4 Weeks Old!

Christopher is 4 weeks and 1 day old today! He'll be 1 month this Sunday (Jan. 15)! In my last post, I mentioned that time has gone by pretty slowly, but the last 2 weeks have actually gone by quickly. I can't believe it's already been a month since he was born!

Since I've been able to drive, I've started getting out of the house a lot more, which helps TREMENDOUSLY! I'm now working Wednesday and Sunday evenings in the nursery at church. I can't bring Christopher yet, so Shad stays home with him for me. I've also gotten out and met some friends for lunch, stopped by my office to visit with co-workers and run errands any chance I can get in the evenings. Shad and I even had a date night last Saturday night! His dad, Richard, came and baby-sat Christopher for us while we went to dinner and a movie. We ended up seeing "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." We still have movie coupons to use, so we'll get another date night sometime soon!

Nighttimes are still a bit hard on me. Christopher wakes up on his own like clockwork every 3 hours. Sometimes after eating and getting his diaper changed, he goes right back to sleep. However, other times, it takes approximately 1 - 1.5 hours from the time I get up until the time I get back into bed. It's not too bad if he would just go right back to sleep. I'm hoping that we can get on a good schedule sometime soon and that he'll start sleeping through the night. I'm really hoping that happens by the time I go back to work on February 9! It's going to make for some very long days otherwise!

I've been worried about how little Christopher's been eating. For the last 1-2 weeks, he only eats for a total of 5 minutes. Not 5 minutes on each side, but 5 minutes TOTAL! I keep hearing about how babies should be eating for 15 minutes on each side. Therefore, we visited the lactation consultant (LC) today for a preimposed weight check. In the 5 minutes that he ate at that time, he took in 3 and 1/3 ounces of milk! The LC said that I have a very efficient baby and very efficient breasts! LOL!! He now weighs 9 lbs 10.6 ounces. When we visited last on December 26, he weighed 8 lbs 5.3 ounces. He's been gaining approximately 8 ounces per week or a little over 1 ounce per day. We have a very hearty eater on our hands!

We're going to attempt to go to church this Sunday. Since he's too young for the nursery and hasn't had his shots yet, we're going to keep Christopher with us. I think we'll first try our Sunday School class and see how that goes. If all goes well, we'll attempt the service. I just hope he stays content and doesn't get fussy!

All in all, Christopher is a typical, but EXCELLENT baby! We couldn't ask for anything better!