Post-Partum-Week 5

Another week has passed, and I hate to say it, it's had one pretty big fails. 

Fail #1-Milk blisters. Ow, OW, OW! My nipples are friggin killing me this week. I have milk blisters on both sides. I cannot even explain the excruciating pain. 

Fail #2-Blow out. This starts off sounding like a win-we're starting to fit into our one size diapers. Woohoo! 

Except that I forgot to adjust the rise on a Charlie Banana pocket diaper. When I was feeding him at Buy Buy Baby in their lovely feeding room, he pooped...and it all came sliding out of the diaper and onto my lap and the chair. I had to send the hubs 2 doors down to buy me a pair of yoga pants Old Navy. I put Jack in his back up outfit-a sleeper-which he apparently has just outgrown. Jack was not pleased with his uncomfortable outfit, which resulted in a new outfit, complete with cape. 

And, I had the mortifying job of informing the employees they had a shitty chair to clean up. Lovely. 

Fail #3- I'm down only 1lb. This should be a win, but the fail is more that I didn't track, and, while my habits were improved, I still didn't do as well as I would have liked. And bathing suit shopping was successful this week, but not fun. 

Fail #4-Jack hates to nap on the afternoon. Fights it like crazy, and just wants to nurse and cry. I'm more than apply to let him nurse if he's hungry, but don't use me to avoid sleeping when you're obviously exhausted. He has started napping better in the swing, and we had an awesome nap in the Moby wrap while I vacuumed yesterday. 

In other news, Jack's outgrown about half of his newborn clothes. I'm constantly in awe of how big he's getting. Last night he slept a 4.5 hour stretch, which was amazing. And Saturday night, he was well behaved for Ellen, who watched him while we say Paul McCartney in DC. Tomorrow night Jack's grandfather is baby sitting so we can go see fun. Let's hope that goes just as well.  We're starting to fall into a rhythm (definitely not a schedule), so that is helping some at home. Just in time for us to through everything off by going out of town for a week and a half. 

And just for fun, here's more of Jack. 

Jack-1 month!

I cannot believe you've been here for a month (+1 day) at this point. Time has flown and yet stood still (like those evenings when you just want to eat ALL NIGHT LONG). It has been a bit of a crazy month-we haven't sat still much, so much that I had to abandon our weekly updates. Oops. During this month, you experienced a lot of firsts...

• First Wedding(Saturday, June 22, 2013)
• First Overnight trip (Saturday, June 22, 2013...Thursday, July 4, 2013...Monday, July 8, 2013-I said we were on the go a lot!)
• First Bath (Wednesday, July 3, 2013)
• First Holiday (Fourth of July)
• First Bottle (July 6, 2013)
• First Trip Restaurant Outing (Tuesday, July 9, 2013)
• First  Night with a Baby Sitter (Friday, July 12, 2013)

  You had your 1 month check up today, and you did great, although you werent thrilled with round two of the Hepatitis B vaccine. You are officially not a newborn anymore, which is a bit bitter sweet rugjt now. Here are some stats on your first month...

Weight: 8 lbs 10 oz
Length: 21.25 inches
Head Circumference: 14.25
Clothing: You are officially outgrowing your smallest newborn stuff and into some (smaller) 0-3 month clothing. Mainly Gerber newborn onesies and Babies R Us brand newborn sleepers have been retired. There are a few Carter's items you can wear in the 0-3 month size, but they are few and far between. 
Hair: Brown, long and thick...although, it is lightening up some and I can see where new hair is growing in underneath. After your bath, or when you get sweaty, it gets curly, which makes me think you have your mama's hair texture.
Eyes: Brown with a little bit of dark blue around the edges. Sometimes they almost look a little bit gray or slightly green. I would not be surprised if you defy all odds and end up with hazel eyes.
Sleep: You started off sleeping in the rock and play in our bedroom, but we moved you into your own room (still in the rock and play) once you hit two weeks. You sleep about 3.5-4 hours during the first stretch of the evening, then about 2 hours at a time. I think you'd sleep longer if you stayed in our room, but you are such a noisy sleeper, I would stay up worried about you the whole time. You are not a very good napper during the day-usually only half an hour at a time, unless you are being held. We are hoping to move you to the crib soon, although we'll probably wait until after we get back from vacation.
Nicknames:Jackie, Jackie Doodle, Jack-o-lantern, Just Jack,Jack Jack, Jack Attack...the list goes on and on.

