HAIR!! ITS EVERYWHERE

I have heard stories of hair loss about 3 months after giving birth but I never thought I would shed more than the dogs do, especially Stonewall.

This is insane my hair falls out in clumps when Lawson pulls it, when I shower, when i dry it, or put it up. Jonah is grossed out by the amount of hair balls in the shower daily and has requested me clean out the shower after every bath. Though I am loosing gobs of hair my hair does not seem thinner so I did what I normally do, searched the Internet for an answer and here is what I found.

Normally, about 85 to 95 percent of the hair on your head is growing and the other 5 to 15 percent is in a resting stage. After the resting period, this hair falls out — often while you're brushing or shampooing it — and is replaced by new growth. An average woman sheds about 100 hairs a day.

During pregnancy, increased levels of estrogen prolong the growing stage. There are fewer hairs in the resting stage and fewer falling out each day, so you have thicker, more luxuriant tresses.

After you give birth, your estrogen levels take a tumble and a lot more hair follicles enter the resting stage. Soon you'll have more hair coming out in the shower or on the brush. This unusual shedding will taper off and your hair will be back to its pre-pregnancy thickness about six to 12 months after you give birth.

So I have 6 months to a year to deal with this.. OUCH!! Guess I'll be gathering hairballs from the shower for quite some time. This article also suggested the following to deal with it...

You won't be able to stop the hair from falling out, but you can experiment with different hairstyles or products (such as hair thickeners or mousse) to give your hair a fuller look during this transition period.

Many moms, tired of scooping hair out of shower drains or sweeping strands off the bathroom floor, find that now is a good time to go for a short cut. Plus, a short, wash-and-go hairstyle can be easier to take care of when you have a new baby in the house and you're strapped for time.

A note to new moms with long hair: Strands of hair can end up tightly wrapped around your baby's tiny appendages, including his fingers, toes, wrists, ankles, and penis. This is called a hair tourniquet, and it can be quite painful for your little one. If you find him crying for no apparent reason, check carefully for tight bands of hair.

First off.. NO SHORT HAIR.. do you know how hard it is for me to even get my hair dry while taking care of Lawson. Sometimes its an act of congress.. LOL! 

Plus my hair is wavy and I am not able to let it dry naturally and it look decent. Jonah calls it crazy hair when i just let it dry naturally. So for now I guess I will deal with the shedding and hair everywhere! 

Hey at least I'm not going bald....

YET!!

Sleep!! Yes again SLEEP!!

The picture above tells a thousand words for those with Infants! 

 

Sleep is a naturally recurring state characterized by reduced or absent consciousness, relatively suspended sensory activity, and inactivity of nearly all voluntary muscles.^[1] It is distinguished from quiet wakefulness by a decreased ability to react to stimuli, and is more easily reversible than being in hibernation or a coma. Sleep is also a heightened anabolic state, accentuating the growth and rejuvenation of the immune, nervous, skeletal and muscular systems. 

 

 

 Lawson USED TO sleep anywhere.. We often found him dozing off in the swing, falling asleep while eating, even falling asleep on our shoulder. 

 

When Jonah was in USAR and HAZMAT class Lawson and I had gotten on a pretty good schedule of waking around 8:30 am, him staying up 2 hours napping 2 hours and the routine repeated until it was cluster feeding time and then bedtime.

 

Since our trip to see Grandmother Bernice Lawson does not want to nap.. 

Today up until 4pm he had a total of 15 minutes of nap time!! Yep 15 minutes..After further research I have learned a 4-6 month old should be getting 14-17.5 hours of sleep.. Yeah today were running on maybe 10hrs from last night!!!.  As notated above in the definition of sleep, it is very important for us to sleep and even more important for infants. As Jonah tells Lawson almost daily, "Lawson if you don't nap you will never grow, how would you like to be a teenager the size of a 4 month old?"

