New mama checking in here – somewhat for the accountability, but mostly for the memory of the moment. I don’t promise any specific increment where I’ll always check in, but maybe I’ll keep on track and help us capture the new things you are doing as you grow and change so quickly in the coming months. Mostly, I’d just love these posts to be a little letter to you of what inspires me as you grow and develop and how I’m mesmerized by your growing life.

WHAT’S NEW?

• We are back to birth weight. Mom is having a little trouble with milk supply, and I’m going to try some lactation tricks to try and increase my milk production. But the doctor is happy and we don’t have to do anything extra at this point.
• You feed for a long time and I’m sure that is directly related to how hard you have to work to get milk. But, you are a tired little guy and I have to keep messing with you to wake you up.
• And, as suspected with all of that going on, you are having gas issues. You toot all the time, but are a terrible burper. So, we spend the better part of 30 minutes after you eat trying to get all those air bubbles out one way or another (up or down). We have learned that beans, broccoli, cauliflower, and potatoes are off limits for mama. They give you worse gas than normal. I’ll do my best, but I make no promises if a hash brown casserole crosses my path!
• You are doing fantastic learning your schedule and mom and dad are getting some segments of sleep during the night, which are helping us have better days. I’m so thankful for the time your dad spent with us last week helping us all figure out our plan and routine and working through the hard spots to set the plan in motion.
• We are learning all your cries and little noises. I have some of them down and know the “hungry” cry very well and am learning how to decipher the “fake out” cry and let you push through. It breaks my heart to hear you cry, but I know it’s what we’ve got to do to work through all this together. Dad is the hero and takes the midnight to 4am shift if you need any attending to and it gives me a chance to get some deep sleep and know you are still cared for. Thankfully, that’s the time that you seem to sleep the hardest and we have not had many nights where he is up and down.
• Today I really noticed how your eye focus has changed. I’ve read that you can distinguish faces from other things that you see and that you focus most intently on your mom as you put the voice tone and what you see together. A couple times today you caught my eye and it was magical. I love holding you against my chest and feeling you pull away to look up and look around. I’ve always been mesmerized by the “wide eyed wonder” of a child at Christmas time and you are just taking that to a whole new level as you discover the world around you
• This week has been big for us together. It has been our first week at home together. Just you and me, bud. We are doing good so far. We even went to the doctor together, just you and me.
• I was given a really good piece of advice to just set out for myself one thing to accomplish each day. It’s hard for my productive soul to be satisfied with just bits and pieces of time that I can do anything in a day. But, I sure don’t want to miss the snuggle time and face time we have together in these early days. So I’m giving myself the space to breathe.
• Dad and I have mastered the swaddle and when we get it right, it makes for magical night time sleeping.
• Bailey, our puppy, is probably more in love with you than we imagined. She does not like it when you cry. She will always come find us when she hears it and stays close to watch you. When its time to eat, she is right there and ready when we unwrap you to give a few kisses. She stays close and watches you. And, if we go anywhere with you in tow, she wants to tag along.