4 and 5 weeks

I can't believe that my baby boy turned 1 month on the 26th!  Wow has time flown by!  And wow has he changed so much, even from when I wrote my last entry!  As far as our daily routine goes, not too much has changed, except that we are trying to work on getting on more of a schedule and he is awake more throughout the day.  When he is awake, we try to do different things so he doesn't get too bored.  He will now sit in his swing and bouncy seat while he's awake, but only for a short period of time (he used to cry unless he was asleep in one of them).  We try to have some play time followed by a little tummy time on his play mat.  He's not a fan of tummy time though.  We do little leg exercises each day, which he really seems to enjoy, along with some massage.  He likes it when I carry him and walk around from room to room so he can look at different things.  He stares at lights, at pictures on the walls, at his sissy, etc.  He loves looking around!  Preston is a very serious baby, and you can see it in his facial expressions!

As far as our evening routine, now that he's a little older, and his skin is less sensitive, we have worked a nightly/every other night bath into our evenings, followed by a massage with California Baby lavender oil to help him sleep.  He is enjoying his bath a lot more these days, which is wonderful!  After his bath I take him into my bedroom, read him a story, turn down the lights, and rock him/nurse him.  The first night we started this at 8pm.  Ha!  He finally got to sleep at 10:30pm, so we've pushed the bath back to around 9pm.  He still doesn't want to go to sleep until around 10:30pm though.  It's amazing how they set their own schedules and follow them so strictly.  At almost 10:30 on the dot every evening, that boy is asleep!  He's been doing so great at sleeping in his cradle, that I hardly ever end up having to bring him into our bed.  He then wakes up at 2am, 4am, and 6am to eat.  6am feedings are perhaps my favorite time of the day.  He is so wide eyed and bushy tailed, and he and I get to spend some time together, just the two of us.  I talk to him, and he coos at me.  Occasionally I will get a half of a smile from him.  Sometimes we just lay and look at each other.  It's our special time, and I just love it!  After we spend some time together, he goes downstairs with daddy and mommy sleeps for a little bit longer, usually until he's ready to eat again.  I honestly don't mind that he gets up so many times a night.  It's actually a relief to me, because then every couple of hours I am reassured that he's okay!  And at his 2 and 4 o'clock feedings, he is barely awake.  I change his diaper, and then he eats half asleep.  Lately he has decreased his feeding times, both at night and during the day.  He used to eat for about 20-30 minutes, now he eats for about 10-15 minutes.  I've discovered that some nights after I rock and nurse him, he needs daddy to actually put him to sleep.  Otherwise, he wants to continue to nurse even though his belly is full, which leads to him being fussy and he starts to tug and clamp down, which just isn't fun at all!  Sometimes I wish this child would take to his binky like Jaidyn did, but I'm lucky if I can get him to take it once a day...you should see the look on his face when I try!  We will keep trying this out and hopefully he will catch on, but if not, that's okay too.  I'm willing to do whatever is comforting to Preston, and whatever makes him a happy baby! 

Something I've come to discover about Preston is that he hates being cooped up in this apartment just about as much as mommy does.  He is a cranky pants at home, but wonderful when we are out (most of the time, that is).  We spent a few hours over at a friends house for dinner the other night, and he was so perfect.  We've also been to the Jac a couple of times and he's been very well behaved.  He loves being outside.  In fact when we are home and I can't get him to settle down, I take him outside and walk up and down the sidewalk with him.  He calms right down.  I wish it wasn't so hot out so we could spend more time outside, but Fall is on it's way and I can promise you we will be outside a lot!  The little guy just likes to have a change of scenery, and I don't blame him at all! 

Oh!  I almost forgot that we started cloth diapering.  Our all in one diapers are still too big for him, but we ordered some pre-folds and covers so that we could go ahead and start.  I must say, Kyle is a cloth diapering master.  He is so good at it!  I'm the one that cheats and uses sposies every now and then, but not him!  He is all about it, and I am so proud :)  We are using yellow edge Green Mountain Diaper pre-folds and a few different covers.  The covers we are using are Flips, Thirsties, Bummies, and Swaddlebee's Capri's.  So far I am very happy with them.  We have had zero leaks, which is more than I can say for the Lil Joey's which I'm sad to say did not work for us at all!  They were cute, but leaked every time.  I may do a cloth diapering post once we start all in ones and find out what works for us.

