The Season of Transitions

We have seen many transitions in our family in the last few months.

Asleep in his crib

The transition that I am most excited to share is that Luke is sleeping in his crib now, even for naps!  He has even slept through the night a hand full of times. Generally, he will sleep a good 6 hour stretch, wake to eat, and then right back to sleep for a couple more hours. I think the question that I am asked by others most frequently is if I am getting any sleep. I happy to be able to answer that with a happy YES! Fingers crossed that this is a habit he sticks with.

My transition back to work full-time was very challenging for me at first but it has gotten better week by week. As much as I would love to be able to stay home with him, I do feel that being a working mom has helped me be a better mom in some regards. I cherish every moment I have with him...the good, the bad, and the ugly. I think I am more patient with him and am more intentional with our time together. I don't take anything with him for granted. We have our little morning and evening routines now and look forward to that time together. His smile when he sees me at the end of the day melts my heart every time. It also helps that I enjoy what I do and am surrounded by great people all day long. The encouragement and support from my family and friends makes all the difference.

Jma and Lukeman loving life!

Grammy's are the best!

For the last 7 weeks it did help that Luke was spending his days with family. This has been an incredible blessing and we are thankful that he didn't have to go to daycare at 2 or 3 months old. J Ma (Mark's mom) helped us early on with getting him into a nice little routine during the day. I love that they have been able to spend all of that time together. We were also blessed to have my mom, Grammy, visit and stay with us for 3 1/2 weeks this summer. They had so much fun together and had some good time to bond. She even discovered the trick to get him to enjoy bath time. He needed to be able to splash his feet in the water and have the scary running water turned off. Having my mom here was a huge help to us in so many ways. I am able to appreciate my mom in a whole new way since having Luke and it was so special to share this experience with her. Being a Grammy suites her well.

Rubber Ducky, you're the one

Tummy time is hard work!

Both grandmas have played a crucial role in helping Luke with his physical therapy exercises each day. He continues to show progress and is gaining neck strength daily. His head control is significantly better. We have been working on neck stretching, tracking exercises, reaching for toys and bringing them to his mouth, good alignment with tummy time, and most recently, rolling over. his pediatrician told us to start baby proofing the house because he will be scooting around before we know it. I'm not sure I'm ready for that just yet!

Lucy girl checking out the ocean

Luke has spent a couple Sunday mornings in the church nursery. He seems to enjoy it back there and it allows us to hear the message with our undivided attention. Another first for us was a family vacation to the beach and oh my how vacations have changed for a while. The pre-mom me would have spent the whole day at the beach each day, soaking up the sun.  We spent a lot of our time sitting on the front porch, in the shade, looking across at the water. It was still super relaxing to not have anywhere to be and to spend time with family. Lucy even joined us on this trip and was a very polite house guest.

Our next big transition began this week with Luke starting daycare. I know that he will be fine but I am still nervous to send him. He is just so little and won't get the one on one attention like he has been. I worry about his exercises during playtime not being done correctly and him regressing with his physical therapy. I worry about him not napping well and crying and me wondering how they will console him. And then there's the sicknesses that come with being around all those kids everyday.  I need to let go and trust. The first day started better than I thought it would. I, of course, cried when I kissed him goodbye. I did sit in there with him for a good 15 minutes and fed him a snack sized bottle before I left. Leaving him with strangers (who will hopefully soon become friends)  was one of the

We survived the first day of daycare!

hardest things I have ever had to do as a mom. It comforted me to see how the other babies were doing in there. They all seemed happy and very curious about the new kid in class. I thought about him all day long and wondered what and how he was doing. I didn't call though. I felt it would be better for myself to not constantly check in. At pick up, I could tell he had been crying, which broke my heart. I was hoping to walk in to see him playing and smiling. When I asked the girls how he did they both just looked at each other, as if to decide who to break the news to me. The one girl said , "Uh, he did ok. He was fussy today." I reached for him and he clung onto me and my eyes filled up with tears again. They reassured me that all babies have a difficult time initially and that he will adjust. He was all smiles by the time we got to the car and he talked to his elephant on the ride home about his day. I think that once he adjusts, I feel feel a whole lot better leaving him each morning. I have no doubts that he will make some friends and learn lots of new things by watching them. He is currently the youngest baby in the classroom so he will see a lot of new things. Maybe I'll even make a new friend or two.

Finally, and most importantly, one transition that no one really talks about is how dynamics change when you go from a couple without children to one with. There is nothing easy about bringing a baby home. Of course we love Luke more than I can describe and wouldn't trade him for anything in the world, but it is not all rainbows and sunshine all of the time. It is hard, never ending work and it can take a toll on your relationship if you aren't careful and intentional. This new tiny person enters your world and demands all of your attention making it hard to make time for each other.  There have been many days in the last 4 months that I have been exhausted, hormonal, frustrated, and a million other things, including not very nice. I don't know why it is so easy to take things out on the ones you love the most. There have been days when emotions ran high and we have become annoyed with one another, resulting in even worse communication between us. It is in those difficult moments that we need to practice giving grace more than ever...to ourselves and to each other. It's easy to blame it on the lack of sleep or crazy schedules but if I am being honest, I believe that for me it has more to do with my lack of spending time with God. Thanks to constant encouragement and support from one beautiful sister in Christ in particular, who also happens to be a new mom herself, I am getting back on track with spending time in the Word and making that AND spending one on one time with Mark a priority.
We were able to spend a couple of hours out together this past weekend and it was nice to be together, just the two of us...even if part of that date included a trip to the grocery store. It is so important to continue to intentionally grow and nurture your marriage after a major life change like bringing a baby home.  I've always heard people talk about putting your marriage before your kids and I better understand why now. Obviously this is a season where Luke needs a whole lot of attention but we are going to do our best to take the time for the two of us. If we aren't working well together as a team then the whole family suffers. All that Luke will become begins at home. I know that there will most likely be more challenging days and seasons down the road but if we work to keep God at the center of our marriage and remind each other that we are a team then we will be just fine.

Thanks for reading! I'll be back when I find a few minutes to spare 😉