Week 7/17 ~ Life w/ Babe

[eco_mama]

Hey Mamas! It feels like forever since I've been on MDC since the new changes all weekend and then since we left NM on Monday morning to head back to MI. I'm am more than happy to say that we're finally BACK in MI. It was such a long trip..we ended up driving two 12 hour days. I was able to sit in the back w/ Marley and Elijah so it wasn't too bad. I just took him out to change him and feed him. Well, mainly I fed him while he was in his seat, just popped the boob out for him. SOO glad to be back in MI, it's so beautiful this time of year. Well, how's it going for everyone else? Elijah will be 4 wks old this Friday! I can't believe it.

[mcimom]

A bit of a rough night last night...nursed almost every hour to hour and a half and he was fussy/grunting in his sleep in between <-- so this is a pretty realistic picture of me right now...LOL

He is already over 12# at going on 5 weeks old. Lots of baby acne which my girls didn't really have. I still think he's adorable of course, but FIL keeps saying things like "he's so gorgeous from far away..." if you only knew how socially retarded (yet lovable) my FIL is...

Glad to have you in MI mama! I wish you had been closer - it would have been neat to meet another DDC mama (I think Keeta is in the area too, aren't you?) but glad you're finally settled and got the house you wanted, etc. I can't imagine doing all that with a preschooler and newborn. Good job mama

Well, all my kids have awakened so I'm off to be like a mom...

[ckhagen]

Originally Posted by mcimom

A bit of a rough night last night...nursed almost every hour to hour and a half and he was fussy/grunting in his sleep in between <-- so this is a pretty realistic picture of me right now...LOL

Ohh... same thing here. I'm totally frustrated and exhausted! And, of all days for him to do this, it's on the one where my toddler actually has decided to sleep in!!! It's so unfair

We're also at close to 12lbs (3weeks old) and the baby acne has come out in full force. His poor little cheeks look SO bad. Anyone have any recs on how to deal with it or do I just need to leave it alone?

[mcimom]

Originally Posted by ckhagen

His poor little cheeks look SO bad. Anyone have any recs on how to deal with it or do I just need to leave it alone?

I am a picker so this is so hard for me...but yes, leave it alone. From time to time I rub some breastmilk on it, but that's about it other than cleaning his face with a wet washcloth daily (no soaps).

It shouldn't last more than a few months if it's just baby acne. I'm just happy ours doesn't appear to be eczema or anything...my friend's son had that pretty bad as a babe and that sucked...the whole elimination diet and creams and all. My dd2 had eczema, but not until later and it wasn't bad, just in one isolated spot for the most part.

[sarahlynn83]

Our babies must have a conspericy (not sure on the spelling) against us because Alex was up ALL night like until 12:45. And from 7pm until he finally went to sleep he was attached to my boob. I swear he had to be sucking to suck I don't think there was any milk left. When I thought that he was asleep I went to put him in his bed and he would instantly wake up. Dh got mad at me because I was crying...but I was just so exhausted, I never realized how tiring being a mom to a newborn can be. I just wanted to go to bed and he would let me. I even tried letting him sleep with me eventhough I am so not comfortble with this because I toss and turn ALOT in my sleep. But he was even fussier in bed with me. And he woke up like three time...which he usually only gets up once and then with dh when he gets up for work, and then when he gets up in the morning. So needless to say since 8 he has been asleep good and I just rolled out of bed. I feel like such a bum and that I wasted half the day away. I usually get up around 7am like clockwork.

[chiromama]

Ruby was 4 weeks yesterday MW appt on thursday so I'll know how muchshe weighs then But I'm sure she's growing fast... she eats like a horse!
Sleep has been on again, off again. some nights it's good.. some... not so good. Last night was good.
My MIL has her right now so I'm going to take a quick shower, get some dipes in the wash and then go get my baby!!

Oh and thanks for the compliments on Ruby's blog. yesterday we wrote (hubby and I) a monthly love letter to her. : sob sob sob!

