1 Month Old

Carrot Caramel Cake, made by G-Gma

On Sunday my Grandmother, Sam's G-Gma, had a small family gathering to celebrate Sam's 1 month birthday.  Making this the first time he has been to visit someones house.  The first time he has been on a long car ride.  And the first time he has ever met a dog!  Alex, my brother's boxer, was very well behaved and only licked him a few times as he loves kids and wanted so desperately to say hello.  It was cute.

Aunt Mel, the chronic baby cuddler

Most of the day Sam was handed from person to person so they could get their snuggle time in.  I love this.  I love that I can let others take care of him for a few hours and just socialize without being on boob duty.  I also love that one of those baby snugglers was my faux sister Audrey.  Cause that girl is never without her camera.  So I now have TONS of professional quality photos to look forward to seeing once she has a chance to sort thru them.  YAY for getting to skip the Sears Portrait Studio for the 1 month photos!

When I see people post their monthly updates on their kids they list milestones and percentiles.  I'm sure some day I will get to that point.  But for now it's not like the stinker does a hell of a lot, so here's my list.

One Month

He poos a lot

He pees even more

He eats between 3 and 5 ounces of milk/formula at each feeding

He has 2 bouts of "awake time" each day, which we usually spend playing with his activity mat or rattle

He recognizes me, I know cause he starts giving the "feed me" mouth motions

His vocalizations are still mostly grunts and cries, no cooing yet

He loves to be in his sling and sleeps deeply

The snot sucker bulb is public enemy #1

He hates being naked, therefore hates his bath

He sleeps between 3 to 4 hours at a time overnight, once he slept for 5 hours = amazing

He chokes easily on his milk, he vomits with great fury

He is stinkin cute, and he stinks

Alas, He is Growing Up Already

Call me foolish, but I kinda hoped the newborn phase would last more than 2 weeks.  Sigh.  It is with a heavy heart that I report newborn diapers are a bit too snug, newborn outfits are a bit too short, he will not tolerate a swaddle, and you can notice a difference in heft when carrying him.  But it's not all bad news.  He is now above his birth weight!  So I no longer have to wake him up every 2-3 hours to eat, even if he's in a deep baby slumber.  Which will in turn make both of us much happier!

Speaking of waking a sleeping baby.  I share.  It's all about the grunts, meeps, and baby farts.

His vocabulary is less coos and babbles, more squeaks and lip smacks.  In fact he sounds quite a bit like a bulldog puppy.  What, with all the grunting and heavy breathing. . .even snoring.  He's all boy.  And boy oh boy is he loved.

2 Week Recap

While I have 20 minutes let me attempt to organize what all has happened in the past 2 weeks.  The past 2 crazy weeks.

I had a baby.  26 hours of labor produced this little gem.  When he finally ripped his way out I watched Morgan's face and it was priceless.  I thought he was going to cry and pass out all at the same time.  He cut the cord, he stayed with the baby while they finished up with me, and has been an amazing help ever since.

We spent two days in the hospital.  Two stressful and sleep deprived days.  But the hospital room service was wonderful.  I loved having my scrambled eggs delivered to me, which Morgan was kind enough to continue for the first week we were home since I was pretty much attached to a crying baby that entire week.  Breastfeeding has been incredibly hard.  It continues still to be difficult.  But he is finally gaining back the weight he lost while in the hospital thanks to supplementing my milk with formula when my supply is too low to satisfy him.  Which in turn means he's no longer crying. . . all day. . .non stop. . .like an angry beaver that wants to claw your throat out.

Speaking of claws, the cats are slowly getting used to having a little brother around.  Lincoln is a very unhappy camper.  He has sniffed and stared at the baby on occasion, but for the most part he has decided to ignore Sam's presence and act out whenever he's crying.  Ellie is still her usual anti social self, but she likes to perch on the side of the couch and watch the baby.  

Sam no like bath time.

Visitors have been coming by and bringing food, which is fabulous since both of us seem to be finding it difficult to gather the time & energy to cook dinners.  In general - mornings go smoothly, afternoons are mega feed times, evening hours he continues to feed heavily and won't go down for the night till around 11 or midnight.  The trade off is that he only gets up twice in the typical night and has only had a couple sleepless nights since we started adding formula into the mix.  So we are not nearly as bleary eyed and desperate for a nap as we were in that first week.  YAY!

There have been a few days that Morgan has gone to work or had to go help him mom with something.  So I do have a little experience in being completely alone with Sam.  So far so good.  I'm still a nervous first time mommy, but my confidence grows a little every day.  Above you can see what my typical day consists of now.  Comforting/snuggling my newborn while surfing the internet and trying to give Lincoln a little love.  As baby nap time gets a little more regular and deep I have actually been able to do things like laundry and dishes.  Read as - Minor Miracle.

15 days old, taken today

This weekend has been us testing the waters to see if we can still do some of the things we used to do.  Friday I snugged Sam into his sling and we went on a family outing to the grocery store.  Our first venture out of the house for something other than a Dr visit.  He loves his sling and was a sleepy lump for the entire hour we were out.  It was great.  On Saturday we had Morgan's friends over for the annual St. David's day feast.  I watched the baby and cleaned the house as much as I could while Morgan did all the cooking.  Once everyone arrived the women passed Sam around for the rest of the night and gave me a break long enough to be able to enjoy the amazing meal Morgan had prepared and relax for a few hours.  Everyone left around midnight and Sam was a happy and content little baby the entire time.  

Slowly we are getting used to our new routine.  Slowly we're getting the hang of things and getting brave enough to go out into the world.  We have turned getting peed on during diaper changes into a game complete with scoreboard.  We've gotten used to getting vomited on.  And describing poop to your partner can be an artful expression.  The love in this house is overflowing.  Sam is precious.  Even when he has a knack for vomiting on an outfit within 5 minutes of getting changed.

Huge Hands, Little Baby

A 9 pounds baby is a big baby.  But I love how he looks so wee in the hands of his daddy.

Seriously.  Look at that little podling face and his daddy's meat mits.

Podling?  Oh yes.  That is his nickname now.  His little face and his happy "I just ate" expressions make us laugh every time because he looks exactly like a Podling from "The Dark Crystal", one of our favorite movies from childhood.

Well, maybe a little less creepy than this podling puppet.  Cause my boy is cute.  Cute, I say.