None other than our very own River, the star of the blog.

This Boppy lounger has been THE most used baby item that we have. You never know what you will end up using the most until you actually have the baby and you are (as they say) “in it”. Our item of choice has been the boppy lounger and other items that I thought we would be using all the time (such as the swing or rocking chair) we hardly use at all. I realize we are only one month in, but if I could go back in time I might register for two of these. I do wish they made covers for them like they do for the regular boppy pillow. The washing instructions say you can wash the whole pillow, but…really? I haven’t tried it yet. Seems risky to me.

Other than sharing my Birth Story I realized I really haven’t told you much about our little River. I know most parents probably say this, but truly, he is the perfect baby. He is what I believe is called an “angel” baby. I only read one baby parenting book from cover to cover before having River, The Baby Whisperer by Tracy Hogg. At the beginning of the book Tracy discusses the different types of babies, describing their personalities and characteristics. She explained that it helps to figure out what characteristics most closely match with your baby because throughout the book she gives anti-dotes or suggestions for different situations depending on what type of baby you have. The last baby she mentions is the Angel baby. She basically says that in very rare instances you will have an angel baby that is extremely happy and content and if you have an angel baby you could probably stop reading the book. Well…so far, that is exactly the type of baby River has been.

River is an excellent sleeper. In fact, the first night at the hospital I got in trouble because I wasn’t waking him enough to feed him. He hardly ever cries and if he does he stops immediately when you meet his need. River has put himself on a 3 hour eating schedule, although some days he gets hungry more often and I am more than happy to oblige him with milk. River loves being held and will make faces and coo at you, but he understands if you need to do the laundry or throw the frisbee for the dogs and he is happy and content to entertain himself. At night he wakes up to eat and puts himself back to sleep in his crib after he’s done. The first week home Dan wanted me to google what was wrong with him because he was too good. We were so ready to have sleepless night of crying and just be ready to pull our hair out…and that’s just not at all how things are going. I am indeed sleepy because he has to eat every 2-3 hours, so I don’t get a constant sleep, but he goes back to sleep so easily that I would hardly call myself sleep deprived.

We don’t love him just because he is an angel baby, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. We really do just adore him. We will stare at him for hours and be perfectly content with commenting on his little movements and noises. We LOVE him. I’m sure you could tell.

The hardest thing this past month has been my post-partum recovery. I had read so much about natural birth and was so prepared for the actual birth, but I had not prepared for what my body would be like after having River. I didn’t realize I would be in tremendous pain unless I was laying down for the first two weeks. I had no idea the length of time recovery would take…actually, I’m still not sure how long it will take. I am feeling so much better these days, but I am still not 100%. Walks are doable, but not for longer than 20 minutes or so. I don’t even want to think about jogging at this point and sitting for long periods are also still difficult. I am also in the middle of battling mastitis for the second time already. Breastfeeding sounds so easy and beautiful in theory… Maybe no one told me about post-partum recovery because it’s different for every woman, but I’m beginning to think it was so I wouldn’t back out of having my sweet baby Kidding.

Enough about me. Goodness.

We took River for his first trip to the seashore this weekend!

“Please, no pictures”

and by “we” I mean my mom and Tammy. Dan worked a crazy shift and was catching up on some much needed rest when we snuck away to the sea.

River and Aunt Tammy. So happy!

and…I’m not sure what is so funny. Maybe because River is SO easy going and flexible and we had been passing him around like a football. Oh sweet River, thank you for loving us.

Last, but definitely not least, River’s halloween picture. Can you guess what he went as?

Yep. A farmer.