Major Output

So this morning I had planned to take Luke to the library for the lapsit story time. I got him fed and just needed to change his diaper and get him dressed warmly and then we'd be able to leave. When I took off his diaper, he had quite a bit of poo, but he still managed to poo a little more as I was putting the new diaper on. I got that cleaned up, got another new diaper out, put it on him, snapped up his onesie and reached for his pants. As I was doing that last bit, I heard him poop some more. And quite a bit more by the sound of it. Unsnap the onesie, get a fresh diaper, open the dirty diaper, wipe him down. Oh wait, he now has to pee! Got the spray managed, cleaned that up, lifted his bottom for one more wipe down. He somehow managed to have more poo in him, so I had to clean up that mess. Good gracious, boy! What a mess! How on earth can you have that much in you??

Alas, by the time he was all cleaned up, we didn't have enough time to make it to the library so we didn't get to go to the lapsit. The library does do it three mornings a week, though, so I will just try again on another day.

Sleeping and Back to Game Night

Saturday night was rough. Luke was waking up every hour and a half or so to feed (and that is measured from start to start of feedings, so that means it takes about 30 minutes to feed him so that was less than an hour between feedings). I was exhausted on Sunday and to make matters worse, I didn't really take time for a nap.

So Sunday evening J and I went over to our friends' house to resume our weekly game night (playing Dungeons 'n Dragons--normally it is Saturday but we moved it to Sunday this week). And I'm afraid that I wasn't as involved in the game as usual. It wasn't really Luke. He was happy much of the time in the little portable swing that we brought with us (I did feed him twice while there). And sure, I was a little distracted while watching him. No, the hard part was that I was so exhausted that I wasn't able to concentrate very well on what was going on in the game. And we did a lot more story last night than fighting, which means concentrating on what is going on was important. So my apologies to my gaming group for being a bit zoned out last night. I think I'll have to make absolutely sure that I take a nap during the day before game in the future.

So I was super exhausted Sunday (last) night. We got home a little after 9:00 and I wanted to go right to sleep. I fed Luke at about 9:30 and got us ready for bed. He woke up to eat again at 11:30. Two hours was better than the night before, but I was worried that it was going to be yet another short time between feedings night and I was dreading it a bit. But then when Luke woke up again, I looked at the clock: 2:30. My brain took a little time to do the calculation, but I realized that it was three hours! That was really great. We got fed and changed and back into bed a little after 3:00. The next time Luke woke up it was 5:30. Another three hours! Amazing! And although I still feel tired, I feel so much better today than I did yesterday! Let's hope Sunday night becomes the new pattern and Saturday night was just a fluke. *fingers crossed*

One Month Old (with multiple pictures)

One month ago today, Luke was born. I know I keep saying this, but I can't believe how much time has already passed. So I took the opportunity to snap some pictures of him today. Here are some of my favorites:

I also took a few other photos over the past few days, so I thought I'd go ahead and post those here as well.

This one is from September 20:

And this one is from September 22--specially taken for Aunt Kelley!

First Solo Outing

So one of the things I want to make sure to do as a stay-at-home mom is not actually stay at home all the time. So I found a couple of local moms' groups, including one that seems very active. There were a couple of events last week that I thought about going to but one coincided with Luke's doctor's appointment and I chickened out on going to the other. Part of the reason for that is because I had yet to take Luke out on my own. Each time I've gone out with him, J has been with me. So I've been a little nervous about that.

I knew that if I just did it once, then I would have confidence to do it a second time and a third time and so on, so this morning there was a breastfeeding support group that I decided to go to. For this moms' group, there is a group on meetup.com and so you RSVP if you are going to attend an event. I RSVPed last night, knowing that if I committed to going on the website, then I'd be much more likely to go and not chicken out this morning. And indeed that was the case.

