Eli turned 4 months last Wednesday and he had his 4 months check up yesterday. He got his second round of shots and he was so brave!
Ever since I went back to work end of November, things have been different at home. Before I went back to work, I was very nervous about leaving Baby E with my MIL. I was worried that he wouldn't adjust well to this change and wouldn't sleep well. So before I went back to work, my MIL came for a few days to learn how to take care of Eli our way lol. I made Danny stay with her the whole day and show her how we take care of Eli. He made sure she understood his nap schedule and his routine. Then it was time for me to go back to work... I was a bit nervous the first week, but then when I see that both Eli and my MIL are adjusting so well.. I was just so happy to get my life back!
During a normal week day, Danny and I both get up around 5:30 - 6 am... I hop into the shower while Danny takes care of the dogs and warms up the bottle. Eli gets his first morning bottle with Danny at around 6am... then around 6:30 when I am all ready for work, I get to play with Eli for about 30 minutes when Danny gets ready. I then leave the house at around 7am and Danny stays with Baby E until my MIL arrives at 7:30am. I usually get home around 3:30pm.
We keep a detailed log of Eli's sleep, eat, and poop schedule. So when I come home, I can easily see how he has slept and ate the whole day and knows when to put him down for bedtime. Eli takes 3-4 naps during the day nowadays. His bedtime is usually around 6 - 6:30pm depending on when he wakes up from his last nap... some days he sleeps before 6pm and some days he sleeps a little later. Overall, he is such a happy and good baby. He is so easy going and it makes our life so much easier. He has been sleeping through the night since when he was 2.5 months old and it's really a blessing.
His naps are still irregular but one thing for sure is that he has at least one long nap a day. It's usually his first morning nap. We keep him on a schedule so his naps are more predictable. He goes down for his first morning nap at around 7:30am and gets up around 9:30am (sometimes later). He gets his second bottle at 10am... then he goes down for his second nap around 11:30am... after that, he eats at 2pm and has one or two more short afternoon naps. When I get home, he is usually napping. I manage to squeeze in a shower before he gets up at around 4pm and then it's play time for us :) I really enjoy spending the two hours with him each afternoon. At around 5pm each day, he either gets a bath (or we just washes his hands), lotion, in preparation for bedtime. He gets his last bottle at around 5:30pm and is usually out by 6:30pm.
I get my alone time after he goes to bed. Nowadays my MIL even washes the bottles for us so I don't even have to do baby dishes anymore! (Umma is the best hehe) Danny usually comes home around 7:30pm so I spend that hour usually lesson planning for the next day. He comes home, we eat dinner, watches a bit of TV and I'm usually out by 9:30pm (I know I am such a granny... but I get sooo tired these days!)
Every morning I wake up feeling very blessed because I get my sleep! haha. It's such a wonderful feeling knowing that when he goes down at night, he is down for good. I get to have my "me" time and my sleep.
Life is a bit hectic most of the time with Baby E... but I am much happier now that I am a working Mom. I love waking up every morning going to work. I love my job.
On weekends, it's always a bit busy. We have to take care of Baby E and run a bunch of errands. On top of that, I usually have to do plenty of lesson planning for the week. Sundays are always hectic because we have church. We are still adjusting to life with a baby but so far... it's going well. We try to have date nights every other Fridays. My sister has been so nice to babysit for us :) She usually comes around 6:30pm and we are usually back before 9pm to get her home.
People always ask- How's it like being a mom? My answer is usually... It's okay... lol.. I wonder if people expect me to say- "Oh it's wonderful being a new mom!".. or "I've never been happier!". I guess I can say that.. but that would be lying lol. Don't get me wrong- I love Eli and he makes me smile and laugh all the time... But it is SO. MUCH. WORK. being a new parent and there are new challenges every day.
One more week of work and then it's Christmas break! Now that I'm working again, I can look forward to vacation time! :)
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
12 Weeks Update
Our little Elijah will be 12 weeks this Sunday! Here are some of his updates:
Elijah is definitely more sociable now. He smiles and squeals all the time now! He laughed a few times before but it's hard to make him laugh haha maybe he just doesn't find me funny enough :( he is also getting much stronger. I try to do tummy time with him every day but he absolutely hates it. Once a while though, he doesn't mind as much and I can see that he can hold himself up much better. He also found his fists and constantly sucks on them. The best thing though, is that every time I go in to get him from his nap or in the morning, he would reward me with this giant toothless smile... sometimes he would get so excited that he may even squeal :) He also demands attention nowadays. When left in his bouncer or rocker for too long... he would get unhappy and demands attention from us. I guess he realize we are much more fun than those hanging toys.
