The Story on Morning Glory

Jack loves sitting in his Bumbo. He's had great neck control since he was born, so even though he's young, he does great in it! And he's just so cute. We have people over for a Bible study on Monday nights, and last Monday, he sat on the coffee table in the Bumbo for a majority of the time!

Today, he was watching Fox News with his daddy. :) And take a look at that hair...a comb over and watching Fox News...does it get any better?

This morning, I decided to pull out the Discovery Play Activity Center and put it together...just to see if Jack would like it. He's in this adorable stage right now where he loves, LOVES looking in the mirror! We have a backwards mirror in the car so we can see him in the car seat and he just loves it! He smiles at it, coos...it's adorable. The mirror also has this sun that you can push and it sings songs and lights up...it's for sure his favorite thing. So I thought this might have something on it that he would like. Well, by the looks of it, he's not quite ready!

Yes, his feet dangle about 12 inches above the bottom!

Believe it or not, he's looking in the little mirror on the play center! Little narcissist!!

I mean...isn't he the absolute cutest!?!?!?!?

So, maybe he's not quite ready for the play center, but he sure is cute doing it!

When I was little, my dad called me Knuckelhead. Not exactally a compliment, but I loved it! He called my sister Ratched...like Nurse Ratched from "One Flew Over the Coocoo's Nest." Again not much of a compliment, but she loved it!

Jeff is really good about coming up with weird and random nicknames. For example, he likes to call Jack "Sussoms". And he likes to say it in a "southern accent". Who knows. Sometimes they stick, sometimes they last only for the moment, but for the past 9 weeks, Jack has been Sussoms. Usually I just go along with it, I've done my fair stealing Sussoms, but I kinda wanted my own nickname!

Have you ever read "Guess How Much I Love You"? It's the sweetest book about a mamma and baby bunny. Their names are Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare. So, I've decided on my nickname for Jack...Little Nut.

Ha! Ok, so Jack went for his 2 month check up on Friday. First of all, 2 months? It seems like it's been longer, but it also seems like we just brought him home! Crazy.

I'll gloss over the insurance snafu and the fact that my poor baby got his immunizations (those needles are not small...neither is the wail they produce!) and skip straight to the part where they measure and weigh my little one. First off, way to grow, Jack! Last time we went, which was a month ago, he was 21.75 inches long. This month? 23 inches long! Watch out! That puts him in the 75th percentile in length! He must get that from his Aunt Kat.

Then it's time to weigh him. Now, he's a skinny baby, I know that. When I try to put a Gap onesie on him, it snaps perfectly in length...and there's about 2 extra inches on each side of him for the width! So I know he's skinny. Well, the nurse weighs him and he's 9 lbs 6 oz. He was 8 lbs 13 oz at our last appointment. That's not a lot of weight gain in a month.

So the Dr comes in and talks to me about it and says I'm not producing enough milk and we need to start supplementing with formula to put some meat on this baby's bones. Ok, I'm fine with that. Give him an oz or 2 after I feed him. No big deal.

In the past 3 days, after my son has nursed for 20ish minutes, Jeff has been giving him a bottle. Um. A whole bottle. Like 5 or 6 ounces! OMG!! He should be eating between 4 and 6 oz TOTAL! What have I been doing to this poor child? Starving him? Good Lord. Poor baby.

No wonder nursing has become the biggest thorn in my side lately. He's been crying when I try to put him on, stops and starts about a million times, sounds like he's not swallowing...and I've been getting mad at him because I thought he was just being lazy! Now I know it's that there was no reward for all the trouble and frustration. He's crying out of frustration just like I am!

So I think we're on the way out of nursing. I tried, I tried. To no avail. So, alas, my son will soon become a formula fed baby. And I must confess, part of me is dancing a jig. I told Jeff, it's not worth it for me to frustrated with him 6 times a day and have Jack freaking out and throwing a fit each time, when he's not even getting half of what he needs. Oh, I'll pump for a little while longer, as much as I can. But for the sake of everyone involved, Jeff included, we've got to do something!

Part of me is happy. My baby's more well fed, he's gaining weight, he's full, I'm not starving him any more! But then the other part of me feels like I could have done more. What could I have done? I don't know. But in the end, it is what it is, and honestly, a bottle is a lot easier than the boob.

So we go back on Friday to see if he's gaining weight, which I'm sure he has. I'll be happy to have a healthy and some what chubby baby!

I'm constantly concerned that Jack's not getting enough to eat. He's not a happy feeder, usually is crying as I'm trying to get him to latch on and screaming and head bobbing ( doesn't that sound fun?) by the time he starts remembering that all he has to do is start sucking to get what he's looking for! Even once he's latched on, he squirms and sometimes wretches as he's feeding. Have I mentioned that I'm not in love with breastfeeding? :)

There is no evidence to support my concern, Jack's growing, gaining weight, (although he's just a long skinny baby and doesn't look like the other chunks that are his age) but I'm just concerned. Maybe all moms are. I don't know. I wish there was some type of gage on my boob that would make it so I could see how much he's getting.

Anyways, I decided that I needed to amp up my milk supply. There are a few ways to do this. You could power pump which means pump like crazy. I'm not a good pumper. Most of the time I end up with just an ounce or two after a 15 minute session. For those of you who don't know, that's not much, especially since Jack should be eating between 3-4 oz per feeding (again, wish I had that boob gage) so obviously, I'm not pumping up to par! So I didn't feel like power pumping.

