a good opportunity for me to relax in my awesome glider chair (BEST. INVESTMENT. EVER) and finish my coffee that is now on it's way to cold.

10:00am - Beckett falls asleep eating. This is not ideal. I consider this a Mommy fail. I've been trying NOT to nurse him to sleep but... nap time anyway. 

I take a few minutes to log on Tweakaboo, my new favorite app, and then start cleaning the nursery.

10:18 Nursery is clean, Beckett is still sleeping... Grab baby monitor (given to us by Uncle devon & Aunt Katie!) & head downstairs. Time to clean! Kitchen… laundry... figure out what's for dinner.

10:26 I see Beckett stirring in the monitor and pray he doesn't wake up. I should have another hour at least. 

10:38 He wakes and cries. I give him a couple minutes and pray he soothes himself but it becomes obvious that's not going to happen. 10:40 head upstairs. Try everything.

The blankie snuggle maneuver

The binky press

The tooshie pat (his favorite)

The back rub

10:46 He's still figiting but I try and sneak out anyway. Back down to start laundry.
10:52 Upstairs to make the bed and hit the shower.
10:56 He's stirring again. But I'm determined I'm getting in the shower anyway.
11:00 As soon as I'm undressed he goes into full on meltdown. Of course. I try to calm him but he's not having it so I pick him up and realize he's covered in pee. Oops. Poor guy. Of course I don't have a picture of this full outfit yet so I subjected him to a few more minutes of horror so I have time to snap a quick pic before I proceed to change him. 

"It's ALL OVER ME!"

Even after he's changed, he continues to insist that's the worst experience he's ever had. How dramatic. I'm not sure where he gets that from…

"It was horrible!"

"I could have diiiiiiied…"

"You just don't understaaand"

11:09 If I'm holding him he's okay, but as soon as I put him down he melts down. (Luckily, this is not a regular occurrence in our house). Then he insists he's hungry again. Dad is going to be home in 21 minutes for lunch so I give up  on showering and get dressed again.

"Hold me, Moooom!"

"Mom, I think we're having a rough day."

11:11 He eats. AGAIN. He usually only eat every two and half hours but he hasn't been eating as long so he eats more often. We need to fix that.
11:27 Despite my best efforts to shake him awake, he has fallen asleep eating again. Of course as soon as I try and put him down he wakes up.

11:30 Apparently all he needed was that snack and a quick nap because he's suddenly awake and happy. As we head downstairs to make lunch, we hear dad walk in. So much for having lunch ready. Wife Fail.

11:55 Quick lunch & Daddy Time

"She's fibbing, Dad. Does this face look like
 I've been grumpy all morning?"

12:09 Daddy leaves. Time to try the shower thing again. I plop Beckett in his walker outside my bathroom door and hop in. I leave Douggie on baby duty.

12:28 I'm finished in the shower. I peek out and he's still happy go lucky. And Doug is still keeping watch. :) 

12:34 Time's up! Half way thru my dressing & lotioning process, Beckett calls for a diaper change and change of scenery. Then he agrees to hang in the boppy while I finish getting dressed and do my hair.

"Moose and me, we're best friends."

12:49 Instead of using my time wisely, I've spent the last 5 minutes cooing with Beckett and taking pics of him and moose. 

Instagram is my favorite app.

Of course, My hair is still not done and Beckett has decided he needs a nap STAT. We head for the nursery

12:56 He's still fighting sleep. I take this opportunity to entertain myself with some selfies.

12:59. I give up, throw my hair in a bun and feed him again. This has got to stop. At least now hopefully he'll sleep for two and a half hours. This is also when I have time to update my notes on today and snap another selfie. :)

1:01 Beckett is already falling asleep again. I fight to keep him awake for full feeding.
1:04. I surrender to defeat.

1:37 Re-binky. I wonder to myself when I need to start the weaning process for this thing… It's just SO CONVENIENT.
1:41 Blankie and butt pat
1:50. Screaming. I try everything, including taking a temperature. Surely you're not hungry again. 

1:56. Eats again. I google growth spurts. One is expected at three months. Right on track. No wonder he won't stop eating.
2:23. Done eating & back to sleep
2:24 Just kidding. He cries as soon as I put him down. I throw in the binkie and bolt out. But you're awake. Here's to hoping you fall back asleep. Doubt it.

During the nap I manage to put together this little ditty to try and get my weeks organized. To this I'll add social stuff & play dates, goals for getting to the gym, and my daily dinner plans. It goes on the fridge.

2:40 I finish up my work on the computer. And he's wide awake. 

We grab Moose and head downstairs to start on the kitchen. Again. For a while I get my normal content baby. He's happy just chill in in his pumpkin seat, chewing on Moose! :) 

3:10 We move to the living room to fold laundry & worked on menu/schedule. {I know. Thrilling, right?}

He'll usually lay here for 45 minutes at a time just as happy as can be.

This age is fun because he's finally starting
to notice & enjoy his toys!

I'm still adjusting to life At Home, but for the most part I love it!

3:54 And WHAM. Smell that? It's time to break for stinky diaper. Of course he's managed to get it up his back. It's his signature move. We head upstairs for wardrobe change number three. Then we play for a little bit! 

Selfie Fun!

Sitting up is difficult for this "top heavy" baby!

