Sweet Boy

It melts my heart that in your fussiest of fits- when you won't take a pacifier & no bouncing or patting will do... that the moment I sing to you 'Jesus Loves Me' is when you settle. It works 99% of the time! Once I sat in the back seat of the car & you just screamed.. that is until I started to sing. I sang "Jesus loves me, this I know..." on and on... over and over. I got tired of it and tried to change it up... but you started to cry! I switched back and you settled. Maybe you just like the reminder? Jesus does love you, sweet baby, and so does mommy!

Five Months

Wow. So much changed this past month! Raleigh had many firsts & has become so much more interactive! We laugh a lot at our little ham.

Raleigh had his first Christmas. He went to Lake City & Tallahassee for the first time. He met his great grandparents, great aunts & uncles! He met my cousins & friends. He tried solids for the first time. He has gotten much better at sitting on his own. He got his first tooth {1/18/14}! It's been a fun month!!

Raleigh's likes:
bath time
"talking"
milk, carrots, pears, peas, banana
standing {assisted of course!}
swinging
FaceTime
putting ANYTHING in his mouth
meeting people
fart noises {they make him smile}
playing with mommy & daddy
all of his new toys, preferably all out at once!

Raleigh's dislikes:
teething
naps {he tries to refuse them}
not a fan of avocado or sweet potatoes
being left in a room by himself....
not being able to crawl {he tries SO hard}

He is a joy! He is such an expressive little guy. His daddy & I are so grateful for him!

Breastfeeding- My Thoughts & Experience

Tomorrow marks 5 months of my breastfeeding journey. I consider myself NO expert on the matter! However, I just want to say... it's hard work!
It's stressful. There is the stress of if you're producing enough. There is the stress of trying to stop stressing! It hurts. It doesn't always come naturally. It's new for baby & for mommy.
For me there wasn't an immediate bond formed by breastfeeding. I mean, no more than the very first moment I laid my eyes on him and fell madly in love!

I say all that to say this; I'm glad I was able to breastfeed. It's hard work & it hurts at first, but it's how God designed our bodies to function. There are sweet moments where I really enjoy it. Those middle of the night feedings when you have a sweet sleepy baby who is extra cuddly after the feeding... they rank high on my favorite things list!

Photo by Sarah Gray Photography

I don't think you could have prepared me enough for how my breastfeeding experience would go. It's kind of one of those things I had to do... in order to understand. First off, we couldn't get the latch down. There were many hormonal and exhausted tears. Few things are worse than when you can't feed your baby or meet their needs! My life was changed when my lactation consultant introduced me to the nipple shield!  Life. Changing. Without it, I certainly would have given up all together! I will never forget the moment Raleigh finally latched on! His body was convulsing as he was swallowing and sucking so hard! It was incredible to watch this tiny little person learn how to eat and use every fiber of his being to do it. Incredible.

I do however wish someone would have told me that nursing would become my full time job! If a newborn is supposed to eat 10-12 times a day... & most feedings last 30-45 minutes... well you do the math! That's a legit work day. I felt like a had no time to do anything else!! {honestly I didn't!} BUT take heart new mommies... baby will get faster & you will adjust.

Now, breastfeeding has kind of had a resurgence in America. It's great! I know that my breast milk has tons of awesome properties and nutrition made especially for my baby! I'm so thankful my body was able to produce enough to feed my baby. But along with this resurgence of "breast is best" and what not... there has become this stigma with formula. Can I just say... there is NOTHING wrong with feeding your baby! Isn't that the most important thing!?  I know so many women who have to supplement with formula or choose to do formula for every feeding, it is not shameful! I applaud any mother who feeds her baby. It's cruel to make a new, exhausted, hormonal mother feel inadequate! *Ok rant over*

I suppose the point of me writing this is to say... breastfeeding is challenging, but worth it. I have remind myself that this is such a short time in my life. When I start to complain about not having anything "nursing friendly" to wear, realizing I need to pump in order to leave my baby in the nursery or just feeling "inconvenienced" altogether...  I realize it's not about me anymore & that I should be thankful for this opportunity! Yep, welcome to motherhood. It's harder than I ever thought & more amazing than I could have ever imagined.
 

Three Months & Four Months

Good grief. I've been a little busy & a lot lazy when it comes to blogging! Unfortunately Raleigh's 3rd & 4th month of life will not be well documented on the blog BUT you can check out my Instagram because it's got a billion pictures of our everyday life! So here is the quick recap!

 Month 3: {Oct. 22- Nov.21}

• We celebrated daddy's birthday!
• And Raleigh's first trunk or treat & Halloween! 
• Raleigh made his first trip out of Palm Beach County! We went to Orlando, FL
• He met his Polish girlfriend Marta & the Rosenbergs!
• He went swimming for the first time and loooooved it! (Yes it was November... got to love Florida!)
• Mommy & Daddy got really sick for almost a week! Thankfully not at the same time. Talk about tag-team parenting!!
• Mommy & Daddy celebrated their two year anniversary... by hanging out with Raleigh! Ha!

