6 Weeks Old - Firsts!

6 Weeks Old today!

Mr. Man has really taken off this week. We had a pediatrician's appointment on Friday for his 1 month checkup (was postponed from last Friday) and he is now 8lb 10oz and 20.5" long. He is officially on the curve of all growth charts for height (2.5 percentile), weight (6 percentile), and head size (12th percentile)! He's about to outgrow his newborn size clothes and diapers, so we are getting our final wears on a lot of things. Can't believe how quickly that happened!

I'm not sure I enjoy Tummy Time

Turtle tummy time!

"Hey, Ladies..."

He's been decent schedule-wise this week... have had a few rough nights but in general he's been doing really well. Still eating about every 3 hours, sometimes closer to 2 and occasionally he'll give us 4 hour stretches. Those are really nice when they come at night!

"But I'm so cute, you don't really care if I sleep... right??"

We went on walks every day this week around the neighborhood ranging from 1.5 to 3.5 miles. It was warm outside, but we have a little battery operated fan for D on the stroller to keep him cool. Mom wishes she had one, too!

Love our morning walks!

Snuggle time with Leo.

We had several firsts this week, which were exciting...

First Family Trip to Barley's

We finally had our first family outing to Barley's on Friday night!

Babywearing in the bar!

Friend and Bartender James approves of tiny human.

Friend and Bartender Kimmie showing D some love.

It was fun to get to introduce him to our friends there! We even dressed him up (i.e. put pants on him for the first time) but he stayed in the wrap the whole time (slept like a champ!) so I had to take photos to document the cute outfit.

I have a car on my shirt...

...and a car on my butt!

First Race

Then on Saturday evening we headed up to Spartanburg for our first race! It was the R.J. Rockers Beer BBQ 5k - the first of a series of 3 races each sponsored/hosted by a local brewery. We walked  most of the race, though I couldn't help myself and jogged slowly a couple of times - finished just under 45 minutes and then enjoyed barbecue, beer, and live music afterwards! It was a great event. More about the race in my fitness blog which I'm very excited to start making entries in again. :)

Start of the race in the back of the pack

"On a scale of 1 to 10, I'm a 26.2"

Family post-race photo! Dargan is obviously thrilled.

 Excited for more races to come this summer and fall!

5 Weeks Old - Making & Breaking Routines

Last week started off promising.

Sunday afternoon by the pool.

Scott left for a work trip to Montreal on Monday afternoon, so my mom came to stay with me which was a huge help. I wasn't quite ready to tackle this little one on my own for 3 days!

"Who, me?"

Snuggles!

We started off by assessing a concerningly red behind... determined to be some gnarly diaper rash, so we established a daily routine of No Pants Tummy Time with Grannie! (Rest assured, Dargan was the only one participating in the "no pants" part). We also did some reading during this time, and Dargan seemed to be fascinated by books placed in front of him. 

Evening reading time.

The first night we decided to try taking shifts - my mom would give D a bottle while I pumped just before bedtime (10-ish) and would then address any fussing until the next feeding around 1am. At that time I'd nurse him, then mom would take any fusses until 4am when I would feed him again, then mom would keep him occupied until morning (next feeding at 7am). It worked out great! It was nice to just get to mentally check out for a few blocks of time. I felt so well rested the next day.

Tuesday was more of the same, just hanging out at home. We went for a walk around the neighborhood which was nice. 

Shiner investigates.

We did the same routine again Tuesday night and once again it worked great! 2 for 2! He stuck to the 3 hour routine throughout the day pretty well also. We figured out that 1.5 hours after he eats (ie the time it takes a baby to digest breast milk) is when he initially gets fussy. Originally we thought that meant he was hungry again, but really it's poop & gas related fusses. What a revelation! So we just try to make him as comfortable as possible while he works through that, and then he'll go back to sleep. Hooray!

On Wednesday we had an excursion out for lunch at Sidewall Pizza in TR, including a little walk on the Swamp Rabbit Trail. 

Aside from keeping him out past his usual 3 hours between feedings, resulting in some crying, he did very well! That night he even let me sleep until 5am (4 hour stretch!). Was definitely nice to get caught up on some sleep this week.

Wednesday was also the 10th - Dargan's 1 Monthiversary! :) Can't believe how fast the time is going by (well, some days).

