Busy Days

It's been hard to post lately since we have been so busy, but wanted to update this before we leave for vacation this afternoon.

Since the last post, we have accomplished a lot. I officially turned in my keys at my school--I am no longer employed! The good news is that I still get a paycheck until mid-August from this past school year, but after that, we will become major penny pinchers! But it will all be worth it to be home with Grant.

We also had the 2nd part of Grant's Baptism this past Sunday. We baptized him with water right before his surgery on May 19 at Children's Hospital, but we wanted him to have the rest of the ceremony done at Church. We did this at St. Antoninus. He was blessed with oil, given the white garment, and had his candle lit. We also received his official documents saying that he is now a member of the Church! He also got to meet his Uncle Kyle/godfather for this occasion. He and Aunt Susanne will be great godparents for Grant.

Sunday was also Doug's first Father's Day. We had the family back to our house for a party after the baptism, but we also made sure not to overlook the fathers! Doug was very proud all day, and Grant gave him some great gifts.

We took Grant to the doctor on Tuesday. He is still spitting a lot, and we wanted to have him checked before our vacation. He is due for his 2-month check right when we return, but thought it would be good to go before as well. The good news is that Grant is growing like crazy! He weighed in at 8 pounds, 14 ounces! This means he gained over 2 pounds in 3 1/2 weeks. They didn't measure his length, but will at the next appointment, but we can tell he also grew taller. The bad news is that Grant's reflux is enough that they thought he needs to be on Zantac. He had some of this in the hospital as well. This won't necessarily stop the spitting up, but will ease the acid pain and hopefully make him feel a little better. He is quite the trooper though. He is so good and rarely cries. He just grunts and stiffens a lot, so I feel that he has some discomfort. We are lucky to have such a great baby. The doctors assured us that he will outgrow the reflux--hopefully sooner rather than later!

He is still learning the nighttime sleep thing, but is getting better and better. Last night he went almost 6 hours between feedings! He then is awake off and on after that, but getting one long stretch of sleep is nice. I know it will keep getting better and better.

We leave for Grant's first vacation this afternoon. We are going to Folly Beach, SC with my dad's whole side of the family. It will be so much fun being with all my cousins and their kids. Grant will even meet my cousin's baby Carson who was born a week before him. It's been quite a bit more work packing for a baby than it used to be when it was just us, but I think we will be able to cram everything in the car. It's crazy all the stuff babies need! We hope Grant does well in the car. He is usually very comfortable in his car seat. We know it may take longer since we have to stop and feed him, but we are looking forward to having quality family time together in the car. I will be sure to report back and post pictures when we return!

Changing and Growing

Grant is 6 weeks old today--hard to believe! It was weird passing up my due date knowing I already had a baby over 5 weeks old! But now that all the craziness has passed and he is doing great, I am glad we got to enjoy him a little sooner than we thought. We love his tiny little body, and feel that it is better than giving birth to a 10-pound baby like we had feared! We now get to enjoy him being little for longer than we would have if he had been born full-term.

Last week, I had my last 2 showers--one with my students, and one with my staff. I had missed both of these showers as they were originally planned for the week my water broke. My room moms and students made Grant a nice quilt and gave some great gifts. I didn't bring him to the shower, since I didn't want him in my classroom with the germy kids, but I did bring him up another day last week while they were outside for their end of the year party, and they got to at least look at him while he was in his stroller. We then went back up on the last day of school after dismissal to have the end of the year luncheon with my staff. They showered us with gifts--both for Grant and for me since I am leaving. It was bittersweet being there for the last time as an official staff member, but it made me so happy to know that I was done there and can be with Grant everyday!

After the showers, we were able to use gift cards to finish off our registries with other things we will need eventually. It will be nice to get this last stuff put away and organized and get the last thank you notes finished. It's been a long process!

Grant got to attend his first wedding on Saturday. My cousin Craig married Nancy in a beautiful ceremony, and Grant got to wear a stylish outfit to the occasion. Luckily he didn't wake up and cry during the vows or anything, and he didn't even seem to notice the loud music at the reception.

Finally, the good news for the week is that Grant seems to be reaching some new milestones. He definitely seems bigger to us. We don't know how much he officially weighs, but we are guessing he is at least 7 1/2 pounds. While he is still in newborn size clothes and diapers, they are getting a little tight now, and I'm sure it won't be long before he outgrows them and gets into 0-3 months clothes and size 1 diapers. He is also primarily breastfeeding now. I started working harder on it earlier last week, and he picked up on it like a champ with no issues! He now only gets a bottle of pumped milk occasionally when Doug feeds him to give me some time to rest. Also, the last few nights he has done much better at night. Since he is still supposed to sit upright after eating, the doctor said it was okay for him to sleep in his car seat. I was leery about this at first, but the first night we tried it, he went over 4 hours between feedings! He doesn't do that every time, but he is definitely going longer than he did before. He really seems comfy in that seat! So little by little, we are seeing Grant grow and change. We have learned, though, not to wish away any stage of his life. Because before we know it, he will be graduating, and we will wish we had that tiny little baby back!

1 Month Old

It's crazy to think that Grant is already one month old--especially considering it is just now reaching my due date in 2 days! It was a crazy month, and while it seems to have gone quickly, we have a hard time even remembering life without him. Last Friday, on his one month birthday, we took him to the doctor for his checkup. Luckily, he had gained six ounces in four days, and was up to 6 pounds, 10 ounces! This is still only in the 3rd percentile, but we have to remember that these percentiles are for typical full-term babies, and he lost a week of growth while at Children's for his surgery. However, his height was in the 25th percentile! I think that's pretty tall for being 5 weeks behind the norm. He was 20 1/2 inches tall. He also had to have his 2nd Hepatitis shot (the first one was given at the hospital when he was born), but this was nothing to him since he has built up quite a pain tolerance after all those needle pokes at the hospital! He is doing very well. He still spits up after some feedings, but nothing like what it was. We have come to terms with the fact that we will probably now just have a spitty baby with occasional reflux. We were spoiled those first few weeks thinking he wouldn't spit at all, but it's fine with us as long as he is healthy and gaining weight.

Grant is still having trouble knowing when it's time to sleep and when to be awake. It's hard to keep him awake during the day, but we are working at it by giving him tummy time and waking him up to eat. Hopefully he will start to give us longer times in between feedings at night little by little. But once again, we have to remind ourselves that technically he isn't even supposed to be here yet, so some things may take a little longer to develop. He is also doing a little better at breastfeeding now that he is getting older and stronger, and we hope we can soon make that his primary way to eat with only using a bottle occasionally.

We are having such a good time being parents. We had a busy weekend of errands and holiday parties, and even though it is more of a production to go anywhere now, we love how it feels to be a family out with everyone else. We are also finally feeling more organized and getting things done, but we've learned that it's okay to forget our to-do list at times and just sleep during the day while he is sleeping. Other things can just wait.

We are looking forward to an eventful June. We have my cousin's wedding this weekend, Grant's baptism and Father's Day on June 20, and Grant's first family vacation with the Gates side starting on June 26 at Folly Beach, SC. I am also going to be cleaning out my classroom during this last week of school and finally being completely done with the teaching chapter of my life. I am so happy to be able to stay home with Grant!