Four Month Check Up

Today we took Campbell to the doctor for his 4 month check-up. I've been dreading it because of the shots but the little peanut was such a trooper! He was very offended that he got poked (3 times!!!) but the second I picked him up he was okay. He didn't cry nearly has hard as he did last time, thank goodness.

Everything with our little guy is looking wonderful! He's still so tiny though. He weighed 12 pounds, 14 ounces which puts him in the 5th percentile. I was really hoping we would have made it up to the teens but oh well. His height looked great at 24.8 inches which puts him in the 25th percentile.
He was such a sweet little boy while we were there. He laughed for the ladies in the reception area (said it made their day!) and smiled at Dr Harvey while he was checking Campbell out from head to toe. He complimented Campbell on his neck control and how well he can bear weight on his legs. The things that make me proud these days! Haha!!

Campbell seems to be doing much better with his shots today than he did last time. He doesn't seem nearly as pitiful so that's good. My heart just broke for him after those 2 month shots. I think it's helped me this time around because I'm a little more prepared and know what to expect. So far, Campbell has been snoozing since we got home. Hopefully he'll just take a nice, long nap today and sleep it all off. My arms are ready and waiting for the all day cuddles though! Cuddles make everything better.

Wordless Wednesday

My Must Have Pregnancy Items

Today I thought I would share with all of you my pregnancy must have items. These are things that I could not have lived without during my pregnancy. The list is short but for me, these items were crucial!

1.) My pregnancy apps. I had three: Sprout, What to Expect When Expecting, and the Baby Center app. All apps were a little different and I loved them all. The first thing I did when I woke up every morning was read my pregnancy apps. It's fun, helpful and very informative!
2.) Gap maternity jeans. I wore them almost every day. They're a great price and they fit just like Gap's regular jeans. I thought the full panel was much more comfortable than the demi-panel.
3.) Old Navy ribbed maternity tanks. These tanks are awesome! I actually still wear mine--they've turned into my nursing tanks. They're very long, really comfortable and fit great. I used them to layer under tops and sweaters, I wore them as pajamas, and they became my go-to when I was lounging around the house.
4.) Fre Champagne. Okay I wouldn't say this was a crucial item for me but it definitely came in handy on a few occasions. This champagne is alcohol free and tastes great! There were a few times (New Years Eve for example) that I wanted to feel like I could partake in a little bubbly. This Fre line also has an alcohol free red and white wine but I never tried them. I can give pretty good reviews on the champagne though!
5.) Lotions and Oils. I was religious (and maybe a little obsessive) about my daily lotion routine. I always applied a generous amount of Aveeno in the morning. I would take a bath every night and drop Bio-Oil drops in the water...and sometimes rub the Bio Oil on my belly on the days where I felt like the bump was really growing! Then at night I would rub Dermarepair on my belly and hips. The Dermarepair is a stretch mark prevention and repair cream and was definitely a splurge item. I started using it at the beginning of my second trimester and I ended up going through 2 1/2 of them. I don't know if it was my daily routine or my genetics but I managed to get through my entire pregnancy without a single stretch mark!

So there they are! My pregnancy must have's. What were/are yours?

A Weekend Of Nothing

My weekend was uneventful. Scott and I pretty much stayed locked up indoors and did nothing. On Friday night we got in bed at 9:00. I was out by 9:30 and didn't wake up until 7:00 the next morning. It felt amazing! I should go to bed at 9:00 every night. Even if I tried I couldn't. My insomnia has come back and it's super sad. It takes me about an hour and a half to fall asleep now and it's so annoying. I miss when I was pregnant and all I had to do to fall asleep was close my eyes.
The lazy weekend was kind of nice but by Sunday evening I was going a little stir crazy. I decided to get out for a little bit and escape to Target. Target is my go-to escape place. It would have been nice if we had gone to church on Sunday but Scott and I are at a loss as to how we can go to church these days. At first it worked out great because Campbell slept through the entire service. Then he stopped sleeping during the service and fussed the whole time. Scott and I had to take turns walking out with him. Now, both church services are right in the middle of his nap time. How do you make it work? We both really miss church and want to be able to go. I've even gotten comfortable with the idea of leaving him in the nursery now. I guess the obvious answer is to just wake him up early from his nap but then he'd be off for the whole rest of the day and that would be really frustrating. Hmm.....what to do??

It took us 4 days but we finally got Campbell, and ourselves, adjusted to his new schedule. Thanks to all of you who offered some advice! I don't know why but I always get so much anxiety when we have a change with Campbell. I think the early days of the non-stop crying and zero sleep have scarred me. I'm terrified of going back to that! I've got to learn to just chill and relax. It always works itself out and I always make it way more complicated than it is.

