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!