One Month Old !

The last two weeks have gone by in a flash! Preston is now a little over a month old. Here are some month old facts on this cutie...

--He is now over 22 inches long, and 8.13 pounds! He has gained 1.5 pounds since he was last weighed by the pediatrician's office. He has had formula (an ounce or two) here or there, but otherwise has been exclusively breastfeeding. This means things are going well in that department, yay! Feeling like my first real successful time thus far.

--Like his brothers, enjoys looking out the window in his room from the changing table. Very interactive there!

--After trying not to use the swing for sleeping, it has been a saving grace for us some during the day now. We think Preston has reflux, which would explain why he dislikes being flat on his back (and the first two weeks of constant grumpiness when I tried to do so constantly). During the day he either sleeps in the swing, the carseat or the Boppy. Putting him down flat on the couch/bed no longer works...

--Which brings us to nighttime sleep. Preston is on medicine now for reflux (TBD to see if it really is working, it has only been a few days and we're suppose to allow a week to see progress).  Yes, nighttime in general is suppose to be difficult with a newbie but I'm finding it's especially difficult with P. It can take awhile for him to fall asleep "for the night", sometimes between 10-11PM . I'd say maybe twice a week we'll get lucky with an earlier time. During the night, after he eats (still every 2-3 hrs generally), it's 50/50 as to whether or not he goes back to sleep ok. Again, I think this relates to being on his back possibly, since he is at night.
11/6/16 UPDATE : I think we'll start calling him Vampire Preston! Nights are rough. Now, they go something like this -- finally, when both daddy and I get into bed (still, not usually before 10-11), I'll nurse him and daddy will hold him to sleep. Then, two hours later it's time to nurse. Then, it's time for daddy to hold again.Put on repeat...

--Still an otherwise alert baby. I'm loving that we're already starting to get a little babbling, and I've even caught a few smiles! :)

--Likes looking/being outside, as well as watching the ceiling fans. Whether they're on or not...

--Doesn't take to pacifiers.At all. Maybe I've already mentioned that. Not that I totally mind, it'll be one less thing to wean him off of, but he does like sucking for comfort. That's where me and the top of the bottle come in, those are the only things he likes. It'll just be tricky to get him to hold a bottle top in his crib eventually? :/

Those are some tidbits for now. Holy cow, in two more weeks he'll be two months old and we'll see if anything has changed then!

Fall Break 2016

I best hurry to recall our little break last month before I forget about the things we did for good!

As I mentioned before, it was nice having Josh home to do things with us/ take Nate and Aaron out while I was with baby. They went to their Grandmother's house a few times, played with their cousin Autumn, daddy took them to a movie...

One day we did go out as  a family to a pumpkin patch (a whole only ONE this year we did), plus out for lunch afterwards.

Bouncing

Rolling in a large tube

The boys also got to visit the zoo - they were so intrigued by the Lego figurines there right now!

Lego!

Love looking at maps

One day they got to visit a little theme park of ours, Castle N Coasters - the cheapest, closest Disneyland to us. They LOVED it.

They also decided they enjoy golfing :)

Nate and Aaron had a playdate with their friend Ben one day, a playdate with one of Aaron's friends, Miles, one day, and daddy took them to a play place with a bunch of different tunnels and slides they crawl through. When daddy went back to work I took the boys to a bouncing place and lunch one day...a special little trip to Toys R Us when we realized a place they wanted to go to was closed...and otherwise, lots and lots of free play time at home. You know, as much as my older son likes to go out and do things, I can tell he has been enjoying just getting to do things here, too.

We hope, one day soon, the weather will cool down for them to start playing outside/going to parks!

Nate & Aaron Update

It's time for a post to talk about my two oldest gentlemen!

Nate is doing good with school, we've found a groove with the extra homework.He's definitely growing like a weed. I wanted to share his school picture from this year ;)

Fresh off the Caribbean islands!

Some days you pick your battles, you know? He's not a fan of button shirts, and to make a long story short, this ended up being his third shirt he changed into and refused to change again, so Bahama shirt it was. In years past I had parent volunteers that stood around with combs, those must be gone now (as witnessed by the hair). Good slideshow one day!

He enjoyed having Grandmother come to his class for Grandparents Day.

He's still very much my little parent, helping keep tabs on everyone, especially helpful with baby Preston if mama needs a potty break ! Bless his heart.

What's so cute, though, is to see how excited Aaron is now to have a little brother. He definitely wants to help out (He's my designated Diaper and Wipes Stocker on the changing table).

