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Wednesday, January 17, 2018

James-1 Month!

I cannot believe my baby is already a whole month old-it felt like the time flew by, but at the same time like this has always been our life. It's so crazy and amazing to watch him change before our eyes and I love him more with each little bit of him I get to learn and discover!



Date: January 10, 2018

Height: 21.46 inches

Weight: 9 lbs. 13.7 oz.

Sleeping Pattern: We've been working on doing a Babywise schedule which essentially has him eating-being awake-then sleeping in 2-3 hour time frames during the day and 4 hour at night. He has been doing pretty darn well with it but it's still new and he's still super little so it's not perfect. More about this is sort of answered in the last question.

Eating Habits: JAMES LOVES EATING. He'd eat constantly if I'd let him. But I don't, haha. He eats every 2-3 hours during the day and at least every 4 hours during the night (although sometimes if he's super insistent he'll eat a little more often). I nurse him using my boppy which is a lifesaver and he's a big eater. Sometimes he overeats and spits up but he's a super happy, hungry baby lol. He also just had his first bottle last week and it went well so yay! Now daddy can feed him too!

Development: James could lift up his head literally at birth--they placed him on my chest and he lifted his head up. And he continues to frequently astound people with his head control and his strength, so that's fun lol. He can literally push himself up with his arms and lift his head (babies usually do that around 4 months old, for reference. Our pediatrician witnessed this at his appointment last week and looked shocked.) He formed tear ducts around 2 weeks old. Pretty much he spends a lot of his awake time just staring at (and tracking with his eyes!) who knows what--or Michael or I--he also has been mimicking us (particularly our big open mouthed "Hiii"'s to him, he even went "Iiiii!" in the exact same tone a couple times). He's also figuring out that his limbs are actually attached to his body and has been having fun using his hands to enact change--either by hitting stuff on his activity gym or, you know, like pulling my hair.

Mischief: He's already a little Houdini-he frequently gets a hand free of his swaddle. In general his hands can be quite mischievous, getting in the way when he's nursing and he's already pulling my hair and such. Peeing/pooping/spitting up at the most perfect (and by perfect I mean awful) times is also a thing he enjoys. It also feels like he likes to be contrary sometimes-falling asleep when he shouldn't be but then wanting to be awake when we want him to fall asleep, for example.

Cuteness: He makes the cutest and funniest facial expressions just...all the time. And his hands/arms are super expressive and hilarious in conjunction. His lips are cute...his big chubby cheeks are cute, his eyes are so big and adorable, and his eyebrows are super expressive and funny too (To sum up: HE'S CUTE!) He also smiles occasionally when he is half asleep as well as making big open mouthed grins when looking at us (probably imitating how I smile at him) and it's the most precious thing in the world. Any sounds he makes pretty much are cuteness personified. Last week he started getting really into kisses-he'll smile if Michael or I kiss him or he'll turn his face to direct me where to kiss him and -OMG MY HEART-sometimes he'll even give me a kiss (he opens his mouth and puts it on mine...it's cute, I swear. He did it a bunch of times in a row once when I was holding him in front of my face he just kept bringing his face to mine and giving me kisses). And he does this thing we call a "fierce face" where when he's really hungry he makes this super fierce face that looks like he's growling/roaring. You can see it here:


Nicknames: James-y, Smudge/Smudgy, Littlest Bob, Nugget, Bud/Buddy, Little Friend, Sweet Love, Sweet Boy/Sweet Friend/Sweet Baby, Sweet Baby James, Son-James (mostly Michael calls him that), sometimes I call him Jamesathon or Jamesthaniel lol, and pretty much anything that comes into our mind at the moment (a lot of baby boy, little love, my sweetie, etc.)

Talking: Just with grunts, little baby sounds, and crying. And, of course, aforementioned fierce face. We also feel like he sort of said "Hi"--I mean, obviously, not really. BUT Michael and I (and other people) frequently grin at him and say, "Hiiii!" and a couple times he's grinned back at us and gone, "Iiiii!" It's SO FREAKING ADORABLE.

Favorites: EATING, being held, the ceiling fan in our bedroom (I have no idea why but he always stares at it with such fascination even though it's not even on), looking at the lights on the Christmas tree (and the paintings above our couch, too), chilling on our makeshift changing mat/blanket in the living room, playing on his activity gym, kisses, and mommy and daddy <3

Firsts: Considering this is his first month of life...everything is a first! Lol. He had his first Christmas, which was pretty chill. He slept in his crib for the first time when we started sleep training. He held up his head for the first time when he was about a minute old.

Concerns: As a new mom I feel like I constantly second guess every single decision I make for him. With sleep training, for example, I'll find myself simultaneously concerned he's not getting enough cuddles and love from me and also worrying that I'm not being strict enough with Babywise. It's like no matter what there's a million things I could be doing wrong--which seems like motherhood in a nutshell so fun stuff. James also occasionally gets painful gas which breaks my heart because I know something I ate must be to blame-but it's soo hard to isolate exactly what it could have been. So far it seems like I need to avoid fried/greasy food in general and just eat dairy (especially cheese) in moderation, I think. We also had a battle with nipple confusion when he was a couple weeks old because we introduced a pacifier too early (I wanted to wait but people constantly kept on about never having had any nipple confusion issues and he had an ultrasound that they suggested we bring a pacifier for so we did and...yeah. Nipple confusion is real my friends, and annoying.)-I thought we were over it, but after introducing a bottle we're starting to struggle with it a little again. I think it's manageable though.

A Day in the Life: Generally we wake up for the day at 6AM, I feed him, we have a tiny amount of awake time (like 30 minutes after eating, usually), and then I put him back down for his first nap. I try to eat and get anything done I can while also vigilantly watching the baby monitor and sometimes having to go calm him down after he's cried for a bit (sleep training is still new so it happens sometimes). Around 9ish we do the same cycle: he eats, has some awake time/diaper change, then back down for a nap. We do that again around 11:30, 2, 5, 7:30, and then we all go to bed after his final feeding around 10 (at night he sleeps in the cradle by our bed, during the day he naps in his crib)--the 10 feeding he just goes straight to sleep after. He then will hopefully sleep until I wake him at 2AM, where he just eats and goes back to sleep, and then not again until 6 the next morning---however every night is totally different and he oftentimes wakes up 2 times instead of 1 (like at 1 AM and 4 AM, for example), but that's ok and totally normal at this point! (There are rare occasions where he wakes up more frequently but let's not dwell on that...) But yeah it's all very boring currently and his awake time is so short it's mostly just eating, getting his diaper changed, and looking around at everything with fascination while Michael and I coo at him and give him lots of kisses. He also frequently gets visitors-particularly his grandparents.
 
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