On Thursday I took Dargan to the Midwifery office where they have a monthly breastfeeding support group meeting. Basically they open up the office so you can come, work with a lactation consultant, and use their high-accuracy baby scale to weigh your baby before and after a feeding to see how much milk they're actually getting per meal. Turns out Dargan can pull out about 3 oz in a feeding which is great. PLUS it turns out he has reached the 8lb mark! I was very happy to learn all of that. 

I got home and had a terrible headache, so I drank some water and laid down for a nap. Then I started getting chills and body aches and when I got up to feed Dargan, I took my temperature... 101.4! :( Thankfully Scott got home that night and took care of little D while I slept on the couch the rest of the day. 

Happy to have Daddy home!

We stuck with the new "routine" that night and it worked out great. Only change was that I took the fusses from 1-4am so that Scott could be rested for work in the morning.

Friday I woke up feeling somewhat better, but not great. I stayed in my PJs and napped on the couch as much as Dargan would let me. We did try some tummy time while he was awake in the morning, but by afternoon, I was back on the couch again and fever was at 102. 

Originally we'd planned to make our first family trip to Barley's, but since I still wasn't feeling well, we stayed in. It was a wise choice, because we had big plans for Saturday - babywearing group and a birthday party! I ended up feeling much better by then, thankfully, and both went well. I decided to order a Ring Sling as an alternative carrier for the summer. We love the Boba wrap but it's quite warm (will be perfect in winter!) so a lighter weight sling will be great to have. 

We went to Jeff & Deidre's house for Deidre's birthday party. The theme was Olympic Decathlon and we were told to come dressed in some kind of team spirit wear. Scott and I knew we'd be back and forth with D, so we didn't participate, but we dressed Dargan in his Florida jersey from Grandma & Granddad Trenor. 

Proud Father & Son gators

D says "Go Gators!"

He did really well throughout the party and everyone loved oohing and ahhing over him. Not sure if he was just overstimulated from the party or what, but that night something got off-kilter and Dargan was fussy a good bit of the night. He basically didn't sleep between his 1 and 4am feedings. Blah! And we'd been doing SO well. 

Scott took D for a run on Sunday morning so I could sleep some more, and we pretty much took it easy around the house the rest of the day.

Today is going well so far and D and I did a little over a 5k walk around the neighborhood! It took us about an hour and 20 minutes, but hey, we did it! It was good practice for the Brewery BBQ 5k that we're doing on Saturday. :)

Hoping we can get back into our routine more this week!

Happy Due Date, Dargan!

Today is June 7th - my original due date! But instead, we are celebrating Dargan being 4 weeks old today. What a wild ride it has been!

Today I am 4 Weeks Old

Last night was rough... I think he must be going through a growth spurt (again? still?) because he wanted to eat constantly. The past couple of days we've tried to go for exclusively nursing for feedings, but after 2 nights of very little sleep, we're back to bottles at night. It's just easier (I say "easier" in very relative terms) to get his belly full and get him back to sleep quicker than 45 minutes of nursing only to wake up 1.5 hours later.

But I sleep great during the day!

Some other highlights from the past few days have been:

Thursday, June 4th - Pediatrician appointment & Circumcision

Oh yes, it was a busy and stressful day for little Dargan. On a positive note, he's gaining weight like crazy still and is up to 7lb 5.5oz (+13oz from 1 week ago!). His circ went well and he doesn't even seem bothered by it - clearly it "hurts" mom & dad more than it does him. Not so good news - he has the beginnings of a yeast infection on his bum, so we're applying topical antibacterial at each diaper change. Lovely! :/

Friday, June 5th - First Bath!

Based on the care instructions from the pediatric urologist, a bath was in order for Friday. We got him in his little tub, cleaned him all up, and then snuggled him in a warm towel... he seemed startled at first when he got in the water, but eventually settled down and seemed pretty calmed by it.

Saturday, June 6th

I had my first extended time away from Dargan to attend front row rehearsal for chorus on Saturday morning. While it was nice to interact normally with adults again, I'll admit that I missed my little bug! He and Scott enjoyed a morning at the Farmer's Market, along with errands to the bank and to Sunrift - he got to meet all the folks in the bike shop, where he will obviously become a regular as soon as he can sit upright on his own. :)

This coming week, Scott has a business trip to Montreal, so my mom is coming down to keep me company while he's away. I'm just not ready for multiple days on my own with this little guy yet! Getting there, though.

