Samuel: 1 month

"The days are long but the years are short."  Someone told me this when James was a newborn, and I wanted to smack them - another "enjoy every moment because it flies by!" piece of advice was NOT what this new (weary, worn thin) mama needed at that time.  But I can appreciate it now... I think because having my first newborn was absolutely the hardest thing I've ever done in my life, but this second time I know what to expect and what I'm doing (at least a little - ha!) so even the hard moments are much more enjoyable.  And the days around here lately have been very long... But gosh, has it really already been a month since this little man joined our family?!?






Samuel has certainly woken up from the womb!  It took him almost four weeks, but he finally started to act more like how I think a newborn does - a lot more fussy and times of crying inconsolably for no reason.  Some medical folks call it "the period of purple crying," which peaks at 6 weeks and is developmental somehow.  On the worst days, I just remind myself it's only for a season.  Generally, Samuel is actually pretty happy, he has just started to have a day here and there where he just cries all day.





He's in size one disposable diapers, and just today we are trying out our cloth diapers on him.  So far, no leaks!  I'll be glad to get back into our routine (and to stop buying disposables).  He's in 0-3 month clothes, though sometimes I still try to squeeze him into a cute newborn outfit because I didn't get much time to use all of those cute clothes!  But they definitely are too small now.  Sam is starting to nurse at more regular intervals (about every 3 hours), though a lot of evenings he still wants to nurse constantly for a few hours.  Breast feeding is still going great, with Samuel weighing in at 10lbs 15oz for his 4 week check up (85th percentile).  I'm so grateful and praise the Lord that he is doing so well (and that my milk supply seems to be keeping up).



Samuel has slept 6 hours overnight (once) and we've had several nights of one four or five hour stretch.  For this, I'm grateful - largely because his daytime sleep has significantly lessened due to the increased fussiness.  It's been a lot harder to get him to sleep in between feedings, and I have found myself spending most of James' nap time trying to get Samuel to sleep.  We're using the swing during daytime naps right now when we're at home, and he still falls asleep rather easily in his carseat or while I'm wearing him in a wrap while we're out.  At night, he is swaddled and in the bassinet next to our bed.  Usually he wakes up to nurse and falls right back asleep overnight, but last night he really had trouble getting back to sleep.  I had to bounce him on my big yoga ball for quite a while and finally laid him down asleep (rather than awake and let him fall asleep - which he was able to do easily the first four weeks).  So, tonight he will be moving to the nursery, though still in the bassinet.  Depending on how the night goes, I'll sleep in there with him, but either way Stuart will be able to get some rest before going to work in case Samuel has another noisy night.



Samuel had his first visit from Nana and Pop last week, and we spent the week going on fun outings to story time at the library, a day at the park, and a trip to Stay & Play Snack Cafe (a play place with an espresso bar in the back for parents - my favorite kid outing)!





Our baby loves tummy time, snuggling and bouncing.  Samuel is the sweetest little guy... now we're just waiting for him to smile for us :)

James: 21 months

James' biggest milestone this month was becoming a big brother!  It has been bittersweet - I think he has had both his best and worst moments so far just this past month.  He LOVES his baby brother.  Loves to touch Samuel's tiny fingers and ears, loves to give him hugs and kisses and rub his head, and loves to share all of his favorite things with Sam (such as his Tupperware in the above photo).  All of his favorite things... Except for his mama.  The first two weeks, James did great with only a minor meltdown here and there.  Then, after Stuart went back to work, James became super clingy and had one long temper tantrum all day, every day it seemed like!  The most challenging time for him is when I sit down to nurse Samuel (which lasts for 45 minutes and repeats every 2-3 hours...), so that's a lot of snuggles from mama for Samuel that James seems to be missing out on.  We are trying to do something fun or special just for James every day - story time at the library, going to his favorite park, or just going for a walk to see the ducks.  I'm also trying a few things to help James get through the long nursing sessions - reading books and building block towers have mostly been winners so far.  Hopefully this season of adjustment passes quickly!

Verbal language seems to have really exploded this past month!  We haven't taught him any new signs because I think he's growing out of signing and using verbal words more often.  He will almost always attempt to say a new word when someone tries to teach him, even if he says something that sounds totally different.  But he usually at least gets the beginning sound correct when repeating words!  I tried to keep a list of the new words he has used consistently this month, but I know there are more!  Here's what I was able to keep track of:

Boy

Girl

Bus

Bear

Brother "bruh"

Green "gee"

Ppaw "p" " puh"

Mow

Bird

Boat

Sad

Cup

Bowl

Broken

Dear God (praying)

Dump (truck)

Cheese

Moose

Book

Crash

Bubbles

Blocks

He knows all the basic colors, but only actually says blue and green.  He has words that he consistently says for orange and yellow, but they don't sound like the real words so we're still working on those!

He also has started pointing to things when I count (mostly in books), but he doesn't say any numbers himself yet.

Favorites:

-Building block towers (always, always a winner!)

-Playing outside, eating outside, walking outside... Anything outside!

-Watching people mow or use the weedeater

-Water play, particularly if there's running water

-Picking vegetables from the garden (still doesn't comprehend only picking the red tomatoes...)

-Getting into the pack'n'play with little brother

-Being chased and tickled by daddy

-"Cooking" in the kitchen: I set him up with a measuring cup, which he uses to measure water into a mixing bowl and stirs it with a spatula (working on a DIY play kitchen for his 2nd birthday/Christmas!)

