2 Months Old~WOW!

I cannot believe that it has already been 2 months since our beautiful baby boy was born!

The best news (for me anyway) is that he smiled at me today for the first time!! Not just a gas smile either! Brian witnessed one of the smiles tonight too! Somehow that makes all the sleepless nights worth it! I can't wait until he starts laughing. Baby chuckles make me smile too!


He goes for his 2 month checkup tomorrow morning. We are thinking he is a good 10 pounds at this point (that's the way our backs and arms are feeling anyway!)

My favorite things about Graysen:
*Baby noises when he is eating (he is a noisy eater)
*His super soft baby skin-I love to rub my face against his (I wish my skin was that soft again)
*The little fish face he makes (lips in a little 'o')
*His great head full of hair~I call him Fuzzy!

We are still trying to get him on some sort of schedule (eating and sleeping). That task is proving to be a little bit daunting even for us seasoned parents! He has slept in his crib in his own room a total of 45 minutes! He sleeps in our room in his seat or in the bassinet. I still feel the need to have him close!

I go back to work next week. I already have some anxiety about it. I am ready for some adult interaction, but am going to miss being at home with Graysen and Carly. A great friend of ours will be watching Graysen and Carly at our house, so I know they will be well taken care of.

I am also VERY tired of winter. I would love to be able to be getting outside with the kids. Hopefully spring is right around the corner!

Alana

Picture pages

I finally got some new pictures uploaded~

Daddy and Graysen

This is the awesome diaper cake we got from Brian's friends in the residency program!

I love little baby hands and feet!

Brothers....

I was a little too close when I took this picture, but that is how close Graysen is to me all of the time these days! :o)

I just had to throw this one in for fun! You gotta love that legwarmers are coming back in! The 80's ROCK! (Thanks, Mel!)

We are thankful for....

This weekend we were VERY thankful for having a grandma that LOVES spending quality time with her grandchildren!

Grandma Bonnie came down this weekend and watched Graysen all day on Saturday so that Brian and I could take the older kids to a family retreat at Hickory Hills park for the residency program. We had a blast even though it was cold (negative wind chills when we first got out there). We got to go sledding (a few times). Ethan got to try out his new snowboard. Brian, Brynna and Ethan got in on a good broom ball game on the frozen lake. Ethan had a blast and even took out one of the faculty doctors! Luckily we had no injuries in our family, but one of the guests that came ended up with a broken arm.

I took Graysen into my work this morning so people could meet him. Then we went over to Brian's work (he worked a 1/2 day in clinic this morning) so that I could get Graysen weighed again. Great news~~he is up to 8 lbs. 8 oz! So, our little peanut is gaining at a good rate now. Glad we are heading in the right direction on that one!

Graysen is starting to get into a good schedule at night also. He eats at about 10:00pm and then he wakes up again between 3-4 am for his next feeding. We can handle that! We have to work on getting him to sleep somewhere other than on his mom and life will be grand again!

Weighty issues

Graysen had another follow-up appointment today at the doctor to check his weight again. Great news! He is up to 6 lbs and 12 oz! Finally~we are on the right track to getting this little guy to gain weight.

I am pumping every 3 hours so he can continue to get as much breast milk as possible. And we are also supplementing with formula. (Similac Sensitive since he was puking up the regular stuff). He has already surpassed taking in what I can pump each time so I have come to terms with him getting some formula too. Not what I wanted for him this early in the game, but obviously the choice was a simple one with him not gaining weight those first 2 weeks.

The kids have been home from school for 2 days. Wednesday because of a blizzard and today because it's -20 degrees and the wind chill is even colder! BRRRRR!!!! I still wonder many days during the winter in Iowa why we did not chose to move to some place a little warmer.

Two weeks old

Graysen turned 2 weeks old on Tuesday (1/6). Lots of things have happened in these 2 short weeks:

1) Breastfeeding has been a HUGE challenge for me. This is the first time I have tried it (with any of the kids) and I can't say I thought it was going to be easy, but I definitely did not think it would be this difficult.

2) Graysen had his 2 week check-up on Wed (1/7) and he was not back up to his birth weight. This meant another trip back to the lactation consultant. We started on Plan B of pumping part of the time, breastfeeding part of the time, and supplementing with some formula.

3) We went back to the lactation consultant again today for a weight check. We were very nervous as we did have to use some formula and then Graysen started throwing up his feedings. Good news though! He gained 4 ounces in the last 2 days. We go back to the pediatrician next Wednesday for another check-up. Please pray that he continues to gain.

4) At the lactation consultant today we got a different breast pump that will hopefully help to increase my milk supply. On to Plan C for getting breast milk for Graysen!

We have been very humbled by our 5th child. From the 14 hour labor, to the very intensive feeding schedule (every 2 hours), and actually having to wake him up (and keep him awake) to eat). We have been reminded that every child is different. We are exhausted, but continue to count our blessings: we had a healthy baby boy, Brian gets 6 weeks of paternity leave, we have had tons of support from family and friends. This is just a bump in the 'having a new baby in the house road'. :o)