Birth Announcement

I keep taking longer and longer to do these birth announcements. I went with Costco this time instead of Shutterfly.  I ordered them when he was 4 weeks old!

Costco had fewer options and none of them had a back but they were way cheaper and also ready the next day versus in a couple weeks. I wish you could adjust the clock graphic to have it be the actual time.

I had to keep changing the scheduled date for this post because it took me a week to pick-up the announcements, then it took me a week to get my address labels printed. Then I didn't have enough stamps. Then there was a holiday with no mail.

Ella's Birth Announcement
Miles's Birth Announcement

2019 Week 21/52 Photo

Before school, Ella had to hold Miles. She's wearing her shirt and medal from the race. She had me braid her hair.

Photo taken May 20, 2019

Ella had a play date at her friends house. The night before Ella picked out her Elsa dress wanting to wear it. I texted the moms asking if anyone would be dressing up. Because of Ella, they all decided to dress up. (Well almost all)  Ella had so much fun playing with her friends.
Photo taken May 26, 2019

Liam's 6th Week (5.26.19)

5-20-19 Getting Miles to Nap

Liam started smiling this week.

5-20-19 Ella likes to stand holding Liam

His face is pretty broken out. His upper back and chest are too.

He's becoming more vocal. He will make noises back at you as you talk to him.

5-21 - I took him out of the Ergo.
He woke up in 10 seconds.

He's still not interested in rattles but he has started to grab my shirt or a blanket. My physical therapist noted how he's sleeping with his hands open now instead of curled up. His legs are also stretched out versus curled up.

I weighed him and he is 11 lbs.  That is 54th percentile for WHO. Miles was 13 lb by this point and Ella was 10 lbs. (So Ella gained 3, Miles gained 4, and Liam gained 3.)

5-22

Liam is awake even more but he still has times where he sleeps, eats, then sleeps right away. This week is the first time I had to stand and sway him to get him to go to sleep.
Monday, he dropped Ella off and picked her up from preschool.
Tuesday he went to PT with me. He went to gymnastics. He also dropped the kids off and picked them up from preschool.
Wednesday, he dropped the kids off and picked them up from school. He also attended a special ballet class that Ella's class was putting on.
Thursday, he went to PT with me. He also dropped off Ella and Miles at school and then picked Ella up. (We had a little jewelry making thing here with a couple of Ella's friends that he was baby worn during.)
Friday, he went to the park for Miles's last day of preschool. Then he picked Ella up at school at the end of the day.
Saturday we didn't leave the house.
Sunday he went to Costco and Trader Joe's. We also ate dinner outside on our back patio.

5-25

This week he slept 1 time 5 hours and 55 minutes. That's his longest by an hour and a half!  His naps are shorter during the day. He's getting a little better at sleeping longer at night but still has those half hour times when I didn't get him to burp.
On our way to gymnastics, he spit up a ton in the car seat. I'm shocked how it was so much it ran down the buckle hole and had a ton sitting in the base.

5-26

He grew out of his new born swaddles so my mom bought him 2 woombie swaddles. I don't think I bought them this young with Miles but also can't find Miles's small ones anyway.  They are great. It's just sad when he spits up all over them right away.

He hates the monkey bouncer but will chill on the bed for a bit when I have to run into the bathroom.

I still have ~30 lb to loose! That's double what I had to lose at this point with Ella.

1 Month Photoshoot Time-lapse

Before preschool we did our photo shoot. I had wanted to get dressed but didn't make the time. We took photos in Liam's room but I didn't record that. This is just the pictures in the loft. I took a lot of pictures that didn't turn out well but got a few good ones as you can see on my monthly post.

Liam 1 Month Update

I'm keeping the same headings that I did with Ella and Miles.

Stats:

• Weight: 10 lb 11 oz - 74th percentile 
• Height: 23.5" - 99.5th percentile
• Head Circumference: 39 cm - 93rd percentile
• BMI: 15.35 kg/m^2 - 16%
• Weight/Length Percentile: 0.7%
• Diapers: Size N until we ran out and then size 1. We never actually bought our own size 1 it was just the bag from the hospital. 
• Clothing: Newborn size, 0-3 months, or 3. A few are bigger based on the label but they are just as small as newborn size. 
• Shoe Size: N/A
• Teeth: 0

(stats using WHO. I never remember which ones I use each month.)

