14 weeks old!

I'm too tired to think up something clever...

Eating: We are still exclusively breastfeeding! Powering through all the minor aches and pains. He weighed 14 1/2 lbs at the doctors yesterday so he's definitely not having trouble growing or eating for sure. It always makes me feel good to hear that from doctors. I did tell her about Jesse's tendency to get fussy around 45 minutes to an hour after he eats, and she suggested trying an elimination diet to see if anything is upsetting his digestion. So we are starting today with lactose and whey for 3 weeks and see if he feels better.

Sleeping: He has had some great nights. 10 hour stretches sometimes. Usually he does 8 hours, a snack at 5am, and then 3 more hours! But the past few days, he's been up 3 times a night to eat. I'm thinking growth spurt, Matt doesn't want to hear me say 'growth spurt' ever again because it's my reasoning for everything. Whatever it is has been keeping us up a lot lately.

Playing: Jesse has found a new love, his index finger. He has not only found his hands, but is smart enough to isolate his finger and put it in his mouth to chew on it. He is also getting really good at sitting up against pillows by himself and pushing himself up from slanting to sitting up! Doctor says we need to do more tummy time even though he hates it. It will help him develop faster (and have better handwriting in the future- crazy!) she showed us how rolling a small blanket under his chest takes the pressure off his belly. He still loves his jungle animal thing!

Me! : Valentine's day was nice! It started off with Jesse and I attending the monthly Breastfeeding Bistro. I got the ladies heart shaped donuts from DD, and there was a great turnout. When I got home, Matt said we have reservations at 6:30 so we spent the day playing with Jesse and around 5, I got ready (skinny jeans, dangly earrings, heels, the whole deal). We took Jesse to Nana's but it was already 6:30! Matt was all "we're going to be late!"... But after we turned back on to our street, I realized we were eating at home. Matt had put music on and had 2 dozen long stem red roses on the table. We lit candles, I drank wine and watched as he made me a delicious meal consisting of fillet mignon, asparagus, garlic mashed potatoes and salad. I had fun dipping strawberries in chocolate while eating my appetizer of bread in that delicious Italian seasoning-olive oil. Mmm. We had a lovely, quiet dinner and then watched an episode of How I Met Your Mother while eating the strawberries. Jesse slept (in his car seat) from 10:00 when we got back home, until 5:30!
I'm pretty sure I'm cutting my hair tomorrow. Eek!

Jesse's up! Time to feed him!

Getting the hang of this... Maybe.

Alright, 12 weeks old tomorrow and I am up at 9am on a Sunday posting a blog, that's a good sign. (not that time or dates mean anything to me anymore, but there it is).

Eating
We are steadily drinking 6oz at every feeding and promptly every 3 hours. Which means I am burning roughly 500 calories a day sitting on my butt making and serving milk. It was getting bad though, I was very close to quitting nursing the other morning. I have been suffering a painful latch every since he was born (consider every 3 hours for the past 12 weeks... 672 latches... give or take a few we skipped from sleeping over night and a few from pumping/formula bottles). I talked to some girls of mine who are well versed in baby-feeding and unofficially diagnose myself with vasospasms. From what I understand it's a blood flow issue (which makes sense due to my crazy anemia earlier). It's not dangerous or unhealthy, it just makes nursing hurt like a mother... So to temporarily remedy the situation, I have been exclusively pumping for the past 2 days. This has shifted some responsibility from myself to Matt, which I also needed. I like pumping because I can sort of do it on my own schedule, so long as it falls in the 3 hours after Jesse's last bottle. I also can monitor exactly how much he is eating and best of all! Pumping is way easier on me so it gives the gals a chance to catch up and heal a bit.

Sleeping: I have started to learn his tired cues so that he doesn't get so tired that he has a 2 hour meltdown every time he wants to sleep. Usually after a bottle, we'll play games and chat for about 30-45 minutes before he's yawning or seeming restless. That's when I start walking him around. He loves to look at everything so at first he thinks he's getting a treat. But after a little while (5-15 minutes of walking) he realizes he's tired and falls asleep. That's when I lay him in the snuggabunny (aka best thing EVER) and voila! Anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours of time is mine! 5 out of 7 nights a week he is going 6-8 hours between feedings. Now if we could only get ourselves to bed once we put him down, we'd be fine!

Playing: Last week Jesse found his hands! A lot of people were asking about it and talking about it like it was a huge milestone. I didn't think he had yet and was wondering what the big deal was. Until one day I noticed him looking right at his hands and moving them around to see every angle. He does this often and I think it's the most amazing thing. It's crazy how much he has to learn about the world. It's overwhelming thinking about it. But you gadda start somewhere, and he has- his hands. Other than that he still likes to play under his jungle animals and bat them around for a bit, until he gets bored of them.

Me! Most of the above updates are also updates on me, how well I'm sleeping and eating and playing as well. I have a bowl of oatmeal and a mug of Mother's Milk tea every morning to boost my milk. I've heard that there are also problems with over supply, but I would rather have that then the opposite. The past few days have been great. Learning how Jesse likes things and noticing he needs them before he gets upset is really helping. We had a lot of quiet time (not crying time) yesterday. Hopefully we're headed in the right direction and it wasn't just a fluke. I have been meaning to get my hair cut for the past 2 weeks and I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I plan to post before/afters should I end up doing it. Right now, Matt and Jesse are chatting to each other and it is heartwarmingly adorable.

Also, something exciting is on the horizon for me! But it's very early still- I'm trying to work everything out before I start spreading the word. But I'll give you a hint, I bought one of these the other day...

soooo you make your guesses but you will find out soon enough! :)

Some more pictures!


This is the blanket my dad gave him right before he was born! Thanks Dad! :)
Serious discussion.

I love this outfit. He looks so old!

Dino outfit. Rawr!

Daddy and Jesse <3

AND A very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one of my very best friends, ANNA! Go check out her amazing food and running blog: Run and Yum she is amazing.



Mmmm chocolate...