Friday, June 1, 2012

6 Weeks Postpartum


My Patriotic Baby at 5 Weeks Old on Memorial Day
Chase being sweet to his baby "broller" 
 Kristen Clay's sweet daughter Addyson May (3 months old) and Gabe (1 month old)
 Chase leaning up against the tent during his first backyard camping experience with Tim over Memorial Day weekend.  This was solely Tim's idea and I thought it was sweet for them to have this bonding experience together. Gabe and I enjoyed sleeping in the cool house while they enjoyed the hot, sticky weather outside : )

Love the pouty face in this picture

Here we are at 6 weeks postpartum.  I saw Dr. Kathy O'Connell yesterday for a check-up.  My body is back to "normal," although I think every pregnancy leaves its marks on a woman one way or another.  I'm still 4 pounds shy of my pre-pregnancy weight, but overall, I'm healthy and on the right track. I've been cleared to return to work beginning Monday, June 4th....but, I decided 6 weeks wasn't long enough so I'm taking off one more week.  The feeling of dread of returning to work has already set in for me mentally.  Fortunately, my dear mother and grandmother will be sharing the duties of watching both boys while Tim and I work, which gives me peace of mind.  I know I've said this before, but I can't stress enough just how thankful I am to have family to be the utmost childcare providers for my boys.  God has been so good in meeting my needs as far as childcare goes. 

Gabriel is sleeping for longer stretches on some nights, and I'm praying we're headed towards a consistent sleeping pattern now that I'm down to just one last week off from work.  It's not going to be easy getting a 3-year old, newborn, and myself ready in the morning before going to work an 8-hour day on 5-6 hours of broken sleep.  Getting ready for work will involve nursing and pumping; and, there will be more pumping to be done while at work.  Breastfeeding is still going well, and I hope to continue to do it for a few more months if my body will allow it.  I was able to make it through 6 months with Chase before my milk supply dried up so I'm hoping to do the same with Gabe.  Gabe hasn't had any formula up to this point and he won't even take a pacifier.  There are pros and cons to the pacifier situation: obviously, the biggest pro is that I won't have to worry about weening him off of a pacifier if he never takes it; however, the con is that when Gabe gets fussy he wants to nurse constantly instead of taking a pacifier.  Unfortunately, Gabe's fussiness has increased over the past few weeks.  He reminds me a lot of Chase as a baby with the gassy/colic spells.  Once he works through the gas, he's content again.  I try to watch what I eat and use all of the over the counter "remedies" such as gas drops and gripe water, but none seem to help but so much.  Thankfully, this is just a short lived period of time for babies and Gabe is consolable when he gets fussy; walks in the stroller and car rides seem to do the trick better than anything else.

As mentioned in my last posting, Gabriel is well over 10 pounds now and he's already outgrown newborn diapers and clothes. We've moved on to 3 month clothing and size 1 diapers.  Chase, on the other hand, only needs diapers at nights now.  I've worked with him diligently (and so have Tim and my grandmother) to get him potty trained and I'm proud to say that he's getting the hang of it and doing quite well....which leads me to my next point.  Now that he's potty trained for the most part, he can begin K3 preschool in the fall.  I registered him at Faith Outreach Education Center (FOEC) earlier this week and I'm so excited for him to start attending a Christian program that will not only teach him the normal K3 fundamentals, but introduce him to more Christian principals. Chase will also attend some of the fun summer activities FOEC has going on June through August.  This will be great for him as well as my mom and grandma as it will give them a break from having both boys at the same time all summer.  So again, I'm super excited for this opportunity and praying Chase will fit in well at FOEC.

The main goal for the next week is for me to soak up every last moment I can with Chase and Gabe before I return to work on June 11th.  I have no idea when I'll have the chance to update the blog again after returning to work, but I'm sure Tim and I will both post intermittently on Facebook.  Until then, enjoy kicking off your summer!

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