Monday, February 4, 2013

One Month Old!



Size: If Jackson is gaining an average of an oz per day, he should be near 9 lbs now. I can't believe it! He's a great eater, so I guess there's no shock here. We weighed him at home by holding him, and the scale says something like 9.5-10 lbs. So I really have no clue. But I do know our little man is very quickly outgrowing Newborn diapers and is on his last day or two of newborn size clothes. Such a big man :)

At our two week well baby, the tech read the scale wrong and we spent a week thinking Jackson wasn't gaining weight appropriately. The day after our appointment, after spending 24 hours crying at every feeding thinking something was wrong, I took Jackson to the health department to be weighed in the WIC office where I used to work. Low and behold he was gaining weight great- averaging an oz per day! The next week, at our weight check, the Dr. informed us of their mistake and cancelled his weight checks- much to our relief. (Side note- the day I weighed him at WIC I called the Dr. office to see if we could re-weigh and they told me I was welcome to come sit in the waiting room with the sick kids and see if they could fit him in. Talk about one mad mama!)
1 mo old

Not pleased with my picture taking

Obviously eating sounds better than mom's photoshoot


Health: Jackson came into this world with a minor heart murmur and has some moderate jaundice during his first two weeks, but now Jackson is healthy as can be. He has the normal baby sneezes- but I can already tell he takes after his daddy with 3-4 sneezes at a time. He does this little sigh/ moan thing between sneezes that is just the cutest thing you've ever heard. As far as his tummy goes, Jackson seems to be gassy at times (namely late at night when mommy and daddy are sleeping). He gets these tummy bubbles and he's so uncomfortable. We burp him, move his legs like a bike ride, stretch his legs up and down (occasionally working out a fart or two- haha). Due to this gassy tendency we invested in both gripe water and Lil Tummy's gas drops. One thing we've noticed is when mommy eats spicy Mexican, it upsets his tummy. This is a trend that started in utero- big sigh from this mama. Mexican is our favorite. We're going to just have to work him up to liking it, again.

Sleep: At our one week checkup for his heart murmur and jaundice, we asked the doctor if Jax was sleeping too much. Although we are SO grateful for his sleeping, we can't wait for him to be awake and interact with us each day. We try not to let him sleep more than three hours at a time during the day so he can nurse and get diaper changes. In the evenings though, we let him sleep away! So far he averages 4-5 hour stretches, for which we are very grateful :)

Some of my favorite moments with Jackson have been in his sleep/ sleepy state. He makes all kinds of funny faces while dosing off to sleep. He recently has started making smile and grimace faces in his sleep, as well as cooing and grunting in his sleep. I think he's going to be a sleep talker like his daddy because so far he talks up a storm in his sleep. My all time favorite sleep activity so far is his giggles. Sometimes in his sleep he'll be cooing and then just start giggling, which makes me smile with excitement for the day we get to hear his giggles while he's awake.

Napping Away on my lap

Silly faces while falling asleep
Napping with Wally 


Schedule: Schedule right now is still on-demand. He sleeps/eats/interacts on his terms and his timeline. In the next two weeks we are hoping to get him into a regular routine to prepare for my return to work. We are still trying to iron out the details of what morning/ evening routines will look like with chores, meals, work, etc. It will be a learning experience for sure! So far we've already learned that our plans or timeline of events needs to be relatively fluid with a newborn dictating things. We'll see how this adjustment goes...
Alert little monkey ready to head out with Mom to scope daycares


Social: Jackson is a very happy baby. Although he doesn't interact with us much yet, we know he is learning so much and taking everything in. He loves to be held and sleep on our chests. Some of his other favorite things include hanging out after nursing (he doesn't actively nurse, but instead uses me as a pacifier) and he also loves outside and windows. Our changing table is next to a window; when the weather is nice and the window is open, the warm sunshine and the wind blows in Jackson just calms down right away. He also is relaxed by car rides and walks around the neighborhood or backyard when the weather is nice. So far Jackson likes the bath most days, which is such a relief. The first few bath times were accompanied by a beet red, crying, unhappy baby so to see him actually relax and enjoy the bath is a relief.
Enjoying the sunshine on the changing table

Alert little man just hanging out, taking it all in


Walking in the neighborhood with the Baby Bjorn- Jax went right to sleep


In the stroller for walk with Mom and Wally- quite the adventure when the dog is afraid of the stroller
Diet: Exclusively breastfeeding still!! We've made it through the hardest part of breastfeeding- the first few weeks. The next hurdle is returning to work/ Jackson starting daycare. To prepare, we've recently introduced the bottle for feeding. I've been able to freeze over 100 oz of pumped milk so far, and plan to pump each day I'm away from Jax. So far we plan on using the Tommy Tippee bottles for feedings, but we will see how he tolerates these as we move forward to more regular/ frequent bottle feedings. I can't take any of the credit for still breastfeeding, Jax enjoys it, he does all the work, and I have an oversupply of milk- all things that have made it fairly easy so far :)