His daytime nap has been getting better. As soon as I notice that he is getting quiet (usually an hour and 15 minutes after he has woken up from his last nap), I would swaddle him, put him in his crib, turn the white noise on and leave the room. Most of the time, he would just fall asleep on his own without any fussing.Yay!
He definitely is developing his first morning nap. I can usually count on an hour and half of morning nap. Some days where he is really sleepy, he would sleep for 3 hours! After his first morning nap though, the rest of the day is unpredictable. On a good day, he will have 2 more naps of an hour each and then it will be his bedtime. On a bad day, he will catnap for the rest of the day (20 min - 40 min) until his bedtime. He has also been fighting his bedtime this week. Eli has always been easy to put down for his nighttime sleep. But this week was different. He would protest for over an hour each night! We usually start our bedtime routine at 6ish and his bedtime would be around 6:30 to 7:15 depending on the day. But this whole week he would protest as soon as we put him down all the way until 8pm when he is exhausted from all that crying and fussing. Except today. Today was different. After reading some more books and getting advices from other mommy friends, I decided to push his bedtime earlier thinking he may be too exhausted to sleep at his regular bedtime. So today, he woke up from his last nap at 4:50pm, I quickly warmed up the room and gave him a bath at 5:20, gave him his bottle at 5:30 and he was all ready to go to bed by 6pm. I put him down and he started to protest yet again. I left the room thinking maybe he will go to sleep soon. But no... he screamed for 10 minutes and he spitted up A LOT. So I rushed in to cleaned him up and unswaddled him. I felt terrible because he spitted up so much from all that crying. He stopped crying as soon as I got to him. I put him in his rocker, put on some music with the light dimmed. Left him to do some dishes. The plan was to feed him again at 7:30pm and put him to bed at 8:00pm since he has been falling asleep at 8:00pm every night of this week after crying/fussing for an hour or more. After the dishes, I came into the room and just sat next to him on the glider and started to read my book (healthy sleeping habits, happy child, thanks Tina!).. he was just calmly sucking his fists and looking around the room. Then suddenly from the corner of my eye I saw him slowly closing his eyes! So immediately I swaddled him, placed him in his crib, turn on the white noise, and left the room. He fell asleep immediately and that was 7:00pm! I guess tomorrow, I'll try the same thing, I'll start bedtime routine early.. and just sit with him until he starts to doze off (hopefully) :)
Also, Elijah has been sleeping through the night (hopefully will continue to)! He dropped his night time feeding all together and woke up this morning at 6:45am :) This past week he has been waking up past 5am to eat and this morning totally broke the record! This morning I woke up because Danny kept checking the monitor and I said to him that he doesn't have to worry because we will hear him fuss if he wakes up. He then said to me "I know... I am checking because it's already 6:30am... I have to get up in half an hour to get ready for work.." I was so shocked Eli lasted all the way till 6:45am and he didn't even wake up crying! He woke up and he was happily cooing :)
I can't believe I am going back to work in 3 weeks! It's a bit stressful to even think about going back to work. Mainly because it's going to be so hard leaving Eli during the day. I am going to worry about his sleep! But it's for the best. Afterall, I love my job and I simply can't stand being a stay at home mom. It will surely drive me crazy. Plus, I think I will miss Eli sooo much that our time together will be so much more enjoyable.
Anyhow, it's Friday night and how are we spending it? Danny is bringing home Chipotle and mini cupcakes from Baked By Melissa! We are going to just watch a movie and enjoy some yummy food tonight ;) Oh life with a newborn....
Elijah is definitely more sociable now. He smiles and squeals all the time now! He laughed a few times before but it's hard to make him laugh haha maybe he just doesn't find me funny enough :( he is also getting much stronger. I try to do tummy time with him every day but he absolutely hates it. Once a while though, he doesn't mind as much and I can see that he can hold himself up much better. He also found his fists and constantly sucks on them. The best thing though, is that every time I go in to get him from his nap or in the morning, he would reward me with this giant toothless smile... sometimes he would get so excited that he may even squeal :) He also demands attention nowadays. When left in his bouncer or rocker for too long... he would get unhappy and demands attention from us. I guess he realize we are much more fun than those hanging toys.
