Our Little Life: Leo - 1 Month Old (Plus some CNC updates, as if anyone cares about anything but Leo now!)

It's really hard to believe that Charlie and I have been parents for a solid month already!! Our little fussy pants now weighs 10 lbs 12 ounces! (I measured him, which is sort of hard, but by my calculations he is 22.5 inches long)

Leo is doing great so far. Our only real hurdle has been acid reflux. The day before he turned one month old he was diagnosed with GERD, which is acid reflux disease. We had a really rough few days where he would refuse to eat after he burped midway through his bottle. The acid is literally burning his little throat...so sad. Dr. John started him on infant Zantac. We have seen a slight improvement but real results will take 1-2 weeks. The medicine tastes like Peppermint and he HATES it, but it will be worth it to not seeing him throw his little head back in pain when he is eating. This was the day he was diagnosed.

From Leo - 1st month

Otherwise, Leo is really a great baby. He can now focus on our faces, move his head to follow a toy or sound and hold his head up for brief moments. We are starting to hear some coo's and getting a few smiles that don't seem to be gas (though he has LOTS of gas, so that's hard to say!!). He's only peed on me twice, but he did manage to squirt poo clear across the room and on Charlie during his first week home. He also pooped all over himself during diapers changes for both grandmothers. Leo absolutely LOVES bath time, he gets this total look of calm on his face when we put him in the warm water and he never fusses until you take him out. He also loves tummy time and is really soothed by classical music.

From Leo - 1st month

The big question I get is "how is he sleeping?. He sleeps great, just not very long yet. Usually he sleeps in 2-3 hour stretches before he wants to eat, every once in a while we will get a 4 hour stretch, but that is not the norm yet.

We are still exclusively on breast milk, but he now gets it all via a bottle. He has struggled with his latch since day 1 due to a high palette. Then to make it more difficult, he gets snuggled up next to me and wants to fall asleep. Around his 3 week growth spurt, he would start eating, fall asleep 10-15 minutes into the feeding and then wake up 30 minutes later screaming with hunger. It was a really frustrating cycle for him and me. But, if we gave him a 4 ounce bottle he was happy as a clam. After 2-3 days of this I gave in to what he needed and started pumping exclusively, giving him all of his feedings via a bottle. In return, Charlie and I had a MUCH happier little Leo (and a happier Mommy). It was a tough decision for me though. I had all these "breast feeding visions" in my head. Like most women, even though I had heard how hard it could be to breastfeed, I believed in the back of my mind that it would come naturally and it would be this beautiful easy thing in no time. Geez was I wrong!! When I finally put my preconceived notions aside and looked at what Leo truly needed the answer was quite clear. Needless to say, it was an emotional few days. Pumping has turned out to be a little bit of a pain some days (it's hard to hold him while I am pumping) but, like anything, you adapt and make it work for you.

Leo has been with Charlie and I many places. He's been with us out to eat, grocery shopping, and most importantly, Leo attended his first Astro's game. On Labor Day, we ventured out as a family to the Juice Box and watched the Astros win a ball game. Really only Charlie and I watched the game, Leo slept through the entire thing except when he woke up to eat. I think this kid could sleep through anything. We were in a fairly loud section as the announcers were literally right behind us, the train went off for a home run, and a ball came right into our section; Leo hardly stirred thorough any of it!

From Leo - 1st month

Now, for the part no one really cares about, Charlie and I :) We are tired, but having a blast being parents. Charlie bought me a new car when Leo was about 3 weeks. It's a beautiful charcoal grey Nissan Maxima. The car drives like a dream, and I just LOVE it. It's also much easier to get Leo in and out of for me than the Xterra was. Charlie had a minor injury to his toe last Thursday and had to have the entire nail removed (ICK!!) That's really about it for us, our entire world is revolving around our new little guy.

Here are a few more pictures of Leo. Enjoy!