 

Since Lawson was not napping, even though he was constantly yawning and rubbing his eyes, I decided to keep our weekly routine of a mommy meet up at Dean and Dullca.  I love meeting with the other moms and seeing the development of their babies as well as the interaction of Lawson with the other infants.  The discussion today to my surprise was, " My child wont nap". YES  It seems that the babies of the mommy meet up group must have a conspiracy against sleep because I am not alone. It seems that all the babies there had not wanted to nap for the past several days.   I hope these babies decide to nap soon or they wont develop and well be tiny teenagers soon!! LOL!

I love our mommy meet ups, it truly helps me realize that I am not alone on this whole baby not napping issue and gives me a sigh of relief!! I am not a clueless or bad mom, I am just a mom trying to figure out her child like every other mother out there.

Till Tomorrow, lets hope Lawson gets some sleep tonight or its going to be a long weekend at the Smith household !

With Baby Miller

I just recently read a blog on an infant named Miller Woodruff. Miller was diagnosed with a Muscular disease at a very young age. Poor Miller passed away this morning sleeping on his fathers chest. The infant was only a few months old. This brought me to tears, to think how lucky we are to have Lawson with us today and to know he has no serious illnesses. 

Please pray for the Woodruff Family though you may not know them personally as I do not know them, they have been through a lot and have been very strong through support Miller in his short life!!

If you have a moment take a look at their blog and make a post to pray for them.  Though prayers will not make it easier for them, it will help them.

http://colecrews.blogspot.com/2011/06/everyones-with-miller.html

RIP Miller Woodruff

Thoughts

I have kept up with many of other peoples blogs who write their children letters. As most know I often find it hard to put into words my thoughts an feelings.. Lord only knows how I keep this blog going. I guess its because I love Lawson so much that I want to share him with the world.  I found a poem from an unknown author that really expresses my love for my son. I truly love spending every day with him and watching him grow.

(photo taken by Beth Talent when Lawson was 4 days old)

My Dear Baby,

I loved you from the very start,
You stole my breath, embraced my heart.
Our life together has just begun,
You're part of me my little one.

As mother with child, each day I grew,
My mind was filled with thoughts of you.
I'd daydream of the things we'd share,
Like late-night bottles and teddy bears.
Like first steps and skinned knees,
Like bedtime stories and ABC's.

I thought of things you'd want to know,
Like how birds fly and flowers grow.
I thought of lessons I'd need to share,
Like standing tall and playing fair.

When I first saw your precious face,
I prayed your life be touched with grace.
I thanked the angels from above,
And promised you unending love.

Each night I lay you down to sleep,
I gently kiss your head and cheek.
I count your little fingers and toes;
I memorize your eyes and nose.
I linger at your nursery door,
And each day I love you more.
Through misty eyes, I dim the light,
I whisper "I Love You" every night.

I loved you from the very start,
You stole my breath, embraced my heart.
As mother and child our journey's begun,
My heart's yours forever, my little one.

~Unknown

 

I Love you Lawson Grant Vernon Smith!!

What happens when you put a 4 month old and a 6 month old together

The grab each others ears... try to eat each others toes.. talk to each other and oh slobber all over each other!! 

On the way home from visiting Grandmother Bernice we stopped to have lunch with Dana, Joshua and baby Tyler. It was a blast and OH how I miss Dana!!! Wished we lived closer so Lawson and Tyler could play.. aka eat each other daily :)

 Tyler all happy :)

 hey can I touch your face???

 Is that an Alligator on your outfit? I like it better than my crabby butt

 Since you got to touch my Alligator can I touch your head.. and grab your ear?

 Or Maybe Eat your Toes?? I love Toes!!

Visit to see Great Grandmother Bernice

Lawson packed and ready for his trip

Recently we took Lawson to meet his Great Grandmother Bernice. Jonah and I thought it was very important since most children these days don't get to meet any Great Grandparents. Here are some pictures from the visit. Grandmother Bernice had a blast with the little guy and wanted to show him off !!

 Jonah and Bernice

 Me and Bernice

 Lawson and Great Grandma Bernie

 I stole grandmas chair 

 whoops!!