His daytime nap has been getting better. As soon as I notice that he is getting quiet (usually an hour and 15 minutes after he has woken up from his last nap), I would swaddle him, put him in his crib, turn the white noise on and leave the room. Most of the time, he would just fall asleep on his own without any fussing.Yay!
He definitely is developing his first morning nap. I can usually count on an hour and half of morning nap. Some days where he is really sleepy, he would sleep for 3 hours! After his first morning nap though, the rest of the day is unpredictable. On a good day, he will have 2 more naps of an hour each and then it will be his bedtime. On a bad day, he will catnap for the rest of the day (20 min - 40 min) until his bedtime. He has also been fighting his bedtime this week. Eli has always been easy to put down for his nighttime sleep. But this week was different. He would protest for over an hour each night! We usually start our bedtime routine at 6ish and his bedtime would be around 6:30 to 7:15 depending on the day. But this whole week he would protest as soon as we put him down all the way until 8pm when he is exhausted from all that crying and fussing. Except today. Today was different. After reading some more books and getting advices from other mommy friends, I decided to push his bedtime earlier thinking he may be too exhausted to sleep at his regular bedtime. So today, he woke up from his last nap at 4:50pm, I quickly warmed up the room and gave him a bath at 5:20, gave him his bottle at 5:30 and he was all ready to go to bed by 6pm. I put him down and he started to protest yet again. I left the room thinking maybe he will go to sleep soon. But no... he screamed for 10 minutes and he spitted up A LOT. So I rushed in to cleaned him up and unswaddled him. I felt terrible because he spitted up so much from all that crying. He stopped crying as soon as I got to him. I put him in his rocker, put on some music with the light dimmed. Left him to do some dishes. The plan was to feed him again at 7:30pm and put him to bed at 8:00pm since he has been falling asleep at 8:00pm every night of this week after crying/fussing for an hour or more. After the dishes, I came into the room and just sat next to him on the glider and started to read my book (healthy sleeping habits, happy child, thanks Tina!).. he was just calmly sucking his fists and looking around the room. Then suddenly from the corner of my eye I saw him slowly closing his eyes! So immediately I swaddled him, placed him in his crib, turn on the white noise, and left the room. He fell asleep immediately and that was 7:00pm! I guess tomorrow, I'll try the same thing, I'll start bedtime routine early.. and just sit with him until he starts to doze off (hopefully) :)
Also, Elijah has been sleeping through the night (hopefully will continue to)! He dropped his night time feeding all together and woke up this morning at 6:45am :) This past week he has been waking up past 5am to eat and this morning totally broke the record! This morning I woke up because Danny kept checking the monitor and I said to him that he doesn't have to worry because we will hear him fuss if he wakes up. He then said to me "I know... I am checking because it's already 6:30am... I have to get up in half an hour to get ready for work.." I was so shocked Eli lasted all the way till 6:45am and he didn't even wake up crying! He woke up and he was happily cooing :)
I can't believe I am going back to work in 3 weeks! It's a bit stressful to even think about going back to work. Mainly because it's going to be so hard leaving Eli during the day. I am going to worry about his sleep! But it's for the best. Afterall, I love my job and I simply can't stand being a stay at home mom. It will surely drive me crazy. Plus, I think I will miss Eli sooo much that our time together will be so much more enjoyable.
Anyhow, it's Friday night and how are we spending it? Danny is bringing home Chipotle and mini cupcakes from Baked By Melissa! We are going to just watch a movie and enjoy some yummy food tonight ;) Oh life with a newborn....
Monday, October 17, 2011
2 Months Update
2 Months Vaccinations
Eli turned 9 weeks yesterday! He had his 2 months vaccinations on Saturday. He was very brave- only cried for a little bit when the doctor was giving him the shots. He seems to like the grape flavor oral vaccine because right after the doctor gave that to him, he stopped crying. We are so very proud of him! :) He didn't have any negative reaction from the vaccines either. He was extra tired and sleepy for the rest of the day and night so he slept a lot.
Play
Eli loves it when I read to him. He looks at the pictures and he talks back and it's like he knows exactly what I'm talking about! He is a chatterbox that's for sure.
