Everyone knows that with parenthood comes great responsibility AND changes. They are huge changes, but wonderful- we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Our schedule changes- I wake up at 6:30 every morning and head right to my little “pumping station” oftentimes before I even hit the little girls room. At about that time the puppy, Remington, is barking at me to get let out from his crate and Brooke is barking to go out too. Sometimes Hunter begins waking up at that point and so I am lucky if I get the full 10-15 minutes it takes to completely express. Then either I head right to the shower or feed Hunter, depending if he has woken up yet or not. I pack his “lunch box” with food for the day and have his diaper bag ready to go.

I like to be able to get in a little quality time with my son before we start our days and I miss him for the next 10 hours… So, I like to change him with the outfit I picked out the night before, change his diaper and give him his first feeding of the day. Then, he usually falls back asleep or will hang out with Dad for a bit. I then head to work and miss him all day long.

I am pumping twice a day at work, 4x a day in total. Luckily we have a room where I can accomplish just that and it isn’t a restroom. I won’t be disturbed and it is private. I make the most of my lunch break and try to run errands so that I don’t have to cart Hunter anywhere after day care. He and I want to head right home to spend time together. For instance, on my lunch hour I went home today to tidy up the house a bit, let out the pups and do laundry. I want to have very little on the to do list in the evening so that I can designate my time to him, undistracted.

We are on his schedule! The rest of the evening consists of several feedings, bottle warmings, cat naps, play time, bath time, diaper changes and conversations on the changing table and of course some tummy time, activity gym and swing time too. While doing all of that I try to get something on the table for dinner. I look for the simplest things possible to make for dinner, poor Josh. Sometimes I ask him to bring home pizza or something easy. I recall making dinner for friends that had newborns… 😉 I can see why!

There are the daily chores that I try so hard to keep up with but feel like I fail. I am good about getting laundry done but the rest of the cleaning is completed much less often than I would like. I asked Josh for a cleaning lady to come twice a month, but he politely declined. I do understand but boy would that be nice. I used to be really meticulous about cleaning but that is something that I just have to let go sometimes…

We spend our weekends usually at home with Hunter. We like to rent movies at night and cuddle with him on the couch. We have taken him out to restaurants plenty of times and even the drive in movies and that isn’t a challenge at all. We have even taken him out on the boat 3 times this summer. He really likes being on the lake and we keep his baby skin in the shade. He has a sun hat, bathing suit and a great infant life vest that he looks so adorable wearing.

I laugh at the little things that used to worry me. There are things that I used to be so concerned about that I can’t even spend time thinking about any more. For example, I go to work with half of my hair wet, I chopped my hair off actually, when I am hungry I go for the easiest thing like protein bars, we stay at home a lot and I am pale this summer. Then there are the things that I look back and miss, mostly gettting to the gym, running more and everyone on my team travels more than I do… but that’s all. I must say that I am so proud of myself for being a gym warrior while pregnant. I pray to get back soon. My goal is to renew my membership and go on my lunch breaks 2-3 times a week- hopefully by August.

I’m not complaining by any means! It is just amazing how a little precious baby comes into your world and you are forever changed. We wished and prayed for this healthy little guy to come into our lives. What an awesome responsibility and a rewarding job to be a parent!

SO MANY REASONS TO BE THANKFUL!
This year we got to enjoy our first Mother’s & Father’s Day. I love reading and singing to him. We celebrate every Sunday when he is a week older and take monthy photos on the 14th. We are so excited to plan 2 big vacations with Hunter and our family next year. I am really looking forward to his first Christmas too.

SO MUCH HAS CHANGED!
I mostly online shop and have Amazon Mom with expedited shipping and deals just for mom. My briefcase is now a breastpump. We know that diapers cost 19 cents each and we go through MANY wipes. I eat everythig I can, much more that I used to, in order to make enough nourishment for him. My necklace used to have a “k” pendant, now it is a “h”.

We take everything one day at a time, although we long for the days he is walking and talking, we cherish every single moment we have with him as an infant. He has transformed our lives forever and we couldn’t have asked for anything more.