 Lawson and Grandma played with his toys

 Lawson and Bernice singing.. there is a video of this at the end :)

 Sitting on Bernice's bed

 Lawson was tired so him and Bernice watched the CWS after he ate

She loves him soooo much!!!

Lawson and Grandma Bernie singing together!!

The Lilly on Steroids has bloomed

So our 4 foot tall Lilly has bloomed. Our neighbor Cody says it looks like a Corn stalk and that it has to be a crossbred between a giant weed ! I think its just overkill on my part with Miracle Grow! Just ask my hubby how much I enjoy putting Miracle Grow on stuff.. Here are some pictures of it.

  So what do you think of the Lilly??

More on the Bib than in the MOUTH!!

So our first attempt with rice cereal ended up with barely any in Lawson's mouth and more on the bib... BUT I hear that's the way it goes!! We still aren't sure if he likes the taste or not.

We tried again today and I received a horrendous facial expression after trying to get him to eat it. Maybe he wants it warmed up? who knows.. we will keep trying 

4 Month well visit

Wow, Time sure does fly by!! 

I thank the lord daily for the blessing he has given us and I am so happy that now we are going to the doctor for "Well visits" and not for "Sick" visits!

Lawson's check up today went well here are his stats:

Height: only 24.5 inches (25-50%)

Weight: 15lbs. 4 oz (50-75%)

I don't have his head measurement but its in the 25th to 50th percentile, I made sure to ask this time

To sum it up... we have a little chubby breastfed boy with short arms and legs!! 

OH but hes adorable and working on that muscle tone. 

Here is his standing picture.. I LOVE IT!!

Lawson did well the entire visit and even showed off his talking skills to Dr. Morris. He talked to her the entire time. Despite the screaming after he was stuck, he has been pretty good all day. We even had time to get in a walk at the green way with the lower temperatures.

Dr. Morris surprised us with some news today that Lawson is ready for food!! She said we could start with the basics.. rice cereal and oatmeal.. Many of you know I have allergy issues so we are holding off on other things but as a mom I am supper excited! I of course couldn't wait another day and headed out to get some rice cereal and baby oatmeal for him. 

His highchair was moved over to the table and we have everything we need for his first non milk feeding! Oh and YES!! USDA Organic cereal and oatmeal for the little man!! 

Check back in a few days with pictures from the event :)

ONE LAST THING!! Look at this LILLY!! Its in our back yard and Beautiful, had to snap a photo of it!!

Once Upon a Lap

Lawson loves books. We read to him every night before bedtime and I often find myself reading to a smiling giggling little boy through out the day. Through  my Mommy Meet Up group I found out that the Local Library offers Once Upon a Lap. 

A book time for infants 12 months and younger. I thought hey this would be a good way for Lawson to at least see other infants and for me to meet some more moms so we signed up.

Today was our first visit and Lawson was dressed in his Surf Dude outfit!

Though I don't have any pictures from the Once Upon a Lap time.. hey how am I supposed to hold Lawson, sing the songs, and pay attention to the books while taking photos.

I may be a super mom to some but I don't have 8 arms.. Wow 8 arms would come in handy often! 

Lawson LOVED Once Upon a Lap. He watched all the other infants, laughed and reached out to some, and was fascinated by the librarian. 

He LOVES books!!

So once we got home after a nap Jonah decided Lawson should do some tummy time on the Living Room couch and my silk throw pillows.. Leave it to Jonah to do tummy time on silk pillows. 

Guess its not as bad as Penelope squashing them and laying on them for a nap as she does daily. Anyways, here are some shots from his tummy time :)

After Tummy time Lawson decided to show off his skills with some assisted standing. He LOVES to stand up and makes a "look at me" face each time. He seems so proud of himself!!

That is it for today! Tomorrow is Lawson's 4 month check up and shots. Ill post more on his check up and stats tomorrow. Wish us luck since we almost ended up in the ER after the 2 month shots with a reaction !!

Later DUDE!!