7 weeks and a dilemma

My little munchkin is 7 weeks old.  This is his outfit of the day. We went to run some errands today which included going by my work, Target, my BILs shop, car wash and the gas station.  He was an angel the whole time we were gone.

He's sleeping right next to me, he acts like his life is just so hard!  lol I had my camera out earlier trying to catch a good picture of his smile but he wasn't having it.  He would only smile when I took the camera out of my face-so of course I wasn't able to catch it.

I'm in a bit of a dilemma.  When I left work I had in my mind I would be staying home and not going back until March 5th.  Now that the time is here I find myself wanting to go back to work now.  I'm bored at home, my Sister will watch him and so I don't have to worry about daycare availabilities.  It makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong and it isn't a good decision but really, I don't like being at home all day.  I need some outside interaction.  I miss my coworkers and I know if I go back a couple weeks early that's more vacation time put back into my bank.  E and I like to travel so it's always good to have the extra days and if Lucas gets sicks I would have days to take him to the dr and not have to burden my Sister.  I'm still on the fence and haven't made my full decision but what sparked these feelings was when I went to visit my coworkers and pick up a check, my boss asked "When are you coming back!?!" lol She's so anxious for me to get back to work.  I can't believe I've already been out of work for   8 weeks.  It's insane.  I'll keep you updated on my decision.

This weekend is going to be awesome!  My friend Nicole from Oregon is coming to visit along with Kate and Mark from New Jersey.  I met these girls while planning our wedding on theknot.com and we became bestfriends.  I visited with them when we went to Boston and Connecticut!  They are a big part of my life and I can't wait until they get here because I need some serious adult interaction.  I keep telling Lucas all about them so he will be prepared.  :) 

6 week Post Partum Check-Up

I had my 6 week check up with my dr today.  She did a breast exam and a pap smear (oh joy!) and checked my incision.  The incision is healed, she said the scar will begin to lighten.  It already looks pretty light and it doesnt bother me, so I could really care less if it stayed the light pink it already is.  The overall drs appointment went well.  I still weigh the exact same as I did a month ago.  She gave me the okay to exercise so I think i'll continue my videos at home and then start zumba when the new month starts back up.  She changes the songs and routines each month so I dont want to be behind if I just jump in now.  I can't wait to get back! 

 Since I've never been on birth control before we talked about a few.  She told me about the pills, the shot and the IUD.  I decided to go with the pill because she didnt recommend the shot and she said an IUD is more recommended for people who plan to wait closer to 5 years before having another child.  Since thats definately not our case, I opted for the pills. 

I also told her about the pain that is still in my chest area.  I let her know i had been doing research on my own (all those late nights up with that dumb pain!) and everything led me back to my gallbladder.  She put in orders for a gall bladder ultrasound and if all things come back okay with that-she will refer me to a gastro dr to see what they say.  I'm ready to just get this pain over and done with.  She explained that if it was heartburn, the pain would have been taken away right after the baby was born.  We think that it could have been my gall bladder the whole time and it was just confused with the heart burn since that is what usually happens when you're pregnant.  I'm getting the pain at least once a week but here lately its been twice a week.  It sucks!

This weekend E has offered to do all the night time feedings (which is usually only once at 4 am but you never really know) and strictly on 100% baby duty so I can get some rest.  I was so thankful to hear that!  I will enjoy sleeping in tomorrow but I know I won't be able to sleep through the night without waking up when I hear him whine.  I just need to learn to let go and trust in E.  I know he's a good Father and he can handle it....but my mind and body just have a hard time letting go. It'll happen.

I am also going to focus on cleaning our house this weekend.  I want to post some things on Craigslist to sell and get rid of.  We are also going to be expecting house guests next Saturday and I am super excited about them visiting!  We need to get the nursery back to being organized because Edgar and I will be sleeping in there and allow Nicole to sleep in our room.  I don't want her to have to hear us get up with the baby at night and no guest should have to sleep on the couch in the living room.  We can't wait for their arrival! 

Lucas is asleep in his crib right now.  I'm trying to transition him slowly.  Nap times are working for us now and next weekend since we will be sleeping in the nursery, he will be in his crib.  That will be the final transition for him.

New Car!

E and I bought a brand new 2012 Chevy Cruze.  It's beautiful! 

