These Days...

Hello again everyone! Its been a few weeks, and so much has happened. Everyone says that your children grow so fast, but I never thought it would be THIS fast! It seems like he changes a little bit everyday, and we find another reason to love him. I'll catch you up...

Remember that squeaky warning cry that I wrote about in my first blog. Well he still has it, and its the cutest thing ever! I love it because its something that makes him unique to other babies. Even if I were blindfolded, I could definitely pick him out of a crowd of a million crying babies. I'm going to try to record it, and if I can figure out how, I'll try to post a video at some point. In the past week, in addition to smiling in his sleep, he has started smiling at us when he's awake. We'll make some silly face, or funny noise, and he'll look up and grin. Its crazy to see a personality developing in him. Colt and I were talking about how weird it is that a few months ago, he was just a couple of cells, which developed into something resembling a shrimp, to a miniature baby, to a "real" baby, and then watching him be born, and now developing a personality with likes and dislikes. We love watching him follow us with his eyes, and listening to him start to "coo" at us when we talk to him. He loves to be talked to. He doesn't like to change his clothes, but if I say "Push push push, push push push" when I'm pushing his little arms through the sleeves, he gets quiet and watches me.

As for sleeping...he's all over the board. The night before last he slept 5 hours straight. Last night he woke up every hour and a half to two hours. Sometimes its difficult to remember when we woke up, and how many hours of sleep we've gotten. I can't complain at all though because Colt and I are both at home, and able to sleep whenever we need to. He's still a newborn, so he takes good naps throughout the day, and we sleep when he does. Since I wake up with him a lot during the night, many mornings, Colt will take him for an hour or two so I can catch up on my lost sleep. Sometimes, I'll lay him down on a pillow next to me in bed, and he'll fall asleep in the crook of my arm. Its one of my favorite times, because he falls asleep with his face facing mine, so I can smell his sweet breath and occasionally he'll put his hand on or near my face. He loves to cuddle. On average, he sleeps about two to three hours at a time but sometimes more, sometimes less. I can usually count on him being up at 7am. The boy loves The Today Show. Haha! He's not really on any kind of a schedule unfortunately. I know eventually we'll have to develop some kind of a pattern, but if this kid needs to be strictly scheduled, he got the wrong parents. Our life is very different from most people's lives in many ways. Colt's job as a musician allows him to be home with me most of the time. He plays about 3 to 4 nights a week, so he's home with me all day, and of course we're together the nights he has off. I don't know if its because we don't have to wake up early or because some of his gigs end late, but we don't go to bed until very late. I don't think we've gone to bed before 2am since we've been married. Bad, I know. At this point, it doesn't really matter when we go to bed because Cash is still so young that he sleeps on and off all day (and night), but I know the time is fast approaching that we'll need to get on some kind of a schedule for his sake. On the plus side, he's always sleepy in the evenings, which makes Wednesday and Sunday night church easy and going out to dinner a cinch.


We've been so lucky to have a easy going baby. He takes a pacifier, and has since he was born. Sometimes he has trouble keeping it in his mouth when he's sleeping, and wakes up when he drops it, but I think that's to be expected. He's a really good eater also. I've been breastfeeding, pumping, and supplementing with one formula bottle per day. I was really hoping he'd take a bottle, just in case we were going someplace that I couldn't nurse him, or if Colt and I wanted to go on a date, and he was staying with our parents and couldn't nurse. He is a great breastfeeder. It was a little bit difficult the first week because my milk still hadn't come in yet, so he was mainly getting just the colostrum. Also, no one tells you that breastfeeding is a little bit painful in the beginning! The Lansinoh cream was my "breast friend" (sorry, that was too easy). My mom was really helpful in making sure I understood what I was doing. It was frustrating when I would nurse him for 20 to 30 minutes, and he wouldn't get full because I didn't have any milk. A half hour later he'd be hungry again. Finally, my milk came in and Cash and I got the hang of it. Now, I predominantly breastfeed. I pump once a day to freeze for an emergency supply. Pumping is kind of a tricky business. If I feed Cash, and then wait 30 minutes to pump, I don't pump a full bottle, which means I'd have to pump more than once a day. If I wait an hour or two hours after I feed Cash to pump, I get a full bottle, but I don't have enough to breastfeed him at his next feeding. He usually eats every 2 to 3 hours. I've been pumping before we go to bed, and make his last feeding of the night a 5 oz. formula bottle, so he'll be full before bedtime. If I pumped and then fed him, he'd be a hungry boy about an hour later. Anyway, it seems to be working for us. The boy hates to burp though. Sometimes I'll have to try several different burping positions to get anything out of him. A couple of nights ago, I had been burping him for several minutes, and I had him sitting up with my hand under his chin, patting his back. Colt was up near his face talking to him when Cash belched right in his face! Colt is really sensitive to smells, and gagged. HILARIOUS!

