March Recap

Because a certain little someone decided to join the world at the end of February, I didn't end up doing a February recap. And here I am with a six week old (what?!), finally getting around to our March recap. Better late than never, right? March was an amazing month full of tons of new for us around here: me staying home, having a child, and all things that come along with the other two. Eli took up the majority of the month, but it was fun getting to experience lots of firsts with him. Here is a recap of our March, complete with lots of baby pics!

Being a Mama

 Even though Eli ended up being a February baby instead of a March baby like we expected, I would still consider March to be the first month I really felt like a mom. The first weeks truly were a blur of a newborn fog, and looking back they were pretty challenging and exhausting. (In case you missed it, check out my 10 Tips for Surviving the First 6 Weeks with a Baby to read more about our first few weeks). I'm truly in awe of what my body is capable of: from growing Eli for nine months, then birthing him, and now feeding him. God is amazing and the intricacy of his creation is so incredible, especially in babies. Being a mom is already the best, hardest thing I've ever done, and it is such a privilege. We feel so blessed with our sweet Eli, and I'll definitely be sharing a lot of my heart and what I've learned about being a mom in future blog posts.

Staying Home

I've officially been a stay at home mom of sorts for the last six weeks. Even though I'll be going back to the world of teaching in August, our timing with Eli worked out pretty well and I'll get to be home with our little guy for five months. I'm so grateful to have this time watching him grow and change, but it also presents its own challenges. For an extrovert like me, I have to find time to get out of the house every day, and often find myself scheduling hang out time with other friends and moms. I can definitely see the need for stay at home moms to get a little adult interaction, and it's weird for me to have so much downtime after coming off of the world of teaching, coaching, leading YoungLife, and more. I feel like I went from one hundred to zero in the matter of a day, and it has been a huge blessing to have time to just focus on our sweet little boy. That will always be my most important job, but I think that I'll appreciate being at school a little more when August rolls around.

Eli's One Month 

March 23rd marked one month for Eli! It was a big month full of lots of adventures to church, sporting events, and restaurants. He hit the 8 pound mark in March, and is already up to 9 pounds. His newborn onesies are getting tight, so we know the little guy is growing. He's already changed so much even since we took his Newborn Photos, and it's so fun to see his little personality emerging. He's a huge fan of his car seat, eating, and taking naps on his lounger. He is also blessed to have both sets of grandparents within 15 minutes of him, so he's had the best babysitters ever when Mommy and Daddy have gone out once a week. He takes a bottle like a champ which helps me feel a little more free, and he's been sleeping in his crib (which is in the room just across the hall) since the second night home. He usually gives us one 6 hour stretch at night, so I'm enjoying sleeping from 11 to around 5:30! We are excited to see all that his second month will bring.

 

 Amazing Support  

I can't say enough about the amazing help and support we had during the entire month of March. From meals to babysitting and more, our "village" has truly helped us more than we could have ever hoped. I've always known that our friends, family, and church family were really awesome, but I've been blown away by their generosity and thoughtfulness, especially in those first few weeks. There is something special about sharing Eli with them, and he is definitely blessed to be raised around such wonderful folks.

😂😂Eli can't believe he'll be six weeks old this week (as evidenced by this slide show where he promptly fell asleep five minutes after looking so alert). This mama is loving every second, and sharing tips today on the blog for surviving the first six weeks with a new baby. Check it out (link in profile)! 💕👶🏽 #BabyKisHere #EliRobert

A post shared by Kelsie Kleinmeyer (@currentlykelsie) on Apr 3, 2017 at 9:51am PDT

 

Trip Planning  

The last trip we went on before Eli was born was Nashville back at the end of December. E was only a few weeks old during our spring break this year, so we didn't travel at all for the first time in forever. Normally we are all about traveling over our teacher breaks, but I honestly didn't miss going somewhere as much as I thought I would- maybe because we weren't sleeping much. All that to say, I'm really looking forward to traveling some this summer. We've got trips to the Florida Keys and Seattle booked, and I'm excited to introduce our little guy to our love of travel and adventure.

March was a big, slower-paced month and time of transition for our family. I hope it was just as good for yours!

Currently,
Kelsie