We traded in his old Honda that we inherited from my Mom when she passed away and the Charger that I used to drive went to him.  I love my new car!  Lucas likes it too! :) 

An update on the spit up.  We dropped him back down to 3 oz and only 4 oz before he goes to sleep.  It's worked perfectly!  He doesn't spit up anymore and he seems to be happy.  I guess those couple of days were just a fluke and the 4 oz were too much for his little tummy.  We are still doing tummy time and he's still not enjoying it! 

His outfit of the day was so cute I have to share!

He's getting so big so fast that it makes me sad.  Tomorrow is my 6 week post partum check up with my dr and I hope she gives me the all clear to work out. I'm ready to go back to zumba and get my high school body back!  One can wish right! :)

Eating and a little bit of spit up

At Lucas' 2 week appointment his dr told us to only feed him 3 oz because 4 oz was too much for his little tummy.  I agreed and we followed the rules at home for about 3 weeks. We started to know he was getting fussy and we weren't sure why.  It didn't fit his personality so I decided to start feeding him 4 oz.  He took it like a champ.  He started eating 4 oz with no problem but then would eat every 4-5 hrs, sometimes even 6.  I didn't think anything of it.  I then started to notice that when he did finally eat he would scarf it down like he hadn't eaten in forever and afterwards he would spit up.  It's not "alot" but it does look like it.  It made me worry that we were over feeding him.  We started burping him about 3 times during each feeding but when we would pull the bottle away he would flip out.  His head would fly around, his little hands were flying and he would cry and grunt.  He didn't like it.  We tried to sit him up during the feeding but no matter what we did, he would still spit up. 

Today I decided to put him back down to 3 oz and try to feed him every 3 hours again.  We'll see how it goes.  He has been better about spitting up and he doesn't seem AS hungry when we finally gets a bottle.  I think we'll give him a 4 oz bottle before he sleeps tonight and see if it holds him over until E gets up for work in the morning.  I am going to see how this routine goes for us and if he's still spitting up at the end of the week I'm going to give his dr a call and see if we need to switch formula.  I want to do this before we buy anymore formula because its almost time for more and we have coupons that expire soon.  The spitting up doesn't seem to bother him but it bothers me like crazy.

10-10, Tummy Time and Godparents

Lucas slept from 10pm-10am and only woke up at 4:20 to eat a bottle before Daddy went to work.  It was amazing!  My body doesn't really know how to handle all this sleep at once but in no way am I compaining.  Right now he only sleeps about half the night in his bassinet and the other half in his lamb.  I think he likes to be a little elevated and not all the way on his back.  I honestly think he will sleep better on his side or even on his tummy but I'm nervous to let him.  So, right now, we are just doing what works.  We ordered the Fisher Price Rock N Play and it was delivered to the post office today.  I'm excited to see how he sleeps in it.  It's a bit elevated so I dont think he's going to have a problem staying asleep in it.  As soon as he wakes up from his nap (yup he woke up at 10 and its only 12:20 and hes already napping!) we will head to the post office....or if E gets home before we venture out we will send him. 

Our pedi told us to allow him to do "tummy time" on our chest.  He lifts his head like a pro.  I've seen major neck control and he goes way out there and just looks around.  He has no problem controlling his head and moving back and forth.  Yesterday and today I figured it was time to have him try tummy time on the floor.  Ha!  He HATES it!  I only have him down there for about 3 minutes or so but he just gets so fed up.  I lay down there and talk to him but it doesn't seem to matter.  E told me he will learn to like it, we just have to keep doing it.  I know he'll get there, it will just take time.  Here's a picture of him after he was pretty frustrated and wanting me to pick him up. 

Godparents.  It has been a very tough decision for us because we come from a VERY large family with so many people to choose from.  Edgar knew from the beginning he wanted his best friend Roland to be the Godfather.  We figured we would also ask his wife, Lorie to be his Godmother.  We were very happy with our decision and can't wait to see him grow with the help of two loving people.  I've contacted the Church to see what we needed to do to get the ball rolling and I am going tomorrow to turn in his birth certificate so we can get started.  From there they will contact us to get signed up for classes and then we can pick a date for the Baptism.  They only do them the last Saturdays of the month and I don't think we will make January but I think we will make February.  Right now, I'm shooting for February 25th.  I need to start planning but I don't want too until I know for sure what day we will have it.  I need to make invitations, rent the park pavilion for the lunch/dinner afterwards, see if we are going to do music or anything else.  It's going to be a BIG celebration and I'm excited!!

1 Month Old!

My little guy is already 1 month old.  He is growing so fast and needs to slow down a little.

