Catch Up Pictures & New Friends

 My sister just posted these pictures she took of James at around 4 weeks old. We were in build a bear, going crazy buying cute outfits meant for stuffed bears but were the perfect size for our little guy!

                                               

 Life with a newborn is exhausting, mentally and physically. There are moments in each day when I am so in love with my little guy that I just want to squeeze him and kiss him all over. Then, when he has been crying and squirming for what feels like hours I start crying too and think that there is no way that I can do this parent thing. It seriously is such a roller coaster!! I'm sure the sleep deprivation doesn't help at all :) Everyone says that it gets better once they hit the three month mark, and when I've talked to other moms they all seem to have had a similar experience with this newborn period so I don't feel too alone. Plus, after a dose of Zantac for acid reflux, James slept for 5 hours straight last night!!! It was wonderful. I didn't think he would ever do it and he has been much less fussy today, so I think we will be sticking with the Zantac for now.

Here is what a typical day is like for us right now:

Midnight: Anthony and I make it to bed after settling James down after his 11PM feeding
2 or 3AM: James wakes up hungry. Anthony changes him and gives him a bottle so that I can sleep. We've discovered that this time of the night is my witching hour where I get really depressed/frustrated/crying and having Anthony take over this feeding has saved my sanity.
4AM: Anthony gets back to bed
6 or 7AM: James wakes up hungry. I grab something to eat really quick and then I change and feed him. After about 45 minutes, I move to the couch to go back to sleep with him:

Just for reference, I was NOT playing Xbox :) We don't have cable, so I watch Netflix on the Xbox while I am nursing him.

9AM: James wakes up hungry again. I change him and feed him. Then I open the blinds, let the dogs out and try to "wake up" the house so that James will transition into daytime. I try to play with James, let him stare at my face while I talk to him, play with him on his activity mat, or see if he wants to sit in his bouncy seat.
10:30AM: James starts to get fussy, so I swaddle him and rock him in the rocking chair or bounce him on my knees until he gets good and sleepy.
11AM: I put James down for a nap in his swing. Anthony usually wakes up about now (he hasn't started his new job yet). I check my email and try to motivate myself to exercise. I get myself some lunch and if I have time I will take a shower. I am kind of wary of taking showers now because I have yet to take one without James waking up crying before I am out and dressed :)
12PM: James wakes up, I change and feed him. Play time again. He is starting to really like new things. If there is something new to look at or a new place to be in the house, he is mesmerized!! He discovered the mobile in his crib yesterday and he spent a good 20 minutes just staring at it going around and around.
1:30PM: Fussyness sets in, I swaddle him and sit in the rocker and rock him until his eyes get really droopy. Sometimes he likes it if I read to him, so I've started just reading him whatever book I'm reading.
2PM: I put him down for another nap in his swing. I usually go and do the dishes about now and put something in the slow cooker for dinner. Then I look at my list of productive things I could do and proceed to shop online instead :)
3PM: Awake. Diaper change, then feeding time. Play time. Sometimes we go for a walk around the neighborhood about now. I grab something else to eat.
4:30PM: REALLY fussy. Much more crying and he is much harder to soothe. We start the walking around, bouncing, anything that will work really. He doesn't really sleep after this. He usually fusses and dozes in someone's arms until the next feeding.
6:30 or 7PM: Change, then feed. If it is a bath day, I give him a bath before I feed him. He HATES baths, so we don't do it unless he is especially stinky or he pooped on himself that day or something. No play time, he usually just crys and fusses until we can get him to sleep. Anthony and I have started taking turns holding him so that the other one can eat dinner.
9PM: Finally drifts off, we put him to bed in his crib with his soothing sounds bear. I named him Mr. Benjamin Bear :)
10:30 or 11PM: Wakes up crying, change him then feed him. Usually he falls back asleep pretty quickly and Anthony and I can make back to bed by midnight.

Are you exhausted yet? This is the good schedule!! It was way worse in the weeks right after he was born.
Luckily for me, every once in awhile there is something new and exciting to look forward to that changes things up. Yesterday I got together with a bunch of other young moms in our new ward and we had so much fun visiting, getting hand treatments, and asking the host for beauty advice. I don't know everyone yet, but I am pretty sure that almost every one in this picture had a baby in the past year and it was so funny to hear so many women say something like "Suck it in!" whenever a picture was taken!