8 weeks

Schedule, Schedule Schedule....

Diet - breast milk. It has been quite a week getting two kids ready to drop Reece off to school in the morning and back home to go to class myself.  It takes a lot of preparation on the part of feeding Graham.  I am also trying to pump once a day or right before I leave for class because there are days when I am away from him for 5 or so hours.  Needless to say I don't want to explode or reduce my milk supply.  With a little planning so far I have managed to keep Graham of a 3 to 3.5 hour feeding schedule.  When I am in class he gets a bottle which also takes some work.  I am bound and determine that Graham will take a bottle but he is already showing signs of struggle.  So we will just keep working with him in hopes that it is only a little bump in the road.

Graham's hair is really starting to grow back in, although it is hard to see in this picture!

Sleep - So my BabyWise book came in the mail and since I was able to quickly read through most of it G's sleep has improved dramatically.  He is only waking once a night now, HALLELUJAH !!! 
(Although hopefully I didn't just jinx it) I swear by this book and although we were slightly following it before I forgot about establishing a morning wake up routine.  So now Graham wakes up between 6 and 7 am.  I feed him and then he is awake for about 45 minutes.  We have found if he stays awake too long it is still very hard to get him settled down and back to sleep which in turn can set off his schedule for the rest of the day.  Yet the key is feeding G then keeping him awake following a feeding even if for only 10 mins.  The idea is to teach him how to go to sleep on his own.  While he isn't always falling asleep eat bedtime without some tears or holding him, he is doing so much better AND sleeping most of the night.  It is a continuous work in progress but BabyWise says most babies with colic who follow their techniques will be sleeping through the night around 12 weeks.  I certainly can hope, right!?!

Likes - Graham is become more alert everyday.  He loves looking all around, especially in new locations.  Yet one of his favorite places  is still right on his changing table looking at his gallery wall.

Just missed a smile...loving bath time!

Milestones - Well Graham and I both survived his first day at Ms. Kathy's.  He did great and even went to sleep on his own.  Day two was today and when I picked him up she said has never heard him cry, I guess he got it all out on me this morning!  But I am so relived and happy that he is so far a star student! 

Post Partum - I had my final check up.  Everything went well except for the fact that my blood pressure was high.  I tend to think it had something to do with my lack of sleep the night before and the fact that Graham screamed through the whole appointment ( He won't be coming with me next time!) So she wants me back in a month just to make sure that was all it was.  Maybe it is because I am their favorite patient and would miss me too much to not be seeing me at least every month:)! I am also back to running three days a week.  My last run I increased by a half of mile and overall felt pretty good.   Maybe the year I had taken off from running was exactly what I needed because I am back to looking forward to my running days and really enjoying it, hopefully those feeling last!!  Finally I have to be honest now that I am busy and back to school my diet restrictions are really tough.  I have come to realize that I basically just cannot eat anything out and have to find a way to make the time to prepare snacks and food I can eat while out.  This is probably one of my biggest challenges right now because I am hungry much more often with nursing but have a hard time getting myself something to eat before I leave the house, and as a result struggle thru the day.  When I have a few extra minutes during the day I  have been looking up recipes for dairy free easy foods, I am hoping to find a little bit of extra time make them and share what I like.  

We will never forgot 9/11 but hope that our boys never know of such evil

So in honor of Patriot's Day we say God Bless America!!