8 Weeks

It's hard to believe my little guy is already 8 weeks old! It's crazy! I can't remember my life before Kieran was born, but also I don't know how we sped through 8 weeks already.

We are really fortunate to have such a good baby. He really is a bundle of joy and only fusses if he's hungry or wet. He's starting to fuss a little when he's tired but all of these things can be fixed. We can feed him, change his diaper or put him down for a nap (swaddled up like a burrito) and he'll calm right down.

Nights aren't too bad either, yes he gets up at night, but he's fairly predictable. He eats every 3 hours or so, and it takes him about an hour to eat for each feeding so we get about 2 hours of sleep between each feeding. Before he was born I was a 10+ hour a night sleeper. I functioned on 8 but always LOVED my sleep. The first few weeks home were tougher functioning with less sleep, but it's amazing how the body adjusts and learns to deal with little sleep. I can now function on 4-6 hours of sleep and feel fairly good in the morning. I do nap when Kieran naps, maybe once during the day for about an hour and that definitely helps.

Kieran's wake periods are also becoming a lot more fun. He is able to stay awake longer and he is just so much fun to watch and I know he is learning more about the world everyday. He is the most alert between 4-7. He loves his bouncy seat, his swing and is learning to like laying on his play mat. I've tried the tummy time a few times and he usually hates it, although the last time I tried he didn't scream and he was able to lay there for 5 minutes or so. He's definitely getting a lot more neck movement and hopefully he'll be able to have 100% control and support of his neck sooner rather than later.

I'm still going to the breastfeeding support group 3 times a week. Breastfeeding is still a struggle but it's getting better. Kieran is able to nurse with a nipple shield but is still preferring the bottle over the nipple. I've stopped following all of his feeds up with a bottle and find that he needs to feed every 2 hours when I do this. He's definitely getting better, I just hope I can wean him off the nipple shield and have him take a full feed. Pumping is a part of my life, but I would like to eventualy only have to pump when I'm not nursing. Now I have to pump just to make sure my supply stays on the high side so that when he does pick it up the milk is there for him to enjoy.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

First day over 7 pounds! Kieran weighed in at 7 pounds 2.2 ounces. This is a one pound weight gain since last Monday! This boy is growing and he's growing fast. The doctors want him to grow between 4-7 ounces a week, so he's definitely on the high side.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Kieran weighed in at 7 pounds 3.6 ounces. The boy just keeps growing! I do have to admit I'm afraid he's going to grow too fast and I'll blink and he won't be my little boy anymore.

Friday, October 29, 2010

My friend Glenda came over to have some snuggle time with Kieran. This little boy has had more visitors in the last month than he knows what to do with. It's an amazing feeling knowing that he can bring smiles to so many of my friends and family members faces.

Glenda gets her snuggle time with my special guy

Friday evening our wedding photographer was nice enough to make the drive down from Virginia to do our newborn photoshoot. We had a lot of fun and I can't wait to see the pictures. Kieran was wide awake for most of the pictures which was great but I wanted some sleeping baby photos. We did manage to get him to sleep but not for long. We also wanted some naked baby pictures which was fun, but when you have a naked baby someone is bound to get pooped and peed on and of course it was me. Sean didn't have any bodily fluids on him, while I had two pee incidents and one poop incident.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

I went on my 3rd run post partum. I'm still sticking at 2 miles. It's still tough but my time is getting faster, and by faster I mean I'm still really slow but not really really slow. I'm going to be signing up for the Governor's Land 5K which is at the end of November. This will be my first race post partum. I just hope I can have a decent run and not completely embarrass myself.

After coming back from my run I came home to find both of my boys passed out. They had a rough night the night before. Sean volunteered to be on night duty and take care of all of Kieran's needs (food, diaper etc.) It's nice that we can do this, the advantages of having a freezer full of breast milk! So anyways, Sean isn't used to Kieran's night routine and when he would get up to feed he would only take part of his bottle and fall asleep. Since he was sleeping Sean put him back to bed, which is great, but the little guy hadn't eaten enough so he was hungry in 45 minutes, so he was up again. I guess it went that way all night basically waking every 45 minutes.

Kieran soaking in the sun

My boys exhausted after a long night

Sunday, October 31, 2010

I love Halloween! No parties planned for us, but we did meet our friend JoJo at BWW to watch some football. The Giants weren't playing so Kieran dressed in his Halloween outfit from his Aunt Kerry and Uncle Kevin.




After the game we walked around New Town and it was so fun to see the kids trick-or-treating at the stores. I can't wait until Kieran understands trick-or-treating and we can have fun dressing him up.

One of the stores had a Frankenstein cut out so we had fun putting his face up to the whole.


Kieran had his bath before the trick-or-treaters came and he was wide awake to see all the adorable kids dressed up begging for candy. Since he was so alert I decided to take him trick-or-treating too. We went to one house just to say we did.

Kieran shows off his Halloween PJs

Monday, November 1, 2010

It was a cold morning so we got to dress up our guy in his adorable teddy bear jacket that his Grammy bought him! We went to the BF group and he weighed in at 7 pounds 7.6 ounces. He'll seriously be 10 pounds before we know it. This makes me sad. I want him to stay little just a little while longer.


Tuesday, November 2, 2010

We went to see my friend Amber and her son Grayson. Grayson is 18 months old and hopefully Kieran and Grayson will be tri buddies as they get a little older.

Grayson wasn't too sure what to think of Kieran. I think he was afraid Kieran was going to take his toys and was definitely not thrilled that the attention was no longer on him.

Hopefully they'll be good buddies in a few years.



Later in the day I enjoyed Kieran's wake period and I enjoyed listening to him talk to himself. He definitely makes me smile, I love him so much!