12 Weeks, 5 Days

Just as I feel like I get it figured out... :). The bub knows! He also knows when I work a 4am writer shift and am relying on his afternoon nap for a nap of my own. No such luck today! Just as I started to fall asleep with him, he suddenly needed another bottle. He downed it just 45 minutes after finishing his last one. Maybe my boy is growing! I swear I go get him in the mornings and more often than not these days he's bigger than when we put him down. I can't believe it. I can tell he's high in the height percentiles and lower in the weight percentiles just by looking at his clothes. They hang around his belly but his toes stretch out the end. He turns 3 months in 2 days but he might be in 6-month onesies before I know it.

Jack has started loving to stand in our laps or sit up and look out at the room. We brought out his bumpo seat and he seems to be enjoying it (in 5-minute chunks). He's starting to grip rings on the bottom of toys hanging in front of him. He's holding his head up a bunch, but he is not a fan of tummy time.

We traveled to my parents last week and had a successful trip! Even with an unplanned 7-hour layover in Atlanta, Jack was a wonderful traveler. He slept for most of the flights. We didn't feed him on takeoff or landing (his feedings didn't time out to do that), but he didn't show any sign of ear discomfort. He did cry for the last 10 minutes of the 26-minute flight from Birmingham to Atlanta, but I'm sure it was because he was overtired (maybe from playing with our seat neighbor!). Our car seat travel bag came in very handy, as we gate-checked our car seat on 3 of the 4 flights. We didn't purchase a seat for Jack, and only our last flight had empty seats that allowed us to bring the car seat onboard. It was great, giving hubby and me a better chance at catching some much-needed shuteye. We're glad we didn't check the car seat and snap n go stroller curbside as well. That 7-hour layover was l-o-n-g. Jack was able to hang out, nap, and make smiley faces at fellow travelers from the comfort of his seat. He slept there while I pumped (at gate B19, not ideal). He didn't have to hang in the Bjorn for that entire time. That 7-hour layover is another reason I'd say bring as much milk or formula as you can. TSA recommends bringing only what you'll need. If I'd done that, I'd have had 2 bottles, and likely only needed 1. Instead he ate 4! So bring what your cooler will hold. And have bottles and pumping supplies ready. I was glad I did. Oh and be sure to wear something you could pump in if necessary. I'm exclusively pumping, and I was comfortable doing it at the gate wearing a nursing tank and an oversized long-sleeve shirt. With a baby blanket over me I think most folks didn't even realize I was pumping.

TSA was great at both Hartford and Birmingham airports. They were helpful and friendly and gave us (at BDL) and me (at BHM) a chance to move slowly through security. In both airports we made sure to give ourselves plenty of time and not let ourselves feel rushed (and risk leaving something behind).

It also helped to have great fellow passengers like Jason and Chris who understand that babies make noise. :)

Finding a Balance

If you search "balancing life's demands" in Google, more than 59,900 responses come back. It's tough, and there's no easy answer. As a stay-at-home mom who works from home part-time, it can be really tough. Usually that's because I have a hard time balancing my expectations with reality. If I'm awake, I feel like I should be the one to go if Jack fusses or is hungry -- even if I'm on deadline. But even aside from that, it's tough to work with a fussing baby in the room. I have to figure out how to balance what I think I ought to be doing, how I think things ought to be going... with how they really ought to go. And how to mitigate my stress and verbalize my feelings at the time in a constructive way. And that's tough. :)

10 Weeks, 4 Days

I can't believe we're already at double-digit weeks! He's growing so fast. I guess really it seems like he goes a week without changing, and then he grows overnight. I get him from his crib in the morning and I feel like he's grown so much overnight.

At his two month checkup last week he weighed in at 11 pounds, 5.8 ounces. That's the 50th percentile. At 24 inches long he's in the 90-95th percentile for height. After our initial speedbumps with his eating and spitting up, it's wonderful to see how he's thriving.

