6 weeks old

Evan is 6 weeks old already. It's crazy how time flies. He is a great baby - we are very blessed. The past few days, he's been going through a growth spurt. He's been screaming to eat instead of just squeaking like usual, and he's been eating more often. Unfortunately, this has also affected his nighttime sleeping. He was sleeping 5 hours, eating and then another 3 hours, but for a few days, he was up every 3 hours. Last night, he was back to 5 and 3, so hopefully his schedule is back on track. He's also having some napping issues and is up a lot during them. I'm trying to vary how often he is awake to see if it makes a difference with his napping. As I type this, he is sleeping on Daddy because being on one of us seems to be the only way he's happy today. Luckily he always goes down for bedtime easily with no crying (another blessing).

He has hit a few milestones already. He is now tracking us with his eyes, and he focuses on our faces now. He smiles at us now, which just melts my heart, and he even rolled over from his tummy to his back already (at 5 weeks). When he did it, I thought maybe he just tipped over, so I put him on his belly, and he did it again. Luckily, I had my camera, so I documented the roll. :) He hasn't done it since, so maybe it was a fluke, but maybe not. I've only had him flat on his tummy 2 or 3 times since. We'll try it again soon.

This past week at new mommy group, we did baby massage. Evan loved it (until we got to the tummy massage - he wasn't a fan). I'm really enjoying our group. Everyone is very supportive, and we get together to walk the mall and chat too. It's nice to have a support system of other mommies who are going through the same things. Sometimes it seems like being a mommy is getting harder instead of easier. It has now been over 6 weeks of not having uninterrupted sleep which takes a toll. I don't really mind getting up in the middle of the night for the feeding, but when morning rolls around, I'm kind of tired. I also long for a nap, but Evan is having none of that right now. I try to do everything around the house too, but sometimes I have no energy. It's hard to never have a moment to yourself. Even most of my showers are rushed just in case he cries, or because I'll have to feed him soon, so I need to hurry and finish.

I love being a mommy though, and I wouldn't trade it for anything. There are so many people who can't have children, have trouble having children, or have losses, so I know that being tired is not a big deal. I thank God for having to get up in the middle of the night because it means I have my healthy baby boy at home with me.

We have an appointment on Monday, and I can't wait to see how much he weighs and how long he is now. His pants are getting shorter every day, and he has socks that fit him on Monday and were too small by Wednesday! It's amazing!

Enjoy the Incredible Rolling Evan!!

One month old!

Evan turned one month old yesterday! I can't believe it has been a month already! I'm not sure how much he weighs because we don't go back to the doctor until 2/1, but he sure looks different to his mommy and daddy. We were just looking at pictures from when he was born, and we can't believe how much he has changed already! Here are some of the latest pictures of our little pierogie! Enjoy!

Tummy time in the morning...

Big boy in my Moose on the Loose outfit!

I'm one month old already!

My mommy loves me!

I had a visit with my friend Max!
(Evan - almost 2 weeks, Max - 2 months)

I'm supposed to be napping...

Kisses from Mommy!

Kisses for Daddy!

He's growing!!!

Well, since we came home from the hospital, Evan wasn't gaining as much weight as he should, so we've had to go to the pediatrician twice a week to get weighed. He was still gaining, but it was slow. Last Monday we went, and Evan had gained 8oz. in one week (8lbs. 10oz.), but he still wasn't back to his birth weight, so we had to go again today. Every time they put him on the scale, I get nervous. So today, she put him on the scale and started moving the little thingy (that's the medical term). It kept going up and up, and it went past 9! Woo hoo! What a relief. He weighed 9lbs 2oz. today and measured 22 3/4 inches! He's gained over 2 inches already! Our next appointment will be February 1st, and he will be getting 3 shots. I am NOT looking forward to that.

We've settled in to a "routine" with our little man. He eats and plays (which involves starting at the wall and waving his arms) for an hour then naps for two hours. When he wakes up, we do it all over again. At night, he sleeps for about 5 hours, eats and then goes back to sleep for another 3-4 hours. Although I miss uninterrupted sleep, I know that we are so lucky that he is such a good sleeper!!

