Thursday, June 28, 2012

One month

Jackson has officially made it to one month! He has started to be more alert and awake and we get more smiles too.

He loves to look outside and be outside.



Sometimes he looks at us with these piercing eyes!! He is still very sleepy while feeding and I can't wait to be over this stage! While newborns are so adorably small and precious, I find I do better when they are a bit older and more on a set schedule :) He wants to eat all the time and I'm trying to nurse him so I will get more milk so he will stay happy and content. I've had some hard days, but we keep marching on! We love him so much and he's worth all the work! His sisters love to kiss him and put their heads up to his and hold him on occasion.

Monday, June 25, 2012

A day at the cabin

Last week we went to our cabin near Sundance and we had a fun time!! Here are all the grandkids! My mom had a teddy bear picnic with them, so they all brought one up.

 Grandma reading The Teddy Bear Picnic.

Then we turned on the Teddy Bear Picnic song and they had a little parade around the cabin and outside to the music. It was so cute! My grandma (my mom's mother Ruth) always had the grandkids do a parade. She loved parades! We knew she was watching with a smile as the kids paraded around with their bears :)


It was so fun to have Lexie and Shay in town!! We miss them so much and we are glad Ryan brought them out for a week while he worked. And Becky, we missed you (she was at girl's camp)!!!

 We found some fishing poles and the kids gave it a try. No success, but it was still fun!

Grandma handed out gummy bears and teddy grahams for all the kids.

Molly and Lexie had so much fun together.

Little Jackson taking a nap with Aunt Natalie.

Justin and the kids were looking for some worms to put on the fishing poles.

More Jackson :)

The kids loved blowing the dandelions.

It's a short walk to this little bridge and waterfall.

We even found a zipline at a neighbor's cabin! And we may have tested it out ;) We had Ryan try it first to make sure it was ok. Then the kids took turns while Justin and Ryan helped them.

It was a fun time!! This was my first real "outing" with the baby and even though it was a bit tricky with kids around everywhere, I'm glad we went and it was nice to be somewhere besides home for a day.

Thursday, June 14, 2012

2 weeks

Today we took Jackson in for his 2 week appointment and circumcision. Yesterday I met with a lactation consultant because I am still in pain and have sores! The lactation consultant thought he had a yeast infection and so today at the doctor's appointment I asked about it and sure enough, the doctor agreed. He has thrush! So we have some medicine for me and for baby. I hope it clears up soon because it has been really painful. I feel like there is always something going on with me and nursing. Why isn't it more natural like it's supposed to be?! I know for some it is, I just wish it was that way for me!

I had Justin meet me at the appointment so he could be there for the circumcision. I stepped out during the procedure! I would have been fine, but this seemed like daddy/son time to me.

Jackson is a good baby. He has become more fussy the past week and a half, which they say is very normal, but it can be frustrating! I feel a bit like I'm on house arrest since I don't really go anywhere, but I've gotten out a few times and it has been nice (pretty exciting places like the grocery store or Target!). Although I can't really complain because I've had visitors and my mom has been around pretty much the whole time, which has been very helpful (and it allows me to have adult interaction). Today was the girl's last day of swimming lessons and I was able to go since the baby's schedule allowed me to.

I have been solely nursing so far. No pump, no bottles. I'm surprised that this time I seem to have an adequate milk supply, which is something I've never felt like I had before with Molly or Ali. He has plenty of diaper changes each day, so I know he's getting enough to eat.

Here are Jackson's 2 week stats:

Weight: 8 lbs. 3 oz. 26%
Length: 21.85 in. 81%
Head: 14.6 in. 40%

Monday, June 11, 2012

Water firsts

Jackson had his first bath last week. And he hated it! But after the bath he thought it was pretty fun to see himself in the mirror!

Who is that good looking guy in the mirror?!


Sometimes we even get smiles out of him!

Other times we see this cross-eyed baby face :)

The girls started swimming lessons last week. I didn't sign Ali up originally because she was too young, but the manager lady said we could try her. So she's been going too. They have eight 30 min. lessons (M-Th for 2 weeks). Ali has been really reserved and has only gotten into the water at the very end of class, but my mom took the girls today and said she went in for most of the time. Progress!!

