Week 11

Today Danny is 12 weeks old. I can hardly believe it. He has really gotten so big. He has stretched out and filled out and has fat rolls on his arms and legs. No more newborn. Looking at the clock now, he is just now 12 weeks old and about 6 minutes. Not that I'm counting.

So we had a pretty eventful week 11. Lots of outings, meeting new people and seeing family. We had 3 days in a row of activity which required a one way drive of 40 minutes or more. Not so much a fan and I'll be taking a break from that, at least if I'm driving by myself. It seems like when we get about 20 minutes away from home he decides to fuss and scream. Not so much fun driving with that. He did seem to enjoy his day by the pool at Grandma's house yesterday. He didn't get in on the pool activity but hung out in the pack n play looking at trees and enjoying the occasional breeze.

Did I mention how ridiculously cute my little man is? Just so adorable and amazing. We are so lucky.

He is making more and more eye contact and smiling. Although he is still more interested in blinds, at least he is looking at us now! Just this morning Randy caught Danny checking out his feet. Oh the new things to discover! His neck strength is getting stronger as well. He is pretty much holding his head up but still needs some guidance for when that big old noggin gets moving around he can't quite regain control of it yet. Not a lot of tummy time happening, but we do it when we can, which is most days. He doesn't seem to tolerate it for too long, maybe 5 or 10 minutes at the most each time.

Sleeping. Danny is still sleeping through the night. We had one 2am wake up this week but it's probably due to the heat. It has been super hot the past few days. Naps continue to be where ever he falls asleep. Usually in his swing or his bouncy seat (which he has really started to LOVE this week). Unless we are on the go, he will sleep for a bit in the car seat, although he doesn't seem to be a big fan of it. He also likes naps in the sling. So one of these days we'll get him to napping in his crib. I just feel like he spends so much time there at night that I like to have him out in the main area of the house so I can look at him more:)

Feeding continues to go well and I'm anxious to see how much the little chunker weighs. I actually just went and did an approximate weight and it appears he may be around 13 pounds! Holy cow! I'm sure it's off by a little bit, but still! He eats about 5-7 times per day and usually takes a bottle for 1 feeding at least every other day.

Oh and we ended up back in newborn diapers this past week. He seems to be in between sizes and we have been having lots of diaper leaks. No fun!

So with all the activities this past week, I think we are just going to be hanging out for the most part. I'm realizing just how fast this time goes by and I know that before I know it I'll have to be back at work and I want to enjoy every single minute. I've really got to get started on his baby book. Am I the only one who procrastinates this? I doubt it, but I feel bad I haven't done it before now.

We also found out yesterday that we will have another new niece. So excited! She will be arriving in November :)

Well I said my plan for today is to sleep when Danny sleeps. I am finding that I am just so exhausted. Even though he is sleeping for 6-8 hours, I'm not. It seems that like clockwork, I'm waking up at 2am-ish and up about every hour after that. So now that he is asleep, I've eaten breakfast, I'm going to lay down. Which I'm sure means that he will be waking up :)

week 10

So this past week Randy and I celebrated 3 years of marriage. Hard to believe! We went to dinner at the restaurant where we had our rehearsal dinner. It sucked! But we still had a nice time and ended the meal with treats from Foster's Freeze. Yum!

Danny is now wearing size 1 diapers. He ran out of newborn size and he seems to be too big for newborn and still too small for 1's. He leaks out of both of them. So for now, he will stay in the size 1's. He continues to sleep through the night, thank goodness! I do hope he keeps it up. He still isn't waking up at the same time which is strange since he goes down at the same time. But I'm sure he will work it out. Daytime naps are still inconsistent, but I'll take it as long as he keeps sleeping at night! He sleeps mostly in his swing for naps. He seems to stay asleep longer that way than when he is in the pack n play or his crib.

He is doing more social smiling but still is often more interested in objects around us than us. I guess it's a sign of things to come. When he's older he won't be interested in us either. We continue to work with tummy time so he can build his head strength but he doesn't typically tolerate it longer than 5 or 10 minutes. I bought him a toy that sits on the floor and has a mirror and some other interesting things on it. He is starting to get interested in looking at himself in the mirror. Cute!