So I got Luke all ready to go and put him in his car seat. I wasn't sure about getting that right because J has been doing that each time we go out. But it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be and I got him seated pretty quickly. I think it helps that he has grown a bit and actually fits better in the seat. I gathered up all our stuff and headed out to the car. The meeting was about a 10-minute drive away. It was a bit nerve-wracking to not have anyone in the backseat with Luke in case he got cranky or needed something. On the drive to the meeting, he was actually asleep and it was hard to not be able to check to make sure he was okay and still breathing okay. But we got there and Luke was just fine (still asleep).

I saw another woman across the parking lot wheeling a stroller so I decided to go ahead and pull out the stroller instead of trying to carry the car seat (the meeting was on the third floor of the building) especially since I'm still not supposed to carry anything heavy. I got into the building and found the room without any trouble. Inside was the lactation consultant and one other mom with an 8-week-old daughter. I got Luke out of his car seat and settled into a chair in the circle. Several other moms walked in with babies ranging from 6 weeks to 3 months and one mom with a one-year-old. The last mom to arrive had a little girl who is exactly a week younger than Luke (I also thought she looked a little familiar and at the end of the meeting, she approached me and told me that she was in my Latin class a few years back).

We talked about various questions that we had. One person asked about introducing a bottle as she's going back to work in 4 weeks but the baby currently will not take a bottle. There was some good advice in case J has problems giving Luke a bottle when I go to something like a knitting class. We talked about other topics such as thrush, and I asked about nursing in public and got some good advice. It was nice to talk with other moms and hear their experiences. This breastfeeding group meets weekly so I'll probably go back.

On the drive home, Luke was still a little hungry (although I had fed him during the meeting), so he was crying all the way home. I think I actually preferred that to his ultra quiet state because I knew why he was crying (hunger) and that meant he was technically doing just fine.

I felt pretty confidant getting Luke in and out of the car seat, carrying the seat to the car and putting it in the base, getting the stroller out and putting the car seat into it (we have a travel system), and feeding Luke and changing his diaper in public (although it was a very supportive group, obviously, it was still the first time I've done that in front of other people). So I think that I can definitely go to other meetings with this moms' group and I also feel like I can tackle going to the park or mall or somewhere else with just the two of us. It feels good to be able to get out of the house and not feel like I have to stay home.

Mother Goose and Nursery Rhymes

This morning, I decided that Luke and I were going to read through some of the nursery rhymes in the Mother Goose book that he received during the baby shower. It was fun to read through the rhymes that I remembered from my own childhood, but for every one that I remembered, there were two that I had never heard before. And then there were a few that had some different wording from what I remembered. For example, for the this little piggy rhyme, I remember the last part being "This little piggie cried "Wee Wee Wee" all the way home." But the book has it as "This little piggie said "Wee, wee! I can't find my way home." Or take Baa, Baa, Black Sheep. I remember the line as "And one for the little boy who lives down the lane," but the book has "But none for the little boy who cries in the lane." So I think on some of them, I'm going to keep going with the words I know rather than what's written in the book. But I still had fun reading these to Luke.

After we read through the book, I looked online for other nursery rhymes and found a website with a bunch, so I picked some of the ones I was familiar with and read (sometimes sang) those to Luke as well. We'll definitely have to keep doing this each day. I also plan on reading him a new book each day; he's got a great collection already from the books that he got at the baby shower. Thanks to all our friends who gave him this wonderful start to his library.

Four Weeks

Today Luke is four weeks old; at the end of the week, he'll be a full month old. I just can't get over how fast time is passing! Here are some pictures I've taken in the past week or so.

This one was on September 14, when we started swaddling Luke again for some naps during the day and definitely at night. He's sleeping a lot better now that we are swaddling him again. (Edited: I realized that I already posted a version of this picture in an earlier post, but I'll go ahead and leave it here anyway.)

Then this one was taken September 17 when we were going to go out and the weather was a little chilly that day. So we put on his A&M hoodie. Gig 'em!

