"Exploring the Milky Way" - One Month

Fun Facts about Owen:

• Lost his umbilical cord at 2 weeks, and it looks like he's going to have an "innie".
• Took his first bath and LOVED IT!

• Has developed a "boo-boo" face that breaks his mother's heart. For full effect, he sticks out his lower lip.

• Has begun blowing spit bubbles.

I can't believe Owen is already a month old! He has been such a good baby so far, and we can't wait until he starts acknowledging our voices/faces and begins to smile and laugh; but for now, his routine is: sleep, cry, eat, pee/poop, repeat. Last week, he had another appointment with his doctor, and I'm happy to report that Owen has gained all his weight back and then some! He weighed in at 8 lbs 9oz, and he measured at 21.25 inches - so yes, my breast milk has come in...at long last! Yay for "lactation shakes" and Mother's Milk Tea.

I don't like tea, and this one is not an exception - but I'll do anything to help my baby get plump and healthy. I wanna see some rolls on his legs!

I had my post-partum appointment a couple of days ago, and the doctor said I was healing just fine, though I still cannot do any sit-ups or strenuous exercises just yet. The good news is that I've already lost 22 pounds, so I'm almost at my pre-pregnancy weight. So in the meantime, I'll continue to be a slave to my adorable son and shop online...lol! Amazon is dangerous...even more so when you have Amazon Prime. Here are a few things I've purchased:

If you've had a c-section, wear something for abdominal support. I used this item for the first couple of weeks (anything tighter was too painful on my incision), and then I switched to Squeem "Perfect Waist" Firm Compression Waist Trainer.

I freaking love this thing, and so does Owen. It took a couple of times for me to get used to wrapping it around my body then getting the baby nestled in, but it's GREAT. We received a Baby Bjorn (actually, we received two of them!) at one of our baby showers, but it doesn't have the neck support that Owen needs at the moment. The nice thing about the Boba Wrap is that it's one-size-fits-all. Some baby carriers/wraps come in different sizes, so while a certain one may fit me, it may not fit Ralph.

I bought this pack of "Pee-pee Teepees" ONLY for shiggles. Before these, I was using a warm wipe or a washcloth to cover his little boy parts, and that pretty much worked...ONLY when he's staying relatively still - same thing goes for these teepees. So it doesn't matter what you put over your baby's boy parts...you WILL get peed on if he's squirmy enough. But they're still funny. Hehe.

Ralph will be going back to work next week (weh!), so he and I have started a sleeping routine for Owen. In the beginning, Ralph and I were so afraid to leave the baby all by himself, so we slept in shifts. We stopped doing this a little over a week ago because that's just...ridiculously crazy and dumb. So nowadays, we're trying to get Owen used to day vs. night. During the day, we won't let him sleep for more than 3 hours straight, so we change and feed him often. At night time, we let him sleep for as long as he wants to; when he wakes up, we change and feed him quickly and quietly and with minimal light. So far, so good.

And as eventful as March has been, we'll be going on our first family road trip to Vegas this weekend for Ralph's Baker to Vegas relay race; and Owen will finally get to meet our Las Vegas relatives too! Let's just hope for a safe, smooth, and QUIET car ride there. (Keep your fingers and toes crossed.)

"Smarty Pants" - Newborn

I think it's time to retire that ol' chalkboard (and I'm kind of tired of getting my hands dirty), so I'll be doing Owen's monthly updates like this:

Fun Facts:

• Loves sleeping in his Rocking Sleeper but not his crib or Playard
• Has already peed on both Mama and Daddy while getting his diaper changed
• Likes to poop as soon as Mama/Daddy has changed his diaper

By the way, setting this all up was WAY too much fun and really easy...and FREE! Can't wait to do next month's!

First Week Home

We are 1 week post-delivery, and we've been home 6 days...and we're all still okay! Haha. And a lot of it is thanks to my mom - she's been coming over and helping with everything...washing dishes, cooking, cleaning up the apartment, and looking after the baby so Ralph and I can catch up on sleep. If it weren't for her, I think Ralph and I would've lost our minds over the weekend. Thanks, Mom!

Owen is doing great, except that he lost 13% (1 lb, 1 oz) of his birth weight when we took him to his first pediatric appointment on Sunday. We found this surprising because I THOUGHT I was breastfeeding him just fine; but the nurse practitioner told me that my milk might not have come in yet, and I felt like a total failure and mentally beat myself up over the whole thing. The NP gave us a bottle of formula for the baby and scheduled a weight check-up for the following day.

On his way to the doctor's!

I have nothing against formula, but I wanted to breastfeed exclusively...but, of course, I can't let the little guy starve to death either. So before we went home, we stopped by Target to get more formula (just in case) and some ingredients to make "lactation" shakes to help me produce breast milk. The key ingredients are oats and flaxseed (seriously, what CAN'T flaxseed do?!).

That same day, I began to use my Ameda dual breast pump. The first time I used it, I was horrified because barely anything came out, and the feelings of failing to feed my son came rushing back. So I chugged down a lactation shake, which seemed to work because I was able to get a little bit of breast milk the next time I pumped. I've been drinking a lactation shake daily, and I'm getting more and more breast milk each day. When we came back for the weight check-up, Owen had gained 5 ounces back - yaaay!

As far as how Ralph and I are doing, we're doing great. Neither of us feel comfortable sleeping at the same time, so we've created a system where one of us is always awake to watch the baby. While I'm awake, all I do is breastfeed the baby and pump as much as I can - that way, when I'm sleeping and the baby is hungry, Ralph is able to feed Owen whatever I was able to pump. I'm just waiting for that moment where the milk is literally pouring out of me because a full baby is a happy baby...and in hindsight, Owen WAS pretty fussy the first two days at home. :(

But Owen IS eating and sleeping more, which allows Ralph and I to do things around the apartment. One of the things that I wanted to do was to take some photos of the baby. I kept seeing all these newborn photos on Pinterest that I wanted to just try my hand at it. I put a blanket on top of my Boppy Pillow, which I put on the rocking chair...so whenever the baby got fussy, I just rocked the chair, and he'd calm down. *Thumbs up*

Big feet like Daddy's!

Owen waited long enough to be born in the Year of Sheep...and he has a sheep-themed rocker/sleeper.

I thought the pictures turned out okay! And it was fun to do too, though the baby didn't seem to think so...lol!

I also wanted to do one more chalkboard "update" with the baby included! Of course, there won't be a survey to accompany it, so I decided to just list down some fun facts about Owen. (Maybe I'll do monthly chalkboard updates for Owen...)

• The name Owen is a Celtic name and means "young warrior"
• Born on the same day as George Harrison (Mama's favorite Beatle)
• Peed on the doctor that performed the C-section and the nurse at his second pediatric appointment (guess he dislikes healthcare professionals...wait a minute...)
• Dislikes being on his left side when being breastfed
• Has already been introduced to Disney's Greatest Hits and music by Michael Jackson and Murder By Death

Until next time!