month 5

Hi Month 5!!! Time is flying by, and each month so much changes that I'm just trying to keep up.  It's pretty beautiful to witness this little boy discover the world.  In this season of my life, playing and snuggling and laughing with Pier trumps doing the dishes or folding the laundry.   He's teaching me daily to live in the present and to be present to him and those around me.  He continues to show me love in its rawest form, and I'm slowly learning to make each moment with him count.

Is it a universal mom thing that you think your child is the cutest child in the world?!?  When Pier looks up at me with those eyes my heart melts.

One of Pier's favorite activities is reading with mama and daddy.  We love books around here!  A few of Pier's go-to reads include Goodnight Moon, Where is Baby's Belly Button, and Moo, Baa, La, La, La. 

He gets kinda frustrated though because all he wants to do is eat the pages....

Ah, November you were a KILLER. Jesus definitely used this month to bring me closer to Him...

Brad's rotations change every month, and the month of November was nuts.  He was working up to 19 hour shifts AND gone the entire night.  I basically saw my husband a total of 30 minutes a day, which is no fun for all involved.  The night shifts, plus a postpartum depression diagnosis, plus Pier waking up in 45 minute intervals at nighttime = 24/7 survival mode. 

Because of all these crazy things, we had a very special guest come to stay at the Fossier house -- Grandma Annie! My Mother in Law flew up from Louisiana to come and help out with Pier while Dr. Brad was working nights this month.  It was such a gift.  You have no idea how much my soul needed her help and her company!  She is totally the baby whisperer and we had so much fun spending time together for a week.  We even went apple picking!!!!!!

Well, it looks like we have a thumb sucker on our hands! It is SO stinking cute.  I don't even care about the future ortho bills because it's helping him self soothe (and therefore actually sleep).  Pier has been quite anti-sleep since birth.  We would devote probably 30-40 minutes of effort trying to put him to sleep, and then if we tried to put him down anywhere he would wake up.  To Pier, every surface that is not mama or daddy is basically hot lava.  It's FUN (but I do love those baby snuggles though).

We are one of those families that co-sleep because honestly it is the only way we can get Pier to sleep at night.  NOW I am happy to report that this month he has officially been sleeping in his crib (kinda) !!!! So far it's only for naps (he naps for 30 minutes, every two hours during the day) and maybe for an hour or two during his first sleep stretch at nighttime. 

The past 3 months or so he has been waking up every hour each night, this month it was even 45 minutes.  My parents thought I was being dramatic, but then they stayed over Thanksgiving and saw it first hand.  Is there a patron saint of baby sleep? No? I vote there probably should be.

Speaking of my parents, they came to visit during Thanksgiving!!!! It made my heart so happy! My brother even drove up from Kansas (he's a FOCUS missionary at Benedictine) so we had the whole fam in to celebrate.  I cooked Thanksgiving dinner for the first time, and baby Pier had a blast laughing with his grandparents and Uncle Jeremy.  We miss them so much already!

Nothing makes me happier than this sweet baby smile.  I love that little five month old...Month 6 is going to be extra fun because it's our first Christmas together!  I'm already discovering everything is more magical when you have a child to share it with :)

snow day!

And snow it begins... In the year of fun firsts as a family of 3, Pier has officially met Snow for the first time!  He was a little uncertain about it, but I think in the end he enjoyed himself.  Maybe.  

We took a few photos in our backyard to make a moment out of it!  Side note: I really really am not ready for the snow season to start! I have to admit it is my least favorite thing ever....even though it does look really pretty in photos...living in it is not as picturesque ;) These are the months I miss Louisiana the most! 

My little snow baby!!! It's crazy that for the next 3 years he will grow up with SNOW.  I can't even wrap my brain around that.  Cheers to the start of winter! Dun dun dunnnnn....

month 4

Oh October....Pier turned four months old last week and he is starting to get SO fun.  I mean, he was fun since day 1, but discovering his personality and his new milestones has been such a blast for us.  He's starting to giggle, and become more and more playful.  Even when I don't get any sleep, I know when I wake up the biggest baby smile is there to greet me (he loves the mornings!).

A few things this month that we're noticing...

We discovered the power of the Ergo baby carrier while we were in Asheville and that thing is the bomb.  Seriously saves us during nap time when he is mega fussy and nothing else will work! It's pretty hilarious though because Mr. Pier is very particular and must be bounced constantly or else he will wake up. No sitting down for us because apparently sitting down is for wimps. Another fun fact: in order for him to actually fall asleep I must prance around the house like this (wish I was joking). 

Mr. Pier is not only particular about his sleeping, he's particular about pretty much everything else.  And if things are not to his liking Mr. Pier turns into Angry Pier real quick.  We discovered that our child lives for the song Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.  So much so that even when he is at his breaking point, if we sing it loud enough he will calm down completely.  No other song will do.  Except for the fact that Twinkle Twinkle constantly replays in my brain all day (and night) long, I will be forever in Mozart's debt for that one.

He's got a best friend named Xavier and they love each other.  My friend Val (yes I have friends here it's a wonderful, beautiful thing!) had her baby boy last month, so Pier is only 3 months older than him! The boys even spent their first Halloween together (Pier dressed up as Baylen Brees if you didn't see already). It's been such a gift to have them in our life here in Indy and I just can't wait to watch them grow up together :).

Also, the only thing cuter than a cute baby is TWO cute babies in matching oneseis. I mean....

A few more exciting things....