Milestone: You started smiling this week! Last Monday, I wasn't sure if it was a fluke, or a conscious smile at me while I was getting you dressed in the morning. Saturday morning, though, you smiled at Daddy when he was playing with you, and then you did it again for Aunt Ellen! You're head and neck control/strength are ridiculous right now. You haven't done a whole lot of tummy time on the floor, but you spend a lot of time doing it on our chests. You even use your hands to push up against us, and try to press down with your feet. I also noticed this that you are following the mobile on your swing with your eyes as you swing back and forth.

First Bath with Mommy

Daddy's Turn

Like Father like Son?

First Bottle

Milk Coma!

The Dogs are not thrilled with the lack of space in the backseat now.

 Fireworks?

First outgrown sleeper

Serious

Naptime with Grandma

My favorite way to sleep right now...

Bedtime story

Post Partum- Weeks 3 & 4

So things have gotten a bit crazy around here. To be honest, the shit hit the fan, not with Jack or Nick and I, but in several things regarding our lives, and it's been difficult to find the time to breathe, let alone blog. We are thinking things are going to slow down for a little bit, so I should be hopping back on the blog more frequently. Also, I've had the chance to try a few new beers, malt beverages and wine, so I need to get back on writing about some of them!

As soon as I think we're getting into the groove of breastfeeding, something ends going not quite as smooth. Jack has hit several growth spurts lately, encouraging him to feed like crazy and very little time between feedings. I get cranky from sitting for long periods, and sore. My butt hurts, my back hurts, and heaven help my poor nipples. That being said, after a day or two of frustration, it calms down and we're good again. I've started pumping more to build up a supply, and Nick has taken one of the middle of the night feedings. It's nice to not have get out of bed at 3AM, but I'm still using that time to pump. Additionally, even though I know Nick is completely competent, I stay up listening to him on the monitor, wondering if I need to get up and help him. I have not gone in there yet (although, I would if he asked me to), but I can't let myself fall back to sleep while he's in there.

We left Jack with a baby sitter for the first time. He stayed with Nick's sister Ellen while we went to see Paul McCartney (which, by the way, it sucked to try to pump while there). I was thankful to have some pocket/all-in-one diapers for her to use on him. Of course, he was a pooping machine while we were gone, so he went through all 6 of them and 2 additional disposables while we were gone. I thought that Nick would like these diapers, too, but he actually avoids them like the plague. He much prefers the prefolds and covers (now that he knows how to use them).

During the week, I also celebrated my 31st birthday during the week. It was an awesome birthday. My family asked what I wanted/needed for my birthday. I knew I needed a new purse, so I was perusing the Vera Bradley website. I ended up finding 2 purses, a cooler tote, and a check book cover for $100, with a beach towel thrown in for free. Mom got me those for Christmas, and considering that each of the purses were originally $74 or so, I think it was a pretty good deal. I also got some beautiful flowers to plant in our front yard (which desperately needs some attention) and a promise for manual labor to help get everything cleaned up/planted, and a gift certificate for a spa package (pedicure, facial and upper body massage). I'm debating whether or not to try to use it before we go to the beach for pretty toes, or wait until we come back.

As far as the weight loss goes, ehhh...not pleased. 2 weeks ago, I was up 3lbs, and then down 1.5 this week. I rejoined Weight Watchers this week, and although I haven't been as good as I was previously with tracking thus far, I have been making better decisions. Everyone keeps telling me my stomach has gone down so much, which is great, but in all honestly, I'm much more concerned about my hips and thighs. I cannot wait until I can start Pilates again (and maybe throw in some yoga) once I'm cleared at my 6 week post partum appointment.

While I am not digging my body right now, at least my hair looks decent.

Stay tuned for Jack's One Month post...I'm waiting until we go to the doctor tomorrow to update his height and weight stats.