The next day, September 18, Daddy and Luke were cuddled up on the couch together. I guess Sam decided he wanted in on the cuddle action!

Part of our outing on the 17th was to get some long-sleeved onesies in size 0-3 months because the newborn clothing was starting to get a little tight on Luke. On the 19th, I put him in his first size 0-3 months outfit:

Although there are a lot of cute clothes that he'll get to wear in this size, it's sad to have to give up some of the clothing he's been wearing since he came home from the hospital. Here are some of the onesies that are getting too tight that we're going to have to take out of his wardrobe very soon:

Finally, today was his checkup with the doctor. He did beautifully; the doctor kept using the word "perfect" so it sounds like all is going well. At his last visit two weeks ago, he weighed in at 6 pounds 12.5 ounces. Today, two weeks later, he is now 8 pounds 2 ounces. He also grew about 3/4" in length (he's now 20.25"). So there's the proof that he's definitely getting out of the newborn size clothing. Part of me is sad to see him growing and not being the tiny baby that he was when he was born, but the other part of me is proud of him for growing so well and excited about seeing how he'll develop over the next four weeks.

Walk to the Park

Before the weather starts to turn really cold for winter, I realized that I wanted to take some walks outside with Luke. So this afternoon, J and I took Luke out for a walk. I had planned on driving up to the park we used to go to with a walking track around a pond, but J said we would just walk to the park that is near us. So we set out from our house down the street.

I've always noticed that parts of the sidewalk are very rough and unkempt, but it's definitely a different experience when you're pushing a stroller over those rough sidewalks! But we managed to make it over the rough parts and Luke seemed to be just fine with them (he slept through the whole walk!). But it started to sprinkle a little just as we got to the park itself. I didn't want to risk being caught in the rain (plus I didn't want to overdo it since I'm still recovering from the c-section), so instead of going into the park, we turned around and went home.

I'm a little tender around my incision area, so I'm thinking that was a good idea, but I do wish we had been able to spend more time actually at the park itself. But that's something we can try again in the future, and I definitely want to walk outside as much as possible before the weather turns cold. I think it's good to get Luke out of the house and it's also good for me and J as it allows us to get a bit of exercise in and we both need it.

The Cats

So before Luke arrived, J and I were trying to figure out how we thought the cats would respond to the baby. When we first brought Luke home, both Guenevere and Sam came up to the carrier and sniffed but ran off as soon as Luke moved his arms. They mostly stayed away from Luke for the first few days. Lately, Guenevere and Sam have been getting a little braver and have started coming near Luke while we're holding him and sniffing him. Here's Sam this morning investigating Luke's feet:

But Merlin has mostly been ignoring Luke. I think that he's the most jealous or hurt by the baby because unfortunately we've been spending so much time taking care of Luke that we've been neglecting the cats. And poor Merlin seems to be the most upset by this neglect and seems to really crave attention, but not when we're holding Luke. Guen and Sam want attention also. Sam is starting to just take it. This morning he curled up next to me while I was holding Luke and started purring and cuddled next to my leg. Guen has been coming to J when he's not holding Luke and getting some attention. But Merlin only seems to ask for attention when we're in bed and ignores us during the day.

I think I need to make sure that I'm not forgetting about my fur babies while I'm caring for my human baby. I know that we've really changed our cats' world and although they seem to be adjusting well overall, I don't want them to think that we've abandoned them. So I'm really writing this post to remind myself that I need to pay more attention to the cats--especially Merlin--so that they still get the attention and love that they need and deserve.

Swaddling

So when Luke was born, the hospital used a sleep sack that has a part to swaddle the baby. We got a free sleep sack to take home and we purchased a second one.

After the first week, we were having problems getting Luke to keep his arms inside. Ultimately, I tried not swaddling him and he seemed to be just fine, so we stopped.

