1 Month

So our little man hit 1 month last Thursday, and I just can't believe it. We're figuring things out. We had some trouble learning to take naps during the day, but in this last week he seems to have realized they are a good thing, and he is happier when he sleeps. Amazing, huh? We also figured out he doesn't like when Mama has dairy. I don't think he has an allergy exactly, but certainly a sensitivity. Since I've cut that out (he REALLY doesn't want me to have ice cream, between this and the gestational diabetes!!) he has been a much happier guy. He is also learning the difference between night and day, at night we're getting one stretch between 4 and 5 and a half hours between feedings, otherwise he is averaging between an hour and a half and three hours. We're not on a schedule, since he is a lazy nurser and sometimes just can't seem to muster up the energy to fill his belly before snoozing, so those times he obviously needs to eat earlier.

Mama and Dad are learning how to function outside of the house with a baby, we were scared to take him anywhere for the first several weeks, but have started doing errands and things with him this last week and a half or so. He does pretty good in the car as long as it is daytime and we are moving. He doesn't seem to enjoy traveling at night at all. He has slept almost the entire time at the three or four dining establishments we've gone to, only waking at the end to be held or fed.

Overall we seem to have a pretty good baby. He loves his pacifier (one of those things you say you aren't going to use for several weeks...and then it is the only thing that soothes him besides nursing...), loves being held and swaddled. He always rolls onto his side when he is set down, I think he is weighted to the left. His torticollis in his neck seems to be improving, he doesn't have movement restrictions, but certainly prefers tilting his head to the left. We finally figured out a way to keep his head from turning all crazy in the carseat (thank you Marilyn!!) so now I feel safe driving with him on my own, that he isn't going to cut off his own airway.

Kevin goes back to work Wednesday, so that is our new adventure, see how I manage during the days and nights on my own!!

I took 1 month photos of Jackson Thursday, and got a really cute one, he smiled for me!!


And this one is just for size comparison monthly:

And a close up of that cute little man!!

 

Yoti's Photo Sessions

So a good friend of ours is an amazing local photographer.  He offered to gift us some sessions as a welcoming for Jackson.  We got the images back from our Maternity and Newborn sessions yesterday, and I am in LOVE with them.  I've already posted them all over Facebook, but might as well post the slideshow here too.

All photos copyright Yoti Telio scphotostudio.com

First Week Home

We've been home for a week now, and it's flown by.  We are slowly figuring things out, learning about Jackson and what he likes and dislikes, and how to work that into our lives.

When people tell you you'll be exhausted, you don't believe them.  And then you're up at 10pm, 1am, 4am, 7am, and then it is the daytime again.  And usually at least one of those breaks involves little to no sleep.  It does amazing things to your brain.  Breastfeeding is hard.  I'm the only one who can give him what he needs, and he needs it at least every three hours, around the clock.  That means I have to be awake and able to provide every three hours, around the clock.  I'm very proud that we are now exclusively breastfeeding after starting in the hospital supplementing (re: feeding entirely) with formula.  We worked hard to make it this way, and it is finally working out.  He seems to be cluster feeding today, which could be a soothing thing, or could be a growth spurt thing.  Let's hope it doesn't last long.

The nights are getting better.  We discovered on night one that he does not care for his bassinet yet, I think it is too big, personally.  He likes being enveloped, even while also swaddled.  He loves the bouncer, enjoys the swing, though usually does not sleep in it (but right this minute he's in it and fighting sleep mighty hard, I think sleep just won) and a little cradle thing that Diana gave us finally let me put him down in the bedroom last night and Kevin and I got sleep, simultaneously, in our bed.  Up until now it has been one of us, or Grandma Leslie (who went home Wednesday) up with him in the living room.  Hopefully he can go longer and longer in our room sleeping.  The hard part has been getting his clock right, babies are generally nocturnal creatures, since being in the belly during the day, all mom's movement puts them to sleep, and while mom is still at night, that is awake time.  So we've been working on that, and he is doing better being up for longer and longer periods during the day.

We've had a fairly busy week, lots of visitors, a few outings, it feels like we've had something going on every day.  We're ready for an off day, which I think will be tomorrow.

In other news, I'm down 12lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight already.  I didn't gain hardly anything during the pregnancy, and breastfeeding is awesome, so I've lost it all, plus some, in 10 days.  Yay.  Hopefully it keeps going in that direction.  Kevin also shaved his head today.  It has been something he has been mulling over for a long while, and finally decided to pull the trigger while he is home on leave with us.  He looks different, but I like it.  He's enjoying the ease of it already.

Otherwise we are all doing well, enjoying our family time for sure.  Hopefully next week will be a little less hectic, and we will all settle more into a rhythm.