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!