back to reality

This week was my first week back at work. I am only doing part time (3 days a week), but it was still super hard to leave Levi at daycare that first day. I didn't cry as much as I thought I would, but there were a few tears involved. Thankfully he has done just fine so far! We are both adjusting to the new schedule, but we'll get a routine down eventually. Being back at work isn't so bad, it's just leaving my peanut that sucks. I have been pumping at work also, and that is going pretty good so far too. I am hoping my supply doesn't go down or anything, but we'll see how it goes.

Levi is growing like a weed! He has been smiling like crazy the past week so that has been a lot of fun! I love seeing him learn new things and change every day.

He is still waking up once at night. Nothing to complain about but I am looking forward to when he sleeps through the night! :) For a little bit he was doing really good, sleeping for 5 hours then waking up to eat and going back to sleep for another 3 hours, but the last few nights it's been taking me longer to get him to bed and then he wakes up after only 3 hours or so, then sleeps another 2. I am trying not to sleep with him in our bed too much, but sometimes it's so nice to just snuggle with him. Like this morning he woke up at 4:30 so I just stuck the pacifier in his mouth and cuddled up with him in our bed and he fell back asleep for another hour. Plus naps have been hit and miss during the day. One day he'll take a good nap morning and afternoon, the next he'll barely nap at all. I know he is still little though, and things will fall into place.

6 weeks old already!

I have been horrible at keeping this thing up lately! Things have been going great with Levi. He is such a blessing and we love him so much! He is still not really on much of a schedule, so I have a week to try and work on that a little since next week is my last week off before work. :( Not looking forward to that, but it's only 3 days, so I have to be thankful for that at least. Levi is sleeping pretty good at night. Usually by the time I get him to sleep it's around 10:30, and he'll sleep for a good 4-5 hours, then wake up to eat and go back to sleep for another 2.5-3 hours. The last couple mornings he's been taking a good morning nap too, so hopefully he'll keep that up! It's nice when he takes an afternoon nap too, but sometimes he fights it. I am still nursing him, and I decided to try pumping at work and see how it goes. If I don't get enough then I'm not going to stress about having to give him formula at daycare if he needs it.

His shower in Renville a couple weekends ago was great! He got a lot of cute stuff, and we are very thankful! And of course, my sister had it decorated super cute!

And just some more pics of my chunky monkey!

time flies!

Funny how having a newborn in the house makes getting anything done near impossible! Today has by far been the most productive I've been since Levi was born! And all I really did was pick up around the house here and there, and clean up the kitchen. Ha.

Besides that, things have been going really well. Can't complain too much...Levi is such a good baby for the most part! He has pretty much had his days and nights straight from the beginning, so our schedule for the past couple weeks has been getting him ready for bed, feeding him, etc. around 10:00-10:30, so he usually is sleeping around 11:00, give or take depending on what we did that day, and he'll sleep for 3-4 hours, wake up around 2:00-3:00, then Paul usually changes him and I feed him, and it takes around an hour to get him back to sleep, then he'll sleep for another 2-3 hours and we are usually up for the day around 6:30-7:00. So yeah, pretty good for a 3 1/2 week old!

I had some issues with nursing right away, but things are going better. It still hurts sometimes when he latches on since he has a tongue-tie, but we are going in tomorrow to get that clipped, so hopefully that will make it easier for him to latch on and suck better. He also had a slight case of thrush, so we are treating him (and me, woo-hoo) for that. Only a couple more days left on the prescription, but it looked better after the first day he took it for the most part. On my end, it gets annoying to wipe off/put on monistat every time he wants to eat. Ack. But I set a goal to nurse at least until I go back to work, and then I will see how pumping goes and decide if I want to keep going or not.

This weekend is Levi's shower in Renville, so I (we :) are excited for that! Should be a very fun day, I know Katie has been planning it for a long time and has some neat things planned. Hopefully Levi will be a good boy! :) I'm sure he will be.

And just for good measure, here are a few pics from the last week or so...

Tangy Olive Egg Salad

Thought I would sneak in a quick recipe post while Levi is content! I was planning on posting this one before I had him, but obviously didn't get around to it! :) I'm a big fan of egg salad, and this is one of my favorites. Usually my go-to! The green olives add just the right zip.

Tangy Olive Egg Salad

3 Tbsp Miracle Whip
2 tsp Dijon mustard
4 hard cooked eggs, roughly chopped
15 stuffed green olives, chopped

 Mix dressing and mustard. Stir in eggs & olives.

Doesn't get much easier than that! Most of the time I just guestimate the amounts and go by what I like. I don't remember where I got this recipe, but I have been making it for awhile now. 
 

my sweet boy!

Just sharing a few pics from Levi's first week at home!

he's here!

Levi Ben Staples was born on April 14th, 2011 weighing 8 lbs 10 oz, and was 22.5 inches long! We went to the hospital on that morning, and the dr. broke my water. Within an hour I was feeling strong contractions, and ended up getting an epidural which was great. I started pushing around 6:15, and an hour later at 7:18 p.m., Levi was here! We couldn't be happier!! He is so perfect!

thursday?

Just a quick update from my dr.'s appt. yesterday...

I am at 3 cm all the way. Last week I was only 1.5 cm inside and 3 outside. Dr. said she could feel the baby's head moving around and that my water bag was bulging, so I have definitely made progress!

She said *technically* the hospital won't let them induce before 41 weeks (which I will be on Friday) without a medical reason, but she is on call Thursday and is not able to schedule an induction for Friday. So, she said since I am already so close and overdue, if we just *happen* to show up at the hospital Thursday morning because I am cramping, etc., she said she would most likely just be able to keep me there and break my water! So tomorrow we will hopefully have a baby! I am so excited, but if I think about it too much I get nervous!

Hope to have good news soon!! :)