Sleep
I never woke Liam up every 3 hours to eat. He mostly was up before that was up but at night he slept a bit longer. He slept 4 hours a few times.
He has napped in his crib, on me, in his chair thing, in the stroller, in his basinet, and in the car.  Mostly he naps in his crib but I also try to keep him around the noise so he will nap in his basinet too. Maybe it's sleep deprivation but I feel like he sleeps for longer stretches during the day when I can't be napping than at night.

He seems good at waking up and getting a diaper change then eating and falling asleep at night. During the day he maybe do that or he stays up for a bit of time.

According to my app he sleeps between 10 times a day in May and 9 times a day in April.  He sleeps 16 hours a day in May and 17 in April. (I often wish I had a kid born on the 1st so the monthly stats for the calendar month will also correspond to the age.)

Eating
He has a little over 2 hours of breastfeeding a day according to my app.
Mainly he nurses on 1 side per feeding. The only time I seem to nurse on a second side in one sitting is when he wakes back up after a few minutes and then instead of nursing on the same side, I nurse on the other side or if he spits up everything he just ate.

He's been given 3 bottles. The first 2 were from my mom. The third bottle was from Dave. He spit up all over Dave so I guess he didn't like that one!

He's had a little amount of spit up twice and a lot of spit up 2 times after/while nursing.  On the days he spit up a lot, he seems hungrier at the end of the night.

Sample Schedule:
I don't think I have anything for this now but in future months I'd like it.
By the end of the month he started being tired and wanting to nurse slowly and be rocked to fall asleep around 8 and asleep by a little after 9. Then he sleeps 3-4.5 hours before waking. Too bad Ella is awake for the first part of this so I can't enjoy his longest stretch of the night. Then his 2nd stretch is 2.5-3.5 hours long. Then the next ones tend to be closer to an hour!
In the evening he is cranky for a couple hours most nights. This will start when I have to take him in the car to pick Ella up from preschool. If I don't have to pick Ella up, the cranky time starts a little later.

I nurse on demand. Sometimes he wakes up after a short nap and doesn't want to nurse and other times he will wake up from a short nap and want to nurse.

Special Moments:

On April 16, at the hospital, Liam's diaper was half on. Then he had a big poop. It was so messy. Then cleaning that, he shot pee. (A nurse left his diaper on incorrectly. And the clean up took awhile because there were not enough wipes and there were no spare blankets.) The hospital paperwork keeps having our old address in Los Altos. They claim at registration I put our old address. There is no way. I filled out our current address and also corrected every nurse with the current address. Liam got hiccups for the first time.
On April 19, Liam had his first poop mid diaper change. It go on sleep sack because I didn’t have a diaper under. Liam went for his first walk (and first walk in the triple stroller).
On April 20, Liam had his first tummy time. He enjoyed it and just rested his head down.
On April 22, his umbilical cord stump fell off.
On April 26, he had a decent amount of spit up. It was his first changing table diaper change (in public). He also had his first sit in the front seat and nurse and that was at Home Depot.
On April 27, It was the first time all 3 kids walked in a parade. (Liam got in his first parade early. He also was in the Ergo the entire time and was nursing.)
On April 29, 2019 He spit up in the crib. (More than he has been)
On April 30, Liam had his first bath. He didn’t cry!
On May 1, Ella was holding Liam and he was hungry. He tried to nurse from her. He spent 4.5 hours at preschool while I did stuff. Liam stayed home with Dave while I left to go get pizza.
On May 2, Liam spit up everywhere. It was so much.
On May 4, Liam spit up all over us again. Nothing like a wake me up. I waited. Then changed him. Then he spit up again. At 7 PM he got his first bottle. Ella fed him. It had 1.5 oz in it.
On May 6, I fell asleep so long in chair that I woke him to nurse and it worked.
On May 7, It was Liam's first time in the swing. But he wanted food so didn’t enjoy it. Dave gave Liam a 1 oz bottle so quick that I made him recreate it for a pic.
On May 9, His face seems broken out.
On May 10, at 7:47 PM, Liam spit up so bad at park. He soaked 2 blankets and his clothes and me. (He seems to spit up a ton often but I only mark it down a few times but maybe I should stop.)
On May 11, I think Liam smiled. (He definitely smiled a couple days later and consistently smiled later so this was probably his first smile.)
On May 13, when I parked the car at preschool, Liam spit up everywhere in the car. He had two big spit ups.
On May 14, Liam has his first poop out of the diaper. It went to his shirt and sleep sack. Liam has a cold. I had to use the bulb syringe a few times. By the end of the day, he was so sick. It was hard to nurse. He cries a lot and chokes sand then spit up. I went in just after midnight and he spit up again.

