Can you go back to sleep? It is just 4 a.m....

That is what I find myself thinking or saying to Mateo lately. He has been waking up at 4 a.m or earlier sometimes. What is up with that! Up to our trip to Florida he had a well established night routine. I was used to that and I felt rested in the morning. As much as I tried to keep Mateo's routine in Florida, his internal schedule changed and now he thinks it is 7 a.m when it is just 4 a.m. I hope he goes back to normal soon or even better he start sleeping through the night. 

Once he sleeps through the night and does not need to feed every 3-4 hours, I would go to work a bit more awake, I think. So far, we have all done great with me returning to work. I overcame my anxiety of leaving Mateo by knowing that he was in good hands, at home and he was drinking my milk from the bottle. The past two days have gone fast. I have so much work to do that time flies in the office and when I come back at 1:30 Mateo and my mom are very happy. I am able to work couple of hours in the afternoon while Mateo naps, play in his chair or after he goes to sleep for the night at 6 p.m. 

I am very happy with my new work schedule, no so much with Mateo's sleep one.

Going back to work this week

I am a bit nervous to go back to work on Wednesday. My mom and I have been preparing for this for a while and I know everything will be fine after few days of adjusting for me and Mateo. I just know I will miss my baby so much and I will be so happy to come back home after work and have a beautiful child waiting for me with a big smile and some day calling me mommy. 

It will feel estrange to go back to my desk and the office after 7 months of being absent. Starting in January I could not go to the office because I was put in modified bed rest due to placenta previa. I was able to work from home which was nice but I still missed the direct interactions with my co-workers. After 14 weeks of maternity leave I need to go back to work this week. I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand I would like to stay at home and care for Mateo and never miss his fast growth and on the other hand I do want to be intellectually stimulated and bring my income. We need my income if we want to move to Ecuador next year.

We are lucky because Mateo will be home and well cared by my mom. She knows how I have done things with Mateo and his routine. She also has all the love of a grandmother for him. Where else could he be better? Also, Pat comes home for a morning break and for lunch so he gets to check on things and see Mateo for a little bit. 

I know Mateo and I will be fine we just need some time for this new stage in life...

We went to the beach today

Mateo got to see the Atlantic ocean for the first time and we dared to let him get out of the car and touch the warm water of the ocean with his feet. It was a 5 minute adventure since we took him out of the aired conditioned car until we came back. We had an umbrella with us and the sun was not shining at that moment. I think he did very well and felt the good energy that the ocean has. Another year might go by before we come back to Florida and experience this. 

Two weeks ago, we went to see the Pacific ocean in Santa Cruz California, then we did not take Mateo out of the car. We will have more opportunities to go to Santa Cruz in the near future. 

Mateo is 3 months old!

...and he is celebrating it in Florida! 

Today was a great day. Mateo was such a happy boy all day long. It is so easy being a mom and dad for such an easy boy. He had his first pool party and got in the pool with daddy. The weather was perfect and the sun was not shining. Mateo was so happy to get in the water! 

He is used to a lot of people around him now. Everyone loves him and comment on his looks... WHAT A CUTIE! 

I have been keeping his California schedule so he does not get confused when we go back. He is still sleeping all night long (from 6 pm-6 am) waking up twice to eat. 

Happy birthday little one... you are growing so fast!!! 

In the pool with daddy

He is just a doll

Visiting Family in Florida

Mateo had his first flight to Florida! We came to visit his father side of the family. In the planes he was a happy bird except for one of the take offs when we had the last row of seats. Boy, I never realized how noisy it is there, close to the bathrooms but still noisy. Mateo got a little scared and cried for some time. 

We are staying at "The house of Mimi" as I called it ;)... Pat and Mimi (his sister) laugh a lot about this... well they laugh a lot about everything. They are two happy siblings. Mateo is a bit cranky after his naps. I think he thinks-- Where am I? Who are all these people? What are so many noises around? Where is my crib? Mr.Filiks? so he complains about it. I know he will get over it soon, just in time to go back home and go back to normal, ha ha. 

Tomorrow is his 3 month old birthday and I am sure he will be happy.

