6 weeks

Mason is 6 weeks today...which just blows my mind. It feels like Mason has always been here. It also marks the half way point of my maternity leave...which makes me incredibly sad. I always thought I'd be ready to go back and have no desire to be a SAHM...but I definitely underestimated how madly in love I would fall with my little boy and how hard it is going to be to be away from him. My heart aches just leaving him for an hour or two, just to run errands or to get out and about by myself. So my only option is to win the lottery now...come on powerball!! :)

I made the mistake of looking back at photos from the hospital and first few weeks home...it made me cry, seriously my little 5lb munchkin has turned into a 8-9 lb chunky monkey! I can't believe how fast he's gained and grown from that September night. And I used to stress if he was eating enough, HA! I think I can lay that worry to rest now :) I've also had to put some of the clothes he's outgrown into storage in the basement (including his going home outfit)...so hard to see clothes he used to drown in now not button or fit. We've also upgraded to the yellow GMD cloth diapers over the weekend...they are still quite big on him but the orange (newborn size) was getting to be tight around the waist and hard to get on a squirming baby. I teared up washing those for the last time and putting those into the bin as well :(

Breastfeeding is going so much better...and we survived our first feeding last night without the boppy (I forgot to bring it when we were out). Most of the pain I was feeling has passed and now the art of pumping and building a supply for daycare begins. Joe and I are hoping to go out for a bit on Saturday night without him, so we're experimenting with how much he's been eating and increasing my supply. It will be the first time we both leave him at the same time...and the first time for me being away for more than 1.5 hours. Wish us luck...I know I won't stop thinking and worrying about him and won't entirely enjoy myself...but it will be good for us to get out and have some "us" time.

Mason has his good nights and bad nights...some nights I've been up from 11-4 with him with no sleep...others are like last night with 5 hour and 3.5 hour stretches between feedings and diaper changes. We've found that swaddling and turning the heat down tends to help too.

I think I have his cries figured out for the most part too...I know the hunger and pain cries for sure! He also loves to smile at me when I talk to him...he sure loves to stare up at his momma, which I never get enough of. I'm trying to treasure every snuggle and take every moment in and sear it into my memory, I know the time when all he wants to do is play and his snuggles will be far and few between...will sadly be here before I know it.

Otherwise, life is pretty good here at the P residence...it really can't get any better than this, we both love being parents...I truly believe I was put on this earth to be his momma...I never really believed how your instincts just kick in...but they really do! A lot of this has just come natural for me, which relieves so much of the stress I felt before he was born.

And now for our week in pictures...

 Happy Halloween!!

 Pretty sure she hated me that day...

 My 2 little punkins!

one month!

Mason is a month old already...so hard to believe how fast this past month has gone! We can't imagine our lives without him. It's crazy how fast he became our new normal :) He is starting to be awake a lot more and staring up at us when we hold him, although he's more fascinated with a light or window then us sometimes...he also is realizing when we aren't holding him and screams bloody murder...we've had a rough few nights lately with him waking up 10 minutes after we put him in his crib...usually after 2-3am, he finally stops fighting it and gives in...so we get a fews hours of uninterupted shut eye.

And now for our 4th week in pictures...

newborn pictures

We made our first adventure out of the house (aside from the few times we went to the doctor for weight and bilirubin checks) that was longer than an hour for Mason's newborn pictures. We headed to Hopkins so we could use our photographer's studio and props...she did an amazing job, we LOVE the pictures we got...I'm SO glad we did this...it's been almost 2 weeks and he's grown so much and changed since then. It was worth every penny and recommend doing a newborn session.

He did so well...I fed him right when we got there, to keep him sleepy. She also had a space heater in the room, so once he was fat and happy, the heat pretty much knocked him out....for about 45 minutes, then he started to wake and fuss...although the pictures she captured of him crying are still cute as heck :)

Enjoy!

Pictures c/o of Pixel Dust Photography

3 weeks

I can't believe Mason is 3 weeks already! We are all doing well...he is still sleeping for 3-3.5 hour stretches at night...we have some good feedings and then some cluster feedings during the day...hoping to get more normal feedings in the next few weeks so I can actually get stuff done around the house and not feel like he's permanently attached to me all day.

We have officially gone cloth as of yesterday...his nasty rash finally cleared up after we went to the pediatrician and she recommended a corn starch and maalox paste...and it seriously worked like a charm! I'm so glad to be on cloth diapers now...because holy crap, diapers are expensive!! He also weighed in at 6lbs 4oz...so my constant irrational fear that he's not eating enough has gone away some...I'm such a number person, it just drives me crazy that I have no idea how many ounces he is eating at each feeding...but I'm slowly learning to trust my body and that it knows what it is doing.

Mason likes to pee during diaper changes...I've been peed on more times than I can count in the past 3 weeks...but I can now add being pooped on to the list. After bath time, I was holding him wrapped in a towel...and all of a sudden, I heard one of the biggest farts...sure enough, he had pooped through his towel and through both tank tops I had on. Thankfully it wasn't a "mother load"...that is what we call the big ones in this house...it was just a "hershey squirt" :)

We had our newborn session last week, which I will blog about in a separate post later this week...but he did awesome.  We had about 45 minutes of him sleeping...then he started to get sick of being posed and started to wake up and fuss...but we couldn't be more happy with how they turned out, our photographer rocked!

And now for our week in pictures :)

Mason had his first bottle..we had a few difficult feedings of him not eating much and then I had to pump...and of course 15 minutes later, he was hungry so Joe was able to feed him. He loved the Dr Brown bottle, so hopefully we found one that works!

Then my parents and brother came to visit over the weekend!

Snuggling with mom after a bedtime feeding...

 I'm getting bigger!

Updates to the nursery...we finally got the finishing touches and things hung on the wall!