A visit from Ann, Julieann, Caleb and Elijah

Last Saturday we were visited by Britton's mom, Julieann, Caleb and Elijah. We spent most of the day hanging out at our house watching kiddie movies, having lunch and visiting with Nathan in between naps.

Later in the afternoon we went to a nearby park where the kids (and adults) played and ran off some energy.

They all left that evening to go to Disney and we joined them for a day trip the next morning. Nathan had his first trip out of town! No, I did not drag a 7 week old baby around Disney, I'm not maso- chistic! We hung out in the shade by the pool at the resort. They all joined us at lunch time and we got to swim while the kids took naps.

Then Nathan had his first boat ride on a boat that took us all from the resort to Magic Kingdom where we met up with...Bobby, Tia, and Joey who just happened to be vacationing at Disney that week!

Nathan was apparently exhausted because he slept for eight hours for the first time that night (which has not been repeated since, unfortunately).

We really enjoyed the visit and Julieann's boys were excited about the magic of Disney! Maybe next time Nathan will actually get to go in the park.

Loving being parents

Each week things seem to get just a bit easier and Nathan does new things to keep me entertained. This past weekend, Nathan had another visit from my parents who confirmed that he has gotten even cuter! He is now noticing his toys on the play gym and is bopping them around a bit. But playing with Mommy and Daddy is still preferable over toys. Nathan's most impressive talent to date is his ability to steal our hearts a little more each day.

Britton took a picture of Nathan's toes in our wedding rings so that some day we can compare them to his big feet and sigh as we remember when his tootsies were tiny.

Maternity Leave

Today Nathan is 6 weeks old and last night he slept for over 5 hours in a row for the first time! I'm very excited about it but not naive enough to think it will happen again this week. He is now 9.4 pounds and roughly in the 37th percentile in height, weight, and head circumference.

The past couple of weeks have been easier as Nathan is doing really well on his schedule and Britton has had a relatively easy rotation so I actually see him in the morning and he comes home (and helps!) around 6:30 PM.

Our schedule is roughly:
7:00 AM wake up (if he hasn't already), feed, play, cuddle
9:00 AM nap in stroller while mommy walks
10:00 AM wake up, feed, play, cuddle
12:00 PM nap in crib (sometimes mommy needs to nap during this time too)
2:00 PM wake up, feed, play, cuddle
4:00 PM nap in crib, or in the carrier if mommy is running an errand
5:00 PM wake up, feed, play, bath, waterworks display, baby massage
6:30 PM feed again, cuddle, wind down for the night
7:00 PM bedtime
10:30 PM feed WITH DADDY!, then back to bed
2:30-4:00ish AM wake up starving and scream for food, feed, then back to bed, mommy prays that he will sleep until 7AM

Add in there many diaper changes and 6-9 pumping sessions, 20-35 min each depending on the day. The good news is I'm now able to supply over 2/3 of his diet thanks to many methods of increasing milk production including using "galactagogues" and "power pumping," words and phrases previously not in my vocabulary.

Nathan has rolled from front to back twice but has not mastered it. He is trying to figure out how to bring his hands to his mouth... he is becoming more consistent but still managed to punch himself in the face twice while attempting today. He's also learning to stick his tongue out and it is absolutely adorable!

Britton and I are both enjoying taking pictures of Nathan, included is a sampling of his and mine respectively.

The first 4 weeks and our first photo shoot

I figured that I'd write an entry to catch up to where we are today but everything seems to be a blur. Before my dad left, Nathan was introduced to my dad's mother and siblings though he slept through most of it. The McKenzie group came over on a Saturday for lunch and luckily my dad planned the meal and picked up food at Publix. If it was left up to me, everyone would have gotten a pickle and a glass of water; I was still just trying to put one foot in front of the other at that point!

On Sunday, my dad left and Britton's two weeks of paternity leave started. With both of us home, we were able to concentrate on getting into a routine and really focusing on breast-feeding. We had visits with a lactation consultant, watched videos, and sat down together to address the problems from all angles. It seems that Nathan has a general inability to latch well, stay latched and actually drink at the breast. He is quite capable of chomping down on my nipples and causing a LOT of pain but this does not provide him with food. I began to have problems producing enough milk, probably because not enough milk was being drawn from me despite a few pumping session a day. At three weeks, we decided to give up breastfeeding. :-( This was the hardest, most painful decision that we've had to make. It still makes me sad and I'm tearing up as a type this...I wanted the special breastfeeding experience that everyone talks about but it just didn't work out for us. However, the bright side is that I'm pumping like crazy now and am producing enough to supply over half of his daily intake. Also, feeding sessions are much more relaxed and special now because I hold my sweet baby in my arms and he seems to appreciate the bottle as he stares up at me and we have non-painful, stress-free mommy/baby time.

During the second week of Britton's time at home, we started to put Nathan on a schedule. Following a schedule has worked wonders for Nathan's cousin, Connor, and we are hoping that it will work well for Nathan too. The first 5 days were a struggle: trying to keep him up at certain times to get him to sleep at other times was the hardest part. It is still difficult to keep him up toward the end of his "awake times," but he is doing really well on the schedule. This week he has finally only been waking up once between 11pm and 7 am. And when he does wake up in the middle of the night, he is happy to be fed and put back to sleep. Good baby! Unfortunately, I still have to pump...so that's another 20-30 minutes that I'm up.

We had our first family photos taken with Nathan when he was three weeks old and included some of our favorite photos in this blog entry.

I guess that sums up the first 4 weeks. I think it's important to note that, though I LOVE Nathan more than I ever imagined was possible, the first few weeks were HARD. I cried every day for the first 3 weeks, usually a few times a day. I was never depressed, just exhausted, overwhelmed, under-slept, and disappointed with my lack of success with breastfeeding (though some would say I am breastfeeding, he's just not getting it from the tap). The 4th week was better but still very overwhelming and I still would love to sleep all night, just once! Everyone will report how great motherhood is (and it IS!) but only your best girlfriends will tell you about the parts that were really tough and how many times they cried. Thank you to my friends who shared with me their times of woe as well as their times of bliss so that I could better understand what I was going through!!! I'm truly grateful!

Yes, the last picture is seriously cute, we know. ;-) How could anyone not love that face?!!!