Other Tidbits:
Likes
He loves it when he's swaddled for sleep.
He likes to nurse on the left side.
He likes Ella.

Dislikes
He doesn't like when he's sprayed so much nursing that he chokes.
He doesn't like to tolerate a wet diaper.
He doesn't like spitting up and then I temporarily cut him off from eating.
He doesn't like it when I change his clothes after he soaks himself with spit up.

Fun Facts
Longest time sleeping: 4 hours 16 minutes  
Days with a sleep greater than 5 hours: 0
Diapers used (from April 14-30): 8 per day 
Diapers used (from May 1-15): 10 per day (I forgot to check before the 15th data was there)
Time spent nursing (from April 14-30): 3 hours 35 minutes per day 
Time spent nursing (from May 1- 15): 4 hours 1 minute  per day  
Time spent sleeping (from April 14-30): 17 hours 6 minutes per day
Time spent sleeping (from May 1- 15): 16 hours 5 minute per day    
illnesses: 1
Doctor visits: 2 (well check visits)

Favorite Toys
none yet

Favorite Songs
none yet

Favorite Books
none yet

Other Tidbits
I can't believe how often I have to do laundry because Liam will spit up so much that I have to change his clothes and my clothes. Liam will get the hiccups after he spits up sometimes. Lots of times his spit up is just a small amount but sometimes it is so much. I try so hard to burp him and fail 90% of the time. Then I have to prop him up a bit for a bit. 

In the middle of the night (most of the time), he wakes up and cries but he's almost asleep while crying. I change his diaper and nurse him. He will fall asleep nursing right away and I have to try to get him to eat longer or he will just wake up shortly.  If I don't get him to burp and lie him down right away, he will spit up. 
By the end of the month, I could no longer nurse him while in the carrier because he was too big. 

For 3 days this month, Liam had a growth spurt and was nursing all the time. It was exhausting. 

My recovery
I was taking 3 Ibuprofen 2x a day because I forgot a lot. It should have been every 8 hours.

My ankles were so swollen for awhile. They still sometimes get swollen if I sleep in the rocking chair.

I lost 17 lbs in the first month. In the first 8 days I was down 2 lbs. That's insane to me because I gave birth to an 8 lb baby! The swelling was just that bad. 

I don't even try to shower everyday but when I want to shower it takes me about 2 days before I even get to shower!

Dave was home for 4 weeks and then sick. When he was sick, I was sick. I definitely over did it.

2019 Week 20/52 Photo

 On Monday, I put Miles down for a nap. Dave did it every day while he was on paternity leave. It was my first time doing it in awhile. Miles was quite excited and didn't put his head on the pillow. Or he would for a second then would lift it up to see that I was still there.  It's going to be interesting to get the timing down on Liam and Miles's naps.

Photo Taken May 13, 2019

#itsmomchallenge (Week 2)

I'm still doing the challenge. I felt like I had to take more good pictures so I took more than 1 a day.  Some are better than others. I also made a list of some various things I want to get pictures of like playing or crafting things with the kids. I do them so often but am never in the pictures. I'm thinking more about asking people to take my picture too. 