I've been reading The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp (which is fantastic by the way--for anyone with a newborn or expecting, I highly recommend it). The first step in his calming sequence is swaddling.

So I tried swaddling Luke last night. He had been making some noises between feedings the past few nights and it kept waking me up to check him, which definitely is not good for my sleep. Last night? He slept rather peacefully between feedings and I was able to get more sleep. And I know that I got better sleep because last night I actually had a dream for the first time in a while.

So for nap time today, I took a regular blanket and tried using it to swaddle Luke. I just woke up from my hour+ nap (and Luke is still asleep although he's starting to stir a little).

So I guess that means we're back to swaddling. And perhaps getting a bit more sleep, which is really exciting.

Due Date

Today is the date that Luke was actually due. I had worried that I would go beyond this date and be late (I even thought my SIL might have her baby first even though she is due at the end of the month).

Instead I am sitting here holding a baby who is 3 weeks and 1 day old. Thank you, Luke for arriving early. These three weeks have been great especially compared to my last few weeks of pregnancy. I was so miserable with severely swollen feet and barely able to sleep or move around. I didn't want to think about 3 or more weeks like that, so I am thrilled to have the little guy outside rather than inside these past few weeks.

I'll miss feeling him moving around inside me, but I don't think I'll miss anything else about pregnancy. Actually holding Luke is a thousand times better.

The only part I need to adjust is the idea that I have an August baby after being focused on September for so long. But that shouldn't be too difficult.

On the Eve of My 35th Birthday

Tomorrow Luke will be 3 weeks old and I will be 35 years old. I've found myself doing a fair bit of thinking today and wanted to try to get some of my thoughts written out (these thoughts are a bit sappy, so I won't mind if you decide to skip over reading this particular blog post).

As I sat down this afternoon with Luke lying on my chest, sleeping peacefully, I felt rather blissful. I remember talking to my best friend, who has been a stay-at-home mom, about becoming a stay-at-home mom myself when I was making the decision over whether or not to accept the job offer. One of the things I was most worried about was that I would find myself to be bored during much of the day. She assured me that there was always something to do and she really did not feel bored. And after just these three weeks, I can say that I have not felt a minute of boredom so far.

Exhaustion, yes. But not boredom. I could (and have) honestly sit for hours just watching Luke sleep. I don't really notice the time passing. I am mesmerized by the faces he makes in his sleep. And when his eyes are open and he is just looking around the room, I find myself just staring at him (and talking to him) and not caring that the dishes haven't been washed, the floors have not been vacuumed, or even that I have done very little knitting in these past three weeks. Being Luke's mother is more than enough for me right now.

And I found myself wondering today why on earth we didn't start a family sooner; why we waited so long for this to happen and to have these feelings. Why on earth did I spend so many years in graduate school if I didn't plan to use my degree (I do plan to do a limited--by geography--job search this year, but I'm not seeking a job as intensely as I was in the past three years)? I could have been a mother for years already.

And yet I don't think that having a child years ago would have worked out as well. I feel that it is only now that I am truly ready for motherhood. I have cultivated my own life, getting a higher degree which was very fulfilling, and learning more about myself and who I am and what I love. My own self-building is by no means over--I plan to continue to cultivate other parts of me besides being a mother--but I am much more confident and comfortable in my own skin than I was even 3 or 5 years ago. So these years have not been a waste; it was necessary to work through those years to get to this point where I feel like I can truly devote myself to my son while still being who I am and not completely losing my own identity.

I have to admit that I was pretty sure that I would suffer through postpartum depression and I wasn't sure how I would make it through that. And if I had had a child years ago, I probably would have done so. But now, I feel no depression whatsoever. I feel amazement and wonder and happiness and peace. Don't get me wrong: I worry about stuff and I am quite tired from lack of sleep, but my mood is in a very positive state.

