6 Months: Lessons Learned

                    

After 6 months of life, Jonathan has learned to:

• Sit up on his own
• Babble away at a remarkably high volume
• Nap for longer than 30 minutes (finally!!)
• Eat baby food. He loves sweet potatoes, but don't even think about serving him green beans unless you want to scrub green barf stains out of everything.
• Smile at absolutely anyone--this kid is such a charmer.
• Laugh! His little belly laugh is hysterical.
• Recognize Mom and Dad. There is nothing more gratifying than seeing him light up when one of us enters the room. This parenting thing totally rocks right now.

After 6 months of motherhood I have learned:

• Dish soap can get stains out of almost anything.
• The power of the "mom uniform." Yes I wear basically the same outfit every day, but hey if it's machine washable, nursing friendly, and makes me feel somewhat put together, it's a go!
• As soon as we find a routine, it changes. This little guy is In Charge and he knows it. It's a good thing he has me wrapped around his little finger.
• Jogging with a stroller is harder than it looks. Kudos to all you double-stroller people. I hope to be as cool as you someday.
• Cuddling my baby in the middle of the night really isn't so bad. Ok, sometimes it is, but sometimes I miss him when he goes back to sleep.
• With my arsenal of plastic grocery bags, I can handle anything. Spit up all over his clothes in church? We've got this. Epic poop explosion in the parking lot? No problem. I have those babies stashed in the diaper bag, in the car, and in every room in the house. 
• I can handle long days and sleepless nights as long as I allow myself a meltdown every week or two. It sounds crazy, but accepting the fact that the meltdowns will come (and hoping that I'm not the only one who has them...?) helps me to be gentle with myself when I feel like I'm not good enough.
• I have a very patient husband.

Time Flies!

**This post was written (and forgotten about) in January 2015

Sweet Jonathan is 5 months old! I can't believe it. A couple of my friends have had babies since he was born, and as I hold their newborns I just marvel that he was ever that small and fragile. In preparation for childbirth I remember reading that the first few weeks fly by in a sort of "haze." New mom is in survival mode; completely focused on and basically obsessed with her baby. I'm happy to report that although the haze has certainly cleared, I am still very much obsessed with this kid. Matt and I enjoyed our first holiday season with a wee babe (more on that later) and are now back in Houston enjoying our homebody (and school) routine once again.

November with the Scotts

So here's a recap of our November...

Matthew: Well into his surgical rotation and studying for his surgery board exam. Matt enjoyed his time in the burn unit and completed a couple of weeks on a general surgery team that does procedures for patients with cancer. He just started working with a team that does bariatric (weight loss) surgeries. Although he is extremely busy, he is good about making time to spend with Jonathan and I. The cooler weather has meant more zoo trips and walks in the park. He is also pretty pleased that one of Jonathan's favorite pastimes is watching ESPN.

Sarah: I'm adjusting to life as a stay-at-home momma and enjoying my "new normal." I'm getting better at venturing out into the world with an infant--walking/running in the mornings, playgroup, etc. There are always plenty of errands and chores to get done, not to mention the sheer amount of time it takes to care for a baby and meet his every need. But it makes such a difference in my day when I get out of the house--especially to do something fun! I took Jonathan to a morning matinee last week because I was dying to see a movie. We saw Interstellar and it did not disappoint.

Jonathan: 4 months old! He is still waking up 2-3 times at night, but he's getting better at napping during the day. We have finally started to figure out a good feeding/napping routine and it has made all the difference. Jonny is starting to laugh and goo more often, which melts my heart every time. He also found his voice in a high-pitched yelp scream . . . not quite as heart melting. No rolling over yet, but he has found his feet and rocks back and forth in a perfect "happy baby" pose. He is so talented :) Our healthy boy weighs 15.5 lbs and is 26 inches long.

Confessions of a Pinterest Addict

Having an infant means a lot of down time for feeding and snuggling throughout the day and night . . . and when you only have one free hand, and you're trying to keep your eyes open in the middle of the night, scrolling through Pinterest is the ideal pastime. I don't even want to know how many cumulative hours I've spent "pinteresting" over the past 3.5 months... Anyways, one of my favorite things to pin is pretty parties. Wedding receptions, garden parties, dinner parties, birthday parties. I have a dream, and that dream is to throw a pretty party. All I needed was an occasion!



So when it was looking fairly sure that Matt and I would be on our own for Halloween, my mind started running wild. I could put my own twist on a Halloween party and make it a magically spooky affair, complete with twinkle lights! Fast forward to October 30th at 3 in the morning and I am scrolling through Pinterest, my mind racing with ideas for outdoor lighting, extravagant centerpieces, garlands of bats and ghosts, elegantly arranged spiderwebs, and fall Mums strategically planted in the garden to enhance my flowerbeds. Sunrise brought with it a much needed reality check, but the twinkle lights remained. Although it was pretty simple, I was thrilled with how everything turned out, including the Scott family tradition of homemade clam chowder and bread bowls.

