Weeks 2 and 3

My how time flies when you're having fun!! We're into our third week as a new family and things are finally getting into a good groove. I don't dare say schedule because we feel that we had a baby to enhance our lives. We don't want him to conform to our old way of life, ykwim? We're all making changes and adjustments to form a completely new way of living. I know there are families out there that need/want to do things differently and that's great! I consider myself super blessed to have the lifestyle we do have.

Austin is such a great baby. I feel like those talks we had while he was in-utero really helped. He sleeps a good portion of the day and he's sleeping 2-3 hours stretches at night. Sometimes he cluster feeds every hour, sometimes he won't wake up at all during the night. Don't get me wrong, there are times I want to pull my hair out because I'm so tired but he doesn't want to stop nursing...but I really wouldn't change a thing. I'm cherishing this time with him because I know it'll be long gone much too soon. Aside from the sleeping, he rarely cries. He can be fussy, but that's usually quieted by nursing or just holding him. He LOVES being held. Especially against your chest. I think it's the heartbeat and the warmth. The two times he actually will cry are during some diaper changes and right after bath time. My little guy doesn't enjoy being naked!! I think he just HATES being cold. My aunt brought us a wipes warmer so that helps with overnight changes. He's starting to sleep through those too. Our nighttime "routine" [if you will] is to give him a bath with night time soap/lotion. You know the kind that has lavender essence and such. He likes being in the water and mostly drifts off to sleep. I like getting in with him and just holding him close and sometimes nursing him in the bath. He doesn't like the actual washing part or getting out and getting dressed. He screams his HEAD off! Charlie and I are developing speed-lotioning/dressing skills!!  After his bath, usually we'll retire to our bedroom where we have the rocking chair and I'll nurse him until he goes to bed and then we'll all climb in and drift off to sleep.

At his two week well baby check up, we got AWESOME feedback. He's put on a whole pound since birth, which also means he'd grown an entire 1lb4oz since he'd dropped four ounces at the hospital! Yay for breastmilk! He's grown an inch and his head has grown a centimeter. So his two week stats are as follows:

Weight: 6lb6oz

Length: 19 inches

Head Circ: 35 cm

Breastfeeding is going GREAT! We're regressing back with some latching issues but that's mostly due to the fact that he had a pacifier all weekend whenever he wasn't nursing. Despite all my efforts [short of blowing a gasket and going off], no one listens to me. I'm beginning to realize I have to put my foot down and take drastic measures in order to maintain consistency in our parenting choices. *sigh* Oh well... Anyway...we're feeding on cue over here. Whenever he wants it, he gets it. That's helped with my milk production and also, I haven't felt engorged very often! Tomorrow we're going to get some fenugreek so I can pair that with my Mother's Milk Tea. The only thing I DON'T like about BFing is the back pain. My girls are so heavy on my frame that it's killing my back even with supportive bras. I wonder if I can get some kind of chiro appointment or if it would even help at all. 

Hmm what else? I feel pretty fantastic body-wise. I haven't stepped on a scale since my last doc appointment, but I'm comfortably wearing most of my pre-pregnancy clothes and I feel pretty good in my skin. I've been doing ab work to try and tone up there. I can already see the top of my abdominal muscles taking form. Not too surprising though because most of the excess weight was in my lower body. I've got a flab tire/muffin top thing going on in my lower abs but that IS to be expected. Once I get approval from the doc, I'm going to start lifting weights again. I'm excited to get my arms back in shape. And I've started doing squats and lunges to work on toning up my thighs. Can you say cellulite city?!?!?!  Again, I'm not going to force my body back into shape...I want to take my time and do it the right way. That being said, I'm also going to enjoy a little junk every now and then!! For example: I love french fries...I had them for dinner tonight. I'll be paying for it in my next workout!!

That's about all for now! I'll have to upload pictures when I have all the equipment! Until next time...