Myles Monthly: 1

As you may know, I didn't decide to start my blog until my son Myles was about 8 months old. And well... now he is 13 months old! So I am focusing on getting caught up with monthly updates and monthly favorites, so I can get, and hopefully stay, up to date with current times. 

August 14th-September 14th, 2012

Statistics:

Born: 7 lbs 6 oz and 19.5 inches
2 weeks: 8 lbs 3 oz and 20.5 inches

One Month: 10 lbs 3 oz and 21.5 inches

Chunky Monkey!

  Eating: I planned on exclusively breastfeeding Myles for as long as it was possible. When we left the hospital, he had a great latch and was eating quite well. The first night home was crazy for me. I really didn't know what I was doing and I couldn't get Myles to stop crying. I could only assume that he was hungry and wasn't getting enough milk from me. So around 11pm, I frantically threw a bottle of formula together to feed him. :( It wasn't the end of the world, but it definitely wasn't a part of my plan... but that's motherhood for ya. The same exact thing happened the second night. Eventually, I learned that this was his fussy time; from around 10pm-1am. When my milk came in the next day, I didn't give him the bottle and just let him nurse as much as he wanted during that time. It still continued to be a fussy time for him, but I realized giving him the bottle didn't make it any better. 
Myles was quite the fussy man and I really couldn't tell that anything was wrong with him, so I just assumed that pretty much anytime he fussed, he was hungry. After a clean diaper and burping, I figured the only other thing it could be was hunger, so I feed him.... a lot... I was told to feed on demand and he was very demanding :) Well after a couple times of what seemed like over-feeding (puking after eating), I decided to introduce the pacifier. This helped a ton. With the pacifier, he was comforted with the sucking motion, but wasn't getting overfed. It also gave my nipples a break.. Win-Win!
I decided to start pumping at week 2. My initial intention with pumping was to build up a stash for when I returned to work. I usually pumped 2-3 times a day getting around 2 oz from each breast each session. So yeah... freezer stash wasn't living up to my expectations. Also I was using some milk for when we were out and about or if Myles was watched (very rarely). I wasn't able to pump a lot of milk out, but I kept at it. (Breastfeeding essentials)

*More to come in a separate post*

Health: When Myles left the hospital everything was great with him except his bilirubin was high. It wasn't high enough for them to keep him, but our doctor wanted us to come back in the morning to have it tested. (Elevated bilirubin is what causes jaundice. Normally bilirubin is excreted through urine and bile, but if too much is built up before it is passed through the body, jaundice occurs.) At the time, I really didn't think he was that yellow, but looking back on pictures, it was pretty bad. We had to go back 4 days in a row to get him tested. Thankfully it never got up to an 18 (admittance level); it reached as high as 16.5 on the 4th day and finally went back down on the 5th day to a 15.5. Once the number went down, the doctor said it would continue to decrease and so we could stop going. I left the room most of the time when he was pricked because I can't handle watching him be hurt. That's part of the dad's job :) 

Just like when he was in my tummy, he got the hiccups what felt like all the time. It was at least a couple times a day and they would last between 30-45 minutes. I tried everything to get them to go away, but nothing ever worked. I always felt so bad because I know I hate having the hiccups, even if only for a couple minutes. I can't imagine them going on for almost an hour!

Crying: During the first month, he pretty much hated when he wasn't held. So most of his crying came when he was laid down. I had to hold him for most of his naps. Only on the rare occasion was I able to Houdini him into his bassinet without waking him up. Most of the time as soon as you laid him down, he woke up crying.
 He also did not enjoy bath time for the first month. It seemed to get a little better each week, but he just did not like being naked and not held. He really was not fond of getting his diaper/clothes changed either. I'm guessing because he wasn't being held :)
Like I said earlier, I did end up giving him a pacifier around 2 weeks and it helped with his crying during car rides or when he just wanted to comfort suck.

Visitors: The first month brought a lot of friends and family by to check out Myles for the first time. Of course Grandma and Grandpa Krueger and Uncle Chris came over many times a week to snuggle him and give me a break. Also Grandpa Jerry came with Abbey dog. Aunt Jamie came and he got to meet his cousins Ayson and Ryann. He also got to meet his Grandma Darlene for the first time and his Aunt Lauren. Great Aunt Mary and Uncle Scott came by to finally meet Myles. Cousin Megan, who lives in Iowa got to meet him for the first time. And we cannot forget our wonderful Aunt Melissa who always brought us yummy dinner!

Uncle Chris holding Myles for the first time

Happy baby with Grandma

Myles with his Grandpappy

  


Nicknames: Pretty much anything that we could put the word butter in: Butterball, Buttercup, Butterhoof (a combination of mine and Mark's nicknames for each other)... Also Baby Ham was still sticking around...Aunt Melissa knows him only by this name :) 

 Outings: We took Myles to his first restaurant at one week old: Chili's. We also went to lunch with Mark's sister Sandy and her girlfriend Megan for them to meet Myles for the first time. He went to the doctor at 3 days and then 2 weeks old. We also had our first family lunch at the park after his 3 day old appointment. (The sun helps jaundice, so we tried to get him out in the sun as much as possible.)

  Myles went to his first birthday party as well. It was for cousin Charlie 3rd birthday. Myles also went to the very last On The Waterfront (a music festival in my hometown that is no longer being put on after 30 years.) He was definitely a music man right from the beginning. 

Sleep: During the first month, he slept way better during the day. Of course that's when we would have all our visitors, so I was never really able to get rest then, but so it goes. Like I mentioned earlier, every night he was extremely fussy and would fight sleep from about 10pm-1am. He typically would sleep in about 2-3 hour chunks. Only one time he slept for more than 4 hours at a time. At night, he was a VERY restless sleeper. He was always moving and making this weird grunting sound. If I held him he would sleep way better. I would try to lay him down, but he would start grunting until it turned into crying and then I would have to pick him up and nurse him again. This was only the beginning of our sleep hell though. Most nights I never even actually fell asleep. It eventually wore me quite thin, but more on that to come.... For now let's just say Myles was not a good sleeper.

But oh so cute when he did sleep!

Milestones
First family outing: lunch at the park at 3 days old
First bath: I was pretty scared to give him his first bath. I didn't want to do anything wrong and of course he cried the whole time. 

First stroller walk: Grandma Krueger took him down to the river in the backyard

  Starting doing tummy time laying on mommy and daddy:

First thumb sucking:

First smile (not intentional): During sleep, but oh so precious!

First time away from me: Grandpa Krueger watched him while Mark and I got lunch and messages. There were plenty of tears shed and let's just say they weren't from Myles.

First time being fed a bottle by daddy: at three weeks

First babysit away from home: at 3 weeks Grandpa and Grandpa Krueger watched Myles at their house while I got some rest. 

First Holiday: Labor Day

First Packer game

Likes: Eating momma's milk (more like LOVES), when daddy holds him, and listening to music (our favorite station is Rockabye Baby!)

 One Month old family dinner date

Dislikes: The time 10pm to 1am (witching hour I guess), not being held when sleeping (or anytime really), and coming out of sleep (just like his dad, he hated waking up; it would take around 5-10 minutes of fussing and squirming around until he would finally be fully awake).

Too true!

Family Circle

 

Come back to check out my favorites from months one & two!