Thursday, May 28, 2015

Luke, Months 1, 2 & 3

Month 1
Month 2
Month 3


This is a giant catch up post. Sadly, I'm not sure I even remember what things were like on month 1! I will do my best to remember.

Month 1: Luke is so alert! He loves to look around at things and see what is going on. He is a GREAT eater. He eats every two hours, except at night he will go a little longer. It takes him nearly 45 minutes to eat and sadly we are on a 45 minute schedule. SO basically we eat, change diaper, sleep repeat. He is growing very well. His jaundice cleared up after a few days and we sent his billy lights back. He slept in his crib for naps, and night sleeping after the first few days. At first I let him do naps in his rocker but decided I'd prefer him to have some consistency for sleeping. Sleeping is HARD. I make sure each time I put him down he is awake, but drowsy. If he cries, I pick him up and wait until he is calm and then put him down again. Some days I did this ten times in a row! One day he didn't nap all day we just played the pick up put down game in between feedings. Some days I gave up and went on a walk to get him to sleep. Other days he did much better and fell asleep without any fuss, but it wasn't consistently. I know this isn't the way a lot of moms do it, but it is what works for us. Sleep is SO important for us. It is important for growth, learning and development. I want my babies to be able to sleep on their own without rocking, feeding or a pacifier. Yes I love to cuddle and snuggle him and I know this age doesn't last forever, but I am building a foundation of good sleep that I hope will last a life-time. I make sure to get extra snuggles in during awake time. For moms who do it differently, SWEET! I do not judge anyone for the way they are making things work. Do what works for you! It took a lot of faith this month to keep trying. We also had a lot of help this month from my mom, sisters and Jordan's family. We were able to get to church after two weeks and I know we were blessed for going.

Month 2: The bad days are got less frequent and Luke learned to sleep! He had some great nights where he would go 8-9 hours without waking up! I would say 6 weeks was the turning point. We had thrush up until then (yes for 6 miserable, cracked bleeding mom crying weeks). FINALLY the thrush went away after I pumped and fed for 3 days. This allowed my nipples to finally heal. Luckily he took a bottle like a champ. (not so much anymore. My fault, really. I just don't pump anymore.) Luke seemed so much more happy once we were sleeping well and the diaper rash and mouth sores went away. He had a week of a yucky cold, but only a day that he was fussy. It is amazing how many times I worried that he was hurting and had no idea what to do. I worry too much! I decided not to go back to work and this made Jordan and I feel so much peace. It helped that J got a big fat raise:) Luke rolled over for the first time at 5 weeks, but held out on us until after 3 months to do it again.

Month 3: SUCH a fun month. Luke was sleeping well, eating faster and spending more time awake. This month we were staying up for closer to an hour. It was so fun to see him start to smile, babble and interact. He LOVES his dad. Every day when Jordan comes home he would just smile and smile. Most of the days this month Luke went to sleep with no fuss. He'd just play in his crib for 5-10 min and sleep for an hour. He is a short napper. During the nights he would typically sleep 12 hours and wake up 2 times during that period. He really is a great baby. If we take him out I can usually get him to sleep just fine in his car seat. We only do this for church or family outings. I try not to be a crazy person who revolves around her kids nap schedule, but during the week I kind of do. Nap 1 I exercise and eat breakfast and shower. Nap 2 I do house work. Nap 3 I read or nap myself. And naps 4 and sometimes 5 I usually am cooking dinner. This month I accidentally fed Luke a bandaid:( He also had his first giggle, but no outright laughing. He moved up to size 3 diapers. WHAT? He is pretty large. He had 5 blow outs in one day from his size 2's in every brand. It was hard to face the music that he needed a bigger size, but eventually we gave in and he is happily keeping most of the poop in the diapers now:) At the end of this month I think he went through what is called sleep regression. This is where babies move from having one type of sleep cycle to having adult like sleep cycles which are shorter. This means he began to wake up more during the night:(:( I thought since we taught him to sleep on his own that he'd glide right through this phase. No such luck. He still wanted me to come say hi in the night before he'd fall asleep. Luckily, I think we are back to normal now. Knock on wood, cross your fingers and wish on a star. Sleep is hard. I think lack of sleep is the main reason I was still feeling depressed during this month. It came and went in the evenings so I never went to the Dr. But it is no fun to feel such despair! I felt capable of handling it with all the knowledge I gained in my degree. I did a lot of stress management and took some hormones that really seemed to help.

Hopefully I start blogging better so these posts don't make me cry because I can't remember things:( haha Being a mom is hard but amazing. Sometimes I wonder how I will ever have another baby. I know it will be even more difficult than this has been, but I am learning every day and I will do the same with more kids. I will just become better and lean on Christ to do that!



Monday, May 18, 2015

Luke's baby blessing

I need to be better at documenting because my memory is broken. Luke was blessed on April 12, 2015 by his dad. We had SO much support for this perfect day. My sister, Kara, and her family drove clear from Denver. My brother and Kaci brought their baby even though germs are a big concern for her this early. We had aunts and uncles, friends and grandparents travel in and love on Luke. The blessing was perfect. Luke wore the same outfit Jordan was blessed in and was wrapped in blankets from his Great Grandma and grandma. They were both hand made with love. Jordan said all the perfect words, but to be honest I should have written this earlier because I don't remember much. He is always so good with blessings. I had asked him before what he was going to say and he said, "I don't know. I'm going to follow the Spirit." Even when I bear my testimony I'm practicing in my mind what I will say! That is why Jordan is my favorite. He is really in tune with the Spirit and promptings just flow for him. We followed the meeting with a lunch in the park near our home. The food everyone brought was fabulous and the weather was beautiful.

I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father for the plan of happiness. To me, the biggest part of that is families. We are so blessed to have to gospel and to be able to have a family that is sealed to us for EVER. FOREVER! Luke is really my brother and I get to be his mom in this life. I get to witness his sweet spirit grow. I get to teach him right and wrong and I have a testimony that if Jordan and I are faithful to the covenants that we have made, our family will be valiant. Every child deserves to be born to loving parents and I am so thankful that I have been given the opportunity to be a mom. Luke is going to be an amazing child of God. I know it. I can feel it in his spirit. He is already so observant. I look forward to so many things, but mostly I look forward to watching his testimony develop.

Below is the handsome boy. Is it sad that I am a little excited for him to start drooling so I can put him in his bandana bibs I made him?