A Late Mother's Day

Look what I got in the mail today!

I have been using the Kindle app on my iPhone to read while I nurse Jack.  It works well but drains the battery very fast.  I was wistfully looking at the new Kindle 2 since they had the price drop.  Ben picked up on my heavy hints and "surprised" me with a shiny new gadget!

 

Hee hee hee.  I LOVE it. 

One Month Old

I'll stop with the anniversaries soon, but one month is a milestone!  I'm so impressed with how fast Jack is growing.  He smiles and sighs.  He holds his head up when he is upright.  He seems to be a double sneezer, like my brother.  What else will we discover?

Jack is four weeks old

And I'm trying to savor every minute of it. I love you, little dude.

Visting

I went to visit April with her daughter Ella this week.  We couldn't believe how small and big they look!  Ella was born at 34 weeks, 2 days before Jack, who was born at 41 weeks.  Also, her family are all shorties while I come from a family of monster men on both sides.  I love this photo!

My mom came to visit for a couple days this week and it was heaven!  She just took care of Jack for me and kept me entertained for two days.  We went shopping and got some cute outfits for Jack.  She taught me how to do a kitchen sink bath.  He's still not a fan of being wet and naked.  I caught up on some sleep while she cared for him in the afternoon and mornings.  I could have her come every week!

Nursery

I never posted a follow-up to the nursery decorating, did I?  Here are some photos from the other day.

I received this Poang rocking chair from Ikea and I just love to nurse here!  I set up a little station with water, books, burp cloths, and boppy.  I use it at night instead of nursing the bed because it's more comfortable to sit in the chair.  The book shelf is more supplies than books at this point, with a few toys thrown in the mix.  You can see I chose the teal damask print fabric for curtains.  I'm happy with my choice.  Miranda is working on turning the bird print fabric that I also bought into a quilt! 

On the left is another angle of the crib wall.  You can see the wall decal from Blik that is the main decoration.  Also, my finished sweater vest is pinned on the wall, waiting for him to grow into it.

On the right is the changing area.  I framed the fox prints that I found in NYC and put those above the table.  We have a cloth diaper service right now, and those are piled in the green basket.  The robot painting was done by my brother Andrew.

While taking these pictures Jack napped in his crib for the first time!  He has a preference for sleeping in his basket, so I'm slowly getting him used to being the crib.  We'll probably move him out of our room to sleep in the nursery in a couple weeks. 

Mason Family Shower

Last weekend Ben's aunts hosted a lovely baby shower as a chance for the family to meet Jack.  They had great snacks, including M&Ms with his name printed on them!  My parents and grandmother came all the way out to attend the shower.  We got some great things to round out our nursery, including a diaper bag, baby monitors, nightlights, and an exersaucer. I posted all my pictures on flickr, but here are some of my favorite of him being passed around.

Packing on the Chub

This guy is totally growing a double chin, dontcha think?

Oh yeah.  And some hamster cheeks.

This explains the nightly crankiness from 4pm-10pm, when he just wants to eat eat eat and fuss fuss fuss.

He's all, "What evvs.  I'm a baby.  Deal with it, yo."

Cuddly

After 20 minutes of fussing I couldn't figure out what he needed.  So I let him fall asleep on my shoulder.  I guess that's what he needed.  :-)

Happy Father's Day

Ben and Jack, at 3 weeks and 2 days old, on Father's Day. This is also the first time Jack has smiled in response to our voices and faces (instead of just after eating or burping). What a moment to catch! I had a hard time picking my favorite photo, so check out the others on Ben's photostream.

Genius

Dude, you can order Qdoba nachos with the chips on the side, so they
don't get soggy. We're getting a fathe'rs day lunch before going to a
family-hosted baby shower.

Gratuitous Baby Pictures Post

(Because you were probably disappointed in the Jack-free post I just put up)

(By the way, I just heard some clanking from the patio.  A squirrel was swinging from the feeder and Molly was up on the kitchen sink, watching)

Patio Wars

I'm trying to do little things to feel normal again. During his morning nap yesterday I baked cookies. This recipe that Miranda pointed me to makes the BEST cookies. I can't stop eating them.  I even cooked dinner once this week.  It was a nice change to have freshly prepared, home-cooked food. 

I have a wild garden this year.  I haven't done a single thing to it, not even watered.  This lone iris is blooming.  My clematis is ready to burst.  Most of my herbs came back - mint, sage, thyme, lemon balm, and lavender.

Jealous of my mother's birdfeeder, I had her get one for me last November.  Despite it being "squirrel proof, squirrels had been emptying it fast all winter.  You can see one hanging off the fence in this snowy picture. 

I found a spot outside that's a little harder for the squirrels to get to and in return I have beautiful red finches in my window all day.  The birds are camera shy, so I only got this blurry picture.  Molly is VERY interested in the backyard lately. That squirrel is pissed that I let her out there.  He's barking at her from the roof now. 

Mom's survival club

I slept a whopping 6 hours last night!  (split into two 3 hours chunks)  So far Jack is doing pretty good with our routine and I'm feeling a lot better than I did the last couple days.  But I won't throw any confetti yet.