Feeding
Eli has always been a slow eater. As a newborn, it would take him on average 40 minutes to finish his bottle. When he is really hungry, he would finish it within 30 minutes. He also spits up a lot so we don't mind him eating so slowly since it's suppose to help with his spit ups. We used playtex drop-ins because it's supposed to help with spit up. Also, their slow flow is VERY SLOW... so as a newborn, we noticed significant improvement in terms of spit ups when we used Playtex.
This past week though, he has been extremely fussy and unhappy during his feedings. He just seems angry when he eats! Because of his fussiness, it takes him at least 45 minutes (sometimes up to an hr) to finish his bottle because he would drink a little and then he would stop to express his anger lol. After talking to a mommy friend, she said her baby (same age as Eli) takes only 10 minutes per feeding! He is on the medium flow right now. So I decided to give playtex medium flow a try on Saturday morning. Turns out that the medium flow is way too fast for our little Eli. As he was eating, there was milk dripping out of his mouth lol. Frustrated from the hour long feedings, we decided to try using other bottles/nipples because other brand nipples' slow flow (level 1) is still going to be faster than playtex. We already have BornFree level 1 bottles at home so we decided to give that a try. Eli finished his feeding without fussing, at a record breaking speed of 20 minutes! Needless to say- we were over the moon. Now the challenge is... is he going to spit up? Turns out that he didn't have any excessive spit up either. So I did more research and decided on buying Dr. Brown's natural flow bottles. It's suppose to be best for spit ups and their level one nipple is very similar to BornFree so it's a good speed for him. The only down side is that there are many parts to this bottle and it takes a long time to wash. Eli has been using Dr. Brown (sometimes BornFree because Danny likes BornFree better- it's smaller and I think it's much cuter haha) and his feeding time is between 15 - 20 minutes! Thank goodness for that... because he eats 6x a day... I am saving myself and him a lot of time by switching nipples/bottles. Now he finishes eating within 20 minutes or so and the rest of his wake time he gets to play :)
Sleep
We moved Eli's bedtime from 7:30pm to 6:30pm because he seems to be overtired by the time we finish our bath and bedtime bottle. So far the new time is working out. He sleeps from 6:30pm all the way till 1am ish for a bottle and then usually wakes up around 4am for a diaper change and wake up around 6am for his morning bottle. I do sneak in a diaper change around 10pm or so before we head to bed so he is comfy and dry (and so we can snooze a little longer). He is usually dead asleep and won't even notice.
His daytime naps are still inconsistent. Some days he would have long naps (1 - 2hrs)... while other days he would catnap all day (20 - 40 mins). He usually takes 4 naps a day (2 morning naps and 2 afternoon naps). If he doesn't sleep enough during the day, he gets extra cranky toward 5pm and it's really difficult to soothe him. Luckily, I know I get a break after 6:30pm because he almost always sleeps well at night. It's really nice to know, no matter how cranky and irritable he is, I know that I can give him a bath at 5:45pm, a bottle at 6pm, and by 6:30pm or so, he is down for the night and I can breathe.
Sleep Training
I've been reading up on sleep training for weeks now. Eli's daytime naps are just horrible. He gets so grumpy when he doesn't nap well. I've been doing everything I can to set up a nap time routine and put him down when he is sleepy but not overtired. Just as I think there is improvement, he would prove me wrong. It's quite frustrating. We plan on sleep training him at 12 weeks so when I go back to work/school after Thanksgiving (he will be 15 weeks by then), it will be easier for my in-laws to take care of Eli. It sucks to hear him cry and he is just so darn stubborn, but perhaps it's the only thing that will work.
Eli turned 9 weeks yesterday! He had his 2 months vaccinations on Saturday. He was very brave- only cried for a little bit when the doctor was giving him the shots. He seems to like the grape flavor oral vaccine because right after the doctor gave that to him, he stopped crying. We are so very proud of him! :) He didn't have any negative reaction from the vaccines either. He was extra tired and sleepy for the rest of the day and night so he slept a lot.
Play
Eli loves it when I read to him. He looks at the pictures and he talks back and it's like he knows exactly what I'm talking about! He is a chatterbox that's for sure.
Feeding
Eli has always been a slow eater. As a newborn, it would take him on average 40 minutes to finish his bottle. When he is really hungry, he would finish it within 30 minutes. He also spits up a lot so we don't mind him eating so slowly since it's suppose to help with his spit ups. We used playtex drop-ins because it's supposed to help with spit up. Also, their slow flow is VERY SLOW... so as a newborn, we noticed significant improvement in terms of spit ups when we used Playtex.