Happy Halloween!

 

 

Keep Austin Weird

Our last little fall break "hurrah" was an overnight trip to Austin. We decided to bring the dog with us which was a little crazy, but turned out ok. She did surprisingly well in the car. She and Jonathan are great little travel buddies!

The first thing we did when we got into town was walk around Barton Creek Park and then around Ladybird Lake. It was so fun to be in the middle of the city and out in nature at the same time. We decided that Austin felt like a Utah/California hybrid. It was just so strange to see hills again--Houston is completely flat.

Our next stop was lunch at Salt Lick BBQ. Living in Texas, we have become quite the barbeque connoisseurs. This was a good one. As you can see, Jonathan was pretty pleased with it too. Or maybe he was just excited to get out of his carseat. (We are such barbeque lovers that we went to another place for lunch the next day -- La Barbeque. It's a little food truck downtown. If you are ever in Austin, GO. It was incredible.)

We dropped the dog off at our hotel and ventured out to explore UT campus and grab some Tex Mex at Trudy's. It is such a beautiful campus with all of the old architecture and buildings. But let me tell you, it made us feel OLD. College wasn't so long ago, but there's something about being surrounded by backpack-wearing 19 year olds with a baby strapped to your chest that can make you feel a little out of touch. (And what's with every single girl wearing teeny Nike exercise shorts and oversized T-shirts? Seriously. Every single one.)

The next morning we hit the Texas History Museum right when they opened, which was perfect because we had the place to ourselves! The state of Texas does nothing halfway, I tell you. The exhibits in the museum were impressive and check out the size of that star in front.

Driving home took a little longer than we thought. Doggies and babies need a few more stops along the way. We found a nice city park, Scout slid down the slide . . .

And stopped at this not-so-little Mexican pottery stand off the highway. So many colors! I got the most beautiful flower pot and tile.

And now it's back to reality. Matt has started his surgery rotation and is spending his first month working in the burn unit. He says it's pretty gross, but he likes his attending doctor and he gets normal hours and weekends. Yahoo!

A Proper Scott Family Houston Stay-Cation

Must include:

1. A trip to the Zoo . . . The description of Jonathan was uncanny.

"Jonathan is very vocal and enjoys attention. He likes to roar early in the morning and late in the night."

2. Sleeping in. Yes we have a newborn, but after Matt's last rotation 7:00 am feels like heaven.

3. Fine Cuisine-- Guy's Meat Market for smoked hamburgers and the Gyro King food truck. Pure class. 

4. A brisk fall morning (80 degrees) at the arboretum. Scout was a little nervous about the pond and the turtles. I think her summer swims in the pool may have traumatized her more than we thought . . . 

5. Sunday naps and photo-shoots. 

I love my little family :)

"Howdy Folks!"

As most of you know, Matt is in his 3rd year of medical school. This year he will complete a series of 2 month rotations in various specialties, each culminating in a national board exam. To say he is busy would be an understatement--the poor guy hasn't even had a weekend off in 3 months! So you can see why we were both pretty excited for his fall break . . .

As soon as he finished his test we hopped in the car and headed to Dallas for the Texas State Fair! You guys. I have been wanting to go to this fair for years. I saw a Food Network special on all of their crazy fried food inventions and I've been thinking about it ever since.

Being Californians at heart, our first major stop was In-N-Out. Jonathan was très impressed.

But the next day we were Texans through and through. For anyone unfamiliar with this fair, one of the main attractions is this creepy guy standing behind us. Big Tex! A giant automated cowboy (because everything really is bigger in Texas) who waves his arm and welcomes you to the fair. "Howdy folks!"

We were there on the last weekend so we weren't able to see a ton of livestock. We did, however, enjoy a nice long visit with the bunnies (at my insistence). They were so cute and creepy at the same time! But mostly cute. I couldn't get enough--Matt basically had to drag me out of there.

Our tour of the animals also included Boris, the 1500 lb giant boar, a surprisingly impressive dog show, and  some sheep. A couple of other fun surprises were the 3,000+ lb butter sculptures and the coolest train set I have ever seen.

But let's be honest we were really just there for the food. And as you can see, I was pretty excited about it.

With so many delicious rarities to choose from (fried butter and fried coke??), we decided to stick to the award winners. Fried Cuban, Texas Bluebonnet--fried blueberry muffin stuffed with cream cheesy goodness and topped with blueberries and whipped cream, the ORIGINAL corn dog--they were invented here, Fried Spinach Artichoke Dip Bites, and this year's winner, Fried Gulf Shrimp Boil Balls. Whew!