[MyLittleWonders]

Elliot is 5 weeks today ... and he's getting so big! He's actually wearing one of ds#2's medium Bum-Ware aio's, and it totally fits. I need to call for his 1 month check ... I'm curious how much he weighs, though I know it's almost 13 pounds. We are having major sleep issues here too ... last night was really bad. He'll sleep great from about 8pm until about 1 or 2am, then he's up until about 5 to 7am, when he goes back to sleep again. By up I mean, nursing, dozing, fussing, moving, grunting ... nothing that I can sleep through. I was really really frustrated last night by it (and it's not helping that it's blazing hot here and dh decided to let both older boys sleep in our bed with us ... ), and upset because I knew I wouldn't have it in me to go roller skating with the older ones today ... it's such a vicious cycle right now. I know this too shall pass, but I keep thinking ... what is it that is making him so uncomfortable ... am I eating something that disagrees with him ... is it still the thrush we are fighting ... But he's so darn cute and when he's not fussing, flashes the best smiles! We also go through a similar thing during the days ... once he does wake in the morning, he doesn't want to be put down, doesn't want to be in the sling, just wants me to carry him across my arm, with his head in my elbow and the heel of my palm in his tummy. So, we sit a lot with him sprawled across my lap, patting his back (he loves his back patted).

He did get to go on vacation with dh and I ... dh surprised me with a trip to San Diego (La Jolla) for our anniversary and Elliot got to go too. Fortunately he did great in the car (he hates the car), and sleep fairly well (up every 2 hours) when we were there.

Right now he's on my lap, spitting up on me and smiling about it! I'm hoping to get a shower at some point in time here ... he might go in with me.

Oh, and yea, baby acne here too ... it looks worse when he gets really hot or really mad ... otherwise it's not too bad.

[SoCaliMommy]

Ryker is 7wks old already, time seems to be flying by. Not sure how much he weighs . I have to call today to try and switch peds and then make a appt for his 2 month checkup.

Sleep~ He is usually down by 9pmish and up at 12am or 1am to nurse and get a diaper change then back to sleep then up again at 4amish then repeat again then back to sleep til 7amish.

[eco_mama]

Elijah must not be in the "conspiracy circle" because he sleeps great! Basically all through the night. Only wiggles around maybe once or twice to eat but never even opens his eyes or cries. He lays down for bed around 8-9pm and wake up anywhere between 7-9pm. I'm blessed....for the time being! Hehe. Well we're at my MIL's for a day or two. Tomorrow we're going to our new house..I can't wait. I love it! I haven't even seen Marley. She doesn't care about Mama anymore. She's out having a blast playing w/ her aunts, uncle, and cousin. Swimming, riding the little tractor, riding bikes, etc.. She's SO happy!

[NCjen]

Marley is 3 1/2 weeks old and doing great. She kept me up all night grunting too. The past two weeks if she woke up I would just nurse her and sleep, but this grunting thing is driving me nuts! She won't nurse, she just fidgets and makes noise. She sleeps with us, and this morning I was cuddling her face to face and she projectile puked all over my face, that was lovely. Then 2 minutes later our 18 month old got up for the day- 5 am! YUCK! DH and I just laugh at the chaos that is now our lives. The car ride is like a circus. Toddler wants cookies and sippies, and baby wants pacifier...one of them is always needing something! We love it though. With the first two weeks after c/s and my bad recovery I am just grateful to be able to take care of my babies and not have any more company!!!! Well, baby is up now..I have a quick question though.. is anyone storing breast milk for the occasional bottle feeding so you can get out and do something. I was going to go get my hair done(I need it BAD-YIKES!) and I want to start pumping.. when do you pump.. when baby is asleep and milk comes in.. or do you do one side while she is nursing from the other? I dont want to screw up my supply. Thanks!

[BundleFishMama]

Hi everyone! Just checking in to see how all the June mamas & babes are doing

Things are wonderful here, just loving my little boy and enjoying having 3 beautiful children!! Andrew is 3 1/2 weeks now and just so sweet and adorable. His sisters absolutely love him!

I have to say, so far anyway, adjusting to life with 3 kids has been so easy! : But I had a really easy time going from 1 to 2 so I wasn't expecting it to be too hard this time either. (Personally I found just going from 0 to 1 the hardest, since it was a total lifestyle change and everything was so new and I was so paranoid!)

