Thursday, February 21, 2013

Week 12 & Back to Work

The rest of last week was not too eventful. Knowing that I would be going back to work this week, we started trying to give Caleb more bottles to try to get him used to the bottle. It started out a little rocky, so I was a little concerned. I gave him a bottle on Tuesday and he didn't want it at first, but then he ended up doing ok with it. On Wednesday it went a lot better and he drank 8 ounces! That panicked me because I know that I don't usually pump 8 ounces, so I was afraid that I would not be able to pump enough to feed him, but at least I am only working 2 days a week, so I knew that I would be able to pump extra on the other 5 days to supplement if I had to.


 
On Thursday, I had to go to the eye doctor in the morning, so I thought it would be a good test for my mother to watch Caleb for a little while. He conveniently was ready for a bottle as soon as I dropped him off, so Mom was able to practice feeding him. I was so mad at myself because I brought milk for him that I had pumped and I forgot to bring the nipple for the bottle. Luckily I was dropping him off earlier than I needed to for my appointment, so I had time to run home and get it while my mom kept Caleb. Apparently he had no problems taking the bottle so it was fine.

 
Friday was a different story with the bottle. I wanted Steve to give him the bottle so I waited until about Steve got home from work at 5:00 or 5:30 to try it. Well, the timing was bad because Caleb does get a little fussy in the evenings (not bad at all, though), so he was not interested in the bottle and actually started screaming. That really stressed me out, because I wanted to make sure he would take the bottle for Steve. I eventually put him on the boob and he was fine and then I was able to give him the bottle after feeding him on one side because he had calmed down by then. Sabbath morning we also tried to give him a bottle and he showed no interest in it and started screaming again, so I was still stressed out. Eventually he drank a couple of ounces, which I knew was not enough, but at least I don't have to worry about him going hungry since he is such a big boy! Here are a few pictures my friend Ina from church took:
 
Listening to the school kids practice singing
 
Love this family picture! Thanks Ina!
 
 
 
 
Sabbath afternoon we tried the bottle again and he still fussed but it was less this time and he eventually took it and drank quite a bit. Originally the plan was for me to go in to work on Sunday and Steve was going to watch Caleb, but we got another snowstorm Sunday morning so I didn't want to drive all the way to Woods Hole in the snow, so I worked about 5 hours from home on Sunday and then went into work on Monday instead. So, Steve was on duty on Sunday from about 9:00 - 2:00. Caleb didn't really want his first bottle from Steve, so he was just patient with him and waited until he was hungrier and then he drank it fine. The second bottle he took no problem, so I felt better leaving him on Monday, knowing that he would take the bottle ok. Steve also took Caleb to Harbor Freight Tools while I was working and it was so weird for me to be home alone without anyone else there! They were gone about an hour and a half and I missed them!
 
Monday morning I was going to go in to work around 7:00, which would mean I would need to leave at 6:15. I thought I would have to wake Caleb up because he had been sleeping until about 5:30 or 6:30 every day, but of course, the day I had to go to work he got up at 3:15 to eat. So, I fed him and then stayed up and exercised on my treadmill and ended up getting to work at 6:00 instead of 7:00. I cried halfway to work because it was hard to leave Caleb, but then I was ok after that. I put up a ton of pictures of Caleb at my desk and that got me through the day. I only worked until noon, so I was home by 1:15 (I stopped at the grocery store on my way home, which was really nice to do by myself). It was not quite as hard to leave as I thought it would be, but it was still really nice to get home and see Caleb again! Steve did great, though, and was happy to have that time to spend with Caleb.
 
On Tuesday, the only exciting thing we did was go to Babies 'R Us to get a couple of things for my mom for the next day. She wanted a mirror for her car so she could see Caleb in the car seat and I needed to buy a new swaddle because Caleb had started to grow out of the swaddle we had been using. The hat that Caleb has been wearing doesn't stay on his forehead very well, so by the time we got to Babies 'R Us, this is what Caleb looked like (luckily he fell asleep so it wasn't bothering him).
 
 
 
Here is another picture of him sleeping in the cart in Babies 'R Us.
 
 
Wednesday was my first full day back at work and the first time my mom was going to take care of Caleb. Once again, Caleb decided to wake up at 3:30 (Tuesday morning he got up at 5:45), so I stayed up again after I fed him and went on my treadmill and did 1/2 an hour of work before actually going into work. I dropped Caleb off at my mom's house around 6:45 and I teared up but didn't actually cry, so I was proud of myself. My mom texted me throughout the day to tell me how Caleb was doing, which was really well! He took all of his bottles fine and even took a 2 1/2 hour nap for my mom in the afternoon. I told her not to get used to that, because I'm sure it was because he got up so early and didn't get as much sleep the night before. I was really happy that he did so well, though, and I was so excited to see him when I got home. Unfortunately, he didn't give me quite the reaction I was hoping for. He was on the floor when I got home and I went over and started talking to him and he started to cry! I was so disappointed but he was ok after that. Wednesday night we put him to bed at 8:30 and then he didn't get up this morning until 7:10, which was so great! I am so lucky with how well he is sleeping.
 
A couple other things from this week. Caleb is continuing to suck on his fingers quite a bit and he is also starting to "talk" a lot more, especially when he is down on the floor on his play mat or when he is sitting on my (or Steve's) lap facing us. It is so cute to hear him cooing! We are also starting to make the transition to 3-6 month clothes. 1-piece outfits are starting to look like highwaters and his onesies are pretty tight around the belly. I'm not sure how much he weighs now, since he hasn't been weighed in 4 weeks, but I would imagine he is 14 or 15 pounds now. I have put away most of his 0-3 month clothes, but we are trying to get a few more times out of some of his bigger outfits. We are also just about to switch to size 2 diapers. I have about 25 more size 1 diapers to go through and then we will officially make the switch.
 
Here are a few more pictures from this week.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This one is now the desktop background on my work computer!
 
 
 
 

 
 


 
 


3 comments:

  1. I'm so excited you are doing this blog so I can hear all the details! You'll be happy to have this to refer to some day when you want to figure out how long he was in what size clothes, etc. I'm glad you got the first working day out of the way and the bottle anxieties.

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  2. Glad your first day back was good, he is just so big! Are you guys coming up for Music Clinic? I need to see him again! Camille

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  3. I feel like Wes could go into size 2 diapers too, but I have a whole case in the basement left. I'm worried about that.

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