Yesterday he rolled over on the couch.  Edgar was playing with him and put him down, he rolled from his back to his stomach.  Edgar's face was priceless!  He thought it was just the coolest thing ever.  I knew it was/is probably a fluke but it was nice for him to experience something.

This month has brought on a bunch of changes.  He's brought us closer together, E and I.  I couldn't even imagine the joy he would have brought to our lives but he did it.  It's such an amazing feeling being a Mom and I'm sure E feels the same way being a Dad.

Landon loves him.  He always wants to hold "his baby" and wants to give him his pacifier when he's crying or cover him up because he's czold.  He is constantly asking about his "Lupus" lol because a 1 1/2 yr old can't really say Lucas correctly.  He wants to come over or us to go over there everyday.  He calls him at night to tell him his prayers and its just so cute.  I can't wait for them to grow up together.  They are going to be good friends and definately a handful! 

I don't have stats on him but right now he just moved up to eating 4 oz every 4-5 hours or so.  He still sleeps like a champ.  He's been going to sleep around 10-11 and staying asleep until about 4 or 5,eating and then waking up for the day around 9 am.  It's nice to get a good chunk of sleep.  He loves bath time and doesn't cry.  He loves when I scrub his hair and always falls asleep during this part. He's still sleeping in our room in his bassinet but I think we may start to transition him to his crib soon.  I always said I was going to put him in his crib from day 1 but I never did.  It's funny how things change. 

ETA: I forgot to add that he is a pro at lifting his head.  He does it with absolutely no problem whatsoever.  he's been lifting his head since his 2nd day of life . He's a strong little guy.  He has also been laughing in his sleep.  It's absolutely adorable.

If he's given us this much joy, laughter and happiness in just his 1 little month of life I can't wait to see what the rest of his life brings us! 

Must haves...

I'll start by saying Lucas and I ventured out today to pick up his birth certificate.  It was a nice surprise that getting him in and out of the car was what took us the longest.  The birth certificate was ready in about 3 minutes, after filling out the paperwork, and it was such a nice experience.  We were in and out of the house well within an hour.  That included a trip to McDonald's for Mom! 

I've been searching online and looking at different baby "must have" items and I decided to make my own list.  Here's what I have so far in Lucas' small little 3 (almost 4!) week life. 

Munchkin Formula Dispenser.  It makes making bottles a breeze.

Playtex drop-ins.  He hasn't had a problem with gas or spitting up and I think its because these collapse as he eats. 

Gumdrop Pacifiers.  He got the tan one from the hospital and even though I always said my kid would never use a pacifier, this is really a true miracle! 

He falls asleep to "extreme rain" and its worked miracles. 

Testing my ability...

Yesterday was my first "holy shit what am I doing wrong?!" moment.  Lucas really tested me and when his Dad came home he made us both work.  I felt myself getting frustrated for the first time and i didn't like the way it felt.  We went to visit my co-workers ( I work at an elementary school) since the students weren't in school and only the staff were there and he did GREAT!  He was a big hit with all my friends.  He got a lot of lovin and he was just soaking it all up.  We left there and got home around 11 and when we got home he was asleep so I moved him to his boppy on the couch where he slept until around 1:30 or so.  When he woke up though, he woke up.  He stayed awake for his 4:30 feeding and then his 7:30 feeding and he just wouldn't go to sleep.  He was fussy and everytime we would put him down thinking he was asleep his eyes would pop wide open and he would whine for us to pick him up.  I tried putting him in his swing, the couch, his bassinet...nope!  Nothing worked, it was so frustrating.  Finally when Edgar got home he walked around with him, shhhhing him, rocking him and finally around 9:30 he was able to lay him down in his bassinet.  It was like heaven.  We made the smart decision to go to sleep ourselves because we weren't sure what kind of night we were going to have.  I joked with E that he was going to have to use 1 of his sick days if we had a rough night because I wasn't going to be able to handle 2 days in a row including a night by myself.  We laughed but I was really sort of serious. 

I know it wasn't really THAT bad but it was definately out of the ordinary for our little guy and it made me a little nervous that i wasn't able to soothe and console him when he needed it.  He slept pretty good last night and woke up at around 12:45 to eat and then again at 5 this morning.  He's laying on the couch without me having to hold him so we're making progress!  I can feel his big eyes staring at me. lol I can't believe he's almost a month old.  Time is flying with him and I wish it would just slow down a bit!