  
Highlights and Milestones:  Mr. Preston smiled for the first time on the 26th, which just so happened to be his one month birthday!  He hasn't smiled at us again since then (except for in his sleep), but I did manage to catch the very end of the smile on film! (edit: We've managed to catch a few more smiles here and there!)  Jaidyn and I both saw it, but poor Daddy missed it, much to his dismay!  Soon enough he will be smiling all the time :)  He has also started to coo, which is just so sweet!  He is much more alert, which means that we get to see more of those beautiful, blue eyes!  I LOVE it when he looks up at me with those pretty eyes while he's nursing.  He's such a sweetheart, and melts my heart!  Preston had his one month checkup.  He had to get a shot, which definitely wasn't a highlight...but his stats were!  He is up to 10lbs 11oz and 23 1/4 in long!  I am in awe of how quickly that boy is growing!  He is in the 65th% for weight, 95th% for height, and somewhere in the 50's for head circumference.   I am loving my chunky baby!! :)  We've heard from some friends as well as two pedi's that Preston is a very strong baby (I guess since he's so big I shouldn't be surprised that he's so strong!).  When you hold him up he will push on your legs with his feet, making himself jump up and down.  So that is pretty cool!  

Preston's Likes: Preston loves being in the K'tan baby carrier.  Every time I put him in it, he falls right asleep!  We went on a long grocery trip the other day (all four of us), and he slept the entire time in it!  We also spent a couple of hours at the park when Jaidyn's dad was visiting, and again, he slept the whole time.  He loves sleeping in his swing.  He will sleep for hours at a time in it during the day!  I will be writing more about the swing in another post :)  He still loves to be swaddles, but I have been swaddling him less and less during the day.  He is always swaddled at night though, otherwise he wont sleep for long at all.  We are still in love with our miracle blankets!  Preston has different things that he likes me and daddy to do.  It's so funny that he knows the difference.  I will do the same thing that Kyle does to calm him down, but it won't work, and vica versa.  He likes it when daddy swaddles and does the side hold and shake and he likes it when mama bounces him on the exercise ball, especially when I turn the music to his swing on.  He also likes going to daddy when he's got hiccups....dad has the magic touch!Presty is also still very much liking white noise in the car or when he's in bed.

Preston's Dislikes: His carseat, being too hot, being too cold, being put down when he's awake (most of the time), having a wet diaper, having his diaper changed, getting dressed and undressed, not getting enough milk from mama, and hiccups.

In other news, miss Jaidyn had her very first sleepover!  Her bff from kindergarten, Olivia, stayed the night.  They were up in her room most of the evening playing, watching movies, doing makeovers, doing crafts, and who knows what else!  We made them come downstairs around 10:30pm to get ready for bed (they slept down in the living room).  They had brownies and popcorn and watched Princess and the Frog, and finally fell asleep sometime after 1am!  Jaidyn went to church with Olivia's family the next day, and returned home crying because she wasn't ready for their time together to end.  Jaidyn got registered for school this week and sadly they aren't going to be in the same class this year.  But she is wanting to join girl scouts which Olivia is a part of!  I can't believe how much Jaidyn has grown up over the Summer! *tear*

Note:  I have recently decided to password protect my blog because I was sadly reminded that their are really sick people in our world.  Long story short, it was discovered that one of the members of my June mommies group was married to a sex offender, who has been convicted twice of child pornography.  She is no longer a part of the group, and I am not worried about him seeing my blog, but it was a good reminder to be careful with what you put on the internet.  The purpose of this blog is really for me, so that someday I can look back on it and remember all of the wonderful things about my pregnancy and about my family.  Therefore, it's not really necessary for it to be out there for everyone in the world to read, although I certainly don't mind if family and close friends read it, as it's a good way for them to keep up on what's going on in our lives.  That being said, you will have to type in a password anytime that you'd like to read it!  My families protection is the most important thing to me.  And remember...be careful with what you put out there!