Well, he's technically a little over 4 weeks old, but I figured it was fine to celebrate the month's on the actual calendar days :) So Ben is 1 month old today... I have pictures but I'll have to post them if I get more free time later. He's about 23 inches long and weighs approximately 14 pounds... that's my rough estimate using the bathroom scale, and me holding him. His next official doctor visit is at his two month birthday, and I'll know how far off my estimates were. He's still growing like a fiend, and already out of some of his 3 month old clothes that fit him two weeks ago. Crazy!
Speaking of crazy, I've been trying to figure out where all my free time goes. It's crazy... all of a sudden it will be 2pm and I will realize I have not left the top floor, and haven't even gotten time to eat anything. My days have been going something like this:
11:30pm, Ben is usually asleep, so we go to bed for the night. I'm in charge of baby while Joe sleeps since he has to function at work all day... this will be interesting once we both have to go to work. 2am - Ben wakes up, eats for 30 min, then I change him, pump breastmilk for 30 min, go to sleep by 3:30am. Sleep for 60-90 min, Ben up again at 4:30am, repeat. Get back to sleep by 5:30am, sleep for another 60-90 min, Ben up again around 7am. This time I feed him and change him, and then Joe takes over from about 8-10:30am. I pass out, literally. I am usually a light sleeper, but on Tuesday Joe set off the smoke alarm, and I never even heard it, that's how tired I am. So then from 10:30am to sometime in the afternoon, Ben likes to play with me on if I can guess what he wants. He'll lay down, but won't go to sleep. So I'll try and enterain him until he starts fussing, and then I pick him up and check his diaper. Usually he needs a change, and then if he's still fussing, I'll feed him. He usually will pass out while I'm feeding him, but the minute I set him down in his crib, he's wide awake again. During this time, I have to find time to pump for about 30 min, so he manages to entertain himself in is crib for the most part. But then he starts fussing again, so I have to stop pumping, and start the cycle over again, trying to guess what he wants. Sometimes I'll hold him for a good hour, until he falls asleep again... but then the minute I put him down, BAM, wide awake. *sigh* Today he didn't fall asleep until 2pm, so it meant I had not left the upstairs since 8am. I'm usually starving by this point, and attempt to get things taken care of around the house. Usually I can get in a load of laundry and do the dishes while making myself lunch, just in time for Ben to wake back up after his 2 hour nap, and we start the cycle all over again. This time he's awake for another few hours, so then it's not until about 6pm that I get a chance to make it back downstairs to finish the laundry load I had started, and scarf down another snack. Sometimes he'll stay sleeping long enough for me to start dinner... but on Monday, he was back up until about 9pm, so Joe and I didn't eat dinner until 9:45pm.
That's my day, pretty much. I'm finding it impossible to finish anything while he is awake. I have a carrier that I use (the Moby)... and it does put him to sleep when he's in it. However, I'm still not healed from my surgery, and carrying around a 14lb kid is KILLING my back, and my abs are still sore. So I can't manage that for too long, and sure enough, once he's out of that, he's not tired anymore. *sigh* Lily also goes outside for a short walk and a bathroom break at some point in the day. She's been good though, and mostly just sleeps downstairs while I walk around with the baby. She definitely reminds me when it's her dinner time though :)
So I'm trying to hang in there until this kid starts getting on some sort of schedule. I know that probably won't be until a month after I go back to work, so I'm just trying to get some sleep where I can, and try and figure out what I'm doing. Pumping is becoming more and more challenging, with Ben not sleeping during the times I need to pump. He will only lay there for a short amount of time, and then I have to stop (even if I'm not done), and tend to whatever he needs. And if I can't get to pump when I need to, I become so engorged that I'm in serious pain, on top of being exhausted. I'm contemplating giving it up, it's that annoying... but for now I'm just pumping whenever I can, and hoping it's enough not to kill my supply. He still won't latch for more than 10 seconds, so I'm pretty much giving up hope that it will ever happen, and it looks like I will have to "exclusively pump" to give him any breastmilk. When my sanity leaves me, I'll know it will be time to call it quits. But for now, I'm still trying.
More photos later... I just wanted to take this free second I have before Ben wakes up again to let people know I'm still here and reading emails, but I just have zero time anymore during the day to get anything accomplished. Thanks for all the well wishes, and I'll try and get back to everyone soon!
1 month old
We went out to Dunkin Donuts on Sunday morning before grocery shopping, and represented our neighborhood with his Capitol Hill hat from Jeanne and Christian :)