This past week though, he has been extremely fussy and unhappy during his feedings. He just seems angry when he eats! Because of his fussiness, it takes him at least 45 minutes (sometimes up to an hr) to finish his bottle because he would drink a little and then he would stop to express his anger lol. After talking to a mommy friend, she said her baby (same age as Eli) takes only 10 minutes per feeding! He is on the medium flow right now. So I decided to give playtex medium flow a try on Saturday morning. Turns out that the medium flow is way too fast for our little Eli. As he was eating, there was milk dripping out of his mouth lol. Frustrated from the hour long feedings, we decided to try using other bottles/nipples because other brand nipples' slow flow (level 1) is still going to be faster than playtex. We already have BornFree level 1 bottles at home so we decided to give that a try. Eli finished his feeding without fussing, at a record breaking speed of 20 minutes! Needless to say- we were over the moon. Now the challenge is... is he going to spit up? Turns out that he didn't have any excessive spit up either. So I did more research and decided on buying Dr. Brown's natural flow bottles. It's suppose to be best for spit ups and their level one nipple is very similar to BornFree so it's a good speed for him. The only down side is that there are many parts to this bottle and it takes a long time to wash. Eli has been using Dr. Brown (sometimes BornFree because Danny likes BornFree better- it's smaller and I think it's much cuter haha) and his feeding time is between 15 - 20 minutes! Thank goodness for that... because he eats 6x a day... I am saving myself and him a lot of time by switching nipples/bottles. Now he finishes eating within 20 minutes or so and the rest of his wake time he gets to play :)
Sleep
We moved Eli's bedtime from 7:30pm to 6:30pm because he seems to be overtired by the time we finish our bath and bedtime bottle. So far the new time is working out. He sleeps from 6:30pm all the way till 1am ish for a bottle and then usually wakes up around 4am for a diaper change and wake up around 6am for his morning bottle. I do sneak in a diaper change around 10pm or so before we head to bed so he is comfy and dry (and so we can snooze a little longer). He is usually dead asleep and won't even notice.
His daytime naps are still inconsistent. Some days he would have long naps (1 - 2hrs)... while other days he would catnap all day (20 - 40 mins). He usually takes 4 naps a day (2 morning naps and 2 afternoon naps). If he doesn't sleep enough during the day, he gets extra cranky toward 5pm and it's really difficult to soothe him. Luckily, I know I get a break after 6:30pm because he almost always sleeps well at night. It's really nice to know, no matter how cranky and irritable he is, I know that I can give him a bath at 5:45pm, a bottle at 6pm, and by 6:30pm or so, he is down for the night and I can breathe.
Sleep Training
I've been reading up on sleep training for weeks now. Eli's daytime naps are just horrible. He gets so grumpy when he doesn't nap well. I've been doing everything I can to set up a nap time routine and put him down when he is sleepy but not overtired. Just as I think there is improvement, he would prove me wrong. It's quite frustrating. We plan on sleep training him at 12 weeks so when I go back to work/school after Thanksgiving (he will be 15 weeks by then), it will be easier for my in-laws to take care of Eli. It sucks to hear him cry and he is just so darn stubborn, but perhaps it's the only thing that will work.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Sleeping Through The Night Soon?
Eli lasted 8 hours last night in between feedings! We've been having our bedtime routine at around 6 PM the past week... but we realized it's too early for him b/c he would wake up after 45 minutes thinking it was just a nap. But when we start our routine at around 7PM, he would sleep through fine. So we started our bedtime routine at 7 PM last night with a bath, lotion, bottle (7:30 PM), swaddle, white noise, a song... He fell asleep around 8 PM and started fussing at about 1:45 AM so I quickly changed his diaper... then he woke up crying at 3:15 AM to eat! That's almost 8 hours! We were so surprised and not sure what had happened. Usually he would only last 5 - 5 1/2 hours at night. Now the challenge is to get him to drop this 3 AM feeding. I wish he would either feed before midnight or in the morning.
