Happy Thanksgiving the day after! Trying something new with the photos here...still have to learn a bit more how it all works, but I think you can click on the pictures in the above collages to see larger images. It works on other people's blogs...we'll see when this goes live! Top photo of the 3 of us was taken on Thanksgiving day - we have so much to be thankful for this year with the arrival of Thomas John! Then we have a collage of photos from the baptism, and then another collage of some photos from the weekend visit with John's family from Illinois!
We had Tommy's baptism on Sunday, November 22nd at our church, St. William the Abbot. It was a beautiful day, and Tommy was so good at the church, not crying at all even when Deacon George poured the water over his head. He actually slept through most of the service, only waking when the water was poured, but then he went back to sleep. Probably because he had 3 bottles before we went to church for the 1pm service! My sister Karyn and John's sister Maria were the godmothers, and Karyn's husband Dave was the godfather. We had so many family members there to witness Thomas officially being baptised into the Catholic faith, and afterwards we celebrated with a luncheon at Eagle Oaks, the golf club that John works at. The staff took amazing care of us the whole afternoon, and the food was outstanding. We also celebrated Grandpa Chris's birthday (11/10) and my Uncle Bobby's birthday (11/23) with a special cake for them during the party. November 22nd was also my Grandma Rose's birthday (my mom's mom), so it was special to have the baptism on what would have been her 98th birthday. The blanket we used for Tommy that day was one that Grandma Rose had given to me when I was a baby.
John's parents, sister and brother arrived on Thursday, 11/19. John got them at the airport while TJ and I anxiously awaited their arrival at home. When they arrived, of course, the waterworks came out for me, as I expected! I was just so happy that they were here to meet their grandson and nephew for the first time - it brought me back to the day exactly 10 weeks earlier when Tommy was born and he met my family for the first time. Everyone took turns holding him of course, and go figure, he needed his diaper changed, which Aunt Maria gladly took charge of doing! Within minutes of that, he was sitting on his Grandma's lap and he let out a big load in his pants that had Grandma's eyes popping out of her head (see photo in collage - we could not have timed it like that if we had tried!!!). That night we went to Squan Tavern, one of our favorite places (and Grandma's!) to eat. Friday the girls went to get their nails done, and we had dinner at The Hungry Quail that night. Saturday, the girls took Tommy shopping, during which he slept the whole time! We went to mass and then made dinner at the house Saturday night, and afterwards Tommy had a bath, which everyone watched, filmed or participated in! We wanted him squeaky clean for his baptism the next day! Sunday was the baptism, and on Monday everyone flew back to Chicago :(.
We had a great weekend, which went way too fast of course. Maria and Bryan were troopers sleeping on our couches since one of our extra bedrooms is now the nursery. It was great to have so many hands on deck to help with the baby. John and I were worried about Tommy getting spoiled with everyone holding him all the time - I think he was only in his swing one time while everyone was here, and never in the bouncy seat, but I think I was the one who got spoiled being able to take a little longer in the shower, getting ready, etc. since there was always someone to hold, feed or change Tommy!
One of the big things that changed while everyone was here is that TJ is now taking 5 ounces in his bottles. I had only been giving him 4 ounces, but he seemed to be wanting more. If you've been following the blog you know that both TJ and I have had our ups and downs with the nursing, and I've been trying to figure out what to do - how often to nurse, how many bottles a day, trying to keep my supply up so I can pump enough milk for the bottles...yeah, I'm sick of listening to me too, like you all probably are. Well, we are now doing five bottles a day at 5 ounces each, and then for the last feeding at night, I nurse Tommy, so he can take whatever he might need at that point, which apparently can vary from day to day. His feeding times are definitely starting to develop into somewhat of a schedule, give or take an hour, but his first bottle is usually around 7am, then usually around 9:30, then 12:30-1:00, then 3-4ish, then 6-6:30, and then he nurses anytime after 8:30, sometimes as late as 10:30. It kind of depends on what we do during the day; i.e. yesterday on Thanksgiving, he napped in the car on the way to my sister's, and for a while when we got there, so yesterday was definitely a different feeding schedule than today, where we were home all day. I am definitely concerned about my milk supply right now, and feel that the day we have to introduce formula is definitely nearing. I don't know why I have such a fear about taking the plunge - I am driving John, my mom and anyone who will listen crazy with my worrying about it. I think I am most afraid that he will have a reaction to the formula, or it will mess up his system or something. I remind myself that he is NOT the first baby in the world, and millions of them have gone from breastmilk to formula - I mean, we're talking only ONE bottle a day right now, when the time comes. I even have friends who have told me about having to experiment with formulas because of slight reactions their kids had, but MOST of the people I know have told me that they had no problems. I am probably worrying about nothing, and will be telling you in a future blog it was a waste of my energy. However, last night I ordered some Organic Mother's Milk Tea, which is supposed to increase your milk supply. Since it will take a few days to arrive, I then ran out to the GNC store and bought a package today to try it out. I'm a pretty basic tea drinker - green tea or black tea - not a flavored tea drinker really, so I wasn't sure about this herbal tea, but I've had 2 cups today so far and it's not that bad. They recommend 3-5 cups a day, and it takes a day or 2 to notice anything, so we'll see how this goes the next few days. I guess I can return what I ordered on line if I find it's not working. I had been eating oatmeal every morning for the past week as I heard that was supposed to help, but I don't notice anything, and I'm really not a fan of oatmeal - though John said I have to get the flavored kind. Still not sure that will help - I think the texture bothers me, and I've tried to make it less soggy and more soggy to try to find the right one for me...so hopefully this tea will help. There are other herbs that you can take, all of which actually are in the tea, but the one apparently makes you smell like maple syrup, and I don't think I can handle that.
Thanksgiving was great - we went to my sister's house, and she cooked up an awesome feast for us. It was TJ's first BIG holiday, so of course we took lots of pictures! Tommy really does not like to be in wet or dirty diapers during the day. I brought 8 diapers with us and we went home with ONE! So far at night though, he has not woken us up to be changed, though a few times, around 5am or so, John and I both heard him let loose with a BM and can't help but giggle - it's SO loud sometimes!!! He has been going to sleep shortly after his final feeding - so anytime after 9:30 and usually by 11:30, depending on how long he nurses and if he is fussing at all. And he sleeps until around 6am, when he starts fussing around for his pacifier, so I reach in and give it to him a few times until closer to 6:45 or 7. By that time, Tails is onto the game and is walking all over me, including on my chest, which by that point is not a good thing since I need to pump, so I get myself up, feed the cats, warm the first bottle, change Tommy's diaper and feed him- then pump! So we have continued to be lucky with our little guy's sleeping situation at night. He did wake up around 2am Tuesday night, the night after everyone went home to Illinois, but while they were here and every night since, he has given us a good 6-8 hours.
I have been trying to transition Tommy into his crib slowly - just for naps to start. Right now, he will nap in the bassinet, but prefers the bouncy seat or swing. The past 3 days (excluding Thanksgiving) I put him in the crib as he was drifting off in my arms, and he never lasted more than 20 minutes in the crib before waking up crying. Sometimes it's as simple as putting the pacifier back in, but even then he will only sleep for another 10-20 minutes. However, I can't complain, because he is sleeping so well for us at night.
I know this was a long entry (well, they are all usually long, aren't they? This one more than usual!), so thanks for checking on us, and we hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving!
No comments:
Post a Comment