1 Month 2 Days Old

We "celebrated" Christopher's 1 month birthday on Sunday by taking him to church for the first time. Of course, he had to let his disapproval be known by having a screaming fit during Sunday School. Luckily, we didn't have class as the teachers were out and only one other person showed up. Therefore, we spent the time trying to calm Christopher down and get him to go to sleep. Our friend, Alanna, finally succeeded with about 15 minutes left in class. He ended up sleeping straight through the church service AND while we went to eat afterward! So, we ended up having an enjoyable outing afterall!

Later that evening, we took him to have dinner with our friends, Bill and Jen. He ended up doing excellent the whole evening! Unfortunately, when we have a good evening, we have a HORRIBLE night! I put him to bed about 9:30. Just as Shad and I were going to bed at about 10:30, he woke up by getting sick. Therefore, I had to clean him up, change his clothes and the bassinet pad cover and try to get him settled for bed again. He then woke me up around 1:30...again at 4:00 and then 5:00. After waking up at 5:00, he stayed wide awake and didn't want to go back to sleep. I ended up putting him in the swing where, of course, he went straight to sleep! I was then able to get another 2 hours of sleep. I guess I'm typically getting about 6 hours of sleep each night, but it's all broken up so I don't feel like I'm getting much.

We spent Monday by going to Daddy's work to show off. Christopher did really well until it came time to eat. Once we got that taken care of, he was good to go again until we got home and it was naptime.

He's been having issues with taking naps during the days. I get him up or he wakes up on his own to eat...he has some awake/play time...then it's naptime. He gets SO sleepy but doesn't want to sleep, so he fights it off. He ends up crying and crying and crying. Most of the time the only thing that will work is putting him in his swing, which puts him right to sleep. I just wish that I could get him to fall asleep that easily in his crib instead! Hopefully the sleeping issues (both nighttime and naptime) will get easier soon!

Here are some recent pictures taken this past Saturday (Jan. 14). I'm hoping to get more soon:




Christopher and Granddaddy


Brinkley, Granddaddy and Christopher

Brinkley, Granddaddy and Christopher crying

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!

2 weeks 5 days old

Christopher is now 2 weeks and 5 days old. I wish that I could say that time has passed by quickly. In a way, it has. However, most of the time seems to be dragging by so slowly. It's mainly because of the lack of sleep I've been getting. I'm sure that it's also because I'm home all day and bored most of the time. I can't wait until we can start taking him out in public. I mainly can't wait to get back to church, but we can't do that until he's AT LEAST 6 weeks old. We probably need to wait longer than that due to flu season. We'll see what the pediatrician says at our next appointment...his 1 month visit...at the end of January. He's already been to the pediatrician once...the day after he was released from the hospital. It was just a check-up, though, and no shots were involved.

He's been doing excellent since being home. We're continuing to breastfeed, which is still going well. We followed up with the Lactation Consultant twice since getting home. At the last visit, he weighed 8 lbs 8 oz, which is up from the 8 lbs 2.5 oz he weighed when he left the hospital 5 days earlier.

Here are some recent pictures of him:


First Day Home - 6 days old - December 21, 2005


Christmas Day - 1 week 3 days old


Christmas Day with Brinkley


December 29, 2005 @ 2 weeks old