1 Month Old

It does not feel like it has already been a month since Captain Adorable was born! He is such a sweet baby! I just love him so much! He only really cries when he's hungry or tired. He is really patient with his sisters. They want to take turns holding him or feeding him. He has actually rolled from his stomach to his back a few times, but not really on purpose. We had put him on his stomach for some tummy time and he was squirming and protesting enough to push himself over.

Captain Adorable appreciates a good swaddle. His SwaddleMe blanket gets a lot of use.

He kind of looks like a worm in it. So Handsome Husband calls him "Squirmy Wormy."
He sleeps really well when he's in bed with me. He normally sleeps from 11pm to 4am and nurses for an hour (nursing has been our main issue) and then sleeps until 7 or 8am. We'll worry about getting him out of our bed here in a couple of months. When he's awake he spends most of his time in a quiet alert state. He sometimes sleeps with his eyes open or half opened and it's a little odd to see his rapid eye movement when he's dreaming. Once he was looking right at me and smiled this huge open mouth grin. My heart skipped a beat, I mean he was only a couple weeks old! But then his eyes rolled in the back of his head and he went on dreaming. He smiles a lot in his dreams and it is a cute smile, of course. I've also heard him laugh in his sleep a few times.

Just yesterday he started to coo a little bit. He first cooed at Baby Dragon and I got really excited when I heard.

Captain Adorable is still pretty small because he's had a harder time gaining weight. He weighed 7 pounds 10.5 ounces as of this Thursday (just a 9.5 ounces above his birth weight). It took three weeks to get back up to his birth weight instead of the usual two. And the only reason that he gained it that fast was because I was pumping after every nursing session and giving him the bottle of pumped milk. He wasn't latching correctly and wasn't draining me. I thought getting his tongue tie corrected would solve the problem. It did not and it actually made me more sore! I had a really hard day and was pretty much in tears because I was ready to give up. It hurt SO much for him to nurse and I'd already seen the lactation consultant two times with no improvement. I felt like I would only be able to nurse until Captain A was six weeks old and then I would have to quit if there was no change. As a last effort to try and make things work I took him to see the lactation consultant a THIRD time. I felt silly that I couldn't figure things out with this being my third baby, but I'd never had to try to get a newborn to latch on without a nipple shield. Thank goodness I went! The lactation consultant was much more attentive this time and really helped me see that although Capt. A was latching on well at first, he was backing off and just chewing. So I have been diligently unlatching him any time he loses his good latch. There has been a lot of improvement with my pain level and he's been SO much better at getting a let down. Today he didn't need a bottle at all! I'm hoping that nursing will be second nature here in a couple of weeks. Better late than never.

I have discovered a new reason to love newborns. See, with Baby Dragon I did not enjoy having a newborn. It was SUCH a shock, the amount of time and energy that went into caring for a newborn. The advice I'd always heard was to enjoy every stage and I truly was trying, but I don't think you can REALLY appreciate the stages that kids go through until you have other kids because you miss the good things from the stages from the first time around. Know what I mean? For instance, when I was pregnant with Sweetie I was DREADING having a newborn again. All the crying, the not sleeping through the night, and whatever else comes with a new baby. But I had forgotten how a new baby just SNUGGLES right up to you and how wonderful it is to hold a sleeping infant on your chest. I was able to truly appreciate the newborn stage with Sweetie because Baby Dragon was older and didn't want to snuggle anymore.

Well, this time around, the thing that I have realized that is so GREAT about newborns is that you don't have to discipline them!!! What a relief, I just get to enjoy the little baby. I don't have to break up any fights between him and a sister (YET). He is just adorable and sleepy and hungry. He actually EATS when he's hungry (where his sisters are picky and complain about food). The little dude could be screaming and crying at me and I just smile at him and think he's adorable. And I love all the cute reflexes. Newborns are great.