10 Weeks

Sam laughed out loud yesterday.  It was the most amazing sound I've ever heard.

Dear Blog,

I have missed you.  But I am starting to feel like myself again and think we might be able to resume our relationship.  Our Little Rascal is doing well and seems to be establishing a routine of sorts.  This is good news for everyone.  I am still mourning the loss of sleep, but everything else is looking up.

More soon...

Xoxo,
Slapdash

The Feeding

I am basically feeding my child ALL OF THE TIME.

Or so it seems.  I've never been all that efficient in general, but I never imagined that it would take one hour to complete each feeding.  The process starts with Sam really wanting to eat but getting so over excited that he can't latch (according to What to Expect The First Year, he fits in the "Excited Ineffective" feeder category).

After ten minutes of attempting to latch, Sam is finally on the boob.  If it's the right boob, he'll eat for 10 to 15 minutes straight.  If it's the left (dubbed "The Evil Boob" by Dave), then he'll get on and off again every three minutes for the entire feeding and suck in all kinds of air.

By the time he gets through this first stage on either boob, he's exhausted and asleep, but not quite full.  So, I attempt to burp him for five minutes -- usually unsuccessfully -- and then have to change a diaper, rub his feet, move him around, and burp again until he's awake enough to start this all again on the other boob.  Then, just when you think he's done eating and should be full, sometimes he'll cry again nonstop and loudly.

And yesterday she spit up three entire meals.  Which made me really sad.

So, tomorrow we're meeting with the lactation consultant.  Signs point to a possible overabundance of milk on my part and gassiness in Sam.  Someone named Heather is going to help me sort this out.

On the plus side, Sam's gaining plenty of weight and sleeps like a champion.  And he's darn cute.

 

Samuel Quinn

What an amazing week. I'm am so overwhelmed with love and joy and a healthy dose of worry these days that I can't even write this sentence without crying. Samuel Quinn is just perfect. We're so happy he's home and healthy that I've almost forgotten about the whole emergency C-section thing already. I'll save that story for another day.

It's Time

I didn't join the digital literacy blogging challenge that started in late November.  I probably should have because some excellent blogging has come out of it.  Like this.  And this.  It's been a really busy time of the year for me, though, and I think I made the right decision.

I other news, I am in my 40th week of pregnancy.  It's been a good 9 months overall.  Maybe too good. This little guy seems perfectly content in my belly with little indication that he'll be arriving soon.  We're hoping this low pressure weather system will change things up a bit.  Even Dave, the resident scientist at our house, is putting some of his hope into this bit of folklore.

We'd like to meet this baby soon.  From what we know of him so far, we're going to like him a lot.

2011 will be an adventure.

Two Days

It's hard to believe this little guy is going to arrive in a couple of weeks -- or sooner.

Thursday at my appointment, my OB said that things were "thinning," but otherwise still closed tight.  She followed with, "I'd say you have at least two days."

In retrospect, she was smiling when she said this and seemed to be joking.  She and Dave both got the joke and chuckled.  Me?  I shouted, "TWO DAYS?  TWO DAYS?"

My OB touched my arm and answered calmly, "Or longer.  I really have no way to predict these things."

I consider myself to be someone with a good sense of  humor, but I haven't been able to pick up on a single OB joke for 9 months.   

Sweet Baby Grey

This is my nephew, Greysen.  He came to visit us this weekend.

I miss him terribly now.

Blogging Is Not So Hard

Since I should be writing every day anyway, why not squeeze in some short blog posts as well?  

Here's Dave painting the office.  I was in charge of pictures, so I couldn't help him.  Obviously.

 It's hard to tell here, but we switched the color of the room during day two of this project.  The first blue was just too blue for us.

Once the room was painted, we were ready to start assembling furniture.  Here I am getting ready for the project by flexing.

 I actually did help with the crib.  I like tools.

The office is now a nursery!  We LOVE this rocker.

I also really, really love this rug.  So calming.

That's the Complete Works of William Shakespeare on the middle shelf.  Dave got to keep Stan the medical skeleton in the room so I added this to balance things out.