Wow

Well the past almost 8 weeks have gone by so quickly (and now it's not even 8 weeks; it's 13). I have/had so many things I was going to post and I probably won't remember half of them. To say that life has changed would be the understatement of the year. Let's just get this out there first. The first 4 weeks of JJ's life were very hard for me. I don't think I would want to do them over again ever. That being said, I realize that he is a very good baby. He always has been and I am just weak and probably not very good at adapting to change. However, I now believe there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Let's go back though.

As I said the first 4 weeks were awful. I think he averaged 60-90 minutes of sleep at a time all day and night. So that meant that is all the possible sleep I was getting but I probably wasn't even getting that most days. I find it very hard to sleep when people came over. I felt that I had to 'entertain' and visit. Adding to that is the fact that I put a lot of pressure on myself to 'maintain the home' when I am home. So I felt that I needed to clean, cook, do laundry, grocery shop, etc. So about 4 weeks in I cracked. I was not doing well at all. No one had ever told me how extremely hard it is having a newborn. Several things happened about the 4 week mark that helped improve things. First, we went to Juan and Kerry's wedding. Juan had told me before that they had hired a sleep specialist with LJ and I think I probably mocked him. But I was able to talk to Kerry for a few minutes that night and she assured me it was worth every penny. So we got the info for our sleep specialist Mamie (more on her later). John and I also had a trip to Dr. Alperin. He was very forward in saying that I needed sleep and I needed a break from JJ. I think it helped me to hear it from someone. That it's ok to have a break. Not only is it ok but I NEED it. Next, Nick and Shar kept JJ for the night. This was a hard decision but I was so exhausted. It was honestly the first time in over 4 weeks that I slept through the night because before he was born I wasn't sleeping all night then either.

Juan, Kerry, and LJ. It was a beautiful, personal wedding

Ryan holding JJ. Ryan is a friend from work and while we've butt heads before he was a huge support for me during my pregnancy and even after. He was so excited for me to be having a baby and helped reassure me when they kept JJ in the hospital for jaundice.

Yep, I cut my hair off. How cliche is that? I was tired of it always being in the way, always feeling ugly, always being in a ponytail. I threatened to shave it. Still thinking about it.

This was the morning Nick and Shar had JJ. He was so happy just hanging out.

So this all took up to about 4 weeks. We set up a consult with Mamie. She came over and honestly, she didn't share any groundbreaking information, but just like with Dr. Alperin, it helps to hear it from someone else sometimes. She gave us a plan and a schedule to work towards. This helped us feel proactive instead of reactive. She helped us set up his room and give us some tips on helping him shut down at night. I feel like almost immediately we went from getting up every 60-90 minutes to getting up maybe twice a night. And this was taking him from going to bed at 10-11 to going to bed at 7. We were now putting him down at 7; getting up about 11 and then again around 2, and for the morning between 6-7 am. That is so much more doable than what it had been. This also gave me structure during the day on how to get him down, how to watch for his sleep signs, swaddling him, etc. Like a champ he was on that schedule amazingly for the next 4 weeks.

Isn't this just exciting? Chris Mann as the Phantom?! I'm seeing it in June.

This is JJ sleeping in his crib. We'd had him with us for the most part during the dark days. I was afraid we'd create a monster so I was super excited when he was sleeping in his crib. He's in a miracle blanket and it is aptly named! For those of us who can't swaddle like Cynthia Robbins this is a life saver. This kid was breaking all of our swaddles but this blanket put that almost to an end.

At the 6 week mark I got the ok to start exercising. We got out a few times for a jog/walk but I find exercising is a hard thing to fit in; especially now that I'm back at work. Someday/some way I'll figure it out again. It's not a lack of desire as a shift in priorities. Most the rest of these are just random pictures. They've probably all been posted on facebook, but I just love them.

That's really all I can think through about mid-October at least. I'll do another post to try and catch up a little farther, but this is all the photos I had ready for the blog at this time. Hey, it's a start!