3 weeks

Today marks three weeks of life for our little guy. I am amazed at how much he has grown and changed in that time. The first week was the sleepy week. He was just waking up from being born. This made us erroneously think that we had a quiet, easy-going baby. The second week was a difficult week because he began to be more alert and cry more and sleep less and I was home alone with him for four days. He was showing us that he has a more passionate personality.

During this past week, we had my mom here which was wonderful. I finally feel recovered from labor and do not get weak in the mornings. We took walks and got out of the house a bit more. We also ran errands and got his birth certificate (you have to do this on your own if the baby is not born in a hospital). We also finally watched the Happiest Baby on the Block by Dr. Harvey Karp and have learned new ways to soothe Luke when he cries. (All new parents must see this movie. He really understands babies.) These techniques are supposed to work for helping him to sleep better too, but so far they have only helped him be more calm during the day. Last night we were up between 11:30 and 1:30 and then again between 4am and 6am. The soothing helped him not cry, but he was wide awake.

Luke is constantly changing and it is hard to keep up. :) He is a very healthy boy and is gaining weight steadily. His skin is also becoming very soft and his hair is growing. His eyes are becoming more blue and his hair is still white-blonde. He now has chubby cheeks (such a good little sucker! :) ) and his arms and legs are really filling out. He only takes 15-20 minutes to nurse. I wish I had a scale to see how much he is growing. Our next Dr. visit is the six week check-up. He should be between 11 and 12 lbs.

For the nighttime routine, it still works best for me to begin sleeping at about 7pm, wake up to nurse, and then sleep more. He wakes up between 11 and 1, and then I feed him in bed and he co-sleeps for about an hour. Then I swaddle him and put him in his bouncy chair in his room. We have experimented with other plans, but these have only made us frustrated and lose sleep (i.e. last night). Depending on a lot of factors, we can usually get 6-7 hours over little chunks of time this way. Not bad for three weeks old.

I am still struggling with anxiety and some depression, but slowly the symptoms are lessening. I had some really good days this week since my mom was here and I felt more secure. Walking also helped and I will do that everyday this week. Being alone again with Luke this week will be challenging. Luckily we have such a network of family and friends that I am sure we will make it! We live in such a beautiful area and are very blessed with the cool beach air and beautiful trails right down the street. There are also some wooden wind chimes hanging out on our neighbor's patio that make a peaceful sound throughout the day.

One thing that I did not count on was how much I missed having time alone with Nathan. I understand that we will get more time together someday, but for now I do miss our evenings together. We are venturing together on a new path though, and there is no one I would rather walk down this road with.