Molly is doing great! I went the first day with them and she was definitely cautious, but she's been getting more and more brave. She's even gone under the water and picked up toys from the bottom of the pool. This is huge for her!!


Our little swimmers! Ali, Carly (the little neighbor girl and Molly's best friend) and Molly.

Also, last week we had a guest, Justin's mom, Shelley. She came down to help me out for a few days since my parents were out of town. I take all the help I can get! She was nice enough to take the girls to swimming lessons a few days last week. The girls loved having her here and really liked playing with her coin purse. She even found one for them before she left. She got us ice cream one night and made life more exciting for a few days! Thanks grandma Shelley!!

Saturday, June 2, 2012

1 week old

Jackson was visited by his great grandparents the other day. They were in town for some graduations and stopped by to see him. These are Justin's grandparents and they live in Star Valley, right by his parents. It was nice of them to come by!

Here we are at 1 week! In some ways it seems like it has been long and in other ways short. He is the best baby ever! By far my best. I'm not sure if it's because he is the biggest of my babies, that he's a boy, or that the 3rd time around makes a difference, but we are very grateful he is so good!!

So far he likes the bouncer ok. We keep it upstairs and he hangs out there when we eat dinner or are just hanging out up there. He seems to love the swing. We try every night to get him to fall asleep in the portacrib (Ali is still in the crib), but he just fusses and when it's late at night we usually end up giving in to the swing. We turn it on for a while, then try to turn it off. I'm sure it's not the best habit to get him started on, but what can I say, we value our sleep too! Have you let your babies sleep in a swing at night?

The first night home was pretty awful. He was up every 2 hours for a while and we could not get him to calm down and go to bed for very long. But the next night was great. He had a 5 hour stretch! Every night since then, he has had a big 5 hour stretch and I consider myself very lucky! Last night he went another 4 hours after the 5 hour. I'm hoping it continues! During the day I still have to wake him up about every 3 hours. Just a sleepy little guy still!

But I think each day he is awake for longer and longer after he eats. I have been really happy with my experience nursing this time around. I made it a point to try to feed him as soon as possible after he was born and I think it made a huge difference. He latched right on and he has been great ever since. We haven't really had a lot of problems and he seems to be pretty content. I try to hold him to about 30 minutes total each feeding. That's what the pediatrician recommended that he should do so I'm trying to get him to eat and be full in that amount of time. Every once in a while he will want to eat after 2 hours,  so we do that, but he usually goes 3 hours, or even longer if I let him. We still play the game of me trying to keep him awake while he eats, but that is to be expected with a newborn!

The girls love their brother still and have been great this week. I was worried Ali would be clingy, but she's not at all. My mom has been around all week and has kept them busy or distracted. I have time on my hands since he just eats and sleeps essentially, so I try to play with them when I can. Justin's schedule is pretty flexible and if he doesn't have any more work, he just comes home. It is so nice not having him in school!

I love this picture! Pictures of newborns don't always do them justice, but he is so handsome (of course I think he's the most beautiful baby ever!) and we are all in love with him.

So far I have been peed on twice. Both times were yesterday! The first was while I was feeding him. It just leaked right up through his diaper. Oops! I didn't expect that! The other time was while I was changing his diaper and he peed everywhere. My fault there! I wasn't covering him up like I should! The past few days he has pooped after I feed him on both sides! As in 2 diaper changes during 1 feeding! I'm hoping he's gaining weight because he sure is pooping a lot! Sorry if that was tmi. My girls were never like that!


His umbilical cord is still on and hopefully it will come off soon! Also, since he was overdue, his skin is really flaky and dry. I put aquaphor on his body a few times a day and the skin is still coming off. He  has a few cracks in his skin, and a few places where it has started to bleed. I've never had a baby this dry, but I'm doing my best to keep him covered in lotion when I can. He's not a big fan of me rubbing it on usually.

That was a novel, but that's what I've been up to this week! My parents leave tomorrow for a week long trip, but Justin's mom is coming to help! And I just signed Molly up for swimming lessons starting on Monday. I hope she does ok. She is pretty terrified of the water, so I'm hoping this will help so we can swim this summer!