The Weekend is Here!

It looks like I won't have time to post until the weekends. Throughout the rest of the week, I'm getting home close to 7pm and exhausted. I've been trying really hard to get home earlier, but I'm either staying at work later or when I get to my mom's, the baby needs to be fed (or is in the middle of feeding). I think I managed to cook dinner twice this week. Oh well! To be honest, the only day this week that I was hungry when I got home was last night. We ordered Chinese and devoured it (of course I devour the most calorie laden food).

This weekend we have a birthday/Halloween party to go to (in a few hours) and the rest of the weekend is still dedicated to cleaning up and unpacking the apartment. We're almost there. I wish I could blink my eyes and everything would be in its place. I'm tired of this.

My milk supply seems to be dwindling. I know I keep on saying this, but I'm pumping less milk. This morning (3:30am), I actually pumped 7 1/2 oz. I'm going to try Mother's Milk Tea. I hope to see results from this. I just want to pump enough for a whole day's supply of milk. He's drinking anywhere between 4 1/2 oz to 5 throughout the day and drops to about 4 oz at night. Yesterday, I only pumped 28 oz, which doesn't make enough for a day's feeding. If the tea doesn't work and my supply dwindles even further, I'll probably start introducing formula to him.

I know there's more on my mind, but I have to go. I'm waiting for Dan to get back so that I could shower and could get going. Talk to you soon.

I Got Him to Smile!

He's been smiling for a bit now, but never responding to our actions. The two of us are up now (just fed him) and I'm walking around with him to see if he falls back to sleep so that I could shower. We walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror. He totally stares at himself, by the way. So I started asking who was the baby in the mirror. After a few times, I got an ear to ear smile!!! I can't wait for Dan to wake up so that he could hear the great news!

On other news, Will had a doctor's appointment yesterday and it went well. Remember his birth weight? 6 lbs. and 15 oz? Well after six weeks, he's up to 10 lbs. He also grew an inch, which puts him at 21. The doctor was impressed with the fact that he's only being breastfed. I am too. At least I know I'm doing a good job with my milk supply.

Well, I'll leave you with another picture of him:

I Know I Should be Sleeping...

I know. The baby is sleeping and I should be right there with him in dreamworld. But if I don't take time for myself this morning, it won't happen at all today. For instance, I got up at 6:45am and fed the baby. Afterwards, I began pumping, which took me about a good 45 minutes. I hadn't pumped throughout the night and busted out with 12 oz of milk. Hey, that's 3 feedings I don't have to worry about!

Yesterday, I tried napping while the baby was sleeping and Dan was around. I think I snoozed for about 10 minutes before the baby started wailing. Where was Dan? Poor guy was in the bathroom. Of course, I totally ragged on him about it. Like it's his fault! Sorry, babe! So much for any "me" time.

This past week went back to work. I started a new position (I think I mentioned this in another post that I was promoted) in which I research archived commercials dating back to the fifties for clients. I like the job and it keeps me busy throughout the day. The previous position I was filling in for was extremely boring and I spent most of my time reading. Some of you may think that's ideal, but try doing nothing everyday for several hours a day. I'm sure you'll be bored fast.

The week was tough. It was actually extremely tough. My mornings start between 4 and 5 depending on when the baby wakes up. I have to give myself enough time to feed him, pump, shower, and drive to my mother's. To say the least, it's been very stressful. The lack of sleep adds to the stress. Thursday night I only slept about 2 1/2 hours and that's with Dan helping me out. Imagine if he hadn't?

Getting home hasn't been a piece a cake, either. For one reason or another, I've been getting home around 7. This does not make my day any easier. I still have to worry about cooking/eating, feeding, pumping and sleep. Please let this week be easier.

Besides work, the apartment has been coming along somewhat. Although this past week unpacking has been nearly impossible, the place is looking nice. Hopefully, I'll be able to do something today besides wish that I could be doing any putting away. Let's see how that works out.

I know there's more stuff I want to talk about, but I can't think of it right now. I should get going anyway because it's almost feeding time. Talk to you soon!!

Quick Post

Ok, this will be quick. I'm tired and ready to fall asleep. My weekend post will be filled with more information. Anyway, work has been great. My new position is interesting and keeps me busy for the most part, which helps me not miss Will as much as I do. Sunday night and Monday morning, I cried about going back. I just want to spend as much time with him as I can. Can you blame me?



Look at this face? Wouldn't you want to spend as much time as possible with him?

Since I'm back to work, Dan and I need to figure out how to manage our time. It's overwhelming to say the least. We've been stressed out about it, but are trying to keep our cool. Today, we started taking separate buses home (even though we work together and leave at the same time). I went to pick-up the baby and he went home to tidy up. If we don't do that, then we won't get anything done.

Speaking of picking the baby up, Grandma is having a blast with him. She's really cute around him making sure that he's dry and well fed. Thank God for her help. It's making a huge difference.

Well, that's it for now. I have to post on my crochet blog and go to sleep. See, this is where motherhood gets confusing. He's due to eat in 45 minutes, but right now he's asleep. Should I stay up and wait or go to sleep and let him wake me up? Who knows?