Campbell has a toy bin in his room and it just tortures the girls. They don't understand why they can't have his toys. After about 5 months of asking for this colorful fella, I finally gave in. Now if I would only let them have his Wubbanubs and pacifiers, they would be all set.

Campbell | 4 Months

Weight: 13ish pounds according to our scale at home. We'll know his exact weight at his doctors appointment next week!

Height: 24 inches long

Sleep: Campbell sleeps so great at night! All of that hard work of getting him on a schedule has definitely paid off. Our little peanut snoozes hard for 11 hours straight!! His sleep schedule is typically between 8:30-7:30. During the day Campbell takes 3 naps that last, on average, around 2 hours.

Eat: Campbell now eats 5 times a day. Two of his meals include solids--lunch and dinner. For lunch he has oatmeal then fruit and for dinner he has oatmeal then a vegetable. I mix the oatmeal with expressed milk to make sure he's getting extra vitamins and protein. The rest of the time he nurses. I'm excited I've made it to four months with breastfeeding. My goal at the beginning was to go 6 months but since it's been going so great, I'm going to try to make it a year. I hope I can do it!

Clothes: Campbell is still in 0-3 month clothes and I don't see him growing out of them any time soon. I love him in little rompers and one pieces. Those are my favorite! When we're hanging out at home he wears a lot of Kickee Pants Coveralls and Gap t-shirts with sweatpants or shorts.

Diapers: Still in size 1 Pampers.

Likes: Bath time, when we pretend like we're eating him (he thinks that's the most hilarious thing ever), watching Mickey on the ipad, going for walks outside, laying on his activity mat, when Mommy sings to him (melts my heart), his pacifier, sitting and bouncing in his bouncy chair, when we do "airplane" with him.

Dislikes: Loud, startling noises, taking naps, avocado.

Milestones: Campbell just recently began holding toys and sticking them in his mouth. He started solids this month and loves them! Scott and I both agree he seems like a happier and more content baby since he started his solids. Campbell started sleeping really great this month. (Can I get an amen!) He bears weight on his legs, and "talks" constantly. He loves to splash and kick when he takes his baths which ends up getting me so wet by the time we're finished. Campbell also started laughing this month which is the sweetest sound in the world! Campbell's hands are constantly in his mouth and just within the last week he's started sucking his thumb (trying to put a stop to that). Campbell has been drooling a lot which I think is the result of his teeth making their way up through his gums. Campbell started sleeping at night without his swaddle but he still sleeps in his swaddle for naps. I can carry Campbell on my hip now which is just so crazy! When we hold Campbell's hands, he can pull himself up (with our help) from a laying to a sitting position. Every week he does something new and it's so fun!

Month Four: Month four has been such a great month! Life with Campbell is easy and fun! We've got a great little routine and system down these days. It feels like we've finally got this baby/parenting stuff all figured out! Well.....as much as one can get it figured out anyway.

All About Campbell: Campbell is such a sweetheart! He loves his Mommy and Daddy so much. He is soaking in the world and it's so precious to watch. Every month gets more and more fun with him. I can't wait to watch him grow and develop a little personality. He loves sitting in my lap and snuggling. I'm pretty sure I'm his favorite person :) but he loves his Daddy a whole lot too.

---->Merge

We're experiencing some new stuff around the Johnson house. Campbell is "merging" into the next Babywise phase. Changes with Campbell stress me out. Just as I've gotten super duper comfortable with our little routine, it's changing. I'd love to say that the transition is going smoothly but Scott and I are kind of struggling. So for all you Babywise Mom's out there---I need your help!

I've started Campbell on solids now which I think is the reason behind the merge. I feed him 2 solids a day--lunch and dinner. He decided on his own that it's time to drop from 6 to 5 meals and from 4 to 3 naps. 

Before, everything was on a pretty consistent time schedule. Now I feel like everything is all over the place. Did anyone else struggle at the beginning? Campbell has been on Merge 3 but Scott and I can't figure out if he's moving to Merge 4 (like he's supposed to) or skipping over to Merge 5 (possibly because of the introduction of solids). Thankfully he's still sleeping all night and waking up at the right time every morning so it's not messing anything up there as far as that's concerned. It's just daytime that's kind of hard right now. I guess what I'm wondering is what time did/do you do those last 2 feedings? How long were waketimes and naptimes? 

For some reason this one is really throwing Scott and I both for a loop. If there's anyone out there that's willing to offer me help/advice I would greatly appreciate it. Hopefully we can get this one figured out and it will be smooth sailing for us again!

Wordless Wednesday

3 Things That Are Currently Making Me Happy

1.) Campbell is officially sleeping with both arms out of the swaddle. He woke up that first night that we did it but since then he's slept perfect! Whew! I thought that was going to be much harder than it was. Since he no longer needs his Aden + Anais Easy Swaddle at night, it's time to transition to the Sleeping Bag. Yay! I've loved these things since before I even got pregnant. I think they're so neat and cute and the first time I saw the sleep sack, I couldn't wait until I could have a baby to wear one! Earlier today I got online and ordered these for Campbell. Hopefully they'll be in this week!

