6 Weeks Post Partum

I had my 6 weeks post-partum checkup yesterday and was cleared by my doctor to resume all the activities of normal life. I guess that means no more excuses for not working out, much less not cooking or cleaning. Ha. When people have been asking me how I've been feeling, I always say how I feel is just a direct reflection on how Graham slept the night before.

Lovin' tummy time.

Bundled up on a cold night in the crib.

The last two weeks have been hit and miss with him in his crib/ room. Some nights he'll be fine until his 3am ish and 7am ish feeding, which seems totally doable now. Other nights he screams for hours for no reason or wants to eat every couple of hours. Those nights are completely exhausting, physically and emotionally. It's been hard for me to get used to listening to him through the monitor, instead of inches away from me, to tell how loud he's being or what his screams or noises mean. A few days ago, he started showing up in a different area of the crib than I laid him down. I have now watched him kick and scoot his way, while being swaddled, to cram his body up against the crib railing. He's also been trying to roll over when we lay him on the floor on his back and trying to stand up when we hold him. All that to say, swaddling him now that he's trying to be so active has started to make me nervous that he'll leverage his body from the side of crib to flip over and then suffocate himself since his hands and arms are restrained in his little straight jacket. So we switched to the sleep sack the other day, which I think has added to his trauma of being in the crib. BabyWise says he could be sleeping through the night at 8 weeks, but I'm not holding my breath. Our sweet neighbors were encouraging us last night that "this too will pass" and that all these hard, sleepless nights will be a blur and pass quickly. I don't want to wish this time away AT ALL but I wouldn't mind some consistent good nights' sleep. Oh little Grahammers, you're still worth it all. Andrew has been telling me I need to schedule in a nap to my day, every day. But it seems impossible to do with family and friends visiting, piles of spit-up laundry building up, dishes overflowing in the sink, nothing to eat for dinner, Christmas on the way, etc... Wow, do I sound like a stay-at-home mom or what? :) I actually am surprisingly loving my new role at home and of course the fact that Christmas is so close! A huge sanity saver for me has been Andrew being at home for the first month of Graham's life. I couldn't believe he got so much time off of work!! He was an awesome help, and it was just so nice to have him to talk to and share Graham's first moments with. He loved it, but is now back to work, so Graham and I are now trying to figure out what a typical day looks like now... if that even exists. Andrew and I are trying to learn what it means to parent together and what our "new normal" life looks like. These past six weeks have definitely made our marriage richer and harder. :)

Grahammers helping Daddy make Christmas cookies!

The picture that would've been on our Christmas card if I'd make one. :)
Merry Christmas from the Buckles!