Goodbye breastfeeding/pumping

I’m officially done! It was an eventful 6 1/2 months with you, but overall good!

That’s one thing I can cross off from my daily to do list: finding time to pump!

Now that he’s on formula, I now realize how expensive it is. OUCH for me and Joseph’s wallet! Unfortunately, we don’t qualify for WIC :(

Sitting Up

My baby Travis can sit up for a little bit longer now! Before he can sit up unassisted for about a minute or two and then he’ll take a little tumble. Now he can sit for a few minutes unassisted! I am so proud and so in love with my little mister!

Baby boy can’t get to a sitting position by himself just yet. However, he can pull himself up if you hold his hands (when he’s lying down) and if you pull him up just a teeny bit, about an inch off the ground, he’ll do the rest.

Newborn memories

I would repeat those sleepless nights again just to relieve the moments of Travis being a small little baby <3

Scootin' so far

My baby Travis is getting much better at scooting on his tummy! Before he would only be able to scoot an inch or two forward or go in a circle (haha), but now he’s able to scoot further! My parents had laid out a blanket in the family room earlier for him to play on and he was able to scoot all the way to the edge (from the middle) and all the way to the carpet.

He’s also raising his torso and butt up in the air. It will only be a matter of time till he’s crawling EVERYWHERE!

Not going to lie

Thinking about my baby Travis turning one is making me cry buckets of tears at the moment :(

Before I know it, he's not going to need me and replace me with some ugly ass b*tch! LOL!

Carnival themed birthday party

With Travis’s first birthday is fast approaching (well six months away), Joseph and I have decided to go along with our original idea of giving him a carnival themed birthday party - only because Joseph and I are so un-original and we can’t think of anything else haha.

The location will be at my parents’ house. They have ample space in the backyard (as in it’s so huge, you can probably put a guest house there) so it’ll be a mix of outdoor/indoor party. Since his birthday falls on October, the weather will still be nice and cool. I haven’t really tallied up the number of guests, but I’m thinking there will be about 10-15 children present and the rest adults.

It’s going to be like any other Filipino party - lots and lots of food! For sure there will be lumpia (spring rolls), Korean chicken wings, pancit, leche flan, my mom’s fruit salad, and of course the birthday cake! This is only a small part of the menu, I am sure that there will be more food in addition to what I just listed.

In addition to having lots of food, I’m thinking of renting a bounce house! I know Travis will love that. I’m also thinking of a clown, which I need to do a test run on in case he’s scared of clowns, a pinata, this Filipino game called pabitin, and other carnival game and of course prizes!

For favors I’m going to order some magnets with Travis’s picture on it and maybe some cotton candy. I’m debating whether to get the bagged cotton candy or renting a machine (I just don’t want the kids getting too crazy or too close to the machine). LOL because to be honest, I kind of want a snow cone machine more!

Can you tell that I’m excited!

I want his first birthday to be a big event! It’s a very special day for us because that day will celebrate his first year of life. My baby boy deserves everything his little heart desires that day and Joseph and I will do everything to make sure that his day will be as special and happy as it can be :)

That First Night

One of my favorite moments with Travis was during our very first night in the hospital. I love it because it was just me and him and the fact that I was the first person to have him all to myself. 

My mom and Joseph were insisting that one of them would stay (mainly my mom since she didn't know how to get back to our house from the hospital). Joseph wouldn't have been able to stay since his paternity leave didn't start till the 11th (I delivered on the 7th). He was unsure if he would be able to take the day off the next day since his CO didn't tell him over the phone that he could have the next day off when he had called to tell them that I was delivering (long story short, he went to work the next day and he ended up getting the day off). 

I reassured them that Travis and I will be fine and encouraged them to go home since both have been awake since 0400 and were probably exhausted. Surprisingly, I wasn't as exhausted as I thought I would be. After much deliberation and reassurance, my husband and mom left and I looked forward to my first night all alone with my baby Travis. 

Travis slept well that night. He rarely cried that night except for those moments when I changed his diaper and when I would tickle his feet to wake him up so he can eat. It was amazing just being able to hold him and look at him. I held him in my arms and rocked him even though he wasn't crying or even needed to be rocked. I gave him lots of little kisses and enjoyed that new baby smell. 

Around 2300, the nurse knocks on the door since they just had a shift change so it was another round of vitals and assessments (they did 8 hour shifts in that unit versus 12 hours). The nurse took Travis to the nursery to get weighed. So I waited thinking it'll only be about ten minutes. Well ten minutes passed, then fifteen, and so on. I was starting to have a nervous breakdown because I was thinking "Why didn't she bing my baby back yet? Was there something wrong?" I walked out to the nurse's station and asked about my baby. The nurse informed me that he was probably still waiting to get weighed since the nurses take the babies back there all at the same time. So I figured "Okay, he's probably just waiting still." I went back to my room and after another fifteen minutes, the nurse brought him back to me. He had a nice new blanket and a new diaper since he had peed while he was in there. It turns out that his temperature was a bit on the low end of normal so they had put him under the warmer for a bit. 

It was already about 2340 when he got back into my room. Travis slept and I woke him up again 0130-0200 to feed him and change him. After that, I told myself that I would get some sleep, but I couldn't because I was too busy looking at him and making sure he was alright. I finally fell asleep around 0300 and set my alarm for 0500-0600 so I can wake up to feed him. Well I didn't hear my alarm and I woke up around 0700 because my OB was knocking on the door so she can assess me. I had a mini freak out inside because I thought, "OMG, my baby must be starving! He didn't even wake up or cry to eat or did he and I didn't hear him?" Thankfully, my OB did a quick assessment and I was able to feed Travis. 

And that concludes me and Travis's first night together :)