As a new mom......

I often wonder WHAT IN THE WORLD DID I DO WITH ALL MY FREE TIME before I had Wesley?! I didn't realize how much of a 24 hour a job it would be. I do enjoy being a mom but I kind of assumed I would still be able to do many of the things I did before I had a baby. You know like putting on make up, feeding the dogs or even just writing on this blog. It's a whole different world with a baby! It's so very worth it though. We went for a walk in the stroller this afternoon and he just wouldn't stop smiling at me, I tried to get some pictures and got one of him kind of smiling. He's really changed a ton in just the past week. He's cooing and "talking" to me all the time, it's so cute. I can't even imagine going back to my boring life without him. Having a baby really does change everything.

Don't Go Grandma!

I haven't updated little Wesley's blog in awhile because his Grandma has been visiting. She drove all the way from New Mexico and has been so wonderful since she arrived. That baby hasn't been out of her arms in three days which has in turn given my arms a much needed break (it's splendid). Unfortunately my new babysitter/ cook/ maid is leaving tomorrow..how sad. She will be missed. It has been nice having someone else to sit around the house and be a complete bum with. I guess it will just go back to me, the dogs and Wesley. I have added some new pictures this week. These are seven week old pictures of Wesley with my parents and Sean's Mom who is visiting. Also I have added one with little guy looking at himself in the mirror I propped up next to his changing table. This picture was taken right before the mirror fell over on his head. Thank God it was a foam mirror. Boy, talk about the calm before the storm! One of the first (but not last) "Horrible Mother Moments."

Goodbye Baby Blob!

Hello Mister Personality! It turns out that six weeks is the "magic" week. Wesley has turned from a little blob of screaming flesh into an expressive, happy baby. Earlier in the week he had his first smile. I think it was a smile anyways. His whole face seemed to smile, it was great. Makes it all worth while. And now he's cooing. It's so nice to hear something other than gas come out of him. I will attempt to take a picture of the smiling little man if I can. He's ultra serious so getting a smile while holding a camera will be difficult.

Cleanest House Ever!

We had a pretty rough patch today where little Wesley cried for a decent stretch. I, needing a break, decided to put him in his swing and vacuum the house. I look over and he is passed out sleeping. You know I've heard vacuum cleaners will do that but I'd never tried it. So if you call the house and never get an answer it's because I'm vacuuming from sun up till sun down.

I love you Baby Bjorn!

Well during the day this little man has decided that sleeping is for the birds, which is understandable since he sleeps sooo very much at night. The only way I can get him to sleep is to plop him in the Baby Bjorn front carrier and walk all over the house. Now you'd think once he was asleep I could stop walking, but no....the moment I stop walking he wakes up. So I have resorted to doing everything I possibly can around the house while walking with a baby strapped to my chest. I eat lunch, respond to emails on the laptop, and as of this week am now sculpting while walking. I finally decided to start sculpting again this week and was curious as to how I would be able to do it with a baby around. Well, the front carrier is the key! I got five sculptures done while walking around the living room this week. I guess the good news is I'm getting exercise.

Eating while carrying a baby on your chest is also fun. When he finally does come out of the carrier he's usually got all sorts of food stuck to him. He had a pretty good sized piece of granola bar stuck to his arm this afternoon. I laughed and then ate it.

The Amazing Sleeping Wesley

So I seem to not have a typical baby on my hands. This little man is sleeping more at night than me or Sean. On an typical night he sleeps 7-9 hours without waking up. Of course I can't be happy about anything, I now worry he's sleeping too much. I wake up during the night to make sure he's alive because every baby book out there says a breastfed baby needs to eat every 4 hours at the most during the night. So I even called the pediatricians office today and talked with a nurse to make sure this is ok. She laughed and said "Thank your lucky stars!" She said if he's gaining weight well (he's up to 10.5 pounds) and has enough wet and soiled diapers (7-10 a day) then he's fine.
You'd think I could just be happy.

Reflections

So I felt I must reflect on my conversation I just had with my mother-in-law. We were talking about boob size and milk production.....and I must ask myself "Where are my giant knockers?" All these women around me are either pregnant or having babies and they have these huge milk jugs strapped to their chests while I'm stuck with nada, zip, zero. I mean they haven't grown much at all, not even during my pregnancy. The doctor said many babies go through growth spurts around one month, and sure enough little Wesley has been feeding around the clock. He seems very unsatisfied after eating, so I've been once again diving into my frozen breast milk supply in the freezer and pumping the poor child full of milk. He then drifts off into one of his milk comas and stares off into space in his swing. He is gaining weight and has the proper wet/soiled diapers so I'm not too concerned. It sucks though, I was really wanting to try on a pair of double D's for a few months (and then give 'em back!). What's a girl to do?