Should I wake him up before midnight to feed? Or should I just let him naturally adjust himself as he gets older? Either way, we are super happy! We get to eat dinner peacefully and had some alone time together :)
Should I wake him up before midnight to feed? Or should I just let him naturally adjust himself as he gets older? Either way, we are super happy! We get to eat dinner peacefully and had some alone time together :)
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Life with a newborn
Phew! I haven't blogged for so long and it's because Eli is a handful to take care of lol
Doula
Our doula left three weeks ago and it's been a struggle without her. She was setting Eli up for failure by holding him 24/7 and rocking him to sleep. Eli wasn't even sleeping in his crib toward the end of her stay! We knew something has to be done so I asked her to leave early. Boy was it tough without her! We were so happy that she left but yet at the same time... things were so rough without an extra pair of hands around the house.
Night Time Sleep
Eli needed to be held constantly and we were both so sleep deprived and stressed. Slowly but surely though with some patience, he got better each day. Now we have our bed time routine and if we are lucky, he is in bed in his crib around 7 - 8 pm and he would feed every 5 hours at night and his wake time would be around 7 - 8 am.
Daytime Naps
Eli is a wonderful sleeper at night but he is a terrible napper during the day. At first, he would fall asleep in my arms and wake up wailing only a few minutes after I put him down in his crib. It drove me insane! I couldn't even eat during the day. But now, things are much better. I would go through our nap time routine (swaddle, white noise, a song, holding and soothing) and I would put him down in his crib sleepy but still awake... most of the time he would drift off to sleep on his own! It's happening more and more frequently. This is resulting in longer naps because when he wakes up from his nap prematurely, he is able to soothe himself back to sleep (half of the time anyway).
He used to only catnap (15 - 30 minutes) during the day but now... he would wake up 30 - 45 minutes into his nap, fuss at bit, then drift back to sleep on his own. I stare at the monitor like a hawk because I have to mark down his wake time so I know when to soothe him back to sleep for his next nap. Needless to say, taking care of a baby is a full time job. I can't really nap through out the day because as soon as he fusses and makes a sound, I have to see if he is waking up or he is going back to sleep. It's like he has a built in radar.. as soon as I start to fall asleep.. he would fuss and wake me up!
It is so draining to care for a newborn but luckily he is getting better each and every day. He will be 8 weeks old tomorrow and we can't wait till he drops his nighttime bottle. We are hoping that he would stretch it out for 6 hours between feedings this week... we'll see how that goes.
Feedings
Eli needs to feed every 3 hours or so during the day and 5 hours during nighttime. He eats about 5oz each time. He is a very slow eater though... on average it takes him 40 minutes to finish his feeding including all the burps etc. When he is REALLY hungry, he drinks it all in 20 minutes. He loves to fall asleep during feeding. We try to feed him when he first wake up so he is more alert and we've been trying our best to keep him awake since it's a bad habit to have... but it's just so darn hard to keep this baby awake when all he wants is sleep when he eats!
Play
Eli is definitely getting more and more fun when he is awake. He loves to smile, coo, and even attempts to talk back to you. It's really a lot of fun when he is awake. He loves his play matt and spends a lot of time on it playing by himself. He also likes his mobile a lot... when he wakes up in the morning I would catch him laughing at the mobile by himself haha
It's so hard caring for a newborn but we are slowly getting the hang of things and hoping all of us will adjust well eventually :)
Doula
Our doula left three weeks ago and it's been a struggle without her. She was setting Eli up for failure by holding him 24/7 and rocking him to sleep. Eli wasn't even sleeping in his crib toward the end of her stay! We knew something has to be done so I asked her to leave early. Boy was it tough without her! We were so happy that she left but yet at the same time... things were so rough without an extra pair of hands around the house.
Night Time Sleep
Eli needed to be held constantly and we were both so sleep deprived and stressed. Slowly but surely though with some patience, he got better each day. Now we have our bed time routine and if we are lucky, he is in bed in his crib around 7 - 8 pm and he would feed every 5 hours at night and his wake time would be around 7 - 8 am.
Daytime Naps
Eli is a wonderful sleeper at night but he is a terrible napper during the day. At first, he would fall asleep in my arms and wake up wailing only a few minutes after I put him down in his crib. It drove me insane! I couldn't even eat during the day. But now, things are much better. I would go through our nap time routine (swaddle, white noise, a song, holding and soothing) and I would put him down in his crib sleepy but still awake... most of the time he would drift off to sleep on his own! It's happening more and more frequently. This is resulting in longer naps because when he wakes up from his nap prematurely, he is able to soothe himself back to sleep (half of the time anyway).
