clark wilde : one month

o n e   m o n t h 

well folks, we have a one month old!  Clark is no longer a newborn (is he?)  maybe this is not normal at all but I have to admit I am very excited for Clark to grow up!  don't get me wrong...he is absolutely precious at this stage but I am dying for him to smile at me, play with me, call me mama and go on adventures with me!  I'm sure that day will come and I'll miss my sweet little newborn but right now I am so impatient for him to be my little best friend!

I'm probably also impatient because, let's be honest, the first few weeks with a new baby are rough!  so much learning, growing and adjusting for both of us.  I'm so glad we're finally getting the hang of things and settling down into a little routine.  here's what a typical day in the life looks like:

daily routine:

6:30 am (let's be real, our day starts much earlier) 3:00 am - feed Clark + listen to my audiobook (currently listening to a really good one, "Most Wanted" by Lisa Scottoline)

6:30 am - feed Clark + Mark gets ready for work

7-9:30 am - mom watches Clark while I sleep in :) (she is the best!)

9:30 am - feed Clark + breakfast in bed (courtesy of my mother)

10:00 am - get ready + get Clark dressed

10:30 am - tummy time (Clark loves it!  more on that later)

11:00 am - walk while Clark naps at home

11:30 am - shower

12:30 pm - feed Clark + read

1:30 pm - laundry / tidy up + lunch

2:30 pm - blog + work on baby journal

3:30 pm - feed Clark + movie with mom

5:30 pm - the beginning of Clark's fussy hours + Mark gets home (lucky Mark)

6:00 pm - dinner while mom walks around with Clark

6:30 pm - feed Clark (sometimes this is done during dinner)

7:00 pm - family walk

7:30 pm - Clark's bedtime routine (more on this later)

8:30 pm - feed Clark + movie with Mark

10:30 pm - lights out!

mind you, not every day goes exactly like this.  in fact, almost every day is a little bit different but this is more or less our routine.  we feed Clark on demand, per the advice of many books, la leche league, lactation consultants and friends & family, so the feedings are never exactly as listed above but are generally 2-3 hours apart (cluster feeds excluded) and I adjust things accordingly.  before Clark I used to plan out every hour of my day (actually it looks like I still do that, haha) so being able to let go of tasks or even forego the entire day's agenda if Clark is having a growth spurt and eating every hour has taken some getting used to.  I have to remind myself even if I have done nothing else all day but feed my child, it's been a more productive day than anything I ever did before.

one month stats:

weight: 9 lbs. 2 oz. (86th percentile)

birth: 7 lbs. 10 oz.

length: 22 in. (38th percentile)

birth: 19.5 in.

head circ: 14.5 in. (61st percentile)

birth: 13.5 in.

♥                ♥                ♥

f i r s t s

♥ bath - we still have not given him a real bath, just sponge baths a couple times a week.  sometimes he loves them, other times not so much.  he always loves getting his hair washed though!

someone found his reflection

♥ smile - even if it was just gas, tell me this does not count as a smile!

♥ holiday - Clark celebrated his first independence day in style...and in bed.

f a v o r i t e s

♥ solly wrap - Clark loves to know what's going on all around the house and his favorite thing ever is for mama to wear him and walk around.  he usually falls asleep within 10 minutes of being worn...what's new?  Clark could sleep through anything (he gets it from his daddy).

♥ pacifier - this baby is a little sucker (ha) and when he can't have mama's boob, his paci is the next best thing.  he's a little picky though and the only paci he will take is mam baby.

♥ songs - he loves to be sung to, especially disney songs :)

♥ being clean - Clark will let you know when his diaper is dirty.  he makes the biggest fuss over being wet!  he doesn't always like bath time but he is so calm and happy afterwards!

♥ being held - Clark would prefer being held 24 hours a day.  he always sleeps twice as long if I let him stay tucked into my chest after eating instead of putting him down.  he is so spoiled by his grandma...she will walk around with him all day to keep him happy!

e a t

Clark has been strictly breastfed (a few times from a bottle on account of super sore nipples) from day one and it is his favorite. thing. ever.  this kid would stay attached to my breast 24 hours a day if I let him (also the reason he got a paci his first week!)  he rarely unlatches on his own but instead falls asleep and I have to carefully take him off without waking him or he will start sucking away again!

I feed Clark on demand but I also never let him go more than 3 hours without eating during the day.  I've learned that the more often he eats during the day, the longer he will sleep at night!  I love my sleep so I'd rather feed him all day long if that means I can get a good sleep each night.  since he is pretty much guaranteed to fall asleep while eating, he usually only takes one side during each session.  sometimes, like at night, I wake him and try to get him to take the other side so he will stay full longer but during the day I don't mind so much.

Clark has had about 3 growth spurts this month, accompanied by a few days of constant hourly eating!  the first one was at 3 days old and that was the hardest, simply because it was so early on we were still learning and both of us were convinced this was going to be an every day occurrence.  that on top of the soreness was enough to make me think twice about this whole breastfeeding thing.  but after a few days things improved and Clark was able to go 3 hours in between feeds (4 at night!) which felt amazing!  I'm so glad I hung in there and now whenever he cluster feeds I know it won't last forever.

