Can you believe that my 12 weeks of materinty leave is almost over. I only have 2.5 more months to treasure with baby Ace. Wish time wouldn't fly so fast. I have enjoyed staying home with Ace over the course of the last 10 weeks. Easton for the most part has been going to daycare. I have kept him home a couple of days out of the week at times but feel that he's better going to daycare so he can stay in his same schedule since I will be going back to work.
Baby Ace has been a great baby. My mom came to stay with us for the first week of being home. She helped out tremendously. My dad ended up coming a short time later. I was definitely sad to see them leave. Ace struggled with his sleeping schedule. We surely did have some exhausting nights the first week. He fought sleep like crazy. Finally we discovered that he did very well at nights sleeping in his car seat. Easton was the same way. We slept Easton in his carseat for at least a month before switching him over to his crib. I have yet to switch Ace over to his crib. I feel i get more sleep and peace of mind when he's in our room. The first couple of weeks his sleeping pattern was very scattered. He for the most part would wake up every 3 to 4 hours to nurse but everytime he nursed he did not want to go back to sleep. I had many weeks of sleepless nights or nights in the basement on the couch due to Ace keeping Jesse awake. He loved to stay awake from 3am on or if i wanted some sleep he would actually sleep on me or with me in bed. I didn't really like that scenerio but in order for me to get a little sleep that's what I did most nights for the first month. Jesse found out what it was like on the weekends since he'd help me out a little. I was a nice wife and let him sleep during the week since he did have to get up and go to work. I on the other hand really didn't sleep at all during the day even though i was going on barely any sleep. Ace has now developed a more solid sleep schedule. I'll put him to bed around 11 and then he'll sleep till around 3:30/4 to nurse and thankfully go right back to sleep until around 7:30am. I can definitely handle that sleeping schedule. At least i'm getting more than a couple hours of sleep at night. I have found nursing in bed to be the easiest. When he was a newborn i'd get up and go to the nursery and nurse in there while rocking...now a days he's fine with just nursing in bed and then going straight back into his carseat.
Ace and I have had better success at nursing than Easton and I ever did. My milk hardly came in with Easton so we had to supplement formula early on. Ace on the other hand has done remarkably well at nursing and I have found that I am able to produce a little more milk. Dr Owens still wanted me to come in once a week for a weigh in check just to make sure he actually was gaining weight. He wanted him to his birth weight by the time he was two weeks old. Ace left the hospital at 7lbs 1oz. Normally if the baby loses 10% of their body weight they become concerned. Ace lost 9% so it was still below the 10%. His first weigh in check with Dr Owens he was 7lbs 6oz so he had gained a little after leaving the hospital. A week later when we took him back to the pediatrician he was 7lbs 14oz so he did pass his birth weight of 7lbs 12oz. which was a relief. Dr Owens gave us the ok to not have to come back until his 2 month baby well check up. Even though we didn't have to go back I still continued to visit Angela's (lactation consultant) office on a weekly basis just to make sure he was continuing to gain...even though it wasn't at a rapid pace (an ounce a day)...he was still gaining on a weekly basis.
Easton didn't know what to think when we first brought brother Ace home from the hospital. Since he wasn't able to visit in the hospital due to the flu epic he really didn't get to meet his brother until days later when we were discharged. Easton at first didn't even want to hold him. It took him seeing his cousins Grady and Jace holding him to finally really get excited about holding him. Over the last two months Easton has grown to love his little brother. He enjoys sharing his rabbit blanket, giving him his paci when he's crying and kissing him constantly on his forehead. It is so cute to watch him love on his little brother and do so well with him.
Ace and I have done our fair share of shopping over the couse of being home on maternity leave. It's nice to get out of the house every once in a while. He is a trooper when it comes to shopping. He loves car rides but hates stop signs/stop lights. He enjoys the movement and when he's not moving he's crying. I have yet to venture out with both boys by myself. It will defintitly be more work trying to look after both boys while out. We normally venture out with both boys when Jesse is able to help.
I had wanted my maternity leave to be during the summer so i could get out and enjoy the weather. It's nice being at home during the cold winter due to snow storms. We have had our share of them. I luckily haven't had to get out during them. Jesse has taken off early on some days just to get Easton from daycare. It's so cold having to take Ace out in the cold weather. We enjoy our snow days in doors with the heater going. I do have to say though that the days do get long when you don't get out often enough.
I think Ace is going to have a rude awakening when he starts daycare. Over the course of my maternity leave Ace and I have been stuck in the rocking chair. He fights sleep so much that it's just easier to rock him to sleep. He hates not being held. When you put him down he immediately wakes up and starts crying. I'm trying to break this habit of his but it's harder than it seems. I feel that he's going to have lots of crying days at Vicky's house due to her not being able to pick him up and hold him/rock him all the time. I don't try and spoil him but it's hard not to since he's so cuddly. It didn't help when we went home to the farm where my nieces held Ace constantly and he enjoyed that immensily. I have taken Ace a couple of times to daycare just so i could run errands or make appointments. Vicky has said that he loves to be held and that if he's crying when you immediately pick him up he stops crying. He's a smart little cookie.