So as I reflect upon the past 35 years (or rather, one day short of 35 years), I feel that I am at a good place in my life. Do I have any regrets? Somewhat. Going to grad school caused us to make some sacrifices: on a grad student salary, we don't have as strong of a financial backing as we could have had were I to have been working full-time all of these years; we have been unable to make J's dream of owning a sports car come true so far (it's still something we plan for); we do not own our house; and most importantly we live far away from family and would really like to be closer to them.

But all of those things have led up to this point and I don't think that I would be where I am now--with a nearly three week old baby sleeping against my chest (in a Moby wrap) making me feel happy and whole and complete. I love J and have loved being able to spend the past 11 married years together with just the two of us, really working on building our own relationship, but the expansion of our family just makes it even better. I don't know what the years ahead have in store for us--a house, a sports car, a move back toward family, or perhaps only some of those things and many surprises--but I am looking forward to finding out with my husband and my son by my side.

First Solo Night

Because J has been able to have time off work, we've been tag teaming the nightly feedings. I feed Luke and J burps him and changes his diaper. But today J went back to work, so to help him not be too exhausted for work, I tried doing the nightly feeding, burping, changing on my own last night (knowing that I could always wake J up if necessary).

The first time went well and I got back into bed happy with the thought that it hadn't taken very long and now I could sleep for a couple of hours. I noted that 2-3 hours would be between 1 and 2 am. Right at 1 am, Luke started getting fussy. The white noise didn't completely quiet him and the pacifier wouldn't appease him, so I figured that he was hungry or his diaper needed changing. I went to try to feed him. As soon as I sat on the couch, he promptly fell asleep and wouldn't be enticed at all to wake up and eat. So I held him for a little longer, but he kept sleeping. So I put him in the pack-n-play and went to lay on the couch for a while. Nearly an hour later, he started fussing again and this time he definitely was hungry. So I guess I got a little too eager earlier and he just wanted a little attention or something to be able to get back to sleep. I'll have to learn to read his cues a little better in the future.

So the feeding went well and I felt him go poop during the feeding, so I went to go change him. That's when things got interesting. Apparently he wasn't done pooping. As soon as I started to slide the clean diaper under him, he pooped some more. I cleaned that up and more poop came out. At that moment I looked at his face and noticed that he was also spitting up. So I tried to clean up both ends (thank the gods, he did NOT start to pee during this time because that would have definitely been too much!) and thought everything was under control when, what do you know--more poop. So I just put some paper towels under him and he continued to poop for a little while longer. Finally he finished and I got a clean diaper on him (and a clean sleeper as poop had gotten on the back of the other one).

Back to bed for another 2-3 hours until the next feeding (which went just fine). Although it was definitely an adventure and a learning experience, I'm happy that I was able to do it myself without having to call on J because while he's at work, I'm not going to be able to just call him in from the next room to help me with Luke, so I need to be able to handle him on my own. Hopefully today will go well with J at work.

In other news, we noticed yesterday that Luke seems to be having a lot more awake and alert times during the day than he had been having. So it looks like it's about time to break out the books and a few toys to help stimulate him during those awake times. And I need to figure out how to wear this Moby wrap so I can wear him during the day and still have my hands free. I'm excited to have more awake time to spend with my son, but I know it's going to be even more challenging to get anything else done during the day. But I can always wash the dishes or do the laundry after J gets home from work and can spend his time with Luke. So I'm going to enjoy my day with my son.

Grandparents Visit

J's parents came to visit this past week and left this morning. I was really happy that they got to come up and spend this time with us and meet Luke. They also helped out a lot with taking care of meals and my MIL was amazing in our yard, finally getting our jungle in the flower beds under control. I can't put into words how much of a relief it is to know that the yard looks so much better now, especially as I still won't be able to really do much yard work myself for a few more weeks.

It was sad to say goodbye to them and it really makes me want more than ever to get back to living closer to them (and the rest of our family). But we did get some pictures taken before they left.

Here's Luke with Grandpa (wearing a Team Grandpa onesie).