4:10 He says he's hungry again. This is a good time for me to sit back and catch up on the latest episode of Beauty and the Beast. This is definitely one of the perks of breast feeding! A valid excuse to watch cheesy chicky flicky shows!
4:55 My show is over & he's sleeping. Time to start dinner!
5:30 Dad is home just in time for dinner. Beckett keeps sleeping.
5:50 He's awake and SCREAMING. BLOODY. MURDER. Dad tries changing, bouncing, etc. He's hungry again.

"I'm STAAARVING!"

"Mom hasn't fed you ALL DAY? I'm sorry buddy!"

6:17 He's snoring.
6:22 Awake. Daddy play time!
6:26 It's right about time for another explosive diaper. But this time, he blows up on daddy. People: This is my source of entertainment. HILARIOUS! 

Insert explosive sounds.

7p Dad heads upstairs to give a bath while I clean the kitchen and finish laundry.
7:20 I head upstairs and find this tired little man waiting patiently for his bath while dad talks shop about work on the phone.

The sink is our favorite place to store our kid.

7:30 Bath! Daddy is really good at bath time. And it's nice for mommy to have a baby free minute and daddy to get some bonding time before bed. Plus, Beckett LOVES the water. He cries when it's time to come out. 

7:59. He's out. Way to go, Daddy!

10:30p I wake Beckett up for a feeding before I go to bed. I work really hard to keep him awake and pray for a full night sleep!
10:51p Mommy's bed time.
10:56p re-binky
11:15p re-binky

And the next day, we start all over! Of course, I didn't realize when I decided to chronicle today that he would be so grumpy. He really isn't usually like that. Luckily, from here on out the growth spurts get further apart!

My Reflections on America The Beautiful

I'm not usually particularly political or preachy (say that 5 times fast) in the realm of social media. Actually, anyone who knows me well knows that I tend to avoid conversations and issues surrounding race. But all that background is a testimony for a different day. Today, my heart is stirred by all of this conversation on Coca Cola's America the Beautiful commercial and, this time, I've got some words:

I'm half black and half white. Raised by a white mother who grew up in an all white community and a black father who tended to see racial issues everywhere. He often warned me that I would be treated differently, and growing up in the age that I did, I often thought he was being overly dramatic and paranoid. I wish I were right. 

I'm a half black girl, married to a full white guy. Together we have a quarter black baby. I have passion for international missions and a heart for international adoption. I worked full time as an ELL teacher with immigrants, some African refugees, but mostly from Mexico and other Hispanic countries. In my {what I perceive as relatively limited} experience, I have encountered numerous unfortunate comments from people. I have been the recipient of racist comments myself - not often, but always from people I could only describe as ignorant. Brian and I have received idiotic comments and questions about our interracial marriage. More commonly, I have heard countless opinions on why international missions are ridiculous and how they misuse time and money. Often I have been disappointed in the people I hear these comments from.  These same people tend to be anti-international adoption for the same reasons. And then don't even get me started on the IGNORANT comments made about Hispanic immigrants - assumptions on their legal status or judgements on cultural differences. You've GOT TO BE KIDDING ME. How has our society come to be so pompous? Talk about "forgetting where you came from." You've heard the "we're all immigrants" speech. I won't go there. 

But I digress. My goal today is not to preach on acceptance, but to share a little bit of my heart. 

Five years ago I was blessed with the awesome opportunity to take a mission trip to Austria. I remember participating in a worship service and being so choked up I couldn't help but cry. I'm not a big crier - especially during worship - it's just not my thing. But I remember being SO overwhelmed with the beauty of hearing some of my favorite worship songs sung, with such passion and love, in a language I didn't understand at all. I felt almost unworthy of experiencing this beautiful display of creation. I felt small - if that makes sense. Small in the sense that God's creation is SO BIG, and I'm just one little English speaking American, used to my little cliche American church experience. But who am I? 

The other day in church, Marc preached about this verse: What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. (James 4:14). 

A MIST. 

So that brings me {closer} to my point: My favorite thing about God is his immense display of creativity in Creation. {Hence the name, I guess!}. Seriously! Think about it!

Did you know there are between 6,000 and 8,000 spoken languages? According to Joshua Project, there are 16,845 people groups in the world! That is a LOT of variety! I can't even come up with different color palettes for the rooms in my HOUSE (brown, brown, brown). Each of these groups has a different combinations of languages, traditions, beliefs, music, dress, and FOOD!

If I can step outside of myself for just a moment. Forget that we are NOT the center of the world. That we are NOT the "right" culture and that we don't have to be so isolated and "supreme" in our thinking. When I stop to embrace the minuscule, nearly insignificant "mist" that is me… when I take a moment to ATTEMPT to comprehend that the vastness of God's creation… the detail and variety… THAT is when I am most humbled and amazed by His creation. That is when I feel the true sense of the word "awesome." That's also when I can feel SUPREMELY blessed and grateful for any opportunity I have to interact with the world outside of my little bubble. To me, these small moments - when I get to experience a culture outside of my own - are a gift. They're a glimpse of the immense love and value God obviously invested in every detail of His work. 

And then, when I hear comments degrading those other cultures, and their "interference" in our apparently supreme society, it makes me sad. I'm sad that there are people out there who are going to live their ENTIRE LIVES never experiencing the INDESCRIBABLE BEAUTY that God bestowed in the the world around us.

I know I'll never have enough time to experience every culture. But if I could I would hear every language, taste every food, dance on every shore. That may sound cheesy and dramatic, but it's so true. We're missing out, people. And we're running out of time.

And that's all I have to say about that.

A highlight of my travels: A Masai children's dance competition.