Weeks 8 & 9

Daniel is 10 weeks old today. Boy how the time is flying. He continues to sleep through the night. He usually goes down around 9 and wakes up sometime between 3 and 6. We have settled into a nice evening routine that consists of a walk and then some nursing and cuddle time, then to bed. Despite this routine, he is still a pretty inconsistent daytime sleeper. I guess that's because he doesn't always wake up at the same time. He usually takes cat naps in the morning. He feeds for a little bit then sleeps for a little bit, repeat. Sometimes we just go on a walk and he seems to like that too. He is taking a good middle of the day nap (so I have time to do things like update this blog!). Usually for 2-3 hours and usually in the swing. My goal is to have him nap in either the pack n play or his crib. But he loves his swing! Then the rest of the afternoon is kind of like the morning.

Developmentally he is making progress as well. While still much more fascinated with things like walls, shadows, blinds and recently the ceiling, he is starting to make more eye contact and track objects with his eyes. We are also doing tummy time 1-3 times per day. He holds his head up for several seconds, can turn his head side to side and has rolled over, although I suspect gravity has more to do with it than his intent.

He is still wearing NB diapers but I suspect we are on his last pack. He switched to 0-3 month clothes within the past 2 weeks and they seem to be rapidly getting tighter on him.

We had his 2 month well baby check last week. At that appointment he weighed 10 pounds 4 ounces and was 22 3/4 inches long. He also got a couple of vaccines. At this point I think I am going to follow an alternative vaccine schedule where he will still get everything he needs by the time he needs, but just spread out. I worry about all those toxins going in at once. He did tolerate the first round well though.

Three days after his well baby check we went back in because he was spitting up. A LOT. But apparently he's just a "spitter". That's what the doctor calls it. So we try to hold him up longer after feedings to help decrease that. But, in just 3 days, he gained 6 ounces! He weighed 10 pounds 10 ounces at this appointment! Needless to say..feedings are going well.

And the best part..he started social smiling in the past few days! It's not often and not quite the full on grin that he does involuntarily but definitely smiles! Yay!

That's all for now!

Really, it's already the end of May? Really?!

I started this post on May 11 and am just now getting back to it on May 26! Wow how the time flies!

It's been a difficult but exciting few weeks. Danny is doing more and more everyday and it's so fun to watch him develop. He is making good solid eye contact now and his head and neck seem to be very strong. We are trying to do tummy time everyday and he seems to like it. He's still not real interested in any toys. He'd rather stare at the things around him. One of his favorite places in the house seems to be the hallway. When we walk through there his eyes get big and he looks around.

Weeks 5 and into 6 were perhaps the most difficult weeks yet. But if you are paying attention to the date on this, you'll realize that we are now in week 7 and things are looking up. Week six brought a lot of fussiness. Not real sure why. Could be a growth spurt, who knows. But we spent lots of sleepless nights up trying to figure out what was going on with our little guy. Not much seemed to make him happy. He seemed to get overtired in the evenings and then would resist sleep. Also he wasn't napping well. He would sleep 20 minutes to 2 hours at the most. Also during week 6 we went back to the lactation consultant for a weight check and to our surprise our little premature son was weighing in at a big 8 pounds 1o ounces! Just two weeks before that he was 7 pounds 4 ounces. I still can't believe that weight gain! Yay!

Then something happened. On week 6 day 3 he decided to sleep through the night! Now it's not the sleep through the night kind of thing that I'm accustomed to. The professionals call "sleeping through the night" a 5 hour stretch or more for newborns. He slept 5 hours that night! I think what happened is that we learned the art of the swaddle. My friend, my wonderful friend, came over that day and showed me her swaddle stuff and I think it works! Because since then, he has been sleeping for a 5-6 hour stretch every night! Last night he slept from 11pm-5am!

Now while this sounds great and before you go high-fiving me on all the sleep I'm now getting, wait a second. For some reason, I can't sleep more than a 3 hour stretch, if that, at a time. WTF? Guess who has trained me on their sleep pattern? *looks over at Danny* When I do lay down to go to sleep, my mind is filled with, well I don't even know what. But I just can't get to sleep. I'm exhuasted and I can't sleep and I have the opportunity to sleep. In any case, I'm thrilled that Danny is getting all this sleep. In addition to his lovely sleep at night, he's also sleeping 2-3 hours during the day for naps. It's great!

