Sunday, March 21, 2010

Max is one month old tomorrow, March 22, 2010


Ok, seriously? He's a month old already?! Time is flying by too fast! In these pictures he is 3 1/2 weeks old. He's 10 lbs and you can tell by the picture that his abdomen is growing. I hope he's not embarrassed by the lack of clothes he's wearing in these pictures that show his cute belly button.

Today was my biggest day out since having the surgery. This morning we went to the beach. It was Max' second trip to the beach, but his first time to go out on the sand and watch daddy play volleyball. It was a successful adventure with Grandma and Grandpa there to help lift the stroller and carseat over the sand. It was great to be outside in the world, and we topped off the beautiful day with dinner at PF Chang's. Delicious!

My schedule is so much easier with the grandparents in town. We have a system where Grandma Madeline sneaks into our room and gets Max at 6am so I can sleep through a feeding. It is a nice treat even though I don't sleep too far past a feeding because I have to express milk. The past 24 hours was the best schedule yet. I slept from 4 - 10 pm last night. Then I got up, ate dinner, and wrote thank you notes. At that time everyone else went to sleep and I fed Max until 1:30 am. Then I went back to sleep until 3:30 am when Max was ready for more milk. I got back in bed at 5 am after feeding, changing, and telling Max how much I loved him. It took me until 7am to get back to sleep, and I didn't wake up again until 10 am to eat breakfast, pump milk, and go to the beach. That schedule would work for me every day because I got 10 hours of sleep. You would think I'd be completely rested and rejuvenated, but after weeks of sleep deprivation, that still isn't enough. But I'm not complaining because things are getting better every day.

While Marc's parents are in town, I am a little bit surprised at where Max is spending the majority of his time. He's always with Grandpa! Max prefers to sleep on Grandpa's left collar bone--not the right. He is extremely comfortable on that side and they are best buddies. Can you say spoiled? I hope Baby Max is content to just have me next week when the grandparents are gone. Hopefully he won't be disappointed that I have to put him down occasionally because I only have two arms.

The guys have all surprised me on so many levels. My dad and Marc's dad have both taken an incredible hands on approach. It is quite endearing to see the boys together like that. My dad worked the night shift; Marc's dad changes diapers with no problem; Marc never complains about cleaning up poopy diapers....Everyone has been fantastic. I guess you kind of expect the females to take over all of those duties, but the boys have really raised the bar. Even Uncle Scott helped change a diaper. He won't do it by himself, but he held the feet while I wiped the butt. We'll go ahead and give him an A for effort, or at least acting like he wanted to help.

Thank goodness I got a breast pump. If I didn't have a breast pump, I never would have slept for so long last night. I'm currently renting the Medela Lactina from The Pump Station. It retails for about $1100. I wish I could buy a used one for a discounted price. Especially if I have a second child, it would be nice to be able to own my own pump, and then when we are finished having kids we could sell the pump. I had a cheaper Medela Swing that retails for $150 and the quality is so much less than the hospital grade lactina. I wonder if I could convince Marc to get me the best pump or find someone to buy it from. If I breastfed for a year, I think it would more than pay for itself. If we were buying formula we'd probably spend a minimum of $100/month. So maybe it wouldn't be a frivolous buy to splurge on a breast pump. I would love that more than anything right now.

Uncle Scott is leaving for the airport now, so I need to say goodbye. Fortunately Madeline and Bernie are staying here until Sat. They are so much help and we are enjoying this special time together.

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