It’s been exactly 8 weeks since I’ve become a mom.
8 weeks of witnessing a rapid growth of a tiny human.
8 weeks of sleeping in 1-2-hour increments at night.
8 weeks of pure joy filled with enormous amount of love. Truly!
My post-baby story may not be the same to what we usually hear: sleep deprived exhausted mom going through baby blues, etc. Nope, that wasn’t me.
Yes, I no longer sleep uninterrupted 7 hours at night. But I do get those 7 hours of sleep with 30-60-minute breaks every 1-2 hours! Luckily, I have a luxury of spending 10-12 hours for sleep. I’m not bragging or anything, but I just don’t want to paint a picture that I didn’t really experience, you know. I was able to truly enjoy my time with my little boy these first few weeks thanks to my mom, who came all the way from Mongolia to help me to transition into this new role, new life of mine. Honestly, I don’t know how I’d have done it without her. Thanks to her, I was able to savor and enjoy every waking moment of being a mom. (Thanks, mom! I love you!)
And guess what, my baby’s turning 2 months in a few days! Crazy!! I can hardly believe it! It feels like it’s been a lifetime since I had him, yet it went by in a blink of an eye!
I remember the very first night at home so clearly: not being able to fall asleep, just staring at my beautiful baby to make sure he’s sleeping comfortably and that his little belly is going up and down. My body begged for sleep, but my mind was all wired. If you have a baby, I’m sure you can relate, or am I the weird one? My husband had to take him to another room so I could get some shut eye. He promised he’ll watch him non-stop. Now, I sleep when baby sleeps, but the lightest peep from him wakes me up right away. Who am I?? I don’t even recognize myself.
Anyway, Grant has changed and grew so much in the last 8 weeks. And here’re the highlights:
1) At this point, Grant has doubled his birth weight. He’s our chubby chubs. From the looks of it, he’s going to have some serious rolls. Our future sumo wrestler.
2) He is cooing!!! We love, love when he is in a talkative mood! If you’re on snapchat, you’ve probably seen it too. 🙂
3) Couple weeks ago, my baby boy surprised me with a conscious, wide-awake smile while looking at me!! His happy toothless grin made me so happy that I even had a happy tear in my eyes. If he isn’t in his usual serious thinking mode, he gives everyone big happy smiles now. Too cute, I can’t even handle it…
4) He’s also starting to focus on things now… Toys, faces, and even TV!! It’s adorable to see him staring at things, like bare wall, ceiling or light.
5) Oh and he absolutely loves his bath time!
I can’t wrap my head around how fast he’s growing already. Someone, please stop the time for a bit!
This perfectly happy family portrait you’re looking at right now may look like we have everything under control, but in reality it was a chaos! CHAOS! One minute, he is all happy and giggling, another minute spiting up left and right, then he’ll get tired and fussy. But we managed to snap a few perfect shots! For that I’m thankful!
As I mentioned above, I had my mom here helping me out full time. This helped me to really enjoy the beginning of motherhood without much stress. I’d highly, highly recommend to accept any and all help from your family when you have a baby. Unfortunately, my mom just went back to Mongolia this weekend. I have no idea how things are going to be from now on. Check back in a few weeks to see how I survive. Thank God for my husband who’ll be in charge of Grant in the evenings!
I also would like to share a few products that we currently love. I decided to share only 5 top (read: best of the best) products for each phase, so I don’t go crazy, listing everything we use, because we have a lot of favorites.
5 Baby Products We’re Absolutely Crazy About:
- Baby Bargains– Ok, this is not necessarily a baby product, but this is what helped me in my research for all my baby related purchases. My friend Amy gave me this book when I was pregnant. (Thanks, Amy!) This book is full of unbiased reviews, recommendations and product comparisons. I consulted with this book for every single purchase, and so far I’ve been pretty happy with all of my purchases.
- Socks and scratch mittens that stay on!! Ok, these socks and mittens are awesome, they really stay on on my baby’s tiny feet and hands. If your baby loses his socks and/or mittens often, look into these one.
- Snuza, baby movement monitor– your key to worry-free good night sleep. As I mentioned earlier, as first time parents, there’re so many things that worries us, and one of those things is “Is baby breathing?” And this little device truly gives us a piece of mind. My mom thought it’s silly (she raised 4 kids without it!), but I love it nonetheless.