I have become so confident and comfortable breastfeeding that I actually look forward to it!  I am able to eat, read, blog, put on makeup and pretty much anything else while feeding Clark so it's actually been a way for me to feel productive all day long.  it's really only painful at the beginning when he latches now and sometimes in between feeds but lanolin works wonders.  I think I might even feel confident enough to feed in public (with a cover on) next month!

s l e e p

I am happy to report that despite all my worries about how to get our baby to sleep at night and not reading enough sleep books, baby Clark has been sleeping through the night since he was 2 weeks old!  we were waking him to eat every 3 hours (per the nurse's orders) for the first few weeks and we hated it.  nothing seems as inappropriate as waking a peaceful, sleeping baby in the middle of the night when you're exhausted!  half the time he wouldn't even be awake enough to really eat so it seemed pretty pointless.

by his one week check-up Clark had already re-gained his birth weight and per the advice of some family, including Mark's brother who's a doctor, we did not need to wake our baby to eat if he was back at his birth weight and eating 8-12 times during the day (he was!)  so once we stopped setting an alarm to wake him we were amazed to find out he would sleep 6-7 hours!  we actually had to wake him a few times at 7 hours because I was getting engorged (and we were still a little worried he was going that long without eating!)  the only times he doesn't sleep that long is when he doesn't eat often enough during the day because I get caught up doing something and don't want to wake him or when he is going through a growth spurt.

since we know we can expect a 6 hour stretch of sleep after his last feed at night, we've gotten in the habit of waking him to eat right before we go to sleep.  so our nights are pretty consistent.

night routine:

7:30 pm - bath (a couple times a week)

7:45 pm - pajamas / swaddle

8:00 pm - story / song

8:30 pm - nurse to sleep

10:00 pm - wake Clark to nurse

3-4:00 am - feed Clark

some of Clark's bedtime musts include a swaddle, his pacifier and a white noise app on Mark's old phone.  that combination (thanks to Dr. Karp) includes 3 of the 5 S's (swaddle, suck, shhh) and they are enough to keep Clark sound asleep until he is hungry.  we can't really complain about waking up only once per night but I'm just waiting for the next phase...teething!

p l a y / d e v e l o p m e n t

we've seen some major changes this past week in Clark's ability to interact with us and his surroundings.  he now makes eye contact and can follow objects we put in front of him.  this means we are finally introducing him to toys!

we started tummy time at 3 weeks and Clark can already lift his head up for a few seconds at a time.  he is also able to move himself around the mat by sticking his little bum in the air, bending his knees and kicking his legs everywhere.  he kind of does a superman pose sometimes with his arms back and his legs up off the ground.  my little superman ♥

some games we like to play with Clark are "copycat," where we mimic the noises and faces he makes and peek-a-boo, even though I don't think he quite gets it yet.  he loves when anybody sings to him and if he is sucking his paci or eating when someone starts singing, he will stop mid-suck to listen and then happily continue sucking as he listens.  his favorite way to fall asleep is being carried around the house and sung to.  yes, he is spoiled!

whoever says there's no such thing as love at first sight has obviously never had a baby.  I didn't think I could love Clark any more than the first day I held him in my arms but somehow over this past month my love has grown tenfold.  oh Clark, there are no words for how much we love you.

the way your daddy looks at you melts my heart.  did you know he keeps tabs on us all day long with our medela app to make sure I remember to feed you?  anytime someone wants to hold you, he makes sure to remind them to hold your head and stays close by making sure you are safe.  he changes 85% of your diapers, is a pro swaddler (way better than mama) and sings you to sleep even though he is basically tone deaf (you always love it).  sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night half asleep and asks me where you are or if I fed you.  once I even woke up to find him rocking a pillow in his arms in his sleep, thinking it was you!  you are all he thinks about and he is constantly trying to make sure you are perfectly content and happy.

one month.  that's how long we've known you and I cannot imagine a world without you.  you are our world now.

baby's first week

I'm not too far behind in posting about our first week home with baby Clark...besides the first week was way too crazy busy learning how to be parents and all!  Clark is almost three weeks old now and I think we are finally starting to get the hang of things.

Clark skipped his two day follow up appointment with the pediatrician...to be fair, it was not our fault!  at the hospital they told us he would need to see the pediatrician in a few days and they kept asking us if we had scheduled it and we told them that the pediatrician wouldn't let us make an appointment until after he was born so we would do it when we got home.  well, we tried to make the appointment but the earliest they had was in a week.  we told them the doctor said it should be in 2-3 days and they asked us if the baby was healthy and if there were any complications.  we said no and so they told us it would be fine.  then one week later when we showed up, the first thing the doctor asks is, "so he had his 2 day follow up?"  nope!

it doesn't matter though because little Clark is doing just great!  he has already re-gained his birth weight on the dot.  and he has grown 3 inches!!!  we think there may have been a slight error at the hospital or at our appointment because he started out at 19.5 inches and is now 22.7 inches long!  our little superman ;)  on a side note: my obsession with Clark Kent may have something to do with his name! my brother and I were super into Smallville growing up and I used to say I would name my first son Clark and what do you know?  I just love that name!  when I hear it, I feel safe and at peace, probably because they're always shouting "Clark!" in that show and then the day is saved, haha.

