Ok. This may not be approved by the American Academy of Pediatrics, but I have found the secret to tummy time: something entertaining to look at, namely Ellen. Normally Sam starts crying within seconds of being put on his tummy, but this time he lasted for five minutes…until he spit up all over the pillow

And yes, I will be sending this pic to Ellen.

Sam is almost three months old now and sleeping pretty consistently through the night. So I think that means it’s time to break out of the I’m-a-new-mom-so-I-can-stay-in-my-pajamas-all-day-and-not-shower-for-a-week routine. I’ve decided to put my new schedule in writing so that, a)I’ll remember it, and b)I’ll be shamed into following it. Here goes.

1-Wake up and feed Sam. Hopefully this will continue to be between 7:00 and 7:30. In fact, if it’s much earlier, I get a free pass for the day.

2-Brush my teeth and put on my exercise* clothes. (*See step 4.)
3-Eat breakfast: whole wheat English muffin with organic peanut butter and honey (thank you, Trader Joe’s) and a hot cup of Earl Grey. Iced sugar cookies no longer count as breakfast. I know, I know. They are basically the same as Frosted Cinnamon Sugar Pop-Tarts, but still.
4-Take Henry for a jog. Even if it’s really, really cold outside. Or raining. Or snowing. Well, wait. I am not running in a thunderstorm or blizzard. But if it is safe, I will even jog in inclement weather. Henry has to go outside regardless, right?

5-Take a shower, get dressed for the day, and feed Henry.

6-Do whatever I want. I figure that if I can make myself complete steps 1-5, the rest of the day will kind of take care of itself. Even if I want to crawl back in bed until Sam wakes up again, that’s OK.
So there you have it. Please feel free to check with me in a few days to see if I’ve stuck with my schedule. Keep me honest!

p.s. This is for weekdays only!

Through my friend Natalie, I found an amazing photographer. She came to our house today and took some beautiful pictures of Sam. She was so patient and great at setting up shots. I highly recommend her (kcrawfordphotography.com). The only problem is that her husband is in the foreign service, so at the end of January, they will be moving to East Timor. When they get back in two years, I can guarantee I will be booking another shoot!

The cutest baby in the world

Sleeping like, well, a baby

I knit that blanket for Sam.

Can you tell he is about to cry?

Baby in a basket!

My little smiley guy.

Sweet hat.

Today there was a record-breaking snow storm in DC.

We didn’t leave the house, except to take Henry outside.

And of course to take pictures of Sam’s first snow.

All bundled up.

What a cute pair.

I wanted to get a Christmas tree, but we just kept not making it to Meadows Farm. Yesterday, we finally decided to go. Ben came straight from work and greeted me with hot chocolate from Starbucks. Sadly, there were almost no trees left. Since we were leaving next week to go to Texas for a week, we decided to just skip the whole tree thing. But hey, at least we got a picture with Sam in a cute holiday outfit and and a tree in the background.

This is what we ended up with at our house. Not bad, right?

Next year, I think we will go with an artificial tree. We can put that up the day after Thanksgiving!

Sam and I drove downtown to meet Grandpa Pat for lunch today. We got stuck in traffic. So much traffic, in fact, I was able to get out the car and take a picture.

Pretty soon, we heard sirens. President Obama and his motorcade came rolling by.

There they go!

Wave to the preseident, Sam!

Sometimes it’s cool to live in DC.

Sam celebrated his first Hanukkah. We even made latkes, but sadly there is no photographic evidence.

Daddy helped Sam unwrap his present. Thank you Grandma Trish and Grandpa Chuck for the adorable outfit (complete with sweater vest).

Sam’s first Thanksgiving was great, although I am pretty sure he didn’t notice! Grandma Judi, Grandpa Char, Grandma Stephanie, Grandpa Jerry and Auntie Rebecca all came to visit and helped us cook a delicious meal (actually, they did almost all of the cooking). It was great to have all of the visitors and I don’t think Sam was set down for a minute—which was a nice treat for him! Sam has really started looking at people and smiling so it was so fun to see him interact with all of his relatives. The only bad part about the weekend was that Sam started waking up before 7:30 again (he had been sleeping from 11-7:30). Oh well! I am sure he will get back to normal soon!