Feeling Primal

I realize that my last post sounded rather upbeat and optimistic. Not that I'm not blissfully happy with being a mom, but I certainly don't want to give the impression that I'm not struggling. I was telling James last night that I've never been so interested in someone bodily functions. All I do is nurse, count poopy diapers, and plead for good burps. It all feels so primal. This is literally what animals do. We are getting on somewhat of a schedule, which is making life bearable. The last several nights, Little Man has only gotten me up once to eat, so I've been able to get about 7 hours of sleep a night. It's not 7 hours straight, but I'll take it. Like my friend M said, if you can get a couple of good long stretches of sleep, you start to feel less like a zombie with boobs. He's also been staying awake for a good 3-4 hour stretch every afternoon, too, which is also nice. I don't really know how to keep a baby entertained for that long, but he doesn't seem to notice. We're struggling just a little with breastfeeding, mostly because I've got enough milk for a small army of infants, but we went to visit with the nurse at the hospital. She showed us some tricks and we really are doing better. Not perfect, but better. But while we were there, she weighed Little Man. He's already gained 5 ounces! That means he's gained back what he lost the first few days, plus 5 extra ounces. We must not be doing too bad of a job.

Here are some pictures from this week:
Little Man lost his umbilical cord stump a few nights ago during his bath. He still has a little scab, but you can see what a cute belly button he's going to have.


























Yesterday when Little Man woke up from his morning nap, he didn't even bother to tell me! I came into the room and he was just lying there looking around, not making a sound. To try and keep him somewhat occupied while I picked up the house, he got to sit in his bouncer for the first time.








This is the silly boy during his afternoon nap.