Do you know how you know you take way too many photos? When it takes you three days to move six years of photos onto an external hard drive. Holy moly. 

On the plus side, taking the time to move those photos off my computer freed up enough space that I was finally able to upload all of the photos I took during this summer – and what a summer it was.

This was the summer we…

Went from a family of two to a family of three

Held our baby boy for the first time

Were shocked at how two rather chill adults could end up with a lil guy who seemed so unhappy and miserable (poor guy!)

Rocked and shushed him for what felt like eons at a time (but was probably more like minutes)

Learned he’d lost almost 20% of his body weight during the first week and went on a mission to plump him up

Pumped (me) and fed (Adam & I) many many bottles of milk and formula

Washed and hung the world’s tiniest outfits many times over (boo spit up)

Drove many a mile in the car to keep him content and happy

Went on our first official date as parents (thanks grandparents!)

Cherished every moment of sleepy baby cuddle time (my fave)

Realized the world would never be the same the first time he smiled

Made it our mission to get him to smile whenever possible no matter how dorky it made us look

Dressed him up in the most adorable outfits we could find (bow ties for the win!)

Watched him grow through three sizes of diapers in the cutest prints I could find (dinosaurs! camping!)

Had visitors from California, Idaho and Chicago all travel to Texas to meet the lil guy

Took Ryan on his first trip to the beach and the zoo

Discovered the magic that is the swing and swaddle combo

Finally found a swaddle he loved but couldn’t Houdini his way out of (Halo sleep sack swaddle is our fave)

Spent many a day playing on the floor during tummy time

Marveled at how quickly he’s gone from a tiny newborn to a sweet baby boy

If there’s one photo that sums up our summer the best, it would be this one above.

Despite a relatively easy pregnancy and labor, our little guy came into the world kicking and screaming and oh man, was he one unhappy little boy in those early days.

Now that he’s four months old (as of today!) we’ve thankfully gotten into a good groove (can’t recommend The Baby Whisperer E.A.S.Y schedule enough), but I’m not at all ashamed to admit that the transition to motherhood was, and still is at times, a rough transition for me.

Many a tear was shed in those first few weeks (both his and mine) and it took a good six weeks before I really had a full day where I felt like, “Hey I may actually be able to do this” and another six weeks before things started to gel. Don’t let the smiles and pretty photo collage above fool you, I had unshowered, overwhelmed, and in-tears-by-the-time-my-husband-came-home days just like anyone else.

So if you’re a new mom in the throes of newbornness, hang in there, and just know you’re doing a great job. As annoying as it is when people say this because it SO doesn’t feel like it at the time, it really will get better.

Now that I have the benefit of perspective and time, I can look back at those first three months and appreciate them for the challenge they were…while simultaneously doing a happy dance that those newborn days are behind us.

Love ya little buddy. We’re so lucky to have you here. 

Curious as to what I’m going to do with the photos I’ve taken during Ryan’s first year? (Currently 3700+ and counting!) Stay tuned because I will have more details of my plan to share with you soon.

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