He used to only catnap (15 - 30 minutes) during the day but now... he would wake up 30 - 45 minutes into his nap, fuss at bit, then drift back to sleep on his own. I stare at the monitor like a hawk because I have to mark down his wake time so I know when to soothe him back to sleep for his next nap. Needless to say, taking care of a baby is a full time job. I can't really nap through out the day because as soon as he fusses and makes a sound, I have to see if he is waking up or he is going back to sleep. It's like he has a built in radar.. as soon as I start to fall asleep.. he would fuss and wake me up!
It is so draining to care for a newborn but luckily he is getting better each and every day. He will be 8 weeks old tomorrow and we can't wait till he drops his nighttime bottle. We are hoping that he would stretch it out for 6 hours between feedings this week... we'll see how that goes.
Feedings
Eli needs to feed every 3 hours or so during the day and 5 hours during nighttime. He eats about 5oz each time. He is a very slow eater though... on average it takes him 40 minutes to finish his feeding including all the burps etc. When he is REALLY hungry, he drinks it all in 20 minutes. He loves to fall asleep during feeding. We try to feed him when he first wake up so he is more alert and we've been trying our best to keep him awake since it's a bad habit to have... but it's just so darn hard to keep this baby awake when all he wants is sleep when he eats!
Play
Eli is definitely getting more and more fun when he is awake. He loves to smile, coo, and even attempts to talk back to you. It's really a lot of fun when he is awake. He loves his play matt and spends a lot of time on it playing by himself. He also likes his mobile a lot... when he wakes up in the morning I would catch him laughing at the mobile by himself haha
It's so hard caring for a newborn but we are slowly getting the hang of things and hoping all of us will adjust well eventually :)
Thursday, September 1, 2011
My First Love
Ewok was my first love. He was my baby before little Eli. Things have been different since we came back from the hospital. We have to crate them whenever Eli is awake to make sure the pups don't get into his room and/or near him. When I take naps, I have to take them in the room with me and crate them. When they play with each other, we have to make sure they don't bark and/or growl too loud. I don't pet them as much anymore because I am afraid to get germs on Eli. When guests come over, they are not allowed to be out like they used to be. The only time they are really free is when Danny comes home from work. They seem to be doing alright but I feel really guilty.
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Week 2
Elijah Cole experienced his first hurricane yesterday and he is 2 weeks old today! :)
We went for our 2nd doctor's visit yesterday. Eli weights about 8lbs and 4oz now. He had slight jaundice last week but it's going away nicely... so we don't need to put him in the sun anymore. His belly button came off! Our doula asked if we want to keep it... it's still sitting on the changing table haha... we are not sure if we want to keep it still lol. He spits up a lot and seems to be very uncomfortable during feedings so Dr thinks he may have acid reflux (poor baby!) and suggested that we put 2 tsp of rice cereal in every 4 oz of milk when we feed him. This will thicken the milk and helps the milk stay in his tummy. We tried it yesterday and I think it's working. He doesn't arch his back anymore when we feed him and the doula said he spits up less. Eli also developed a diaper rash over the past few days :( doula blames it on my breast milk because breast fed babies poop a lot more than formula fed babies. So we are now taking a break from breast milk (I've just been freezing them) and giving him formula. It's been about 2 days he's only been on formula and I think we are going to give him breast milk today. His rash is getting better and hopefully it won't come back.
Breastfeeding- pretty much I'm a breastfeeding failure. He wouldn't latch on at all now. We think it's because he is used to bottle feeding. He has no patience to latch on and work for his food. He probably has nipple confusion too... sighs... Every time I try to breastfeed him he would cry hysterically and simply refuses... we are not sure what to do anymore...
Pumping- the good news is that I've been pumping and my milk supply has been increasing every day. A week ago, I was only pumping 11oz per day... getting about 1oz per session (2oz during my morning session). Now, I am pumping about 24 oz and getting about 2 - 4 oz per session depending on the time of the day and how much liquid I drank. I pump every 2 - 3 hours and I definitely notice a decrease in my supply when I stretch it longer than 3 hours. It's A LOT of work to pump 9 times a day. There are so many pumping parts to wash and pumping itself is so time consuming! I try to pump for 20 minutes each session and including getting the parts ready and cleaning up it takes about 30 minutes each session. With the doula here, she cleans and boils the parts but I can't imagine doing it all myself after she leaves. That's why I've been trying to get Eli to breastfeed but it's a total disaster.
