One Month Old!

Charlie is already one month old!  He's doing well -- eating and growing.  We are lucky to have a nurse from the health department come to visit us to check on Charlie.  At first she was coming every week but now she's visiting every two weeks.  She weighs him and checks his blood oxygen levels and answers any questions we have.  It's really reassuring to have her come and check on Charlie.  When he gets a little older, the nurse will be able to evaluate him to see if he is in need of any extra help with his development.   

Charlie and I are doing our best to get on a schedule but we haven't quite found our groove yet!  He's eating 7 or 8 times a day and sleeps a majority of the day...he might be a night owl like his momma!  Early in the morning and then again later in the afternoon and evening, he's more awake and alert.  Although I'd like for him to get on more of a day/night schedule, his current pattern has him awake when Andy is home, so that part is nice.

Charlie enjoys being on his tummy and tries to push himself up with his legs and feet.

When he's awake, he loves sitting in his Boppy and looking around the room and find the sun shining through the windows or the light reflecting on the walls.  He loves his baths, hates being cold and when you make him stop eating to burp.  Charlie really seems to want to nurse but we need a little help getting coordinated and dealing with some habits he's picked up from bottle feeding, so we're hoping the nurse can help us with that during her visit on Monday.  In the past few days, he's really shown an interest in breastfeeding and this is a huge change and gives me hope that it might still happen!  We were told once he was closer to his due date, he would develop the mental organization needed to nurse and that seems to be true.  In the meantime, I'm continuing to pump breast milk for him -- it's tiring and I'd love to be done with full-time pumping so fingers are crossed. 

Shadow is doing really well as big sister.  She is gentle with Charlie and is very protective.  Since we don't have any company right now, she's back to sleeping in "her" room but wakes up and comes to find Charlie every time he wakes up at night.  Once she sees that I'm taking care of him, she either curls up at the end of our bed or goes back to her room.  It's really cute.  She also likes to lay next to him when he's on the floor.  Andy is trying to continue going on weekend hikes with her so she gets out for some exercise and one-on-one time since she's quickly realizing she has to wait until Charlie is taken care of before she gets what she wants!

Andy seems to really love being a dad...and he's a good one!  He gets up with Charlie for his early morning feeding before he goes to work and they like to snuggle in the evening.  Andy has been reading to Charlie every day...I caught him reading an article to him about quantum mechanics the other day.  When I raised my eyebrows at him, Andy reminded me that it doesn't matter what he reads to Charlie as long as he reads to him!       

I'm loving mommyhood and feel like I'm adjusting pretty well.  Andy helps out a ton by handling that early feeding for me and lets me sleep as much I need on the weekends.  He always offers to help me during the night, too, but since he has to go to work, I try to handle the middle of night feeds on my own.  There have been a few times though that he must be able to tell how tired I am and he just tells me he'll be getting up to help me.  By the time I feed Charlie and pump for his next feeding, it can be an hour and a half process so having the help really cuts down on my awake time.  Between the morning feedings when Charlie is napping, I try to catch up on the laundry and dishes (every thing else currently being neglected!) and then between afternoon feedings, I try to nap.  I've been trying to get out of the house once or twice a week - usually just to grab groceries or run other errands but it's good to get out.  Once Charlie is a little older and stronger, I'm sure we'll be out and about more but for right now, I just want to keep the germs away as much as we can and prefer to leave him home with Andy instead of take him out.

Thanks for all of the well-wishes, calls, emails and gifts for Charlie.  We are so lucky to have such loving and generous family and friends.