One of the best parts of parenting thus far is how he seems to "know" us already. If someone else is holding him and he gets a little bit fussy, a quick hand off to his Mama will do the trick. He loves to be held and cuddled. He's a BIG fan of cuddling. I don't know if its the sound of my voice, my scent, or my touch that he finds so familiar. Its probably a mixture of many things. Its such a special feeling because it just reaffirms the fact that he feels about me, like I feel about my mother. No one can comfort a person like their mother. This week (week 4), Cash has started to grab my hair, especially when I put him in the bathtub or try to lay him down. Its like he's saying, "Please don't put me down!" Of course, when he does this, it makes it impossible to put him down, and I'm "forced" to cuddle and kiss him for a few more minutes. :) I have a feeling disciplining him may be a challenge for me. Haha! He also loves to hear us sing to him, and enjoys the song "Frarajaca". Weird.

On February 10th, Cash and I met Tara, Lauren, and their babies over at my Granny's house. It was the first time she had seen Cash. He is her fifth great-grandchild! We had a great time talking, and listening to stories of when she was raising her five children. This visit also marked the first time that Cash had a "blow out" in his diaper. The "mess" went up the back of his diaper, and got on his onesie. Thankfully, it was a cold day, so I had doubled up on the onesies (a long sleeve underneath and a short sleeve on top). I took the long sleeved one off, and the short sleeved one was fine. Mark that down towards experience. :) Its definitely true what they say about little boys, at least in our case. He has pee-peed (spelling?) on us, and in turn his pajamas, and changing pad cover during diaper changes several times. I won't even mention a specific bath time incident that I'll never forget. I suppose it could be worse, as I've heard of these occasions resulting in urine on the Mama's face, or, dare I say it...in her mouth. DISGUSTING! Thankfully it hasn't come to that yet.

This past week (week 4) it seems that Cash is awake a lot more. When he's awake, he's very alert. Like I said, he's started to smile and coo, and his funny faces are endlessly entertaining. I've heard that one day, out of the blue, it seems like your newborn just "wakes up". That seemed to have happened last Wednesday (after Granny's house). He was awake all through church, and was quiet as a mouse. What a good boy.

I have to say, these past weeks have been amazing. Of course, they've had their ups and downs. I've been learning so many new things, and at times I've been nervous that I'm not doing the right thing the right way, but then there are the moments when you know you've done the right thing for your baby, and it makes all of that uncertainty and anxiety worth it. Colt and I were talking the other night, and I told him, I really can't think of anything else in life that I want. I'm completely content. That's a good feeling to have. Of course, I would love to have more children one day, and there are things I want for my family. I want my children to grow up and become good Christians. I want my family and children to be healthy and successful and all of the other things that make for a happy life. What I meant when I was talking to Colt was more along the lines of major things that I've wanted in life. I wanted to be baptized, I wanted to finish high school and college, find a wonderful husband who was my best friend, and have children with him. Along with all of those blessings, as I said, Colt and I are able to stay home with each other all day, which has made these first few weeks of parenthood much easier. Sometimes, its easy to forget all of our blessings, but I truly think about these things daily. In the past I've taken so many of my blessings for granted. I was born in a free and prosperous country, to a loving Christian family who brought me to church and taught me the gospel. That in itself is such a blessing. I grew up knowing the truth. Then I met Colt, who was everything I had ever prayed for. Literally, everything. Then, after about two and a half years of a happy marriage, we had a healthy baby boy. Again, this is not to toot my own horn or boast in any way, but to remind myself, when I read this in years to come how happy I was at this time in my life.

So you could say these last few weeks have been the happiest learning experience of my life. Cash is one cool cat. I look forward to every new milestone. I will leave you with a list of his likes and dislikes in his first month of life. Thanks for reading everyone!


Cash's Likes:
1. Getting his hair washed
2. The car
3. Pacifier
4. Sleeping next to me or Colt
5. Cuddling
6. His Grandparents and Aunts/Uncles
7. Going to the bathroom in his diaper right after I change him (sometimes while he's still on the changing table)
8. Having the top of his hand rubbed
9. Being warm
10. Moe
11. Being talked to and sang to
12. Grabbing my hair
13. Laying on Colt's chest

Dislikes:
1. Being cold
2. Getting out of the bath
3. Changing clothes (because he gets cold)
4. Getting his diaper changed (he throws his hands out like he's falling because he's not being cradled)
5. Burping (it takes forever for him to burp)
6. Being swaddled (he likes to sleep with his hands near his face or above his head)