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@hilsy85: AJ got his hep b shot too. he cried almost the whole time at the doctors office. It was like he knew he was going to get a shot. Oh and your LOs newborn photo is too cute. What a cutie.

@mrskc: Thanks Glad you had a good date night! I agree, I want to try to make it a somewhat regular thing with DH.

Leo was up every 2-3 hours last night--after giving me a solid 6 hours for the three nights before, this was an unwelcome change! I tried the side lying nursing this morning but I don't think I did it right--it wasn't very comfortable.

DH gone until late Sat/early Sunday am now.

We may have figured something out with her last night in her 6 hours of fussy (wish I figured it out at 4pm instead of 9pm, LOL.

Pacifier......she loved it in the fussyness. She usually won't take it and we don't often offer it, but in desperation we tried it.....she loved it. I feel like I'm cheating and being lazy.......is it ok to use it!? Tried it when she was over tired this aft and she loved it again, then fell asleep (I took it out as she really settled and then slept).

She slept realllly good last night (and in her bassinet) but I'm betting it was because she was so tired from all the fussing.

Today while she napped I dipped her foot on an inkpad and put her foot prints on the thank-you's that arrived.....got oversized post cards and they were way bigger than I have things to write, so now her footprint takes up part of the card, lol. Poor child, she slept thru all of it, and I washed it off when I changed her, lol.

@TurtleDoves: hope everything went ok with naptime/immunization conflict!

I bought C the cutest outfit ever today for Christmas.....but next Christmas, lol.

@Beebug- we use a paci occasionally, just like @Hilsy85 said - they like to suck and boobies can only take so much! I think it's only lazy when its the first resort, if you are feeding, changing diapers and holding LO first and they still need something then you try the paci.

@CarrieLouWho: haha, we did our first 2 hr trip last weekend to my parents and the car was full to the brim. I brought everything! I ended up using about a quarter of what I brought - oh well. Good luck! Our LO slept the whole car ride both ways

@CarrieLouWho: good luck with your trip.

@Beebug: we use a paci occasionally. I mostly use it when nothing else will soothe him and I know he's not hungry. Nothing wrong with using them.

So last night we went over to my parents house for dinner. My grandparents are in town to visit the baby. All my family was over and DS was getting passed around a lot. I think it was too much for him and he had a meltdown. Just would not stop screaming. Nothing I did could soothe him. we finally strapped him I his car seat and I stuck a paci in his mouth and we high tailed it home. The car ride and paci finally calmed him. Poor guy. I hate to hear him cry like that. He slept for 5 hours when we got home.

Oh and are any of you ladies still dealing with engorgement? My boobs still get engorged and its so uncomfortable. I've been pumping every couple of days to help alleviate it which I'm sure isn't helping the situation. At least I'm building up a little freezer stash.

@mrskc: Yup, I definitely get uncomfortable, especially at night, since sometimes DS goes like 6 hours. I wake up because I"m so uncomfortable and end up having to wake him up--which sucks because I don't get to enjoy him sleeping! I've heard that if you pump to relieve it, just do enough to take the edge off--don't empty the breast, as that will signal to make more milk. Lately I've been hand expressing, which is easier at night rather than setting up the pump, getting the bottles, etc. But I end up just doing it into the sink and down the drain, lol.

How long are your LOs going between daytime feedings? Leo sometimes seems to be able to go 4 hours or so during the day, and I don't know if I should let him sleep or wake him up when it's been 3 hours since he last ate. I'm not worried about weight gain, more about keeping him on a schedule/keeping him awake more during the day. What do you guys do--wake them up during the day or let them sleep?

I hand expressed 2oz today and bottle fed her tonight which was so cool! Bf'ed her after, with the bottle you could tell she was like wtf is this, but happily got the milk, lol.

She is spitting up longer and longer after feedings, sometimes after burp's and sometimes without a burp (despite burping her) after feedings. Finding that's sometimes half the trouble putting her down, burp her for 10-15 after a feeding, get nothing, she falls asleep and seems "out", lay her down and she then wakes, and either has a huge burp or puke.....poor thing!

She is on a 4-hour stretch here now, I'm waiting for her to wake, DH just got home.

She looks so peaceful, hurts my heart, oh my I love her!

PS I love my fuzzibunz small's and BG's, we're full on into the diapers, I thought it's just do prefolds at this age, but forget them, the FB's and BG's are amazing, I am loving the switch now!

Ahhhh Santa pics will be so cute! I didn't even think about getting them done this year, could be cuuuute for holiday cards, wonder if local Santa gives digital copy, hmmm.

C will meet her Great-Great Grandmother today, 5 generation family photo today.

We had a good night, she is having an awake stretch in the middle of the night, 1am two nights ago, 3am last night, and now beyond zonked, if it continues need to find a way to cut that out as she is getting better thru the nights, I woke her up 5 hours into sleep to nurse (1am or so) (then she had her awake stretch!) And just nursed for like 5 mins around 5:30 and she's still out cold right now, DH did the awake stretch, sucker for being away, ha!

@mrskc: He's still going like 4-6 hours at night, but I don't know if that would change if I didn't wake him up during the day. I guess we might have to try it. No idea on holiday presents yet--maybe some cute wooden toys? And definitely some cute outfits.

@MrsRcCar: ha I have also heard to never wake a sleeping baby! I just worry that if he sleeps that much during the day he won't sleep at night! We're not doing holiday cards or anything, since we're sending out birth announcements in early Dec, so we haven't gotten a special outfit. WHen we see family over the holidays, we'll probably just do a cute onesie, jeans, and a little sweater.

