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.