A Reward for Enduring the Fussiness!

Brandon is now over 6 weeks old, and he is finally smiling at us! It is a well needed and deserved reward for enduring his fussiness and for all those sleepless nights. I tried to upload a video of him smiling, but it wouldn't work. Maybe blogger is smarter than me. Maybe I'll get it to work later. Here are some pictures anyway.

In other news since the last update, Brandon's Babcia stayed with us for the week while KZ went to Indiana for work. It was great to have the extra help, especially because Brandon has been going through a fussy period. Here you can see that Babcia is good at rubbing his back! She did a lot of walking and bouncing him too.

Krzysztof's Wujek (uncle) Martin came into town last weekend for a visit to see Brandon. He lives in Boulder, CO. Here is Brandon trying to give his Wujek a kiss!

Here are some other cute faces...

Who is the handsome guy in the mirror?

It's me!

I'm pretty cool.

What's over there?

I'm trying to talk!

Getting bored...

My devious look.

Here is Brandon all snug in his miracle blanket (http://www.miracleblanket.com/)! It's the best thing for baby Houdinis who can get out of a regular swaddle.

Thoughts on My Identity as a Mom

I don't know when it happens exactly, but a transformation takes place when becoming a mom. I say I don't know when it happens because I don't think it was at the time of Brandon's birth that it happened to me. Even before that when I was walking around with my big belly I had a sense of pride about who I was becoming. I enjoyed the pleasant smiles people would give me as they noticed my growing middle. People did not just see me; they saw me and my son. Despite the challenges and discomforts, I was proud to carry around my baby inside me. I loved feeling him move and knowing he was always there.

And now, I still enjoy going places with him. I love how people try to peer over the side of his car seat to get a glimpse of him. I am no longer just some woman in the check out line of the grocery store. I am a mom. My identity has changed, and it will forever be changed. The way others view me has changed, as has the way I view myself.

This all leads to the following quandary: What happens to my identity when I go out without Brandon? I have been out several times without him, both by myself and with Krzysztof. I got so used to having Brandon always with me - feeling him move during the pregnancy and more recently seeing him move and feeling him in my arms - that now it is strange to be without him, almost a little empty. When I am out without him, I feel like I want to yell to everyone around me that part of me is missing, that they are not seeing all of me, that they are not seeing who I really am. (I also feel like yelling that the reason that I have a little pooch for a belly is because I just gave birth 6 weeks ago, but that is another blog post...)

Don't get me wrong; my true identity is in Christ alone, and that has not changed. If anything it should grow stronger as I now have a taste of the great love God has for us as a parent. But my identity on this earth has forever been altered as all my experiences from here on out will be filtered through the lens called motherhood.

One Month Old!

It's my one month birthday today! Can you believe it has already been a whole month? Mommy says this month went way faster than last month when I was in her tummy! For me it seems like I was born a lifetime ago...oh wait, it was!

This week I got to try out my bathtub! I like being in the warm water.

How do you like this look?

Check out my big diaper! This is one of my cloth diapers.

Here is my gangsta look.

You can see my birthmark on my right hand. It is a triangle. I'm going to have to learn that I can't show people my birthmark without showing them my other fingers too.

Aren't I cute?

Not as cute here, huh? Mom, how many times do I have to tell you I don't like doing laundry! You tried this before, and I still don't like it! Do laundry during my nap time!

This is my Dziadzia (pronounced "JaJa").

And this is my Babcia. They are visiting and enjoying being my grandparents!

Bye bye until next time!

First Birthday as a Mommy

I had a great first birthday as a mommy! It was a little different, though, in that I couldn't be totally selfish with my time and do what I wanted to do all day. There was now a little one to feed, change, and keep happy. Welcome to motherhood where your time is no longer your own!

My day started off with my husband making me breakfast in bed, which was fabulous. These roses are from our yard. We don't spend much time outside, so I figured they would be put to better use inside the house. The rose bushes are not the fruits of our labor...they came with the house. Neither of us have much of a green thumb when it comes to roses, so it's amazing we've gotten them to bloom more than once this summer.

Here I am with my not so happy son. We are headed out for a late lunch since Krzysztof got off work early. We were a little worried about how it would go since he was not in the best mood.
But he was perfect! We ate outside at this awesome tapas restaurant, and Brandon slept the whole time.

This is the great dinner Krzysztof made for me...a 12 oz. filet, sauteed portabellas, and asparagus! And a 2005 Rafanelli Zin we bought at the small family winery in Sonoma a year and a half ago...they would only let each couple buy one bottle of it because it is in such high demand, and it was amazing!

Look closely under the napkin. How do babies always know when it is dinner time? Brandon always seems to wake up and/or become fussy right when our dinner hits this table. I've heard from other parents that many babies do this! Maybe they don't want to be left out of a family dinner. This time he was fussy and hungry. We didn't want our good dinner to get cold, so Krzysztof rigged up a way to keep everyone happy with the bottle propped on his belly. We had a nice quiet dinner!