@TurtleDoves: when I nurse, he usually pops himself off after 10-15 minutes. But then if I offer him the boob again, he'll take it, and then pop himself off after another few minutes. This can go on for a while, lol. He can usually go 2.5-3 hours off whatever he gets in a nursing session. Maybe you have a slow letdown? The bottle is also a lot quicker and easier for them to eat from, so it makes sense that he would get more from a bottle in a shorter amount of time.

Oy, Leo was up for two hours last night from 2:30am-4:30am--so frustrating! I had to hand him off to DH because I was falling over from fatigue and was getting flustered. Hopefully tonight is better. I'm also considering moving him to his crib because he is so darn noisy when he sleeps!

He's a month old today--I can't believe it. This month has FLOWN by. I'll try to post his 1 month pic later!

ETA here's a close up

@JessLC: Hi there! Congrats on your LO! I posted about this too and someone shared with me these links to check out:
http://www.hellobee.com/breastfeeding-pumping-guides/
http://www.hellobee.com/2012/04/06/building-up-a-breastmilk-freezer-stash/

From what I understand pumping like 30 mins - 1 hour after 1st morning session is good. You should pump for 15-20 minutes on each breast. For me personally, I've only been pumping both breasts once every couple of days. My LO isn't on a typical schedule yet, so it's hard for me to pump when it's just me taking care of him while my DH is at work. So I've been pumping on weekend mornings and sometimes in the evening during the week. I don't if it's b/c I'm a large producer or what, but I can pump for 5 minutes and get 4 ounces of milk so that's all I'll pump at a time.

I've only tried the tommee tippee bottle so far and my LO took to it fine. I let my DH give the bottle so my LO only associates breast with me. Oh and i found this link with some helpful tips:

http://www.pumpstation.com/pumpstation/dept.asp?dept_id=3282

Hope that helps! And good luck with starting pumping. I was intimated at first but once I tried it out, it was easy. Definitely more of a pain compared to just letting LO breastfeed.

1924 to 2012, 5 Generation photo taken today!!

@MrsRcCar: dude, I'd loooove to meet up! I live in a suburb called FLushing....about an hour north of Detroit and an hour South of Lansing. Let me know if you guys come up!
@mrskc: omgosh! He's so efficient! That's awesome:)
@hilsy85: he's so handsome! & just FYI: we've been sleeping (all 3 of us) waaayyy better and longer since we made the crib move. It's wonderful;)
@Beebug: love it!
@JessLC: we have avent, dr browns & platter drop ins...DS takes them all---I just have it to him and he went at it. However- he looks for the breast first and still highly prefers it (which is good!) so, I feel bad at first because he tries to get the boon and only after he realizes its not happening will he accept the bottle.

@MrsRcCar: no:( I don't have a FB anymore...I've been thinking about react ovation it so I can share baby pics with family. Flint and Flushing are basically the same place so that's awesome! Ah, in excited that we have hope of a meetup:)
I would be so so sad if my cat wasn't home:( but having her safe is much better than risking her running away when your house door is constantly being opened during the move:/

@hilsy85: I thought of you & Leo today as I read this book my LO! My high school English teacher wrote it and gifted it to me when she heard I was pregnant:) (she's also my moms neighbor). She wrote it to her 2nd child, Leo, about his birth:)

@hilsy85: ooo lala, tell me how it goes! I read about it last night while I nursed and thought that i'd give it a try once I start full-time BFing again (I know it works with bottles too..but..)

@TurtleDoves: @Running Elley: ehh it wasn't really that successful...he went to sleep at like 8:15, I did a dream feed at like 10:!5 (which was hard--he was SO asleep that it took like 15 minutes just to get him to latch on), and then he woke up at 1:20, 4:10, and 7:00. So doing the dream feed doesn't seem like it helped him to sleep longer. I'm going to keep trying though, and I'm also going to start double swaddling him to see if that helps (since when he wakes up, he usually has one or both arms out of his swaddle). @Running Elley: that is ridiculous!! So rude to impose on a family with a NEWBORN like that! Can DH talk to him? I mean, why is he staying with you guys so long? Plus, it's almost Thanksgiving! Is he spending the holiday with you? I would totally have DH give him the boot.

What is dream feeding?

@Running Elley: omgosh does your DH know when this dude is planning on going home? I think its super weird that he's hanging with you while knowing your breastfeeding and that DH is sick! Talk about bad timing, buddy...

bad news!
(tmi) Lochia stopped about 5 days ago....and 2 days ago I got horrible period cramps...and then: my lovely period. Seriously...how does this happen? I hate periods. I think it might be because my pumping schedule is so sporadic so my body doesn't realize i'm breastfeeding, maybe? I don't know...just sucks. And yes, its def my period. Its the color and amount (tmi) as my period has always been. boo.

good news!
I don't want to jinx it but, for the last 5 days-ish...Lo & I have been 50% breastfeeding, 50% pumping! Basically, his latch is getting better to the point that he doesn't crack my nipples, just makes them sore.
So, I nurse at every other feed....and give him a bottle at every other feed. So, I am pumping less times during the day and I back to breastfeeding! It's exciting.
I plan to keep it this way...I honestly don't know if I want to EBF....I like this 50/50 business. I've noticed that when I BF his last feeding, he will sleep 6/7h straight. So, I love that.
Then, in the morning, I shower while DH gives him his bottle. So, it works for my sanity! So glad were finally on some sort of routine and sleep schedule!