Jourdan Leigh: 6 Weeks

September 16th

Reese, you change so much each week, it just amazes me! I can't believe how fast its all going. Today I was looking at you laying on the changing table, just in your diaper and I realized you are getting so big. You no longer look like a tiny newborn to me anymore. I guess this makes sense since you are gaining weight, but even your facial expressions and the way you move around. Its amazing, but to be honest I'm a little sad it all happened so quickly! While at the time things seemed so crazy and a complete fog, now I look back on your tiny newborn days and truly miss them. Now I understand what people mean when they say the second time around you appreciate things more as you have perspective.

You are now starting to fall into a schedule where I feel like things are much more predictable. You are giving me a solid 5 hours most night for the first stretch then 4 hours, then I will wake you again in another 3. (I still wake you every 3 hours to eat during the day because I guess I think thats what I should be doing...maybe its not needed?)

Our days look like this now for the most part. Wake up for the day and to eat at 9:30, then we'll go for a walk and do other things and you will typically nap in your swing or my arms for around an hour before you eat again at 12:30. Then I will lay you down in your crib for a real nap until you eat again at 3:30. Then we'll do tummy time and play and you will nap for around another hour or so in the carrier or swing until you eat again at 6:30. Then we'll play more with daddy and every third day we give you a bath in the evening, then you are ready for another hour nap in your swing. Finally you wake again to eat at 9:30 then we put you down to bed in your crib for the night. You will typically go until 2:30 am (sometimes 2) before you wake to eat. Sometimes you will start making noise in your sleep and I will go check on you before then, but you are still asleep so I will stick in your paci and you fall back into deep sleep again until its time to eat around 2:30. You will then go until 6:30 and wake up to eat again, then go back down in your crib again unitl 9:30 which will start the day over. This last stretch is hit or miss, most days you will sleep through, but every once in a while you are up and need soothed back to sleep or want to just get up for the day.

Last week I was talking with some friends about being a little frustrated with trying to get you to go back to sleep in the middle of the night. I was feeding you first, then changing your diaper, then swaddling you and rocking you back to sleep and you would take at least 30 minutes most nights to go back to sleep after swaddling. They suggested that I change your diaper first that way it didn't fully wake you up again after you had a full belly. They also said with their next child they would start putting them down in the crib awake much earlier so they didn't have to break the habit of rocking the baby to sleep months down the road. I hadn't thought of this yet. So I decided to give it a shot and you are doing great! Some times you fall asleep the first try and some times you need me to come back in to pop back in your paci three times. I never let you "cry it out" because I don't think you are old enough for this yet, but I will let you grunt and stir for just a minute until you either fall asleep or get upset and I go back in. I think I've only had to pick you back up and rock you for a minute maybe once or twice because you've been too upset, the rest of the time you are satisfied to get your paci and will fall asleep then. I'm glad you are learning to self soothe just a bit and hopefully this will help down the road. The doctor said you should start extending these stretches soon, and I'm hopeful you will after seeing what a difference the past two weeks have brought.

You are still eating great! I went to one of the breastfeeding support groups last week and you ate 4 ounces while we were there! I was curious to see how much you would take because you have gotten so fast with your feedings that I wanted to make sure you were getting enough. I was glad to see that you took that much in the quick 15 minutes total you ate (from both sides)! I was also glad to find out since I had been only giving you 2 oz from a bottle (when we have to be away) and clearly you want more than that! I am still so so glad breastfeeding has worked out for us. I truly love feeding you and I really do feel the bonding that it creates. I just feel so close with you and love that I am able to provide for you just what you need.

Here are some more pictures of probably the last 4 weeks since the last time I shared was 2 weeks old! These are not in order of when they were taken since some are from my phone and some from our camera.