He's growing in other ways too. Gone are the days of screaming through every diaper change. It still happens, but a lot less often. And his being calm doesn't mean he's about to pee on us, although that still happens too. He also doesn't always scream all the way through bath time. I think he likes the water warmer than I initially thought, and a warm baby is a happy baby.

He's in daycare twice a week, and so far his daily reports say he's "fantastic." He's also getting pampered -- everybody loves to cuddle with our little pumpkin!

These days he's in his crib sometime between 7pm and 9pm, up to eat at 1am and in the 5am hour. If his cousin is any guide, that means he may be sleeping through the night soon. That would be a-w-e-s-o-m-e. We'll see. Hubby is doing the 1am feeding and usually I take the 5am feeding, pumping right after. Neither of us would mind dropping that 1am feeding. We'll get there eventually.

I've started working a few days a week. I'm lucky not to have to work full-time. I'm picking up some very early writing shifts, but I'm surviving them so far and then I'm done a little after 11am. Hubby heads off to work and it's me and the bub for the day. We nap together, or he goes to daycare with Daddy and I get to nap for a few hours before getting some things done around the house or running errands.

Next up for us? Gearing up for Jack's first plane ride to visit my parents and see his aunt and uncle and cousin for the first time! Can't wait. :)

8 Weeks, 1 Day

Someone slept 6.5 hours last night! Maybe that's why he was so happy to have Mama take dozens of photos of him today. I know this is where the mind games begin -- he sleeps really well, then the next night only goes a few hours. But maybe we'll be lucky?

Our boy is doing amazing, and Mom and Dad are too. We had a wonderful Hanukkah with family, and Jack took his first trip to New York. Everyone survived! He's great in the car... as long as we time our trip to start just after a feeding and he naps the entire trip. Needless to say, we won't be traveling more than 2.5 hours away any time soon!

Someone just fell asleep. Time for Mama to nap too.

6 Weeks, 6 Days

It took 6 weeks, but I think we're getting the hang of this. Don't misunderstand -- there are PLENTY of moments that catch me off guard (and not in a good way), PLENTY of moments where I'm wondering what obvious thing I'm missing that's making Jack upset, and PLENTY of times when it's been a long day and I can't wait for hubby to get home. But I feel that more often than not... I feel comfortable as a (gasp) mom.

Jack has changed so much in the last 7 weeks! He's so much more alert and awake (though he still sleeps a l-o-t, just not in long stretches at night).

Someone is peeping... time to run!

First Smile

I was right -- it goes a long way! He first smiled last night... and I caught this smirk during a Michael Jackson dance fest this afternoon.

I couldn't be more excited. My face hurts from giving him big goofy smiles all day trying to elicit a big toothless smile from him!

Jack is here!

He's 5 weeks old tomorrow! It's been quite a month. I'll write out my birth story soon, but it went really well. He was born on his due date! The pain was unreal -- imagine the most unbearable menstrual cramps. The pain during contractions was that -- but worse. The epidural was w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l. I'm not sure how women make it through childbirth without drugs. More power to them!

We've battled a bit of jaundice and some breastfeeding struggles. I'm now exclusively pumping after running into a painful latch at about 2 weeks. I can nurse if need be, but I prefer to pump and bottle feed.  Jack does well with either, but bottle feeding makes it easier for us to gauge how much he's eating, gives me flexibility in my schedule, and it gives hubby the chance to take over a night feeding (or two). Jack spits up a fair amount (I know, most babies do)... so now I'm going dairy-free. We'll see if that improves the spitting up and how he's able to digest his food.

Last night Jack gave us 4-hour stretches of sleep. That was great! Hopefully that will continue until it gets better. Ha! We'll see.

Overall, I'd say we're out of survival mode and entering more enjoyment mode. Jack is awake more, is content to chill by himself and we're learning his cues. He's a great baby -- he only cries when he's hungry, he wants to be changed, or he's gassy. And he's adorable. :)