4 weeks

so daxon is 4 weeks old (but not a month until the 17th...weird).  what?!  how is my little boy 4 weeks old already?  it seems like it's gone so quickly, and yet it also feels like he's been a part of our family forever.  i can hardly remember what life was like before him (other than better-rested). 

i am finally feeling normal again.  i still have hemorrhoids (awesome), but otherwise i feel pretty good.  thank goodness.  recovery was a bitch.  i am 5 pounds from my pre-pregnancy weight, and able to fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans (not without a muffin-top, but i'm kind of ok with that!)!  looking forward to the nicer weather so i can get out and start taking walks, and maybe even restarting the couch to 5k program i'd started last spring!

daxon definitely has a witching hour - usually right around 6pm, he gets super fussy.  i feel bad for matt, because this is when he is home and finally gets to spend time with him, and daxon just fusses and cries the entire time.  despite the fact that daxon is so fussy, matt is great with him.  my patience wears thin by that time of the day, but matt just takes him and walks around the house with him. 

we are trying to establish a bedtime routine.  usually around 8pm, he's showing signs of being sleepy and hungry (though he tends to cluster feed in the evenings), so i take him upstairs for bed.  we change his diaper, then i give him a little massage with lotion and sing a lullaby to him (usually the song "lullaby" by the dixie chicks), then i nurse him.  i get him a little sleepy, then we take a burping break and i swaddle him.  he nurses for a bit more till he falls asleep, then i carefully put him in his crib and quietly leave the room.  i have learned that if i put him in his crib before he's fully asleep, he'll be awake in a few minutes and i have to go back up and nurse him again.  i know they say you cannot spoil a newborn and that you're not forming habits at this young an age, but i still worry about him needing to be nursed to sleep all the time.  i do not want to start that habit, and will continue to try putting him down "drowsy but awake." 

the bump on his head from the vacuum extraction has completely gone away (yay!) but his umbilical cord is holding strong.  i hope it falls off soon.  i can't wait to give him a real bath, cuz i think it'll make him like bath time a lot more! 

he definitely recognizes our voices, and responds when he hears one of us - if he's crying, he'll stop, even for an instant, when one of us talks to him. when i get him up in the morning, he is all smiles.  i freaking love it. 

his sleep continues to get better, at least at night (knock on wood).  once i get him down for bed, he'll sleep for 5 or 6 hours.  the other night he slept for 7 hours!  after his initial waking, he wakes up 3 hours later, and then we're up for the day at 7 or 7:30. 

during the day, though, his napping is totally hit or miss.  somedays (like today) he sleeps almost all day.  other days he's up for hours.  the days that he's up for a long time are difficult, because he's usually fussy when he's up.  however, i think it has to do with growth spurts and/or wonder weeks.  for example, he's approaching wonder week 5 (he is a week ahead of schedule because of being born a week late).  not only is he going through a physical growth spurt, but he's also going through a huge mental/neurological leap, which is stressful to his little body.  he was overwhelmed and freaked out the past couple of days, so he was super fussy during the day.  now that he's getting over the hump of the leap, he's exhausted and has been sleeping almost all day.

he is still eating every 2-3 hours, except at night, obviously.  we went to a new mom's support group last week, and if i used the scale correctly, he now weights 9lb 5oz, which is 1lb 4oz up from his birth weight.  i don't know that i was using or reading it right, though.  we have our 1-month ped appointment on monday, though, so we'll find out then.  i am trying to build a stash of breastmilk in the freezer, so i'm trying to work in a few pumping sessions.

i tend to block feed him (feed from one breast at each session) to ensure that he gets the good thick hindmilk at each feeding.  so in the morning, he usually gets up around 5:30, and i nurse him and put him back to bed.  after that, i pump whatever side i haven't nursed him on overnight, then i try to go back to sleep for a bit.  i get anywhere from 3-5 ounces in that session.  we nurse every 2-3 hours throughout the day.  yesterday i started having matt give him a bottle in the evenings so that i can get a break (or cook dinner), matt can have some bonding time with him, and i plan to pump during that time (from whichever side he didn't nurse on).  i may also start to pump before i go to bed, too, if he continues to sleep for 7-hour stretches at night - this morning i woke up completely engorged and soaked with breastmilk - gross!  i am hoping to have a decent stash built up before i return to work so that if my supply takes a hit, i have something to fall back on.  i'll try not to dip into the stash too much until then, but it's nice to know it's there if i need it.  so far, i think i have 18-20 ounces saved up.

and, now, since no post is complete without gratuitous pictures of my little cutie...

phils are out of season, but it's the only sports team mom and dad can agree on!

morning smiles

zonked on mom and dad's bed after a rough night

fist bump for the bathtime mohawk

daxon and grandpa

all snugged up with daddy