Well I had my first full day back at work and away from Christopher on Tuesday.  It was hard for me to not see him all day!  Work was exactly like when I left, not sure why I thought things would have miraculously gotten better and less dramatic or nuts!  I actually got a few hugs from some folks so glad I was back.

Pumping was easier than I anticipated (of course!).  I had stressed a lot about it for whatever reason-probably just the fear of the unknown territory-but it worked out just fine.  The one complaint I have is that the pumping room is under lock and key because it houses the building's HVAC unit as well (I know-classy right??).  This means that each time I go pump, I have to stop at the security desk and get an officer to walk with me to unlock the door to the room.  He's very nice and even turns the sign on the door for me to "Do Not Disturb".  I'm not embarrassed that I am pumping or anything like that, but it seems like a big freakin production everytime.  He assurses me that it's not a big deal for him and he doesn't mind at all.  He even asks about the baby.  I would like to just go to the room and not have to tell anyone that's where I am!!

Depending on how much Christopher will eat normally I may or may not have to supplement with formula!  I only pumped 12 oz (3 bottles) during the day and I had left 16 oz (4 bottles) with the sitter.  But he seemed to go 4 hours between feedings with those bottles instead of the usual 2.5-3 with the breast.  So he only consumed 3 bottles while I was gone.  If that's the trend then I'll pump enough and not have to make more bottles of formula.  I want to keep 4 bottles on hand though just in case.

I'm not really sure when he will transition to eating more ounces and fewer times a day.  Currently he's eating 7-8 times a day.  I figure he's getting about 26-28 ounces a day.  It's hard to know when he nurses how much he's getting.  Anyway, I'm thinking it's easy enough to pump at work so far that I should have no problem lasting at least til he's 9 months but hopefully til he's 1 year.

In Audrey news, she starts back to soccer tonight.  Hopefully she will enjoy it.  She loved the games last season but didn't care for practice.  She's the one who wanted to do it again though, so we are doing the spring season!  She's been having trouble with meals again recently.  She gets so distracted and picks and eats baby bites, so 30 minutes into the meal we are all done and she has barely made a dent.  Then she starts the whining...and it's all down hill from there.  Same at breakfast--it's like pulling teeth to get her to eat.  The catch 22 is that she's grumpy and whiney because she's hungry, but she won't eat!  Sigh...it's always something!

Bumbo Chair (12 1/2 weeks old)

Back to Work

It's bittersweet to be working again.  Although these 2 days I'm at home and Christopher is only at the sitter part time, next week will be a little harder.  I'll go in the office 2 full days next week.  It's kinda nice to have a purpose again other than just mommy.  That's my favorite roll in life, but it's hard when it feels like that's all that defines you.  So it's good to have that other world where I'm important to some adults too!

Christopher is loving Ms. Darlene's!  He was all smiles when I picked him up yesterday.  He took his bottles well also.  I went ahead and pumped at home to practice.  I may have to supplement him a little.  I pumped about 3.5 oz of milk and the bottles he took were 4 oz.  She said he seemed like he could even take a little more if it was there.  I'm going to use what I pump, but will probably throw in a few ounces of formula too for that hungry boy!  He's little so I figure a little more is fine for him.  His weight was down in the 5-10% at 2 months.

He's definetely chubbing up though!  And look at him in his Bumbo seat...he's supporting that head well!  :-) 
(that pic will come soon...work computer won't let me add images!)
Guess since I'm back to work I should actually do some work and stop blogging...so that's all for now!

Sleep

Perhaps sleep is in our future...that's 2 nights in a row where he slept about 7-8 hours! If I go to bed when he does I'm in good shape! Not too sleepy this morning. He was so cute when I got up this morning and looked in his cradle he was wide awake and gave me a huge smile!

12 weeks old

Christopher is 12 weeks old!!  Crazy!  He is talking a lot these days, lots of "ah-goo" :-)  He's awake a lot more and hardly fussy at all unless it's eating time!  He nurses every 2.5-3 hours still (about 8 times a day).  He sleeps for a 6 hour stretch then again for another 3 usually at night.  He can hold his head up pretty well and is doing good at working on that in the bumbo chair.  He can't lift his head while on his tummy, but he hates tummy time so I'm guilty of not giving him enough opportunity to do that!  He's about 10.8-11 pounds we think.

What a sweetheart!  :-)

11 weeks

So Christopher was 11 weeks old yesterday!  It's amazing how time flies.  I have to say as I'm gearing up to go back to work, I'm on the fence.  I'm sad I won't get to see him all the time, but at the same time, I'm a little relieved to get back to "normal" and not to be always at the whem of the boob.  I'll be pumping at work, but I get to dictate when I do it and don't have to feel the urgency of a screaming baby.

I feel a bit guilty to want to go back, but I know how much I'll miss him at the same time!  He's changed so much in this short time, I know I'll miss stuff.  That makes me really sad :(

Luckily, he'll be at our neighbor's house and I'll feel comfortable asking what's going on with him and know that he'll be spoiled rotten with love :)

I'm pretty exhausted these days too so I'm not sure how that'll work once I'm back at the office full time.  I feel bad for Reuben to have to deal with me passing out asleep at 9 every night, but the 2-3 hours here and there, just really don't add up to "I got 7 hours of sleep last night".  It's not the same as continuious.  I hope that will get better soon.  He still seems to want to eat every 4 hours at night....2.5-3 during the day.  He's bee cluster feeding in the evenings too where he's nursing ever 1.5 hours.  That is just exhausting!

But on a good note, Christopher is doing really well with head control and is almost ready to hold his head independently.  He's also been smiling and cooing a LOT and seems like a really happy little guy!  He's so good--only fussy when he really needs something.

Audrey is a great big sis too.  She loves to try to make him feel better by dancing, singing, hugging or giving him his pacifier.  She's pretty good at figuring out what he needs.  She has watched a couple diaper changes, but otherwise is not interested in helping with that AT ALL!

That's all for now...

Snow Day!

It doesn't happen very often around here, but we actually got a snow day on Friday!  It was fun to watch Audrey squeal in delight as she ran in the snow.  We took Christopher out for a few minutes to see it and snap a few photos.  He got to wear his snow suit that used to belong to Uncle Justin.  It was nice to have Reuben home all day too.  We need long weekends every week!

Check out the pictures on flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bevobaby/

Starting a Blog!

November 14, 2010

November 22, 2010

So this will be my first attempt at blogging.  I just felt like I should document some of this stuff somewhere.  It's all changing so fast and I don't want to miss or forget any of it.

So here's the back story, then future posts will be current.

Reuben and I met back in the mid 90's in high school.  We hung out some but never dated back then.  In 2006 after I had been married and divorced and had my daughter Audrey, we started chatting online on myspace (before it was totally sleezy and before facebook was all the rage).  We dated, we married in October of 2009  and are now living in Buda, Texas.

November 22, 2010 brought us big changes.  Our son, Christopher Henry James, was born--we became parents together and Audrey (6 years old) became a big sister!  Christopher has changed our lives in so many ways, he is the reason I wanted to start writing things down.  So this blog begins....Reuben, Melissa, Audrey and Christopher living life in Buda, Texas.  Hope it's not too boring ;-)