First Movie

Cooper is the loudest farter/pooper ever!!  Before he wakes up from any nap he lays there and grunts and whines for at least 30 minutes, sometimes for an hour.  In the middle of the night I get up to check on him thinking he's hungry and he's still sleeping, but grunting/whining away!  Then you hear him fart or poop and it's all quiet again.

This is okay to do at home, but during your first movie, I'm not sure the audience appreciates it.  I swear during every quiet part in the movie, he started grunting and whining, and then had a big time fart.  It was hilarious!

Yep, we got out yesterday and went to see a movie during his long afternoon nap.  We saw Iron Man.  It felt great to get out and although it is highly stressful and very difficult to breastfeed in the dark, I enjoyed the movie.  It was really funny and I enjoyed the story--worth seeing.  If you bring a newborn with you, use a swaddle...poor thing jumped at nearly every explosion.

I need to go buy some postpartum clothes.  I can fit into my pre-pregnancy jeans, but they aren't comfortable and are definitely not flattering.  I'm going to buy a few pairs of jeans and some nursing friendly tops.  Although I ordered a nursing cover, I still need some easy access shirts.  I'm tired of wearing pajamas all day, every day.

I pumped for the first time late last week.  It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.  I like my pump...easy to use, easy to clean.  I didn't get very much and Cooper wasn't sure of the bottle.  He had a hard time sucking on it, since it's completely different than getting milk directly from me.  We also tried to introduce the pacifier to hold him over until I'm ready to feed him.  He spit it out--he really hated it.  We've had some latch problems since then which has caused some seriously sore nipples for me, so we're working on that before we try the bottle again.

Name

I've been calling Cooper by his name pretty much since we decided that it would be his name.  I've seen it written down, heck I've written it down.  But nothing made it more real, than Cooper receiving mail!!  He got his social security card in the mail.  It is amazing to think that I named someone.  I mean the name they'll have for life.  That's just crazy!

We have started calling on some rental properties.  We found 10 places  in the areas we really want to live in.  Basically we left messages at several of them so we know if they offer month to month, allow a pet, have a garage, and washer/dryer hook-ups.  If none of these work out, we will start looking at other areas that are nice, but are our second choice to live in.  Then we will look at giving up some amenities.

I feel so stressed about moving!  I know I'll feel a lot better as soon as we find a place.  But then we have to pack everything!!  Yikes, we've been living here for 5 years!  It will be a great time to purge.  This couldn't be worse timing.

I'm finally getting a routine down in the morning.  I feed Cooper around 8 or 9 am (depends on what he wants), then we go on a walk, then I feed him again.  After that I take shower and then get some small tasks done before feeding Cooper and eating lunch myself.  These tasks could be returning emails, shopping online, or cleaning.  Now if only I could do the same for the afternoon and evening.  All in good time I guess.

Okay, gotta feed my hungry son again...he's an eating machine!!  At least I have House Tivo'd so I have something to do while he eats.

Hair poof

After the bbq last night I was exhausted.  I didn't take a nap at all yesterday and I felt it.  After feeding Cooper around 8:30 pm, we fell asleep together in the recliner.  He was laying on my chest.  My head kept falling forward and my nose would end up in his hair poof (the hair on the crown of his head that sticks straight up all the time).  I would wake up, itch my nose, and fall back to sleep.  I did this until 10:30 pm. 

I really woke up at 10:30 and yelled for Chris.  I was so out of it.  I woke up holding Cooper's head completely still like I was trying to feed him.  I told Chris I had no idea how long he had been breastfeeding, but that we were both sleeping and I needed to go to bed.  Chris asks what I needed him to do.  I looked bewildered and told him to take Cooper.

I went to bed and slept until 1 am when I had to feed Cooper.  I felt so much better when I woke up!  He  slept like champ otherwise.  I only had to get up one more time at 4:30 am to feed him and then he slept until 8:30 am.

He's spends most of the day awake now, besides his long afternoon nap and short 10 or 20 minute naps.  He is becoming more interactive, too.  He accidentally smiles now, but it looks more like he's practicing using his facial muscles.

We've found a few places that might work for us to move to.  It looks we will be able to save at least $200 a month in rent without sacrificing too much.   It's still stressful!