2.) If you've been visiting this blog very long, you know how much I love gardening. I really enjoy getting outside and tending to flowers and plants that I've grown. It makes me happy. I have a gardenia tree on my back porch and it has started sprouting the most perfect little blooms. And they smell AMAZING.

3.) We started Campbell on solids about 2 weeks ago and it has been such a great experience! He loves eating solids and I'm having so much fun trying new fruits and veggies with him. I've been making my own using our Magic Bullet and it has been super easy. One food I haven't ever made for him though is applesauce. I've always just bought it in the jars because it seemed kind of hard to make. Of course it's his favorite. I was out and about this afternoon and popped by Target to get Campbell some applesauce when I noticed the Ella's Kitchen baby food. I knew it existed but never really paid much attention to it before. In the back of my mind I had planned on giving it to Campbell when he could hold it and squeeze it himself but then I noticed the little stamp on it that said 'from 4 months' and I was like oooohhh! So I grabbed one of each. Ha!

I still plan on giving Campbell fresh food but I also feel great about these! It's 100% pureed organic fruit and veggies with just a tiny bit of lemon juice. Plus the packaging is so cute! (The important things). Campbell tried the sweet potatoes, pumpkin, apple and blueberries tonight and LOVED it. He said it tasted way better than that avocado I tried to give him last night.

Break Pads

I had a nice, relaxing weekend! On Friday night Scott and I invited some friends over to hang out on our back porch and chill. It was fun! Just within the last few weeks I finally feel like I can enjoy my weekends without the anxiety of wondering what the middle of my night will be like. Before Campbell started sleeping all night, I didn't have much interest in doing anything. I knew I would be waking up in the middle of the night and the exhaustion just wasn't worth it to me. I missed hanging with my friends so much but I wanted to be in bed early so I wouldn't feel like a zombie the next day. Now that my little guy is sleeping all night, I feel comfortable staying up late to hang out with friends or watch a movie with Scott.

While it's easy to have people come over to our house now, it's not so easy going to others houses. I want to be able to go to my friends homes to have dinner and hang out but it always messes with Campbell's little routine. I don't want to hire a babysitter because 1.) I don't know anyone that could babysit for me , 2.) I don't want to pay for it and 3.) I probably wouldn't be able to relax and enjoy myself anyway because I would be worried about my little peanut the entire time. How do you do stuff with friends on the weekend unless it's at your house? Now there's a thinker....

Since the weather has been so amazing, I've been taking Campbell for long walks around the neighborhood. We've both enjoyed it so much! However, I experienced trauma that will most likely stick with me forever while we were on our walk one day. After a lovely long stroll, I headed up my (extremely flat) driveway, punched in the code on my garage keypad, turned around and saw my stroller was flying down my driveway....while my precious baby was still in it! Usain Bolt had nothing on me. I went from 0-120 mph in .12 seconds. I seriously could have won a gold medal in the Olympic 'Mad Dash To Save Your Baby While Flying Down The Driveway In The Stroller' if there was such an event. Note to self: always use stroller breaks even on a flat surface. Campbell wasn't even a tiny bit fazed. He thought his Momma was behind him all along and out of nowhere decided to go super fast. Lord have mercy that nearly gave me a heart attack. Hopefully none of my neighbors witnessed that happening.

Splish Splash

I took Campbell to the pool twice this week. The second time we went, Scott tagged along so he could get some pictures of our little peanut floating in the water. I hope Campbell ends up loving the pool because he's going to spend the majority of his summers there once he gets a little older!

Night two of both arms out of the swaddle went great. Campbell slept until 7:00 this morning! Hoping he can keep up the good work! Enjoy your weekend everyone!

What's Happenings

First off, I'm going to kick off this post with this.

My neighbor was giving away some mason jars so I snatched up a few and have been putting some flowers from my garden in them and I'm enjoying it so much! I have a couple of them here and there around my house with some knockout roses, daylilies, crepe mytrles (not from the bushes that were so sadly chopped down to little nubs....still not over that) and other little flowers thrown in. It adds a tiny little something around here. Who says flowers have to be a big bouquet? Teeny tiny flowers in small little mason jars are just as enjoyable to me!

I started leaving Campbell's arms out of the swaddle last night. That's some scary business right there! He woke up around 4:45 which was such a bummer. He's been sleeping through the night for almost 2 weeks now, so the 4:45 wake up call was a rude awakening! I was only up with him for 12 minutes but I was so tired this morning! I used to think getting up once a night was a piece of cake. Now I'm used to my sleep so I had to take a nap today. Other than last night, Campbells sleep schedule has been pretty awesome. He goes down for bed around 7:30. At 10:30 I do a dreamfeed then he doesn't wake up until 7:00 the next day. Yay Campbell!! According to Babywise, I can drop that last feeding any time between 16-24 weeks (Campbell is 16 weeks now). I'm so scared to try it though! I'm not sure he would sleep all night without it. I think I'll keep doing it for another month and just attempt to tackle the no swaddle stuff for now!

