Two months old!

Sam's two month birthday was on Thursday!  I can't believe how quickly the time flew by.  Well, since about four weeks of those eight weeks were spent in a haze caused by a lack of sleep, I feel like I've really only been fully present mentally for about half of the time he's been here.  Since he didn't really sleep more than 2 1/2 hours at a stretch for the first four weeks, I started feeling a little crazy.  

In the middle of the night, I would stare blearily at this dumb tag on my boppy pillow and wonder if the manufacturers knew what a horribly depressing message it was sending to exhausted new mothers.  I hated the boppy because of that tag.  I've actually put that boppy downstairs so I don't see that tag in the middle of the night anymore. I use a different pillow in the night now. 

I don't deal with a lack of sleep well, so I finally took a friend's advice and bought the "Miracle Blanket."  Now how much good could a little blanket really do, you ask.  From the first night we swaddled him in this thing that resembles a baby straight jacket, he started sleeping 3 - 4 hour stretches.  I would spend the $30 for this thing again in an instant!  It was a small price for a little sanity! Sam loves the blanket.  He often smiles when I swaddle him before bed or at 3 am. Huzzah for a miracle!

The lack of sleep has lead to few of my crazy sleep behaviors.  The other night I woke up convinced that Sam was sleeping somewhere in our bed (which he never does.  I always feed him sitting up in a chair because I'm scared to sleep with him). I kept digging around in the blankets and sheets until I found what I believed to be Sam.  He was close to Don so I thought that Don had rolled on him.  I was so worried! I put my head down to listen for breathing and a heartbeat. Sam felt a little strange and I finally woke up enough to realize that I was listening to Don's arm.  

I love making my own wheat bread.  Since I've had Sam, I've made bread three times.  Two of those times, I have forgotten to add the salt.  When I realized that I had forgotten the salt again last week, Don finally circled "salt" on the recipe so I wouldn't miss it again. I am going to blame that one on momnesia.

Don and I had a really fun 4th of July.  We went on a long hike and went to Cherry Creek in Denver to the most amazing burger joint, the Cherry Cricket.  One of Don's friends at school heard that this burger place in Denver had the 3rd best burger in the nation (according to the Food Channel), so we tried it out when we went to the temple a few months ago.  I didn't think it would really be that great. I just thought that a burger was a burger, but it was so amazing, we had to go back. We went and got some amazing burgers and walked around the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, which just happened to be that night.  I love looking at art!  Even the strange stuff interests me.  Someday, I hope to buy some really nice pieces for my house.

I had a couple fun instances with my job lately. I had one belligerent (probably drunk) guest of a resident throw lit fireworks on the grass while cussing me up and down for daring to tell her she couldn't light them.  I also had someone accuse me of stealing their charcoal grill a few hours after I told them they couldn't use it.  

Don's college roommate and good friend, John Stovall and his fabulous wife, Dakin, were traveling through the Denver area and stopped to have dinner with us.  They live in Boston where John is finishing his PhD in Economics. While I've heard a lot about them, it was the first time I'd met them and I must say, I wish we lived nearer each other. We had so much fun (as noted by the rocket ship in the background.  As a rule, we only go to the rocket ship park with the coolest of people).  

As a follow up to my henna belly, I had my feet and hands henna'd by my friend SarahKate. She took some really cool pictures of me holding Sam, proudly displaying her artwork.  Also, it was fun to have SarahKate and her little girls hold and adore Sam.  

Sam is smiling more and more and gaining lots of good weight!  He got his shots the other day (poor guy!) and weighed in at a hefty 12 lbs. 4 oz. He's nearly doubled in size now (birth weight: 6 lbs. 14 oz.)  He is such a cutie and I love taking pictures of him!

We are looking forward to this week when all of Don's family will be here in Boulder for a family reunion.  We are going camping, which I'm a little nervous about, but hopefully everything will go smoothly.  Thank goodness the Wilsons are letting us take their tent trailer. The idea of breastfeeding in a tent at 3 am just really isn't appealing right now.  Sam is so excited to meet his aunts and uncles. We are also having his blessing next Sunday and my parents and two of my brothers and their families are going to be there, so we are really looking forward to that.  Hurray for family!