Due Date

8 weeks and almost 20 months old

Matt is back to work and just finished his tour of 3 24 hr shifts. My hands were full without dad around but it felt good to continue toward a typical routine. And fortunately friends and family were available to lend a hand to make my first week
without Matt a bit less daunting. I am so appreciative of that and will continue to recruit help as I can in the next few weeks. Once I am not pumping 7-9 times a day on top of feeding Noah my hands will be a bit freer to manage the kids easier. All in all, we are in a nice groove and schedule of sorts and things feel good. Not easy, but good.

Olivia is continuing to adjust well to Noah being around. She says his name all day long, looks for him first thing when she wakes up, and makes sure to give him a kiss goodnight. I have a feeling they will be great buddy's.

Olivia loves to talk up a storm, stringing sentences together and adding more words to her vocabulary daily. She has quite a sense of humor and creativity that I am sure will continue to bloom in the months ahead. While she is expressing her desires more and more which brings it's challenges, she also grows more and more affectionate, cooperative and entertaining. It is never a dull moment with her and a lot of fun.



Here she is goofing around pretending she is Noah in his bed. She is such a kick!

Noah's due date was just a few days ago on the 2nd of February. He is now almost 2 month old and weighs in at about 6 3/4 lbs. He is so adorable and I love having him wear all the adorable hats he has received from friends and "dressing him up" in cool boy clothes. He is a hat guy, like his daddy. He feels like my little doll, and I am having so much fun. He is starting to act more like a newborn. A little more verbal with his needs with a bit more of a commanding cry. I suppose, that is a good sign that he is making great progress developmentally.

He is taking 6 bottles of breast milk and 2 breast feeding sessions a day. Our goal is to transition to fully breastfeeding over the next month ahead. We will be dropping 1 bottle and adding in a breastfeed once a week til we reach a 7/1 ratio. The 1 bottle will be so I can get a stretch of sleep at night. Genius!! We didn't get much sleep at all Olivia's newborn days and we suffered. What do they say?: Hindsight is 20/20.

My milk supply is holding to just keep up with Noah's needs. I am thankful for that, but as his volume of milk has increased as he grows, I want to increase my volume. So I will be increasing my pumping from every 3 hours to every 2 hours in hopes to see an increase. I will also see a lactation specialist in 2 weeks for more assistance with the transition from bottle to breast. Pumping and his feeding has been more of a challenge than I could have imagined. A huge hill that I feel we are right in the middle of. Although this process is constantly worry inducing, I am determined and confident that we will see the horizon and enjoy many months of less effort filled breast feeding ahead. In the mean time, I need to keep my chin up and nose to the grind at the same time to make that happen. Pump, pump, pump!

Although challenging at times for a part-time socialite like me, we are managing well with the isolation. We have had family and a service group of friends stop by, and i have been popping out for a quick hello to the neighbors. Other than that it is pretty much just Dr's appointments for Noah and I. We are also limiting Olivia and Matt's exposure to germs also for the next few weeks still and hope to all return to meetings in a few weeks. What a reunion that will be for me. Ah, I can't wait!!

Things to look forward to ahead in February:

A hair appointment!!
A visit from friends from Sacramento.
Olivia's run bike arriving so we can try it out.
Noah turning 7lbs. 007 to be exact.
More visits from Grandma this month.
Getting walks in at Seacliff.
Breast feeding