We have to move!!

Today was a really great day!!  I got tons of sleep last night after feeding Cooper for 7 straight hours.  I went to Target and got all the things I needed, while Chris took care of Cooper.  We cleaned the living room too. 

And, we were social!!  We went to a BBQ and had a lot of fun.  I breastfed in public for the first time and Cooper was a super cute, super good baby for the 3 hours we were there.  We're both really tired now, but it felt really good to get out.  (Thanks for the invite Christina!)

Our landlord gave us our 60 days notice today.  We have to move by July 1st.  We are stressed, frustrated and angry about it.  But there's nothing we can do so now we are off to house hunt.  The realtor came over when Cooper was 2 weeks old and told our landlord that they won't be able to sell the house with us living here because it's too messy.  Ummm, hello?!?  I could barely take a shower or eat lunch, let alone clean my house!!!  That makes me angry more than anything.

And if the landlord can't afford to keep the house, how in the world are they going to afford paying a mortgage for 4-6 months while waiting for it to sell without the income from our rent (if they are lucky enough to sell it in that amount of time)??   Plus they will have to give us our deposit back in 21 days after moving out.  The landlord clearly isn't thinking this through.  If we weren't traveling to Denver for a couple weeks, we would turn in our 30 days notice today and move out June 1...make them pay another month on their own.

He also asked us today if we could keep Scout off the front yard while he lays new sod.  Umm, nope, I think I'll just let her pee all over it thank you very much.

::Runs off to frantically search the internet for a place to live.::

Blowout

We recently switched from NB sized Pampers to Size 1 because the NB size wasn't holding all of the stuff Cooper could put in them.  I'm so glad we did because even with Size 1 we ended up with a big mess.

You see, Chris usually has diaper duty since I have to spend at least 40 minutes with a child attached to my boob.  I decided to give Chris a break yesterday afternoon and go ahead and change Cooper myself.  I decided to do this before his feeding, when we usually change him between switching sides that way he is more content.  I don't know which idea was worse, changing before feeding, or me doing the changing.

I do all of the prep work and open Cooper's diaper.  He turns on the sprinkler and sprays all over himself.  I'm quickly trying to cover him, but I just get a big puddle of pee on top of the diaper.  Then he decides he also wasn't done pooping and it goes everywhere.  Up his back all over the changing pad (thank goodness for those paper pads Caren bought us!) and all over my hands.  Gross.

I call Chris in and he just smiles at me.  At this point Cooper is screaming his head off because he's hungry and because I still haven't taken care of the diaper situation.  Chris decides a bath is the only option.  Up until now, I've been the one to manage giving Cooper a bath by myself.  This time Chris volunteered to do it.

So he proceeds to give a wet, slippery, squirming, screaming baby a very quick bath.  Cooper practically threw himself off the mesh bathtub and barely bonked his head on the tub.  I don't know how I'll ever trust myself to actually put him in a tub of water since he's so squirmy. 

You think we killed the poor kid!  Once we have a freshly cleaned baby, we dress him and I'm finally able to feed him.  I really hate hearing Cooper cry, so the whole 20 minute ordeal was heart wrenching for me.

Again this morning I attempted changing Cooper myself.  Again I got the sprinkler.  I gave him a quick sponge bath, but I'm seriously considering bathing him again.  I think I should go back to my day job and just stick to feeding Cooper.  He likes to pee and poop on me.  He knows I think it's gross.

We went for a walk yesterday.  I need to take it easy though.  I start to feel better so I push myself a little more and then I'm having to take Motrin again for the pain.  It was fun to get out and Cooper looked so cute in his little hat. 

I'm supposed to get my breast pump in the mail today.  I have really started to enjoy breastfeeding, despite the toe-curling, white, hot, make-you-want-to-throw-up nipple pain when he latches.  It lasts for 30 sec, then I really enjoy it.  Both of us have the hang of it and now I have to figure out how to pump. 

I'm very intimidated by the idea of pumping.  I think part of it is that breastfeeding directly is just easier, and part of it feels like he's growing up too fast now that he will also take a bottle.  I know, it's weird.  It will be nice to have a break and Chris should get to 'bond' with Cooper over food too.