Pierce is ONE Month

 I am ONE month old!

I like: snuggling with mom, looking around at everything, nursing, being warm, sleeping, and pooping (this boy is a BIG dirty diaper producer!!)

I dislike: bath time, being hungry, and being put down when I'm not ready (seriously, he's pretty chill most of the time)

I am now: Pierce is still in newborn diapers and clothes, but I think we'll be upping both of those this next month. At his 2 week appointment he surpassed his birth weight and was 7 lbs 10.5 oz (up 5.5 oz from birth) and was 21 inches long (up 2 inches from birth), so we're very proud of that.

These pics were taken via Portrait mode
On my phone...I love how they turned out!

A Typical Day looks like: Because he's still so new and is breastfed, we don't have an exact schedule, but he sleeps A LOT and eats about every 2 hours during the day. Around 7:45 we'll get him ready for bed (change diaper, lotion his skin, put on pajamas) and then I'll nurse him and get him sleepy and put him down in the pack n play in the office. Larry watches him and will feed him a bottle of pumped milk if he needs it, most of the time he does, but there's been a few nights that he sleeps without it. Around midnight Larry will bring him up to me (I go to bed at 8 so that I can get a few hours guaranteed uninterrupted sleep), I'll put on the owlet, change his diaper, put him in his sleep sac, nurse him and put him down. It's a hit or miss on if he'll sleep in the bassinet or if he'd rather just cuddle with me, but we just feed on demand throughout the night and he might go 2-3 or maybe even 4 hours between feedings...depending on the night. It's very sporadic. 

We do baths on Sundays and Thursdays and he's still getting used to those. He didn't hate his first one, but he hasn't liked them since that haha.

This was at his 2 week appt.
Where we learned how well he's growing

This Month: I was so happy to get to nurse another baby, but was nervous he'd end up nurse/napping like Lucy so I made the decision to cap nursing sessions to 20 minutes and it's been a GREAT helper! I think getting burps out helps so he doesn't spit up like her either. We do all contact napping/snuggles and it's been a dream! I LOVE little baby snuggles and tell Larry I plan to hold him for all naps for my whole leave. Bedtime is a bit of a guessing game though, he'll either give Larry a good first half of the night or me a good second half, not normally both.

It seems he's good Wednesday and Thursday nights or Thursday and Friday nights, but not the greatest about going back to bed on the weekends (not sure why that schedule, but it's what I've figured out). We've definitely had our fair share of growth spurts/cluster feeding and those days/nights can be pretty difficult, but I'm determined to make nursing work (for one, this formula shortage is scary and for another it's my last time and I actually kind of love the feeling).

I'm strangely obsessed with his neck...not sure why

She loves him so much!

I will say being so congested sick during pregnancy and not sleeping the greatest has sure helped me with the sleep deprivation of having a newborn. I now know I can go a few nights of horrible sleep and still function pretty well haha.

 

Speaking of sleep, Pierce is AMAZING at sleeping through all the sounds. The girls have literally been running and screaming through the house while I've been on the couch with him and he sleeps through it all like a freaking champ! I hope he stays that way. He makes the cutest little snort sound like a piggy snort in his sleep. He also makes these cute protest noises and then nuzzles into my boob when he thinks I'm going to unlatch him when he's not ready.

One weird thing is I've started to get sore knuckles, almost like when I was pregnant with Cara. I'm not sure why that's started, but it's been a bit annoying.

This one gives me Magic Mike vibes for
Some reason haha

This was after his first bath...I love the way
He looks at me!

I've decided what makes the first month so difficult is the fact that the baby doesn't smile much so you just aren't sure if they like what you are doing. All you get is either blank stares or crying. I can't wait for smiles!!

Goals for next month:

• Get him to take a binky more, he will take it once in a while, but mostly he just spits it out and might fuss a bit. So that's a work in progress
  
  
• Do more tummy time. Since he wasn't awake a bunch this month we didn't do this as much, but I know it's good for him so we need to do it more.
  
  
• Work on getting him down for bed and sleeping in the bassinet better. Maybe even get him started in the bassinet rather than in the office (I'm so hesitant to do this since it might mess with the sleep I'm guaranteed to get, but I know it's needed)
  
  
• Read more to him. I know this is the best way to interact with babies this young. I love reading, I just need to find times it works during his awake time.