1 month

Henry turned 1 month a couple days ago.  I actually already wrote out this whole post, but somehow lost it.  Silly iphone.  I am holding sleeping Henry right now as I type this. 

He had his one month checkup Friday, and he weighed 10lbs 5oz- 59th% (I think...) and he is 21.5 inches- 40(something)%.  Growing boy!  It is so funny because with Blakely, I always wanted her to be growing and healthy, but I also love that she is petite cause she is just so cute and dainty.  With Henry I want him to get FAT FAT FAT!  And he is.  He has outgrown all of his newborn clothes except some really stretchy onesies and is wearing 0-3mo and some 3mo clothes.  His big ole belly stretches the small ones. 

We went on our first road trip with Hank last week.  It was a little crazy, but both kids did so great.  We spent about a week in Fayetteville doing some support raising.  We stayed with my aunt and uncle and had a BLAST.  They have two teenage girls, so it was like I had 3 helpers at all times.  They have a dog and a pool and toys which kept Blakely entertained pretty much the whole time.  I got to work out, we went on a date, and I got to take a nap!  :)  We only had a few car freak outs, and a few grocery store freakouts.  It took Blakely a couple days to adjust to her new sleep environment.  We wished we could have stayed longer on the day that she asked to get into her pack and play.  Thats when we knew she felt at home.  After Fayetteville we headed to the lake with our friends the Brewers and my parents.  It was a lot of fun, and Blakely LOVED the lake. 

Henry is still grunting like CRAZY.  He is on two kinds of reflux medicine- which seems to help the spitting up.  It seems like he is super uncomfortable from about 3:30am until 7- grunting and squirming.  Neither of us get much sleep.  He nurses every 2.5-3 hours, occasionally sooner.  He goes 3-4 hours at night occasionally.  He is sleeping in a pack and play in our room, and occasionally with me if he seems to be having tummy trouble.  We are experimenting with him sleeping in the living room at night cause he wakes Blakely up with his grunting.  It's not just like the occasional grunt, it is like he is clearing his throat for about 4 hours straight. 

He is not liking me trying to get him on a schedule, and just in the last couple of days he has started waking up frequently and early from naps.  I'm not sure what to do.  If I swaddle him, he wakes up and is TICKED and gets worked up because he can't get his arms free, but if I leave his arms out, he wakes him self up moving.  We are trying super hard to get him on something predictable, but I just can't let him cry.  I know no mother wants to hear their baby cry, but every time I have tried to let him cry for a bit, I am in tears.  I might suffer a year of bad sleep like with Blakely... He is iffy about his pacifier.  Sometimes he goes to town on it, and other times I can't get him to take it to save his life.  Even if he does take it, it only lasts about 10 seconds before it falls out.  Blakely was like this too.  Is that normal?  I would love ANY advice on helping him sleep.  I am trying to use sample schedules from Babywise, and I use all the tips from the Baby Whisperer, and I can eventually get him to sleep, but he just wont stay asleep. 

Blakely is still having a hard time adjusting.  She literally bawls her eyes out when I nurse him unless Stephen is playing with her.  She also gets VERY upset if I try to put him to sleep and make her stay out of the room while I'm doing it.  It's a lost cause when she is screaming/crying right outside the door.  She loves to scream these days(happily)- probably also contributing to Hank's broken sleep. 

Like Blakely, Henry prefers to be held by me.  He rarely lets Stephen hold him.  He did good with my mom, but so far shes about the only person he will let hold him. 
He is very vocal.  He squeals all the time- Blakely never did that.  But he also gets mad quick.  I'm thinking he might be a tad spirited like Blakely- Lord help me.  :)

upset cause I'm feeding Henry

only in my arms

chubby cheeks!

mom kisses Blakely kisses Henry

milk coma

Questions

To my friends who have newborns or just remember when they did:

Henry is 3 weeks old now and I want to start getting him on a schedule. I am wondering if I'm late in the game already. Blakely wasn't on a predictable schedule until she was 7-8 months old so I know I don't know what I'm doing!

Did you do anything this early to get them on a schedule?
Did they have a set bedtime/wake time?
Where did they nap/sleep?
Did you put them to sleep or let them fall asleep on their own?
Did they use a pacifier?
Did you wake them for feelings?
Did they spit up? (my kids spit up a TON)

And anything else you might be able to tell me about an almost one month old!

3 weeks

Well, blogging with two babies is harder than I thought!

Hank is 3 weeks old today. A few days ago he weighed 8lbs 9oz. He's growing! And he better be cause the boy RARELY goes 2 1/2 hours between meals. He wants to eat all. The. Time. But as long as he's growing! He's a great sleeper, minus the grunting. He grunts even more than Blakely did. And he wakes her up at night and especially early morning. We've contemplated moving downstairs but we figure they both have to figure it out sometime. Stephen has had some early mornings (3am!) with Blakely. :/

I knew life with two little ones wouldnt be easy- but I thought we would have adjusted more by now. And by we I mean Blakely. :) She still LOVES Henry. She wants to kiss him, hug him, hold him, give him his binky, all the time. BUT she just can't get over the times when I am feeding him or holding him. She decides when I'm nursing that she wants me to play or read or hold her. She just cries and cries- like real tears- the whole time. It's pretty sad actually. She frequently asks me to put him down.

Blakely isn't the only needy one though. Henry conveniently cries when I'm rocking Blakely before bed or changing her diaper. I have definitely had to get use to letting a baby cry for a few minutes- cause I have no choice!

I haven't gotten brave enough to get out of the house by myself with both of them- and it might be a while. Finding time to go grocery shopping or run an errand is a lot harder trying to work around two babies schedules. I have had to leave a cart of groceries in the store cause Stephen has called me home cause Henry was freaking out.

I am definitely more tired than I ever was when we had B. So we are in bed by 9 or earlier pretty much every night. I love it. I count it a successful day if my babies are fed and I'm in bed while there's still light outside. :)