Back to work...

I have officially returned back to work. Yesterday, teachers reported back to school. On Monday, school starts. That's only if our school has the power turned on to the majority of our buildings and we pass inspection. A little part of me is praying that we don't and school is postponed a day or two. Yes, that will mean we'll have to tack on those days at the end. It also means that I can stay at home another day or two with Evan. I contemplated taking another two weeks off at the beginning of the school year to fulfill my 8 weeks of family leave. However, considering that the new FMLA paperwork arrived YESTERDAY and I'd have to get my doctor to complete it again, then have my principal approve the time off before being able to get a sub, and then have to plan for a sub. I just didn't think it was worth all the effort to then have to come back two weeks into the year and start over with my classroom management. I guess the one good thing about going back to work is that coming home is so much more exciting now that I have two handsome men waiting for me!

What's new?

Well, not too much really. It's been a while since I posted and I'll do my best to update today.

Went to my mother-in-law's house last Sunday to spend time with the family. Mara, my niece, really wanted to hold Evan and play with her brother. It's always nice going to spend time with Paul's family. I can't wait to see how the cousins interact with each other as they get older.



Monday was Evan's 1 month well-check. He now weighs 10 pounds and is 22 inches long. It made me realize that we will soon have to take the newborn insert out of his car seat. :(


Tuesday I met my friend Valerie at the mall. It was Evan's first time there. He didn't like it at the beginning, but after a diaper change and a feeding, he was happy as can be! (He was also asleep! Or it's that fact that I was getting a blizzard!)


Other than that, Paul and I are just enjoying our time with Evan. He's making more cooing sounds and some high pitched squeals every now and then.





We've purchased him a swing since he loves to rock back and forth. It beats having to swing the car seat around, but I'm not sure that he's warmed up to it quite yet. He screams when we put him in it as of now. I did catch a good picture of him sitting in the swing while he was calm.

Rub a dub dub...

Evan's in the tub!

Today was Evan's first "bathtub" bath. Fortunately for Paul and I, my sister was here to document the whole thing. I think if it were the two of us, it would have only stayed a memory in our minds!

One Month

Evan is one month old today!

#1. He's starting to develop a sleep/eating schedule. He's usually up around 7 am for two hours, then goes down for an hour or so after eating. Then he's up again wanting to eat some more. Around 11 or 11:30, he'll take another hour-ish nap. Time to eat again. Then he's down around 2:00 for a few hours. Once Paul gets home, he likes to eat but gets fussy and won't sleep for more than 10 minutes at a time until we put him down again around 10:00. As for the night, he's only getting up about 3 times until his 7:00 feeding. It's rather nice now that we're getting to sleep in longer chunks.

#2. Each day is a new day filled with many surprises. Yesterday, I think I used 4 diapers within 5 minutes time. I was changing Evan's diaper (#1) when he started spraying me. Poor guy even got his face! I used the diaper I was going to put on him to cover him up (#2) and it got wet. I got a new diaper (#3) to change him into. As I started buttoning up his outfit, I noticed that the strip on his diapers was blue, which means he went pee again. And poop. Hence, the need to change him yet again (#4).

#3. I've started pumping and we are now practicing to bottle feed. Well, at least Paul is practicing. Since I have to go back to work in a week and a half, I need to build up my supply so that Evan can eat while I'm away. Paul was able to get Evan to take a bottle last night. We'll be trying to do this at least once a day so that Evan can get used to it. I went into the other room while this happened and laid down on the bed. It was the first time in a month that I didn't have to feed Evan. Although it was a nice break, it felt strange not being there. I'm so glad that Paul was able to feed him though and get to spend that time with him (after the crying stopped).

#4. Evan is now making some cute cooing sounds. He does this high-pitched "ah" sound. It's adorable! I can't wait until he starts doing those more often and smiling at us.

#5. Evan seems to have become an extremely sensitive sleeper recently. There are many times that once we put him down, he starts crying within 5 minutes. (Like he's doing now, but fortunately, he went back to sleep.) Many times I'll just hold him since it's not worth the work of getting him back to sleep. (Besides, Happiest Baby On The Block says you can't spoil them in the first 3 months. Sounds good to me.)

So here it is, his one month chair picture...


His two week chair picture...

And the day he was born...

Four weeks!

Evan is four weeks old today! I'll post more when I do his "one month" post this weekend. Time has flown by thus far!!

Content

I love that Evan is (sometimes) content being awake in his bassinet after a nap. It's not often, but when it happens, it's for quite a bit of time. Just thought I'd post a video.

Sleep

After my post yesterday about Evan not sleeping much, we made a breakthrough! After nearly two hours of feeding/swaddling/blow drying/rocking/swinging/pacifying/crying (both mom and baby)...we finally got Evan to sleep! I just let decided to let him nurse laying down with me in bed and we both fell asleep...for SIX hours!! Whether or not you should or shouldn't co-sleep with your baby, it let both all three of us get some much needed sleep. Besides, after not having your baby sleep for more than about 10 minutes at a time from 4:30 pm till midnight, I'll do whatever it takes! Well, just not letting him "cry it out".