Kendra's Kampfire

Friday, October 19, 2018

Howdy Texas!

Well. We survived. We all survived Miles' first plane ride. And he did amazing! I think Mike and I were more nervous about what other people would think rather than actually stressing about traveling. And he did so well. I was one proud mama.

Getting ready for take off!

We made it!!

We had friends who were getting married in San Antonio, so Mike decided to take a couple days off so we could make a mini vacation out of it. We flew out of Oakland on Thursday afternoon, and friends, it is crazy how much stuff you have to pack when traveling with an infant. I think I literally packed almost every piece of clothing that Miles currently fits in, because I wanted to make sure we had enough! And looking back, I DEFINITELY overpacked, but I would rather have more than I needed than run out and be outta luck. I will try to do a post on everything we packed in the diaper bag, because I tried to be as organized as possible and it definitely helped!

Waiting for Daddy to get our rental car

First time being changed in the trunk of the car!

As soon as getting off the plane on Thursday night, we headed over to our friends house for a pre-wedding dinner and chowed on some grub before heading to our hotel. I was nervous about how Miles would do sleeping, because at this time, he was waking up every 2 hours at home, so I was hoping that Miles would be ok sleeping in a new place. And funny enough, he actually slept at night and napped better while we were gone than he did at home. I sent up a few grateful prayers over the course of the trip.

Snuggling with my boys

On Friday morning we got up, ate breakfast at the hotel, went back to the room and Miles took a nap-wahoo! Then after little man woke up, we headed to downtown San Antonio to check out the Alamo and River Walk. I will admit that I was a little uneducated when it came to the Alamo, because I was expecting it to be in the middle of nowhere. But when Mike pulled the car into a lot in the heart of downtown San Antonio, I was confused. But sure enough, we walked around a corner and there it was! The city has just been built up around it, which was both cool and weird. I mean, there was a Ripleys Believe It or Not Museum across the street from it, funny.

Exploring the Alamo

Behind the Church

Lunch at the River Walk

Such a Champ in the heat

Worn Out

After we checked out the Alamo, we spent some time at the River Walk and had lunch. And friends, for it being 85 degrees plus humidity, Miles did such a great job. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel for naps, before we went out to dinner for some old fashioned Texas BBQ, and it was soooo yummy!

Nap Time!

Saturday we spent the day hanging out before heading to the wedding, where we spent the night eating and dancing with friends before heading back to the hotel.

My little family

Hanging with Grandpa

Making friends wherever he goes

Passed out in his stroller at the reception

Sunday we had brunch with family before heading back to home sweet home. And though it was a fun weekend, it felt really good to get my little family home safe and sound. First vacation as a Family of Three is in the books.

Sunday, October 14, 2018

MILEStones - Month 5

Kendra Petrellese 7:37 PM 0 Comments

I can't believe our little man is 5 months old. In a blink of an eye, he's almost half a year! I'm not going to lie, this has been a tough month for us. The 4 month sleep regression hit us hard, and we were never able to fully recover. The majority of this month I was getting up every hour and a half to 2 hours at night, and it started a vicious cycle of me doing anything to get him to go back to sleep, and I know I was starting to create bad habits. But we are in the process of officially sleep training, so fingers crossed things start to improve soon!

One small thing I want to write down so I don't forget happened in the middle of the night during one of our multiple night wake ups. It was 4 am and I was at the point where I needed to do something to get this kid to sleep more than 60 minutes. So at 4 am I took him into our guest room and put him in his Dock - a - Tot. When we got settled, I gave him my finer to hold and he instantly fell asleep. I mean, instantly. It was the sweetest thing, and even though I was utterly exhausted, it completely melted my heart. He then slept for a solid 4 hours. I know it's a habit I won't continue, but I definitely want to remember his sweet little hand clutching my finger as he drifted off to sleep.

Image may contain: 1 person, smiling, indoor

Month 5 MILEStones

I weigh 14 pounds 2 ounces

I took my first airplane ride to Texas and did great!

I had a really rough month sleeping

I am starting to get better at sitting up on my own

Mommy and I started to go to music class together and I love it!

I experienced my first Homecoming!

Some highlights from Month 5

Cheesin

Mommy can't resist taking photos when I sleep

All bundled up for our morning walk!

I was so happy when Daddy came to get me this morning

Spending time at Aunt Theresa's house

Aunt Theresa had that pesky flash on!

My first Homecoming with Tia Meagan and Tia Nicole and my friend Jacob!

Hangin with Funcle

Scout is my buddy

Funcle showing me his Halloween Tree!

Out for a walk with Mimi while Mommy takes a nap

Celebrating Grandma's Birthday at her surprise party!