I went to a free lactation support group this morning, followed by a "Survival for New Moms" group.  They meet weekly for just $5, you get to have a lesson, talk to the nurses, and meet other new moms.  Today we learned infant massage.  I learned some tummy swooping moves that are supposed to be good for digestion.  While practicing Jack let out some good poop, so I guess they work!  I'll have to try them the next time he gets fussy from gas.  I talked with a couple other girls about our boys and cloth diapering (it seems to be the hot topic among mothers these days).  Jack was the youngest baby by 3 weeks. Not sure if I'll go regularly, but it's a nice option to have around.  They were a nice group and I signed up for their e-mail list. 

By the way, I need to pat myself on the back for going to this group.  This required getting up at SEVEN AM to get myself showered and dressed and Jack ready to go out the door by 9:20.  And I wore MASCARA and EARRINGS.  Like a normal adult woman.  Alright, alright, I admit it.  I wore my maternity stretch jeans.  They are just too comfy! At least I wore real pants and a button-up shirt instead of sweat pants and a T shirt.  Also, I had to talk to STRANGERS in a casual, friendly-type way.  Pat pat pat pat.

During the lactation support portion (which is free!) they weighed Jack and looked at his latch.  He's still hurting me, we think he's just squishing down his mouth too hard while sucking.  We weighed before and after feedings and determined he ate about 3.5 ounces, a good amount for his size.  His weight was 9 pounds 8 ounces - finally got back to his birth weight and then some!

(This second picture shows how he was fascinated by the fluorescent lights during the group.)

On my own

Ben is back to work this week, leaving me alone with Jack every day.  Yesterday we went to Fort Collins to visit Kristin.  She has a busy week with both her birthday and her due date!  It was great seeing her and Jenni for lunch.  But this meant a long drive with Jack and being away from the house for most of the day.  Despite him deciding he was hungry right when my food arrived, and then letting his poop leak out of his diaper onto my pants in the restaurant, we survived! 

Kristin lent me a book called Babywise.  I haven't read any parenting books yet but I think it was time.  Jack's feedings are chaotic and unpredictable.  I basically feed on demand.  I'm always anxious about when he next need me and feel incompetent about how to care for him all day.  Last night I got only 4 hours of sleep, split up throughout the night.  This book has a simple flexible plan that they recommend.  Apparently I was doing a lot wrong.  I'm going to try to enforce their "feed - waketime - naptime" routine and stop nursing him to sleep, except at night.  I haven't done any "naptimes" yet, just letting him sleep when it happens.  Today I put him down twice and he cried mightily.  But in less than 5 minutes he fell asleep.  Huh.  It worked.  With any luck we can both work out a routine that works for him, so I can feel more in control and less anxious. 

Sweet Action + Jack

They had four of my favorite flavors! I chose chocolate Andes mint.
Yay for getting out of the house!

Second week updates

Things are quiet and fine in the Mason house.  Some milestones:

• Three nights in a row with greater than 2 hour sleep stretches.  Yay, Jack!
• We went to Park Day with some other moms.  It was nice to be out in the open and visit with other people. 
• Jack's cord fell off this morning!  Besides looking nicer without the grody dead cord, this has two outcomes
• Jack can take a submerged bath!  (no pictures, sorry ;-) He seemed confused, like "hey this is nice and soothing, but wait!  I'm naked and I hate being naked!  But I'm warm . . ."  I cleaned up all the dried bits of milk and dead skin flakes, then gave him a nice coating of lotion.  I guess Colorado is a bit too dry for him because he's had some cracked spots.  
• I can really try the cloth diapers now.  They are too big for his tiny bum and wrap up to the navel.  Before his cord fell off I could see that they were irritating him.  We'll probably always do a combination of cloth and disposable, but I can finally give cloth a real try-out. 

• Jack took his first bottle this morning.  Nothing difficult about it.  I just pumped, put the lid on, handed it to Ben, and stuck it in Jack's mouth.  He slurped it down happily and fell into a milk-drunk nap for the last two hours.  I wanted to try out bottle feeding together before asking Ben to do it solo as a favor in the future.  Also, if we want to leave him with eager grandparents I wanted to be sure he would eat ok.  

And what about me?

• I'm down to 400 mg ibuprofen 2x a day (from 600 mg 3-4x a day).  
• My chest is much less swollen.  Maybe there's hope I'll ever fit in my old tops again.
• Ben went to work yesterday and I did NOT freak out about being home alone with the baby all day.
• But then I made him take me to Freddy's for hamburgers and fries.  Yum!
• Yesterday I shaved my legs!  Hello to breezy summer skirts!
• Our ward has been bringing us food this week and it has been so nice.  Our fridge is full of healthy food as well as desserts. 
• I still think boredom and loneliness will be my biggest problems this summer.  I might have to join a mom's group so I have more socialization to look forward to. 

More baby pictures!! (click on them to enlarge)

Gratuitous Baby Pictures Post

Cause I know why you all really come here lately.

All our hats were too small or too big when he came home.  I knit this one loosely based on the meathead hat pattern, but it was still too small.  I was ready to restart but the weather has been so warm, what's the point?

I just like this face.

Toes!

Jack was born with Wolverine ears.

He was underwhelmed by his first outing to the Target toy section.  I have a feeling this will change.

Not feeling the tummy time today, opted for a nap instead.

Kid likes his pacifier.

Jack sporting a Roman toga look.