Krzysztof is enjoying the quiet, happy baby cuddles after he gets to do the feeding...he doesn't often get to see that side of his son. More often than not he sees a dirty diaper and a fussy baby in need of vigorous bouncing. We are getting some pretty strong arm muscles from all the bouncing!

Another snuggle picture....one of my favorite things to do.

Milk Face

Hi Everyone! As you can see by the name of this posting, I have a new nickname! You see, I love to eat (and I eat really fast like my daddy and my Papa)! I frequently have milk all over my face, which is pretty cute my parents think. Maybe you have to be a parent to appreciate a look like this. Speaking of eating, here I am drinking from a bottle for the first time! It was great! It's a much more efficient way to eat actually. You can drink a bottle in like 1/4 of the time it takes to eat regularly, and I like efficiency.

Daddy had fun feeding me! So, I'm sure you all realize that in order to supply a bottle for dad to feed me with, mom has to pump. What a weird process that is! I overheard my mom's reaction to the experience as being amazed and yet horrified that you can get a bottle of milk that way.


I like to snuggle with my daddy!

Here I am looking cute with some crazy hair!

Check this out! My first time sunbathing...well kind of. Mom and dad sat in the sun and I stayed cool under my umbrella (or should I say parasol). Dad had the good idea to anchor the parasol to the ground with tent stakes. Pretty crafty, huh? I'm laying in my travel bed. This cool bed folds up so it can be packed in a suitcase.

I like to snuggle with mommy too!

Kisses everyone!

The Diaper Game and Other Tricks

Hi everyone! Brandon here again. I just wanted to share with you a few of my favorite tricks that I like to play to keep my mom on her toes!

First of all is the diaper game! This is when I try to see how soon after a diaper change I can mess up the diaper again! Sometimes I think it is funny to do my business during a diaper change! 2 diapers in less than 1 minute! Ha ha! A few times I've even managed to cause a little mess all over my clothes and the changing table. What fun!

Another trick is wetting through my diaper and clothes so that I get my Mimi's clothes all wet!

My personal favorite, however, has only been accomplished once. This is when I cough in the middle of spitting up and spray my Mimi's face! How can you not laugh at that?

Part of the reason for all of these tricks is that I miss my daddy. He is the one who usually changed me in my first week, and he held me a lot. he had to leave to go to California for my great grandmother's funeral. I can't wait to see him tomorrow night!

My First Week

Hi Everyone! I'm Brandon. My mommy and daddy are letting me post to their blog sometimes because I can probably tell you what my life is like and what I think of life better than they can.Here we are about to leave the hospital. It was nice there, during the times I had my eyes open, which was for a long time after I was born. After that, I was a little sleepyhead for most of the stay. My daddy kept having to mess with me to keep me awake long enough to even eat! What can I say, getting here was exhausting! The room was nice...mommy and daddy got to sleep together in a queen sized murphy bed, and they brought warm chocolate chip cookies everyday, which made mommy happy. I found it a little hard to breath in the hospital. My nose was pretty stuffy, which caused me to snort every once in a while, and this never ceased to amuse my parents. Unfortunately, it also got me my first nickname of "piglet."

My other nickname is "burrito" because I really like to be swaddled tight!
My first week at home has been really busy. My Mimi came to visit me and help out mommy and daddy. She has been cooking and getting things for mommy, and they occasionally let her hold me.

Here I am getting my first manicure! My fingernails were really long when I was born, and mommy didn't want me to scratch myself, so she filed my nails. I didn't really mind.

This is one of daddy's favorite things to do with me! My weighing! In the hospital, I lost some of my birth weight, and the doctors and mommy and daddy wanted to make sure that I gained it all back fast enough. Daddy has a scale that measures in grams and ounces, so they put me in this bowl to weigh me. I kind of like it in the bowl! I never complain about being in the bowl. And guess what? I got a big appetite when I got home and gained back all of my birth weight by my 1 week birthday! Daddy is so proud. He wants me to get big and chunky like he was as a baby. He even made an excel spreadsheet and graph to show my weight loss percentage and gain.

I like to do impersonations, and this is my pirate face. Daddy loves it.

I liked my first bath at home. Here are some of the hair styles I can sport. Which is your favorite?

My wet head started to not feel so good. It's cold when you are wet!

Last hair picture, I promise! I'm just too cute.

I loved my first walk in the neighborhood so much that I slept through the whole thing!



Here are some other cute faces I can make!


This pictures is for my Aunt Kiki (Valerie's sister Christie). She gave me this shirt and hat because she wants me to be a Georgia fan! I made that peace sign all by myself! Pretty cool, huh?
Bye everyone!