1 Month

Sleeping: There wasn't much awake time. He mostly slept! He napped pretty much all day. He sleeps in the Rock 'n Sleep in our bedroom closet at night and would wake up anywhere between 2.5 to 4 hours to eat. He's not a fan of having his arms swaddled, so he gets swaddled from the arm pits down.

Eating: When he came home from the hospital he was on a 4 hour schedule thanks to the NICU. However at home I went by his hunger cues and he would about every 3 hours. In the evenings he would eat every 2-2.5 hours and the pediatrician said that was completely normal. The day he came home he would take 2 ounces in each bottle but at 1 month he was taking 4 ounces during the majority of feedings. This kid can also burp like a grown man! Andrew can't get the good burps from him that I can. They honestly can borderline on completely disgusting. So with that in mind, be gets infant gas drops pretty regularly to make sure that he doesn't get gas bad enough to hurt his belly.

He takes the regular blue can of Similac, but we are trying the Kroger brand to see if we can get away with a less expensive knock off.

Clothing & Diaper Size: At 1 week he was out of newborn sized clothing and into 0-3 month. He is really long and some of those 0-3 items are getting too short already. The onesie/body suit items fit him fine but the pants are short and sleepers with no feet are getting short. I also noticed that his feet look kind of squished into the footies of some of the sleepers. I guess he just has long legs and big feet. I'm going to buy a few 3-6 items in case I need them one day, but hope I can make it another month or so with the 0-3 items.

He moved into size 1 diapers at 2 weeks old. I started with Pampers but picked up some Target diapers to try on him. Colin was a Target diaper baby starting around 9 months or so. They have since changed the diapers and I wasn't sure I was going to like them. I stuck with it and they have, so far, proved they can hold in the mess. =) And honestly, the cost savings was motivation to keep trying. A pack of size 1 Pampers (36 count) is $10.99. A pack of size 1 Target diapers (50 count) is $6.99. Not difficult to do the math!

Milestones: No real milestone in the first month.

Sibling Love: I love hearing Colin talk to Charlie. He likes to show him his toys and explain how they work. And I noticed he takes his cues from Andrew because he talks to him a lot like Andrew talks to him. (I've also noticed he does the same thing when he talks to Molly.)

How Mommy Feels: I feel about normal. I got the OK to workout at 3 weeks and just did my first two workouts this week. I did day 1 of the Couch to 5k program and did a short Spin workout. I'm happy to have something to do by myself that lets me re-set my mind and make me feel refreshed. I'm starting to notice a little joint pain and hoping I'm not getting a Lupus flare. If it were just in my legs and feet I'd assume it was from jumping back into exercising, but I am noticing it in my fingers. I'm giving it just a little time before calling my Dr. as I know stress triggers flares for me. I'm trying to take it easy and stress less over not getting everything done I want to each day. So my house is a freaking disaster, but I'm hoping it pays off in the end.

Lazy Picture Update

Just some pictures from our quick trip to TN, a stop by Hallie's to drop off some borrowed maternity clothing, and a few random Christmas ones scattered in. These are off my phone as I just never can get sat down long enough to transfer photos off my digital camera.

Weekly Update

Another week in the books.

This week I had my check up with my OB and got the all clear to exercise again. I was 3 weeks out but she said I healed up and looked like I was at least 6 weeks out. I feel really good this time around compared to Colin's delivery. I haven't had the extreme moodiness or crying episodes. I keep thinking "today is the day I am going to fall apart" but it hasn't happened yet. Makes me wonder even more if I had post-partum depression last time around and maybe it wouldn't have been so miserable in the beginning if I had talked to my Dr. about it. I also haven't had a Lupus flare up, which surprises both me and my OB. I had really bad joint pain and swelling soon after delivery last time and ended up on a steroid for a little over a year.

I'm going to go this week and take my Y membership off of its "hold" status (along with every other person adding physical activity for the new year...yay...Andrew says don't buy new athletic shoes at the beginning of the year b/c it looks like you are one of the ones that said exercise is your new year's resolution. Ha!) The childcare won't take Charlie until he is 6 weeks so I won't be able to go during the day for a while. I will have to work out a schedule with Andrew to do it in the evenings on nights he isn't running. I probably won't go during the day until I feel like all the sickness is passed and Charlie will go without getting any serious viruses. I'm looking forward to being active again and can't wait until the day he can ride in the bike trailer with Colin. I miss my bike!!

Charlie met Miss Emily, Nate, & Abby this week and Colin had a ball playing outside with Nate and showing him his favorite video game. Wish I had taken some pictures.

Charlie had his first bath this week (that stump finally fell off!) and did lots of napping on his belly on the play mat during the day while I could watch him. He loves belly sleeping, so I look forward to the day his neck is really strong and he can flip on his own. He hung out in the Moby Wrap some, but I got a new baby carrier this week that I am looking forward to using. I'm waiting for the infant insert so he won't fall out, but hope he likes this one and I get a lot of use out of it. Big brother even tried out the new carrier for me. LOL

I got to get out of the house on my own for the first time and did a little shopping for the house. My table (finally) came in so I ordered my curtains for the kitchen and picked up a curtain rod. I also got a new quilt for my bed and I'm starting to pick some paint colors for the master bedroom and the media room downstairs. I don't know when the painting will actually get done, but it is nice to be actively decorating the house and making a little progress. (Little and slow...I'm too tired to do a big overhaul just yet!)

Pictures from the last week.

3 Weeks Old

Charlie will be 3 weeks old tomorrow! At his 2 weeks appointment he weighed in at 9 lbs and measured 22.75 inches. So far he has been a pretty easy baby. Even an "easy" baby is tiring and challenging. But it has been so different from Colin.

He has a fussy period in the evenings and it makes dinner a little hard but I'm getting it done. We've been eating easy meals or I wait on nights Andrew is home a little earlier and not going for a run to make something a little more involved.

Charlie sleeps in our room right now, but has gotten moved to our closet, per Emily's suggestion. =) He is quite the noise maker in his sleep. He grunts and moans and whimpers. so cute, but can make falling asleep difficult. It also made me think he was awake and ready to eat earlier than necessary. He still gets up the same amount of times in the middle of the night to eat, but my quality of sleep for those small blocks of time have greatly improved! Since our closet is at the front of the house and has a window and air vent, I justified it as being a tiny bedroom. It also got me in gear to get it all cleaned up and organized. So two birds with one stone.

I've been keeping busy with Colin by doing puzzles (he is getting really good!) and we made gingerbread houses. He has his neighbor friends over to play often and they hang out in the playroom downstairs and keep the top floor nice and quiet for me.

I'm getting good at multi-tasking. Letting Charlie sleep in my lap while I wrap gifts. Or yesterday when I let Charlie nap on his belly in my room on his play mat while I put Colin in my big bath tub and washed him up. I let him play in the bath while I showered, dried my hair, and then cleaned the bathroom. Today I'm going to try hitting up Aldi with both boys. Wish me luck!

A few pictures from the last week.

Pictures

Just a few pictures I finally got off my camera.

And here is a picture of Colin and then Charlie. They look so similar. Andrew said I could show him photos of both and he probably couldn't tell me which was which. Ha!