two weeks into this thing

Two weeks ago at this time I was sitting in a hospital bed holding my brand new baby boy that was born just that morning. I can't believe he's two weeks old!

Me and Graeme before we moved out of the delivery room.

Before we were parents, we heard countless times, "They grow up so fast!" or "Time speeds by!" or "They'll be grown in the blink of an eye!"

Yeah.

That's all totally true. We get it now.

I have cried about four times in the past 24 hours just thinking of how much he's already grown.

His going home from the hospital outfit (pictured) is about to be too small already! :(

Anyway.

I am not sure the goal of this blog post other than a random assortment of catching up. Here goes...



Graeme was born very early on a Sunday morning (figures he would come on the busiest day of the week for the majority of his close family and friends...even his own father). We could have stayed in the hospital until Tuesday, but the thought of another night in the hospital bed with the constant interruptions was not appealing to me at all. I just can't sleep well at the hospital. It was the same when I had my thyroid removed.

Despite hardly any sleep while we were at the hospital, I was on an adrenaline high or something. The fact that I had gotten about eight hours of sleep in 48 hours didn't hit me until we did get home on Monday night. I wasn't sure what kind of sleep we would be in for that night with a newborn and no nurses to whisk him off to the nursery. To my delight, we have an angel baby who SLEEPS SO WELL AT NIGHT.

We are two weeks in now, and Graeme has yet to have a bad night of sleep. I am just waiting for that all-nighter to come. Of course, I don't want it to, but I am waiting.

We feed him one last time before we go to bed between 11:00-11:30pm. We lay him down still awake and he puts himself to sleep. Then I have to wake him up for the next feeding. Last night, I totally slept through my alarm to wake him up in the middle of the night. (Our pediatrician doesn't want him to go longer than four hours at night for now.) I accidentally slept an hour past when I had meant to wake him up. When I did wake up out of the blue, Graeme was still sound asleep. I felt a little bad, but I know if he was really hungry he would let us know!

Anyway, after he eats and gets his diaper changed in the middle of the night, he goes right back to sleep in his little Rock-n-Play all by himself. Then, he sleeps until between 6:30-7:30am. I am okay with that wake up time.

Tonight, we are going to try to make the transition from the Rock-n-Play to the Pack-n-Play. (That all-nighter I'm waiting for might be fast approaching...) I am hoping he's not too attached to his little "taco bed" as I like to call it, after just two weeks. We don't want him to get so used to sleeping in it that it comes back to bite us later. A flat sleeping surface is headed his way in just a couple hours. We'll see how it goes. And then before too long we will promote him all the way to his crib.

This is where he's been sleeping at night. It's pretty cozy.

So that's how night sleeping is going.



The daytime is just as fun. We implemented the eat-wake-sleep routine as soon as we could. He took to it like a champ. I sure do love him. The routine is good for all of us.

When he's awake, (which isn't ever for terribly long, although in the past week he's been much more alert) he likes to listen to music, listen to books, look in the mirror, watch his swing mobile, have tummy time, or just listen to someone talk to him. He sure is easy to entertain right now. He and Aaron are reading Peter Pan together. At night, we are all reading The Jesus Storybook Bible.

Things Graeme does not like include diaper changes, clothes changes, sponge baths (he's had one full bath since his cord came off...he wasn't as angry about it as a sponge bath, but didn't love it either), having his face wiped, getting the straps put on him in his carseat (once it's buckled, he's fine), and when his food is not quite ready at his demand.

He really hated his first sponge bath at home...

That's how the daytime goes.




What else?

Well, my mom was a HUGE help for the first two weeks. We didn't do laundry, cleaning, or anything really. Aaron helped occasionally, but he was usually sent away to sit down and rest too. She took care of our house, made our bed every time we took a nap, and even got us groceries. It was awesome. She's the best.

We have also been completely spoiled by our wonderful church family. We have had dinner brought to us almost every night. It has been amazing. Meals are still coming this week. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to remember how to cook or ever want to again. We feel so loved and appreciate everyone that has helped us so much.



I guess I'll end with a sentimental paragraph now...


I have always wanted to be a mom. I can't believe I finally am! It has made me love Jesus more. It brings His love for me into a brand new light. It has made me love my husband more. Watching Aaron be a dad and tackling this new adventure with him has been the funnest part of our marriage so far. I love Graeme so unconditionally and feel like he fits right in to our family perfectly. One of our wise friends told us this about becoming parents:

"Your kid is the only person you love before you ever get to know them. You love them right away. Anyone else in your life, you get to know them before you love them. They have to earn your love. Not your child. The moment you see them, you love them unconditionally."