The one with the five week update

Big five week old boy today!  What is new with five week old Myles?

He seems to be (finally) settling into some natural rhythms this week.  Over the last week, I've discovered that he enjoys being swaddled so I have been wrapping him up to sleep and it's made quite a difference.  He has been going to bed between 8:30-9:00 at night after getting a bath and a nice big bottle.  He will sleep until anywhere between 2am-4am to eat, will go back to sleep, and wake up around 7ish.  His naps are still iffy, but he does sleep relatively well during the day.  Today he slept for three hours in the pack n' play (we are at Grammie and Grampie's house) and he's conked out again in the swing.

He has been eating better as well.  I decided a few days ago that we were finished with breastfeeding and he is 100% on bottles now.  I was tired of fighting with him to stay latched, it was uncomfortable, and exhausting.  Had he been my only child, perhaps we would have continued longer but I have another child to take care of as well and I couldn't spend hours at a time nursing him, only to have him start rooting 20 minutes later.  It just wasn't working for our family anymore and I am okay with that!  He is doing great on formula and doesn't seem bothered in the slightest.  He is eating about 6-7 times in 24 hours.  Most times he will drink 4oz but sometimes he will want 5oz or even 6oz.  I always make a 6oz bottle for the last one before bed, but he usually only drinks about half of it.

He is starting to get a lot more interactive this week.  He has been super smiley all week, giving the little smirks and the big gummy smiles.  He focuses on us a lot more and will "talk" to us, moving his mouth to imitate us and makes a lot more noises besides his usual grunts and groans.

He isn't too bothered by tummy time, usually (although - I'll be honest - I don't do it much because it's not a very natural position for babies to be in ... I prefer carrying him upright or holding him to strengthen his neck muscles) but today he got so angry about being on his tummy, he actually ROLLED from belly to back!  I couldn't believe it.  He was determined, haha!  Normally, though, he just lays there and puts his head down, and watches the world.

He is definitely getting bigger and bigger every day.  I'm not sure exactly what he weighs now, but I weighed myself and then myself + him this morning and the difference was 10.6 on the scale. So 10lbs now?  He is wearing 3 month clothing (still a little big on him, but 0-3 is too tight).  His hair is still a dark blonde(ish) colour and his eyes are still blue!  I wonder if they will change...

The one with the four week update

I know, I know.  We missed the three week mark.  Oops!

Myles is four weeks old today!  He will officially be one month old on Saturday.  I must say, it has gone by pretty quickly.  He had a weight check up on Friday and he was 9lbs even.  He is doing well and does not have to go back to the doctor until his 2 month check up, unless we have concerns before then.  He is bright and chunky and seems to be growing well!  His eyes are still a dark blue but are lightening a little bit around the inside.  His hair is still fuzzy and a lighter colour - kind of blonde in spots, but a little darker toward the back.  I'm really curious to see what colour it will be as it gets thicker!  His eyelashes have gotten longer.  He still isn't producing tears yet (yay!) and has what appears to be a birth mark on his right eyelid.  We thought it was bruising from birth, but it hasn't gone away yet so we're thinking it's a birth mark.  He has some of the same red marks on the back of his head as well.

He still does not seem to have much of a pattern emerging yet for sleeping and eating.  He is kind of all over the place, which makes it a bit difficult for me because we all know that I like predictability and routine.  We were told to wake him up to eat every three hours at his two week check up so I think that has kind of messed with his natural rhythms and he hasn't had a chance to establish a pattern yet.  We've stopped waking him and will let him sleep and eat whenever he needs to, so I am hoping that we will see some patterns emerging in the next few weeks.  He is still doing well with breastfeeding and he switches between breast and bottle just fine at the moment.  I generally nurse him during the day and he gets bottles (either formula or pumped milk) at nighttime.  He usually nurses for about 30-45 minutes (both sides) and will drink about 3-4 ounces from a bottle at a time.

He has periods of quiet alert time where he likes to look around at all the high contrast stuff around him (like the pictures on the wall and the lamp shades in the evening when the light shines through).  He is starting to enjoy laying on the play mat, watching the singing sun, but he seems to prefer looking toward/out the window instead.  He is starting to get used to being put down in the bouncy seat or the swing.  Today was the first time he actually fell asleep in the swing while it was swinging.  Progress!!  He tends to get quite gassy and grunts/growls a lot but, thankfully, that is something that he will outgrow soon enough.  He is just still trying to get used to this whole "digestive system" thing ... but I do look forward to the day when the noises he makes are not just grunts, groans, and growls.  More coos and gurgles please!  :)

That is all for now!  I will update next week!

