I went to visit April with her daughter Ella this week.  We couldn’t believe how small and big they look!  Ella was born at 34 weeks, 2 days before Jack, who was born at 41 weeks.  Also, her family are all shorties while I come from a family of monster men on both sides.  I love this photo!

My mom came to visit for a couple days this week and it was heaven!  She just took care of Jack for me and kept me entertained for two days.  We went shopping and got some cute outfits for Jack.  She taught me how to do a kitchen sink bath.  He’s still not a fan of being wet and naked.  I caught up on some sleep while she cared for him in the afternoon and mornings.  I could have her come every week!

I never posted a follow-up to the nursery decorating, did I?  Here are some photos from the other day.

I received this Poang rocking chair from Ikea and I just love to nurse here!  I set up a little station with water, books, burp cloths, and boppy.  I use it at night instead of nursing the bed because it’s more comfortable to sit in the chair.  The book shelf is more supplies than books at this point, with a few toys thrown in the mix.  You can see I chose the teal damask print fabric for curtains.  I’m happy with my choice.  Miranda is working on turning the bird print fabric that I also bought into a quilt! 

On the left is another angle of the crib wall.  You can see the wall decal from Blik that is the main decoration.  Also, my finished sweater vest is pinned on the wall, waiting for him to grow into it.

On the right is the changing area.  I framed the fox prints that I found in NYC and put those above the table.  We have a cloth diaper service right now, and those are piled in the green basket.  The robot painting was done by my brother Andrew.

While taking these pictures Jack napped in his crib for the first time!  He has a preference for sleeping in his basket, so I’m slowly getting him used to being the crib.  We’ll probably move him out of our room to sleep in the nursery in a couple weeks. 

Last weekend Ben’s aunts hosted a lovely baby shower as a chance for the family to meet Jack.  They had great snacks, including M&Ms with his name printed on them!  My parents and grandmother came all the way out to attend the shower.  We got some great things to round out our nursery, including a diaper bag, baby monitors, nightlights, and an exersaucer. I posted all my pictures on flickr, but here are some of my favorite of him being passed around.

After 20 minutes of fussing I couldn’t figure out what he needed.  So I let him fall asleep on my shoulder.  I guess that’s what he needed.  🙂

Ben and Jack, at 3 weeks and 2 days old, on Father’s Day. This is also the first time Jack has smiled in response to our voices and faces (instead of just after eating or burping). What a moment to catch! I had a hard time picking my favorite photo, so check out the others on Ben’s photostream.

Dude, you can order Qdoba nachos with the chips on the side, so they
don't get soggy. We're getting a fathe'rs day lunch before going to a
family-hosted baby shower.

I’m trying to do little things to feel normal again. During his morning nap yesterday I baked cookies. This recipe that Miranda pointed me to makes the BEST cookies. I can’t stop eating them.  I even cooked dinner once this week.  It was a nice change to have freshly prepared, home-cooked food. 

I have a wild garden this year.  I haven’t done a single thing to it, not even watered.  This lone iris is blooming.  My clematis is ready to burst.  Most of my herbs came back – mint, sage, thyme, lemon balm, and lavender.

Jealous of my mother’s birdfeeder, I had her get one for me last November.  Despite it being “squirrel proof, squirrels had been emptying it fast all winter.  You can see one hanging off the fence in this snowy picture. 

I found a spot outside that’s a little harder for the squirrels to get to and in return I have beautiful red finches in my window all day.  The birds are camera shy, so I only got this blurry picture.  Molly is VERY interested in the backyard lately. That squirrel is pissed that I let her out there.  He’s barking at her from the roof now. 

I slept a whopping 6 hours last night!  (split into two 3 hours chunks)  So far Jack is doing pretty good with our routine and I’m feeling a lot better than I did the last couple days.  But I won’t throw any confetti yet.

I went to a free lactation support group this morning, followed by a “Survival for New Moms” group.  They meet weekly for just $5, you get to have a lesson, talk to the nurses, and meet other new moms.  Today we learned infant massage.  I learned some tummy swooping moves that are supposed to be good for digestion.  While practicing Jack let out some good poop, so I guess they work!  I’ll have to try them the next time he gets fussy from gas.  I talked with a couple other girls about our boys and cloth diapering (it seems to be the hot topic among mothers these days).  Jack was the youngest baby by 3 weeks. Not sure if I’ll go regularly, but it’s a nice option to have around.  They were a nice group and I signed up for their e-mail list. 

By the way, I need to pat myself on the back for going to this group.  This required getting up at SEVEN AM to get myself showered and dressed and Jack ready to go out the door by 9:20.  And I wore MASCARA and EARRINGS.  Like a normal adult woman.  Alright, alright, I admit it.  I wore my maternity stretch jeans.  They are just too comfy! At least I wore real pants and a button-up shirt instead of sweat pants and a T shirt.  Also, I had to talk to STRANGERS in a casual, friendly-type way.  Pat pat pat pat.

During the lactation support portion (which is free!) they weighed Jack and looked at his latch.  He’s still hurting me, we think he’s just squishing down his mouth too hard while sucking.  We weighed before and after feedings and determined he ate about 3.5 ounces, a good amount for his size.  His weight was 9 pounds 8 ounces – finally got back to his birth weight and then some!

(This second picture shows how he was fascinated by the fluorescent lights during the group.)