Remembering Baby

Well my recovery has gone very smooth and transitioning to 3 kids has been pretty easy so far. I say that with a big grin on my face because I have had family here helping the whole time and baby still sleeps all day-so of course it hasn't been hard yet. : ) The boys have LOVED having their little brother home and part of our family and that makes me happy. I am LOVING not being pregnant anymore and feeling more and more like myself with energy and motivation every day. There have been a lot of "Oh yeah" moments the past few weeks, both good and bad, as I have remembered and lived life postpartum and with a newborn. I'm not going to try and write this as a cohesive piece but I do want to record some things.

• I hate changing diapers after they get circumcised because it makes me so sad. I always make Justin change most of those; lucky for him he was around those first few days to do it. But I have definitely made up for it now as Landon loves to poop and we change lots of diapers. Remembering how many diapers babies go through...
• Another big "Oh yeah" moment was when my milk came in and my boobs hurt worse than anything else on my body. My milk always comes in with a vengeance and this time was no different. Hot showers, hot washcloths, a few small pumps to help, lots of feedings, and mostly just waiting it out for a couple of days. It made me want my mom for some reason; maybe I just needed some extra empathy about all the uncomfortableness. Things are much better now. Just like labor pain it only lasts for a short time and in the long run it's worth it; I love breastfeeding.

His coming home from the hospital outfit

•  But ouch! I forgot how much nursing hurts at the beginning. That first moment when Landon latched on I was not prepared for that. I really and truly had forgotten and not even thought about the logistics of nursing. My nipples cracked and bled which has never happened to be before and that was tough to get through the first few days. (Thank heavens for nipple shields and coconut oil!) I still have some pain on one side but I feel like it is slowly getting better over time. Landon has by far been the best eater. He latched right on the first try and never looked back. We didn't even have any problems with my bad side. The boy loves to eat!
• A sleeping baby makes everything seem right in the world. I love holding him and feeling his warm soft skin against mine and looking at his peaceful face and just being in that moment right there with my precious little baby.
• And speaking of sleep. Landon has also been my best sleeper so far; I am hoping this is a trend that lasts. He slowly increased the amount of time he slept at night and has pretty much settled into a routine of waking up twice at night. Once around 1 and then again around 4:30 or 5. It varies a little each night depending on when he goes down for the night but that is definitely better than the every 2 hours my others have done as newborns. He seems to be fine sleeping anywhere and can be rocked to sleep or drift to sleep on his own laying down. I am crossing my fingers that all the craziness we have ahead of us with traveling doesn't ruin our chance at establishing good habits and having a happy sleeper. 
• I thought that picture was cute because of how he was holding his binky. Landon does not really like the binky-something very different from my other kids. This kind of surprises me because of how much he likes to eat and suck. But he wants the real deal-if there is no milk he doesn't want it. Occasionally we have gotten him to take the binky. The good side of this is that he really hasn't needed it much. There have been very few times where I even needed to try to give him the binky because he is just so chill. He eats and sleeps or his happy when he is awake. But I really do want him to learn to like the binky more because I know his happy all the time stage won't last forever.
• He hated his first bath and screamed the whole time. He hates getting his diaper changed as well. He is getting better about not screaming while being changed and he has actually loved his baths since his cord fell off.
• Those first couple days home were definitely the roughest. Justin and I were both tired and the boys were out of sync and had lots of extra energy. I was so sensitive to their noise and activity level around the baby. After a couple days I got used to my normal life again and my kids didn't seem so crazy to me.
• I think my favorite thing so far has been having lots of time to be with my baby to really bond with him, if you will. Having my parents here for a week and then Justin's mom has meant the boys have plenty of distractions to keep them busy and I have lots of help around the house. I have gotten to just sit and feed my baby and hold him while he sleeps and just get to know him and observe him and love him. I got lots of that time with Matthew but I feel like I lacked some of that with Koyle and so I have loved getting the chance to do this with Landon. Thanks grandparents!
• Babies grow up so fast. He is already not a newborn. I can tell he is different this week than he was last week. It is so fun to watch them learn and grow but that means I have to cherish every moment because it goes so fast. Makes me baby hungry for another just thinking about him growing up.
• I have definitely been go with the flow with this baby. I have a feeling that will be a trend for baby #3. But I don't track how long he eats, or what time he ate, or how many diapers I've changed...I just feed him when he's hungry and stop when he's done and change his diaper when I think its time. It is kind of nice to not worry about logistics. But I will say I have woken him up multiple times because it was 'time to eat' (code for my boobs were ready to burst). 
• Did I say that the boys love him? Matthew always talks to him and really makes sure Landon is part of the family and Koyle already wants Landon to be his playmate. His favorite thing is to have Landon lay on the floor and watch him play trains.
  
  
   Oh sweet baby Landon I love you so much and we are so glad you are here. I can already tell you are going to bring balance to our life, especially when it comes to play time with Matthew and Koyle. I think you will be our glue.