Baby's First Month

Tomorrow our sweet baby boy will be a month old! Where does the time go? When you're enjoying life, it goes way too fast. Right now he's curled up on my chest while I write this. I don't know if he'll be small enough to do this next month. I think we're going to have to retire some of his newborn outfits soon. He's outgrowing them by length - sad day. We're officially in size one diapers instead of the teeny tiny little newborn ones. We started co-sleeping because it was easier for me, but it made for very poor sleep. We have a very noisy little boy, and he loves to be vocal in his sleep. He grunts and squirms all over the place. We're pretty sure he has his days and nights mixed up, which they say is normal for newborns, but we're over it.

We were just at home this past weekend, so he slept in the port-a-crib, and did fairly well. We decided we'd try to give up the co sleeping, and he did really well last night back here in his own port-a-crib. I caved and bought one of those swaddle blankets with the velcro. All this time I thought "I swaddled babies all day long, I don't need one of those silly gimmicks." Ha. It really works better. Hospital swaddling, I'm convinced, only works while they're in the hospital. They're so tiny, and tired, they don't really bust out of it. But at home, it's a different story. I don't think he enjoys having his hands down, but then they're out, he startles himself and wakes up. We're thinking we might get him a noise machine too, because the co sleeper had one in it, and he seemed to enjoy it. Of course, he sleeps the best in anyones arms.

The breastfeeding is getting better, but is still initially painful. It's amazing the difference in my outlook just from the last time I posted. Then, I felt like I was drowning, and I'd never see the light of day again. Now, it really is not that serious. The time between feedings really isn't any different than it was before, but it's not as big of a production as it used to be. I've tried to feed him about every 3 hours during the day, and at night, I let him sleep as long as he will. Once the initial hype wore off of making sure he was gaining weight, the lactation consultant said I could pretty much just feed on demand. I'm trying not to focus as much on the clock, but I still don't feel like I can not time his feedings. Going out is not near as big a deal as I initially thought it was. I do still have to sit in the car and feed him, but most of the time when we go out, we're going to friends houses, and none of them mind seeing my boobs - and I honestly probably wouldn't care if they did mind :)

The birth story is still on my desk top. I haven't edited it or re read it for that matter. I'll probably post it, maybe in parts, because it's long winded.

Jason is doing well, still in his third socket - I'm not sure if I mentioned that last time. It seems like this one has been more painful for him, and for longer, unfortunately. He's hoping to get his carbon fiber socket ordered this week and then he'll be able to start running! We're still aiming for an end of March return :)

People ask me how it feels to be a mom - and I always tell them I don't feel like one. I still feel like a robot and a cow. Just sleep, feed, change, repeat.

These next couple of weekends will be pretty busy as we (hopefully) wrap things up here on the East Coast. Jason's mom is coming in to see the baby in about two weeks and our nephew is turning one that same weekend. He will be baptized the following weekend, and then we're hoping to have a 'Meet Cooper' party so everyone can see him before we go and we don't feel like every time we come home, we have to go introduce the baby to someone new.

I am going to miss being this close to all my friends and family, but I'm ready to get back to our house and our things and start a new routine and figure out things for ourselves. I can't believe how much of parenting is guessing. I am not the guessing type of person. I am more of a second guessing type of person. So, everything I do, I still second guess or 'what if' to death. I hate that you literally have to figure this all out as you go! Apparently I think about these things entirely too much.

And so now, our days consist of sleep, eat, change, repeat. Jason goes to physical therapy and occupational therapy by himself, and Cooper and I spend time sleeping some more and then feeding and watching The Price is Right. Daddy comes home and we go upstairs for lunch. Every day is touch and go on whether or not C will stay asleep so Mommy and Daddy can eat their lunch. Get used to it, right? Usually about 30 minutes after lunch, we're thinking about what we should eat for dinner. Mondays are pretty boring, but Tuesday nights there's Teen Mom 2, Wednesday is American Idol, Thursday is American Idol and Grey's Anatomy, and for the weekends there are usually good movies on. If there aren't, we go find a Redbox. And that is how we spend our days.

I'm off to address birth announcements :)