The pictures on the right are examples of the pictures I always take. The picture on the left is one I took including me!

The middle picture shows me with them. Usually I would take the left and right versions. My fingers are in the right picture. I'm reading this book to Liam per Ella's request. We read it more than once.

Dave was still cooking when I made this collage.  I used my phone on a tripod to take the pictures of the table. It was a little abnormal since I was giving a bottle that I had warmed up. Usually I would be nursing if Liam was hungry during dinner.

Well then after Dave was done cooking, he actually joined us at the table.  This is rare. The electronics on the table are not rare. Usually I have a laptop there even if I don't use it at all.  You can even see in the window reflection that the TV is on.

Miles wanted a hug with my whole body. That's is way of saying put Liam down and hug me.  I hugged him and hugged him more and then I took the pictures. They aren't the best pictures but they were the best I could do. I wanted to document his desire for a hug.

Miles will often ask to hold Liam. Usually it's while I'm nursing so he can't actually do it. But he holds him a decent amount of time. If he starts crawling Miles will try to get up immediately.

Friday started off with a Mother's Day Brunch at preschool. I tried to get someone to take our picture as a family but they didn't seem to hear me and then I'd be interrupted or Ella would be up.  For the bottom picture, I asked Miles if he wanted to pose for a picture and that's what he did.  Later Ella gave me my gift and was so happy about it. 

Next up was going to another preschool. Mile made a card. Most kids put tons and tons of decorations on but he went more minimalist and just put 1 thing on.  He kept opening it up and telling me "I love you."  I loved it. He was so proud. Granted he kept saying it was for Love Day versus Mother's Day. Love Day is what Daniel Tiger called Valentine's Day.

I took some selfies at school then thought I'd prop the camera and took pictures. I accidentally made the first collage with the selfies.  This is just one of the tables of activities. Miles loves preschool. We play together. He calls it "Mommy's preschool" since I go and the other preschool he goes to it but I do not stay.

After school, we went to a birthday party. We were late. I was exhausted. Miles was napping. Ella was at school. We got there late and the kids had a blast. We probably only got to attend about half of it. That bite being taken of pizza in the top photo is the only bite taken the entire party.

I had laundry in the dryer for 3 days and never got to folding it. When I finally folded it, I had Miles on my lap the entire time. I had Dave take our picture. Ella is asleep beside me too.

We played with blocks. I was impressed with Ella being able to create something that was pictured on the box. 

I always seem to have a kid on me when I'm trying to eat. My arms weren't long enough to get a proper picture of them both on me.  

I often sit beside the kids as they hold Liam so that I make sure they support his neck. But then I may get up to take a picture. Well here I got myself in a few.  Maybe some day I'll actually brush my hair.

I have pictures like this of Liam too. I need to make a collage to compare the size difference.

With growth spurt Liam going on this or nursing is 95% of my day.

We finally did foot prints and hand prints for the baby book and for the sibling books. They were supposed to be done right when Liam came home from the hospital

Sometimes I wish I had go go gadget arms to get far enough away to get everyone on the picture. 

In the morning while I was nursing Liam, Miles was talking to me nonstop. I tried to get him to go wake Dave but he wouldn't. Then he was lying on the ottoman and sliding back and forth. I thought it was fine then all of a sudden he cried and showed me his hurt finger. It had skin hanging off. I said to go wake Dave for a bandaid. He was willing for that. It was more than scraped skin and there was a cut so Dave put some polysporin on too. 

I have long arms but sometimes not long enough to get everything in a picture. I'm not sure why Miles wanted to cuddle with me but he did.

When the kids get older will they ever remember anything about nap time? Will they remember how they hated going to sleep and getting them down took forever? Will they remember how they could stall? 

Liam is 1 month old. I wanted to get dressed first but I never get time. I did the photo shoot except for pictures of myself. We took pictures in the chair and then on the floor. I decided to record with time lapse when we were in the loft.