But of course, this new found lovely sleep has now led me to more worries. These worries are about my supply. I'm still breastfeeding and it seems to be going well (note big weight gain cited above). In fact, today marks the end of the 3rd day of not using a nipple shield. But now with his increased sleep, he is going longer between feedings and I'm worried about maintaining my supply. I went from having an oversupply to being worried about having enough.

In addition to these worries thoughts about work are also filling my mind. I'm just not sure what is going to happen. There are pros (well one or two, not many) and cons to staying in my current position and to looking elsewhere. I'm just hoping that the perfect opportunity will just fall into my lap and I won't have to think too hard about it. Of course, I'd love to figure out a way to stay at home, not go back to work and still have an income..hmmmm...if anyone else figures it out, please let me know.

oh the noises!

Boy is this little man noisy! He grunts when he sleeps and even when he's awake. He squeals like a piggy, hence the nickname he has of "Piggy". He sighs out loud when he eats and when he sleeps. I guess he just has lots of stories to tell. The noises when he sleeps are hard for me to deal with. Well, not hard, just more difficult to figure out. I hear him making noises and think maybe either a) he hasn't fallen asleep yet or b) is stirring from waking up and wants to eat. So I go check on him and often times he is fast asleep! Makes resting hard for me I guess. But at the same time, it's pretty cute. So I guess he can stay :)

The past few days have been very low key. No visitors this week so it has been nice to just hang out and get to know him. He is more and more alert and has had a few periods of fussiness in the evening which seem to be solved by breastfeeding. The schedule we had for him in the first 2 weeks or so is pretty much shot. I'm trying to feed him on demand. Sometimes he goes 4-5 hours without eating and then, like in the evening, he feeds every hour or two. He seems to be getting the hang of it and also is wanting less of the supplemental feeding, which is great. Randy still feeds him a bottle in the mornings and that gives me a couple more hours to sleep. In the end, Danny runs the show I guess :) For now anyway!

I've figured out how to use the ergo carrier and I really like having him so close and also having my hands free! We've gone on a few walks this week and it makes me feel good to get out of the house. I went from a job I hate to enjoying these simple things in life...bonding with my son, playing with my dogs and rather liking this stay at home mom business more than I thought I would.

where is the time going?

This week seemed to fly by! Randy went back to work and I was left at home to tend to the child. The days went quick with the regular rotation of Daniel eating, burping, pooping, sleeping and growing! He had his 2 week appointment today and he is up to 6 pounds 11 ounces and 20 3/4 inches long! Even though he's gaining weight, some of the newborn clothes are still too big for him! He continues to be more alert every day and is getting better at tracking with his eyes. He's eating a lot and pretty regular. I've spent the past few days doing more "on demand" eating which is what "they" seem to recommend. So he's eating every 2-3 hours during the day and up to 4 hours at night. It's kind of an exhausting routine. I breastfeed him, then either I or Randy feed him a bottle with breastmilk and then I pump 3 times a day. But we are getting a schedule down. I'm doing the 2am feeding and Randy does the 5am one which allows me to get some sleep. It's working pretty good. I do need to spend some more time resting during the day though. I had visitors over every day this week and while I enjoyed the visits, I felt more tired. So, my goal for next week is to rest when Daniel rests. It's hard to lay down though when there is stuff around the house to be done.

That's all for now :)

2 weeks

Daniel is 2 weeks old today! I can't believe it's already been 2 weeks...oh how the time is flying! In the past few days I've noticed that he is more awake and alert during the day and he is just curious about his environment. He likes it when we walk around the house and he gets to check stuff out. The dogs are also doing pretty good at welcoming their little brother. Kona continues to be very gentile with him and Hilo is even warming up a bit to him.

Today we went and had lunch with some friends and of course Daniel slept through meeting everyone. Then a friend of mine who also happens to be a public health nurse, came over and weighed Daniel. He's up to 6.95! The doctors wanted him to get back to his birth weight by 2 weeks of life and he's already passed that up!

Randy went back to work yesterday and this was our 2nd day at home alone. Things are going pretty good. I'm eager to get some kind of routine going. I've got a list of "to-do's" and I'm able to do just a couple things each day while also trying to get some rest. Unfortunately because today was so busy, I didn't get a nap so I foresee an early bedtime in my future :)