Sweet dreams little one

Yeah!, finally Mateo has taken a nap without the need to be swaddled (45 minutes long) . This is a great milestone for us because he would not stay asleep more than 5 minutes without swaddling. Any little noise used to wake him up. With more hot days with us, this was going to be an issue because the swaddling makes him hot. He would rather be naked ;)
He is also spending more alone time in the crib enjoying his mobile and in the bouncing chair. He interacts a lot with us and continues to enjoy his peaceful morning stroll around the farm.


At the age of 2 months and almost 10 weeks, he is definitely a little man who knows his world better. I can not wait to watch him grow more and more.

Love to be naked on a hot day

Morning stroll, already a nature lover

How do I look in red?

My first day back to work---practice

My mom and I wanted to see how our days would look like when I go back to work. I know it is still 5 weeks away but it did not hurt to practice, in fact it was a good experience and we got good information. I am not sure what my schedule would be like but I am hoping to go to the office for 4 hours in the morning and work from home 2 hours in the afternoons. In today test, my day started at 6:00 a.m. when Mateo woke up. I feed him, changed him and played with him a little bit (his favorite now is the mobil in his crib where he can watch things go around and around). At 7:30 he went down for a half and hour nap. Same thing when he woke up, feed him, changed him and off he went for a short stroll with my mom. At this point I went to work in theory. After 15 minutes of the walk my mom came back in a hurry because Mateo was screaming, I think it was a bit much stimulation from many summer camp children playing outside the Dana Center on their first day of camp. My mom had stopped to watch them play and Mateo probably got freaked out by the noise. His strolls are usually very peaceful in nature. I was able to calm Mateo only by breastfeeding him. He went down for another nap at 9:45 and again at 12:00. My mom had so much fun "being in charge" and I enjoyed keeping a close eye on everything without much intervention. Another challenge my mom had was that Mateo did not want to take the bottle with milk I had pumped in the morning. He just did not like it so I had to give him the fresher milk. After some tricks my mom played he eventually drank the milk I left. He slept until I came back at 1:30 pm. I was so glad to be back with my baby and feed him again!

In the afternoon, I gave him a massage. I watched a video on infant massage and how great they are for babies. Mateo and I LOVED his first massage and I hope to give him one every afternoon. After the massage and some play he went down for another nap and then woke up fussy. The heat is to blame again. Now we know that if the room temperature is 75 degrees or more Mateo needs to be naked and with the fan, then he is happy. At 6 p.m. he went down for the night, woke up at 10:00,  2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. And here we go again! 

My mom and I really enjoyed our practice back to work day but I am so glad I still have time to be with my boy all day long. 

Dealing with separation anxiety

I have left Mateo at home before while I do errands with my mom or Pat or meet a friend. It has been just fine because it was during nap time or bed time (he goes to bed at 6 p.m.). I miss him so much the minute I walk out the door but I am also happy to be "free" for sometime and find myself again. I always came back home happy to know that my baby is in good care and happy. Today it was different, I came back to a very unhappy baby.  My mom and I went to a Sweet Sixteen party at 4 p.m., and Pat agreed to stay home with Mateo. It was going to be his first solo time with him, he assured me that he would do anything to keep him happy. So just before leaving for the party Mateo started to cry, like he knew that something was going on. I calmed down and I was good to go. I left the house with peace of mind and trusting that he will be just fine, a happy baby like always. After one hour in the party, Pat calls me to tell me that Mateo is doing great and he is sound sleep. Half and hour later, Pat calls again and tells me that after trying everything, Mateo can not stop crying and I need to come back home right away. Twenty minutes later, I see my baby's cheeks full of tears, I hold him, I nurse him and complete STOP! He is happy again. He is with mom. He did not really nurse for the first 5 minutes, he just needed to know that I was there, holding him, loving him. I felt bad for leaving him and I can not imagine the 30 minutes he cried very hard. Poor Pat, he had to deal with that and I can just imagine. I needed to write this to let it out. Mateo is sound sleep in his crib now and probably all this day is over in his mind but for me it is taking a little while to let it go. Nothing is more important than my baby now and I would do anything for not let him cry so much. He needs his mom now and I will be there. I will still leave him when he is sleeping or when he is older.

Sound sleep after a hard day. 

Mateo our sweet love

Days continue to go by really fast and Mateo is bigger and smarter. He is very chatty at times and breaks our hearths with his beautiful smiles. We all want to get a chance to hang out with him when he is awake and ready to play. His favorite activity is to go out for a stroll around the farm. With such a beautiful days he enjoys nature at most. He is awake most of the time. I tell him that our land in Ecuador is also full of trees, birds and peace like Hidden Villa. Today we took his clothes off and let him spend some time in our backyard and he loved it! Mateo my sweet love...

His beautiful blue eyes, my wish...

With daddy

With abuelita

Time for bed

Mateo has gone social

In this past week Mateo has been busy being social for the first time. He has attended a bachelor-et party on a Sunday afternoon, a new mommies support group at El Camino Hospital and a lunch picnic with Lead Environmental Volunteers and coworkers. In all these days he did great, enjoyed himself, and presented his beautiful and calm self to the world. He continues to grow fast and show us new things that he is able to do. At the changing table (one of his favorite places to go- quite often!) he coo's and smiles a lot. He has also learned to lift his head up with more confidence, follows our voices and looks at everything around the house. He is sure learning about his world. Pat thinks he has a Buddha like demeanor.

silly parents do whatever they want with Mateo ;)

At the bachelor-et party

at the picnic lunch

showing off his strength 

Mateo has his first guitar lesson!

Mateo at 6 weeks

Mateo is a BIG boy everyone says! Yesterday we went to a lactation support group and many people commented on Mateo's looks.  His weight now that is 6 weeks old is 11 lb and 5 oz. He is really chubby and looks well fed. He is also cute too! 

Now that he seems to be more interested in things I feel good about going out of the house. He is enjoying the outgoings. He likes the car and stroller rides once he is rested and fed. 

Time has gone fast but I have enjoyed every moment of these past 6 weeks with Mateo. I am used to get up at 1 am and 5 am and I actually enjoy our time alone while breast-feeding. Soon he will sleep longer periods at the time. Couple days ago he sleep for 4 hours straight! 

I love my boy!!!