Update on us

Getting on the laptop has been quite the chore lately, so I haven't been able to blog. I am lucky if I open my laptop once a day... and when I do I check my necessities and then close it.  (Although I was able to do some cyber Monday/Christmas shopping, got my Mom a camera because her camera sucks and she wants to take million pictures of her grandson and I got Colin a play mat that we registered for, but didn't get and I got me... hey I deserve something... some cute little boots... not that I needed more boots, but whatever. :)  )

Sleeping :   Was going really good at first. He hated his bassinet, but I discovered he liked his crib. So, he was sleeping in his crib for the first week or so. He was sleeping 1-2 hr stretches in his crib... until the other night and then he decided he didn't like his crib anymore. He only wanted to sleep on someone. I would try like hell to get him to sleep in his crib or bassinet. Feed him, put him in the one of them and then he'd wake up... sometimes less than 2 minutes after putting him down and he'd wake up and be starving again and we'd rinse and repeat. I got NO sleep one night and thought, this HAS to change. The other night we retried swaddling... he HATES it, I swear. He hardly ever cries, and last night he screamed trying to escape his swaddle. I was tired so i laid in bed trying to console him... and I fell asleep. I woke up with him in my arms THREE... count them... THREE hours later.  I hadn't slept a 3 hour stretch since before he was born! We fed and then I went back to bed with him... and he slept another 3 hours. Daddy's alarm went off and I couldn't believe I had only gotten up once in the night.  Since then we've been co-sleeping... because that seems to be the only way I get sleep.  I really hate co-sleeping. Our bed sucks, it is old and really squishy and I feel like Colin is going to suffocate. So I hold onto him all night. He is a squirmy sleeper so I wake up a lot... but still not as much as before. I am still not sure this is right for us because I am soo paranoid about it. I will continue to try to put him in his crib and bassinet and hopefully he will out grown this whole only sleeping on someone deal.  Right now he is sleeping in a vibrating chair... better than me! :)

Breastfeeding:   This has been a huge challenge for us. We've been using a nipple shield since my little breakdown. Honestly, I don't think we'd still be breastfeeding if it weren't for the shield.  I was starting to feel some more pain the other day, so I FINALLY called a lactation consultant. I should have gotten help weeks ago, but I didn't. She gave us some really great tips and breastfeeding is definitely more comfortable than it was before. I am hoping that was the stepping stone in the right direction for us and hopefully breastfeeding will only get better. I am still using the shield, but I just want my poor nips to heal a bit more before I go back without it.  :)

With Colin sleeping more at night, he is MUCH more awake during the day.  We've been doing tummy time and blanket time on the floor and yesterday we had a MAJOR photo shoot so I could get a photo for our Christmas cards. :)  He was quite the little alert boy during his photo shoot and I got lots of good pictures! He is such a good baby, we are really lucky!  No crying unless he is hungry or if the diaper wipes are exceptionally cold!  I love him so much! I can't believe it has been 3 weeks already since I had him!

Here are some pictures from our photo shoot!! :)