Random Emotions

Today is the last weekday I get to spend with my little guy. I return to work on Monday (only four weeks off). I was offered a promotion at work with a 20% raise that I couldn't pass up. In order to take this job, I needed to return early. I'm very happy about the promotion and that I'll be making more money, but I'm really sad that I'm leaving my little guy. Fortunately, my mother is watching him so I don't have to worry about him. Still, this isn't easy for me. If it were up to me, I would be a stay at home mom. I love spending time with him.

Speaking about cutting my maternity leave short, I have not rested at all. Now, I knew things would be hectic with a newborn, but the move added to the stress. Of course, I don't get anything done with the baby around while Dan is at work. But you know how I'm suppose to sleep when he sleeps? Yeah, that hasn't happened much. I believe I've napped a total of three times in these past four weeks. The truth of the matter is that once I'm up, I'm up. It doesn't help either that I have a million things to do when he's napping.

My mornings are good. I make it a point to go online while I pump, drink my coffee, and have breakfast. If I don't put this time aside, then I won't have any "me" time. Tending to a baby all day without having some free time is brutal. Also, I have to make it a point to eat because I get caught up with everything that's going on and forget.

Yesterday marked a month since William was born. Even though I'm extremely happy that he's growing and is very healthy, I'm also sad that he's changing. He's already wearing a size one in diapers and has begun drinking 4 ounces of milk instead of three. His face is changing, too. It's fuller and rounder. He's also more alert following you around with his gorgeous eyes. Again, I'm very happy about all of these changes, but a part of me wants him to stay very small.

Alright, I must go. I just finished my breakfast and now I don't have an excuse to be online. He's actually calm laying on his rocker. So, let me take advantage of this and try to unpack a box or two. Chat with you soon!

I Think I'm Getting the Hang of this Mommy Thing

William is doing wonderful. He's just a yummy little baby and I can't get enough of him. As of yesterday, he's four weeks old and has changed much. His face is fuller, his legs and arms are bigger, and his expressions are changing, too.

I've also changed. I'm realizing the hunger cry, or the I can't poop cry (which was yesterday for most of the day). Daddy does a wonderful job with him, also. He jumps in and helps out whenever I need it. It would be extremely tough to do this without him. I even got him feeding the baby (I'm expressing my milk), which gives me the little breaks I need.

I've also learned a lot about my patience level. For example, Will spent practically the entire day crying. His belly was hurting him and no poops were coming out. I did my best to comfort him by rubbing his belly and the top part of his butt. Not once did I loose my cool. In fact, my main concern was to calm him down, which kept me calm.

Now, the only thing I need to get the hang of is getting things done with him. When I'm home alone with him, I'm lucky I shower. Forget about unpacking boxes or doing anything productive for that matter. It just doesn't happen. I don't feel so awful about it because the few times that I've gone out to run some errands and left Dan with the baby, he hasn't gotten anything done either. At least I know it's not only me.

Multitasking is the name of the game. While trying to write this post, I've eaten breakfast, talked to my sister, and pumped. I should probably try to quickly shower, but I'm not sure I'll be able to do that. We'll see. Well, I'll leave you with these two pictures!

Stress does not Even Come Close to What We've Went Through with the Move

We dealt with three different moving companies. Company #1 was booked on Friday. They were set to come between 9/10 am on Monday morning. We were in touch with them throughout the morning to get an eta on their arrival time. Right around 10:30 am, we receive a call from them stating that they're not sure they have a license to move us to Jersey. WTF!!!!! They didn't know this on Friday? Obviously, they weren't coming over.

Company #2 quoted us $120 an hour flat rate. Fine no problem. There was a $200 deposit fee. Again, no problem. When the movers showed up they wanted a flat rate of $2000 to move a one bedroom apartment. When we said "no," they dropped the rate to $1400. We agreed to do it even though we knew we were getting ripped off. We needed to move out. Even though they took the deposit through a credit card, they wouldn't accept payment that way (of course, this was never explained to us). Furthermore, the freaking deposit was nonrefundable (again, that wasn't explained to us). Yeah, that ended in a fight. The guy was lucky that my son was with me because I wanted to charge at him and break every single bone in his body. We're disputing the charges with the credit card company and reporting them to the Better Business Bureau.

Company #3 was recommended to us by the lady that moved out of the apartment we're moving into. She said they were very fast and professional. Fine, we called them. They were suppose to show up at 5 pm, but didn't get to us until after 8pm. They did bring five guys with them and were very fast. They had our stuff out of the apartment within an hour and the same went with moving us in. We were done moving in by a quarter to one in the morning. Luckily, I spoke with the lady moving out (she's the owner) and she let the downstairs tenants know of our situation. They were very understanding (thank God).

I didn't cry on Monday for some unknown reason. Dan and I were utterly exhausted and devastated at how this day turned out. The baby suffered from my stress levels because he spent the day throwing up the milk I was feeding him. I guess it's true that anything affects your breast milk. I thought it was an old wives' tale.

The story ends well. We moved in and had help from friends and family. Even last night, Cody (our friend and coworker) came over and helped Dan rearrange our furniture. I could now finish unpacking the boxes since everything is in its place. I'm hoping by this weekend we'll be done. Then it's relaxing time!