I suspect Jackson has some food sensitivities given his daddy's lactose intolerance and my food allergies. He's had intermittent rash/ baby acne on his face as well as occasional greenish stools- both signs of food sensitivities. I'm going to try weeding our dairy first to see if that's the culprit, which makes me very sad because I can go days without eating meat and get all of my protein from dairy and peanut butter.
Milk drunk  baby in a milk coma after nursing

Exhausted during a growth spurt cluster feeding session

First bottle with daddy 


Crying: No complaints about crying so far. His growth spurts weren't bad with fussiness and Jackson is very good at communicating his needs without getting worked up into a full cry. His rooting signals are easy to read, and when he's not happy or uncomfortable in a position, we are able to tell he's ready for a change.

Given his easy going demeanor, I was very surprised this afternoon when Jackson LOST IT. We were out to eat with a friend and he woke up hungry and needing a diaper change. Dan volunteered to change him, and after what seemed like forever, Dan returned with a half dressed baby. Turns out, right as Dan entered the bathroom Jackson started SCREAMING at how upset he was, which only got worse with removal of his clothes. He then proceeded to pee all over the changing table, his onesie, pants and even his socks. All of this is happening as about 6 men enter the restroom. Needless to say Dan covered him up quickly, and returned to the table (the diaper bag) for a change of clothes and a baby hand off. I then took him to redress him in clean clothes, and he was not happy about still not being fed. I knew he was a breastfeeding champ, but when he wants to eat apparently he wants to eat right now.

Milestones: Jackson may have been three weeks early, but he has not let that slow him down for a minute! He is right on track with all of his milestones so far. For those who are unaware, at 1 month old babies should be able to move their face to the side when on their stomach, roll from their back to their side, eat/ nurse well, be having 3-4 poopy diapers and 5+ wet diapers per day, and be responding to lights and sounds by turning their faces.

Mom and Dad: We are adjusting to this new parents thing. Sleep deprivation has definitely taken it's toll on more than one day, but in general we are getting into a routine. One night, I fell asleep in the glider nursing, Jackson slept in my arms, and Dan and Wally fell asleep on the bed. This particular time we were all in our street clothes still, lights on, TV on, at 8pm. We woke up a few hours late and went about getting ready for bed like nothing was wrong. Tonight the whole family napped from 530-830 after running around this afternoon- naps have become our best friend.

Dan returned to work after two weeks at home with us, and Jackson and I have spent two weeks at home alone during the days. We're getting more comfortable with taking excursions from the house to run errands, eat out, etc. I spend most days in various stages of undress due to the on-demand nursing schedule we've been on, especially during growth spurts. There have been days when Jax and I both manage to be showered and in clean clothes, other days neither of us are out of our PJ's.  Wally has been wonderful since Jackson's arrival, especially when it's just he and I at home. When Dan gets home, Wally gets rowdy and playful- but that's likely because he spends all day lounging and guarding Jackson and I.

We've learned to be more fluid in our plans in this first month of parenting. Sometimes (like today) is a two loads of laundry, multiple outfits, peed on, two bath, vomit kind of day. Other days are easier. Seeing our baby smile, listening to him giggle, and getting sleepy cuddles with him make it all worth while. I love our family so much- and all three of my boys Dan, Jackson and Wally. Each of the three boys has already taken their turn as my least favorite at any given time, but all in all my love for all of them grows daily. We are so blessed and so truly grateful for our wonderful life, we can't wait to see what the next month (and months) brings to us.

Upcoming Events: We have our first road trip next month to Sarasota for the Sierra/ Pigozzi nuptials. Jackson starts daycare in two weeks when I return to work. Jimpa comes to visit next weekend, as well as my best friend and her family! While my dad is in town Dan and I plan to attempt a date night for an early Valentine's Day, which will probably just be dinner out alone and a quick return home to our sweet baby. Lots of things changing has kept us busy and helped the time to fly by, I just hope we're taking enough time to smell the roses along the way :)

1 comment:

  1. I fell asleep at 7.30 on Saturday. Wes woke me up to pump and I fell asleep pumping. So, I went straight to bed, skipped the night pump (I can kind of feed Sam in our sleep now) and Sam and I slept to 7. It's the new normal :) Sleeping in faculty meetings is something I have to work on.

    Jax is beautiful - congratulations x

    ReplyDelete