 

In the plane 

Hanging out with Alyssa

First laughs and giggles

Oh how fun it is to see Mateo laugh and giggle! He is turning our world around with a smile...

It was hunger!

Whenever I have an opportunity to leave the house for an hour or two, I sure take it. I find it refreshing to leave my full time mommy job and do something else. After all the world has not stopped because I had a baby and I DO ENJOY SOME TIME FOR MYSELF ONCE IN A WHILE!!  It is also an opportunity for my mom to practice being with baby and take care of all his needs. Our worst fear always has been to have Mateo cry and cry and not be able to calm him. The few times he has cried "a lot",  it has been for a reason, it just takes us some time to figure out why. Lucky me, those times had been when I was away.

So the first time I left Mateo home, it was with Pat. My mom and I went to a party. I had to come back right away because he would not stop crying. Later I figured out it was because of the heat. Then I did not know that babies can overheat really fast so we did not think of taking his clothes off.  Our house is pretty cool and comfortable most days of the summer but if the heat is above 95 outside, the inside reaches 80 or more and that is too much for Mateo, thus a cranky baby.

The second time my mom and I were standing in line to get some well deserved gelato ice cream at Castro, when the phone rang. It was Pat telling us that Mateo woke up and he would not stop crying. This time he was coming down with a cold and we calmed him down with baby tylenol. 

Today, I went to a picnic with my coworkers, it was lovely outside and I was enjoying myself by the pool. Again that !@y%*?$# phone rang and it was Mateo again crying and crying. I rushed home and figured out that he was hungry!. He nursed all the milk I had and started laughing like nothing had happened. It was just hunger! I WONDER WHAT IS NEXT...

 

Already 12 weeks!

Yeah! Mateo reached 12 weeks of age today. Not quite 3 months, that will be next week when he completes 13 weeks. He weights 13 lb and 11 oz, almost 14 lb! No wonder why my arms and back get sore ;). He is overall a very happy boy, few spells of cry here and there but nothing that loving hands of mom, dad and granny can cure. He has spend most of these summer months naked because of the weather so not cute clothes for him.
Now he can grab things with his hands and today for the first time put something besides his fist in his mouth. He makes it seems like they are so tasty! So watch out Pat, from now on, baby is taking everything we give him to his mouth!
Next Tuesday, Mateo will have his first trip to Florida. We will visit Pat's sister and all his children. I am sure we will have so much fun and so Mateo. I can't wait! When we return I will have 3 more days off and then return to work at Environmental Volunteers. I have a pile of work waiting for me! I am sure things will settle into a nice routine and I will enjoy continuing to work as well as watching my precious baby grow.

I want to taste everything now...

How much fun is bath time with daddy!

Thanks Paul

Paul the husband of my friend Suzanne has given Mateo a free photo session. This is one of the photos. Thanks Paul and Suzanne!
Mateo looks adorable.

Feeding from the bottle- he did it!

Today Mateo took two ounces of milk from the bottle! Yeah!!! We have been trying for few days and he would not take much. This will allow me to go back to work and know that my mom or Pat can give him food and he will take it. We had to try different bottles and the best for him is the Avent naturally one. I am glad that he will have the bottle just once or twice a day, the rest of the feedings I will give him his food! I love doing that. It is such an special time.

The bottles we tried

Silly, content and happy boy

Baby schedule

It is interesting to watch Mateo follow a very precise schedule/routine specially at night. Does he have a internal clock that works by the second? Almost everyday, he will fall sleep at 6:00 pm and wake up at 10:00 pm just to go back to sleep after a feed and change and wake up again at 2:00 pm., then he wakes up again at 5:30 or 6:00 am. During the day, he is ready for a nap no longer than 2 hours since the last wake up time. He end up taking 4-5 short naps during the day. I have read that as he gets older he will sleep few and longer naps during the day and maybe skip a feeding during the night. I look forward to that but in the mean time I really enjoy his predictable schedule at night.

I LOVE breast feeding Mateo. So, I have not push the bottle too much during these two months and Mateo does not like feeding from a bottle now. He would take some milk but not much. Of course he prefers mommy's fresh food. So, this month before I go back to work, my goal is to let my mom or Pat feed the baby with the bottle in the morning. We will see how that goes.