things have been going pretty good so far but the day we got home from the hospital I was an emotional wreck.  we were discharged on Sunday at around 4 pm and it was raining.  I hadn't been outside of my hospital room the entire 3 days we were there and once they wheeled me outside where Mark was waiting it all suddenly felt so real.  we were taking our baby home to raise by ourselves!  this was the start of a grand adventure and I was both terrified and ecstatic.  that day though I was mostly just worried.  Clark had just had his circumcision and poor baby was sleeping it off...they said he would probably sleep the rest of the day and not to wake him to eat.  on the car ride home, Clark's head kept tilting to the side and I kept trying to fix it and it just kept going back.  it made me so worried it was going to crack his neck or something!  in fact, I began worrying about every little thing that could possibly happen to our sweet, delicate little baby and before I knew it I was sobbing.  baby blues much?

when we got home my mom and sissy had dinner waiting for us, stuffed bell peppers.  I wasn't even hungry and all we both wanted to do was sleep (we would later regret not taking advantage of the one time where we did not have to wake Clark to eat in 3 hour intervals and would have been able to get a solid 6 hours of sleep!) but they had gone to all this trouble so we ate.  whenever anyone asked me anything I would start to cry and it was all I could do not to break down sobbing.  I just felt so sad!

that first week was tough.  Mark took off Monday and Tuesday but went to work the rest of the week so he could take the next week off when my family would be in Arizona.  I can hardly remember anything we did those first few days...I blame it on sleepless nights and stressful days.  there was so much to do all at once...schedule appointments, call people back, deal with insurance, pick up Clark's birth certificate, unpack, and just get used to having a baby in the house.  and breastfeeding.

breastfeeding has been quite the journey already and I will probably devote an entire post to it at some point.  the good news is I think I have finally mastered it and am able to feed Clark now with (mostly) no pain.  the bad news is it was a long road getting there (I guess it was only a week but it felt like an eternity.)  I loved breastfeeding right from the get go...it made me feel so close to my baby and so happy that my body was made to feed him.  still, it's hard to enjoy something that is so painful.  when the lactation consultant saw me she said, "sorry honey.  fair skin and red hair means you're going to be more sensitive than normal."  she also noticed that Clark has a small suck so even when he latches on correctly it hurts more than normal.

on top of the pain, in the beginning I had such a hard time getting comfortable.  we left our boppy at home when we were in the hospital and so we were using like 4 pillows and it would take 10 minutes just to get all set up to feed.  then it would take another 10 minutes to get a good latch.  all of this when you're half asleep feels like an eternity.  by the time I finished feeding him, burping him, changing him, feeding him, and putting him back to sleep it was time to wake him again for his next feeding!  I felt like I had surrendered my soul (and sleep) to a life of nothing but breastfeeding.

luckily with a little practice and my boppy, I began to get better at situating myself.  with a lot of lanolin, breast pads, and practice latching, the pain became more tolerable.  and the more I fed Clark, the better I got.  now I barely think twice before noticing his hunger cues, picking him up, latching him on and starting the timer all in less than a minute!  I'm really proud of how far we come and I hope this is the start of a long and beautiful journey I can share with my son.

a few of Clark's favorite things this week:

♥ his most favorite thing to do by far is eat!  if he is ever fussy and we can't figure out what's wrong, nursing always does the trick!  even when we know he can't possibly be hungry.  or if he's upset about something else (after he was circumcised) and just needs to be calmed, nursing is the key!

♥ his next favorite thing to do is sleep!  just like his daddy, Clark can sleep anywhere, anytime, in any position!  we love our little sleepy bear :)

baby buddha

♥ going anywhere in his carseat!  he has yet to stay awake for more than 5 seconds on car rides but for the few minutes before we get in the car, he loves to stare at his milk snob cover!  babies love looking at things that are black and white or any high contrast shapes and colors and it's great for stimulating brain development.

♥ he loves to be held or worn and walked around.  he always tries to stay awake to see everything but usually falls asleep because the rocking calms him.

♥ having his hair washed!  he is not the biggest fan of bath time, mostly because he gets cold, but at the end when we wash his hair he immediately stops fussing and just loves it!

♥ going on walks, even though he has yet to stay awake on one!  we have only been on two walks so far just because it's too hot outside but I can't wait until we can go more often.

& here are some of my favorite things about Clark this week:

♥ the little sighs of contentment he makes while eating

♥ the few hours each day he spends in quiet alertness, looking all around and taking everything in

♥ his sad little whimper he makes when he cries...it makes me sad obviously because he's upset but at the same time I love it!

♥ how he tries to suck his thumb but doesn't quite have the dexterity yet to keep it in his mouth.  we started giving him a pacifier after the first few days at home because he was beginning to use me as a human pacifier.  he loves to suck to sleep!

♥ whenever his eyes meet mine :)

well that about wraps up Clark's first week!  I wonder how much you will have changed by your first month update!  please don't grow up too fast...