Dave was sick but he went in the car for drop off so Liam could stay in the car. He cried the entire time at preschool so at Safeway I ran in taking him. So Dave sat in the car by himself. I was going to be quick so I just held him. I got a cart since I was getting juice and milk.

The second part of the photo shoot for Liam included me. He just got hit with being sick so he was miserable and close ups of his face you could tell his eyes were puffy.

5/14

Miles kept using his pretend phone to take pictures. He kept telling people to "say cheese" but they never did then he'd get mad. I said I'd say cheese but then eh was mad I was saying cheese to my camera not his. I said I was saying it to his and just taking a picture with mine.

This isn't even all of them that I posted on instagram but sometimes I posted individual photos or videos and I didn't spend the time to include them all here. I still spent well over an hour putting this post together so that later I have something to look back on.

2019 Week 19/52 Photo

 

I picked 2 pictures again. 

I was playing with the Canon app on my phone to take pictures with my good camera. I was setting stuff up and Poly came right over and stared at the camera. She did better than I did. 

Photo Taken May 7

Miles made a card at preschool. Then after class when we were taking them out he kept opening it up and showing me saying "I love you." He did this over and over. He'd close it then open it again and tell me he loved me.  I asked someone else to take our picture because I wanted to capture this moment.  He did think it was Love Day versus Mother's Day. Love Day is the Daniel Tiger version of Valentine's Day.

Photo Taken May 10, 2019

Liam's 5th Week (5.19.19)

5/13

Well we were all hit with being sick this week. Liam held off the first 2 days but then he got sick. I had to use the bulb syringe so many times.  His breathing still wasn't clear but it would help some. He hated it and would cry though. For 2 nights he basically only slept if I held him at the exact angle and he still would whine or wake often.  In the middle of the week we propped the one side of the mattress so he could sleep at angle.  That helped.

I feel like this week once his growth spurt was over, he would sleep for longer stretches during the day than he would at night. Granted sometimes it probably isn't like that but when I try to sleep and fail. Near the end of the week, I did a better job not falling asleep in the chair but still sometimes I'd put him in and he'd wake up just as I was getting into bed.

5/15

One night I typed when I went in and when I went back to bed. but not even the entire night. I think I was with Liam at 11 or 12 and still with Ella and Miles until 10 but I didn't go back and look it up.

Part of my night
1:10 awake with Liam
1:30 back to bed
3 Miles awake
3:25 back to bed
4:40 Liam awake
5:10 to crib
5:13 awake
5:56 back to crib

Liam's head control has improved so much. He holds his head up so much.   

5/15

Dave put Liam down for tummy time while I put away laundry and he rolled over. He wouldn't do it again when I came back to watch.

When Liam wakes back up right away, I can't seem to rock him back to sleep but have to nurse again. But then sometimes he's back to sleep in 1 minute of nursing but he won't sleep without the nursing. 

5/17

I cannot get over how much Liam spits up. There are many of times it's a little amount but then more often than I'd like it's all of his milk he drank. I've had to change my clothes a few times. I've had to change his clothes more than that. One time it hit both boppies, burp cloth, blanket, his clothes, swaddle sack, my shirt, my 2 hoodies, my pants, and the chair.  It is not fun. One time he was eating and stopped to pull his mouth off to spit up and it all bounced off of me and hit his face and then bounced in all directions.  I feel so bad for him. 

I think Liam smiled this week but I didn't get a picture. Then Dave said he thought Liam smiled at him too. 

5/19

I used the bulb syringe for the first time this week. 

When we go to school, he ends up falling asleep with all the noise. At home that doesn't tend to happen. 

5/19

This week was not as busy because I had to cancel PT on Tuesday and Thursday and cancel a dentist appointment on Tuesday. We also missed a going away party. All because we were sick. We left the house the least this week because of being sick. He still went to preschool a couple times.  Dave was so sick I did drop off and pick-up a couple times. 

This should have been Dave's first week back to work but he was so sick he didn't go in the entire week. But at the beginning of the week, he was so sick he was in bed the entire time so not only was I sick but I was doing everything. It was awful.   I can't wait until we are healthy.