• He's learning how to sit up in his big boy chair (that's my name for it) and has excellent head control. 
• Loves to grab things and bring them immediately to his mouth. Yay for monthly milestones!
• Lately enjoys hitting mama in the face and trying to grab her nose so he can eat it.
• SOOOO active...even when he sleeps he uses me as a human StairMaster. Never tires of jerking those arms and legs around.
• The hands are currently his favorite toy and loves reaching out to discover new things. I'm just waiting for the day that he grabs Gertie's tail...oy.

Oh and y'all...something profound happened a few weeks ago... he actually started taking the pacifier!!! This is huge because for those that don't know, Pier basically uses me as a human pacifier. As much as I love nursing him, this girl could use a break every now and then :).  He also discovered his thumb!!!! This is especially joyous for me because I think babies who suck their thumbs are the most adorable things ever.  Even though he's only done this probably two times, it's been so dang cute to witness.

That's all I got right now! In all seriousness we are still not sleeping hardly at all, so y'all keep us in your prayers. 

asheville

We got back from our North Carolina vacation a few days ago and boy was it good for the soul! Brad's good friend from LSU got married last weekend, so we were in Asheville for his wedding festivities and decided to make a week long trip of it.  We were pumped to discover Asheville is only a 7 hour drive from Indy and thus commenced baby Pier's first road trip (!).

We were going to break up the travel into two days and stay our first night at a hotel, but minutes before we left I looked at Brad and said, "Why don't we just go camping for a night?! Is that crazy for wanting to camp with a 3 month old?" Apparently Dr. Brad did not think it was crazy to camp with a 3 month old because we ended up camping in the middle of nowhere, Kentucky under some lovely fall trees.  And thus commenced baby Pier's first camping trip (!). 

^ The look of awe and wonder that is camping in the outdoors

And it ended up being a fantastic adventure! Camping with a baby wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be (yes, we barely slept, but really we don't sleep anyway so it's not that big of a difference).  The weather was perfect when we set up camp, so we made an executive decision to sleep without the rain cover on our tent so we could star gaze.  Ahhhh peaceful isn't it?  It was until about 3:00 in the morning...Brad looked over at me and said sleepily, "That's rain isn't it..." and I said cheerfully, "Yep." And then the heavens opened and the rain showed us no mercy as my poor husband got out and tried to put the raincover back on as quickly as possible. Don't worry, baby Pier slept through the whole ordeal (of course). 

The next day we got to Asheville for Davis and Anna's rehearsal dinner and man did those Blue Ridge Mountains look good! It was so so good visiting with friends that we haven't seen in for-eva....it was like a glorious Louisiana reunion in the mountains!

Thank you Mr. Adam for babysitting!!

We stayed in a house close to downtown with our friends Matt and Ali and Father Brad.  The benefits of having a BFF priest is that you get to do things like have mass in your living room #yesplz.

We had so much fun at the Hester wedding that I didn't take any pictures (that and my phone died ha!). We got him these headphones for the reception to protect his ears and to basically enhance his cuteness.  Seriously y'all aren't those headphones the cutest things EVER in the history of cute things?! Cute baby + obnoxious headphones = GOLD.  Thank you Ali for snapping this one for us ;)

The day we left Asheville we ate a yummy breakfast at the beautiful Hester home and got to say goodbye to all of our friends.  Fr. Brad ended up missing his flight (yay!) so we got to spend some extra time with him!

Now for part 2 of our vacation...we rented a cabin in the mountains with the Rodriguez's for a few days and did nothing but stuff like this:

This was the view from our window guys....NOT BAD

We also rocked the occasional selfie...which Brad and I are awesome at.

My favorite part of the whole trip was our family hike! It was just a little trail in the Blue Ridge Parkway but it was so relaxing and peaceful for the 3 of us.  Pier loved looking around on the way up, and once we made it to the top, he fell right asleep and didn't wake up until we got back to the car.

I'm already planning our next trip back... Miss you already North Carolina!!!!

month 3

Little Pier is growing up, y'all! Can you believe it's been 3 months? We officially are out of the fourth trimester and, to be honest, I feel like I can do anything after those first few months with a newborn!

He is the cutest, snuggliest, sweetest baby, and he's the best teacher I've ever had.  He's taught me more about God's love and mercy in these past weeks than I could have ever imagined.That 12 pound boy has also taught me that I have so much to learn in the art of motherhood.  Pure, genuine love is self sacrificing in the truest sense and I have become more aware of how to love others better by mothering this little baby.

Now for a few developments!  Month 2 was R-O-U-G-H -- my child was allergic to sleep, extremely fussy, and was clingy as could be...Brad was working long, long hours and I was getting 3 hours of sleep on a good night.  Then something beautiful happened over the past 2 weeks...He's still a very temperamental sleeper, but he's been a happier more relaxed baby lately and I'm not complaining at all :). He's starting to love play time and is cooing like crazy (I'm happy our conversations aren't one-sided anymore!)

Those baby smiles make me weak in the knees! I'm constantly reminded with each smile Pier gives me that this child serves as a tangible reminder of God's love for me.  And within the last few days he's been smiling every time he sees me or Brad, so I get a lot of reminders in that area:).

A few things I'm learning about Mr. Pier...

He doesn't like s'mores as much as his mama does...

He loves to sleep on his tummy! Which is not recommended buttttt...you gotta do what you gotta do when your child hates sleep.

Pier has officially discovered his hands! And currently they are his favorite toy. When he's not accidentally slapping himself in the face, he always has them folded in ready-to-pray position (probably foreshadowing how holy he will be right?! ;))

It's been a blast to watch him change over the course of just a few months.  Babies are so fun because there's always a new developmental milestone to look forward to! Here's to another great month!