Jack is 7 Weeks old today! Time does fly with an infant! I can hardly believe he will be 2 months old next week! As always, it seems like he just got here... but on the other it's hard to remember life before him. Having free time... and spare time. Getting a full nights sleep. Having time to do my nails. Having use of both my arms 24/7.
This week Daddy fashioned a play yard for Jack. I was busy reorganizing our closets (I got rid of 3 very full garbage bags of clothes!) and needed something to occupy Jack. We brought up his hanging animals from the pack n play and attached his light up mirror. He was content in here for about 1 hour chunks! I'd call that a success.
He loved looking at himself and all the lights around the mirror. This mirror was supposed to go in the car but we realized that neither of our back seats has head rests. So... nothing to attach the mirror to in the car. It's ok, it will occupy him during play time.
I brought home quite a few books (see next pictures) from Michigan. Daddy has been reading through them with Jack. Jack actually looks at the pictures while he reads.
What happens when you go to Michigan and two Grandmas are there? Over supply of baby clothes! But, we will surely use them all! Jack has begun sweating (yes, sweating!) through outfits and sleepers. Makes for a lot of laundry for Mommy. We got outfits for a variety of ages, some bibs, hats, blankets, bath stuff, and I was able to bring home another handful of diapers too. Now we are able to cloth diaper around the clock instead of having to use disposables every once in awhile. We still have some disposables for backup.
Two of Jack's little friends came to visit. Carter is on the left and Avani is on the right. Their mommies brought dinner for Jack's Mommy and Daddy. They served us and then did the dishes! I am so blessed by amazing friends. We also talked plenty about babies- how different life is with them! These girls are part of my "wives group". We began talking about marriage and now we're talking about pregnancy and babies!
Here are all the books I brought home from Michigan! I knew I had saved my children's books somewhere. My parents made me go through my storage boxes in the basement and clear them out. I got rid of a ton of stuff. There's two whole tubs full of pictures and notes from elementary school! I didn't want to go through all of them so they just stayed in the bins for now. But I did bring back all the books I could find. My favorite childhood book was "But No Elephants". I couldn't find that. My mom thinks it might be in one of her boxes. Oh well, I suppose I can always buy a new copy anyways. That one was probably real old and rundown.
Here is Jack's 7 Week picture. He is growing up so fast! He can hold his head up on his own when he wants to look at something. But generally he's still pretty content lying his head down or against something. He's definitely getting stronger though. I put away his newborn onesies and sleepers yesterday. He can still fit into the onesies, but I figured I'd give him some more wiggle room. Plus he hates getting dressed/undressed so the extra room in the neck and arms help with that process. I got him to smile right before this picture, but by the time I clicked the camera it was gone. He just stares at the camera when I raise it. I think he knows it means "BRIGHT FLASH" so he stops smiling. But he still is the cutest baby ever!
My weekly emails from pregnancy have continued for Baby email updates from The Bump and What To Expect. This week they said would be a good time to introduce a rattle. So... baby's first rattle! He didn't think too much of it, but we'll work on it. He already has a pretty strong grip. I'm just worried he'll whack himself in the face with it! He punches himself quite often.
Jack continues to be a very warm baby. He sweats constantly. I'm thinking about starting him on a bath a night routine. Maybe this will help soothe him to sleep? He gets so warm, sweats through his diapers and clothes, and then "smells". Matt says he can't smell it, but it is a very distinct sweaty milk smell. I am so used to smelling milk all the time now that this new scent is probably stronger to me than anyone else. I hope Jack doesn't always have this problem. I often get very warm at inappropriate times and it is definitely not a trait I wish on my children.
Jack also has had some build up in his cheeks. At first we thought it was his thrush coming back, but I noticed that it looked different. I started washing out his mouth every day with the little thumb brush that came in one of his first aid kits. Didn't seem to help. I then began to brush his cheeks and tongue with a baby toothbrush once a day. Didn't seem to help. Today I scraped along his cheeks with my finger and chunks of little white gunk came off. I assume this is just milk that gets lodged in his cheeks. Thankfully, it comes out and no harm is done.
Some things I've learned about parenthood (some of these are from when he was smaller, but I'll want to remember them later): It's easier to have blankets, burp clothes, and a paci in every room instead of carrying the same set back and forth. At Easter time I was thinking about how we are all God's children. It made me thankful anew that Jesus came to earth and died for humanities sins now that I have a son who needs that redemption. It also made me understand further the sacrifice God made in giving his son. I know that it is ok to give him to Daddy so I can take a nap. At first I felt guilty for wanting some me time. But I understand that if I can get a nap in between feedings I am much better able to care for him other times. We haven't set Jack on a schedule yet and don't plan to for awhile. He's been setting his own schedule and it seems to be working just fine. He sleeps during the day and night, but also has a lot of waking time during the day. He feeds every 2-3 hours and is pretty regular on that. He is gaining weight now so I'm not too worried about his feedings. The cats are much lower priorities in my life now. I never thought it would be true, but if we had to get rid of them I'd be ok with it. I'd be sad, sure, but it'd be ok. I wouldn't cry for days. I hope we don't have to get rid of them... but we'll see what happens after Matt leaves for training. My diapering/dressing speed has definitely gotten faster. It never took me too long to do either of these, but I can (literally) do this in my sleep now. Matt was surprised once when I took Jack into the nursery to change him and I came out rather quickly. He said, "Don't you need to change him?" I said, "I already did!" I have made up some silly songs to sing to Jack during the night to soothe him. Now that he's bigger we do other things at night to occupy him. But when he was a newborn I would sing to him.
Lyrics: What a Good Baby Jackson is, What a Good Baby Jackson is, What a Good Baby Jackson is, He is such a good baby. What a Good Baby Jackson is, Yes he is, Yes he is, What a Good baby Jackson is, He is such a good baby. Mommy and Daddy love you, Mommy and Daddy love you, Mommy and Daddy love you, what a good baby Jackson is.
Mommy Update: I was sick on Sunday, my first Mother's Day. I'm calling a Mulligan. Daddy was sick today. So later this week we'll celebrate Mother's Day. I am, however, back to my pre-preggo weight! Cause for celebration! This week I also noticed that when Jack nurses it no longer "hurts". I figured out I had a clogged duct, which didn't make nursing easy. That has cleared and everything else seems to have gotten used to the process of nursing. Another reason to celebrate!