And Luke with Grandma and Grandpa.

And the first picture of Luke with me and J all together.

My own mother gets to come visit at the end of the month, so I'm excited about that, too. I just wish that Luke would get to spend more time with his grandparents (and aunts and uncles and cousins).

Oh, and here's a quick picture with his eyes open.

Stomach Sleeping

So putting the baby to sleep on the back is recommended these days to help prevent SIDS, so Luke goes on his back to sleep. But he really does seem to prefer sleeping on his tummy, so whenever he is a little upset and I'm able to be right there watching him, I've been putting him on his stomach at times. So today he was a little fussy and didn't want to sleep so I flipped him over and he went right to sleep and was quite happy.

In other news, we had a friend drop by today to see Luke and he slept through her whole visit. Alas that she never got to see his beautiful blue eyes. And I realized that his eyes have been closed in practically all the pictures I've posted, so I'm going to try to get his picture taken while his eyes are wide open so you guys can all see his eyes. His doctor thinks that they're going to stay blue, so I really hope she's right.

First Bath

Since Luke's umbilical cord stump came off on Tuesday, this morning J and I gave him his first full bath (instead of a sponge bath). We filled the tub with a little water and put him on the bath board thingy (I don't know what it's officially called) and J got in the tub with him. In some ways it felt a lot like the sponge bath, just a little easier because we had the water right there easy to hand to soap him up and rinse him off and didn't worry about him sitting on the hard counter. I think Luke wasn't quite as impressed but he wasn't too squirmy so we were able to get through the bath fairly well. Here he is all wrapped up in his towel after his bath:

One thing you also might notice in this picture is the pacifier in his mouth. We wanted to wait to introduce a pacifier until he was well established with breastfeeding (since using the paci involves a different type of sucking that breastfeeding) and he seems to be doing really well, so we bought him his first pacifiers yesterday. And as I expected, he really has taken to using one (and is still breastfeeding just fine).

Usually during the nighttime feedings, I would feed him first, then J would burp him and change his diaper. We hoped that by doing that, we would get him to wake up a little more and have a second helping (and thus perhaps sleep longer between feedings). But he didn't seem to want the second helping as much and doing the diaper change right before putting him back to bed seemed to not go well because then he was too awake to go right back to sleep.

So last night we decided to reverse the order and this time J changed his diaper and then I fed him. Since he usually drifts off to sleep when he's done feeding, this seemed to worked rather nicely and he went back to sleep much more easily last night. Also, he didn't use the pacifier a lot during the night but it was helpful the few times that he started to get a little fussy between feedings. So although it was still a night of broken sleep (eating every 2 or 2 1/2 hours), the time in between feedings seemed to go a lot better.

Two Weeks

I can't believe that my little boy is already 2 weeks old today. The time really has seemed to fly by really quickly. And my life has definitely been revolving around Luke for these past two weeks with very little time online and no time for knitting, yet I haven't minded so much. I know that in a little while when we get more adjusted, I'll be able to spend a little time doing other things (although not nearly as much time as I had before). But I don't mind giving up some knitting time to spend time with my son. I can spend an hour just holding him and looking at his face while he sleeps. It's the best hour in the world and I am constantly amazed that this little boy is my son. Here he is today at two weeks old:

Today was a doctor's appointment and I was really eager to see how much weight Luke had gained in the past week. And it was definitely a good weight gain: one whole pound! So he's definitely eating well and getting what he needs. Breastfeeding can be difficult at times because you can't see exactly how much he is eating; you just have to go by the sound of swallowing (or in his case sometimes, gulping) and how much time he nurses. So it's a relief to know that he's eating enough. Everything else checked out okay as well. And his umbilical cord stump finally came off. It was still hanging on by just a little bit, but we were afraid to pull on it in case it still wasn't quite ready to come off. The doctor gave it a slight tug and off right away. So I guess that means we get to learn how to do more than just a sponge bath for him.