Month 4: {Nov.22-Dec.21}

• Raleigh had his first flight! He was given wings. He didn't cry & slept on the pull out tray table! He got lots of compliments... after we landed! ;)
• Raleigh visited the great state of South Carolina... his first time out of FL. 
• We celebrated Thanksgiving with all of our SC family!
• Raleigh met his 2nd cousin Wyatt who is not even 2 weeks older!
• We watched a lot of football! Raleigh sure does love it. (Go Noles!)
• We got to meet Harden James and see his mommy & daddy!
• Mommy & Raleigh traveled to Orlando again! This time to see Auntie Katherine conduct her chorus kiddos' concert! 
• We picked out our Christmas tree & we decorated it as a family of three!
• Raleigh sat on Santa's lap... & didn't cry. He definitely pulled "South Florida Santa's" beard... which mommy caught on camera!
• Raleigh played the roll of baby Jesus!
• We had his 4 month check up & he weighed 14 lbs. & 5 ounces... & was 26 inches long! He's a tall boy!

It's incredible to watch your child discover the world! I promise not to wait two months before I post again!!

Two Months

No seriously... time slow down! How has it been two months since Raleigh was born?! It has been the greatest two months of our lives. He is a great baby. Sometimes we'll look at him & ask ourselves how we have such a cute baby!

Raleigh is growing way too fast. Way. Too. Fast.

I love his little pensive looks! {Those eyebrows KILL me!!}

Oh... and that grin!

Around 6 weeks old... Raleigh discovered his tongue! He's pretty cute.

 A few dates to remember:

October 17th- while in the bathtub Raleigh grabbed my fingers so I pulled up a little... he then stretched out his legs and stood up!!! No really, the kid stood up. I yelled to Nathan & then within 30 seconds Raleigh FLIPPED out! I think he got cold. {He hates getting out of the water}. Of course I was afraid he hurt himself! What 8 week old pulls up and stands?!

October 13th- Raleigh went to the nursery for the first time at church. Mommy almost cried... it was a close call!

October 12th- Raleigh's first trip to the pool! Auntie Katherine, mommy & Raleigh all joined Sunshine at her rooftop pool. Apparently Raleigh likes to sleep by poolside!

October 10th- Raleigh's first trip to the mall! Mommy realized how much she really loves Nordstrom! They provide a lounge for nursing moms... oh, and free wifi! Pretty awesome.

October 4th- Raleigh met his great grandma... the one & only Maw Maw! He also got to see his Grandee again. {More on that visit later!}

Sweet baby toes.

Look who is getting thigh rolls!!! YAY!

Raleigh's likes:
bath time
milk
sleep {at night... thank the Lord!}
his swing
his activity mat
smiling
daddy's silly voice
mommy's silly songs
his monkey comfort blanket
his crib mobile

Raleigh's dislikes:
loud startling noises
riding in the car at night
waiting to be fed
pooping inside of diapers ;)
getting out of the bathtub


It's funny how quickly he has changed & how much  better we're reading his ques! We're getting to know our son & he is pretty incredible.

Happy two months to our happy, go lucky, sweet baby boy!

October 6th

If you talk to me long enough you'll learn about my best friend, Whitney. It's because we were pretty much attached at the hip & most of my hilarious stories include her! She is so much like me & at the same time perfectly opposite. We joked we'd make the perfect wife with our talents combined! She loved cooking & I loved baking. I liked crafting & making home a "home" & she liked cleaning it! She loved laundry & I loved... wearing clothes? Ok, she was the better house keeper between the two of us... & lots of days I wish she were around to clean up after me!! ;) 

Back up to October 6, 1987... my baby calendar reads "Elizabeth has a new playmate, Whitney Morgan Beach was born!" Although we grew up cities apart we still got together when our parents did. 

Little did we know... we'd become best of friends!

God is so good. Not only did he provide me with a sweet friend to go through life with; He lined up our lives so we could share each other's burdens, ask each other advice & share joys.  

We married our husbands 3 months apart from each other! 

Got pregnant 1 month apart from each other! 

And gave birth to our sons... 1 day shy of a month apart! 

And today we both support our husbands as they launch new church plants! 

Who knew even 800 miles apart our lives would be so similar!? God did. 

I can't believe how gracious God has been to provide me with a friend like Whitney. 

Today, October 6th, we celebrate her birth! I am so grateful that she was born. Happy Birthday Whitney, what should we do next!? ;)

The mom cut...

I always wondered why first time moms seemed to always chop off their hair?! 

Well, I am now that person. 

It's been three years since my last major hair style cut... so it was time!! Not to mention Raleigh has started to grab my hair. Also when I put him on my shoulder I usually ended up trying to get my hair out of his face! So it was definitely time!!!

Almost an entire foot of hair off!! Unfortunately I couldn't donate it since I had ombré... which was a deal breaker for Locks of Love & Pantene's a Beautiful Lengths. :(

I can still pull it back out of my face... which was vital! I still haven't tried it curly but I'm sure it will be much curlier since there isn't a pound of hair weighing down my bounce! 

Sometimes you just need a change. :)