One Month Old

I am a bit late on this post as I was trying to get it out on Tuesday, which was the actual day that Jacob turned one month old. Unfortunately, life with an infant has not afforded me a lot of time to blog (except late at night when I am usually super tired). I guess it is "better late than never"!

It is hard to believe that Jacob turned one month old this week. It has been such a wonderful month and I can't imagine my life without him now. Everyone says that your life is never the same once you have a child and now I know what they mean. It has not always been easy, but I have never once wished to go back to the days before he was born. He is a true miracle and I am so blessed to be his mommy.

Here are a few things to document how Jacob is doing:

Sleeping - he is a good sleeper for the most part. We started putting him in his crib to sleep from Day 1 and he does pretty well in it. Even for naps during the day, I try to get him to sleep in his crib. If he gets fussy or doesn't seem to want to go to sleep, I will put him in the bouncy seat and often he will fall asleep. When he is in the crib, he always sleeps in a sleep sack and we swaddle him 99% of the time. We have one of the Sleep Sack Swaddlers and that has worked really well. Lately (the past few days), he has fought me when I tried to swaddle him (he likes to have his arms out and above his head) so I have not used the swaddle. Sometimes I swaddle him and he fights one or both of his arms out and I find him like this:

Regarding his sleep schedule, it changes every day. Some days he is awake more and some days he seems more sleepy. Generally he has been good about going to sleep after his night feedings, but a few nights he has decided to be wide awake at 3am after he is done eating. He wasn't fussy, just wide awake and when I tried to put him in the crib, he would cry. Those nights were hard but hopefully there won't be too many more of those. The past two nights he has gone to sleep right away after his feedings and he has slept for 4 hours straight each time. This means more sleep for Jacob and me! I hope this trend continues!

Eating - as I said in this post, breastfeeding has gone really well for me. I have been really blessed to have had a good experience so far and it seems to be getting easier every day. He latches on well and drinks for about 10 mintues from each side every feeding. There are certainly somedays (like today) when he seems to be a little fussier than normal and his eating habits are a little off, but for the most part, he is on a good 3 hour schedule during the day & 4-5 hours at night.

I have also been able to pump a handful of times when he hasn't eaten that much in a particular feeding. This means that I have some breastmilk stored in the freezer for those times when I may not be available to feed him. We have recently (this week) used some of this supply to try to get Jacob to use a bottle. I do not, by any means, plan on stopping with the breastfeeding (and I have to admit that it makes me sad to see him drink from a bottle), but I want to be sure that he is able to take a bottle in case there are times when I am not available or able to feed him myself. The experience was a little rough on the first night (and then again tonight he didn't want any part of it!), but last night he did very well and drank about 4 oz. from a bottle for Keith. We will continue to try the bottle (and possibly different kinds of nipples) until I am confident that he will not starve if I am away.

Other things to note:

• Jacob hates to be laying or sitting still, for the most part. If he is fussy, all you have to do is rock him or sway or jiggle him a little bit and he is happier.
• His neck is getting stronger and stronger every day. He is able to hold his head up for quite a long time. He loves to be on his stomach where he can stretch out his neck and look around.
• He is starting to smile, coo and laugh a lot more. I am not sure if the smiles and bursts of laughter are really gas or if he knows what he is doing. He most often exhibits these after he has eaten so it could definitely be gas (but I also read in one of my baby books that infants will smile and laugh when they are satisfied or comfortable, so that could be the reason too!)
• He is able to recognize voices and faces a lot better now. Until recently, he could not really focus on faces but now he will look me directly in the eyes (and I just melt!). He also moves his head in the direction of voices or noises such as the television. It is awesome to watch him taking it all in when he looks around with his eyes wide open!

Like I said, it has been an amazing month. I have certainly had my good and bad days, but mostly I have enjoyed every moment. I am excited to see what the future holds for Jacob and our little family.