On Pine Hill: the state of the union

Here's a round robin update on how we're doing here.

Breastfeeding: I'm shocked at how much more efficient Andrew is lately (10 minutes each side, 13 if he's dawdling) and shocked also at how much I miss when he would lollygag for 30 minutes on each side. We have continued to go to a breastfeeding support group sponsored by our lactation consultant, which has been awesome for us, and for me to socialize with other new moms.

Sleep: Andrew defies all conventional wisdom on baby sleep. He only needs 9-10ish hours a day, including naps. He rarely takes long naps, mostly just cat naps - except for today, because we apparently wore him out on the weekend. If he goes to bed before about 9:30pm, he wants to get up for the day (or at least throw a party) around 330-4am. I thought babies were supposed to need a lot of sleep! I'm working on letting go of the idea that "what the books say" doesn't necessarily apply to us, and things are getting much easier for us. We co-sleep at night for the most part. Once he started to be able to sleep by himself in the crib, I started putting him down there for the first 3-hour segment and then bringing him in to sleep with me, so that I could get some more restful sleep myself. The problem I had with that is that I would put him down and then stay up to get things done or just spend time with my Travis, and i ended up more exhausted than before. So we are back to full time co-sleeping, and he goes to bed when I do between 9:30 and 10:30.

Travis has been sleeping in the spare room since his paternity leave ended. This works out really well for us because he gets enough sleep for work, and then if Andrew does decide to throw a 4am party, he is freshly ready and able to entertain him, and I can get rest, and we both end up with a reasonable amount of sleep.

For naps Andrew will sleep in the crib in the nursery, in the cradle in the living room, or in the swing in the dining room. I'm encouraged that after a rough start of needing to sleep on someone ALL THE TIME, he seems to be rather flexible in his sleep situation. We swaddle him whenever he is sleeping by himself to help him not get distracted by his own hands.

Cloth diapering: we are also using and loving the BumGenius 3.0-4.0 one-size models. I'm definitely loving the cloth diapers. We do disposables on the road/for travel days and I can't wait to get him back into the cloth at the end of the day. He has stopped pooping overnight, so I've been doubling the liners and he's been going all night on one diaper, which gets me even more sleep, because now when he stirs, I just roll over, start him feeding, and drift back off to sleep. I don't even have to wake up. Not bad.

Currently my biggest stress is going back to work. I am in the throes of trying to determine what childcare is going to be and I'm completely freaking out about it. I'm having visions of him being left in a crib to cry, and I have the same nightmare for a nanny as I do for a day care center. He's pretty much the easiest baby in the world - never cries without a reason, always very easy to soothe - which is why leaving him to cry would be absolutely tragic. I'm getting emotional just typing that.

On the positive side, some of my pregnancy pounds have melted off. It's never been easy for me to lose or maintain a healthy weight, and so to see some of it slip off so easily is ridiculously exciting. I attribute it some to breastfeeding, some to getting back to exercising, and a lot to cutting out dairy. I may want to continue that diet even after Andrew is okay with it again!

That's my world right now. Here are some pictures and highlights of this week:

Daddy gives a bottle of mama's milk.

Sitting up supported! Like a couch potato.

Grandpa and Andrew play on the baby gym.

My new friend, Maulee Brown

This beautiful girl pictured above followed Travis home from his morning walk the other day. She's a pit bull. I have rarely seen a dog so obedient and well-behaved. And so friendly and affectionate! She hung out on our porch all morning and didn't seem to know how to get home even when I took her on a walk to the vicinity of her house and said, "go home!" When her mom came to pick her up, she was grateful that she was found by people who were friendly to her - some in the neighborhood apparently don't appreciate her very much. It was hard not to be friendly to such a wonderful dog!

It's gotten very warm again, so we decided to do Andrew's bath on the porch:

Bathtime still life.

Naked baby!

Tub with a view

After the bath, we went out to get some exercise and walked from Morrison to Quincy and Wadsworth (~7 miles) through Bear Creek Lake Park. We pushed Andrew in the BOB. It was quite the adventure.