A few recent pics (within the past week)
Few pics from his photo shoot at 4 weeks old.
(I have a million pictures on my phone and camera. But I cannot get my iphone to sync up with this Mac to transfer them over. Oh yea, my laptop broke and eric's mom gave me her old Mac to use for now. Which was super awesome and nice of her, btw. So I have to email them all to myself - that takes FOREVER, which means it doesn't get done. So I have barely any on the computer to actually upload here. Also. My laptop had a slot to put a memory card into but this computer doesn't, and I don't have one of the external ones anymore. So all those pics are stuck on my camera for now. It's really pretty annoying. I have uploaded a bunch of photos to dropbox, but then I'm like crap, how do I get them onto my computer, or over to shutterfly to actually print them? It's all such a mess right now!! And who has hours to dick around with photos right now? I sure don't!)
It may appear that I have not written in a month... but i have actually been blogging in my mind during feedings, and changings, and laying in bed-ings. But my mind is forgetful so i really need to get some things down on "paper." I started this blog to record my pregnancy so that me and Callum could look back on it. And now i plan to use it to document his growth and development, and our general life. I know some people write witty, funny parenting blogs but that's not what my blog is. Mine is more a babybook/me talking about what we do all day.
So Callum is 7 weeks old today (and for the record, I had to repeatedly update that number because this entry has been saved as a draft so many times). Whaaa? Yes it's gone fast, but also it's gone slow lol. It feels like he as always been here. My life "before" is a distant memory that feels like I am looking back at it from my granny rocking chair on the porch. Who was pre-mom lauren? I don't even remember anymore. Having a baby is so life changing it's insane. People say that all the time, but until it happens to you, you don't really get it. I also think the older you are, the harder it is. People knock teen parents, but I honestly think it's easier in a sense. They have not established their adult life. They don't have as big of a change. The older you are, the more set in your childless life ways. It's a shocker to your system. Really though, I think it's hard no matter when you have a kid.
So about my baby. He had a dr appt on January 15th, at 5 weeks old. He was 9lb 10 oz, 21 inches long ( i think hes longer than that tho), and head circumference was 15 inches. height and weight are around 25th percentile and head is 29th. He got his 1st Hep B shot. They routinely do them while in the hospital now, but I didnt want it done there. He was so new, what if he had a reaction and we didnt know because we didn't "know" him yet? Also I prefered it done by our own pedi, especially after the MMR vax they gave to me turned out to be just sterile wate (burned so bad!) and they had to do it again with the actual vaccine. So, I trusted our own dr more. So instead of getting the 1st at the hospital and 2nd at his 1 month appt... he's pushed back a month.
It was horrible. By horrible I mean horrible for me, Callum was actually okay. I had to hold down his arms and he SO HAPPILY squirmed on the table, not knowing he was about to be stabbed. Oh god, so bad. Then they jabbed him and he took a second to realize he was in pain. That second felt like FOREVER. Then he cried SO HARD that it was soundless. Poor baby, I started to feel like I was gonna cry. I fed him immedately after and he was fine and had no reactions or anything. He goes Feb 17th for his 2 month appt... which includes 4 or 5 shots. I told Eric he has to come with me, I cannot handle seeing 4 shots all by myself.
He is so alert now. He looks around at everything. And sometimes he'll be fussy for the sole reason that he wants us to walk around the house with him so he can look at things. He loves to be held up on your shoulder, like youre burping him, because he can see more. He also loves to be patted like he's being burped. Basically I "burp" him all the time. He loves to stare at the wallpaper border in his bedroom. I'm so glad I put it in, and maybe the fact that it's ABCs will help him learn them sooner (LOL my baby is a genius). Also likes looking at the mobile on his crib, rattles, lights, our curtains, basically anything.
He is a hungry hungry baby and wants to eat a lot. Lately he's been doing this cyclical pattern. He'll be really hungry (wants to eat every hour) and fussy and does not want to sleep much (like max 10 hours a day) for 2-4 days. Then he has 2-4 days where he's his normal self. Today is the first day he's his normal self again. Eating every 3-4 hours, taking actual naps, not horribly fussy. I love that baby. I love the "off" baby too but he's definately not as fun. He is a night owl though... I'll often feed him around 8 (give or take) and then sometimes give a bath, and change him, etc to try and get him to bed after that feeding. But he's always like hahahaha NO. he's often extremely alert from that feeding until like 12 or 1am, sometimes wanting to eat a lot during that period. Then he goes to sleep for the night and usually makes it like 5 hours then.
The good thing with him at least is he seems to differentiate between his 2 "middle of the night" feedings and his "daytime" feedings (in quotes cuz nighttime t is still like 6am for him right now,which is when i'll be getting up for work lol and daytime for him is still like 9pm. We need to somehow get him to move it all back a feeding). During the day, he'll be alert and/or fuss after a feeding, but during the night he'll eat and then USUALLY go back to sleep. It takes me forever for nighttime feedings tho. By the time I feed him, change him, feed him more, burp, get him in bed, pump, pee, get back in bed myself, and then battle my insomnia... sometimes it's like 2 hours! Once I go back to work Eric is going to be doing the night time feedings (he is going to be staying home with Callum for now). I will actually kind of miss them to be honest.
He has had cradle cap and baby acne. Not a terrible case, but it's there. It's actually starting to get a little better now. Although his eyebrows and the sides of his nose still love to look flakey, especially in the morning. Lol baby skin is so funny and weird.
Taking care of a baby is no joke. There are days its 4pm and i'm still in my pajamas, haven't eaten, or showered. my house is always in some state of messiness. His needs just come before EVERYTHING else and it's hard to also get anything done around his eating scedule, especially on those days when he literally will only give us like 30 mins-1 hour between feedings. I just ordered his birth announcements last night. It literally took me that long because every evening that i'd sit down to work on them, he'd be doing his alertness thing where he just wants to be held and walked around the house. So... no computer time (also, my laptop broke. and i'm using an old Mac that eric's mom gave me).
I have 2 weeks left of maternity leave. Part of me is SO SO SO sad and dreading going back. I cannot imagine it! I cannot imagine getting up early, and then leaving my baby all day. Oh and extra sleep deprivation and lack of naps :( But I have to. And I am lucky that i don't have to deal with daycare, and that I work for a school where my workday is shorter than most peoples (and I get a lot of vacations lol. i'll be back home with him this summer). The other part is kinda looking forward to having a normal life routine again (and getting to eat lunch!!) and I'm also starting to feel anxious because I feel like I'm missing out on things and it's going to affect my job performance or something. Plus, you know, having my paychecks return to normal will be nice too.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do about my per diem job. I really do NOT want to go back... but the extra money would be nice right now, plus I'd like to work 1-2 days a week over the summer. But having to work 6 days a week, every other week, SUCKS, and it's going to suck even more now. It's hard enough working full time but to have to work 2 jobs with an infant?? Idk. My plan now is to just ignore them and push it back until they contact me asking when I'm coming back. The closer I can make it to summer, the better. Also, I want a new per diem job in general... it's easier said than done though to find one that fits your needs (only want to work 1 shift a month, not 2. and able to work more in july and august). So annoying.
I'm not even gonna get into this horrendously cold and crappy weather. i want to take my baby outside!!!