The only thing I'm finding hard is bedtime, since both dd2 and ds want to nurse to sleep. I did tandem-nurse my dds but dd1 took a paci and didn't mind nursing earlier and then falling asleep with the binky while I nursed her sister, but I don't use pacis anymore. Now dd2 is used to falling asleep nursing, and ds wants to be latched on ALL the time, so we just keep taking turns at bedtime with one of them nursing and one fussing and then we switch back and forth and dd1 is complaining the whole time that the others are making too much noise and it just takes FOREVER for them to fall asleep! That's the only real challenge I've had.

Just super-busy catching up on everything I let slide over the past few weeks - I never, ever expected a 10-day NICU adventure instead of my usual 24-hour hospital stay, and I was in the middle of running a couple of fundraisers for LLL which are all screwed up now, I had to give a talk on bfing the other morning at a moms' club which I was totally unprepared for but it went OK, we're planning a huge picnic for World Breastfeeding Week coming up, and then most importantly we had Andrew's baptism Mass and a big party last weekend, which was a lot to coordinate - we had family in town from all over, etc. So I'm happy to be back to "normal" with just the 5 of us now!

Glad to hear everyone seems to be doing so well and all the babies are happy and healthy and thriving now!!

[The4OfUs]

Hi ladies! 3 weeks yesterday, we're getting over some thrush (I was doing grapefruit seed extract and probiotics but it wasn't quite doing the trick, so I added some nystatin solution and cream from the ped and it's almost gone now), and DD is super sensitive to my diet so I'm eating a fairly limited list of foods (posted about this on the weight loss thread).

She is different in many ways from DS as far as nursing goes - already at 3 weeks old sometimes she doesn't fall asleep at the breast, will pull off and not want to go back on again despite my attempts, so I rock her to sleep and let her suck on my finger if she wants. DS stopped falling asleep at the breast at about 6 months, but I never thought it might start at 3 weeks...sheesh! She also can empty my breast in about 5 minutes, which also floors me, she's got some sucking power on her - DS used to take about 20 min per side - so our nursing sessions are pretty short. Sometimes she gets mad if she's nursing and there's not much there, once she empties me, and she'll pull off and want to suck my pinky sometimes to fall asleep...sometimes she has NO interest in sucking if there's "nothing" coming out...looks like another no comfort nursing babe for me, DS was the same way, didn't like to comfort nurse much either. Sigh, oh well.

Had a weight check and she was 9 pounds 11 ounces, so she's gaining fine(up 2 pounds 8 ounces in 2 weeks), and other than the thrush we're doing really well. She's starting to have more awake and happy time, since I figured out the foods that are bugging her and avoid them...and DS is still loving her, so that's good.

We're getting company this weekend for a short visit on Saturday, and then next weekend I'm taking our first trip to my parents' house while DH does some long overdue touch up painting and treats the first floor of the house for ants (we have ants between the basement and subfloor - ick!), and we don't want the kids around the fumes of either thing, so I'll be spending 4 days at my parents' house, which should be fun.

Hope everyone has a good week!

[Selesai]

Tomorrow Philip will be 4 weeks. He is such an agreeable baby. He has his fussy periods at night but generally he cries only if he wants to be picked up, he's in need of a clean diaper, or he is hungry. He sleeps during the night fairly well. He will nurse every hour or so during the evening then fall asleep at 11 and wiggle around (without waking up) at 3-4am, when I nurse him. He wakes up again every two hours until he won't go back to sleep, the timing of which varies. I find I'm adapting to it, so hopefully I'll be getting a little more sleep now.
As for someone's question about pumping. Because I will have to pump full-time when I return to work, I have started using the pump about once a day. I typically nurse on one breast each nursing session, so it would make sense to pump the other at that time. However, I have my hands full w/ baby and am not interested in manipulating my body so that I can also hold the pump. Thus I tend to pump when Philip is sleeping-- the morning is a good time because supply is up a bit.
I did get a little engorged at one point, but generally my supply hasn't annoyed Philip as far as I can tell.
I'm still trying the babywearing thing... I'll post about that on the babywearing thread.

[mommy2girlies]

J.C will be 3wks this Sunday. Things are going great over here! He sleeps really well and is getting up only about twice a night to nurse and diaper change. He's such a good baby. Doesn't cry unless he's wet or hungry. The girls are really good with him, except for the occasional fight over who gets to hold him or a little too hard exuberant hugs and kisses.

