Growing boy!!

Caleb has been feeding much more frequently the past few days.  Turns out, the scale shows it too! Last Wed. he weighed 9 lbs 11 oz at 5 weeks.  Today at 6 week, 2 days, he weighed in at a whopping 10 lbs 11 oz.

I'm loving that he is growing!  However, the reason that I found out is that we've had lots of difficulty with him lately.  He just seems to have excessive amounts of gas and upset stomach/puking (thus crying and less sleeping).  I went to a lactation specialists today and she told me he has acid reflex.  She suggested I cut out milk entirely.  I've already cut out onions, garlic, caffeine and anything else that will bring upon gas to breastfed babies.  With her recommendation, the doctor prescribed a baby version of Zantac.  I was only able to give him half a dose as apparently it is the MOST DISGUSTING TASTE EVER.  Oh if you could've seen his expression! ;-)

Please pray that this goes away without medication as it will not be easy to get him to take it.  And, I really don't know much about side effects of this medication.  I want to give it to him for the first week to jump start everything as apparently cow's milk lingers in the breast milk for at least 1-2 weeks.

I will end on a happier note, check out these adorable outfits.  They are newborn size but he won't be wearing that size much longer.

Date Night

My mom and dad came by ensuring that Chris and I could get a date night in.  Caleb is 5.5 weeks old so it is really pretty neat that we already got this opportunity. We decided to go to KoFusion.  It was dollar sushi and I hadn't had sushi in about 10 months.  While I wasn't as thrilled with what I ordered as I would've liked; it was strangely liberating to get out for an hour or so.  (Yet, I also couldn't wait to get back to my little one.) Since we came back so quickly and Caleb was passed out on Grandma; Chris and I took the opportunity to clean the house a bit.  I didn't want my client coming in the next day thinking I'm a total slob. However, household cleaning has dropped dramatically on my priorities these days.

Take a peek at Chris' awesome flaming dinner.

One Month

Caleb is one month and doing great!

Mommy has finally reached a point where she feels like she has learned enough about Caleb to know what his cries mean (at times).  Caleb started smiling and talking!!  He is such a sweet little flirt!

Click to see my little flirt

Caleb weighs right around 9 lbs now.  He is nursing better these days.  (Less coughing)  He is so alert and active for around 40 minutes in the morning.  He naps well throughout the day and night. Thank goodness for the Fisher Price Rock & Play Sleeper!  He sleeps in that in his nursery and lets mom get about two hours at a time!  He is taking to a bottle (breast milk) well too so that mommy can get out for a couple of minutes at a time.

Mom and Dad Stats:

My incision is healing nicely and I'm getting some muscle tone back in my stomach (read I can get in and out of bed much more easily these days). I've lost 19 of the 32 pounds I gained.  I am loving the mom gig but it is certainly way harder than I expected.  I am so proud of my husband for truly diving completely into this father role.  Chris continues to amaze and impress me daily with his willingness to step in and his natural paternal instincts.

First Mother's Day Marathon

I had a really nice first mother's day!  Chris Caleb sent me chocolate covered strawberries that were simply amazing!  {Caleb is so advanced for his age!}  Chris even took most of the night shifts with little guy so I could get some rest!

We went to Ivesdale for a Flavin family brunch.  It was so nice!!

My family sans the Myers

4 generations

Then we went home for a bit and took a much needed family nap- all 3 of us!  After our nap, we were on to the next event- Reinhart family dinner. 

an appropriate paci for the day

Great grandma!

Finally, went to Rose & Jim's for some time with the other grandparents.  It was a great day!!

Wishing these two beautiful women a very special Mother's day!  They have both shown me so much love over the years! Words can't express my gratitude for these amazing ladies!!!

Jessi visits

Auntie Jessi stopped by today for a visit!  She brought me Subway for dinner. (I'm praying that nothing in it upsets Caleb's stomach.)   We had a good time with sweet 19 month old Elli.  She is so "gabby" these days and her speech is so clear!  And I just adore the way she says please- peas!!  We had a low-key afternoon of entertaining Elli and calming Caleb. I tried putting him in the bath when he was this mad (see below) and to my surprise it seemed to really help him calm down and forget about his digestion for a few minutes.  Ahh, relief for this momma!

He did this all day- his poor tummy hurt so bad!

Rough Day

Caleb's little tummy hurt today.  He had several visitors but they got to simply see a screaming baby.  Grandma Flavin, Aunt Mary Jo and cousin Johnathan came by today but we did our best to console him.  I will not be eating spicy chicken sandwiches anytime again soon.  Poor little fella.

Divine Consign

My super cute sissy (shoudda taken her picture) came by last night so I would go to Champaign's semi-annual woman's clothing sale.  This year it is a new location and it works much better there!!

I was very hesitant to go because my little man has been extra fussy lately.  I don't think his stomach likes something that I ate.  But, my mom came over and took good care of him while we went.  (He slept the whole time we were gone.)  I scored some seriously good deals.  I found some maternity shorts that will get me through the next couple of weeks while I transition between sizes.  I got Sperry's shoes (probably min. $90 retail) for $12.  I got two dresses- one was $7 I think the other was $10 ish a bunch of tops and stretchy pants.  They are so cute!  I am so glad we went!! I'll be sporting my new wardrobe all summer!!

When we got home, I gave my sweetie a bath.  He seriously LOVES them!!  I am having to give him nightly foot soaks to get rid of the ingrown toenails on both his big toes.  I have been soaking them every other day this past week.  The doctor gave me the "go-ahead" to do it daily to help them get better.

Attie's

My parents stopped by for our Tuesday tradition of going to Attie's for dinner.  We have been going out to eat there for several weeks now.  Caleb was a dream, just sleeping the whole time we were there!  

Despite having 4 children, he still looked like he didn't have a clue how to hold him! ;-)

Grandma's happy place

They both passed out!

Chris's first day back at work

Well, our little babymoon ended today. Chris had to go back to work.  Actually the day went extremely well.  Caleb was perfect!  He slept peacefully in between each feeding.  I was able to get him in the stroller late afternoon for a family walk with the three of us. It was a great day!  Rose stopped by in the evening to check on us!

Family walk on a gorgeous day

We tried out the Ergo baby carrier.  Loved it!  Caleb was a bit fussy and once in, he settled right in to a cozy nap and daddy was hands free!  Chris also held the leash for Cooper bc he was a little rambunctious and was pulling a bit too much for my comfort.  I loved getting out and enjoying the fresh air!!

Prep. Freeze. Cook. Cunningham Edition

Amy is the best!  She shopped at 3 different stores in two hours time getting items needed to prepare meals for the next month.  All I had to do was show up at her house, chop veggies, and put ingredients in a bag. In about two hours time, I had 8 delicious meals to heat up in the next month.  Thanks Amy for letting me in on this food prep adventure!  I really appreciate it!

Good night's rest

Caleb is 18 days old today and for the past two nights, he has slept pretty soundly in his bassinet and other non-person, baby-holding devices. This makes for one proud momma. This is the first time I was able to sleep in bed, not a chair holding him! He also seems to be improving on the passing gas department. He was able to maintain a latch and toot at the same time. What a great couple of days we're having!

Here is a picture of Caleb at 17 days and daddy at 19 days.

I love starting my day to this!

Our Day

Morning Snuggles 

Morning tears

Morning snuggles

Evening snuggles

Evening tears

Megan visits

Megan got to hold Caleb today and she brought us a Rock and Sleep- let's hope this helps mom to sleep a bit at night!