Blue blanket made by Dargan's great grandmother.

Sweet sleepy babe

First Solo (duo?) Outing

Today I feel like Dargan and I crossed a milestone - we had our first venture out of the house together! We attended a La Leche League meeting and met a great group of moms that I think will serve as a great support for our continuing adventures in nursing. Dargan did SO well at the meeting - slept almost the entire time and only woke up just towards the end and needed a snack. He hadn't eaten since 8 in the morning, and we didn't get home until after 12 - so proud of him!

Proud of me, Mom?

This week so far has been pretty good - my first week solo at home while Scott is at work. His parents came to visit briefly over the weekend but started feeling ill on Monday morning, so they left to go back to Florida. We've planned a trip to visit them and the family in West Palm Beach over July 4th weekend, so it will be a busy holiday weekend!

Other than that, we've had some good days and some stressful days. He tends to have pretty calm mornings but by late afternoon he's awake and hungry and cranky and not sure what he wants. Hoping he'll continue to eat and sleep well and figure out a good schedule for himself and us!

My parents and brother came for lunch on Monday so that my brother could meet his nephew.

"It's a baby!"

Milk drunk.

Concerned about having the hiccups.

Also today, Rev. Dorian from St. Peter's came by to visit and give me a gift made by the St. Peter's Quilters ministry. It's so cute and thoughtful!

Gaining Weight and Not Sleeping!

Ok, so that's a bit of an exaggeration - he sleeps plenty, just not at night when we'd like him to! He tends to fuss after he eats (indigestion, maybe?) and that makes for some restless nights. He's eating more and more and it shows - at his appointment today he's up to 6lbs 8oz - a half pound since last week! Definitely reassuring that he's growing and eating well.

Getting a good meal from Grannie

My mom ("Grannie") is here to help me out while Scott is back at work this week. It's been nice being able to take showers semi-regularly, nap on occasion, and just generally not feel like I'm 100% fending for myself during the day.

Napping with Grannie

We're working on shifting to more nursing and fewer bottles for feeding, but I'm worried my milk supply isn't quite up to the challenge yet. So far I haven't fallen behind but I've got less of a stockpile than I'm used to, so it just makes me a little concerned. I picked up some brewer's yeast and flax seed meal, so I'll be baking some lactation cookies this weekend for sure!

I'm amused that even though my stomach has basically shrunk back to normal (ish) size, I still have the linea negra - wondering how long until it fades, or if it ever will!

Anyway... hoping for some better sleep tonight (yeah, that's probably wishful thinking).

2 Weeks Old

Sunday, May 24th - two weeks old!

Wow what a whirlwind the past 2 weeks have been... has it only been two weeks? Has it already been two weeks?

We're still doing well at home, figuring out our days and nights, getting better at eating & sleeping a little more regularly. We still have to get up to feed every 3 hours (at least) per the pediatrician's instruction, but I think Dargan would sleep longer if we would let him. Eventually he'll be gaining weight steadily enough that we should be able to let him go longer between feedings. He was up 4 oz. in the 3 days between his ped. visits on Tuesday & Friday - back up to 6 lbs even!

I finally had the energy/time this past week to do a little work on the nursery now that we finally have furniture - it's starting to look like a baby's room at last! I put together the banner from our work shower along with the little cut-out shapes where the guests wrote well-wishes for us and baby... I love how it turned out!

This is the most "finished" corner of the room - crib and changing table with wall decorations. The other corner will eventually have the chair for nursing, but right now that chair is in our bedroom while Dargan is sleeping with us in his Pack-n-Play.

On Friday, after the pediatrician's appointment, we stopped at the Community Tap for Dargan's first beer outing and got to introduce him to some familiar faces there.

Cheers!

Yesterday we went on a walk in the morning around the neighborhood and then spent the afternoon at the pool.

Lounging in the shade

Naptime by the pool for everyone!

This week Scott will go back to the office, my mom comes to stay for a few days, and then the Trenor grandparents will be here for next weekend.

Smiley boy after a good feeding

"Pardon me, sir, but I believe I have shat in my pantaloons."