The one with the two week update

Well, two and a half weeks.  We run a little late here these days.

Myles turned two weeks old on Wednesday.  I remember the first two weeks dragging when Charlotte was a baby, but these last two weeks have gone by pretty quickly!

So far, Myles is doing really well.  He is back up to his birth weight of 8lbs 7oz and we go back to the doctor on Friday to weigh him again for his three week check up.  He is already starting to outgrow his newborn clothing and he's quite round with a double chin so I think he's doing pretty good  ;)  He is still nursing relatively well.   He has a bottle here and there, sometimes formula, sometimes pumped milk.  He takes about 45 minutes to an hour to eat sometimes and usually eats about every three hours during the day and goes longer stretches at nighttime.  He has never had his days and nights mixed up, which is very helpful.  Last night I tried putting him in his cradle at nighttime - he had been sleeping on my pillow all night - and he did pretty good.  He slept soundly from about 10pm until around 3am but then was up almost hourly until about 6am.  He didn't eat very much at 3am so I think that was the issue.  If he had had a nice big feed, he probably would have gone back to sleep right until morning.  Regardless, I'm happy that he seems to have taken well to the cradle!  Hopefully that continues because I slept a lot better as well.

He is starting to focus on people and things.  He really likes to stare up at the pictures hanging in the living room - I think he likes the contrast between between the dark frames and the light walls.  I like sitting with him on my knees to chat and he will look at me.  He will lay on his play mat and look around but doesn't like to be on the floor for too long.  Charlotte really likes when he is on the floor, though, so she can talk to him and tell him all about the world.

He is a pretty chill little guy, but will complain quite loudly when he needs something.  He absolutely does not like to be wet or dirty (whereas Charlotte never really seemed to care if she needed a new diaper), if he's tired he will yell about it, and when he's hungry he'll protest (and then take forever to latch, the goose) but as long as everything is okay in his world, he's happy  :)

That's it for now!

The one with the baby v 2.0

Yes, BoJu has arrived!  It has just been a busy week and I did try to update the blog a couple of times last week but it just didn't pan out.

So, apparently BoJu must have read the last blog post and thought "ha! I'll show her!".  I felt nothing out of the ordinary until about 10:30 at night on the 23rd.  Boyd and I were watching A Christmas Carol on TV and I was feeling some strange pains right in the front of my uterus.  They didn't feel like contractions, really, but it hurt and I just wasn't really sure.  I tried timing them but there was no real pattern so I told Boyd I was going to go upstairs and have a bath.  I walked up the stairs and the pain intensified so I told him that he should probably give his mom a call to come watch Charlotte so we could go to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around midnight.  The nurse checked me and told me I was dilated 8cm.  I said "I'm WHAT?"  Needless to say, I was admitted.  I laboured for about an hour or so longer, my water broke, I pushed for 40 minutes and Myles William Raymond Chapman was born at 2:18am on December 24 weighing in at 8lb 7oz and measuring 20.5 inches long.

It was a quick whirlwind but a much better experience than last time.  My recovery has been night and day from my last experience.  I am up and moving and there's no pain happening.  Nursing is going well - he gives me a hard time when I try to latch him on the left side but my milk is in, he's not ripping me to shreds, so that's a plus!

So far, we are still adjusting to the new family.  I don't really remember the first week of Charlotte's life so I can't really compare, but every day seems to be improving.  He is slowly figuring out life outside the womb.  He's eating well, his diaper output is great, and he is getting good stretches of sleep in.  He generally eats about every 2-4 hours, depending - sometimes he will inch closer to 5 hours between feeds but not often.  He is starting to spend a bit more time awake and taking things in, allowing us to put him down without fussing too much.

He had his first doctor's appointment on Tuesday.  He lost about 5% of his birth weight and was back up to 8lbs.  He is pink and healthy and everything looks great!  He goes back again this Tuesday for a two week check up and hopefully he will be back up to his birth weight by then.

Charlotte is absolutely in love.  I think she is adapting better than I am!  I wish I could bottle up her coping skills somehow.  She likes coming in to help when I change his diaper and likes sitting and watching him while he eats.  She talks to him, sings, rubs his belly, and is very protective of him.  It's absolutely sweet to watch and I'm really happy she is doing so well.  I've talked to her about how it is okay if she feels sad or is not happy about how things have changed now that there is a baby in the house and she told me "no, I'll always love him".  She's an amazing big sister.

That's all for now!  I will try to keep updating more now that Myles has arrived  :)