My dh went back to work this week, so its my first solo week, but my mom came up yesterday, and we're going to my inlaws this weekend, and then my dad and stepmom are coming to visit next monday from CA, so its nice to have some company. The first 3 days this week weren't that bad. I actually took the girls and J.C. to the movies for "kids day" on Tues. We went to see the Veggie Tales movie and the girls loved it and J.C. was so good the entire movie. He nursed, slept, and at one point I swear he was watching the movie! LOL!

I've got to get him in for his 2 wk checkup! He's gonna be 3 already! Where did time go?!! I weighed him here at home and he weighs 10 lbs already! That's 2lbs in 2 1/2 wks!!

[mcimom]

Originally Posted by chiromama

Ruby was 4 weeks yesterday MW appt on thursday so I'll know how muchshe weighs then But I'm sure she's growing fast... she eats like a horse!
Sleep has been on again, off again. some nights it's good.. some... not so good. Last night was good.
My MIL has her right now so I'm going to take a quick shower, get some dipes in the wash and then go get my baby!!

Oh and thanks for the compliments on Ruby's blog. yesterday we wrote (hubby and I) a monthly love letter to her. : sob sob sob!

Korin - the elephant monkey baby That is SO Mikey. I've never had a child that made that elephant noise before...it's outrageous! I crack up every time! I love the love letters : - you both have such a way with words! And her little outfits are to die for! Thanks for sharing all of that...I am such a Ruby fan!!

[chiromama]

nak
aw thanks leighanne... i'm a ruby fan too!

[sehbub]

Sam is 3 months today! I can't believe it's been that long already, but at the same time, it feels like she's always been a part of our lives.

She's still stuck in her newborn stage (Adjusted age is about 4wks) so we're still dealing with eating every 3 hours around the clock. It's a huge shock for DH as my DSDs were both sleeping through the night within 2 months. Not Sam! We've had 2 months already of her at home waking every 2-3 hours, and there doesn't seem to be any end in sight.

She's so strong. She can roll over (she's done it twice) and lifts her torso away from our shoulders to look around, and can hold it for almost a full minute. We're starting to get some smiles, and she's gaining weight like a champ. Her four month checkup is next month, so we'll find out her weight then.

All in all things are well. Thank Goodness this pg is so much easier than my pg with Sam, because otherwise I'd be toast. I can't imagine dealing with no sleep AND the full body exhaustion I had with her! I still can't tell I'm pg!

[eco_mama]

Well I'm sitting in my new house. It's so cute but soo empty. We sold our furniture in Cali and are getting new stuff for here. So alls we have right now are beds (and the few things we left here in storage). I can't wait until it's all furnished and everything. Elijah is 4wks today. He's doing excellent. He is so smilie in the mornings and is starting to "talk" a bit. You know how they just let out those big sighs. Totally melts my heart. Today we're having Marley's 2nd b-day party..from our family here in Michigan since they missed hers. It should be a nice day. I finally have my sling probably this week...that will make things MUCH easier!!!

[AugustineM]

Hi everyone, great to hear about the babies.

I noticed there were a couple people saying their 3wk or 6wk babies were nursing all the time, all night. Growth spurts happen at 3wks 6wks 3mo and 6mo.... so that could be part of it. Anna definitely had a 3wk growth spurt where she just wanted to nurse constantly for 2 days.

She is an awesome baby -- totally different from DS. He was quite fussy and never slept well. Now I've got a baby that sleeps ALL THE TIME. Seriously. Like 20 hours a day. She's just awake to nurse and she sleeps almost all night, from 9pm to 6am, waking once at about 3am. It's insane, I just cannot believe it!! Especially after my first child. Every day I keep thinking it's going to change, but so far it hasn't!

My 22 month old is WAY more of a challenge than Anna, my little 5 week old. I have to stay sooo patient with Thor, I am often too short with him and I feel guilty. He's still adjusting to this sibling thing. And he wants to nurse every time she does, but I say no a lot...

Sigh, everyone has their challenges I guess...

[grace's voice]

WooHoo, Behny is 1 month old today!

It goes by so fast!

lil Bennigans

Check out the belly we've been working on!
And those thighs used to be scrawny chicken legs!