People say to eat oatmeal, drink a beer...there are several things that are suggested! I've done it. There are some herbal supplements that you can take. Hadn't done that, so a few weeks ago I ordered some Fenugreek, which is supposed to do the trick. Got it in the mail last week and started taking it.

First of all, one of the side effects is that it makes you smell like maple syrup. And sweat. So, basically, you look and smell like you're sweating maple syrup. Eew.

I've been taking it all week and did feel like my milk was increasing (or was it my imagination? I'll never know...) so yay!

Then Thursday and Friday roll around. Jack would not sleep. And I don't mean was just kinda cranky, I mean he was acting like he's downed a dozen shots of espresso. He was tired, I could tell! But he would....not....go....to....sleep. If anything he would sleep for about 30 minutes and then be back up and ready to party/cry. Not only did he not nap during the day, both nights between 11 and 3, he might have slept 30 minutes. Finally at 3 he fell asleep until 6. Thanks, Jack.

I didn't put 2 and 2 together, but my ultra paranoid husband did. Yesterday he just mentioned that maybe it was the Fenugreek. So I start doing some research. Um, sure enough, there were moms on many message boards that said the same thing!!! Really? Why oh why isn't that plastered over the whole entire bottle? The warning label should say, "Makes you sweat maple syrup and may make your baby act like he's on crack."

So, no more Fenugreek. Last night Jack slept ok, not the best ever, but much better than Thursday and Friday!!!! He's taken a few naps today, so I'm hoping we're on the upward swing of all of this! Oh, goodness, I hope so!!! Mamma needs her sleep!!!!

bottle.

So, until pretty much this week, I've been breastfeeding exclusively. In case you don't know, there's this pressure to put a lot of pride into your ability to breastfeed. It's kinda like before you have the baby, there's pressure to take pride in your ability to handle pain (or your psycho-ness) and have the baby "naturally" or with no meds. And while that's great for some people, a good friend reminded me right before I had Jack that having a baby naturally means you push him out! Not that you do it with no help from that adorable epidural needle. Anyhow, you can guess that I did not take pride in my ability to handle pain, and wanted to hug the epidural man with all might...but I was in the middle of a terrible contraction and couldn't! So I was in the "stab me in the back" group.

Breastfeeding is the same thing. There are entire organizations devoted to making you feel bad if you don't breastfeed your child until they can tell you they're hungry. Now, before you say anything, I know. I know breast milk is best, nothing can replace it, all the antibodies, etc. I know. And Jack's been doing great breastfeeding. In the beginning, we had a little trouble with latching on, so I've been using a nipple shield (it's like this nipple protector thing) which also helped with the excruciating pain that resulted in scabbing and made me cry when he would try to feed! But with the shield in place, he's been a champ.

One of my breasts is a much better milker than the other, which might be TMI...if so, quit reading now! In fact, if you look at me, I'm totally lopsided. Don't look at me. I called the lactation consultant (yes, they have those) and she said that's fine, no big deal.

Two weeks ago, we introduced Jack to a bottle so that we could have family babysit and go more than a 1.5 hour radius from the house. Well, he fell in love. With none other than the plastic bottle that gives that milk so much easier than mom's bossom. The night after the first bottle was terrible, resulting in a lot of crying, from both Jack and me...and probably Jeff, he just hides it well. Jack didn't want to work so hard to get his meals, and was screaming at the top of his lungs to let us know it! Now, Jack is not a crier. He cries when something's wrong, and even then, it takes him quite a while to get into a full fledged screaming cry! Something was definitely wrong...he wanted the bottle over his mamma! Oh my aching heart.

Now, I'm not in love with breastfeeding. I'm just not. It's great, I get to cuddle with the little guy, hold him close, and thinking that I am producing exactly what he needs is pretty great. But I am surely not a mom who will nurse until he's old enough to walk. It's the pressure of the pride that makes me want to do it! And that's a little shameful.

Anyways, this week, after Jack gets what mamma's made, he's screaming and wailing like he hasn't been fed in days. In fact, usually, before he even is off the boob, he's squirming around and grunting like he's trying to get water from a rock.

Enter formula. My doctor told me from my first visit, when Jack was 2 days old, don't feel bad about giving him a bottle. He said sometimes mamma needs a break! So from that perspective, I'm proud that I've waited this long. From the breast feeding camp, I can't believe he's only 5.5 weeks old and I'm giving him formula. But you know what, if it fills his little tummy and makes him happy, pride be gone! I'm giving that precious thing formula.

Last night he got 2 ounces of formula after his last day time feeding. Oh my goodness... you should have heard those grunts and toots that formula virgin tummy produced!!!!!!! All night long.

Just look at how precious he is! Imagine that sweet face screaming at you, right after you've fed him all you've got...and tell me you wouldn't resort to the bottle!!!

The weather is amazing right now. Warm enough during the day for jeans or shorts and a t-shirt, but a sweatshirt is a must once the sun goes down. The sun is shining, there's a cool breeze...one of the few days in Texas that actually feels like fall!!!

Yesterday evening was our first church picnic, and Jack's first picnic! I think he had fun, although the playground slide and jungle gym were a little over his head. I made homemade potato soup and beer bread, and sat with wonderful friends and had a great time! Jack was sporting his adorable outfit that Leah gave him. Everyone loved it! Just in case you can't tell, it says "I'm beary scary" on it! Eek! He's so cute!

He did sleep in his carseat for a while, but woke up once it was dinner time. I feel like 90% of the pictures we have of Jack are when he's sleeping...I promise he's awake sometimes!