Yesterday I had an interesting experience while doing my daily pumping (to build a freezer supply). I started pumping and saw that it was going okay but slowly, so I started reading some posts on Ravelry. The next thing I knew I noticed that my pants seemed a bit wet. Yeah, I had filled up the bottle really quickly and it was overflowing. Oops! I guess that means I'll need to pay more careful attention while I'm pumping in the future.

As for myself, I'm feeling a lot better although I'm still a little tender. I have a doctor's appointment for myself on Friday. But everything seems to be healing okay. I do still have some itchiness on my feet and some on my thighs but it's a lot better than it was even just a couple of days ago. But I'm having issues with finding pants in my closet that fit. Apparently my hips really expanded and so a lot of the pants, even maternity pants, that I wore several months ago are a little tight. So today I went ahead and purchased a pair of maternity khaki pants and maternity jeans in the next size up just so I can have pants to wear (without feeling all squeezed in) for right now. Hopefully as I continue to recover, my hips will change back a little and I can try my old pants again. I don't mind so much if my hips stay as they are because it's not bad, except for the idea of having to buy all new pants. But we'll see what happens and I'm so happy to have two pairs of pants that I can wear now.

Odds and Ends

Since I didn't start this blog until Luke was 12 days old, I have missed some of the details of each day, so I thought I'd just try to collect several thoughts in one post.

We had our newborn care class the Saturday after Luke was born so we took him to the class with us while everyone was surprised that we had already had our baby. Although we had already been doing some things (like changing diapers), we did still learn a lot from the class so it was good that we went.

One thing we learned, which comes from The Happiest Baby on the Block, is that it is actually very loud in the womb, so noises such as a vacuum cleaner or hair dryer are actually quite soothing to the baby. One suggestion was to use white noise. When we got home, J looked up iPhone apps and found one that played white noise as well as some other sounds (like the vacuum and hair dryer). It costs 99 cents and was the best investment we've made so far. Usually if Luke is upset and we can't seem to calm him in any other way, playing the white noise helps him sleep. It's amazing.

While in the hospital, Luke spent most of his time swaddled (using a Halo Sleep Sack) and he seemed to like that. But then he realized that he really loves his hands (he likes to have them free and also to suck on them). So every time we swaddled him, he would struggle and strain to get those arms free. It seemed that he decided he had had enough of being swaddled. So after a night of him not going to sleep very well, I decided to try not swaddling him. He slept really well that night, so we hadn't swaddled him since.

He sleeps like this now:

First visit to pediatrician: We pulled up to the office and just as we entered the parking lot, Luke decided to dirty his diaper. So I filled out the paperwork while J changed him. While changing him, Luke decided to poop some more. So he had already pooped quite a bit. Then came the exam and the rectal thermometer. He somehow managed to find more poop and as soon as it was inserted into his little butt, he promptly pooped it right out! Later, during the doctor's inspection, he decided to pee on her. So it was a poop and pee filled visit! But he checked out just fine, so that was good.

Breastfeeding and caffeine: I learned that having a Dr. Pepper with my dinner meant that Luke would be up for half the night, bright-eyed and refusing to go to sleep. Yeah, that was a fun night. He got super upset if we turned out the lights and even the white noise wouldn't soothe him. So I sat with him in the living room with the lights on while he looked around at everything he could see until finally around 1 am when the caffeine started to wear off and he finally closed his eyes and went to sleep. New rule: no caffeine after noon.

And here's a picture from today of Daddy and Luke taking a nap together:

Photo Session

So I wanted to get a good picture of Luke to use for his birth announcements. I set up a little backdrop (one of his blankets), got out my camera and tripod, and found Luke awake, alert, and happy. At least he was the last one until I put him into the scene. Then he got super fussy and I got pictures such as the following:

I did manage to snap a few good pictures:

And I got a few with some of the hats that I had knit for him: