First Father's Day

 This blog is dedicated to my two favorite boys...My baby boy and his amazing Daddy!  These are two peas on a pod if I've ever seen it.  Nick has amazed me at how quickly he has taken to loving his role as a dad.  He is protective, responsible, loving, affectionate, (increasingly) patient, and literally obsessed with this little boy.  It has been such a blessing giving my hubby a first born son, what a cool and amazing thing?! For Nick's first Father's day, Wyatt helped me make "man style" pancakes, which basically just means I fried and egg and stuck it on top of his stack of cakes (thanks for the idea, Corrie) and we ended up staying home and watching church online this week.  Wyatt went down for an early nap, which was strange but he was obviously very tired, so that threw a wrench in going to church, so we took the morning off and watched it in Nick's "man cave.."  see a resounding theme???  Pastor Rummage gave some very wise words of wisdom and guidance to all the Fathers in the audience.  I took some notes, I'm going to record them here so we can refer back whenever we want!

1. Always honor Mom (woot woot!!! Go pastor!!)

2. Teach children respect

3. Provide spiritual direction (you are a mirror, thermostat, and compass to them)

4. Encourage your children (tell them they have what it takes and that you love them.)

5. Invest quality time

6. Walk with God.

Colossians 2:6-7

Just as you received him, WALK WITH HIM.

This was his basic message for the day. 

 This is one of my absolute favorite pictures!! My two boys huggin' and squeezin' and laughing together.  Wyatt and Nick have such a beautiful connection as father and son.  I can't wait to see the fun they have and what amazing things Nick will get to teach Wyatt growing up.

The rest of our Father's day we spent doing some of Nick's favorite things.  We went to Tampa Bay Brewing Company for lunch and sat outside.  Wyatt loved this because there were lots of other people and kids around and he also could see the cable car passing by from where we were sitting.  It was a beautiful day.  We made sure to have some real manly food too....sliders with all kinds of things on them..and of course a mug of home brew.  We spent the afternoon just enjoying the day as a family.  The new dad's last request(s) was to order pizza (which we have not done in almost 8 months because of the elimination diet I had been on so that I could breastfeed Wyatt).  So ordering pizza was  BIG DAY in this house over the weekend!!  And lastly, he cutely asked if we could watch a tough guy movie in the man cave once Wyatt went to bed.  Of course I said YES! So we bunked up in the man cave after our pizza and watched "Saving Private Ryan", which I had never seen, amazingly enough.  Nick mentioned that I should take notes on this Father's day and remember all the details because it was perfect.  That is what BLOGGING is for!! Because my pea brain will forget in like 5 days what we did on Sunday.  It truly was a great weekend. 

Weaning

Not the best quality pictures in the world...but just a reminder of those early days...having my little snuggle bunny so comfy sound asleep on me.  PRECIOUS!  I will never forget how that feels.  

 I somewhat abruptly weaned Wyatt last week.  It has been a constant battle trying to make his tummy comfortable and minimize the acid reflux.  I was determined to nurse him for as long as I could and give him the best possible start in life, as well as that bonding experience between me and him.  I was anxious, sad, excited, hormonal, and so many other things once I needed to stop.  I was weaning gradually because he needed to gain a little weight, which he was not getting sufficient calories from nursing anymore.  He actually seemed to gain quickly and had more energy, and was also less fussy on the hypoallergenic formula as opposed to breast milk.  We were reaching that point of needing to do what is best going forward, as sad as it is to leave this beautiful stage of motherhood behind.  So I have been in the process of stopping milk production (not fun).   Basically my mood swings are ridiculous and I just feel over all emotional!!  It's quite silly.  Today I am feeling MUCH better, day 4 of no nursing.  I'm anxious for my body to go back to normal...hopefully within a week or so, we will see.  Another manly progression of the weekend, I guess.  Wyatt moving on to bigger and better things!! (bottles).  It has been such a bitter sweet transition, but I'm sure there will be MANY more of those to come as a mother.  So, I didn't necessarily get to my goal of nursing him for a year, but I also had no idea I'd be on an elimination diet of milk and soy proteins....considering that's the curve ball God threw me, I'd say I'm pretty proud of myself.  Almost 8 months of having to obsess over everything I ate just so that he would not have a reaction was equivalent to like 2 years of nursing a baby that has no issues!!!  That's what I'm going to tell myself anyways.  So cheers to Wyatt, to his daddy, to mommy having some freedom, and to many more milestones to come.