Starting to get the hang of this baby thing....

So we are officially one month into the baby experience as of tomorrow. I'd have to say the first two weeks are scary, the third week is frustrating and the fourth week is a breeze. I'm starting to understand what the screaming means (most of the time) and we are becoming pros at the sleeping through the night thing. Last night he went to bed at 12:30 am and slept nonstop until 9 in the morning, it was heaven! So I guess I'll keep him :)

Last weekend we went and visited Wesley's cousin Serenity who is 2.5 days older then he is. I added some pictures of the screaming pair. It will be fun watching them grow and change into little people.

The Happiest Little Wesley on the Block

So after our little non-stop screaming week I went online and bought two things: The Happiest Baby on the Block DVD and a new exciting mobile. The DVD was highly recommended by other Mom's on a forum I visit and I thought "What the heck!" SO after a week it arrived and I watched it Wednesday while little man was sleeping. Boy, what a wonderful video! It outlines five steps to get your baby to calm down and even sleep longer. I was actually hoping he would wake up and explode crying so I could try out my nifty new skills. Now after two days it has helped quite a lot in just my confidence level. One of the five steps is swaddling, he just loves being swaddled! Anyways, I would highly recommend the DVD to all new parents.

As for the new mobile....he could care less.

Little Wesley is four weeks old today!

Attack of the hungry little monster.

I will start out by saying, breastfeeding sucks. I mean, I'll do it for as long as possible because it's the right/healthy thing for little dude but I don't have to like it. These women that breastfeed for a year or longer, I don't get how they do it. I know it is supposed to be some big bonding experience and I suppose it is.

Well, anyways the new thing Wesley is doing is screaming nonstop. I mean if he is awake and not eating he's screaming. It's been going on for about a week and a half and I was starting to get worried. Colic is something I'd like to not experience. So while talking to my parents this weekend and explaining to them this would be the only grandchild they would be getting out of me, my Mother told me to feed him more. So I thought what the heck and broke into my freezer stash of frozen breast milk that I've been pumping out for a rainy day (or a day of shopping on my own). We gave Wesley a bottle in the morning and one in the afternoon. It wasn't much maybe 2 ounces each time but it made all the difference. We had a HAPPY baby yesterday. I think he cried for a total of 20 minutes the whole day (most of that in Wal-Mart and who doesn't want to cry in Wal-Mart?). It was amazing. So he'd been pretty much starving to death last week and just screaming to get food. My poor child.

Wesley is 3 weeks old!

It's hard to believe our little man is 3 weeks old. The time has just flown by! We will start this post with:

Things they don't tell you in books:

We are finding the poo and pee cleaning experiences to be quite amusing. During week one we were examining his little circumcision just to get a giant arch of urine down the front of Sean. We laughed pretty hard and chalked it up to learning not to examine anything in that region too closely. Well, not even a week later my friend Jessica was over and we were once again examining the poor little circumcision (won't that darn Plasta Bell ever fall off) and little Wesley blew an O ring and Jessica had poo running down her leg. We're talking 2-3 feet away. He got some distance on that one. She found poo in her shoe later that evening. So, learning experience one: cover both the fire hose and man hole when exposed.

Second item: for some strange reason while breast feeding a baby it is the perfect time for said child to pack his pants with the largest amount of poo you can imagine. And it is not a peaceful passing of poo, it is a straining, grunting and all around unpleasant experience. All this time while wresting with his butt demons he is using your nipple as a punching bag. Great fun.

Hmmm, I'm starting to see a trend here........ the other night I finally got Wesley to sleep, it was 4 in the morning and I resorted to putting him to sleep in his swing (loves the swing). I had just climbed into bed, it was pitch dark and all I heard was a silence splitting fart, I mean not a dainty, baby sized little toot, but an adult sized rip. Welsey's Grandma Olson would have been proud. I just laid in bed and laughed, the silent shaking kind of laugh. If there was any doubt the child was Sean and I's before it was suddenly very clear.

I'll write more soon.

Mister Wesley's World

Hi everyone,
I thought this would be a great place to keep an update of little Wesley's progress in the world. He seems to be changing by the day, it's amazing! So I will try and post an entry every few days along with pictures to keep family and friends posted.