One Month Old

Grayson, you are one month old today!  It has gone by very quickly but I've enjoyed getting to know you more every day.

Thankfully having a second child comes with a portion more of confidence, ease and perspective and one less of panic and anxiety because this new child of mine so far has a demeanor that would draw out the latter.  He has many oh so sweet moments but the poor guy has definitely had a rough first four weeks of life as his body adjusts to life outside the womb.  Not a smooth transition for any, unfortunately!

At one month old, Grayson you are:

• Eating every 3 hours around the clock, starting around 7:30am just before your sister gets up.
• Sometimes able to get yourself to sleep in your crib but you generally need to suck on something to help and then you wake every few minutes crying to suck, spit up, poop or for some other unknown reason.
• On the highest dose of Zantac a baby your size can stomach and you still seem very uncomfortable when you spit up, burp, lie down, or have to dirty your diaper.  We are about to start a new medicine for acid reflux to see if it is more effective for you.
• Have an insatiable need to suck and are rarely happy without a finger or pacifier in your mouth.  We are praying that soon you will find one of your own fingers to fill that need!
• Still fighting to stay awake for even a half hour or forty-five minutes after the start of a feeding.  Because you aren't sleeping well, you would much rather eat and use that to soothe yourself right back to sleep.
• Doing better at sleeping in your crib than you were two weeks ago.  You don't often stay asleep for long but at least I can put you in without you screaming at the sight of it.  You have transitioned to wanting more quiet when you sleep, you love your white noise machine, and don't sleep as well anymore in the swing or out in the middle of the action unless you're being held.
• Loving your daddy!  He definitely calms you down more than mommy does (with me you just want to eat) and you love staring at his face.
• Just outgrowing your newborn clothes, though you still manage to squeeze into NB size diapers.
• Growing like a weed and now weighing 9lbs 11oz.  You gained 2 lbs in the last 2 weeks!
• Nursing much better (sucking more strongly) than you were a few weeks ago but that has come at a price--the last few days you've been spitting up a ton!  We are hoping that's not a continued trend.  The good side of this is that feeding you is a relatively quick operation and you're done within 5-10 minutes.
• Still sleeping in the bassinet in our bedroom until you start sleeping through the night.  Hopefully that will be sooner than later but you haven't shown any signs of wanting to go longer than 3 hours in between feedings yet.

I am still averaging about 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night, a habit that my body has surprisingly gotten more used to over the last weeks.  When I am home by myself with both kids there is a lot of crying between our non-sleeper who I can't hold much of the time and our three-year-old who majors in negative attention getters these days.  Though I am secretly looking forward to a few months from now when things are hopefully running more smoothly, I am also soaking in the slow pace, the newborn size and smell, and the little victories that are awarded when I manage to get both kids happy or sleeping at the same time.

Grayson, despite the energy you require, you manage to steal my heart every time I look at your handsome little face.  No matter how tired or frazzled I get, I am still overwhelmed with love for you and can't wait to see how you grow and change and how you change me.