Wednesday, September 19, 2018

Small Prayer - Huge Answer

Kendra Petrellese 9:47 PM 0 Comments

God is amazing. Plain and simple. He has answered so many prayers in my life, and I have so many blessings to be thankful for, but tonight, I experienced first hand how truly amazing He is. Some may think this is a small thing, but to me, tonight, it was a huge answered prayer, and even though I am exhausted, I wanted to write this down before I forget, or let's be real, get too busy and it just never happens. I apologize in advance if my thoughts seem jumbled, that's the state of my brain these days :)

These past few days Miles has come down with a cold, and hasn't been feeling well. As a mom, it's so frustrating to have your little guy be in pain or uncomfortable, and he's not able to verbalize it, and apart from nursing, and cuddling, there isn't much I can do for him. He's always been a consistent nap fighter, but has usually gone down to sleep fairly easy on most nights. Except for the past few. It has literally taken Mike and I 2-3 hours to console him, nurse him, etc, to the point where he falls asleep. As guilty as I am to admit this, I have to be transparent about where I'm at. Lack of sleep and having a sick kiddo has taken a toll on me the past couple of days, and tonight, after hour 3 of him just crying and fussing, I felt like I was at the end of my rope. I felt like a failure that I couldn't comfort my son and help get to the point where he was comfortable enough to fall asleep. What was I doing wrong? Why was I getting so frustrated? Then I got even more frustrated at myself because I was frustrated with him. It's not his fault, and I know that, but it is just so hard to have a crying baby in your arms and nothing you do will help.

After Mike had been trying to soothe him for awhile, I went in and tagged him out, knowing he has to get up early for work in the morning. I picked Miles up, he was crying, and I just started to rock him. I held him close to me, rested my chin on his forehead, and when I was at the point of tears, I just started to pray. I prayed to God that he send Miles comfort, and ease his pain, and help him relax to the point where he would start to fall asleep. I then just started to talk to Him. In this state of being completely frustrated and depleted, I realized something. I have waited my entire life to be a Mom, and to be able to hold my child in my arms and rock him to sleep. In that moment, I realized how incredibly blessed I am. I know there are so many women out there who would give anything to have a screaming baby to hold and rock to sleep and wouldn't think twice about how tired they are. I just kept thanking Him, letting Him know that this incredible 14 pound blessing in my arms is something that I am so incredibly grateful for, and how much He has blessed me is definitely not lost on me. I just kept thanking Him.

After a few minutes of me praying, forgetting the whole reason I started talking to God in the first place, I looked down and realized that Miles was fast asleep. In that moment, He had answered my small and fairly insignificant prayer. My screaming child had closed his beautiful blue eyes and had finally given in to sleep. After thanking Him mercifully, I said one last prayer that he would stay asleep when I laid him down in his crib (which has been quite impossible to do lately I might add), and whattya know, he didn't move a muscle when I set him down.

It was such a beautiful reminder that I am human, and the all I have to do is reach out to Him and He will give me strength. I hope that whenever I feel frustrated, or tired, or discouraged, I can look back at this moment and realize how truly blessed I am that God chose me to be Miles' Mama, and to remind me that He is our answer to everything, even when it's a small, screaming, tired bundle of joy.

Tuesday, September 18, 2018

Little Man Cave

Kendra Petrellese 2:41 PM 0 Comments

I'm going to be honest with you, I have secretly been pinning things to a private board titled "Baby P's Nursery" for a really long time. Probably since around the 1 year mark of Mike and I being married. I was so anxious to be a Mom, that I couldn't help but dream about what his or her room would look like. Mike and I decided to find out the sex of the baby (even though I didn't want to, you can read about that here), so it made my pin boards a little easier to become a reality.

Mike and I met camping (you can read about that meet cute story here), so when we found out we were having a little man, I knew I wanted to pay homage to that. Because we met in the woods, I knew that making it a woodsy theme would always remind me of where it all started, so now each time I walk in the nursery, I briefly think that the reason this precious little man is here is all because two people met under pine trees and a star filled sky. That always makes me smile.

I took bits and pieces of things I found on Pinterest and tried to make it a reality, and let me tell you, Hobby Lobby and ETSY make it real easy for a girl to pick and choose what she wants! So take a look below at Miles' Little Man Cave! Enjoy!

Bubba supervising like always

I literally googled wood signage on Etsy and this shop popped up!

All of the signage is courtesy of Hobby Lobby, and my Mom got us the adorable Fox Lamp from Babies R Us

Mike stained them himself :)

My attempt to be organized

Side note - the multicolored quilt was given to Miles from my great friend Michele who had it made just for him!

Rocker and changing table with a Miles cameo ;)

Bookshelves that don't even house half the books we were graciously given!

His nursery is my favorite room in the house. Every time when I walk in there to get him from a nap, or in the middle of the night, or when we're reading books in his rocking chair, I feel so incredibly blessed that he's my son. He's just the biggest gift I've ever been given, and being able to spend so much time in his nursery is a constant reminder of that.

Wednesday, September 12, 2018

MILEStones Month 4

Kendra Petrellese 5:10 PM 0 Comments

Boy was this a big month! I feel like so much has happened! First off, that 4 month sleep regression is real, yall! I did a separate post about it that you can read here, and it really kicked our butts for a couple weeks, but thankfully it didn't last long! I'm pretty sure he is starting to teethe, because he has been drooling a lot more than normal and anything and everything is going in his mouth! There have only been a couple of times that I could tell it was really bothering him, but thankfully a little Tylenol helped! One little thing I definitely want to note, so I don't forget, happens in the middle of the night. I know they say during the middle of the night not to make eye contact, not to talk to them, so that way they know that it's still sleepy time. Well, there were a few nights this month that he was really upset when I put him on his changing table, but when I rubbed his head and looked at him to soothe him, he made eye contact with me, smiled, and stopped crying and was instantly content. Those sweet, 3 am smiles just melt my heart, and it's something I want to remember for a long time.

There were lots of little milestones that we hit this month, and I know there will continue to be many more, it has just be so insanely fun watching him grow and change each day!