Recovery- I still have a belly! lol I ordered belly bandit and it should arrive on Monday... I'm hoping it'll work hehe. My fingers are still swollen.. can you believe it? Good news is that my bleeding pretty much stopped this week. I'm recovery well and I feel normal. I am more tired than usual... perhaps it's all the middle of the night pumping sessions. I try to nap in between my pumping sessions during the day but it's hard since it's so time consuming. Everyone is telling me that I need to lie down during the day but it's really hard since I pump 9 times a day and I still have to get up when the doula needs help with the baby (i.e. when she is cooking).
Countdown- even though the doula is great for middle of the night feedings, we can't wait for her to leave! We can't wait to be able to do things the way we want and don't have to listen to her nag (Danny doesn't have to listen to her because she only speaks Chinese but he does have to deal with my bad mood afterwards lol) On our mac, we have this countdown app showing how many days till she leaves and as of today- 17 days :)
Community- I love Community! Danny downloaded all the episodes and we have been watching it during our down time :) My favorite character is Abed.
We went for our 2nd doctor's visit yesterday. Eli weights about 8lbs and 4oz now. He had slight jaundice last week but it's going away nicely... so we don't need to put him in the sun anymore. His belly button came off! Our doula asked if we want to keep it... it's still sitting on the changing table haha... we are not sure if we want to keep it still lol. He spits up a lot and seems to be very uncomfortable during feedings so Dr thinks he may have acid reflux (poor baby!) and suggested that we put 2 tsp of rice cereal in every 4 oz of milk when we feed him. This will thicken the milk and helps the milk stay in his tummy. We tried it yesterday and I think it's working. He doesn't arch his back anymore when we feed him and the doula said he spits up less. Eli also developed a diaper rash over the past few days :( doula blames it on my breast milk because breast fed babies poop a lot more than formula fed babies. So we are now taking a break from breast milk (I've just been freezing them) and giving him formula. It's been about 2 days he's only been on formula and I think we are going to give him breast milk today. His rash is getting better and hopefully it won't come back.
Breastfeeding- pretty much I'm a breastfeeding failure. He wouldn't latch on at all now. We think it's because he is used to bottle feeding. He has no patience to latch on and work for his food. He probably has nipple confusion too... sighs... Every time I try to breastfeed him he would cry hysterically and simply refuses... we are not sure what to do anymore...
Pumping- the good news is that I've been pumping and my milk supply has been increasing every day. A week ago, I was only pumping 11oz per day... getting about 1oz per session (2oz during my morning session). Now, I am pumping about 24 oz and getting about 2 - 4 oz per session depending on the time of the day and how much liquid I drank. I pump every 2 - 3 hours and I definitely notice a decrease in my supply when I stretch it longer than 3 hours. It's A LOT of work to pump 9 times a day. There are so many pumping parts to wash and pumping itself is so time consuming! I try to pump for 20 minutes each session and including getting the parts ready and cleaning up it takes about 30 minutes each session. With the doula here, she cleans and boils the parts but I can't imagine doing it all myself after she leaves. That's why I've been trying to get Eli to breastfeed but it's a total disaster.
Recovery- I still have a belly! lol I ordered belly bandit and it should arrive on Monday... I'm hoping it'll work hehe. My fingers are still swollen.. can you believe it? Good news is that my bleeding pretty much stopped this week. I'm recovery well and I feel normal. I am more tired than usual... perhaps it's all the middle of the night pumping sessions. I try to nap in between my pumping sessions during the day but it's hard since it's so time consuming. Everyone is telling me that I need to lie down during the day but it's really hard since I pump 9 times a day and I still have to get up when the doula needs help with the baby (i.e. when she is cooking).
Countdown- even though the doula is great for middle of the night feedings, we can't wait for her to leave! We can't wait to be able to do things the way we want and don't have to listen to her nag (Danny doesn't have to listen to her because she only speaks Chinese but he does have to deal with my bad mood afterwards lol) On our mac, we have this countdown app showing how many days till she leaves and as of today- 17 days :)
Community- I love Community! Danny downloaded all the episodes and we have been watching it during our down time :) My favorite character is Abed.
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