A new problem I'm running into is this. Campbell is starting to get too big for his bouncer which is super sad because we love the bouncer. He just kicks and squirms so much and once I set him in it, he's down like this about 30 seconds later. We have the Bumbo but I want something a little more plush and cozy for him to sit in. Any of you Momma's out there have a solution for me? Other than buckling him into the bouncer?? I just don't really want to mess with the buckle.

The weather has been so amazing lately so Grace, Ivy and Madison have basically been spending their entire day, the last few days, playing outside. They're finally tired of it, believe it or not! Turns out they like being indoor pups after all. They got some nice sunshine, a cool breeze and plenty of running this week though. Good for them!

Wordless Wednesday

Swimming and Errands

Not a whole lot is going on around our house these days. I spend my days trying to come up with ways to entertain Campbell so we don't get stuck in the same ol' routine. I like to try to keep it exciting for him! Yesterday I decided I would go get Campbell a floatie and see what he thought about our neighborhood pool. Trying to decided on the right floatie for Campbell was something that I turned into a major production but oh well. I really like the one I went with and Campbell seemed to as well. He really enjoyed the pool and was perfectly content floating in the water with his Mommy. I'm glad he enjoyed it! This will be something we may have to start doing a few times a week for a little change of pace! Hopefully Scott can go with us next time so we can get some pictures of Campbell in the pool.

Other than the pool we really haven't done anything eventful around here. My Mom came up yesterday to pick up Grace and hang out a few days so that's fun. It's nice to have company! We went to lunch then the mall today and took the little peanut with us. I was hoping he would fall asleep while on his outing but he's decided he doesn't like to do that anymore. He prefers his cozy bed in his dark room with his white noise. Even though he pretty much missed an entire nap, he was still really sweet and didn't get mad at me for keeping him out. I like that he's pretty chill these days! Makes life a touch easier.

He looks like a giant in this photo! My little man is growing up so fast!!

amp

I had such a fun weekend! I went with my best girls to the Miranda Lambert concert here at the Walmart amp. I've been looking forward to it for weeks and it did not disappoint. We went to Bonefish first for dinner which was so yum. Then we headed over to the amp, threw a quilt down on the grass and hung there until the music started. After that we were on our feet the rest of the night. Miranda looks awesome and sounds amazing. I seriously had so much fun. It was the longest I've ever been away from the little peanut but I knew he was in excellent hands with his Daddy so I had nothing to worry about. I was able to sit back and relax with my best girlfriends and have a good time. It was great!

The rest of my weekend didn't consist of much. I did experience some slight trauma yesterday though. This may sound so ridiculous to some of you but we had a guy come out yesterday to lay down some new mulch in our beds and do some other stuff in our yard. Apparently he was given the order to trim up some of our bushes. I wasn't aware that he was told to do this otherwise I would have been out there supervising. I am extremely particular about my landscaping.
So I put Campbell down for a nap then tell Scott I'm going to hop over to the pool for a bit. I'm walking across my yard and do a double take. Then I ran to my front door and told Scott to come look at the massacre that is now my shrubs. The guy seriously butchered them. I have these bushes that are in the crepe myrtle family (I'm not exactly sure what they are) and they are SO BEAUTIFUL. I love them so much and they have these tiny little pink flowers on them and the leaves and flowers droop over and are just so, so pretty. The pink flowers on them were just starting to sprout up and it was making me so excited. Actually, I went on a walk Saturday morning with my friend, Jax, and we were talking about landscaping and I made it a point to bring her to my pink droopy bushes and point out how pretty they were---which she completely agreed. Except not anymore because the guy ruined my droopy pink bushes and cut them into a teeny tiny box. Seriously yall, I stood in my yard and cried. No joke. Then I was like OMG I can't believe I'm crying over bushes but I did. Like, bawled and squawled and told Scott they were RUINED. He was like "you have GOT to calm down." But I refused. I seriously cried over it for 15 minutes. It makes me sick. Sick I tell you! I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. My landscaping looks ridiculous now and I'm so, so angry. Thankfully they will grow back and look okay.....a whole year from now. But for real it made me so upset that I cried.
Once I wiped my tears, I walked to the pool and vented to my neighbors about it. None of them made me feel ridiculous and all agreed they would feel the same as me. Then one of them said "you know you're an adult when you get this upset over your landscaping." Ha! Yes. So true. Ugh yall, I'm gonna be mad about this for the rest of the summer.