Lucy is ONE Month!

I am ONE month old!

I like: eating, eating, and...oh yeah, eating! Cuddling, not being put down...that's about it.

I dislike: being cold, being hungry, being put down for naps, napping, sleeping, anything that isn't being attached to mom! Hahaha
 

I am now: Our unofficial weight check shows she's up to 9 lbs even this morning (up from 8 lbs 5 oz)! I was so happy to see that breastfeeding is working on her gaining weight! Also, a check against a measuring tape shows she's 21 inches long (Up from 20.5). She's in newborn pants and diapers, but 0-3 month shirts and very ready for size 1 diapers. She's getting long, but she's definitely skinny.

A Typical Day looks like: we don't have a typical day just yet, we're still figuring it out. However, she tends to eat every 2 hours in the morning and spaces out to every 3 hours after the nap time. She is going to bed by 9 PM at the latest, but it'll range anywhere from 8 to 9. She tends to nurse for about 10 minutes, sometimes longer if she's comfort nursing for sleeping. She naps about 1-2 hours each time she naps (the binky helps her go a little longer). She does get a 2 oz bottle around 6:30 so that when I nurse her to bed it's just a top off (and also isn't a big deal if she falls asleep quickly). She tends to only get up once a night, usually around 4 AM, but then she grunts from then on until the morning. We try and not get her up until 7:30 or 8 at the earliest so if she won't go down after her feeding, I'll let her nap on my chest until 7:30.

This Month I: grew a bit, ate a TON, cried quite a bit, and just tried to get used to my parents and how they do things. I met my two older sisters, who have seemed to warm up to me quickly. They all are loud, but I'm louder when I'm not comfortable - haha. I've met a few family members, but not as many are out there. I know my Nana (mom's mom) is very excited to meet me, but with Covid it's hard to be around too many people or be out of the house too many times.

Hopefully mom and dad figure out my cries quickly so we can all be happy and get some good sleep (for nap times - bedtime isn't bad right now actually)

Parent's Notes: I want to remember this first month so I typed up this post about things to remember for the first 4 weeks. The first month is definitely the hardest - I think I got too confident with this being our third child and so it's really shaken me up. It also doesn't help that I'm actually able to exclusively breastfeed Lucy. While that has been phenomenal to experience and feel so good that I'm able to do it, it's so hard to get used to and makes everything new for our experience with her (and therefore feels like we're on our first baby all over again)! I was able to for 2.5 weeks with Gwen, but it took it's toll on me and my mental health with all the postpartum hormones. This time, while it's been difficult, I know the hardest part has just been getting Lucy down for naps - which has nothing to do with nursing or being bottle fed. I know we'll be switching to bottles eventually (when I go back to work) so I've been going back and forth on when we should start switching to bottles. Should we wait till 6 weeks (since that's when I hear it gets easier)? Should I wait till 8 weeks so I can enjoy the "easy" part of nursing for a while? Should we wait till 10 week so that I can enjoy it as long as possible and just use those last 2 weeks of my leave to get her used to them? Should we do it sooner, but slowly transition? Should I pump before the feeding? Should I just pump every 3 hours and once at night regardless of when she wants to eat? When should we bring formula into the mix? Am I ready to be getting up at night for pumping AND feeding? Am I ready to have both hands tied up with bottles at night, rather than having a free hand with nursing? There are SO many things to figure out. It's SO hard.

I will say I've been thankful that I've been able to take regular showers, I've been able to take the older girls on a walk to the mailbox without any recovery issues (physically). I've been making mental lists of things I'm grateful for on hard days to help keep it in perspective. I've also been looking back at how things were with Cara and Gwen to help compare or ease my mind. For example, I've been nervous to have Lucy nap on me too much, but then I see that I basically let Cara nap on me throughout my whole maternity leave, and she does good with naps and bed (I can't believe we never swaddled her haha!). I will say 3 kids definitely makes you realize how easy having only 1 kid really was - I wish I had appreciated how easy 1 kid was back when I was in that phase of life.

Regardless, as hard as this first month is, I SO look forward to when Lucy is older and playing with the other girls. And her cuddles really do make me melt. I just wish I had more time to enjoy them - typically the other girls end up screaming and waking her up so I can't stay cuddled with her too long. I did have a horrible day where I thought I'd let Lucy nap up in our room and I'd just shut us in there and take care of her and get used to her queues - however that was SUCH a miserable day. I missed spending time with my other girls and I hated being stressed out in my bedroom - which is supposed to be a place of comfort. So we went back to being downstairs real quick on that one haha. I'll also say I look forward to when Lucy sleeps all night without grunting and groaning. She does SO well when we put her down until she gets up for a feed (usually around 4 AM), but after that she struggles SO much staying down. I'm not sure if it's gas or just newborn issues she'll work through, but I'm trying to avoid using the binky like we have before and just get her used to sleeping better...I know the 5 week leap (wonder week) is coming up and I'm just doing my best to keep in mind to be patient through that exhausting time and get to the 6 week mark where things will, hopefully, get easier for us! We also need to get Larry used to putting her down for naps and bed...eventually.

 

Goals for next month:

• Get her used to a routine with bottles (since we know we're going to have her on bottles by the time I go back to work)
• Get more used to how to put her down for a nap and get her on a schedule
• Look forward to coos and smiles :) (One of the best first milestones)
• Get her down by 8 every night (right now it's between 8 and 9)
• Get her used to Tummy Time
• Get back into working out on a regular schedule (for mom)
• Start neck workouts (for Lucy)
• Maybe get her grasping toys
• Get dad used to putting her down for bed and naps (although we'll probably wait on naps until I get closer to being back to work).