Even though my milk seems to have increased since with Easton...i still am not producing enough to satisfy his needs. We are having to supplement a couple ounces a day in order to get his daily nutritional needs in. He seems to really feed well off the bottle and has even started messing around when nursing on me. So frustrating since I love nursing him and having that bond with him. I'm hoping to keep up the nursing and pumping when I go back to work. Even though we have to supplement a couple of ounces a day I still enjoy nursing and at least letting him consume a little of my milk.
Ace experienced one night where he just would not stop crying. It wasn't a normal cry but a painful cry. Jesse and I were up practically all night...I let Jesse go back to sleep around 3am due to him having to work the next day. I on the other hand was up all night long. I was worried that Ace was running a fever and well we didn't really have any working thermometers....i decided to make a hyvee trip to get a working thermometer. While walking back into the house I slipped and fell on some ice. I heard and felt everything tear/pop. I barely could walk to the house after falling and almost had to call Jesse to come and help me in. The next morning my whole leg/knee was swollen and I could barely put any pressure on it. Turns out Ace didn't even have a fever. I was now in fear that I had done something horrible to my knee. Luckily Jesse was able to take the afternoon off and take me to the Ortho Dr. We did exrays and it showed nothing. I made an appointment for an MRI just because since we had met our deductable with Ace there was no reason why not to see if something majorly wrong....had the MRI done and waited a week for the results. Thankfully nothing was torn but i did crack my Tibial Plateau bone. The Dr said I had to of fallen very hard in order to crack that bone. Unfortunatley there was nothing they could do. It woud just heal over time. Thankfully it's feeling a little better and I'm able to walk and put pressure on it. For a while I wasn't even able to carry my baby.
I am so sad that I only have 2.5 weeks left of maternity leave left. I love staying home with my boys and getting to spend every waking moment with them. Even though i'm not sure i could be a stay at home mom..the thought of it and if we could afford it would be nice. I hate the fact that Vicky gets to see all of their firsts and enjoy the whole day with them. At least we have found a loving daycare for both of them where we know they are taken care of.
While being home Ace has experienced:
1.) sleeping pattern of 11-3 and 3:30-6:30 am.
2.) nurses ever 2-3 hours consistantly - likes having a couple of ounces of formula right before bed to top him off
3.) has not gotten accustome to tubby time. Still screams the whole time
4.) loves his puppy paci pal and even holds it in his mouth. Will not take a normal paci now
5.) jumps at loud noices
6.) snorts when hungry or mad
7.) pleads to you to pick him up - gives you the bottom lip and whines - it's the cutest thing
8.) hates being swaddled but sleeps so much better when swaddled. He has now associated swaddling to sleeping time
9.) first Super Bowl party with friends (Adenline and Emma)
10.) first Valentines Day
11.) first smile ( February 23, 2013) during our Omaha trip
12.) first trip - Omaha trip to a Lancers hockey game.
13.) stopping at Mommy and Daddy's work and having co-workers swoon over him
14.) weekly weigh ins at Angela's (lacation counselor) office at Medcap
15.) mommy and me class the last Wed of the month at the Altoona library with Angela
16.) beginning to track with his eyes and watch people - is so alert and awake
17.) loves to be talked to - will smile like crazy if you talk to him
18.) has a very strong neck...controls his head very well
19.) when mad....has Easton's teridacktal cry. His screech can be heard through out the house
20.) loves car rides but hates stop signs/stop lights - enjoys the movement
21.) hates the hiccups - gets them every time after nursing/feeding
22.) enjoys laying on the floor and kicking for short periods of time
23.) first night of screening the whole night - pain scream - up all night - supository given and seemed to be better after going poop. (February 24)
24.) lots of pictures - mommy loves taking pictures - took 1600 just when he was a newborn.
25.) has had many visitors - Jill, Angie, Britt, Steph and Jake, Uncle Jason and family, Grandpa Tom and Marla, Grandma Brenda, Johan and Julie and Mindy
26.) being held by big brother Easton
27.) bearing weight on legs and feet (February 19th)
28.) makes puppy noises while sleeping
29.) loves his fists
30.) first laugh out loud (4/07/13)
31.) first park visit 4/05/13
32.) sleeping in his crib in his car seat 4/02/13
Overall I have loved every minute of my maternity leave. I love having the time to spend with my boys and watching them grow, play and experience new things. It will be a sad day when I have to return back to work.