Always asking to hold brother

He'll run to Preston if he hears him crying, he'll also help watch brother (literally by jumping in the crib with him). He was excited to show baby off to all his friends when we came to school.

On the school note, it was exciting that Aaron got Student of The Month the very first month of school! He was awarded for being a good example to others, and continues to be.

Excited to be on stage

Good friend Miles got the award too

Smiley Aaron

He is doing well in school (and already has much better handwriting than his 3rd grade brother!)

For now they seem to be enjoying playing with each other yet, but I can tell they'll be happy to play with younger brother when he's able, too! 

First Two Weeks

The first two weeks of having Preston join our family have been overall pretty good (maybe with some bits of chaos in between!) Naturally we're transitioning, and it has been really nice to have Josh home this whole time to help out with that. Starting to get a little bit of a groove...though it has also helped that the boys are now on Fall Break, so that has eliminated the stress of trying to do deal with school work + chauffeuring + trying to get dinner on the table, etc (though that fun will begin next week!)

Anyway, like a typical newborn Preston lost a bit of weight coming home. Right away the pediatrician exclaimed that he needed a formula supplement in addition to nursing. Frankly, the third time around, I've grown a little tiresome of that advice. I tried nursing with both Nathan and Aaron, and both times the pediatrician said the same thing, which eventually just led to them both being full formula fed soon after. I really wanted to make nursing work this time around and wasn't very anxious to introduce formula unless I really needed to, or in other cases such as me being away every now and then, if it wasn't possible for him to have milk.

I'm glad to say that since then Preston has been gaining weight, I think in thanks to effort on both sides - him eating frequently (I'd say his definite favorite activity of the moment) and me also trying to eat,drink and take things that are suppose to help with lactation. In a way I'm anxious for our next pediatrician appt when we can see if he is still thriving (all signs point to yes in my opinion). This would make the first time I have strictly just nursed without any additional help.

For us that has been the biggest stress since having him home. Preston is a very alert baby. He knows our voices. He doesn't take to a pacifier yet, if anything, actually the lid of a bottle (or me!) Sleeping wise we have about a 50/50 shot at getting him to sleep in his bed during the day, otherwise he sleeps being held. I'm trying to avoid introducing anything that rocks, as I've learned in the past that's just one more thing to wean him off of later.

At night right now he's really good about eating every 2-3 hours. Bedtime ranges usually between 9-11pm, and by 7am usually he's awake and ready to eat and start the day. I've had days so far where it seems like he doesn't sleep at all during the day, and just eats, and others where he goes through a nice cycle of eating and sleeping.

His first week home was very busy with a lot of appointments! Both of the doctor and picture taking kind.

Tricky, tricky, tricky those newborn pictures are! Keeping baby warm, ever so slightly keeping them covered to undress/dress them in outfits...I didn't realize. We're just getting his birth annoucements sent out this week and scheduled his baptism for next month!

We also already had family portraits done (might as well just get it all over with!)

There you have it, our first two weeks with baby P! The next two will be more interesting as Josh heads back to work, and Nate and Aaron continue on Fall Break before starting school again next week.

It's been awhile since I've given updates on Nate and Aaron...that's up next!

Preston Daniel's Birth

Four days past his due date, Preston made his natural arrival ! (I otherwise would have waited an extra three more days to be induced, the day that I turned 41 weeks pregnant) On Saturday, September 24, my water broke that evening after returning from a night out (wasn't that nice, that he waited until I got home?) Immediately my sister came over to be with the boys and Josh and I went to the hospital.

Soon after we arrived my contractions started. I was soon admitted and transferred to a delivery room, with an epidural given soon after that. I gave up on trying to "nap", since the nurse thought I would be quick to go. Four hours later at 4:20am, our baby boy arrived after just a few pushes. I was quickly transferred to a recovery room (clearly I picked a not so busy time, thankfully).

Preston weighed 7.8 pounds and was 20 inches long, right in between his brothers (Nathan weighed the most at 7.11, Aaron was 7). Thankful for another quick and healthy delivery.

Later that morning the boys came to visit their new brother!

Their Nana takes the credit for these cute shirts!

Aaron in particular is enjoying being a big brother!

Later that afternoon the rest of my family came to visit (Josh's family was out of town). The following day, since shots and tests and so forth had been completed, we decided we were ready to come home. Thankful for the great care at the hospital but ready not to be interrupted all day and night. The boys were happily surprised to come home from school and see us there.

Welcome home baby P !

 More Preston updates in the next post!