James had his two canine teeth cut through on the bottom this month (in fact, the very week Samuel was born... Worst timing!), so now he has a full set on top and bottom except for his 3 year molars.  Glad teething is mostly behind us for him! 

James has begun to participate in getting himself ready for the day.  He loves to brush his teeth and comb his hair (though he requires assistance to make it really count).  Sometimes he has an opinion on what he wants to wear (usually pajamas), but always has an opinion when it comes to picking out his shoes (sometimes he chooses his bear slippers and I can't say no) and choosing a hat to wear (he is usually quite concerned about whether or not dad is wearing a hat, and that influences his decision to also wear one or not).



A few months ago James started using the word "no" quite liberally - both the sign and verbally.  Recently, he has started saying "no" to other children in particular, like when we're at the playground or we pass a child in the parking lot walking into the grocery.  He even tells children in books "no."  We're not sure why... Either he is just super bossy, which would make him a lot like his mama, or he is confused when it comes to discipline and thinks everything for all children is "no!"  I hope it's not the latter... We try to "create a garden of yes" and create a free space of safety and fun for him to thrive in with certain things that are off limits and are always "no."  I suppose in his toddlerhood, however, he pushes those limits a lot and he hears "no" all the time.  Parenting can be confusing and it's hard to know when you're doing the right thing!



James had his first professional haircut this month!  We had been trimming around his ears and neck at home since his first birthday, but recently the front got long enough that it needed some work.  I tried cutting it and it looked super goofy!  After a few weeks I decided he just needed a solid cut that I could then keep trimmed up at home (hopefully...).  Memaw joined us, and James did totally great!  He was quite brave and didn't cry at all, though he did NOT like the trimmer the lady tried to use around his ears.  He looks nice and clean cut now!

We love our sweet, silly little dude!

Samuel: 2 weeks

So much about a new little person changes so quickly in these first few weeks!  I just wanted to jot down some thoughts (and share some precious photos)...

Samuel came into the world as a giant baby!  Literally - he has "large for gestational age" permanently installed in his medical record.  Of course there have been much larger babies born in the history of the world, but we were shocked to see his weight an hour after birth!  9-10!  Stuart and the L&D nurse both thought that couldn't be right, so Samuel was re-weighed on another scale just to be sure. Yep!  9lbs 10oz!  It was right!  I did not have diabetes, and actually gained less weight this pregnancy than with James (who was only 6-15 at birth), and it's not like Stuart and I are giants or have giants in our family... So, we really have no idea where our big babe came from!

Stuart and our midwife, Meg, both estimated the baby would be about 7.5lbs by feeling on the outside of my belly.  We can only figure that the huge discrepancy is because Samuel has a giant head (14in circumference at birth) and he was sitting super low, so no one accounted for that in their weight estimate!  At the hospital, Samuel was put on the cupcake protocol - he had a little cartoon cupcake sticker in his bassinet - which means they monitored his blood sugar for several hours to make sure it didn't drop too low (a problem that large babies can have sometimes after birth).  Thankfully, he passed with flying colors and was able to stabilize his blood sugar just fine.  He's already in size 1 diapers, so getting started in cloth soon shouldn't be a problem!

He has mostly been in the newborn sleepy cloud since birth (though I know he will really wake up any day now...), except for a handful of nights that he spent bright eyed and cluster feeding.  The first few times were in the middle of the night, like between midnight and 6am - those were rough.  We've been working on helping him switch his days and nights, and recently the cluster feeding is happening more during the evening hours (5-11pm).  We are grateful he has (mostly) made that switch!

Stuart has been the most amazing, supportive partner these past few weeks (but who's surprised - he's always so great!).  The hardest thing for me has been watching James struggle with the adjustment (mostly ramped up temper tantrums and being a good bit more clingy to me), and I am so thankful for Stuart's patience and care for both of us.  He even asked for a few extra days to stay home from work, and I was so grateful.  In fact, today is actually my first day on my own with both littles by myself (it's going ok - just trying to control the hormones so James and I don't both cry when he throws a tantrum!).  This morning, I was thinking back to two weeks ago when we were in the hospital with new Samuel, and it was really kind of like a date (except for the frequent feedings and sore nipples and tiredness around the clock).  It was just fun to be together for a while, because we don't get to have that often.  Anyways, what I mostly want to remember from this season is how very well Stuart loves me and how grateful I am for him.

And breast feeding! Wow what a different experience we have had this time!  I need to write down how it all played out with James... But needless to say, it was just awful.  I don't know where to give credit - second babies usually increase supply, having babies close together (and therefore lactating recently) increases supply, seeing Dr. Steube during pregnancy and taking these crazy herbs may have helped, but more than anything, I think just being able to have Samuel with us continually from the get go (instead of the NICU) and truly being able to feed on demand has made breast feeding so much more successful this time.  There is still the possibility that at some point my body won't be able to keep up with Samuel's nutritional needs due to hypoplasia/IGT, but for now he is gaining weight and happy!  He was 9-13 on day 12 (3oz higher than birth weight! Before two weeks!) and has had some really good night sleep (current record of 4hrs 45min!). So I am just trying to enjoy every second of it.  We were able to push through some shallow latch issues that resulted in cracks and bleeding, and I do have some vasospasm pain, but we're exclusively breast feeding! And I am so, so grateful.

Samuel Smith, we are so very happy that you have joined our little family!