I joined a new mommy support group with my friend, Jill, and we had our first session last Thursday. It was a lot of fun. I got to hear about lots of other babies, and I also heard a lot of things that made me count my blessings that we have the baby we have (reflux, sleep issues, etc.). The group is 8 weeks long, and they have different people come and talk to us, and we get to share our concerns and celebrations. We're going to the mall after this week's group! Fun!

Evan had his first REAL bath while actually sitting in water last night. I thought he would be upset and cry the whole time, but he just kind of sat there looking around - even when I poured water on his head! He was such a good boy, and he got special nighttime lotion and warm fleecy pajamas when he was all done. Bathtime turned out to be even better than I thought it would be!

We are loving life with our little guy and looking forward to a lot more firsts with him!

I'm not too sure about this, Mommy and Daddy!

Maybe it's not so bad afterall!

Nice and warm with Daddy!

Merry Christmas!

Aunt Candi and Uncle Matt came to visit the day after Christmas.

Pappy and Grammy Cora came to see Evan.

Opening presents made me sleepy!

Santa baby

Evan with his reindeer from Grandpa

Our first Christmas together

Noah's ark from Mommy

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We enjoyed our Christmas with our little man so much! He slept through most of it, but just having him here was the best gift ever!

Three more firsts!

Ok, this one is just because I'm looking adorable...

My first Redskins game with Daddy

First bath - I didn't even cry too much!

I did not like getting ready for it, though! I don't like being naked!

Ahhh....that's better, Mommy!

My first visit to the doctor - thank goodness they didn't poke me this time! I had enough of that at the hospital.

I love car rides!

More pics of the little man!

Our family of three!

Ready to roll! He's wearing the hat and sweater that his Daddy wore home from the hospital.

We're finally home!!

The best Christmas gift EVER!

My sleepy boys

I have a feeling that I'm going to be one of "those" moms. You know, the ones who take 9,000 pictures of the baby sleeping because he looks SO CUTE!!

Day 6

Sorry for the delay in updates. I have been updating facebook, texting and doing this and I forget what I have done and haven't done! Mommy brain??

Saturday to Sunday was a long evening. Stan and I had to go to the courtesy suite on the third floor at midnight and leave Evan in the nursery on the second floor. It was really hard to leave him even though I was only a floor away. We were told that if his test results came back positive, he would have to go to the NICU for 7-14 days. So leaving him combined with being nervous about how the test would turn out made for a very long night. The courtesy "suite" was just a twin bed, a dresser, a night stand and a lamp, so Stan slept on the floor. We went down at 4am to feed Evan. I think we were both happy when 8am rolled around. We went down to get Evan to feed him and sat and rocked him awhile. The nurse told us that the results weren't back yet, but they had to rerun his bilirubin (jaundice) test because he was looking a little more yellow. She said the doctor would be there around 9:30.

A little after 9, Stan and I decided to go to the cafeteria and get some breakfast. We stopped at the bathroom on the way, and as we were heading to the elevator, Dr. Chang was just getting there. We turned around and headed back to wait for him to check the baby. He came out and gave us the thumbs up! We were so happy that we were going to take our little one home with us! Finally around 11:30, we headed home!

Mema was there to greet us when we got home, and she held Evan while Mommy and Daddy ate some lunch. Poor Stan had to go out and shovel out the cars from the 22 inches of snowfall after almost no sleep since Tuesday plus sleeping on a concrete floor the night before. We spent the day together, and it was wonderful!! Our first night was ok. I've had to supplement with formula, and we used a new bottle right before bed. I think it made him gassy. He was up crying from about 2-3:30, and we didn't know what to do. I had already fed him, so we burped him, rocked him, swaddled him...finally, we remembered - THE PACIFIER!!!! We got that out, and finally he was soothed! At 3:30, I fed him again, and he slept until we woke up a little before 8.

He had his first pediatrician appointment on Monday. He was still 8lbs which is what he was when we left the hospital. He didn't gain anything, but he hadn't lost anything either, so that was ok. He got checked out, and all was well. His color was even looking better. We have another appointment on Thursday, so hopefully he's gained some weight. After our appointment, we went to Babies R Us and bought 8 more pacifiers!

We've had two nights since that first one, and he has slept through both of them until I wake him up to eat. We're hoping it continues because sleep is nice. :) He has been so good - I say that he's taking it easy on us first-timers.