- Nosefrida Baby Nasal Aspirator. This fun little device, aka snotsucker, is one the greatest inventions yet! It might sound gross, but there is really no reason to gross out. It’s simple, clean, and most importantly, effective!!
- Gripe Water. So, Grant has been really gassy for a few weeks. He would grunt and grunt with so much pain and irritation. It’s the most painful thing to watch your baby having a hard time, because you feel so helpless. And this magic water saved us so many times, and baby loves its taste! It works within minutes, I can’t say enough good things about it! Stock up, if you’re expecting!
So that’s a wrap for now. Hope you enjoyed reading.
PS: This post is not sponsored. However, it contains affiliate links to the products that I truly love! Thank you!
Oh, th number of times I looked at a bottl of Gripe Water and thanked it…lol. Who would of thought that a bit of dill water could be so effective, but it really is. Where is the adult Gripe Water??!!? I could use that help practically every day!!
I live in Canada, so not sure if you have the option in the US, but we have the choice between the “old-school” gripe water and the alcohol-free version. Just wanted to let other moms know that there are a couple versions out there in case they want to avoid all alcohol in anything they give their babies. Also, I found Baby Ovol indispensible. Really nails a bad case of painful gas for baby. I found Gripe Water really great for the run-of-the-mill colic, but when my babies’ tummies were really causing a lot of pain and they were kicking with pain, Baby Ovol really helped. Tummy massage was great too. A great tip I saw on TV once was to lay baby down on your bed or the floor and with a gentle pushing, write L-O-V-E with your fingers across their tummy. It helps move out air, privides the all important touch they need and the direction your fingers move to make the letters follow the direction of the intestinal tract so it’s easy to remember which way to gently oush to get things moving in there. It’s nice with a carrier oil and just a drop or so of lavender (lavender is safe for babies by colic age. 🙂
Gripe water was a lifesaver for us! I had no idea that it had alcohol! And thank you for sharing about alcohol-free version. And yes, I remember watching a video tutorial for LOVE massage and it was definitely helpful. I used olive oil. 🙂 Oh and one of the nurses told me not to use lavender stuff on a boy while they’re infant, messes up their hormone or something, I was afraid to use anything with lavender. :p
I’ve only now just had the chance to catch up on your posts, but I’m so glad you’ve had such a great experience so far! It makes a huge difference to have support so that you can get much-needed rest in those first crazy weeks. What a blessing to have your mom be able to help out, and how wonderful that you were able to accept it! (I have terrible control freak tendencies that make it hard for me to sit back & let others do things for me!) Grant is such a cutie-pie and your family pic is precious!! Wish we lived closer so we could enjoy this “moms of boys” thing together! ❤️ Keep up the great work, Grant is a lucky little boy to have such an incredible mama!
Hi, Dianna! So glad you’ve stopped by! Totally wish we lived closer, but hopefully I’ll make it to Florida next year. And I know what you mean about control freak tendencies, because I’m a pro at it. Luckily, my mom knows that well and does things my way. But trust me we had our moments. Haha
He is SO adorable…my mom came out to help after the births of both my babies and it made SUCH a difference. Hang in there!
Thank you, Katy! Yeah, that additional helps makes all the difference. 🙂
How adorable!! Enjoy all these times. They go by so fast. Thank you for sharing your pics.
Thanks, Laurie!! 🙂
Precious and beautiful!! I look as forward to seeing updates on Grant and your family as I do the recipes. Thank you for always sharing and you have an awesome Mom!
Thanks so much, Janet!
I loved reading all about little Grant! I’m expecting my first little one in June so it’s fun hearing the stories and experiences of a new mom.
Btw: Your mom sounds amazing. what a special gift that she was able to come and help you out. 🙂
Oh, congratulations, Kristen!! Hope you’re enjoying your pregnancy so far. It goes by so fast, you’ll have your little one in your arms in no time!
Shinee, that smile is beyond cute. Your family is beautiful.
One of indespensible baby items for me was a Bjorn brand baby carrier. It was number one on my list.
Enjoy your precious one, take a bunch of videos, they are so fun to watch later.
Thank you, Mila! I just recently bought Ergobaby carrier. In fact, I was debating between Bjorn and Ergo for quite a while, and in the end went with Ergo 360. I’ve used it couple of times on our walk, and it’s been great! And videos are great idea, I always forget about it.