It’s been busy, trying to settling into a new routine with a new little one, full of challenging adventures. I will share Gabriel’s birth story once I’ve caught on some sleep. Jon’s dad arrives tomorrow, so more help is on the way!
We brought Gabriel home on Friday and were very much surprised to have my mom join us for the weekend (it was a GREAT surprise!) Mom really focused on Sophia, giving her much-needed attention, while Daddy and I settled in. My mom deserves the WORLD”S BEST MOM award for her work this past weekend, not only taking care of Sophia, but cooking, cleaning, and bringing BEER (Jon is much appreciative!)
Sophia really seems to enjoy her little brother, despite the fact he’s not her “sister”. Having her open all the presents that arrive helps too!
The first few nights were really hard, with Gabe wanting to nurse exclusively from 8 pm to midnight, not sleeping unless he was in my arms. Add Sophia’s insistence that she get up as well for milk as well during the night (a problem that developed before Gabe was born), well…it wasn’t pretty. Gabe would nurse (before milk came in)and then we’d supplement with a little formula, just to make sure he was getting enough to eat. We might have been a little sensitive about making sure he ate enough.
A couple nights like that, Gabe refusing to nap unless it was ON me, running on four hours of sleep all day… thankfully, it got better. My milk came in and Gabe is nursing. I could sing from the rooftops, if only I had the energy. You may recall the difficulties we had with Sophia. I do plan on pulling out our baby scale tomorrow and weighing him. Seriously, Gabe is an easy baby: he sleeps through Sophia’s fits, dog barking, and general chaos. He eats well – and for that time at night when he’s being really fussy and nothing works, I pull out my friend Mr. Formula to give him a dollop to calm down. Works like a charm. He hates to be swaddled in those tight velcro swaddlers, so I am just using a blanket to swaddle him, and he slept so well last night. He was up every couple of hours (like he’s supposed to), but I got a chance to sleep in my own bed!
As for daytime naps, I figured out how to nurse in bed yesterday and we slept in my bed. Not the best solution, given I don’t plan on co-sleeping (we have queen-sized bed), but it works for now. I do need to research some co-sleeping beds for the trailer trips we have coming up – so if anyone has advice, I’d love to hear it. Just remember, we have a small space – a 21 foot trailer, so no big bulky beds – just something that can fit on a king-sized bed.
I couldn’t be happier with our little family of four! I’m itching to do some sewing for this little man and have a much-needed project in mind.
